We Didn't Start the Fire 3/22/2022

 This past week went well and there were definitely some highlights. 

 

District council was a bit different this week. We had the opportunity to learn more about the family tree app and see how we were all related, then we learned how to teach others about family history and family search. This upcoming week we are supposed to help some investigators do their own family history which should be fun.

 

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Tuckett in his area on Wednesday which was a good time. We taught an inactive member family in their ward and got them to open up to us by talking a lot about board games, video games, and movies so hopefully, the Elders will keep meeting with them and get them back to church.

 

Remi has started taking the lessons from us and both ones we had with a member present went so well. They've been by far the most spiritual lessons I've had on the mission and afterwards both times she has said she could feel the Spirit testify of the powerful things we were teaching.

 

We also had interviews with President Richards this week which is always nice. It lets us share where we are at as missionaries and he gives us great advice on how we can improve and do better.

 

We had our first zone pday which was a blast. We all got together along with the APs and President and Sister Richards to play volleyball at the stake center. It was awesome to play volleyball again with a large group and get to know the other missionaries a whole lot better. Hopefully, we get to do more zone activities in the future.

 

That's all for now, I'm glad I get to be out here as a missionary serving the Lord and spreading the joy that comes with the restored gospel.

 

-Elder Thompson

Come Together 3/15/2022

 This was our first week together as a mega district of 11 missionaries. 6 of those being sisters and 5 elders, so it's definitely quite different from the rest of the districts in the mission. 

 

This week we had zone conference and we focused on learning about who God is and how we connect to him. It was super spiritual and also a ton of fun, right now it's sitting as my favorite zone conference by far. I think our zone is also the best one I've been a part of so far.

 

We've started teaching Faith the new member lessons, and her mom Remi who's been joining, finally told us she wants to start the lessons for herself so she can be baptized in the near future. 

 

We also got to teach our friend Hannah and learn a bit more of her crazy beliefs, but she wants to learn more of ours and we plan on continuing to teach her. 

 

We had the chance to go to the Sugar Land Space Cowboys field that's just down the road. We've passed it countless times and finally, I decided I wanted a picture outside the entrance.

 

The work has been a tad slower than usual but it looks like we'll have a lot more to do the next couple of weeks so I'm looking forward to all the work we'll be pumping out to help others come unto Christ.

 

-Elder Thompson

 

Crazy Train 3/8/2022

 I feel like our week went off the rails for sure. There was definitely some crazy things that happened. 

 

On Tuesday, we went to a pass-off lesson with a guy who used to be in our area book and is now in the sisters' area. The sisters told us to go to the apartment complex and they would be there shortly after with a member. Well, we show up to the door, and a guy acknowledges us, then him and the investigator start yelling and screaming at each other, throwing slurs and hate left and right and getting into a little physical altercation. Luckily we left and called the sisters to let them know what happened before it escalated any further.

 

We had exchanges on Friday, where Elder Jacobson our zone leader joined Elder Worland and I in our area. In the morning, we walked around Cullinan Park to contact people, which is a really cool swamp/marshland preserve right down the road from us. We had a service referral and helped a lady move some junk to the curb. We ended up talking to our friend who we hadn't been in contact with forever and committed him to baptism which was exciting. A really wild but spiritual experience came when we went to knock on a member's door who we had never met. Turns out, the whole family was in the home, and an older gentleman who knew who we were welcomed us in. We ended up going to the back of the house where the family was circled around their daughter on her death bed with hours to live. We all held hands and Elder Worland said a prayer, and it was amazing the wave of love and peace that came over all of us and the Spirit which was brought into the room. I definitely won't forget that anytime soon. 

 

Saturday brought some good memories as well. In the morning, we went over to Sis. Curtis' house and we taught her and her granddaughter. Her granddaughter is a nonmember with some real interesting beliefs and values, so it was intriguing hearing what her belief system was like. That same night, Faith had her baptismal! It may have taken her dad 4 times to dunk her properly, but it all went well and the Spirit was super strong among the large portion of our ward that attended.

 

A couple other notable things, Bro. Garner in our ward did a handwriting analysis for me as he's done for past missionaries, and reading the essay-sized writing was basically looking at a personality test based off of chicken scratch. Kinda cool. We found out our dl got Emergency transferred for reasons unknown, so we got shoved together with a nearby district and we are now a part of a mega district of 12 missionaries. We also saw a recent convert at a stoplight Wave and yell at us from her car to get our attention. She recognized us first from our equinox with a bike rack, then said how she loves spotting missionaries all over by wither our clothes or car. It was a good reminder that as missionaries, we stick out like a sore thumb and other definitely notice. That also means we have a great ability to share the light of Christ with others wherever we are and by our good examples.

 

That's all the highlights of the week, hopefully, this next one can be as equally interesting. 

 

-Elder Thompson

State of Love and Trust 3/1/2022

 This week we had our mission-wide day of love and service. On Saturday, we helped a family move out of their home as well as helping an older lady weed her garden out front. During the gardening, one of the neighbors backed into our car and while exchanging information we taught him a bit and will hopefully teach him soon. 

 

Sis. Cagle, who is from Germany and we visit every Sunday, surprised Elder Worland and I with stuffed animals which we thought was pretty funny. She's a convert that was baptized in the late 90's and keeps in good contact with all "her" missionaries and has a lot of photos and memories with Elders over the years.

 

Faith had her baptismal interview and is preparing for that this Saturday. The Garners had us and her family over for a lesson as well as food and that was super helpful for her as well as her mom who is an investigator who needs as much help as she can get to love the gospel. 

 

Hope everything and everyone is doing well back home and I'll continue to keep y'all updated with everything going on here.

 

-Elder Thompson

Floyd the Barber 2/22/2022

 This week was pretty interesting at times, there was definitely a lot to keep us busy though. 

 

First off, we learned we would be in a trio, and now we have another comp, Elder Worland. We kinda thought we'd be getting a trainee but instead have a missionary who's been out over a year. It's gonna make missionary work around her a lot more interesting. 

On Friday, I went to the Pecan Grove area on exchanges with our DL Elder Lindsey and got a unique opportunity. Of all the online referrals they've gotten in the past few months one of them finally responded and it was for service. We drove to a lady's house and just got straight to work helping her take down Christmas lights and moving a woodpile. I never realized until then that people could even ask for service from missionaries like that.

 

Our P-Day was quite successful as well, no Elder is gonna complain about a free haircut from a sister missionary or 5 on 5 basketball with ward members. 

 

It's been great getting to know the members of the ward and help teach the investigators in our teaching pool. We hope to continue the great work that's here. 

 

-Elder Thompson

One Little Slip 2/15/2022

 This whole week I've felt like the scene in Chicken Little where he's trying to maneuver around town and school and eventually get to class. It's been a little hectic and crazy in the mission due to all the weird transfers.

 

One notable event we started the week with was helping a family move into our ward boundaries. I don't remember the father's name, but we talked a lot about video games and he showed us his weapon collection, and I even got a picture with his sword. That was pretty fun and we had the other Elders there to help as well. 

 

To go along with the pattern of wild events after district councils, on Wednesday we got news that I was leaving the area and headed to Oyster Creek in the Richmond zone. It was part of the last mini transfer of the 6-week transfer and honestly surprised my comp and I, it was the only move in the district. Even more is he's still staying in the area, still being there since the beginning of his mission. I said goodbye to everyone on Thursday and Friday morning we transferred and now I'm with my new comp Elder DeCarlo. The area isn't very large geographically, but we're in a big city area so it's really dense and highly populated. We're also down the street from a triple a baseball stadium which is a fun sight to drive by frequently. Our church building is also the mission office which is pretty whack. It means though that we get to see another district there on pday and at district council which is a good change of pace from just 6 missionaries.

 

This weekend we taught a girl who is on date to be baptized and is in a part member family so we're hoping the whole family eventually joins the church. I also got to meet the ward members and learned what amazing missionaries they all are. They like to feed us quite a bit and load us up with money and groceries, but more importantly, they ask us all the time how they can help us reach out or assist the work with investigators. They also like to send us out to part-member or inactive families so they like to keep us busy.

 

I'm excited to see what happens in the next few weeks and to get in the flow of the work in this area. 

 

-Elder Thompson