Elder Sean "Santa Marina" Thomas

Hey - What's up everyone?!

Hope you guys are doing good and having some fun!

This week has been pretty slow, not a lot of things happened for us. It was pretty tough. We keep trying to visit all these people, but is has been hard because a lot of people are busy and so we have had days where everything fell through and then we are just like standing there wondering what to do. Oh, but it was way good because yesterday we had a meeting with President Donaldson and so he taught us a lot of stuff that I forgot already. Haha, good thing I wrote it down somewhere. But it was sweet because he talked a lot about the mormon.org website, because it is suppose to be way sweet. We are suppose to encourage the members to go and visit it and everything and then they picked a profile to show us. The profile was of Joy Monahan, and so we watched the video. I had already seen it before but this time with sound, so it was better, haha. This time I wasn't just watching the waves and the surfing part, haha. So we watched that and then President Donaldson told us that he wanted us to call ourselves Mormon missionaries, and so we were like, alright, you have the revelation to tell us what we should do. So after that we go and contact some people, and so the first person we see, we say, "Oh hey - what's up! We are Mormon missionaries." That was a rough sketch but right after we said that, he was like, "no, I am good, I am Catholic and yeah...bye." and then he just left. I was like, alright, have a good day and we kept trying and the same thing kept happening. Haha, it was pretty funny. But, ahhh, what can you do? So I think that we will just keep trying and get some more laughs in haha...jeez.

So earlier this week we had a dinner with a member at McDonalds, haha. We were just eating and talking and then somehow it turned into them giving all of us nicknames. It was pretty funny and so they called me Santamarina. At first I thought they called me Santa Maria, as in Mother Mary, that's the translation. So I was like, wait...what? That doesn't make any sense. But they said it again and they said it is an actor whose name is Eduardo Santa Marina or something like that and he acts in Spanish Novelas. Like the ones in Korean we used to watch (you remember that Mom? haha). They showed me a picture and I thought, that's weird, because I guess it kinda does look like me. I don't know, you should check it out (see picture at upper left). I thought it was way funny.

So there is one kinda funny story. Oh, but we learned something cool yesterday in John 21:15-17. When Jesus asks if Peter loves him three times. President Donaldson said that there are three different words for the word "love" in Hebrew that means some kind of love. The first is unselfish and consecrated love...

(email from Elder Sean "Santa Marina" Thomas unceremoniously and unexpectedly ended)

From Barrio to Bountiful

What's up!?

How's everyone doing?

So yup, now I am in Linda Vista, San Diego. It's up north from Barrio Logan and is pretty close to the Temple in La Jolla. It's also close to a place called Pacific Beach. It's really nice over there. Super nice area. It's a lot different from the Barrio. Jeez, there aren't any dark alleys or sketchy places, I felt weird at first but it's good. So yeah, well the thing about Linda Vista though is that there isn't a lot to do or that's what people say because they don't teach a lot and they haven't had any baptisms for awhile. Not saying that's all that matters, but yeah that's just how it is.

So the first couple of days we really didn't do anything or at least that's how it felt. So it was way boring, so shoot! But that all changed yesterday. So yesterday we planned for tracting for 2 hours! I was thinking - oh man, this is going to be a long day. But I tried to be positive and to make the most out of it. So we started knocking on doors and then the next thing we know, after like an hour we found 9 people with dates to come back and talk more. It was awesome! We talked to so many people it felt way good!

Later that night, we went to go visit a brother, his name is Eliseo, he is a nice guy. Eliseo isn't a member but his wife is a member and she was baptized in 2003, one year after us, so he has been exposed to the Church for 7 years. He still feels like he hasn't received an answer if these things are true and if whether getting baptized is what he needs to do. So I shared an experience with him that I had about reading the Book of Mormon. Because I felt the same way he did and I had doubts about things because I didn't understand it. I don't know if I ever talked about it before, probably not. But I remember just really wanting to know and so I grabbed my Book of Mormon and started reading and I couldn't stop. I remember reading every single second that I had and I read it and read it and it felt so good. After I finished I did the promise in Moroni and it just came to me then and I knew that it was true and I also felt it in my heart. So I just shared that with Eliseo and encouraged him to read Moroni in the Book of Mormon. So maybe that will help him find what he is looking for.

Oh, but let's see...funny story before I head out. Shoot not enough time left, but uhmmmm, ok I can't think of anything. I will tell you next week. How's that huh?! Okay, well, hope everthing is going well over there and that you guys are having a good time and everything. Miss you guys!

Love yah!! Elder Thomas

So are you sure you got the right guy?!?

Hey!

Okay, yeah I am sorry that I didn't get to write last week, but that's because Mom was at her computer, so I was able to exchange emails back and forth to kind of "talk" to her. I like it a lot better because then I am actually writing to someone and then they respond, haha. Especially because sometimes I don't know what to write. There tons of stuff hapenning but I always forget when it comes to write. I seriously don't even know what happened on Saturday, it's all just a huge blur.

So transfers are upon us again and I am getting out of the ghetto man!!! It's pretty funny though because, well...we had a meeting with President Donaldson this past week, just me and my companion. My companion, Elder Olberg, was feeling really down and out and he just has a hard time because he doesn't talk a lot and gets down on himself for that. What ends up happening pretty much throughout the whole day, is me just trying to cheer him up and help him feel better about himself and how he is doing. It is really hard and so I felt that it would be better if President Donaldson could talk to him and help him. We made an appointment to see President Donaldson and he was able to talk to Elder Olberg. Afterwards, President Donaldson wanted to talk to me alone and then he told me that I was getting transferred! I was kinda mad, ah man, I was actually pretty disappointed and angry, because everything is starting to come together in our Ward and was looking really good, the members are helping out a ton with the work after a lot of effort to motivate them and we had so many other ideas that we were planning to try out. Our investigators were progressing and we also found a lot of new investigators.

So, needless to say I wasn't happy and was actually kind of frustrated. I just sat there and asked President Donaldson why? haha. President Donaldson just laughed at me. He knew I was mad, and then on top of that he told me that there is a possibility that I am going to be a district leader...?!? Oh man, that's when I started freaking out. I came back to our home and I had to calm myself down by just thinking about surfing to relax me, haha. So I was kinda just in a daze. I don't even know, I was thinkin like shoots man, I have a hard time just trying to be a good missionary and now I gotta be an example for others? Me? Ahhh, but after awhile it became alright. I resigned meyself to put it in the Lord's hands and I know that He can and will help me. I figured that I just got to be myself and try my hardest, and so we will see what happens.

I believe that I am going to be transferred to Chula Vista. Apparently, the work is really slow there and there aren't a lot of members, nor are there a lot of Spanish speakers. So we shall see what happens over there. But hey, it's right next to the beach! haha...um nah, but we will live right across the street from the mission office, so that will be sweet. I can receive my letters on Tuesday morning for the first time on my mission. Here in the ghetto it's bad. They don't bring our letter until Wednesday sometimes. But actually for me it doesn't really bother me.

Oh shoot! Well, we have to get going already. We have two sweet appointments planned for tonight so I hope it all goes well. Last time here so we have to make it count.

I miss you all and I love you. Thanks for everything that you do. Thanks for the packages and the sweet hook ups and the letters and everything! Hope everyone has a good week!

Love, Elder Thomas