Elder Coleman Thompson: Pictures!

Hey guys!

Thanks for telling me all about what's going on at home, it makes me feel like I'm still involved somewhat in your lives!

But man, hearing about Nola Bishop makes me really sad. Her and Mark are such a great couple I learned a lot from them. When you go and visit Mark tell him that I wish him and Nola the best and that I'll be praying for them.

But honestly I have so much respect for those two and it hits me right in the heart to hear news like that, I really do feel a lot of happiness when I think back to the Sunday School classes that I was able to have with them and the many wonderful lessons that they taught and that I took in, some lessons that I have even used when I've been teaching people on my mission!

Tell Mark that the story about the Bear, when he tried to chase the Bear on his motorbike is one that I've told tons of people, I actually use it regularly when teaching people. And he used to talk a lot about Music in his lessons and about having righteous thoughts, some lessons that will never leave me.

But really things like that do make me appreciate that much more just how infinite the atonement of Jesus Christ is, that even hurts like losing a loved one can be made whole because we know what happens after and we know that he has felt what we've felt.

I've actually been reading in Hebrews recently, and the first part of Hebrews (chapters 1-3) talk a lot about the Atonement, in fact they probably contain the most doctrine about the Atonement and how it can help us that is found in the New Testament. But it's been really good.

Just another thought, on my iPad I have the family search app, and I've had the opportunity recently to look through a lot of our family history and it's been so cool to read a bunch of stories about the lives of these people! It's amazing. Pretty much all of our ancestors on Dad's side are Pioneers. I've been reading stories about the Coleman Family and the Thompson family and a bunch of the other families that are on there, I was reading a few days ago about a guy named William Crane (like my great great great grandfather or something like that) who served a mission in England in like 1896, and he kept a really good journal and it's been digitalized, and it's fascinating! I feel like I'm really now part of a legacy! It's really cool.

Also this week on Sunday the Huddersfield 1st and 2nd wards had a combined sacrament service for Remembrance Day, and I got to sing a solo with the choir, but it was really nice. They talked a lot about soldiers and wards and things of course, and it was really touching.

Also this week it's been super rainy. Like SUPER rainy. All of my clothes are still damp. Even this morning on the way to the library we got soaked, and we were only outside for like 5 minutes. But missionary work can be pretty hard when it's pouring rain and dark outside and you have no where to go, but it's okay Elder Boswell and I have managed to meet with people and get out of the rain a lot.

But man it was pretty freezing a lot of the time, I've been pretty cold this week.

But out of all of this, the thing that has been the major thing for me this week is that I think I've learned a lot more about the atonement of Jesus Christ. Because all the hard things that I've been hearing about and thinking about this week, he's already gone through. Whether it be my ancestors as they walked across the plains and suffered tremendous hardships, whether it be all of those soldiers that had to fight in War and suffer there, whether it be Mark and Nola bishop getting some bad news from the doctors, whether it be little me, walking around getting cold in the rain - Jesus Christ knows what it all feels like. He's been there. When we feel like there's nobody who can understand what we are going through, there is still one. And on top of knowing what it all feels like, he knows how to heal us from those things. He knows how to take care of us and to help us feel peace even in the midst of trials. He can succor us when nobody else can.

If there is anything that I've learned being here in England for the last year, that is it. I've learned through personal experience that Jesus Christ is real and that his atonement is infinite. I have studied and prayed with an earnest desire to know that these things are true, and I know that they are. Sometimes that's what it takes to learn the truth, it takes study. It takes diligent prayer. It takes hard work and determination, but it's worth it. There is no greater peace than that that comes from the healing arms of Christ. I've felt them. Nothing else that can be found in this world compares. There's no worldly philosophy that can replace it, there's nothing that surpasses the comfort that it brings.

I love you guys!