Feliz Navidad....still. October 27, 2014

WE FOUND A CHRISTMAS TREE IN OUR HOUSE WITH LIGHTS! 

Also, right next to it is a very creepy crab-lobster plush thing that sings to you and I am actually sincerely creeped out by it. Also, Elder Olson walked by just now and told me to tell all of you "hi." So, hi.

First of all, we got the most amazing apps on our iPads this week for Spanish study...we got "duolingo" approved, and also an app called "Quizlet". Duolingo is great and all, but, I, uh, am a little too advanced for that. (Cocky nod.) But sometimes I still play because I like the little successful "ding" it makes when you get something right. #energyboost #confidenceboost #selfesteemrocks

Anyway, that's like the biggest thing that happened this week.

In other news, we were sitting in Greenie meeting this week and suddenly there's a ruckus on the other side of the room with three elders, they're desperately trying to catch/flee from something, and lo and behold, it's a SCORPIAN. I mean a SCORPION. (Stupid spelling.) And this little guy is mad! So Hermana Mello and I get abandoned by our Zone Leaders/fellow trainers/trainees (all elders) because they are trying to coax this little demon into a glass cup, I'm like, yep, I'm out, so I just get up and leave, there are some elders studying in the gym and I'm like, "ya'll are missing Animal Planet in there," so they book it inside, and before you know it, there's like eight elders and a few sisters huddled around this scorpion in a cup, and two of the elders went and found two rolly-polly bugs and stuck them in there, apparently this scorpion was just going wild, and I'm like, WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS MADNESS?????!?!?!?! 

We also carved a pumpkin this week as a district activity. 

OH WAIT, OH WAIT. Let's talk about this. Is it just me, or do people in Phoenix start decorating for Halloween WAY TOO EARLY/TOO MUCH. For real?? People are buggin because I start Christmas a few weeks early, but they've got their plastic dead bodies and YES THEIR CREEPY SINGING GHOSTS out on like September 30th?! Not cool, Phoenix! It's Christmas!!! I don't need that bloody skull in my face. I just don't think that Halloween is my holiday. Or, really, I don't think that any holiday where talking/singing inanimate objects are the norm. (Besides Christmas...dancing Santas are cool I guess.)

Oh, going back to insects, we had to let off a roach bomb in our house on Wednesday. Those little critters are toast. Ooh, cockroaches are so fast! It's unbelievable! And they hide! It's the creepiest game of peek-a-boo ever. 

Also, as my mother was already informed, I did something unbelievable this week...I TRIED TO GET A FLUSHOT OF MY OWN FREE WILL. It's optional, but I figure that I won't be in AZ for the entire winter so I should probably cover my bases. I even picked out a reward of what I was going to buy after I did it, I chose this really cute nail polish, but then it didn't work out. But I just thought you should all know that I TRIED. We'll see if I can muster up the courage again. I was almost in tears still. 

PHOENIX TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE!! We went on Saturday! We invited a less active and her nonmember family. The husband has been pretty against her going through the temple, and we hoped that this would soften his heart. TEMPLES ARE BEAUTIFUL. You all need to look up pictures of the Phoenix Temple. The baptismal font was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. And the spirit was tangible. Afterwards, her family had a lot of questions, and finally her husband said, "if my wife is a member, why can't she go through the temple?" We were like, "she can!!" and he was like "she can??" and we were like "YES!!!" 

BOOM. Heart changed. It was awesome. 

ROSALIA WAS BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY, TOO!!! I couldn't go, because we had made plans to go to the temple. But, I am certain that it was a beautiful experience. I am so happy and humbled to have been a part of helping her find the gospel. I just love her so much. 

Gerardo, once again, was not baptized. We decided that we want him to have a little more time, so his date is now the 8th of November. (NOVEMBER, GUYS. NOVEMBER IS THIS WEEK.) Anyway, I feel REALLY GOOD about the 8th for him!! I know that he can be ready by then!! We have to work on helping his 9 year old daughter to want to go to church on Sunday, though. She stays with him every weekend and she really doesn't want to go to church, which...presents a bit of a problem. But it will all work out! Pray for him. :)

This morning, I did a lot of reflecting during my personal study. And I had so many thoughts running through my mind. It's hard to explain them all. But I was thinking about the beginning of my mission. Before I even left, I thought that a mission was going to be something for me. Something to make me grow. Then when I left, I was like, no, no, no, this is about me helping OTHER PEOPLE. Well, flash forward a few months, and I realized, NO, no, no, this is not about ME helping other people, this is about GOD helping ME. HEALING me. I am here to learn and grow and become humbled to dust. 

Well, now I'm like HOLD UP. NO. NO. NO. No. The mission is not about me. It is not about me helping others. It is not even about God helping me. My whole life has just been me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, etc. But the mission...is about something BIGGER. Something GLOBAL. Something ETERNAL. And it's NOT ME. At all. I get some benefits, sure, but IT'S NOT ME. I feel like my mission has in a way mirrored my life up until this point, but now I feel like everything is getting super-charged for the moment when I walk off the plane and I become McKenna Thomas again. WHO IS THAT? WHO WILL THAT PERSON BE? WHO WILL THAT PERSON INFLUENCE? WHAT GOOD WILL BE DONE? It's not just who I am. It's what happens afterwards. In the world. In a home. In the life to come. IT'S NOT ABOUT ME. Or you. Or anyone. Ever. There is something big, people. Way bigger than what I think most of us imagine. Think about that.

I hope that what I just said made sense. I KNOW THAT THE GOSPEL IS TRUE. This is not my mission, it is His.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. PLEASE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS TODAY.

Love, Hermana Thomas

And...still Christmas-ing!

FELIZ NAVIDAD OR ELSE. Yes, Christmas is a-ringin' loud and proud down here in the oven of Arizona! Sometimes when I am sweating to death I pretend that I'm just soaked with melted snowflakes.  I AM CRAVING A WINTER. And I will probably take that back after about ten minutes in Utah but HOLY COW. I don't think you all understand. I haven't seen a cold day for LIKE TWENTY MONTHS. I mean, I guess that it was a little cold in my first two weeks in Chile, but that's due to the absolutely nonexistence of indoor heating. It was probably in the high seventies, low eighties during the day.  For those of you just tuning into my life, I am pretty much world-renown for turning the fireplace on in July and sitting two inches from it to warm my fingers and toes and whole body in general. I am 138% positive that I have a higher body temperature than the average human being...okay, well, I don't really get "science" but wouldn't that make sense?? Wouldn't that explain why I am always colder than everyone else?  DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON WEEKLY PLANNING HERE. In this mission we all come together every Friday as a zone and do our weekly planning in the cultural hall of a chapel (as companionships, obviously.) I AM ALWAYS FREEZING. I have brought a jacket to this meeting for the last few months because I seriously just sit and freeze. For three hours.  So, just to clarify, just because I am craving a winter...probably doesn't mean that I won't have the fireplace on in July. Now that I've gotten your attention with that super interesting story...let's get on with this letter! First, I have to say...Georgette did not end up being baptized this week. :( Super sad. Again. I guess that she's been out of town/super hard to get a hold of. I KNOW THAT SHE WILL FIGURE IT OUT SOME DAY. It makes me so totally sad. :( BUT I HAVE OTHER NEWS THAT IS SUPER GREAT! ROSALIA IS GETTING BAPTIZED!! Do you remember my Mexican grandma who read and loved the Book of Mormon? She is on date for this week! Hopefully it will happen, though. She's not sure that she can get work off, but I saw Sister Homer last night and she told me all about it, I'm going to try to get permission to go! Also, in case you are wondering, Gerardo was not baptized this weekend, either, but it's okay! He is on date for this coming weekend. There were a couple things that he still needed to learn and apply, and we want him to be totally prepared to be baptized so that he can have the best experience possible! So we moved it. But he's doing awesome! My companion is so sweet. We've had quite a few funny moments this week...oh, a classic Hermana Mello quote: "I really want to marry a guy from Scotland. I am confident that we would never have any communication problems. I would just sit and listen to him talk all day and be happy about it." She is so funny...and also TOTALLY from New England. (OH WAIT. SIDE-NOTE. Everyone, answer me this: is New York considered part of New England? Very important that you tell me soon.) She uses these big words and formal phrasing, and when she talks I seriously feel this empty omniscient echo in the back of me that feels so familiar and nostalgic of living in Connecticut! I have remembered so much vocabulary being her companion. And sometimes I use big words again. It's for fun. LIKE FLABBERGASTED. #favoritewordsince2ndgrade Also, I was trying to open a jar the other day but couldn't. So I asked her to help. She was struggling, too, but then she went across the kitchen to grab a rag to help her open it...then she turns around and runs at the jar from across the kitchen, practically leaps on top of it, and tries to rip it open! I was laughing so hard, it was the most unexpected attack I have ever seen. She was like, "I don't know why I went at it with a running start, I usually think that it gives me more force or something, but I forgot that doesn't usually work when you're opening a jar." Another great quote from the week: "In my mind, Nephi looks exactly like Kronk." --Elder Whitted, District Leader Hermana Mello and I had a good week! We got super blessed. We had more member-presents than we ever have had before, so that was a big improvement! We also found a lot of new investigators, which was so fun! But we did run into this guy and his wife who have listened to missionaries before, but they've got some giant beef about tithing and bishops. He was absolutely one hundred percent convinced that bishops make their living by taking people's tithing. We tried to explain why we pay tithing and that it's only used to build temples, chapels, serve members of the church, serve the world, print books, build the Kingdom of God on the earth, but he wasn't really having it. Then he went on to say that he went to a Mormon church once, asked for food and a job and didn't get it. So later he went to a random other christian church and they gave him everything he asked for. And he said that that's why he goes there. Not for Jesus. For the free stuff. 1) Sorry that you had that experience with the Mormon church, I'm sure they would have loved to help you, but we also know that God intends for his children to learn to work for and support themselves so that they can learn new skills and become independent and industrious. 2) Didn't you just accuse and condemn bishops of supposedly committing the sin of "free-loading"? 3) Go to church for Jesus, please. He also firmly believes that people cannot repent. He claims that church is where murderers and evil people go to pretend like they are good, but that Jesus rejects them and is therefore disgusted with churches in general. WELL, I have never heard something so untrue in my entire life. EVERYONE. JESUS LOVES ALL OF US. HE DOESN'T CARE WHAT YOU'VE DONE. THAT DOESN'T CHANGE HIS LOVE FOR YOU. And He welcomes us with open arms when we humble ourselves enough to come unto Him for help. THAT IS WHY HE CAME TO EARTH IN THE FIRST PLACE! :) So that we can change! So that, no matter what we've done, we can ALWAYS COME BACK!  I am so grateful that I know that.  I don't mean to talk badly about that man and his wife. It just really made me sad for them. And sad for anyone who believes the same. GOD LOVES YOU!! :) Last night I got to sing one more time in that double quartet at the Mission President's Fireside. Brother Barney, part of the mission presidency here in Tempe, gave a beautiful talk afterwards. He told this story: There was a family who had a severely handicapped 12-year-old daughter. The parents wanted her to be baptized, but the bishop did not believe that it was a necessary course of action. Not only was he unsure that she needed it, but he wasn't convinced that she could understand enough of the gospel to know the significance of the baptismal covenant. Regardless, he decided that he would have at least an interview with her to determine what they would do.  Just as he had predicted, she didn't recognize most of the vocabulary of the discussion, such as "repentance" or "immersion," "priesthood" or "prophet." Feeling justified, the bishop was about to close the case and decide that the little girl would not need to be baptized. However, the painting behind her caught his eye. It depicted the Savior in Gethsemane. He felt prompted to ask the little girl if she even knew who that was.  After he had asked the question, the girl stood herself up, approached his desk, leaned herself by her elbows onto the table and said firmly, "that's Jesus. And He loves me!" Then, waving her hand around in a circle above her head, she added, "He loves ALL of us!" The bishop was overwhelmed by the enormous spirit he felt in the room, and was both humbled and grateful that she had drawn the circle big enough to include him, as well. I LOVE THAT STORY! GOD LOVES YOU. HE LOVES ME. HE LOVES ALL OF US. Never forget that! READ YOUR SCRIPTURES, ERIN AND IRELAND. AND PRAY. AND GO TO CHURCH. DON'T SKIP IT. EVER. Love, Hermana Thomas