Thank you and Merry Christmas from the Texas Houston South Mission! (Email from President & Sister Richards) 12/18/2021

 Dear Parents and Friends, 

Merry Christmas from the Texas Houston South Mission!! We have attached the Christmas photos from our Christmas Conferences held last week. Our theme was “Come Let Us Adore Him”. We had wonderful speakers, music and even missionary choirs. The service project was a highlight. Members of the Sugar Land 1^st and 2^nd wards provided a big Texas BBQ. It was both a spiritual and physical feast. We have attached two pictures, each with half of the mission. Please look for your missionary on either the Monday or Tuesday group depending on when they came to Christmas conference. (We have all but three of our missionaries in the photo.) We hope you can treasure this picture of the wonderful group of dedicated missionaries serving here. We love each one of them and work diligently daily to help them fulfill their missionary purpose.

We are so grateful for you and the many ways you support and encourage our missionaries! A huge thank you for your tremendous support of our service project!!  We express appreciation for your generosity! Thanks to you, we were able to provide "Socks, Soup, and Snuggles" to hundreds of refugees, homeless, and foster children in Houston and its environs. We received daily contributions from loving parents and family and were able to do well over what we initially hoped! Your thoughtfulness is blessing so many of our missionaries and those in our community. 

We love you and feel so privileged to serve with your missionaries. On the whole, they are healthy and happy. They are serving with all their hearts, dedicated to bring the gospel joy to many people, and willingly serve where asked. Since we arrived in June, our hearts have been bursting with love for each missionary. We love them from the minute they are assigned to us and it just deepens as we get to know them personally. Our hearts have been so touched by their testimonies and willingness to work hard to share the gospel of Christ and bring joy to the people of Houston.

We distributed all your packages at the Christmas conferences including the ornament/statue, service project supplies, or any gift packages. Since then, we have received additional packages. We along with the help from our Senior missionaries, will make sure that all Christmas packages that arrive to the mission office by December 21st will be delivered to your missionary on December 22nd. After the 22^nd, the mission office will be open on a limited time basis so that our local senior missionaries who give 40+ hours each week, can also enjoy time with their families. Again, please do not send packages to your missionary’s apartments. Missionaries can be moved at the last minute (several missionaries were moved suddenly this past week because of medical emergencies or visa requirements) and are often not at their apartments to receive packages, since they are out teaching. Nor do we want them to be asked to stay at their apartment to await package delivery. They are also not supposed to come to the mission office to retrieve packages unless they are close and it is PDAY. Additionally, many of them live in gated apartments for security and their apartments add a holding fee if packages are sent there.  

Thank you also to those of you who have sent extra Christmas ornaments or packages for missionaries who need them. Mission Christmases are not about the material gifts. Instead, our missionaries are learning the sweetness of focusing on Christ and ministering. However, we are trying to discern needs so if you hear from your missionary of simple personal needs or that their companion has needs that are not able to be met by you or their families, please email Sister Moline and we’ll see what we can do to bless them.

We wish you joy at this wonderful Christmas season!

 

Love,

President and Sister Richards

**additional photos can be found at this link:   https://spidercannonphotography.smugmug.com/Houston-South-Mission-Dec-2021/n-TSMrwf/   and, on our Mission Facebook. Search the Texas Houston South Mission under Facebook “Groups”

December 12/15/2021

 Our first notable event was Monday evening. The mission hosted an open house at the church for our stake where there was art, nativity, and the Christ Child video on display. Our friends Raymond and Hope came and said they had a wonderful time. 

 

Tuesday was Christmas Conference with our zone, Bay City zone, and Houston zone. We listened to a few talks from missionaries and members in our areas. We also ate some good food and did a service project where we tied fleece blankets to be donated. It was awesome being able to catch up with a bunch of missionaries I haven't seen in a while.

 

On Friday we decided as a district to play ultimate Frisbee for exercise then we went and found a bunch of Christmas decorations and clothes for the other missionaries that wanted them.

 

Saturday Morning was our ward Christmas party and we got our friend Hope to attend that activity as well. We also got the chance to help Sis. Kern and her mother put up lights and decorations. As a thank you we got a Christmas puzzle and each got to pick out a nutcracker to take home. That night I was made just a little trunky when one of the teacher's quorum members in the ward showed me his electric guitar and I wanted to play my own super bad. 

 

Sunday was extra special because our friends Raymond and Hope both came to church for the first time! They both said they enjoyed the open house and felt the spirit and wanted more so they agreed to come to church. After church, we went to a stake Christmas concert with a bunch of other missionaries in the zone.

 

This has been an amazing December and a wonderful Christmas season. It's such a blessing being able to focus on the Savior during this time of year especially the gift He is for each and everyone of us. 

 

-Elder Thompson

Hot N Cold 12/9/2021

 The weather out here is literally bipolar. It can be bright and sunny with a cool temperature or overcast and rainy while boiling. It's not super fun to deal with. I couldn't tell you what month it is. Everyone is telling me Christmas is soon but it also feels like the middle of May. My email is coming late because I had some super amazing things going on that I'll share next week.

 

This week we were super busy with a couple service projects. One lady in the Spanish ward needed a lot of work done on her new yard where her mobile home has just been put. After trying to use a push mower and breaking it as well as trying to revive a dead riding mower, I had to resort to cutting a whole lawn of three foot tall grass with a weed whacked. It was not fun, but I definitely felt accomplished after that. We also came back and dug out some dirt for her with broken shovels and hoes. That was a whole other ordeal.

 

Another lady in the Missouri City ward needed help from our whole district to paint her fence. Even with eight missionaries, It took a long time trying to coat a super long fence with tiny sponge brushes. She was super adamant on us using bleach and gasoline to clean our hands, so I'm sure I'm missing a few layers of skin now. On the second day, the lady was kind enough to send us home with some fried fish which looked completely repulsive and smelled the same. It actually wasn't that bad but just looking at the thing I couldn't handle more than one bite. It's safe to say I'm spoiled here in Texas when I choose to throw out a perfectly good fish.

 

We had stake conference this week and we got to watch it over zoom at a members house. One thing I remember was that we can always turn towards Christ no matter the circumstances we are in or the needs we have. He wants to and can help us with anything, great or small. 

 

-Elder Thompson

The Gambler 11/30/2021

 If playing sports or games for money was encouraged in the church I would be a billionaire by now. This week I've had too many opportunities to play games and kind of destroyed everyone else, whether it be football, Monopoly, Ticket to Ride, Poker, etc. Its also pretty easy to predict which people we try to visit will be available or not so I think right now would be the best time for me to go to Vegas and try my luck. I'm super grateful though for the opportunity to grow friendships with members and missionaries by playing games and the frustrating experience of people not responding to us.

 

We met a super cool lady named Carolyn and her two sons this week who loved hearing our message and even committed to coming to church either this week or next. I was super grateful to find our first person in quite some time.

 

Thanksgiving was a blast, I didn't think I could enjoy it as much as I did away from home. It was pouring rain in the morning, and even though it was super wet and slippery, we enjoyed a fantastic game of football with our district. Afterward, we had a potluck with them as well at the church. I made some raspberry and pumpkin pie which turned out fantastic. We went to the Jones family along with Sis. Loyd for Thanksgiving dinner and it was super fun. I'm grateful for all the missionaries I get to serve around and the wonderful members that help us out so much.

 

The next day Elder Nawahine and I were on exchanges in his area, and we managed to find a new lady who speaks English very well, and got her super close to committing to baptism on the first lesson. I was grateful for the opportunity to meet her and her son and teach a fire lesson that helped fill her home with the spirit. 

 

The Roundys invited us over the next day for service. We were there for 4 and a half hours helping put wood panels up in theor attic, then eating dinner, then playing a game. If there's one thing y'all should take note of, missionaries love games. A short one right after dinner before a spiritual thought helps us connect better especially to younger kids and it helps us to get to know everyone.

 

Transfers were this week and it's sad having two missionaries in our district go home but exciting to get to know the new ones coming in. I'm grateful we have the opportunity as missionaries to meet so many new faces.

 

I'm grateful for all the experiences and opportunities I've had here so far and I'm grateful for all my friends and family back home who've helped me and supported me any way possible. 

 

-Elder Thompson

Life In the Fast Lane 11/23/2021

It seems like we were traveling a billion miles an hour this week. There was so much to do and it all went by super fast. Our car monitoring device was also broken for most of the week so I may or may not have been driving faster than usual as well.

 

On Tuesday, I was on exchanges with Elder Johnson in the Missouri City area. It was real weird going to a dinner appointment and trying to communicate with them since they spoke Spanish, and since I know absolutely zero words and Elder Johnson hasn't quite got a hold of the language either. They were kind enough to use Google translate with us which helped immensely. Through the whole experience though we could definitely feel the Spirit which was awesome because I learned afterward one was an inactive member and the other was a nonmember, so we got to share an awesome lesson with them.

 

Wednesday is when our ward holds mutual for the youth, so we decided to join them this week. We learned about indexing for a little bit, then were going to okay volleyball with them but instead met up with our whole district who happened to be at the church at the same time and planned Thanksgiving. We then spent some time with the Missouri City ward after their activity then played basketball with some of their youth. This is super helpful for us since our goal is to get the youth involved in and excited about missionary work.

 

Elder Zabel had some family friends in the area, so we got to go out to Big Horn Barbeque with them on Saturday. I don't think I can ever get sick of the BBQ here or Tex-Mex. 

 

Sunday I got to speak in sacrament meeting, and I mentioned playing volleyball in high school. We went to the Johnstuns for dinner, and spent practically the whole time talking volleyball and they all ended up playing volleyball at the church with our whole district on pday. It was the last pday for Elder Mortenson and Hermana Swapp, so we went to Tornado Burger and Elder Mortenson and I went on a quick exchange to a super cool comic book store. Needless to say, the weekend was super fun.

 

I spoke on Bradley R. Wilcox's talk "Worthiness is not Flawlessness" I love this talk for the inspiring words it gives to everyone who struggles through repentance. We can all count on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His guidance and support through trying times, and none of us are too far gone to receive of His mercy. During the Thanksgiving season I'm especially grateful for Christ and His Atonement and the way He's provided for each and everyone of us to return to live with Him again.

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

-Elder Thompson

 

Closing Time 11/16/2021

 It's crazy to think there's only a couple short weeks left in the transfer, it's gone by way too fast. I can't believe I've already been in Shadow Creek a whole month. Our focus is to keep up the hard work and hopefully commit someone to baptism by the end of the year.

 

This week we did a lot of work with our members. We had opportunities to do service for them and help them fellowship their friends who may be struggling a bit in their lives. We've been able to build our relationship with the ward members and then been able to have them help us out in our missionary work. 

 

We had a pretty cool miracle happen at the store with the other missionaries the other day. As we were walking around trying to talk to people and doing our own browsing,  a guy came up to us and said he knew who we were. He had said his name was Arthur, and that he'd met the brothers while living in Sacramento and showed us pictures he'd gotten all over the place with missionaries. He said he'd love to play basketball with us sometime and for us to share a spiritual message. Then, the worker he asked to take a picture for us said that she may be interested in learning more about Christ exchanged phone numbers with us and hopefully we can teach her at some point.

 

Another pretty sweet part of my week was getting to see Ken a couple of times. We saw him at his new care facility and he seemed to be doing alright. Sadly, he'll have to go back to his group home in his old area but at least I got to check up and see how he's been. I know he was struggling a bit not talking with us for a while so I'm sure we were able to bless him just a little bit with our visits.

 

I'm excited to see what other tender mercies and miracles the Lord has for us the next couple weeks as we finish the work needed to be done this transfer and get ready for the work ahead afterward.

 

-Elder Thompson

Outlaw State of Mind 11/9/2021

 

I think it's really starting to set in that I am in Texas. Starting to think and feel like a real cowboy out here. Everywhere I go I see more and more red, white, and blue as well as the Texas outline and anything else related to the lone star state. There is also a bit of a solemn mood over here. Everyone here is an Astros fanatic, and after they lost the world series people seem to be just a bit more glum than usual. 

 

This week was interviews with President Richards. We got together as a zone and review our areas from the past 6 years as well as talk to president about our goals and challenges. It was pretty fun getting to meet new missionaries and catch up with all the ones I'm already friends with.

 

Elder Nawahine came into my area on exchange and it was a pretty fun time. He's been out for quite a while so he was able to give me quite a few tips on missionary work. 

 

Thursday night I got a little bit of a tender mercy in my life. Sister Mons and Sister Drummond in my old area called me up and told me they had some exciting news for me. They said friend Ken was indeed relocated to a care facility, which is located in my current area! Elder Zabel and I plan on seeing him later this week. I'm super excited to be able to catch up with him again and make sure everything is going alright in his life.

 

A few other tender mercies I noticed were a cat friend we made who decided to join us in the car, a lowered basketball hoop we just had to slam on, and being able to play soccer Saturday morning with the Missouri City ward and some of their investigators. The Lord knows how to bless us and keep us happy in the midst of trials and challenges.

 

-Elder Thompson