Keep Moving Forward!!

Hey Family!!!

So this week has been quite the week.....really it's been the hardest week of the mission to date.  So here's the story.  Monday night I start feeling the regular cramp pain on my right side ovaries.  I figure it's nothing, and that I'll be fine.  Well, Tuesday comes and it starts getting worse, I take some pain meds and feel alright so I just go on with life, but by 5 pm, which is when we usually start tracting I am in so much pain I can't really walk so we decide not to risk it and go home and rest.  I put heat on it and went to bed.  Then Wednesday the pain was worse, I can't remember the last time I was in so much pain, I think it had to be when I had the cyst burst when I was like 15, needless to say I was not feeling good, but its not my time, its the Lords time so I kept pushing and doing as much work as I could.  I called Sister Weaver to get a Dr. appointment because it didn't feel right..  That night we went went with Manette Sisters and did tracting, and by we I mean Sister Nanto went with one of them for an hour while the other sat with me, and then they switched for the other hour.  It was awful, I did read the whole book of Jacob though, and I actually understood chapter 5! WHAT?! So Sister Weaver calls me back and says that the Dr. near us doesn't want to see me but wants me to double my birth control and then stop taking it completely......because he's CRAZY!!! He didn't even know what was happening...AHH I hate doctors.  So she tells me to take Ibuprofen and put heat on it and sleep it off and see what happens.  I did and the next morning it was worse.  So she called the doctor in Tacoma and he refered her to a OBGYN in Tacoma and set up an appointment.

We drove down to Tacoma on Thursday (about a 40 min drive) and went to see the doctor.  While I was there he decided he needed to do an ultrasound to make sure my ovary hadn't flipped, luckily it hadn't but I did have a large cyst, so he gave me Tylenol-Codeine, and told me to watch it and write about what went on and if it continued through my next month that I need to go back and see him....so far, sadly, it hasn't improved too much, and the Tylenol-codeine has made me very spacy....it's funny because Sister Nanto is also really sick with we don't know what, a super sore throat and such and so we are the living dead, but we've still been doing missionary work to the best of our ability!!

We got 3 new this week and all 3 of them are on date.  Their names are Kathryn, Kenny, and Kathryn....yes 2 kathryns.....Kathryn and Kenny are dating, and Kathryn is more open than Kenny.  She was a former of Sister Nanto's, and she seems golden so I hope everything will work out!  The other Kathryn is 9 and she really wants to be baptized.  Her mom is the problem....her dad and step mom, who are super awesome, are dealing with custody stuff right now. 

We also saw Kay and Patty again this week.  They are just so cute, and they're changing, it's hard because old people don't like change but each time we go we see a little change and that's all we can ask for.  Oh question, are we related to a Bill Thomas who was married to a Vivian Thomas?  Kay and Patty knew them, and those names sound familiar but I wasn't sure, Bill died a bit ago, but vivian is still alive.  Anyway let me know!

Well that's about all I've got this week. If there is one thing I've learned this week it is that no matter what is thrown at you, you have to KEEP MOVING FORWARD! Yes it's hard, yes life is tough, but if you keep moving forward you will see miracles and you will know that you are loved by your father in heaven!!  Another thing I learned is that we can never give up on anyone.  I met a lady the other day that was baptized at the age of 90!!! Yes it's better if you accept it a little younger, but the fact that she was willing to change and come unto Christ after such a long life just shows you that it's never impossible, there is always a chance to learn the Gospel, its never TOO LATE!!! 

If anyone reading this wonders if God is there or if he loves you, I can promise you that he is there, and that he loves you more than you will ever know.  And he loves you so much that he gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to come down to this earth, to atone for our sins and make it possible for us to repent and return to him.  Praying and Reading the Scriptures will bring more joy than you can imagine.  Try it out, it won't hurt, it can only help!! 

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

Love,

Sister Thomas

 

P.S. I'm sorry if this doesn't make sense, the pain meds I'm on kind of make me loopy and spacy, so I hope this makes sense.  Love you all!!

I love the mission!!!

Hey!!! So this week has been like the best week ever!!!  So on Tuesday we went to transfer meeting and we got our new companions.  Mine is Sister Nanto!!  She is SO AWESOME!!!! I don't even know how to explain it, like day 2 we were best friends and its kinda insane!  The last couple nights we've gotten home at 9 so we had some time and so we've been jamming. :)  Our ward gave us a keyboard that has some sweet beats and so we've been rap singing some disney songs to them, it's really fun!!  It's definitely a good way to cool down after the very long days we've been having.

So this week has been the most physically draining week of my life!  We came into the new area, Kitsap Lake Ward, and after visiting the couple of investigators we had, we realized we didn't really have anybody.  Brother Hodgdon said maybe in a year he might change, but he doesn't even want to believe there is a god right now, so we won't really teach him much, just visit Sarah and bring the spirit into the house.  Everyone else kind of fell through too so we don't really have anybody, which means we have been tracting about 2-7 everyday, yeah 5 hours of people slamming their doors in your face isn't so fun everyday, but it's what you've gotta do!

We have had some awsome miracles this week though:

Miracle 1: So to start off you have to know that Sister Nanto used to serve in this area about 8 months ago, so she knows a lot of people around here, which is awesome since I don't know the area....anyway, we went and visited one of her formers who had been anti-ed by someone, and we taught her the restoration again, and we resolved her issues and she's going to be baptized on the 17!!!  It was awesome!

Miracle 2: There was this kid that came to church last week with his grandma because she wants to start coming back to church.  He didn't enjoy it last week, so we decided to teach him a lesson during sunday school to get him more excited.  He didn't want to come but one of his neighbors said he'd come with us so he agreed.  He is 12 years old and is named Jamey.  We taught him the first lesson, and talked about the Book of Mormon, and Brother Hausman, the most legit fellowship ever, helped him see that the gospel can change lives, and how special it is.  Then, I put him on date for baptism on the 23 and he said YES!!!!  It was the first time  I had put someone on date, and it felt so good!!! 

Miracle 3: There is this guy, Joseph Rose, who we have been trying to teach.  We finally got a hold of him, and he wants to find something to change his life, like a church.  We told him, well, we've got that something.  So we talked to him, gave him a Book of Mormon, and he is kind of on date for the 23 as well....he was unsure, but we're meeting with him tomorrow and we think he really wants this, it's really exciting.

Well, I think that is the big stuff.  I am just so happy to be out here serving the Lord, and helping God's children come unto him and see the joy they could have by being baptized.  I love my Savior Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father.  I can't think of a better way to be spending my life! 

I love you all and hope all is well.  I will try to send pictures home next week, I forgot my camera. But look on thebeautifulwa-tac.blogspot.com Sister Weaver takes pictures all the time!!  Oh I didn't even tell you about how we got to see Sheri Dew.....I'll have to add that into my next weeks letter because I'm out of time.  But I got to shake her hand, and stand on the stand with her with all the other sisters, it was awesome!

I love you and miss you!!!

Sister Brittany Thomas

One Transfer Down!

So this week has been a great week! 

Monday was just a good P-day, oh and we got out pictures taken.  There's this lady in the stake that is a photographer so she offered to take pictures for Sister Jensen because she was leaving and then she took mine to because I was there.  They're pretty cute, I'll have to send them to you sometime.  I haven't figured out the best way to send pictures yet so hopefully I'll find a good way.

Tuesday we went and saw the new apartment that we are moving to.  Oh, so you know how I've been over the 2 wards (Kitsap Lake and Seabeck) well for my transfer call I found out that I am now just over Kitsap Lake!  And my new companion is going to be Sister Nanto, who I've met once and she seems super awesome and I'm told she's super awesome so I'm excited.  She was also already in the area before so I'm not as scared about not knowing the area, because she'll be able to help me out.  Anyway, so even though I'm not leaving my area, I still have to move, so that's a pain, but it's alright.  The new apartment is super cute, it's just a small 2 bedroom basement apartment that is underneath a members home.  Members also own it and they are already super good to us.  The church is such an awesome organization.  They post on Facebook that they need furniture and dishes and such for the missionaries, and next thing you know you've got not only the necessities, but an electric ice cream maker, a rice cooker, a magic bullet, a keyboard, and so many other awesome things!  Plus, the mission bought us brand new mattresses that are super nice.  I'm way excited! I move in tomorrow!!  So Tuesday we went and helped move things in there and move the furniture around and clean up a bit.  

Also on Tuesday was Josephine Eichel's baptism.  It was so incredible!  She's been investigating the church for so long, and seeing her finally make that step to being baptized was a MIRACLE!  She was so happy she was smiling from ear to ear!  Then yesterday to see her receive the Holy Ghost was just another amazing experience.  Funny story, so at her baptism the Sister in charge of giving the Baptism talk wasn't there and we couldn't get a hold of her, so Sister Jensen informed me I would have to give it if she didn't show up, so I started reading a little bit and looking up scriptures and then right as the ward mission leader (WML) gets up to start the meeting, the lady walks in, and I have a big sigh of relief......She gets up and thought she was speaking on the Holy Ghost so she talks about that.  Then the WML gets up and says, now Sister Thomas has some words to share about Baptism....so I freak and get up, and somehow, well it was obviously the spirit, I give a talk on baptism.  It was such a terrifying amazingly spiritual experience.  I'm grateful I had that opportunity, it's true that your testimony grows the more you share it with others.

Wednesday was a pretty slow day we went to District Meeting, which was really long since it was the last one of the transfer, and then we went to visit a bunch of people, but none of them were home, it was frustrating.  We went finding with little success, but we did find a less active member with a non-member husband and they said we could come back next week so we'll see what happens there.

Thursday was my first park day, which is where you have to walk....EVERYWHERE....unless a member offers you a ride.  So we started out and walked about 2 miles and then a member of the Relief Society Presidency pulled over and drove us the rest of the way, we have the best ward ever by the way....I know that if they hadn't picked us up that there would have been 4-5 others behind them to do so.  It's so cool to see how much they love the missionaries up here.  So we went and visited a bunch of people in the ward, actually only like 2 since we had to walk between the houses.  It was fun actually, until my knee started being dumb....but all is well with it now, it's just sore.  When we were finding we found this guy named Jason who had read 1/2 the Book of Mormon just because he has nothing else to do on his ship, he's in the navy like everyone here, and he said he had questions but couldn't talk then, so I'm excited about that one.

Friday was full of driving from house to house.  We went and did visits with Sister Stanger, the same woman that picked us up the day before, and we got to know lots of the new people in the ward.  We met one less active member named Linda who is super sweet, she's 45 and had a stroke so the left side of her body doesn't really function great, but she still walks around, with a cane, and is such a strong and amazing woman.  She has 5 sons, 4 of which aren't members but they love learning about it so we have an appointment set up with them for tomorrow night, hopefully it will go well. 

When we were finding we met this kid that was really funny.  His name is Chase and he's 21.  The first thing he said to us was I'm Catholic my church says I shouldn't talk to you, and then 45 minutes later he said we could come back anytime and talk to him and his roommate.  We talked to him about lots of the church, but mostly the Word of Wisdom.  He was shocked that we had never had even one beer before.....he then offered us a beer, and we rejected and it was just a funny, spiritual conversation.  We taught him the importance of living right, and keeping your body healthy and clean.  He seemed to think that was really cool, he even said he'd check out church on Sunday but we told him it was at 11 and he said he works every Sunday 7-2, so we're gonna bring the YSA elders because it starts at 2:30, hopefully they will connect with him. 

Saturday was Transfer Call day!  Besides the transfer call, which wasn't until about 9:30 at night, we went and saw Kay and Patty, who are just so awesome.  And we saw the Hodgdon's again.  It was really funny, David was playing Minecraft, which I don't know if Adam or Andrew has played that but it's actually kind of cool, I think Dad would actually like it, it makes you think, I don't know it seemed cool.  But he paused it to listen to our message and we brought the spirit, it was great.  

That night we went to a members house for dinner and it was their sons birthday so we got him little dollar store gifts because he was turning 2 so he didn't really care, he loved them.  The Vaughts, another member family there told us a funny story about how they were at the store and the cashier offered them a coupon for coffee.  They said they didn't drink coffee and the lady said "Neither of you? Wow, what are the chances of two people that don't drink coffee finding each other?"  They were just thinking to themselves....We could actually show you a lot of that....Its funny the things people view as strange or different.  

Sunday was just an awesome Fast Sunday.  I got up in the Kitsap Lake ward and bore my testimony, it felt awesome!  We visited some families so Sister Jensen could say goodbye, and left her last words of love and advice to them.  It was a great, yet exhausting day.  

Well I hope you are all doing well.  I love you all so much!  I pray for you everyday! 

I want you to know how grateful I am for being able to grow up in this Church, surrounded by so many wonderful examples leading me and guiding me to the point where I was able to learn for myself the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I said in my testimony yesterday that I have learned more in the month of my mission than in the last 21 years of my life.  I think the reason for that is because I have seen here the joy and happiness that comes from living the Gospel.  My testimony of the Book of Mormon has been strengthened tremendously.  I know that if you read the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY that you will be blessed in every aspect of your life, and you will learn, if you're not entirely sure yet, that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church restored to this earth through the prophet Joseph Smith.  I challenge everyone who reads this, and I mean EVERYONE, to read even just one verse of the Book of Mormon a day for a month, and see if your life doesn't improve.  I promise that if you do you will see a change in your life and it will be for the better.  I promise if you pray, as well, that God will answer you and you will have his spirit with you. Just try it please, it can only help, I PROMISE!!

Well I love you all, have a great week, I miss you but I'm so grateful to be here serving the Lord, and it's already going by so fast.  I'm 1/13 done!!! WHAT?!? Oh and I found out I come home on July 23, 2014, which is Amy's sweet sixteen!!! also, WHAT?!?  

Well, that's all now, I love you so so much!!  Stay happy and healthy!! 

Sister Thomas