week 92: driving

 

Lone Pine Elders

Hey Everyone,

     This week was a ton of driving!

     We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders on Tuesday and had to drive down to Ridgecrest. We had a good time with them and not too much happened. We went to a place called Wingstop and I ordered ten wings and they gave me almost 15! Wednesday was pretty normal and then on Thursday we drove down to Ridgecrest again! This time it was for our vaccines and we came home. The Elders up in Mammoth Lakes stayed with us Thursday night and Friday so they didn't have to drive home just to go back to Ridgecrest for Zone conference. Then the Bishop Elders came down Friday and stayed the night for zone conference on Saturday. Saturday we left early and drove down to Ridgecrest. The drive to Ridgecrest is awful because there is absolutely nothing to look at. Zone Conference on the other hand was amazing because it was in person. It was a ton of fun and afterwards we had interviews with President. Those went great and I got some good advice for college. Then today we went up to mammoth lakes and spent the day up there. It was fun.

I don't really know what else to say, so have a great Easter/general conference

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

Seeing snow, real snow was awesome!

We did get to see Logan this week. He is reading the Book of Mormon and still on date for baptism in a couple weeks.

We didn't do too much teaching with all the driving and everything, but we're hoping that changes this week!

I can't believe I'm down to 10 weeks....what?

pday at Mammoth Lake and Ski Resort

Sponge Bob house...sadly, no indoor plumbing

first in person zone conference in California!

We won the golden hubcap award...

to be fair, Elder Busche did all the driving before he transferred!

Mission Conference

week 91: training solo

Elder Funk and a little Taco Bell lunch

Hey Everyone, 

   This week was pretty crazy. Elder Busche got a call on Tuesday and found out he was getting emergency transferred to Lancaster and becoming a district leader. On Thursday I dropped him off and picked up Elder Funk (his flight was delayed another day). Not a whole lot happened before that because there was a lot of packing up and saying goodbyes. We started teaching Logan and during our second lesson we put him on date to be baptized. It's super exciting and he's on date for April 10th!

Sorry this is a short one, but not too much happened. 

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

When we were talking to Logan about baptism, he said he wanted to be baptized to become a better and person and also because he wants to be more like his little sister....very cool moment!

We're working on lots of things out here, and hoping that the week will be busier than last. 

We also have zone conference coming up and we get to have it in person for the first time since covid!

My mom sent me a small star wars lego set for pday and she sent us "Skull King", so we're looking forward to a new game.

We should be getting our first Covid vaccine sometime this week...the mission is setting us up to volunteer at the vaccination clinics so that we can also get one ourselves. 

For pday, we went to the Western Film museum. It was pretty cool. The Lone Ranger series was filmed out here, as were a lot of western movies. Of course, Iron Man was the best thing ever filmed here!

western film museum

Iron Man was filmed out here!

week 90: training

 

Kandace's baptism!

Hey Everyone, I've actually got a bit to talk about today. 

    This week was awesome! We got snow! I love snow and have missed it so much. That was while we were on exchanges, so we were helping chop and move wood for a member when it started. By the time we left, it was starting to stick a bit, but didn't last too long. That night, we decided to go get Carl's Junior and left the keys in the house. I felt so stupid. We tried carding the door, but couldn't. We eventually found out the bathroom window was unlocked so the elder I was with boosted me up and I climbed through. It was pretty funny. Saturday was awesome! We had a meeting with all the elders in the mission and talked about how a mission is mainly to prepare us to be fathers and husbands. It was great. Then we did service all afternoon, and in the evening we got to baptize Kandace and her grandma, Julie. The baptism was so sweet. Kandace got pretty nervous about going under the water and it took her a bit to finally do it. She was so happy and excited about it. Her grandma's was really special because she was being rebaptized. The next day Kandace's mom came into town, due to a delayed flight. We talked wit her a bit and her son, Logan, is going to be staying here with Julie for a while and says he wants to be baptized. 

We also got transfers news. Me and Elder Busche will be staying here and training a new elder, Elder Funk. We get to meet him tomorrow and I'll let you all know how he is. 

That's all for now, I've got about 12 weeks left now, and I'm not ready to go home yet... 

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

Transfers were delayed by a day since a bunch of flights coming out of Denver were cancelled due to weather.

We're excited to have a greenie to train, and so happy to be staying in Lone Pine.

Elder Busche and I will get to go back to Utah together when we're released.

I'm trying to the read the Book of Mormon in Spanish in 30 days...it's a challenge for sure.

I've been able to talk to my family for the last 3 days since both my parents had birthdays!

Kandace and her grandma...so sweet!

snow in Cali

all the snow...if you look close, you can see the flakes

sleeting

week 89: 3 months left to finish strong

Jack as Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon

      

Another week has gone by and now I have about three months left, which means I want to make them count. 

     We had a really weird week. We were supposed to have exchanges with the zone leaders, but we had to cancel them because Elder Busche was sick. We didn't do much for the first half of the week because of that and we ended up just having to take it easy. He's better now. Wednesday we had interviews with President Sandberg. It went well. We had to travel to Ridgecrest which is about an hour and a half away. Going there also meant Wal-Mart. So we went there and loaded up on groceries and then went to Little Caesars to load up on pizza. It was awesome. 

     This week we also worked a lot with our friend Kandace. She's about ten and She's going to get baptized this Saturday with her grandma who is being rebaptized. It's going to be awesome! I'm so excited. 

Until next week... 

--Elder Thompson

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

It was kind of a slow week with my comp being sick, but still good. We are super pumped for Kandace!

I had some extra time on my hands, so I really made an awesome Jack picture!

My mission president challenged us to all read the Book of Mormon in 30 days...I'm trying to do it in Spanish so a little extra work, but I'm excited to do it!

I bought UNO flip for pday activities and we're loving it!

week 88: baptism day

Allie's baptism day!

Hey Everyone! This week was awesome! 

    We've been working hard and found a few people in Keeler (for those who don't remember Keeler is the tiny town in the middle of no where and has like 50 people). It's crazy how many people there are willing to listen. We also had Allie's baptism! It was amazing! Tons of people came and the whole experience was great! There were a ton of kids and that was lots of fun. She got baptized by my comp Elder Busche and I was able to confirm her. We then went over to their house and talked with them, don't worry, it was all outside. I'm so sick of Covid. Then the next day, we talked with our branch president and there's a lady we've been working with who was excommunicated and she is going to get rebaptized. We've been working with her granddaughter and hopefully they'll get baptized together on the 13th of March. 

Also on Saturday, we got to go help out with a youth activity up in Bishop, it's like an hour away. They did this thing  with a stake in Rome, Italy. One of Allie's kids was there and it was pretty cool. 

I don't really know what else to say so... I'll talk to you all next week. 

--Elder Thompson 

bits and pieces from family phone calls:

The whole baptism with Allie went so well. Her husband is working on giving up his chewing tobacco so that he can be baptized as well.

My comp was sick last night and all day today...not sure if it's a bug, or if it's the food we were given last night. I'm feeling fine and hoping it stays that way.

Weird to think I have about 14 weeks left...I'm not at all ready to be done...time is moving way too fast!