Week 80:Missionary Work Brownies???

Hello everyone, I hope all is going well for you. Things up here have been interesting. As I mentioned last week I got a new companion. His name is Elder Liddle. He is from Sunderland in England and loves his accent haha. He is definitely a bit different from my last companion, so it will be fun to adjust to a new situation. My coaches always said the key to success is being able to adjust to any type of situation. He is a great missionary and I am excited to serve with him. He has been out for about a week shy of a year, and he is into drama and entertaining and stuff like that. So it should be a fun companionship!

So this week there was a YSA international potluck, so there was lots of interesting foods. and wouldnt you know it, they asked us and the sisters to judge the most delicious, most exotic and most creative. So it was interesting to say the least. We got to eat a lot of food!

We have also been attempting to do transfer planning for our zone this past week, but we haven't gotten transfer events from the AP's yet. And there was a switch in our zone! So Lloydminster and Vermillion were taken out and put in the other Bonnie Doon zone and we picked up the Cold Lake/Cherry Grove area, which goes even further west into Saskatchewan than Lloyd did! So it will be kinda fun.

We had a great lesson yesterday with our investigator Diddy. and yes he is black and awesome! He is the boyfriend of a less active in our ward and he is super solid! We were trying to think of another fellowshipper in the ward, so we ended up bringing one of my favorite members because he liked soccer as well as Diddy. and they are literally both the same. From schooling, right down to the same position in soccer! It was a testimony to me that as we rely on the spirit, he will guide us in all things.

Quote of the week comes from the same guy as last week. "I'm totally stoned on missionary work. It just gets me totally baked!" haha fun times visiting Brad!

Scripture of the week is Alma 5:44-46 " 44 For I am called to speak after this manner, according to the holy order of God, which is in Christ Jesus; yea, I am commanded to stand and testify unto this people the things which have been spoken by our fathers concerning the things which are to come.

 45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

 46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.​"

​I have gained a strong testimony of Fasting and Prayer. The opportunity has been one of the greatest experineces on my mission. We had the opportunity to have Fast Sunday yesterday since stake conference is this upcoming sunday (Elder Renlud is coming!) and it was an aweswome experience. The power of fasting is real! Sometimes the answers don't immediately come and sometimes they don't come in a way that we expect, but I can testify that they DO come.​

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​Keep it real​,

 

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Week 78: Sisters Mission Completed

Hello everyone! hope everything is going well for you.

It's really a weird experience seeing the sisters I came out with go home next week. I'm actually really happy that I still have 6 months left to work! 18 seems too short too me. Maybe that's why elders serve 24 months haha.

Not much went down this week. I had a great birthday. We started with weekly basketball, which is always fun. It's nice to get the ysa guys out and some non members as well. We had dinner at a buffet with 2 of our favourite members which was super good. Elder Monks blew up some balloons and wrote on them and one of the things is the quote of the week. "Jesus Loves Bill!" Haha he thinks it's funny that I don't go by my first name. so he calls me Bill. We had an investigator lesson, but the best part of the day, was we got to go to a baptism! So Cassandra, who I found and taught in my last area decided to get baptized and it happened to be on my birthday! So President Manion let Elder Winnie and me go since we started teaching her. It was such a great experience! I'm super happy for her and I'm grateful for the covenant that we make at baptism/every week with the sacrament. That is what will carry us throughout this life. My favorite part is always remembering and acknowledging the Saviour for what he did and does for us. That is where true strength comes from.

Cassandra's baptism April 11, 2015

Cassandra's baptism April 11, 2015

First plate of buffet dinner

I'm excited to be entering the last part of my mission. The home stretch. I will work harder, not that I haven't worked hard up to this point, but now is the time to use 18 months of hard work as experience, to push myself harder than ever before, and truly do all that I need to do to leave everything out on the field. I love serving the Lord as a full time missionary and will miss it deeply (along with all the benefits :) ) but for now, I still get to go out everyday and do my duty. 1 Corinthians 15:58 " 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye ^asteadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." This is not the time to quit, or to coast. That is for the quitters, for the weak. This is the time for exactly the opposite.  "Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just NEVER give up." 

"You are never a loser until you quit trying." I will, with the help of the Lord, win the fight and accomplish what he needs me to accomplish.

Keep it real, 

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Edmonton - The City of Potholes

Hello everyone,

Transfer calls were today and we got sad news. Elder Monks is leaving for his last transfer and I am getting Elder Liddle. He is from England and that is about all I know!! haha so I will have to get him to say a bunch of Harry Potter quotes!

As for this week, it has been a good one. We weren't able to meet with all our investigators, but we were able to meet with William, our hippy investigator. a funny quote from that lesson, was when we were talking about miracles and he said "oh yeah, Jesus walking on water? Ihat was a yogi practice. It just requires breathing patterns. There are manuals for that." haha He is a strange/awesome guy. We also picked up a new investigator this week that is blind! completely! Like stick and all! and he is super solid so I'm super excited for him. Hopefully he will stay in our area (he is moving) but he is super cool. Maybe we will even get to learn how to read Braille! 

Other than that, there is not much to report on. We had a lesson with a member who has a very low form of autism, so he is fully functional, but still has the attitude of a child. We talked about a lot of random things so I'm not sure how we got on the topic of vegetables, but he said "Broccoli and mushrooms are pornographic vegetables! They are nasty and gross!" haha we both just lost it!

Scripture of the week is Matthew 18:9 " 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire" We need to always remember that it is better to go through life having maybe a little less comfort or "fun" and receive eternal life, rather than indulge and receive the wrath of God. Because that really isn't all that fun ;)

Keep it real,

Elder W.Chad Thompson

Week 76: Work Paying Off

Hello everyone, hope all is going well down south. Things up here have been great! The weather has been super nice all week. All the snow again is gone and the grass even looks a little greener. Too bad Canada will soon again destroy its hopes and dreams. But its nice while it lasts and we will definitely take it! So this week it seemed like the work just exploded! it was really nice. We picked up 3 new Solid investigators who will all progress and then last night, we went to one of the YSA girls farewell party and there she introduced us to her friend who wants to take the discussions! So we will be teaching her this week! Its always awesome when all the work of the member pays off for them and they see some of the fruit of their work. 

On a lower point of this week, we found out that one of our progressing investigators who we have taught everything, doesnt even live in our area. he just goes to school in our area. He made a comment about how it takes him an hour to get to school, and we were just like, whoa, you probably dont live in our area. So we have a lesson this week where we get to pass him off to the missionaries where he lives. hopefully all goes well with that.

We also started up a Saturday basketball day with the ysa that we could bring some investigators to and meet there non member friends. Im really excited about that :)

Quote of the week:

" The trouble with an opportunity is that it always comes disguised as hard work"- Will Rogers

Scripture of the week is 3 Nephi 9:14-15 "14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me.

 15 Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.

​ " The cool thing about Jesus Christ is that his arm of mercy is always extended towards us. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the blessings that we receive as we go to him and trust in him."

​Keep it real,​

Elder W.Chad Thompson

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