The Master is Calling! : Transfer Week

Dear Family and Friends,

On Monday, Gail Young fed us lasagna. She was super nervous because
she hadn't made lasagna in thirty years! So nervous, that she made a
whole lasagna the night before to see if she still could! She made
another one for us on Monday as well so she invited us to come back
Tuesday night as well.

One of the most intriguing things as a missionary is that everyone has
a story and sometimes it feels like everyone wants to share it with
you. On Tuesday we went Tracting in Joliet. While we were walking down
a street, Elder Ross saw a man working on a car outside a house, which
immediately appealed to Elder Ross. He wasn't interested in talking to
us but an elderly lady came out to talk. Her name was A-lee. A-lee
left her home at the age of 9 and lived on the streets. She shared
many of her incredible adventures with us, it was an amazing
experience. We had arranged to meet with the Pratts that night as
well. We were both very nervous for this meeting because after much
prayer and pondering, we felt we needed to drop the Pratts. We had
been working with them on three commitments my whole time here,
praying, reading the scriptures and attending church. They could not
keep any of these and sometimes the best thing to do is to let them
know you weren't going to be coming back until they were willing to do
their part. It's sad, but sometimes there is just nothing you can say
to help if they aren't willing to do the work. They understood
everything we said, I think they had seen it coming. They will be in
our prayers.

This whole week we've been trying to contact three referrals we got
last week. One referral told us the man had been reading the Book of
Mormon and was interested, but his wife is less-active. When we went
to contact him, his wife answered the door and turned us away just
about as fast as she could open the door. For the other two referrals,
we had a very hard time finding their houses and when we got there
there was no one there. For one house we had to drive out on dirt
roads for about an hour before we found he house, but no one was home
so we left a restoration pamphlet with our number. We got a call the
next morning from the man who lives in the house and he told us that
the referral no longer lived there. Hopefully we can contact her on
the phone.

We had a hard time contacting our investigators this week. Adam and
Christina are getting married in 5 days!! And when they get back a
week after that, we'll be able to teach them again!! We didn't get to
see Patty this week but we're going to stop by tomorrow to see how she
is doing. We went and visited Lynn in e Village Shoppe and she let us
know very excitedly that she was going to start the Book of Mormon
that night! We can't wait to see how that goes.

Saturday was CONFERENCE!! We watched conference with the Fowlers, the
members we live with, and had a great time. The talks were so inspired
and answered all my questions. The gospel felt so real that day.
Before we went to bed that night we went out on the front porch and
looked at the beautiful stars. It felt like we could reach out and
touch them. Heavenly Father was so close that night. The next morning
we went to the Mccally's, our branch mission leader in Absarokee, to
watch conference. What a powerful way to end conference! It was so
amazing how Elder Holland's talk ended up being exactly what I needed.
I needed his words and his inspiration. It was amazing.

Now for Referral news, Elder Ross is leaving. This makes me super sad
because Elder Ross and I have become super close and we were super
excited for our next transfer! He is headed up to Ronan by Missoula.
My new companion will be Elder Harper, an Elder I've known for my
whole mission. Elder Harper loves music and running and many of the
same things I do, I think we'll get along really well.

I love you all!

Love,
Elder Thomas

My District :)