Sorry.
I'm pretty sure...Erin is the only person that will get that. But I
remembered it last night and laughed pretty hard and have been bursting
to start my letter out with that. (Don't disappoint me, sis.)
Anyway. How's it going, my people? As honesty is an
attribute of Christ (though not listed in PMG,) I am going to just tell
you all straight out that I did not write a single word in my journal
this week. A SINGLE WORD. But don't worry. I wrote down some things this
morning to stir my memory. I'm sure it will be enough to stir your
interest.
Let's actually make this into a game. I am going to
sneakily hide one lie in this email. All of you have to guess what the
lie is. Okay? Let's go.
First of all, my
companion has gotten me HOOKED on something SUPER. WEIRD. So you all
know how I don't like popcorn? Well, okay, I don't like it very
much...but, when presented with the opportunity to eat it, I CAN'T STOP
EATING IT. It's the worst, because I don't even like it. At all.
Anyway...I mentioned that to my companion, and she told me that the
first time she went to the movie theater in Provo (she lived there for a
little bit,) she bought popcorn and then immediately asked her friends,
"okay, so where's the salsa?" They all looked at her really
confused...yeah, I guess in Mexico they put salsa on their popcorn?!?
What the?? Anyway, she bought popcorn this last week and she squeezed a
LEMON on it and then poured HOT SAUCE on it! I was dumbfounded, and she
just went about making her little weird popcorn, stirring it up and
all...so then...I thought...I would try it...
GREATEST. THING. EVER. Can you get in trouble for
smuggling hot sauce and half a lemon into a movie theater? Because THAT
is how it is DONE. They know how it is.
Last
week, I had a little extra time on the computer, so I went through and
sent every single email I've ever written home to my iPad, and spent a
significant portion of the day reading them. IT WAS HORRIBLE...AND
AWESOME. A few things:
1) I would like to apologize to my posterity for leaving behind a nine-month-legacy of getting pooped on.
2)
I am never attempting to speak Spanish in these letters ever again. "Yo
Ustedes Ama"?!?!?!?!?! WHO THE HECK DID I THINK I WAS?!
3) IT HAPPENED.
...what happened, you
might ask? Well. A few weeks into the MTC I wrote a letter about bugs.
We had a bit of a cockroach problem in our house, and I had to sweep up
all these dead mosquitoes and I was gagging...anyway, at the end of that
letter, I said that one of my goals during the mission was to become a
"FEROCIOUS BUG MURDERER." (I do believe that is an exact quote.)
Well, who would have thought that this goal would be
realized, not in Mexico, not in Chile, but in TEMPE, ARIZONA? We have
cockroaches in our apartment. Nothing awful, but...okay. It's awful.
Just because I HATE BUGS. (Not as much as I HATE BIRDS.) But do you know
who is even MORE traumatized by bugs?.....MY COMPANION. Oh my word. She
squeals. You'd think a thousand of them were crawling up her arm.
Anyway, at first I tried to push them aside, like if I saw one, I
pretended like I didn't see it, and hoped someone else would kill it.
Then one night I was laying in my bed, and I thought about how horrible
AWFUL ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE it would be for one of them to be crawling
around in my bed...so...the next day...in the name of sleeping
peacefully...I became the Tempe cockroach murderer. I have killed SO.
MANY. COCKROACHES. IT IS UNBELIEVABLE.
So. That. As for people we are teaching...I LOVE
TEMPE. We don't have a ton of people, but the people we ARE teaching are
incredible. I love them!! We are teaching a girl who is 17 and her
boyfriend (I think I've talked about them...she has a 3 year old
daughter...?) and they are AWESOME. She is from Mexico and he is from
Guatemala (I LOVE GUATEMALANS.) Anyway, they might be getting married on
the 14th of June, so if you all could pray for that, that would be amazing. They are the cutest couple and WE LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
We are also teaching a man named Juan. He's a
crack up. He lives with his parents and his sister and nephew, and he
always answers the door without a shirt on...and he always goes back and
gets one on. (And it's not in a creepy way. He just doesn't like
shirts.) Anyway, he's overcome a few addictions and is really looking
for a deeper meaning in his life, a way to change. We are teaching him
and his sister, and they are awesome! Pray for them, too!
President Toone went to a big mission president's
conference the other week with Elder Bednar, and this last week we had
the chance to meet with President and hear about what counsel Elder
Bednar gave. He told us a LOT of things...things that really, really
changed...A LOT for me...but there's one thing in particular that I
wanted to share. Elder Bednar told the mission presidents that he wanted
the missionaries to feel SUPER "WEIRD." In fact, he wants EVERY MEMBER
OF THE CHURCH to feel that way. Isn't that an odd word to want to be
known as? "Weird"? But Elder Bednar said that if we do not feel "weird,"
we are not living the gospel of Jesus Christ.
How many times have you tried to comfortably live
the gospel, and maybe compromised a little? I know I have a thousand
times. BUT FEEL WEIRD, PEOPLE. Jesus Christ himself felt weird. He knew
He was different. He was supposed to be. And as members of His church,
WE ARE ALSO EXPECTED TO FEEL WEIRD! Weird, huh?
Elder Bednar also said that the future of the church
does not consist of chapels or meeting houses. It only consists of
prophets and temples....what does that mean? A direct quote from
President Toone: "The home will be the MTC. It will be the mission
field. The persecution is going to increase. Something is coming. It
will come down the the essence of our personal lives and homes."
Now don't get all worked up and think the end of the
world is coming next week...but I believe that what he said is true.
The world is not going to accept the teachings of Christ as willingly in
the near future. This time is a preparation for that. What we do now,
how we live our lives, how we prepare our children will have a direct
impact on our posterity's safety in these worsening times. Live the
gospel! Make it a part of you TODAY. Start converting yourself fully to
the gospel NOW! You will have so much security! Christ is the rock that
will not be moved...build yourself on him!
Well, that's my spiritual thought this week. I love you all so much! I can't believe...I've been out...for...more..than...
PRAY READ ATTEND LOVE (pray read the scriptures attend church love everyone the whole shabang.) AND WRITE (me.)
LOOOOOOOOOOOVE, Hermana Thomas
PS
oh my gosh I forgot to tell you guys this week a GIANT APE CRASHED
THROUGH OUR ROOF AND TORE UP THE FURNITURE AND ATE ALL MY HONEY BUNCHES
OF OATS I'M SERIOUS IT WAS so weird.
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