Transfer Week - and pictures!!

Hi guys!

So this week, we were in a trio, and it was a ton of fun! We did so much work! Everyday we would take a different member out with us in the evening, so one of us would go with them and then the others would go somewhere else, and everything ran so smoothly! It was great! In 7 days we went out with 8 different members to teach!

And we found a lot of new people to teach this week as well!

On Friday night I went on splits with a member to go teach, but all the lessons and backup plans that we had fell through, so we just ended up trying by stopping and talking to people on the doorstep and on the streets at night, and I was pretty disappointed because I thought I'd let the member down. But then on Sunday that guy gave a talk, and in his talk he talked about how much he had loved going out with the missionaries and how it had totally set up his weekend! In fact all the members that came out with us are just going on and on about how great it was! It was a good week for sure.

Also, that member who gave the talk his name is Joel Miller and he served his mission in Calgary maybe seven or so years ago, maybe more, but he lived for like a week or two in the Ockey's house when they had missionaries living with them, and he talked about how they would be studying and the teenage son was always playing video games. Small world in the church.

There's also a member who lives in this ward who lived in Calgary for a few years, and his sister still lives out there her surname is Erasmus.

And there's another member who just came back from staying in Calgary for a week with her family in Mackenzie Town.

So lots of people here know Calgary.

I'm sorry Mama but nobody knows Edmonton....    

But anyways, great week here and I love being a missionary, oh and transfer news! I'm staying with Elder Boswell here in Huddersfield, but Elder Korte is moving to Skipton to serve with Elder Narine, who I lived with in Hull, who is the Homie.

And Elder Ma'a is moving to serve in North Shields!

And in our flat we're getting two new Elder's, who are area booking the area, and one of them is going to be a brand new trainee!

So in the district now, there is going to be three missionaries who are in their first 12 weeks program being trained! And I have to be the leader of this group and the good example for them, which should be interesting, but fun!

Also we went to York for a meeting on Tuesday I'll send you some pics!

Love you guys!

Elder Thompson

 

Elder Duff returned home with honour

One of Jenny's friends ran into a bunch of missionaries at a take away in town and wanted to take selfies on my iPad

Some of the youth in the Huddersfield 1 ward

Elder Ma'a

The river in York

The York Minster

Selfie with the Minster

The trio

Another door sign

[When I said -- what?  You have an ipad?  He was emailing home today at a time when i was already awake]

Remember when I was with Elder Dickson and I wrote about having a special mission meeting where they talked all about iPad's and then in July they gave them to us? Well lol apparently not!

We use them for showing videos, I use them for the notes app a lot to store important information. I use the calendar to plan. I use the camera, I use it for the maps, so I don't have to carry a map around, and I use it for gospel library! There's also an app called LDS pamphlets which I use a lot when teaching, you should download it it's really cool

Hastening the Work

Hi guys! 

Thanks for the stories guys. And Dad no I'd never heard those stories before and that's really cool. I've definitely had a lot of learning and teaching experiences on my mission as well already, and I know that I'll have a lot more in the year to come. 

So first things first, this week, Elder Duff my companion from Hull, who was serving in our zone with Elder Diaz, returned home due to his health problems, which was sad for sure to say goodbye to him, but it was really needed. 

So because of that there were some emergency transfers that had to take place, and what happened actually was that Elder Ma'a went to serve with Elder Diaz in Dewsbury and Elder Korte has been placed in a trio with me and Elder Boswell. So that will be interesting! Elder Ma'a only moved last night, so we haven't really had much time as a trio yet, but we'll see how it goes moving forward! 

So let me just fill you in on a few things I've been learning recently. So I've been a District Leader for the better part of 3 months now, and each night I have to make a phone call to the Sisters in the district and follow up with the Elders in the district and then report on all of that to the zone leader's each night. So this last week I've had to do a lot of correction. Similarly to what you were saying Dad, there are a lot of missionaries that tend to do things that are disobedient and it's my job to correct them. Now on the other hand the Sister's here are being very obedient but they are lacking some of the skills required to do effective missionary work and so I've been trying to teach them new things to do and to try and it seems to be working, but I've had to learn how to do that a lot. 

Now for the last couple of weeks, the district has found several new investigators to teach which is great. However, one of the biggest emphasis' in the mission right now, something that is emphasized in Preach my Gospel, is to Schedule new investigators for baptism in the first, and no later than the second lesson. And this is something that our District has been failing to do recently, myself and Elder Boswell included. So we are going to try hard to increase that effort this week.

It's interesting as well because President Pilkington gave me a call this morning that basically stated, but in a lot more words that he is thinking of calling me to be a zone leader at the end of this transfer, but because of the lack of scheduling he's changing his mind, unless something changes. So I'm worried a bit that a. he is going to call me to be a zone leader, and b. that he's disappointed in our lack of scheduling, which I am too so actually it's not that bad. 

But anyways that is what was most on my mind this morning. That's why it all just came out in a big blurb.

Also, Elder Boswell and I have to travel to York tomorrow for a trainer/trainee meeting, so that should be fun! The last time I went to York was for a doctor's appointment with Elder Duff. 

Love you guys! Have a good week! 

Elder Thompson

First Email of the Second Year!

One year down, one to go. I don't really know how to feel. On my year mark day since I left home (October 8) Elder Boswell and I got home, planned and then I had to follow up for like 45 minutes and then I had to talk to some sister's in the district again and the AP's were at our flat talking to Elder Ma'a, so by the time I was finished with all of that it was 1030 and I went to bed and didn't even remember that it was my year mark until the next day!

But I do feel like it has been a long time since I've been home - but I've learned so much, like so much since I've been here, and I wouldn't trade the knowledge and experience I've gained (to use one of President Pilkington's expressions) for 1 million Pounds.

I also loved conference and have been re-reading the talks during study, it's great.

So now about our week. So first of all, I don't know if I told you about the district challenges that we've been having in the zone here, but last week our district won the challenge in the zone and the prize was that on Wednesday the Zone Leaders bought our whole district Fried Chicken! So that was great!

But unfortunately, this week our district lost a challenge and the consequence is that the Dewsbury District (whose district Leader is Elder Diaz btw, who was in my first flat in North Shields) is going to cut my hair. I'm scared, I think they're just going to cut it all off......

But yes, the highlight of the week of course, was Jenny's baptism! It was great! It was a joint Baptism with our ward and the Huddersfield 2nd ward where two ladies got baptized, and tons of people showed up, like 75 or so! It was great! We had a little program and two women sang ''I feel my Savior's Love'' and it was beautiful and after I asked Jenny how she like it and she just kept saying ''I can feel it in here'' pointing to her chest. It was great!

And then I got to perform the baptism and it went perfectly and the whole thing was just really nice and everyone was really happy!

So I've done a lot of district meetings that talk about success as a missionary. One of the most basic things that I always tell missionaries is a quote from Preach my Gospel on Page 10 that says ''Success as a missionary is measured primarily on your commitment'' and I emphasize that success is not measured by the number of people you baptize or the amount of lessons you teach etc.

But at the same time, this week I felt... successful! I feel like I was able to accomplish my purpose as a missionary. Jenny is an investigator that Elder Ma'a and I found, came to church the first time because we invited her, and I was there for every lesson that she received and I performed the baptism!

I truly feel like it says in Doctrine and Covenants 18: ''And if it so be that ye should labour all your days in crying repentance to this people and bring save it be ONE SOUL unto me, how great will be your joy with him (or her) in the Kingdom of my Father''

Fulfilled is the word I would describe for this week!

I love you guys! I miss you all! I miss you but I know that what I am doing right now is bigger and more important than anything else I could in my entire life.

One other scripture that I use a lot in trying to inspire missionaries is this in DC 15:6 ''And now behold I say unto you that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance into this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.''

(These aren't direct quotes they're just taken from my memory right now so if they're worded incorrectly I'm sorry.. here's the actual scripture)

Funny knocking story: This one guy opened his door and he said he didn't believe in God so I asked him what he believed in and he said ''nature'' we had a bit more conversation where he told me that all religion is actually just about nature because ''it's just so.....     natural.''   

Anyways I love you guys!

Elder Thompson

With the candy cake Mom and Dad sent for my halfway mark

Baptism Day!

We had fish and chips with Elder's Sorenson and Lui after the baptism. ''Victory Lunch''

HALFWAY DONE!!!!

Hi guys!

So for conference this weekend it works a bit different than at home - because of the time change. On Saturday we only watch one session, and we watch it live, that's the Saturday morning session in America that we watch seven hours late - so it starts at 5PM.

Then on Sunday we watch the Priesthood session at 10AM, followed by the recorded Saturday Afternoon session at 1PM, then we watch live again the Sunday morning session at 5PM! So our day Sunday is pretty much full, except for a little bit of knocking on doors between the 1-3 and 5-7 sessions.

Oh and last night actually after conference we went to visit an investigator who we met last week on the street who's name is Success...     I'm being legit. Although he is from Nigeria so when he says it it sounds like ''So sess''. but yeah we were still able to fit a little bit of missionary work in even on conference Sunday!

The rest of the week went really well. I went to a meeting on Saturday morning. Well let me back up - once a month all of the zone leaders and the AP's and the Sister Training Leaders have a big meeting/council with President and Sister Pilkington called MLC(Mission Leadership Council) where they discuss the movement of the mission etc. and new rules to come out and things of that sort. Then on the following Saturdays the zone leaders hold a District Leader Specialized Training meeting for the district leaders in the zone where we receive the instruction that they receive - and then on Wednesday we present the information we've received in our District Meetings. So anyways we had DLST on Saturday - and we also went on exchange with the AP's so that one of them could go to the DLST in Sheffield zone. But anyways yes the AP's in our mission right now are Elder Slabbert from South Africa (who was my zone leader for one transfer in hull - and we shared a flat) and Elder Laborero, who is from London, and has recently been called as an AP - he actually just took the place of Elder Sim, who's family lives in Calgary btw, we actually met a few times before our missions. But anyways I went on a split on Saturday with Elder Laborero, which was fun - and we saw Jenny to prep here for conference and her baptism etc.

There was lots of good things going on this week. Elder Ma'a is still in our flat (my companion from last transfer) and he is sure a character. Never a dull moment with Elder Ma'a.

Conference was really good. I never got to watch the Sunday Afternoon session - but that's ok. I'll read the talks later. I think my favourite talk was from President Uchtdorf - I'm not sure what session, but it was about Daniel and Babylon, and it was really good. I think it might have been In the Priesthood session.

And also I loved Jeffrey R. Holland's talk. Because I love my mom too.

You remember that song that we sang one time Mom for mothers day with the young men? I don't remember what it was called nor do I remember the majority of the words, but I do remember a few lines and they pop into my head sometimes and they were going through my head during Elder Holland's talk as well:

''In the arms of my mother I came to believe, that God sent an angel to watch over me''

And Robbie Williams song Angel. Whenever I think of those I think of you Mama. Love you.

I was a little scared for President Monson as he gave his talk as well. I couldn't help but wonder if that would be his last conference address.

I love you guys, and Dad, keep up the good work. I cant tell you how I've seen the need on my mission for a bishop who keeps his finger on the pulse (to use a President Pilkington missionary phrase) and is making sure everything is working and people are happy and that missionary work is being done in the ward! So keep it up!

Also in the Priesthood session - I loved the father and son choir. I miss you too dad, I really do miss singing with you! That touched me as well!

Especially when they ended their songs with ''Aaaaaameeeeeeeen!!!'' that was cool.

I love you guys! I just want you to know how happy I am being here in England right now. I love you guys and I miss you guys but I know that this is where I need to be. I am happy to be serving the Lord and doing his work. I know that God lives - that I am a Child of God and that he loves you and he loves me, just like he loves all of us.

I know that my Redeemer lives, and loves me too. The spirit whispers this to me and tells me it is true! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be here serving God and Jesus Christ and living as they would have me live!

Elder Thompson

 

Me and my companion, Elder Boswell, the gentle giant (he's 6'8")