Transfer Week

Hey guys! 

So.. this week is transfers again, and I'm.....       staying in Hull! But I once again have a new companion! Elder Stahle is moving up to none other place than North Shields, where I was trained! My new companion is named Elder Duff I believe. I've never met him before but I've heard that he is form Texas, maybe even Houston I think - I'm not sure but I'll find out when he moves in on Wednesday!

So this transfer went by crazy fast! It's already been six weeks since I moved to Hull but it feels like it's been a week! Everything here is going just great, we're finally getting some people to come to church which is really exciting! We are also still teaching a lot of foreign people, which is great! 

Quick story about yesterday, well actually a couple of weeks ago (Like 4) Elder Stahle and I met these guys on the street named Bob & Sam & Liam, who are studying to become ministers for this born - again Christian church around the corner from our flat, and they were very interested in what we were doing as missionaries, and they invited us to their house to feed us burgers, so we went and met with them and as we expected it became more of a debate than a discussion, which was really fun actually, and they're super fun though and really nice. Anyways we went and ate with them a few times, and then we asked them if they would want to do the same thing but we would feed them instead! So yesterday Elder Stahle and I made some pasta for Sam & Bob (Liam couldn't make it) at the senior missionary couple's house! It was really fun! I'll send some pictures.

Sam was asking about new English phrases and I'm trying to think, it's funny because I think I'm so used to saying English things that I can't really remember what is different. Umm like whenever I get off of a bus, I always say something like ''cheers mate'' or like ''cheers pal'' or sometimes people say ''thanks drive'' or something like that. And I'll often say to people as I pass like ''alright lads'' or things like that. 

Oh one that's pretty funny is that in Yorkshire people call each other ''love'' all the time, and it doesn't matter if you're a boy or girl, anybody is ''love'' and anybody can say it as well. I've had many a large burly work man say ''alright love'' to me, which was weird at first but it's normal now.

Umm, people say ''rubbish'' ''nackered'' ''bonnet'' ''brolly'' ''mate'' stuff like that.

I went on exchange at the beginning of last week in Hull 2 with Elder Narine, who is a missionary from a country in South America called Guyana. He is a farmer who told me a bunch of stories about how him and his mates would go hunting in the Amazon, they would hunt like alligators! He told me all the details of how to hunt a 12 foot alligator! He also told me about a time where he got bit by a poisonous snake and had to run four miles to get the poison taken out. He's a cool guy and he is actually moving on Wednesday into Hull 1 into my flat! 

So last transfer Elder Stahle and I lived with the zone leaders in Hull, but this transfer the zone leaders are moving to Hull 2, so I'm actually the only one staying in this flat, and three other missionaries are going to move in with me. 

And Alex and Sam and Olivia that song sounds so good! I miss singing with you guys! (I'd sent a video clip of the kids singing)

And dad, keep it up with the bishoping etc. 

I just want to explain to you guys a little bit about my testimony a bit - it's been a while since I've typed it out on one of these e-mails. 

I've been meeting with a lot of people recently again who don't understand the same way I do about the nature of God and his son Jesus Christ and the relationship we can have with them and the way that they have made a plan for us to receive happiness in this life and everything that they have in the life to come. I've been explaining to a lot of people about the cleansing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ and what that does for us in our lives, and as I've done so my own testimony of it is increasing and I'm learning more to rely of my Savior for things in my life as a missionary. 

I know without a shred of doubt that God is real, that he is our father, that he lives and he loves us and that he wants the best for us. God so loved the world that he sent his only Begotten Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to atone for the sins of the world, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but shall have everlasting life. I've learned that Jesus Christ really did live on the earth and he really performed all the miracles that are described in the Holy Bible, and I have learned that he really did suffer in the Garden and die for my sins. I know that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ felt my pains. He felt my infirmities, he felt my worries, my illnesses, my weaknesses, my struggles, all the negative emotions that I've ever felt, he felt for me then and there. And he didn't just suffer for my pains! He suffered for all of ours, for every single person who will ever live! And Because He Lives and because he did that, we don't have to suffer for what we've done ever again. We can be made clean through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and all he asks of us, for us to receive this marvelous healing power, is to follow him and do what he asks of us. 

God is real, and Jesus is our Savior - I know it not because somebody just told me about it - not because I just read it in a book, not that I just made myself believe it, but I know it because i have fallen to my knees and pleaded in my closet with my father in heaven to allow me to know the truth, and I have felt the Holy Spirit of the Lord whisper to me that they are true. I have not only felt the truth of it, but I have felt the healing and enabling power that comes with the grace of Jesus Christ. I have felt him and I know that he is real, and I can never deny it.

I love you guys! I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Thompson