Doubled in = Double the Stress

This week has been a very challenging and stressful week to be honest.  We were doubled in (or the first sisters put into) the Highland Hills Ward in Tacoma.  Normally when you're doubled in you have an area book with formers, and all that good stuff, but since we were just added to 2 other sets of missionaries in the ward (yes there are 6 missionaries in one ward) we didn't have anything.  What made it hard to is that we're with the AP's and Office Elders, and the AP's are kind of acting like little girls.  I think it has to do with the ward being so excited we're here that they feel left out....I don't know, they're just being very unhelpful.  The other day our bishop told us to go see Nicole, a RC of the AP's, the ward didn't have her records so we asked the AP's for her address....and they refused to give it to us!?!?  They thought we were gonna try and steal her away from them, and they were just being....ahh...I don't know, I'm trying to be better at not judging people so....I guess I love the AP's, they're great?.....Ahh it's just been a hard week, ANYWAY

Luckily my companion is awesome!  Her name is Sister Crosby, she came my group back in January so we're both young just off of being trained missionaries....which honestly our whole mission pretty much is right now...We're pretty young, as of this last transfer we have about 50 sisters in the mission, and about 70% of them, maybe more are in their first 3 transfers.....yeah CRAZY right?  Anyway, Sister Crosby and I are just working with the ward and trying to do all we can right now to build ward relations, b/c for this being the highest baptizing ward and there only being about 60-100 out of 400ish members that are active, something isn't happening right.  We've decided we're gonna build up the ward, still do our 5-7 tracting to find new, but focus mostly on the Less Active members so we can build up trust with the ward, and in turn they will refer their friends to us and we will be able to strengthen the ward and baptize as opposed to just baptizing.  It's gonna take time, and our numbers won't really show all the hard work we're doing, but we know it's what we need to do, Sister's have a special power and kindness that Elders, sorry to say, just don't have....wow that sounded snooty.....sorry Elders, I love you and you do great stuff, you're way better at finding and tracting I think :)  ANYWAY....

Our bishop is AWESOME!!! He's only 28 so super young, but he knows what he wants, and more importantly what the Lord wants.  The RS pres. is awesome too....she made us this cool lampshade for our apt. that is all the hymns about light that she printed out, and then she dipped them in soy sauce and water to give them an antique look and then she modpodged them to the shade.....IT LOOKS AMAZING!!!!  The apartment all together is just awesome, I'll have to send pictures.  This couple in our ward put a bunch of vinyl letters up on the wall that are missionary related like, "Pray Often, Work Hard, Trust God" "In Unity is Strength" and others I can't think of, I'll def. have to get pictures to you.   

My new comp, Sister Crosby is 21 and is from Mesa, AZ.  She is from a blended family of 6, she's the oldest of her mom and dads kids, and the second oldest of her step.  Her brother is in the MTC and is going to the Phillippines, which is way cool!! She was gonna be an interior designer, she got her associates in Arts, which is way cool!  She is super sweet and kind, and I think once we stop stressing so much we'll have a ton of fun!!! I'm excited!!  There's lots of other things too, oh the biggest issue this transfer is waking up on time, we're both not morning people and waking up is like death, but we're determined to do it every day, we've had to move our alarms to the other side of the room so we actually have to get up.....oh mornings, you gotta love em!  haha

Well, I don't know what else to say really except HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! I'm glad that it was great, you deserve the best, and I can't believe you're 25 now!!! haha can I have a quarter?!? hahaha well have a great week y'all!!  I will hopefully have more to say next week!  I love you all sooo much!!!! 

Love,

Sister Thomas

Where in the Mission is Sister Thomas Going?

So, Saturday night was Transfer call!!!  Up until Friday night I thought Nanto and I would stay together in Kitsap Lake, really thats what I hoped, but I knew after that night I was gonna leave....the only question was where, I felt like Tacoma since I've been sick so much and I'd be closer to the Weavers, and well I was right!!!!.....I'm transfered to the Highland Hills, Tacoma Area!!!

I'm really excited but also nervous b/c I hate change!!!  What's cool though is that Highland Hills is the AP's area, and we're the first Sisters in the area, and you may not know this but people, especially women, LOVE SISTER MISSIONARIES.  Elder Parry one of the AP's said he had never seen a Bishop's wife more excited in his life.  So, I know we'll be loved.  My companion is Sister Crosby, who came out the same time I did, I don't really know her, but everyone says I'll love her so I'm praying we'll get along well, I was super spoiled with Nanto.  I'm really sad to leave Kitsap Lake though....We had finally started picking the work up, and we have so many strong investigators, and it made me feel good because tons of people, I didn't even know well, came up and told me that I helped them alot and they would miss me....I really needed that b/c I felt like hardly anyone would care, so that felt good!!! 

Oh Family! I told Nanto that when she goes to UVU in August that she should come meet you because you would love her and she'd love you, so yeah....she may come knocking on the door one day!  She doesn't leave til July so you've got at least til then :)

Well, this last week has been really hard.....like extremely hard.  On Wednesday we were texting Ty, and all of a sudden he started getting inappropriate, like sexual harassment inapropriate.  So we asked him if he knew he was talking to the Sister Missionaries, and he said "YUP!"  We then told him we would not meet with him anymore.  It was awful, I have never felt so objectified as I did then, and it really affected Nanto b/c of things in her past.  We then saw Danille and we ended up having to tell her about it....she said it was the last straw and that she was kicking him out.  We heard from Jamey Housman in our ward that they had gotten into a huge fight, the Cops were called and Ty had escaped out the back window.  We asked if he thought we were in danger and he said, "No, that wanna-be wouldn't try anything, plus I talked to my friends that are still on the street and they're watching out for you, plus you've got me"  Man, it's good to have an ex-gang leader as a ward missionary....We knew we'd be fine after that!! 

Oh, fun news!! We did this March Madness thing with PMG, and we got to go Bowling if we did it....so today we went bowling!!!  And guess what, miracle! I got over 100 every game!!! It's so unusual!!!  Well, I can't think of much else that happened this week, it was kind of a hard stressful week,but it was fun too!  Well I hope you all have a great week!! I love you all very much and I pray for you everyday!!!  I LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Thomas

Just another Week!!

Hey Family and friends!!!

How are y'all?  I hope everything is good!! I hope you all watched and loved conference as much as I did....I just love that we are able to hear from God's prophets 2 times a year, it's such a blessing that I think I've really taken advantage of over the years.  I loved President Uchtdorf's talk about leaving the dark and coming into and finding the light.  It was exactly what I needed for myself, and for the work. 

So this week has been a weird week.  We did a lot, we had 23 lessons, which is about 3-4 a day, and we got lots of new investigators, but Sister Nanto and I feel like we didn't really do much, it's very strange.  We didn't realize what we had done til we turned in numbers last night, we were both shocked.  I think it's because we didn't get to talk to Ty and Danille really b/c they were on Spring Break and they were our main investigators.  I think we were just very emotionally drained as well b/c we've pretty much been marriage councilors this week.  Sarah's husband randomly decided he wanted a divorse, and it was hard on her, and she needed blessings, and friends, and the gospel, and just so much, and its hard when someone is crying and saying, "This lonely is just such a bad lonely....at least when he was on deployment he had to be, now he's choosing to not be here"  It's really hard, she talked to the Bishop though, and is working on getting her Patriarcle Blessing, and making herself good and clean.  I felt like half the talks in conference were directed to her, and she thought so too, she loved them.

Oh funny story.  So on the 5th I was pretty sick, and was throwing up (yeah no fun) but I was not letting it keep me from tracting b/c we haven't been able too, so I said we were going to tract one street, even if it killed me.  So we went out on the voyage....It was good at first, but we weren't having much success, then I threw up, no success, I threw up again, no success, and I threw up one more time, and still we weren't having success.  My companion kept saying...we're going home, but we only had 6 houses left and I was going to finish this street, so we did.  The next house we knocked was Devin, he asked for a BOM and he said he would be baptized on April 26....we were pretty excited.....We knocked on the next door and met Tasha, she took a BOM and also said she would be baptized on April 26.....now we were very excited.....the next house was empty, but the next house was James who loved that we could trace back our priesthood and he too said he would be baptized on April 26.......by this point we were shocked in amazment.  The last few houses no one answered and we went home and slept b/c I was pretty sick by this point.  But, I learned that if we show God how willing we are to do His work he will bless us.  We have return appointments with all of them, and hopefully their desire will remain.

Well, that's about all that has happened this week, I hope you are all well, and that you know how much I love you, but more importantly how much your Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ love you!!!  I pray for you daily, I love you all!!!!  Hopefully next week will be more exciting and these pills will stop messing with me.  LOVE YOU!!!!!

 

Sister Brittany Thomas

Happy (and stressful) Easter!

Hey Family and Friends,

First off, I want to say thank you for the Easter pkg.  I got it on Saturday night and it came at the perfect time, because I was feeling pretty homesick with Easter coming and everything so it was exactly what I needed so thank you!  It sounds like you got my pkg so thats exciting, I hope everyone enjoyed the candy I picked for them, Emily was the hardest (since she doesn't like good things, aka Reeses) jk but it was hard :) 

So this week has been the best, hardest, most spiritual, stressful, fun, dumb, amazing week yet.  I'll start with Tuesday's miracle that has been stressful, but so amazing.....

So, Tuesday morning we went to see a LA (less-active) member at an apartment complex.  She wasn't home so we decided to tract the apartments by buzzing rooms and saying, "Hi we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, would you like to hear a message about Jesus Christ?"  We had done this to 3 rooms with no success, and then we buzzed room 104, said our little speal, and a man said, "Yeah, I'll be right down."  Nanto and I stared in shock at eachother, we didn't think we'd actually get someone to agree, and especially not so soon!  So he comes down, his name is Ty West by the way, lets us in, and we go up to a lobby and talk to him.  He tells us about his day, So he had been reading the bible (yeah crazy right) about Gethsemane and how Jesus asked Heavenly Father to remove this cup from him.  He then realized that's what he needed to do and he started to pray to know how to do it.  Right as he said Amen, we rang his apartment.......Yep, if anyone was doubting, God is there, and he knows what he's doing. We read Alma 7:11-12 (about the atonement) and then had him read 13-15 (about repentance and baptism) and then we asked him what he needed to do.  He said, I need to repent and be baptized NOW!  We said, yeah, you do!  We set up a CT (church tour) for the next day at 12.

Wednesday, 12 comes and we had brought Jeffy (a recent-convert) to be fellowship for him on the CT.......Ty isn't there!!!!  We were really sad, because we knew he wanted to change, and he told us not to flake out.....so we texted him to see where he was.  He apoligized and asked if we could change it to 4, we said of course.  That actually ended up being a blessing in disguise b/c then we were able to get the fellowship we really wanted!  Jamey Housman, who I think I've mentioned before, but if not then I'll just say, he is the best fellowship b/c he was a full on gangster, he dealt and used drugs, was in a gang, and so much more I don't wanna know about.  Anyway, he was able to come on the CT and he was perfect for Ty b/c he's kind of like that, but Jamey refers to him as a wanna-be gangster.  So we went on the tour, Ty felt the spirit a bunch when we were talking about baptism, and he brought up the Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom.  Apparently Jamey had told him about those when they drove over to the church, which made it a little easier for us to just confirm, yes you have to give that up.  That's when we learned about Danille, Ty's girl that he lived with and had 2 girls with.

Thursday, We met with Ty again and told him he would either need to leave Danille or get married.  He said he would marry her but he didn't know how she felt.  We told him to ask her if she wanted to learn to and if she wanted to get married,  he said we would and we told him if he didn't drink, smoke, deal, etc he would be blessed, and he said he wouldn't.

Friday we got a text from Danille saying that she wasn't gonna marry Ty, but that she wanted to learn too.  So we set up an appointment with her and taught her about the Book of Mormon, and how she's a daughter of God and he loves her.  She told us about how Ty treated her and it was really sad, she told us the night before Ty had gotten upset and went out and drank even though he said he wouldn't and he didn't come home for hours.  It was really sad to hear that, and it made us feel really bad for Danille.  They have a 2 year old and a 10 month old, and she is just having a hard time with everything right now.  We promised her that the gospel would help and she agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and she said she would come on a CT. 

Saturday, we took her on a CT with the Bishop as our fellowship.  It went really well, she felt the spirit so strong, and she said she couldn't remember the last time she was so happy.  We taught her how to pray and she said the closing prayer.  The spirit was soo strong. 

Sunday, Danille came to church, Ty didn't b/c there is this member that lives in their complex that is causing lots of problems, and spreading rumors about them to the ward, which is frustrating b/c they're trying to change and its hard when people know your past, and well lets just say we've been very stressed out about what to do about the whole situation.  But Danille came to church with her 10 month old, and she loved it, she said she  was happier then she'd been the day before, it was great.

Well I'm near bout out of time so I love you all, I hope you're all doing well!!!

Love,

Sister Brittany Thomas

PS oh here is the easter story in the words of Beckham Burnside a 7 year old boy......Jesus was in a rock, and then angels came and got him out after 3 days, and he lived happily ever after, THE END!  You've gotta love little kids!!!  Anyway, I love you and pray for you every night! Sorry this was all about Ty and Danille but that was pretty much my week!!

At last I see the Light!

Hello ALL!!

I hope everyone is doing well! I am finally starting to feel better!!! YAY!!! The doctor put me on new medication so the pain is going away, he said it will be a couple days to get into my system and to feel completely better, but I'm already feeling better so I'm happy!!  Despite all the pain this last week has been pretty successful.  Nanto and I got 5 New investigators, 3 of which are on date to be baptized in the upcoming weeks! 

Last night we got together with the Seabeck Elders (Elder Burt and Elder Bullough) and we put on a Youth Fireside with both our wards, it went so well!  The spirit was so strong.  The topic was S.M.I.L.E (Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal, which is 2 Nephi 2:29)  so we each gave a 10-ish minute talk relating to that.  It was really great! 

Another funny thing that happened this week was on Tuesday.  We were looking for our investigator Jamey's house, we had only taught him at a members home, but we knew he lived near that member so we thought we would knock some doors in the general area to find him.  I had this feeling and pointed to a house and said, "THAT ONE" we went and it wasn't that one, BUT at that door we met this girl named Carly Quiriarte.  She was so sweet and cute, she was about 18 or 19 and we talked to her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon.  She seemed super interrested so we asked her to read the Book of Mormon and then to pray to know if it was true, she said she would.  Then Nanto asked the big question, "If you find out that this book is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ, and be baptized by someone holding the proper Priesthood Authority?"  She said yes, so Nanto followed up with, "we're holding a baptismal service on the 31 of March, if you find out it's true by that date will you be baptized then?" then Carly responded in a very shocking way...she said "Yeah, what time?"  We kind of stared and said "um, 6?"  It was so awesome, unfortunately she hasn't been home to visit with us and she didn't come to church yesterday so the date will have to be moved back, but she seems like she is ready to learn and grow in the gospel, we're excited to get to see her and teach her more!  I'll keep you updated!

Well I'm like out of time, I don't know where it goes, but it just leaves!  I love you all and wish you all the best of luck!  I pray for you everyday and I know that god loves you and wants the best for all of you!!!  Trust in him!  He will make your pathways bright!!  He loves you!!  I love you all and miss you!

Love,

Sister Brittany Thomas

Oh funny story, our Zone Leaders have a baptism set up for this guy named Joseph Smith, and it's gonna be on April 6th....is that hillarious or what!?  I think it's pretty funny!!!