Well, I've got a really wild story, and ya'll will just have to read my whole email
to get to it. That's one reason getting out my email has taken forever.
Tuesday
was fairly uneventful, just our standard missionary grind. We did, however,
have dinner with the Owens who thankfully gave us some much-needed snacks for the week.
Wednesday
we had yet another district council which was really good, and we did some work
finding and contacting on the island. Later that evening we also went to a
Caribbean restaurant with our branch mission leader Jacob. We thought it was
alright, but he later texted and apologized for how bad the food was, he had
never been there before.
Thursday
was a lot more planning and our typical institute activity. We did learn quite
a bit more about discerning truth from deception, which I really like learning
about.
Friday
evening, we went to Gen Korean Barbeque with Matt, Bremmen, Chris, and Mike.
That is the second time members have taken us there and it was really good. We
also talked to our convert friend DJ over the phone for a good hour. The only
reason I mention the conversation we had is because he spent the whole hour
telling us how frustrating the sister missionaries in his ward were and his bad
experince he had at the movies. He's an real interesting guy.
Saturday
we had to unexpectedly cancel basketball, which seems to be happening way too
frequently. Our member Caleb, however, had a really cool finding event for us
and his nonmember friends. He invited us all together to play some Magic,
and we had a great time playing and getting to know his friends who we'll
hopefully get to teach in the future. That evening was also the adult session
of stake conference. We were joined by Elder Ojediran of the seventy.
Sunday
was the general session of stake conference, then afterward a lot of us had
interviews with our mission president. Later that evening, we had a pretty good
mission prep class joined by Matt our Elders Quorum President.
Monday
was WILD. We did pday with the clear lake district since our Elders were busy
moving into a new apartment. We got to decorate pumpkins and have a nerf gun
battle in the gym. All in all a pretty sweet pday. However, what happened next
is insane. We get home and shower and get ready for fhe. I check my phone and
notice somehow its connected to our car's bluetooth. I look outside and see the
door open. A closer look revealed someone in my driver's seat messing with the
buttons. Now, the Spirit we have as missionaries is definitely different, cause
normally I'd probably start freaking out and get to yelling and arguing at the
guy in my car. Instead, I calmly asked my companion to go out and talk to the
guy with me. We went and asked "hey, how's it going", and he responded
by shutting the door. We knocked and he ignored us. A second attempt got the
door opened. He acted confused, then asked why the car wouldn't start. I asked
if he had the key, and he said he did. I said are you sure, cause I have the
key. Then he acted shocked and lied saying he thought it was his wife's car or
something. He tried pointing to missionary junk like "oh, this looks like
my daughter's thing" or "I have a bag full of quarters too" Well
he started to get out, my bag of quarters in hand, and I told him to hand it
over. He was this short skinny dude who was shirtless wearing jeans, bald and
tattooed from head to toe. I asked his name, and bless his dumb heart, he told
it to me. I started saying we forgave him for his mistake, told him about our
job as missionaries and we gave him some financial and employment resources. We
shook hands and gave him a hug at one point. He told us a very unconvincing
story about his dead family and having no one, and also his wife and daughter,
which made no sense. He definitely reeked of some form of drugs and/or alcohol.
We told him goodbye since we had to leave for FHE, and as we started driving,
he stopped us. He asked, "you said something about the issue, right?"
We said "what issue, what're you talking about?" He said "you
know, the issue" and we were so lost. Then he said "i didn't leave a
bag of it in the car, did I?" Then it all clicked in my head, he was
talking about drugs. I started freaking out cause I thought he may have left
something in our car. Luckily after a deep search, we came up empty-handed and
drove off to FHE, at the church we filed a police report and joined our ward.
Brief intermission on the story, we played fruit basket and signs, which was a
blast. Back to the story. We get home, and we get a private number calling us.
I answer. It's a cop, and he asks for Joshua Thompson. I say it's me. He asks how
I know the man I reported. I said I really don't know him. He asked how I knew
his name. I said "well, he was stupid enough to give his real name when
we asked," The cop said that made a lot of sense and that was what he
assumed. He told us he was actually in transit with the man and they were
headed to jail, he was being arrested for an unrelated felony thanks to my tip.
So, long story short, I hugged and befriended a felon who tried to steal my car
then helped him get sent to jail.
The
moral of my email is, don't leave your car unlocked, or you could help arrest a
criminal. Anyways, I'm so grateful for every single experience I've gotten on
my missiom, because they've helped me learn faith, courage, patience,
confidence, hope, love, charity, and so many other Christlike attributes.
-Elder
Thompson
We are so grateful for their efforts to strengthen the wards and branches of the great Texas Houston South Mission!
