Stuck inside - Week 75

Sorry y'all this is gonna be short haha. After Pday last week the Governor here issued the Stay at Home order so we have been doing everything from inside. We have had a ton of virtual member visit and like 2 visits with investigators. 

Time is going slow but I'm doing well. We are trying to catch a squirrel in our backyard with a trap I made out of some rope and an old spikeball net. We haven't caught one yet, they keep escaping but we just upgraded the trap to close all the way at the top so when the wind dies down we will for sure get one. We aren't sure what we will do when we actually catch one but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it haha. 

Other activities have included:

Indoor spikeball, church movies, LOTS of studies, Facebook finding, cooking, left handed putting, song writing, and mission-wide video conferences. 

This will be a memorable time in my mission for sure. Miracles will continue to happen! 

Les quiero

Elder Thompson 

1. In-apartment movie theater 

2. Squirrel catch attempt 

A Letter From the Mission President

March 24, 2020

Dear Parents,

We thank you for your support of your missionary here in the Washington Kennewick Mission! In this extremely fluid situation, we know that it is unsettling to feel like you don’t have the latest information on what is happening here with your Elder or Sister.  Considering the mandates received from the Governors of both Washington and Oregon yesterday, we want to update you on how we are proceeding here, and what measures are being taken to keep your missionary, safe, healthy and productive.

Beginning last evening, both states have been placed under a “Stay at Home” order. For the next two weeks, and perhaps longer, these guidelines will apply to all missionaries:

1. Missionaries are to stay in their apartments except to exercise, shop for groceries, pick up medication, go to doctor’s appointments, and engage in informal street contacting. The proclamation states, “It’s still safe for people to go outside if they remain six feet from each other. People can still participate in activities such as bike rides, gardening, and dog-walking as long as they follow social distancing rules.”
2. All church gatherings are currently cancelled. “All gatherings for social, spiritual, and recreational purposes are banned.”
3. There should be no in-person 8 PM lessons given to members. This can still be done virtually. 
4. No in-person teaching appointments with investigators should be held. This can still be done virtually.
5. No door to door proselyting should be done.
6. The missionaries may talk to someone on the street while maintaining a distance of six feet or more between them.

We met with our mission via Facebook video today to inform them of all these instructions. We are waiting for further instructions from our Area Presidency and Elder Quentin L. Cook with respect to these recent mandates. We have also instructed our wonderful missionaries on how to remain focused, productive and motivated through these next few weeks. Your missionary will be able to call you twice weekly for as long as this quarantine period lasts.

We love each of our missionaries so much! They are full of faith and testimony, and we are committed to helping them have the best mission experience possible while keeping them safe and well. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support!

President Edward R. Rasmussen
Sister Carolyn Rasmussen 

Pictures from the Mission FaceBook Page and the events with COVID-19 restrictions and missionaries returning home. "Another late night for President and Sister Rasmussen as they prepare to send home 13 devoted and wonderful missionaries to their loving families. Remember that you will be missed, but you have-each one- made the WKM stronger for your exemplary service and love for the Lord. Forever Faithful!"

Other pictures from the mission page during this crazy Corona Virus pandemic spring:

Pressing forward - Mission Week 74

Hey yall we are still alive here in the WKM. We have 13 people that are going home early for health reasons and a few that will be going home at 21 months. Its super sad we gave rides to people this morning to the mission home so I got to say bye to E. Cogswell and E McBride. Its super sad but the work still goes on! We arent allowed to tract anymore but we can still have lessons if they are set appointments. 

We had some good lessons with Kody the man we found last week. He has had good experiences in the past with the BoM but the past missionaries pushed baptism on him really hard so he shyed away after that. Hes progressing pretty well! 

We have continued to meet with a ton of members. This ward is really awesome! There are a bunch of really missionary minded people. 

We had a lesson with Lettie this week. She is super sweet, she loves the church a lot but has never been baptized since her husband is pretty antagonistic. But we had an ok lesson with them. Her husband is pretty hard hearted but I think there is still a chance. Miracles are real!! 

It's super sad to hear about all the missionaries that are going home early but God has a plan! Things will work out. 

Los quiero 

Elder Thompson 

Pics: 

1. Elder Averett and I
2. Elder Averett carrying a bunch o stuff

3. Us, the APs, and our district leader and his companion getting sushi 

Corona-Chillin - Mission Week 73

Buenos dias!! And good morning. This was quite the week it flew by. Like I mentioned last week I am back in Kennewick in the meadow springs ward! Elder Averett and I are getting along super well! We honestly are gonna have way too much fun this transfer haha. 

We found 3 people this week: Marsha, Bryan, and Cody. Bryan is super cool hes from the south and let us right in and then invited us back this week so he can feed us! We met a ton of awesome members too. It's going to be a slower process since church services are cancelled. 

In terms of how the work is going with the Coronavirus going on, mostly it is the same for us. Other missions are freaking out and shutting down but so far we are still proselytizing and knocking doors. Its crazy though because we don't know what's coming and tomorrow everything could change. 

Being a zone leader is fun, our zone is super fun. We have had a few zone activities already and we are gonna be super tight all transfer. 

Anyways I just played sports for like 5 hours straight so I don't even know what else to say. 

Have a great week! 

- Elder Thompson 

(The companion picture courtesy of a kind member who texted it to their mothers.)

Trasfers again... - Mission Week 72

Transfer weeeeeeek

Well... I'm pretty bummed not gonna lie. I was hoping to stay in Prosser & I honestly thought I would, based on what Pres. & Sister Rasmussen said to me at interviews...but I'm getting moved again. I'm going to the Kennewick Stake as a Zone Leader....and as an English missionary.  Yeah I was pretty sad when I realized this would probably be my last spanish area in my mission haha. It's ok though, I've accepted my fate (and I'm trying to have a really good attitude about it). I'll be living with the APs which will be pretty fun since I used to live with one of them. Also E. Cogswell (a past companion of mine) is coming to Prosser in my place! E. McBride is gonna love him!

Anyways, for this week we had a good time. We found a new person to teach yesterday which was awesome, she's pretty cool. She seemed excited about us wanting to teach the rest of her family how to have a closer relationship with God. 

We had a good last district council where we talked about how to help our people keep commitments so we did some roleplays of extending a baptismal invitation.Then we celebrated for a great transfer by playing Gospel pictionary and it was super fun haha. A lof of the words were really hard "Deep doctrine" stuff so we were all so frustrated. 

We also had some fun service burning tumbleweeds at a members house. We caught a vole too it was pretty gross. Its just like a weird mouse thing. They fed us a burrito that was like 2 ft long and you slice it into pieces to be able to eat it. 

The Grandview Elders had some baptisms this week too so I got to do 3 more interviews for Sebastian, Santos, and Jose! They were honestly super ready and already have been sharing their testimonies in church. They were so excited to get baptized they decided to do it as soon as possible even though Jose's wife is in Mexico right now! The baptism on saturday was super good, there were quite a few investigators that came as well. On sunday I got to confirm Sebastian in sacrament meeting and that was a super good experience. They're the best! 

On sunday we had our last dinner with the Winder family & we celebrated E. McBride's birthday! Sis. Winder made us E. McBride's mom's lasagna and it was super tasty. They are some of the most awesome members I've ever met! They minisister to so many people in their ward (and out of it) in super natural ways and have helped a handful of recent converts make it to the temple and start preparing for missions. I will miss them a lot!

We also said goodbye to Serafin. He's a super good member friend of ours I'm gonna miss him loads. He saved our bacon so many times when we needed a member for a lesson, he's always ready and willing to come with us. He deals with a ton of rough stuff in his life too but he has a great testimony of the gospel that just keeps getting stronger! 

Anyways, I'll say goodbye to a few more people tomorrow and get pictures with them but I'll include what I have so far. I'm honestly gonna miss this place so much. Wish me luck on this new adventure of learing how to talk to rich white people haha

Los quiero, que tengan una semana genial! 

- Elder Thompson 

Fotos: 

1. A frog we caught 

2. Service pic 

3. Me holding the vole 

4. Service pic

5. Selfie with the Winders & Wesley 

6. Dope poses with the winders

7. RIP Elder DelBarrio 

8. Final District Picture 

 

Service & Bautismo - Mission Week 71

Buenoooos Diaaas que tal? 

This week was jam packed with a lot of stuff. We had a ton of service opportunities this week. We started off by helping a member finish a house they are working on remodeling. Lots of cleaning, sweeping, window washing, etc. It was pretty fun it reminded me of all the years of remodels and projects my family did growing up. 

We also did a bunch of yard work for the Winders. The winders are some awesome members, they feed us every week so we spent some time cleaning up their leaves and clearing out some dirt. 

Also this week the Grandview Hnas had a baptism! Since I'm the District Leader, I got to do her interview. It went super well, she was so excited to get Baptized. At the end she asked me if I would baptize her! Of course I say yes and so on Saturday I had the chance to baptize Itzayana. Then she asked E. McBride to confirm her on sunday and he did a good job (it was in spanish too so he was kinda nervous). Anyways it was just a really awesome experience!

On the day of the baptism we were actually on exchanges and had a good time. The Winders took us out to eat since E. Springer used to serve in prosser like 18 months ago and they wanted to catch up with him since he usually isn't in the area. Pics included of the massive burger I ate :) 

This week I studied in 2 nephi 9 and I especially loved all the detail about the resurrection and how important Jesus Christ is in the Plan of Salvation. It helped me appreciate his title of "Savior" a little bit more! 

Les quiero, que tengan una semana buena!

- Elder Thompson 

Fotos: 

1. Itzayana's baptism

2. Chivo 

3. Chivo x2

4. Car shenanigans 

5. Road trip to Kennewick 
6. Massive burger