We'll Harvest this Field from Sunrise to Sunset!

Monday, October 26, 2015

Too Many Meetings

Dear family and friends,

What a busy week.  Tuesday was probably our most normal day this week.
We were able to do a lot of tracting, And we even tracted into
someone. His name is Matt and when he answered the door he seemed
really interested and he set an appointment for Saturday, but when we
went back on Saturday to visit him he didn't answer the door. It was a
little disappointing. We think he may have just forgotten so we will
be going back later to see if we can contact him then.

On Wednesday we had district meeting which is about an hour away and
about 3 to 4 hours long. Most of our appointments canceled that day so
we got a lot of tracting, however no one really seemed interested. The
best thing about this is that I got a lot of walking in and maybe I'll
lose some fat. I've already gained about seven or 8 pounds since I've
been on my mission... I guess I better start taking those morning
workouts seriously haha.

Thursday was definitely the strangest day of this week. I've been
feeling pretty sick this week and it hadn't been getting any better.
When I woke up on Thursday I was congested had a headache and was
feeling sick to the stomach. Elder Hatton wasn't feeling well either.
We realized that if we were going to get work done anytime soon I
needed to get better and Elder-Hatton needed to stay healthy. It's
hard to stay in the house for a full day when you're on a mission,
especially when you have to cancel plans. We had to cancel our service
activity at the old folks home which made me really sad. I slept for a
few hours in the morning which was probably the biggest help, we
studied for the rest of the time. We also had to cancel our dinner
appointment which really stinks because we didn't get "Real
home-cooked food" that night.

It would've been nice to get right back into work on Friday but we had
another meeting. This meeting was further away. Gillette is an hour
and a half away but we also had to pick up another companionship.
Picking up the other companionship added about an hour, round trip, to
the travel and the presidency conducting the interviews was late. We
were gone from 11:00 that morning till 6:30 that night. We spent the
rest of the night by visiting an investigator named Christene, doing
some online proselyting and tracting. We were only able to visit
Christene on her porch for a few minutes and not teach her because she
is a single mom and the member couple that was coming with us canceled
last minute.

Saturday was a little better than the rest of the week. We started out
the day trying to visit Matt Who we had tracted into earlier that
week. He didn't seem to be home so we ran back to the apartment to
grab my inhaler before we went and visited our investigator named
Pete. Pete is a really interesting old man. He is about 80 years
old, used to live in Germany, requires oxygen at all times and he
smokes which is why we needed to grab my inhaler. Visiting Pete 
goes something like this: we walk up to his door and try to walk in because
that's what he's asked us to do. It's locked but he hears us rattle
the door and he yells for us to "come in." We try to tell him through
the door that the door is locked, but because he is quite deaf he just
yells at us to "come in" again. We yell a little louder and tell him
that the door is locked and we can't get in. Depending on the day, we
have this exchange for a minute or two. Eventually we hear him
grunting and grumbling as he makes his way to the door. When he opens
the door we see A very old man standing in the doorway wearing naught
but his shorts. He always has a very big smile on his face because he
loves the missionaries. Because of his age it's very difficult to
teach him the lessons. We always just read the Book of Mormon with
him, Or rather, yell the Book of Mormon to him because it's the most
we can do that he'll understand. When we're done reading with him he
tells the stories of how he came to America when he was 15 years old.
Something we didn't notice the first time, is the plaques on his wall
signed by Ronald Regan and George Bush. He has four of them and they
all say thank you but not what they're thankful for and he's too
humble to tell us why he has them.

For the rest of the day we simply drove around with rakes and offered
to help people rake their leaves. We call this service tracting and we
were able to meet an elderly man named Ted, who told us stories about
when he was in the army while we raked.

This is one of my favorite things about the mission, meeting new
people. I love the friendship that can be developed in such a short
amount of time.

OK, well I'm out of time, but you guys got pretty much my whole week
in this letter. Don't be expecting this every week, we had a little
extra time this week. :)

I love you all, be safe, and pray always!

Love,
Elder Thomas

Preparation day! 

 We got ZUCCHINI BREAD! We love it when we get real food :)

Some "tag photography"


Monday, October 19, 2015

October 19, 2015

Dear family and friends,

Wow, first six days in the field. This is also the first Preparation day I've had in 9 days. I am so exhausted, today is definitely needed.

We have spent a lot of time here looking for new investigators. We have three investigators, one on date for baptism, and tons of potential investigators. People don't answer there doors much here in Newcastle and if they do, they're usually associated with another religion. There is a super strong belief in Christ here and I really love that, but I wish they'd listen to our message. Why, you might ask? Um cause I'm a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ and the message I have to share may just lead them to eternal salvation if they'll listen and accept it!! Geeze Louise. :) There are some times when I just want to grab a box and stand on it in the middle of the sidewalk shouting 3 Nephi 5:13 (look it up!) at the top of my lungs. That would be sweet, but probably wouldn't do much besides get me shunned... Haha but hey, maybe it's worth a shot!

I do love the lessons we get to teach though. I love feeling the spirit and knowing how to help them. This morning we got to eat breakfast with one of my favorite people ever. His name is Dallas. When the missionaries found Dallas 3 years ago, he was only a week away from becoming a catholic priest. He had been catholic his whole life. Dallas never finished becoming a priest but instead became LDS. Dallas loves the missionaries and has them over for breakfast a lot. The first time you go he washes one of your feet as Christ would. While washing your foot he explains the symbolism behind it. The symbolism and meaning behind it is that the master of the house in old times would wash your feet to let you know that you were always welcome in his home. He is such a good soul and everything in the church is very sacred to him. His calling is as the music coordinator. He gets the topics of the talks, goes to the topics section of he hymn book and prays about which of those hymns is needed. Many individuals have had amazing spiritual experiences during sacrament meeting because the Lord knows which songs they needed that day. He also just got called as the teacher of the 13 and 14 year olds, something that's very big for him. Today we were able to sit with him after breakfast and talk about the fact that God trusts him and will qualify him for that work. 

In other good news, there is a young man named Trent that we gave the last three lessons to last night. He has been and still is working toward baptism on the 31st. He has great faith.

Our newest investigator is named Tasha. We found out about Tasha when studying the area book. We found that she had been tracted out by missionaries before and had agreed to more appointments but she had cancelled the next two appointments. The book told us that she worked in the phone store on Main Street so we went and found her there. We talked to for a bit and she said she would meet with us the next day. When we met with her and her daughter at a little restaurant, she said she didn't want to take "the lessons" but that we were allowed to share a message with her every so often. That is currently our plan, and we hope the spirit will touch her heart and that we'll have opportunities to bear testimony of the church. 

It's been a busy week and I hope we have another one next week. I love you all! Keep up the good work:)

Love,
Elder Thomas

 P.S.:

We live in a teensy little cottage in the middle of the woods. It's
super fun. My bed is made out of memory foam :O

The picture of me throwing wood was a service project we did for an
elderly member of the ward, Brother Moody. He is a really cool guy but
he refuses to call me Elder Thomas and only calls me by my first name,
Neal. Weirdo haha. We also provided service at a senior center this
week. We do it once a week. We dish up their food and then we dish up
some for ourselves and go eat with them. Afterward, we clean up the
kitchen.

I love this ward. Everyone is so kind and helpful all the time.
They're so much fun.

BLOG P.P.S.:

If anyone sent me a letter by long hand while I was in the MTC and it
got to the MTC after I left, it's gonna be a super long time before I
get it cause they'll mail it to the mission home in Montana and then
the mission home will mail it to my residence in Newcastle Wyoming.
Therefore, the letter might have to travel from Utah, to Montana, and
then to Wyoming.

For the next six weeks my actual address is 351 East Wentworth, Newcastle WY.

Anyways, love y'all!

PICTURES:
This is my mini house

These beetles are everywhere and they're always getting into our
house. We call them "Apple bugs" because they smell like apples when
you... y'know, do what you do to bugs.     

Elder Hatton's many shoes. And a few of mine.

 The kitchen and living room. 

Study Room

 Bedroom

Bathroom. This bathroom smells weird.

This is Boo. He's the neighbors dog. Our neighbor is the only other
person on our secluded dirt road and he just roams between our two
houses:) they gave us a house AND a dog!!

I am very happy to be here. :)

Service with Brother Moody :)

Our backyard :)




Sunday, October 18, 2015

Text message from Family in Wyoming

It was fun to receive this picture and a little text: "Sorry to send this so late tonight, but we just met your missionary! Here he is with Elder Hatton! We are so excited to have him here. They are coming again tomorrow to teach a discussion at our house!"
~The Wilkes Family from Newcastle, WY

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Email from Sister Wadsworth

This is the email we received from Neal's Mission President and his wife on October 15th:

Dear Brother and Sister Thomas,
Just a quick e-mail with a picture to let you know Elder Thomas arrived in the Montana Billings Mission and is doing great!

Regards,

Sister Wadsworth

Saturday, October 10, 2015

October 10, 2015

It's been a good week in the MTC. It's hard to remember what even happened. Like I said earlier, the days all blend together. 

Our district is really close, I love these Elders and Sisters. It's hard not to love people you're constantly having spiritual experiences with. 

The highlight of this week was TRC's. TRC stands for Teaching Resource Center. In the TRC building, there are a bunch of rooms set up like a typical apartment front room. We sit in these rooms and teach the people who work here at the TRC. Some may be real investigators, some are not. You never know the difference. I was assigned Chad Talbot and Lome Kata. I love these two and I LOVED teaching them. They have become my friends. We got to teach Chad 4 times and Lome only 3 times. I love when the spirit touches my heart in during a lesson and I can bear testimony of the simple truths of the gospel. The spirit is there when my brain isn't! If it weren't for the spirit, we'd all be in trouble!

Funny moment of the week? An elder in our district got two packages with all sorts of weird stuff including, two pink flamingos, plastic easter egg duck things with candy in it and a random, previously opened, container of corn. He was SO embarrassed:) The best part of this, however, was what we did with the ducks. I will attach some of the pictures showing where we placed them.

I'm really sorry I can't right more, always busy here. Love y'all!!!!




Tuesday, October 6, 2015

October 6, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

We had an amazing experience yesterday. My teacher, Sister Burton, took us to the Hall of Christ in the MTC. The hall of Christ is one of the main hallways used in the MTC and it is lined with artwork of Christ. As we walked we were supposed to answer two questions, what does Christ mean to me and what am I willing to do for Christ. As I walked down this hallway dedicated to Christ, who I love very much, the spirit touched my heart so strongly. I felt like I learned something about christ for every picture. I was amazed at his power and I felt incredible gratitude as I viewed pictures depicting the sacrifice he made. When we got back to our classroom she asked what we had learned. The spirit prompted me to answer. (Answer questions in the MTC always feels like bearing a testimony, like every time.) When I started to give my answer I finally broke down. I hadn't cried yet in the MTC, not even when I left my family, because I don't think I understood how hard we work or quite what two years meant. Well, we work like crazy here and two DAYS is a long time when you're used to being with the people you love. I didn't cry for too long, although I cried a lot in the time I gave my answer. I realized when I answered that question that I had been trying to drink from the fire hose, that is the first two or three days at the MTC, all by myself. I hadn't had Christ with me the whole time and he has just been waiting for me. After all he has done for me and helped me with already, he's still there waiting for me. It was such a comfort to me to realize that I am not doing this on my own. He is there to help me all along the way.

The next thing we learned is that committing an investigator to be baptized is not a scary thing. We roleplayed committing "investigators" to be baptized, doing it as sincerely as possible. The amazing thing to learn in this process is that the missionary says the words but the spirit is the one who extends the invitation to the investigator. The spirit was so strong in the room as we felt the spirit speaking through us. We felt love for the individual each missionary was portraying and really were happy to extend this invitation to them and way happier when they said yes. A missionary in our district Elder Mcmiller, bore his testimony that the Lord was giving us a gift because having gone out with the missionaries frequently he had experienced the joy of an investigator saying yes and it was the same joy he felt in that classroom today. I am so greatful to the Lord for letting us feel the spirit so strong, giving us courage and excitement to face the trials to come.

Oh yeah, CONFERENCE IS AMAZING AS A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love this gospel and the joy that it brings to my heart. Though this work is hard, I could do it forever. Philippians 4:13

I love you all so much,

Elder Thomas

P.S.~ P-day is on Saturday, that is why I am writing you today. 

P.P.S.~ This is my district. You'll get names later. No time

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Call Me Elder

Dear family,

No cries with the goodbyes, I like that. It's a lot less embarrassing for me! Haha but really, I miss you all. 

What can I say but that I have completely accepted this lifestyle. There is absolutely nothing that I don't love here. My companions are Elder Mcelvany (Pronounced: MAC-EL-VAIN-EE) and Elder Parrish (Pronounced: PERISH). They are the BOMB.DIGGITY. Elder Parrish reminds me of Joseph Robertson, when he was younger, and he lived Anchorage Alaska. He loves animals and has a lot of cool facts. Elder Macshnavainpidaelpackee (What I say when I forget his name) lived in Vegas and he says "poopie" a lot but I think he means "peepie." (Movie reference anyone??) He worked out a lot before his mission and he loves football and sports. I really love these elders and it's so much fun to learn the gospel with them. My branch president, President Metcalf looks like the President of United states in National Treasure 2. Like exactly like him. I'm the district leader which is nice because I like leadership opportunities! 

We work hard here but I could do this for years. You learn so much every day that you just feel like it's been a week. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to gain this much knowledge this fast. We are strengthened by the Holy Ghost, that's how we can do this.

One of the coolest opportunities is that each companionship gets their own "investigator" to practice teaching with. Ours is named Alex and we prepare lessons and teach him. Our first lesson will be tomorrow and we've really been working hard to prepare. 

I don't know how to summarize everything that has happened here so far. We are constantly doing something and have already had so many spiritual and teaching experiences. This place is like HOGWARTS FOR MORMONS. You have classes and you're constantly learning the cool things you can do if you teach by the Holy Ghost! The food is even good like Hogwarts and there is always something to eat. I just LOVE THE SPIRIT HERE. It's not even a hard transition at this point because this is the life i've wanted for years!!!!

ASSIGNMENT: Read Moses 6:31 and understand that Enoch is representative for everyone before a mission. Then read Moses 7:13 to understand how it feels every time you walk out of a lesson or meeting in this place, Enoch being representative of missionaries. SO COOL. 

I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!

P.S.~ Dearelder.com is the fastest way to reach me. Use the MTC address.

Signing out,

Elder Thomas