Message from Pres. Richards

 The ocean was pretty calm yesterday, but Tropical Storm Nicholas is heading our way!

There's no need to panic--Houston knows how to handle these kinds of storms! We are taking precautions to keep everyone safe. Between tomorrow and Wednesday we could receive 20 inches of rain or more. There's a chance the storm could intensify into a hurricane, bringing high wind and storm surge, as well as rain.

I have asked all missionaries to check their 72-hour kits, charge their phones, and prepare for possible power outages, especially in Brazoria and Galveston counties. All cars are grounded beginning 3:00 tomorrow, unless there is an emergency. They will move teaching appointments and meetings to Zoom.

We are monitoring developments and will stay close to the missionaries. We’re confident in the Lord’s protection as we are prudent. Storms come and go, but the Savior offers peace. Indeed, the storms give us opportunities to beacons of light to those around us and share His message with those in need.

We love you all!

Patience

 

We finally got authorization to baptize Ken this upcoming Saturday! It's been a long four months for him and he's been so patient to finally received a signed letter from the first presidency giving him permission to enter the waters of baptism and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Everyone in our district is so excited for him and want to be there to meet him on that special day. We had President Richards come and interview him and it was such a special experience. Whenever I've lacked patience out here on the mission or have longed to be somewhere else, I think back to Ken and how much gratitude he's shown for his experiences and the great amount of faith he has to continue to press forward.

 

Although we had this amazingly wonderful news come to us, we sadly had to cancel Kiosha's baptism for this past weekend. We were told by her caretaker that her and other members of her home aren't allowed out or to have anyone come in until everyone there has gotten the covid booster shot. It's gonna be awhile 'till that happens but until then we will co tune to have lessons with her over zoom. We did have a zone-wide fast for Dee in the Pearland Ward and also for Kiosha so we hope things move along smoothly and go well for both of them.

 

I had a great experience on exchanges this week. I went to Pearland to be with another greeny, Elder Tuckett. We were on bikes the whole time and it was great. There aren't any hills or mountains here in Texas, so the closest thing I got to experience to the Big Sur day on our coastal bike tours was going up and down an overpass 2 times. It was super anti-climactic. We had the chance to talk to Judy who is a nice old lady who is excited to get baptized, but also loves sharing about the demons she talks to and sees every night. I'm sure the ammonia and alcohol she douses her mattress with doesn't help with that any. Luckily, Elder Tuckett and I got her on track by teaching her the Word of Wisdom and she was very agreeable with everything we taught. 

 

It's been a long week of contacting and trying to set up lessons and it's gotten very frustrating at times, but through it all I've been able to remember the miracles I've seen and also been able to experience many new ones. I know that as we continue to put our faith in Christ and serve Him, He will help us and bless us in ways we may not even be able to imagine.

 

-Elder Thompson

Facebook post from Pres. Richards 8/28/21

 Dear parents, as you may have seen, Hurricane Ida is set to deliver a major gut punch to the state of Louisiana beginning tomorrow. Gratefully, we will be spared the brunt of it, although we will likely feel some side effects as the storm brings wind, rain, and storm surge to the entire Gulf region.

Even though we are not in the storm’s main path this time, I wanted you to know we are prepared for weather events like this. We watch predictions closely and have mapped all missionary apartments so we can react quickly to any emergency. All companionships picked up new 72-hour kits at our recent multi-zone conferences. The missionaries also have been instructed to have a supply on hand of water, some cash, and any meds they might need to last a few days. They are in good spirits. We love our missionaries!!

Go the Distance

 

I understand now how Hercules felt when he sang the famous tune. He was willing to do whatever it took to finally get to the place he needed to be physically and mentally. That's exactly how our friend Ken is doing. He is a great example of faith as he endures to the end and eagerly awaits news from the first presidency of the church concerning his baptism. He is willing to go the distance and do whatever he needs to in order to be baptized.

 

I want to start by saying that where I'm at there is insane variety of cars as well as some wild drivers. It seems like it's 33% trucks, 33% American muscle, and 34% everything in between. I can't tell you how many Chargers, Challengers, Camaros, Corvettes, or Mustangs I've seen here used as daily driving cars. It's pretty normal spotting a Porsche, Tesla, or Ferrari here. There's crazy colors and customizations all around. The funniest things are the swingers, swangers, or swungers, whatever the massive spikes coming out of the rims are called. They are so common up in sunnyside it's so funny seeing it all over the place. The drivers do a "texas dive" where they'll cut across all lanes of the freeway without any warning lights or indicators just to barely make their exits. They also like to have their headlights on no matter the time of day or current weather. Very very different from anywhere I've driven.

 

This week we had the privilege of having Elder Giuffra and Elder Pieper of the seventy take a mission tour of the Texas Houston South Mission. We got to shake their hands and introduce ourselves to them before hearing them teach us many things about finding and teaching people as missionaries. We took what we learned from them to hear and applied those teachings throughout the week in our work.

 

On Thursday, Elder Nichols from the Manvel Ward and I were put in an unexpected pickle as Elder Seal and Elder Farris went on surprise and unauthorized exchanges. Although we are both new to the mission, we had faith to work through the trial of not having a car (trainees don't have ID cards for the car monitoring system and aren't allowed to drive until after training) as well as not having a daily schedule to work with. With the 3 months mission experience I've had a long while a go, I decided how our day would turn out and we set out with a positive mindset. We contacted a member to give us a ride to our lesson, and then went with Elder Nichols to do good ol' fashion tracting at the apartment complex right next to ours. I know we were blessed because of our faith, because Elder Nichols was able to hand out El Libro de Mormon using his broken Spanish and we were able to find 3 other people and give them English BoMs as well!!!

 

The next day I went to Alvin for exchanges with Elder Dafoe, one of the two zone leaders. We had a good long day of contacting people and meeting new ones to teach or for the Spanish missionaries to teach! Elder Dafoe didn't seem to like the amount of work and stress a zone leader has but the more he talked about it the greater desire I have to be in some sort of mission leadership role.

 

My favorite experience this week was having a lunch before church at the Lauritzen's house. They invited Kiosha and Ken over so we could teach them a little bit after we ate and before church. This experience was a wonderful blessing for me as Kiosha asked me to be the one to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost upon her this upcoming Sunday after she is baptized! We love her so much and are so excited for her to follow in Christ's footsteps and be baptized like he was a and receive the many blessings that come from that sacred ordinance.

 

This has been a truly exceptional week and I'm excited for the many more to come. I know the Lord can bless each and every one of us as we ask humbly and fervently for His hand in our life and as we strive to do as he asks. 

 

-Elder Thompson

 

P.S. I have a bunch of random photos attached that have some form of significance or importance, I just don't know if I could tell y'all what the reasons are because I honestly forgot.

Saturday Night's Alright (For P Day)

 

Today was our Preparation Day instead of the usual Monday since we are preparing for the arrival of two general authorities from the seventy visiting our mission this upcoming week. These past few days haven't been super eventful but there is definitely some stuff worth mentioning.

 

Tuesday was the day I finally managed to get a hold of a guitar tuner and some picks. It's so nice and relaxing to play the guitar in the very few spare moments in the day. It makes where I'm at feel just ever so slightly more like home.

 

On Thursday, for whatever reason, we ended up going to the McDonalds in Walmart twice for food, and the first time we ran into two Elder companionships in the zone next to us and the second time we ran into the sister missionaries in their zone as well. I'm sure they'll think we're either the best missionaries ever for doing contacting at Walmart for a long while or just complete wackos who eat at McDonalds too much. I'm sure both are very true.

 

Today was a nice and much needed break from our hectic schedule. I'm learning that everyone in our district is pretty competitive and eager to play sports together, so I was able to use that and now have everyone on board to play basketball every P Day. That's just another way I can make where I'm at feel a bit more like home.

 

We had some really good lessons this week with our investigators and some that frustrated and confused us for quite a while. The work here is definitely going, both in a good and and, sometimes, bad direction. We are continually preparing everyone for baptism, whether they have dates set or not, and are also trying our best to find new people to teach and bring unto Christ. There have been the occasional dead day where things just don't seem to happen but we are determined to keep those occasions minimal.

 

I have recently been reading quite a few conference talks during some free time and ones that have stuck out to me have been about having faith and hope. There's a great section from a talk entitled "Brightness of Hope" by Neal A. Maxwell from the October 1994 General Conference. In this section, Elder Maxwell says "Only the acceptance of the revelations of God can bring both direction and correction and, in turn, bring a “brightness of hope” (2 Ne. 31:20). Real hope does not automatically “spring eternal” unless it is connected with eternal things! “What is it that ye shall hope for?” Moroni wrote. “Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ” (Moro. 7:41; see also Alma 27:28). From this triumphal act, resulting in the eventual resurrection of all mankind, so many lesser hopes derive their significance!" 

 

I know that the more we learn of Christ and His Atonement, the easier it will be to have that hope and faith in Him. With that developed hope, we can go about having brighter countenances and greater faith and courage to face trials in this world. I know that a reliance on the Savior can benefit each and everyone one of us. I'll leave with my testimony of the Savior and His Atonement in His name, Jesus Christ, Amen

 

-Elder Thompson

 

P.S. I hope these emails are gonna be reaching y'all somehow some way. I've gotten in contact with a couple of y'all and have been grateful for everything that's been sent to me and can hopefully eventually hear from all y'all at some point.

Religious Man (I am I am)

 

Hey Y'all,

I wanted to start off by saying although Nacho Libre may not be mission approved, there are some fantastic examples of serving Christ and having faith in Him and His atonement in that movie. I also want to apologize in advance for the length of this email. With the time I have, I can't respond quite yet to individual emails so I want to answer all possible questions this time around while I have the chance.

 

It's been a super hectic few weeks, I apologize for not sending out an email my first Preparation Day. The week leading up to the 26th was stress-filled trying to get everything ready for me to head out to Houston. The few weeks leading up to my mission call as well as the week I had after I received my call to get ready for Houston is a whole other story for another time. It was a testimony builder for sure being able to finalize everything and be as prepared as I could be and out on a mission on such short notice. I know the Lord's hand was definitely helping me get ready and sorted out as best as possible. It was also a great blessing to be able to see some of my close friends and my family before I left. It was a neat experience to have my father as pretty much my missionary companion that Sunday, especially as we met a nice pair of old ladies who stumbled into our Elders Quorum meeting that day and got to teach them for a bit before we handed them off to the Sister missionaries in our ward. In this whole email will probably contain a whole lot of thankfulness for everything in my life.

 

My actual, for real, Elder Thompson missionary experiences all started pretty much as soon as I took off from Sacramento. On the extremely early flight to Dallas I had, I was sitting next to Troy, who was headed to Missouri. He was super into aviation and planned on studying religion once he was able to help his mother out there. That was a golden missionary opportunity and since I happened to be carrying an extra Book of Mormon I was able to give him a copy as well as share my testimony with him.

 

Monday was a great day meeting all 35 other new missionaries that would be training alongside me. It was great as well meeting President and Sister Richards who are pretty much been trained as well because they've only been missionaries for a couple weeks. We learned our mission is almost entirely made up of training companionships, with about 70% of us either being trained or training. A majority of missionaries here are also foreign language speaking who got reassigned here because of covid and whatnot. I believe of the 36 missionaries I came out with, only about 6 to 10 of us were actually originally assigned to the Texas Houston South Mission and not anywhere else in the world. We had an opportunity to go to Hermann Park and try to hand out Book of Mormons. Elder Zabel and I randomly got assigned to each other for the hour and we handed out 2 in a short span of time! We met a pair of girls home for the summer from college, I believe UTSA and Texas Tech but I don't remember exactly. (I've met so many wonderful and amazing people I can't help not remembering their names or every little detail of their life, I feel so bad) Anyway, I recognized the power of being true to your testimony and being genuine and honest with people, as they liked to hear the compliments I gave as well as my love for and desire to share the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His teachings with them. After a bunch of training at the mission office we finally were welcomed into various members homes that night to share a lesson and spend the night. 

 

Tuesday was the day we were all anxious for, the day we'd finally meet our trainers. We had a bunch of long and boring housekeeping meetings that we all dreaded, but then the long awaited moment arrived. My trainer's name is Elder Farris. He's from Boise, ID and has only been out for two transfers which is three months, meaning he's pretty much just as new and fresh as me. He's about as much of a goofball and diligent worker as I, so it's easy for us to get along and do a lot of work, all while finding humor and happiness through it all. We met the Hermanas (Spanish speaking sisters) and other Elders in our district and headed with our stuff to our area. I'm serving in the Silverlake ward which is located in Pearland, TX. The city itself is very akin to Elk Grove and it was so nice and welcoming arriving there. It is a lot different but felt the same in a lot of ways. The north part where we do most of our teaching and fellowshipping is called Sunnyside. Think of the place Sunnyside Daycare from Toy Story 3. It is a lot more comparable to South Sacramento; really dangerous, really rundown and poor financially with lots of troubled people who are searching for their way in life. I absolutely, genuinely and without a drop of sarcasm (I'm serious, I can be sarcastic but this time I ain't) love the people there so much already and love spending as much time as we can in that area. Our apartment we live in is nice and well maintained, probably because for a long while it was Sister missionaries here instead of Elders. My very first official nonmember lesson as a missionary was an interesting one. We got to talk to Kiosha, who is preparing for baptism on the 21st, from our car over facebook messenger. We taught her about the Law of Chastity, believe it or not. Luckily it went well as we had a member join us and helped her understand the importance of being pure before and staying faithful during marriage. It is definitely an experience I won't soon forget. We also had a lesson with Katherine, an amazing 11 year old who is knowledgeable in the gospel, she and her brother are just a little hesitant about the idea of being baptized as their mother urges them on to do so. We also were at the Wilson's for dinner, who fed us well and loved to joke around with us missionaries. 

 

Wednesday was district council, and we all got to know everyone serving around us a bit better. Our district compromises of Elder Farris and I, (District Leader) Elder Godderige and (Trainee) Elder Tucket in the Pearland Ward, Elder Doyle Elder Seal and (Trainee) Elder Nichols in the Manvel Ward, and (Sister Training Leader) Hermana Swapp (Sister Training Leader) Hermana Nelson and (Trainee) Hermana Childers also in the Spanish only Manvel Ward. We had a lesson with Nathan who is 14 and Katherine's brother. He will not talk to us directly and is terrified of water, but is excited and anxious for his sister to say yes to baptism so they can be baptized together. We had dinner with the crazy awesome Sturm family and Ashley who is their good friend investigating the church. They introduced me to Choffee, which I guess is using cocoa beans instead of coffee beans in a coffee brewer? It's not technically coffee but whatever it really is and no matter how much sugar and cream I put in it I think it's awful and disgusting.

 

Thursday we contacted a bunch of people and had a few lessons after having a really solid morning exercise session with the Elders in the district playing basketball and spike ball. We also got to take a nice bike ride to the Hermanas apartment to drop off a children's illustrated BoM they requested from us. 

 

Friday we were stuck inside most of the time trying to call people, since we were low on driving miles allotted for us. I did get the chance to go and meet Ken, who is an ex-convict with enough love for and faith in Jesus Christ to fill an industrial warehouse. He is anxiously and very patiently waiting to hear from the first presidency of the church about the status of him being able to be baptized. It was also interesting seeing everyone in the mission over messenger for a training, it was nice seeing how well all the other trainers were doing.

 

Saturday was the day I tried mussel, crab, crawfish, and Whataburger. Nothin much to say other than the fact that since we're close to Louisiana, we get a lot of amazing bayou food, including crawfish which I think is the first "seafood" I love.

 

Sunday we got to pass the sacrament and bear our testimonies in church as well as meet various members. We also heard Elder Doyle would finally go to his original assignment in Mexico. We also had an interesting encounter with a cicada. They're these super loud and obnoxious chirping bugs in the trees you hear all day long, and one happened to fly into our apartment in the night. Not fun to get rid of let me tell ya.

 

Monday was our Preparation Day, and for Elder Doyle's last day he decided we should all go to Buc-ee's. Buc-ee's is a big chain of gas stations in Texas, and the one we went to was massive, at least 100 gas pumps and a huge store. Imagine if a Maverik gas station expanded to have a butcher, a baker, a candy maker (not quite the nursery rhyme), an IKEA style home decoration section, a sporting goods/hunting area, and a ton of assorted and bizarre memorabilia dedicated to their beaver mascot almost like Mickey Mouse in Disneyland. It's no doubt in my mind the 8th wonder of the world.

 

Tuesday we learned Elder Nichols and Elder Seal lost car privileges since they technically "allowed" Elder Doyle to go over 100 mph on the way to the mission office and on his way to Mexico. They were soon understood and forgiven and eventually got their car back after about a week biking all over their massive area.

 

Wednesday was filled with bizarre interactions with a multiple personality disorder member that we helped out with her living situation as well as hearing Elders way outside our area are trying to I guess steal our contacts and referrals for some reason. I will say I was blessed to hear an amazing story from Elder Seal, very similar to mine actually, and we were able to share our testimonies of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to each other and inspire the work in each of us.

 

Thursday we had Chili's to celebrate Elder Godderidge's 1 year mark which killed our stomachs and made us exhausted and made working so hard, but we were able to find a family of 6 we can now add to our teaching pool.

 

Friday was awesome, as all the missionaries apart of training went to League City, where the Johnson Space Center is located. We heard a lot about sending rockets into space and also got to take pictures in front of the space center. We learned how missionary work is a lot like building rockets and how sharing the Atonement of Jesus Christ is a much greater work. That night we did exchanges with the Pearland Elders and I was with Elder Godderidge in their area.

 

Saturday we helped Bro. Flores move and assemble a treadmill in his house. He treated us to Killen's Burgers after which is famous apparently and one of J.J. Watt's personal favorite places to eat. We ate at Stake President's for dinner. He apparently tries to determine children's disorders based on genetics and appearances, and remarked I had perfect ear size, shape, rotation, and placement. I guess that's one attractive trait I've got going for me. I went back to my area with Elder Farris that night.

 

Sunday we had a lesson with Ken and Damascus, a returning investigator, before church. I also got to give a great talk on obedience and as a result had many people talk to me and ask about California, as well as sign up for missionary dinners.

 

Monday (Today) We had a fantastic day playing basketball and spikeball with the Elders and Sisters on our district, but mainly I've been stuck writing this email. We were offered a free couch by a member, but sadly couldn't make it to the store for a guitar tuner. We found a ukelele that was left here and I was able to get my hands on a guitar from the Pearland Elders but neither are close at all to being in tune and it's just killing me inside not being able to play them.

 

I hope I am able to sort my thoughts and condense them better for y'all in the future. (If you haven't noticed, y'all is actually proper and formal English here in Texas, it's encouraged for the missionaries to use it and I love it) I do have various pictures attached of my apartment, other missionaries and I, and other goofy things, that I think are somewhat interesting. There'll be better ones in the future for sure. Thanks to those who read it all and stuck it out to the end. I hope y'all are doing well and I would love to hear how things are going and everyone is doing! Please email me individually so we can get the convos rolling on Mondays. I'll leave with my testimony of this great work. I know that Christ came to the Earth to atone for our sins and preach his gospel, and we as missionaries are here as His representatives to continually spread His word and teach other His gospel. I love the Savior and am so grateful for everything He's done for me and the opportunity He gives each and every one of us to utilize of His atoning power. I say these things in his name, Jesus Christ, amen

 

-Elder Thompson

Return Home and Reassignment

 On April 18, 2020, Elder Josh Thompson returned home from his mission.  For the past 15 months he has been preparing himself to go back on his mission. He has spent time in Utah working with his Uncle Cliff and attending school in Rexburg, Idaho at Brigham Young University- Idaho. On July 16, 2021, he received notice that he was once again called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was reassigned to the Texas Houston South mission. He was thrilled. He had a little over a week to get everything ready. He finished finals and drove to Elk Grove, CA. He flew to Houston Texas on July 26, 2021. President and Sister Richards met him and all new 36 missionaries.