16 MoNtHS!!!!!!!

June 20, 2016

Digging through ties at the Bodega

Que honda?!! 

Things are just getting better and better down here in Brownville! Our investigators are doing really great! We had several exchanges this week and we were in a trio at one point. It's been super crazy!

A turtle I found

 Odon had surgery this week so he wasn't able to come to church. We went by the less-active member's house that he was staying at and they kept saying that he would be home the next day and so finally after a few days we just asked what hospital he was at and went and found him. He was SO happy that we came and found him. He has no family and i dont think he had any visitors. He told us that he didn't want to leave the hospital because living in the shed has been miserable for him. He has one pair of clothes. I think that we are going to go to Goodwill and buy him some clothes. When he has to use the bathroom he has to go knock on the door and sometimes they don't let him in. He was telling us that he enjoyed the hospital because of the food and he gets to talk with the nurses. Yesterday when we went by, Sister Eggett, Espinoza and I sang him "Soy un Hijo de Dios" while Eggett played the Ukulele. People were walking by in the hallway looking in- it was super cool. He loved it. We later went and sang for other people in their rooms. It was a little tender moment for me. I love how something so simple can bring the Spirit so much. One man was in tears when we left his room. 

Visiting Odon in the hospital after surgery

Teaching Odon how to play the ukulele

Miguel finally came to church yesterday!! Woot woot! He took notes too! Some of the Elders in our zone had a baptism and so we invited him to come to that and he did. It was great! I love having non members go to them because they get so much out of it and it brings the Spirit so well!! After the baptism he leaned over to me and said, "Thats all?" I told him "yep!" I think it eased some fears that he had. It was cool to see. We are meeting with him on Tuesday and he is going to teach us how to play the guitar. He is an amazing song writer and sings for us all the time in the middle of lessons! He loves music and has helped me to develop that love and appreciation for it too. The other day we had a lesson with him in the library and I showed him the Joseph Smith's first vision hymn and he was blarring it super loud in the middle of the library. We told him to turn it down and he was like "No everybody needs to hear this!" Then the librarian came over and told him to turn it down haha. 

Texas sunset

This week I had an exchange with a sister in my old area in San Benito! It was super weird to be back there! It's not a bike area anymore which is super lame but we biked the whole day anyway:) I got to see my 3 converts from there. They went to the temple a few weeks ago!! The grandma who we also reactivated is also working to get her endowments out. It was such a rewarding feeling to see that they are being taken care of and still progressing. I seriously love this work so much! 

We taught this guy at the library.  We saw him drawing and so of course I had to talk to him.
I bought a drawing from him for $10 :) It's a portrait of Michaelangelo.

A few days ago we got a phone call from "INV Rosie" so she was an old former investigator that had been taught and was saved in our phone. I didn't know who she was but she called us and told us that she needed help and so we told her that we could come by the next day. So the next day we went over to try and find her and her apartment address was 4135 but we went to 4125 on accident. This guy opened the door and we asked for Rosie. She didn't live there and so we told him that we were missionaries and he said that he had been taught by missionaries in Dallas a few years ago! So we asked him for water and he let us in (best trick ever). We got talking with him and I was so excited about this miracle! He was telling us about his comics and other random stuff and then he was like "oh yeah by the way I have schizophrenia." And then he was telling us about how they were making movies of his dreams and that people were watching him. He told us that when he eats while watching tv the people in the tv are getting a good meal too and that they can taste it. It just kept getting more and more bizarre! It was still super fun to talk to him and we are probably going to go back but it caught me off guard so bad! I just love knocking on doors and not knowing who is going to answer and what we are going to hear. One of the biggest things I've learned on the mission is that you can always learn something from someone. Doesn't matter who it is but that everyone has something to offer and everyone knows something that I don't. I just love hearing people's experiences and what they know and how they think. Everyone here on earth has the same dilemma; we all just have different monsters. Thats the beauty of it, is that the Gospel applies to everyone. It doesn't matter what we are going through or what we have done but that we are all learning and we all have potential. 

Sister Eggett's warrant for arrest.

Well everyone I love you a lot! Things couldn't be any better down here! Thank you for the love and support that you give me always! Catch ya on the flip side!

                                Hermana A. Thompson

Brownsville Adventures

June 13, 2016

Hello from Mexas!!!! 

This week was so awesome! Jennifer was baptized on Thursday night! That is always such a rewarding moment for not only us as missionaries but to God too. Half of the people that came to the baptism were not members of the church. Jennifer was able to be an example to them through her faith and willingness to follow our Savior. It was such a beautiful baptism! When she came out of the water we followed her into the bathroom and hugged her. She just cried and cried she was so happy! That's the only time I enjoy seeing people cry! It was a tender little moment for all of us! She was able to receive the Holy Ghost on Sunday at church and that was awesome too. 

Filling the font

Jennifer's Baptism

Odon is the 80 year old man that we are teaching. He too came to church yesterday! He loved it. We talked about Adam and Eve and he was making jokes about men having an adams apple and women not. It was super funny. He is a cute little old man. He is missing most of his front teeth and so it is super hard to understand his Spanish sometimes. He probably thinks we are idiots. He always asks if I am more Mexican than sister Eggett. We try to tell him that SIster Eggett is from Mexico but he wouldn't have it. He is super adorable and we love going by to visit him. We went by last night after church and sung him a song. He is working on being baptized the beginning of July. 

Morning bike ride around the rasacas

We are still teaching Miguel. He dropped us a few weeks ago because his friends were making fun of him for investigating the church. About a week ago he texted us asking why prophets are prosecuted. We told him we would tell him if he met up with us and so he agreed and we had a lesson with him at Taco Bell. We have been meeting him in the library lately too. He is getting there but he still hasn't come to church and we are helping him to understand the importance of it. 

Jennifer kept teasing Sister Eggett that she is a Barbie.

While on an exchange we met a member who was super good at art and he gave me this painting :)

The other day we got permission from our district leader to do weekly planning at Texas Roadhouse. It was so fun! It actually reminded me more of home than Texas. Probably because I used to eat there once a week. It was a weird feeling. I got a little taste of how awkward I'm going to be when I get home. We had a good time. Our server kept hitting on us. It was super weird. He was like "I don't know how you guys do it!" We were like "do what?" and he was like "leave your boyfriends to come do this!" Then he was like "if I were either of your boyfriends I don't think I could let you leave!" hahaha. Then at the end of the meal I left him a Jesus card with the Elders' number on it;) and we went outside. While we were outside he came running out and thanked us for the card and said that he had been going through a hard time lately and that he was super grateful for the card and had asked us to pray for him. So we are hoping that he calls "us" (the Elders). 

This transfer has been SO dang fun. It's going by way too fast. We are teaching such great people and seeing success. We are always laughing about something too. Life is good and the mission is sweet. It's flying by way too fast. I love being here and I'm so grateful for all that I have learned from my mission. It's the best decision I've ever made with my life. There are things that I have seen and witnessed that will forever be a part of me and I'm so grateful for the humble people of Texas that I have had the privilege to serve! 

Sister Eggett is a Catholic

We have matching socks :)
#CompUnity

I love you all thank you for your love and support! Have a fabulous week! 

                                  Con Amor, 

                                                          Hermanita Thompson

BeSt TrAnSfEr EvEr!!!

June 6, 2016

Companion car selfie

Hello family!! 

Sooo my new companion is.... Sister Eggett!! We lived together my first transfer as an STL in Sinton. We are having the time of our lives down here in Brownsville. This week has been a super fun one. We get along SUPER well. It's amazing the difference this transfer. Last transfer was okay but im looking forward to this transfer and the fun that we are going to have. This is Sister Eggett's first transfer as an STL. When we lived together three transfers ago I told her that we were going to be companions and that she was going to "kill" me on the mission! We are hoping it comes true. 

We play with puppets

Jennifer is all set to be baptized this Thursday. We found her my first day here. She was the first house we knocked on. She has changed so much since the first time we met her. Her mom and cousins have all noticed it too and so we are super excited for her progress and willingness to follow Jesus Christ. We have the baptism all planned out and everything is ready to go. It has been so fun getting to teach her and feel the love for her as I know God feels for all of us. Our area that we are in hasn't baptized in 8 months or so and we are excited to be a part of God's miracles. 

Brownsville scenery

This week was another busy one. When Sister Eggett got here on Tuesday we spent the evening contacting some houses and we had to get groceries. We also had MLC (Leadership training) in McAllen and so we had to go to that on Thursday. Then we stayed the night at the STLTs house (SIster Moore and Sister Reynolds) and we had a Zone Conference all day Friday. So we didn't have a lot of time to work in our area this week. I learned a lot at the meetings though. 

Brownsville scenery

There are a lot of cool members in our area. There is an older couple that feeds us every week. The Leichthammers. He is from Germany and she is from Mexico. They both used to be bilingual but she got in a car accident and forgot all of her English and he had a stroke and forgot all of his Spanish. So when we go over there one of us teaches the lesson in Spanish and the other translates it into English. It's super fun. She always feeds us like a 4 course meal. They take good care of us. 

We just got a branch mission leader. I don't know if they have ever had one and if they have it has been a really long time. It has helped a lot to have and this branch is going to grow and change so much now. His name is Hermano Arteaga. He is really sassy and so we have a good time teasing him too. He does really well at his calling and I'm excited to see the work move forward faster. 

Yesterday after church we were knocking on doors. This less-active family came into my mind so I decided that we needed to go by them and visit. I had only been there once like two or three weeks ago and I had never met the family- we had just knocked on the door and talked to the girl for a few minutes. So I followed the prompting to go to them. We got in the car and drove over to their trailer. We walked up and they were having a little BBQ outside and so we asked if they were the Perez family and it was. We sat down and got talking to them. She works as a health provider. Earlier in the conversation I noticed that there was an older man walking around the property. She told us later that he had lost his housing and that he was living in her shed. He was one of her clients. After awhile he came over and we talked to him he asked about the church and told us that he wanted to come and that he would be there every Sunday. He is an 80 year old man named Andon. It was a super cool miracle. We are going by again on Tuesday and we are going to teach him more about the church and help him prepare to accept the Gospel. It's amazing the miracles and blessings we see when we follow the simplest of promptings. Whether its going by to visit somebody you have never talked to or giving someone a card. I know that it's all for a reason far beyond anything we could ever comprehend. 

I'm super grateful for the chance to be down here in Texas serving God's children and for the many many blessings I have seen and experienced. I wouldn't trade my mission for anything. I know that God puts people into our lives for a reason. It is usually through others that he answers our prayers and its the best feeling in the world to BE an answer to someone's prayer. I am grateful for the miracles I have been a part of that have forever changed my very soul. I know that it is through the Grace of God that we are able to grow and become better everyday. I cant even imagine a life without progression. 

I love you all. Thank you for your love and support. I wouldn't be where I am today without the examples of my parents, family members, friends and my precious cousin Kiersten. 

Have a great week!! 

                                                          Love Hermana Thompson

Transfer 11!!

May 31, 2016

This watermelon is as big as me.  It legit weighed about 50 pounds.

What Sisters do in their off-time

So we have transfers today!! I am...... staying here in Brownsville! Sister Guzman left this morning. I'm just chilling here by myself in the library. Haha just kidding I'm with Sister Espinosa and we are waiting for our new companions to come. I have no idea who it is!

Random dinosaur

A pinata on P-day!

On Saturday we had a surprise leadership meeting. President Maluenda is finishing his mission on the end of June and he is preparing the mission for the new president. He had us all raise our hands if we were going to be going home in July or August. 90 percent of the leadership in the mission are and so the Zone Leaders and STLs are all going to be training new missionaries (greenies) or new leaders. And he has called younger missionaries to be the new Zone Leaders and STLs. I am the only STL that stayed! I don't know if he has kept any of the other STLs and is just putting them in another area or if I'm the only one that didn't go down to train. Either way it doesn't matter,  I'm just happy that I get to keep my calling. It keeps me on my toes and busy. I love going on exchanges with the other sisters and helping them. 

The checkpoint going into Mexico.  Too bad my passport is at home!

A pretty sunset

This week on Friday we were studying in the morning and during comp study sister Guzman looks at me and calmly says, " I have lice" I thought she was kidding but she had been saying for a week or so that her head itched. I realized she was serious and then I freaked out!! We called the other sisters to come over because we needed help with "something" they came over and sister Schickedanz stayed with sister guzman to go get lice shampoo and sister Edmonds came with me to meet Miguel at Taco Bell and teach him a lesson. When we got back we spent 5 hours getting lice out of her hair and putting the clothes in the dryers and cleaning. The OCD inside of me came right out! That was a day from Satan. It was so horrible. but I didn't get it!! 

This is Manuel, our investigator from Mexico.  He finished his song about the Book of Mormon.  It's SO good.  I want to try and record him singing it.  Hopefully he will let me.

My favorite sister, Sara, went to Corpus to visit her in-laws and ran into Sister Castro at the Corpus Ward where I served!

We had a ton of exchanges this week. I was with Sister Rivera on Tuesday. On Wednesday I was with Sister Edmonds. On Thursday I was with Sister Calero in port Isabel. And Friday I was with sister Edmonds again for part of the day. Then on Saturday we had that leadership meeting in McAllen which lasted most of the day. I was only in my area for one day. 

Exchanges with Sister Edmonds

Sister Rivera and I after mowing a member's lawn.  She saw a tarantula and I got bit by fire ants.

Ties

The Elders made us all matching skirts in the district and they made themselves ties too!  it was super cute.  Mine is really tiny and wouldn't fit over my butt so I had to put in on over my head.  Then we had an exchange after district meeting so I had to have one of the sisters get it off of me!! It was super funny and a little scary that I almost had to wear it forever because it was stuck!

Jennifer was supposed to be baptized on sunday but her mom "made" them all go to the beach and so she wasn't.:( we had a lesson with Jennifer this week to help her receive her answer because she wasn't really sure. I told her to pray right then and ask and she did. Then afterwards I handed her a book of Mormon and told her to randomly open it and she will find her answer. She did and her answer was there! It was the coolest thing ever! She knew that she needed to be baptized and she got her answer of yes. So we are going to work hard with her this week and make things happen. 

Our investigator's daughter and bunny rabbit.  This is Jennifer's little sister, Daffini.

Our investigators gave us a ride home and took us all to Whataburger (fast food place).  It was awesome!

We are teaching some really cool people right now. It will be interesting to see how this transfer is and who my new companion is. Usually I can tell what is going to happen with me and transfers but this transfer has been super crazy and so im a little nervous for the changes but its going to be great because ill learn a lot. 

I got to smash a cake in Elder Thunell's face for his Birthday.  It's one of my favorite Mexican traditions- that was fun!

Texas Pride!

I love you all. I hope you have a great week! Thank you for the love and support!

Love Hermana Thompson 

15 MOnThS!!!!!!!!

 May 17, 2016

I would say that I've overcome my fear of horses but this picture says that I'm lying.

This week was a good one! So I always talk our district or the sisters into getting taco bell because taco bell is awesome. So earlier in the week we were there and I got my food and so I went and sat down with another sister. After I left, Sister Guzman was talking to some guy and she came and sat by us after and said that he had worked in Utah and Idaho and knew a little bit about Mormons. He lives in Mexico and comes here everyday to work. She got his information so that we could talk to him. Anyway a few days later I was on an exchange and I remembered we had Miguel's number and so I had the thought to call him. We did and he couldn't meet up with us that day so we said we would try again another day. Well a few days went by and we kind of forgot to call him again. We were out working and I was like "Let's get taco bell!!" I'm sure Sister Guzman is sick of taco bell but we went anyway. When I was at the soda fountain this man came up to me and asked where my friends were and I was like "quien?" Then I realized that he was Miguel, the guy that Sister Guzman talked to! So I had her come over and we sat down with him and we taught him about the restoration in the middle of taco bell. It was awesome. He writes and sings songs. He used to run marathons but can't now because he has arthritis. On the way out we gave him a Book of Mormon to read. 

The other day he texted us a song he wrote about the Book of Mormon! 

         
 "Los hermanos las hermanas por ti haran una oracion y el libro del Mormon se quedara en tu Corazon caminando caminando peladiando sin parar el mensaje lo llevamos por el mundo sin parar si quieres te visitamos para hacer una oracion y si la oracion te gusta nuestro padre celestial te iluminara por siempre con el libro del Mormon."

He texted us this morning and we met him here at the library because he wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon. We had a super good lesson with him. He had questions written down about things he heard or read. It's super cool to see. It's one of those things that doesn't happen very often!! All because of my love for taco bell and God:) 

Just acting like 6 year olds again!

We have been teaching a transgender person too. She is a girl working on being a dude. We found her contacting on a street. She has come to our church for the past year but she goes in Rio which is like an hour away. She knows it's all true but can't get baptized because she is taking hormone shots and doesn't want to stop them. So that's been crazy to deal with. She is super cool and plays the guitar really well. We always have a good time when we go there to teach her. We went by the other night and she was at work so we talked to her mom. Her mom was out sitting on the driveway in a chair relaxing. She told us that she was about to mow the lawn so I got up and started mowing it! Hahaha I love doing that. Mexican people freak out when you try to help them. They are hard workers. She finally let me do it after some "arguing" . I told her I needed blessings. I guess she agreed;) 

Last week Dad wrote saying that he was getting the garden all ready and in my head I was thinking, "Well, that's dumb.  It's so hot already!"  It's HOT here! I forget that I'm going to die when I get home.  It was 109 the other day.

Jennifer is doing really well. She came to church yesterday with her cousins. She has changed a lot since we started meeting with her. She loves the church. Her mom doesn't like the idea of Joseph Smith being a prophet and so she kind of stopped coming. We are working hard with them. They are doing good. We are hoping she will be baptized next Sunday or the one after depending on the mom. 

Yesterday we went to a member's house to eat who is a single man so we ate on the front porch of his trailer.  He gave us soup.  Have you ever had soup when it's 100 degrees outside? I don't recommend it.  But it was amazing soup so I'll give him that!

The mission is going great. We get to be a part of a lot of awesome stuff and some not so awesome stuff too. 

We went digging for surprises at the Bodega!  I thought I was just digging for lice and fleas.

Thank you for all your love and support! I love you all a ton. Have a great week!

                                       Hermana Thompson

Hello from Brown Town

May 16, 2016

This was a possum playing dead in someone's yard.  It was super cool.  The tail wrapped around my finger!  We were sitting around having a lesson with these old people we saw outside and during the lesson the dog was trying to eat this possum.  I got up in the middle of the lesson and went over and picked up the possum to rescue it.  My companion that I was with told me later that the man said I was a good person for helping the possum and that I was going to heaven and they were going to hell for just sitting there and watching it.  ha ha!  Who knew saving a possum would set an example for somebody.

Hola!

This week was a good one! We went down to McAllen for three days to have a training by our Mission President for all of the leaders. He also gave us all blessings and that was very powerful. I was a little nervous to get mine. Side story. Last week when I had an exchange with Sister Reynolds (STLT) I told her that I wasn't sure what I am supposed to be learning this transfer. She gave me the commitment to go through all of my areas and write down what I learned from each one and then see what is missing and that's what I need to work on. So I did that and I had a few ideas I had written down. When I got my blessing from President he blessed me with a few different gifts and they were all the things that I thought I was supposed to work on! I thought that was cool. I gained a testimony of following leaders and of the priesthood. He also quoted things from my Patriarchal Blessing. I learned a lot during the meetings too. I realized that I have so much to learn and do before I go home and It stresses me out. When I started my mission I got this idea in my head that I would come home an entirely different person. So much cooler and smarter and changed. Well I got the cooler part down;) Now that I have just a few months I have realized that a mission teaches you HOW to change and be happy and progress. It's not just going to stop after I get home but be a continual life long pursuit of changing and progressing. Anyway that's my little rant. 

Part of the group I came out with at the leader's meeting.

Some of the STLs

I got to work in McAllen for those days and we also got to see the Hernandez family which was super fun. We had a good time with them.

The Hernandez Family

So that giant spoon is full of Pepto Bismol.  My companion and investigators (yes, they are all Mexican) wanted to see how many jalapenos I could eat.  I had like 7.

Jennifer and Elizabeth are doing good. They came to an FHE with us on Monday night and they loved it. While we were gone, Jennifer went to mutual and they also went to another activity the church had. So that was awesome! They are doing super well so keep them in your prayers to continue to progress. 

I don't have too many stories this week since we weren't really here. I'm also out of time. Things are going great and I'm happy to be here! I love you all. Thank you for everything!

Love,

Hermana Thompson