YEAH! GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING! We watched conference at the church building. Elder A and I were basically the only people there for all of the session except for Priesthood and Sunday morning. The Prophet used my missionary scripture AND the Canada Vancouver mission got a shout-out by the prophet. I think it was in the Sunday morning session, in case you missed it. Also Jeffery R Holland's talk was AMAZING! Definitely in the top five Talks I’ve ever heard. SO GOOD!
I want a Mormon.org T Shirt now!! "I'm a Mormon.
Are you?" or "I’m a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it.” with a
QR code and "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" on the
back. Mark my words; you are going to start seeing them. It’s gonna happen.
Soooo Zach... I know you were looking forward to growing an Afro with me when I get back, but considering the prophets announcement yesterday I figured I better cut you a deal: I will accept a two year rain-check on the Afros if you have already submitted you papers [or are gone :O Aahhh! ] before I get home. Of course I’d love to see, you.... and Afros... but I'd understand.
Now, about food, and where we live. We live in an apartment and they are actually pretty nice, all things considered. The missionaries used to live in a members basement but now were in apartments. We will be moving from a furnished apartment to an unfurnished apartment so we have like a ton of extra mattresses and stuff kicking around right now. As for food, a gallon of milk is like $6 (plus tax), a box of Goldfish is $11 and a 3 kilogram box of frozen chicken is normally $43 (but I found it on sale!). So we actually have to be pretty stingy with our money. There is a Subway here, but there is no such thing as a $5 foot long. We eat at a member’s house maybe 3 or 4 times a month, and its crazy expensive to eat out, so we mostly just cook for ourselves most of the time. I’ve been eating a bit of PB and J, but I also bought a tube of super cheap nasty hamburger and a box of frozen chicken (at half off!) so I’m getting meat too, I got carrots, potatoes, and an onion (yes, I spent money on an onion of my own free will and choice. I don't know what’s wrong with me. I even read an Ensign article... for fun! I don't know who I am anymore.) I’ve already spent half of my money for the month, but I haven't even eaten half of what I bought yet, so I guess I'm doing okay. I did buy a lot of things that will last me for a while... like a gallon of vanilla ice cream and a bag of frozen raspberries! I’ve been making Elder A and I Milkshakes while we plan. So I splurged a bit there. ;P Oh! And I got tater tots! We're out of Ketchup though, so I haven't been able to eat them. I’ll have to get some today.
I was able to get a pretty nice Dakota winter/rain jacket combo. It's not as long as I would have liked, but it has two parts a liner and a shell that are both waterproof and it has pit zips in the liner. They are both black and they look like something the Wolfe’s would wear, so I’m guessing that means quality. I’ve got to wear them in the rain a couple of times already, and they seem to work pretty well. My legs still get wet, but I don’t think there is really anything I can do about that. Elder A has a trench coat that he wore, but it wasn't really waterproof and got pretty soggy so he bought a new jacket too. We look pretty snazzy. When I was coat shopping I kept thinking about that double breasted raincoat at CTR clothing, but I don't know if it was really waterproof. So I'm thinking it was actually a pretty good option coat wise. :) For now I think I'll just wait on buying anything else until I need it. ;P Probably not the smartest move, but I don’t want to buy snow boots and then end up never using them, right?
As far as packages go, if they are sent to the mission office I should get them whenever my Zone Leaders go there next (which is about once a month) and then they will give it to me the next time they see me (which is this Wednesday). So I probably won’t get your package this month but probably in time for REAL Thanksgiving. ;)
As of right now we have... I don't know how many investigators we have. :/ See, there are four kinds of "investigators":
Soooo Zach... I know you were looking forward to growing an Afro with me when I get back, but considering the prophets announcement yesterday I figured I better cut you a deal: I will accept a two year rain-check on the Afros if you have already submitted you papers [or are gone :O Aahhh! ] before I get home. Of course I’d love to see, you.... and Afros... but I'd understand.
Now, about food, and where we live. We live in an apartment and they are actually pretty nice, all things considered. The missionaries used to live in a members basement but now were in apartments. We will be moving from a furnished apartment to an unfurnished apartment so we have like a ton of extra mattresses and stuff kicking around right now. As for food, a gallon of milk is like $6 (plus tax), a box of Goldfish is $11 and a 3 kilogram box of frozen chicken is normally $43 (but I found it on sale!). So we actually have to be pretty stingy with our money. There is a Subway here, but there is no such thing as a $5 foot long. We eat at a member’s house maybe 3 or 4 times a month, and its crazy expensive to eat out, so we mostly just cook for ourselves most of the time. I’ve been eating a bit of PB and J, but I also bought a tube of super cheap nasty hamburger and a box of frozen chicken (at half off!) so I’m getting meat too, I got carrots, potatoes, and an onion (yes, I spent money on an onion of my own free will and choice. I don't know what’s wrong with me. I even read an Ensign article... for fun! I don't know who I am anymore.) I’ve already spent half of my money for the month, but I haven't even eaten half of what I bought yet, so I guess I'm doing okay. I did buy a lot of things that will last me for a while... like a gallon of vanilla ice cream and a bag of frozen raspberries! I’ve been making Elder A and I Milkshakes while we plan. So I splurged a bit there. ;P Oh! And I got tater tots! We're out of Ketchup though, so I haven't been able to eat them. I’ll have to get some today.
I was able to get a pretty nice Dakota winter/rain jacket combo. It's not as long as I would have liked, but it has two parts a liner and a shell that are both waterproof and it has pit zips in the liner. They are both black and they look like something the Wolfe’s would wear, so I’m guessing that means quality. I’ve got to wear them in the rain a couple of times already, and they seem to work pretty well. My legs still get wet, but I don’t think there is really anything I can do about that. Elder A has a trench coat that he wore, but it wasn't really waterproof and got pretty soggy so he bought a new jacket too. We look pretty snazzy. When I was coat shopping I kept thinking about that double breasted raincoat at CTR clothing, but I don't know if it was really waterproof. So I'm thinking it was actually a pretty good option coat wise. :) For now I think I'll just wait on buying anything else until I need it. ;P Probably not the smartest move, but I don’t want to buy snow boots and then end up never using them, right?
As far as packages go, if they are sent to the mission office I should get them whenever my Zone Leaders go there next (which is about once a month) and then they will give it to me the next time they see me (which is this Wednesday). So I probably won’t get your package this month but probably in time for REAL Thanksgiving. ;)
As of right now we have... I don't know how many investigators we have. :/ See, there are four kinds of "investigators":
1.
Potential
investigators. These are people we talk to, tell them who we are and what we
do, and they say that we can come back sometime and talk to them more. Neither
Elder A nor I know how many of these we have. We write them all down, but it’s
impossible to really keep track of them all because they are always moving away
(or just lying to us about where they live) and often don't keep appointments.
Many people never make it past being a potential. :(
2.
New and Other
Investigators. A New Investigator is someone who has been taught one lesson
(one of the lessons out of Preach My Gospel, complete with leaving them a
commitment [i.e. read BoM, pray about what we taught, etc.] and at least one
prayer) and has a specific return appointment. We have 5 new investigators this
week. Other Investigators have been taught more than one lesson but are not
necessarily keeping their commitments.
3.
Progressing
Investigators! These are the best kind of investigators; they keep their
commitments and appointments, and are moving forward in their faith, testimony,
and along the path towards baptism... and ultimately the Celestial Kingdom. :D
We only have one of these, and he's young. He wants to/is ready to be baptized
but he lives with his dad and stepmother and he need his birth-mom's permission
to get baptized. We actually experienced a little miracle with him this last
week, we decided in our planning that the next time we met with him we would
talk to his parents about getting permission for him to be baptized from his
Mom. But then while we were out tracting the first house we knocked on a woman
answered the door, I was the one who had knocked and Elder A was standing
behind me on the steps, I began to talk to her and tell her about who we were
and what we did. She seemed really friendly and nice, and when I asked if there
would be a time that we could come back and share our message she said that we
could. We set a time and I asked her what her name was, she said “C”, I
introduced myself as Elder Thomson and then Elder A leaned around the doorway
to introduce himself.... he did a visible double take "C?" he asked,
"Young kids Mom?" (Name removed to protect identity) We had
unknowingly tracted into our young investigators mom, and got a return
appointment. Best day of my mission yet.
4.
Former
investigators. :( These are the sad and depressing people who for whatever
reason we are no longer teaching. Perhaps it was that they weren't keeping
commitments or appointments. Maybe they felt that they were just too busy for
the gospel, or maybe they said that they did not want to meet with us anymore. Each
one is different and each one makes us sad.
Hey! Remember that family that invited us in for tea?? Yeah, so we went back and taught them the first lesson, well actually we "talked" them the first lesson, they didn't want us to "teach" them, but that's okay, because God did. ;D These are the kind of people that Preach My Gospel was written for. They have been through quite the journey, and I can’t share all of it because I don't have the time or the right, but as the husband said "I've gone to a lot of different churches throughout my life, but there always seemed to be something missing." His wife had James 1:5 highlighted in her scriptures, and she said that it was amazing that God spoke to Joseph Smith through that scripture to. We taught about the Restoration and told them about how a Prophet Thomas S Monson leads the church and talks to God today. We told them that we had just had a conference and that they could see the Prophet talk if they wanted to look it up on lds.org, we also gave them a Book of Mormon and they said they would read it. It was awesome. I can’t wait to see how things work out with them.
Well I gotta go, but thank you guys so much for the weather forecast that was really helpful. Elder A and I have been lamenting that we can’t get one, so keep 'em up! :D
I love you guys, and can’t wait to hear from you again! :D
Love,
Elder Thomson
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