Whoa. What happened to August?

Hi Family!

This past week literally flew by. It's crazy! Time is moving faster

and faster and I trying to make it slow down! But we had a awesome

week over here in the Rincon Valley Ward! Here are some of the

highlights from my week!

We had an awesome family night with the Coons last week! We went and

got frozen yogurt together and then we had a super good lesson

afterwards! So Corey, the mom, is a recent convert so we usually go

over every Monday night to help her with family night. We taught the 6

year old McKenna how to pray. We played a cute prayer game with her

and tried explaining how to pray, but it was going no where haha. She

was just all over the place that night! So I decided to sing her a

song about how to pray, and it worked like a charm. Every time I would

start singing, she would immediately calm down and sit right next to

me and just listen. I taught her how to sing the song herself so she

can always remember how to pray! Music has a way to all hearts,

whether old or young! I love it!

Tuesday night was busy haha so busy that we had to go on splits with

members! We had been asked like three weeks ago to help out with a

mutual activity that night, and then one of our recent convert

families told us that Tuesday night was the only night available for

them for a lesson, so we split up and covered both! I was with Amie

Wright and we went to the mutual activity and Sister Porter went with

Sis. Bingham to the lesson! Both things turned out super well!

The tech elders were making an Office parody video, so obviously they

needed a stapler in jello! Haha by the end of the day it didn't look

to good anymore.

We did service at the Foodbank on Wednesday, which is always a good

time. We also had a super good lesson with John, the older Asian man

that is mentally handicap that was baptized last year! He is seriously

one of my favorite people ever haha he is just the sweetest guy! We

talked more bout the temple and doing baptisms for the dead! He is

super pumped to be able to go to the temple soon! Thursday we did

service at Meals on Wheels, which is probably my favorite service

ever. We go and help cook food for them to deliver to either

retirement homes, homeless shelters, or any other place that has

people that need food. We get to wear lab coats, aprons, hair nets,

and gloves as we cook the food so you can just imagine a group of

missionaries dressed like this, running around a giant kitchen/cooking

area, chopping, mixing, or cooking food! It's so great!

We had a lesson with Sister King this week. She is an older widow in

the Ward that we go over to once a week and read the Book of Mormon

with her. She hilarious haha we get along super great! We also had a

lesson with Mayson on Thursday night! So Mayson is a 17 year old kid

who was baptized earlier this year! He is such an awesome guy! We

drove up to his house with Sis. Van Cleave and had a really good

lesson with him about the importance of CPR(church, pray, read). He

lives about a 30 minute drive up a mountain so the view from his house

was incredible! I could have spent all day there just looking at the

view! I took a picture, but it doesn't do it justice. We had his

lesson out on his back porch so the picture I'm sending home is what

our view was while we were teaching him. So cool. I fall in love with

Nor Cal more and more everyday!

On the way up to Maysons house!

The view from his back porch!

Most of this week we spent inviting less actives to our Ward BBQ which

happened Friday night! And a lot of the people we invited actually

came! We had an awesome turn out for the BBQ! Even sis. Rowlands

nonmember husband came! Which was awesome! And Corey's nonmember 16

year old son came and brought a friend! Oh and get this! Bro. and Sis.

Koehle(an older German couple in our Ward) came up to me at the BBQ

and told me that they had just gotten back from a family reunion in

Utah last week and guess who else was there?? Grandma and grandpa

Thompson!! Sis. Koehle is Grandma Thompson's first cousin! So I'm

related to the Koehles! Haha we call each other cousin every time we

see each other now! Haha I'm just finding connections all of the place

in this Ward!

Elder Parker and Elder Solo

I was at MLC all day on Friday which I LOVE. I love hearing from

President and Sister Wright and the assistants! It's crazy how often I

see them now that I'm serving here in Santa Rosa! I also got to see

Sister Stromberg at MLC, it was a great reunion haha. I miss her a

lot! Overall, MLC was super good and now I am preparing a section to

teach at zone meeting on Tuesday! I'm super pumped for it because I'm

talking about the scriptures! Only my favorite books in the world!

Sister Wright really wants us to focus on memorizing scripture

references for each of the 42 principles in preach my gospel! So I

will be playing a bunch of game with the missionaries to help us

memorize scripture references! I'm pumped!

We had a super good lesson with David Rowland Saturday night! We

taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ but we made an activity out of

it so he could remember it better! I call it The Gospel Steps

activity. You basically have six piece of paper, one that says the

celestial kingdom, one says faith, another repentance, baptism, the

gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. You have one person

stand on one side of the room and they hold the celestial kingdom

sign. David and I were on the other side of the room and we had to

make the necessary steps to get to the celestial kingdom! So with each

step, we explained what it was to him and them had him explain it back

to us, then we gave him the sign that corresponded with that step and

then he could take another step towards the celestial kingdom. We did

this until we got to the celestial kingdom and then we had him go back

and see if he could do and say all the steps on his own! It turned out

super well and he could do it on his own by the end!

Yesterday we had dinner with the Groesbeck family! I love them all to

death haha we were laughing so hard the whole time! We also had the

stake presidency meet and greet last night! It was fun getting to know

the stake presidency! Today for PDay the Coons are taking us to

Armstrong Woods! It's a redwood forest about 40 minutes away! I'm so

excited!

I am loving every second of being a missionary. Last night at the meet

and greet, the high councilman over missionary work said something

that I loved. He said, "Missionaries are promised by the Lord that if

you serve diligently and give it your all, you are promised all the

blessings of this life and in the eternities. All the blessings you

could ever need are yours if you serve faithfully to the end. So you

could serve and give a half effort to the work and receive only half

the blessings. Do you elders and sisters only want half the

blessings?" We all simultaneously said no. "Then don't serve with only

half of your heart in the work. Don't serve with only a 50% effort in

the day. Give it your all, all day every day and you will receive all

the blessings the Lord has promised to you. All the blessings of the

eternities."

I love that. So many blessings will come to those who serve faithfully

and diligently, so why would you not serve with all your heart, might,

mind, and strength? Who doesn't want the blessings of the eternities?

I know I do, so I will continue to serve with all my heart, might,

mind, and strength to the very end! I love you all so much! I feel

your prayers and the support you give to me! Have an amazing week!

Love always, Sister Thompson🍍

🎶"I love to see the temple, I went inside on Wednesday"🎶

Aug. 22, 2016

Hey family!

The past week went by crazy fast! We did a lot of stuff this week,

including going to the Oakland temple on Wednesday!! But here are the

highlights from my week!

Monday, we had half a PDay because we had a temple trip on Wednesday.

So sister Porter and I just cleaned, emailed, and grocery shopped in

the morning. During the afternoon we were out on the streets just

trying to talk to people. I feel like I'm really rusty at street

contacting because we never did it in Fairfield. Street contacting

wasn't very effective in Fairfield, that's why we never did it. Later

in the evening, we went over to the Coons to do family night. So

Corey, the mom, was just baptized about a month ago and the dad, Dave,

was a less active member. They have three kids, a 16 year old boy

named Zak, a 6 year old named McKenna, and a 3 year old named Scarlet.

They are seriously the cutest family ever. I love them! The son Zak

isn't a member so we are hoping to start teaching him!

Tuesday, we had district meeting in the morning but it went super long

because we had PPI's with our district leader afterward. And then we

had a zone lunch which is always super fun. After we got back, sister

Porter and I decided that we were going to walk everywhere the rest of

the day. So we did. Haha we even walked to dinner and then we walked

to the church right after for our scripture study class! After the

class, we started walking home, but we were so tired that we walked

back to the church and asked the bishop, who was there for a scout

meeting, to give us a ride home haha. Gotta love bishop Groesbeck!

I got my pink slip last week...it's basically like your death

certificate on the mission haha it just asks you about travel plans

for going home. All missionaries here take a picture with it when they

get it.

Wednesday, we got to go to the Oakland temple! So let me tell you how

much I love the Oakland temple...I love it. Like a lot. Haha I've had

the opportunity to go five times as a missionary and every time I go,

I fall more in love with it! I could spend all day there! I'll tell

you one of my favorite parts about going to that temple though. Inside

the celestial room, in the middle of the room, there's a giant bouquet

of white orchids. Back when I was serving in Petaluma, on my 20th

birthday and about 2 weeks before his baptism, Camilo gave me a vase

with a single white orchid plant in it. He told me that the white

orchids reminded him of me because of how pure they looked. For those

of you who don't know, Camilo was probably the biggest reason why I

got transferred to Petaluma. He was one of the people that I just

clicked with and I am so grateful for. Camilo is a dear friend to me

so the white orchids he gave me meant a lot to me. So every time I see

the giant bouquet of white orchids in the celestial room, I am

reminded of Camilo and of all the other people that I have been able

to meet on my mission. I always get a little teary eyed as I think of

all the people I've come in contact with in the past 16 months of my

life. I love each of them so dearly. The Oakland temple is and always

will be my favorite temple because of my mission.

After dinner that night, we went on splits with some of the members! I

was lucky enough to be with Jessi Groesbeck, the bishops daughter and

my super good friend! She had just gotten back from her mission when I

started mine, so I got to meet her last time I was serving in Santa

Rosa! I love her to death haha she is hilarious! She's only here until

Saturday because she is heading back to Provo for school, so I'm glad

I got to go on splits with her! We just went out finding for the night

and we had the funniest experiences, some really cool experiences, but

there was a lot of laughter that night! I loved it!

Thursday, we had interviews with President Wright in the morning! I

could talk to President Wright for hours haha we have a super tight

relationship. He makes fun of me all the time, especially in front of

other missionaries, so I do it right back to him haha. He is the

greatest! We did service in the afternoon, and then finding in the

evening!

Friday, we made flyers for our Ward BBQ this weekend in the morning,

and then we did planning. We went through and organized our area book

which took a lot longer than expected, but it was so worth it! We got

a new app about two months ago that allows us to open a map with dots

all over it. The dots represent either members, less actives, part

member families, potential investigators, formers, etc. And so it

makes finding SO nice. Because you can just open up the app and it

shows you if anyone is close to you! So we went through and made sure

all the info was correct in our area book so it would show up correct

on the area book map! I love having an iPad!

Saturday, we got to help out with the Food Rally at the Santa Rosa

Foodbank! It's where they distribute all the food to people. So we got

to stand at different stations and hand out food to people as the

walked by. It was actually super fun! Later in the evening we went

over to the Rowland's and we cooked dinner for them! Haha Sister

Rowland taught us how to make flautas! It was so good! After dinner we

had a lesson with their son David who is getting baptized soon! We

tried to get their nonmember dad to sit in on the lesson, but no luck

there. Next time haha.

Sunday, we taught the gospel principles class and we also taught a

primary class in the other Ward! Both went super well! The rest of the

Sunday we spent handing out flyers to the Ward BBQ to a bunch of less

actives. We were able to catch all of them at home which was awesome!

The highlight of the night was going to one of our investigators

houses. We had a feeling that we should stop by that night and invite

him to the BBQ also. His name is Chris and when we showed up, he was

in tears on his front porch. As we walked up, I could see cigarettes

everywhere and an alcoholic beverage in his cup. He was very very

drunk. His girlfriend was on her way out and she told us that we

couldn't have come at a more perfect time. She told us that Chris

really needed us right now. So we talked to Chris for a while. It was

my first time meeting him, but my heart just went out to him. Perks of

talking to some one who is drunk, they are very honest with you and

will tell you everything usually. So Chris opened up to us about what

was going on and his life is pretty rough at the moment. We said a

prayer with him and bore our testimonies to him and then left. He

knows that he shouldn't be drinking or smoking, but life got to him.

We are going to stop by again later this week to check up on him. I

love it when God places us exactly where we need to be.

Overall, we had a super good week! Still trying to find more people to

teach, but we are staying busy! I am so grateful for the opportunity I

had to go the temple this week. I know that what happens inside the

temple is true. I feel so close to the Lord when I am inside His

house. I look forward to the day when I can be sealed in the temple

and start my own eternal family. It brings me a lot of joy knowing

that it will all last for eternity. Families truly are forever. I love

you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!

Love always, Sister Thompson🍍

Going Back to My Roots

Hello Friends and Family!

Ok, so I got transfer information for you first! I am leaving

Fairfield :( my six months here has come to an end! Sister Stromberg

will be staying and is training a brand new missionary! Haha she has

been dreading training her whole mission and now it's finally

happening! I told her it's not that bad haha also, she and her new

companion will just be over the Cordelia 1st Ward now! They are

putting elders in the YSA Ward! The YSA Ward isn't too happy about it,

but we think it will be good to have just one set of missionaries in

each Ward. As for me, I will being going back to my roots! That's

right, I'm going back to SANTA ROSA, my greenie zone! I'm going to be

in the Rincon Valley Ward this time, but get this, I will be staying

in the same apartment that I started my mission in! The good old

mission mansion in Santa Rosa! So my address will be the same from the

beginning of my mission! 4663 Sonoma Hwy Santa Rosa, CA 95409! I'm

going to have so many flash backs...started out my mission here, and I

will most likely end my mission here. Today marks what we call

"reverse 12 week" for me. 12 week is the training program you are in

for the first 12 weeks of your mission, and now I'm in the last 12

weeks of my mission so I'm in "reverse 12 week". So I will probably

end my mission in Santa Rosa. Crazy. But I'm super pumped to go back

to Santa Rosa and to be in the Rincon Valley Ward! It's the Ward that

Michelle Ray's sister is in! So I already know the bishop and his

family super well! And my new companion will be Sister Porter! She's

been out for about 6 months. I've met her a couple times and she seems

super nice! I'm excited! But leaving this area is going to be

rough...once again, this area has become my home away from home, so I

feel like I'm starting my mission all over again! So many good

memories here and so many people I will miss! I've been taking a ton

of pictures with people here so get ready for a lot of pictures this

week!

Fairfield/Vacaville Zone

With the Mix’s, Cordelia 1st members that I adore!

With Zayna a recent convert in YSA ward

The Hatch’s and the Thomas’s-my all time two favorite families!

This week was kinda slow at times, but it was still a fun week! On

Monday, Shelia and Jason Kellenbeck took us to Marin and we hiked

Mount Tamalpais! We got a GORGEOUS view of the Bay Area when we

reached the top! Such a fun experience! Tuesday, I got dropped off in

Vallejo and I attended their zone meeting! I also got to teach a

segment which turned out super cool! I did a really cool activity for

it which turned out to be super spiritual...So I was teaching on the

basics of missionary work, which we call the 8 fundamentals of

missionary work. I really wanted to focus the whole segment on our

purpose as missionaries also and how the fundamentals help us do that.

So I got up and introduced my topic and then I told everyone we were

going in a time machine. During my segment we all traveled to three

different rooms in the church, each representing a different stage in

our missions and how the fundamentals of missionary work are still

important at the different stages and how we can apply them. I had set

up and decorated each of the rooms before hand to really help with the

time machine experience haha. So the first room we traveled to was the

"MTC". I had everyone play along and I asked them to act like they did

on the first day at the MTC. And let me tell you, that was hilarious

haha. I had them all play a "get to know you" activity first because I

have fond memories of that my first day at the MTC(shout out to my MTC

friends, you know who you are ;) ). One elder pretended he didnt know

any English, because he really didn't know any English his first day.

Another missionary was acting really nervous and shy...it was great

haha! I then pretended to be their MTC teacher and introduced the

fundamentals, what they are, and how they would be using them on their

missions. Then we time traveled to the next room which represented

their year mark on the mission. We discussed how we still use the

fundamentals. I had them do a lot of reflecting on past investigators

and lessons and how they've used the fundamentals. The Vallejo zone

members really opened up and shared stories and fond memories. It was

cool. Then we time traveled to the last room which represented the

stake presidents office back home. This is where I tied everything

back together with our purpose as missionaries and taking what we've

learned back home. That our purpose doesn't change, we still invite

others to come unto Christ whether we wear a name tag or not. And how

the basics of missionary work can make a basis for our lives. I had

everyone reflect on their missions and then I had everyone take off

their name tags, give them to me, and walk back to the meeting room.

Yes, I know that is so mean, but it really hit home for the

missionaries in that zone. Once we all got back to the room, I gave

everyone their tags back and bore my testimony. It was such a cool

experience teaching that day. I really went by the spirit on it while

I was preparing and the spirit worked wonders.

We taught Lora, Shirley, and the Pachecos this week! All of them are

doing well! It's hard saying goodbye to them though...I've made super

tight connections with all of them because I've been here since the

beginning for them. Shirley is moving to Idaho at the end of this

month though! She will be moving to the EAGLE IDAHO STAKE(for those of

you who don't know, my home stake)! She told us that she wants to wait

till she moves to Idaho to get baptized now, so I have dibs on calling

the missionaries in Eagle and telling them about this golden

investigator that is coming and is ready for baptism!! That will be

HUGE for them!! So excited for her to move to Eagle! The Pachecos are

also doing well. I was able to have a Facebook lesson with Susie this

week because I saw a post from her that was super depressing. So I

messaged her and ended up having a lesson with her. I love being a

Facebook missionary. Lora is doing amazing as always! She volunteers

once a week at the Bishops Storehouse in Concord now! Super cool! So

sad to be leaving her!

On Saturday, we had a service project in Rio Vista(a small town about

45 minutes East of Fairfield)! We actually got to help some members

build a house. That was a first for me haha I've never built a house

before. It was super fun actually!

I spent the majority of yesterday saying goodbye to everyone. That's

one downside of staying in an area for a long time...I've gotten

attached to a lot of people here! It's like leaving Petaluma all over

again! But I'm excited for this change. Fairfield has been a hard area

for me. I struggled a lot in this area. Not saying that hard is bad,

it's just hard. I have loved this area. I have learned so much here.

But the Lord needs me back in Santa Rosa now! I'll go wherever He

wants me to go! :) I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!

Love always, Sister Thompson🍍

HAPPY AUGUST!

Hello from Northern California!

So this week just flew by! We had an awesome week here in the

beautiful but oh so hot  Fairfield, California! Here are the

highlights from my week!

On Monday, Nathan took us and the zone leaders to an in door go

carting place....and it was SO fun! He's friends with the manager and

we got the track to ourselves and they turned up the speed on the go

carts! SO COOL. Haha Nathan is seriously the coolest. Tuesday I was in

the Cordelia 2nd area on exchanges with Sister Thurgood! Love her! We

had such a fun time working together! At one point we were at the

horse ranch that the zone goes to every Tuesday afternoon for service

and we were spreading mulch in 105 degree weather....it was so hot. We

were all dying haha. Later in the evening, all of our plans fell

through so I trained Sister Thurgood on how to use FaceBook

effectively! Facebook is such an awesome tool we have to use to help

hasten the work! It's so great for keeping in contact with

investigators, less actives, and members! And it's so cool being able

to post something that you know will help a certain investigator! I

love it!

Pic with Amie Wright

With Elder Rasmussen...he went home :(

Wednesday morning we exchanged back and then we went to a lesson with

Jason! It was a super cool lesson. We talked a lot about receiving

personal revelation and the topic of patriarchal blessings came up and

Jason told us that he had meet with the bishop just the day before and

has the okay to get his patriarchal blessing!! So Jason will be

getting his blessing soon! That is so exciting! He is doing so well!

Then we went out to lunch with a member in the YSA Ward! Later on that

day, we had a lesson with Nathan at the Thomas's home! We watched the

Restoration movie with him and he loved it! Thursday, at the moment,

is a blur. Haha all I can remember doing on Thursday is having another

awesome lesson with Nathan and Bro. Canning's home, our Ward mission

leader! We went over his baptismal program and talked more about

baptism with him! Friday, we had MLC is Santa Rosa all day! I love

MLC. I always feel so spiritual  uplifted and filled afterwards! But

also extremely tired haha but it's worth it. Friday night Nathan had

his baptismal interview and passed with flying colors!

Saturday morning we filled up the font, set up the room, and had a

BAPTISM!! It was sooooooo good! And a ton of members came which was

awesome! Elder Branson, Elder Matthews, Sister Stromberg, and I

preformed a special musical number at it and it turned out super well!

The spirit in the room was so strong! I love baptisms! Later that day

we went to help a new family move in to our Ward and guess who was

already there helping when we arrived? Nathan! Haha he is seriously

perfect! Yesterday at church Nathan was confirmed and also ordained to

the office of a priest! He is also working on getting his temple

recommend this week....he is literally the definition of a golden

investigator haha! We all love him!

We have an exciting week ahead of us! So today, Jason and his sister

Shelia are taking us on a hike in Marin! We are hiking Mt. Tamalpais

and when you get to the top, you can see the whole Bay Area! We are so

excited! Tomorrow, I will be going down to Vallejo and teaching in

their zone meeting! We have a couple mini exchanges we are going on

this week. And get this, this is my favorite part, we may or may not

be going to the temple this Saturday with Nathan to do baptisms with

him! We talked to President Wright yesterday about it and he is going

to get back to us today whether or not we are allowed to do that, but

still! Just being able to go to the temple with Nathan this week would

be amazing! I seriously love the Oakland Temple so much! I yearn to be

there all the time! Also, this week we find our transfer

information...and I think my time in Fairfield might be coming to an

end. President Wright told me at the beginning of the transfer that

unless Heavenly Father thinks differently, this would be my last

transfer in Fairfield....so I'm most likely leaving this area next

week. I only have two transfers left on the mission so I'll probably

be leaving to my last area. But who knows! Heavenly Father kept me in

Petaluma for 7 1/2 months so maybe He will keep me here for 7 1/2!

I love being a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day

Saints. I love being called Sister. I love putting on a skirt or dress

everyday. I love talking about the gospel to everyone. I love trying

to become more like my Savior. I love having weaknesses. I love the

hard days. I love the good days. I love the fact that I can have so

much love for someone right after meeting them. I love my Savior and

all the He does for me. I just love life :) Look for the things you

love throughout the week! It makes life so much more lovely! Haha love

you all!

Love always, Sister Thompson🍍

Pics from our hike today!