First Baptismal Date in Benidorm! :))

¡Hola!

Sooooo guess what?!

I committed someone to be baptized yesterday! 

And I got to skype for mother´s day so I would say everything is super great right now. Oh and my voice is finally back! After a week of only being able to whisper I have never appreciated a voice more in my life. I still can´t sing very well but that´s ok haha. 

So let´s see, the last email I was kind of down and frustrated and that´s how the rest of the week went as well up until Sunday. I was sick, we weren´t having much success, I hurt my foot, my companion inventory didn´t go super well, and for the first time in my life I actually felt a little homesick. It was a hard week for sure but yesterday was such a blessing! We had only talked to Antonio once before and knew that we was going to be baptized at some point. If anyone is golden it´s gotta be him. We couldn´t teach him the first time since we didn´t have another person in the house or a member and it was just him and his two toddlers. But yesterday we went back with a woman from the ward and taught him the Plan of Salvation since the elders before us had already taught the restoration. And he accepted everything we said. Every time we presented a part of the plan and read a scripture about it he said "que bonita" or something to the effect of how beautiful, I want this in my life. He feels so keenly a love of the savior and the atonement too. At the end we asked if he thought the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and all of these things were true and he said yes! ¨"Claro que si"! I then asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and he said, "Yes I feel prepared and I want to be baptized!" How amazing. I wish you all could´ve seen my face. That was an experience of pure joy I will never forget. The spirit was incredibly strong and I could feel how proud our Heavenly Father was of him and how much he loved Antonio. This will truly bless his family. He has committed to the 26th of May and I believe he´ll will surely follow through. So if you want to pray for someone, make it Antonio and his family!

Skyping home yesterday was great too! Such a blessing and exactly what I needed even if it did make me miss you all. Ask mom and dad for more details if you want haha :) Today we went to Alicante which is the next biggest city over and went on a zone p-day to a castle. It was great to see other missionaries and the view was amazing! The blue color of the Mediterranean here is INSANE. And I have seen some pretty views before, but man, Spain is gorgeous. We are seriously so blessed to be in a place this beautiful. And the weather has been perfect too. Not too hot and with a breeze from the sea. I get a little color too. People are always sure to tell me I am sunburned sometimes. But hey,  I´m pale and can´t help it. 

The people we are all teaching (investigators, inactives, and members) are mostly from all other countries. Like Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, etc. So I still haven´t eaten real authentic Spanish food at a member´s house yet. But the people are all so sweet and humble. We ate a man´s place yesterday and they didn´t even have a kitchen table. This week I think we will be making trips out to all the pueblos that surround the city of Benidorm. There are a lot of people farther away that don´t come to church because of the distance. But all the pueblos are so cute and charming, with little colorful houses lining the streets and a view of the water. Our city right now is starting to go a little crazy as the tourist pile in. Think Miami. We stumbled across the party and disco-tech district a couple days ago and got to witness why there are no Elders here haha. We get to see lots of drunk people and those who don´t like to wear shirts. But growing up in Florida none of it phases me. 

Well low on time, but I love you all and was astounded today by the number of emails in my inbox! Truly thank you all so much! I wish I had time to respond to each of you in length but I can´t. So I will try and send letters by hand. I have already sent one to Audrey and Phil/Carola, so hopefully you all got them. Keep praying for me and the people I work with, and keep me updated!

Hermana Thompson

ps- pictures:

castle in alicante from the bottom

the view from the top of the castle

Hermana Martín and I at the top