The week of grand opportunities! (Week 13)

Hola everyone! I can`t believe that already 4 months has passed since i left for the MTC! Holy cow time flies by fast!!!

So things have been going great here down in sunny Guadalajara. I was struggling a little bit last week, but had a fantastic interview with the president that completely refreshed me mentally and spiritually! I always love to listen to my president talk. Never have I heard a man speak so boldly and simply about the doctrine of christ that I seriously learn something new EVERY time. it would not surprise me if that man ended up as an apostle one day..

*random interjection*

So we found a GIANT brown recluse in our house the other day!

about...

(                                                                           ) 

that big all around.... uuuugggghhhh *shivers* 

Those of you that know me know how much I despise any type of spider, and the fact that it was a big version of one that could kill me.. NOT OK.

Let just say it burned ;)

Also this week we hade changes! Im no longer in training and Elder Pacheco no longer is my companion. It still feels weird to not have Elder Pacheco here but Im really excited about my new companion Elder Alvarez. He has 21 months in the mission and was a zone leader in his last area. He`s a great guy with a lot of excitement about the work. 

Also something crazy happened! My president closed Arquitectura 2. Now theres only the area Arquitectura. So with this ward there are only two missionaries. All the others in the zone with 6 or more haha. To walk from one side of my area to the other it takes about an hour and a half... its huge! And the work has doubled! How awesome is that!? I have a whole lot of excitement for these next two cambios! 

I`m sure we will be stumbling in dead tired almost every night but hey the Lord has 100% answered my prayers for more work haha! The excitement is actually kind of hard to retain, i`m so grateful that the lord trusts us both enough to leave two whole areas in our hands! With many baptisms coming these next couple weeks I will continue in the spirit of the lord as it guides us to where we need to go! I thank you guys for your prayers for me and for those that we teach. It really helps a lot and helps us go day to day. :)

Love you all much!

Elder THompson IV

General Conference! (WEEK 12)

So I realized that I used up almost all my time on personal emails so this one will be a bit short! 

So what were your guys favorite talks during general conferance this weekend?

I myself absolutely loved the talks of Uchdorf and Eyring and Jorg during saturday. Very powerful and full of the spirit! One of my favorite things I pulled from conferance was how sometimes we have the tendancy to rationalize or justify ourselves for breaking the commandments.

 "I can´t attend church because...." "He´s probably already mormon so I don´t need to talk to him.." "I´m sure someone else will step up and help him, I don´t have time.." and many many more. Whether from the simple excuses or from the most ellaborate ideas we have we try to justify our wrongs. I having fallen to this many times. But the commandments are in black and white. God is a god of mercy, but he is also a just god who does not accept excuses. Nothing impure can enter into his kingdom and so we must follow 100/100 of all he has commanded. Although that seems possible or that it would make our lives only harder and more stressful, its just the opposite. The lord gives us these commandments to set us free. If we follow to the best of our abilities giving the best we can, the lord will help us with the rest. However, if we find ourselves in these situations of justification and rationalization we should stop. just stop and look to our lord for forgiveness. Who if we come with that sincere heart we will find this forgiveness. We will feel his loving embrace as we little by little overcome our faults. Then as we feel this we will turn out to others to share with them this great redemptive feeling.

So We´ve been having a whole lot of success with one of our investigators Ofelia. Her kids were baptised about 5 years ago and then went inactive and she never really followed. We´ve been having pretty good lessons but she is incredibly hard to find at her house. Not having a lesson in more than a week we were worried about how she was doing and if she would remember conferance. Well our prayers being answered she came to the saturday morning session! Saying that she would assist the others as well! 

But as the second session came she was nowhere to be found.. the sessions came and gone without any sign of her or her family. Without a phone it was impossible for us to get a hold of her. So after conferance we stopped by her house to see what happened. Turns out that her giant several thousand pound tree was starting to collapse towards there house. We arrived with much of it cut down but still the main part and the larger branches attached and held up by support beams. I have to say that that was a pretty fun experience to cut down a giant tree haha. So thats why she wasn´t there for the other sessions.

Anyways we then went over to her house to see how she had been doing this past week. In this past week she had reached Ether in the Book of Mormon, sometimes staying up til 5 am just to read. She has been feeling the spirit very strong and looks forward to her baptism of Nov 1. I´m grateful the lord has been answering our prayers on her behalf by touching her with his spirit and love. Her and her family have been finding that peace that had long since left. 

The lord lives and works many mighty miracles! I´m so grateful I get to be apart of it!

Love you all!

Elder Thompson IV

The week of many much heat! (WEEK 11)

Its hot! 

.....

yeah basically its been really hot down here. With lots of humidity and heat from the intense sun! But no matter it is still gorgeous down here! I love to look at the cliffs every morning when we leave our house and to ponder and the grandness of it all. Isn´t it great to focus in nature every once and a while? Even just picking off a leaf and looking at the complexity of it testifies of the grandness of god and all the beauty that there is to find in this wonderful planet! Its a really great experience to look at it all while being intune with the spirit.

So this week we´ve been focusing on finding new people. I thought we were working hard before, but now we´ve almost been able to double our work. Walking our entire area 3 or more times in one day and finding more and more people. We have 9 new investigators and 8 appointments this week with other new families. The lord has truly been blessing us with our desires. It reminds me of a promise that was once made. that its when we give 100% of what we can do that the lord will step in and carry us the rest of the way and truly pour out his spirit and inumerous blessings upon our hearts and souls. 

However, I´ve also learned that when you work harder to do wahts right and bring others to christ, satan works just as hard to slow you down or scare you off. I refuse to let him slow me down! Like the army of Heleman the lord will guide and protect when we go forth without fear and without doubt. Anything and allthings are possible through christ. We just need to have the faith and trust to follow without doubting. 

through faith all is possible..

I love you all!

Elder THompson IV

Week 10!

This week truly flew past incredibly fast! We´ve been so busy and working so hard to get better numbers its been great! We´ve actually had lots of success! All of our numbers have increased and we have plenty of new investigators and refrences for this week and next! We´ll see how they progress!

This week I´ve been learning more and more of how to recognize and trust in the spirit. Its been really awesome for me because we´ve had a lot more success in lessons and in contacting more people. Changing the lessons as the spirit would direct. I realized the key is that we can´t decide when the spirit will testify. We need to humble ourselves and listen as it speaks to us, then when the situation is right the spirit will come forth and testify to the hearts of these people. We just need to listen!

I´ve also had plenty of strange experiences this week that I never thought I would have in my life, let alone on a mission. Although some of them should never be spoken of again I´ll share one that I thought was really random. This drugged guy came up angry saying he was going to rob us. About to take out the money that we had in our pockets he said  disapproving "¡No! solo quiero su pluma" so I gave him the crappy pen that I was carrying and we went our way. The other experiences were only weirder!

Anyways as time goes on im only learning to love these people and this country of Mexico more and more! And becoming evermore closer to my father in heaven as I see the changes in these peoples live to better fit the example of our lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I love being a missionary!

Love you all!

Elder THompson IV

P.S.

All these pictures were taken 15minutes from my house!