Sept. 19, 2016
Hello family!
So today marks the beginning of my last transfer on my mission. It's
crazy how fast it has gone by! 6 weeks left to give my all to the
Lord! Since we have transfers tomorrow, let me tell you what's
happening! I will be staying here in Santa Rosa in the Rincon Valley
Ward for my last transfer and I am getting a new companion! Her name
is Sister Smith! I've actually never met her yet, but she sounds super
sweet! She's only been out for about 4 months! Sister Porter is
leaving me :( but she's is going to Vacaville so she's is going to a
great area! Also, get this, they are taking sisters out of the Brush
Creek Ward! My greenie area no longer exist now! Crazy! So now, it
will just be sister smith and I living in this apartment! It's going
to be so different, but I'm excited to work super hard this transfer!
Also, because it is my last 6 weeks on the mission, I start the
program called "My Plan". It's a program that all missionaries going
home must do. It helps us set goals and plans for after our missions!
I'm not too sure how I feel about it haha I think it's a great idea,
but it also means I'm close to the end of my mission. Mixed feelings
right now for sure!
This past weeks was awesome though! On PDay last week, Brother Bingham
took Sister Porter and I golfing! It felt so good to swing a club
again after 17 months! Surprisingly, I didn't do all that bad for not
playing for so long haha I tied with Brother Bingham in the 9 holes we
played. It was a cute little Par 3 course! It was so fun! We also went
to the beach that day with our zone! We drove about 40 minutes to get
to Bodega Bay! Such a fun PDay!
I went on exchanges this week with Sister James in the Brush Creek
Ward! Sister James has only been out for two transfers now, but I love
her! Haha it was so fun being back in my old greenie area for the day!
We visited a ton of people, some that I use to teach, and some new! It
was a great exchange!
Oh! Get this! So early Thursday morning, I get a Facebook message from
Ulita Fifita(the mom of the Samoan family I was teaching in Petaluma)
and she's tells me that they are being evicted from their home and she
asks me for help. At this point, I have to stop and think, "I'm only a
20 year old girl. What am I suppose to do?". I've thought that a lot
on my mission. But I said a quick prayer, and called President Wright.
President knows a lot about the Fifita family because we were teaching
them for so long and then the dad stepped in and wouldn't let any of
them get baptized. President gave me permission to call the Petaluma
sisters and Bishop Dame. Bishop Dame also knows the family because
they came to church last year and he had come to a few lessons. Bishop
Dame gave me a couple of resources that I could give Ulita to help and
then I called the Sisters and asked them to go over and just comfort
Ulita as much as they could. What ended up happening that day was that
Ulita ended up calling a couple of those resources and ended up in a
legal aid service here in Santa Rosa! She's asked me to come visit her
while she was here so I did! It was SO good seeing her again! She was
able to figure things out with the legal aid services because she is a
single mom with 8 kids so she has a lot of benefits she didn't know
about. They are giving her til the end of the month to find a new
place to live rather than be evicted that day. So grateful everything
was able to work out there! And Ulita told me that her husband is
legally out of the picture now! So that means they can come to church
now, and read the Book of Mormon now, and get baptized!!! Ulita said
she wants to come to church again and wants all her kids to get
baptized!! So exciting! I love the Fifita family so much!
We were able to have a couple of awesome lessons with Gabriel this
week! He came to our Book of Mormon class on Tuesday night and now he
is listening to the Book of Mormon on his phone(we showed him the
gospel library app)! He loves learning more! We also had a lesson with
him at the Woods home on Friday night! We taught him the plan of
salvation and it was SO good! He offered his first vocal prayer that
night!! That's a huge step for him! He told us that he feels peace
when he is learning everything. We told him that it was the spirit
testifying to him that these things are true. Gabriel knows that this
is good, but he's scared to move forward. We committed him to come to
church yesterday, but he didn't show. Hopefully, as we teach him about
faith this week, he will take that leap of faith and trust in this
gospel! He's awesome!
On exchanges with Sister James! And a photo shoot on our way to an appt.
For the majority of the week we spent less active finding! Our relief
society president gave us a long list of names to go visit and find
out more information about! We also did service this week at the
Foodbank, meals on wheels, and on Saturday, we handed out clothes to
the homeless! We learn in the scriptures that we are to feed the
hungry and clothe the naked and that's exactly what we did this week!
So fun! I love service!
In a member’s backyard.
I'm so pumped to give it my all in these next 6 weeks. It's going to
go by so fast but I am going to cherish every last second! I love this
gospel with all my heart and I know it is true! True joy comes from
living the gospel and its commandments and then sharing the good news
of the gospel with others! I love you all and I am so grateful for
each of you! Have an amazing week!
Love always, Sister Thompson🍍
