Dear Family and Friends,
So, I finally got you all updated on the last few weeks, except for this week. Darny darn.
This week was amazing! obviously, the most unique experience we had this week was Thanksgiving. In the morning on Thanksgiving we went and had a Turkey Bowl at the church. It was great fun and I only injured one person! Haha my head collided with Brother Jacksons chin, but he is fine and so am I:) For the rest of the day we ate food, from the Sangsters to the Brogans and wrapping it up at the Chapmans. It was a most excellent day full of food, laughter, food, games, food and A LOT MORE FOOD. And I just couldn't stop eating. I'm going to start gaining wait again. #WorthIt
Sunday was our golden day when it comes to proselyting. We have begun to share the new Light the World video that the church has put out on Mormon.org. People LOVE this video and they LOVE the Light the World initiative. People are feeling like we live in dark times, because we DO! This world needs more love, more joy, and more light! We had three lessons back to back to back all in an hours time and they were each so excited and inviting. We will be going back to each of them. It was amazing.
Later that night we had another lesson with Fred and Cara Jessop. The lesson was going to be about commandments but the spirit directed us a completely different direction. We talked about faith the whole time and invited them to take a step of faith by setting a goal for baptism. This has been our focus for quite a while because they need to take a step of faith before they are going to get their answer. They have expressed a desire to receive a solid answer before moving toward baptism. It was an incredible lesson and they left with a desire to set a goal for baptism which they will tell us next time!
We also met with Jacey Gordon again. Jacey is basically ready for baptism! She believes everything we have taught but is just working on gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Most of our lesson was about receiving revelation and how to know what is true and what is not. I just want to add my testimony of member missionary work to this. Jacey would not be where she is today if it were not for member missionary work. Her parents think the church is super weird and they tease her constantly. It is the support of the Criddle family that has brought her this far. Make sure you are doing your missionary work!!
Love,
Elder Thomas
Monday, November 28, 2016
Monday, November 21, 2016
A Little Break
Dear Family and Friends,
As I'm sure many of you noticed, I didn't write last week. So sorry!
But in all honesty, I just simply needed a day to relax a little bit.
We went hiking last Monday and it felt so good to just stretch my legs
and get out into nature. It was cold and windy, but fun!
That evening we had our regular Monday dinner with the Latu's. We are
so excited for this family! They have begun to come to church again
and they were there this last Sunday. I have been hoping this would
happen for about five months now! Go to the rescue everyone, it is
such a wonderful experience.
On Tuesday we had exchanges with our Zone Leaders in Hamilton. Elder
Dabel went to Hamilton with Elder Porter and I got to be with Elder
Rich here in Corvallis. It was such a good exchange. On our exchange
we taught Randy Walker. Randy is making progress! The only thing
keeping him from church at this point is his back issues that keep him
up all night. He really wants to come and he understands that it will
help him get his answer! He is progressing step by step.
That evening, we stopped to visit Debbie Herzog and her boyfriend
Doug. Debbie is an elderly woman who acts half her age (just recently
got back from waterskiing in Hawaii) and is very friendly to us. She
was raised Jewish but has been learning about Christianity. It has
always been hard to have a sit down lesson with her because she lives
alone, but lately she has a boyfriend that is at the house sometimes,
so when his truck is there we can stop by too! This last week she was
telling us about the difficulties she was having with one of her
children and some hard things he was going through and bad choices he
had made. She asked us how this could be part of God's plan for him.
We explained that it wasn't part of God's plan for him by teaching
about the Plan of Salvation. God's plan for him was bigger and
happier! As she put the pieces together, she began to tear up. We
testified of our purpose and promised we had so many more amazing
things to share with her. We can't wait to see where this goes.
We taught Kennedy Gold twice this week! She has a lot of questions,
which is so good. We were able to answer all of her questions and we
invited her to begin finding a testimony of President Thomas S.
Monson. Honestly, she is the coolest girl. We love teaching her!
The next evening was amazing. We had one lesson cancel so we stopped
in at Jim and Paula's, two investigators we've been working with for a
while. Jim just recently had a surgery and is recovering from that,
please keep him in your prayers. These two are a delightful elderly
couple and we love spending time with them and discussing the gospel.
They do become a little nervous if we ever bring up the Book of Mormon
or church because of past biases, but they are open to discussing the
gospel in general. Looks like it's step by step with these two! We
love them to pieces.
After meeting with them we rushed up to a lesson with Ben Williams and
his family. One of the many things we're working on with Ben right now
is figuring out where he stands. He doesn't seem to focused on
learning anything but he really wants his kids to be listening and
participating. According to rumors, he still believes and teaches AUB
doctrines/opinions, but really wants his children to join the church.
Saturday was CRAZY. The moment we finished studies, we had to run off
and teach a recent convert lesson at 11:00. Immediately after, we ran
to lunch for a few minutes 12:15-12:45, and then we ran to our second
lesson with Kennedy Gold that week at 1:00. As soon as that was done
we had to run to the church and get the baptismal font filling at
about 2:00. When we got there we asked the Zone Leaders to open the
Family History center for us so we could make the programs for the
baptism. Alas, they had loaned the key to the sisters. The sisters
were able to arrive at about 3:10, so we began making the program.
About 5 minutes later Amy, Arden and Tracie showed up to get in their
baptismal suits and greet people, so I showed them around till about
3:20 and then filled out most of the rest of the program. When 3:30
rolled around I left Elder Dabel and a few ward missionaries to finish
up the last few things and fold the programs while I changed. When I
came out around 3:45 we took pictures and greeted people right up to
4:00 when the baptism started, at which point someone leaned over to
me and whispered that they were excited to hear me song. "Oh Yeah," I
thought to myself, "I'm singing and I haven't practiced today or
warmed up or anything. Great." The baptisms were incredible. Amy was
baptized by Bishop Hawkes of the Hamilton ward and I had the privilege
of baptizing Arden and Tracie. It was amazing. The spirit touched
everyone's hearts powerfully. After the baptisms we all eventually
made it back into the chapel, and I got to sing. I love singing. I
always feel that music expresses feelings and thoughts much better
than speaking does. I was privileged to sing Savior Redeemer of My
Soul, and Heavenly Father helped me hit all the high notes even though
I hadn't had time to practice. The Lord is so good (Psalms 100:5).
Bishop Hawkes confirmed Amy and I got to confirm the two girls. It's
amazing how much love you feel for those you teach and witness getting
baptized. I am so proud of these three, and you can just see the
spirit emanating from them.
Love,
Elder Thomas
As I'm sure many of you noticed, I didn't write last week. So sorry!
But in all honesty, I just simply needed a day to relax a little bit.
We went hiking last Monday and it felt so good to just stretch my legs
and get out into nature. It was cold and windy, but fun!
That evening we had our regular Monday dinner with the Latu's. We are
so excited for this family! They have begun to come to church again
and they were there this last Sunday. I have been hoping this would
happen for about five months now! Go to the rescue everyone, it is
such a wonderful experience.
On Tuesday we had exchanges with our Zone Leaders in Hamilton. Elder
Dabel went to Hamilton with Elder Porter and I got to be with Elder
Rich here in Corvallis. It was such a good exchange. On our exchange
we taught Randy Walker. Randy is making progress! The only thing
keeping him from church at this point is his back issues that keep him
up all night. He really wants to come and he understands that it will
help him get his answer! He is progressing step by step.
That evening, we stopped to visit Debbie Herzog and her boyfriend
Doug. Debbie is an elderly woman who acts half her age (just recently
got back from waterskiing in Hawaii) and is very friendly to us. She
was raised Jewish but has been learning about Christianity. It has
always been hard to have a sit down lesson with her because she lives
alone, but lately she has a boyfriend that is at the house sometimes,
so when his truck is there we can stop by too! This last week she was
telling us about the difficulties she was having with one of her
children and some hard things he was going through and bad choices he
had made. She asked us how this could be part of God's plan for him.
We explained that it wasn't part of God's plan for him by teaching
about the Plan of Salvation. God's plan for him was bigger and
happier! As she put the pieces together, she began to tear up. We
testified of our purpose and promised we had so many more amazing
things to share with her. We can't wait to see where this goes.
We taught Kennedy Gold twice this week! She has a lot of questions,
which is so good. We were able to answer all of her questions and we
invited her to begin finding a testimony of President Thomas S.
Monson. Honestly, she is the coolest girl. We love teaching her!
The next evening was amazing. We had one lesson cancel so we stopped
in at Jim and Paula's, two investigators we've been working with for a
while. Jim just recently had a surgery and is recovering from that,
please keep him in your prayers. These two are a delightful elderly
couple and we love spending time with them and discussing the gospel.
They do become a little nervous if we ever bring up the Book of Mormon
or church because of past biases, but they are open to discussing the
gospel in general. Looks like it's step by step with these two! We
love them to pieces.
After meeting with them we rushed up to a lesson with Ben Williams and
his family. One of the many things we're working on with Ben right now
is figuring out where he stands. He doesn't seem to focused on
learning anything but he really wants his kids to be listening and
participating. According to rumors, he still believes and teaches AUB
doctrines/opinions, but really wants his children to join the church.
Saturday was CRAZY. The moment we finished studies, we had to run off
and teach a recent convert lesson at 11:00. Immediately after, we ran
to lunch for a few minutes 12:15-12:45, and then we ran to our second
lesson with Kennedy Gold that week at 1:00. As soon as that was done
we had to run to the church and get the baptismal font filling at
about 2:00. When we got there we asked the Zone Leaders to open the
Family History center for us so we could make the programs for the
baptism. Alas, they had loaned the key to the sisters. The sisters
were able to arrive at about 3:10, so we began making the program.
About 5 minutes later Amy, Arden and Tracie showed up to get in their
baptismal suits and greet people, so I showed them around till about
3:20 and then filled out most of the rest of the program. When 3:30
rolled around I left Elder Dabel and a few ward missionaries to finish
up the last few things and fold the programs while I changed. When I
came out around 3:45 we took pictures and greeted people right up to
4:00 when the baptism started, at which point someone leaned over to
me and whispered that they were excited to hear me song. "Oh Yeah," I
thought to myself, "I'm singing and I haven't practiced today or
warmed up or anything. Great." The baptisms were incredible. Amy was
baptized by Bishop Hawkes of the Hamilton ward and I had the privilege
of baptizing Arden and Tracie. It was amazing. The spirit touched
everyone's hearts powerfully. After the baptisms we all eventually
made it back into the chapel, and I got to sing. I love singing. I
always feel that music expresses feelings and thoughts much better
than speaking does. I was privileged to sing Savior Redeemer of My
Soul, and Heavenly Father helped me hit all the high notes even though
I hadn't had time to practice. The Lord is so good (Psalms 100:5).
Bishop Hawkes confirmed Amy and I got to confirm the two girls. It's
amazing how much love you feel for those you teach and witness getting
baptized. I am so proud of these three, and you can just see the
spirit emanating from them.
Love,
Elder Thomas
Amie, Tracie and Arden! (From left to right)
The Lake Como hike. It was even better this time.
Me doing a cool jump.
Me having a not-so-cool landing haha
Mission Mormonaries!
Elder Dabel and I
Me looking epic
Honestly, you just can't get much better than this.
I kept asking myself on this hike, IS THIS REAL LIFE???
Monday, November 14, 2016
Still Amazing :)
My Dear Family and Friends,
I fear that reading my emails has probably become more and more boring
because I have been in this same area, experiencing the same things
and seeing some of the same people for so long!! But for me, this area
is still incredibly exciting! I am busy, and a little stressed, yes.
But it's such a good kind of busy and stressed! I feel filled at the
end of every day.
One of the coolest miracles from this week was when we met Jenny. Late
one night we felt like there was somewhere God needed us to be, but we
couldn't forgive out where, so we just started walking. As we walked
through a neighborhood close to our apartment we saw a lady out on her
grill. We asked for if we could come talk to her and she said we
could! We had a super cool conversation with her and got to know her a
little better. When we asked if we could come back she gave us a very
hesitant yes. Right the spirit told us she was nervous that we would
be pushy. We told her that we came out on missions because we prayed
and received an answer and that's all we were asking of her:) she
liked that and gave us a more solid yes!
When we met with Micheal Ledford this week we found out he had been
reading a little bit. We helped him see how he could get even more out
of the Book of Mormon. One of the coolest things about this his
girlfriend was there too and she hasn't sat in on any of the lessons
yet, but she was there the whole time for this one. She was very kind,
and participating and laughing with us. It was cool.
Well that is all I have time for this week, love you all!
Love,
Elder Thomas
I fear that reading my emails has probably become more and more boring
because I have been in this same area, experiencing the same things
and seeing some of the same people for so long!! But for me, this area
is still incredibly exciting! I am busy, and a little stressed, yes.
But it's such a good kind of busy and stressed! I feel filled at the
end of every day.
One of the coolest miracles from this week was when we met Jenny. Late
one night we felt like there was somewhere God needed us to be, but we
couldn't forgive out where, so we just started walking. As we walked
through a neighborhood close to our apartment we saw a lady out on her
grill. We asked for if we could come talk to her and she said we
could! We had a super cool conversation with her and got to know her a
little better. When we asked if we could come back she gave us a very
hesitant yes. Right the spirit told us she was nervous that we would
be pushy. We told her that we came out on missions because we prayed
and received an answer and that's all we were asking of her:) she
liked that and gave us a more solid yes!
When we met with Micheal Ledford this week we found out he had been
reading a little bit. We helped him see how he could get even more out
of the Book of Mormon. One of the coolest things about this his
girlfriend was there too and she hasn't sat in on any of the lessons
yet, but she was there the whole time for this one. She was very kind,
and participating and laughing with us. It was cool.
Well that is all I have time for this week, love you all!
Love,
Elder Thomas
When there are no blankets, curtains will do.
Zone Training looks an awful lot like a Nissan car lot
The Zone!
The "C" hike. This hike is INTENSE up hill. We were so tired.
My face looks weird in the first picture
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Crazy Week, My Brain is Fried.
Dear Family and Friends,
I have heard the phrase/question, "you're still here!?" so many times
this past week. At this point I have served in Corvallis for about 6
months, and just last week I found out that I get to train again, AND
remain here. Unfortunately, my dear friend and companion, Elder
Peterson, has left me and headed down to Wright Wyoming to train
another missionary! I'm not surprised though, he is an incredible
missionary, and he is totally ready to train another missionary. He
understands missionary work so well.
Everyone, it was such a good week, but I simply do not have the mental
capacity to write this week. My new companion, Elder Dabel is such a
good man:) I'm excited to serve with him! He is from Logan Utah and he
has such a fun personality.
Scripture of the week is D&C 68:6. Read it, love it. I love you all very much!
Love,
Elder Thomas
I have heard the phrase/question, "you're still here!?" so many times
this past week. At this point I have served in Corvallis for about 6
months, and just last week I found out that I get to train again, AND
remain here. Unfortunately, my dear friend and companion, Elder
Peterson, has left me and headed down to Wright Wyoming to train
another missionary! I'm not surprised though, he is an incredible
missionary, and he is totally ready to train another missionary. He
understands missionary work so well.
Everyone, it was such a good week, but I simply do not have the mental
capacity to write this week. My new companion, Elder Dabel is such a
good man:) I'm excited to serve with him! He is from Logan Utah and he
has such a fun personality.
Scripture of the week is D&C 68:6. Read it, love it. I love you all very much!
Love,
Elder Thomas
My pumpkin at night
Pumpkins
Elder Peterson says goodbye to Pinesdale
My temporary companions Elder Evans and Black
Monday, October 31, 2016
Transfer Return...
Dear Family and Friends,
Once again, this week has gone by way too fast. The longer I am on my
mission, the more I feel like it's just slipping through my fingers! I
want it to go a little slower, i am enjoying it so much.
We have a new investigator! His name is Ike Jessop and he referred
himself on Mormon.org. Ike is from the group and he is so ready to
learn more. He is from Pinesdale, but he has not attended up there for
quite a while. He has been attending the Christian church down the
road, but his daughter just recently turned 8 and he really wants her
to be baptized with the priesthood. It all went well, he and his cute
family are very humble. The hardest thing for him to get over so far
is the Adam-God doctrine. I won't go to deep into this, but it is
basically the belief that Adam is our God. This belief is complex,
detailed, and completely unscriptural. It's a toughy.
We visited Ben Williams and his family again this week. They are such
a fun family! We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and little
Addie(11) answered all the questions! She is very good at that. After
the lesson with them we always make certain to remain for a little
while so we can connect with the children, so while I talked with the
older two about guitar and we played each other songs, Addie tied my
shoes together and her brother Johnny stole my iPad. I love kids haha.
We went and found BonnieJean again as well. BonnieJean was so happy to
see us when we stopped by. We gave her a bigger copy and talked to her
about her concerns in the near future. She really wants to move
forward but she is receiving a lot of pressure from her friends and
church. We talked a lot about basing our faith on God and not man.this
was kind of new to her and we had a long conversation about it. She
wants us to keep coming back because she says she is so confused and
conflicted and needs help. God truly prepares these souls for us.
On Friday we went and helped our investigators, Dan and Leslie, spread
decorative rock over their garden area. It is so much fun to just work
my head off moving rocks and sweating out in the sun. Though I love
missionary work, it feels good to give someone help with the physical
things as well!
This week the Chapman's moved from out in the prairie into the main
part of Corvallis! This means we'll be seeing a lot more of them, and
Mitchell Gold will probably move in with them! Because Mitchell grew
up in Pinesdale, he needs to move out before he is baptized, so this
enables him to do just that! Miracles are just happening everywhere.
We were able to help them with that Saturday morning.
On Saturday we went and had dinner with Clint and Martha because
transfers are this coming week and we wanted to see them in case one
of us got transferred. It was so much fun! It's amazing to see how
missionary work brings people together.
Missionary work in Montana gets really slow after 8:00 in the winter.
So, we prayed and moved forward in faith! God directed us to a street
that looked completely dead. No lights, no people. As we walked down
the street, we saw a light on inside the home of the Bumgarners home,
an elderly couple in the ward, and felt a prompting to go inside and
talk with them. When we went in, Bob and Carson Selzler were there!
Bob is their son-in-law and Carson is their grandson. Bob is a member
but has not attended regularly for quite a while, and Carson is a
recent convert. It was so good to see them again! We shared a
spiritual thought and then left, but I know God led us there for a
reason. Hopefully we can help Bob come back to church.
After church on Sunday we taught Kennedy Gold again. Both of her
parents were there this time and they are very supportive of her
decision to take the discussions. They are also a good support during
the lessons, though sometimes they get sidetracked on some weird deep
doctrine theory. Our focus with Kennedy is simplicity, and how
everything ties into the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We feel, and the
spirit seems to accord, that a focus on Christ will keep her from
being distracted by theories of man and social pressures all around
her. She is a very strong young woman.
At this point on Sunday, we learned our transfer news. I had pretty
much accepted the fact that I was going to be transferred, because
I've been here for six months. Nope. Elder Peterson is headed to
Wright Wyoming to finish an elders training, and I am staying here to
begin another missionaries training! I might be here for 9 months!
Crazy. I never want to leave.
That night we taught Will and Kara for their first new member lesson!
It was so cool. Everybody in the room bore beautiful and sacred
testimony of the gospel and it's truthfulness. I love Will and Kara. I
love seeing their progress and desire to grow. This last lesson Kara
expressed that they feel filled every time they go to church, and that
she wasn't used to that. What joy the restored gospel brings! What
peace and fulfillment and strength! How God must love us to give us
this gift. Y'all better be sharing it haha. Elder Peterson is sad to
say bye to them, and we are sad to see him go.
Our last lesson was with Jacey! We taught the Plan of Salvation, which
is my favorite lesson to teach. We focused a lot on the atonement and
why it is so important. Jacey is really working hard to grasp the
concept of God and what Christ did for us and she says she feels the
spirit more and more. We are very excited for her!
I love you all! Be safe this Halloween!
Love,
Elder Thomas
Once again, this week has gone by way too fast. The longer I am on my
mission, the more I feel like it's just slipping through my fingers! I
want it to go a little slower, i am enjoying it so much.
We have a new investigator! His name is Ike Jessop and he referred
himself on Mormon.org. Ike is from the group and he is so ready to
learn more. He is from Pinesdale, but he has not attended up there for
quite a while. He has been attending the Christian church down the
road, but his daughter just recently turned 8 and he really wants her
to be baptized with the priesthood. It all went well, he and his cute
family are very humble. The hardest thing for him to get over so far
is the Adam-God doctrine. I won't go to deep into this, but it is
basically the belief that Adam is our God. This belief is complex,
detailed, and completely unscriptural. It's a toughy.
We visited Ben Williams and his family again this week. They are such
a fun family! We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and little
Addie(11) answered all the questions! She is very good at that. After
the lesson with them we always make certain to remain for a little
while so we can connect with the children, so while I talked with the
older two about guitar and we played each other songs, Addie tied my
shoes together and her brother Johnny stole my iPad. I love kids haha.
We went and found BonnieJean again as well. BonnieJean was so happy to
see us when we stopped by. We gave her a bigger copy and talked to her
about her concerns in the near future. She really wants to move
forward but she is receiving a lot of pressure from her friends and
church. We talked a lot about basing our faith on God and not man.this
was kind of new to her and we had a long conversation about it. She
wants us to keep coming back because she says she is so confused and
conflicted and needs help. God truly prepares these souls for us.
On Friday we went and helped our investigators, Dan and Leslie, spread
decorative rock over their garden area. It is so much fun to just work
my head off moving rocks and sweating out in the sun. Though I love
missionary work, it feels good to give someone help with the physical
things as well!
This week the Chapman's moved from out in the prairie into the main
part of Corvallis! This means we'll be seeing a lot more of them, and
Mitchell Gold will probably move in with them! Because Mitchell grew
up in Pinesdale, he needs to move out before he is baptized, so this
enables him to do just that! Miracles are just happening everywhere.
We were able to help them with that Saturday morning.
On Saturday we went and had dinner with Clint and Martha because
transfers are this coming week and we wanted to see them in case one
of us got transferred. It was so much fun! It's amazing to see how
missionary work brings people together.
Missionary work in Montana gets really slow after 8:00 in the winter.
So, we prayed and moved forward in faith! God directed us to a street
that looked completely dead. No lights, no people. As we walked down
the street, we saw a light on inside the home of the Bumgarners home,
an elderly couple in the ward, and felt a prompting to go inside and
talk with them. When we went in, Bob and Carson Selzler were there!
Bob is their son-in-law and Carson is their grandson. Bob is a member
but has not attended regularly for quite a while, and Carson is a
recent convert. It was so good to see them again! We shared a
spiritual thought and then left, but I know God led us there for a
reason. Hopefully we can help Bob come back to church.
After church on Sunday we taught Kennedy Gold again. Both of her
parents were there this time and they are very supportive of her
decision to take the discussions. They are also a good support during
the lessons, though sometimes they get sidetracked on some weird deep
doctrine theory. Our focus with Kennedy is simplicity, and how
everything ties into the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We feel, and the
spirit seems to accord, that a focus on Christ will keep her from
being distracted by theories of man and social pressures all around
her. She is a very strong young woman.
At this point on Sunday, we learned our transfer news. I had pretty
much accepted the fact that I was going to be transferred, because
I've been here for six months. Nope. Elder Peterson is headed to
Wright Wyoming to finish an elders training, and I am staying here to
begin another missionaries training! I might be here for 9 months!
Crazy. I never want to leave.
That night we taught Will and Kara for their first new member lesson!
It was so cool. Everybody in the room bore beautiful and sacred
testimony of the gospel and it's truthfulness. I love Will and Kara. I
love seeing their progress and desire to grow. This last lesson Kara
expressed that they feel filled every time they go to church, and that
she wasn't used to that. What joy the restored gospel brings! What
peace and fulfillment and strength! How God must love us to give us
this gift. Y'all better be sharing it haha. Elder Peterson is sad to
say bye to them, and we are sad to see him go.
Our last lesson was with Jacey! We taught the Plan of Salvation, which
is my favorite lesson to teach. We focused a lot on the atonement and
why it is so important. Jacey is really working hard to grasp the
concept of God and what Christ did for us and she says she feels the
spirit more and more. We are very excited for her!
I love you all! Be safe this Halloween!
Love,
Elder Thomas
Foggy week
PUPPY
Weirdos. Seriously.
The Chapman's!
The Chavez's!
Will and Kara
Zeb
And my pumpkin. :)
Monday, October 24, 2016
Hello, It's Me Again
Dear Family and Friends,
Monday evening we had our usual two appointments with the Latu family
and Mitchell. My heart definitely goes out to the Latu's because they
seem to be stuck in a phase that I myself was stuck in for a very long
time. A phase when you want to do better but you just can't seem to
get over the stumbling block! Their desires are in the right place,
they just need practice. I love this family, they are very Christlike.
Quick funny story, Elder Peterson habitually hums when there is an
awkward silence around the table and he is completely unaware when he
does it. We always have a good laugh about it. However, this last week
at dinner with the Latu's, I was offering the prayer on the food and
he began humming!! He's never done that before. After the prayer, the
oldest daughter looked at him and said, "were you humming?" He
responded, "Me? No." Everyone busted up laughing. They will never let
him forget that one! Neither will I mwahaha.
Mitchell Gold continues to amaze us with his humility. This week we
went through the history of the AUB and where the break off. It is so
essential to those that come from this group to understand where the
priesthood was lost. They have seen many miracles by their faith in
God and often interpret that as the priesthood. This is such a hard
issue! I am extremely grateful this was not my trial to bear.
We got to meet with a man named Ben Williams this week! Ben Williams
comes to church every week he can. He is very sick and he has to go up
to Missoula 3-4 times a week to do dialysis. He really wants his
children to hear the lessons and join the church but his schedule has
been crazy. His first lesson was 6 months ago, and his schedule just
barely cleared up enough to have the second one. It was a wonderful
lesson, and his adorable daughter, Addie, answered all the questions!
His other two children that were present participated a little too. It
was a wonderful lesson and we think we'll be able to go up more
regularly now.
On Friday we went on exchanges. I got to go with Elder Rich to
Hamilton. The first highlight was going to a candy store during
dinner. So good. It was a wonderful exchange with many teaching
opportunities, we even set one of their investigators on date for
baptism! Later that night we went and played some two hand touch
football with a part-member family. They are such a good family, and I
enjoyed it thoroughly.
We got to help out a member family that we love very much, the
Chapman's. We helped them move some futons out of the attic down a
very small spiral staircase. It was a little sketchy, but nobody died.
Please keep the Walker family in your prayers. They need a little
spiritual push and they are very sick right now. Also please keep
Bonniejean England and Jacey Gordon in your prayers as well. Satan is
trying to stop them from progressing with his whole artillery.
I love you all! Keep striving. Keep working. HAVE HOPE.
Love,
Elder Thomas
Monday evening we had our usual two appointments with the Latu family
and Mitchell. My heart definitely goes out to the Latu's because they
seem to be stuck in a phase that I myself was stuck in for a very long
time. A phase when you want to do better but you just can't seem to
get over the stumbling block! Their desires are in the right place,
they just need practice. I love this family, they are very Christlike.
Quick funny story, Elder Peterson habitually hums when there is an
awkward silence around the table and he is completely unaware when he
does it. We always have a good laugh about it. However, this last week
at dinner with the Latu's, I was offering the prayer on the food and
he began humming!! He's never done that before. After the prayer, the
oldest daughter looked at him and said, "were you humming?" He
responded, "Me? No." Everyone busted up laughing. They will never let
him forget that one! Neither will I mwahaha.
Mitchell Gold continues to amaze us with his humility. This week we
went through the history of the AUB and where the break off. It is so
essential to those that come from this group to understand where the
priesthood was lost. They have seen many miracles by their faith in
God and often interpret that as the priesthood. This is such a hard
issue! I am extremely grateful this was not my trial to bear.
We got to meet with a man named Ben Williams this week! Ben Williams
comes to church every week he can. He is very sick and he has to go up
to Missoula 3-4 times a week to do dialysis. He really wants his
children to hear the lessons and join the church but his schedule has
been crazy. His first lesson was 6 months ago, and his schedule just
barely cleared up enough to have the second one. It was a wonderful
lesson, and his adorable daughter, Addie, answered all the questions!
His other two children that were present participated a little too. It
was a wonderful lesson and we think we'll be able to go up more
regularly now.
On Friday we went on exchanges. I got to go with Elder Rich to
Hamilton. The first highlight was going to a candy store during
dinner. So good. It was a wonderful exchange with many teaching
opportunities, we even set one of their investigators on date for
baptism! Later that night we went and played some two hand touch
football with a part-member family. They are such a good family, and I
enjoyed it thoroughly.
We got to help out a member family that we love very much, the
Chapman's. We helped them move some futons out of the attic down a
very small spiral staircase. It was a little sketchy, but nobody died.
Please keep the Walker family in your prayers. They need a little
spiritual push and they are very sick right now. Also please keep
Bonniejean England and Jacey Gordon in your prayers as well. Satan is
trying to stop them from progressing with his whole artillery.
I love you all! Keep striving. Keep working. HAVE HOPE.
Love,
Elder Thomas
Elder Rich and CANDY.
Yes, that is my name.
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