¡Buenas Tardes!
Well I'm sure you all have heard by now... there aren't
rules for missionaries anymore...apparently we can call home every week. At
least that has been the joke around here haha. Any time someone asked a
question about how we do something the answer now is, "Well you can do
whatever. There are no rules any more since we can call home every week :)
" Also, "Hey I'm kinda bored I think I'm going to call my Mom"
is a classic. We'll see how this goes haha
This week was pretty solid. We were allowed to drive a
little bit more this week so we could actually get to 75% of our area haha. We
had a few more lessons with some part member families and made some good plans
for events this week. We also put Edgar on date for Baptism! He told Elder
Barlow and Elder Stopa (On exchanges) that this weird thing happened where he
was falling asleep and he heard someone say, "The Church is True"
over and over again. Then he realized it was him saying it! He told us about
this and we straight up told him that's an amazing answer to all the praying
and reading he's been doing. He is trying to blow it off as not an answer but
we are too stubborn to let that happen :) He said if he feels ready, he will be
baptized on Apr. 1st. We made sure it wasn't a joke, he just randomly said that
date.
Today was my first temple day in the mission! We got up
early and made the hour drive to the Colombia River Temple in Richland. It was
super great, I really like our temple. It's one of Pres. Hinckley's 'Small
temples' So that was new for me, growing up in Utah.
Funny story for the week, we were going to a return appt.
waaaay out in the boonies and there's always this super happy dog that jumps on
us. We were opening the gate and Elder Barlow apparently dropped his glove.
Unbeknownst to us, the dog swooped in and grabbed his glove and started to taunt
us, just staying far enough away so we couldn't catch him. Eventually the dog
ran way into the field (through a barbed wire fence), dropped the glove, and
came back smiling :). I told comp, "you know you have to go get that
right, we can see it right there."
We decide that I'll distract the dog with my gloves and he'll
try to sneak out and grab his glove. As soon as he squeezes through the fence,
he steps on a stick. Like it was straight out of a movie, the dog looks... then
bolts. I yell for Elder Barlow to ¡run! and he just starts trucking through a
foot of snow waaay out into this field while the dog chases him. With a dive,
he barely made it :) It was soooo funny I was dead.
Bonus story: we accidentally left the mission and had to
call President :) It was dark and we were way out in the boonies so we just
totally missed the turn. After that I saw a mountain lion walking around so
that was cool.
Transfers are next week, which is crazy....I'll be done
being trained and I'll be 4 months into my mission. I decided to kick up my
language study this week so I've been translating Ensign + Liahona articles Eng
-> Spa. and Spa -> Eng. in my free time.
Something I've been thinking about a lot this week is James
1:5-8. We normally just read v. 5 but the rest is super good.
5. If any
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave
of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7. For let not that man think that
he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8. A double minded man is
unstable in all his ways.
All of us are lacking wisdom. Maybe we are needing to make a
big decision or maybe we have a question about life. No matter what it is, if
we sit around waiting for someone else to tell us what to do, God or man;
chances are we won't ever end up making a decision.
We need to take counsel from D&C 9:7-8 and "study
[things] out in our mind" or in other words, use ya brain and make a
decision even if you haven't had a vision about what the correct choice
is. We also have to have the necessary faith to actually MAKE a decision and
pursue something. Once we have stopped wavering, made a decision, and had faith
enough to do something; that is when we can more fully
see the hand of God in our life. The video "Wrong
Roads" talks about this topic as well, how sometimes we might not
choose the right thing at first, but because God loves us, that wrong road can
be a blessing.
Reminds me of a Spanish Proverb I learned..."Un camarón
que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente"
Love ya'll, never waver
- Elder Thompson
Fotos:
- Elder Barlow and I
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