Transfer? Transfer! Transfer...

Hey Everyone!

Hope everything is going good over there where ever you are. Here in San Diego things are going very well. Yesterday we actually moved apartments, it was tons of work. It practically took us all day! We woke up and started at 6:30 and then we didn't finish until around 5:00 pm, but we got everything settled. Our new apartment is way sweet, but the thing that's lame is I am getting transfered again!?! Right after I move into a sweet house. I will still be in the same area, but with the other set of missionaries. Elder Morales and Elder Olberg. Were going to be the three mariachis. Because Elder Morales leaves for his home in 4 weeks, and after he leaves it will be just Elder Olberg and myself. It should be pretty good, I am excited despite the fact that I can't work with the same members and same families as before, but that's how it goes i guess. It will be fun though because they are really good guys. The only thing is that Elder Morales doesn't like to do stuff sometimes, he gets lazy hahaa and just wants to go home. But he's a good missionary when he wants to be. So I'm gonna make him work hard, me and Elder Olberg. We are going to have some intense battles in the Barrio. So that's what is happening in the next 6 weeks. So we shall see what's going to happen. It's going to be weird to not speak Spanish all the time though. Well I don't know because Elder Morales is from South American tambien. But he was raised a little bit in Utah so he speaks English too. So with his companions he speaks English, but i bet we will probably just speak Spanish becuase Elder Olberg, who's from Canada, is still new and doesn't really know Spanish, or well I mean, shoot, all of us here don't know how to speak Spanish. People are always asking me to repeat myself haha. But my Spanish has gotten a lot better with Elder Peru over here. I am always asking him questions, and then practically every other minute he is on the floor rolling around in laughter because I said something retarded.

Oh that reminds me - so Elder Peru knows a ton of stuff, he is way smart. Then there's me...well I am good at eating, and more chill, so yeah pretty much we are like yin and yang. He makes up for my lack of smarts and I help him take it easy (tomalo facil) and chill out. We were talking this week while we were studying and he asked me how many times I have read the Bible. At first I laughed because yeah, excuse me, the Bible is huge, and i am not much of a reader. But he said he read the bible twice! Two times and he's going in for another round. Crazy. Sometimes I wish God blessed me with the divine gift of reading. Instead he gave me the gift of being nice. What's up with that? haha, nah i am just kidding. But anyways so yeah he challenged me to read it, and of course since i have Dads blood in me, I can't ever let a challenge or competition go by without doing it. So I started reading and right now I am in Exodus. It's going pretty good. I especially like the full on genealogy chapters, "and it came to pass that adam begat trow and trow begat ghuadfk and ghuadfk begat tyuuti and tyuuti begat tyuutis son and his son and his son." good fun haha. So yeah now I am reading the Bible, and I hope I can actually finish some day...

Oh another story from this week. Something that I learned from being on the mission. It seems like the same stuff keeps happening and I still keep facing the same challenges. It's like a roller coaster but more like a circle like the ride at the fair called the Ring of Fire. But so yeah, again this week my companion was mad, or so I thought, because sometimes he just will have this mad face on and I would try to talk to him but then he doesn't even say anything in response. Thats another thing, he gets in these moods, where he doesn't talk and I was joking with some other missionaries that during this transfer I have created 3 imaginary friends in my head just so i can talk to someone, haha. So this was happening - him not talking to me. At first I just let it go, I would tell myself to just keep trying my best, but then over time it got old and I just got mad and I was like get me out of here. I didn't want to talk in the lessons or anything and then I was like you know what I should be patient. So I put it to the side and just worked and tried to talk to people in the streets and our investigators and to try my best to teach and it went really well. Then just yesterday he started talking to me again. haha, finally. But it helped me to gain experience in real life to learn first hand what patience really is. In Preach My Gospel it talks about patience, and it says that patience is getting out and working on it. That is the same thing that Uncle Tim said at my farewell Sacrament Meeting. I know i probably have talked about this alot, I don't why, but maybe its kus someday I will have to know about patience and learning it now will help me in the future. I was thinking that maybe it's the same thing like Dad and Grandpa. I am going to have the opportunity (not have to) change Dad's diapers for Dad hahaha. But yeah so thats what's up this past week. I have to head out. Oh I sent you your letters Cait. Hey I sent two letters alright? Next time send me a happy letter ok? with pictures of flowers of something haha, just kidding.

I hope everything is good. I miss you guys and I am praying for you too.

Love,

Elder Thomas

This is the current location of Elder Thomas' Ward. They hold Sacrament Meeting at the school.

This is where Elder Thomas currently lives as of this date

6 MONTHS!!!

Hey!

So today it's been 6 months already! it's pretty crazy how it's already been 6 months. time flies! But ok first, before i forget, haha the address of the house i am living in, it's: 2862 Oceanview Blvd. Up on the top haha and then there is the school across from the house and thats where we have church. But right now we are going to move, agosto 2 to a different house in 3016 Franklin. it's still pretty close, about two blocks away. So yeah, you can check out the houses, but only those because the others are pretty sketchy haha. nah its not too bad.

Oh ok and about the tape repcorder, i will TRY and do it tonight haha we shall see.. nah i will and try send it out to you guys in the next couple days. and then what you can do is look for tapes for the recorder and bye those or something i dont know. up to you.

Next on the line of topics PICTURES. OK dad hah i know i havent taken pictures but i do have some pretty good excuses... ok number 1, my camera doesn't work. haha pretty good one right. the thing always says new batteries, needs new batteries, but i went and bought some and it still says the same thing so i dont know whats up with it..? so thats one reason. the second one is i am a guy, since when do guys stand in the pictures? that's what girls do, i don't know. haha i am just not a picture person. but i will try for you. hows that? pretty good right?

Oh, today in the morning we helped a family move to the ghetto about two blocks down from us and we were riding with them in their car and i looked in the back and i saw a mexican from tijuana. jk. no, i saw an L&L hat and so i got all excited! i asked if he worked there and he said yeah and some of his family too. so now i got hookups to L&L. huge blessing! see that's a testament right there in itself that if you give up your life, don't worry what to eat or where you sleep. the Lord will provide. He didn't provide something lame, like a salad store. But L&L, baby. Allelujiah! So that was the bright side today. Oh guess what too dad! the L&L in the ghetto here, they have Orange Bang but mexican style, sooo good...

So anyways this week has been pretty good again. Margarita is doing way good, she comes to church every sunday with out any if, ands, or buts. it's way sweet to see how much different she is, it's definitly worth it to be here. even though its nothing that i did to change her. because i hardly did anything. it was all the lord. but right now she reads every night the Book of Mormon and she reads the child Book of Mormon tambien con sus ninos, oh and before she didn't know how to pray in Spanish, but we taught her how finally, before she was like no it's ok, i am fine, i don't want to learn, haha. but so yeah she is doing awesome. her kids are still crazy though. we are waiting till they turn eight to clease them of the devil in them. they are just all over the place. it's hard too - the members are getting mad because the kids run all over the place in church. but we figured out how we can fix it. we are going to get some chains and a sound proof room and put them in there, problem solved. Just yesterday, oh the beeessst dinner i have ever had. oh Brokedamout! It was onions, zucchini, squash, tomato, chile, cheese. oh man i am going to try and learn how to cook it. so good, it's funny too because it was really spicy, but i can't even tell anymore, spicy is the bomb. i can't eat food, or its not the same, if there isn't chile on it. But my companion from peru cant handle it haha he's a bebecito, but it's funny to watch him when he starts tearing up. finally someone different than me who does the crying.

Last story. The past couple weeks there is this one senora that has had alot of stuff that happened to her. it's a pretty sad story. her husband was deported but first brought to prison for a month and there he was beaten up bad. he still isn't feeling the best and right now he is in tijuana and she is here in San diego and she can't go over to see him because she doesn't have papers. this past week too, her younger brother who was investigating the church for 8 years was killed and it wasn't an accidnet too. she doesn't know what happened becuase the police doesn't want to tell her, so it's that bad and she just doesn't understand why this is all happening to her. And we told her that there are times when things will happen to us and it will test our faith, we tell our investigators that when you are trying to do the good thing, that's when you will find the most opposition. BUT, no matter what you are facing, no matter what you are being challenged with - The Gospel of Jesus Christ can help you. it's as simple as that. we don't need to fear anything. not one thing. Following His Gospel will help you find peace in this life. So we have been talking with her trying to help her. Her name is Carmen. If there is one thing i have seen out here, it's how hard this life is. it is tough and a lot of times we take what we have for granted. well at least for me. But there are tons of sad stories here that i have heard. sad, sad stories. I am just glad i know what i know, because without it, i just don't know, i just dont get how people do it on their own. The teachings of Jesus Christ are the solution.

Ok but i got to go and get on with the rest of the day. Love you guys and hope everything is going good. Dad, Send pictures braddah! haha please...

Love Elder Thomas

The Mick D's big spender

Hey Everybody!

Hope everyone is doing good. this past week has been pretty good, slow sometimes but good. Just yesterday we had interviews with the mission President and then a meeting with all the spanish missionaries. It was a really good meeting, He talked about contacting people in the street and focusing more on the Book of Mormon, it was pretty funny because in the meeting he asked this one elder to come up and do a normal street contact. I woulda been pretty nervous haha in front of everybody. and so he started and then President stopped him 5 seconds in, so just after he introduced himself. I was like wow i am glad thats not me haha but then he showed how it was done. he nailed it. sometimes i wonder why the beloved are we here and not the older people, they know more then us and they are alot better. but i know why we are because we need to get to the point where we don't rely on ourselves but to rely on the Lord and He will bless us. that isn't to say that we dont need to do anything but yeah we still need to study and do our part. But anyways, so President acted out a contact and he was the missionary and he asked the person (missionary) if he had any famous ancestors? i mean what kind of question is this? haha. but the point was he did it to lead to the fact that the people of the Book of Mormon were the ancestors of the people in mexico and south america and that the Book of Mormon is specifically written for them and it is a story of their family two thousand years ago. and so after that he had all the spanish speakers stand up and go to the front and i was like oh shoot what about hagoth? and so he called up all the pacific islanders too. so yeah, dad and cait we are special. sorry mom that excludes you... haha, just kidding your important too mom. it was written for you too. okay? don't feel bad. jk

So that is how he wants us to share the book of mormon and contact. so we tried that yesterday. We actually went up to this one house that my companion supposedly had revelation about and we knocked on the door. and it's an english speaking person. and so that just threw me off. and i was like stuttering oh man it was embarassing. not good at all. but then for some reason i wanted to try again after the complete failure. So we saw this family and i was excited because our message blesses families tons - like ours. and so we asked him and he said sorry i really don't have time right now. sorry. so again another bust. but after that we saw this guy working on his car and we asked him the question and we started to talk about the Book of Mormon and how it was a record of his family two thousand years ago. and so he was interested and he had alot of questions, it was pretty sweet. and so we are going to go visit him later this week. oh the sweet thing is that his wife is a member too but less active. so we are going to try and teach them and help them too.

Ok, oh i dont know if i told you about my companion but he is like a library! He knows everything. and so a lot of our visits with members and investigators are spent like talking about doctine and answering questions they have. and me, i dont know any of this stuff, heck i hardly even read. all i was familiar with before the mission was surfboard+ the ocean= Fun. that's basically it. and so i have been learning a ton of stuff. this past Pday we went to DI and he bought all this doctrine books because he likes to read them so i have been reading them too. I have been doing the most reading in my life. So it's pretty interesting stuff. it's fun to learn and it just makes sense.

Oh, so funny story about doctine discusions, one morning we went to go study at the library for companion study and so while we were studying their these two ladies came up to us and asked a question about something. then we started talking about the Plan of Salvation. and they didnt understand how we could have lived with God before this life. and thats reasonable because for a lot of people that can be new. But they started arguing too about how God did not have a Plan before Adam and Eve, well he did have a plan but after they partook of the fruit, God Changed his plan. and me and my companion just looked at each other. we were like what. how can a Loving God who is just and all Knowing from the beginning and through eternity not know that was going to happen. And so just after that i was just thinking to myself how true the church is and in reality we have all of the Truth. not saying we are better than anybody and not trying to diminish the importance of other religions because other religions have helped the world so much and have helped spread the knowldege of God and Jesus Christ. But it's amazing and i am thankful to Heavenly Father and our Savior because in the scriptures it says all things will be restored. and all these things will be restored in Christ. and Because they love us so much they have brought everything back, which was lost. it's pretty sweet, pretty amazing work.
So yeah there are some things that happened this week. other than that it's pretty good.

Oh we are actually moving houses too agosto 1 into this nice house (well nice in the ghetto) but really it's pretty sweet and its a lot nicer then the attic we have now haha. Oh Carly the other day we got this hot chocolate bar they call Abuelita. Best hot chocolate! it's pretty good. that was kind of random but yeah only becuase the other day Margarita gave us a ton of food. and i dont know why too, she doesnt have alot of food to begin with, i wasn't complaining though, haha. it was nice of her and i needed it. because this month, like half way i saw i had a lot of money on my account and so i started to take it easy and buy mcdonalds and food for other people and then this past Pday i tried paying for some stuff and it didn't go through and so i checked my card and there is only $1.23 left, hahah. ay i tell you i am so dumb. but it's alright i can make it i still have alot of food. Shoot, i probably shouldn't have said that. but i thought it was pretty funny. anyways DONT SEND ME MONEY.

Love you,

Elder Thomas

The jumping flea allegory

Hey alright! thanks for all the letters and everything, it helps i appreciate it a lot.

So yeah things are going a little bit better. It's always like up and down, i swear some times that i am on a roller coaster, i don't know. I think i am finally getting used to it somewhat , haha. this past week my companion elder Cisneros told me a story from Elder Holland. It is a way good one. It's about Faith. The story talks about faith and relates it to an experiment a couple of scientists did. Oh, little brief explanation: this is a translation of the story because he told me it in spanish haha, so it might not totally be the same quality of story, but for me it was good. So there was this experiment and what they did was they had these flees in a bottle with a cap on the top and they wanted to see what would happen because usually flees jump super high, but they were confined in this small bottle so they wanted to see if they could break the cap. so they jumped regularly and nothing happened they couldn't get past the cap, so what the scientists actually found out was that the flees were smart, who would know. but what the flees did was they learned that there was something there that they kept hitting and it hurt and so they adjusted their jumping and only jumped right below the cap. so the scientists thought okay, let's take off the cap and see what happens. So they took off the cap and nothing changed, the flees kept jumping the same height even though the cap wasnt there. But then the scientists got a new flea, just one single flee that wasn't in the group with the cap and put it in the bottle, still with no cap and that little guy started flying and then what happened was the other flees when they saw that started doing the same thing. So basically what Elder Holland said was we have this great potential because we are sons and daughters of God not some human or just created from the earth, God created us and we have this great potential of trying to be like him. but Satan knows that, he knows how good we can be, so he puts a cap on us, we get put in hard spots and hard times because that's the only way we are going to grow, and then satan tells us we can't do it. But Faith isnt that, faith is not saying yeah i have faith but then when the hard times come you fall. we are suppose to have faith and follow Jesus Christ through the good and the bad. If not, we are just like the flees, every time satan tries to cap us and stop us, we just keep jumping up and down up and down at the same height. and then he doesn't even need to put the cap and we are still the same. I know i have done that a lot in my mission. during lessons when i can't understand becuase my head hurts and it's so hard to pay attention, i tell myself, "self, oh man i can't do this, i need to go home and study then i can do it." but then i end up just staying at the same place. But so now i tell myself that i can do it and i try so hard just to be able to understand them and at times i think shoot how do i even understand. And just all i can explain it is God because it's his work and he wants his children to be happy in this life and happy in the next life with him and our families. Which is the best thing we can ever have. One real quick thing too. Love is power it's so strong and God works by faith, but also by love. because i see like when i have love for the people we are teaching it is so much easier. and it helps. But shoot i have to go already my companion needs to use the computer really quick so yeah. I love you a lot and don't worry about me i am doing good in the ghetto, walking in the alleys at night with the gangstahs, its all good, haha.

well, this mexican cholo has to leave.

Love Elder Thomas

Life's lessons

Hey Everybody!

Ok so this week was pretty good, we did a lot of stuff this past week it was crazy and super hectic. It is hard to plan a baptism and make sure everything goes through. So we had the baptism of Margarita this past saturday and it was just crazy. that day like an hour before she was going to get picked up for the baptism, she called us and said she can't! she said her husband said no and that if she did do that he would divorce her...which doesn't really make a lot of sense, but yeah, and so when my companion told me that, i got way sad because that whole week i was just waiting and waiting and waiting for that baptism and then when that happened i just wanted to sit down and just give up. it was bad. but anyways, we went to her house and was talking to her and talking to her for an hour about what happened and everything and she just didn't care or wasn't listening and it was tough. it was different too becuase her faith was gone it wasn't even there, now when i look at it neither was mine just because i wasn't thinking clearly and i was just sad. So after an hour we ended up giving her a blessing and she got up and said ok we are going. and just a whole bunch of stuff just hit us because she had to get baptized early and everything so we ran to the church and did a quick baptism. and she left and that was it. and that was my first baptism. my very first one.. but rather than it feeling really special, it just felt like it was a number. it didn't feel right at all. but yeah, its pretty depressing but it's still good. like even though it wasn't perfect, it happened and she will be able to see the blessings and i hope she keeps it up because it will help her out so much. So yeah there are no pictures because everything was rushed. it's funny too because i didn't have an extra pair of clothes and stuff and so haha my shirt was half way wet and my pants got soaked too becuase my garments were wet it was a mess. but yup, so that was my first baptism. man that is kind of sad. ok, i hope this email isn't negative or sad or anything. but jeez things are just negative right now haha, it's bad. but it's tough this transfer again. my companion doesn't ever talk with me!! it's horrible! why cant people be happy? that's it, when i am going back home i am going to move to disneyland with you mom, because people can't be mad over there. its only 3 weeks in the transfer... ooooo braddah.

On the good side of things, one day this week, i went on exchanges with a brother in the ward all day!! it was nice haha. but yeah so i went with him and we taught this family of four. two kids - a boy and a girl. it made me think of our family so much and it was a lot easier to teach and to talk. they are a nice family and i hope we can keep meeting with them and help them to accept the gospel.

Love, Elder Thomas