So... life is crazy. 'nuf said.

This week was crazy we did so many bunches if service, tons of tracting, and in other words worked like dogs. We didn't find any new investigators, but mostly because we were dummies and forgot to pray with people all the time. So far in our companionship Elder K and I have found four new investigators only to have our hearts crushed when we either: 1 discover that they are actually former investigators, 2 get dropped by those new investigators before our initial return appointment (thus rendering them not a new investigator), 3  realize that they don't actually live in our area.

Yeah, life is an adventure. But its good, good things are coming.

We went on exchanges this past week with some other Elders: Elder M and Elder B. I was with Elder B here in 2^nd Ward, and Elder K went with Elder M in 1st Ward. We had a good exchange, we mostly tracted and had a Less-Active Lesson in the evening. Elder B is a good missionary, he is very good at finding and talking to people and he is fairly bold. He is also a very good listener. We stopped by a potential investigator named J, we talked to him for about 30 minutes and he really opened up to us, (which he really didn't do the first time we talked to him, and attribute his opening up partially to the spirit, and partially to Elder B’s good listing). He told us all about his bad experiences in different churches, his separation and divorce from his wife and is current woes with his living situation, and his desire to create a good environment for his teenage son to mature in. We talked about pure religion, helping others, families, and the positive experiences that he has had with the "Mormon" church. He didn’t become a new investigator because we didn’t say a prayer or set a specific return appointment. But it was a good visit none the less.

Elder K has been out 8 months now. Wow that really doesn't sound like that much anymore! I learn lots from Elder K! Here is an itemized list:

A - How to be more awesome! 

2 - The same as A.

D - The same as 2.

And on and on! But seriously though, Elder K has awesome insight on how we can improve in the littlest ways. And he is always supper humble about suggesting things. He's awesome. 

 He does like to eat his food off of a cloth mat instead of a plate sometimes, sorry to disappoint but we don't always eat with chopsticks now. The only thing that's really changed in my habits since being with Elder K is that I eat more cereal now. But, he also pretty much took over washing all the dishes, which has traditionally been my job. I almost always washed the dishes before because, as much as I love my other companions, they just sucked at washing dishes. Some of them tried and did a really awful job, others seemed to believe that all they had to do was put the dishes in the sink and they got magically cleaned, and still others didn't even bother getting them to the sink. Goodness I love those guys.

Speaking of which you should Facebook stalk Elder-not-anymore H, because he’s home now and some members were telling me that he was on Facebook. Send him a message or something. See if he freaks out. ;)

Requests: 

1 A copy of my Fallen poem, against all odds I wanted to share it with a member the other day.

2 A printout of the Lectures on Faith... if it’s not too long. 

3 A mental hug... cause I need one right now. :)

That's about all I have time for I gotta run! :(

I love you all soo much! Bye!

Elder Thomson

Orange I glad you love me loads? ;)

First off, best news of all J was baptized in Prince Rupert! That is M's husband J. J is the one that almost slammed the door on Elder A and I when we went back to talk to M the second time. But that after M told him that she wanted to hear the message, and we taught the most disjointed first lesson of all time, he was the one that invited us back. He was so prepared, but it totally didn’t seem that way when we first talked to him. That’s three people baptized in Prince Rupert that I was able to have a hand (or a foot) in teaching in my time there. Plus M referred the Missionaries to her family there and last I had heard they were teaching them too!  Elder B (who I was in the MTC with) is serving there now, so the place is in good hands.

In other less exciting news, Clearwater was just closed as an area. There are no missionaries serving there now. Apparently it is just going to be for a few transfers. But for now we're giving it a rest.

Meanwhile, I have a new companion. His name is Elder K, he is from Hong Kong and he is a BOSS. I love him already. He’s 20, his hobbies include Shopping and Photography. He is the first companion that I have had that I have been jealous of HIS camera. He was born in California so he has dual citizenship, and he went to school in Utah for a while. He has two siblings; a brother and a sister and he is the youngest. His Dad is a member of the Mission Presidency in Hong Kong and his Mom is either the President or in the RS Presidency. That’s pretty much all I know so far. He has a great testimony, and is an awesome missionary. I love him a lot. 

This week has been somewhat as a disappointment in that because of transfers a lot of the plans and lessons that we had planned on having work out fell through. And despite our hard work and a considerable amount of juggling we didn't find any new investigators this week, though we really got our hopes up pretty high when we tracted into a former investigator (named D), who we didn't know lived there, and he invited us in. We had a pretty good lesson. He had some pretty standard concerns, and some serious doubts about the Book of Mormon. He had a hard time seeing why it is needed, but he believes that anything that brings us to Christ is good, and he believes that we can receive personal Revelation and a personal witness of the truthfulness of things as we pray and ask God, but he doesn't think he needs the Book of Mormon because he already has the New Testament. We explained that the Book of Mormon is an additional witness of the divinity of Christ and the evidence of the Restoration of His church. D was open to reading from the Book of Mormon and praying, and we were able, after some talking, to set up to go back next week.

We also had a rather brief lesson with M. She didn't come to church yesterday. She usually comes with her true friends (her son and daughter in law) J and Y but they weren't at church yesterday either because they were out of town. But I'm sure we will be able to meet again sometime this week and we will be able to follow up with M and how she is feeling about everything. Our goal with our next lesson is still to emphasize how the Gospel, specifically the Plan of Salvation, family history, and temple work, will help her to regain her heritage and those connections with her family, and we also want to go over the baptismal interview questions with her to help her see just how prepared she really is, and how much she really does know. Because her concerns are losing her religious heritage, and she feels she doesn't yet know enough to be baptized.

On an up note, we did find several potential investigators this past week who we are planning and praying for them to become new investigators in this current week. We do everything we can to help that happen. But our friend with the VW…we still haven't been able to meet with. We were going to meet on Wednesday, but we were on a bus at the time that we had set up our appointment for. We called ahead to let her know that we weren't going to be able to keep our appointment, and she said to call again Friday to set something up. We called Friday and she got busy and her business just got really hectic so she won’t be able to sit down together with her husband and us for several weeks now. Grrrrrrrr. :(

In other happier news again Elder Aidukaitis of the first Quorum of the Seventy was just in Langley on Saturday he addressed the missionaries and his address was broadcast up here to our chapel. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to see him in person but he gave a wonderful training and had some awesome things to say about the "New Era" of missionary work that we are in. I also got to see a bunch of people that I recognized from Willoughby while I was watching them set up for the broadcast. The sound quality wasn't that great so I didn't catch quite everything everyone said, but the spirit was felt pretty strong and I couldn't be happier to be serving in this place at this time. 

 Don’t sweat your botched missionary experience mum! You're just a greenie, so don’t be too hard on yourself. ;) That’s what the repentance is for anyway. The Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all. :D May I suggest studying Preach My Gospel to help you prepare for your next opportunity? Maybe even to help Zach and Nate and even Belle prepare to share the gospel when the moment arrives. You could consider for FHE studying a chapter of Preach My Gospel every for the next 17, or so, weeks (I would suggests taking the Lessons in Chapter 3 one at a time). Or you could study one principle out of the lessons at a time and then take turns teaching that principle to everyone else. Teaching is really just talking about something so that someone understands. You can actually teach by asking questions. What do you think? Do you think that could help you feel more prepared?

Love,

Elder Thomson

Orange I so glad you guys are super cheesy!

Did someone say cheesy? ;)

 

Yum...

 

Elder K Eating a super cheddar chip.

Tang out of glasses styled like oranges...super cool.

 

I promise I don't eat this bad all the time. Its just that the only time that I seem to remember to take a picture of something is when I am about to do something potentially dangerous and/or impressive. 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sooooo.... yeah!

Oops... I thought I mentioned to you that P and T came to church on the week that I spoke. ;)  Your right, I didn’t tell you what I spoke about either. Oh well, it wasn't that great of a talk. As it turns out the Bishopric had double booked us with a High Council speaker so I was supposed to fill the same time as a youth speaker 5-7 minutes, Elder H was supposed to take about 10-12 minutes and the High Council speaker was supposed to take about 15. What actually happened was both Elder H and I took about 12 minutes each and that was booking it through our talks and the High Council speaker took almost 30 minutes. Also, the sacrament took forever because there were so many people there, a lot of them were from Alberta, but P and T came too, I was pretty jazzed to see them there. Sorry if I forgot to mention that as well.

Again, you are right, there are probably about a million things that I mean to tell you each week but every time I get a few things out and then completely blank on the rest, and by then I'm about out of time.

That being said… Before I forget I have to tell you about the super cool experience we had this week and I will endeavor to tell it as dramatically as time will allow:

So there I was... I mean... So there we were, tracting, on C Street (that is a street in town here) and we are talking to people and knocking on doors and basically running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to find somebody to teach. We had just stopped by a SUPER less active member, and found that they were not home. And we had talked to a man doing yard work but he had declined our offer of help. We had knocked the next two or three doors down from him and had received a rather unwelcoming attitude at each, when the man who we had offered to help informed us that he was about to turn his sprinklers on so we had better move our car. We joked with him a bit about getting a free car wash but ended up moving our car anyway. It was at that point that I suggested to Elder H that perhaps this wasn't the place that the Lord would have us be at that time, since none of the people we had talked to thus far had seemed in the least bit prepared. Elder H, in his great wisdom and spiritual sensitivity (or perhaps it was laziness in not wanting to find another place to work ;) ) assured me that this was indeed the place because it was where we had planned to work. So we carried on. We walked back past the man who had asked us to move our car, back past the people who had been less than welcoming. And we kept going. We knocked on doors and no one was home, we knocked on doors and no one answered, we knocked on doors and all we smelled was weed (side note: stereotypes work! it was about 4:23 in the afternoon.) We knocked on doors and talked to grumpy people, we knocked on doors and talked to disinterested people, we knocked on doors and talked to apathetic people and then we knocked on this one door... nothin'! Do you see where I’m going with this? And then we knocked on the next door... and a blue Volkswagen Bug screeched to a stop behind us. There is a woman in the car and she yells "Mormons?!?". Elder H and I looked at each other and then proceeded to nod like idiots. We were all like "Yahwuh..?" then she gestures emphatically with her hand. "Flyer!" she said. I promise you that you have never seen two guys try harder or faster to get a piece of paper out of a satchel before in your life!! Also I won. I had a restoration pamphlet out faster than you can say  "Joseph Smith was the prophet of the restoration, called by God to restore Christ’s church to the earth in these the latter days, and to prepare the way for the second coming of the Savior." At least I felt about that fast. ;) Anyways, we handed her the pamphlet and she was gone. I think she said something about it was good to see us out doing what we do, but that was sort of drowned out by the squeal of the tires as she sped off again. As the dust settled, Elder H turned to me and said, "Well... that doesn't happen all the time."

And we thought that was it. Maybe she would read the pamphlet, maybe she wouldn't. It was in God’s hands now... or so we thought. But all we could do was carry on with what we knew. So we did. And as we walked and knocked and talked and got pretty used to the feeling of rejection, we spied a house around a bend in the street, with a blue Volkswagen Bug in the driveway.  Of course we knocked, and guess who answered?! A completely different girl! But that's okay because she was the daughter of the woman that we had talked to earlier and her mom was home so we were able to talk to them. Turns out, they are having some family troubles and some trouble with their church and these troubles seem to be related. So, to cut a kind of a little bit long story short, they are looking for a different church and they said that their search has come down to the Anglican church or ours. So we gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and directed her to The Family a Proclamation to the World. We have set up to go back Wednesday afternoon to teach the first lesson. I’ll let you know how it goes!  TO BE CONTINUED...

Oh and Elder H is as good as gone. All his stuff is packed and he hits the road at 3:00 this afternoon with Elder C (one of the Zone Leaders from First Ward, who is also dying-going home), at which point I will be in a Tri with Elder F (the other Zone Leader in the First Ward) and Elder B (from Merritt, whose companion, Elder R, is ALSO dying), we'll be together until we get our new companions, and I think it’s pretty safe to say (like 99.9999999999999999999999871 % sure) that all of us are staying in the areas we're in now. But you can never really be sure with President Tilleman. ALSO: I did ask about being whitewashed so many times, President responded that it was "an interesting theory to be sure", but that it "had no merit" (his exact words). He went on to say some other things that completely undermined any confidence or assurance that his previous statements may have afforded me. I'm not in trouble, but I’m not out of the frying pan either. I’m not exactly sure what he meant but I’m afraid I may be finding out very soon. :/

With love,

Elder Thomson

 

 

This Week!!!

Our week….in a super-tiny-itty-bitty-but-still-better-than-I-have-been-doing-nutshell:

Monday evening we were invited out to a Family Home Evening to share about our experiences with our missions with a family’s three sons. It was a really good experience that recalled to my memory some of the highlights of the past year and I was able to share that with the boys who also have desires to serve. They asked some really good questions. Then we asked what Missionary experiences that they have been having in their lives. They told us about their neighbor’s son with whom they are good friends. We talked to them about inviting him and them out to Scouting and Young Men activities, and having them over to their home. We will be going back to visit that family again this week and will be following up on how that went.

Tuesday I was on exchanges with Elder B, we had some good plans, but not all of them worked out quite how we had planned so we spent a significant amount of the day tracting. Elder B is a really good missionary, who is amazingly relaxed and knowledgeable for how long he has been out. While I was with Elder B we went to visit a less active family who moved up to this area from Las Vegas not to many years ago. Elder B, being from the Vegas area, was able to connect with them, particularly the husband really well, and the family was friendly and positive about the church so I think there is some promising potential there in getting them reactivated, we just have to plan out a good time to meet with them as it seems like they're hardly ever around. And we weren't able to find out what has been keeping them from church, but I suspect it might be work.

Wednesday we met with M and we talked some more about Baptism. We were able to find out that one of her biggest concerns is that she doesn't want to lose her religious heritage, which her family (mother and grandparents) back as far as memory goes have all been a part of. She believes all of the things that we teach at church, but she attends her families church sometimes because she want to try and help preserve the culture and language that her mother grew up with. We are meeting with her again tonight and have planned to talk about the Plan of Salvation, Family History, and Temple Work and how the Restored Gospel won’t take her away from her family and culture but will actually help her recover them better than anything else.

That evening we also met with Sister M, she is a less active convert to the church, and she has been having dreams about Family History. We talked about getting her into Family History work and directed her to where she could go to get an account and get started, we also talked about having one of the members come to her home to help her get the hang of things. I think she really does want to come to church. She is a really nice lady.

Thursday we got to meet with R and K. K is a recent convert and R is working on getting the Melchizedek Priesthood. We had a good lesson with them about enduring to the end and talked about the Temple as well. R seems excited. K seemed a little hesitant and had some questions. I think Eternal Marriage and the Temple is something we are going to need to spend some more time on with them. They are both super sweet people. They both have good hearts and a love for the Gospel and both regularly attend the Gospel Principles class.

Friday was somewhat of a disappointment; a lot of things fell through or just didn't work out, even the members we had planned to see we weren't really able to share a message with because everyone was busy. But we did a lot of finding and contacted a few potentials, some of whom we will be contacting again soon... others, not so soon. But we did meet a lot of cool people.

We had a kind of cool experience Saturday night. We had planned to stop by a Brother in the Ward but when we stopped by the babysitter answered the door and informed us that he and his wife were out and wouldn't be back until much later. We said that we would try back a different day and went to move on to our back up plan, but then we remembered that just the previous Sunday we had met his Sister at church and learned that she and her other (less active) brother and mother all lived not too far from there. We decided that before we went to our backup plan we would try to stop by them and see if we could share a message with them. As we drove up we saw them playing outside and we asked if we could visit with them for a little bit and share a message. They were actually really excited to see us, and they invited us in. We were able to get to know them a little better and talked about each of their conversion and testimony of the church. We shared a scripture and as it turns out, the less active brother does in fact believe the church is true and he wants to serve a Mission. We invited them all to church (just for good measure), and they all said they would try.

Sunday Elder H and I both spoke in Sacrament Meeting. And in the evening we had dinner with S, her less active brother, and her non-member husband. They were all very nice and we were able to share a message with them. Sister A's husband was very friendly and warm. I believe there could be progress made there with both of them.

After the A's we went to the M’s home to teach their soon-to-be son in law, D, one of the new member lessons. We talked about Eternal Marriage, and D understood it very well. He is a very smart guy. You might even say that he is a sober child, and quick to observe. He is very good about understanding and applying the Gospel. And the M's treat him like one of the family already. That’s just a really greats situation there. If only all investigators or new members had support like that pretty much all of our problems would be solved.

That was our week. Nothing terribly exciting happened, but we worked hard, and we'll be working even harder AND smarter this week. We'll see how that goes.

We are allowed by mission rules to be on the computer for two hours, but the libraries only allow one so if we want a second hour we have to find another library with two computers side by side that someone isn't already using... and some days that's just more of an ordeal than it is worth. But we try as much as we can. :)

These computers are way better than the ones in Langley, so I could probably be sending pictures back too, but unfortunately I haven't been taking too many. It’s a lot harder to carry my camera around in the summer. In the winter I just pack it in my coat pocket, but in the summer I don't have quite so many pockets so most of the pictures I end up taking are at night when we are at the apartment. And most of those are worrisome because they are of stupid ideas that one or either other of us has had, or they are pictures of our abysmally bad diet choices… but usually both. The latest and greatest one is toaster waffles and honey flavored Greek Yogurt (9% milk fat). Elder H is sensitive to dairy so it doesn't always end well, but he seems to be getting better and it’s not bad enough to get him to stop eating it. ;) 

I love you all, and hope all is well at home, and abroad.

Love,

Elder Thomson

P.S. Really quick like:

Why did the chicken cross the road... according to Mormons:

"As the egg is the chicken once was, and as the chicken is the egg may become."

"No success in crossing the road can compensate for failure in the coup."

Member One - "My home teachers are so good they always come on the first day of the month!"

Member Two - "Oh yeah?? Well my home teachers are so good that they always come the day before that!!"

Member One - "Huh?"

 

 

Hello all!

Last week was awesome!

While we didn't get any new investigators this past week we were able to contact and meet many wonderful people this past week and we will be seeing many of them again this upcoming week.

Among them were our two most promising prospects for baptism this month: C and M. Both have been attending church regularly for some time now, and have very few (if any) things that would need to change in their life's (as far as the commandments go) in order for them to be baptized. 

M is the mother of or recent convert. Her reservations seem to be mainly centered around her not feeling like she knows enough. We just need to keep meeting with her to help her solidify her testimony of the first principles and ordinances of the gospel, and then help her to understand that that testimony is enough to start with, and that we don't need to know everything from the get go. 

C has been attending our churches all over the place for, as far as we understand, basically four years. He has a super solid true friend who he wants to baptize him. He is a really smart guy with a deep love of God and the scriptures. He is clean cut, and very giving, respectful, and helpful. In short he would make an excellent member of the church. 

In a nutshell that was our week. We had a Zone Conference on Saturday with some incredible training by President Tilleman, and then in the evening there was a HUGE YSA fireside, to which we were invited, and President Tilleman spoke there as well. I wish I could tell you all of the things that were said but suffice it to say that the church is true, miracles have not ceased, and there is no other way nor name given except that of Christ. 

In other news! I went to see our distant relatives P and T. (They are like my... great, great grand-cousins, three or four times removed, on my uncle’s pet gecko’s side... I think.) They are awesome. They are super friendly and many of the things we talked about were about miracles that they have seen in their lives, they have a belief in God. Like I said they are awesome. We had food, which was awesome. We told stories, those were awesome. We looked at pictures, awesome. P showed us his woodwork, which was awesome. T gave us cinnamon rolls, THOSE WERE AWESOME. We are so going back, and it’s going to be awesome. 

With love,

Elder Thomson

This week was awesome!!

This week was awesome!! Except I missed everything fun. We had back to back exchanges and both times I got picked to go to the other areas, so I wasn’t in my area for a combined total of about 48 hours. Of course in that time Elder H and first Elder B and then Elder F; contacted a referral, set up about a million appointments (exaggerating), taught three lessons, and found three new investigators. Meanwhile back in the Ward: when I'm not tracting, I’m getting stood up on appointments and force fed ice-cream and cherries by overly generous British people. ; P

But life is good! : D There are a lot of good things happening in our area that I was actually able to be around for.

Like I said there really isn't a whole lot I can report on this week as it seems like anything interesting that happened in the area this past week happened while I was gone on exchanges. We had back to back exchanges Tuesday into Wednesday and Wednesday into Thursday. We did find three new investigators this week, but I have yet to meet any of them, but our return appointments with them are coming up so I look forward to meeting with and getting to know them soon.

One thing that's kind of cool that we have been working on this week is we set up to have weekly splits with the Elders and High Priests every Thursday night. Our first priority will be to have hopefully 2 lessons with investigators scheduled during that time, but after that we will be visiting Less Active Members (preferably with their Home Teachers) and helping to uplift and encourage them.

The Ward Mission leader is really on board and the Quorum and Group as a whole seemed fairly in favor of the idea so the first of these "rescue nights" will be this upcoming Thursday. I'm excited to see how it goes.

I love the area. I love the people here. I love my companion. I love the work. I tolerate the weather. Life is good. God is good. The church is true.

Love ya lots!

Elder Thomson

P.S. To answer your questions:

I’m serving in a weird place, cool people. As per the usual in Canada none of the streets make sense. The weather is as far as I can tell consistently too warm, but we just mooched a fan off of the First Ward Elders so we should survive...maybe.

My Companion: Weird guy... that pretty much all there is. He is a nerd, a dweeb, and a dork, and I love him for all of those reasons! His favorite past times are juggling and Rubik’s cube. I know... right? But he has impressive skills in both and more women (i.e. girlfriends) than any other Missionary I have served with, and for that he is a stud... but I don’t understand how...  ; P

The apartment: Small, but clean. I have seen bigger shoe boxes, but compared to my last apartment it’s a gold inlaid shoe box. We live under a super cool family. And the members in the Ward are awesome.

 

Several Awesome Miracles!

Hello family!

This past week has been wonderful. We witnessed several awesome miracles, and the Lord has blessed us indeed. Funny thing about miracles: I never seem to stop being surprised when they happen. You'd think that sooner or later after seeing so many we'd get desensitized, or they'd stop impressing us quite as much, and I guess that does happen, but it’s usually more of a deficiency of gratitude than anything else.

 

Anyway this past week we had two miracles with referrals and one miracle new investigator.

 

Our miracle new investigator's name is C, we met him after Church when our Ward Mission Leader (Brother S, who is awesome) came running up to us after church and said for us to come quick because he had someone for us to meet. That's when he introduced us to C. Turns out C has been coming to church for a while at different buildings, he has been unofficially investigating for a long time and some recent challenges in his life have thrown into sharp contrast the proper order of his priorities. He attended several other Wards yesterday, and talked to missionaries in all three wards. He was in Gospel Principles which is where he met our Ward Mission Leader and told him briefly his story. Anyway, we were able to meet with him after church and get to know where he is coming from, we shared our testimonies with him of the Church and of God's hand in everything, we shared some scriptures and he said that he would be attending Church next week as well, and we set up another meeting for after church. He seems very humble and very sincere, he said that he is searching for something, for a place where he belongs, so I think good thinks are ahead for him.

 

Both of our miracle referrals were from Missionaries; one who just left for her mission to Nevada and another who just returned. Turns out one of the referrals is actually a part member family that we didn't have on our records, and when we went over to see them they were super friendly and invited us back for another time.

 

The other referral we have not been able to contact yet but it was also truly an unexpected miracle.

 

That’s cool that we passed the home inspection thingy for Adult Foster Parenting. It’s also cool that you got released from RS President, but not so cool that you got sick. Woot! A Stake Primary calling! That’s going to be awesome!

 

I love you soooo much too. Sorry my emails have been kinda weak lately. I keep telling myself I'm going to do better but then I get distracted.

 

Anyways! Questions I want to know about home:

 

Who are the Elders in our Ward right now? How is their teaching pool?

 

How are things in politics/the world? I haven’t got an update on that in a while?

 

Also a kitchen update would be cool.

 

How are the Wolfes doing? Is everything going well there or are they ready to through in the towel and come back to civilized country?  :  )

 

Also if you could send me a hard copy of the edited letter that I wrote for the Sons of... whatchamacallit camp that would be awesome! :D

 

The Lord is just and merciful, the work is hard and miraculous, the Church is true and that's it.

 

Love ya!

 

-Elder Thomson

I did indeed get transferred!

I did indeed get transferred. I am now serving with Elder H. This is his last transfer of his mission, which means he has been out exactly one year longer than me. He is super cool, and our personalities are scary similar. This is either going to end really good or really bad.

 

We live in the basement. Just btw, you don’t need to put “basement” on the envelope. The people upstairs are members and they will just give us the mail.

 

In other news... remember how I got two packages at the same time a week before I got transferred? Remember how I had to ditch so much stuff? But in other news the Zone Leaders now love me forever because I gave them a box of Angry Birds Cheese Nips and a box of Goldfish Crackers and half a box of Oreos. I couldn't leave that for the new Elders!

 

Oh! I got whitewashed again! That makes me three for three on the whitewash. Weird. I'm actually going to write President about that right now. ;)

 

Pray for me!

 

Elder Thomson

 

Oh, and I love Kyri too. And I love being a Cuz-Uncle. And I love being a Missionary, and I love Cherries and Legos and my companion. And I love the Scriptures and I love the Savior. And I love all you guys at home.

 

Love me back? :D

 

 

 

"Peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment."

I'm sorry to hear about the passing of Aunt Alisha and Uncle Nate's baby. Destiny is such a beautiful name for an equally beautiful daughter of God, who was just too good for this evil world. Please tell them that they are in my prayers, and share with them my testimony that they will see her daughter again. "peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment." see D&C 121: 7-8

Your calculations are so correct! If one of us is getting a call to be transferred we should be getting it this evening. Side Note: we had dinner with the N family yesterday and Sister N's sister has a son serving in Toronto so while we were there she was writing him an email and I had her put in to have her son say "Hi" to an Elder Romrell serving in Mandarin work in or near Toronto. ;) So we'll see if the message gets through. ;) I have been in this area for three transfers now (4 1/2 months for those of you who are keeping track at home) and so I wouldn't be surprised if I left, but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if I stayed.

This is a tough area, I'm not complaining or making excuses (I have before, but I'm not now), it just is. But good things are happening in the Ward. We had a meeting with Bishop last Sunday afternoon and set up with him to have a Missionary Correlation meeting with him and his Councilors and a representative from each Priesthood and Auxiliary Presidency. Ward Council and PEC are good, but Missionary work gets five minutes, tops, and that just to ask if there are any investigators that they should know about or that we need help with.  That first correlation meeting happened Tuesday night, at that meeting Brother O, a member of the Bishopric stepped forward and volunteered to serve as the interim Ward Mission Leader, until our recently called new Ward Mission Leader returns from his seven week vacation. The next afternoon we met at Brother O’s house with Brother A (our Ward Missionary who plays for the BC Lions), and Sister H (our upstairs neighbor), we hashed over the Ward Mission Plan, and set some serious goals for the Ward Mission, and some super manageable baby steps to get the members helping to accomplish those goals. It was really good. Then yesterday Brother O (politely) hijacked PEC and we spent the whole meeting talking about Missionary work. THEN after church we met with President K of the Elder’s Quorum and went over the Ward list and talked about who he thought would be good for us to visit or what we could do to help the members fellowship these people. ALSO we got our first batch of 20 names for the Lost Sheep rescue effort so pretty soon we will be dividing those 20 between us and the Sisters so we can start tracking 'em down. ;) Good stuff.

As far as transfers go though, I don’t know what stresses me out the most.  I don’t necessarily like saying goodbye to everybody, that’s stressful. There are so many cool people in each of the areas that I’ve served, both members and nonmembers. I’m not a fan of packing up all my junk or trying to juggle everything while I travel. I’m always plagued by the fear that I’m forgetting something. And honestly if I move this transfer I’m getting rid of a bunch of it and just keeping the things that I really need... or like. I hope you don’t mind but I already gave my EFY CD's to Elder A because now that I have the USB I don’t really use them anyway, but thank you so much for the CDs and the USB, they have both been wonderful. But I think the thing that stresses me out the most is the fear of the unknown.

In other news.. we are taking our second hour of email in the Clerk’s office at the church today so you get pictures!!!

 

Love ya. Gotta run! Bye! :D

Elder Thomson

Lego!!!

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

I think this actually might be a better goofy glasses picture:

Me doing cool things with a flashlight ;)

District:

Happy Canada Day and Independence Day!

Good morning! : D

Nope, didn’t get my face painted for Canada Day and I didn’t see anyone with a painted face either. The ward did have a BBQ, and I guess we could have gone since it was our P-day, but we were busy cleaning the whole time so instead of celebrating Canada’s independence from Great Brittan, we fought for our own independence from dirt. We did a halfhearted, at best, job cleaning the car and apartment a few weeks back (because we got distracted playing Frisbee with the District and ran out of time) and we never really recovered. So we were due for a deep clean, and both the car and the apartment are looking good now.

I also cut two Elders hair yesterday. I can’t remember if I told you or not but a few months back I got sick of other people doing an awful job cutting my hair, and so I decided that I couldn’t do much worse myself so I have been cutting my own hair for a while now and so far everything seems to be going good (but you wouldn’t know otherwise since you haven’t gotten pictures in like FOREVER. I do feel bad about that, I really do, I’ll get right on that. I’m 500 lbs. btw. So FAT!) Anyway! both Elder S’s in my District; Zone Leader Elder S, and greenie Elder S, thought I did an alright job on my own hair, and I guess they figured if I did an okay job on my own hair I couldn’t do too terrible of a job on theirs, so they both asked me to cut their hair yesterday, and I think they turned out alright. We will see if they ask me to cut their hair again, then we'll know what they really thought. ;)

Anywho! I thence for titled myself Zone Barber, which is far better than my previous title of Poverty Boy. I ran out of money for food early last month because I didn’t budget well, and so I was mooching food left right and center. I did end up buying some stuff on personal funds last week, and I do feel bad about that but I was hungry and that frozen food tasted so good!! I had to buy pens anyway, right?

Oh, and I totally did see that broadcast. https://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/special-broadcast?lang=eng

 IT WAS SO GOOD!! You have to watch it! Watch it now! And then watch it again! And then tell me what you thought... in your letter... because I don’t have that much longer on the computer. I took a really long time to email the Mission President today. :/

 Anyway, I love and miss you all terrible much. Time flies when you're having fun. Pigs fly when you throw them far. And when it’s hot out have a Melona Bar. (I think the company that makes them is called Bingrea, or something like that. You should try them if you can find them. They are super good! )

Love,

Elder Thomson

P.S. I miss the Wolfe’s already!! :(  Make sure they know exactly where they have to be on September 10th 2014. That’s right! Back in Corvallis... or else! ;P

 

This week

This week I saw many miracles, most of which I was to blind and ungrateful to recognize. The ones that come to mind at the minute are first: health and safety. Through no great effort on my part my health and safety seem to be fairly well. My diet is probably next to the worse it has ever been and yet I am still not grotesquely obese. Around here, everyone and their uncle drives like a maniac (I drive defensively... even cowardly at times) but it is still a miracle that no one has smashed into us yet, though we see accidents all the time. The Lord protects his Missionaries.

I also had the opportunity this week to teach a lesson to a Mandarin (Chinese) speaking couple who don't speak a word of English. That was an amazing experience that I could spend hours writing about. It was a miracle that we even met them and that we could teach them. I was truly blessed to be there. They are the parents of the Chinese Branch President visiting from China for three months. They are not members, they don't even really know that much about Christ, but they are so very open to learning and have very big hearts. We called the member family because (unbeknownst to us) even though they attend a different unit since they live near us they have records here and so they were on our Ward list. When we called Sister G told us that they have not had English speaking Missionaries to their home in over four years, and the week after her Mother and Father in law arrived from China we called. Inspired or what? We went over to their house and talked about Christ (Sister G translated for us) we shared the “Finding Faith in Christ” DVD in Mandarin and left them with a copy so they could watch it again on their own. They are attending the Mandarin Branch and being taught by the Chinese Sister Missionaries. I was so happy for the chance and miracle it was that we were able to meet them and share with them about Christ.

I was rather blessed to learn something in a new light this past week. in sacrament meeting on Sunday Brother L spoke of the path to exaltation, and he mentioned five steps (go figure) that at first sounded unrelated to the five steps to the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we as Missionaries preach every day, but upon further reflection started to sound very, very familiar. The five steps were these:

Desire to Believe:

Not everyone has faith, in fact we run into dozens every day, many even say that they wish that they could believe they wish that they could be partakers to the gifts of peace that come from strong faith and trust in the Lord. But for some reason they consider themselves separate, and unable to develop such faith, they recognize in themselves those human doubts and adversary inspired cynicisms that keep them from developing such faith.  Such obstacles are easily overcome if we can just desire to believe. Alma 32:27 "But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."

Develop Testimony:

Once we have exercised this desire and developed a particle of faith it is then our duty to nurture the seed we have planted to nourish it and help it to grow. We do this but study and prayer, keeping the commandments, statutes and abiding by the precepts of the Lord. When we do this our testimony is strengthened and we gain a more sure knowledge of the goodness of the seed of faith.

Strengthen Conversion:

Conversion is more than a testimony. We become converted not just by believing or doing but by becoming. Believing and doing help us to become more like the Savior, but to be truly converted we must have a "mighty change of heart", and have "no more desire to do evil, but to do good continually". True and lasting conversion comes over time, by continuing to strengthen our faith repent and follow the Savior in all things.

Luke 22:32 "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."

Partake of Salvation:

The ordinances of Salvation are essential to our eventual exaltation and we cannot receive exaltation without them. The Atonement of Christ delivers all that with believe on this name and keep and do his saying. But for those that continue in rebellion against God, mercy cannot claim them, unless they will repent. Though we may continue to fall short of our potential (and we will fall short, we are only imperfect beings), our ultimate destiny (and Divine Potential) begins to be realized as we faithfully and diligently follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we partake of the ordinances of Salvation we become partakes to the fullest degree in the Atonement of our Lord and Savior.

Receive Exaltation:

Preach My Gospel tells us that the Gospel brings us happiness and joy not only in the eternities but right now. Adherence to gospel principals brings peace. John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." As we develop testimony, strengthen conversion, partake of the ordinances of salvation we come closer to our Savior and our Father in Heaven. As sin separates us; Faith, Repentance, Baptism, and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost bring us back to God.

John 17:3 "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

I am so grateful for this time that I have to serve as a full time Missionary. I am grateful for this Gospel and the immeasurable blessing it has been in my life. I am forever indebted to the Savior for his Atonement and for the blessings he gives me every day, a debt made even larger by my frailties and insufficient gratitude for those blessings. I am grateful for and testify of the restoration of the Church that Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God established, and of the restoration of Priesthood keys. I know we have a living Prophet and Twelve Apostles on the earth today.

Love,

Elder Thomson

Five Smooth Stones

I'm not very good at sharing my personal experiences. I guess I’m just too close to my own life to see the whole picture but there are a few things that I have seen.

Remember the story of David and Goliath. David, the rather weedy shepherd boy, who was recently and subtly anointed to be the future King of Israel, and Goliath a Giant and a Man of War?

As you will recall, the army of Israel under the leadership of King Saul was engaged in a deadly war with the army of the Philistines. One army was poised on one hill, the other on an opposite hill, with a valley in between. Now, the Philistines had among their men a great giant of a man named Goliath of Gath. His height was six cubits and a span. If I have figured correctly, that would put him somewhere in the neighborhood of nine feet tall. What a basketball center he might have made!

Clad in his armor, he came down to the valley and called out to the army of Israel:

“Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

“If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. …

“I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” (1 Sam. 17:8–10.)

When Saul and the army of Israel looked at this giant and heard his chilling challenge, they were frightened because they had no one of their own of such stature.

Now, while all of this was going on, Jesse, David’s father, asked his young son to take some food to his three brothers in the army. When he arrived at the battleground, Goliath came out again, issuing the same challenge, which David heard. There was fear throughout the army of Israel. David, who was no more than a boy, said to the king, (and I paraphrase his language): “King, why are you so afraid of this giant? I will go and fight him.”

Saul replied, “Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he [is] a man of war [trained] from his youth.” (1 Sam. 17:33.)

David then persuaded Saul to let him try. He told the king of how he had fought with a lion and a bear to save his father’s sheep and concluded by saying that the Lord would deliver him out of the hand of the Philistine. Saul, possibly thinking that one more life lost would not be serious among the great losses they had already sustained, said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with thee.” (1 Sam. 17:37.)

Saul then placed armor on David until the boy could scarcely walk. David said unto the king, “I cannot wear this,” and he took the armor off.

He then “took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had … and his sling was in his hand.” (1 Sam. 17:40.)

We don't fight against swords or spears, or with staves and slings, "...we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12) The armor and weapons of Saul (or of the world) will avail us nothing, but the Armor of God and his Five Smooth Stones will grant us victory over all things.

These are them; these are five smooth stones that will guaranty you success, as a Missionary, as a Man, as a holder of the Priesthood of God. Treasure them, keep the sacred keep them safe, polish them every day and every week, and share them with everyone you meet who may not have been to the Brook of Living Water and found them for themselves. 

Faith

I used to struggle with faith. I didn't understand why I needed it. Knowledge seemed so much better than faith and I envied those like Paul and Alma the Younger who as it seemed to me didn't need to have faith. But I've come to learn on my mission that faith isn't something God asks us to have for him, it’s something that God asks us to have for us. It is a blessing and a protection, and the power that makes miracles possible. Knowledge never moved a mountain or parted a sea, knowing would be nice but faith is better. Seek learning, "seek knowledge by study and also by faith", but for those things you don't know yet, or can’t ever prove have faith and bear testimony, faith grows when it is shared.

Repentance

Alma 60:23-24 "(23) Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also. (24) And now... repent... and begin to be up and doing."

Repentance is about changing, about doing, and being, better than we are right now. None of us are perfect, especially me, but through recognizing our faults and shortcomings, and by repenting we can get a little bit closer to the perfection of our Savior and our Father in Heaven each and every day. I know for me personally it would take a long, long time to get even close, but that is all the more reason to get started now. Don't procrastinate the day of your repentance, the longer you wait the harder it gets. So get started now! There are lots of little things that we can all change to be better, I'm sure you wouldn't have to look too hard to find something. If you don't know what or how to change or repent ask for help, I'm sure your parents, leaders, or bishop will be there for you, and point you in the right direction. Be humble, fear not, trust in God.  Get up, go and do.

Baptism (Covenants)

Baptism is our first covenant, and we renew that covenant every week when we partake of the sacrament. Making and keeping covenants gives us a strength, power and blessings that nothing else can. As you prepare for your mission and go through life you will have the opportunity to make and keep many more covenants. Honor them and keep them, they are the way to eternal life, and will protect and deliver you from the powers of temptation and sin.

Gift of the Holy Ghost

Look at Ephesians 6 again. Notice that the only offensive weapon is the Sword of the Spirit. Everything else is for our defense and our protection, but the spirit is our weapon, and as a Missionary it is impossible to succeed without it. Strive now to have the spirit as your constant companion, practice listening for and following the promptings you receive. This will be an invaluable skill to you in the mission field and throughout your life.

Endure to the End

I can’t say it any better than the Prophet Nephi in 2 Nephi 31 "(19) And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save. (20) Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. (21) And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen."

“And the Philistine (Goliath) said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?”

And Goliath swore at David, saying, “Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.”

Then David spoke these great words:

“Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. [1 Sam. 17:45]
“This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; ...that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” (adapted from 1 Sam. 17:42–46.)
In anger Goliath came at him. Then David, running toward the giant, “put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.” (1 Sam. 17:49.)

These Five Smooth Stones: Faith, Repentance, Baptism (Covenants), the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End, are the way, they are the Doctrine of Christ and they are the five things that you need to have in figurative Shepard's bag before you go out to face giants. Your staff is the Scriptures, they are the iron rod, the words of God, if you can’t carry them with you in your hand, treasure them up and keep them in your heart. Your sling is you testimony, practice with it every day, as often as you can.

In closing I leave you with my testimony; That God is very, very real, and that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, that this is His church restored in the latter-days, and that it is lead today by a Prophet of God, even Thomas S. Monson.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Alex Thomson

* [Italics taken from "Overpowering the Goliaths in Our Lives" by Gordon B. Hinckley, April 1983]