The Last Email!

Well this is bittersweet. I have a mixture of emotions but  even though I´m a little nervous I have faith in the future and know that this new chapter of my life will be a marvelous one. I am excited to put into practice all of the things I´ve learned while on my mission and to keep progressing to become more and more like Christ. 

Sunday I was able to bear my farewell testimony to the ward and I was able to keep in together until I sat back down in my seat, then the tears came. I can´t believe that was my last Sunday. This is my last Pday and that it is all coming to an end. It still hasn´t dawned on me yet. As I pack my bags it feels more like I am just being transferred like usual, nothing out of the ordinary. I am calm and at peace and I think that is an answer to my many prayers. 

I have seen a lot of miracles and trials, I have cried and laughed more than ever before, I have been exhausted, excited, on the point of throwing in the towel. When people tell you that missions are like a roller coaster, they are exactly right. But it´s a ride that has taken me to greater heights and I hope to never come down. Actually, I will never come down, I will work to just keep going up from here.

Enduring to the end, I have learned, is probably the hardest concept to actually live in the gospel but it makes all the difference. I have learned that in moments of trials and crisis, when we feel like all is lost is when God works miracles. But we have to hold on to our faith during those trials. I have learned that God blesses us for every act of obedience, for every good choice we make. Obedience always always always brings blessings. I have learned that love is the most important principle of the gospel, that people, souls, are the most important thing and that God is aware of each and every one of us. 

I have learned thousands of things but most importantly I have learned that Jesus Christ is my personal Savior, that he LIVES, and that the atonement is REAL. It has worked in my mission and in my life. I am a better person because he lives, all the change that I have made has been possible because of Him. I have learned to rely on him in ways that I never have experienced before and I know that each and every time I have taken the sacrament he has given me a part of His grace to accomplish his will and plan for me. 

I love this gospel, I love Joseph Smith, and I love the Savior. I loved the trials and experiences I have been given here in Spain because they have helped me grow. I truly feel like I am coming home a woman and a disciple of my Lord Jesus Christ. 

Thank you for all your support, letters, packages, prayers, encouragement, love, and faith in me. You have all helped me along my journey and I am forever grateful for you. See you all soon! I love you!

Hermana Thompson

 

Pepi

      

Sara

Cloti

 

ward mission leader, Antonio

Jorge and Olga

Valvi and Manolito

2nd to last email! :O

As my time here in the mission is coming to an end it seems to get more and more difficult. In the sense that everyone talks to you about home and asks you about your plans and so it´s a constant battle to bring you mind back into focus and to keep the range of your emotions to a minimum. It´s all very strange and it barely seems real. My life for the past year and a half has been the mission and it´s hard to imagine that it will go on afterwards. I am excited, nervous, scared, happy, sad- a mixture that is hard to describe. I have been getting updates from the sisters from my group that have all gone home and they are all doing well so it puts my mind at ease (if not a little bit more Trunkey hahaha jk). 

This week we had my last zone meeting (weird) and I, along with 3 elders, had to give my "dying" testimony. Talk about hard. I have been thinking about the day I would have to do that in front of everyone with dread, but it wasn´t so bad after all and now it´s all over :) but it hit me even harder that this is real and it was kind of a sad day for me. I will share what I said in my testimony in my last email next week. 

Isi and Cloti are both doing really well. Isi has been working in the primary and Cloti has found her niche among some of the older ladies in the ward. Right now we need new investigators. We have been working mostly with less actives and found some new ones this week so that was one of our mini miracles. All of our plans continue to fall through so we are walking a lot lately. (As if I wasn´t tired enough haha, the last trial before I finish I suppose). 

Sunday, Jorge´s (the 2nd counselor) son got baptized, so us 4 missionaries did a musical number and it was a pretty baptismal service and made me think of Hailey and Nate since they have both gotten baptized during this year and a half. Time is seriously flying.

Well I love you all! Keep praying for me please! I´ll need it this week :) 

Hermana Thompson

ps- photos! 

me with my sister training leaders

Hermana Camacho

Hermana Cameron

 

Double Baptism!

Well from the title you can tell that Cloti got baptized and one of the elders investigators as well, Ana. This week we had interviews with the president and then later a zone training with him, I absolutely love Pres. Deere, I´m convinced he´s the best mission president in the world. Wed-Thurs we had exchanges with the sister training leaders and Thursday night was the baptism, and afterwards there was a ward BBQ. It´s been quite an awesome week actually. Sunday they both got confirmed and everyone is happy and healthy! 

When we did weekly planning this week I was writing down the dates and it hit me that this weeks ends on the 7th and that only leaves me 10 days! I don´t know what came over me but I couldn´t help it, I started to cry a bit and inside I was freaking out. Hna. Volpe is so sweet, she was all worried like , "are you okay Hermana?" I just told her that I guess I´m a bit weird and that she should prepare herself for more emotional mood swings as the time winds down. It´s altogether a mixture of feelings. 

The baptism didn´t have a much people as Isi´s (but I think that would be impossible) but it was a success! Cloti is so cute, she always is prepared and says funny little things. It was a quite the complication moving it to Thursday though. The bishop and RS pres. thought it would be better to do it before the BBQ so we had to do a lot of last minutes changes. And Ana didn´t officially decide to get baptized until the day before so you can imagine the rush. 

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Thompson

                   Added this photo as a request from the Mission Blog

The Hermanas of San Fernando:  Hermanas Bangerter, Flanders, Perez, Thompson, Johnson, Volpe, Camacho, Cameron, Giler and Brown.

 

ps- photos!

*Hna. Volpe, Cloti, Me

*Elder Queirolo, Elder Richardson, Ana, Cloti, me, Hna. Volpe

 

 Love the White….

Confirmation and another one coming up!

Heyyyy! This week was pretty bad work wise (people tell me that the area dies with the missionary) but Sunday was a really great day so it makes up for it! So get this: In our Gospel Principles class (the one for investigators) Isi taught the lesson. She just graduated from nursing school and has studied a lot about the process Christ went through physically from a medical point of view and made a PowerPoint and presented it to the whole class. It was really well done and she LOVED doing it. I´ve never heard so many details from that point of view. Then she got confirmed in sacrament meeting and the second she sat down they sustained her as secretary in the primary. I´ve never seen somebody so happy! She is seriously an astounding convert. She also brought one of her friends to church! She´s on fire. 

Cloti gets baptized this Saturday! It´s supposed to be a double baptism with one on the elder´s investigators, Ana, but she is rethinking it a little bit so we´ll see what happens but I think she´ll go through with it. Pray for them both this week! Cloti cracks us up every time we teach her. She says the funniest things sometimes haha. She is progressing rapidly and really well and accepts everything we teach her. 

This week has been a bit sad as well, a less active member the elders have been working with had cancer and passed away and we´ve been teaching his daughter and mother. It just reminds us of how short life is and how you can´t wait until the end to put everything right. But it also reminds us of the plan of salvation and that makes me happy :)

Well, Hna Johnson and the other half of my group went home this week but I´m glad I stayed and I know I have more things in store for me these 3 weeks that I have left! Love you all! The gospel is true!

Hermana Thompson

photos!

 

 

 Hermana Johnson and I- last time together

 

 Isi teaching the class!

Isi´s Baptism!

Well all our plans fell through this week so we are a bit tired but the good news is is that Isi got baptized so it´s all worth it! Her baptism was yesterday night and is was a huge success! A tonnnn of people came, members from all over the stake, her family, and a lot of nonmember friends as well. The stake president- Pres. Morales baptized her and I among others bore a testimony. The member that first gave us her info as a referral gave a talk too it was a great service. Isi at the end bore her testimony and all her friends and family really enjoyed the whole program! 

I have really been extremely blessed to to not only meet Isi but to see her whole process and in the end to be able to see her baptism! We thought it might not happen so soon but the Lord works miracles and is able to change peoples weaknesses into strengths! Isi is honestly the best investigator I have ever seen during the mission. It´s incredible to see how some people have been being prepared since the beginning of their lives to accept the Gospel, she is one of them! 

Well, I don´t have much time left but yesterday was the official "I have a month left in the mission" mark. Crazy stuff. But we are gonna keep on working and soon Cloti should be getting baptized! Thanks for all your prayers! Love you all!

Hermana Thompson

Fotos!

Hna Volpe, Isi & me

Hna Volpe, me, Isi, Pres. Morales

 Love the Happy Faces….

 CADIZ AT NIGHT

 

Pizzas, pasta, and I´m a grandma!

Well this week has gone by fast! I freak out every now and then when I realize that that means one week less but let´s try not to think about those things. 

Hna Volpe my new comp has so far made us pasta twice and this morning made pizzas from scratch! Huzzah. This transfers gonna be great food wise. She is funny to every now and then Italian words slip out when she is talking and is always excited about everything. She is from Modena in northern Italy and is really excited to practice English with me. 

So Isi apparently is supposed to be getting baptized next Sunday. We have a lesson with her and the stake president today and so we will see what happens. She said she is willing to live all the commandments this week in preparation so we will see how everything plays out! Pray for her and for us!

What else? Well we started teaching a 25 year old less active girl named Mili this week. Her family is all being rescued little by little and she is the last one. Our lesson with her was the first time she had set foot in the church for about 5 years and then afterwards her mom sent us a message saying that when she got home it impacted her so that she cried. Her brothers and mother have been praying for the reactivation of her and her father for years and now it seems to be the time when they see there prayers answered. I love seeing miracles. And more than anything I love the Gospel and the happiness Christ brings into our lives. 

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Thompson

ps- photos!

1. Me and my comp Hna Volpe

2. My daughter Hna Brown is training Hna Giler (from Ecuador). So that means I´m a grandma!

New Transfer, New Comp!

Hello!

So I am staying here in Cádiz to die (aka tod in mission terms) and I will be getting a new comp for the last 6 weeks. Her name is Hermana Volpe, she´s been out only 2 transfers (so she just finished her training) and she is from ITALY! Cool huh? So don´t be surprised if I come home with some sick cooking skills. Hermana Fumero and her are swapping spots in Jaen so that is funny.

This week we set a baptismal date with a woman named Cloti! She has been coming to church for the last 4 months or so and just needs to get baptized already so we are praying for the 24th of August for her! The lesson was kinda funny because she always brings her recent convert friend Maricarmen who likes to say weird things and ruin the lessons but lucky for us this time we had Hna Rindlisbacher with us for a day so she talked to Maricarmen on the side while we set the date. Haha finally!

Everyone else is about the same, there aren´t many changes so this email is kind of boring, sorry all. But good news, there are cat pictures to follow! Hahaha. Love you all and have a good week!

Hermana Thompson

the cat´s name is Nelma

 

 Some things never change

Us at church! members are Yoli and Ruth and then Isi our investigator

The Ties That Bind….

Hello lovely people!

This week has been everything but normal, crazy ranging to surprising. First things first, we have another candidate for baptism (soon to be 2). Her name is Lola. She is one of our recently rescued member´s mother. Her teaching record is about 10 years old and since I have been here she hasn´t been too interested in listening (especially since she has a lot of medical problems) but we asked if we could seriously teach her the lessons again, she said yes, and know she has a goal to be baptized. Fun Stuff. 

We also met a 35 year old man named Jesús through the same member. He is super spiritual and has a lot of potential. He was asking us lots of questions and telling us a lot of his past experiences, many of which are pretty abnormal. And the weirdest part was that we believe him, he said it all with sincerity and we didn´t feel a bad spirit either. Here´s the deal, we aren´t sure how to respond to him so maybe you all can do some research and get back to me next week. He said has teleported- when he was little is was just with his spirit and recently without notice he said it was his body and spirit. He has also had experiences seeing spirits, almost dying, and hasn´t had anything to do with black magic. Without too many details we were wondering what you all think. Let us know!

What else? Oh we are working on family history a little bit more in our mission and we need to fill out our little booklets but on the family search website it doesn´t let me see info and dates for the people who are living so if someone (mom/dad) would like to send me dates and places for Gma/Gpa Wampler, and Gma Thompson that would be great. also heh heh i forgot some birth years of a few siblings so that would be good too. Thanks! Family history is actually really interesting now, funny how going on a mission changes certain things!

This week was another hard one but I know that God hears my prayers (and yours) and that our spirits can do hard things and that the Lord chastens us because he loves us. 

• Mosiah 23:

  21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.
  D&C 95
  1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you—
  Well there is one week left of this transfer and then I will get my next (and last) companion! One transfer left?? Crazy. Feel free to write me your last letters haha! You have 7 weeks.

• Love you all!
  Hermana Thompson
  photos:
  plaza de España with elders Queirolo & Mercado in Cádiz

 

 

 Also Kraft Mac & Cheese! America Rocks…