mis-sion-ary (noun)
someone who leaves their family for a short time so that others may be with their families for Eternity.

Monday, April 27, 2015

christ lives

Well, the mission office let me know they officially bought my plane ticket home... ahh. Seriously, I am learning to enjoy every minute because man does time go fast!! 

This week we met with quite a few investigadores tenemos: Rosalìa, Gloria, Mauricio y Sylvia, Julio, y Nice. They are all super bueno. My comp and I were studying in chapter 9 de PMG and if the people seriously have an interest you will know through how they listen. All of these investigadores we have are solid! They truly listen with their hearts. I know angels are preparing their hearts. Alma13:24. Julio is so awesome! He is 94 but accepted a fecha for the 16 of May! He is reading and praying, though it is a little hard because his wife is 97 and is sick.They both have a couple of years on their belts, but they prove it is never too late to come to Christ. They are truly so special. We are in a pretty religious area because it is very poor so people have a lot of faith in God. 

Miracle! Last week we found an inactiva se llama Aldey and she came to church yesterday!! We went outside and here she comes walking towards us with the biggest smile on her face. She is adorable, she is 27 and has been inactive for about 7 years. The last time we were with her she expressed her deep desire to have a baby and I have been praying for her future family and then she calls us to tell us she's pregnant! haha God is good :)
We went to a funeral at the church on Tuesday, it was for the son of the ex-bishop, he was 18 years old. It was really sad to see so many of the people there anguished because they do not have a knowledge of the gospel and eternal families. We were able to sing a lot of hymns and the hymn "I know that my Redeemer Lives" took on a whole new meaning for me. Because Christ overcame death, every single one of us will too. It is such a grand gift from god. Seriously, I cannot express the love I have for my Savior and my gratitude for all of the sacrifices He made for me. 

Oh Cole! We found some haitianos that we are teaching and they speak french... they spoke a little and I could pick up some of the words but, wow, the accent... eek! 

What are the evidences of 'your' Faith will you leave behind?

Christ lives. 
les quiero,
Hermana Thompson

Zone Leader Conference

Monday, April 20, 2015

Slow Down Time...

I wish I had the secret to slowing down time... every week goes by faster and faster. 
Happy Birthday to Jackie-boy this coming up week!! The Big 8

This week we were able to go to the temple again. I was sitting in the temple praying and kind of talking to God.. pretty normal stuff and bueno. I was looking for a confirmation and I just opened up doctrina y convenios and read section 6:22-23. He is so aware of every single one of us and every thought we have. It was really cool because I was in the celestial room and I seriously felt like God spoke to me (it was weird though cause it was in spanish) tu eres mi hija (you are my daughter). I know that we are all children of God. The hymn 'soy un hijo de dios' (I am a Child of God) has really taken on a different meeting for me. He IS my father and I know he loves me and he wants to bless me...he is beyond patient with me. He is perfect in every good attribute: kind, patient, loving, compassionate, funny. 

I can not express how much I love the mission :) 

The work is coming along. I am not going to lie it is not easy by any means, it is really hard. I have to push myself every single day to go farther than the day before.

This always happens with us, but last night all our our citas (appointments) fell thru so we went to contact a street and happened upon a family that has listened to missionaries before...AND they are married!!! That is really hard to find here in Chile. T They are really awesome :) 8:40pm miracles. They also have a son who is living in Santa Barbara right now.- 

I am doing really well, I love my sector, I love my companion, I love my calling. 

We have been finding some awesome prepared people! 
Just doing God's Will and following His plan, not ours

love from Chile
Hermana Thompson

Temple Trip & can you believe a Bag Store made us "bag" our bags?! haha

Monday, April 13, 2015

Prayer invites the Spirit

Happy Birthday Big Papa!! Your princess loves you :) 
Happy birthday to Jack Nielson! whoop...15!
Congratulations Ellé and Jordan on your twin boys, can't wait to meet them!!

Question: Do you want to be happy? Would you do anything to find that happiness? There is an easy solution actually, love and live the gospel principles. Always look at life with a positive view. When the world seems to be pushing against you, remember who is helping to pull you along... Christ and His angels.
Satan is always on the attack, even more so when we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. Hermana Farner and I are testigos (witnesses) of it this week. We went to the Temple on Tuesday morning (oh by the way new temple video is awesome!) We felt so uplifted and ready to take on the world. haha Seriously though, we received a lot of revelation and spent a good time reflecting. The rest of the week... one trial after another and we just could not seem to accomplish anything we did... ah. Then one night we kneeled down and asked God to have satan leave us alone, next morning everything seemed to have blown over. We were able to see that rainbow shining as it always does after a storm. We can resist Satan!
I know God is watching out for us, I know it because I have felt his power every single day. The key to His help is prayer, it seriously does wonders. I have really come to appreciate the sacred time I have to talk with God. As a missionary, I think I pray about 20 times a day and I value every single prayer. I love talking with God :) such an awesome gift. 

Charity... expect the best from everyone, but give them the benefit of the doubt.

Right now we are doing a lot of looking for 'news'  and we are still managing to find inactives. I think we are magnets to inactives haha. We did have a miracle yesterday though. We decided to knock a street and the first house we knocked, we found a lady crying se llama Viv... we were able to teach her the Restoration and help her find some peace through prayer...bringing it back to prayer;) 

I know that my Savior lives. I know that through Him I can receive grace to be better than I was yesterday. Through Him I can be healed, I can be cleansed, and I can change. 

D&C 132:24 to have eternal life, we need to know God and Christ...oooh! We have to study and pray to know them!

have a great week!
Hermana Thompson

I thought I would include her personal email to us this week...some really good insight!
Wow. It was a difficult week. seriously satan was attacking like no other. I have learned to be patient in my afflictions. It is so hard, but I have seen how the lord has been able to help me put a smile on my face and figure things out in my head. It's kind of freaking me out that this amazing adventure is coming to the last chapters. It is hard cause you are excited to finish the book but then it is over... with the mission, you can't go back and relive it. So, I have really developed the ability to enjoy every minute. The application to the atonement is prayer. I seriously love the atonement and being able to TALk to god. It's not just a voicemail, it is seriously a conversation. I am doing great, I love my mission. :) Still working hard to see fruits through baptism, assistance, and people going to the temple. We killed (dropped) many of our investigadores so we are looking... pray for us to help find the indicated people please. Dad I am in a ward, but it's not too small... the biggest attendance we have had since I have been here was 106. Thanks for all you do, I love you so much!!

Monday, April 6, 2015

He lives...we live

Let's just say conference is better than christmas! holy cow. I was wiped out after all of the spiritual inspiration I received. I loved loved loved the talk about Grace by Pres. Uchtdorf. my comp and I have been focusing a lot on the grace of christ, it just seemed that everything we have been focusing on and studying was talked about in conference, including the Fall. crazy Spirit. 

I had a lot of questions that God answered through his servants. As my time comes to a close on the mission I have been doing a lot of reflecting on what I have learned and how I have changed. This conference really helped me reflect and focus on the little things that continue to help in my conversion. We can never stop doing the little basics. Sometimes they may seem pointless but the basics are the links that hold our anchor secure in Christ. Without the chain, the anchor is not secured to anything. 

I loved all of the talks to be honest, but Holland's also really touched my heart. It seriously brought me to tears. I know Christ is our older brother, His hands are ready to catch us when we have no hope and feel we are going to fall. We cannot lose hope, we can not give up...Christ is here with us. When we stumble, we have to get back up, dust ourselves off, and try again. That is what "Grace" is, the opportunity to try again and again, no matter how many times we mess up. Christ already paid, He paid it ALL... for every single one of us. But it all starts with a desire to follow Christ and then builds on following the principles of the gospel. And then we need to truly understand the atonement so we may keep growing and progressing to become more like Christ. 

Our future is as bright as our faith! So, is your faith dim? If so... change it. Find the light in the distance and do everything in your power to move towards it even when you lose sight, keep moving in the right direction. 

I could talk for hours about what I learned and all the notes I took, but now that we have been spiritually uplifted and have received revelation for our lives are we going to go back doing the same things, expecting different results? No! It doesn't work that way. We have to develop a plan for how we are going to change, and what we are going to work on. I love this gospel because it always allows growth and accepts failure because at least if signifies that we are trying. Do not ever plateau, we are here on earth to progress and move forward. 

That is my advice :) haha Sorry, missionary mode always. I am still with Hermana Farner :) I think we are going to die together ojalá porfaaaa (I hope so...please). bueno the sector is going well, searching for a lot of new... trying to get the menos activos a permanecer (less actives to stay). Yo amo mi llamamiento, es lo mejor que hay de verdad. (I love my calling, it's the best there is...that is the truth) ahh :) 

I hope you all has the time to reflect on christ and to think of what it means to you that Christ LIVES. 

love from Chile
Hermana Thompson