Week 75: #HookUps

Hello everyone, hope all is going well! Today was our Temple P-Day which is why i am emailing today. Going to the temple is such a great blessing! I love it! Our week was pretty good this week. We got to go to a YSA meeting where pres. manion talked about not being stupid while serving in the YSA which is pretty obvious. I also got to show my ingrown toe to sister manion so we could get an appointment set up to see a doc sooner, so we are going this week. We also got to go to an Oilers game yesterday! We can go if we bring an investigator or less active with us! We got the tickets from the Oilers General Manager because Elder Monks dad knew a guy who knew a guy... so the seats were sweet!

This week we experienced the good, the gross, and the inbetween. We went to visit a LA whose house the last time we visited them was a mess. We walked in and it looked cleaner, but when we went to sit down in the same spot as last time, the same cheerios, chips, etc. were there including some more stuff. so that was pretty gross. We had a really good lesson with our investigator who has kinda started to lose interest, but the spirit was strong and we invited him to pray about all of our meetings and if they were true and what not. He did and he said he felt really good so we are looking forward to our next meeting where we will try again to put him on a baptismal date. We went on exchanges with the spanish elders and i pretty much just sat with both my thumbs shoved up my rear end because i could only understand words and some phrases. But it was funny because there was a member the was making fun of me in spanish saying i couldnt speak spanish and was a white boy and what not, but i understood that one! haha so we all just started laughing.

It snowed again this week a little over a foot in two days. This was right after basically all of it had melted and everyone was getting there hopes up of an early spring... gotta love Canada eh? #LastWinter

Quote of the week comes from the hockey game yesterday. The less active that we brought has hair like will smith in the fresh prince of bel-air and everybody was talking about it. one guy yelled "whoa man you just put me back into 1989!" haha it was great.

Scripture of the week is Helaman 16:23
"And notwithstanding the signs and the wonders which were wrought among the people of the Lord, and the many miracles which they did, Satan did get great hold upon the hearts of the people upon all the face of the land." It doesnt matter where we are or what others are doing, the only way to ensure that we stay out of Satans snares are to do the primary answers. Pray and read the scriptures everyday, and attend church every sunday. As we do this we will be in the protective custody of the Lord.

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Week 74: Ups and Downs

Hello Family and Friends,

I hope you all have had a great week. If not, there is always next week! :) This week was pretty good for us. It's always nice when the sun is out shining and it is above 0 degrees. Because the weather has been super nice, we have been able to go running and attempt to get somewhat back in shape. We have been able to go for 3 runs, one of which was 8 miles. I can't wait for summer so we can go more often!

This week we experienced both the highs and the lows of missionary life. We had 2 lessons one day with Less active members. With the first one, we went in and had a great lesson, and the spirit was definitely there testifying of the truth, but the LA just couldnt get it through her head that she was off on some, well most of her doctrines. So that was super frustrating. But immediately after that lesson, we met with a less active guy who has been sick for a couple weeks. We had a great lesson where he was able to feel the spirit, and then we had the opportunity to give him a priesthood blessing which was a really cool experience. It was awesome having such a great turn around lesson. 

We also had our Mission Leadership Council this week where a guy from Salt Lake called in and talked with all of us for a bit about Facebook and how we could better use it. it was great having his input and really encouraged us all to do better and be more productive. My favorite part, was when President Manion talked about how it is not our job to prepare people. Our job is to find those who are already prepared and drop people who really arent ready and willing to progress. I am grateful for meetings that light a fire under our butts and make us want to work harder, because this work is one of the most important things we will do in this life.

Quote of the week comes from church yesterday. There is a somewhat challenged guy in our ward who for obvious reasons has a lot of girl problems. We were talking about the atonement and what it covers and he raised his hand and said" It even covers all of the issues that girls bring into our lives... so all of them." haha it was awesome!

Scripture of the week is Helaman 6:5. " 5 Yea, and many did preach with exceedingly great power and authority, unto the bringing down many of them into the depths of humility, to be the humble followers of God and the Lamb." This is talking about the Lamanites after their conversion. I think this is significant because it shows that it doesnt matter where we have been or what we have done, or the mistakes we have made, with proper repentance, everyone has the ability to change. After that change, we all have the ability to be given power and authority in preaching to those that have lost their way.

Keep it real, Don't get too freaky on St. Patricks day

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Week 73: Gonna be great

Transfer calls were today and we didn't get one!! This transfer is going to be sweet! Our zone is doing really well getting progressing investigators and getting em dunked, and we should be going to an Oilers game with an Investigator this week! Plus we picked up a new investigator yesterday who is super solid. Plus he is black, so that is sweet. And this week we are picking up 3 investigators that missionaries in other areas are passing over to us. And the weather has been super nice! So there are a lot of positives for this transfer so we are stoked! 

This past week was busy and great. One of the highlights other than the new investigator, was playing dodge ball at FHE. we got to play against an over zealous returned missionary (like he still has companionship inventory with his mom...) who judges us with every little thing we do. So we gave him something to judge us about :) We also got to travel out to Lloydminster for another baptismal interview and we will get to go out there again for another this Wednesday. 

Quote of the week "Transfer Calls are done"

Scripture of the week is Alma 13:24 "24 For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory." 

 

It has been really cool to see the hearts of the ysa here in edmonton being prepared to be taught the gospel and to see the work in our own area really begin to progress and pick up. I have a testimony that there are people being prepared and that the only way that we will find them is by opening our mouths and talking with everyone.

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Chinatown

So we got the military set bound into one small quad. (I really got it for the American flag)

New scriptures

New scriptures

Week 71: All things are balanced out in time

Hey everybody,

Hope you all are doing well. This week was a pretty normal week for the most part for us. There was one day that we got to go to Sherwood park, which is about 30 min. east of Edmonton to visit some YSA, and we were supposed to get fed by all of them. So we went to Boston Pizza for lunch around 1 because clearly we weren't thinking, then ate a big lunch at 3 with a Less active, and then at 5 we were supposed to eat again. So we said a prayer that we would be able to get it down, do what we had to do, and they ended up cancelling because they forgot. so that was a tender mercy. And this week we aren't getting fed near as much, so all things just kinda balance out in the YSA :)

I also had the opportunity this week to do a baptismal Interview for the Mandarin elders, which was a really cool experience. I got to go through all the questions while he had an interpreter there, so it was different, that's for sure. It was cool to be able to see the desire that he had to come closer to our Saviour through baptism, even though it was in a completely different language. 

We had a Social Media Fireside last night for all the members in the Edmonton area in preparation for the Book of Mormon Musical coming. We will also have members following us around all day next Saturday chronicling our day taking pictures and uploading them to social media, so we are pretty excited about it. It should bring a lot of interest to the church. Good or bad, maybe it will get people interested in talking to us.

Quote of the week is from Benjamin Franklin "Anger is never without reason, but seldom a good one."

Scripture of the week is Alma 44:4 " 4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith."

Have a great week

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Zone Conference

Mission Leadership Council

Week 72: Missionaries are really just US spies

Hello everybody, I hope you all have been doing good. Our week was pretty busy which is always good. So Saturday was the Social Media split day which was pretty weird, not going to lie, having people follow you around all day taking pictures. at least they were friendly stalkers eh? But it was good. It was actually really nice having members with you at every appointment instead of only a couple during the week. That made a huge difference in the Less Active lessons. 

So there was kinda a funny experience. We got a different car on Monday and the following day, it was so cold that the doors were frozen shut (pretty common) and then they wouldn't close! so we had to pull them hard and then hit the lock button. And it was only -20. I'm worried what will happen when it does get really cold. 

We went on Exchanges out to Lloydminster this week which covers part of Saskatchewan, so that was cool. We blitzed the area, so instead of one of us staying in our own area and the other going to their area, we both went to their area. One of the elders was sick, so we alternated who stayed in the apartment with him, so that was pretty boring! But it was still good. One crazy experience from the exchange. dinner was with an older couple and the man was real sick, like diaper worthy sick. so he wasn't there for the whole dinner, but near the end he came out and talked with us, then he stood up and uh oh! he was off. it smelled real bad. just thought I would let you all have a little taste of the experience with me :) 

We met a crazy Sikh man this week on the LRT. He claimed that all missionaries were from Utah (which is almost true) and that we were all spies sent by Clinton to find out Canada's secrets.

Quote of the week is from Ward Coordination meeting. We were talking about funny asian experiences with the Mandarin elders, so our ward mission leader brought up an experience of an asian that was talking about the elections and they asked (this is with the asian accent) "when was your last erection?" haha gotta love the YSA ward.

Scripture of the week is Matthew 10:6 

"6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." I came across this in my studies this week and realized that some of the most important work either missionaries or members will do, is work from the inside out. Strengthening the ward will ultimately produce missionary opportunities that will lead to conversion. 

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Week 65: Facebook!

Hola,

Not a whole lot to write about this week, because I was sick, so really all I was focused on was waiting until the next time I could take DayQuil. But regardless, it was still a pretty good week. We had things to do every day, so I couldnt stay in waiting to die so that kinda sucked, but was kinda nice at the same time.

One of those things was our Zone Training Meeting which was ok, because we got the word to begin Facebook proselyting! Not going to lie, its been pretty weird. The first time my comp and I logged in (we have both been out for 15 months) we felt so disobedient. But I guess thats how the APs felt too and president manion just told them to get over it. so we have been doing the same haha. So they told us we could just deactivate our old accounts and make new ones, so we did. then they talked to Salt Lake and they said that was against facebook policy and we had to delete it. So if anybody was wondering, the old one is deleted and I've got a new one. I can't chat with y'all on there, but feel free to keep emailing me and we can talk on Mondays. It's been really cool to see the work progress even in the few days of having internet proselyting and we truly have been blessed with the advanced technology these days to share the gospel with all the world. Sure there is bad stuff, and lots of it, but the good that we can do with it far outweighs it.

Quote of the week comes from yesterday. We were eating lunch with a less active family and we got on the topic of basketball. So Elder Winnie told them to guess my favorite team and gave them the hint "it's the devils team" (he's a jazz fan, so...) so they guessed 5 teams before he just gave in and told them. Sad day for him haha, not everybody hates the Lakers :)

Scripture of the week is Genesis 39:9

 9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

Joseph was an honorable man and knew the commandments of God, as we do. When temptation hit him right in the face and there was no side stepping it, he made a stand and stuck by that decision and he was eventually made a ruler and 2nd in command in all the land of Egypt because of his stand against immorality. As we follow his example, we too will be able to receive the blessings that God has in store for us.

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Week 70: I Guess I Got a bit excited

So yes I am only at week 70. not sure where the jump came from a couple weeks ago

This week was good. it went by fast which is always good. So first off, I forgot to include some things from last week that are notable to mention. There was a crazy drunk native guy that walked into our church building. he wreaked of alcoholic beverages and smoke and wanted to join us. we told him that church started in 30 mins so he just stood in the same spot for about 10 mins with a blank stare on his face, then got down into the Tebow position and started praying in some language that definitely wasnt english. then he got up and walked out and we havent seen him since.

It has been a great experience to work with all kinds of people and missionaries in the YSA and zone. Most of the people we work with arent fully there, so it has been cool to work with people of all crazies.

We went on exchanges this week which were fun. The elder I went with spent the majority of our time quoting spongebob sounding like all of spongebob, patrick and squidward. and talking about video games. so i am definitely more knowledgeable in that category now than ever! But he is a great missionary and I think it's cool how you can have such a crazy personality lacking all manner of social skills and still be an amazing missionary. I am glad I got to experience that. I needed it. 

We also got to meet with one of our Less Actives who is from Vietnam who had a big concern with the 144,00 mentioned in the bible(she was previously a JW) so we went into that lesson super bold and the spirit took over and resolved that concern real quick.

Scripture of the week is Alma 34:36

" 36 And this I know, because the Lord hath said he dwelleth not in ^aunholy temples, but in the ^bhearts of the^crighteous doth he dwell; yea, and he has also said that the righteous shall sit down in his kingdom, to go no more out; but their garments should be made white through the^dblood of the Lamb."

What will you do more this week to keep the spirit with you?

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson