The Lord listens, cares and answers our prayers…

Hello everyone! This week was a slower one since a lot of our appts fell through. On Friday we passed by that one family (if you remember the crazy experience we had with the family of former investigators and the blind father). Well they let us in and we got to teach the mother and daughter a little bit and the daughter had completely changed. She asked us for a BOM and talked about how God has helped her in her life (she is the one who says she doesn´t believe in God). I set a baptismal date with the mother and we set up another appt. Then this morning the daughter called and said that her father didn´t want anymore Mormons or anymore Jesus in his house. That we had been ringing their bell all day yesterday and he had had enough. Which is weird since we didn´t go by at all yesterday...anyway the women still are fine with it all but they just don´t want any confliction. It´s the way things go sometimes. But I hope that we were at least able to show them that Gods is there and loves them.

Oh Phil and Carola, by the way, we ate Chilean empanadas this week and I got to watch the member make them :) they were way good! This week we have started teaching some former investigators that are 7th Day Adventists. They actually are more interested in learning and discussing than arguing so it´s been fun. We promised that if they come to our church this Sunday that we will go to theirs the Saturday after. We´ll see how that goes...

This week has been a difficult one spiritually and emotionally speaking but I have learned once again that the Lord listens, cares, and answers our prayers. We may have our doubts or fears but he testifies to us that what we are doing is right and true. I am also continually seeing how every trial we are faced with are exactly what we need to grow, learn, and purify our faults and weaknesses. It´s hard but in the end we will be grateful for it. 

I just want to end with my testimony that I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. That it was restored through Joseph Smith and that he was a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is the most incredible book and changes us every time we study it. I know now more than ever that Christ is our Savior and that through him we are made clean. Never forget that through obedience we are set free! Love you all and have a good week!

Hermana Thompson

ps photos!

transfer day. Elder Ordonez and Elder Peters left Murcia but Elder Baker in the back is staying

2nd Transfer in Murcia and 11 months!

Well Hna Cerna and I are staying together here in Murcia together one more transfer so there are no changes for us. On Thursday I complete 11 months in the mission (weird...) as well! All the older sisters in the mission are all going home this week so my group is now the oldest, it´s an interesting feeling for sure. 

This week we are exchanges with our sister training leaders, one of which is Hna Johnson! (Remember my first comp??) I was in Alicante with Hna Flanders who was also with me in the MTC but I did get to see Hna Johnson for a minute in the bus station :) It was strange being in Alicante again after so much time, it reminded me a lot of my time in Benidorm. 

For Valentine´s Day we did nothing haha, but hey I got your card mom and I also got Ashley´s package, so thanks for that! ;D Everyone is always in love with the chocolate covered acai berries, my comp was begging me for them all day. 

Not many interesting things have happened this week and I am also running out of time...But I saw once again that the Lord´s plan is different from our own. Plans can fall through just so that you can find that right plans for that specific time. Timing is incredible. Everything works out for a reason. I am also continually learning patience and humility. Having a recent convert for a companion is a growing and learning experience for me and it also means that I get to see a miracle in progress everyday. 

Well have a good week, love you all!

Hermana Thompson

old photos!

one, from the week when we all went to the mountains 

two, the baptism from two weekends ago! elder Allen, me, Hna Cerna, Elder Baker, Arseni, Elder Peters, and Elder Ordonez

People Be Crazy…

So this week went really well! The elders in our ward had a baptism on Saturday (it´s the first one i´ve been in since ours in august!) and we found 7 new investigators this week! 

Let´s start from the beginning of the week. We´ve been going through former investigators in our area book recently and on Tuesday we rang an apartment looking for a family. Someone answered from the call box yelling basically so I thought it was an older woman, someone else was entering the building at the same time so we just told them we would come up. When we get to the door a young 21 year old girl named Melody answers and tells us that her sister (who apparently got baptized like 9 years ago) had moved and that they weren't interested because she didn´t believe in God. She was standing there smoking with her two toddler aged daughters and a tiny little kitten. We got to talking to her and she kept telling us that with all the bad things in the world there is no way there is a God. 

After talking to us for quite a while in the doorway she invited us in and we soon met her mother Adela. Adela was more open and still had some faith she said. We tried to get all the information out, why they didn´t get baptized like her other daughter and why they stopped investigating the church. They remembered basically everything even though it had been almost 10 years. The names of the sister missionaries, the bishop, the chapel, making brownies. But to set the scene a little bit you have to know that they are the type of Spanish family that yells instead of talks and everyone talks at the same time (all the while smoking). I think they very well might be gypsies. Anyway, we then met the father, Eugenio, a blind man who started to talk to me in depth about the Book of Mormon. (I´m guessing he must of read it in braille back in the day...) He remembered names like Zarahemla, Mosiah, and stories like the iron rod and the 10 tribes. He knew A TON and I was sitting there with my mouth open and trying not to laugh at the weird situation we were in. The mom and other daughter couldn´t even read and here this man was talking to me about Abraham and Isaac and how tragic the Book of Mormon was (although he made sure I knew that he liked Evangelicals better than Mormons and thought our prophet was rich).

It was a struggle to get them to stop yelling enough to share a message and say a prayer. We kept getting millions of interruptions and I was floored by what was going on. You´d have to be there to truly understand but it was the craziest experience teaching I´ve had so far. Eventually the youngest daughter (20) got there and she could read so she read the scripture for us on faith. We set up an appointment to teach for yesterday but were sleeping when we got there, but we are apparently making brownies with them on Tuesday...we´ll see what happens haha. What impressed me was (and with a another appt we had with an old investigator this week) that even though the people never got baptized they still remembered the peace and happiness they felt in the church and with the missionaries and that is why they gave it a second chance. 

We also were out with our ward mission leader yesterday since he came with us to the appt that fell through and we were let into a house of these older Spanish women (a mother and a daughter). A bit crazy as well and wouldn´t let us say ANYTHING about the Book of Mormon, but instead talked about how they could speak in tongues (evangelists) and knew that God would save them. Towards the end they broke out into one of their songs about killing Satan. I laughed a lottt yesterday, crazy people make our work interesting. 

We had a special training with Pres Deere on Thursday and the Cartagena stake president spoke as well. I love that man! He always gives the best talks. It was about making people understand that they need the gospel, our message. Because when they don´t understand that they aren´t going to want what we are selling. We have to make it irresistible (i can´t remember is that´s how you spell that word...i´ve corrected it like 4 times...Spanish is messing with my brain) to them so that they ask us what they need to do and how they can repent. 

We talked to Carmen (the investigator who had a baptismal date for the 1st) and taught the law of chastity. Like I said last week she isn´t sure if she will continue with the father of her son and get married or if they will separate. She said she would think and pray about the decision, so we will just be waiting for a little while. But she did come to church on Sunday and she has been reading :) 

One of the YSA girls invited her friend Jenifer and Jenifer´s mother, Maribel, to the baptism on Saturday. They are both from Bolivia and really nice. We taught them after the service and set a tentative date for March 1st to be baptized when they know what we are teaching is true. It was a good lesson and we will be teaching them again this weekend! 

This week we have had a lot more success than normal and have been blessed a lot, not because we were better missionaries and not because we were more obedient. It is curious that even being incredibly imperfect the Lord continues to bless us (or let others be blessed through us). It´s humbling and puzzling, but we can´t understand God´s plan and will as frustrating as that can be sometimes. Anyway, this is a long email, but it´s been a long week. Missions are hard, they try your faith A LOT and I´m trying to not let it affect me, because as Pres Uchtdorf said we need to doubt our doubts and not our faith. Have a good week everyone, love you all!

Hermana Thompson

photos!

1. Jenifer and Maribel, the two investigators we taught after the baptism (with Elders Peters and Bakers, they wanted to be in on the lesson for some reason...)

2. Marilyn, also from Bolivia. She is a recent convert and will be moving in a few weeks back to her country so she invited us to a BBQ on a rooftop with all her family (none of whom are members, she´s the best!)

3. Janet, she is Marilyn´s cousin. She has come to church a couple of times and the elders gave her a blessing and when we taught her after the BBQ she started crying, telling us that since she was given the BOM and a blessing she has felt alleviated and like a weight has been lifted of her, that her pain is going away! She’s great but also not married!

We wait and prepare…

¡Buenas tardes!

This week went really well! Yesterday was stake conference that was broadcasted for all of Spain, Portugal, and Cape Verde. Elder Ballard was the presiding authority and a few other 70s spoke as well. One of our investigators came too. Her name is Carmen and she is from Ecuador. The evening before we went over to teach her and committed her to a baptismal date for March 1st.
It was my first time teaching her since the other Hermanas had tried to get a hold of her for a few weeks and couldn´t set an appt. We kept calling her and even ran into her on the street. Then she finally sent a text back saying we could see her Saturday evening. They had invited her to be baptized before and she liked the idea but didn´t feel prepared. This time we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and towards the end I invited her to read and pray about what we had already taught to know it it´s true. She said that she had already. She proceeded to tell us that she was having a hard time and was praying for the Lord to give her direction. She said after that we called. She didn´t pick up. We called again later that day, and then later a third time. That´s when she finally sent the text back saying she would meet us. She took that as her answer. We invited her to be baptized again and she said yes. We tried to set a date for the 22nd of Feb but she was hesitant to accept it so soon. Hna Cerna invited her to pray about it then and there to see if it was the right thing to do. She accepted and said she felt good afterwards and we set a date for March 1st.

But here is the kicker, she isn´t married. She lives with her son and the father is working in France for the time being. My comp thought she was married but I later asked at conference and she told me it wasn´t official. Shoot. But she said he was coming back for a visit this month and they were going to see if they want to continue or break it off. So it all depends on that. So we wait and prepare her in the meantime.

We have also got a lot of new investigators recently (all through members) and have been reaching a lot of our goals which is nice. Remember that family from Bolivia I talked about last week that just let us in to teach? We called and the said they had doubts and sincerely weren´t interested in learning more- that they can believe in God without a church. So that’s sad, but maybe later. Anyway I love being in Murcia, really I feel like it´s one of those areas where I am supposed to be. The collaboration with members here rocks and we´ve been doing tons of FHEs and it helps a lot.

Today we went up to the mountains to a place called La Cresta de Gallo with the elders and two recent converts. We grilled burgers, hot dogs, and smores! Oh how I’ve missed nature. I´ll add photos!

Well love you all and hope you have a great week!

Hermana Thompson

with view of Murcia and Elder Baker in the back