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 🌻