A Week of Milestones!

Hello everyone! :)

Man, what a great first week of October! To be honest, it doesn't feel

like fall. Mostly because the weather here is still in the 70s

everyday. And I'm not complaining, but I do miss the cooler weather

that fall brings and the beautiful colors!

So to start off, let me tell you what's happening with transfers!

Sister Jordan and I are staying together for another transfer here in

Petaluma!!! I am SO happy to being staying another transfer in this

area and with sister Jordan!! I absolutely love this area and the

Petaluma 1st ward! Also, our whole apartment is staying the same next

transfer! So both of the hermanas we live with are staying! I'm SO

happy!! This next transfer is going to be so great!

So let me tell you what's been going on here in the greatest mission

in the world! Sister Jordan and I have been working hard here in

Petaluma, California! Camilo is doing sooooo good! He has been

completely clean for the past two and a half weeks!!!! CAMILO IS

LIVING THE WORD OF WISDOM!! AHHHHH!!!! He has a new baptismal date for

October 31st and he is so excited for his baptism!! Camilo says hi by

the way haha he took sister Jordan and I out to lunch today! He wanted

me to tell you all hi! He is so great and I just love him so much! His

two kids, Anna Sophia and Antonio, are also doing good! Yesterday at

church, it was the primary program and Antonio performed with the

kids! He knew all of the songs too! When I saw him up there signing

all of the primary songs, my heart just melted! And Anna Sophia has

really taken an interest in learning! It's hard though, because Camilo

has dual custody of his kids, they are only in Petaluma on the

weekends. Which makes it hard to teach them because they are usually

out doing stuff with friends and family on the weekends, so we have

been trying to get over there as much as we can to teach them! That's

why we don't have a baptismal date for Anna and Antonio yet. But we

are working on it!

We met with our new investigator Brandi again last night! She has

started praying every day which is AMAZING! Brandi has no religious

background at all, so she doesn't really know who God or Jesus Christ

are. So last night we watched the movie "Finding Faith in Christ" with

her. The movie is only about 30 minutes long, but it does a great job

of showing Christs life and what he did for us! She really liked it

and she was amazed by all the good that Jesus Christ did while he was

here on the earth! Brandi also came to church yesterday for the first

time! That was awesome! She said she is really going to try to make it

to church every week now!

So some highlights from the week! Of course, teaching our

investigators, recent converts, and less actives! Camilo, Anna and

Antonio, Brandi, Paul, Marrianne and Sue, Amelia, Steve, Sister Oler,

Brother Rowley, Cynthia, Larry, Sister Jones, and Sister Tobias! We

also went to the beach on Monday last week! We went to Dilan Beach,

which is a 30 minute drive from Petaluma! It was beautiful and so fun!

We had zone meeting on Tuesday! That was really good! I love hearing

and learning from other missionaries! Sister Jordan's birthday was on

Wednesday! So we celebrated! We had cake and we decorated her room and

just tried to make it the best day for her! She turned 24! My son is

all grown up! Haha we went tracting a lot this week and we found a few

potentials so that is exciting! We helped spread mulch at the Petaluma

Bounty Garden and sister Jordan and I got to help bathe Camilo's dog

for him! Haha we had a fun time this week!

So this up coming week is a week of milestones for me! On Thursday I

hit my 6 month mark....that came way too fast. I can't believe I've

been out for 6 months! That's crazy! Time is moving too fast! I also

turn 20 this week and I don't know how I feel about that haha my life

is moving way too fast! I remember when the brothers were turning 20

on their missions and thinking "ew, they are so old." And now I'm

here. On a mission and turning 20. Haha but I wouldn't want to

celebrate my 20th birthday anywhere else! I love being a missionary

and I love this work! It's incredible being able to see people change

their lives and come closer to Jesus Christ. I have truly seen

miracles in the short 6 months I have been out, and I am so grateful

for them. Gods hand is in our lives everyday, we just have to

recognize it! I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Time is Flying!

Guess who has two thumbs up and LOVED general conference? THIS GIRL.

General conference was AMAZING! So many answers to prayers and so much

spirit! I really liked Hollands talk, Durrants talk, and Nelsons talk!

SO GOOD! We watched it at the church and we had a few investigators

watch! The whole time they were watching I was just thinking "Please

be watching...please be paying attention...please be learning

something...please." Now I know how parents feel when they have their

kids watching. You just love them so much and you want them to feel

the spirit and to learn something from the leaders of our church. Not

going to lie, watching conference made me miss home. I feel like

conference is something you do as a family and it was weird not

watching it surrounded by family, but during the middle of conference,

I looked around me. I was surrounded by missionaries, life long

friends I have made, my brothers and sisters for the time being. I was

surrounded by investigators and members. People I just met, but have

so much love for! I couldn't help but feel like I was in a home away

from home. How grateful I am for the people I have met on my mission

and the love that I feel for each of them.

This week was awesome! Camilo is doing GREAT! As of last Sunday he is

clean, keeping the word of wisdom! He is progressing SO MUCH! He is

awesome and hopefully he will be baptized soon! We had to push back

his baptismal date. We also picked up a new investigator this week!

Her name is Brandi and she is SOLID! She is dating one of the members

in our ward and she has a strong desire to learn more! I will let you

know how it goes!

I'm sorry I don't have a lot to say this week! But know that

everything is good and I am loving this work! I am so so so so SO

grateful to be serving a full time mission and helping Gods children

here in Northern California! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Service day

Go-carting and mini golfing for P-day

Pics with the Horner kids-Anna Marie, Clayton and Tyler!

I Love Life!

Hello everyone!

So much happened this week and I LOVED every second of it! How

grateful I am to be serving a full time mission! I've learned SO much

so far on my mission. I wouldn't trade this experience for the world!

So last week on Monday, we played volleyball with the other

missionaries here in Petaluma! So fun! I love all the missionaries I'm

currently serving around! I feel like I've made life long friends!

Later in the evening we had a lesson with our investigator Paul. So

Paul is the excommunicated 28 year old that we are helping prepare for

baptism. Paul is very knowledgeable when it comes to gospel topics so

it's a little different teaching him. Last week, I prayed that we

would be inspired on what to teach him that would best help him. And

let me tell you, my testimony of receiving personal revelation

specifically for the people in your area grew so much! I received a

prompting that we should talk to Paul about the repentance process,

something that he is going through right now. As Sister Jordan and I

prepared for the lesson, we felt really good about what we had

planned. The lesson with Paul that night was powerful. Paul opened up

so much and the spirit was so strong that night. You could tell that

the spirit was touching Paul and that's something I'll never forget.

We texted Paul later that night after the lesson and thanked him for

meeting with us and for allowing us to feel the spirit. Paul responded

that he really felt the spirit too and that he hadn't felt it that

strong in a while. Man, I love the spirit.

On Tuesday, we had district meeting! That was really good but our zone

leaders decided to make a zone challenge of really trying to get 20

contacts everyday and adding a specific daily challenge everyday! We

were suppose to text the zone everyday when we accomplished getting

the 20 and the daily challenge. That made this week super fun! Some of

the daily challenges included testifying in 10 of your 20 contacts,

committing someone new to church, both you and your companion had to

invite a stranger to be baptized, having one street lesson with a

stranger, and using certain phrases in contacts! It was fun! On

Wednesday, I went on exchanges with Hermana Navarro in the Spanish

area! I had her teach me how to contact someone in Spanish! It was

great. Haha we had a fun time on exchanges! We contacted a guy who had

a truck full of fruit and vegetables and at the end he gave us a free

melon...haha we laughed so hard because now we had to carry around

this melon with us while we were knocking on doors! And then right

after that happened, a dog peed on me...hahaha by this time, Hermana

Navarro and I had to sit down because we see laughing so hard! I had

reached down to pet someone's dog that was walking past us, and the

dog got excited and peed on my foot. Haha the lady felt so bad but she

said that we could come by and visit her! So that was a plus! Overall,

our exchange was a success haha.

We did a lot of service this week too! We helped Bear and Terri in

their yard, helped a family move, help another family with yard work,

and volunteered at the Petaluma Bounty Garden! I love service!

On Friday morning, we had a lesson with Camilo and Paul asked if he

could come! So we taught Camilo and Paul the word of wisdom. Both of

them are struggling with it and it was good for Camilo to hear about

it from Paul. Paul and Camilo really hit it off and now they are good

friends haha so they are helping each other to overcome their

addictions!

The General Women's Meeting on Saturday night was SO good! Absolutely

loved it! They broadcasted here at the Petaluma chapel for our whole

stake so it was fun seeing lots of people! Camilo's daughter, Anna

Sophia, came and she brought her non member friend Cienna! They both

really liked it, and now Cienna is interested in learning more about

the church! How cool is that? Man, I love missionary work!

Church yesterday was incredible. Probably an experience I will never

forget. It was fast and testimony meeting yesterday for our ward.

Camilo and Anna Sophia came and were sitting next to us. The

testimonies were so powerful yesterday and you could see that Camilo

was really listening to each of them. During one of the testimonies,

the person speaking starting bearing their testimony about the

truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I watched Camilo, next to me, grab

his Book of Mormon. He sat there for a while just staring at the book.

A few minutes later, he leaned over, put his face in his hands, and

just started crying. He stayed there for a while, just crying into his

hands. After the last testimony, he got up and left to get a drink of

water. While he was gone we started sing ing I Know That My Redeemer

Lives for the closing hymn. The spirit had been so strong during the

meeting and I just had the most overwhelming feeling of joy. Tears

start rolling down my cheeks as I listen to the congregation sing the

hymn. Camilo walked back in during the hymn, saw me crying and started

crying more. After the closing prayer, I turned to Camilo and asked

him to describe to me what he felt during sacrament meeting. "Sister

Thompson," he said, "I have never felt anything like this before. I

feel so happy and at peace. Ever since I've been meeting with you

sisters and coming to church, my life has never been better. I have

never been happier." More tears start rolling down my cheeks as he

continues, "Sister, I don't know how I could ever repay you. You have

changed my life and for that I am forever grateful." I responded back

"Camilo, it's not me that has changed your life, it's this gospel.

It's God and Jesus Christ. And those feelings you are having right

now, are the spirit testifying to you that this is all true. Camilo,

don't ever forget this moment and the way you feel." Camilo looked at

me with tear filled eyes and said, "I won't sister Thompson, I won't."

At that moment, I was so grateful that God allows us missionaries to

be instruments in His hands to bring people closer to Him. God is

trusting me, a 19 year old girl, with His children. How incredible it

is to be that instrument for God and how grateful I am for it! It's

moments like these that I will always cherish and hold on to!

I love this gospel with all my heart and I know, without a doubt, that

it is true. I know that God loves each of us and knows us personally.

I know He hears our prayers and He WILL answer them. I love my savior

Jesus Christ. None of this would be possible if it wasn't for his

atoning sacrifice for us. How great it is to be a member of this

church and have the knowledge that we do! I love you all and hope you

have a great week!

Love always, Sister Thompson 🌻

Steve brought his flight helmet from his plane and let us wear it haha

I found a mustang that looks almost like ours back home! Don't worry

we knocked on their door haha

I got to see sister Nwagharau at the women's meeting!

We made pancakes, hash browns and chocolate milk this morning for

breakfast and we made the fire alarms go off for like 15 minutes haha

our bad.

A selfie, cuz why not!

Pictures from Tracting, and exchanges with Hermana Navarro!