Arrival in San Diego

From: Lee Donaldson
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 11:24 AM
To: Thomas, Chris (USAHI)
Subject: Your son has arrived in San Diego

Greetings from the California San Diego Mission!

Your son, Elder Thomas has safely arrived in the mission field. I am delighted to have him serving with us among the wonderful people of Southern California. In addition to the tremendous weather and scenery, we have remarkable missionary opportunities.

Thank you for sending such a wonderful missionary to our mission. I am confident that with your prayers and his hard work that he will have a rich experience here in San Diego that will bless both him and those he teaches.

I have attached a couple of pictures that were taken this afternoon at the Mission Home.

God bless you for your sacrifice in sending us your son to labor among some of Heavenly Father's choicest spirits.

Lee Donaldson

President, California San Diego Mission

One week and then he is off to CA

Hey everyone,

I have thoroughly enjoyed this past week. In my email today, I will be addressing the following topics: first i will be talking to you about my experience in this week, second i will be chastising you and leaving you with a commitment to become better people....haha, just kidding, that was my short attempt at trying to write like this is an english paper mom, haha, since you told me to do so, haha. but yeah ,so it's my last week! finalmente! i think that's a spanish word possibly. but yeah, it's been good and we got our travel plans this past tuesday! so sick i was way stoked and still am, we leave next week tuesday at like 8 in the morning from salt lake and we get to california around 10 or something like that, who cares as long as i am there. so i can't wait and then when i get there i am supposed to am supposed to find out where my first area is which will be pretty sweet too. i keep dreaming that i'm going to go to the airport and talk to everyone i see especially the brown ones so i can speak spanish, haha. oh and yeah we got our seats too and then there is like 5 seats all in a row and there is one seat ahead by itself and so when i saw that i was like i call that seat! so then i can just talk to other people, i got two hours on the plane so the way i look at it, i got 15 minutes to contact and stuff then give them the first two lessons hahaha. just kidding but yeah, that would be pretty cool.

this week has been good though because alot of things have been happening and its more realistic towards our time in the field. because now we only have one hour of teachers a day and the rest of the time is free so all we do is go around the MTC and go and contact the other spanish missionaries and teach them lessons and stuff so that is way cool. but any ways quick story for you. so we were sitting around and studying for our next investigator and then there were these two hermanas sitting across the room and my companion pointed them out (its not what you think, haha), and said that one was crying and i felt way bad for her, because it sucks to not feel good. so i turned and i was looking in my scriptures trying to find a scripture we could share and i found one and i told my companion we should go and teach them a quick lesson, it was about losing our life for the Lord and then after that, that is when we actually find it. i thought that was good so we went and we started to teach , i was teaching and then when i was about to turn to the scripture and then i thought when i got it, nah, that's not good, and then i came across Mosiah 24:14 and the background on this scripture is about people of alma and how they were in bondage and how they prayed to the Lord for help. just simply for some help in their hard times, and then she read this scripture and she started to cry. she couldn't read it, because it just hit her hard and it's what she needed at that time. After she read it she said that she was reading this chapter in her personal study and that she didn't get to that part yet and she was like thank you that is what i needed. I have thought a lot about that it wasn't a coincidence that it had happened like uncle Dayle said. but that we were guided by the spirit and that Heavenly Father put us in her path because he knew her personally and knew what she needed and he heard her in hard times, and we were there to help him. It's crazy because my companion had prayed for something like this to happen so he could experience it. I just know without any doubt that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us and he will listen and he will bless us even when we may not feel like we deserve it. He does all this because He has great love for us. Another thing is i have had the chance to give blessings and it is amazing. Just last night i was giving a blessing and i started to tear up kus i realized something when i was giving it and i knew it wasn't me talking but it was the holy spirit and he was talking through me and i was learning as i was talking. the craziest thing, but it was nice really nice.

Love Elder Thomas

Lesson in perserverance

Hey Everyone,

Ok so i hope no one thinks i'm chastising or anything cause i'm not. it's just that we learn so much stuff here and its a huge testimony builder. like my faith has grown a lot and its true - faith leads to action, but yeah, any ways.

i wanted to let you know that you guys are always on my mind and a lot of the things i experience here, i just wish you were right here with me kus it helps me so much and i know it would help you too. So yeah, i just wanted to let you know that and that i love you guys a lot. Mom and Dad i wanted to really thank you because you really helped me be the person i am today. i dont know what i would be like without your examples and all the things i have learned from you.

A quick story.. here at the MTC it is tough, it drains you so much and some nights we head back to our rooms and i am like dead beat. but i keep studying and keep trying and the thoughts that go on in my mind are like: "you better not give up," and "you better not let a second go by," and i think about that a lot and that's why i am always studying, but it was cool - someone said that through our actions we can show our love for Christ. i really believe that. you guys know i have made a ton of mistakes that i'm not happy about, but it's really comforting to have the knowledge that i'm working as hard as i can and that the Savior sees that and knows that i love him (ok, brief explanation for these emails, i don't know what to write, i just write what goes on in my mind - so hopefully this helps you know how i'm doing and stuff and maybe it helps you too). Oh, another cool thing is that in my scripture studies, i found in Jacob 6:5 this morning that the Lord always helps us. like that is my big concern for me right now. it's really comforting knowledge.

Oh ok, another story, so one time in class we were about to teach a certain part of a lesson in front of the whole class. and right before that i prayed for the help of the Spirit and its power to be able to speak the words of God through my mouth and to be able to say what God wants me to say. while teaching i really was thinking how i can help the class. then i thought of something and i thought it was really good. mid way through my explanation i lost it and couldnt remember anything. i was like what? God - you got to be kidding me...it was silent for like 20 seconds, then the teacher said "time." we stopped and then the first thing he said was bear your testimony. and i was like wow, okay, shoot i'm an idiot. but God answered my prayer and i wasn't suppose to say it and instead i was suppose to bear my testimony. so sometimes we need to just do that instead and yeah. um, oh this past week too, i fasted one day for hope and to be able to push through no matter what, so that i can forget about myself, because really, i don't care about me, i could care less, i just want to be able to get out and serve others and share with them what i have and know, and to just love them with all my heart because i know how much God cares about them. so yeah, really, all that i have been doing here is straight reading the scriptures in the book of mormon and preach my gospel and learning spanish every single minute till i go to sleep. And its amazing because i wake up and even though i'm tired i know that the lord blesses me with strength to do what i need to do. its way cool. haha, but yeah this place is sweet, i love it here, its been going by way fast - its crazy, and yeah its just way good. hope everyone and everything is good back home oh shoot, i heard about the tsunami from my teacher kus she's hawaiian and in my mind i was thinking, "crud - from chile, thats south - that means there's gonna be a south swell! haha, i wanted to surf so bad. your probab ly right dad i would probably be in the water like that one guy... haha. but yeah it sounded pretty cool though. Praying for you guys. no worry, be happy.

Love, Elder Thomas

oh remember to not respond kus i no can respond to you on this one kus i get only limited time on um. so yeah take it easy.. dear elders are better. thanks for everything again