Hello Family!

Hey Family!! I hope you are all doing well this week, even though I hear most of you have been pretty sick, I hope you're starting to feel better though!! Luckily that hasn't hit me yet, which is surprising since I'm around so many people all the time!! Well, lets see what happened this week! It was a pretty slow week, but we found some really awesome people!!

First was Michelle and Tom Wardell.  They are a couple that lives across the street from a really awesome member, Sister Peterson, who's also has a non-member husband.  Anyway, the Wardell's are really cool.  Michelle grew up around members and knows A TON about the church already, Tom is the opposite, he knew nothing really.  Except Glenn Beck said something about underwear so he asked us about garments.  Honestly I think it's so funny how people ask about our underwear, sometime I want to turn it around and ask them about theirs, like, "Hey, I hear you wear Fruit of the Loom what's up with that?" really people, come on.  Anyway! We taught them the Restoration, and talked about eternal families and temples a little bit, and they loved it! They are praying about being baptized on January 12!!

We also met a family, the Mason's!! We met Robert the other night while we were knocking and he was excited to hear more, he said they are looking for a church that will bring them together as a family....um what? we can help!! haha!! We taught him last night, his wife was shopping until the end of the lesson, and we're teaching his wife on Wednesday to get her caught up, and then we're teaching their whole family next weekend.  They have 4 kids, they're 13, 10, 4, and 2.  So if you do the math that's 4 individuals that have the opportunity to be baptized!! We have been so blessed here in Belfair to be able to find families!!! There is no greater joy than bringing a family into the Gospel together, that's what I learned with the Kaylors.

Oh speaking of the Kaylors, they are doing awesome!! Bishop is getting Jimmy interviewed for the priesthood and then getting them both interviewed for temple recommends so that they can do baptisms for the dead on December 28!! I'm so excited!! They are on fire!! Also, yesterday Freddy blessed the Sacrament!! It was so awesome!! He was so happy and proud to be up there and to be worthy!! He looked so good in his white shirt and tie.  I've never been able to see a convert pass the sacrament, mostly because Freddy's my first male over the age of 12 I've had the opportunity to teach and see baptized!! I can't even describe the feeling of Joy I had yesterday experiencing it.  The only thing I can imagine is its like when you're a parent and your child does something that makes you proud. 

Another fun thing this week was we had our mission Christmas party!! It was so fun!! We sang, ate, did skits, and did a white elephant!! I got a BOWLING BALL!!! haha, that is not coming home with me, it would be the weight of a whole suitcase :) we're gonna have some fun with it though, we don't know what, but something fun will come of it!! Our zone sang Jingle Bell Rock but with mission words, which were written by none other than your favorite missionary (me) with some help from Sister Hall!! It was a hit!! I'll have to send you the lyrics some time, they're pretty funny!! Maybe I'll just type it now:

Ring the Bell, Ring the Bell, Ring the Bell knock

We knock lots of doors from 5-7 oclock

Yelling, Rejection, but we are not phased

'specially ever since the bar was raised

Ring the Bell, Ring the Bell, Ring the Bell knock

put em on date and don't let em drop

Preaching and teaching and saying some prayers

In the frosty air

What a dark time, it's required time

to knock the night away

Ring the bell time, is a swell time

To hear J-Dubs tell you go away

Grab your gloves, grab your boots you're gonna freeze

knock all around the block

Enjoy your miracle at 6:59

That's why we ring the bell

why we ring the bell

why we ring the bell, KNOCK!!!

Well, I believe that is all for this week!! I can't believe that we get to Skype so soon!! I'm so excited!! I'll get more details like time and such next week!! I love you all so much!! Have an amazing week!! And remember the true meaning of Christmas at this special time of year!! I'm so grateful to be able to share the Gospel with all I meet, especially in this Christmas season!! I'll miss you, but I'm so happy I am where I am!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Thomas

Marriage-tism!!

This week has been AMAZING!!!! We were able to teach a lot of lessons and find a lot of new investigators, but the best thing that happened this week was we were able to experience a Marriage-tism (marriage and baptism)  I've told you about Jimmy, Crystal and Lillia and this week we were able to see them married and baptized!

They are such a sweet family!! I love them so much!! The day was incredible! At 2pm everyone started showing up and lots of their family and friends were able to come, plus there were lots of ward members there because everyone already loves them!!

President Fields (the Gig Harbor stake President) was able to perform the marriage, it was so precious, he talked about them being able to become an eternal family, and how they would grow together in the gospel, and other beautiful things.  It was so cute, when he asked if Jimmy took Crystal to be his bride, he said "it would be my honor. I do" and I almost just bust out crying right there, they love each other so much and it has just grown as they've come closer to God together!! Immediately after the marriage Crystal, Jimmy, and Lillia went and changed into their jumpsuits.  We had a testimony about baptism, and then the three of them were baptized!! I can't even describe the happiness that was in my heart, there was so much peace. 

I then shared a message on the Restoration while they got changed, and dried off. Then we had some more testimonies.  And we ended with refreshments of course.  Sister Sturges made them a really awesome wedding cake, and they were able to have the joy of cutting the cake!!

It was a terrific day. 

Then, Sunday morning came, and it became even better.  They got to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.  They are just incredible, and they are going to help the ward so much to grow, and expand! In Relief Society we split into groups and were talking about how the love of God being in our lives leads us away from worldliness, and how that is.  And Crystal shared something way cool.

She is a horror movie buff, like she lives for horror movies.  BUT she said ever since she's started learning more about God and Jesus Christ, those things just don't even matter to her anymore, she wants to spend all her time learning more about the Gospel and how their family can be happier.  My heart melted when she said that, to see how the gospel truly can change lives.  Its amazing!!

Funny Story! So Crystal is super baby hungry (they also have a 2 year old Draven, he's not in the picture) anyway, I was telling her how being on a mission has made me super baby hungry because we can't hold them, or really play with them much.  Then she said what you want all recent converts to say.  She said, "I can't wait to see your kids, I'm sure you'll be a great mother"  The only thing better than bringing someone into the gospel, is bringing a life long friend into the gospel.  They're planning on going on a road trip to Salt Lake this summer when Sister Hall and I get home so we can show them around.  I can't wait til we're able to see them sealed in the temple!! I will go anywhere they want to see it!!

Honestly that was the major miracle of the week!! Crystal's gonna teach us how to make  chimichanga's this week, I'm so excited, we're making them for the Ward Christmas Party!! I can't wait!!

It's crazy, this week is the last week of the transfer, and I have no idea what's going to happen to me, I could stay I could go, I have no idea!! It's freaking me out!!! I'll know next week though, all will be well!!

I love you all so much!! I hope you enjoyed the Christmas Devotional, and if you didn't get to see it GO WATCH IT!!!! It's great.  Elder Nelson's talk was interesting, but it was VERY GOOD!!

I hope you all have a great week, and I hope you're loving the Christmas season as much as I am, even though I'm an icicle every night knocking in 18 degrees.  I know it could be worse, but Washington never gets this cold according to the natives.  It's supposed to warm up this week though, so I hope it does. 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and I hope you're all safe and well!! I love you ALL!!!

Sister Thomas

I'm grateful to be a Missionary!!

So as we all know Thanksgiving was last Thursday, and boy did I learn how grateful I was to be a missionary! Not only for the miracles, but for the funny, awkward situations that come with being a missionary.  I'll start out this week by telling a very funny story.

So Tuesday one of the wards in our zone was putting on a thanksgiving lunch for the missionaries.  They said we could come without an investigator, but we wanted to get one there, because who doesn't love free food.  So while we're getting our mail we run into one of our neighbors named Amanda.  She said she'd love to come and that she would also give us a ride, which was awesome because it is far and we were running out of miles. 

So we get in her car and a Justin Timberlake song is on, we kindly ask her to turn it off, and she says, "yeah, of course, but you know that songs about me"  suddenly our brains went.....dun dun dun.....and the crazy stories began.  She told us that there are multiple Justin Timberlake songs in which he sings about her, says her name (Amanda, a very common name), and she talks about how she doesn't want to get in the middle of his marriage.

Sister Hall said to her, "Are you sure you aren't just confused?"

and she said, "I could be, if that's the case I'll just go to counseling and then be done with it."  That's when we decided she was a little confused about reality.

She then told us a story about how Mitt Romney stole the term "Job creators" from her, apparently she's some online writer? I don't know.

Then she told this story about Justin Timberlake, and how when he was a kid he walked into a house with a bunch of drift wood and then said, this is what my name will be, Timber. and a girl said "like timberwolf?" and he said, "no, I like lake, Timberlake"  then she said, that girl was me.....we were quite worried about her sanity at this point. 

Then at the lunch, another wards investigator and her started talking about false doctrine.  Like how Jesus Christ broke the 10 commandments, and something involving Hitler and angels....aka crazy false doctrine. 

That ends, she drives us home, and the last thing she tells us is, "Before you go I have to tell you something really cute about Eminem....he's a dang good writer, and a really good father.  I know this because I chatted with him for 2 weeks last summer."

And then we went in our apartment and that was Amanda...we have a lesson with her this week....we'll see how that goes.

EXCITING NEWS!!!

Crystal Jimmy and Lillia are getting baptized this Saturday!!! Crystal and Jimmy are getting married at 2 and then all 3 are getting baptized immediately afterwards.  Jimmy just has to do good with not smoking before then, if you guys could pray for him that would be awesome, it'd be much appreciated!!

Thanksgiving was fun, we went to the Bishop Wings house for the main event, THANKSGIVING DINNER, and had a blast!! Then we went to the Clifford's house and had some snacks and talked and got to know them.  And then we went to the Warren's house where we got sooooo many leftovers!! Sister Warren is just the sweetest thing on the earth, I love her!! She fed us tons of dessert, well me, Sister Hall gave up sweets til the 7 in support of Jimmy quitting smoking.  It was a great day that was filled with lots of love.

The rest of the week was a week full of miracles!! We went on exchanges, which honestly aren't my favorite, but it was pretty fun, just interesting. 

Well, that's about it for now!! I love you all SOOO MUCH!!! I missed you this thanksgiving and I can't wait to see you on Christmas, but I wouldn't want to be home because I am loving being a missionary, especially this time of year!!

I love you all, and miss you!!

Love,

Sister Thomas

I love being a missionary!!

First off!! Good news!! My allergy rash thing isn't because of Gluten!!! So mom all those brownies you were planning on sending me, send them away!!! :)  Sister Hall has been begging me to ask because she remembers them from the MTC and she truly believes they are the best brownies she has and ever will eat!  We learned it wasn't Gluten when we were fasting and my face still broke out! I'm guessing it's eczema or an outdoor allergy or something, until it gets worse I think I'll be fine, I just look like I'm sunburned, when it's raining! :)

Second, GREAT NEWS!!!!!!

Saturday Morning we were privileged to hear from Elder Call (area seventy), Elder Christianson (presidency of the seventy), and Elder Neil L. Anderson (quorum of the twelve apostles!)  Lets just say it was INCREDIBLE!!

We got together as a whole mission and were all in black and white (which they kept referring to as the Washington Tacoma Uniform) and as he walked in you could feel the power that he held.  It was really special because Elder Anderson actually got to set President and Sister Weaver apart when they became mission presidents! 

He shared tons of great things with us!! There was so much spirit, and I loved how humorous he was at times.  One thing he said is that its funny to be in a meeting with the twelve and Elder Packer will always say, "Neil, you need to enjoy your youth when you have it!" haha he then went on to say, "Most of my brethren have one foot in each world and they're waiting to step fully to the next."  He talked to us about how we needed to have sealed in our heart, the testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and when we do, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon will never be a problem, because they just add to that testimony!  He also quoted Elder Kimball who said, "If a person hasn't suffered he hasn't repented!"  It looks like I've repented a bunch with the suffering I've gone through, but it has all made me happier and more prepared to be able to share my testimony with the world.  Another thing he said that hit me was he said,

"You're not who you think you are...You're better!"

And finally as he bore his testimony he said, "I am His Witness.  He lives."  and the spirit at that moment was indescribable, I knew with no doubt in my mind that not only did Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appear to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820, but Christ continues to run His church through his called and ordained Prophets, seers, and revelators!  They are his witness, and though I have not seen him with my physical eyes I too am His witness! I am able to go every night and knock of strangers doors, and testify of Jesus Christ because He lives, he loves me, and He wants all of his children to have that knowledge.  If anyone reading this is questioning, or has questioned their testimony of our Savior.  Kneel tonight in humble prayer and just ask if he is there.  I do this every once in a while when the doubts may sneak in, and each time I ask, I am blessed with a firmer knowledge of His presence.  He lives, and because he lives we can too!!

If that wasn't a great enough week, it all got better yesterday!! So I told you about Crystal last week, Sister Sturges refered her and she is so prepared.  Well, this week we got to meet with her fiancé Jimmy and their daughter Lillia. 

We were worried at first that Jimmy would be against it, he walked in, big bushy beard, looks kind of like most the anti's we would come across, and we were a little nervous to be honest, but the Lord has truly prepared this sweet family.  We were able to teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of Wisdom, and the Law of Chastity.  By the end, they were 99% on date to be not only baptized on December 7th, but married as well!!  So on December 7not only will RSL be destroying whoever they're playing in the championships, but Jimmy, Crystal, and Lillia will be beginning their journey towards becoming an eternal family.  I'm pretty excited.  I've been promised I would find a family to bring to the gospel, and I think this could be them!  They are so sweet, and have so much to give. 

Well, lets see, I think that's long enough for now....oh except I must mention, this last week we got to go to Stretch Island in our area, and OH MY GOSH!!! It's beautiful!!! You look one way and it's water, and the other way you see Mt. Rainer exploding over the trees.  I wish I could put a camera in my brain so you could see the beauty I'm surrounded by each day. I'll just have to wait for our vacation up here!!

I love you all!! Have a great week!! And eat tons of food! And most importantly be grateful for what God has given you!! I'm so grateful for my family that is able to support me while I'm able to be out serving the Lord.  I'm grateful to be a missionary and help others come to the Gospel.  I'm SOOO Grateful to know that I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Sister Thomas

Spiritual High!!

Oh my gosh!! Yesterday was such an incredible day!! I can't even really explain the joy, but I'll try.....here it goes! 

So it all started at 8:20 in the morning when Brother and Sister Wood agreed to drive us to the Stake Center Dedication.  The Gig Harbor has been without a stake center since it was created a few years ago, and they have been waiting for this day!!  And lets just say it was well worth the wait.  We got there around 9 to beat the crowds, and then sat in the brand new, beautiful building to wait for the meeting to start at 10.  They decided that they were going to have the stake as a whole partake of the sacrament, and it was so cool to see the 4 tables of priests and bread, and dozens of deacons worthy to have the opportunity to do so, and it was so organized, it was a shock, most 12 year old boys are too crazy, it just shows the gospel is true when you see them be so reverent and kind during the sacrament.  We found out later in the meeting that 1500 people were able to partake of the sacrament as a whole, that's how many people, members and non-members, that were able to come to the dedication.  It was incredible!

Then President Fields offered the dedicatory prayer and it was incredible the silence that was in there, it was so apparent that immediately after the amen you could hear a rush of sound of the rustling papers, breathing, coughing, whining babies, but during the prayer there was no sound, it was peaceful, quiet, still, and I felt like I was in the temple!  I felt that everlasting warmth and joy that comes from the spirit, it was so incredible!!

After the dedication we headed home for some lunch and then headed to an appointment we had with a referral from a member in our ward, The Sturges'.  They came to the Harvest Festival and we were finally able to meet with Crystal yesterday with Sister Sturges there!

It was so awesome!! We taught the Restoration and she loved it, she doesn't have much knowledge about religion but she wants to be surrounded by good people and have religion in her life.  It was really cool, we shared the first vision and told her about President Monson, and she said,

"Wait, you're telling me there is a prophet, like Noah on the Earth now?"

"Yep" we said

"That's so cool, how have I not heard about that, why do people not know that, why wouldn't they want to know that?"

It was incredible! She said she believed that God would have another prophet, it wouldn't make sense to just leave us, she is so golden, and she is praying about December 7 to be baptized right now, we have an appointment on Wednesday and her fiancé and daughter (Lillia, 8) are going to listen too! Lillia did listen a little bit, but not too much, she was distracted being a young girl and all!  When we invited Crystal to church though Lillia was just like, "YES!!!! WE WILL!" It was adorable!

We also had an incredible lesson with a new investigator named Paula Winslowe.  She is awesome, she let us in when we were tracting and that night set up times for us to come and teach each of the lessons.  We had the one last night and the next three today, tomorrow, and Wednesday! She loves knowledge! haha!

Our lesson yesterday was awesome! We taught the Restoration and were able to bring Sister Seamons, a way sweet member with us! As we asked if she had questions she said, yes, I've been wondering this my whole life.  So I look at God, and how he's our father.....shouldn't there be someone to help him, if we have 2 parents on earth shouldn't we have 2 parents in heaven.  We all kind of smiled at each other and told her how we do have a heavenly mother, and she got a little teary eyed.  Its so incredible when people are able to learn truths on their own, and something they believe so much but people say their crazy.  But I love seeing when they hear that it's not crazy but it's true, and they see that we have something they want.  The spirit was so incredibly strong at the lesson, and Sister Seamons really helped it to be there!  I love having members help with the work, it makes it so much better!!

Well, I think that's all I'll share for now, there were other cool miracles and such, but if I told you all of them you'd be reading for a week straight, since they happen everyday!!

I love you all and pray for you so much!!!

I hope you all know how much your heavenly father loves you and how blessed we are when we keep his commandments and follow in Jesus Christ's footsteps!

I read a scripture this morning that really made me realize that how we end up is our choice, it's Helaman 14: 30-31 and it says,

30 And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto ^ahimself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are ^bfree; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a ^cknowledge and he hath made you free. 31 He hath given unto you that ye might ^aknow good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might ^bchoose life or death; and ye can do good and be ^crestored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you.
I love how it shows us the agency we have, how if we want good, we have to do good.  Samuel the Lamanite is just so awesome.  I wish I could be as bold as he was, he's an inspiration for sure!!  I hope you all can make the choice to do good so that you can have good! I hope your weeks are full of good!!
I love you all so much!!!
Sister Thomas

What a week!!

So first off it was transfer calls!!! And I'm staying in Belfair, but unfortunately I'm losing Sister Chapman :(

I am getting Sister Hall though, yes her name does sound familiar, she's my MTC companion!! I know right! What the crazy!!

Well, I don't have much time because its not pday and we have transfer meeting and such so just the important stuff.

1:  New development on the physical side, yet again another thing to make life hard.  Everytime I eat anything with Gluten I get a crazy rash on my face that burns real bad, which means I have been Gluten free for the last week, waiting to get in and see a doctor to see whats up....that also means I now have no money because Gluten Free stuff is expensive!!!

2:  FREDDY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!

Sunday night was incredible! Freddy was baptized and he was so excited! He's 16 and I can't wait until I get the news in 2 years that he's going on a mission, people are going to love him wherever he goes. The ward was super supportive, and he got a di order form for clothes, bc he has no means to get his own, and he's so excited to have clothes so he can get the priesthood and pass and bless the sacrament.  I've never seen someone so ready to take off in the church!!  God truly blesses us!!

Well, that's the big news from the week, sorry this wasn't too long! I'm used to more time....

I love you all, and miss you terribly!!

I hope your weeks are fantastic!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Thomas

Miracles!

This week has been a good week.  There have been lots of hard times, but there were more miracles that the bad times seem little.  First off it was Halloween week!! Wednesday night we had a Harvest Festival in our ward!  It was awesome, there were so many non-members there with all the part-member families, and members bringing friends, the only problem, there are only 2 of us, and there were so many activities going on simultaneously that it was hard to talk to everyone.  It was a very stressful ward party, with people getting mad because we weren't spending enough time with their people, but we had to see everyone...man my head starts hurting just thinking about it, but good news, we got a 3 piece family (3 baptize age family) to start teaching.  They came with the Sturges, an awesome family in the ward and we should start teaching them this week!! We're excited!!

That night we went and stopped at McDonalds, because we didn't get to eat at the party due to so much socializing, and we decided to go inside (weird because we never go inside!) and there was a family sitting and eating.  We walked in and suddenly I recognized the man, I pointed at him, and so out of character said, "You're Carl right?"

he looked at me confused and said, "Yessss."

and I said "we're the missionaries, I ran into you up in Kitsap Lake with another girl and you said we could come see you, would it still be alright for us to stop by and teach you and your family a lesson?"

Then he recognized who I was and said, "Oh yeah, sister Thomas, yeah that'd be fine."

"Sweet." we said, "We'll give you a call and set it up!"

And then we got our food, said bye and left.

I can't remember if I told you guys or not but I met Carl up in Kitsap Lake 2 weeks ago when I was with Sister Hall on an exchange.  He didn't seem super open, but he agreed to let us come and gave us his number and address, and then at McDonald's it was just too much of a coincidence that we met him twice randomly.  We have an appointment with him on tuesday night, and I'm so excited, I think he could be the reason I'm in Belfair, to find him and teach him and his two kids!  So I'm excited for that!!

Another awesome miracle.  So this kid Freddy has been progressing really well, and then he got grounded (he's a crazy 16 year old boy....of course he got grounded :) ) anyway, so he hasn't been at church the last couple weeks, and we have no way of communicating with him so we were sad that he had disappeared, but then he was at church!!!!!

So....he pulled us out of Sunday School and asked if we could teach him a lesson, we said of course so we taught him the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Then we were setting a date for him to get baptized and he said,

"The 10th, I wanna do the 10th" and we were like,

"that's next Sunday" and he said "YEP!" so we told him all the stuff he has to do before then, got the record to him so he can have his dad sign it, and we are currently in bad headache panic mode to get his last lesson taught, him interviewed, and the program made by Sunday.  It will work out, but it won't be easy, especially since we have no direct communication with him, we have to work through a young man that he goes to school with.....man we need facebook, this would be so much easier! haha

Oh speaking of Facebook.  I think we may be getting it at the end of this month.  On Halloween during our zonemeeting we had a conference call and President Weaver announced that on November 23 a member of the quorum of the twelve and a member of the seventy are coming to visit our mission during their trip up to Washington, and we get to spend 2 hours with them!!! They don't know who is coming yet, but it would be so legit if it was Elder Bednar and Elder Dube, that's who I'm hoping for!! I'd said Uchtdorf, but since he's in the first presidency I don't know if he'd come....whoever it is it will be awesome!!

We're secretly hoping that with the member of the 12 also comes Ipads and Facebook.  They will make the work so much quicker!!!! It would be awesome!!

Then after the AWESOME news of the conference call we finished the meeting and then went on to our being locked in the church and being babysat by the senior missionaries! haha it was way fun though, we had a potluck and then we got to watch a technically not approved movie, but approved by President for the night! We watched Ephraim's Rescue, and if anyone reading this hasn't seen it, you've got to!! It's incredible!!! It's made by the guy that made 17 miracles and its about the pioneers and this guy who has the gift of healing.   It's seriously incredible, watch it!!! NOW!!

Well, lets see what else happened.  Oh, yesterday we got our apartment dedicated, because weird scary stuff was happening, and now it's like walking into a chapel, its so incredible!! I love the Priesthood and that we're able to literally feel the difference between good and evil. 

I think that's all for this week!! Now onto the stress of planning a baptism that will be a day that Freddy will always remember!! It will be amazing, and such a good thing to get Less Active members involved in!! I'll let you know how it goes next week!!

I love and miss you all!!

Have a great week!!

Sister Thomas

 

ps I love you SOO MUCH!!

 

pps I need Halloween Costume Pictures!! I wanna see how cute you all were, I was a missionary, so original right.  Oh funny story.  We were doing a trunk or treat after our zone meeting at the church on halloween and this little 9 or 10 year old boy walked by and said,

"Oh look at all those missionaries, they all need to go find girls to kiss"

and all the sisters just busted up laughing, it was so funnily inappropriate.....plus the elders were so embarrassed!! haha priceless!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Week 4, the Thursday of a transfer

So this week was one of those weeks that you just wanted it to get over so you could get a new start.  There were still miracles, I mean on a mission theres not a day without a miracle, but everything just went wrong this week!

No one was home when we went knocking so it was just walking around for 2 hours in the cold knocking on doors of snow birds (people that live in Washington in the summer but move to Arizona or California during the winter) aka Belfair area.  Knocking will be a butt this transfer, but we've gotta do it, even if most people aren't home, there can always be that one that needs us, and we've got to be there for that! So sadly I don't have much excitement this week, it's been rough. 

Yesterday was the primary program though, and I just LOVE how funny little kids are, and how much spirit they bring to the meeting!! It's so incredible the faith of a child!! It's also incredible the air that some 4 year olds can get off of a theater chair up on the stage.  And also how hard boogers can be to find that both fingers need to go up the nose in the middle of I am a child of God! haha, I can't wait til I'm a parent and my kids are up there, sadly that will be at least 6 years, if not more, but one day I will be the parent laughing so hard at my kid that my face is blue! haha!!  I can't wait!

I learned this week from reading the Book of Mormon.  I learned that there is right and there is wrong.  That's it.  It's not easy to accept, but that's how it is. 

Oh and to make the week end on a good note the power of course went out last night, so we were without light for 2.5 hours, but not only that, but our bathroom is a septic tank, which means when the power is out theres no water, or toilet.  And we both had to pee....really bad, perfect way to end this week!  haha, sometimes I just think God is up there laughing and saying one day you'll see why this happened, but for now it's just funny!

I love this Gospel and I know the church is true and that true joy comes from keeping the commandments of God, as hard as they may be.  I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! I love you all and miss you to pieces!! I can't believe it's almost Christmas! AHH the downhill portion of a mission is just too fast!! 

Have a great week! I love you all!!

Oh, and Happy Halloween! I'll be stuck in a church from 4:30-8:30 but I hope you all have fun! haha, stupid people that dress up like missionaries and do dumb things so they have to confine us to a church so we're all accounted for.  At least we get to hang out with the other missionaries, that's always fun!!

Well I love you sooo much!!

Sister Thomas

So. Much. Spirit.

This week I have felt the spirit like never before!!! The missionary work has been going good, we have 2 solid investigators, and we had 4 investigators at church yesterday, that was exciting! And a miracle!! Now if only we can both be healthy the work can progress even faster!! This week we had the greatest spiritual experience of my life.  On Thursday night we were invited by the Branch President to do an FHE at the Women's Correctional Facility (the women's prison).

I didn't know what to expect going in, I was a little nervous to be honest, but the experience was so AMAZING!! We got all checked in, they previously did background checks and such on us, and we went into the little room that they set aside for the church on Sundays and Thursdays.  We had been asked by the Stones (Branch President&RS President) to teach the first lesson, but sad thing is we're not really allowed to proselyte, which meant we couldn't invite them to be baptized, we could just give them the information. 

There are 4 less active (LA) members that are currently at the facility so when there were 5 women we assumed that it was the 4 LA and 1 non-member.  Afterwards we found out that only 2 of the women there were members and the other 3 were non-members.  As we were teaching the Restoration the spirit was SO STRONG!  Especially when we started to talk about the Atonement and how everything that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  These women need that Atonement, obviously they had made choices in their life that have led them to where they are today.  The thing that was so amazing though was that they now had made the choice to turn their lives around when it matters.  They truly understand that Christ can and will forgive them when they turn to him!  So we weren't allowed at the end of the lesson to invite them to baptism, which was hard because all 3 of the non-members would have said yes.  I KNOW they will all join the church when they get out, they pretty much told us as soon as they had the opportunity they would be baptized. 

One of the ladies, Mary, was incredible, and I know we were there for her.  She told us afterwards that our personal experiences we shared helped her to see the truth of the gospel, and she had had questions about Joseph Smith, but we had helped her.  The best thing she said was "When I came in today I was on the fence about the whole Joseph Smith thing and my legs were over the side of it being wrong about to jump off, but after tonight I think I hopped over the fence to the side of knowing it's true."  Man, I almost cried, it was more spiritual than the MTC, which sounds weird, but its completely true!! I wish I could explain and have you experience it, so AWESOME!! I can't wait til they ask us to come back again!! We're trying to get permission from President to write letters of encouragement to them, hopefully we'll be able too!! They are such incredible ladies!! One of the Less Active ladies was in there because her family wanted to come back to church so to complete the repentance process she had to confess to something she'd done in the past and do some time, she was telling us how grateful she was to be back, even if it meant having to go through the correctional facility.  Her son is planning on serving a misson as soon as he graduates high school and she couldn't be more proud.  I love the gospel, its so incredible!!

I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be able to know the things I know and to be able to share them with the people here in Washington!!

I love you ALL!!! Have a great week!!!

I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH, EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU!!!!

 

LOVE,

Sister Thomas

This week has been so great!!

It's been another great week here in the WA-TAC!!! Even though the flu hit and we were down a couple days, we still had tons of miracles.  The biggest would have to be Heather!

We met Heather one day while we were knocking doors.  FYI: Knocking doors in Belfair is walking for 15 minutes then hiking to a house, where people usually aren't home, and then walking another 15 minutes followed by another hike to an abandoned door. 

Anyway, so we were knocking and we ran into Heather.  She is in her 20's and she's the sweetest little thing ever!! She has a 1 year old son named Hayden, who is stinkin adorable, and she's engaged to a guy, not our biggest fan at the moment, who is in the Navy.  We met her Wednesday and set up to give her a church tour on Friday.  She came and loved it.  She kept saying, that makes sense, yeah I can see that!  Then, she asked if our church did any fun events during the holiday season, and we were like......oh do we?  And we told her about 4 of the upcoming events and then she asked if there was anyone in our church that liked to craft or do quilting or stuff like that, and we wanted to just say,

"Heather, you've found the perfect church for you, we're full of crafters and we love having huge events with tons of food!!  Get baptized now and forever hold your peace!!!"

But we restrained ourselves.  She came to church yesterday and loved it.  Our ward was way awesome too, she got invited to 2 different dinners, and invited to all of the playgroups the mothers have.  Man, the Belfair ward is just taking off with this member missionary work, and its only just beginning. 

Our area, if we were to activate the whole ward, and bring people into the gospel as well could become a stake.....thats our goal! It obviously won't happen super soon, maybe not even while I'm here, but we can shoot for it!  We have 78 Less-active, Part-member families, thats like 156 people right there if they all came back to church and their significant others joined the church!! It's possible, Elder Holland in conference said, if ever member invites 1 person to an event between now and Christmas, millions will be baptized.  He didn't say if they come to church, or if they teach them something, or if they introduce them to the missionaries, but if they just invite them to an event.  One of the millions of potlucks that go on all the time work perfectly, I mean who doesn't love FREE FOOD!! haha

Ah man!! I love being a missionary.  Its incredible to know with no doubt that what we are sharing is true.  I was able to this week finish reading the Pearl of Great Price.  For anyone who doesn't know my goal on my mission is to read all of the standard works (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, D&C and Pearl of Good Price).  I've completed the Book of Mormon (4 times so far) and Pearl of Great Price.  I can do it.  I think the Old Testament will be the hardest, I've skipped to short stories at time, b/c leviticus is so hard to get through with all the rules and weird customs, but I have learned things about myself and about the temple that have been really cool!  I've also learned that God is really funny sometimes.  For example, with the walls of Jericho falling down.  He just is so funny with how he goes about it, it's almost like he knows he has the power to have them obey him, so he has them do funny things like walk around the city and then scream and it will fall......what? I just love God so much!! He truly is my father, thats why I must love his humor so much!

My Book of Mormon reading has been great too!! I love just how faithful Nephi is, he's just so incredible, I wish I could be that faithful, and I know I can be.  One thing I learned is that its all about perspective.  If you look at the story Laman and Lemuel did everything their father asked, they just complained about it, while Nephi did it without complaining.  Unfortunately I fall under the Laman and Lemuel category lots of times, when I complain and don't do what I need to as joyfully as I could.  Its something I'm working on!!

Oh, exciting news!! I found out today that I'm a grandma!!! Sister Downs is training so I have a little Brazilian Grandbaby down in Brazil!! So fun, too bad I'll probably never meet her.... :(  I'm so glad you got to meet Mama Nanto!! I love her so much, she helped me through alot as I'm sure she mentioned!!! I'm glad you liked her, she said she loved all of you!! 

Well, I think thats all I got this week!! I hope I made sense!!

I love you all and miss you!! I can't believe its almost Christmas and I'll get to see your beautiful faces soon!!

Have a great week and pray and read your scriptures every day! I promise it will bless your life!! 

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Sister Brittany Thomas

Out in the Boonies!

This week has been great!! My new companion, Sister Chapman, is awesome!! We're like the same person, like legit, it's crazy!! We both just came out of tough companionships/transfers too so we're glad to have someone that is excited to work!!

So Belfair is legit the boonies, there are 5 different little cities that are included in my area.  We live in the most beautiful place though.  We live in a townhouse right on the waterfront of the Hood Canal!! It's gorgeous, I'll send you a picture when I remember my cable....

So as you all are aware I'm sure, General Conference was incredible!!!! It was so good!! I haven't loved conference so much in my life, I felt like everyone was talking directly to me!! Oh and I'm saying this for record, but I bet Richard Dube, the african member of the 70 is going to be one of the twelve Apostles one day, he was just so incredible!

Also this weekend I got to go back down to Parkland for Rachel's baptism!! It was so awesome!! Not only did I get to see her take this incredible step in the Gospel, but her husband was there and the spirit was just incredible!!  I also of course got to see all my great "family" members!  They were all so shocked to see me, it was so fun!!  I can't believe its only been a week, yet somehow I miss them all so much already!

I also got to see Melissa, and she told me the most incredible news ever!!!  One day she was reading Mosiah 18 (Baptism chapter- covenants and so forth) and she realized that she really needed to be baptized.  So she called the state and worked out how she could still get her social security money and medication when she got married, and they figured it out.  So she's going to propose to her boyfriend and get married and then immediately baptized in November, and she wants Sister Ryser and I in her wedding, so Ryser asked President and he said we could be, as long as we were missionary attire and had our name tags!! So I get to be a bridesmaid on my mission, so I'll get to go back for that!! I'm so excited!!!  I was in pure shock when she told me!! She is just so amazing, I love her so much!!  She is one of the many that God has prepared for us to find and teach!!

So this week with my Book of Mormon reading (1 Ne 1- 1 Ne 16) I really noticed how important it is to Trust in God.  I don't know how Nephi is so perfect, I'm guessing maybe Mormon kept out some weaknesses to make him cooler and more heroic, but not too much, he's just an incredible guy!! I learned this week that its because he Trusts so much in God.  He has no doubt that when God makes a promise he'll fulfill it!!! He has such awesome faith, it's so inspiring!!!

So for anyone who may be reading along with me by the end of next Monday we should be to 2 Nephi 9, or somewhere close to there.  I encourage you all, even if you don't stay exactly with me, to read the Book of Mormon everyday, even if it's just a verse, that's all it takes to be happy!!

Well, thats all I have for this week, I hope you all are well!!

I love you all and miss you!!

I love you!!!

Sister Thomas

Take me home, country roads

Hello Family!!

So I got my transfer call and I'm headed to Belfair, WA, aka, the country.  My area is about 1.5 hours from one side to the other....I'm getting a Sister named Sister Chapman.  I don't really know her, but from what I've heard she's a great missionary so I'm excited.  This means though that sadly I'm leaving Parkland.  I knew it was happening but it didn't hit me until we were sitting in fast and testimony meeting yesterday and I realized I'm not just leaving another ward on my mission, it's like leaving home again.  This ward has seriously become like my family, there are so many people that I know will be friends for life.  Now I just have to get better at writing letters so I can stay in contact with them.

One family I love with all my heart is the Pathakis'.  Brother and Sister Pathakis were less active when I got to the area, however God had perfectly timed them to come home from a trip to temple square in SLC the Sunday we got there.  Since then we have been able to go over weekly and keep Sister Pathakis pumped.

On their trip she realized that she NEEDED to get to the Temple, and she would do whatever was needed.  She was baptized10 years ago, and besides the 2 weeks she had quit smoking in order to be baptized, she had smoked for 37 years.  I believe today she is 32-37 days without a cigarette, and really without any desire to smoke.  She starts her Temple Prep classes on Wednesday, I'm so excited for her.  Not only has she been changing her life, but she has been changing the lives of those around her.

Her next door neighbor Rachel has become a dear friend.  We were able to attend her wedding which was in the Pathakis' backyard, and since then she has come to us asking about the Gospel.  She came to the General Relief Society meeting on Saturday, and then to church on Sunday.  She told us yesterday that she just knows its true.  Sister Pathakis said during church Rachel just leaned over to her and said, "Renee, It's true." and sister Pathakis said, "what is?" and Rachel said, "This Church, it's all true!"  She's getting baptized next Sunday after General Conference and she's so excited.  I love when God blesses us with such amazing people.  She is married and has a 18 month old son, Felix.  We talked about the temple yesterday and she loved it, she's hoping Edgar, her husband, will feel something at her baptism and feel of the truth.  He's hispanic and was raised Catholic, so he's a little unsure right now.  I hope President Weaver will let me come back for the baptism, I remember last transfer when Sister Downs and I met Rachel for like 2 seconds I said to Sis Downs, "She's going to get baptized, not now, but soon!"  I realize now that the spirit allowed me to see that, which allowed me to not be scared when we shared the Gospel with her! 

Another family I will love forever is the Ani's.  The Senior couple and sis downs and I were able to help bring them back to activity.  And I saw on Sunday that Sister Ani is starting Temple Prep classes as well!! I know lots of missionaries hate working with Less-actives and just want baptisms, but I've come to learn just how important it is to do both.  I'm just as happy seeing my sister get ready to enter the temple as I am to see a brother or sister of mine be baptized.  They're all God's children trying to find a way back. 

Sister Staples is a great example as well.  The first time sis downs and I met her 3-4 months ago she said she'd never come back to church, and now she is working on getting back to the temple.  Yesterday when she found out I was leaving she was crying, and said, you better stay in contact with me.  You're invited to my temple wedding when I find the right man!  Tears swelled up in my eyes, especially when her little 5 year old grandson walked up with tears in his eyes and said, "Bye, Sister Thomas, we'll miss you!"  Man, this ward.....I was balling like a little baby bearing my testimony because everywhere I looked someone was crying.  I wish I could move areas and companions, but keep the same ward, why can't that happen? haha!  I know it will all be good though, God has a plan, and it's a plan of happiness, so what ever is going to happen, as long as I keep my end of the bargain, I will be full of everlasting Joy!

So, tomorrow, OCT 1, there will be 100 days til my 1 year mark....CRAZY!! I'm starting the downhill slope, and it's starting to go too fast!! Anyway, since there are 100 days I am doing a 100 day Book of Mormon reading challenge! I hope you all do it! It's only 5.3 pages a day, and it will be so fun!  Each Monday I'm going to share a little of what I learned, I'd love to hear what you've all learned too!  By the end of next Monday you should be around page 37, I'll get a better schedule set up and send it out, I haven't had time to do it yet!  I'm going to try to have the week of Christmas be a little less to read a day since it will be crazy busy, so I'm trying to figure it all out!

I hope you all have a great week!! I can't wait to hear more and more fun things from you!! And I can't wait to hear what you all learn from the Book of Mormon!!

I love ALL of you SOOOO MUCH!!!

I love you!

Sister Brittany Thomas

Let us all Press on in the Work of the Lord!

This week has been another crazy week!!

One of the greatest things we were able to do was go to a place called Zions Camp.  It's an lds owned property up in Belfair, WA, where girls usually go for girls camp.  Our mission was able to go up there for a day and do the ropes course which taught unity and trust.  Then we had a little devotional, sang some songs of course, and headed home.  It was a beautiful and incredible day!  It was so beautiful, I wish I had taken pictures, I'm so bad at that, I'm sure theres some on the wa-tac blog though...in fact, here's one from the blog,

 

 

It's a really cool place! At the end of the day we all wrote down our "weapons of rebellion" like the Anti-Nephi-Lehites and we burned them in the fire....it was such a spiritual experience up there, being in nature I just feel so close to God, it's incredible!

At the end we sang "Amazing Grace" and when we sang the line, "my chains are gone, I've been set free" I just about started weaping....that song has become so dear to my heart, it will always remind me of my mission. 

The rest of this week has been pretty average, people saying no, people saying yes but then not being there when we come back, and Melissa being SO GOLDEN! but not willing to act on the answer she's received and get married or stop living with her boyfriend....man Agency is the worst sometimes.....so let me kinda explain in a little more detail.

So Melissa has believed everything that we've taught her, like in her prayers she says "thank you for sending the truth to my door", and "thank you for the spirit being able to speak to me through these women", and "thank you for showing me the only true church and the truth of the Book of Mormon", not to mention she has come to everything since we met her 2 weeks ago.  She came to a baptism, church 3 times (one of which was stake conference), the Relief Society Activity, and the Ward Social last Saturday. 

We took her on a church tour this week, and at the end she said, "The Spirit keeps saying to me 'be baptized my child'."  From all these signs you'd think that I'd be saying, and she's getting baptizedtomorrow, but unfortunately Satan is the worst, and she's scared to get married or move out because of money and medication and such!  It's hard, we don't know what to do because we can't really help her move forward any more, it's all about her choosing to take a leap of faith, and put her trust in God, and Trust that He would provide for her if she followed Him.  I know that she will be baptized, and I will be there, even if its in a couple years and I have to come back.  ohhhh agency so awesome but so frustrating!!! 

So I talked with President this last week and he pretty much told me my transfer call, he said he doesn't know where yet, but I'm going to have a new companion and most likely leave Parkland.  I'm excited, Sister Ryser has been TOUGH!! Everything is somehow always my fault.  I love her, but I just get frustrated when I'm always being put down, its not very fun.  Theres only a week left though, it will be ok!  President promised me that if I did my part in making sure I was exactly obedient, then next transfer would be the best transfer of my mission.  I can't wait, but I'm sad to leave Parkland if thats the case, this ward truly is my family! I have come so close to so many of them, I guess I'll just have to be really good at writing letters! :)

Well, I'm afraid thats all my brain can or wants to recall from this week, this last week of transfer will and HAS to be the BEST!!! 

I'm so grateful to be a missionary, man I can't even believe I'm almost at 9 months!! This last week I totally had a mid-mission crisis, like bad, I was a mess, but now I see that I need to appreciate every minute of being here.

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints is the only church on the earth that contains the fullness of the Gospel, and I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and it can bring anyone, along with the Bible, the greatest Joy!

I love you all and miss you!!! I hope you are having an INCREDIBLE week, and I hope it gets even better!!! 

I love you!!!

Sister Brittany Thomas

I love the Priesthood!

This week has been a week of ups and downs of course!! (That's missionary work!) On Monday we saw Josephine and Jaylene, her granddaughter, and taught the Word of Wisdom.  We found out she smokes and drinks coffee and tea, but she said she'd live it and she knew God would help her!  We found out Tuesday I believe that her manager was evicting her from her house.  Josephine has been struggling with money b/c her husband is in jail and she was getting the retirement (since he's retired) wired to the joint account.  Aparently someone closed that accound and the money is getting wired to a different account that no one seems to know about.  Obviously theres some fraud going on, anyway, Josephine doesn't have a good enough income without that to pay rent, and her manager, even though Josephine has never been late on a payment, kicked her out for not paying.  It makes me really upset, and the worst part is we haven't been able to get in contact with her the last couple days, she didn't come to church yesterday, I'm just hoping and praying she's ok. 

On Thursday we went to a Relief Society meeting that was so uplifting.  Josephine as well as Melissa were both able to come.  It was a former stake presidency member, President Hjelm, and he talked about the Holy Ghost and recognizing it.  It was incredible, both Melissa and Josephine loved it.  Afterwards Josephine asked for a blessing.  President Hjelm and Bishop Thompson were able to give it to her.  It was so AMAZING, and afterwards Josephine was crying!! I wish I could portray just how truly incredible it was.

Oh man, I have to tell you about Melissa!!

Melissa is incredible.  On the door step you could say, no she said she wasn't interested, but for some reason (which we know now) the Spirit just told us to keep pushing, so we did.  After an hour or so we were in her house showing her mormon messages and other talks.  By the end she said she'd read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and come to church one time.  We knew leaving she'd do more than that and she has. 

She is so elect!! Everything we teach her, she knows is true!! Its amazing.  She asks us about things before we teach her too. For example, she came to a baptism last week and afterwards she started asking about smoking, drinking, word of wisdom stuff.  We told her we'd talk about it, then she brought it up again, and then finally as we were walking her to her apartment she said, "so I smoke and drink a little bit, do I have to stop doing that?" and so we taught a little short word of wisdom lesson, and told her we'd teach it in more depth when we came back.  When we came she told us she'd decided to slow down smoking and she had called the doctor and scheduled a time to get a nicotine patch....by herself, before we really taught her about it. 

She did the same thing with the Law of Chastity.  She lives with her boyfriend, and even after we  taught the Law of Chastity doesn't see that changing.  But, she's been talking about getting married alot the last day or so, especially because at church yesterday the Gospel Principles lesson was on Eternal Families, of course because God's timing is just PERFECT!!  She leaned over during it and said, "this is for me!"

Thats really the only thing holding her back from baptism right now.  and she has a mental disablility and she's struggling with making sure that she really wants this. 

Yesterday it was so cool! She said, "so do WE have rules about movies and music and stuff, is there stuff WE should stay away from?" I was in awe because 1. investigators don't usually just bring that up, and 2. She said we, like she was already a member, and its because she KNOWS its true!! I love being a missionary!!

Well I said I love the priesthood in my subject and thats not only because it helped Josephine, but also because I was able to get a blessing last night from Bro. Childs and Bro. Thompson in our ward, and it was so peaceful and comforting.  I love hearing, audibly, my father in heaven talking to me.  I didn't want to ask for a blessing at first because I just wanted one from my daddy, but that was impossible with me being on a mission.  But I finally realized that my dad wouldn't want me to suffer the hardships I was so I asked the next closest thing to my dad which is Brother Childs!! It was such a great and peaceful thing.

Well, you're probably tired of reading by now, and super confused, I feel like I've been all over, but hopefully something was fun for you to read :)

I'm so grateful to be out on a mission!! I miss you all so much, but honestly there is no place I'd rather be than in the Parkland ward, in the Lakewood Stake, of the WA Tacoma mission, in the great Northwest state of Washington!!! I love it so much! And I love my Heavenly Father and Savior so much as well!!!

I hope you all have amazing weeks!! 

I LOVE YOU!!!

Love,

Sister Brittany Thomas