Car Appreciation Day

President and Sister Badger 

Mission Group Arriving in Des Moines

Vacant Skate Park in Ottumwa

This week we had two of what is called a "car appreciation day", which is basically where we have to bail on our cars.

The first day we had a pretty bad attitude about it, and we walked like 12 miles to a lunch with a member at a place called "Pizza Ranch" so that was pretty cool. Also we were walking to the library and we passed this guy and waved, and then we crossed the street and my companion just stopped and said "We need to talk to that guy." So we did, and he had been taught a while ago and decided to drop them. But he had been trying to decide whether or not to contact us when Elder Wood felt like we should talk to him. So we have started teaching him, and he's actually been baptized but it was a long time ago and he doesn't remember much about it so we're teaching him again. He's a way smart guy, he lives in a tiny, furnitureless apartment attached to a tattoo parlor and his apartment has a yoga mat, a fridge, an electric guitar, and then basically nothing else but piles and piles of books about religion and philosophy. His name is J, and he's awesome.

The second day we found some really old bikes, and although I looked like Doc from back to the future on my bike, we had a really good day. We passed by some kids that laughed at us so we turned around and talked to them, and at the end of the day when a lot of our plans were falling through we passed by a recent convert from Africa and her little kindergartenish aged boy who was just about to start school. The mom asked us if we could give them blessings and that was an awesome experience. The dad of the family isn't a member, and I was able to give this shy little kid a blessing as he started school. That was a good reminder to me of what its all about.

Also we're teaching this family from El Salvador and they are awesome. Their son Steven has a whole bunch of hamsters, and he hadn't named them yet so we named the biggest one "Papa Madera" which meants "Papa Wood" after elder wood, and then there was a little white  one that got the name "Bebe Thomas" after me, baby Thomas. They're hilarious.

Also also we had the opportunity to see one of the Investigators that the Missionaries here have been teaching for a while get baptized. She's awesome, her mom left the church when she was young but she came seeking it out again, she's way cool

Elder Wood and I were talking to this Marshallese guy M and his girlfriend B yesterday about M's baptism date, and then suddenly the senior missionaries and this random guy came and invaded our lesson. We were pretty bummed because the senior missionaries kind of hijacked the lesson and started talking about super confusing stuff, but Elder Wood and I were able to help the marshallese people and the random guy who came in understand it. We learned that the guy, R, who came in with them is their distant cousin and an investigator, and one of my goals for this week was to invite someone to be baptized so I got the chance to invite B and R to be baptized and set a date for them both. The Lord gave us a situation that at first seemed unfair and frustrating, but it ended up helping 2 people turn their lives to their Heavenly Father. So I learned not to question why things happen to us. I've been thinking a lot about how I want my life to go recently, and I've been given a lot of experiences that have shown me not to question God's will. I was definitely questioning the point of walking around when we have a nice, functioning car, but if we had used the car we wouldn't have found James. And I was questioning what I was doing riding a women's bike from the 50's around when we weren't having any success, but if we hadn't we wouldn't have been able to give blessings to that Mom and her little boy. Our Heavenly Father's plan is a whole lot better than any of ours. I think that's something I've been learning over and over again.

I love you a lot

-- Elder Thomas

Baptism!