Here today - gone tomorrow

So yup Bad news! Im getting transfered again. they just called us earlier today..Its so weird because I have only been here for three weeks, so im way suprised that im leaving so quick. But thats okay that just means i learned everything i needed to here in PB haha.. pretty quick.. nah well see where i go now. Hopefully its back to spanish. that would be the bomb!

Anyways i gotta tell you about this cool story/sweet huge miracle that happened the past 2 weeks.. sorry about not writing last week, never had time.. so now you know im still alive. OK so two weeks ago, after sacrament meeting, this guy dressed normal came up to us and told us that he wanted to start taking the lessons. His name is destry. He's a way cool guy. So we started to teach him and everything and he told us how his parents got baptized when he was a kid and then he didn't really want to do it. so he went his own way. but after all the trouble and hard times. he knows he needs to do it. Man i mean no joke.. he is the most willing guy i've met on my mission.. he listens to the spirit so well. its pretty cool to see. But anyways, the first lesson we had with him, we went to the mormon batallion and we started to talk about Joseph Smith and he said he had some doubts about whether he was a prophet or not and we watched the movie and i was just praying that he would feel the spirit and so after the movie was done. he turned to us and asked us if we felt it.. and i was like heck yeah we felt that. Then he just tells us that he knows he's a prophet. So after we gave him a Book of Mormon. that all happened last week. We got to talk to him again this past sunday and he told us that right now he is reading in Alma 32. Shoot i was so stoked when he said that. he has like this burning desire to follow God's path no matter what and it's way nice to see. Its just cool because you know he's gonna be alright. he can get through anything because he understands his true purpose and is gonna give everything to stay on the path..because sometimes i feel bad for people that have hard times but they dont know God and they reject the message too. i just know that they are going to have alot of sketchy times. but if someone is so willing and has good desires, then bam they got a way bright future. So he has a baptismal date for december 25.. which is a bummer because i won't be able to see but that's okay. his dad is gonna come done with the rest of his family to baptize him. it'll be a way good experience.

So that's just a huge miracle that we saw this past week. But that's just one of many. Yeah its a big one but there have been alot more, maybe not as big or maybe some people wouldn't call them miracles, but i believe they are. This one time while we were headed to the mormon batallion to meet with Destry, this old lady was carrying a couple bags up some stairs and i just went up to give her some help and we actually carried it a couple blocks. but it was the nicest old lady and we didn't get her information or anything but she was still very thankful and she said there needs to be more people like that, who want to help in the world. She didn't even know anything about missionaries until that point. So that was pretty cool

.

That same night heading back to the bus we saw this guy walking and i just said hello and waved and then we started talking and everything. same thing as the nice old lady.. had no idea who we were. But we talked about the message we have and he liked it alot.. he doesn't live in our area, but some other missionaries will be able to teach him. so it's all good.

Oh here's a funny story. we met this guy walking on the streets. and he asked what company we work for.. haha. just a ton of people still dont know who we are.. even in the states! pretty funny stuff. anyways we told him we are mormons and he asked us what that meant and he asked if that means .well pretty much stuff about the law of chasity and then all of a sudden he just is really impressed. and gave us props.. haha which was pretty sweet. so we gave him a card and everything.

Oh by the way, in PB, there's a mountain called mount soledad. its pretty gigantic. and we had to bike up it to the top pretty much because we were going to visit someone. Holy smokes it was way hard.. then i remembered back in the day when the missionaries would come visit us and would have to go up the hill. thats ridiculous. haha then when they came we would always give um some gatorade. ooohh that would have been so good afterwards. oh well. But it was all good afterwards going down that thing. we went about 40 almost 50. the speed odometer clocked us. going that fast. haha it was pretty fun. Anyways i got to start packing for tomorrow.

love you guys. have a good week!

Elder Thomas

Eagle Scout skills

Hey!

So this past sunday, we got to go back up to poway to see Ricardo and Flor's baptism, which was sweeet!! It was cool because their dad, who was less active got to baptize them! so that made it even better. Then I got to see the members and everything up there. It was nice to hear spanish again too. i miss it, i knew i loved serving in spanish and teaching and just meeting new spanish people, but i didn't realize how much i love them. they are awesome people and their culture, man its pretty cool... then at the baptism, Alfredo the guy we baptized back in june, well he was there too and he had his tie on and everything, looking good. He's even got the aaronic priesthood now! i was just thankful you know that i could see that. I mean he gets it, he has the truth now and understands it and he is still doing good, taking the next steps that he gotta take and preparing to get married in the temple. just seeing that and knowing that is the best thing i ever received.

Anyways i got those other pictures too. so i'm sure you heard of the black out. well just for those who didnt know. me and my companion are eagle scouts and so after being told to go back to the apartment... we thought that we would put our eagle scout knowledge to good use and we made an oil lamp... with a bowl and a toothpick (as the wick) and then wait for it...WD-40 and a pair of pliers to hold the toothpick. So we put that in the bowl and it worked super good and it made some good light so i left the room to get something and then the room got alot brighter... so at that moment i kinda got a little prideful about how good it was working then when i got back to the room it was a huge flame... haha so it kinda backfired on us and then we put our fire in the bowl outside on the porch so it wouldnt burn the apartment down, haha. Nevertheless it did provide us with light for a short amount of time haha...

Love, Elder Thomas

Now you see him...now you don't

So this past saturday i got a call at lunch time telling me to pack my suitcases - at first i didnt believe it so i called a second time haha. But yeah we had an emergency transfer meeting 3 hours after the call. it all went pretty quick! but its crazy because you'll never quess where i got transfered too... Pacific Beach...English! So now im not in spanish any more and its way weird, plus im super close to the beach haha and we were trying to find a couple referrals and no joke we were so close to the beach driving and it was ridiculous. felt so weird but i wasnt doing anything wrong haha. so yeah im doing english work now in a humungus ward! i walked in and asked my comp "shoot so how do you know everybody..?" then he told me you dont haha.. yet im so used to saying hi to everyone even before sacrament starts. Then the bishop asked me to go up and give my testimony since it was fast and testimony meeting. it was pretty good. weird though that i was speaking english im pretty sure i slipped in a couple spanish words in there haha.

It was funny kus there is a hawaiian family in the ward and so i thought i would be funny and use the aloha thing since everyone else does it. but the hawaiian brother went right before me and did it so he stole it haha.. but it was cool kus we ate at their house this past sunday. super sweet family! oh the food was way good and it felt like home which was nice. One of the sons is a RM and he has a uke and taught us a couple songs. So im gonna practice and get good. play some musical numbers up here in the firesides and stuff. good tool to find too. But they said next time i come over i can send a request for whatever hawaiian food i want to eat!!!

Anyways another sweet story that happened in Poway. We were trying to visit this recent convert but he wasn't home so we started talking to his grandma and while we were talking to her.. the son comes in and just sits down, then asks us what we are doing? like what are we talking about? so we told him about our message and How we invite others to come unto Christ. Then he just starts telling us his story and how he has a huge drinking problem and how his wife took the kids and left him.. I felt way bad. But i was really trying to understand where he was coming from but it was way hard. but then he told us that the hardest part was that he got put in jail.. so he was pretty much super depressed no hope no happiness nothing.. and all he does now to try feel better is drink more. But just throughout the whole time i felt bad for him but i didnt feel hopeless for him only because i know that there is the atonement of Jesus Christ. We don't need to fear about being sad forever or feel like we are alone, because of what he did and that he provides a way out and that way is for every single person. and so we told him that and we said basically thats what we do and we told him it was possible for him to give up drinking and follow Jesus Christ to happiness and the spirit was just way strong in the lesson and at the end we gave him a priesthood blessing and after that he said he would come to church, but im not sure whats happening now since i got Emergency transfered. but maybe tomorrow i'll figure out something. Just goes to show you though that when we follow the spirit and go where we are supposed to be..God will put people in our path and we can share the love of God that we have felt with our brothers and sisters through the Gospel. Pretty amazing stuff.

Well, thats some of the good news haha. This past week was pretty intense though. with the change. A TON of stuff happened.. So like on Friday Alfredo and leticia the people from guadalajara, they came back up to Poway for a visit and so i got to see them once. they are doing way good!! Alfredo has the priesthood now and is a priest. it was way nice to see him and know that he's still doing good. But it was kind of a bummer that i left the next day.. But aparently he was going to bless the sacrament this past sunday! cool stuff ah.

Then just yesterday actually we taught this lady here in PB and she has had a lot of problems in her life and tough stuff that she went through because of drinking and smoking and all that junk. its just a testimony you know that we are blessed to know the gospel becuase its the truth and it protects us, it gives a foundation that saves us from all this other crazy stuff. its true when it says theres no other way just got to follow Jesus Christ and get access to his atonement and the only way is through us as members who already have a testimony of these things and it's our responsability to let them know.

So yeah we were talking to this lady and we were talking to the gospel and she asked wait.. so you pretty much mean if i dont get baptized then i wont be saved..lack of a better word. so we said yup pretty much because we know its true and we have the only way for them to access the atonement. and we just testified that she can get her answer from God and not just have to take our word for it. so it went way well and the spirit there was super fuerte there too.

Well alot of stories but i better end it now. So yup now i am here in PB its pretty sweet. way excited to work here, so we'll see what happens.. Oh i forgot to tell you about my companion his name is Elder Turner, he's from Draper Utah. super cool guy, we think like each other its pretty hilarious! Its been a good time so far. So good things in the future!

LOve you guys have a good week

Elder Thomas

Ding! Ding! Ding!...it's the Magic Question!

Hey Family!

So this past week was super busy!! We had so much stuff to do through the whole week. We taught like 20 lessons. it was intense! We went to the mormon batallion twice too. it was way good. We went with Aurora and her 4 kids and at first we weren't sure how to get them a ride there. but we ended up taking our ward mission leader's bus! Oh, it was so funny because its pretty old and beat up. but it was something and it helped us get them there. They enjoyed it alot too, but they are still trying to find their answer whether this is something they need to do and so we have an appointment with them today and so we shall see how they are doing.
Then just yesterday we went to the mormon batallion with Ricardo and Flor who are gonna be baptized on the 10th. They are solid, but it was funny because the last week, we couldn't get a hold of them practically the whole week and they didn't come to church so we thought oh dang, something happened and now they don't want to do it anymore. Come to find out though that they were just on a trip, so they just came back sunday night and yesterday they called us up and asked us if we could go to the Mobat and so we were stoked and it went way well. They loved it and afterwards we stopped by the temple and had a super good lesson about the temple and how families can be together forever. They are super stoked to keep going, be baptized and then enter into the temple.
Then we had a good lesson with eduardo and well the last time we left the restauracion dvd about joseph smith and he watched it and told us that he felt the spirit and believes the story and thinks its all true. So we talked about baptism and we set a date for the 17th this month. so he's doing way good too, and we planned an activity to watch the testaments at a members house. which turned out super good! he loved it, so h'es doing really good too.
Funny story - so we went to go set up the projector for the movie at the member's house and it's the brother who loves surfing and so when we walk in, his screen saver from his labtop was projected on the wall and it was this super sweet point break in mexico and it was such a nice right! haha and he starts telling the story of how they found it and it was pretty intense and funny too. i was just standing there "thinking you got to be kidding me!"trunky moment right there.. haha nah just kidding.
So ok another story - well we passed by Quirino and natalia and we went to the church to have a lesson about the plan of salvation, which turned out good, it helped them alot to understand why they are here and we ended up setting a date for the 24th this month for their baptism! So tons of people following Jesus Christ this month!!!! and we just met with them again yesterday and they asked us "so what do we need to do now to prepare us to be baptized?" ding ding ding the magic question! So we explained it more and they are willing and excited - so there we go!
Funny story - so we were talking to people and we met this one girl she was kinda gangsta. so she was talking like she was from the hood. no joke after everything we said or question we asked she was ask us "what is it?" to mean "what?". so we asked something like "oh so whats your name?" and she would say "what is it?" it was just funny. so i thought man we should just tell her the word baptism or God so she asks what is it and then boom oh well thats a good question let us explain to you who God is.. haha and just explain everything to her.
So anyways we had a lot of good stuff happen this past week, alot of the people we are teaching are really progressing and so no complaints here. But i think with everything that has happened we learned alot about patience this past week. How it really is key to be patient no matter what because things happen not always the way we planned it and it might take longer then expected, but if we are patient and not only just waiting until the time comes but enjoying and doing all we can, working hard and being optomistic in the between time, we can see miracles. Thats what we saw last week, just a ton of people keeping commitments and really preparing to be baptized. Even though our situation could give us all reason to complain and be angry and stressed out, we can choose to turn it around and make it a good thing.

So yeah a ton of good things happening i'll keep you guys updated and everything so you know whats happening!
Love you!
Elder Thomas

Strictly saimin

Alright, so this past week was way sweet! We had three people that we are teaching come to Church for the first time which was awesome. There are alot of people who are progressing - it's pretty cool to see. Francisco, the person who called us wanting us to come over, he came to Church, but he came half-way through Sacrament meeting so we had to go out and bring him in, but he loved it! Then afterwards we went to the temple and the mormon battalion. If you see the picture he is the guy on the right, in the top corner. He's a way good guy and he has a strong desire to keep learning and coming. So good things are looking up for him. He loved the temple, it was pretty sweet kus we went at night and so they had the lights on and everything, it's a super nice temple, like a castle. Then the other two people we had, Quirino and Natalia they came with their daughter, who is less active, and so it was good to see them there.

Oh, but yesterday was a way good day too. In the morning we thought, Eh! we should bust out the bikes today and go biking around and talk to people in the streets between appointments trying to find new people. For the first 5 seconds it felt good to be out and riding bike haha but then i started get tired, jeez! i'm so out of shape. i started to die riding and we got to this hill. and i was thinking, oh bradduh you gotta be kidding me! But i did make it without walking haha, a small accomplishment. So we had to walk down some stairs coming back down from the appointment and i almost ate it because my muscles, or lack thereof, were sore, it was pretty funny. Oh that reminds me... so this past Sunday a couple of young men were talking about preparing for your missions in sacrament meeting. Ooohhh, it was hilarious just because they were talking about being able to manage your money so you have enough food for the month, knowing how to shop and cook too because your going to have to do that on your missions. So me and my companion were just cracking up becuase we have been eating saimin for the past 2 weeks kus we ran out of money and so we probably just went up and gave our testimony about the truthfullness of it haha. pretty funny stuff.

Oh and yesterday we taught the dad of a member who just got baptized with her family. We have been trying to pass by but we hadn't had luck finding him because he has been really sick. But yesterday we passed by and we got to teach him and it went super good! He said he felt the Spirit and he told us a couple of stories about how he had faith in God and he is pretty strong and knows alot about God, so we are stoked to keep teaching him.

We are trying hard to do the best we can, trying to give it our all, still got a long way to keep getting better, but it's possible even though change is kinda hard. It's kinda crazy because President Donaldson, before he left, said 90 percent of people don't change by the end of there lives, they still have the same habits and everything, only 10 percent change and its crazy to think about that, maybe i already told you that but i was reading about repentance in the Book of Mormon and how it says Jesus Christ has the power to help us change and help us to leave the things and bad habits we have in order to follow him more fully. That's what I have been trying to do, and it's so much easier just to decide to follow him no matter what happens and to always have faith because then everything will go better. He will bless us tons! Maybe it's reading the scriptures, or maybe praying, or church or loving others, or sharing the Gospel whatever it is, if we choose to do it now, it will turn out better in the future and blessings will come becuase the Lord promised and he keeps his promises. That's the only reason why i can explain all the good stuff happening right now, just tons of blessings.

Oh and guess what?!! You remember the couple that got married and the husband got baptized and then they went back to Guadalajara... well, they're coming back at the end of this month baby!!! So excited to see um again. I'll let you know how they are doing, hopefully they come this week or next week, and i will take some pictures and send you um next tuesday, we'll see what happens.

Well have a good week! love you!

Elder Thomas

Pupusas!

Hey Everyone,

So yup, new transfer, but nothing is changing for us, so it's all good. I'm glad i am staying because there us a lot of stuff happening here, it's going way good.

Ok so this past Saturday, we got this random phone call from a former investigator, he was taught before i even got here, but he just called us asking if we could stop by this past Monday. Miracle! haha, and so we stopped by just yesterday and we talked about the message and the Book of Mormon, and he just ate it all up, he was super interested and it was cool to see how prepared he was to hear the message. So we are starting to teach him now.. Oh and we are teaching this part-member family, and they are from El Salvador. So this past week, we brought a member with us, who is from El Salvador too and they kicked it off together. Now they are super good friends and this past Saturday we ate dinner with them and they cooked some pupusas! super good!! Man it was some awesome food. Then the best part, the husband came to Church with his daughther this past sunday and they loved it! they stayed all three hours and afterwards he told us that he wants to keep coming.

What else is happening, lets see.. Oh you know how i said we were going to have a baptism, well that got moved back until September 10th because the dad wants to be at his son's baptism but right now he is on a trip in Mexico and so we are gonna just wait until he gets back. At least we will still be here. So yup, a ton of potential that's coming up. So be prepared haha.

Oh funny story, yesterday we passed by this one house, its an older couple, and well. each time we go to someone's house we always let the head of the house pick who they want to say the prayer. but every single time no lie, i think we are saying it wrong of something, the husband yesterday he starts freaking out. haha like no, no i can't pray, i don't know how and all this stuff, but the wife understood what we were trying to say and so she was trying to explain it to him and they just kept going back and forth arguing for a couple of minutes haha. I think next time we'll probably just pray... haha nah but it was pretty funny.

Anyways, everything is going really good and i'm doing good, having fun and working hard. Hope you guys are doing good.

Today we are going to go to the U.S.S. Midway pretty soon, so i'll take some pictures of it. But take care! Love you guys!

Elder Thomas

Donut blessings

Hey Family!

Hope you all are doing good. This past week was pretty good, kinda emailing late today because we went to the temple this morning at 11 and we just got back, it was super crowded but really good. It's always nice to go to the temple. So earlier today too in the morning we went to go help a brother with roofing, which was pretty fun. I hadn't done service in a while so it was a good workout... but after like an hour and a half my legs were killing me! haha, man it was tiring - still good though. We have another service project this Friday with our ward mission leader, Hno. Webb, it's funny because he owns his own little bus! haha and it's always just cruising right in the front and so i don't know what we are helping him with on the bus, we might paint it or just clean it up a little bit. I'll take some pictures so you guys can see.

Oh, this past Sunday we had a sweet lesson with this family like right before calling it a night. perfect timing too, we got there at 8:30 pm almost, and they let us in and we taught them about about God of course and about prayer and they really opened up and it went way well. Afterwards it was cool because the husband came out with us to our car and just thanked us for coming over and sharing God's word with them because he really appriciates it and wants to keep learning and having us over!!!! wooooo! That's what i am talking about. We are pretty stoked about that. This other night, on Saturday, we went to go visit this super nice lady, and we taught the restoration and she thought God was a spirit and some kind of energy but we explained it and taught her about how He has a body and that it's the Holy Spirit we feel when we get that energy or whatever she was saying, and she just sat there amazed and was wow! ok yeah yeah that makes sense. So another fist pump! We were pretty stoked again and she's reading and praying, so now we are just trying to help her get to Church.

What else is happening... Oh Ricardo and Flor are still coming to Church, still ready for their baptism, it's on the 20th, but we have transfers this next week already, which is crazy! If you guys wouldn't mind praying that time goes by slower kus man it's going by too quick! So yeah, and we the branch is getting a little bit smaller too because a family is moving out, which is a bummer. Oh well, we got a couple more families that we are teaching and still trying to find more.

Um ...oh, funny story. We were in this appointment this week and we were talking about the Apostles - Peter, James and John. But i was saying their names, and i said "si, San Pedro, San Juan and then.." then i dont know why, but i couldn't say san santiago. Instead i said san diego haha. Everyone started cracking up, it was pretty funny. So now we got another new Apostle San Diego.

So yups. everything is going really good here. The work is getting better each week, it's like this ongoing ramp. which is way good we just got to keep it going. Oh, we found out that there is a less-active member who works at a donut shop...oh yeah baby! So we went there the other morning and got some donuts! She's a super nice lady too. i guess we got to keep going and visiting her.. oh well no complaints here. Hopefully one of these days the owner of L and L will be a member. Still got the fingers crossed.

Wel,l hope everything is going good. Love you guys! Have a good week!

Elder Thomas