Ups and Downs...letter from September 23, 2014

HELLO. I LOVE YOU.

First of all, I just have to say...buckle up. This week...was an emotional roller coaster of absolute insanity. There was hardly a dull moment, and I think I felt both extreme joy and sorrow in the space of four hours. I know I say this a lot, but...I have no idea where to start. 

I guess I will start on Friday night! Do you remember our Mexican Grandma friend? Well, we still love her and all, but we had quite the frustrating lesson with her. We'd just gone through a day full of no one listening, cancelled appointments, you name it, so I guess you could say that we didn't walk into this lesson with the best attitude. But our mexican grandma had also had a long day at work, and I don't think any of us three were in the mood. And the lesson was okay and all, but she didn't really feel like being preached to by two twenty year olds and just went off about how we don't haven't had any experience thus far in our lives, blah blah blah...we just stayed calm, taught her the principles, expressed our love, and left. We just didn't talk on the way to our last appointment, which we were already ten minutes late to.

Luckily, our appointment was with Georgette, who was preparing to be baptized the next day. She was so cool with us being late, and had been sitting with a few people inside the chapel. She was beaming!! So excited for her baptism. We went into another room and taught her about some Laws and Ordinances, but she turned it into how excited she was for her baptism, she wanted to know when she could receive her patriarchal blessing, she practiced being baptized, she asked what she would need to wear...this is the most prepared investigator I have ever seen! We just talked to her for a long time about how she felt, and she said that she was so excited, she wasn't going to be able to sleep all night. Then she gave us a big hug at the end and we told her we'd see her the next day. When we drove home, both of us were just grinning, counting her blessings that we had someone like Georgette to remind us how amazing the gospel really is. 

Then the next day we had an AMAZING MEETING with someone named Elder D. Todd Christopherson! That's right, an Apostle! I think I told you all last week that I was asked to sing in a double quartet for this meeting...we sang "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need." Super simple, super beautiful! Well, we practiced for a little bit before, said a prayer that everything would go alright, and then went down to wait for the Apostle to come. We got to sit in the front row since we were participating in the program! Then a HALF HOUR before Elder Christopherson was supposed to get there, he came walking in!! And he wanted to shake each of our hands and know our names and where we were from. 

IT WAS SO AMAZING. When it got to me, I just felt something well up inside me, and I thought, "this is an Apostle of the Lord." It was just...such a cool experience. Then the meeting started, and we sang right after the opening prayer. And okay, we were okay in our practices, but something happened while we were singing! Because we just filled the room! Just a sound, or more of a feeling, filled all the empty space during the song, I wish it could have been recorded! Our vowels were good, we blended, the spirit was strong, and it was such a cool experience.

Then we had an open-question time with an Apostle. So many answers to so many of my prayers were made in those two hours that we held that meeting. But I guess the most impressive part of it was how it felt when Elder Christopherson was speaking. Yes, my mission president is powerful, so were the members of the Seventy (Elder Corbridge) or General Bishopric (Bishop Davies) that were with us...but...when an Apostle of the Lord spoke, he spoke with a power and authority that was a little shocking. I will never forget it. Also, he is super nice. He just smiled and waved and said that when he stands next to President Toone he feels like he just stepped into a hole.

The meeting ended, Elder Christopherson left the room, then Hermana Homer and I jumped up to run to the baptism for Georgette. As we were leaving, however, I opened a text that we had received from her about halfway through the meeting. It said: "I can't make it to baptism today. :("

Hermana Homer and I were concerned, obviously, so we tried to call her, call her, call her...we went to the church anyway, but we couldn't get a hold of her. We texted her asking if everything was okay. About a half-hour after the baptism was supposed to start, we got a text from her, very formally, telling us that after "much consideration" she had decided that she was going to stay Catholic. We asked if we could come visit her one more time, and she said no. We sent her a text bearing simple testimony and telling her how much we loved her, begging her to remember the "tingles and goosebumps" that she always expressed to us as she heard the message. No response. 

So...we still do not know what happened. And my heart is broken. Our best guess is that her husband went crazy on the anti in a space of 12 hours. But...that's a guess. Hermana Homer and I have had a good couple cries since then. It hurts so bad. And I don't feel this because I wanted a baptism...we really grew to love Georgette. She was so ready. But as Elder Corbridge stated just an hour before the baptism was cancelled, "rarely does a convert sneak into the church without Satan noticing." 

There we were, sitting in our car on Saturday night, with a schedule filled with cancelled appointments/salvation, without any idea of what to do. So we decided to just get up, out of the car, and talk to people. (Our Zone has had a huge focus of trying to ask for referrals, so we're supposed to tally up how many we ask for every day. So far, our weekly total as a companionship has averaged at about 2. We are awful at it.) 

Well....we just started, then we kept loving it, and it helped us numb the heart ache, so we just kept asking, asking, asking....WE GOT THIRTY! I know that probably doesn't matter too much to all you, but that's unheard of. We got thirty referrals asked for in about 4 hours. We just would start on a street, decide how many we wanted to ask for, then said a prayer asking that God would place that amount of people in our path to ask. And at the end of every street, we always had exactly how many we'd prayed for. We got some great referrals for other companionships in English, too! 

Then we just got showered with food on Sunday...three investigators at church, as well, and we just started recounting our blessings...we still have so many amazing investigators to love! And my chilean ward-member friend randomly called and invited us to his house to eat chilean empanadas for lunch. They weren't as good as the real stuff, but it made me feel so happy to just step back to some great chilean memories! And he gave me a recipe for chilean bread!!!!!!!

This weekend turned into a counting blessings experience. I am still sad about Georgette, but I am so grateful that I had the experience of hearing from an Apostle right before, who said things that really strengthened me in my heartache. 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND I HAVE NEWS. I am stepping down as a Sister Training Leader. :( That was so fast! One transfer, that's it!

....................but.............................I'M TRAINING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And...I'm leaving Mesa... :( I'm pretty bummed about leaving but DID YOU HEAR ME?!?! I'M TRAINING AGAIN! It's a little bittersweet because I was just starting to really love being an STL, but my heart has always loved training! I get a new greenie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Again!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited. I will find out this week where I go and who I am with, but the point is, this week was up and down and all around! I still don't really know what to do about it. So I'm just going to take it! Sometimes when I pray, I ask for a hotter refiners fire. Why not? That's how you grow! 

"It's not like I'm ravenously hungry, but I kind of am." --Hermana Homer

"It's just a fat day." --Hermana Homer

"No we can't put the food there, the homeless people will get it." --Hermana Homer (charitable.) 

As you can see, Hermana Homer was on a roll this week. I will miss her!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Keep keeping me updated. I love it. I miss you so much!

BE GOOD.

Love, Hermana Thomas

SHEESH! Letter from September 15,2014

HEY WORLD. LOVE YA.

This week was really good! 

First of all, I feel like my letters are really lacking in the funny experiences...but the truth is...Mesa isn't really...funny. I mean, I laugh and all, but...weird things don't happen here. Not like Tempe or Phoenix or Cachapoal or La Florida or the MTC. 

Hermana Homer and I just randomly will not be able to focus because everything starts making us laugh. Like...we were in the middle of weekly planning, and we started talking about Fall and how we both want to eat pumpkin flavored things and then it turned into pumpkin carving into evil-staring at my district leader to him turning to us at the wrong moment to just having to get up and take a few laps around the church in order to calm down.

Also, I just want to eat every unhealthy thing on this planet. All day every day 24/7 fo realz. This week we had a stats meeting after district meeting with all the district leaders, the zone leaders and us sister training leaders, but I was just totally spacing it the whole time, laying back in my chair just thinking about nothing, when all the sudden someone said the word "cookie" and I just jolted straight up in my chair and went "COOKIES?!" And all the elders stared at me for a few seconds, and it was just weird, and then everyone started laughing at me and I laughed too but I really wanted COOKIES. OH MY GOSH, COOKIES SOUND INCREDIBLE RIGHT NOW. 

I'm sorry, I always write these letters when I am starving.

Then for like three days after everyone kept saying cookie stuff around me. Also during weekly planning I ate the MOST INCREDIBLE BROWNIE OF MY LIFE. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY UNREAL HOW GOOD THIS BROWNIE WAS. 

I also got into a heated discussion with one of the elders in our ward about whether dying by heat exhaustion or freezing to death would be better. OBVIOUSLY heat exhaustion, but whatever, the point is that I had a big time dejavoo (is that right?) throwin' it back to Helaman Halls with Chloe, fighting about this very same thing, and at the end of the conversation she says "so you REALLY think that it's better to die of heat than to freeze?!" and I said "YES." And she narrows her eyes and, with a somewhat-maniacal look, says, "...we'll see."

WHAT THE SCARIEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE?!?!?!

Also, we were waiting for an investigator at her house for an appointment one day and we get a call from her asking if we could come fix her car?! We were like...umm...did you call the wrong number? She's like "aren't you the missionaries?" we're like "...yes..." she's like "VENGAN." We're like "...?!?!?!?! We don't know anything about cars?!?" Then her brother went to help her and everything ended up fine. We even ended up having the lesson still. But it was just...a kind of weird request. I mean, I guess we always tell people to call us when they need something...but...

Almost all of our investigators made it to church this week! That was such a blessing. The one that couldn't make it was actually on her DEATHBED practically, super sick, but tried to come anyway! But she just couldn't...poor thing. She is super sick. Hey, it's Georgette! And guess what? SHE'S GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!! We are so darn excited! Georgette is amazing. She's the referral that speaks English. She has the most amazing testimony ever. We went out to eat with her and her husband on Wednesday. He's not super interested, but she wanted us to get to know him because she's hoping that he will change his mind soon. Anyway, we started kind of talking to him at the end about religious things, but Georgette just completely took over and bore the most legit testimony I've ever heard from a non-member...or a member, really. She talked about how it's not something of logic, but it's something that you feel, something that you just know is true because it's familiar to you, and she just told him how much she wants him to have it, too. For like, five minutes. Then she turned to us like, "your turn," and we just looked at each other, and were like "AMEN."

She's amazing. I am so stoked for this weekend!

Then the next weekend we have another baptism planned for a kid named Ivan. We have been working with him and his less-active cousin, Daniel, for a few weeks now. They started out really quiet and not really engaged at all, especially Daniel, but last lesson we had with them, HE PRAYED! Do you know how many weeks we have been trying to get him to pray? One time, he cried because he just couldn't bring himself to pray! But he prayed last time!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE WERE SO EXCITED. IT WAS SO AMAZING. And they were at church with their grandma. :)

Also, we have started preparations for the wedding on October 10th! IT'S GOING TO BE THE BOMB. Then she gets baptized the day after! Super exciting.

OH YEAH! Remember our stubborn mexican grandma? Well. Guess who read 17 chapters of the Book of Mormon this week?!?! She did! SHE LOVES IT. And she flipped her work schedule UPSIDE DOWN to come to church for an hour! And she surprised us by coming at all! IT WAS A MIND BLOW. 

Well, needless to say, this week was amazing. I hope things are sunshine and roses for you too. I love you all so much!

LOVE, Hermana THomas

The field is white....letter from September 8, 2014

Welcome to Mesa, Arizona, where prepared investigators just fall out of the sky and land on your front door.

I'm serious....it's unreal. This has never, ever, EVER happened to me ONCE in my ENTIRE mission. Yeah, okay, I've seen it happen to a few other people...a FEW others, not a lot. Maybe like...twice. But something's weird in Mesa, guys. Weird...but super awesome. 

I LOVE ARIZONA. It's pretty schlikin'. 

It is seriously UNREAL. Do you remember the investigator and boyfriend that I was talking about last week? Well, she's on date. TWO DATES! One to get married (October 10th) and the next to be baptized (October 11th.) I GET TO PLAN A WEDDING, GUYS!!!!! I AM SO EXCITED! These two are the best. She's the one who has had a pretty rough past, but went through her repentance process and is now ready to be baptized! And her boyfriend is still super awesome. He wasn't quite ready to commit to the baptismal date, but he had nothing against being married on the 10th. He is just a super happy person! They both are. Oh man, we are so excited. Hermana Homer and I got into the car last night after our lesson with them and just started squealing like girls. WE GET TO PLAN A WEDDING!!!!!!!! We are hoping so badly that Hermana Homer wont get switched out in a few weeks (it's more likely that she will leave than me) because we want to do all this together! AGH WE ARE SO EXCITED. I am stoked.

Also...remember the other investigator I mentioned? Actually, I said that she was a referral that we hadn't met yet...well...SHE'S ON DATE TOO! She is quite a character, I'm not really sure how to explain her. She's just a really different person! But super nice, super friendly! Our first lesson with her, she asked when was the soonest that she could be baptized. We told her the 20th, and she said that she wanted to meet with us every day until them so that she could be prepared as fast as possible. Like...when has that every happened ever?!? The Lord is blessing us SO MUCH right now. Unfortunately, her husband is pretty uninterested in anything, but he is at least being supportive by driving her to church and to lessons...we'll work on it! 

We are working with quite a few other people, as well, but those two have a date and we are SO EXCITED! I turned to Hermana Homer and just said "what the heck is going on?? Why do people just pop out of nowhere in this Zone?" (Because this is not an uncommon thing in Mesa, apparently.) Hermana Homer just shrugged and said, "I think Mesa is where missionaries come to heal." 

Regardless of the "why", the point is that we are being SO BLESSED. I'm not going to lie, I have always wanted to be one of those missionaries that sees a miracle baptism like that...but I didn't think it would happen! I'm just super stoked. Miracles are real.

So, this is a bit of a different letter. I started with the investigators first. That was weird, I have never done that in the last 13 months I've been out here. I just...thought I'd change it up. Plus I was just super excited to share!! 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH IT'S UNBELIEVABLE.

So right now we are in the middle of a flash-flood! IT'S THE BOMB. AND I'M WEARING BOOTS FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE TALCA. I guess you could call me an Arizonan now--it hits the high 80's and I'm bundling up like it's a blizzard. We woke up at 6:30 to the sound of pounding rain on the roof, so what did we do? We ran outside in bare feet and pajamas. (I'm going to get sick.) But the water came up over my ankles! Then on our way to email the road was like a river! I'll send a video. It was so cool. Arizona is the bomb.

Last Tuesday was Zone Meeting, so Hermana Homer and I had to do part of the Zone Training, and it was so fun! We pretty much taught the zone about developing Christ-like attributes. It was so fun. I love training. It made me miss being an actual trainer! But right after we had exchanges, and I got to go with the lovely Sister Vea in our area. Sister Vea is a brand-new English-speaking missionary, but she's actually just waiting for her visa so that she can go to Australia! It was so fun to go around with her, talk about goals, get to know her...we had a lot of fun! And that was actually the day that we first met Georgette...at one point, I had no idea how to respond to a question that Georgette had, and I just sat there wracking my brain for something to say, when Sister Vea (who had been silent up until this point) just started testifying of the power of faith. And I just sat back and listened, and it was so amazing, and at the end, Georgette said that she had goosebumps and that she would finally ask God to know if the church was true! IT WAS SO AWESOME. #greeniemiraclesRreal

Hermana Homer got really sick, so we had to go home early on Thursday night. We arrived home at about 7:30 pm, and Hermana Homer spent the rest of the night throwing up or sleeping, so it was up to me to plan. Sister Barnes just bought a massage chair, so I was like, heck yes, I am sitting in that thing for three hours and watching Bible videos after I plan. (I AM SUCH A MISSIONARY.) So I went over, sat in the chair, and started planning for the next day. Well, I finished ten minutes later, put my iPad down, closed my eyes, tried to relax...

Nope. I sat there for maybe ten seconds, opened my eyes, and was like, "I gotta do something." Then I was like...nah. Take a nap. So I closed my eyes again, and then they opened, and I felt super restless, and I was like, "gotta do something!!" So I turn off the chair, stand up, and start walking around. Then I see some clothes I hadn't hung up yet, so I do that...then some things on the bathroom counter, so I put them away...then my books out of order, so I order them...then before you know it I have spent an HOUR AND A HALF JUST CLEANING THINGS. Then I'm like, what now. Everything is clean. So I go into Sister Barnes' sewing room and read a bunch of her family history books, then I go look for Sugar for like a half hour (she hides when Sister Barnes isn't home) and then it's TEN THIRTY AND TIME TO GO TO BED. 

I AM NOT GOING TO ADJUST WELL TO NOT HAVING A STRICT SCHEDULE, GUYS. This was the first time I have had some down time in a year (that's the last time that one of my companions has been sick) and I couldn't sit down for two minutes! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!

Some quotes from the week:

"I literally think I am having a baby right now." --Hermana Homer

"This is good but it tastes like B.O." --Hermana Homer

"Oh I loved being sick in middle school it was the BEST." --Elder Norwick (District Leader)

This week we also contacted a lady who was supposed to be a great referral. But when we got to her house, she firmly said that she did not have time to listen to us, because of how much she works and cleans and generally has to do in a day--everyday. We get told this a lot, actually, but this time it was different, I don't know why. It was...sadder. She was so firmly stating how little she cared to meet with us. We left her with our number, and lovingly promised her that if she made time for God, He would make sure she always had time to get what she needed to do done. She waved us off and said, "yes, yes, I know that, I know that. It's true. But as for now...I need to work more." 

We got in the car, drove to the next street, parked, and just had a really good discussion about how sad it is when people do not make time for God. How people don't get it! It just made us both sick to our tummies. 

MAKE TIME FOR GOD! He will bless you! Do you trust Him?

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. KEEP PRAYING AND BEING GOOD PEOPLE AND ALL THAT JAZZ. Just be awesome. 

Lots of love from the good AZ, Hermana Thomas

A GIANT PINK "HELLO" Letter from September 1, 2014

HELLO!

I don't know why but I just wanted that to be really big and really pink.

Hello, world! I am in a super weird mood today! Fo' realz. I don't know why. I think I'm just super hungry. My breakfast...was...six oreos. 

ANYWAY. This week was super awesome and SUPER busy! Lots of things happened. But for some reason the only things that are coming to my head are FOOD RELATED, so...this email might have a theme.

PS: I forgot to say I LOVE YOU ALL!

Okay. Let's talk about Thursday. OH MY WORD, THURSDAY. Wait...just kidding. It was Friday. Sorry about that. We'll come back to Thursday. But FRIDAY, OH MY WORD, FRIDAY...

As missionaries (and humans in general) the most skipped meal of the day is breakfast. Hermana Homer and I have been pretty decent at eating in the morning, though. Sometimes we'll make a smoothie, or we'll have some toast or fruit...well, Friday morning we went all out. HUGE smoothie, half a peach each, and a egg and cheese breakfast sandwich. The works. It was so good. 

Then we had our Weekly Planning meeting with the Zone, and at noon we all went out to eat together. We decided on Thai food (yay!) and we were seated by this pretty grumpy Asian lady who seemed super inconvenienced by the size of our group (it's like....oh, you don't want our hundred dollars we're about to drop you? Okay, we'll find somewhere else then...) Anyway, I got yellow curry and I ate the WHOLE plate. Hermana Homer only ate half, but I ate it all. (By the way, just so everyone knows, I've gotten a lot better about controlling my portion sizes. It's just...THAI FOOD. For the first time in more than a year!) 

Then we worked for a few hours, and our dinner appointment rolled up at 5:00, so we go, but they were late getting the food, so they just bought a giant pizza for us to share and asked if we could eat it somewhere else. We were like...yes. So we just got in the car and started driving to our next appointment, which was with a member of the ward that we were following up with on something. So we're cramming this pizza in our mouths, IT WAS SO GOOD, we ate the whole thing in like five minutes. We were feeling pretty good, getting a head start on the evening, feeling definitely full...

Well, turns out that this member didn't know that we were just there to follow up on something, cause we walk in, and instead of sitting in the living room she guides us to the kitchen table where there are two heaping plates of DELICIOUS Mexican food for us. She thought she had to feed us dinner. So Hermana Homer and I look at each other, we're like, here we go, and we sit down and eat. And as we eat we are following up on that thing we came there for, so that we lose the least amount of time possible, and let me tell you, that food was good, but holy cow, one egg-sandwich/giant-smoothie/fruit/thai-food/half-a-pizza/mountain-of-mexican-food later, I thought my clothes were going to rip at the seams, I was so full. So full. Like...Chile-full. We got in the car and just laugh cried all the way to our next appointment. It was wonderawful. 

But! We had a super fantastic week! Other than eating three times my own weight in a space of 16 hours, we found some really cool investigators! Actually, they were all referrals, and they are SO GREAT!

We have one woman who has known about the church her entire life. She has a pretty rough past...like, pretty rough. But she found the light of the gospel a few years ago, she knew it was absolutely true, and knew she needed to go through a repentance process. This process included jail-time for a few years. I still don't know what it was, but she recently was released and is cleaning the rest of it up so that she can be baptized as soon as possible. She didn't miss a week of LDS church her entire time locked up. She has a boyfriend who we are teaching as well, and he's awesome! They are both so happy and friendly, you'd never guess that she's had the past she has. He has just started investigating, but they are absolutely amazing, planning on getting married beginning of October...so keep them in your prayers!

We also have Ivan, he is the grandson of a member in the ward. He and his cousin, Daniel, are about 14 years old. Daniel was baptized, but he is super less active, runs in a rowdy crowd, doesn't have the best background from his parents. They are sweet though, and have really started opening up to us in the three times we've gone by. Ivan wants to get baptized, we'll just have to keep him moving forward!

We also have a referral that we haven't met in person yet who has already put herself on-date, she wants to get baptized! We don't know too much about her, but she's actually English speaking, but requested sister missionaries, and we're the ones that can reach her easiest with where she lives, so we are going to be teaching her! So cool. We're excited to get to know her better.

Yes, Dad, I did sing in the Mission Tour this week! (That was Thursday, August 28th. Remember that date.) We met with Elder Schwitzer. It was amazing. (Fun Fact: I just accidentally wrote "Fun Face.") (Real Fun Fact: he was directly involved with most of the decisions made throughout the Tuberculosis adventure. He didn't remember me by name or anything, but he remembered all that drama and said that he's glad to see that I'm okay with the switch, and that he can now sleep at night. He's super friendly and nice.) 

Anyway, preparing to sing for that event was really stressful. I wanted to sing it so good, I wanted everything to be perfect. We practiced for hours the week leading up to it. We recorded ourselves, listened to it, changed it a million times. It got to the point where I just wasn't feeling it anymore. I was so stressed out about it. I wanted to call President Toone and tell him never mind. My voice was acting up and cracking, I couldn't hit the notes I wanted, it just wasn't working. 

We finally got to Thursday morning, and Hermana Homer and I got there early to practice. It wasn't even 9:00am yet and my voice would not warm up. I stood at the piano, plunking out the notes I was going to need to hit, failing miserably, feeling discouraged, and suddenly, hardly controlling what happened next, I said "I can't do this!" and I sat on the piano bench fighting tears. My throat was welling up inside me and I knew that if I cried, my voice would not come through for me. Poor Hermana Homer, she came over and offered to pray with me, so we did, but I couldn't keep my eyes closed because I knew I would start crying if I did. 

We ran through it a couple times, and it still wasn't working, but I had calmed down a little. As we finished up the second run-through, though, said a prayer in my heart, begging Heavenly Father to help me do this. 

Then, I had the strangest out-of-body experience. Suddenly, I was back in La Florida, sitting on my top bunk. The lights were out, and my roommates had long since curled up into their beds and begun to fall asleep, but I was still awake, kneeling, face against my covers, choking on tears. I don't think I'd even started praying yet. It was August 28th, 2013, and I hadn't understood a word anyone had said to me for a solid 12 hours. I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I remember silently sobbing, and the words bobbed around in my head, and I finally whispered to myself, "I can't do this!" 

Then I was back in Arizona, and I stood up straight, soaked back the tears, and stopped practicing. I prayed in my heart, "Heavenly Father, please help me. I know I'm not perfect, I know I probably won't ever be in this life, but you've strengthened me before--do it again. Teach me something more."

Then we went in, we sat down, we prayed, and Hermana Homer and I got up and sang. And my voice cracked once. And Hermana Homer missed a few notes. But I felt it. And I understood, a little deeper than before, the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

He's not there to make it perfect--He's there to make US perfect. And we only become perfect by going through the perfection process. And that's not over night. That's not even over thirteen or so months. That's an eternal goal. And it's not easy. But He will never--NEVER--leave us alone. He is teaching me.

I love you all so bad. I miss you tons!!!!! But I love being a missionary! I may come home some time, but there are two parts of the world that will still have my heart! Sorry about that. 

KEEP READING AND PRAYING AND BEING THE MOST AMAZING PEOPLE IN THE UNIVERSE.

Love, Hermana TBhomas

Well. Letter from August 25, 2014

Howdy, ya'll! How's it goin' out yonder? That was weird. Okay, I do not AND WILL NEVER say howdy. It's just...so not me. BUT. I have fallen into the ya'llin. I ya'll. I'm sorry. That's what state-side-missionary-ing has done to me. #loveit

So it's only been four days...I'm not gonna lie, I feel like I'm reaching for things to say. I mean, a LOT of things happened, but I'm not really sure how to write about them. (I wrote one time in my journal.) (This morning.)

But it's for real, I don't know how to write things that happened this weekend! I guess I'll start out with the highlight: we had a Mission Leadership Council meeting on Saturday with Elder Robbins from the Presidency of the Seventy! It was absolutely amazing. I LEARNED SO MUCH. He talked about Agency, Responsibility and Control. How are those related? IT WAS SO INTERESTING. I really thought that I had studied enough on that topic, but I learned SO MUCH. What more can I say...I LEARNED SO MUCH. 

He talked about how it is a natural reflex for us as human beings to want agency but avoid responsibility. We complied a huge list of things people do to avoid responsibility:

Blame

Excuse

Self-Justify

Flee

Hide

Lie

Not Forgive

Deny

Rebel

Self-Pity

etc

The list was pretty long, and the over-arching theme was PRIDE. He called this list the "loser-list." And it really is! Because the more we resort to this list in order to avoid responsibility for our actions, the more we lose control of our situation, thus the less agency we have. He said that making people try to avoid responsibility is the "back-door approach" that Satan uses to take away our agency. 

Anger is a CHOICE. IT ALWAYS IS. 

The scary part about this seminar though...was...HE TALKED ABOUT MARRIAGE. *shiver* Yeah, he was pretty super focused on marriage and raising kids. And all us missionaries were taking notes like crazy and also cringing at the thought. He was on the board recently of reviewing cases for temple cancellations, and he said a lot about that. He said that people rarely said "I got angry." They would say that them and their spouse "fell out of love," as if it wasn't their choice at all. He said that in most cases both parties reverted back to the "loser-list." 

Guess what? YOU choose to be bothered. YOU choose to love or to not. When you revert to the list, however, you lose control. Control doesn't lose you...YOU lose CONTROL. YOU lose it.

It was super amazing. My mind was kind of swirling by the end because of how much I took in and was trying to retain. But it's something I TOTALLY can't wait to come home and talk about with all of you in person. THERE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN WHAT I JUST TYPED. It was life-changing. 

We have another General Authority coming for a Mission Tour this Thursday, and I am so excited! This is with all the missionaries, not just the MLC. President Toone asked if I would sing at it, so I'm singing "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul." Hermana Homer is going to play for me, and we've been practicing like crazy. It's going to be awesome! And I am so excited to hear from another leader of the church. Then the week after, we will have ANOTHER MLC with that same General Authority. I got so lucky getting called as a Sister Training Leader this transfer, they never have this many special MLCs with leaders. Super cool!

We ate with Chileans twice in a row this week! It took me a couple minutes each time to adjust to understanding their accent, but it was so fun to rehash some Chilean memories with them. Oh yeah, yesterday I had to give a talk in church (that was stressful,) but afterwards my good-ol-Chilean-friend in the ward came up to me and said that I sounded like a Chilean. BEST COMPLIMENT EVER. I was so psyched to hear that. I love the people I serve, but when it comes to the accent...well...Chile rules.

Oh, back to the "loser-list"...after church we went with the Relief Society President to do some visits with her. (By the way, my absolute respect for all women who fulfill calling has been magnified 189483x since being a missionary and working so closely with them.) Anyway, we pretty much sat through a scream-fest of a 30-year-old daughter and her mother (who lives with her.) They both expected the Relief Society President to come to their house and solve their problems, but they just ended up screaming at each other. I have never seen such hating looks between mother and child. It was so sad. Hermana Socorro tried to solve things as best she could, but they just screamed, screamed, blamed, blamed, and finally she just stood up and left, and we followed her out. 

I have the best family ever.

Some quotes:

Me: "Ugh, we can't use any of these pictures, look, my fat roll!"

Hermana Johnson: "WELL SUCK IT IN."

"I didn't choose Taco Bell, Taco Bell chose me." --Hermana Johnson

"Don't knock doors of bad people because they steal stuff KAY?!" --random little girl

Am I repeating quotes right now? I'm really sorry. I am running out of things to say.

The point is...the church is true! SUPER true. I love the gospel! I love being a missionary! 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Hope your week was fantastic. 

READ AND PRAY AND GO TO CHURCH AND ACCEPT CALLINGS AND ALL THAT GOOD STUFF.

Love, Hermana Thomas

I. AM. ALIVE. Letter from August 20, 2014

YES. I AM ALIVE. I'm better than alive...I just got back from the Temple! It was so amazing! SO amazing. I love the Mesa Temple. And all temples. But today I like Mesa best.

...yes, it is Wednesday...no, I am not breaking mission rules...we switched P-Days this week! (Just this week.) (Because of the temple trip.) So...here I am writing you in the middle of the week! Different, huh? #tbt to Thursday P-Days in MexicooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo

Anyway. You all have permission to ciberly-smack-me-in-the-face because..............................................................drum roll............................................................................i didn't write in my journal for 10 days. :(

I remember pretty well, though. Tuesday of last week we went by as many people as we could (Hermana Johnson and I) (I miss that girl...) to say goodbye! A couple were actually pretty disappointed, which is cool but also not cool, since we really want them to progress for the gospel, not for the missionaries...but I know they will! It's always hard to leave your area, because you just develop so much love for the people you serve! It was especially difficult to say goodbye to Blanca and Alex and their cute kids. I love them to death. It was a little tearful, but I know that the missionaries who came in will take good care of them!

So then...transfer meeting! Sister Johnson got assigned with Sister Greenhaulgh, who came into the field at the same time as her! WHAT?!? We were super duper shocked! That's kind of unheard of, since they both have about the same level of Spanish and are pretty much just out of training...but I am so proud of mi hija! She is going to be awesome! They went on down to Casa Grande. And I...........drummmmmm roooooooooollllllllllllllllll.......................

.............GOT PUT WITH HERMANA HOMER! (Yeah, you all knew that anyway, because of that Facebook video, but I thought I'd drum-roll it anyway.) I was so excited! I knew it, I knew we were going to be companions. 

For those of you just tuning in, when I was switched from Chile to Arizona, I was put with Hermana Homer for two weeks to adjust to this mission. At the end of our time together, Hermana Homer got called to train. She said to me, "just wait and see. I will train for one transfer, then the next transfer I will get called Sister Training Leader and you will be a trainer, then you'll train for two transfers and then get called Sister Training Leader as well, then we'll be companions and I'll kill you in Yuma." (Pretty sure killing me in Yuma...not gonna happen. But. The rest of it has.)

Freaky, right? Anyway, we got assigned companions, and we are serving in M-M-M-Mesaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (I don't know why I keep doing long vowels. I am SUPER HUNGRY AND NOT IN MY RIGHT MIND.) We are living with a member who is just absolutely LOVELY. Her name is Sister Barnes, she's a widow, and she has a beautiful, I mean BEAUTIFUL house. It has a flipping lake in the back! And a little square dock! And a back patio! And just so many things! And when you walk on her carpet you feel like you're dancing on a cloud. Also, her house is like sound-proofed on the inside, sounds don't even happen. I don't know how to explain it. Also, she has a chihuahua named Sugar, we call her "shoogs" or "azucar" and she's a little punk but she was trained to give kisses on people's noses when they bend down, and she's like OCD or something because whenever she goes anywhere she has to walk in circles. Like, she kisses you on the nose, then runs in a circle, then kisses you on the nose again, then runs in a circle. BUT she will NOT let you touch her...it's super annoying...because I just want to pet her and love her but she won't let anyone except for Sister Barnes touch her. If you try, she will tell you off, man. Trust me. 

Last night Sister Barnes was holding her and she passed her to me and I touched her for the first time! She was shaking so bad! She hated it. But I'm like, come on, I just want to love you, Shoogs.

Let's see...what else this week...we ate some supes nast spaghetti last night for dinner. It was mushy leftovers that we found on the freezer (we ran out of food...) But then a member brought us some IN-N-OUT and it was the bomb. I've also grown quite fond of chocolate concretes from Culvers with reeses peanut butter cups and brownies mixed in. I WANT ONE RIGHT NOW.

Okay, I think this email sounds like we haven't done anything but eat and play with dogs this week. We've actually been working a lot the past few days, reorganizing our area, cleaning out the areabook, kind of starting from not-quite-scratch and working to build the area back up! We are super excited to be companions again. We have been making companionship goals and all that. I'm looking forward to this transfer!

Hermana Homer is awesome. She is a crack up. The other day we felt a little overwhelmed about all the organizing and I had her lay on the ground while I walked in circles around her doing a relaxation exercise I learned in my Psych 101 class. So I guess you could say that we're already comfortable around each other.

Well, everybody, I've been thinking a lot about the Plan of Salvation and Gospel of Jesus Christ this week. How much happiness it gives us! And how simple it is! I have thought about the sacrifice that Christ performed on our behalf. I thought about if I had been in His place. I thought of my sisters, my mom, my dad, even my friends, and I thought, if someone asked me to sacrifice myself for any of them, would I do it? I decided that the answer would be yes. But then I thought about...what about someone I'd never met? What about some random Joe on the side of the street, waiting for a bus? What about that lady driving that car in the next lane over? Would I do it for them? That answer was a little more difficult. 

Then I've thought...two things. 1) Christ's love is extended towards EVERYONE. We cannot comprehend it. And 2) He must know each of us--everyone who has or will ever live on the earth--as we know our mothers, fathers, siblings, friends. He knows each of us THAT well...and even better! How amazing is that? How does that change how you feel towards the people you don't know? Doesn't it make you want to know them? To discover what it is that makes them so special to our Savior? 

I do! I love that thought. 

Anyway, I hope everything is absolutely lovely on your end. Sorry that this email was a little improvised. I will try to send pictures if I can! But I LOVE YOU ALL TO DEATH. How's the Book of Mormon reading going?!?!

Loooooove, Hermana Thomas

Drowning in Grapes! Letter from August 11, 2014

This week was quite interesting. I only wrote in my journal twice, though...but I don't even blame myself at all. This week was crazy!

But first of all...how's everyone doing? I love you all.

Yep so back to me...

I don't even know how to start this email...I guess...I drowned in grapes this week. We are teaching this lady named Esperanza, she's this pretty ancient Mexican lady who seriously CRACKS ME UP. She is exactly what I would imagine an abuelita mexicana is. She's super sassy, and just says what she wants. She sits and talks, talks, talks about her medications and how all the doctors are stupid and how her sons are stupid and her husband is stupid...she can talk for hours and hours, I swear. And it's really hard to teach anything because she just rolls over you. But a TON of her family is LDS and she loves when we come over. I don't know...it's and interesting situation.

Anyway, the other night Hermana Johnson and I were wrapping up a lesson quick because we had a 25 minute bike ride back to our apartment to do exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. She was like, "do you want grapes?" and we were like, "no, thanks, we're okay," but she just stands up and starts washing grapes. (And Hermana Johnson and I were also completely stuffed from our last visit we'd had.) So she brings over two bowls and a huge thing of grapes and is like, "eat." So we each grab a few grapes and Esperanza just keeps talking about her kids, I'm literally inhaling these grapes because we have to go, and when we're both done we say, "oh, thank you so much, we have to go," and she's like, "do you want more grapes?" and we're like, "no thanks," and she's like, "did you like my grapes?" and we're like "yes they were really good" and she's like "THEN WHY WON'T YOU EAT MORE?!" so we just start shoving armfuls of grapes into our mouths and you don't even understand there were SO MANY GRAPES IN THAT BOWL. AND SOME OF THEM WERE MUSHY. Oh that just sicks me out. Mushy grapes. Anyway, we finally finished, and we stand up to go without even saying a prayer (I know, shame on us, but we were not going to escape) and finally started on our way home...15 minutes later.

Even so...Mexican grandmas are the best.

We also had a member from our ward randomly send us pictures of her baby Shi-tzu. Cute...but...what? Why? We still don't know.

Also...drum-roll, please................BRENDA GOT BAPTIZED!! Ya'll remember Brenda? Brenda and Gustavo? Well, Brenda was baptized and confirmed this weekend. It was so awesome! I seriously love her so much. Hermana Arellano and Hermana Raynor have been the ones teaching her these last two transfers, but I really felt like it was my baptism, too! I love her so bad. 

On that note...a miracle happened. We had sent out a text to our teaching pool reminding them to come to the baptism...turns out, no one got it...but Hermano Alex (you know, Alex is less active and his wife, Blanca, is an investigator) just happened to come to the chapel that day to play soccer with some other members. He saw the baptism and came inside to watch. He sat next to us, and he was really attentive. Then as a closing hymn we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever," and we could tell that he was a little emotional during the song. 

Afterward, he came up to me and Hermana Johnson and told us a lot of things that had been going through his head recently. He told us that he'd never wanted to be married or have kids...but that changed when he and Blanca had their first son. Now they have two boys, but they still aren't married...anyway, he was pretty tearful as he told us that he finally has realized that he has been holding Blanca back all these years, and that now he feels like he has to be the example for her and his kids by reactivating himself in the church, getting married, and helping her progress to baptism! And he said that he wants to get married soon...like...within two months or less!

Hermana Johnson and I were in shock shock SHOCK. We were so excited, we were kind of (I was kind of) jumping up and down...but he was really sweet about it, and he told us that millions of missionaries have come by their house, but that she and I were the first ones that seemed to have opened their hearts to the gospel. 

We have seen so many changes in them in the last few weeks...especially Hermano Alex. The first time he came to church, he was in a T-shirt and jeans. The next week, jeans and a polo. Next week, jeans and a button up shirt. Then with a tie. Then dress pants. For crying out loud, he gelled his hair this week!! WE LOVE THEM SO MUCH. They are just absolutely progressing. It is such a miracle. 

This last week I've begun to see even more profoundly why I was assigned to La Florida B last August with Hermana Pineda as my first area. Here I am, in Tempe Arizona, shaking the hand of some less active member from Honduras, and I think I played a role in changing his life. In building an eternal family. I'd brave Tuberculosis for that. Again.

THE CHURCH IS SO TRUE. IT IS SO TOTALLY TRUE. 

So..........now for the hard part.................

We are getting white-washed. :( 

Hermana Johnson and I are pretty down about it. They are taking us both out of our area and throwing two new missionaries in (we are guessing that they will be elders.) 

Do you know what is harder than white-washing in? White-washing out. Especially after a miracle like that with Alex and Blanca. They are going to be pretty sad. Ugh, it kind of stinks, I LOVE THIS AREA SO MUCH. This is the first time I've felt this strongly about an area before. I think it's because my greenie and I have super duper built it up from pretty much scratch, and we love our people SO MUCH. 

But...I have faith that President Toone is inspired of God, and that the best thing for our area will be done. Still. Bummer. 

That also means that Hermana Johnson and I are getting split up...SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO SAD. I love her SO BAD YOU DON'T EVEN KNOOOOOOOOOOOOW. I am so bummed. 

Oh, yeah, and.................................I got called as a Sister Training Leader?!?!?!?!? After all this craziness, that little fact definitely threw a wrench into the equation. 

I am super excited about this new calling (although I super wanted to train again...) This means I could be companions again with Sister Homer! That would be the bomb.com. But...we'll see!

Pray for our investigators please! Especially Blanca and Alex, so that they can continue to progress with new missionaries!

And just...pray in general!

I LOVE YOU SO BAD YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW.

Con Amooooooooor, Hermana Thomas