week 74: all the things to be thankful for

 

This week was very interesting. We had an emergency transfer so now I'm with Elder Bahlmann.

Tuesday we had to drive down to Lancaster to pick up Elder Bahlmann, and then Wednesday we drove to Bakersfield to drop off Elder Coates. We were pretty busy with that. Then, Thursday was insane. I cooked a turkey. That's right. It was a very big turkey and we got leftovers. Not too much else went on. Here's a quick funny story. We were talking with a family and their little girl that's 7 said she was going to get baptized soon and the lesson got very off track. Then, the mom tried to get it back on track and said "We'll cross that bridge when we get there". The little girl just yelled "What bridge!". It took a little longer to get back to teaching.

Not much is really happening out here, but we'll see what this next week brings,

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

On Thanksgiving we got to call our families and share a message as a companionship. It was really cool to get to teach our families, and have them testify of things they know to be true.

We've got a lot of work to do to get things moving here...please pray for us to find people to teach who are ready to hear our message. 

I'm a professional turkey cooker now, in case you wondered.

I've officially been here in Bakersfield for 6 months. The work is still moving forward...a little slowly right now, but it's all good.

Master of the turkey

note: we did not use the handles to pick up the 24 pound bird

district thanksgiving

President Nelson challenged us this week to post each day about things we are grateful for, so here are my daily posts for the last 7 days.

week 73: all the turkey

 

Elder Coates

Hey Everyone,

    This week was a busy one. We have been working on getting the Spanish group out here going. We had to start a Come Follow Me, and we only had 3 members show up. Not bad considering the group has done nothing since Covid started. We're working on getting some other stuff started so hopefully that all goes well. We also had a mission tour with Elder Villanueva. It was Awesome! We had 4 different zoom meetings with him, and each one was about an hour long. Elder Villanueva and his wife were so cool. Elder Villanueva was so giddy when he was talking about his mission and the apostles. It was really cool to learn from them.

     This week we also had a very special opportunity to listen to our prophet. It was awesome! It is something so special. I loved his focus on gratitude. I invite all of you to watch it if you haven't already.

Hope you all have a marvelous thanksgiving.

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

My mom gave me all kinds of cooking advice/tips to cook a turkey breast...and then this awesome member heard we were doing our own missionary Thanksgiving, so she dropped by after her Costco trip... a ham, pizza hot pockets, snacks, pumkpin pie, whipped cream, and a 24 POUND TURKEY! So my mom gave me new tips/advice on how to cook a giant turkey! She also sent a package with all the spices and stuff I'd need to make the turkey taste good! At some point, we'll have to figure out how to cook up a ham, but this week, it's all turkey.

We are so excited to get things going with our Spanish group here. We're hoping within a week or two, we can start up a zoom sacrament meeting since there hasn't been anything like that for the Spanish members since March. 

I've been here in Bakersfield for 6 months this week...crazy how time goes so fast. 

district leader training

mission wide conference with Elder Villanueva...

side note: I got a good chuckle from all the mispronunciations of Villanueva this week!

week 72: so much work to do!

  Hey everyone, it has been a busy week here in Cal City.

     So, it has been a very interesting week. The Spanish Elders who have been working in this area were also covering one of the english wards around here and that took up most of their time. That means the Spanish work up here hasn't been a big focus and it's struggling a bit. We've been working hard to get it going. We had a talk with the old stake president about some ways we could get the Spanish work moving and the next day he got called as the Ward Mission leader in one of the wards we cover. That means we'll start working with him and he said he's got some ideas for the work. We're super excited. We're trying to start up a Come Follow Me class in Spanish and have started inviting people to that. 

     It's a very unique place, our area is massive. We have to drive so much. It's a thirty minute drive to the church, and there's almost nothing out here. I live in Cal City, and there is a McDonalds and a Subway. I'll let you know what changes next week. It'll be a good one! We have a mission tour with Elder Villanueva and it'll be awesome!

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

Lots of new restrictions this week....we now need masks if we are with anyone outside of our own apartment, even our outdoor district activities. If we meet in a home, we need to stay 8-10 feet away even with our masks. This also means we can't go to member homes for Thanksgiving. There is also no more in person church meetings with members, so we'll be having district sacrament meeting again. 

With the new restrictions, I'm now in charge of Thanksgiving dinner...haha. I have $80 to feed 8 elders. We are all asking for recipes from home today for Thanksgiving food, and then having a zoom meeting tomorrow to divide up food assignments. Because we're in a house with 4 elders, we'll probably be cooking the turkey and gravy. Not to worry, my mom is sending all the instructions and a package with seasonings etc. 

Our closest Spanish branch is over an hour away, so we're hoping to get a group going closer to where we live. It's hard to invite someone to go to a church that is such a long drive. 

I'm excited to see the work here get moving!

jack as dr. strange...nothing better

week 71: moving to the country

 

Last district pic

Well, I'm getting transferred again.

     So first let me tell you about the week. This was a pretty slow week. We had to move Monday night to a new apartment so that took up the rest of the day. We had a ton of appointments fall through, so that sucked. We did have some really good stuff go on. We were able to get a lesson with a member whose daughter hasn't been baptized. It's taken a while, but the lesson went well. We also could teach the Sosa family about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and we're hoping next week they'll be able to come to church since they couldn't yesterday. We finally got a second lesson in with Miguel, the super cool guy who found us a week or two ago. It was interesting, but also a ton of fun. He is super prepared, but there are a few problems we have to address.

     So, after 6 weeks here in Ponderosa, I'm getting transferred. It'll be my fourth area here in Bakersfield since I showed up in May. Thursday night I got a call letting me know I'll be a district leader, and then Friday the transfer board came out. I'm going to a place called California City. I don't know much about it honestly. My new comp will be Elder Coates. I'll be meeting him at the mission office tomorrow. That's all I've got for now.

--Elder Thompson 

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

We looked up California City...population about 14,000. It's mapped out with roads in for thousands of homes and neighborhoods, but it was never finished. I'm sure it will be interesting. 

The weather will definitely be colder there...today the high there was in the 50s. 

I'm hoping I stay in my new area for a few transfers...I've moved around so much my whole mission.

Everything is so good. Crazy to think I've just got 5 transfers to go!

district meetings

we volunteer at this food bank every week

view from the apartment

morningsides and devotionals

week 70: we can help you with that

 

District Conference

    Hey Everyone, it's been a great week.

    So, this Tuesday we had exchanges with our district leader, Elder Mott, and he came to join me in my area. We visited a recent convert named Rosa and that was a lot of fun. Since Elder Mott doesn't really speak Spanish, I basically had teach the whole thing by myself which was weird. Then we tried visiting someone we've been struggling to get in contact with, and we had a really cool miracle. We stopped in front of this guy's trailer to park and he came out and started talking to us. His name is Miguel and he is awesome. He has talked to missionaries before and almost got baptized. He already has been to church and believes in the Book of Mormon which is super exciting. He also said his dream is to enter the Salt Lake temple and I was like "we can help you with that". I'm so excited!

    Other than that the week was pretty normal. We had exchanges again with the Zone Leaders and I went to their area for the day. Then Saturday was Halloween. We had to be inside at 6 and then we broke open a pinata my dad sent me. It was filled with this really disappointing candy that had chili powder in it. He thought it'd be pretty funny. We also found out we'll be moving apartments, so we'll be working on that tonight. It's weird to think there's only one week left in the transfer and then who knows what will happen. 

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

We are getting 30 new missionaries next week, so that's why we are moving. We need to have 8 new apartments ready, and we'll be opening 7 new areas in our mission.

I have now lived in 4 apartments in the last 5 months!

We had some really good authentic Mexican food today for lunch! 

In case you wondered, candy from Mexico is gross....my dad sent so much of it...we're leaving it for the new elders in our apartment.

Next week is transfers! That came fast!

With the election tomorrow, we have to be in our apartment by 6:00. There are riots and protests planned as results are announced, and President Sandberg wants us all inside and safe.

volleyball for pday

we get up at the crack of dawn

thor..also known as jack