I Love Life!

Hello everyone!

So much happened this week and I LOVED every second of it! How

grateful I am to be serving a full time mission! I've learned SO much

so far on my mission. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world!

So last week on Monday, we played volleyball with the other

missionaries here in Petaluma! So fun! I love all the missionaries I'm

currently serving around! I feel like I've made life long friends!

Later in the evening we had a lesson with our investigator Paul. So

Paul is the excommunicated 28 year old that we are helping prepare for

baptism. Paul is very knowledgeable when it comes to gospel topics so

it's a little different teaching him. Last week, I prayed that we

would be inspired on what to teach him that would best help him. And

let me tell you, my testimony of receiving personal revelation

specifically for the people in your area grew so much! I received a

prompting that we should talk to Paul about the repentance process,

something that he is going through right now. As Sister Jordan and I

prepared for the lesson, we felt really good about what we had

planned. The lesson with Paul that night was powerful. Paul opened up

so much and the spirit was so strong that night. You could tell that

the spirit was touching Paul and that's something I'll never forget.

We texted Paul later that night after the lesson and thanked him for

meeting with us and for allowing us to feel the spirit. Paul responded

that he really felt the spirit too and that he hadn't felt it that

strong in a while. Man, I love the spirit.

On Tuesday, we had district meeting! That was really good but our zone

leaders decided to make a zone challenge of really trying to get 20

contacts everyday and adding a specific daily challenge everyday! We

were suppose to text the zone everyday when we accomplished getting

the 20 and the daily challenge. That made this week super fun! Some of

the daily challenges included testifying in 10 of your 20 contacts,

committing someone new to church, both you and your companion had to

invite a stranger to be baptized, having one street lesson with a

stranger, and using certain phrases in contacts! It was fun! On

Wednesday, I went on exchanges with Hermana Navarro in the Spanish

area! I had her teach me how to contact someone in Spanish! It was

great. Haha we had a fun time on exchanges! We contacted a guy who had

a truck full of fruit and vegetables and at the end he gave us a free

melon...haha we laughed so hard because now we had to carry around

this melon with us while we were knocking on doors! And then right

after that happened, a dog peed on me...hahaha by this time, Hermana

Navarro and I had to sit down because we see laughing so hard! I had

reached down to pet someone's dog that was walking past us, and the

dog got excited and peed on my foot. Haha the lady felt so bad but she

said that we could come by and visit her! So that was a plus! Overall,

our exchange was a success haha.

We did a lot of service this week too! We helped Bear and Terri in

their yard, helped a family move, help another family with yard work,

and volunteered at the Petaluma Bounty Garden! I love service!

On Friday morning, we had a lesson with Camilo and Paul asked if he

could come! So we taught Camilo and Paul the word of wisdom. Both of

them are struggling with it and it was good for Camilo to hear about

it from Paul. Paul and Camilo really hit it off and now they are good

friends haha so they are helping each other to overcome their

addictions!

The General Women's Meeting on Saturday night was SO good! Absolutely

loved it! They broadcasted here at the Petaluma chapel for our whole

stake so it was fun seeing lots of people! Camilo's daughter, Anna

Sophia, came and she brought her non member friend Cienna! They both

really liked it, and now Cienna is interested in learning more about

the church! How cool is that? Man, I love missionary work!

Church yesterday was incredible. Probably an experience I will never

forget. It was fast and testimony meeting yesterday for our ward.

Camilo and Anna Sophia came and were sitting next to us. The

testimonies were so powerful yesterday and you could see that Camilo

was really listening to each of them. During one of the testimonies,

the person speaking starting bearing their testimony about the

truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I watched Camilo, next to me, grab

his Book of Mormon. He sat there for a while just staring at the book.

A few minutes later, he leaned over, put his face in his hands, and

just started crying. He stayed there for a while, just crying into his

hands. After the last testimony, he got up and left to get a drink of

water. While he was gone we started sing ing I Know That My Redeemer

Lives for the closing hymn. The spirit had been so strong during the

meeting and I just had the most overwhelming feeling of joy. Tears

start rolling down my cheeks as I listen to the congregation sing the

hymn. Camilo walked back in during the hymn, saw me crying and started

crying more. After the closing prayer, I turned to Camilo and asked

him to describe to me what he felt during sacrament meeting. "Sister

Thompson," he said, "I have never felt anything like this before. I

feel so happy and at peace. Ever since I've been meeting with you

sisters and coming to church, my life has never been better. I have

never been happier." More tears start rolling down my cheeks as he

continues, "Sister, I don't know how I could ever repay you. You have

changed my life and for that I am forever grateful." I responded back

"Camilo, it's not me that has changed your life, it's this gospel.

It's God and Jesus Christ. And those feelings you are having right

now, are the spirit testifying to you that this is all true. Camilo,

don't ever forget this moment and the way you feel." Camilo looked at

me with tear filled eyes and said, "I won't sister Thompson, I won't."

At that moment, I was so grateful that God allows us missionaries to

be instruments in His hands to bring people closer to Him. God is

trusting me, a 19 year old girl, with His children. How incredible it

is to be that instrument for God and how grateful I am for it! It's

moments like these that I will always cherish and hold on to!

I love this gospel with all my heart and I know, without a doubt, that

it is true. I know that God loves each of us and knows us personally.

I know He hears our prayers and He WILL answer them. I love my savior

Jesus Christ. None of this would be possible if it wasn't for his

atoning sacrifice for us. How great it is to be a member of this

church and have the knowledge that we do! I love you all and hope you

have a great week!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Steve brought his flight helmet from his plane and let us wear it haha

I found a mustang that looks almost like ours back home! Don't worry

we knocked on their door haha

I got to see sister Nwagharau at the women's meeting!

We made pancakes, hash browns and chocolate milk this morning for

breakfast and we made the fire alarms go off for like 15 minutes haha

our bad.

A selfie, cuz why not!

Pictures from Tracting, and exchanges with Hermana Navarro!

Great Week!

Hey family! :) 

Dad, I got your letter! Thanks for the play-by-play of the BYU games! It's crazy to think that I went to high school with Tanner Magnum! I'm glad he's doing well! GO COUGS! Sounds like everything back home is going good! It's still REALLY hot here! It cooled down for about two days last week(and by cool down I mean in was in the 60s) but it's back up to the 90s this week. 

What a great week! Full of hard work and...drum roll please...RAIN! It rained for the first time since I've been on my mission(which is 5 months(time is moving WAY too fast!))! It only rained for one day, but still! IT RAINED! I don't know if you've seen on the news all the fires that are going on in Northern California, but the rain was much needed. The fires are about an hour and a half drive away from where I am right now, so I'm safe. They had to evacuate the missionaries over in Middletown and Lake County. Middletown doesn't exist anymore...it's crazy how fast a wildfire can move! Pray for the families that have lost their homes and pray that we will receive more rain so we can stop the fires! 

Our investigators are doing great! CAMILO is still crazy but still has a strong testimony of the gospel and he shares it with everyone! While we were teaching him this week he mentioned how he brings up church with everyone he talks to now! Haha he said he has invited all of his co workers to church and he loves it when he finds other Mormons! Haha he's great! He is still struggling with the word of wisdom, but he asked for a priesthood blessing to help him, so he will be receiving that this week! How grateful I am for the priesthood on the earth today! Camilo's kids, Anna Sophia and Antonio are doing good as well! Also, Orlando, Camilo's roommate, is doing great too! Man, if we didn't meet Camilo, we would have no teaching pool right now! Haha we get all of our referrals from Camilo! The Ward has come to love Camilo haha he's very outgoing and loves participating in class and at first the ward members weren't use to it, but now everyone knows Camilo and his family! By the way, I LOVE this Ward! I feel like I know all the members now and I feel close to a lot of the families! I feel right at home in this Ward! Comfortable enough that sister Jordan and I helped the young women in a skit on Saturday night at the ward activity! Haha we put on a skit about a Family Night gone wrong! Sister Jordan and I were two kids in the family that were fighting and causing trouble haha I tried to put into action the things I remembered from our family nights growing up. ;) I pulled a classic Nikki and I raised my hand every minute and either a) forgot my question or b) said something that wasn't relevant to the topic haha the ward got a good laugh out of the skit! Thanks Nikki for helping me get the crowd laughing! ;) Steve is doing good and Amelia! Missions are seriously the best! I've made so many memories and life long friends! 

We had district meeting this week, we went on exchanges, and we had lots of fun! I have never been happier than on my mission! I love this work and I love this gospel! It doesn't get any better than this! I love you all! 

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Go BYU!

Hi everyone!

Man, I love being a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! There is nothing better! This week was great and I am SO grateful for promptings from the Spirit that help guide us each day!

So to start out, let me tell you how our investigators are doing! Camilo and his kids Anna Sophia and Antonio are all doing great! Camilo has a baptismal date for October 10th! Pray that he will be ready by then! He struggles with the word of wisdom right now, but he is working really hard to overcome his addictions! His kids love coming to church each week! Especially his 12 year old daughter Anna Sophia! She seems really interested in learning more about the church! We started teaching Camilo's roommate Orlando too! He is 23 and he just moved to Northern California from Southern California about three weeks ago! He started sitting in on Camilos lessons and now he's coming to church each week and we started teaching him! Also, Camilo's mom, who is living with Camilo right now, has started looking into the church! So hopefully she will come to church soon! 

We picked up two new investigators this week! We started teaching a former investigator named Delilah! She is an older lady that use to be taking the lessons about two years ago, but missionaries stopped going by. Delilah is very Christian and loves talking about Jesus. She also loves what the church beliefs are, but she has a hard time making it to church because of health issues. So we will continue teaching her, and see what happens there! 

The other investigator we picked up happened because of a miracle. On Wednesday, we had a full, busy day ahead of us. But by the time mid afternoon hit, all of our plans for the evening fell through. After dinner, we weren't quite sure what we should do. So we said a prayer and went out to work. While we were driving, a thought came to my head to go and visit a less active named Larry. At the time, I just thought it was a thought I was having and not a promoting from the spirit. So we went to Larrys house. We pulled up, and Larry comes out to the car to greet us. He then goes on to tell us that his 14 year old nephew, Kevin, is over with some other family members. He told us that Kevin is going through a really rough time right now and that Larry and his family were trying to figure out how they could help Kevin right now. Larry told us that they were trying to think of every possible solution and then we pulled up. Then Larry realized that they hadn't thought to pray and ask God to help. Larry asked us to come inside and say a prayer for Kevin. We got inside and you could tell Kevin had been having a hard time. We all sat down and Larry began to explain to Kevin how the missionaries have helped him and showed him how to turn to God for help. We then shared a short lesson with everyone there about prayer. Larry then asked me to offer a prayer for Kevin.(side note: Larry is the only member in his family) We all knelt down in a circle and I offered the prayer. The spirit was so strong in the room. After the prayer, we gave a Book of Mormon to Kevin and invited him to read it. As we left, Larry walked us out to the car, and he said that we were an answer to his prayers. That he wouldn't have known what to do in this situation if we hadn't shown up. It was then that I realized that it wasn't just a thought I had to go and visit Larry that night, it was the spirit guiding me and directing us where to go. I am so grateful for moments like these! 

Other things that happened this week, we had zone meeting on Tuesday! The theme was Let our Motivation Be Love. It was a great zone meeting! We also helped Bear and Terri again this week! I think I've pulled more weeds in the past five months than I have in my entire life! Haha but I love it! Sister Jordan and I also cleaned the house of a lady in our Ward on Saturday who is really sick at this time. Man, I love doing service for others! I felt pretty sick this past weekend, but doing service for others and helping out others really helped! Weird, I know, but being out and helping others helped me take my mind off of myself. Luckily, I'm feeling a lot better now! We also had interviews with the mission president on Friday! Our first ones with president wright! President wright is awesome and probably the happiest man I have ever met! My interview with him went really well! Yesterday, we went over to the bishops house and watched the restoration movie with Camilo and his kids! They loved the movie and Camilo was actually in tears during most the movie! Camilo is progressing so well! I love missionary work!!!

Well, know that I am doing great and loving every second of my mission! I know that this gospel is true with all my heart. I know that true happiness and joy comes from living the gospel faithfully! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Hello!

Sept 7, 2015
Hi family! 

I hope everything is going well back home! How's the school year going? What's the weather like there now? Still hot? Starting to get cold? Haha I forgot what it's like!!

So this week was great! We dropped off sister majors on Monday...that was rough. I also had to say goodbye to sister Whimpey. Oh man, I do not like saying goodbye. My past companions have become some of my very best friends and it is so hard saying goodbye! But I've gotten emails from both sister majors and sister Whimpey and they are both doing good! But now it is just sister Jordan and I! Sister Jordan is awesome! She is very enthusiastic for the work and she's hilarious! We are very different, but that doesn't matter haha we both have a strong desire to work hard! It's fun being able to train! I still feel like I should be the one being trained, but I think I will always feel that way. 

Tuesday we had transfer devotional and afterwards I had to attend a trainers meeting! The trained me on how to train. After that Sister Jordan and I came back to Petaluma and it's back to work! We had awesome lessons this week with Steve and Camilo and his kids! We set a baptismal date with Camilo!! October 10th! We also started teaching Camilos new roommate Orlando! He's 23 and he just moved here from Southern California! He came to church with Camilo and his kids last week and now he wants to start meeting with us! He is GOLDEN! 

Speaking of Camilo, it was his birthday on Saturday and he told us that he was throwing a party Sunday evening with his family and friends and he invited us. So we went and get this, half the Ward was there! Haha Camilo had announced his party in elders quorum so we get to his house and a ton of members from the Ward are there! Haha it was so cool! We ate Brazilian food and sang and laughed haha it was great!

But this week wasn't too eventful, just doing the usual, missionary work! Haha I absolutely love being a missionary! Sorry this email is kind of short! But I hope everything back home is going well!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

I Heart Northern California

Hello everyone! :)

So this week was great! Bitter sweet because it was Sister Majors last week but it was still a good week! We are actually going to Santa Rosa today to drop her off at the mission office! Which means I get to see my old area! I'm excited for that but I'm super sad to be saying goodbye to Sister Majors and Sister Whimpey today. Man, that's going to be rough. I don't like goodbyes!

So to start off, I will tell you what's happening with transfers! Sister Majors is going home, I'm staying here, and I have been called as a trainer!! I'm going to be follow up training Sister Jordan! So that means I'm going to be a dad and have a son! Haha I'm really excited for this opportunity to train but I'm also kind of nervous! I still feel like I'm brand new to the mission and that I should be the one being trained! But I guess the Lord thinks I'm ready! So here goes! Pray for me!

We went to the beach last PDay! It was SO fun! We went to Limantour Beach which is close to Point Reyes. It's about a 45 minute drive from where we live! We went as the San Rafael North Zone and we met up with the San Rafael South Zone there! It was so fun! We put our feet in the water, made sand castles, played frisbee, football, spike ball, laid out in the sun, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather! It reminded me a lot of Southern California actually! The water and weather has been a lot warmer than normal lately, so it was a great day at the beach! I'll send pictures!

Also this week, I got to help shear sheep and goats! Haha funniest thing ever! I learned that Im not very skilled at wrangling sheep and goats! And that they make really funny noises haha it was so fun though! We went to Sister Flemmings house(she lives in Rohnert Park) and we helped her for the morning. The goats were hilarious to herd and watch. We didn't actually do the shearing, they hired a professional for that, but we were in charge of getting them and herding them. The elders had a fun time tackling the goats that were escaping. I didn't feel like I was in California that morning! Haha you don't really think of goats and sheep farms when you think of California! 

We also helped out at Bear and Terri's again! We go and pull weeds for about two hours every Thursday morning! I love it! Service is one of my favorite things as a missionary! Terri's mom was there, we call her Nanna, and she is just the funniest older lady you will ever meet! Haha she's not a member of the church, but she loves the missionaries! She gives each of us a nickname, I'm Tommy :) haha she took us all out to eat after weeding to AppleBees. It was great! I love Bear, Terri, and Nanna so much! They are too great!

We spent a lot of time going around saying bye to people this week since sister majors is going home, but our lessons that we did have this week were awesome! So let's talk about Steve!!! Oh my goodness gracious, the church is true! Haha we met with Steve as a recent convert this week and let me tell you, you can tell a difference. The spirit literally emanates from him! He sounds like he has been a member his whole life! He told us a couple stories of how he has been hearing a little voice in his head that has helped guide him and protect him ever since he was baptized and confirmed! It's incredible listening to someone describe hearing and feeling the Holy Ghost for the first time! I was in tears by the end of the lesson because the spirit was so strong and my heart was full of joy for Steve! He ended up bearing his testimony during the closing prayer where he said that he knows the church is true and that Joseph smith is a prophet of God. Ahhhhh! I'm just so happy for Steve and for this gospel and just everything! I love life!!

We'll know that I am doing great and I'm excited for this next transfer! I love this Ward I am serving in right now so I'm really happy that I am staying! I am also really excited for this opportunity I have to train and serve sister Jordan! I just love this gospel and the happiness and joy it brings! Hope you all have a great week! :) 

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Beach pics

Making a sandcastle with Elder Butterfield

Duck pond we found

At bear and Terri's, Nanna made us wear hats haha I gave mine away

for the picture

Sheep shearing time

We caught a little lizard inside the church! 

with Bro. Rowley

Me and Clayton Horner! The Horner family is the cutest and their

little kids are adorable! I love this Ward! 

And I got the Southern California package! Absolutely LOVED it! Thank you!!