New Years

Hello everyone!

Recently, we've been hovering around a toasty -20 degrees. 

Also, i forgot to turn the light off in the car one night when we were recording miles, so we woke up the next morning to arctic cold and a dead car. I finally found this one guy with jumper cables, who also gave me some gloves to use. He was a really nice guy.

We had a really awesome zone conference yesterday. Our AP's were giving a training, and one of the AP's started to cry a little when he was telling us a story and I'm not sure why but it felt like i got struck by lighting and I felt my connection to god strengthen. Thats something I've really been searching for. That was really cool.

I love you all a lot.

Translation, Hu-Hot, and Catholics

This past sunday in the branch, elder rocha and I were assigned to translate for the family of the past branch president.They gave us little helicopter pilot headphone things and we handed out the headsets to the people in the congregation, it was the real deal. To make matters worse, this was testimony meeting so I was staring down the barrel of long personal stories with accents from like 6 different countries. I was not feeling confident. This was the second time i have ever translated so i was stressing a little bit, but elder Rocha went first and told me that if i didn't know what they were saying i could just make stuff up. As the first person got up to bear their testimony i heard elder rocha say things like "the gospel is the cheat codes to life" and "we all should be feeding the missionaries a lot more" or "people say my beard makes me look like an old testament prophet" and i felt a lot better about the situation. There was a little boy from the ward sitting there listening to us and he just said "you guys aren't good at this".  We topped off the meeting by translating the closing hymn in to english and we saw that the people with the headsets on were laughing pretty good. 

Also this week, I had the opportunity to go on exchanges With Elder McConnell. He's a really interesting cat and we decided we were going to treat ourselves for lunch so we went to hu hot. While we prayed over our food he said "please let someone prepared find us here in Hu-Hot" which i thought was kind of funny, but later on while we were standing in line waiting for our food to be cooked this teenage kid turned to us and asked us if we were on lunch or something (theres a grocery store here called Hy-Vee and the employees wear white shirts and black tags). We explained to him that we weren't grocery store workers, and what our purpose was as missionaries and he was really interested. Probably my favorite moment in the conversation was when the kid turned to Elder McConnell and asked if he liked anime. Elder McConnell loves anime. They really connected, and there's not a doubt in my mind that God placed that kid in our path. Prayer is pretty cool.

Later in the exchange, we went to teach some of our investigators, Luisa and Maribel. It was an awesome lesson and they told us that they were talking to each other about deaths in their families, and they were really sad. After the conversation, luisa flipped open her Libro de Mormon right to a chapter all about the plan of salvation. It was a miracle. They told us they knew the Book of Mormon was true, and we invited them to a date to be baptized. To our surprise, they explained to us that they were catholic and that is was going to stay that way. We tried our hardest  but they wouldn't budge. it really got me down, it happens a lot with hispanic people around here. these people had just rejected eternal joy and that really hurt me. Later in the week, elder rocha and i went to got teach a referral we had recieved from the english elders. She told us she was catholic right at the beginning, and i was really discouraged. But we taught her the restoration which she accepted, and invited her to be baptized. She said yes, and that really made me realize that people can change. It gave me hope to keep teaching these people and to believe that we are helping. 

The longer I serve in my mission the more I come to appreciate the help that God gives us. I always think of this one Marshallese guy who we taught in Ottumwa named Paulson who got married, gave up chewing tobacco, stopped using Beetlenut and got baptized. I saw God change Paulson and im excited to see that more in myself and in the people we teach. I know he can change all of us for the better if we let him.

I love you all a lot and hope you had a happy new year!

--Elder Thomas

Pictures: 

Me holding another nameless hamster

Iowa State Capitol

Elder McConnel Leading the Ninos

Return to Ottumwa

This week I had the opportunity to go back to Ottumwa to see one of the people i taugh there get baptized. Last transfer in Ottumwa was a pretty rough time and we didn't get to see many people progress, but Elder Matthews and I were able to find and teach a little Marshallese boy named Jessie, and he finally got baptized two days ago. It was really awesome to go back to Ottumwa, I felt like i was driving home. When we got there i got to talk to a lot of my old friends who lived there, and I got to call a lady named Stacie as well who was one of my best friends back when I served there. I look up to her a lot.

Also this week, we were able to go and teach a referral we got from the English elders called the Gonzalez family. We had heard good things about them and we finally got to sit down with all of them and teach a lesson. During the lesson we were surprised by how prepared they were to recieve the gospel. Its always good to find someone like that. It was really a testimony builder to me that God is working a few steps ahead of us as missionaries to prepare the people to listen. 

Tomorrow we get our transfer calls and we are getting nervous. My hint is "Otro Hispanico" and elder rocha's is "Manin". I have no idea whats going to happen.

I love you all and hope you have a great week

Walmart Miracle!

Hello everyone!

This week was a crazy one. We got the call that elder rocha and i are staying together for another transfer her in DM. pretty cool

Later that night I got super sick and threw up which was not super fun, so i missed going to IHOP and bowling with my zone and i was furious. the one P-day we weren't playing basketball i spent within 10 feet of a toilet. Also we eat hispanic food literally every night and thats what made me sick, ut i got to hangout with Elder sitterud that whole day, he was leaving the mission soon and he and i had some good conversations while i laid on a the couch haha. He was a good dude to me in a time of nastiness. What a guy. he's doing well back home watching star wars and skating for days haha

Also earlier today, i was leavving walmart and i was just about to throw away my receipt but i had a feeling that the door things were going to freak out at me so i kept it, and somehow as i was leaving the store the alarm went off on me so i had my reciept. that was a miracle.

I saw the lord help me a lot this week. It's been a relatively rough one but God gave me Elder Sitterud to chill with me when I was sick, lots of members give us fast food instead of hispanic food, and I didn't spent today in walmart prison so I'd call that a win. God always helps us

I have some hilarious videos of a little hispanic boy named Joseph laughing at elder sitterud and his brother named Juan after they got their faced slammed into some hispanic cake, so give those videos a watch haha

 

I love you all a lot. ​

Bowling and the Book of Mormon

If you read my email last week, you know that i missed bowling last week and you will also know that i was enraged. But this last P-day I was talking to some other missionaries who also hated basketball, and one of them decided we were going bowling so i finally got to go. 

The bowling alley smelled a little bit  like crushed up cigarettes and axe body spray, but it was a great time. While we were there a high school bowling league showed up and i got an inside look at the world of competitive bowling. What a time to be alive.

The other day we were walking down the road and I saw this older guy out on his porch smoking, and I felt like we should go talk to him. As we walked up to him and started talking to him we quickly realized that he was another crazy old guy from Iowa who wasn't interested. But for whatever reason he insisted we go next door to talk to this other lady, so we did. She was interested, and I felt really good about talking to that crazy guy.

Yesterday I woke up and I was in this weird funk and I just wanted to go skate really bad and I couldn't really focus on anything. When I started personal study I started to read Alma 3 and the heading says: "Shiblon was persecuted for righteousness’ sake—Salvation is in Christ, who is the life and the light of the world—Bridle all your passions."

After I read that I felt like a real dweeb. I had been caught up in myself and my passion and I hadn't been focused on the work. So I kept reading after being rebuked and in verse 2 it says: 

"And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end."

And then I felt a lot of hope. There was a time When I was talking with my mission president about how I didn't feel successful and he just told me that i wasn't called to be successful, I was called to be faithful. And all I can really do is be faithful in the work and trust God. 

 

I know that God is playing an active role in my life and that the Book of Mormon is in our lives to help us find motivation and guidance. I know God loves you all as well and so do I.

I hope you all have a great week!

Pictures:

Elder Rocha's Mixtape cover

An investigator's daughter with incredible balance

A creepy hispanic candle

Bobby Washington and Spiritual Promptings

Hello Everyone!

In our mission right now our Mission President has asked us to spend a little time during the week to "be found", which basically consists of saying a prayer to have people be led to us and then walk around in walmart or somewhere and eventually someone will talk to us. So this week, we were with the other spanish elders and we had some time and decided to go to walmart. We said a prayer, walked in, and Elder Christensen and I ran into some guys watching tv on the Curved 4 K Whatever TV's that were on display. Then they started talking to us, which was way cool. They introduced themselves as Bobby Washington and Johnny James. When Johnny James, from his electric shopping cart/wheelchair, said his name Bobby commented: "Jesse James' Black nephew" These guys were hilarious. 

They asked us all about missionary work and about the church. Eventually we asked if missionaries could come see them and asked for their address. We asked how they met and Johnny James responded: "Selling dope, stealing stuff". Which we thought was a pretty solid answer. We chatted a little bit more and then Elder Christensen asked "So when would be a good time to come by?" To which Bobby said "Man you're persistent! You Baby Joseph Smith!" And Johnny added "Yeah! You BJS!"

Then Johnny James said he was going to be putting "BJS" on a T shirt.

After a lot of other quotes, we had to leave so we said our good byes and they said "If you all ever get into trouble in the hood just give us a call, along with a height, weight, general description, and then turn around when you see us coming." 

I will undoubtedly be having lunch with these guys in the next life.

But on a more spiritual note, recently I've been really trying to act on my first promptings. One day we were out knocking in the hood, and we finished up with all the hispanic houses on this street. The whole time we were knocking I saw this one old guy sitting on his porch smoking. I felt like I had to go talk to him, but he wasn't hispanic, and My companion doesn't really like talking to people who aren't going to be our investigators. But I kept feeling like he needed me, so I told my comp we were going to go talk to him. So we walked up to him and did the whole "have you ever talked to missionaries?" Shpeel and he kind of shrugged that off and asked us what we thought of Donald Trump. I felt so cheated, like I had followed a prompting only to hear some guy talk about donald trump. After he was done we talked to him about the restoration and he told us that he wasn't interested, basically. But he insisted we go next door and talk to his neighbor. So we did, and she was super interested. That was a cool moment. At first I doubted but that lady needed what we had to share. I think I talked about this last week in my email but i thought I should give some more details.

Also, another spiritual experience similar to that happened during church. I was sitting with some members and The meeting started. I was looking around and I saw this one member, a little kid named kevin, crying and sitting alone on his pew. I felt like I should go sit by him, but that would mean I would have to stand up and squeeze by some members to get to him. So i shrugged it off but the feeling kept coming. So I swallowed my pride, stood up while they were talking about some branch business, and worked my way over to kevin. I sat next to him and he stopped crying. It was something little but I felt the spirit really quite strongly when Little 9 year old Kevin Sang the hymns with me. That was cool. After the meeting, His parents invited us over to have some of the popeyes the bought the day before. At dinner his mom thanked me for sitting by him, and I felt super good about it.

I love you all a ton! I hope you have a good week

Hibachi Grill, The Most Interesting Man in the World and Elders Quorum

Hello everyone! I didn't have the most exciting week but I have a few stories worth sharing.

   We have an investigator named Fernando, and he is a super interesting guy. After our last lesson with him, he told us he wanted to take us out to lunch or make us food. Fernando is a great guy, but he kind of gives me the heebie jeebies. So in order to avoid getting poisoned or end up in a hospital somehow, we suggested that we go to subway, which he immediately shut down and demanded that we go to a "boofet de china" called hibachi. I felt a little bit like I was walking into an ambush but we agreed. We ended up having  a  nice lunch, and a great lesson about the word of wisdom after he ordered a tea and asked us about if we can drink it.

In other news, this week I went on exchanges with our zone leaders and had a swell time. We met this one guy on our last door of the night who looked a little too hip to be living in the crummiest part of Des Moines. He invited us in, and told us about a 51 country tour he had just returned from. He had worked in a vineyard and lived on a beach in New Zealand, he had taught english In Saigon and traveled the world on a motorcycle. He had visited That building carved into the wall from Indiana Jones III and sailed through the Caribbean. This guy should be the Dos Equis most interesting man in the world. We asked him about if he was religious and he told us about how he had gone all over the US on a motorcycle talking to spiritual leaders to try and find  the answers. He was a self proclaimed agnostic, and talked about how he had spent some time in Salt lake City talking to missionaries. He had read the Book of Mormon, but he just never got the personal witness he wanted so he moved on. We know that if he had been really intent on getting an answer, he would have. It was sad to see that this guy had spent so much time running around looking for something, but he had rejected it as soon as he found it. He told us he wasn't really interested and gave us the directions to some incredible taco trucks.

Elders Quorum here is crazy. We have some pretty funny old guys here who basically just yell at eachother in spanish the whole time. Yesterday Hermano Crespo, a veteran from the El Salvadorean Civil War was shouting doing another guy telling him how much he loved him, it is a good time.

I love you all a lot, have a good week!