week 26: fruit ninja

Christmas Eve dinner!

the members are so good to us...we even had a cake

for my companion's birthday!

Hey guys,

Merry Christmas I guess, but it's way too hot down here to be Christmas.

This week was awesome. We had a family invite us over for Christmas Eve which was a party. It was great, except we had to leave and be home by 9:30. We had the other Elders stay at our house and played uno (I felt like since we're in Mexico we should say one). Christmas was great. I got some stuff from my family, including a book called "The Infinite Atonement" which has blown my mind multiple times. Then we went to a baptism of the other Elders, and we brought two of our investigators, Carlos and Flor, who are the same age as the girl who got baptized.

Carlos and Flor are both awesome, and both are progressing towards baptism. Their dad and grandma are members and they have a baptism date set for the 11th of January. The other day Carlos was asking me how to say different Spanish words in English and said one of the greatest sentences in the history of the universe. Como se dice Freefire en inglés? Freefire is a video game that's huge here, and I was dying.

Last story. We were at a member's house and the hermana asked if we wanted coconut. I then had the opportunity to unleash my inner fruit ninja with a machete. After cutting a hole in a coconut, I drank the water and split the coconut in half with my machete and ate it. 

(Mic Drop)

--Elder Thompson

Christmas morning, opening presents from my parents

everything I needed and then some

Letters from my family all wrapped up!

Real life fruit ninja...I'm epic.

week 25: Feliz Navidad

sand peso!

This week has been a little tough but some really great things happened.

This week we focussed on finding, but we didn't really have much success. We did have a miracle happen Tuesday. We found a guy named Jacinto, whose been inactive for over 20 years. We started working to reactivate him, and we're also working to baptize his mom and 2 kids, Carlos and Flor.

We also had Zone Conference this week too and it was awesome. Hermana Palmer talked about fighting discouragement which is something I've been struggling with these past few weeks. My first transfer we had one investigator my first week and she got baptized, so we spent that whole transfer looking for people, and when last week started we had one family from the transfer before, all the rest of the people we found we've dropped. It's a little tough because I feel like we've done nothing, but Hermana Palmer shared a scripture, Alma 26:13 "Have we not great reason to rejoice?" I'm out here trying to do the Lord's work and I know I have great reason to rejoice.

Yesterday I went on splits with my District Leader to Alvarado because the elders there needed some help (they're opening a new area) and then today we went to the beach. We couldn't swim, but we did take some pictures and I found a sand peso (It's like a sand dollar, but Mexican).

--Elder Thompson

Bits and pieces from family phone calls:

I will get to call home for Christmas! We just have to find an internet cafe that's open!

Most the celebrating here will be on Christmas Eve...we have plans to go visit with a family that night.

My comp has never received a Christmas package (don't think he expected to) so it's a good thing my mom sent doubles of most everything in my package, so we both have stuff to open on Christmas.

I wore a jacket for the first time this week....don't worry, today was super hot again. It never stays cool long.

Last week we had a goal to have 30 connections (not contacts) each day. We made our goal almost every day! Our mission president challenged us to make connections....actually get to know something about people instead of just a hello!

At Zone Conf, my mission president gave us each a Book of Mormon in our native language. Between now and Easter we are supposed to read it and mark God's invitations to us, the promised blessings, a another topic of our choosing...I'm focusing on the atonement.

First time I've worn pday clothes in the field!

two crabs in this pic...can you see them?

that's right....I'm taking a pic with my Lays stax cause why not?

  

we're friends

Zone Conference

human foosball and lessons on working as a team...

also, the only sport we are allowed to play

the ZONE

Because the new area opening by us is so small and new,

they don't have a building.

The other elders made this sign and posted it on the house

where they were meeting Sunday....pretty much professional.

There are lots of sugar cane fields in our area.

They actually burn them on purpose to get rid of the dead/weeds,

then they go in and harvest the sugar canes.

week 24: a spanish Book of Mormon

This is for my mom...since the last time she asked for a tag picture

I sent one of the back of my tag!

Well we had transfers this week, me and Elder Leocadio are staying here in Lerdo another transfer. One of the other Elders in the area left and now Elder Garcia is with Elder Bradshaw. He's from Texas (yay for another English speaker!) and Elder Garcia was his trainer, so a father and son are back together. 

This week was a little tough. We found out that one of our investigators who has been progressing isn't married so that is a little sad. We're trying to find people but it's been a little tough here. We've also been teaching a family that we found a couple of weeks ago. The parents aren't married, but they've got a son we can continue to teach and baptize. 

Also this week I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish! I'm pretty pumped about that. I just want you all to know it's true. Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, Mormon, Moroni, and every other person in it really lived and they all wrote their experiences for us. Above all, I know Jesus Christ lived, died, and lived again for us. He is our Savior and loves us all. 

--Elder Thompson

Bits and pieces from family phone calls:

A little more info on our investigator...he is actually married...to someone he has been separated from for 12 years. He is living with his girlfriend now. Divorce here is really expensive, so he has never been able to afford it. We're sad about the situation, but it's more common here than you would think.

Our branch here has around 800 members, but we only get 60-80 that come on Sundays. Many of the members have been inactive for years, and their idea of what can/cannot happen in the church is a little out there sometimes. But there are also some really good people that are doing really good things.

We did have a family invite us for lunch and dinner Christmas day, and a birthday party for their daughter, so we'll be well taken care of!

We went to see this really incredible waterfall...

Mexiquillo Falls

about 2 million stairs to get down to it,

and about 3 million stairs back to the top.

if the wind blows hard enough,

I look like I'm a little chunky...haha

Me and Elder Leocadio

this is a memela...delicious!

pretty much a giant taco!