God is really funny sometimes!!

So this week has been interesting.  I have been feeling SOOO much better, I had a migraine one day and that was it, but, God is really funny so he decided to give me a deathly sick companion.....yeah, I'm finally healthy and then Sister Ryser comes and she happens to have a super bad cold, cough, throw up thing.  So we had to stay at our apartment for 3 days......I don't know what God is trying to teach me, any help with that would be appreciated.  It was good in the fact that I got to study a lot though.

I started reading Jesus the Christ, and can I just tell you, that book, as hard as some of it is to understand, is INCREDIBLE!!!!  I have learned so much about my Savior, and have come so much closer to him, and I'm only on chapter 11!!!  I can't wait to learn more and have my testimony in Him strengthened even more!!

So like I said I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Ryser, she is from South Jordan, UT, and she's only 19, and she's what you'd expect of a 19 year old girl, she is boy crazy (aka Elder Crazy)!! But she is a really good missionary so, I'm excited for this transfer, I think it will be good, we'll be able to help this area so much, I know it!!

Yesterday we were asked, 2 minutes before it started, to teach Gospel Principles....gotta love being a missionary :) It started out pretty rough, but by the end the spirit was so strong, and everybody in the class, including Kaale our investigator, committed to bring a non-member to church next week!! I'm praying that actually happens, we have a rough time getting investigators to church, if the ward can help then it will be soooooooo awesome!!

This week my love for the Parkland ward has just grown, I'm scared for when I get transferred, its going to be like leaving home all over again!! They have truly become like my family!! I love them so much, and they take such good care of us! I think I would have gone home by now if it wasn't for this ward, and for the senior couple, The Chaney's, but God sent me to them to uplift and strengthen me and I'm so grateful!!

I wish I had more exciting and miraculous news for you guys, but it was just another week in the life of a missionary.  I love you all so much!  Have a great week!!

I love you!!!!

Sister Thomas

Just another week!

This week was just another week here in the WA-TAC!!

We were able to see a bunch of people, and uplift a bunch of lives with our message of Jesus Christ.  One of the most spiritual experiences we had this week was on Friday when we were tracting.

We knocked on this door and a lady named Heidi opened the door.  We asked if she was familiar with the church, and she said yes, her friend was a member.  She said she was actually a week or so ago with that friend and she had a cool experience.  She told us that her husband just recently found out he has luceimia, and its been really hard on both of them!  One day she was with a bunch of her friends which consisted of mormons, lutherans, jehovahs witnesses, and catholics.  They decided to say a prayer for Mad Dog  (thats for real her husbands name) and she said it was incredible seeing all these different faiths come together to help their friend.  She said it helped her to see how good God was. 

She then went on to say how we had been sent to her door because that day had been one of the hardest in a long time.  We talked for a bit and then we offered to say a prayer with her, she went and got her husband and we said a prayer, asking God to help them have peace and to stay optimistic through all the surgeries.  When we were done saying the prayer Heidi and MadDog were in tears, and they thanked us.  We told them that God was very aware of them, he had truly sent us to their door because they needed the spirit to come into their lives right at that moment.  They didn't want to be taught more, but I know that we were able to plant a seed in them that in the future they will be ready. 

That experience helped me to see that being a missionary is more than just teaching and baptizing, yes that is very important, but we are representatives of Jesus Christ.  We are out here to bring people closer to their Savior, and we are to do what the Lord would do.  He didn't only talk to people that were going to listen and follow him, he talked to everyone and invited them.  He had Charity for all men!  That is one thing I'm trying hard to get better at is to have charity towards all of Gods children, especially those that yell at you for not reading a sign that they're standing in front of......yeah it happened!  I wanted to say, sorry, next time I'll use my x-ray vision to see your no soliciting sign, my bad, oh and fyi, we're not solicitors, but have a nice day!!

As you can see I need to work on that! :)

I have seen God in the details of my life alot this week as well.  One example is yesterday Joe, our investigator who I told you about last week, was able to come to church! He was only able to stay for sacrament meeting because he forgot it was 3 hours long, and he had somewhere to be.  He promised he'd go to all 3 next week.  Anyway, it was incredible because everything that the speakers talked about in their talks was exactly what Joe had been asking us about, and wondering.  It was incredible afterwards, he loved it so much, and he said he couldn't wait for our next appointment.  I am so glad that God doesn't leave it all up to us, because we are just two twenty something year old girls that are, without God, nothing! So I'm grateful when investigators are able to feel of the spirit in many different ways and from different people! 

Oh man, funny thing....so there is this guy at our apartment building that everytime we walk out there, he's like, "Hello, beautiful ladies!" now this would be creepy, but let me describe this guy to you.  He's about 4'11" maybe 5' tall, he's black, and has a legit afro complete with a comb pick and all! It always makes me smile and laugh. 

Well, I guess that is about all I've got for you this week! I'm just out doing all that the Lord asks of me, and trying to enjoy each and every minute of it!!

I love you all so much!!  Have a great week!!

 

Love you!! Love,

Sister Thomas

Hallelujah!!!

So my title this week could be for many reasons:

 

1 - We met this super awesome baptist lady who was so AMAZING.  She loved Jesus so much, and asked us to come back, so we're going to bring Finding Faith in Christ and ask if she wants to take the lessons.  She said 'Hallelujah' after almost every sentence she spoke, it cheered us up!

 

2 - Sister Downs got her Visa!!! She gets to go down to Brazil on the 20th of August!!! I'm gonna miss her, but she is going to rock it down there!! She's so excited, but I can't even imagine how hard it will be for her, we've both gotten so attached to this ward, she says its gonna be like leaving home all over again!! I know she's going to love it though so we're both super excited. (Plus I get to have awesome Brazilian mission grandkids, that's pretty exciting!)

 

3 - I am finallly getting BETTER!!! I was able to go to the Doctor, and discuss everything thats been going on.  And we finally figured out that it was IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrom).  So he put me on Bentyl which helps with the pain, and told me to eat more fiber, and try as best as I can to have a balanced diet, which being a missionary is hard to do.  So far it has helped so much! I'm still not completely healed, but I'm on the road to recovery, and soon I will be 110%, and I can't wait for that, that will be a glorious day!

 

4 - We were finally able to find a solid investigator, or should I say investigators.  We knocked into this guy named Joe and set up a return appointment.  When we went his friend Bobby came and listened too.  Then we set up to give them a Church Tour.  When they came they brought a friend named Ashley.  So our 1 turned into 3.  We took them on the tour, and then in the baptism room, we put them all on date for the 31st of August.  They said yes, but they needed to pray about it.  We're meeting with them again tomorrow, so hopefully all goes well, and who knows maybe there will be another friend, that would be pretty cool!!

 

Well, those all my hallelujah moments for this week.  I am so blessed to be on a mission, and not just in any mission but in the WA-TAC!!! Whatever anyone says, it is the greatest mission in the world!! We were able to have a mission wide BBQ (or Zone meeting they called it) today and get together and sing and do skits and eat food, and best of all feel of the great spirit that comes when we are able to all be together enjoying eachothers love and service.  It truly is like one big happy family!!

I realized the other day that I have less than a year left, and I seriously started freaking out....thats not very much time, and in mission time its even shorter.  I can't believe it, I need to take advantage of EVERY SECOND that I'm here!!

Well, that is all for this week!! I hope you are all doing well!  I pray for you every night!! I love you so much!! Have a great week!!!

I LOVE YOU!!

 

Love,

Sister Thomas

Trust in God!!

This week has taught me many important things, most importantly to trust God.  So I got a CT scan this week and the results were.......absolutely NOTHING!!!! They said they didn't find anything but I was still in tons of pain.  So I was really sad.  So I got a blessing and the 3 main things it said were:

1. Read the Scriptures they'll give you the answers you're searching for.

2. Listen to your body, it can talk to you, so listen.

3. Rest.  Your body needs rest to heal.

The first two I was like, awesome, yeah totally true, the third one I was shocked by, truly shocked!!!  I was saying to myself rest! I can't rest!! I don't have time for that, I'm on a mission, this is the Lord's time, its not my time, and so on.  Luckily my wonderful companion reminded me that blessings are from God, and if God tells you to do something, you do it....no matter what you think is better. 

So throughout the rest of the week I listened to my body, and when I felt that I couldn't go anymore, when I needed the rest, I rested.  And we have never had more success in a week.  We were able to find 6 NEW investigators, and put 1 of them on date, and we had such a great feeling.  I learned that when we trust in God, and do as he asks, he'll provide the miracles!

I also learned about Joy and Happiness alot this week, this is for you mom!

So, I was really sad on Thursday because they couldn't find anything on the CT scan, yet I'm still in pain. Something that had prepared me to not let the bad news get me down was an exchange we hadWednesday night! Sister Hall, my MTC companion, came to my area, and Sister Downs went to their area with Sister Packard, and Sister Dean so that Sister Downs could get out since we had needed to stay home for lots of time the previous days.

 Anyway, Sister Hall knows me well because I pretty much spilt everything to her about my past at the MTC and so for an hour and a half or so we just talked....she helped me realize that not only was I feeling the extreme physical pain, but I was letting that discourage me.  I had a mental wall, and a physical wall to break through and some days it was just too hard.  So she, being the wonderful person she is, had us write down all our excuses and burn them.  Then we put them down the garbage disposal.  It was actually very liberating! 

We went and tracted for like 30 minutes and as we did we set goals to try to help me change my attitude, and to break down the walls that were making it hard for me to work with my full potential.  We made a Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Social goal. 

Physical: I will wake up at 6:30 EVERY day and not lay in bed but truly be up and out, even if I am sick.

Mental: I will memorize one Preach my Gospel scripture a day.

Spiritual: I will TEAR APART (study in depth) chapter 4 of PMG, "Recognizing the Spirit" each day!

Social: I will commit 1 BOLD act a day.

As I've done these, and truly given my pain and trust to God I have seen the difference in my attitude.  Instead of dreading knocking on doors because people slam their doors in my face, I look forward to those few people that we're able to talk to and bear testimony of Christ with.  I have realized that I have been so much happier, and had more everlasting Joy as I've centered my life more on Jesus Christ, and as I've strived to align my will, with his, as opposed to his will to mine.  This week more than any other week Alma 26: 12 has stuck out to me:

"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therfore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast in my God, for in his strength I can do all things."

I have truly seen that this week.  I have physically and spiritually had little strength but through a blessing, and through living according to how I should, and focusing more on the work than my pain I have gained so much greater Happiness and Joy!!!  I have come to truly see that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer, and that he knows what each of us are going through.  One of my favorite quotes from PMG is

"All that is unfair in life, can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ"

That is so true, so accept him, become happier by turning to him, and keeping his commandments.  I promise that you will become so much happier, and everything that may have bothered you in the past, will truly just be in the past.  You won't have to worry about it anymore.  It will just be another step you had to take to get closer to God.

I am so grateful for this week.  It has taught me so much about my savior, and has truly brought me closer to him, and made me more excited to do his work!

"Obedience brings blessings, Exact Obedience brings miracles!" How true this is!

Be obedient, follow Christ, and be an example and a light to all around you.  You may be the only light they ever see.

I love you all so much!! I hope you all have an amazing week, and that you know how much I love you!! I pray for you ALL, every morning and night! 

I LOVE YOU!!!

 

Sister Thomas

Patience

So aparently I really, really, really, really, really, need to learn patience on my mission.  If all of our investigators progressing slowly but surely isn't enough, the fact that I keep having physical limitations is a sign of that.  This week was another week of pain, well the second half was.  The first 3 days I felt awesome! I was up, working hard, and giving my all, then Wednesday night I thought I got the flu, but starting yesterday it just turned into intense stabbing pains.  So as much as I hated doing it, I called Sister Weaver and today I went to the doctor.

He said he thinks its either early stages of apendicitis, a kidney stone, or a cyst gone awall.  Whatever it is he's hoping he can fix it and get me back to full health, which would be awesome! So I went and got my blood taken, and then I'm waiting to hear when to go in to get a CT scan.  So hopefully next week I'll be healthy!!! That would be amazing!

This week has been tough, but there have been great moments!!! The best is the Ani family and the Smith family.

The Ani's are a LA family that we found while ward listing (looking at the ward list and seeing who sticks out) the first week or so we were here.  After our inital contact the Chaney's (the senior couple in our ward) visited them and they came out to church.  They have been there every Sunday since the first one they came to, so about 5-6 weeks! Their grandkids come with them, different ones every time, and they are so stinkin adorable.  The most frequent is Kamari who is 8! We're going to try to start teaching him this week if his parents are good with it.  He just went to the boy scout camp and LOVED it!!!  It was about putting on the armor of God and he made a tool box and everything! It was awesome! They made us dinner the other night and it was awesome! It was roast beef, potatoes, and gravy, and brocolli.  It was like being at home.  Then she made what has become my favorite desert up here, Blackberry Pie!!! Blackberries up here are out of this world and they just grow in the wild.....its CRAZY!!  So they are way awesome!

The Smith Family, Andrew and Landen, and their family.  So their mom Lisa, Lori (14), and Tristen (11) are on fire!!! We were a little worried because they weren't at church last week and they were only there for part of it the week before, but luckily they were just sick.  We had dinner with them Saturday and learned that they have family scripture study every night, and Lori is sooooo excited for girls camp, and they're all getting involved in the ward.....it's AWESOME!! I love seeing them sooo happy, and it's because of the gospel!

I love that even though we may not be having the most success right now with finding new people to teach, that we are able to help those less active members who need our help as well.  We still look for people to teach, but we realize that like President Hinkley said,

"Whether your bringing someone into the gospel or bringing someone back to the gospel, it's the same work" (thats not exact but pretty close....)

So thas about all I've got!!

I'm loving it out here, despite the pain and trials I face everyday, and I know I'm still loving it because of my Savior Jesus Christ.  If he hadn't pained for my sins and known everything I go through, then I would be lost.  I would feel alone.  And I'd feel hopeless.  But because of my faith in Jesus Christ I KNOW that this pain and heartache is only for a moment.  That as soon as I'm supposed to get better, as long as I put forth effort to try, God will take the pain away.  He doesn't like to see us suffer, but he knows that sometimes we have to in order for us to accomplish something great!  I know that something great is around the bend, and I have that hope because of my Savior.  He is my Joy and my Song!! I love him so much I can't even put into words, and I need to strive daily to be more like him, so I can help my brothers and sisters find him, so they can feel that peace and love as well!!

I love you all so much!!

I feel your prayers for me, and I pray for you daily!!  Keep Moving Forward, anyother way will take us farther from our ultimate goal which is to live with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and our Families for ETERNITY!!!

I love you all soooo much!!! God bless you, every one!

Sister Thomas

Oh what a week!

This week has been the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I'll start with the ugly....

So I got sick again this week, blah! So I have looked pretty ugly haha....

I got a blessing and it was actually really cool! So background.....

I've had a blessing every transfer for my wonderful cyst problem

My first blessing said,

You will have this trial for a while, learn patience (or along those lines)

My second blessing said,

I won't take your burden away, but I will make it lighter

My last blessing said,

You will be healed, just wait a little longer (along those lines)

Can I just say....Whoa! God truly does have a plan, and I need to just trust him.  It's so cool to see that he is there, and understands what I'm going through.  I was reading Ether 12:27 the other day, I finished the Book of Mormon again last night (thats number two on my mission), and I love it, its the one that says,

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

This really hit me when I read it because it fit so well to my situation.  As I have submitted myself unto the fathers will, and turned my pain over to him I have started to see my trial as a blessing as aposed to a curse.  I have learned dilligence and hard work, and I've learned that God will help you through anything, and it may not be completely over, but I know I have gone through this for a reason, and I'm grateful for that.

So that was the ugly, it became pretty awesome though.

The bad....

So you may remember that Jason Cooper was supposed to be baptised on Saturday.....you may have noticed I put supposed.  Sadly, he wasn't, his grandma is a catholic and pretty much his mom, and he wanted her approval or blessing, and she said she thought he needed to wait, and so he wants to wait.  Hopefully all will work out, he said he needs time to think about it, but that he'd still pray and read the book of mormon, so we'll see what happens.  We're praying hard for him.

So that's pretty bad, or sad really.

The Good....

this goes along with the the ugly, but I'm feeling so much better, I feel like a whole new person it's awesome!

Another good thing, our less-active people that have started coming to church are being embraced by the ward.  Our ward is incredible!! They are so loving and they involve everyone and make them feel at home! 

President and Sister Weaver came and spoke in our ward on Sunday and it was incredible! It was just a big call to the member missionary work which our ward is really trying to catch on to! I'm so excited! The work is changing, and I love it!! I feel how Sister Weaver said Pres. Holland said, "You don't realize it's historic when you're part of the history"  thats how I feel, everyone keeps saying you're a part of history, do you feel it, and I'm like....no....not really, I just feel like a missionary....maybe one day I'll feel it!

Well, I can't think of anything else to share, except I love you with all I have in me!!  I love you all so much and wish the best for all of you!!

I love you!!

Sister Thomas

I'm Staying!!

I'm staying! I'm gonna be in the same apartment with the same companion for 2 transfers in a Row!! This is a first for me, I don't know what to expect! haha, anyway...

This week has been a fun week! The 4th of July was different but it was still fun!

We went over to the Schott's, an awesome family in the ward, and had an incredible BBQ. 

The whole time I was thinking of how Andrew would be in heaven if he was in this backyard.  Bro Schott LOVES bbq-ing and he has a HUGE bbq, and a HUGE charcoal smoker thing....it was pretty legit!! They made us like a whole cow (not kidding, the steak filled the entire plate and was about 2 inches thick), smoked corn on the cob, this amazing jello salad, fruit salad, and cheetos.  We ate as much as we could, had an amazing conversation, another family the Child's were there too, they're awesome! Then we were thinking it was time to go and Sister Schott says....

"DESSERT!!!"

WHAT!?!?

She pulls out strawberry cake, brownies, and ice cream, and stuffs a plate with all of them.....needless to say as we walked out we were wobbling we were so full! It was so good though.  I must say dinners every night from the ward is both a blessing and a curse.  I'm 1/3 of the way done with my mission and I've gained 20 pounds.  At this rate I'm gonna gain 60 by the end!!! 

Just kidding, I refuse to let that happen, I will change the pattern!! I have to, I can't afford to buy new clothes all the time! haha

After that we visited a couple of investigators and less-active members, and then we went home because we had to be home before 9 pm! President didn't want us out amist all the crazy drunkards! So we went home and stood on our balcony and watched fireworks.  They were all around our apartment, it was pretty cool!! Then we went to bed! It was a fun day, but it didn't really feel like the 4th to be honest.  It was weird!

Jason Cooper is still going strong!! He is getting baptized this saturday in the Bishop's pool.  He said he wants to be baptized outside because Jesus was baptized outside, and he wants to be just like Jesus! He is incredible truly.  We're getting in contact with his grandma this week b/c aparently she has a lot of questions for us, we're hoping she is just curious and doesn't try to ruin for him.  And hopefully we can teach her, because turns out she's in our ward boundries, so it could be an awesome way to bring his family into the gospel as well! I will let you know what happens!

On Saturday we went to this super fun Stake activity.  It was up at this church owned property called Camp Nisqually! It was BEAUTIFUL up there.  You can reserve it and spend the night in these cool little cabins! I was thinking it would be fun to come back and do sometime! It's seriously soooo beautiful, HUGE trees, and big fields and ball fields and all sorts of fun things! Jason came and had a blast, it was so cool!

Oh super awesome thing that happened.  So we have been trying to find good fellowship for Jason because our ward is old, and he's only 20, but doesn't have a car so he can't really go to the singles ward b/c its 10-15 min away.  So we were thinking of using Brother Checketts to fellowship him b/c he's younger, has 3 kids, but is still young and gets along with everyone.  but of course they were out of town the last 2 weeks....anyway,

yesterday they got home and at church Jason and him just hit it off! They exchanged addresses, numbers, and Bro. Checketts invited him over for dinner, and it was just amazing to see that the Lord truly directs you.  We felt the first time we met Jason that he would like Bro. Checketts and then it just naturally happened! It was way cool to see!

Well, I guess thats all I've got!

I hope you are all having an amazing week and that you are reading and praying everyday, because that will bring the most joy in your life, I PROMISE YOU THAT!!!

Everyone give a shout out to the BEST MOM ever who is now the new Northridge 3rd Ward Relief Society President!! She is going to do soooo good!!! I know it!

I love you all, and hope your weeks are incredible and that you are blessed! I pray for you everyday!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Brittany Thomas