Hello!

Nov. 12, 2015
Hello from Northern California!

It's been an incredible week and a half since I last wrote! I wish I

could tell you every single detail from each day, but those stories

will have to wait! For now, I'll just tell you some of the highlights

and update you on our teaching pool!

We went on exchanges last week and I was in the Spanish area with

Hermana Navarro! We had a great time! The young women from the Spanish

branch and the Rohnert park 3rd Ward cooked us dinner! It was fun

talking with the girls and the food was delicious! We did service at

Nana's house last week too! Nana always takes us out to lunch after

service, we love it! Last Friday, we had zone conference! Normally

it's just San Rafael North and South zones that do zone conference

together, but this time Santa Rosa North and South zones joined us!

There was about 50 missionaries total there! We heard from president

and sister Wright and the assistants! It was an awesome day!

Everyone we are teaching right now is doing great! Camilo is still as

awesome as always! He has such a strong testimony of this gospel! It's

incredible to see the change in him since we met him to now! So

grateful for him! We also set baptismal dates with his kids Anna and

Antonio for December 5th! Camilo is preparing himself right now to

receive the priesthood so he can baptize his kids on that day! They

are both really excited to be baptized, especially after seeing their

dad do it and the happiness it has brought into his life! The kids

stay with their mom in Navato during the week and she's not religious

at all, but she is ok with the kids deciding to be baptized! Very

grateful for that! Antonio said the cutest thing during his prayer the

other day while we were teaching him. He asked Heavenly Father to

please help his mom have a faith in Jesus Christ so that they can go

to the temple together as a family...that melted my heart. Both Anna

and Antonio have a solid testimony of the gospel, it's just up to us

to teach them everything before baptism now! Pray for Anna and Antonio

that everything will go smoothly leading up to their baptisms! Ulita,

the Samoan mom, is doing great! I have such a strong love for the

Fifita family! They weren't able to make it to church on Sunday

because of football, but they took us out to dinner last night! Ulita

has a crazy life right now, so it's hard to catch her and her kids at

home, so pray that we will be able to teach her and her kids! We have

a new investigator named JoAnne, she is a 71 year old lady who is

looking for a new organized religion to join! She is adorable haha her

hair is always sticking up all over the place whenever we see her! I

love it! We haven't been able to teach her a lot yet, but she wants to

learn what we believe and she said, and I quote, "Even if I don't

believe what you're teaching, I still want to come to church and just

be apart of it." So hopefully she will gain a testimony of what we are

teaching and come to church on Sunday! Everyone else we are teaching

right now is doing great! We have a solid teaching pool right now, so

we are staying busy! I love it!

Well as I am writing this email, I am on my way home from the Oakland

Temple! The temple was great and SO beautiful! I seriously LOVE

Northern California. I love that I get to call Northern California

home for 18 months! Know that I am doing great and loving every second

of my mission! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Oakland Temple

Young Women made us dinner

With sister kilmurray, a less active. She made us a goody basket! So

we took pictures with it haha and then we just had fun taking pictures

in the car!

Wild turkeys

The Elders decorated our door

It's rainy and cold now.

A Weekend To Remember

Nov. 2, 2015
Hello everyone!

Man, oh man...what a great week! To start out, let me tell you about a

few rule changes we had this week! So we no longer have to listen just

to MoTab! That's right! We are allowed to listen to anything that is

uplifting and spiritual now! Also, just a heads up, our Pday next week

is on Thursday because we are going to the temple! I'm so excited! I

love the Oakland temple! But that means I will be emailing on Thursday

next week!

What a great week we had over here in Petaluma, California! So on

Monday night we went over to Larry's house and did a FHE with him and

his wife Alicia! The Spanish elders came too because they are teaching

Alicia the lessons right now! It was really fun! We carved pumpkins

together and then did a short lesson afterwards! On Tuesday, we had

zone meeting and that's were we learned about the music rule change!

On Wednesday, we taught Camilo his last lesson before his baptism! Oh

Thursday, we went to Sister Flemmings house in Rohnert Park in the

morning and helped shear sheep again! It was so much fun! We took lots

of pictures!

This weekend though was definitely the highlight of the week! So quick

update, remember the Samoan family we found? So I love them. Like a

lot. Haha but each time we went over this week to see them, the mom

was sleeping! Her name is Ulita and she has 8 kids ages 8 months-16

years old. But we finally caught her awake Friday afternoon! We were

able to come in and meet some of the kids and get to know them a

little bit better! Ulita reminds me a lot of Leah! Turns out Ulita has

met with missionaries before and her mom and sister are members but

she's not. She wanted to wait to get baptized until her kids wanted to

get baptized as well. She really wants her kids to be taught by us! I

showed her and her 16 year daughter pictures of Leah and Nikki and

Ulita started crying. She said it meant so much to her knowing that I

have Samoan sisters that are adopted. She said that if they would have

stayed in Samoa that they wouldn't have had a future. She was so

touched by our family and the adoption! I love her! 

On Friday Camilo had his baptismal interview with our district leader in the morning!

Our district leader said that it was one of the most spiritual

experiences of his mission. On Friday night, our ward and the second

ward did a combined trunk or treat! The second ward elders and us did

a missionary trunk together! Haha we took pictures don't worry! But it

was fun seeing everyone dressed up! On Saturday, we had Camilo's

baptism!!! What an amazing experience! The spirit was so strong and

Camilo was in tears afterwards! Sister Majors came back for the

weekend for Camilo's baptism! It was so fun seeing her again! I've

missed her! After the baptism, Camilo threw a BBQ at his house! We

never get tired of Camilo's BBQs! Haha all the missionaries love it

when Camilo throws a BBQ because he invites all the missionaries over!

I love Camilo and his family so much! Saturday night, since it was

Halloween, we weren't allowed to be out after dinner, so we had a Zone

Halloween Party at the church! We played basketball and carved

pumpkins! It was a great way to end the day!

But Sunday was by far the best day this week! Camilo was confirmed

yesterday and Steve passed the sacrament for the first time! Oh and

get this, Camilo shaved. EVERYTHING. Yeah, he shaved his beard and his

head! I could barely recognize him! But he looks good! Fast and

testimony meeting yesterday was sooooo amazing. Camilo bore his

testimony...he is so great. I want all of you to meet Camilo. Camilo's

son, Antonio, got up and bore his testimony. We were not expecting

that! But he bore the sweetest testimony I have ever heard! There

wasn't a dry eye in the room after he was done! We haven't been able

to teach Camilo's kids very much because they aren't home very often,

but Antonio's testimony yesterday, was incredible. Hopefully his kids

will be baptized soon! Camilo was in tears all during sacrament

meeting! It's moments like these that I will cherish for the rest of

my life! After sacrament meeting, a woman came up to us and said that

there was a Polynesian family in the hallways looking for the sister

missionaries! Sister Jordan and I ran out to see Ulita and four of her

kids standing there! They made it to church!!! Ulita brought her four

little ones to church, two five year old, a three year old, and her 8

months old! They are all soooo cute! When they saw me, they ran up to

me and gave me the biggest hugs! I love them so much! They grabbed my

hand and I led them to primary! Ulita and her 8 month old, Hope, came

to gospel principles! Hope is adorable and we were all distracted by

her during class! Haha then in relief society her 3 year old,

Matthias, didn't like nursery so he came and spent relief society with

us! Man, her kids are so cute! But Ulita loved church and she said

she's going to bring all of her kids next week! What a great Sunday!

I love being a missionary and I love this work! My joy is so full! I

don't have the words to express how I feel but just know that I have

never been happier! I love you all!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

My Family

Hey family!

Happy (early) Halloween! I am SO excited for Halloween this year! Do

you know why? Because it's CAMILO'S BAPTISM! That's right! Everything

is still set and ready to go for Camilo's baptism! It will be at 1 pm

in the Petaluma building for anyone who would like to come! ;) I am so

excited for Camilo and SO so so soooo grateful for him! Camilo has

changed his life so much in the past three months in order to come

closer to God and the teachings of Jesus Christ! I am so proud of him!

I will definitely consider him a close friend for the rest of my life!

This week was great! It had its ups and downs but it was still a great

week! Some highlights from the week were district meeting on

Tuesday(but I will tell you about it later on in this letter because

it was THAT good), I went on exchanges with Hermana Gonzalez on

Tuesday and we saw miracles(being able to contact people and have

lessons with people that we have been trying to see for a while!),

while on exchanges we had a lesson with Camilo and Camilo was telling

Hermana Gonzalez how much the gospel has changed his life and how he

can't thank the missionaries and the church enough for everything and

he starts telling her how great of a person I am and this is what he

says, "Sister Thompson is just incredible and amazing...she's Jesus!"

Hahaha we both died laughing! I was really flattered by the compliment

but I would have to say that it's the first time someone has told me

that I'm Jesus. Haha Camilo is great! Other highlights, WE FOUND A

FAMILY! And you know what the best part is, THEY ARE SAMOAN/TONGAN. It

was a miracle finding them! Sister Jordan and I were trying to find a

former investigator so we go to the house where the former is suppose

to live, and a Samoan lady answers the door. "Hi, are you Julia?" "No,

Julia doesn't live here anymore. She lives in Rohnert Park now." "Oh,

well do you have a phone number that we can reach her at?" "No, but

would you come back tomorrow and teach me and my 8 KIDS?" *insert the

biggest smiles you can imagine on me and sister Jordan's faces* "We

would love too!" Haha turns out, her sister is a member and has been

trying to get a hold of the bishop here to send missionaries over to

their house! The moms name is Uleta and we've only met a few of the

kids, but I am so excited to start teaching them! So we went back the

next day, and it was a bad time, so Uleta asked us to call and set up

a time to come over! We are going back tomorrow to teach them! They

seem awesome! #Ilovesamoans Some other highlights, we had stake

conference this weekend! The Saturday night adult session was here and

Petaluma and it was really good! And then the Sunday session was at

the stake center in San Rafael! So we got to go to San Rafi for the

day! San Rafael is GORGEOUS. Stake conference was INCREDIBLE. We heard

from president and sister Wright, president and sister Hill(Oakland

temple president and wife), and the stake presidency! Man, we are

blessed with great, spiritual speakers in this stake! Later that

evening we had a meet and greet with President Kurtz(1st counselor in

stake presidency). A meet and greet is something we do at the

beginning of every transfer to get the know the stake presidency and

for them to get to know us! President Kurtz is awesome. He talked to

us last night about becoming more like Christ and we read from John 20

and 17 and let me tell you, I have never been more spiritually filled

in one meeting than I did last night. There was a quiet, powerful

spirit in that room last night. It was incredible. So grateful for

that!

Ok, to end my letter I want to tell you about the district meeting we

had on Tuesday. The topic was "God is our Loving Heavenly Father" and

"The Gospel Blesses Families". We discussed reflecting God like love

to those we meet and helping people realize who God is and how much He

cares for us. After that, our district leader had asked each of us to

share a story of how the gospel has blessed our family or what the

gospel has meant to you and your family. As each of us told our

stories, the spirit grew stronger and stronger in the room. By the

end, most of us were in tears. I want to share with you what I said to

my district about what the gospel has meant to me and my family:

"The first thing that comes to mind when someone says family, is the

temple. Family means everything to me and knowing that because of the

priesthood and temples, I can live with my family forever has brought

me the most joy in life. I come from a family of 8. Two loving

parents, three older brothers, and two little sisters that are adopted

for Samoa. When I was eight years old, we had the opportunity to go to

the temple as a family and have my sisters be sealed to us for time

and all eternity. To be honest, I can remember that day better than my

own baptism. I can remember being in the sealing room with my family

and I will never forget looking into the eternity mirrors and seeing

my families reflection going on forever. Knowing that my little

sisters are my sisters forever...means more to me than anything else

in this world. I know that the plan of salvation is true and that

families can be together after this life. One of my favorite memories

happened while I was going through the the temple to receive my own

endowments. Most of my family was able to be there with me, my

parents, my brothers and their wives, my grandparents, and my aunt. I

remember I was one of the first ones to enter the celestial room and I

watched as each one of my family members walked in. Along the way, my

grandpa had gotten lost. So my dad went back to find him. When my dad

came back with my grandpa, my grandpa raises his hands up and says,

"We made it!" We all laughed as we welcomed grandpa. But that one

phrase has always stuck with me. We made it. I can't wait for the day

when I will see my family in the celestial kingdom and say we made it.

The blessings of the temple are real. I know with all my heart that

families can be together forever. It brings me so much joy that I have

that knowledge and now I get to share that same knowledge with others!

It has brought me so much joy and I want others to come to feel that

same joy."

I love this gospel with all my heart. I love you all and know that I

am praying for you each day!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Steve and Amelia threw me a surprise birthday party Tuesday night!

They got me a cake and steve got me a cute little stuff animal!

San Rafael Stake missionaries with president and sister wright after

stake conference

 We had a sisters lunch in San Rafael after stake conference! So much fun!