THSM Christmas Conference

 

Take a Picture 12/16/2022

 I'm glad I snagged so many photos this transfer, cause without them, I'm not sure how much I'd remember the transfer or area. This email will cover a bunch of stuff from the last two weeks because, yet again, I've been flooded with amazing things going on. 

 

We met a couple weeks ago our new friend Richard, who is a nonmember YSA who is friends with Helaman in the ward. He doesn't know much about Christianity and has come to church and really likes to learn about the gospel. 

 

We got the opportunity to help Bro. Hernandez and his family out with their move. Bro. Hernandez is a real interesting guy, as evident by the move. Instead of really helping us out, he ordered us around, was asking his stepbrother if he wanted to join the Mormon church, and smoked some cigs while offering some to his neighbors. He's a convert who isn't all their mentally, and I don't think he was really ready to be baptized. Geoff took us to Mod Pizza that night, which I've never been to. I guess it's a widespread restaurant that I didn't learn about til I got to Houston. It's hyped up a lot by the YSA, but in my opinion, it's way overrated. 

 

We got to teach Katelynn before institute a couple times back. Sadly, she said she feels she isn't ready for baptism yet, but that is still her goal and she just wants to clean a couple things up. 

 

One Saturday we went ajd helped Sister Byrne pack up and move out of the Maplewood ward. We were at her house for 4 and a half hours, and the job still wasn't finished. We taught our member friend Helaman afterward, then went with our district back to Sister Byrne's to carol to her. 

 

That Monday, we went in the morning to help Sister Byrne one last time pack loose stuff and say goodbye. In the afternoon, we went to the Lexington building with missionaries from all over the mission to help set up and practice the nativity. Luckily, I brought some card games so I snagged a bunch of Elders that didn't want to participate in singing and we went somewhere else to hang out a bit. Afterward, we hung out and built gingerbread houses as a district at the church. FHE that night was a lot of fun, we got to play basketball and see some inactives there that I'd never got the chance to meet.

 

Tuesday, Sister Moline called us from the mission office and gave us a blessing referral, meaning a member in the hospital wanted us to drop by and give their dying father a priesthood blessing. That was a pretty powerful experience. We then went and helped a YSA sister along with some of her friends, all of whom we hadn't met, move out and into another apartment. Elder Stavast and I were starving at this point and wanted to quickly grab some Chick-fil-a shakes, but it was time for basketball, so we decided not to go and head straight to the church to share our spiritual thought and play. Mason, a member who plays with us and is very quiet, asked us afterward, outta the blue, if we wanted to go to Chick-fil-a for ice cream. We thought that was another small end-of-the-transfer miracle.

 

The next day was Christmas conference! It was a blast. We heard great talks and musical numbers, I got to sing in the choir, I talked to a lot of missionaries, and we did some fun service. Towards the end, right before the closing hymn and prayer, and without my knowledge beforehand, Sister Richards decided to call me out in front of half the mission to lead the music. She went on a bit about how she thought how talented I was and how she'd seen me lead music in the past. I'm sure my face the whole time was more red than Rudolph's nose. It was, however, a lot of fun being up there to do that. I think I'll send the picture the STLs took of me up there that they planned on using as blackmail. 

 

The next day, we went and helped Julia, who is one of the YSA ward mission leaders, move out of her apartment into another one, along with the YSA sisters. We also saw Katelynn our investigator and our other YSA  friends at the institute Christmas party. We had Chuy's there, which is a really good chain tex-mex place that I hadn't had yet. 

 

Friday we went with the sisters in our family ward and the Pratts to happy lamp Chinese, which was pretty fun. We went and visited Bro. Richard and Johnnie in their home which was wild. One of their roommates was high, and he started yelling white racial slurs around the house all while realizing we were there. I don't think he liked us, but the members yelled at him so it all got sorted out, I hope. We also had a really good lesson with Katelynn that evening over zoom.

 

Saturday afternoon was entirely dedicated to setting up the Maplewood Christmas party with the sisters, then going to it afterward. Right before though, we found out we were getting whitewashed, and most of the district was getting changed up. All of our district was at the party anyway, and so we discussed it all while we were there, and talked to all the members about it. As a final farewell to the area and district, we decided as a district to go caroling that night to a bunch of members, which was a really fun time. 

 

Sunday was obviously filled with goodbyes, not only to members but missionaries as well. It was honestly a lot sadder than I thought it'd be. I think it's because although I was only there a transfer, it was easily my favorite district and transfer all together on my mission. 

 

We finally transferred early p-day, then met the other Elders at little caesars for some pizza. I unpacked my stuff then we met at the other Elders apartment for card games. In the evening Brother Wells took us to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, which really lightened my mood. 

 

It has been such a wonderful opportunity serving in my last area. Although I'm super bummed out about leaving, I know the Lord has a place for me elsewhere, and the work will continue to go forth.

 

-Elder Thompson

Too Late Too Late 12/03/2022

My weekly email has taken way too long to get out, so much so I'm covering two weeks worth of stuff into one email. Hopefully, I can compact it all nice and tight and it can all be understood.

 

We had zone conference a couple weeks ago, which was pretty good. It was cut down to only two hours since we have a Christmas conference coming up. I did get the chance to share a message with everyone and get them hyped to baptize nations this transfer so that was fun. Afterward, I went on exchanges with the zone leaders and stayed in my area with Elder Knight. We had a solid member meal and another solid member lesson that afternoon. Our zl said that they rarely got to work with and interact with church members since Spanish-speaking areas are quite different. 

 

We had a really good couple of member meals and member lessons a couple weeks ago, one of note was going to Escalante's with Geoff. It's this really nice and really tasty tex-mex restaurant that I wouldn't mind going to again. 

 

We had a couple service opportunities a while back as well, we got to clean the church and help an older lady move out of her place in a living center. 

 

A couple of Sundays ago, we went to the Morton's home, who are in our YSA bishopric, and have a huge feast for Steven, who is going on his mission shortly. There was steak, sausage, duck, and a whole bunch of other things along with a ton of different and amazing desserts. 

 

That P-day, we went to the stake center as the 30+ Elders in the zone to play a bunch of basketball. In the evening, we got the opportunity to go to FHE a bit before helping the Skidmore's set up their home for their thanksgiving dinner party. 

 

For Thanksgiving, we gathered as a district in the morning for a quick meeting then had a breakfast together. In the evening, we went to the Skidmore's party and dinner and spent time with a lot of different members. At dinner, there was African and Mexican food as well as the traditional thanksgiving items, so that was an interesting change for sure. 

 

The next day, we were biking to a lesson 45 mins away, and about halfway there, my pedal fell completely off. We have bus passes, so our plan was to walk back to a nearby stop and ride it back to our apartment so we could get in our car and leave. That would've taken a bit of time and thankfully, a nonmember saw us and offered to take us back in his truck. We got to know him and invited him to church and thanked him when he left. That was pretty cool. 

 

Saturday we had dinner with thanksgiving leftovers and lots of dessert for a ward missionary that is in the Maplewood ward that is moving. At the end, the sisters in our ward got a call from the STLs, and they asked them to ask us to come change their car tire for them. I've been praying for an opportunity like this, being able to change someone else tire haha. That was way more fun than it should have been showing up to help them out. 

 

Sunday, Steven's family had another going away party for him, and a bunch of YSA and missionaries showed up to congratulate him and share testimonies of missionary work. There was also some really different and really good Chinese-cooked thanksgiving food.

 

Monday, we went to the giving machine in downtown Houston to quickly take photos, and then we spent the rest of the day at the Houston Zoo. That was a blast. 

 

I guess this email isn't quite as long as I anticipated. Hopefully, no one worried about me when I didn't send one out. I'll make sure to stay better on top of them in the future.

 

-Elder Thompson 

Long Way Down 11/20/2022

 It's been an entirely exhausting and overwhelming week, in a good way. My brain is deep-fried like a corndog, so tasty but so unhealthy for you. That's why my email has taken extra long yet again. 

 

Interviews were on Tuesday with President which took a while for us to get to since he had so many missionaries before us to meet with. It actually took up most of our day so we had barely any time to get home and eat before biking to the church for basketball. 

 

Wednesday was another district council meeting. Afterward, we met our member Steven at the church to do typical daily planning with him to help him prepare for his upcoming mission. In the evening, we met with the Elder's quorum president to get to know the quorum better, and then we met with our recent convert Quincy to help him get ready for the temple.

 

We saw Bro. Hernandez Thursday afternoon, which is a 45 min bike ride one way, so that was an interesting afternoon. In the evening, we had dinner with Geoff at Hopdoddy and later had institute. 

 

We got to go all the way out to the University of Houston on Friday to teach our friend Nick. We also went to our member friend Helaman and his family's house for a really good Hispanic dinner.

 

Saturday was our big long weekly planning day. We had a meal with the Workman family, who are super awesome RMs that support us a lot.

 

Sunday we had our usual set of church and missionary meetings as well as our calls. They are so exhausting and drain us of all our life force. 

 

P-day we met with the sisters at their apartment complexes lounge, and we did kindergarten holiday crafts as well as playing card games and pool. For FHE that night, we played volleyball and of course, I destroyed everyone.

 

It's been a super long week, but a productive one. We're spiritually exhausted, which is a really good thing. It means we're pouring out our hearts to magnify our efforts in the work of the Lord. 

 

-Elder Thompson

Long Day 11/13/2022

 It's been a loooong week, and I know this email has been long awaited.

 

I had MLC on Tuesday, we got together as dls, zls, and stls in the mission. We had a lot of different discussions and trainings on how to be better leaders and best support other missionaries. It took the whole day, and I was so exhausted afterward. Luckily I still had enough energy to bike to the church and play basketball with the Maplewood 2 Elders Quorum and nonmember friends. 

 

Our Wednesday district council was super awesome, we all got excited to talk about baptism with literally everyone, and saw lots of good come from it. I also got to know the YSA work a bit better during our ward correlation meeting. 

 

Thursday morning we had a zone leadership meeting, so all the dls and the zls and stls met from our zone. I honestly don't like meetings like that since all we do is discuss our number goals, which I feel detracts from our focus on those we interact with and teach, but it is what it is. In the evening we had dinner with our ward mission leader Geoff at an Indian place which was pretty good, and we went to institute afterward. Our teacher decided that as soon as the pizza he ordered arrived, he'd end the lesson and turn on the Astros game right then and there. That was kinda funny, but of course, we couldn't watch and had to go home instead.

 

Friday afternoon we made a trip by bike to Bro. Hernandez, who lives 40 mins away from us, that was a long but fun ride in a bit of rain. In the evening, our soon-to-be missionary member Steven helped us teach Katelynn at the church and we committed her to pray about baptism. 

 

Saturday morning was bike day, and we originally planned to bike the hour-plus ride to downtown Houston in the morning, but it was discovered Elder Stavast had a flat, so we drove instead. We went to the church for a special zone breakfast put on by the stake presidency so they could get to know the 40-something missionaries in the stake. In the afternoon we went to a pass-off lesson with some other Elders and a progressing friend of theirs. We also got to give a church tour in the evening to our friend Keaundria with our member Bro. Workman. I think that's the first time I've ever been able to give a church tour. 

 

Sunday felt extra long since we had to go to two sacrament meetings and two Sunday schools. It was also tiring trying to keep track of two groups of members. The rest of the day was filled with coordination and stewardship meetings. 

 

PDay was pretty special. We had the special opportunity to go to the Houston Astros victory parade since we are lucky enough to cover downtown as the Houston zone. We spent most of the day walking, taking buses, and riding the train all over since public transportation was free for the day. There were so many people there, school was even canceled for elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges since it was such an important event. We were pretty far from the actual parade passing by and surrounded by people, but luckily we did catch glimpses of it and see the all-important double-decker bus with the players. That was so awesome. To top off the night, we played chair soccer with the YSA for FHE.

 

This week was really busy and really good, and I'm excited for the rest of the transfer.

 

-Elder Thompson

Face to the Floor 11/05/2022

 It's been a real productive and exciting week, we've really put our noses into the work. Sad thing is, I don't remember too much cause I put off writing my email for so long. I'll see what I can remember.

 

Tuesday we had a good grindy day, making contacts and talking to people. In the evening, Jacob took us to a super fancy bbq called Avenida Brazilian. If you've you've never heard of Brazilian bbq places, they basically come around to your table every 2 mins and offer you a different type of meat, including, beef, pork, salmon, shrimp, and a whole bunch of different cuts and flavors. Jacob didn't realize how much it would cost until after he paid, and I think he had way more than he planned on. We were wearing white shirts and ties and we felt a little underdressed.

 

Our last district council was good. It's always a little sad cause you don't know where everyone is gonna end up at transfers. We spent a little bit of finding time on the island, then did a lot more work later in the day and evening up near us.

 

Thursday was way cool. We did service at Ellington Airport helping a Clear Lake 1st and their Elders fill sandbags to get ready for the airshow. The whole time, the Blue Angels were flying overhead, practicing and showing off their stunts. We also were a part of the service lucky enough to watch a B-52 that had just landed drive and park no more than 50 feet away from us. That was pretty special. We were outside though for like 4 and a half hours, so our faces got pretty red. That evening, Chris took us to Texas Roadhouse, which has become one of my favorite restaurants after eating there so often. 

 

Friday we got our weekly planning done, then we went and helped set up for the Halloween party. We also got to go for a little bit as well, and we had some nonmember friends and most of our branch there to talk to and hang out with. It was a blast, and there was a lot of good food there too.

 

Saturday we went to lunch with Bremmen and got our transfer news in the car with him. I found out I'd be heading to the Maplewood 2 Ward/Braes Bayou YSA Ward Area. We also ran into and taught our semi-inactive friend Brandon who ate with us, which was a miracle running into him at lunch. Mike fed us for dinner and made us this really interesting and really good peanut butter soup. It sounded really bizarre, but other missionaries had mentioned it before, and it was actually very tasty. 

 

Sunday was REALLY good. We talked to all the members, and I left them with my testimony (and Bremmen with my tie). That was sad, probably the people and area I'll miss the most. Our recent convert friend, Richard, was getting the Melchezidek Priesthood, and he asked me to ordain him. So that was awesome, definitely a rare experience as a missionary. I also snagged a picture with him and almost everyone else. I spent the rest of the afternoon packing before I had to teach a final mission prep class. That was also super sad having to leave. 

 

Monday morning we woke up and went with the other Elders to the mission office for transfers. I found my comp, Elder Stavast, who is from Arizona, about an hour southeast of Tucson. I mentioned to the APs that in our transfer email it showed we had no district leader. President surprised me and snagged me right as we were walking away to go to our area to ask me if I could be district leader, so that's my responsibility now. We got back to the apartment and unpacked my stuff before heading to the church to hang out with our small district filled with sisters. That evening we made an attempt to teach a friend, but that didn't end up happening. Apparently, when FHE does happen, we usually attend like I did in my last area. 

 

I'm super excited to be in another YSA as well as a family ward and for all my new responsibilities. We are gonna have a fun-filled transfer with lots of miracles bringing people closer to Christ.