Happy Fathers Day

Wow! So good to hear that Lila is here and healthy!!! I've been so excited to hear about it! I can't believe I have been gone that long. When I left, Allison was just barely starting to look pregnant and now there's a new soul in our family!! Wow! She is really cute too. I can't wait to see more pictures of her and see how she grows and stuff! Congratulations Tage and Ali! :) You have a beautiful family. 

This week has been a good one for us! Although Elder Ng has been really sick lately we still managed to get some work done. At our baptism just two little boys were baptised. Their grandpa is the one in white who baptised them. The family that we were referred to is a house full of Phillipino people. There are about 8 of them that live there and 4 of them are new investigators now. The only problem is that they will be in the Phillipines for about 3 more weeks.. 

It is really neat to see the change in people as they learn to accept the gospel.  I remember when we first started teaching Decan, he didn't even know what prophets were or what the Holy Ghost, or Joseph Smith was. He now has a better understanding of the first principles and ordinances of the gospel than I did when I was like 16. Decan described how good of a feeling it was to be baptised. He recognizes the Holy Ghost and loves Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father so much! What more can you ask? 

It's been really rainy lately but our finding has still been pretty good. We have met a few people lately who want to learn. One of them lives just on the street that runs perpendicular to our flat's street, he has even read portions of the book of Mormon and is 19 years old. He is a prospective missionary! I just met him down in Manly Corso near the beach. It is so beautiful here! So funny, down in the Corso the other day there was a little kid with cardboard boxes on his head and body wrapped in tin foil and he was standing in one spot doing the robot. hahahahaha he was terrible at it too! You couldn't see his face, he just had a bucket for people to put money in and he was actually making quite a profit. I didn't have my camera with me :( it was so funny though!

On Friday we had our last Zone Conference with President Simmons. It was really good! AHH I don't have my camera with me to send pictures of me with them.. next week. After the conference, Sister Simmons got special permission to hug all the missionaries. It was fun :) You will love her, mom! 

Anyway, this next week should be a good one. All we have to do is work hard and that's where the satisfaction is. There is nothing better than kneeling down at night and telling Heavenly Father that I did my best that day. Getting in bed and knowing that I should have no regrets and feeling satisfied. That's enough for me, if baptisms are the result, then so be it :) Have a great time this week! I look forward to more news and stories! Love you so much! 

Love, Elder Thompson

News of the Week, Baptisms‏

Yes yes this week was really good! The baptisms finally went through and the kids are loving church. I can't wait to see them go on missions one day :) It's amazing how baptisms work. I thought that after the baptism it would feel like there wasn't really anything left to do but it opened the door to other baptisms! I can't believe it! There are so many miracles! So I'm still in Manly for at least one more transfer. I have no predictions for what could happen after that.  It does sounds like a big week of change for everyone back home! Time is going by really fast here. It is President Simmons last transfer and then we get President Howes. He is from Adelaide. This week is a zone conference and I think our new mission president will be there. Should be a fun one! In my head today is the first day of June, but in reality it is almost halfway through June. Woah! 

I'm really excited for this new transfer! Lot's of good things are going to happen. I just know it! The Lord always provides when we have the faith sufficient. I don't have a whole lot of time today but that's ok because I don't have a whole ton to say besides the fact that I was blessed enough to be a part of someones baptism and commitment to the Lord. This work is great and brings greater happiness than is imaginable. I love you all and look forward to hearing from you next week! 

Love, Elder Thompson

Happy June

Yup yup! It's been a good week! haha that makes me think of the yup yups from seseame street! yup yup baby, yup yup, family! Well it's a new month so we can drive again! We are going to be careful about how much kilometerage we use though! Thats cool to hear about the video you watched about gardening being related to the gospel. It's true though. Did they make any references to Alma chapter 32? if not, you need to read that chapter. its a really good one which we actually read with a part member family this week :) 

I can't believe how warm it is getting there! Sounds like you should be swimming now huh? Lucky!

My first baptism is this Friday! It is really solid too. Everything is ready to go! I'm really excited. I should have pictures to send next week of it! Yeah it is weird having winter right now, it's pretty cold sometimes but mostly wet. It's not too bad though, I got myself a jacket here which keeps me really warm in the flat. I don't really need anything else clothing wise. I'm all set! The other day we went down into Manly to do street contacting and the rain was pouring down! People were just crowded under the little over hangs outside of shops. It was pretty funny. We met lot's and lot's of interesting people! We met a lady the other week while tracting with heaps of animals. Birds dogs cats, who knows what else! She calls her house "The Ark" hahaha I thought that was pretty clever. She is really nice though and let us come back to teach! 

Oh, so  how do I vote? I want to vote! How's the project coming with the shed? Is it brand new yet or still a work in progress? If you need help, get the missionaries over to help you! ;) hahah

Well it's been a good week! Transfers are next Monday and there is a chance that maybe I will be moving. I would be ok with that, I'm ready for something new. I hope to go to Canberra! It sounds really cool there! Anyway. Keep having fun at home and doing awesome things! 

Love, Elder Thompson

Happy Memorial Day

Mom and Dad, 

Yeah President Simmons is way awesome! The interview was really fun, we don't really get to see president a lot.. He asked me to give him our home address though so that if he is ever going by Clinton he will stop by and say hello! We didn't have any baptisms yet, postponed again but looking more solid than ever, now! Sounds like you have actually had a really good week! That's too bad that the air show got rained out. I love the air show!!

When I was reading that you had a NUAMES bus driver come help you I immediately knew it was Rob!! Wow! He was one of the coolest guys ever! He always stopped by Tasty's donuts and bought the whole bus donuts, and on fridays usually he would buy the whole bus candy and or cans of soda and every once in a while as we were going home from school he would do trivia over the bus intercom and give prizes to people who knew the answers. Usually it was movie trivia! hahah he even rented out all of Lazer Zone one time and another time a whole theater for the kids to go see Harry Potter! Much much more than a bus driver I'd say! Tell him I say Hi! 

This week has been a good one! It's getting pretty cold here. Since we are low on kilometers on our car that we are allowed to use, we have been doing a lot of walking lately. Which isn't too bad! We get exercise and we talk to everyone as we walk around. It is actually a pretty smart thing to do! I'm learning so much everyday! It's kinda crazy. On the mission it kinda feels like to me there is a constant sense of urgency. It's like you should be doing something every second of the day to fulfill your missionary purpose. Even if we just have to sit in the car for like 5 minutes and wait for someone, it makes you feel sorta guilty hahaha crazy how that works. I never thought I would be a missionary who has a hard time adjusting to normal life, because I like to relax. However, I could see myself now having problems feeling guilty because I should be out tracting or something hahahah. Oh well, I'm not going to really worry about that right now.. 

I'm excited for the rest of my mission! I just recently passed the 4 month mark. still feels like 2 years though but It almost makes me cringe when I realize that I really only have 1 year and 8 months left. Weird. I should be in the Manly area for at least one more transfer after this, so probably about 2 more months. Who knows though? God. Thats who! 

Continue to have a great week and don't forget to send me pictures! Remember to love the Lord with all your heart! 

Love you all! 

Love, Elder Thompson

May Day

Hey guys!

 

This past week has been a pretty good one! Sorry I didn't get to email last week, it was a crazy p day. We drove about an hour away to spend the day with the other district. It was pretty fun we played basketball for a few hours and it felt great!

 

This week was relatively slow numbers wise but it was a successful week nonetheless because we worked as hard as we could and held nothing back! We have been doing pretty well at finding new investigators lately! I gave a pretty fun training last Friday.  It was fun to read the newsletter from all the missionaries. Sounds like lots of stuff is going on all around the world. Time is going by pretty fast here. Elder Ng and I are already over halfway done with our transfer together. Hopefully we both stay here a little longer. It is really good for us to serve together because we are constantly improving and helping each other to be the best missionaries that we can be.

 

We have a really good week planned out so far. This week we have interviews with President Simmons. I am excited to spend some more one on one time with him. I always learn so much. I love to learn. I'm always finding things to improve on and at first it kinda stinks because we want to be perfect at everything but I find that if I just simply work on whatever it is that I don't do very well. All the sudden a week goes by and next minute I have improved heaps and look back and wonder how I learned so quickly.

 

Today is a much needed P-day! I'm so hungry right now,.. we are all out of bacon! hahaha

 

ALright well thanks for all of your support and prayers. Continue to do all the things that the Lord expects of you!! I love yous!!

 

Love Elder Thompson