My Last Day in Santa Rosa....

Hi everyone! :)

Alright transfer information....I'm being transferred! :( I am going to the San Rafael North Zone and will be serving in the Petaluma 1st Ward! It's about a 45 minute drive south of Santa Rosa. So not too far, but still! I'm so sad to be leaving the brush creek Ward! And I'm leaving sister Whimpey :( that's going to be rough. Sister Whimpey and I have become best friends and I am so sad to be leaving her! She is going to be staying here in brush creek and she's getting a new missionary to train! She's had to train four times now, so she's a pro. But I'm excited for a new area and to meet new people, but I'm sad to be leaving my first area! Mixed emotions right now for sure! My new companion will be Sister Majors. I don't know anything about her except that it's going to be her last transfer on the mission. So I'm killing her (You "die" when you go home and we say your last companion in the field "kills" you). There's one elder in my new zone that I know, Elder Butterfield, so it will be nice to have one familiar face. But other than that, I don't know any of the missionaries I'll be serving around! I think it will be a great transfer though! Can't wait to meet the people of Petaluma! My new address will be

518 Greenbrier Circle

Petaluma, CA 94954

So other than finding out transfers, this week was pretty interesting! We had to go to the hospital a few times this week because one of our investigators, Todd, was in the ICU. He's doing a lot better, just going through a rough patch in life. He's not very close with his family so the nurses said that receiving visits from us really helped him. Also, a less active in our Ward was is the hospital too so we visited her as well. I couldn't help but think of dad every time we walked into the hospital. We walked by the ER every time we visited Todd and it looked pretty crazy in there. I don't know how you do it dad! 

Our investigator Mark is progressing well! He is really starting to recognize the spirit. It's awesome! Every time we meet with him he always brings up the joy and happiness he sees in us and how he wants it. I know that by learning and living the gospel of Jesus Christ Mark can gain that joy and happiness that he so desperately wants! (Oh yeah, to answer your question dad, Mark is from Dededo, Guam). But Mark has yet to come to church...he got a job, which is great, but he's shy to ask for Sunday's off. He said he's going to talk to his boss about it, but we will see! Well, I guess I won't...man, this is weird. I'm leaving! I can't believe it! Our investigator Mike wasn't very happy when he found out I was leaving. He doesn't like transfers. But I hope he continues to make the steps towards baptism while I'm gone! Anyways, other things that happened this week: we did service at the food bank! I love service at the food bank! So fun! Let see, we had dinner with President and Sister Wright Thursday night! I LOVE the Wrights! I think that's something I'm definitely going to miss about this area, is serving so close to the mission president and the assistants. Sister Whimpey and I visited a lot of less actives this week. Some of my favorite people I have met this transfer are the less actives in the Ward. I have learned so much about less active work! I'm so grateful that we are able to teach less actives! I've been taking pictures with a lot of people before I leave so you can see some of the less actives we've been teaching. Man, I'm going to to miss Santa Rosa! Also this week, we went and did service for the family that's moving into our Ward again! We were helping them paint! I was in charge of painting the ceilings! It was great! Haha I got covered in paint though! I love being a missionary! 

One of the hardest things that I've had to face while on the mission is realizing and recognizing all of my weaknesses. It's HARD having to recognize them. I feel like I have so much to work on as an individual. Ether 12:27 would have to be the theme of this transfer, but mostly just the first line, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weaknesses." I've realized the closer that I come to God, the more weaknesses I can see. But I know and love that ether 12:27 doesn't just end with the first line, "...I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men who humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." I've had some hard days this past transfer, but I have learned to rely on the Lord and the Spirit during those days. You know the quote "When life gets to hard to stand, kneel." Well I have a testimony of that for sure. There have been multiple times in the past six weeks where I could do nothing but fall to my knees and pray. A mission is fun, but hard. But Heavenly Father knows me. He knows what I'm capable of and what I can handle. I know He allows obstacles to be placed on my path because He loves me and He wants me to grow and learn. 

Man, I love missions. 

I hope you all have the greatest week ever! I can't wait to tell you all about my new companion and area next week! I love you all! :)

Love always, Sister Thompson :) 

At the park!

Santa Rosa north zone!

Peter and Sylvia ( less actives)

Another cool picture

Sister Whimpey and I :)

 A painting that our investigator Gary painted

Me and bro. Holdway ( less active)

With bro. Holdways cat coach. I'm sad to leave

Me and Chris ( less active)

Me and sis. Groesbeck( sis Rays sister!)

Great Week!

Hello family!

Alright, fun fact for the day: if you average 25 prayers a day, and do that for 18 months, that's 13,650 prayers said. If you pray 25 times a day for two years that's 18,200 prayers.

How crazy is that? Sister Whimpey and I were talking about all the prayers we say each day and so we decided to do the math. 13,650 prayers! That's so many prayers! But it's awesome to think about!

This week was awesome! Busy, lots of driving around, but all together a great week! We had a zone meeting this week and it was great! The spirit was so strong in the room as we were taught by the leaders in our zone. I'll explain what happens at zone meeting and why we have them. So each transfer, there's MLC(mission leadership conference) where all the zone leaders and STLs go for the day and learn from the APs and President and Sister Wright. The following week, every zone has a zone meeting where the zone leaders and STL report and teach us what was taught at MLC. It's pretty great. President and Sister Wright are awesome and I love them! I didn't get to write much last week because of time, but I have gotten to spend a lot of time with the Wright family since they live in the ward I'm over! Like I said last week, Sister Wright came out with sister Whimpey and I the first night she was here so we were the first sisters that she met. Then last Sunday, the Wrights had most of the family in town so they invited sister Whimpey and I and the assistants over for a big family dinner with them! It was so fun! I felt right at home because they were all laughing and cracking jokes during dinner. It was so fun getting to know some of president and sister Wrights kids! Sister Whimpey and I have dinner with the Wrights again this Thursday! Speaking of their kids, the 19 year old daughter Amy has been coming out with sister Whimpey and I a lot to lessons! It's awesome! She is so sweet and so fun to be around! And their 17 year old son Max goes out with the elders a lot and he also comes to the church on pdays to play sports with all the missionaries! I think it's so awesome that they get to have the mission experience without actually being on a mission. Super jealous actually, that would have been so cool if that happened before my mission! So dad, if you get called as a mission president, I'm coming with you! Haha

So I love missions. I love being a missionary! We found two new investigators this week!!! Mark and Gary! Mark is what we call ELECT. Where he was definitely prepared by God before meeting with us! He is a 31 year old guy originally from Guam. He's like 5' 2" and he's super witty and he cracks jokes all the time. He's hilarious. Haha He just moved to sant rosa last week and we ran into him while contacting on the streets of downtown Santa Rosa. We were able to introduce the Book of Mormon to him and have a short lesson with him! We left afterwards to go try and visit a potential investigator and as we came back Mark was still outside reading the Book of Mormon! As we walked by, he was like " Hey this is pretty good!" Sister Whimpey and I freaked out when we got back to the car. We were able to meet with Mark four more times during the week! FOUR TIMES in one week!! He is so open to learning and everything we talk to him about makes sense to him! He is progressing so well! He was suppose to come to church yesterday, but he accidentally sleep in....we had a ride set up for him and everything. It broke my heart that he wasn't at church. There's always next week though! And Gary is the other investigator we picked up! He's a 80 year old man that has been everywhere and done everything in life. He's a architect and artist and his house is the coolest house. He has a lot of his artwork up and he designed his house so it's pretty cool. He's open to learning but he keeps saying that he doesn't want to change. But he has allowed us to come over a few times this week and he's excited to learn so we will see what happens with Gary. As for our other investigators, we are meeting with a 50 year old man named Todd. Todd has had a rough life and going through some addiction problems right now but he wants to turn his life around. He came to church yesterday! Which was awesome! But we're not sure how much Todd understands but we will see! Oh guess what? Mike is moving to Sebastopol next month.....he's moving there for work. And I'm super upset about it. But there's missionaries in Sebastopol so he said he's going to keep meeting with missionaries there. I hope Mike can continue to make the steps toward baptism! Also, our investigator Julia had to move this week. It was a rough week for her and she is being forced out of her house. She doesn't have anywhere to go, so we are trying to help her as much as we can right now! On Saturday, we were able to go and help a family move into our Ward! They are fixing up their house first so we got to help paint the inside of their house! There were like ten sets of missionaries there helping! It was so fun! I love this mission!

Overall, it's been a busy week, but I feel like the work is starting to really pick up in the Brush Creek area! I absolutely love being a missionary! But this week is week six of the transfer...so on Friday we find out Transfer Information. I'm scared. I want to stay with sister Whimpey so bad and we just found new investigators! I dont want to leave! But I'll go wherever the Lord needs me. 

Today a bunch of us missionaries are going to a park and having a bbq! We celebrating a few birthdays so it should be fun! Speaking of birthdays, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX! Hope you enjoy being one year older and...maybe a little wiser too. ;) anyways, I'm loving Northern California! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love always, Sister Thompson :)