Hello Everybody!

 Yup, it’s me signing in from Canada and yes, I was transferred. My new area is actually right around the Temple, and my new Companion is called Elder W. Both are awesome. Yeah, I get to see the Temple! Our Ward meets in the Chapel right behind it. They share the parking lot! I love to see the Temple! I’m going there someday... in the next three months-ish... if I’m still around then.

You know, it’s funny the Langley Temple looks smaller when you see it in pictures but it’s actually still really big. It is smaller than some others, bit still, impressive. It also looks way different from the back, it’s sort of... Cardston-esk?

We are indeed living in a basement, and yes members do own the home, and members live there as well, but the members that own the home and the members that live there are not the same members. The members who own the place are actually serving a mission right now, I don’t remember where now; I guess it didn’t seem important at the time. The members who live upstairs are actually a younger family who apparently may be moving to Oregon soon! Cool.

 So much to remember so little brains to remember it all! :  (   I hope I will be able to remember everyone’s names!  I have met so many people so far and I’m already straining myself trying to keep track of them all.

The dynamic in the Ward seems to be a bit different than I have become used to in the Branches I have been serving in before now, but the members here seem to be really excited about missionary work, almost as excited as the Branches were, so I think we can expect great things to come.

From what I can tell our teaching pool is relatively small as of right now, but Elder W and I have already begun to work on changing that. We have several promising potentials and a lot of referrals, so we should see some new investigators coming up here pretty soon as well. That'll be nice.

What do I know about Elder W? He is the oldest missionary I have served with so far. Elder A was 19, Elder M turned 20 while I was with him, and Elder W is 22. He is the middle of three children and the only boy. He is from... guess where! Utah. He has served most of his mission in the lower mainland (the area immediately around Vancouver).

As for Elder M, he got transferred to Terrace (up by my old stompin' grounds!) and is a Zone Leader with Elder E (following in his father [Elder A']s footsteps!). My current District Leader is Elder M and who (according to an investigator named L) I sound a lot like on the phone.

We are in a car still. It’s some kind of Subaru instead of the Chevy’s I've had before. Oh, and it’s just us in the apartment. We have bikes as well and I have my feet just about everywhere I go so we can get around lots of different ways. The climate and weather here is the most like home of any of any of the places I have been, and the area is the most affluent.

One kinda interesting thing that has happened here so far is we went to go look for this guy that a member of our Ward referred us to but didn't know exactly where he lived just the street. So we were knocking doors and we talked to a few nice people, one couple in particular was really friendly, but alas uninterested. The husband was just heading out to walk the dog and so when we left he left too but walked to other way down the side walk. We finished tracting the street and were unable to locate the person that the member had suggested we see. As we were walking back toward the car and were passing the mailboxes we passed the same guy that we had talked to before. We spoke to him again this time about his family and his sons who play soccer. I asked him if his family set aside a special night of the week to spend together just as a family (Family Home Evening), he said that they had a family dinner every night around the dinner table and just talked about whatever. We had a pretty good discussion about families and how a knowledge of and faith in God really helps us come closer to each other and ultimately our Father in Heaven. Just as we were about to say goodbye Elder W asked the man’s name, turns out, it was the guy we were looking for. It was a miracle.

Sure, we didn't get a return appointment, yeah, he said he was uninterested, but that's the kinds of silly "But then's" that ruin almost every miracle, no matter how big or small.

"Moses parted the Red Sea, “but then” it went back together."

"Lazarus was raised from the dead, “but then” he died again a few years later."

"God guided us to exactly where we needed to be, “but then” we didn't get a baptism out of it."

"But then’s” are created by the adversary to bring us down, to blind our eyes to the goodness of God, and to bind us down to utter destruction.  They are the product of fear, doubt, and selfish self-pity, and if we were to let them they will completely destroy every last modicum of faith, hope, or charity that we possess. So whenever you catch yourself starting a "But then..." stop it! Cut it out! And a lot of the time you'll find yourself left with a miracle.

No pictures this week. I forgot my camera at the apartment and I don’t know if I can send pictures from this computer or not anyway.

Got to run! Love ya lots.

Love,

Elder Thomson