Week 49... It's Back

You will understand the email title when you see the picture attached at the end.

Well this week was a lot of fun! We have been working hard and teaching and finding lots, so of course there were some really weird people and crazy cool experiences.

For example, when you walk into a room to teach a less active member and one of your more promising investigators, and a wall of smoke and alcoholic beverage hit you and your head starts hurting, you know you're in for an interesting lesson. or when you go and help out a convert of 3 years on his ranch and he tells you of his life experiences, you gain memories you never forget. Quote of the week come from Brother Hunt, who is the convert of 3 years. in regards to his life and what he has done, he said "I make rambo look like a choir boy!"

The coolest experience this week was when we went tracting. We tracted into 3 evangelical guys and some bashing or "resolving concerns" as we are supposed to call it commenced. This experience reinforced my testimony of the importance of the Book of Mormon, because you can throw scriptures back and forth, but ultimately our church's truthfulness rests upon the Book of Mormon. So after quite awhile, i was able to bear my testimony about why I was on a mission in freezing Canada, coming from sunny california and about how I knew the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. it was really cool to see one of the older guys go from bashy to smiling and complimenting us as well as respecting us. It was an awesome experience that I won'

t forget.

Scriptures of the week are (scripture mastery/mainstream) Helaman 5:12, 6:5.

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Elder Thompson

Elder Wheeler boozin' it with milk

Week 48: Kinda Crazy Week

Nothing special really happened this week except we ran into a couple of really interesting people and had some funny experiences.

First off. We met Lincoln. Crazy guy who is agnostic in belief and has spent the last year just studying up on islam. Needless to say he doesn't have the nicest opinion in regards to muslims... we spent about 45 minutes at his door step as we were tracting, having a conversation with this guy. Literally every single thing we talked about he related it back to something he didn't like about Islam. He just wants to be American so he could have the freedom of speech. When he told us his name he said "Lincoln, good American name!" Haha it was funny. But just like he did it, everything can also be related to the gospel. Litterally anything to any principle. if you don't believe me, try it!

In that same complex a couple of days later we were tracting the rest of it out. We knocked on this door and this lady opened and before we  even said anything she yelled at us for proselyting every hour of the day and then just closed the door. And then a couple of days later, again we were tracting and we had parked the car on the other side of the street. this old guy tells us to turn around and go "bye bye" and then he told us we were terrorists because of where we parked the car... gotta love Canada eh??

But the highlight of the week came yesterday when we got to help out in sharing time in Primary. The lady teaching was talking about who we would see in heaven. It went from parents to friends to missionaries and then this one kid pipes up ( keep in mind the kids saying this are about 6 and younger) "Do Video Game Characters go to Heaven?" Then he and this other 6 year old in the room in unison yell "No!!! Video Game Characters hate Jesus!" Primary is the best haha. There were lots of funny quotes but this one made all 4 of us missionaries laugh the hardest.

So that would be quote of the week.

Scripture of the week which has helped me a lot comes from Alma 20:29; 21:14-15,17 which talks about patience. so read it!

Keep it real,

Elder Thompson

What the ...

Well this week was somethin else. just wait, it gets really good.

We did a lot of service this week. and I realized that I have a completely different attitude towards it than i did before I came out. and i like that. I hope I can keep that for after the mission, where I don't feel preoccupied to go and help somebody out.

We had a really cool experience this week. We went tracting in the rain and people were actually a lot friendlier than they usually are! Plus i had one of the coolest door approaches ever in the history of door approaches. i knocked, and just as the lady opened the door there was lightning and loud thunder. It was sweet!

The other experience this week will give me nightmares for the remainder of my life. We were at a restaurant for a ysa activity and we were waiting outside for some people, so we decided to sit on a bench. we later would find out it is a smoking bench. so these 2 drunk hookers come out of the bar section and asked us to scoot over so they could sit and smoke so we did. (hind sight, we should have gotten up and left) so she sits on my leg and slides off and asks us if we were going to church. so we explained why we were dressed the way we were and then she said "can you save my soul?" and a bunch of other stuff that doesnt need to be repeated herein. then she says "you have the most beautiful green eyes" (i dont have green eyes...) and then again she asks me to save her soul. then she says "I bet I can save you" I kid you not I thought I was going to get rape kissed or something of the sort. probably one of the worst expperiences of the mission so far... but at least we can laugh about it now. oh and I

should mention the whole time my comp was hunched over looking the other way not at any time jumping in to help me out. so yeah that was fun. definitely a good journal entry.

I decided with one of our investigators this week that we are going to read the BOM before i leave this area. so we did the math and figured out that we need to read 20 pages a day to finish it from where he is at. so it should be good. I am looking forward to it.

Scripture of the week is Jacob 1:19

Keep it real, and dont get rape kissed or anything of the sort :)

Elder Thompson

We Be Dunkin June 10

This week was a really good week! Our investigator Tracy got baptized! it was awesome! We also had a barbecue at the lake, where we picked up a new investigator and we played basketball with Lots of non members. I also confirmed the fact that I absolutely hate bugs with a passion, especially when they are biting and sucking blood and all that stuff.

But the Baptism was definitely the highlight of the week! It was a really great service and lots of members came in support, I was really impressed! It was the first adult baptism in about 3 years, so the ward is pretty excited. Elder Merkley baptized her and then I got to confirm her a member of the church on the following Sunday. It was really cool and a great experience. The spirit was really strong and bore witness to all those who attended that this truly is the true church.

One thing that a mission allows people, is the ability to develop great friendships with the people you serve, and that is something that I am grateful for. I also studied up on blessings this week and watched the Mormon message "Good Things to Come" by Jeffrey R Holland. I was able to share that message with one of the ysa and it was great. Some blessings come immediately, others require patience, fasting and prayer, and some may not come until after this life, but they do come. (Thats one of my favorite mormon messages by the way if you wnat to watch it, I'd say go for it!) 

In other news, this week I finished off toothpaste AND deodorant. crazy week eh? We also became master puzzle makers this week, so no big deal.

quote of the week comes from a member "I am always looking for a good deal. I'm a Jew." haha we were just like wait, what? crazy old men these days.

Keep it real

Elder Thompson

Competing to work the Hardest

Well this week was a really good week. nothing crazy happened, relatively speaking, but it felt good this week. The area got split so I am with Elder Wheeler, and Elder Cassell is with Elder Jensen. It is so much fun just working hard with everyone. We had interviews with our mission president this week, and he gave me permission to compete with the other companionship to see who can work the hardest (he also told the 3 others) so I will win... But I love it. It is constantly driving me to work hard and harder than them. and it helps that they are hard working too, so I can work even harder and be even more diligent. There is a great scripture that is also the scripture of the week which is 2 Nephi 25:23. It talks a lot about diligence and motivates to be diligent.

Like I said, my companion is Elder Wheeler. He is a great missionary! We work really hard and have a great time doing it! Plus he is going to BYU, the BYU, and he is from Idaho so he obviously knows what he is doing! He isn't somebody I would have expected to get along so well with before the mish, but we get along great and laugh alot! He is into ballroom dance and choir, not exactly something I will ever convert to, ever, but everybody is different. We are going to have a great transfer! President Manion basically told me that I was getting transferred in 5 weeks so that kinda sucks, but we will see.

Quote of the week comes from a living president, President Manion,  as well as a not so mortally living president, President Joseph Fielding Smith.

so, During transfer calls, he told Elder Wheeler I was his next comp and the he said "so he will show you around for 6 weeks and then we will get his dead carcass out of there!" haha President Manion is so funny!

And from Joseph Fielding Smith, "where the spirit exists, disharmony, disobedience, and neglect of sacred duties will not, cannot succeed." a good thought to think about this week!

Keep it real,

Elder Thompson

Another Week

This week was really crazy. We had two exchanges, a zone meeting 3 hours away, and a district meeting. and we got transfer calls today. I'm staying here in Fort St. John and I am getting Elder Wheeler, and they are splitting the area, so Elder Cassell is getting Elder Jensen. should be lots of fun. We will be finding a lot more so this area is about to explode!

Quote of the week comes from an investigator who we helped pour concrete all day Saturday. She has a son who is adhd and was just absolutely off the wall. after the like 10th time of trying to calm him down and send him away, she turned to us and just said "take note: birth control" haha They are just a funny family that will get baptized soon enough.

We learned this week that in the next month or two, we will be getting ipads and starting internet proselyting, so we are really excited about that!

Scripture of the week is Moroni 10:32. Read it. If you already know it good for you, go read it again..

This week we picked up a new investigator and he is sweet! Golden as can be. he knows nothing, so he will believe anything we tell him, and his main goal is to find a purpose in life...we can help with that. Thats something great that the gospel gives us is a purpose to live, something to hope and live for. Hopefully we can help him along the way the best we can. We were really motivated this week too because of the zone meeting, which is what they should do. The Departing missionary from our district who i have really grown to respect quoted and apostle who said "a mission will be one of the most important things a person will ever do. In some cases, it will be the most important thing a person EVER does. That really struck me and made me want to become an even better missionary.

keep it real,

Elder WCT

BNT

Elder Thompson

Just an Interesting Week

Well, we had the opportunity to clean really really really dirty house and eat dinner with a pregnant women just puking in a bucket right next to the table all in the same day! so that was lovely :) But good news is, that was the worst day, if you want to call it that.

We had some weird experiences and we had some great experiences this week. We were coming home and this lady yells at us and asks if we were mormons. so she walks over when we answer yes and asks us about our beliefs and then asks us to pray with her. so she prays and then asks us too. So Elder Cassell starts and then she cuts him off mid prayer and says she has to go. haha she was just off her nut. It was really weird.

We also got to teach a guy who has been living common law for years the law of chastity. Common law is if you have been living together for a certain amount of time, the government considers you married but it doesn't include papers or anything like that. so we taught him and he said he would live it! He still has to talk to his girlfriend, but he want to live it and said he would. That showed some great faith and I am thankful I got to experience that. We also have been working with a less active who needs to repent and we told him that, but he told us last week that he couldnt go see the bishop for "reasons" so I was really frustrated and we just left him with a scripture. but I felt that wasnt good enough so when we visited him yesterday I was super bold with him and his heart had been softened and now he is going to come back. Just shows that as we leave these things in the Lord's hands, and act as his instrument we can accomplish great things.

Scripture of the week isn't anything specific, but I just finished the gospels again so if you haven't read them in awhile, go for it. The way I did it was I read them all at the same time. Someone said you learn more that way and I am now a believer in that way.

Quote of the Week comes from our investigator Sai. we pulled up and he was holding a Starbucks cup(which we didnt even see at first) and before we even made eye contact, he said "Oh don't worry, I'm not breaking commandments!" haha it was great. I guess he had a gift card so he just bought the cup (the clear plastic ones) so all is well with him.

I didnt take any pictures this week, but my comp did! and if it counts for anything, I had a dream that I met Taylor Swift and we had a great conversation and took a picture with her. You have no idea how disappointed I was when I woke up...

Pondering the Book of Mormon

Keep it real!

BNT 

Elder Thompson