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.