Another week - but no pictures

Hey guys. I've had a really hard week this week. Elder McBride and I have been working really hard trying to find people to teach, but things just haven't been falling through. We've had several days this week where we haven't been inside all day, we just knock and talk on the streets and try by people who aren't in all day, and those are hard. Those are the days when you get home exhausted, and you look back at the day and struggle to remember anything productive you did, and then you look at what your days is going to be like tomorrow and it looks the same as today, and it gets rough. But - we're still tying really hard, and don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraged, I still have the energy, and I know that no missionary effort is wasted, just we haven't been seeing very many fruits of our labours, but we're planting lots of seeds. 

This week also I had an exchange for a couple days with our district leader, Elder Larson. He is from California, in the Bay area. He got his mission call to speak Polish, and he is now one of only two Polish speaking missionaries in the mission. It was fun, and Elder Larson is great. One morning this week we decided to run up the Chevin for morning exercise, it's like the big hill right next to Otley, and for Easter they put a big cross on the top. So we did that - but the morning we decided to run up, it snowed a lot. So we did it any ways! I'll send you some pictures next week because I don't have my card with me now. But that was fun.

Also this Sunday was Elder McBride's last sacrament meeting, and it was also daylight savings - and nobody told us. So we were in our flat getting ready for church, when we got a call from one of the members like ''Do you want the good news or the bad news?'' - ''Just kidding there is no good news, the clocks changed, sacrament just started''. So we ran out the door and made it to church like 30 mins late. (we got the sacrament given to us later). It was funny, there were a few other people who rolled in late with us so it wasn't too bad. 

Anyways I'm glad you guys had a good spring break!

Bye!

Elder Thompson

March 23 email

Hi guys!

 

So first of all, Dad. Thanks for the door approaches: I've tried them all except for the 2015 one so I'll try it. But - door approaches that involve us saying anything about God or religion in my experience here in England have a 95% chance of a door being slammed in our faces. For example, back in Tynemouth, Elder Faingata'a and I were knocking once in the rain, a super cold rainy day, and we knocked on one ladies door and I'm not really sure what we said to start off the conversation, but she was friendly and we had some small talk for a bit and she seemed really genuine. Then she asked what we are doing coming from across the world to England for (a perfect transition - that is the ideal, let them get to the question of why we're here and then tell them!), so I said ''We're missionaries..'' and she cut me off and said: 

''Excuse me, but there are children here (her son was standing next to her, 5 or 6 years old probably), so if you have any respect you'll just stop talking right now and walk away. Please don't come back.'' (*slam*)

I was pretty mad. So I knocked on the door again - not a quiet knock either. And then I knocked again. She never opened back up.

Also the one about do you want to be happy - people always ask us about money. They say, can you pay my bills? And we try to explain ourselves but it never goes anywhere. I have probably knocked on over a thousand doors in the last 6 months. I rarely have a day go by that I don't knock on someone randoms door. I've gotten really used to it. 

This week was another challenging week. We taught 3 lessons this week, and that's all. The rest we knocked and tried by people and got stood up for a lot of appointments (flogged). I've found that finding is only really effective for an hour or two a day before you just get worn down and it gets really really hard. But it does work - kind of. We have more people again to go see this week (hopefully they're there). We're trying really hard. Also the ward here is great - super helpful. WE have a tea appointment every day pretty much. It makes life a lot easier.

Also I spoke in church yesterday. I gave that talk that I told you about a couple weeks ago. It went really well. 

Okay, so you want to hear more about Elder McBride? There's not too much to say really. It's really different living in a two man flat, but it's also really nice, and Elder McBride and I get along really well. He's the kind of missionary that has just gotten used to missionary life and is comfortable with everything that goes on, but is not super motivated himself. I have to be the one to motivate us, but when I am excited about something, he gets excited too. But when I'm feeling a bit down or don't have energy, he is the same - he just feeds off me when I'm enthusiastic, which is great! But when I'm not feeling that awesome, neither is he you know? It's different than my other companions. Like with Elder Jaeger - he was the senior companion and I was the trainee, so he always took the lead. With Elder Faingata'a I knew the area, and he'd only been out a few months longer than I had - so nobody really felt like the senior companion, but we motivated each other. There were times when he would be lazy and I had to get him to work, but then the times that I felt lazy he did the same to me. Whereas with Elder McBride, he's going home soon but he doesn't feel like the senior companion, even though he is supposed to know the area better than I do (which he doesn't). But he is so easy to get along with, and we have fun together. We have lots of funny videos and things - but I cant send those by e-mail. 

We met this guy this week, a guy who was on the ward list who lives in Otley - so we went to try by him one night. HE came out of his house and had a long chat with us about how his whole family is mormon, but when he was sixteen he left the church and actively rebelled against it and produced anti material. Now he's a bit older and has a wife and kids and he's more pacified and he respects the church and he regrets the active rebellion, but he is still strongly atheist. I was just astounded at how much he was against the church. We bore our testimonies to him and I could see that he felt the spirit but was fighting really hard to ignore it. When we finally parted ways, he had this really sad look on his countenance, and I asked him what it was that was bothering him, and he basically just explained how he regretted missing the opportunity to go on a mission because when he sees boys like us he wishes he could have been as mature as we are when he was our age - but he still thinks its wrong. I really pity people like that and I went home that night and had a long chat with my heavenly father about his existence and about how I was confused about people like that. I had a strong impression that God was listening to me, and he comforted me with the knowledge that he is there, and people like that are just lost. 

I've spent a lot of time on my knees this week, pleading for strength from my heavenly father to continue to work hard and be diligent. It's really hard to be exactly obedient and super diligent when there is no one around to motivate you to do so - but I've been doing it. I study hard and I work hard. The Lord is giving me the strength to keep going. It's kind of hard to explain. It's like if I were at home, I would literally not have at all the motivation to keep exerting myself like I am. The work I am putting into this is literally more than I could ever do by myself. There must be some external being helping me to do this - and it is Jesus Christ.

Anyways, that sounded really melodramatic, but this week was challenging. But at the same time we have had a lot of fun, and I'm still really happy, so not to worry. 

Love you guys! 

Elder Thompson

I didn't think this would hold my weight

Someone told us you could balance an egg upright on the spring equinox. We didn't believe them. Then we tried it and to our surprise...

Then we balanced two

We were amazed

Then we balanced a lot

We helped this non member family move into Otley - and were going to go visit them again this week. Yay! They're really good - I think you can see they're house in this picture, it's like right to the left of the bridge

LOL

 

Mid-March Email

Hi hi!

We've had an okay week this week. We met a lot of new people knocking on doors last week but when we went back this week to see them, very few have been in at the time they said they would be or are willing to talk to us or anything. So that was a little disappointing but it's alright, we just keep working. 

We met a lot of people this week who are completely against the idea of God. Atheists. Actually there was one guy who we met last week who's a retired High School Science teacher named Kevin, who now lives alone and likes to travel and hike, who lives up in a little town North of Ilkley called Addingham. Anyways this guy invited us to come back and see him on Thursday, so we took an hour long bus ride out to go see him. We had a really long discussion where we basically explained the restoration in as much detail as we could to him, but he still struggles with the whole concept of God. He can't believe that there is an all powerful creator. 

A lot of people this week have been presenting to us that same argument! On Saturday we were knocking on doors again in Otley and one guy talked to us on his doorstep for like a whole hour. He was another older retired guy who was really smart and a science guy again. We tried to explain how we know that God exists and how the Book of Mormon is true because we've felt the Holy Ghost touch our hearts - but when you try to explain it to some people, their argument is always that thoughts and feelings only come from you, not from God - and there really is nothing you can say to these people to convince them that what you've felt is really divine inspiration, because they just laugh. 

But just like I said a few weeks ago - these experiences only work to actually strengthen my faith and belief in God. Somehow people telling me that I'm wrong only allows me to understand more about how right I am. I've also seen that anybody who actually tries it out - who actually has an open heart and a sincere desire to know the TRUTH - anybody who reads the book of mormon and prays to know if it is true will receive an answer that IT IS! Because it is! Because it's true! Joseph Smith really was called to be the prophet of the Restoration! God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him in the Spring of 1820 in a grove of trees and he in due time was led to find and translate the ancient record of The Book of Mormon. It actually happened. It had to happen. It was divinely appointed to happen before the foundation of the world. It is true! And all any of us need to do to find that out is to read it and pray about it! God will make the TRUTH of it manifest to ANYONE who asks sincerely. That I know, and that I promise. 

Anyways yesterday Elder McBride and I taught Gospel Principles and Young Men's. Both classes we taught a really similar concept. The Gospel Principles was about charity - and we talked all about how doing things out of love for others doesn't ever make sense logically. Take for example the parable of the Good Samaritan. He gained nothing from helping the poor man, and logically it was not a smart decision, but he did it. WE discussed how charity comes from the heart, how in order to become like God is (perfect: 3 Nephi 12:48) we need to learn how to have charity, and make decisions from our heart. Our decision making process needs to involve empathy. It was a great lesson. Then we taught the young men about the atonement, well repentance really and how we need to experience a change of heart like Alma. IT's funny because changing our hearts is what President Pilkington mainly focused on in the last zone conference.

Oh also this week we had a zone training and the AP's instructed. They talked about the Titanic funny enough. They talked about how if the Titanic had hit the iceberg head on, it would not have sunk. But the captain, like anybody would, instinctively tried to swerve around it and the iceberg sideswiped the ship and actually hit it at its most vulnerable point. They talked about how the iceberg represents concerns that an investigator has, and that as missionaries our natural instinct is to push their concerns aside, but what we need to do is hit them head on.

Anyways I have some good pictures to send. I hope you guys have a good week!

Elder Thompson

The weather was warm enough one day to not wear a coat

A house we knocked on (they weren't in)

Gathering the lost sheep

We've been finding a lot of these really old parish churches and checking them out. Actually we went in one Anglican church this week and talked to the vicker for a long time it was really cool

Sheep and lambs. I took this picture while we were standing at the bus stop in Addingham. Right across the road were these sheep

Creepy cat and creepy elder

This Kid is Awesome! (Janine's title)

Hey guys! Skiing sounds fun! Man the climate is so different here in England - but it has actually been getting pretty warm this week, which is nice!

 

(He asked James a little bit about his work and his practices).  Man it's only now that I'm seeing other people and their lifestyles and their jobs and the way they run their lives I realize how good you set yourself up. Like man - there are so many people here who just do nothing - or don't have any set career or job, but somehow you just got it set up. 

 

This week we had a tea appointment every night. And mama they feed us stuff like chicken curry

 or Shepard's pie or one family fed us lamb, with potatoes and veggies and gravy and stuff, oh and Yorkshire puddings which are delicious! But I am learning so much about people and how their lifestyles are and it's kind of showing me what sort of a career I want to follow -kind of- if you know what I mean.

 

Like dad I remember talking to you once about how I have no idea what the heck I want to do in terms of a career, and you told me that that was okay, that I was still young and that I would see the example of people on my mission and how their lives work and that would help me decide what sort of a career I want to go into. And you were TOTALLY right. In this ward there are a bunch (like maybe 6 or 7) young returned missionary couples with young kids. Our ward mission leader is named Andrew Mayor and he fed us along with Lindsay (who btw was baptized on Saturday! More on that to come..) and he has a wife and two young kids. But just the way they were this couple. Two young kids - both have super strong testimonies, both returned missionaries, they just are happy and know who they are and what they want to be! They don't know everything - but they're living life the right way, the way that I want to live it. Get home, go to school, get married, get a job, have kids, hold a calling, be temple worthy... just be happy! Be happy because I will know that I am doing the right things - that I'm doing what God wants me to do, that I'm living in the family unit - ordained of God - in which I will find the happiness God has promised for me there. 

 

I know that it starts now though. I can't just sit back and cruise through life without a care in the world and just expect everything to fall into my lap. No. I am learning how to work hard. How to set goals. How to work to make myself better. How to identify my weaknesses and how to use the atonement of Jesus Christ to eliminate them - or I guess just make myself less bad at those things. I understand now that this pattern is something that I need to carry with me throughout my life. Always have my feet firmly planted on the rock of my redeemer and rely on Him to carry me through the trials, but try my absolute hardest to become like Him and follow his example. 

In my patriarchal blessing it says paraphrased that 'if I keep myself worthy I will be sealed in the temple to a worthy companion of my choice and raise up a righteous posterity in Israel. Do you remember that day mom and dad? Do you remember that I cried like a baby when I heard that? It's because it is exactly what I wanted then - and it is still exactly what I want now.

I don't know if I told you about this story in a previous e-mail ( I may already have) but it's about the last night in the MTC. The last night there we went to do one last session in the Temple. I had decided that I would go through the session this last time with a question in mind. Now you remember that in the MTC I was struggling hard to get along with my companions there, but I learned a lot about how to deal with people. But for kind of that reason the question that I went through the temple with that day was: ''how can I be a better missionary companion?''. 

I was enlightened that session. The answers poured in to my mind. I've been using the things I learned that night with all my companions and they're helped so much. 

But after the session, I sat down in a chair in the Celestial room and I thought about my question. And the answers came again - but this time they changed. They were changing from ''how can I be a good missionary companion?'' to ''How can I be a good eternal companion, a good husband, a good father?'' and my mind was opened to those answers as well. 

But as I sat there in the celestial room, I was sitting across from a sofa - and I saw, in my mind's eye - my eternal companion and I sitting there together, enjoying together the unity and the love that was between us and our Heavenly Father. I KNOW that one day I will be sealed in the Temple. That we will raise up a righteous posterity. I saw it then, and I know it now. 

Also this Thursday I got a text from the bishop asking me if I could prepare a back up talk about ''why do we invite people?'' in case one of his speakers didn't show up. So I thought a lot about it. And I kind of just want to share like a brief outline of what I was going to talk about (I didn't end up having to give it - but I'll be giving it in a few weeks time).

Why do we invite people? - was the topic. So, what people are we talking about? Does that mean friends, family, neighbours, homeless people we meet on the street? what does it mean by people. 

The answer is: All of the above. 

All of us as people, as human being here on earth share at least one thing in common. One important trait in our identity that joins us all together eternally. What is it? We are ALL CHILDREN OF GOD. (see Psalms 82:6)

So why is that even important? Let me see if I can explain. A lot of religous bodies believe that we are spiritual creations of a God in heaven. Whereas we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe that we are the literal spirit offspring of our Heavenly Father.

Now imagine that I - a normal man - create two things. One of them is a painting, a picture of a beautiful baby boy. The other is an actual beautiful baby boy - my son, my offspring. 

Is the painting ever going to grow up? Is it ever going to become a man? No. But the boy - my son - will. My son has the potential in fact to gain in his lifetime as much knowledge and experience as me. Maybe more. HE can receive eventually everything that I have. Will the painting? No. A mere creation can never become like it's creator. But a child can become like a father. Get the point? So it is with god.

If we were to believe that we were just creations of God, then we are limiting ourselves in our potential. But we are NOT mere creations. We are children of God - and we therefore have the potential to become like Him, to return to His presence and receive everything He has.

In 3 Nephi 32:28 (in the Book of Mormon) Jesus commands: ''I would that ye should be PERFECT, even as I or your Father who is in Heaven is perfect.''

Are any of us perfect? No. But God has commanded us to be perfect? 

Nephi enlightens us in 1 Nephi 3:7

''I will go and do the things which the Lord has commanded. For I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the Children of men save he shall PREPARE A WAY for them that they may accomplish the thing which He commandeth them.''

So God ALWAYS prepares a way for us to keep his commandments. SO if He commands us to be perfect, and He always prepares a way.... then what is the way?

...the answer to those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints should be obvious. He is the founder of our Church - the head of it. HE is the savior of the world, our redeemer, the Mighty God, The Prince of Peace.

He is Jesus Christ. He is the way. Only because of His atonement can we become like our Father. Jesus Christ is also our exemplar. If you want to know how to be perfect: study his life. Learn who he was and how He behaved. Study Christlike attributes (Preach My Gospel has a whole section about them), develop those attributes within yourself.

''If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will MAKE us perfect''

It's no excuse to say: ''Oh I'm just lazy, that's just who I am''. CHANGE is an eternal law. That is what the atonement of Jesus Christ is all about: change. Changing our hearts. Changing our wills to be more in harmony with the will of God our Father. So GET OFF YOUR LAZY BUTT and start being more like Christ. I know that wasn't a very Christlike way to put that, but I'm still learning too ok.

If we do this - follow the pattern outlined in the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Faith and repentance - we can become perfect through Him, and return to live with our Eternal Heavenly Father AND receive EVERYTHING THAT HE HAS - to become for ourselves, a God.

SO we know this. As members of the Church we know this. But NOT EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS. They should! 

As members - it is our duty and responsibility to share this knowledge with everyone. Not to judge others, but to freely invite them to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and help them along their journey to Godhood and perfection. 

C.S Lewis says this:

''It is a strange thing to live in a society of potential Gods and Goddesses. TO realize that even the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day... be a creature which you would be strongly tempted to worship. THERE ARE NO ORDINARY PEOPLE.''

He's right. Only potential gods and goddesses around us - they just don't know that yet. So we need to let them know. That is our duty. That is our purpose - the same as God's purpose ''To Bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man'' (Moses 1:39). When we start with ourselves - start by making ourselves as Christlike as we can be, then we will find that our will is aligned with God's and we will want to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of others by inviting them to learn about Jesus Christ for themselves. 

So I actually never wrote out that talk I just had it all in my head - so I kind of just spewed out a lot of information there out of my mind - but that is basically what I have been thinking about all the time everyday. Those two things: 1. I want to be a righteous husband and father in Israel one day, and 2. the whole potential god's inviting others stuff. So yeah.

Also mama - I hope you go through these are correct the spelling mistakes in them - because I type them out really really fast so there are probably lots.

Umm. I had a lot more stuff to talk about but I'll go through them fast. 

We spent 22 hours knocking on doors and talking to people in the street this week, and because of that we have a bunch of new people to go visit this coming week yay! Hard work pays off! 

WE had a baptism this weekend! First one on my mission! Yay! Lindsay Rosetti. She is great.

 

Otley is beautiful, I love this ward and this area. Elder McBride is great - we're going to play ping pong at the chapel today haha.

Love you all!

Cheerio

Elder Thompson

PS On Saturday night we took my guitar around the streets and sang Ed Sheeran and hymns for people on the streets haha
 

First Email in the New Area

Hi Hi Hi Hi Hi!!!

New area - new companion. It is a lot different. A lot different. Anyways first I want to talk about my last night (tuesday night) in North Shields.

Tuesday was p-day. We spent the day doing.. I don't even remember what actually. It was pretty uneventful and cold. But that night we went and saw Vida. And oh my gosh will that night forever be imprinted in my mind. Maybe not the exact events - but the feelings for sure. We went over to Vida's house and she was excited to have us but so so sad that I was leaving. We talked a lot about her potential. She thanked me so much over and over again for saving her life. She would tell everyone about it, that ''little Elder Thompson, he saved my life. I was on my way to end my life but he talked to me''. She called me and Elder Jaeger her saving Angels. Tuesday night she cried a lot. I bore very strong testimony too about the importance of baptism and of following God. I said to her - Vida I may never see you again, but if you do what is right, I will see you on the right hand of God in the Celestial Kingdom after this life. 

I cried in her house quite a bit as well, I am ashamed to say.

After we left, well when we left she couldn't stop crying, and I was fighting it in. But after we left we walked down the stairs and out of her building and walked right up to the sea front which is about a hundred yards away from her building and looked out at the sea. I couldn't hold it in. I sobbed. Elder Faingata'a is a trooper. He gave me a big hug and that was nice. But I couldn't help it. It was like it all hit me:

All my life I have just lived for me. Selfish. What do I want. What is in it for me? How does doing this help me? Until I came on my mission. I barely think about myself at all. Well... not true, but I try not to and I'm good at that most of the time. But before this what things of significance have I really done in my life? Some things I guess, like in church and in school and stuff. But not that much. In sacrament meeting last Sunday (so still in North Shields) a High Counselor spoke. One story he shared was something like this, he said: 

There was a man walking along a long beach and he saw that there were millions of Star Fish that had been washed up by the tide high on to the beach and were all dying. He kept walking and he met a boy who was one by one picking up starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. The man thought this was foolish and he said to the boy: ''Don't you see the millions of starfish? Your effort isn't going to make a difference''. 

The boy looked at him - picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea and said: ''But I made a difference to that one''.

That is how I feel. I saved one life. Literally saved it. I could go my whole mission without baptizing a single person and I would feel that as long as I worked my hardest - I have been successful. I already did one thing right. And that concept hit me really hard especially that night as I had to leave behind the starfish that I had saved - Vida - maybe forever. It's like I have now done something significant in my life. I am here making a difference in people's lives. There is a reason, a point to all of this. And I am finding it. 

She gave me a card. I'll keep it forever. It says: ''Thank you for saving my life and my family''. I can hardly hold in the tears when I look at it. I hope she remembers me. I left her a picture of Elder Jaeger and I. She pinned it up on her fridge.

Anyways I felt so good, but so sad to leave North Shields. I felt accomplished, but heartbroken.

But my new area!

I moved in on Wednesday. We live in a really posh flat in this super quaint little town in West Yorkshire called Otley. The towns in our area are Otley, Menston (where the chapel is), Ilkley, Addingham, Burley in Wharfedale, Pool, Guisely, Yeadon and Rawdon. All the towns are super super posh and full of rich people. The area is so so beautiful - I'll try to send more pictures soon.

The ward also is amazing! The Wharfe Valley Ward just recently became a ward about 4 months or so ago. Before that it was a branch. Also our ward and our area is also the assistants to the President's area. SO that's nice. We only really see them on Sundays though because they're so busy with other things. But also we get fed tea appointments 6 or 7 days a week! Pretty much every day someone feeds us! Which is awesome...

Church yesterday was awesome. The chapel here is like the most modern and fancy chapel in all of England and it is so beautiful. And everybody is like super smart and there's a bunch of like young families and recent converts in the ward here. Oh and this weekend a girl in the ward came back from her Mission in Jamaica! So she bore her testimony in sacrament meeting, followed by yours truly. (I one upped her. Haha just kidding) But that testimony meeting was so good! And then gospel principles was awesome! And then for elders quorum we had another testimony meeting and that was fantastic! 

Elder Trassiere - one of the AP's talked about a story that President told last week at zone conference. A story that a missionary e-mailed him one week that made him weep. He could barely even talked about it because he couldn't compose himself at zone conference. And Elder Trassiere talked about it during testimony meeting in Elders quorum. It was a story about a woman on a train who on the way to kill herself was stopped by two missionaries and is now being taught by missionaries who she calls her saving angels. Sound familiar? The story is famous in the mission now. 

Anyways, in this area the teaching pool is really small. But... there is one woman named Lindsay (I think she added you on Facebook mama) who is getting baptized this Saturday! SO I got to meet her this week and I think I'm singing at her baptism. Other than that we don't really have any solid investigators and I found out why.

In North Shields, we would stop people on the streets and knock on doors and we would find tons and tons of people who were interested, who would invite us back and stuff. We call them 'potentials'. Last transfer I filled out 4 and a half pages in my planner of potentials - which equates to almost a hundred names and addresses of people semi interested.

Here, oh man. This week I have stopped almost every single person who we walk by. And do you know how many are interested? Two. It's ok! But its a lot harder here than it was way up north. It's hard to be diligent and talk to everyone when the majority of people don't want anything to do with you and often get offended if you try to talk to them at all.

But its okay. Were pressing on. I love this area already its so pretty and the members are amazing, I really feel at home with this ward and I've gotten to know lots of the members already, but the work here is hard.

Also my companion Elder McBride is great. Really easy to get along with. So that's gooood.

Um, anything else? Oh yeah dad I got your talks. And my new mailing address is 

 

1A Bridge Street

Otley, West Yorkshire

LS21 1BQ

 

Also we live in a two story flat above a hairdresser, our door is actually in the hairdressers back room, like we share a key to that back room and then we have another key for our door. But inside its super super nice! But yeah if you wanted to like street view it or something - we live above the hairdresser haha. They're super nice btw.

Elder McBride is a straight up redneck from Arizona - loves country music and stuff too. But he's fun. He's ready to go home though it's kinda hard to get him to work. But he does it as long as I encourage him.

Anyways. I've been thinking again (like always) lately about our potential to become gods. How everybody has that same potential. I read that talk (Our Identity Our Destiny) to Elder McBride on morning and talked a lot about how everybody - everybody! Has the same potential that we have to one day be like god. To rule over planets and to be perfect, but all they need is to have somebody tell them about it.

Also the way to perfection is through Christ. I've been studying a lot about Christ Like attributes. This week a lot about patience and diligence. So yeah. Through Christ we can become perfect even as HE is. If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the spiritual gift that will make us perfect. 

Love you! Byeeee

Oh also everybody speaks so differently here oh man it's like learning a whole new language again....   ahh

Elder Thompson


Old apartment in North Shields

Saying Good bye to Vida

And to Sarah

And to Sis. Thompson

And to Elder Faingata'a

Seeing Elder Jaeger at transfer meeting

The Wharfe River in Otley

With some people in Otley

Elder McBride