Come What May and Love It!

Hello family and friends!

So as I'm writing this email right now, I'm surrounded by bins and

suitcases and clothes...that's right, I'm being transferred tomorrow!

My 7 1/2 months in Petaluma is coming to an end :( but not only am I

being transferred, but I have an exciting new transfer ahead of me! So

I'm being transferred to Fairfield, CA and I will be opening up a new

area! I'll be serving in the Cordelia 1st Ward! There haven't been

missionaries just in that Ward for a while now! So I will be opening

the area again and my companion will be...a greenie! Yelp, that's

right, I'm training a brand new missionary in a brand new area! I'm

super excited but I am also really nervous as well! To go from here in

Petaluma, where I know everyone and everything like the back of my

hand, to a brand new area where missionaries haven't been for a while

with a companion that has never been a missionary! This should be

exciting! But to add to everything next transfer, President Wright has

asked me to be an STL(sister training leader) which is like the girl

version of a zone leader! So I will be over the sisters and hermanas

in the Fairfield zone! Being an STL means I go on exchanges with all

the sisters, I help teach at district and zone meetings, and I go to

MLC(mission leadership conference) once a month in Santa Rosa! Talk

about a really busy and exciting transfer I have ahead of me! I'm

really excited for this new adventure! I'm excited to be pushed and

pulled by Heavenly Father and to grow and learn a lot! Come what may

and love it!

This week was good! At district meeting on Tuesday, we played chubby

bunny while trying to teach. It was hilarious haha! Our district

leader was trying to show us how things that hinder the spirit really

affect how a lesson goes. So him coming around and putting

marshmallows in our mouths was his way of "hindering the spirit"! It

was pretty funny! Saturday morning, president Wright called me and

told me what was happening with me next transfer. He was joking around

with me on the phone because he just kept on asking me if in be

willing to do things. Like "Sister Thompson, would you be willing to

train a new missionary?", "Would you be willing to open a new area?"

and so on. So he started joking around with me saying that I also

needed to find a part time job and I need to finish the Book of Mormon

by the end of next transfer! I told him I could do all of it except

find a part time job. Haha he told me I answered correctly and that my

priorities are were they should be! Haha I love president Wright!

Also, yesterday we had stake conference and sister Nelson and I sang!

We sang a duet! We were super nervous,but it turned out really well!

We also went heart attacking Saturday night and stuck a bunch of

hearts and sticky notes on the doors of our investigators and less

actives! Thanks for the Valentine's Day package you sent! You guys

know me way too well! I loved everything in it!

Its been a sad weekend though saying goodbye to everyone. My heart

breaks a little more each time I say goodbye to someone. I have come

to love and care for so many people here in Petaluma, and to think

that I won't be here anymore to see them, is heartbreaking. I asked

Brother Wasden to give me a blessing last night before I go, and I was

promised in the blessing that I would be able to move on, but that

it's going to be hard. And let me tell, it's hard. This area has

taught me so much about being a missionary, about myself, and about

the gospel. It's going to be hard leaving, and I have a really big

challenge ahead of me, but I am ready and willing! Come what may and

love it!

I love you all and I can feel all the prayers and support from home!

Thank you so much for everything! Also, ps. My Pday next week will be

on Wednesday!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Where's the Cold Weather?

Hello friends and family!

Happy February! Right now, it's 68 degrees and sunny....and we are

LOVING it! In case you were wondering, yes I could hear all the

cheering from the super bowl yesterday! Haha it's crazy to think that

I was only like 30 minutes away from the Super Bowl! I think that's

the closest I'll ever get to it! Everyone was watching the super bowl

yesterday! You could hear everyone yelling and screaming at their TVs

through the town! Haha I loved it! But we are having beautiful weather

right now in Petaluma and we had an awesome week to go with it!

So on Tuesday we had a great zone meeting! They are changing a lot in

the mission! Like with Facebook, I can be friends with friends and

family members from back home now! So feel free to post things that I

can share with my investigators or less actives that I am teaching! We

can also use wifi in our apartments now, which is crazy, but they are

really trusting us! My apartment that I'm in right now doesn't have

wifi that I can use, so I don't have to worry about it just yet. But

they are really making our mission a "by the book" mission. We follow

all the rules in the White Handbook, the Safeguards for Using

Technology book, and the Missionary Work in the Digital Age book. Any

mission specific rules(like the can't be friends on Facebook with

family back home) have been abolished and we are to strictly follow

just what the book says! It really opens up more ways of using

technology, but it also puts a lot of trust in us missionaries!

Hopefully everything will go well with it!

To update you with the Fifita family, things aren't going to well with

them. The dad is really making things hard. The kids aren't allowed to

come to church or even read from the Book of Mormon anymore. It is

literally heartbreaking. Can you imagine not be able to read from the

Book of Mormon? The kids really liked coming to church and reading the

Book of Mormon but now, they are almost scared to even talk to us. We

honestly don't know what to do anymore. Ulita said she is trying to

file for a divorce right now, but we don't know how long that will

take. So until then, the kids can't come to church. We tried a lot of

times to go over to their house this week to teach them, but we

haven't been able to get in the door. It makes me so sad! They were

progress so much and they were all excited and ready for baptism! But

we will keep praying that the fathers heart will be softened!

Hopefully things will turn around with them!

Camilo's kids, Anna and Antonio, are doing great! They both seem

really happy and just loving life! Camilo is doing great too! He bore

a sweet testimony yesterday at church! It has been such an incredible

experience being able to witness his conversion! I love the Gomes

family so much!

So one of our investigators made sister Nelson and I blankets this

week! Her name is Sue, she's a lady in her 60s and she takes care of

her 94 year old mom Marianne! We've been teaching them both for a

while and they are progressing really slowly. Sue is definitely more

interested than her mom, but since she has to take care of her mom

24/7 she hasn't been able to make it to church yet. But Sue and

Marianne are literally the two funniest ladies I have ever met! And to

pay us back for all of our kindness, Sue crocheted us blankets! They

are SOOO nice! She is a pro at crocheting so she was able to make the

blanket in just a couple of days! Such an incredible gift! We love

them!

Just to let you know, we find out transfers this Saturday....and I've

been in Petaluma for 7 1/2 months so I think my time here might be up.

But who knows! I could stay another! Petaluma has become my home away

from home so it is going to be so hard to leave this place. It will be

like starting my mission all over again! But we will find out this

Saturday night, so I'll let you know what's happening next week!

So this past week I've been having some really spiritual dreams at

night. I usually never having spiritual dreams but this past week I

had a couple! The coolest part about the dreams I had were that I was

able to use them in teaching this week. Like what I dreamt about was

exactly what some of the people we were teaching needed to hear. It's

so cool being able to have experiences like that. I have never been so

close to the spirit and so close to my heavenly father than now. It

was a year ago today that I decided to serve a full time mission and

how grateful I am for that decision to serve! I have grown and learned

so much. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything! I love this

work and I know that this gospel is true! I've seen so many miracles

and prayers answered on my mission that I know, without a doubt, that

this is all true. I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

There's Nothing Better!

Hey family!

What a great week we've had here in Petaluma, CA(my home away from

home)! Sister Nelson had an awesome week! Here are some of the

highlights!

On Tuesday I was on exchanges with Sister Malmfeldt! She came here to

Petaluma and we had an awesome day! We made it a goal to hand out as

many Books of Mormon as we could and we ended up handing out five of

them that afternoon! Everyone was out because it was a beautiful day

so we were able to contact a lot of people and hand out a lot of book

of Mormons! I love missionary work! Thursday morning we went and did

work on Sister Flemings farm again! We love going to the farm, but we

get so dirty every time! We love it!

But the definite highlight of the week was Anna and Antonio's baptism

on Saturday! Such an incredible experience! So Camilo was able to

baptize his kids and Sister Nelson and I were able to watch the

baptism from right inside the font because we were in the women's

dressing room with Anna helping her get ready! We watched with Anna as

Camilo baptized Antonio and then we watched Anna be baptized! It was

so great, after Camilo baptized Antonio he looked up at the two

witnesses and said, "Did it work?" Haha everyone got a good kick out

of that. After Anna was baptized we asked her how she felt and she

said "Cold, but really good!" Haha they were smiling the rest of the

baptismal service! Camilo was in tears afterwards. He is such an

awesome guy with such a strong testimony of this gospel! So grateful

for him! We also had an awesome turn out from the ward there! So many

people showed up for the baptism that we ran out of room for anymore

chairs, so people had to stand up on the sides and the back! I

seriously love this Ward so much! The Petaluma 1st Ward has become my

home! The next day at church, we had Ward conference, and Anna and

Antonio were confirmed members of the church! They let Camilo hold the

microphone in the circle so he could feel like he was apart of it! I

am so grateful for and love the Gomes family so much! It has been such

an incredible experience being able to find Camilo, teach him and his

kids, and now see them all baptized and confirmed in the church! I

will always cherish moments and experiences like these for the rest of

my life!

Today for p-day, the Horner family took Sister Nelson and I down to

the Golden Gate Bridge! We took a hike to the Point Bonita Lighthouse!

It was SOOO beautiful and so cool! I love Northern California! It was

such a pretty hike and the Golden Gate Bridge is breathtaking in

person! All together, it has been an amazing time here in Petaluma. I

have learned so much and have fallen in love with the people I've met,

the places I've seen, and the work I'm doing everyday! I love being a

missionary in Northern California!

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all and pray for you everyday!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

What a Great Week!!

Hello family! :)

This week seemed super long, but it was an awesome week! I'll tell

about our investigators right now and then I will tell you some of the

stuff we were able to do this week!

So the Fifita family! We had great lessons with them this week and the

kids are really opening up to us! But their dad is getting in the

way...the whole family was ready and excited to come to church

yesterday, but the dad showed up right before they left and started

yelling at Ulita and the kids. One of the boys, Fa, the fourteen year

old stood up for himself and told his dad that he liked the mormon

church and he wanted to go, but the dad just got more mad and didn't

allow anyone to go to church. When Ulita told us this story, it broke

our hearts! We had asked the dad a couple of weeks ago if it was ok

that we were teaching his kids and that they were getting baptized and

he said it was ok with him. But he definitely not ok with it. So now

we aren't sure what to do. The family wants to come to church and be

baptized but the father won't allow it. Ulita has been trying to file

for divorce but it will take time. So for right now we will continue

to teach them and pray for them!

Anna and Antonio! Camilo's kids! They are doing so good! They are

GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY at 11am! They were interviewed for

baptism on Saturday and they passed! They are both so excited for

their baptisms this weekend and so are we! Also, the coolest part is

that Camilo will be baptizing them! It has been such an amazing

experience being able to teach the Gomes family! And soon they will

all be members of the church! Pray that everything will go well this

weekend at their baptism!

So this past week was incredible! We had a world wide missionary

broadcast on Wednesday morning where different general authorities

spoke! It was so cool to think that all missionaries all over the

world were watching the broadcast at the exact same time! Such a cool

experience! Also, Sister Nelson and I sang in sacrament meeting

yesterday! We sang because it was a girls farewell in our ward! We

sang "What Heaven Sees in You" and it turned out really well! So well

that the stake president asked us to sing at stake conference in a

couple of weeks! Haha it should be fun!

Other than that, this week was super awesome! Sister Nelson and I

ALWAYS laugh so hard everyday and we always pray that it will be the

best day ever! And it always it! Know that I am doing great no having

the time of my life serving the Lord here in Petaluma!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

9 Months and I Guess my Body Needed a Break

Hello family!

Ok, let me update you with everyone we are teaching first, and then I

will tell you about this awesome, sad, crazy, weird, dreams coming

true week we've had!

So Camilo and his kids: Camilo is having a rough time right now at

work and with friends but he is clinging to the iron rod like none

other! His testimony of this gospel is so strong and he knows that he

can rely on it to get him through hard times! He awesome! And his kids

are doing great! We didn't get a chance to meet with them this week

because Anna went to youth conference in Santa Rosa all day Saturday!

Woo! We were so excited when we found out that she went! I'll tell you

more about this youth conference thing later on in the letter though!

As of right now, they are still preparing themselves to be baptized on

the 30th of this month! :)

The Fifita family: ughhhhhhhhhhhhh.....so we had an awesome lesson

with them on Tuesday, but other than that, we couldn't get a ahold of

them all week. And when Sunday came around, they were no where to be

seen...so after much prayer we have decided to postpone their baptism

until they come to church more regularly. :( HEARTBREAKING huh? We

have been working SO hard with them, and they love everything we are

teaching and they loved church last week, but they are lacking that

solid testimony. But we will keep working with them but pray that they

will each have a desire to pray and gain their own testimonies!

JoAnne: ughhhhhh...so after meeting with Joanne this week, she has

asks us to stop coming over. #LiterallyHeartBroken. She was able to

make it to a little bit of sacrament meeting last week, but she just

couldn't handle all the change. She has bad anxiety and coming to a

new church last week was just too much for her. She loves us and the

"feeling and presence" that we bring into her home(Aka the spirit),

but she said that she just can't join a new organized religion right

now and didn't want us wasting our time with her when she knows so

many other people out there need this message we share. It was really

cool hearing her say all this stuff, but it was heart breaking to know

that she just couldn't do it right now. Hopefully somewhere down the

line, she'll call the missionaries again when she feels ready, but man

oh man, I am going to miss teaching Joanne!

Ok, let me tell you about having Sister Amie Wright with us all week!

So I absolutely adore Sister Wright! I loved having her come to

lessons with us back in Santa Rosa so spending the whole week with her

was awesome! She had a hard time adjusting to missionary life(I forgot

how different missionary life is from regular life), so she was

physically exhausted everyday. But she loved all the teaching

experiences she had and the people she was able to meet! She really

has a talent for teaching! So even is she doesn't decided to serve a

mission, she will definitely have a calling in the future that will

enable her to use her talent for teaching!

So on Friday I hit my 9 month mark! But I guess after 9 months of hard

work, my body decided it needed a break. I got pretty sick Friday

night and it lasted all day Saturday and now I'm still trying to

regain my strength. I was in bed all day Saturday with a fever,

chills, and body aches. It was terrible. I spent most of the day in

bed because I didn't have the strength to even get out of bed. But

don't worry, I am feeling much better now, but I'm still physically

exhausted. But I was determined to go to church yesterday because

guess what? So remember the youth conference I was telling you about?

So the special guest was ELAINE S. DALTON. And guess who was coming to

our church for sacrament meeting? ELAINE S. DALTON. And guess who I

got to meet and talk to one on one yesterday? ELAINE S. DALTON. And

guess who did a special fireside for all the women in the stake/area

last night? ELAINE S. DALTON. it was THE COOLEST THING EVER AND A

DREAM COME TRUE! I love Elaine S. Dalton!! And she looked at me right

in the eyes and talked to me and asked me about my life and it was

soooo cool! It was seriously one of the coolest experiences meeting

one of my role models growing up! I will never forget it!

So pretty much this week was crazy but SOOO good! I am so grateful for

the experiences I had this week! I love you all and hope you have a

great week!

Love always, Sister Thompson 

Hello

Hello friends and family!

Ok, so a lot of this happened this week and a lot of it was good but

if I wrote out every single detail it would take a week for you to

read it haha so here are the highlights from the week!

We did a lot of service this week! Yard work for Bear and Terri where

we were tackling black berry bushes in the pouring rain, farm work for

sister Fleming where we were tackling goats and sheep in a lot of

mud/poop, and we helped a lady moved into our ward! I love doing

service!

We had awesome lessons this week with the Fifita family! They are

progressing so well and guess what? ALL 9 OF THEM CAME TO CHURCH

YESTERDAY! That's a huge step for them, but they are making the steps

towards baptism! We also set a challenge with the kids of who could

read the Book of Mormon the fastest haha each time we go over they

fight about who is farther along in the book! It's great! The kids are

really starting to open up and share the spiritual experiences they

are having! I am so grateful for this chance I have to teach this

family! I love them so much!

Camilo's kids made it to church yesterday as well! They are both

excited again for their baptism on the 30th but pray that the

enthusiasm they have will stay until then! They are such good kids!

Also pray that the Fifita family will continue to be excited and ready

for their baptisms on the 23rd!

So remember our investigator JoAnne? The 71 year old lady that was

having a really hard time finding the courage to come to church? Well

guess what? SHE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! She only stayed for about 30

minutes of sacrament meeting, but still, this is a huge step for her!

We were so happy to see her there and it looked like she was really

enjoying it! We will follow up with her this week about her experience

at church! But overall, church yesterday was great! We had 8

investigators there and in every auxiliary! Sister Nelson and I went

to primary for a little bit because the Fifita kids were latched unto

us at first, but they quickly made friends and enjoyed the rest of

primary! What a blessing yesterday was!

Then to add to the awesome day we had yesterday, President Wright

called us and told us that we would be having a girl from the Santa

Rosa stake coming to be in a trio with us for the week. This girl is

trying to figure out if she wants to go on the mission, so president

wright chose us to have her under our wing for the week! I am so

excited because the girl that is staying with us is Amie Wright,

president wrights 19 year old daughter! I love Amie! She use to come

to lessons with us back when I served in Santa Rosa! But it's a huge

honor for us to have our mission presidents daughter with us for an

entire week! We are so excited and can't wait to pick her up tonight!

Well, know that I am doing great and loving every second! It's such an

amazing experience helping people come unto Christ and to partake of

the sweet fruit of this gospel! I love watching the whole conversion

process and I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to help Gods

children come to the fold! I love this work and I love this gospel!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Happy 2016!!

Hello friends and family! :)

What an incredible week we've had here in Petaluma, California! Have I

ever told you how much I love being a missionary? Well, I absolutely

love it! There is nothing better!

So to start off, let me telling you what is happening this week with

transfers! Sike, I'm going to wait till the end of the letter to tell

you :) here are some highlights of my week!

We went on exchanges this week! I went to Rohnert Park this time with

Sister Malmfeldt! She is from Cumming, Georgia and I absolutely adore

her! She's been out about five months and she been here in our zone

the whole time! We have become really good friends so exchanges with

her was so fun! We taught lessons, talked to people, and worked on

Sister Flemings farm!

On New Year's Eve, sister Nelson and I met with the Fifita family! So

the holidays were crazy for them, so teaching them was super hard, but

when we went over that night, their dad was there. Now, Ulita and her

husband are still married but he doesn't live at the home anymore. We

had only seen him one other time since I've been teaching the family.

We had heard stories from the kids and Ultia that made the dad sound

kind of mean and really against the church(plus, he's a big Tongan

man, so that just makes him look scary). So when we walked in, and the

kids saw us and their dad in the same room, everyone went silent. We

started talking to the dad, having a nice casual conversation with

him. And it actually went really well! He started opening up to us

about his past and his views on the church! The whole time, I was

praying for the courage to ask him permission to teach and baptize his

kids. Finally, God gave me the courage to straight up ask him for his

permission. As soon as I asked, all the kids just looked at me like

'what are you doing sister Thompson?' But guess what? The father said

that he didn't care and that he was ok with it!!! He said that most of

his friends growing up were members of the church and he liked his

friends, so he said it was fine! All the kids looked so shocked! After

the dad left, Fusi was telling us how awkward that could have been

because they all thought for sure that their dad was going to say no!

So after talking with them, we set a new baptismal date for them for

January 23rd! That will give them enough time to come to church a

couple more times and make more friendships in the ward! We were so

grateful that everything went well with there dad though! Our prayers

were answered!

We were also able to meet with Camilo's kids on Saturday! Anna and

Antonio are doing great! We talked to them for a little bit and turns

out Anna has been reading the Book of Mormon on her own! WOOO! It has

been about two weeks since we last met with them, so we were scared

that they weren't going to want to come to church anymore or be

baptized, but they both said that they have their own desire to be

baptized now! I definitely know Heavenly Father heard our prayers for

them and by Anna reading the Book of Mormon, their hearts have be

touched by the spirit! So we set a baptismal date for them for January

30th! Camilo is so excited for them and now that he has the

priesthood, he will be able to baptize his kids! So amazing!

On Friday night we had an awesome lesson with our investigator JoAnne!

We brought Amelia with us and they connected SO well! Man, I love

working with the members! The fire of missionary work is contagious

and it's spreading like wildfire in our ward! At church yesterday,

multiple members were telling us of their own missionary moments they

were having! Some even gave us referrals for their friends! I love

this ward! Which reminds me, transfers!

SISTER NELSON AND I ARE BOTH STAYING ANOTHER TRANSFER IN PETALUMA!

That's right! I am going to be in Petaluma, CA for 7 1/2 months! I am

SOOOO happy!!! I absolutely LOVE Petaluma! The people, the ward,

everything! It's super super rare for a sister to even do six months

in an area, so Heavenly Father must really need me here right now! I

am so grateful that I get to spend another transfer here in the

Petaluma 1st ward! Well know that Sister Nelson and I are doing great!

We laugh so hard everyday and have fun while doing this marvelous

work! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻