week 65: moving on to Ponderosa

 

Well, it's official. I am leaving Buena Vista and going to Ponderosa. It's been a great transfer and I'm sad I'm leaving so soon.

We had a few miracles happen. there's a family we've been working with, la familia Avalos. I love them. They're a great family and they have a daughter named Melanie that's ten. She really wants to be baptized, but we haven't been able to get consistent lessons with them. Yesterday we invited Melanie to be baptized on the 24th of October. The parents really want all of her siblings to come so they asked if we could do it a week earlier so all of them could come. We said yes and now Melanie is preparing to be baptized the 17th. This will really help with consistent lessons since they know we still have a bit to go through before the baptism.

We also were able to have some lessons with some people we've been trying to for a while. It's been a great last week of the transfer. I wish I didn't have to leave quite yet, but that's okay. I know the Lord has plans for me I can hardly begin to imagine. I'm so grateful for being sent here and seeing all the miracles going on here. 

I'll talk to you all next week and let you know how the new area/comp is

--Elder Thompson

the district

A member smoked us some tri-tip and ribs and WOW!

Best meal we've had in a while!

goodbyes with some of our favorites

weekly morningside

week 64: dad shirts

 

    Another week has gone by here in the Great California Bakersfield mission.

    Things are going good here, just slowing down a little. I think it's because everyone is going back to school/work. We're trying  to work with more members right now, so we've been reaching out to some that we haven't contacted yet. We aren't teaching too many people so our focus is on finding. We found this one family of members that had their niece over and she only spoke Spanish. It was so weird because she was about 9 and usually kids don't speak Spanish or they do, but prefer english. She was a super cool girl, and was so excited when we gave her a Book of Mormon. She had the biggest smile holding it. She is staying in Long Beach so we might not see her again, but that's ok. The Lord will definitely take care of her. We also found a super cool guy named Daniel, but we passed him off to YSA.

    Not much happened, but the week flew by. Today we had a cleaning day as a mission so we didn't do much. Me, Elder Powell, and the other two elders in our apartment went to Goodwill and found some great dad shirts. Don't worry, I'll send pics.

--Elder Thompson

Bits and pieces from family phone calls:

Next week is transfers already. I think my comp and I will be moving to a new apartment for sure, but no idea beyond that. 

The smoke is finally clearing out and we've had almost blue skies.

It's still SO HOT here.

Dad shirts for the win

Elote! Tastes like Mexico!

Morningside for the mission

week 63: small but powerful

 

Hey everyone, this week was awesome!

    So, this week we've been working hard. We worked a ton with our friend Liz to get her ready for her baptism. We also went on exchanges so I spent most the day in a trio. That was fun. We also found a new girl named Victoria. I had a prompting to call people that were taught previously and went to church. There weren't very many people, but we've started teaching her. Saturday was a busy day and we held Liz's baptism. She was baptized by a member who helped us teach her a lot, and then I got to do the confirmation. It was a small service, but was super powerful. Liz also brought her daughters and we're going to try to start teaching them. 

   Sunday we got to watch the Young Adult devotional, and it was fantastic. I highly recommend it. Elder Rasband answered a lot of really good questions and there were some wonderful stories. Not too much else is happening here in Bakersfield. 

Hope you all are doing amazing.

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

I'm an uncle!! Jack is a cute baby and I'm wishing I could meet him soon!

Still learning new things every day.

We got pizza from my mom this week and that was awesome!

happiest kind of days!

sometimes your mom orders pizza to your apartment and those are good days!

cars in missions are soooo underrated...

I know that because I walked miles every day for 9 months!

week 62: all the miracles

 

exchanges last week!

    So this week went really well. It flew by fast, but let's see what I can remember.

     Tuesday was pretty chill. We had a zoom meeting in the morning and there are plans to make a lot changes. My mission is going to start trying to use social media a lot more so I'm pretty excited. Then Thursday and Friday we had exchanges. First with some other Elders in our district, and then with the Zone Leaders. Thursday I was with Elder McDonald, he's super cool. He was assigned to go to Brazil, but Covid hit right before he was going to go to the MTC. So since he was going to Brazil, he has been learning Portuguese, and my area is a Spanish area. It was pretty interesting basically teaching solo. We were calling people who have been taught before and found two different guys that seem kinda interested. We'll see how it goes with them. Friday was exchanges with the Zone Leaders, which was a little weird because they live with us. So basically we just worked in separate rooms. 

    Saturday we helped out with the bishop's storehouse. That was fun. We were really busy trying to get the people we're teaching ready for a zoom meeting our ward did Sunday morning. Two of them ended up coming. Then Sunday evening we had two awesome things happen. We've been teaching this girl named Liz for a while, and she has a baptismal date for this Saturday. We took her to a member's house to do the sacrament. It went amazing! The bishop showed up and they got to know each other. Liz was talking to all of us and we found out some cool things. She grew up in Mexico, and went to a private LDS school. Her parents didn't let her get baptized but she's always wanted to. She told us about some of the changes she's seen in her life since she started meeting us. I love seeing how much the gospel blesses families. Then later that night she had her interview and passed! That means if all goes well, she'll be baptized this Saturday! We are so excited.

Honestly, I am so grateful the Lord sent me here and has allowed me to be a part of all these amazing things that are happening.

Hope you all are doing great

--Elder Thompson

Bits and pieces from family phone calls:

The air quality has been worse again, so pday was at the church, but chair soccer is the best!

We are all getting along so well, and I'm loving my area and the people here.

Thanks to my new wireless keyboard, I was able to type my email up faster and make it longer.

I'm looking forward to meeting Kenzie's baby next week!

HOMIES FOREVER

A member brought us this super yummy food!