2/25/2023

 It's been another long set of weeks, there's been lots for us to do and we've been keeping real busy. 

 

Tuesday we spent our day trying to get in contact with some friends to see if they were still interested and we found a couple new people as well. We went to FHC in the afternoon as well. In the evening, we went to the Bradley's for Taco Tuesday with their whole family. 

 

Wednesday we didn't have district council, so instead, we cleaned out both our apartment and area book. In the afternoon we met an awesome and pretty funny part-member family the Saldanas. We then went on a long drive out to Santa Fe for a lesson, which ended up being canceled right before we got there. That was kinda frustrating wasting precious time and miles like that.

 

We had our zone conference on Thursday. It was extra fun since we had a total of three zones there instead of the usual two. It meant I got to see a lot of my favorite companions and other missionaries. We met a couple people tracting in the evening. We also got to teach our most progressing friend Daniel along with Bro. Rogers. We then picked up Elder Unga for exchanges again.

 

The next day we sat down and had an extra long weekly planning session since we hadn't had the chance to do so in a while. We got to talk to a few people while out walking around and knocking doors. We went to the Crofoots for dinner, a senior missionary couple in our area. We dropped off Elder Unga afterward then went to FHE. 

 

Saturday morning we spent a bunch of time at Bishop Flake's place. Our whole district helped clean out parts of their barn by shoveling dirt, removing garbage, and sorting tools. In the afternoon, we got to go give a blessing to a nonmember daughter of two recent converts. The rest of the evening we went to the Spanish branch's potluck and talked with our district and their investigators. 

 

Sunday was pretty normal. We had our standard slew of missionary meetings as well as church meetings. We did in the evening though get to visit with our recent convert friend Jordan and his girlfriend.

 

Pday we went as a district to Buc-ees, and we saw a couple other sisters there from one of my last districts who were on their way to Galveston for their special final transfer pday. Afterward, we went to lunch at a Mexican place and went to the church to play more chair soccer and card games. In the evening, I went on exchanges to the Spanish area, this time with Elder Hardy. This was his first time leading the area. 

 

Tuesday me and Elder Hardy did a lot of contacting of people they were teaching, as well as tracting. Their lessons fell through, so I got to watch Elder Hardy practice the little Spanish he knew with all the people we met. It was pretty funny for me watching him try to communicate, but he did a good job for only being out in the field a few weeks. We exchanged back later in the evening. 

 

We had another solid district council in the morning and then did a lot more knocking in the afternoon. In the evening we got to teach Daniel again and have dinner at the Rogers all together. It went pretty good and we got Daniel to start studying Come Follow Me.

 

Thursday morning we spent a lot of time at Grave Episcopal church for our weekly food truck service. It was also the first service I got to do for our week of love and service. We had to wait 3 hours for the truck to arrive, and we spent about an hour there working since I started feeling under the weather. The rest of the day we stayed home so I could rest up and get over being sick. We did though have dinner with the Fosters and Andersons in their home, that was really good.

 

We went Friday morning to a member's home in the Spanish branch with the other Elders. Right after helping with their fence, we went and helped out Bro. Arnold with clearing out his shed. That took up a big chunk of our afternoon, and they took us out to Firehouse Subs afterward, which is one of Elder Mafi's and I's favorite places. Later that evening, we went with Bro. Burkey to the Ortegas for dinner, which is an inactive family. We quickly stopped by FHE after as well to say hi to everyone.

 

Saturday morning we went with all the Sisters to the Flakes again to continue helping them clean their barn. That took most of the morning, and then the rest of the afternoon we helped Bro. Rogers redo his walkway at his house. We got fed at the YW fundraiser at the church in the evening, and then we saw the Saldanas again and met the rest of the inactive family. 

 

We had yet again another full day on Sunday with all our meetings we had to get to. Church was really nice though, and it was nice to take a quick spiritual refresher/break from everything that went on in the week. 

 

Monday we went to the Robinettes for Pday. They're a member family, and they had a fishing pond for us to fish at the whole time. It was fun, and luckily I caught a few fish as well.

 

These past few weeks were great, especially our week of love and service. I'm grateful for all the chances I've had to share the love of Christ around Valentine's Day and serve others as He would.

 

-Elder Thompson