The friendly neighbor

Hey whats up family,

This past week flew by way quick, it was a pretty good week. Except today its kinda weird the clouds came out of no where and so now we don't know what we are going to do for Pday. But oh i got start this off with a funny story haha. Oh man so the other day we met our neighbor who is from Armenia or something like that and she knows like 4 languages, persian and arabic and all those kinds. So we were talking with her in english, but she speaks it pretty broken. So we were talking and talking and then she wanted to show us somthing she had in her home, but she lives alone so we couldn't go in, so we explained to her that we couldn't unless there is a man. So she laughed and told us.. "no worry, for you boys i half man half woman".. .Yup i know your all laughing but it was kinda freaky. So i turned to my companion like hey i think we should leave haha and so we left and walked a whole 2 steps into our apartment. So yup thats our awesome half lady half man neighbor. haha.

Oh another story this past Sunday we went to this brother's house to have dinner with him and may i say it was some darn good food. But so much!! We got there and sat at the table and i was watching him serve the food, and he got a bunch of noodles and started piling, i mean piling it on a plate, so i thought oh its gonna be like chinese dinner style where we just grab a little from each different thing. and then he got a second plate and did the same thing and then at that point i started praying that i would have enough space in my stomach haha. It was crazy. Oh but he told me a way funny joke that i got to tell you guys.

Here it is - Alright there are 4 people in a boat, A Russian, a Frenchacan, a mexican and an american. And when they were on the boat in the middle of the ocean, they realized they were sinking and so they tried unloading as much stuff as they could so the boat could be super light. So the Russian takes his vodka and says ah we have ton of vodka in the motherland, so i dont need this, so he tossed all his vodka. Then the frenchacan took his wine and tosses it too and says wi wi we have much vine in our country we dont need all this wine. Then the Mexican takes his tequila and says the same thing that he has alot of tequila in mexico so he tosses all his tequila, so then the American takes the mexican and tosses him and says oh we dont need him we have plenty of those in our country... haha it was so funny because the brother was Mexican and he heard it from another Mexican so i guess its alright to tell it. But there you go your joke of the week.

Oh so Church this Sunday wasnt too bad, we got to meet more members and we got to meet with the Branch President and had a good meeting, we found out the goal for our branch baptisms this year and its 36, and that was the most i heard so i was definitly stoked, just becuase all the members hear love the work and so there will be alot of stuff happening here. Actually this past monday, yesterday the President's wife, sister Orjuela called us about an hour before a family home evening they were going to have with a part member family and they wanted to have us over to get to know them. IT was way sweet. i think i even did a little celebration dance after she hung up haha. Hey dont send this email to everyone or else they are going to think i am crazy after they hear that part haha. But yeah it turned out really good too, it was a way fun FHE. So if you want to make the missionaries happy.. hint hint.. haha just kidding kind of.

Well anyways so yeah oh this past Sunday i got to bless the sacrament. It was like only the second time i did it in Spanish. It was awesome i always like blessing the sacrament. Question: is there any spanish branch or anything like that back home? that would be cool if there was. I'd go there everyweek. Oh and yeah today we should be going to the Mormon Batalon. Sorry dont know how to spell it in english. But yeah its this small family, Ricardo and Flor and they have two kids. I'll try see if we could get a picture and try send to you guys later on today. Um lets see what else do i got to tell you..

Oh mom you'd probably laugh at me for this one. But we were listening to this motab song haha i think its my favorite now. Its called old time religion. Ah man that song is the bomb haha. If you dont know it you try listen to it and tell me what you think haha alright? (Mom's response" Are you kidding? Hit it boys - followed by singing and clapping)

Ok well i cant think of anything else, but i miss you guys, everything is way good, just trying to work hard and find some people to share the gospel with!

Love you Guys
Elder Thomas

Sean the legit sushi artist

Whats up family!

So yeah it was way good to talk to you guys on Sunday, got lucky with the skype thing. Its good to know that you guys are still weird... nah just kidding. Those were some pretty stylish designer hats, haha. But looked like everything was good. so that was cool. Oh we ate with a family yesterday, the Zelaya family. Sweet family and super funny. They are members and we started talking about sushi, haha and so i told them i could make sushi because they really like it. and so i said heck yeah i can make it. But i think they thought i was some legit japanese sushi artist or something and i was only thinking about spam musubis haha, so hopefully they like spam! Then we started talking about like dancing hawaiian style, they wanted to learn some and were wondering if i could teach them that too, so i said yeah.. haha i figure hey maybe i can just try wing it no one would ever know. Throw some slaps here and there and then maybe get some poi balls they can swing around. Man i might be putting my reputation as an islander on the line. i'll let you know how it goes..

So yeah we are getting to meet more people, still dont know alot, but everyone we have met so far is super nice and excited to work, so we are just way stoked to start firing man. We visited this one family last night and we asked the dad if he would have time to come out with us, but he couldnt, so he was super bummed out and he kept apologizing. Wasnt used to that, so the members here really like to help which is awesome! Ah shoot i had a story in my head but now i forgot it...oh ok so we passed by this one guy the other day, he was working on his truck and so we started to talk with him and stuff. Cool guy but it was so funny because he spoke like i dont know like a movie preview announcer, the ones with a deep voice and a dramatic tone. haha ah man i shoulda acted out his voice to you guys when i was talking to you. he's kinda like a mexican louis armstrong. i think thats a good comparison..shoot with just remind me in christmas time and i'll try say it on the phone.

Oh so this week i been thinking alot about what we teach and everything especially about Heavenly Father and really you know doing the things he asks us to do because you want to and not going through the motions only. kus its tough sometimes because you feel like its a routine. Then i think i read Enos. Yeah his story and everything. One thing i liked alot about it, was i felt like Enos was just a normal dude, and you know reading the Book of Mormon now, i think like man all these guys are just normal like us and that we can all be like them and be close to God and that it can be a real and important part in each of ours lives. I don't know how to explain it only that like we can really talk with God, recieve revelation or i mean hear him talk to us back and all this stuff that we hear about from the leaders of the church. all that can happen to us if we really want it and try at it. Oh bummmer i got to go already, only got like a minute left.

Well love you guys and take it easy. HOpe you have a good week.
Dont worry be happy now.

Love
Elder Thomas

Elder Thomas II

Alright,

So i just made it to Poway, man it is crazy. We got here this morning and met the missionaries who were here before us. They showed us a little bit of the area, but we are still pretty much clueless. So it should be fun the next couple days haha.

Oh so funny, so we come in and one of the elders who was here before, has the same name.. Yup Elder Thomas. So that was kinda weird. Uhm man i dont know what to write, just a ton of stuff. Oh Thanks for the package! The Rayas passed it on to me this past Sunday.

So i came back here to San Diego on Monday, we left early morning and started the huge journey here. Man i am kinda glad now that i lived on an island my whole life haha becuase we don't have to drive too far to get anywhere. It took about two hours just driving from the desert. It was so weird too because when we got here to San Diego, i was freaking out, I wasn't used to it because its so different from the small farm towns out there in Brawley. But i feel a little bit normal now. Ton of hills out here in Poway and its pretty country too, so i like it alot so far. Our area is pretty big. We cover alot, but we are just in a branch.

Oh my new companion is Elder Plant. He is from Twin falls Idaho... i think. He's pretty cool. Way nice guy, good spanish too. He likes tennis, so i think thats what we are going to do for workouts in the morning. Dad you better watch out before i get good and woop you in it when i get back, haha. Oh we do have a car which is pretty sweet. oh and we went to go out to eat over here, and i had some tacos de cabeza. Those things are the best! So ONO.

Well, i got to get going to work, find out what's happening in this area! Love you guys and i'll talk to you this sunday!!! cheee! Be ready i am going call you when its super early and if you don't answer you will have to wait until Christmas... haha. No just kidding, i'll call around the afternoon.

Love you guys!
Elder Thomas

The Work is hard ... but worth it

Alright,

So tons of stuff happened this week, it was way good, we didnt write yesterday because we had a special meeting with Elder L. Tom Perry in San Diego. We had to wake up earlier and we were gone pretty much all day because we are so far from San Diego. It was Way cool though, super good meeting, it felt wierd to be back in the City though haha. So yeah Elder Perry came and he gave a good talk, pretty much learned that we got to step it up a notch and Work harder. He is a really funny guy too man, he was cracking a couple jokes here and there. it was way good. So that's what we had yesterday.

Okay well anyways this past week we taught a ton of people it seemed like. Some super funny lessons too. Well anyways i'll tell you what happened with one our investigators Chris, so we were reading with him in Alma 32, talking about Faith and experimentando (sorry forgot how to spell it in english) the word. SO we stop every other verse and just explain and talk about it and then we get to this one part, where it talks about how you will feel if it is a good seed, and it said yea and your breast shall swell, so he says "oh ok so like well in this case if you have breast that you know it will get bigger." then i looked at my companion and he is just laughing so hard, and i just put my head in my hands...like ah man. But then i thought shoot thats how i was because i always thought that bosom meant your butt, so all those years thinking i would feel the spirit in my butt. So i can't say anything, but i thought you know what? That's why we have the Prophet to lead us and help us understand the scriptures. haha

Oh and another story, this past Sunday we were visiting this guy, his name is Gerardo and he is way smart, and he is a good guy too. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and especially about Baptism, and he understood it all, that was a first for me at least. Because he was Catholic and the Catholics always say well i have been baptized when i was a baby. They just never understand that first its remission of sins and you don't have any sins as a baby except for disrespecting your parents by making them clean your poopy all the time, nah just kidding. Well anyways so we teach Gerardo and he just flat out oh man so my baptism didnt count, and i need to get baptized and we told him, well yup thats right. So he accepted a date for the 22nd of May, so I am definitely stoked for that one. I just wanted to celebrate that someone understood and was willing to Follow Jesus Christ for once.

That's another thing i was thinking about recently, how can we follow Jesus Christ because it seems like before i always thought of Church different from life, just like ah you know there is sports, school, eating, surfing, fun, then there is Church. I always thought that and its completely wrong. Church is the way we Follow God, and thats why we have our life, we are here for God, we came from God and now we are trying to get back to him, and if we pull ourselves away from church, then we are surely pulling ourselves away from God and when that happens, we are wasting time. That's what i have really been thinking about lately. It is just tough thats way, the world teaches that faith is useless and dumb. Yet all the world has to offer is instant gratification and nothing that lasts longer than a little time. It is hard to follow God because it requires faith, it requires patience and long-suffering in a time where we can not always see the end or the reward or the blessings. Just because we can't see it doesn't mean that it isn't there because it is there. It's like we are in this dark hall and at the end is Heaven and we can't see that end door at the end of the hall, but there are alot of doors along the way and we get tired and just want to take one of those and rest, but if we do we will never make it to that end of the hall. We always have to follow God no matter what. I learned that this past week, even though things are hard and we can't see any blessings, we got to keep working, thats what we did this week, and we saw a ton of blessings. It was awesome, and worth it too.

Oh and we taught english Class today to Juanita and Isabel, they are awesome, Juanita last week read the Book of Mormon up to 1 Nephi 18, we were so happy that she read all that. So sweet, they are going to know for sure that it is true, they really have a sincere desire to follow God, its true too that God prepares people to hear the gospel. For real kus they are prepared. Its funny too because we talked with the neighbor who gave us the referral to teach them english, she said they were looking for small ways to share the gospel and we told her how interesed they are and she acted all surprised, so sometimes even we may not think people are prepared but they really are, we just always got to share it with everyone we can.

Well thats it for this week, hope you guys have a good rest of the week. Love you!

Elder Thomas

Sean the other Surfer

Hey Everyone,

So quick news...we had interviews with President Donaldson today and he told us that our mission is getting bigger on May 2nd. We are getting more Wards and Stakes up north from the Carlsbad mission and I am going out there. So he said the place is called Poway or something like that. So I am pretty excited, sad though at the same time because we are just leaving everyone. Oh and i got to tell you this funny story that happened at church this past Sunday. So in sacrament meeting the speaker starts talking about surfing, so obviously i started payin attention more. he said " it takes a lot of skill and balance" i was like yup its true. haha acting all proud. then he told this story of this guy named Sean. i was like no way. he said he was a surfer further up in California and a whole thing about how he was on a surf team but he choose to go to seminary instead, it was pretty cool. Freaky though, haha i kept thinking that he was talking to me or someone was calling my name.

So yeah this Sunday was really good, we actually had people who came to church. One of them is going to get baptized next week, so i am way excited for that. Her name is Mia and she has ten years old. But it was funny because i was talking to someone and out of no where she came up and hugged me and i freaked out, haha. I was like wait! wait! i cant hug you. It felt so wierd. So you guys might have to give me some time when i get back to get used to hugs again haha.

Oh i got to tell you what happened today too, almost forgot! So we were in Wal Mart shopping...and we finished and then were sitting down on this bench waiting for the other Elders to be done, and then this older big man came by and we let him sit down instead. Then we started talking and talking. He was big but he said he used to be the fastest guy in the Imperial Valley, and that he used to play football, baseball, and track. Then we started talking about the Gospel and the Church and he got started talking about his family. Then he started to cry. I mean just right there in WalMart, he said that he is going to miss them - his great grand children because he felt he was going to die soon, he was just worried. It was sad. This guy just was scared and worried. So we talked about families and how they can be together forever, but he didn't want us to come over, he felt we would be wasting our time going to visit him. It was so sad, like i wish he would have let us talk to him more. So that made me realize how much peace we get from what we know from the restored gospel. it truly is important to let everyone know it. Hopefully we will get to see him again in Wal Mart or something.

Well, eh family take care of the Raya Family, you got to show um the ropes. They are an awesome family! Alright, well i love you guys and miss you. HAVE a good week!

Elder Thomas

Stuck in the Desert

Hey Everyone!

So i added some pictures on, so you can see a little bit more about the life here in the desert. Oh so we had transfers today, but still nothing, I am gonna stay with my companion again, in the same area haha i was joking around saying i wanted to kill myself already becuase its 4 transfers already together in the same place, but its all good, we have a baptism coming up in about two weeks. so thats something to look forward to.

So everything has been going alright here. We are still looking for more people to teach. Right now we got about two or three solid people. One is Marcelo, we finally got to visit him again just last night, and we taught the Word of Wisdom, which was tough for him becuase he used to drink alot and he even knows its bad but its just a habit that he cant stop, but it went well and we read some scriptures and just told him not to give up, just keep going. we felt so bad. I mean i wish we could just like let him know its all going to work out even though its hard, we read Alma 32:41-43. that was a good scripture, it helped alot, just talks about the end, all our hard work and patience and long suffering with all be worth even though he couldnt see it now. One thing i was thinking when we were there was that i never coulda seen myself reading the scriptures every day and doing this stuff every day. i never thought it was posible, but now i look at it and its just crazy, I mean we can all do it. oh but yeah this other investigator told us a pretty cool story of how he started meeting with the missionaries.

He told us this one Sunday he was just feeling depressed and so he went out for a walk and just kept walking and walking not going anywhere in particular, then he got to the Church Building after a while and thought, you know what? i am just going to go in, so he walked into the church and sat down in the back and sacrament had already started and then he was just sitting there all dirty and tired with regular clothes on. Afterwards the missionaries went up and started talking to him when sacrament was done. When i heard that i was wow! i sure wish that would have happened when i was here haha. It's a pretty cool story though just how he was led there that one day and now, pssh he is pretty much like a member, he knows a ton, reads the scriptures everyday prays and knows its true and everything, but he can't get baptized becuase he has to get divorced first and then marry again with the woman he iss living with now. I think thats kind of lame because he already knows everything and wants to get baptized but he can't because of his marital status.

But anyway, i am going to send this email and upload some more pictures in another one.

Love you, Sean

A TV and an egg in a fuzzy slipper

Alright so I forgot to write in the last email, a funny story that happened, so i'll just start off with the story. So we stopped by this one members house a few weeks ago and so we were talking and talking and he told us a story of what happened when the last big earthquake hit last year. It was a big one especially out here in the Desert. So he was telling us how when the earthquake hit, he got all scared and he was in the kitchen and so he ran to his room he told us to save his baby, i was like oh man this guys a stud! Then he said yeah, and guess what elders, i saved her, all 63 inches of her... and we were like what?? We were thinking all 63 inches of your wife? and he told us no my Plasma TV hahahah. So he was calling his TV his baby and his wife then told us that he just ran right past them and went straight for the TV. We just started busting out laughing. super funny story. so hope you guys liked that one.

Oh and yeah food out here is super good! everything out here is really fresh becuase its all farm lands and meat factories or whatever you call um and so the other day we ate at a member's house and they had duck eggs in the refrigerator and so they actually gave us some to try and hey wasnt too bad. it tasted good. Oh i am not sure if i ever told you mom or dad, that i brought home an egg one time and put it in a fuzzy slipper to try and hatch it so i could have little ducks... it didn't work too well though, but now i realized we coulda just ate it instead.

Well anyways, the work is going well out here, trying to still find more people, not having a lot of people to teach, but we did have a miracle that happened right after the Sunday General Conference. So here's what happened. We got a referral from a member to stop by this guys house and so we did and we started talking with him and everything and he seemed pretty interested and he told us that he wants to follow God already and so we are stoked to go teach him more oh and he is also coming to Church this Sunday so he is starting off good. so yeah it was really cool to meet him. But yup no complaints out here just trying to work hard, oh and it was getting hot this past week too, it was about in the 100's. only 101 or something like that so still not too bad. but i cant imagine being here when it is 120. well we'll see if i am still here haha. still got two more months before it gets way hot.

Well love you guys and hope you have a good week

Love
Elder Thomas