"For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Ezekiel 34:11-12
These past couple weeks have been unsurprisingly loaded with things to do. Just another testament of the great work the Lord has in store for us. The weather here is also getting warm sooner than usual, it feels like June already.
We
got around quite a bit on Tuesday knocking doors and visiting referrals. We
also got to visit Manny in the afternoon, who we caught sleeping in the
driveway and could hear snoring about 100 yards away. We also got to teach
Daniel and the Morris's in the evening after having dinner with them.
Nothing
too eventful happened outside of district council on Wednesday happened. We did
get to meet with the Pattersons for dinner. We also found someone to refer to
the Sisters, which rarely happens.
We
got to go to the Flakes again for service and finish up cleaning out their barn
as well as do yard work and fix their road. In the evening, we went with Bro.
Roofner and had an awesome lesson with Andres, who is looking like he's finally
making some spiritual progress
Friday
morning the Voss's had us over to give a couple blessings. In the afternoon we
finally got to some weekly planning done and cleaned the apartment for
inspections. In the evening we got to go again to ward FHE.
We
helped Bro. Arnold Saturday morning move a bunch of stuff back into his shed.
They fed us some fantastic homemade cinnamon rolls afterward. We taught our
friend DeAndre outside his apartment after, and then he got his friends all
together so we could play some football with them. We had a mission devotional
with President Lund which we got to watch over zoom at the church. The Voss's
then took us to Chili's for dinner.
After
church and meetings on Sunday, we set up our building for a fireside. In the
evening, we held a Why I Believe fireside for all the investigators and members
in the stake. Recent converts shared their experiences and members played
musical pieces. It went really well.
Monday
we went to the Nike Outlet in Texas City, then went as a district to Joe's BBQ.
We then played chair soccer and volleyball at the church. I went in the evening
on exchanges with the ZL quad in Friendswood.
I
spent some time watching the companionship clean their apartment in the morning
and went grocery shopping with them. Elder Unga and I knocked a bunch of
trailers and apartments in the afternoon. We had dinner in the evening with a
fun member family. Elder Marriott, who is a first-transfer greenie,
accidentally shared the wrong scripture which I think upset the family.
Afterward, Elder Marriott and I spent more time tracting some trailers.
We
had another uneventful Wednesday, outside of our last district council and
interviews with President Richards. Elder Mafi was also super sick, so we were
advised to stay inside the rest of the day.
Thursday
morning we did go to the food truck service at Grace church for a while. Elder
Mafi was still sick so after that we didn't really get to do much else. We did
exchange that evening with the other Elders and Elder Peterson came to my
area.
We
exercised in the morning by playing basketball with the other Elders at the
church. In the afternoon, we met with the Saldanas, and then we went as a
district to clean out and move stuff out of a nasty trailer that some friends
of the Sisters were living in. We then went to Bro. Owens to give him a
blessing, then went to FHE in the evening.
Elder
Mafi found out he was getting transferred, so he spent most of Saturday packing.
We also spent a lot of time trying to contact our investigators to get them to
come to church.
Sunday
we went to church and missionary meetings. Elder Mafi said a lot of goodbyes to
a lot of people. We spent the evening at Jordan Morgan's home for dinner.
Monday
morning we went as a district to Chick-fil-a for breakfast. We then went to the
mission office for transfers and spent a lot of time talking to other
missionaries. Some of them old companions and friends I won't get to see for a
long while. I met up with my new companion Elder Biggs and we headed back to
our area so he could unpack.
I'm
looking forward to my final transfer and all the ways I can help others come
unto Christ in my final month here.
-Elder
Thompson
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
