Excited and scared

This week has been interesting.  So many emotions flying through my head that it can't contain them all, it's insane!  I can't believe only one more week, where did the time go?  Well, here's where some of it went:

This week we did a lot of finding again, we still are without any progressing investigators and we are trying to find some...in our own area.  We do have a couple investigators, but they aren't in our area.  One is Kayli Denetclaw.  The Denetclaws are the sweetest family.  They tracked us down the week before the ward change.  We met them and started teaching their 12 year old daughter Kayli, and their 8 year old son Dashba (they're half navajo).  They live in Centralia so when the ward changed they went to Centralia, but since we were teaching them, we got to continue to teach them with the Elders.  It has been so cool.  Originally Dashba was more interested, but now Kayli is eating it up, and she loves it! She's getting baptized this Saturday and I'm so excited!! She is such a sweet girl! Their family is so awesome too, they have tons 3 other little boys (7, 6, and 4) and they're crazy but so cool....they're my best friends! :)

We did find some really good potential investigators though, one is named Angel, we're seeing her again on Wednesday and she was very excited about taking a Book of Mormon and learning more, so we're hopeful about that. 

Besides that this week has been pretty slow, just meeting new members, tracting a lot, and being our cute missionary selves.  :)

One really cool thing that also happened this week is we got to go to a mission call opening party.  Every Friday we go to seminary and help be a support and spirit for the kids.  Since I've been going there has been a big change in Brennan.  He has always come to seminary but he's had headphones in and didn't pay attention, but now he's going on a mission in September!! He has changed so much.  He's going to the San Antonio Texas mission, he's so excited! I felt privileged to be invited to see him open it, he is such a cool kid.

Well, that is about all I've got this week.  Nothing overly exciting! I hope you all are well and have a good week.  I love you!

Time is flying

I can't believe this week is already over! I swear time is just going faster and faster everyday.  This week we did a lot more to try and get used to our new boundaries for the ward....it's still pretty crazy!

We also this week went on exchange.  I went with Sis. Langi again, she's Tongan and super awesome.  She came down to Tenino, and Sis Smith went up to Elma with Sister Stucki.  We did a lot of checking up on potentials and knocking.  We also experienced one of the worst anti experiences of my mission.  We were told we were wrong, received our answer for the Book of Mormon from the devil, were going to hell, etc.  Needless to say it was not fun...but it actually made me realize just how firm my testimony is.  Everything he said that he was trying to scare us with, just went in one ear and out the other with a chuckle of nonsense on the way.  I know without any doubt that this church is true, that this is Jesus Christ's church restored to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith.  I'm so grateful to know of the restored gospel, and to have that light in my life, it brings so much happiness.

Also this week we met with the Denetclaw's a couple times, they are so cool! Kayli is really progressing, they're currently praying about a date and I really hope they pick before I go home so that I can be there, they are ready any day, they just have to pick a date. 

We also got to go to 2 baptisms this week.  The first was on Saturday.  It was for Bella Gifford, a child of record.  It was so sweet! She was so excited, it was adorable!

Then on Sunday we had a surprise baptism.  The Rochester sisters had been teaching Jazmin Kennedy and she was wanting to get baptized, but hadn't yet.  Now with the boundary change she is in the Tenino ward, but missionaries being possessive as we are still wanted to count the baptism, so we let them, but she is now in our ward.  She's a sweet girl, she's 14 or so and so cute!

The rest of the week has consisted of a lot of knocking and finding.  We have little to no investigators, and it's kind of frustrating at times, but such is missionary work, you've got to love it.

Well, that's about all I've got for today, I hope you all have a great week! I love you!!

Sister Thomas

Oh what a week!

So this week has been quite the week.  I think I'm going to go day by day form-ish to try to remember everything.

Monday not too much happened, just had a good p-day, went to goodwill had fun, took a nap! Then at 8 we felt we should go to a family in our ward the Giffords.  They are a young couple she's in her lower 30's and they have 5 daughters from the ages of 8 to a baby!! Bro Gifford has to work a lot so that leaves Sis Gifford alone with the 5 girls, needless to say she's very stressed.  So Monday night we felt we should go and help her do some service, while we were driving there we kept questioning because it was late, we didn't call, etc. but we went anyway, and right as we pulled up she opened the door and just started bawling! We went in and I folded laundry while sis Smith washed dishes, She sent us this text later that night:

"Thank you for coming to my rescue tonight.  You are truly angels from heaven. Such a blessing. I hope my daughters grow up to be just like you."  It's so amazing when the Holy Ghost directs you exactly where you need to be, I love being a missionary.

Tuesday was Zone Conference in Olympia! It was awesome, and tons of fun!  We learned about aligning our goals and our plans, and keeping our goals in mind at all times throughout the day, it was great! Very spiritually uplifting.

Wednesday was a pretty chill day, we saw some partmember families and investigators and visited Sister Queen (Dairy Queen) with our bishopric after our meeting! One of my favorite weekly traditions!!

Thursday was a slow day, Sister Smith and I both got what we believe was strep throat, not fun, so we went slow, and no one was really home.

Friday we went to Seminary and had fun with the seminary kids, its way exciting one of them is getting their mission call this week!!! Its cool because he was somewhat less active when I came into the ward, and now he's going on a mission! So cool!  We also had an auction for the YW to raise money for camp, it was way fun, it was tons of delicious deserts! And people would buy them and then give them to us, I was on quite the sugar rush! They made $1200 dollars that night so all the girls are going to be able to go to camp!! So exciting!

Saturday we had lunch with a sweet lady and her less-active and non-member family.  It was super awesome, they were so sweet! We also saw the Entsminger's, they are still doing good. 

Sunday was the CRAZY day! We got to church and found out that they CHANGED OUR WARD BOUNDARIES!!! WHAT!! They took out all of the Centralia part of our ward which means they took tons of our active members, 3 of our recent converts, and almost all of investigators, we had been working in Centralia the last little bit! It's crazy, we gained a little piece of the Rochester ward though, so that should be good.  People here are now in the run around with your head cut off mode....it's fun!  We also last night had a fireside in Chehalis! It was so amazing! The coolest part is Eddie bore his testimony and shared his conversion story, it was so amazing, the spirit was so strong! I just love music and testimony mixed together, it's great!

Other than that everything has just been a typical missionary week with finding, teaching, and hoping to baptize! I hope your weeks have been amazing! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by, it's just insane!

I love you all so much!

Sister Thomas 

Mothers Day!

This week was a pretty ok week.  It was full of good solid appointments with our investigators and although none of them are on date still, which is kind of frustrating, they are progressing which is good. 

Yesterday church was really cool, the youth got up and sang "As Sisters in Zion/Armies of Helaman" and it was incredible! I've been able to work a lot with the youth in this ward and their strength and power as young kids amazes me! They truly are a light to the kids around them.  I especially loved seeing Eddie singing "we will be the Lord's missionaries" because he is so excited to serve a mission.  He's only been baptized since February 28 and he is counting down the days til he can go out and serve.  It's always humbling to see someone you've helped bring into the gospel truly explode with the love of the gospel.  It's so awesome!!

We also got Tomato plants for mothers day.  There is this really cool non-member husband, who just needs to get baptized, anyway, and he donates tons of tomato plants to the ward each year to give to the mothers, and apparently they're really good plants.  We named ours Eunice, don't ask why :)  

Speaking of Bro. Saffer, he donated the plants, we went and helped him clean up his orchard this last week, it was cool.  We walked around and looked for all the disgusting tent caterpillars that were making their homes on his apple and cherry trees.  We would find them, cut them down, and then I took them and sprayed them with this poison stuff as I yelled, "DIE!!!" kind of mean of me, but they were killing the trees, that's not very nice :) He also told us that we should never trust a man that says the love us because we make them a better person.  Gotta love all the marriage advice you get on a mission. 

This week though I've really thought about the importance of families, and of moms, and of the Restoration.  

I'm so grateful for you guys.  I'm so grateful God blessed me with such an incredible family, and that you are so supportive.  I'm especially grateful this week for my mother.  She is the best mother in the world.  She is so kind, loving, compassionate, patient, funny, well-mannered, etc...etc....etc!! The list could go on for years!! I love you mom!! You're the best!!

I'm so grateful too that I was born in a family, and at a time, where the Gospel has been restored to the earth.  If you haven't read and prayed about the book of Mormon, and come to know that it's true, do it TODAY!! It will change your life, I can promise you that.  It took me out of the darkness and brought me to the light, and if it works for a prideful, stiff-necked girl like me, I know it will work for you!!

I love you all so much!! I hope you have a great week!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Sister Thomas 

Another week in Tenino

This week has been a weird, cool, wet, fun week! So it was the 1st week of the new transfer and my new companion is Sister Dallas Smith.  She is awesome! She is from Rexburg, ID and is 21.  Her family actually owns Pizza Pie Café, crazy huh? I'm hoping to somehow get a job from it, she said one just opened in Orem, that's pretty cool!!

Anyway, so the work is going alright, all of our investigators are going very slowly though, they are all stuck on the sincerely praying about the BOM and Joseph Smith thing, which is HUGE, they have to do that!! I'm not too worried though, I know that as long as we keep working hard our work will be paid off in some way.

We did meet this crazy lady this week though, it was pretty entertaining.  She repeated herself like a billion times, we had a 5 minute conversation, and it took 40 minutes.....it was hilarious! She told us about how she didn't like Mormons bc her uncle abused her and he was a Mormon (not funny, but sad) and how her dad beat up her uncle, but then her uncle lost his legs due to diabetes, and now she loves her uncle.  She also told us about how she is a witch and she's a witch bc her mom was a witch, and she just hasn't mastered the skills yet....and then she repeated about 5-6 times....haha! It was quite the hoot!

Well, there wasn't much else major that happened, oh except Jeffrey Bishop up in Belfair got baptized on Saturday, I was sad I didn't get to go, but I'm so happy that he was finally able to get baptized like he has wanted to for so long! 

Well, I can't believe that it's already almost mothers day!! I'm excited to see you guys, even though I feel like it was only yesterday I saw your beautiful faces!!

I hope you have an amazing week!! I'll see you sunday!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Thomas

Last transfer call!!

So this week has been very long, mostly because of all the stress that comes with changing your return date, being a missionary, and having transfers coming up! So we did really good work, but we didn't see any HUGE miraculous miracles, which can be disheartening....really disheartening, but I have learned so much about Obedience and Diligence this week!

So first off, I'm really sad because Sister Stevens is getting transferred!!!! :( I really wanted her to kill me off, but it was kind of expected since she's already been here for 6 months, but still.  I'm getting one of the 4 Sister Smith's, I don't know which one, but I know as long as we're faithful we'll be eternal friends.  I know because I got a blessing on Wednesday night from my Bishop and God promised me that!!

So, onto my learning the importance of Obedience.  So since I've talked with President Shaw and President Weaver and have changed my date to come home God has opened my eyes to the importance of being EXACTLY obedient! It's easy to be obedient to the big rules (don't watch TV, don't listen to music, etc) but sometimes the smaller rules can be harder to follow (dinner at 4pm, being out of the house by 10:15) they're things that seem so small, but can really change your effectiveness as a missionary.  And my eyes have been so opened to some of those little rules that I have been less worried about following that I don't want to let get in my way anymore.  So I have been trying so hard to be exactly obedient, it's not easy, but it's so worth it!!!! I have already noticed a difference!! A successful missionary can be defined with two words....obedience and diligence! I want to be a more successful missionary this last 6 weeks. 

Well, that's kind of all I have this week, sorry my emails have gotten less exciting....but this last transfer will be full of MIRACLES so be ready! :)

Love you all!!

Sister Thomas

This is Tenino

So this week was another pretty lame week....not really lame, but just slow I should say, it has just been hard working with solid people that have a ways to go....they all want to be baptized they're just working through different things!!

This week was the first week of my entire mission where no one took a book of Mormon!! We handed out 0!! It's kind of disheartening, but the work will continue!  It just goes to prove the pattern of life, before something great happens you have pain and sorrow.  The great thing that's happening is I get to go to the temple tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is our mission temple trip and I'm SO EXCITED!!! It has been so long since I've been to the temple, and I honestly am freaking out!! I can't wait to share that experience with all my mission friends, well a third of them, our mission is too big to go in one day! It will be such an amazing experience!!

Last night we got to go and talk to the youth in our ward about missionary work and how to prepare for a mission! I realized that I did not do as much preparation as I wish that I had! But one thing I realized also was that whom the Lord calls he qualifies!! I realized how much I had changed because I said I didn't talk to anyone really before the mission and all the youth were shocked!! Who would have ever thought people wouldn't know I was shy? haha!! I love the spirit and progression, it is INCREDIBLE!!!!

Anyway, sorry I don't have more exciting things to share this week, I'm just being a servant of the lord and growing closer to the Savior everyday....I'm doing the greatest work that I or anybody could be doing right now!!  I love being a missionary!

Well, I hope you all have a good week! And to make this email more exciting I hope you enjoy these pictures with me, Sister Stevens, and our cow possie! They followed us all down the fence! It was funny!!!!  They didn't want a BOM though.... :( haha!!

I hope you all have a great week!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!

An Attitude of Gratitude

This week was great!! It was still kind of a slow week for missionary work, but we were able to be out and about and enjoying both the rain and shine!!! On Wednesday we had interviews with President, it was good to be able to just talk to him, and know he cares.  I'm getting tired of talking about how I'm feeling physical wise, but I know he only asks because he wants me to be ok, and he loves me!

Also this week was of course General Conference!!!! Ah man! I love General Conference!! I feel like as a missionary it just becomes even more and more of a joy!!! One of my favorite talks was President Uchtdorf's!! Gratitude is one thing that is hard for me to focus on when in the midst of turmoil, it was cool to hear him encourage us to do so, and I know that as I do so it will make life so much better and I'll have so much joy!!!

One of the coolest parts of conference was watching it Saturday morning at the Mayberry's house.  They made us a delicious breakfast, and we watched it with Aaron, our investigator, and Eddie, our Recent Convert!! It was awesome! Every time they talked about a missionary, or showed a missionary Eddie would yell out, "Only 11 more months!!!" he is so excited to serve a mission, he gets to go this Saturday to do baptisms in the temple, he's really excited for that too!!

And Aaron was so focused on what was being said, he is such a scholar at the bible, him and his grandfather started their own Christian church, and he's only 18 years old!! He knows way more about scriptures and stuff then I do! He's a tough sell though, he has 100% attendance in seminary this year, and he can't write off the Book of Mormon, but he's not sure about Joseph Smith......all I can say is he obviously hasn't sincerely prayed about it yet, or he'd be baptized in a second!! But he'll get baptized, it's just a matter of time, especially because he wants to go on a mission and get married in the temple and that requires being a member so one day. :) 

Well, that was pretty much it for this week!! The Bishopric LOVED the brownies, they said they didn't last long!! :) apparently we only live 3 blocks from my bishop's niece, the Tolman's.  I think they're in our stake and the name sounds familiar, the ones around my age are Chelsea Tolman, and Riley Tolman.....I feel like I should know them....?

Well, I hope you all have a great week!! Remember to be grateful and to have an attitude of Gratitude, it will help you to be happier and more joyful in life!!

I love you all so much!!!  

Sister Thomas

CRAZY slow week, legit lessons, Women's Meeting

This week has been interesting.  It has been CRAZY slow, but we have had legit lessons when we've had them!!

I don't have much time, I've been reading and watching videos, and looking at pics, so I'll try to sum up some awesome things that happened. 

So the greatest thing this week would probably have to be the Women's Meeting!! It was so great!! The spirit was so strong, I felt like it was really showing that crazy "ordain women" group that women don't need the priesthood, we have such a divine heritage, our divine nature is so great.  They may have the priesthood, but we have motherhood.  We are equally yoked....sorry about that, we've met a lot of feminists lately :) haha!!

Anyway, cool story!!

So at the meeting we were sitting behind this family and afterwards we talked to them.  Turns out they just moved up to Washington from the Northridge 12th ward in Orem, UT!!!! It was crazy!! They lived behind the Weenig's over by the Elementary school!! It was cool! We talked about different people, and the 2 girls (11 and 13) took a picture with me so they could show their friends that might know me, it was fun!! It's cool when the church makes the world small!!

We have been struggling a little bit with the work, just lack of interest, but we had 3 investigators at church yesterday, so we were renewed!!

I'm so excited for General Conference this week!! It's going to be exactly what I, and the world need!!!

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

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Sister Thomas

Is this real life?

This week has been the weirdest, fastest, slowest, lame, cool week in a long while.  It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.....really it was just strange.  So it was transfer week! I stayed as you know and so transfer meeting was able to be purely spiritual with no stress of getting all your stuff moved!! It was nice.  I  became the designated driver! WOO!!

Thursday I got a blessing because I had been feeling very weak and dizzy and tired, and it was a great blessing! I have felt so good since then and since I talked to this member, whose an EMT, and he gave me tips on how to help.  He thinks it could do with anemia or iron deficiency so I started taking iron and eating a lot healthier and I've been feeling great.  So with the spiritual help, and the physical help I am feeling great!!!

We're in that awkward moment of an area where your entire teaching pool gets baptized and all your potentials and new investigators are super flaky, it's pretty annoying, but we're getting some really good prospects so we're hopeful for another great transfer!!

All of our recent converts are doing amazing.  Jacob is just enjoying learning more and growing each week! Eddie got the priesthood last week and is still so excited about a mission in a year! Tom got confirmed yesterday and his parents told us he's changed so much, his teachers are asking what happened to help him open up! And Linda is one of those converts that if you met you'd think she'd been a member for like 20 years!! I am so blessed to have the opportunity to help God's children find the Gospel!!! I love being a missionary!!!!!

Yesterday church was great!!! I got to sing in a quartet!! I swear, apparently God has blessed me to get over my fear because that's now 2 solo's (I sang a solo in one of the songs yesterday) who would have ever thought that I would do that? It's crazy!!!

Well, I hope you have a great week!! I'm so glad I have the opportunity to be a missionary, it is such a privilege!!!  I'm out of time, and those were the highlights!!

Have a great week!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Thomas

PS Oh you'll be getting a visit in a couple weeks from my current bishopric, they are going down to Utah for general conference and they said they'd bring some stuff down for me and so you'll get some boxes of my stuff, and get to meet my current bishopric, they're awesome!!

Have a great week!!

T9O - Land of Miracles

First off! On Saturday we got our transfer calls....and Sister Stevens and I are both staying in Tenino!!! I'm so excited!!! This is gonna be the 2 time when I've had a companion for more than 1 transfer! Well, Sister Halll til the ET, but besides that just my baby Sister Downs has been my companion for 12 weeks!! Hopefully there won't be an ET to ruin this one! Sister Stevens and I are having such a good time, and we're being blessed to find so many incredible people!!

This week we had the baptism of Linda Goolsby.  She is so awesome!! I haven't felt the spirit so strong at a baptism in a long time!! It was so incredible, we had more non-members there than members, she invited her friends and family, hopefully we'll be able to start teaching them.  Well, her granddaughter, not her friend she's from Aberdeen! Anyway, she got confirmed yesterday, and it's like she's already been a member for years, she is so awesome!

Another awesome thing that happened yesterday is that Eddie got the Priesthood!!!! Bishop told us he came up to him at church last week and said, "So I've already decided I'm taking this next year to work and save up money for my mission and prepare, and I'm gonna need the priesthood to go on a mission, so when can I get that?" haha!! Yeah, he is so awesome!!! I haven't really been able to see recent converts progress, it will be awesome to stay here another week, and see all those we've been able to teach, grow in the gospel!! I'm so excited!!!

Also this week we got some awesome referrals! The coolest is the girlfriend of this boy in the Centralia ward.  She is 17 has been coming to church for a while, and her adopted grandpa is a bishop in the Winlock ward nearby.  We said, oh so he wouldn't mind baptizing you...and she said, "yeah, he'd love to do that, he'll totally have to!"  We haven't even taught her yet! She is elect, I can feel it!!

Man, God truly is a God of miracles! I see that everyday!! I'm so grateful that I get to be His missionary and do His work!! Especially at this time, he has prepared SO MANY of his children to accept the Gospel.  We aren't hastening the work, he is, and we just need enough people to teach who HE is preparing!!

I am so grateful for this Gospel! It truly is Jesus Christ's church fully restored to the earth!! I know that God is our Heavenly Father, that He loves us and that he sent His only begotten son to pay the price for each of our sins!! I am so grateful for that knowledge, that even though life sucks, it can get better.  I'm so grateful to know too that this life in the whole scheme of things is so short!! After this life we will be able to be PERFECT!!! It will be a great day!!! I won't ever get sick, that would be nice!! :)

Well, I hope that you all have a great week, and remember all the blessings that God has given you!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Sister Thomas

"I can't tonight, it's my mom's birthday"

This week has been a week of miracles,

First Miracle....Eddie Fonua!

So, Thursday Feb 20 we tracted into this 18 year old kid named Eddie.  We taught him the Restoration on his doorstep and he said, yeah that's awesome, he's read the BoM and has been praying about baptism, and then he went on to explain that Elder Penney and Elder Baxter had taught him that.....that's right...THEY POACHED!! Anyway, I'm over that now.....anyway, we texted them pretending to be super upset about it and they said we could have him.  We thought, alright, we'll check up on him sometime....Fast forward to Monday.  We get a call from the elders and they say Eddie just called and said he wanted to get baptized!!! But he "can't tonight because it's his moms birthday!" haha...oh we can help you, we thought!

So we taught him, and still let the Elders be involved, and he was baptized last Friday by his Best Friend Cory Richardson!! He is incredible!! He honestly has so much faith, he doesn't fully understand everything, but he knows that the Church is true, and the rest will come!! I've never grown so close so quickly to an investigator!! He's awesome!!!

Miracle #2....The Hess Kids

This last Thursday, Feb 27 we were tracting again, and we knocked into this member family that is in the Lacey Spanish branch!!  The Mino's family! They are awesome!! Anyway, we asked them about the Hess family and they said, yeah, we're like best friends with them, so seconds later Caleb calls, and they tell him to come over, and we end up teaching him a super awesome lesson, then, yesterday we taught him and his sister the full Restoration, and they are tentatively on date for the 16!!

Miracle #3....Linda Goolsby

Linda is a referral from Spanish that has been in Utah for weeks visiting her Mormon boyfriend.  She called us last night and asked the soonest time that she could be baptized, so she also is on date for the 16th!!!

Man the work truly is just hastening like crazy!!!! The Lord is preparing his people and I'm lucky enough to have a part in helping them come into the gospel!!

There were so many other miracles this week, but if I kept going I would have a forever long email, and I wouldn't have time to finish....so that's all I'm going to share for now!!! I hope you all have a great week!!

I LOVE YOU so much!!!!

Love,

Sister Thomas 

Who's that random girl singing at my Funeral?

So first off I did something this week that I never thought I would do.  I sang a solo....at a funeral! There was a man who died that knew a member in our ward.  He wasn't a member but his daughter and her family were, so they wanted it in the church, and they wanted missionaries there.  So we agreed to go.  They asked Elder Penney, my district leader, to play the piano.  Over the week he asked if I would sing a little part in the special musical number he was doing, I said I would, then the night before it turned into me singing "Where can I turn for peace?"....by myself, in front of 100 non-members!! Who were mourning the death of their friend/father/husband's death! Apparently I did good, because my bishop asked if I'd be willing sometime to sing in sacrament meeting, and everyone said it sounded great! It was SOOOOOO scary though, I can't believe I did it! but I'm so glad that through God you can do all things!! I kept imagining the guy who died sitting in the spirit world thinking...."Who is that random girl singing at my funeral? Who invited her?"  haha! funny thought!

The rest of this week was pretty average.  Except on Saturday Jacob Rhoads got baptized!!!  It was really cool!! He was so ready!!  It is always so incredible to see a child of god come into the fold!!

We also had Stake Conference this week! It was really good! About missionary work and the importance of members, which fyi, MEMBERS ARE THE BEST!!  We as missionaries are at the bottom of the totem pole, but if a member is with us, all of a sudden we are magically cooler.  It's like the story of Alma and Amulek.  Alma teaches the people and fails, but then when God tells him to go back he gets the great member companion Amulek, who is one of the people and they together are able to teach so many people and baptize them!! If that doesn't show the importance of members, what will?

I am so grateful that I'm a missionary and that I'm able to be out helping God's children to come unto him and be baptized!! I can't believe the miracles that I'm able to see each day!! I love you all!! Have a fantastic week!! I love you all!!!!

Love you!!

Sister Thomas

PS--Picture is us with Jacob Rhoads, and his brother Jonathan

Another Week in the Life of a Missionary

This week was quite the week!! First off I'm emailing today because Monday was President's Day, and yesterday was Zone Conference so we were in Olympia all day!! I got to see the Clarke's again, they said they love you dad! They loved working with you!

Lets see all that has happened...

We checked up on a lot of potentials! There wasn't much success, except there was one referral from Spanish that has a lot of potential.  Her name is Virginia King, she's black and is super sweet.  She's been through quite the past and as we taught the Restoration she just ate it up!! It was so awesome!! We're going to see her again this week, I'm excited!

We also met with Jacob again.  He's getting baptized on Saturday! He has been investigating the church like his whole life pretty much, and has gone to church the last 3 years! And on Saturday he's finally getting baptized!! I'm so excited! It's going to be a great day!!

We also have stake conference this week! I'm excited to get to have a stake meeting, they're always really good! Plus they are all focused on Missionary work this year, so that's way AWESOME!!!!

We also got to yesterday, go to a RS activity that was way fun.  They had us bring an item that was connected to a scripture in a bag and then it was like the white elephant game, and we all picked one and then opened it! I got a cute plack that says faith on it and then has a little saying over top, it's way cool!!  The scripture that went along with it was "walk by faith not by sight"  It was a fun little game idea!

This week hasn't been super exciting, mostly because of course I got the flu which knocked me out for like 2 days......I hate being sick, I'm excited to get home and get like every test and then figure out what's wrong with me! It will be nice!

I hope you are all doing super well!! I love you sooooo much!!

Sister Thomas

SNOW DAY!!!

So, this week was quite the week!! I got a new area, a new companion, and a new kind of weather for Washington!

So this week has been pretty chill!  Sister Stevens is cool! She is from Ogden, UT and played volleyball through high school.  She went to Utah State, of course, and she has a cool style...she is one of a kind!!

We have 2 on date right now, and they are solid! It's cool, down here in tenino there are so many part member families that are wanting to learn!! We have Tom on date who is 10 and Jacob Rhodes who is 26.  The work here is good, but it's exactly like when I got to Belfair.  The past missionaries, except Sister Stevens did NOTHING so the ward expects that we'll hang out at their house all day and do crazy things with them.....yeah, not good, but I guess I've just been called to help build wards up because I'm willing to work!! I'm glad I got some of the harvest up in Belfair, but I'm ok with seed planting too, it has to be done sometime!!

I don't have any crazy stories except one:

Yesterday Church was cancelled!!!! There was like 6 inches of snow and so we had to stay in our apartments until like 2 in the afternoon when the snow had melted from the 50 degree weather....yeah Washington is weird!! Sister Stevens and I were just laughing thinking of all the times we went to school in like 2 feet of snow and that nothing skipped a beat, but the problem is that Washington doesn't have the equipment to clear the roads and such, so people driving are dumb and the roads are icy and there are tons of accidents!! It's crazy!!

Well, I wish I had more to tell you this week!! It's kind of been a slow week and I'm still trying to adjust to the new area and get to know everybody!! One day!! The worst is its usually awkward until the first Sunday, and then you meet everyone at church, but church was cancelled so I'll have to make it unawkward on my own!! It will be good though!

The church is true!! The book is Blue!! I know that through and through!! :) haha! I hope you are all doing well!! And fyi I now email from about 10-11 am and have an hour only so....yeah! Just so you all know when to send me emails :)

I hope you are doing so good!! I love you all SO MUCH!!!

Love,

Sister Thomas 

Rich says Hello.....and I say Goodbye

This week was a great one! Even though I got the dreaded news on Saturday that I'm getting TRANSFERED!!! :(

I am so sad to leave Belfair.  Belfair has become my Zion! I have come to truly know my Savior Jesus Christ as I have served in the blessed land!! I have seen his Atonement work in so many lives and have been able to see many of God's Children come unto Him through the waters of Baptism.

Freddy Villareal

Jimmy Kaylor

Crystal Kaylor

Lillia Blanco

Randy Bittner

and most recently (Feb 1st) 

GRANDPA RICH DENT!!!

Grandpa Rich is such a miracle!! He has shown me the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ!!  I didn't realize how precious the story of meeting him was until he told the story the other day.  On a dark Belfair night of tracting we knocked on a house....no one answered and we started to walk away...then a car pulls up, we awkwardly stand there deciding if its weird to go talk to them bc they aren't getting out of the car, we turn to walk away and a little girl says, "WHO ARE YOU?" we tell her we're the missionaries and she says...."Oh....ok" then runs off, we decide to talk to the man in the car and we find out he's from Bremerton and not interested.  We turn and walk away, this is the 3rd time, and then he says, "Girls, why don't you introduce them to your Grandpa?"....she says, "Ok" and takes us over to an old beat up trailer on the side of the house we just knocked on....YEP it was purely the spirit that lead us to him, we would have NEVER knocked it!

Now goes to his perspective he said,

"I was just sitting on the couch minding my own business, in the middle of something, and Angel runs in and says Grandpa there's some girls here to see you.  So I got up and came to the door, and I don't know why, because I never talk to religious people, but maybe since you were girls it made me nicer and I listened and it sounded good so I agreed to meet again. The Rest is History!"

I was crying as he told this story because I realized how inspired it truly was, even down to the fact that an "Angel" came and announced we were there.  God's plan is so detailed.  The fact that the granddaughter that introduced us was named Angel? It's just so precious! 

So he got baptized on Saturday and it was so awesome!! He has overcome so much to get to this day, the most awesome thing was after he was baptized he came out of the water and he let out a big breathe, and just sat and took it all in!! The spirit was SOOOO STRONG!!!!!  I love the Gospel!!

Oh, I never told you, I'm getting transferred to Tenino which is in Centrailia stake, which is south of Olympia, so I'm in for a change I think!! My new companion is Sister Stevens who came out the same transfer as my baby Sister Downs!! Who by the way is doing so good in Brazil!!! YAY!!

So yesterday as you all know was the superbowl, THE SEAHAWKS WON!!!! WOOHOO!!! Yeah, I always pick the best teams! :) We, the missionaries, were stuck in a church as a zone, and got to have a scripture bowl football style, it was actually WAY FUN!! We ate and played the game, and it came close, unlike the actual superbowl.  My team lost by 1 point because we went for the two-point conversion!! Just shows that greed never wins!!! haha!!

Well, that was about it for the week!! Just AWESOME!!!!!

Well, I hope you all have a great week!!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Love,

Sister Thomas

ps I'll get you my new address as soon as I get it!!! Love you!! 

Oh what a week!!

This week was GREAT!!! The highlight was definitely the Baptism of Brother Randolf Ben Bittner! :) I like his name, quite sophisticated! Anyway, it was a great baptism!! Not without stress though, Sister White who had a talk, and Bishop who was baptizing him didn't show up until there was like 2 minutes to the baptism....it was stressful, we were just running around freaking out! The bishop was running late b/c the youth were coming back from up by Seattle, so we didn't get mad at him :) Randy is so sweet!! He just has already changed so much!  We weren't super worried about the baptism, but we were so nervous on Sunday for him getting Confirmed.  If you don't remember he was baptized 4 years ago, but never got confirmed, so needless to say when he walked in the church at 9:59 we let out a HUGE sigh of relief!! He was able to get confirmed, and the coolest part was that Bro. Nielson got to confirm him.  Bro Nielson was the ward mission leader at the time that Randy was baptized the first time, and he said Randy not showing up to get confirmed was the hardest part of being a ward mission leader, he'd always been sad about it, so for him to be able to confirm Randy a member of the Church and give him the Holy Ghost, it was such a MIRACLE!!!

The rest of this week was a normal missionary week!! I'll go through each of our investigators again like last week!!

Rich Dent: Rich is back on date for baptism and should be getting baptized this next Saturday the 1st!! Can't wait for that, he's realized he needs to do it, now it's a matter of getting over his addictions!! He's doing so good!! He came to church yesterday and one of the speakers in Sacrament talked about the 12 steps of the churches addiction recovery program WHAT!! Inspired!!

Brad Baselt: Brad is on date to be baptized on Feb 8 (he's gonna be out of town for the superbowl...like everyone up here, next sunday will be interesting!)  We haven't even taught him about tithing yet, and yesterday at church he asked, "Hey, so how do you pay tithing here? I feel so blessed to be given so much, I want to give back".....WHAT!! It was so cool, we told him he didn't have to pay til he was baptized and he said, well 2 week then!! He is such a sweet man, see service works!! He's the one we met thanksgiving and in dresses and all we help load huge logs from the side of the road to his truck!! God works in miracles!!!

Donny Schmidt: I LOVE THE SCHMIDTS!!!! I honestly love this family so much!! Jasmine is a LA member and they have 3 little kids William (5), Delila (3), and Natalie (19 months, yes she was born on March 27 or 29th, she's like the same age as Avery, it's kind of fun).  We met them ward listing, and since then they have been awesome!! They all came to church yesterday including Donny, the Non-member husband!! He is the coolest guy ever!! He loves the gospel right now and learning about it!! In sunday school he offered to PRAY!!! It was so cool!! The other talk in sacrament meeting was for them, it was about Eternal Families and making it to the temple!! I can't wait to see them sealed as a family!! They are at the point in their lives where he is ready for the gospel, and she is ready for the temple!! I LOVE THE GOSPEL!!!! It truly BLESSES FAMILIES!!!!

Mariela and Jeffrey were both at their other parents houses this weekend so we weren't able to really see them!! They're both doing good though!! we have a lesson with the Molina's tonight, we're gonna paint prayer rocks! It should be a blast!!! Then we have an appointment with brad!! It will be great!!

Well, that was this week!! This next weekend should be craziness with the Seahawks being in the Superbowl!! Everyone is getting ready for their huge parties, we still don't know what they're gonna do with us that night, maybe we'll get to watch the game, that would be pretty sweet!! We'll have to see!!

I hope you are all doing well!  I want you all to know that I know that this church is true, I have never been more sure about anything in my life!! I'm grateful that I have a Savior that can help me through every obstacle of my life, no matter how bad it may be!! I'm so grateful that I have been able to see others use the Atonement in their lives, and because they have I know that not only I can, but EACH ONE OF YOU can too!!

I LOVE YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!  Have a great week!!

LOVE YOU!

Sister Thomas 

156.8 miles and 7 zones later......

This week was a very fun week!! My title refers to our Sunday excursion! Sister Scott received permission from president to be able to go back to Elma for a baptism of a family she was able to teach down there!! Now Elma from Belfair is 1 hour and 15 minutes south.  So we got there at 4.  That night we also had an incredible musical fireside in Gig Harbor, which is 1 hour and 15 minutes North-East of Elma, and we had to get there by at least 6:45.  We ended up making it, it was close though.  We realized as we were driving that we drove through 7 of the 11 zones of our mission, which means that we pretty much took a mission tour!! :) It was fun to be able to see my past areas....so fun!!

The rest of the week was just awesome!! I'll tell you about each of our progressing investigators:

Randy Bittner:  Randy is doing SOOO good!! He's getting baptized this Saturday!! I'm so excited! In his own words, "I'm going to do it right this time."  He's the one that was baptized 4 years ago, but never got confirmed, but we've helped him overcome what stopped him before and he's so excited!! It is going to be a joyous day!!

Rich Dent: Rich is finally starting to do better! This whole last week he has been in SOOO much pain! His back is really bad, he has some disease, I can't remember the name, but he has been in and out of the ER, it's been bad.  Friday night we were able to take a couple priesthood brethren (Brother Russell and Brother Shumaker) and they were able to give him a blessing! It was incredible, immediately after he said that the majority of the pain was gone! He felt relief!! He is so incredible!! He came to church on Sunday and said afterwards that he felt like everyone was talking directly to him, it was cool because Sister Scott and I kept saying, "Man, this is for Rich!"  He's at the doctor today to see how they can help him! We're praying it can get better so that he can get baptized, he really wants to!

Brad Baselt: Brad has been out of town this week, we should meet with him in the next couple days, He's still on date to be baptized on February 1st!! It will be AWESOME!! And he'll be way happy because the Seahawks made it to the SUPER BOWL!!!

Mariela Hernandez:  Mariela is the daughter of a LA member who we've been helping to come back to church.  She's 14 and is so sweet! She LOVES young womens and has started playing on the basketball team, and she's good!! They won their game on Saturday!!! She actually brought a friend with her to church on Sunday, who is going to join the basketball team!! I love when investigators are missionaries before they're even baptized!! It's so awesome!! Now if she would just read and pray about the Book of Mormon she would have the desire to get baptized...right now she's just kind of chill about everything!!

Jeffrey Bishop:  Jeffrey is such a sweet little boy!! He's 9 and wants to be baptized so bad.  This family in our ward just adopted him, and he LOVES church and scouts!! The hold up right now is because the wife is not a member and she doesn't want anything to be rushed, which is good.  He is so sweet though, we have an appointment each Thursday with him, and he should be getting baptized in March sometime!! I love teaching kids, it reminds you how simple the gospel is!!

Those are our main investigators at the moment!! We actually had 7 investigators at church on Sunday!! It was incredible!!

Today we're meeting with Donny Schmidt!! He is the husband of a LA member Jasmine! We met them going through the Ward list and they are such a special family!! Jasmine really wants to come back, she called sister Hall and I her angels when we came and met them, Donny is in the Navy and said since he got back from deployment he has wanted to learn more about religion and he wants to learn more about our church specifically to keep their family together!! We can do that!!! We're going to teach the Restoration tonight!! It should go really well!! I'm excited!!!

Those were the main highlights from the week!! Oh and also, the Seahawks made it to the SUPERBOWL!!!!! I'm so excited!! My first week out here I decided that I would forever make the Seahawks my team, and looks like I made a good choice! :)  The Weavers are trying to figure out what they'll do with us that night, since people here are crazy about their sports!! They seriously are incredible fans!! Every Fridayis BLUE FRIDAY, and I swear EVERYBODY is wearing Seahawk gear, it's pretty cool!!

Oh, we also had a fireside again on Sunday!! I love the firesides!! They are so spiritual, to be able to sing songs about Christ and help to strengthen others testimonies through song, it's such a great blessing!! I LOVE IT!!!

Well, I believe that is all for this week!! Belfair is INCREDIBLE!!!! I love it so much and the work is going so good!!! Which means that I'll probably get transferred :( but I don't want to!!! I want to stay at least one more, I've felt I'd be here 6 months since I got here, It's got to happen!!! :)

I hope you all have a great week, and that you're doing well!!!

I miss you and I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

Love,

Sister Thomas

Another Missionary Week!

This week has been a good one! We have been able to see miracles and see happiness, of course mixed in with some sadness, as is life.  Besides getting the beginnings of the flu which I've tried to kill with vitamin C, this week has been great! We had exchanges on Tuesday, Oh exchanges....they are one thing I'm learning so hard to love more in the work! But this one was good!

I stayed in Belfair and got reunited with an old friend, Sister Crosby! It was fun, we talked about how much we had changed in the almost year since we had been companions! It's been quite the change! We had a jam packed day! The day started with a lesson with Randy!! He's still so excited to get baptized, we have to move it back since he didn't come to church yesterday :( but he's excited to get baptized and to get confirmed this time! It will be so great!!

We then had lunch, and then had a lesson with Grandpa Rich!! Oh how much I love Grandpa Rich, he's so awesome!! We talked about tithing, and he was so willing to pay it! He's so willing to do everything, the Word of Wisdom is still rough for him, but he's working through it! He should still be getting baptized on the 18th!!! I'm so excited!!! I will bawl like a little baby!!

We then had dinner, saw some potentials and ward list members and then we went tracting...aw man, the people were so mean to us that night, I don't know why.  Then we had a lesson with Brad, and it was a MIRACLE!!!!

We went and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ! When we talked about baptism he was still pretty iffy about it all.  We told him it was up to him, no one would force him, but it was a necessary step.  Then we invited him to be baptized and he said YES!!! Then we invited him to be baptized on the 25 and he said YES! again!! It is such a miracle when you can see the spirit working in someone!! SO AWESOME!!!!

Then we met with Bishop and had a great meeting and went home!! It was a great exchange!!

The rest of the week was just sort of a regular missionary week!! Busy, awesome, and full of miracles!!

I wish I had more brain memory right now...I swear everything leaves my head as soon as I sit down and begin typing to you!

Oh, it was my year mark this week, that was CRAZY!!! I have so little time left, I can't even believe it, it's going to fly by before I even realize what's happening!!

Sister Scott and I went and got Ice Cream to celebrate! It was pretty fun! I reflected on the past year and realized just what a blessing it has been, and how much I've been able to grow!! There are still some things I struggle with, but I have a goal and drive to overcome them, because I can overcome anything through the Atonement of Christ!!

I know with all of the fiber of my being that this church is true, and it can and will change you IF you let it!! I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us so much that he has blessed us with families and with prophets and with the Gospel! I know that Jesus Christ's church that he set up when he was on the earth was Restored to the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith!! I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that church, and that The Book of Mormon is evidence of that! I am so grateful to be a missionary for my Heavenly Father, and I strive each day to follow his will more than my own.  I am weak, and I mess up, and I make mistakes, but I know that because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ I can be forgiven if I'm willing to turn away from the sin and turn to God and follow his example!!  I'm so grateful for you guys! God sent me to such a wonderful family, and provided me such wonderful friends because he knew that I'd need you in order to make it through this life happy. 

I hope you all have an amazing week!! I hope you will all repent in some way each day, there's a lot each of us can repent of each day, just DO IT!! Repentance is just a fancy word for change.....so change for the better!!!!

I love you all so much!! I miss you like crazy, but don't be offended when I say, I wouldn't wanna be anywhere but here!!

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

Love,

Sister Thomas