Times Like These 6/16/2022

 We had Remi's baptism on Saturday! It's these kinda moments we live for as missionaries it is so wonderful to be a key part of someone's spiritual journey.

 

Earlier in the week, we got to go through another round of interviews with President Richards, and he often gives great advice for us and our areas.

 

We mainly focused our efforts in the week on preparing Remi for baptism and scheduling lessons with our investigators. 

 

Saturday was Remi's baptism and it was amazing. Bro. Olatoye did struggle a bit getting her under the water and well it ended up taking him like 5 tries to get it right. Sunday I got to confirm her a member of the church and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost which was so special and an amazing spiritual experience. 

 

Our area is doing so well right now and we're excited to continue working with those we are around.

 

-Elder Thompson

I'm So Sick 6-8-2022

 This past week has been basically nothing since we have both gotten covid and were stuck inside.

 

Elder Byrge came and joined us in quarantine one day since he had come down with covid as well.

 

Elder DeCarlo came with his parents to visit the mission, and they stopped by our apartment and church to say hi and talk to us and the members.

 

Other than that, pretty lame week so this next week will surely be better.

 

-Elder Thompson

Facebook post from Sister Debby Richards 6/13/22

 President Kyle McKay and Sister Jennifer McKay visited the THSM on May 24-26, 2022. It was an incredible three days packed with powerful training. Each day we gathered 1/3 of the mission while the other 2/3 tuned in via zoom. We loved Sister McKay’s counsel and direct instruction to learn the language of the Spirit and Elder McKay’s powerful command of the Spirit as he taught from the scriptures and from history all without reading anything. President Richards and I also taught each day. We feel energized and excited about all that we learned. Some of the key takeaways were:

**How we "represent" Jesus matters. We "present him again" in the way we groom ourselves, how we dress, how we act and what we say.

**We are helping God with his work. It's "take a child to work day," and we get to be part of it! We get to see that Father's work in action.

**Being disciplined (more of a disciple) is greater than being motivated.

**Every day, be "united" with your companion in "mighty prayer" like the disciples were in 3 Nephi 27:1, fasting from sin by "hungering and thirsting after righteousness" (D&C 59:13)

**Make our message enticing. You make your message enticing, engaging, and interesting by the words you choose and the way you deliver it, like Elder Holland. Say what moves you. Say it with feeling. Practice.

We learned so so much more. This just scratches the surface. At the end of our experience Elder McKay said, "If you've had a spiritual experience, you can never be the same. God expects us to change." In our mission, we love a growth mindset!! We never stop improving!!! We are truly so grateful to be serving as disciples of Jesus Christ!!!

Down with the Sickness 5/31/2022

 I got Covid-19.

 

Well, this week would've been a positive highlight from my mission of not for the past couple of days.

 

This week was our mission tour where Elder and Sister McKay got to come and observe the mission. They also got to speak to us every morning Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On Wednesday we got to see them in person, and they even decided to sit down and have lunch with us and our district. It was a pretty great experience and we all learned how to effectively and efficiently work to see our results increase.

 

Tuesday we decided we'd go to mutual for the first time since we have unbaptized youth that attend. Long story short, their adoption papers just need sorting out so we just wanted to build a relationship with them. We learned how to draw a little bit with the deacons and teachers then played dodgeball and basketball with the priests.

 

On Thursday, we had a fantastic lunch again with Peter Martinez. This time we were joined by the Eldridge Park Sisters. He does a really good job encouraging us to make good decisions after the mission and learn to love and support those we are teaching. 

 

On Friday, after another lesson with the Olatoyes, Bro. Stuckey took us to get Baskin-Robbins and I had a headache like no other. I woke up the day totally sick and have been outta commission since. I got tested for covid and found out I'm positive, so we'll be stuck here quarantining until Thursday morning. Luckily, we did get Elder Unga and Elder Longman from Jones Creek to help give me a blessing and a quick trip to Walmart.

 

It's been a wild week for sure but it'll just be another short and small memory as a part of my whole mission experience.

 

-Elder Thompson

Blue Collar Man 5/24/2022

Its been a long grindy week. We're working our tails off out biking in the heat and knocling doors, but the days have all been worth it.

 

As we've been around the neighborhoods, we've had some awesome opportunities to talk to a lot of active and inactive member families which has been a blessing to us and im sure to them as well. We've also gotten to see alot more BoMs being handed out. 

 

Nothing too much else has really happened to take note of but its been the small and simple things that have helped us to find gratitude and be happy with where we are. 

 

-Elder Thompson 

Family Tradition 5/18/22

 Nothing too interesting happened this week but I'd say it was pretty solid overall.

 

After a long zoom meeting with our bishop and mission president and a member immigrant from Nigeria, we got the go-ahead to baptize Remi, so now she is on date. She was really excited to hear things worked out. We learned as well that the traditional wedding of families in Nigeria is still valid even though it gets really confusing for families that are trying to move to the U.S.

 

The rest of our time we've been doing a lot of biking and tracting out in the hot sun. It's really tiring but it most definitely worthwhile work and I've continually seen the blessings that come from serving the Lord.

 

-Elder Thompson

Mother 5/12/22

 This week definitely had its ups and downs. It made for a weird week for sure. May the 4th was this week too so may the force be with y'all as well.

 

We had a lesson with our friend Tabitha on Tuesday. She really liked what we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon, we can definitely see her progress in the future. 

 

Wednesday really threw us off track. We got a text from our bishop saying the Olatoyes are legally divorced, meaning we can't quite baptize Remi yet. It caused a whole mess of confusion and uncertainty when we tried explaining things to them, but they still remain ultra faithful and are ready to do whatever they need to get Remi baptized asap. 

 

That night I went on exchanges with Elder Stoddard to Pecan Grove, and the next day after district council we ended up spending way too long helping the Sisters in Eldridge Park do service for a lady. We helped cut palm leaves off, paint some stairs, and detail her garden decorations. It wasn't anything I'd ever think I'd help with.

 

On Friday Bro. Martinez from the Eldridge Park ward brought us a bunch of food and sat down at our outdoor lounge to discuss how we are in a fantastic place as missionaries and our futures will be bright and blessed. It was super nice and he wanted our moms to know that along with a heaping pile of barbeque we also had some carrots to be healthy. 

 

We got to help Bro. Boyce on Saturday with yard work. He chopped down a tree and we did the cleanup by bundling the sticks and raking leaves. We also got to see Bro. Harris again who we try and see every week as well as visit our friend Robert. We were exhausted by the end of the day being out in the hot sun working and biking. 

 

Sunday was Mother's Day and I got to lead the primary children singing in Sacrament meeting. There weren't a lot of kids, so I'm sure the congregation got to hear some of my horrendous vocals as well. I also got to lead singing time in Primary which was a blast. It's definitely something I never thought I'd do on my mission, maybe ever so I'm glad I got that chance. We then both got to help the children make some flowers for their mothers. 

 

To cap it all off, for our final p-day this transfer we went bowling as a district, so it was a great end to a turbulent week.

 

I want to end with my testimony of how much my mother has helped me get to where I am, and has helped me learn so much about the gospel and Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for her and everything she has done for me, even if I seem uncaring most of the time haha. I love you mom!

 

-Elder Thompson