"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
This transfer has been jam-packed with things so far. Plenty for me to do to keep my missionary spirit alive. There's just so much it's been making me put my emails on the back burner. This'll be yet another one covering two weeks.
My
first day in the area was pretty standard. We had our district council a day
early in the morning. In the afternoon Elder Mafi and I went to the Family
History Center to share a message with the people there and have some food. We
also had a dinner that evening with the Morrises in our ward.
My
second day in the area was really interesting. Elders Unga and Best came to my
area on exchanges since all our comps were away in leadership meetings. I
basically took us around to a few service referrals and helped them out with
some cleanup after our big storm. Elder Mafi and I got back together and
visited our weird convert friend Manny, who I'd met at the institute before
while I was in the YSA. He claims to have Satan, Angel, and Jesus powers, so
we're helping him through that.
Thursdays
we have a food truck service at another church, this time we go with our entire
district. It was a lot of fun getting to sort out and distribute food yet
again, and then be able to talk with the district at lunch afterward. We got to
stop by a few of our friends in the afternoon, and in the evening we knocked a
referrals door we had gotten in the morning, and met Lisa and Melinda who were
awesome and loved to see us since they had met with the Sisters in the past,
like when I had first gotten to Texas.
In
the morning on Friday, we picked up Elder Unga from the ZLs to
"babysit" him for a day. He just was butting heads with them in a
quad so we said we'd be happy to have him come with us. We took him out
knocking doors and stopping by referrals, and we also helped Brother Romero
move some stuff. We also went to the ward Family Home Evening/Game Night to
share a message and play games with some members and recent converts.
Saturday
was spent knocking lots of doors and contacting referrals. We did see some kids
playing basketball at an apartment complex, so we decided to join. We of course
destroyed them, even though they kept talking smack before and after. We also
got to give them each Book of Mormons and shared a quick message. That evening,
we had another really great lesson with Lisa and Melinda, and then we met the
ZLs at the Friendswood building to give them Unga back.
We
went to all of our missionary meetings and church on Sunday. I had the chance
to introduce myself and share my testimony over the pulpit as well since i'm
new to the area. We called and texted a bunch of friends in the afternoon
before Elder Mafi got tied up with stewardship calls.
Monday
was not our pday, since it got moved to Thursday. In the morning, we helped a
family move from their apartment in Alvin to a new one in Friendswood, we were
with the Sisters in our district and the Zone Leaders who are in the
Friendswood area. In the evening, we had a bizarre "lesson" with our
friend Stacey, her kids, and her friend. The lesson didn't really happen until
the end, and it was just the kids watching a Book of Mormon video. During our
time before that, she kept saying the whole time how much she just loved Elder
Mafi and everything about him, she even asked if he would take her 10 yr-old
daughter to a father-daughter dance. It was strange, and although I've been
around a lot more dangerous and wild people, places, and things on my mission,
that was the time I've felt the most scared, out of place, and awkward. After
that experience, I went with Elder Peterson on exchanges to the Alvin Spanish
area. We talked on and on about BYU football that night which was a very nice
change of pace.
In
the morning we went to help the Sisters teach English class, but sadly no one
showed up. We spent most of the day walking around trailer parks and taking
breaks to call a bunch of people. We did have one guy tell us he had a
"pistola", which is I guess a pistol in Spanish. I'm pretty sure it
was a threat to shoot us, but the way it came out was too funny so we just
walked away. We also went to Burger King, which was pretty funny because the
workers there all recognized our name tags when we walked in, and revealed to
us that the Sister missionaries go there all the time for dinner, so that was some
fun dirt to have on them. We exchanged back later that evening.
Wednesday
we had a solid district council in the morning. In the afternoon we were all
over the place grabbing stuff for our apartment. We had good lessons with our
friends Corinna and Andres in the evening. When we taught Andres, Brother Cain
was there to be a miracle worker, he shared really good testimony and related
well to our friend and his life experiences. It was an amazing time.
Pday
was on Thursday this week. We met as a zone in the morning for a quick
breakfast, then headed up together to go to the temple. That was an awesome
experience as the temple always is, and I can't wait to go again in the near
future. In the evening, we stopped by institute quickly, and I got to see all
my YSA friends again. That was pretty fun being around all of them.
Friday
we went to a stake missionary breakfast all the way at the Magnolia building,
which is way too far for us missionaries in Alvin to be driving at 6:30 in the
morning. In the afternoon we deep-cleaned our car since it was getting way too
messy and dirty. We taught our friend Ishea and then Sis. Slater took us to
Whataburger for dinner. We then went again to FHE. We also stopped by Christian
Correa's house to get some money from him.
The
next morning, we bought some food with the money and had lunch with Christian
at his place. It was fun catching up with him again and talking about the YSA,
and the Sacramento Stake. The rest of the day we continuously invited our
friends to church and were out finding new people to teach.
Sunday
we went to all our normal church and missionary meetings. We got fed by the
Arnolds later in the evening.
Monday
was pday again, and we spent a lot of time playing chair soccer and scatterball
with our district. In the evening, we scheduled a bunch of lessons with our
progressing friends.
There
was a lot of good that came from the work we put in the last couple weeks, and
I'm hoping to continue the great work and see more of the Lord's hand the rest
of the transfer.
-Elder
Thompson
This past week was fairly interesting, considering all that happened.
Tuesday
was pretty basic, we did some biking and finding and taught the Bolanos
again.
Wednesday
we had our last district council of the transfer and our last zone call. We
spent the rest of the day sorting things out with area book and our page
messaging team.
We
did what we thought was a deep clean of our apartment Thursday to get ready for
transfers. Then we hit the bike grind again visiting some members and
investigators.
We
showed up to weekly service Friday, but after waiting for 2 hours for something
to do, they told us the truck wasn't coming and that we could just take some
food home with us. We got to teach a really good lesson to Anaika over zoom
right before going to a baptism in the H4 Spanish ward. Elder Norris and I went
on exchanges, and for the first time on my mission, I got to help teach Spanish
speakers English at the English class. It was hard to communicate with them
since I know zero Spanish, but it was fun tryna help them learn Spanish.
In
the morning, Sister Richards messaged us after our inspections and said we
needed to clean our apartment, so Elder Norris and I went back to my apartment
to rearrange things and do another deep clean. All the Elders then came over
and we got our transfer news. I found I'd be moving again for the third
transfer in a row, which is really weird for a missionary to move that much,
especially considering I have such a short time left. We went to the Hibberts
for dinner and then we were gonna have our youth volleyball at the church, but
there was something at the church so we just had to head back home.
Sunday
was just our standard missionary and church meetings. I spent the rest of the
day packing up all my stuff, which was so frustrating. I just hate having to
pack my stuff.
Monday
we met up with a bunch of other missionaries at the mission office for
transfers. It was so fun talking to all the Elders and Sisters I know, that's
one positive from transfers. I met up with Elder Mafi, who's now my companion
with me in Alvin. We went with some Elders to In N Out before heading to our
area. The rest of our district was busy waiting for greenies, so Elder
Mafi and I just went to the church and shot hoops for a bit. In the evening,
Jordan Morgan in the ward took us out to an Italian place for dinner.
All
in all, it was honestly a weird week, but I'm glad there were still positives to
see and miracles to witness.
-Elder
Thompson
This week and last have been hectic, so this email will cover what's been going on the past two weeks.
Tuesday
and Wednesday of last week were pretty uneventful, we did a lot of contacting
and finding with the other Elders in our area, a pseudo-blitz.
Thursday
was zone conference which was ok. I honestly didn't like the trainings we did,
but getting to see some of my favorite elders and sisters from past zones made
it worthwhile. There was a fun activity where we learned some communication and
unity by making giant spider webs with yarn led by Sister Richards. We did have
an interesting discussion as a zone afterward, which was really bizarre.
Apparently, in another church building some missionaries have been gathering as
big groups and doing suspicious things, so that was real interesting to find
out about. Later in the evening we did get to meet with one of our inactive
member friends Helena.
We
did our regularly scheduled food truck service that Friday. What made it
different was the fact that there was so much leftover bread, cheese, milk,
and meat we took so much home to be fine for a while without buying too much at
the store. We did our weekly planning, and sadly a couple lessons that evening
were canceled on us.
Saturday
we helped some inactive members move out of their apartment into a moving
truck. We then went to the church and did a whole bunch of brainstorming and
planning out how to attack member work in the area. Afterward, we had our first
missionary-run youth volleyball night. It was pretty fun.
Sunday
was just a usual mess of church and missionary meetings to attend to, as well
as a little bit of finding.
We
hung out with all the Elders for pday, and we played some card games and then
went to the park for a bit. I've been alive for 22 years, and I finally learned
on pday how to ride a skateboard. I felt very accomplished but also way behind
literally every person ever. That evening Elder Rowe came to my area on
exchanges with me.
Tuesday
we did some store finding and member contacting before some of our lessons. We
taught our member friend Helena again, and Bro. Hawkins took us to teach the
Bolanos. Afterward, he took us to get Italian ice.
We
had district council and our zone meeting Wednesday afternoon. We then did some
more contacts in the late afternoon and went to mutual with the youth in the
evening.
Thursday
after the mission zoom, I spent half of the day working on a video training the
zone on unity. The second half of the day we hit the bike grind and went around
talking to a bunch of different people.
Our
service happened again Friday, this time in the afternoon. We had a zoom lesson
with Anaika, then we went to the church so I could finish everything with my
video.
Saturday
we attended a funeral for Bro. Dietz in the Pecan Grove ward, who my companion
knew. We did some more contacting, and actually found a new person to teach,
which hasn't happened in a while. We taught our friend Martin, but then found
out from his caretakers he wouldn't be allowed to come to church or even meet
with us anymore. In the evening, we had another night of youth
volleyball.
We
had church and missionary meetings on Sunday. We were gonna teach Leo in the
afternoon, but he told us that he doesn't want to meet anymore. We went to a
baptism of the Metcalfs in the Jones Creek ward in the evening.
We
went with the Elders and Sisters to the Buddhist temple for Pday, and then got
food before going to their apartment complex to play pool. We went back home
and played a bunch of card games with the Elders.
There
have definitely been some ups and downs these past couple of weeks, but through it
all, I've been able to see the blessings and hope God has given me.
-Elder
Thompson
The last week of the year was pretty good, a pleasant way to finish out.
On
exchanges, Elder Barnes and I went to a member's house for breakfast, where
apparently the nonmember husband was bashing the member's wife and Elder Barnes
in Spanish. I just got to sit there and enjoy my food without any understanding
of what was happening. We had more Spanish lessons with investigators and I
just got to kinda exist and be present. Later that night, like 10 pm, while we
were in bed, the sisters came by begging for the packages we had grabbed for them,
that was kinda funny.
Wednesday
and Thursday weren't too exciting. We just had district council and a zone
meeting, the rest of our time we tried getting in contact with and teaching
some inactive members.
Friday
we had another food truck service, and they had way too much leftover Christmas
treats, bread, and meat, so we ended up taking a couple big boxes home full of
whatever food we wanted. We also got to teach our friend Deyanta who we were a
bit worried about, and he is doing well.
Our
interviews were a little weird this transfer. We instead did them with our ZLs,
and I basically just sat in a room with Elder Farris and we just joked for a
solid 20 minutes. It was very bizarre, don't know what president expects to
gain from what the zls gather. We did find a couple new people to teach in the
afternoon. We met over zoom as a mission and watched a slideshow of the year
and then the movie best two years.
Sunday
we had church in the morning, and then in the afternoon we joined the Wells and
Bullocks for dinner.
Pday
was also my birthday, and it was pretty fun. I officially went a full year
without any soda as well, so to celebrate of course I had to go and buy some
mountain dew for the week. We went to the Hibberts in Jones Creek for kolaches
and some games. In the afternoon we met as a district to play volleyball and
have lunch together.
It
was all in all a solid week and I enjoyed quite a bit of it.
-Elder
Thompson
