Miracles!

Hey family!

So this week was AWESOME. I am on missionary cloud nine right now!!

Here are the highlights from my week!

So Nathan...!!!!! AHHHH! Literally, he is perfect! So get this, we

were able to teach him all the lessons this past week and he IS

GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!! He was the one that just walked into

church two weeks ago and now he's getting baptized!!! MIRACLE!! Nathan

is literally like the coolest guy ever! So he is 34 and he's grown up

in Nor Cal. He is a retired BMX biker(won the World Cup in 2004 sooo

no big deal), and he is the most down to earth, humble guy ever. He

took us go carting today which was super fun! But yeah, he is getting

baptized this week and we are SO EXCITED!

So teaching Nathan took up most of our week, which was awesome! We

taught him in a few different members homes but one day we went to his

work and taught him there and it was so cool. So he works for a

multi-millionaire. He remodels her home for her and let me tell you,

it was the coolest house I've ever been in. The house is worth well

over 2.5 million dollars and Nathan gave us a tour of it before we

taught him. Oh man, that house was crazy. At one point he opened up a

closet which had six purses in it, he then told us that each purse was

worth over $5,000....it was crazy. Haha the lady that owns the house

even has a self portrait of herself like you see in all the movies. It

was great. Anyways, Nathan's lesson this week were AMAZING! He is so

prepared by the Lord!!

We also taught Lora this week! She is doing awesome! Love her to

death! And we taught the Pachecos a couple times and also did service

for them! I love the people here in Fairfield!

So other than that, we did a lot of service this week and had lots of

fun teaching the gospel! Sorry my email isn't very good this week,

didn't have much time to write today! But know that I am doing well

and so excited to have a baptism this week! I love you all!

Love always, Sister Thompson🍍

Go carting today!

In the Refiners Fire, But At Least I'll Come Out Polished ;)

July 17, 2016

Hey friends and family!

Things were still crazy at the beginning of this week, but things are

starting to calm down. As you can see from my email subject line,

these past few weeks have definitely been the refiners fire for me.

There's a song called "More" that I really like and I'm going to quote

part of the chorus because it fits in quite nicely with all of this.

"Could I be more faithful and devoted? Could I be more worthy of thy

name? Will you polish and refine me and make me stronger than before?

Through You I can become more." About a month ago, I asked Heavenly

Father for a trial. Something that would push me to be better. And He

definitely heard my prayer haha but because of it, I am more faithful

and devoted. I feel more worthy to hear His name. I feel like I'm

being polished and refined. I know that through Him, I have become

more.

So Monday last week, things with Sister Smith and Sister Day(the the

sisters living with us) were going good. For dinner that night we went

out with the Kellenbecks! It was such a fun dinner! Love that family!

Tuesday morning we had district meeting, lunch, a solid lesson with

Lora, and then service. Buuuuuuut, at service Sister Smith calls us in

tears. And to make a long story short, Sister Smith and Sister Day

just couldn't make things work. So Sister Smith came with Sister

Stromberg and I for the rest of the day and Sister Day went with

another companionship while President Wright prayed about an Emergency

Transfer. Luckily, the other exchange we had planned for that day got

moved so we were able to give all our attention to Sister Smith and

Sister Day. The APs called later that evening and let us know that

Sister Smith would be staying in the area and getting a new companion

and Sister Day would be leaving and going to a Novato.

Wednesday, we picked up Sister Day in the morning and brought her back

to our apartment so she could pack up everything. Let me tell you, the

tension in our apartment with Sister smith and Sister Day both there

was crazy high. Like spirit gone. So I think it was a good thing they

were separated. Anyways, Sister Stromberg went with Sister Day for the

day so she could say goodbye to everyone in her area and I was with

Sister Smith for the day, helping her pack up her things because she

and her new companion would be moving back into their apartment that

night. After dinner, we all meet back up and we drove down to Vallejo

where we met with the sisters that they would be transferring with.

The other sisters weren't too happy about the ET because they were

really good friends and didn't want the change. But the ET happened

and we drove back up to Fairfield with Sister Smith and her new

companion. And let me tell you, the spirit in the car was like night

and day difference from earlier. Sister Stromberg and I talked about

that later that evening after the sisters were gone. The spirit was

SOOO different in our apartment when it was sister smith and sister

day compared to sister smith with her new companion. It was definitely

a good thing they got ETed. After the sisters left our apartment

Wednesday night, Sister Stromberg and I just sat on the couch. Our

apartment was a mess, it was late, and we were tired.

Thursday, we helped Sister Cordova move out of her house. It was super

hot that day and we were moving all of her things into a storage shed,

so all of us missionaries were sweating so bad haha it was 101 that

day but inside the storage shed it felt ten degrees hotter. I had to

shower when we got home haha the rest of our day was good.

Friday, was a good day! We had another awesome lesson with Lora and an

awesome lesson later that night with Jason Kellenbeck! Lora is doing a

lot better this week. She said she prayed so hard last week and has

come to terms with the fact that it might be a while until she can be

baptized. Jason is also doing super well! He is progressing SO much!

It's awesome! We have a tight relationship with him which is great

because he use to not like sister missionaries at all!

Saturday was a great day! We tried visiting a YSA guy with the

Fairfield 3rd Ward elders because they had found him a couple weeks

ago and wanted to pass him off to us, but he wasn't home. So we went

to the church and updated our mormon.org profiles. Our mission is

really focusing on using mormon.org more and so they asked all of us

to update our profiles! They will be making all of us our very on

Mormon.org pass along cards, so that's pretty cool! I get to hand out

pass along cards with my picture on it! Haha we had a Pioneer Day Ward

party later that evening! It was super fun seeing the Ward! I love

this Ward a lot! Lora came to it so it was fun seeing her make new

friends! We left the party early so we could go visit the Pacheco's

and the murakamis! Both are doing good! Ally is in So Cal for the

whole month of July so we had a good visit with Sister Murakami! When

we got back to the apartment that night, I was in such a good mood.

There had been so much drama going down in the past couple of weeks

with other missionaries that it felt like I hadn't done actual

missionary work in ages. So going and visiting people that day was SO

nice.

Sunday was game day! We woke up, went to Ward council, then Cordelia

1st Ward! Lora came, sister Murakami came, and Shirley and Jessica

came! Shirley is still moving at the end of August and is still

working like crazy! But she wants to get baptized before she moves! So

hopefully that will happen soon! But get this, a guy walked into

church last week and stayed for all three hours, and he came again

this week! His name is Nathan and he is a 35 year old guy. He said he

use to date a Mormon girl a while back and she tried converting him

but he didn't want it. He said that that was the biggest mistake of

his life. Anyways, he is basically our new golden investigator and he

just walked into church! Like WHAT? Haha when does that happen?

Actually, that happened back in Petaluma with Steve! Haha he just

walked into church and he was baptized two month later! But we have

our first lesson with Nathan tonight! He is awesome and we are SO

excited to start teaching him! Hopefully he will be baptized within

this transfer! Miracles!! Anyways, YSA Ward was good! Then we went out

Less Active finding with the Cordelia 1st Ward relief society

president for the rest of the afternoon. Dinner at the Galtens with

the Thomas's, the Mixs, the Durhams, the Rices, and the Lords! It was

like another little Ward party at their house! Haha we all laughed and

had a great time! Then we drove to Vacaville for the meet and greet

with the stake presidency there! Only us and the ZLs and the Vacaville

missionaries go to that one. The stake presidency asked that only the

zone leadership comes to the meetings in Vacaville, so that's us!

Overall, it was a great Sunday!

The Ward party Saturday night!

With Lora and the Ward party!

This is Tanner! He is Sister Chambers little boy and he is the cutest

thing to ever walk this planet haha we love him!

We are getting back into the swing of things over here! The Lord is

sending miracle after miracle to us! I'm so thankful for all the

prayers and words of encouragement I received from all of you! I truly

felt strengthened by them! I love this work so much. I love this

gospel and know with out a doubt that it is true. I still have my

struggles, but it makes life fun :) How grateful I am for trials! I

love you all and hope you have an awesome week!

Love always, Sister Thompson🍍

Pics:

7/11 day!

Dinner with the Kellenbecks!

Some of us missionaries after Foodbank service!

Elder Scow(who is 6'6") and I with out Wildlife Wednesday shirts on!

We tried making a W with our hands haha

Random pictures from downtown Fairfield:

What just Happened?

Hello family and friends!

Oh my goodness gracious...get ready for the most complicated email

ever. This past week has been C-R-A-Z-Y. Crazy. Like the most hectic,

dramatic week of my entire life. At one point I felt like giving up,

that's how bad it was. Oh the joys of being a busy STL. But don't

worry, I still love my mission and love being a missionary :)

Ok, so here's how my week went...and because of missionary leadership

confidentiality, I'm going to change the names in this email so you

won't know who I'm talking about but you will understand what happened

this week. So to start out, Tuesday morning was Zone Meeting. Sister

Stromberg needed to go down to Vallejo to teach in their zone meeting,

so we car pooled with some sister down there early in the morning,

dropped her off, and then drove back to Fairfield for our zone

meeting! Our zone meeting went super well! The zone leaders and us had

made some super funny videos the night before to help with each of our

segments. And in each of the videos, we used missionary's last names

as puns in the video. It was hilarious. Anyways, zone meeting was all

that and a bag of chips, then we met back up with my companion with

the sisters we would be exchanging with that day at our apartment,

Sister Smith and Sister Day(names have been changed). I went with

Sister Smith for the day and Sister Stromberg went with Sister Day.

These two sisters had been struggling a little bit last transfer, but

we all assumed that they worked it out. We all assumed wrong. Sister

Smith immediately opened up to me about EVERYTHING. Sister Smith and I

have a super close relationship, so she was able to finally just let

it all out. Sister Smith has struggled with anxiety and depression for

most of her life, and her companion was not helping it at all. It had

gotten so bad that Sister Smith was only getting about two hours of

sleep at night and she had lost quite a bit of weight in the last

couple of weeks. So as the exchange goes on, Sister Smith realizes

that she can't find her purse, which has her iPad and her wallet in

it. We spend a good two hours looking for it, retracing our steps,

trying to find her belongings. Turns out, it had been stolen. So after

dinner we get in the car and Sister Smiths anxiety kicks in. So while

I'm trying to calm her down, we drive to the church and have the zone

leaders help us locate her iPad. What ends up happening that night is

we can't find her iPad, but President and Sister Wright came to the

church and talked with Sister Smith and I for a long time. Sister

Smith opened up about everything to the Wrights. Sister Smith is

mentally and physically not stable at this point. Her medication she

has been taking isn't working very well anymore, so she has had a hard

past 8 weeks with her companion. The way her companion had been acting

around her was a trigger for her anxiety and Sister Smith is just he

nicest person in the world so she didn't have the heart to talk to her

companion about anything. So President and Sister Wright council with

me on what I think would be best in this situation. We came to the

conclusion that Sister Smith needs to regain her physical health

before she can talk to her companion about things. So we came up with

a few possibilities, but president wright wanted to pray about things

first. So I took Sister Smith back to our apartment and let her sleep.

The next day, Wednesday, was zone conference(that's where President

and Sister Wright and the assistants come and train us!) and us STLs

and zone leaders were asked to prepare a segment to teach. So we

exchanged back in the morning, and then drove to Vacaville to meet up

with the zone leaders to prepare for our segment that we were going to

teach. The whole time during zone conference, Sister Smith was shaking

and would look over at me like she was about to cry. The poor girl was

physically scared to be around her companion and it was taking the

biggest toll on her body. Anyways, zone conference was super good! The

zone leaders and us taught about gossip and slang words on the mission

and how we can stop it. We did super cool activities with it and now

all the missionaries are starting to clean up their language! It's

awesome! We are all holding each other accountable, so it's great!

After zone conference though, President Wright talked to Sister Smith,

Sister Day, and Sister Stromberg and me. He decided that he was going

to have Sister Smith and Sister Day move in with us for a little

while. So we helped them pack up a few things and moved them into our

apartment. Sister Stromberg and I had our stake correlation meeting

that night, so we went to that and discussed the missionaries and

members in our stake. Lots of meetings. When we got home, Sister Smith

told us that President had called and asked her to drive to Santa Rosa

the next day to meet with the mission counselor. President asked me to

drive Sister Smith there because Sister Smith has become attached to

me, like she feels at peace around me and her anxiety isn't as bad

with me around.

So Thursday morning, I drive Sister Smith to Santa Rosa for the

morning while my companion stayed in Fairfield with Sister Day. But

Sister Stromberg woke up super sick. So I was worried about her the

whole day. Anyways, Sister Smith had a two hour meeting with the

mission counselor. Turns out, things are a lot worse than we thought

with Sister Smith. When President found out the results for her two

hour meeting, he decided to have Sister Smith come and live with the

Wrights in the mission home for a few days. So we drove back to

Fairfield, packed up Sister Smiths things, and President and Sister

Wright came and picked her up. Meanwhile, my sweet companion had been

trying to push through her sickness, but needed to rest. So President

Wright put Sister Day with some other sisters while her companion

would be in Santa Rosa getting the help she needed. Later in the

evening, we had our YSA correlation meeting. More meetings. And then

we came home and discussed everything as a companionship. Then we

crashed.

Friday, was a rough day for me. We had PPIs with the zone leaders in

the morning where we discussed our transfer goals, but we mostly

discussed everything that has been going on. We were the last

companionship to have PPIs, so the zone leaders told us some of the

other companionships in our zone that were struggling at the moment

and needed our help. We talked with the zone leaders for a while, then

we had a lesson with Lora. This is where my heart couldn't take it

anymore. Lora told us that she received news that she wasn't going to

be able to marry the man she is currently living with, so that means

her baptism isn't going to happen in August like she wanted. Lora was

in tears as she explained the whole situation to us. Lora asked for a

priesthood blessing, so the elders came over and gave her one. My

heart was hurting so bad at this point. Not only were the missionaries

struggling that we are over, but our own investigator was struggling.

We went chalking with our district afterwards, and then we came back

to our apartment to start weekly planning. Before we could even start,

a couple more people called us with problems and struggles, asking us

to do this and that, and I just lost it. I literally had a mental

breakdown. I'm usually pretty good at handling stress, but my heart

couldn't take anymore and I just sat down and cried. I haven't cried

like that in a really really long time. But of course, right as all of

this is happening, President Wright calls. His timing is always

impeccable. I tried pulling myself together to talk to him on the

phone, but it didn't work. So now President knows I had an emotional

breakdown on Friday. Haha president joked around with me on the phone

saying "oh great, you know everything is really bad when one of your

top missionaries on the mission loses it." Haha I told him that that

statement wasn't true and that I'd be ok. Right after this happened,

the zone leaders called us and they needed us at the church for

something. And of course my eyes were red from crying, so right when I

walk in one of the elders says, "sister Thompson, what's wrong with

your face?" Classic elder move. Haha

Saturday, we had a zone blitz in the morning, lunch, and then Sister

Stromberg, who is still sick as a dog at this point, needed to rest so

we pretty much rested the whole day. Which was good for me, I needed

it also. Sunday, Sister Stromberg was still sick, so we stayed home

from church that day. Which ended up being a good thing because

President Wright called us in the morning and told us that Sister

Smith would be returning later that evening. He asked that the sister

still live with us and that we help them as much as we can. Sister

Smith is still emotionally attached to Sister Stromberg and I so we

are with them for emotional support and comical relief. President and

Sister Wright dropped off Sister Smith around 6 and they meet with all

four of us to discuss what needs to be done. Sister Smith is on a

strict diet and needs to sleep a lot, so we are her home nurses right

now. As for Sister Smith and Sister Day, while we were gone at another

meeting last night, Sister Smith opened up to Sister Day about

everything and just laid it down. So hopefully things will be

different in their companionship for the sake of Sister Smiths health.

So yeah. That was my week in a nutshell. So right now, Sister Smith

and Sister Day are living with us for the rest of the transfer and we

are to monitor them. But we still have other STL responsibilities that

we are trying to take care of right now. We have another companionship

that is struggling that we are going on exchanges with tomorrow, so we

will see how that goes!

Honestly, there were a couple times this week were I just wanted to

run away. I have never prayed so hard in my entire life. But Heavenly

Father has been with me every step of the way. From this past week I

have learned to truly rely on my Savior for strength. There's times on

your mission where you'll breakdown, you'll want to give up, where you

go into the bathroom and just cry, but I've learned how to "gird up my

loins" and rely on my Savior and get back to work. I am so grateful

for my mission and for all the things I have experienced, especially

in this past week. I love you all and I'd really appreciate extra

prayers this week! Things are still pretty crazy here, so the more

prayers, the better!

Love always, Sister Thompson🍍

Me with my daughter and granddaughter!

Proud to be an American!!

Happy 4th of July family and friends!!

Today, to celebrate Independence Day, a family in the Spanish branch

is throwing a BBQ for our zone at the park! I'm so excited! We'll be

enjoying good food, good company, and playing sports! What more could

you want? We also have a YSA BBQ we will be attending this evening,

and then we will most likely be heading over to the marina in Suisun

to watch fireworks over the water with Lora and her family! Should be

a great 4th of July! And of course, Sister Stromberg and I have killer

matching outfits for today! PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN.

My outfit today!

MLC!

The Pacheco's got a new puppy named Mouse! So cute!!

Matching the Zone Leaders just like last time!

This week was super good! I got sick, but it was still super good!

PDay was great as always. Our zone got together at the church to sign

journals and say goodbye to the missionaries that would be leaving!

One thing I've learned about myself on the mission, I don't like

goodbyes. Not at all. So I never really like the time of transfers.

I've made life long friends on my mission!

I accidentally forgot my church shoes at PDay so this was my outfit

for the night...we all make mistakes  sometimes haha

Making s'mores with the Pacheco's for family night!

Tuesday we had the most AMAZING lesson with Lora! So get this, last

time we meet with her she said that the bishop said she would have to

wait 6-9 months to be baptized. But Lora had another meeting with the

bishop last Sunday and they set a new baptismal date for AUGUST

30TH!!!! When she told us Sister Stromberg and I looked at each other

and we..."AHHHHHH!"(imagine a low pitch, back of the throat, guttural

scream. That's what we both did at the same time haha) I started

tearing up because I was so excited for Lora! So for right now, she is

preparing to get re baptized next month!!! SO EXCITING! After Lora's

lesson, we went to Rush Ranch and helped paint fences! It was super

hot out, like 98 degrees, so I think the paint was drying faster than

we could put it on! Haha but it was fun!

Wednesday, we helped Sister Cordova in the morning. She is in the

process of moving so we went over and helped move/tape boxes for her!

I love serving others! After that, we had a lesson with Jason! We met

at a the Cordelia Community Park and talked about how we can have the

spirit more in our lives! Jason has progressed so much! It's awesome!

But after Jason's lesson, I got sick...it was gross. So we spent the

rest of the day inside. But President Wright called us later that

evening and asked us to prepare to teach in MLC on Friday...that took

us by surprise. Usually it's just the assistants and president and

sister wright that teach at MLC! But President Wright asked us to

prepare a 30 minute section on improving our use of the Book of

Mormon. As soon as he said that, I was all in! I love the Book of

Mormon! So I was so excited to prepare to teach it!

Thursday, I got my act together and went to district meeting in the

morning. Super fun seeing all the new missionaries in the zone! It was

a good district meeting! Then a member took us out to eat, we stopped

at the store on the way home to get medicine, and then I crashed

again. Fever, chills, aches, sore throat, running nose....it was

awesome. So we spent the rest of the day inside, trying to get me

better so I could make it to MLC the next day! I was praying so hard

for the strength to overcome my sickness!

Friday, woke up and I decided that no matter what, I was going to MLC.

So I went. Haha luckily I felt A TON better that day! We car pooled

with the zone leaders to Santa Rosa and MLC was great! Our section

that we taught went super well and President and Sister Wright both

came up to us after MLC and told us that our section was the most

spiritual and best section of the day. That made us feel super good!

We didn't get back home until 7 or so, so we went to the church and

helped our district leaders get ready for their baptism the next day!

Saturday, we went and did yard work for an older lady in our Ward!

Then we went to a baptism after lunch, we had another awesome lesson

with Lora, then the rest of our Saturday was spent with the zone

leaders preparing for zone meeting and for our zone conference which

we have on Wednesday this week! President Wright asked all of us to

help teach at zone conference also, so we are preparing for a lot this

week!

Sunday was great! Went to Cordelia 1st Ward, then YSA Ward, then we

had Break the Fast in the YSA Ward! One of my favorite parts about

serving in a YSA Ward haha then we had dinner with the Thomas family!

Then we had a stake meet and greet with the stake president that

evening! It was all together a great Sunday!

Sister Stromberg and I get along so well! I am so grateful for her!

She has become my best friend and we tell each other everything. I

don't think I would have been able to survive this last transfer

without her. She is definitely needed here in this area, with me, at

this time! I love her to death!

I hope you all have a fabulous 4th of July! Im so grateful for this

country we have to live in which allows freedom of religion! Make sure

to eat lots of watermelon for me! I love you all!

Love always, Sister Thompson🍍