Changes 9/6/2021

 Ken got baptized and confirmed this weekend! We were so excited for him but he kept telling us he was the most excited, which I'm sure is 1000% true. Our whole district got to come and meet him since they all had investigators there and President and Sister Richard's also got to be at his baptism. The spirit we've felt with weekend has been unreal. 

Speaking of unreal, we got some wild news regarding transfers. Since there'll be 33 new missionaries coming in today, there were a lot of wild announcements made in regard to transfers. I learned Elder Farris will be swapping places with Elder Wiley, who'll I'll get to meet shortly and work with this last transfer of my training. We'll be getting 4 new missionaries in the district while 3 will sadly be going elsewhere.

I don't really have much more going on, l'll hopefully have more to report on this upcoming week. I'm just excited to continually serve and hopefully we can get even more great work done Elder Wiley and I. I'm excited for what the future holds in our new companionship and district. I know the Lord will bless us in many ways as we go about the work and strive to be the best missionaries possible.

-Elder Thompson

Message from Sister Richards 8/7/2021

 It was so wonderful to see our new missionaries and their trainers this week!! They are all doing amazing!!! They are adjusting to missionary life, teaching, growing, stretching and touching lives all while establishing holy habits, righteous routines and prayerful patterns

! We love each one of these courageous and incredibly kind missionaries!!

We had our Doctrine of Christ Training and challenged each one to read the Book of Mormon over the next 90 days focusing on Christ and his doctrine.

Message from Pres. Richards 9/13/2021

 Dear Parents,

I thought you would appreciate seeing a version of my letter to the missionaries today. Every Sunday night I try to send a letter to the missionaries with encouragement, announcements, and invitations. Here is today's letter:

We are living in a remarkable time. What a privilege to be a missionary! You carry a message of love, hope, and peace that people desperately need. As Tropical Storm Nicholas bears down on us, I’m thinking of the Savior’s invitation to build a solid foundation on Him—the Rock of our Salvation (Helaman 5:12)—instead of on sands that blow with the winds and waves. “Master, the tempest is raging,” we might call. But he stands firm, with arms outstretched, ready to save. To the billowing storms, he commands “Peace, be still.” He calms the storms in our lives as we turn to Him. And He invites us to help Him share that message.

I love the hymn “Brightly Beams the Father’s Mercy.” Although the “Dark night of sin has settled [and] Loud … angry billows roar,” “to us he gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.” As you keep His light shining bright, “you may rescue, you may save” the “fainting, struggling seamen” in your areas.

How do you keep the light bright?

One critical way we keep the light burning in our lives is to remember our covenants. Every covenant we make includes a promise of spiritual guidance and strength—of light! When we make and keep covenants, we form and then nurture a binding relationship with the Savior. It’s an indelible foundation that outlasts age or circumstance, and only fades if we neglect our covenants. That’s why President Nelson invites us—and those we teach—to stay firmly on the covenant path.

Our covenants are a powerful source of strength, healing, and hope.

To help you remember your covenants, I’m pleased to announce that I have arranged for all missionaries to have the opportunity to attend the temple for an endowment session the last week of this month. This is a sacred privilege. For most of you it will be your first visit since you began your mission. I don’t know when or if we will have the opportunity again. So, we will want to prepare ourselves for the experience.

As we attend the temple, we can remember the covenants we have made and recommit to them. We can also envision bringing our friends here. Baptism is not the endpoint in their conversion. The covenant path leads to the temple, and it will be incredible for us to be there together to renew our commitment to find, teach, and invite those who are willing to let God prevail in their lives, so they can enjoy the blessings of covenants, too.

General conference will immediately follow our temple trips and will be a capstone for this month of consecrated preparation centered on covenants.

I love you all and am grateful for the opportunity to serve with you. Please do all you can to prepare for these experiences. Trim your lamps and shine your light bright. Be messengers of peace to the storm-tossed world. It’s awesome, isn’t it?

With love,

President Richards

Rain

 Apparently we are supposed to have a massive tropical storm hit us this week. We have already seen missionaries have to be evacuated and some without power, but we ourselves have gotten maybe a few sprinklings here and there through the day. We are currently stuck in our apartments until we get further direction from President Richards. We are almost certain we are safe from anything too wild, but the Eagle Scout that I am also agrees to "Be Prepared" for anything that may come our way.

My new district is awesome, we welcomed two new greenies straight out of the MTC and a new STL. It's pretty funny to me seeing how...immature? Innocent? Ignorant? some of the other missionaries are (they way we like to talk about them is just how pure and wholesome they are haha) A lot of them are coming right out of high school, so its bizarre for me who's had basically two years of college have to work alongside recent high school graduates. More than half of my district weren't even alive during 9/11 and I happen to be the oldest missionary in the group. Super whack as I'm also one of the more inexperienced ones. No matter the circumstance, we are all so excited for doing the work and I can see the immense amount of faith we all have to go about and help others to come into Christ. 

We taught an amazing family this week, the Collins, about prophets and the BoM, as well as a little bit about Joseph Smith. They shocked us because we had gone in with a lesson prepared thinking they hadn't heard of either of them yet, but they asked us right after we prayed if they'd be able to find a BoM at the library, so we gave them copies. They then told us they loved seeing one of the many Restoration videos a while back and thought it was truly amazing how Joseph Smith was able to see Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and recieve revelation from them. They are super amazing and we love meeting with them. It was definitely a miracle for us to meet such prepared people who were willing to let God prevail in their lives.

I thought that before my mission I was pretty much ready for anything that would be thrown at me and I could handle it, but that is surely not the case. On exchanges with Elder Godderidge, he asked me about some crazy questions people ask and the wild gospel topics they love to dive into. It really showed me how much I do not know and how much more there is to learn. However, I know God has a purpose for each of us, and knows us perfectly. I know Heavenly Father sees my strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and my strong desire to share it with others, even if it is still not very elaborately or eloquently constructed. 

I'm very excited for the very interesting, exciting, turbulent, bumpy, and amazing road ahead that I know I will continually recieve blessings for traveling. 

-Elder Thompson

P.S. Don't give Elder Wiley a hard time, he's a great companion and I don't believe he has any sort of connection or love for the Utes, he's just got some of their gear since he lives in the state. I'm super excited BYU was finally able to pull of a win, and a little sad I didn't get to witness it myself. Go Cougs!

Message from Pres. Richards

 The ocean was pretty calm yesterday, but Tropical Storm Nicholas is heading our way!

There's no need to panic--Houston knows how to handle these kinds of storms! We are taking precautions to keep everyone safe. Between tomorrow and Wednesday we could receive 20 inches of rain or more. There's a chance the storm could intensify into a hurricane, bringing high wind and storm surge, as well as rain.

I have asked all missionaries to check their 72-hour kits, charge their phones, and prepare for possible power outages, especially in Brazoria and Galveston counties. All cars are grounded beginning 3:00 tomorrow, unless there is an emergency. They will move teaching appointments and meetings to Zoom.

We are monitoring developments and will stay close to the missionaries. We’re confident in the Lord’s protection as we are prudent. Storms come and go, but the Savior offers peace. Indeed, the storms give us opportunities to beacons of light to those around us and share His message with those in need.

We love you all!