The Final One

Hello everyone, I hope all is going well for ya wherever you may be.

Our week was pretty good capped by an amazing general conference. I hope you all had the opportunity to watch it! My favorite talk was Robert D. Hales! There have been a lot of emotions felt during my final week. it is very bittersweet and I have also been a bit sick the past couple of days with a relentless headache, no sleep, and dizziness. but overall id say it was a great week. I figured for my last email, id give a "short" summary of my mission. I have been blessed with amazing companions and areas and i could not trade it for anything.

Meadows Ward(Edmonton): My greenie area was exactly what i needed. It was my refiners fire, and it pushed me to my limits. I gained a lot of great friends there that helped me along the way and i truly learned what it was like to be a missionary. I also got to endure my first ever canadian winter in a walking area :) I had Elder Chase Taylor as a trainer and i also had Elder Ripley and they were great! I learned to love all people and gained first hand knowledge that God truly does love all his children.

Fort St. John: It was a perfect follow up area to my first. We didnt get to teach too often in Meadows, but we sure did in FSJ! All we did was teach! I learned my inadequacy as a teacher and was able to improve. Elder Merkley and I were able to Baptize Tracy and i got to confirm her a member of the church! We also met a guy named Sai, who we taught for awhile and although he never got baptized, we were lucky to meet and become good friends with. We were also able to work with some Less Active members and help bring them back a bit closer to activity. I was also blessed with great companions here in Elder Merkley, Elder Cassell, and then Elder Wheeler when we split the area. I was blessed to be able to serve way, way up north. (Like further north than missionaries in Spencers mission can even go ;) )

Beaumont: I was able to start it off with serving in a tripanionship. We had a legit apartment that i never thought would be beaten (beaten in next area) It was here that we as missionaries met a lady named Cassandra who was having lots of health problems and going through some divorce complications. I am thankful that we were able to be a light in her life, and that she can now be a light in the lives of others as she got baptized. Beaumont was my favorite family ward because of the great community and all the amazing members. I also had great companions here with Elder Majdali, Elder Leyerle, and Elder Winnie. We were blessed for our hard work, both knocking doors, and working with the members.

Mill Creek YSA (Downtown Edmonton and Sherwood Park): Probably my favorite area overall. There were great missionaries around me, I gained 3 really good friends who balled with us on P-Days and fed us often(that is generally hard to come by with poor students), its a YSA, and we had the best apartment in the mission. I also served as a Zone Leader where i learned many many important leadership skills that i will need later in life. Elder Monks and I started teaching Diddy and Elder Liddle and I continued and eventually i was able to perform the baptism. It was an honor for me and I am thankful that we met him and that he was sincerely interested in learning and had the presence of mind to feel the spirit as we taught some wacky lessons to him(Jesus the Christ-The Great Apostacy...it throws down on his former religion... but it worked :) ) I served with Elder Monks and Elder Liddle and they were both awesome comps and i learned a lot from them. Overall it was the most fun i  had out here.

Vermilion Branch: Not gonna lie, i was pretty bummed when i was sent out here at first. I wanted to stay in the city and train, but that was not what the Lord had in mind for me. So i put my head down and went to work, and just a week into it, i loved it like i loved all my other areas. This place is great! For what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. I was only here for a short 3 months, but it was 3 months that i am grateful i had. I served with Elder Parker and Elder Robinson, and i was blessed to serve with them.

One of the things i learned most out here, is that the power of Fasting is real. I saw so many miracles that were a direct result, and i will never be able to deny that. It is like prayer on healthy steroids. And it works :) I love this work and i will miss it deeply, but i am also excited to start the next chapter in my life.

Go Hard Go Fast

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

​BNT​

The Bump?

Hello everyone, I hope you all have had a good week. Ours was pretty good, nothing crazy happened, but it was great!

So my iPad decided to crap out the other day. I tried updating it to the new ios, but it would just freeze at the same place, every single time. I was ready to throw it in front of one of the many trains that come through here. But I found somebody else that had the same problem that knew somewhat to do. That didn't work, so now we are on plan g. hopefully this one works. They are a really awesome tool, when they work... If not oh well, I only have 16ish days left!(My zone leaders are counting)

We spent most of Sunday in primary and it was really fun haha! Kids are great! quote of the week come from the opening of it. the Primary President was telling the kids what was coming up through the week. she said one thing and then asked if anybody knew the really special day. One kid said "The bump?" Haha we started up bump(basketball game for those of you that don't know) and all the primary kids love it and bring their friends! The correct answer was two kids from the branch are getting baptized this Saturday. Haha that is why it was so funny!

That has pretty much been the most exciting thing this week. I got sick the other day and I thought about the great health that I have had on my mission up to this point. I'm grateful for the health and the amazing experiences that I have had and will continue to have!

Scripture of the week is Alma 8:14-15
"And it came to pass that while he was journeying thither, being weighed down with sorrow, wading through much tribulation and anguish of soul, because of the wickedness of the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, it came to pass while Alma was thus weighed down with sorrow, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto him, saying:  15 Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him. Behold, I am he that delivered it unto you."

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Edmonton!

Hello everyone! I hope all is going well for you and that you had a good week. We had a much quicker week, especially with travelling in to Edmonton twice! We had mission conference and a guy from my last area was getting baptised!

Mission conference was food. It was all about increasing our personal righteousness for increased faith and vice versa. We had Elder Golden from South Africa and I gave him a hug instead of a hand shake. But any ways, it was pretty good. That man sure knows how to talk though! I now know how it feels for an investigator when we talk way too much, they lose focus! But a funny quote from him was near the end. He asked Pres. Manion when we needed to end cause he still had lots to say. Pres. Said 4 which was 2 hours away and he said "oh we're dead. We're dead." We didn't end up getting out till 4:45. Good trainings though that's for sure!

Saturday we travelled back into the city because the guy I found and got on date with Elder Liddle was getting baptised!  So Friday morning we got a text that said he wanted me to do it! So I of course said yeah! We got there and he walked in and started freaking out cause he wasn't expecting me to be there, I guess his girlfriend and the missionaries were making it a surprise! He is such a great guy! It was a very cool experience though and I'm happy I could be a part of it!

 We had a pretty cool experience tracting the other day as well. We knocked on quite a few doors with no answer or where the people wouldn't speak to us at all. We were at this one door where no one appeared to answer  but someone said from behind us "no one is home"turned out he lived there and was coming home from the college. He said he normally stays at the school to study, but today he came home early! The spirit works in amazing ways! He invited us in and we got to talk about the restoration with him! It was pretty sweet!

Scripture of the week is proverbs 23:7 "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." Every action is preceded by a thought. As President Benson once taught, they that think good thoughts only do no wrong. We need to keep our thoughts on that which matters most. "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy" we should always be seeking these things.

Ill have to send the baptism pictures later if i have time or next week! The person that took them hasn't sent them to us yet

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Diddy with Elder Thompson

Elders with Diddy

Diddy and Elder Thompson

Chinese Fortune

Forget the handshake; go for the hug! Elder Gordon.

Going for the seeds this week.  Trying to fill up the 2 liter bottle.

Long Week

Hello everyone, I hope this finds you doing well. This week has been the longest of my mission. And for no apparent reason. We worked hard, had fun, and taught lessons; it just feels like a month since last Tuesday.

Speaking of last Tuesday we traveled into  Sherwood Park for interviews. That was a lot of fun; President Manion is a great guy! He talked a lot about me going home. I don't know why, but he really loves doing that. We get to travel in again tonight for Mission Conference tomorrow and have a sleep over with the zone leaders, assistant to the President approved! so that should be fun. I also got my in grown toe checked out again, cause it is still is ingrown. And because I'm in Vermilion, it's super hard to get there, so the doctor gave me the option of just managing it till I got home, or going back and getting the surgery. so I'm just managing. I talked to President and Sister manion about it, and Sister Manion wasnt too keen on having me go back because of the limited kilometres, but Pres. Manion was just like, I don't care, I just don't want your toe to fall off! Haha funny times for sure. After the appointment, the doctor took all four of us elders to Montana's and made us get steak, and then ordered dessert for us, while he told us about how he is going to sail the world in his yacht with his wife and son for a few years starting in January. He is 45ish... the man is loaded.

I finished one of my New Year's goals, which was to read the Old Testament from cover to cover! It was long, some parts were super boring, but it feels good to have accomplished a goal

We have done a lot of service this week as well. It must be tree cutting season, because thats all we did for 4 days straight for different people. We were pretty exausted, but it is always good to do service! We were driving with one of the guys we were doing service for on the Range Roads, and you could see clouds of mosquitoes hitting the windshied and flying past. Pretty good incentive, to never move here... out in the bush anyways.

Things are picking up out here in Vermilion, slowly but surely. We got a guy out to church yesterday, so that was awesome! I'm excited to work with these new people that the Lord has placed in our path.

Scripture of the week is Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21

"20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--

21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Old Faithful - Brother Lee

Vermilion Moving Company

​

Do You Know the Muffin Man

Hello everyone, hope all is going well for you. We have P-Day today because we have interviews tomorrow in Sherwood Park, so we are pretty excited for that. These next couple of weeks will be a gong show. Next week we have another mission conference, and this time Elder Golden jr. of the 70 will be coming up. so we get to travel into Edmonton again!! crazy times. Things up in Canada have been pretty good, although it has been quite a long week. We had transfer meeting and the ap's called the day before and said the plans had changed and i was no longer going in. Elder Parker and an elder from Lloydminster went in instead of me... i wasn't too happy about it. Most of my mission friends are now home and a few went home at this past meeting so i was hoping to see em, but oh well. But now we are settled back in Vermilion doing our thing. We have begun the process of tracting out Vermilion again for the who nows how many times. So that should be good!

As mentioned last week, Elder Robinson is my companion and he is from Twin Falls Idaho. He likes Basketball and Football so that is pretty cool, although he is a Utah Jazz fan ;) and with that comes a particular pride that is a bit different from other loyal fans of other teams, But its all good, i can be petty similar sometimes haha! but we will have some fun! He is willing to work, so im excited to go all out. He has been out for 4.5 months, so of course he knows everything about being a missionary haha. I think my favourite was when he asked if i knew about 7th day adventists hoping to teach me that they worship on saturday. i just said, yeah bro, i am well aware. he seemed kinda bummed that i had already discovered that "deep, unforseen"knowledge haha. Maybe ill go along with it one of these days to make him happy. but it has been good! He actually has a pretty cool conversion story, so its gonna be a fun transfer. The branch presidency had some fun with him yesterday as well. they were making lots of Idaho jokes, like "do they have indoor plumbing?" and "are the roads actually paved there?" haha it was pretty great! He has been a good sport about it so that is always good.

The branch president is pretty awesome here. he was leading the jokes and is a super chill funny guy! We went out to the one of the outlying villages of our area and he drove us and it was great. we actually had a really productive day, and we didn't have to waste kilometres. We met with a less active family that nobody has had contact with since before summer, and met up with our investigators as well to introduce him and he invited them to church. Member missionary work is great! It really helps us out.

 

Quote of the week is from Hugh B. Brown "Experience is not what happens to man, but what he does with what happens to him" Im grateful for this time that i have had to server the Lord and im looking forward to the time left to make some things happen!

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Mosquitoes = Spawns of Satan

Hello everyone, hope you all had a great week! We have had a pretty good week. Looking back on it now, it seems like it's been a long one, but it has been filled with good stuff! It was Elder Parkers Birthday on Sunday so that was fun. We could have fit everyone at church in a van! So it got cut short to the 2 hour block and we had a lunch after where we got free food! So that's awesome, because once again the dinner calendar was untouched. But we are still looking forward to this week nonetheless because on Saturday we get to leave the mission! We are going to Meadow Lake Saskatchewan for a service project building homes on a native reserve and some members from Lloydminster got it approved and they will be driving us, so I'm pumped!

So my companion and are doing really well with Comp unity, we are in so deep we even both have in grown toe nails! So that has been fun. Mine isn't too bad, just enough to be super annoying and Parkers looks like he should just cut his toe off! So we bought some Epsom Salt this week to try and make them a bit better.

We did service yesterday out on a Ranch taking down a barbed wire fence. I now know why so many of the Canadians swear so much out here. Not only is there thistle everywhere, so thick it cuts through your jeans, it is a breeding ground for mosquitoes who seemed like they hadn't ever before seen any living thing with blood. I was eaten alive...

We went on exchanges again this week, with Lloydminster and I went out there again. We had a pretty cool experience and I had a funny one. So we had a priest with us for a lesson that fell through and I guess the elder hadn't planned any backups, so we went tracting. We knocked on 3 doors. The first one was a slam, second no answer and the third one was the best. We noticed a no soliciting sign so they didn't want to knock it, but I just told them that if they brought it up, we just ask them to define soliciting for us (everyone has a different definition) so we knocked and sure enough the guy pointed to the sign, so I then told him to define it for us. He didn't, but just asked us who we were with, so we told him The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and he said, oh Jehovah's, we said nope, Mormons! He then said " oh well I don't have a problem with you, do you want to come in and share a message?"  We were just like "uh... Yeah!" Haha it was pretty strange. He was super nice to us from then on and even offered us stuff out of his garden. Then we went to the branch activity which was bump. So there is always this guy, nonmember, there who is a bit prideful, and a loose canon, and has a short fuse. He kept getting out and would complain and cry and what not saying we weren't letting him play for 5 seconds. So the last game he was in front of me and I took it easy on him the first 3 shots or so, I'd let him make it before I'd shoot. The branch mission leader was right behind me, and he was just like, "Go hard!" So I shot and got him out, and the guy said "oh I knew it, you little bas*ard!" Haha I have never been called that playing a game of bump! We all had a pretty good laugh at it.

Quote of the week is from Thomas S. Monson

"There is no tomorrow to remember, if we don't do something today!" This is something I have learned especially out here in Canada. We will be so much happier if we live in the present. Sure there are always those times where we have crappy days and look forward to the next day, but we can't just live waiting for the future because that one big event rolls along and goes, what then? Do we just wait for the next one for excitement? It also will not be as grande as it could be if we enjoy the little moments in the daily life. That's what makes the big events grande and exciting.

Keep it real,

Eat some Mexican food for me.

Elder W.Chad Thompson

All About the Finish

Hello everyone! Hope all is going well with ya and that you had a great week! It was our week 6 of the transfer which means transfer calls yesterday. Elder Parker is getting shipped out and I am getting Elder Robinson, some kid who has been out for about 4 and a half months. Parker gets to go to Meadows! Im actually really jealous of him! It is a great ward. It also means that this is week 1, the first week of my last transfer... pretty crazy!

Back in Fort St. John, me and one of companions, who actually goes home this thursday, would always joke with each other about being finishers. So we had Filipino ball every week(For those that need translation, basketball with Filipinos) and there was one week where He started out playing really well, and i didnt, so he was jiving at me the whole night, but i finished playing really well, while he didnt, so out of that came the phrase "it doesnt matter how well you start, its all about how you finish." I guess with it being my last transfer and all, it really comes into consideration now. President Monson gave a talk awhile back where i found this poem. 

"Stick to your task 'till it sticks to you

Beginners are many, but enders are few.

  Honor, power, place and praise

Will always come to the one who stays. 

Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;

Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too;

For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile

Will come life’s victories after a while." --Author Unknown

 

Will I falter, or will i finish? I am excited to go out and get it done and be a finisher.

This week we went out of our mission! But with permission :) after a 2 hour drive on terrible roads, and I was of course in the middle seat, we got to meadow lake Saskatchewan to the flying dust First Nation reserve and helped build part of a seniors lounge for their elders as part of Habitat for Humanity, it was a lot of fun! They made us wear hard hats and everything. For lunch we ate Indian Tacos (not politically incorrect, the chief called it this) which were amazing. The chief was giving his little spiel to all the volunteers and then he said "and traditionally we always let the elders go first" we were like yes! There were 6 of us missionaries but of course he meant the old people haha. Pretty fun times.

We went to the senior lodge at the hospital this week and helped them play bingo. The lady i was helping had dementia, so that was fun. at one point, she looked at me and another guy that was helping across the table and said you guys should call me tonight, and then winked. haha it was pretty funny. 

We also helped out a lady named Paula in her yard. we mowed her lawn, weed whacked, and rototilled part of her yard so she could have a bigger garden next year. She is already preparing for winter... kinda scary, but she does like the winter more than summer, so hopefully its just her, and i can get out of here before the snow sticks :)

Quote of the week is from Babe Ruth "It is hard to beat a person that never gives up." Stay strong, keep at it and things will turn out ok in the end.

Elder W.Chad Thompson

The Vermillion Fair

Hello everyone, hope you all are enjoying your summer! We had a really great week that went by pretty quick.

The Fair was Thursday through Saturday and we volunteered there all week, and it was awesome! They had Chuckwagon races, Heavy Horse shows, Tractor Pulls, and of course all your normal carnival type things. We literally helped with just about everything. Monday and Tuesday we were getting all the stalls ready, Wednesday we cut down some trees, and then when the fair was going on we were helping out with the heavy horses doing traffic control, opening and closing gates, picking up horse crap... Lots of fun stuff. The town about tripled in size over those three days as well. But it was really cool because we got to work alongside a lot of people in the community and we put in some long hard work and people noticed, so hopefully that will help a bit in the heart softening department. If there was anything that I learned from the fair, it's that Albertans sure are Redneck! And I'm tellin ya, I my as well just become a farmer, I've had a ton of experience with that already since I've been here... but it's been fun and I have enjoyed it.

The great thing about being in a branch is that missionaries are really involved! We get to bless the sacrament each week and we usually teach one of the classes. We also get to give more talks than usual, and ones that are longer than usual. I gave a talk this past Sunday about the blessing of scripture and I think it went pretty good. I spoke for 30 minutes and had to cut some stuff out. Planning a talk with iPads is so much easier than it was before! But I based it off of Elder Christoffersons talk The Blessing of Scripture a few years ago. Read or watch it! It's a good one.

I am really looking forward to this week. It will be the first full week that we can proselyte here and I'm excited because I feel like there is really great potential here. I realize that I don't have a ton of time left, but there is still plenty of time to work hard and see miracles. Even if we can't find a couple families to baptize while I'm here, if we are able to get the work back on its feet here and on its way, then I would be able to live with that. But you best believe we will be working our butts off to find people to baptize. I would love to see this branch become a ward in the future.

Scripture of the week is Omni 26

"26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved."

Quote of the week is from Reggie White

"God places the heaviest burden on those who can carry its weight."

Who He calls, He upholds! Life isn't easy, but God can help. All we have to do is trust in him and let him take the reins.

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Vacation? Right Now?

Hello Family and Friends! I hope this finds you all doing well and that you have had a great week! If not, tell me about it. If you did, tell me about it! (Yes I'm soliciting emails from you)

Not much has happened out here in Vermilion. We are still just trucking along. Most of the members are on vacation for the majority of this month (Canadian Logic: let's leave our country when it's actually nice and habitable and not freezing cold!) so there is even less people at church. This week in our third hour we were asked to teach, but the only other person their was a older man nicknamed old faithful. Great guy with an even greater heart, but unfortunately the effects of age have gotten to him, and he is going a bit insane. So that was fun! New experiences every day out here, which isn't a bad thing I suppose. 

So my companion and I have been praying for miracles as we work hard and are diligent, and also the ability to recognize the small miracles in our every day lives. And we had one yesterday! So with all the members being gone, including our most dedicated meal providers, not a soul touched the dinner calendar this Sunday. yesterday we were making some phone calls to some less active members of the church trying to set up some appointments. We got a hold of this guy(a miracle in and of itself) who said he was busy at the moment and said he would call us back. Now, as a missionary, that has come to be known as the "I have no intention of calling you back, and even if I do it is so small I will forget, I'm just using this to get you off my back, etc." People unfortunately tend to use that more often than not to get us off their backs instead of just telling us they don't want to see us. So we take that as knowing we will probably have to call them back. Well this guy was actually legit! He called us back last night and not only set up an appointment, but offered to feed us dinner as well! So we are excited to get to go and meet him  and his family and not get shutout completely on meals for the week. Some may say there are no miracles in this day and age, but I say to those nay sayers that they are wrong. Smaller miracles are miracles nonetheless :)

We have been walking around town to save kilometres this week and it has been a good experience for the most part. We have only had one derogatory comment made at us, the infamous "f-you Mormons." But most people wave when we do, so it has been pretty good. Lots of really nice religious people here, I love it! And of all things in tiny Vermilion, there is even a free mason church. 

This past week we also got to travel in to Sherwood Park for our Zone Training Meeting and exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and I'll be honest, it felt pretty weird being on the opposite side of that one. But it was good, I really enjoyed it! I even made it through the sister training leaders discussion ;) haha no that was good as well. I only joke because the quote of the week comes from a member in Sherwood Park, who is a somewhat recent returned sister missionary, so take that into account. She said "sisters are a high risk investment. They are either amazing missionaries, or... you really wish you had elders!" 

I didn't plan on having another quote until early this morning so I'll put it in. My comp will sometimes say a few words in his sleep before it wakes him up and this morning he only said 2, but it was hilarious. He said "huh?" Then he shouted  "EH?"  Haha I almost rolled out of my bed I was laughing so hard. And the best part is, he doesn't remember it at all! Canada just gets to you sometimes, you know?

Scripture of the week is Romans 1:16

"16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;" 

After having been a witness of the amazing peace and joy that comes from the Gospel of Christ, why would anyone be ashamed of the very thing Lehi called "sweet, above all I ever before tasted...for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit." Sadly enough, it does happen and Satan can get us all if we aren't careful. Consider this question: Are you ashamed to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints when hostility arises and those around you begin to poke fun at the things you cherish? The church has need of more courageous men and women, boys and girls who will stand up for the things they know to be true. I invite you to continually strengthen your testimony so that we all can say, as did Paul, "I, am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ."

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Just Don't Drop the Soap

Hello everyone, hope you all had a good week.

This week was pretty good for us, not a whole lot to talk about though.

We got to go on exchanges this past week! It was a nice breath of fresh air, that's for sure. I went with Elder Gilbert in Lloydminster for the day. He is from New Zealand and he enjoys baseball just as much as I do! So that was pretty cool. For morning workouts we borrowed some gloves from members and bought a baseball and had a good throw around. It definitely felt like the first time in 2 years! But it was really great.

For the past couple of weeks, the branch council asked us to share a lesson on the sabbath day with all the members, so we have been basing it off of Russel M. Nelsons talk from this past conference "The Sabbath is a Delight" which is an awesome talk. My favourite line from the talk is "What sign do I want to give to God?" And that is all we have to ask ourselves for what is appropriate for the sabbath. Sharing this message with people has created a greater desire for me to follow that commandment a bit better.

So this week we were trying to find and talk to the 3 solid potential families in this area, so we drove out a ways to where one lived and found out that the dad is in jail, and the rest of the family is in Red Deer... So that was a bummer. But hopefully we will be able to find more solid potentials this week.

Scripture of the week is John 7:17

"17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."

You mean it's that easy? To know the doctrine you just have to test it out? To know the Book of Mormon is true you just need to read it sincerely with real intent? I don't know, try it and you tell me :)

Anyways, that's all I've got.

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Vermilion: Place Where People are Very, Very Excited About Fairs

Hello everyone! Hope all is going well for ya. 

Life here in Vermilion has been pretty great. Vermilion is about 4000 strong and they all love the country life (obviously). The town itself is very small, and there isnt even a McDonalds here. Subway, but no McD's. But my comp and i have decided we are going to try all the local family owned restaurants. And i lied about the grocery store. It is a co-op and everything is more expensive, but a grocery store nonetheless.  Milk is 5.60. so im going broke with my cereal binging. But the community is amazing here. Stopping by people, we end up having 30 minute conversations because they are so nice. The work here is moving along, slowly but surely. It has been tracted out quite a few times recently, so apparently President Manion told the missionaries to leave that for a bit and look for as many service opportunities as possible in the community. So some days are very long when we get no service. Its just stopping by potentials and former investigators while i lose my mind haha. But i am looking forward to the day that we are allowed to tract here again.

The branch is small, but not anywhere near the smallest branch. There are about 25 active members with about 13 being kids. So it has been a drastic change from downtown edmonton working with ysa to this. But now that the initial shock is gone, i can honestly say i am super excited to be here for the last 2 and a half months of my mission. Great things will take place during that time.

My companion is Elder Parker from Lehi, Utah. He is a super nice guy and has been out for a little over a year. He loves video games and rock, along with long hair and facial hair haha. not your typical guy but im excited to serve with him. Im sure we will both learn lots and i know that with our hard work the work will be hastened here.

So this upcoming week is a county fair here in Vermilion. Apparently it is a huge deal, i havent stopped hearing about it since i got here. The town about triples in size over the 3 day stretch. So we have been helping out with preparations for it. Saturday we set up a bunch of tables, ate lunch, then weed whacked(Canada calls it whipper snipper, or weed whipper) for the next 4 hours straight, under the bleachers and by all the fences. So it has been really great helping out there and meeting people in the community.

Scripture of the week is Jacob 6:8-11 

"8 Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?

9 Know ye not that if ye will do these things, that the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and awful guilt before the bar of God?

10 And according to the power of justice, for justice cannot be denied, ye must go away into that lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever, which lake of fire and brimstone is endless torment.

11 O then, my beloved brethren, repent ye, and enter in at the strait gate, and continue in the way which is narrow, until ye shall obtain eternal life."

I love the boldness of Jacob and how he denounces sin. What a great blessing it is to have prophets to lead and guide us on our own spiritual paths and warn us of the sin in our day. I testify that God loves us and wants what is best for us and will reveal truths to those with authority for the benefit of everyone. I invite you all to evaluate your commitment to follow the Saviour and his chosen servants, who He has called.

All in all, im excited, very excited to be here and help accomplish the great things that the Lord has in store for this area. With Hard work, diligence, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, miracles will take place.

Keep it real,

Elder W. Chad Thompson

Transfers - July 13

Hello everyone, I'm emailing today because the assistants signed us up for service tomorrow with something called the Aboriginal Games, so that should be interesting. But we were told to take half our p-day today, so we are!

We got our transfer calls today and I am going to a small place called Vermillion. There isn't even a grocery store there... So yeah, not exactly what I wanted, but the Lord's will is the Lord's will I guess. I'm sure it will be a great last 2 transfers. That's what I hope anyway. My new comp will be Elder Parker. Pray for me that I don't lose my mind. I'm sure I'll love it though haha

It has been a great last week here in the Mill Creek YSA though. We had a great ZTM where we talked about working through members and we were happy how it turned out.

We also did a free lemonade stand on Whyte ave this past Saturday and it was great! We got to talk to lots of people so it was super fun!

Keep it real, and don't take grocery stores for granted!

Elder W. Chad Thompson

America!

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a good week and a great Fourth of July, or Canada Day for you Canucks. We got to celebrate both!!! So I would have to say our week was pretty sweet!

So I will start with Canada Day! I got to wear my Canada tie and Canada shirt (for proselyting and service/activities) so that is already a great start! We got to help people move into their new home, and then we went to a bbq. We played a bit of ultimate frisbee and football and then we of course ate food.To finish the night, we did service at Telus Field which is the baseball field here in edmonton. We were the box seat ticket checker people so that was interesting. The Edmonton team played somebody from Saskatchewan and completely destroyed them! But it was just really cool to be at a baseball game again, seeing one of the things that I love. We finished the night by going to sleep... then waking up to the fireworks, which, were ok. Definitely nothing special, pretty much just half or maybe a third of what an American show would be. But it was better than nothing I suppose! 

We also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the Assistants to the President which was actually really fun. I went with the elder who has been out for about 10 and a half months so it was interesting to have someone interview me who is younger than me and especially when im used to interviewing others. But that is just the way the church is organized and everything i guess for that matter. That is why humility is so important :) But it was a great exchange. I learned a lot, he learned a lot, and we both have a greater desire to do missionary work! We also had a funny experience on Whyte Ave whilst on exchanges. We were street contacting when we met a super nice muslim guy. about 5 minutes into our conversation a different guy comes up to us saying"whoa i didn't know you guys came out at this time of night!"(it was only 8:45) and the dude was a little nuts. he introduced himself as joey, world champion in pushups. so while talking to him and the muslim for a few minutes a guy who kinda looked like Grimley from Lord of the Rings(if you don't get that reference look it up), well he at least had the hair. He introduced himself as the money man... and i was just like what the heck is even happening right now, is there a drug deal going on right in front of us or what? the pushup guy then tells us that he will do 30 one arm pushups for 5 dollars and 50 for 10. we told him wee didn't have any money so the money man came through! so the guy just throws himself down on the middle of the side walk on Whyte and busts out 30 one arm pushups. Flippin strange is how i would describe it haha. Just plain weird!

We also got to celebrate Independence day! Even without the consent of my companion. just one of the perks of being in a 4 man pad with 2 other Americans. We sang the Star Spangled Banner in the morning, it was great! We ate dinner at a less acountable guys home who went all out for us, it was really cool.

We got to re teach the great apostasy to our progressing investigator just because he wanted more info on it. So as we were preparing for the lesson, i was thinking of what would help me, because we have pretty similar minds, in that we both like learning intellectually as well as spiritually and thats when i thought of Jesus the Christ. I read the chapter on the apostasy and just knew we had to share it with him. We did and it was one of the best lessons we have had! I love Jesus the Christ(yes both the Man and the Book) it is just awesome! If you haven't read it, then i invite you to at least read Chapter 40:the long night of apostasy. it is truly an amazing and inspired book.

We talked about the Same sex ruling in church sunday, which in a YSA ward there are going to be a lot of differing opinions. But out ward mission leader closed it off by saying simply that all that matters is the question, did Joseph Smith actually see God? because if he did, then the letter wasnt from some guy named Thomas S. Monson, but it was from some Guy named Jesus Christ.

Im grateful for the opportunity i have had to serve a mission and continually strengthen my testimony. I know that Jesus Christ truly does lead His church on the earth today and that is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know it so well that it has become factual to me. The Spirit bore witness to me, and i know he can bare witness to you too. All you have to do is put in the time and the effort with real intent and God will show you the truthfulness of all things.

Keep it real, 

Elder W. Chad Thompson

#KeepThompsonInTheCity

Brad Jones a great guy with a low form of autism.He is a great example of faith and perseverance to me, and he has the Quote of the Week!"Walmart is like Satan!" haha good times!

Me and Brad

The less accountable dude that fed us! He is a stud!

Farmer Joe

Hey everyone! I hope y'all had a great week and a great week and a great fathers day! You will have to tell me if you did anything fun. We had a pretty productive week where we were able to meet with quite a few people and get stuff done!

So this week a couple of highlights went down. We had our ZTM where the rest of our Zone got distributed iPads, so they were pretty pumped about that. We were able to talk about a lot of great things and hopefully we all learned something and had a greater desire to be better missionaries. 

After ZTM we went of exchanges and i went to Cold Lake where the main highlight of the week happened. We went to a ranch and helped slaughter and skin not one, but two pigs! It was crazy! it was definitely a first(and potentially the last) time i have ever done that. I think its really cool how many different things you get to do and experience on a mission, and that is one of many reasons i am grateful that i have had this chance to serve for almost 2 years and im thankful i still have some time left to finish strong.

We also had a great lesson with one of our progressing investigator. We taught lesson 3 (The Gospel of Jesus Christ). He took everything very well and it has been a really neat experience to see the spirit working with him. He has that real intent that everyone needs to have to be able to receive an answer. Our next step is to help him understand Priesthood Authority a little bit better, because that is his main concern with baptism right now. But i am excited for him and i am grateful i have had the opportunity to meet him and help him along the way of conversion with my companion.

Scripture of the week is 2 Nephi chapter 9 verses 28-29

"28 O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.

29 But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God."

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

God Bless America!

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great week and were able to get lots done. Our week was pretty great.

We went on exchanges with the Spanish elders and had a great time. This time i stayed in our area and we got some good finding done. We got to meet up with our investigator Jonathan who is getting married and moving to Lethbridge in about a month, so hopefully we can help him progress as much as we can before he takes off. We picked up new Investigator named Pape "poppy" and he is black so i call him big poppy. the only problem is he speaks french and has pretty bad english and we dont have any french missionaries yet. We are getting a few in the next couple of transfers though so that should be good. Right now we just have to rely on the members that served french speaking missions.

We did a Booth type thing on Whyte ave this week, except it was raining so that kinda sucked. But it was still good. My companion would get people to give him a topic and he would freestyle rap about it and relate it to the gospel, and it went pretty well. We actually got lots of people to talk to us.

So as you all know my companion is British, and let me tell you, you dont know how patriotic you are until someone starts bagging on your country haha. It has been fun because most of the missionaries are American so we have a good time with it, joking around and what not.

Scripture of the week is 2 Nephi 1:7
 "7 Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever."

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Ooh Look, Another Beach!

Hello everyone, hope you all had a great week! 

We were able to keep busy this week. Very busy. We got to proselyte in our area for about 3.5 days busy. We went on exchanges out in Cold Lake which is one of the furthest east areas in our mission. So there was the drive out there, we had a District meeting with the elders out there, then did service for a lady the rest of the day.

The service was fun because we got to clean up a lady's yard where she just had a bunch of animals chilling all over the place, especially birds. I also figured out that Elder Liddle has a slight phobia of birds haha. We also were supposed to sheer sheep, but they broke the electric fence and got out from where we were taking them, because the electric fence wasn't turned on... the reason was because the lady "didn't want to hurt the sheep"...dang animal lovers!

We also had Mission Leadership Council this past week which was very very long. Usually they last for about 4 hours, but this one went from 10-7:30 with a lunch break of 30 minutes. But we got our iPads and initialized them, so I guess it was worth it! Elder Christensen of the presidency of the 70 was also there and gave some awesome insight into some things. I got to talk 1 on 1 with him which was super cool. We talked about Yucaipa (because he actually knew where that is!) and what he could expect of Edmonton, to how I was liking my mission. It was legit! but now I am kicking myself because I didn't get a picture with him and he is now an apostle candidate. But we did take an MLC picture so hopefully we can get that.

Using the iPads has been super nice. it makes everything so much more efficient and it's nice having everythying in one place. I have also been using the scripture mastery app and been getting better!(which is a LOT easier as a missionary, after actually been reading the scriptures constantly for almost 2 years.)

And last of all, we had transfer calls this morning, and I'm staying!! I'm happy to have at least 6 more weeks here in the Mill Creek YSA area and looking forward to working hard.

Quote of the week is from Elder Liddle on our drive out to Cold Lake. We passed a sign that said beach and he couldn't figure out why they would call a lake a beach, so every time we passed a lake he would sarcastically say "ooh look, another beach!" haha it was super funny.

Scripture of the week is 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3(which is a Scripture Mastery!)
 "1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"

I am thankful for the knowledge that we have of the priesthood authority being lost through the great apostasy and I can testify that those priesthood keys required to have God's church on the earth have been restored and are being exercised today.

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson