Elder Coleman Thompson: One More Week Finished!!

This week is transfers, so just like last time Elder Nielsen & I found
out about transfers a few days before and made all the travel
arrangements for people moving tomorrow. And the news this time is
that Elder Nielsen & I are staying together in Newcastle! This is the
first time that I've had the same companion two transfers in a row
since Elder Boswell, and the only other time that happened was when I
was with Elder Jaeger when I was being trained a few years ago. But
we're really excited!

This week has been so good though! We went on two companion exchanges,
two days in a row (Thursday & Friday) and they were such a blast. I
learn a lot from missionaries when I take them on exchange, and I know
that they learn a lot from me as well.

We found a bunch more investigators to work with this week, at the
beginning it's always hard to see if they are going to pan out the way
that we hope, but we'll see how they progress from here.

One of our investigators Gemma is doing really well. She had a debate
competition for Northumbria University this weekend in Liverpool, but
she still fasted with us! We had a few really good lessons with her
this last week, and she said the other day that the whole going to
church and reading the scriptures and praying and meeting with us has
become part of her routine, and that was a big step for her. She said
the prayer in our last lesson as well, and it was very spiritual - so
things are going well.

Alvin, our other Uni student investigator from Malaysia, is doing ok
as well. This week he came across someone at Uni who is quite anti
Mormon, and gave him some articles to read written by people who left
the Church - so that was not so good. But we took the senior
Missionary couple to a lesson with him and helped him overcome some of
the concerns that that article brought up, so that was good. He's
taking us to Northumbria University this week to play basketball with
him and his mates as well, so that should be fun, and a good
opportunity to find people to teach that's not knocking on doors!

Most of the missionaries nowadays graduated from High School a year or
two years after me. I went on exchange this week with two
missionaries that graduated the same time as my brother Sam, and are
around his same age, so that is kinda strange. But the exchanges were
really good! I'll send some pics!

Oh, also there is a guy that one of the Missionaries from South
Shields contacted on the Metro who we then met with this week at Costa
Coffee shop, who then came to church with us on Sunday! He's an
interesting one though, I'm not sure if he's all the way there. His
name is Robert and we're meeting him again on Wednesday, so we'll see
how it goes I guess.

I really love being a missionary though. I realised the other day that
it's only about 4 months until I'm done for good, so I need to use
every day wisely.

Oh, another thing. We met up with this inactive family in the
Newcastle Ward this week, and it was one of the saddest visits I've
had in a while. The family told us of how much they love the
missionaries, but how much they are offended by the members of the
Newcastle Ward. They told us his big story of all this stuff that
happened that made them not want to come back to the church, and it
was so sad. We're not sure what we're going to do with this family,
but we want them to come back so badly. It makes me really sad that
people get offended by people in the church and leave for those
reasons. It's all about pride - and I wish everyone could just forgive
each other and be nice to each other and be friends.

Also - about Pride - I don't know how you knew to send that, but it was what I needed to hear. We met a few families and people this week who have fallen out of the church because of pride, and it's such. A good reminder that I need to keep myself humble forever, and just do what god needs me to do. I was reading the Ensign this week, and I came across a talk given by Elder Quentin L. Cook called "The Gospel and the Good Life" and it was really inspiring as well. Your example, and the words of prophets, and the words of scriptures, and the example of other faithful members of the church, and the examples of people's lives that I've met on my mission, has given me a very strong desire to live a gospel centred life, because I know how much good that will do for me and my family, and those that we serve.

I know that God lives, and that Jesus Christ is the Saviour, and that
his church was restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith,
and that there is a prophet on the earth today. I know that by keeping
the council of the prophets and abiding by the commandments that God
has given us, we can achieve a fullness of happiness in this life. I
hope so much that no matter what happens in my life, that I'll never
let my pride get the best of me. I will continue faithfully in my
Covenants and endure to the end.

Love you guys