Amazing Zone Conference

Hello Everyone! Yesterday we had an amazing zone conference! The spirit was extremely strong! It was great. President Kendrick talked about the culture of the California Carlsbad mission and he gave 8 things that define who we are and what are vision should be. It was amazing and probably mission changing (meaning the california carlsbad mission). It definatley will take the mission to a new level. So that we do more, and become more. It has been amazing to watch how he has changed things and taken the mission to a new level. He and Sister Kendrick really focus on forgetting about leadership and really loving each missionary individually and helping us to truly BECOME like the savior rather than just do missionary things. If you all could just see this mission. They really do love each missionary. Something President Kendirck said at the Zone Conference ( The #2 culture of the califronia calrsbad mission) was That "we are more than just exactly obedient, we are more than just dilligent, we are consecrated missionaries) Alot of the focus has just been on obedience, then the last few months implementing dilligence, and now he has taken it to a new level. I understand i am not even close to consecrated but it is cool to see that he has totally raised the expectaitions. More than just obedient, you cant just be obedient and dilligent, it is required that you give your all, not because of self discipline but because of a desire to help those in need and to follow our savior. That is the difference between dilligence and consecration, doing it not because of self discipline, although that is important, but because of desire. He also qouted alma for this example"O that I were an angel,...and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the atrump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!that they should repent and acome unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth." He also talked alot about our purpose as missionaries. Our purpose is to Find, Teach, and Baptize. Everything we do should be to that extent. He said missionaries who come on there mission to personally "grow" find that they do not grow at all and in the process find little whom to share the gospel with. However, missionaries who go on a mission to Find, Teach, baptize both find, teach, and baptize and in the process "find themselves" he quoted the scripture "whosoever shall find his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it" When we go to help other people ( that being our sole purpose) we in the process of time without realizing it, find ourselves. ( I am still working on everything- because i definatelty need to:) It is important that we be before we do though so that we have the correct motives for our actions. He also mentioned how we understand that converison comees only as investigators excerisce there faith. As they simply Pray, read, and go to church they will become converted. He qouted Elder Bednar who said that acting in faith breaks down barriers that block the spirit. Sister Kendrick also gave a training/talk on attitude. It was a great talk. we also recieved a training on Christlike atttributes. The entire trainings, besides a few, were focused on becoming so we can help our investigators do the same. We talk to everyone, share the light and do all we can. It was a pretty amazing day. It is extremely important that we give our ALL. that is the requirement and nothing else. Although we are not perfect myself especially we should strive. Also at the Zone Conference was Elder Bowman! Haha my last companion, he got transferred in from Carlsbad the night before unexpectdly with his same compmanion from Carlsbad so that was good. WE also are still teaching two girls form Arkansas tommorrow. They are AWESOME They also came to church last week again and loved it. We are also teaching a man named Robert who LOVED hearing about the Plan of Salvation at church. Last night we were able to give a blessing to two of our investigators who are struggling. As we gave the blessing I felt a little bit of how much heavenly Father truly loved this person as his son. These two, and all are sons and daughters of God. I could tell he was, in a loving way, very glad for the changes they had already made. I repented for judging them- they can make it. Anyways it was a GREAT week all around. Very grateful to be serving in such a great mission with such great people here. I am definatley not perfect and am continuing to work on improving. Love, Elder Thompson Haha i have seen some of that soup somewhere hahanice@! Elder Bowman, Elder Rupper, elder Thmopson, elder Bringhurst

Murrieta

Great week!! Sooo many miracles! We are teaching a girl from Arkansas (Pine bluff) who is a friend and nieghbor of one of our members and she and her daughter are good friends with alot of people in the ward. They both came to church yesterday!! Because there niegbor invited them because he was speaking and he gave a GREAT talk! He talked about "who we really are" sons and daughtersa of God. He shared the ugly duckling story in his talk and answered the three questions : Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? He did such a great job at explaining it and speaking from the heart, you could tell he had prepared and was sincere, the spirit was definatley there. He is a very awesome man. But they liked church. Right when they got there we went and sat them down and suddenly she saw her friend who is also LDS and her friend took her under her wing and everything else, took her to all of the classes, showed her around and everything else. We didnt even have to do anything! She sat by her, explained everything- it was great! Then her daughter also had a friend there and her mom came in the second hour to see if she would like to leave and her daughter said she didnt even want to! The ward did such a great job. We talked about it alot in Ward Council about how we would help them feel welcome and how we would get her daughter integrated. I should rephrase that though, it was more like they talked about it during ward council. The Bishop did sucha great joba t encouraging coniciling anad because of that each auxillary was coming up with ideas on there own. Our ward mission Leader is so good he barely said anything. We saw the importance of counseling yesterday in Ward Council. I think alot of Ward Councils know what to do but not how to do it. Similarly members know they should share to Gospel but they simply dont know how to do that. You can do it online, in a conversation, over dinnner, at an activity. Anyways, lots of miracles it has been a good week! It is amazing to see heavnenly Fathers hand in all of it. He puts you and someone else with you right where he needs you and when he needs you there. It is great. Last week we went to a Less Actives to Home teach with a recent convert in the ward named Bro. gilman. Anyways the guy we were hometeaching ended up almost having a heart attack right there in the middle of the blessing. Coincidence that Bro gilman, an EMT was assigned as his home teacher? Or that he just happened to be there at the moment that it happened doing his duty by home teaching? Or that there was just enough of us there to give him a priesthood blessing? I think not. Heavenly Father does ALL of this work. We also had a zone training meeting this week on prayer and scripture study. Yesterday while we were at a members house eating we shared 3 Nephi 27: 1-2 about the blessings of being unified in prayer and fasting ( the disciples came together inprayer and fasting and as a result Jesus Christ came to them and asked "what will you that i shall give unto you?") . We went on to share Joseph Smiths 1st vision. As we were wrapping up there son pointed out that Jesus Christ immediatlye asked what he should do to help. It remeinded him of the scripture in Docterine and Covenants "I the Lord am bound when ye do what i say, but when ye do not what i say, ye have no promise" Because the disciples were unified in doing what heavenly Father had asked Jesus Christ had to appear to them and help them. he had to do it because they did what he asked. Now i am definately not perfect, nor will i be anything close to it in the furture haha but it is a cool promise. They were obedient, so Jesus Christ helped them out as always. Anyways that was his inspiration i just thought i would share a little of that with you. Have a good week! Elder Thompson

Christmas Call

mom,

  They said we could send a quick email about skype but that is it. Umm.. My commpanion is skyping at 1. And i think between 12 and 3 is the times. So we can skype at 2:00or 2:15 if that works for you all. I will haave about 45 minutes. I can call you before i just dont know your number haha but if we are able I will still try to tell someone to email you by tonight to let you know and hook it all up cause i have no clue but i can just call you before to hook it up. But i will porabably just tell someone to email youcause i have no clue what i am doing . And i think we are doing google talk right? ok thanks!

Love,

Elder Thompson

Merry Christmas!

 

-Wishing you a very merry christmas during this wonderful christmas season. Happy Holidays.

Transfers!

or Christmas week we will have a 2 hour p-day on Monday (10-12) which hopefully will give you enough time to do your shopping and wash, but no letters. Then on Christmas Day you can take it as a full P-day (10-5) and call/skype your family. Please let you family know this p-day not to expect a letter on next monday. We will talk about some other guidelines for Christmas day on Tuesday. Dont worry, i will get whoever we are skyping with to call you :) Great to hear! I am getting transferred, it has been some good times in Carlsbad 1st ward. Definately one of the best wards i have been in . They are on fire for missionary work. Great ward leadership and the ward just is all about love. Good times, and so many friends here haha what can i say. And the Bishops family are really funny. But good times, the last few months we have been working with this awesome soon to be service missionary and he is great. He does whatever we need whenever we need. He gives us rides anywhere and everywhere and he helps bring the spirit in very strong in our lesson and helps fellowship our investigators like crazy. He is very relatable and teaches simply in a understanding and conversational way and is still a member so it comes from someone else also when we talk about commitments and other things. He really helps out with whatever we need and is just awesome. very loving hard working man. Ohh and hilarious too haha. It's interesting when you look back, i tried to help the missionaries a ton back home, but nothing like this he is ALWAYS with us more than a few hours each day. Always talking it up. Heck of a guy. Soo many members and others that i could talk about, just so many good times. Last Saturday night they had the ward christmas party, and you could feel the love of them and Jesus Christ. There were a few nonmembers there and they played a powerful slideshow of pictures of christ with apostles and prophets in the background. Holy Moly. I am grateful i have been able to serve with such AWESOME people. It's been almost 6 months so... haha the rest is history. Also, mom our P-day will pretty much be on Christmas Day, so i will be just skyping you then, no emails on Monday. I will give your email adress to whoever it is that we are skyping at and they will email you. Also, i am sure the package will be there, if not that is A-OK. But it has been a blast to serve here in C-BAD california. right now i think the Temperature is about 70 degrees with the beach 1/2 a mile a way :) It has been a great week though! We were able to see a lot of miracles. And will proably see some more. Elder Bowman is great, he has really enabled me to serve with all of my heart might mind and strength. Had asome good times haha and some hilarious times. Heavenly Father is great. Merry Christmas!! Elder Thompson

Amazing week

Mom, its all good! Those are alot of letters thank you! I read three of them but havent read the Dear. Elder one, but i will read that one after i write this letter. I hope you get better! And no, i do not know about where I will be. But hopefully here in Carlsbad, because we are having some AMAZING experiences, ad such a great hilarious fun time. I will send you some pics later hopefully. We have a Zone activity that starts in half an hour so we dont have too much time. But seriously god times. I hope you get better! Thanksgiving should be fun! Best time to find people at home. So if someone knocks on your door during thanksgiving..open it and let them in. Haha just kidding. But really, also, dont forget to eat some pomegranets. Holy cow, amazing week. Really. IT was amazing. Soo many BIG miracles. First of all, last night we stopped by a member referral and it was a family of five we had met earlier but had not taught. They were very nice and how we had met them was a member invited them over to a soup and donuts outside dinner on halloween nigtht. So last night our appt fell through so we were in the area and we knock on there door and they let us in. It was an AMAZING experience. They were super receptive.They have had some amazing experiences that have helped them turn to god. we asked them if they had ever wondered why they were here and they said YES. And also there 15 year old son had sincerley recently been searching on the internet to find out what happens after this life. Then of course we shared the restoration and there daughter who is extremely smart said she knew docterine was changed after christs death. The spirit was there from the moment we asked if we could share a ten minute message with them. We ended up staying almost an hour. They are a great family. When Elder Bowman shared the first vision the spirit was SOO stong. like very very strong and they all felt it and said they felt it and they all said they would read and pray from the Book of Mormon and ask if it is true. It was an amazing experience. We both walked out of the house just mesmorized. Hopefully something will come of it, if not, later down the road something will come of it to the kids at the very least. We are going back on Wednesday and Friday to teach them again. And they gave us a ton of food on our way out they were very nice.If I were to say I or my companion had absolutely anything to do with that HUGE miracle that would be a lie. Literally we walked out and that was one of the first things that came to my mind. When people are truly prepared, Heavenly Father is the one that does this work. and he does all of it. We also had a lesson with our neighbor in our apartment complex. Holy cow the spirit was very strong there. There was a Columbian missionary there with us and he bore his testimony after the first vision and we couldnt harldy understand what he was saying but the spirit just came into the room and was soo strong and our nieghbor was glued. She said the closing prayer copying the words of the other missionary that was with us and as she did she started crying and was asked "am i supposed to feel like this?" "I get all emotional that is why i dont go to churchs and things" "what is this?" The spirit was very very strong and so recognizabvle and undeniable. It was there and we all felt it. She is reading and praying from the book of Mormon also. We also recieved a training from Elder PAcker of the seventy to pilot a new family history program for the Church called "My Family." As soon as Elder PAcker entered the room the spirit just swooped in and I felt it and felt that he was someone called by God. His trainings were very powerful also. Great week too many experiences to write. Gots to go have a good week! Share the gospel its the best! -Elder Thompson Just share the second story thanks mom and thanks for all the emails! Hope you get better! happy turkewy day! Love, Elder Thompson

Best day of mission so far! Carlsbad, California

Mom,
GREAT Wonderful week! Haha we had some good time. But seriously, this last Thursday was probably one of the BEST days of my mission. It was pretty awesome, i didnt even know what to do! 1st that day at 1oclock we stopped by one of our potentials and BAM we were able to teach her the restoration and she accepted baptism. 2nds just 2 hours later we went to stop by one of our investigators Gus just as a pop in because we werent sure if we were going to be able to teach him or not. But he wasnt there//but his 13yr old brother was so we taught him for the first time and same things. Very very powerful 10 minute lesson afterwich we ivited him to be baptized on the 21st and he accepted. AMAZING! and now we have a family inviting them over this week. 3rd. Right after Gus (seconds later literally) we were pondering wether we should say a quick prayer and thank Heavenly Father or wether we should contact this guy walking towards us. Well we contacted him and he rejected us haha good stuff. Then he turned around two seconds later and said "sorry guys, i'll hear your message" So Bam. On the sidewalk. While teaching him he said he just felt something tell him to listen to us. 4th Our investigator Cole came to mutual and we have an awesome family in the ward that was ON TOP of getting him there and getting everything worked out and he loved the activity. 5th. We were walking out of an active member lesson that the stake is having us give and we contact this family from tawaiin. Two kids specifically, they say we can come back. But we ended up getting some chairs and teaching them right there as directed by the spirit. They understood slightly what we were saying until the 1st vision which they didnt understand however they felt the spirit when my companion shared it and so we invited them as directed to be baptized and BAM. the rest is history.. Also, a month and half ago a member ordered a chinese Book of Mormon. that came in only two days before we met these chinese kids. and they have a chinese member that lives just around the corner. CRAZY miracles All in the same general area!!! The Zone is on fire right now! We arent sure what is going on! It is crazy! Heavenly Father is pouring out blessings we dont even know what to do! just work work work. This isnt me boasting, just sharing the blessings from Heavenly Father, he is the one who does all this WORK. Also, Allan Packer is coming on Wednesday for a meeting! and we got into Ward Council! Great week!
Please dont share that with anyone. If you could just say that we had a wonderful week, our ward council is great and heavenly Father poured out lots of blessings thanks mom! Love your son, Elder Thompson

Powerful Zone Meeting in Carlsbad, California

To Mom:

 Wow! Cool! Its ok sounds like you have been busy! That is awesome we have people moving to Arkansas haha and great about your awesome missionary work.

It has been a great week here in Carlsbad! Too many miracles to count again. I wouldnt know where to start. We are teaching a family of four and we have an awesome return missionary named ryan that drives us everywhere we need to go. We have an amazing zone. We had a very powerful Zone Training Meeting yesterday on finding, teaching, and baptizing! It was also on inviting people to be baptized right after the 1st vision is shared. When they are "pricked in there hearts" as were the people peter taught. We also, at that meeting watched a powerful video for mission presidents from Elder Eyring and Elder Holland on the atonement and missionary work. It was great. This is a great time to be a missionary! So last night we implemented the training by asking a Less Active to come to church right after the 1st vision. It worked. We also ate dinner at President Kendricks house last night that was fun, very ordinary people yet still he shared a message that was very powerful. I have a great companion he is really starting to take the lead. Last Sunday we went to our investigators house however he was not there. His mom is Less Active and the husband has not been a member although he went to BYU and use to go to institute. He has been clear with others that he is a different religion however he has seemed very opened to us and very nice. So we challenged him to read the Book of Mormon because we told his wife while he was in the room how powerful it is. Obviously Heavenly Father had that message prepared just for them. So he is downloading the Gospel library and listening to it on the way to work now hopefully cool stuff. Many a miracle is coming from Heavenly Father. They just keep happening..and happening ...and happening! 

I hope everyone is having a great week and focusing on reaching out to the "one" between now and Christmas! (Elder Ballards talk)

Have a wonderfulday mother and tell jules hi also.

Oh and sorry for money. I may have to by another pair of shoes or something but hopefully not.

Elder Thompson

Great week in Carlsbad

So i just thought i would write this real quick. Its been another great week here in Carlsbad! I have a funny story that I forgot to tell you in Temecula, but we ate dinner with a family in Temecula last night and they reminded me of it haha. When we were in Temecula we were invited into a Deacons Qourom class to share a little about preparing for a mission and then a hilarious thing happened haha. In the Deacons Qoroum there was a Less Active kid that thhe Qoroum had been trying to reach out to. And so in the middle of the class and while we were discussing missionary work i said: So how are we doing on fellowshipping that Less Active kid Hunter? (Something like that) Anyways haha he was in the room. sitting right next to us. HAHA awckward. Good times as a missionary. Now we looked back last night busting up laughing haha good times.

 

 But on a more spiritual note we were able to see some sweet miracles this week. I will share two. But we got a referral from a member in the ward two weeks ago. Her name was Maxine and she watches General Conference and may read the Book of Mormon, however she is still not a member and has not visited with missionaries for probably over a few months. She is an Elderly lady. So we knock...and then we come back and knock...and then we knock again a few days later and we finally catch her but she was sick with the Flu and some sickness that she had had for two weeks straight. She said that not one minute before we knocked on the door she had been in her living room praying asking god to get better or something and then we knocked on the door. Cool. Story but she sadi come back later in the week so we thought alright we will try it out. Well we go back last Friday and she opens the door and she said something like there are my two angels haha. But anyways she said as soon as she opened the door too us a few days earlier she started to feel better and has been feeling better progressivley ever since. So hopefully we will go teach her soon. Heavenly Father knows what he is doing that is pretty cool.

Also Elder Ballard asked that all missionaries and member offer a kneeling prayer together to pray for missionary experiences. So we did that yesterday because our stake has asked us to. Spirit was there. So reach out to the one between now and Christmas.

Have a good week

Wow! Sounds like a great time! By the way, next week is veterans day. So Pday will be on Tuesday. But thanks for the package! Wow! However i probably wont be able to open one everyday. Is that ok? Also, yes I am staying in Carlsbad. well i hope you have a great time with Jules! thanks for the update. tell heer I am going to call her Jolly Rancher Julie. holy cow! Zach is bringing everyone to church! wow!that is great! Great missionary!! glad to hear it went so good also.  Haha plus its no big deal. We walk anyways. Sorry i have had to put money off of the card recently to buy some things. Sorry I will have to buy a new suitcase. Mine did not live. haha BUt things are GREAT!! Keep being awesome missionaries!

Lovest thou,

Elder Thompson

Still in Carlsbad

To Mom:
Holy Cow! That is REALLY cool! with all the kids also? Thats awesome! Sounds like you guys had a bunch of fun at the homecoming and hopefully at your chilli cook-off. They are having a Ward Halloween Party/Dinner here on Wednesday night and we are inviting EVERYONE! Our investigator named Gus, who is really coming along should be there. He is 15 and already knows alot of the members in the ward so we will see how that goes! He is really awesome. We also have a returned missionary that is helping us out a ton! Driving us around everywhere so that is a big help. He is awesome, he also knows gus. Gus offered a kneeling prayer on his driveway floor for the first time praying in his life on our very first lesson. He is a great kid. Umm...Our stake president was prompted to have a stake fast for missionary work this November 3rd fast Sunday! Its going to be great, it was after watching Elder Ballards talk about missionary work. So he met with President Kendrick (the mission president) and is now having us go by every active member and share a specific message he designed from Elder Ballards talk. It is going to be intense. Then the ward missionaries follow up with the families. The work here is going so good. Most amazing spiritual experiences are with investigators and boy have we had a few this last week. People just coming out of no where. An entire family even. But this experience happened last night at a dinner appointment. Preach My Gospel gives the finding idea of teaching members the message of the Restoration. So last night a family had 6 elders over for dinner and we shared the 1st vision. The elder who shared it did so very slowly like instructed and the spirit was sooo thick. We just sat there in it in silence for a long time then the father of the family bore his testimony of the truthfulness of the Church on the Earth and started crying a little. It was sooo thick. Then we asked them for someone they knew that could here that message. The 1st vision is powerful. Ask the missionaries where you live to share it with you in a slow way. Its powerful because it is true. That is why we love to share it with investigators, and they feel the spirit. But anyways i would invite everyone to think of the "one" from Elder Ballards talk who you could bring closer to the Gospel and Pray for who that person is. Good times.

Ok in the email do not say anything about all the investigators or the whole family. please. thank you. We never even know if the progress until they do. Thanks. Elder Thompson

Carlsbad, California

Mom! Glad to hear everything was A OK :) Sounds like a crazy experience, glad you got to be at the church for the blessing though :) and glad to hear again that things are going so good with Kyren and Zach.

Sorry if this letter is a little drowsy. That is AWESOME that you are the seminary teacher for all of those kids! Great news! Also i took a picture for you but I may have lost my usb. Sorry this email may be a little slow. It was an early Pday morning(3:45 am) haha. But anyways Keep up the great teaching that must be cool to do it on skype! And the cookies might make it but packaged stuff does better thats all. Just not soup.

So many sweet miracles this week. We were able to get into a part member less active family the other day and teach them and the spirit was so strong throughout the whole lesson. No matter what we said, it was pretty cool. The man we were teaching has been prepared and has felt the spirit in the past so we will see how it goes. We are on bikes riding around, we have an awesome ward. There are a lot of cool things going on. We had a zone review meeting with President Kendrick last week and he brought the spirit in. But things are going great!! The youth here are awesome, my companion is awesome. Anyways the ward is good the people are great We have a family that we were able to teach last night that is great at fellow shipping but everyone here has a desire to serve and share with others so that is great.

Elder Thompson

Carlsbad California October 2013

Mom, Great to hear things are going so good, i am sure you had a great Columbus day haha. Also, yes I did the CD! THANK YOU! I thought i sent you a letter? Thanks! It is awesome i was listening to it last week! IT is great!! Great to hear that you all enjoy your missionaries :) Sounds like the work is going! I am not sure where the CVS pharmacy is, so i will just have to see if we can find it, if not then its all good anyways we can get it next week or something. I hope you all ahve a good time with Chantelle there! That will be fun! I wish her a Happy Birthday. I am truly amazed at the wonderful place we are able to serve. The members here are very loving and supportive. And the miracles just keep coming I am just not sure what to do :) On Sunday they held a fast and testimony meeting and alot of it was about missionary work. We are excited it is a great ward to serve in! The members are great and the nonmembers also :) They are just great about helping the missionary efforts in any way. I will share a miracle of the week. Last saturday night we got done with dinner and started walking to this family on the ward list who we thought could be possibly less active. So we walk all the way there and we get there and a guy in his 20s opens the door and tells us who lives there( a completely different family then we thought however they were active members) but they were out of town and there grandson Kayden was watching the house. He was not a member so we asked if we could just share a 10 min message with him. So he let us in and we talked and shared the restoration and the spirit was there. But rigth before (a minute or two before) we were going to commit him to baptism there was a knock on the door. And we were like ohhh man. darn. But anyways he goes and gets the door and it is his girlfirend as so he comes back and sits down and his girlfirend just watches us. Adn we presume introduciong the Book of Mormon and commiting him to baptism. Teh girlfriend was watching intently so we invited her to sit down with us also.After we finished we offered a kneeling prayer and we got up to set our return appointment and she just looks at us and starts crying and says "Thank you, you guys are so sincere, thank you.... I have not felt like that in a long time" She mentioned how she was a member of another Church that also read the Book of Mormon but it was not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. But she said it felt cold there. Anyways it was a pretty cool miracle the spirit was strong and we talked for a little bit longer with her and told her to read the Book of Mormon and pray and we promised her it would help. We triesd to set up a return appointment but were unable to but she felt the spirit and let us know. There are a lot of miracles going on here. Everywhere it is just happening. Heavenly Father is doing his work. Ok sorry dont share any of that. But by the way, our bikes are in Business. Watch out haha we are loving it. Those mirafcles we just shared dont happen all too often so its cool when they do. THat doesnt happen everyday just letting you know moml. :) . California is awesome the members are just greathaha Our regular day is awesome but we are doing alot of Biking so we are hjaving a blast. Our ward mission is awesome. Adn that is great the Chaunceys are awesome the ward mission is the best full of love great correlation

October 2013 Carlsbad, California

HAHAHA

Mom,

  Wow! Sounds like you all had a great week! That is great! You can definatley tell a difference in Kren.

  Wow! Great week! so many miracles it was pretty awesome. The Carlsbad wards are doing great! Heavenly Father is pouring out blessings! And the ward is awesome almost always there whenever anything is needed for any investigator or Less Active. The work is Hastening! General Conference was amazing! I LOVED the talks on missionary work "the time is..NOW" that was great but really it was great. Our ward is so good at applying things so we are excited. We of course especially loved the ones on missionary work and especially M. Russel Ballard's and the others. General Conference is different as a missionary. But anyways, Prophets are real. So many crazy miracles though this week they just keep happening. Our ward has really started to get excited about missionary work and that is great because they are great missionaries. My companion is way awesome and we are having lots of fun and good times. Its all Heavenly Father. So thanks for all the prayers, people are being benefited from it. Heavenly Father is awesome and the work is great and we are privileged to have this sacred opportunity at this time to "cry repentance" to everyone that we see. What a great time to be alive, to act on our faith,  and to be a full time missionary and a member of his church and to be able to follow the counsel fo President Monson to share the Gospel with everyone. I love this opportunity to pray for missionary experiences. and everything else!

Love,Elder Thompson

was anyone able to watch Jeffrey r Hollands talk...wooohoo. good stuff. just throwing that out there. :)

OK don't send that email..it is kind of creepy ha ha just say things are going really good and we are were able to teach our investigators and grateful to Heavenly Father for such a wonderful paradise to work in and that General Conference was awesome. I love Heavenly father.

Also next week we will have email on Tuesday

oh ya..our ward is great especially the bishop and his family

September 2013 Carlsbad, California

Mom,

 Great week! SOOO many miracles! Our ward is coming together! Great to hear about the AWESOME missionary work going on! I hope kyren gets baptized that is soo awesome! You guys are on FIRE! That is great! we will pray! SOOO Awesome i hope they go to the cookoff! That is just sooo GREAT job to Zach and everyone awesome!! Haha, the crew. That is so great you guys have such great lessons with the spirit in seminary!! woohoo! Just send me some gummies and new about kyren. That is just soo great really, awesome. Oh and some granola. Sounds like the Branch is on FIre! Great job!

   So Had a great transfer meeting! My new companion is 18ys old. Elder Bowman from Mesa, AZ! Awesome companion! They also doubled the missionaries in the ward so the work is going! The other Elders in the Ward are Elder Peterson and Elder Mickelsen from Lehi, Utah and Nebraska. I went to Elementary school with Elder Peterson and Elder Mickelsen and Elder Bowman were comps in the MTC. The ward is awesome though, our Bishop is really good at getting everyone together to do missionary work. Last wednesday they held a mutual night on missionary work and got the youth thinking more missionary minded. Then on sunday they used the 5th Sunday for missionary work. The ward is awesome! Great members! Lots of cool people coming out of no where! Ltos of awesome miracles we have been seeing everyday everywhere. Especially when we bring a member out to teach with us as we did the other night. A member has come out with us almost every night since we split. We are teaching a few people and there are a lot of people the members know and alot of people on the streets! Things are going REALLY good! What more can i say? :) Anyways i hope everyone is having a good time and reading some awesome scriptures and casually talking to some friends about the Gospel it can change there life! There were alot of nonmembers at sacrament meeting yesterday for the primary presentation, even the mayor showed up. It just takes a casual invite just try it:) It is all HEavenly Father :)ANyways have a good week!

-Elder Thompson

September 2013 Carlsbad, California

HAHAHA there were a few that were a little weird but that was funny!


remember this? :) Send this to Jordan and Zachary to ha-ha

 It has been another GREAT week in Carlsbad! Lots of great things happening in our ward. They are awesome  such a great ward with a wonderful uplifting atmosphere. The ward is doing great Lots of miracles. On Sunday we had a family, that moved from Las Vegas a while ago and has not been to church in a while show up for church. And the ward fellow shipped like crazy it was great they looked like the belonged! One of the sons, Trevor, was able to go to a mutual activity last Wednesday rock climbing with the young men and a family went over who has kids the same age as them and met them and now Trevor is friends with them and Trevor now has friends and looks so happy! The ward is on fire! They are great at fellow shipping and our Ward Mission Leader is really good also. Also saw alot of other great miracles, also next week is the Primary Program and there have been a lot of nonmembers invited! The work is going great here. Lots of members are willing to fellowship investigators. They have dinners and are really good about inviting investigators. Our bishop is awesome! He is one of the ones that helped organize it. Having ward members invite each other over on specific dates and now as missionaries( this was unplanned) we are able to ask the members if we can invite our investigators or Less Actives to there house also for dinner and a meeting. Hopefully that will start to pick up because it REALLY helped one of our investigators totally feel comfortable with he ward and she started to progress after that alot. Because she felt comfortable and felt the love and fellowship of the members in the ward. Lots of good things happening! And the ward is putting together an awesome focus 15 and we also had a Less Active show up for church named John to do some Family history work and lots of other things unmentioned. Oh! Last week this member youth girl invited her friend over for a discussion! Spirit was there! Also last Sunday night a different family was walking by there neighbors house and just felt a prompting that they should invite there friend from china over to there house for dinner to meet with the missionaries. And they did and the spirit was there! She had questions like where she came form why she is here what she has to so to get where she is going! It was amazing to see heavenly Fathers hand in everyone life. And the family for following the prompting. She said she will think about it all but Seed was planted spirit was there. Also, they are splitting the ward missionary wise again so there will be 2 sets of missionaries in the ward. Its all Heavenly Father. I will be going to the slower side but i am excited!!

-Elder Thompson sorry this is so long.

So that was an intense letter. things are going good hopefully get them going good even more again. But Also, our Elders Quorum pres is just like dad and he teaches just like dad. Just letting you know he is awesome. ner caring and loving person. and thinks like dad to ha-ha. We went on splits. i thought i was with dad ha ha jk. 

7 Month out and in Carlsbad

Mother!

That was such a GREAT letter! Glad to hear all of your book of mormon stories!! That is soo awesome! Spirit! And I am glad to hear about bearing your testimony. And all the miracles in seminary and everything else! That is great to hear about Erica! SOoO awesome the Branch is awesome and that is sooo cool dad took the missionaries to Biscoe and Brinkley. He is a boss missionary. Is Elder Cassler from Texas? That is great to hear about Hailee Crouch!

Tell Brother Schulte hi haha I think his son is on a mission to Brazil right? Nauvoo was the BEST! I tell people about it all the time, they get me started and I cant stop haha. You are the awesomest mother! That is great things are going good with seminary and the youth! Youth are awesome! Lonoke Branch is on fire. 

Thanks for sending these pictures to! The family is looking nice still. I got my haircut today so it looks kind of like Jordan's now! And I like Brianna's glasses! And Zachary's funny self.

Thursday? hmm...nothing to crazy? We were able to go on some exchanges till 12pm on Thursday. Hmm I am just glad for an awesome family.

I will try to send you a picture today! I hope everything is going great still and you had an awesome labor day. We did! There were ALOT of people home on labor day all having a good time! We were able to see some people and it was amazing to see Heavenly Fathers hand in it all. We were able to teach alot people, spirit was strong. One lady we taught on her doorstep! It was cool because she didn't have time to here a message, but somehow she let us. She was a contact from a few weeks ago, and then again on Saturday night and she said come back. And there she was. We also contactd this couple a month or so ago that lived in another city and they said the missionaries there could come by. Anyways somehow in the referall process either we forgot to send it in or they weren't able to go by. And we forgot about it. And what are the chances that as we are contating, the same couple, near the same area, gets out of there car and said we had talked to them before. So we were able to send it in again. Heavenly Father does all this work, it is pretty cool.

There is a family that just moved into our apartment complex from another ward and they just got baptized in February and March and they are awesome! But we are still seeing lots of miracles!

Yesterday, we needed a ride some where. And we had walked a little bit and when we got to this persons house to ask for a ride, they were not there but as we were walking away the guy yelled "Elder Thompson!" and they were just getting home and gave us a ride. But really, lots of spiritual experiences also.

Lots of people here in Carlsbad. Mom, our Elders Qourum president it alot like Dad. Anyways have a good week!

Love, Elder Thompson

Hahaha Thanks mom!

The work is great! the members are awesome! People are awesome lots of people say we can come back and Heavenly Father is pouring out blessings like crazy!

I love you mom,

Elder Thompson

Back to Carlsbad

Mom,

I got transferred back to Carlsbad! ha ha Still by the beach and the weather is great, right by Oceanside so that is cool! and we have a part time car for now. Oceanside was awesome Genda and Caleb from Arkansas came to church again this week! So that is way awesome! They cooked some chicken for us and we had a lesson last Monday night and it was awesome! She accepted baptism and is progressing from what I hear from E. Hannamen . So that is sooo awesome! Oceanside was awesome! People and investigators! But that is really cool about your Pandora ads ha ha no I didn't. It must be inspired ha ha that is crazy about the skunk! They must be everywhere ha ha how is Jasmine? I got a letter from Jenny yesterday so I hear she is back! How is the rest of the Branch? James and the Crouches? Anyways Oceanside was just way awesome and now Carlsbad is really cool too! Great to get your letter though I hope everything is going good with school and everything!

Elder Thompson I meant LOVE elder Thompson ha ha sorry really though, I do :) sorry I don't have much time.

Elder Thompson and tell jordan I said hi

Pictures from Oceanside!

More Oceanside Letters!

HAHAHAHA NICE!! great email!

Glad to hear you got the letter! I am not sure if i will be able to send you one this week so I will send you this one. I am glad everything is going good I shall read your letter soon from blogspot.com! I am sure it is great! But really, things are going really well here tons of miracles! Set a few dates last week so hopefully they will follow through! But really. I kind of mentioned this in my letter but we were just riding our bikes on Saturday and we stopped this guy to offer a card and he was just really nice! He was from Mexico and he said one day while he was in a small town in Mexico he had seen two missionaries and had asked them if they needed any water or food or to use the bathroom because it was kind of tough to do so in the town. Anyways that small experience in Mexico prepared him (Carlos) for us. Before we even offered to come by he told us to come by sometime and say hi. So we were able to set a return appointment with him right there! It was pretty amazing! tons of miracles! tons of contacts. Hopefully some of these people will follow through! This ward is awesome to! Oh ya and my bike is working great. We were also able to have Weekly Planning on our balcony looking at the ocean drinking smoothies ha ha. But really there were so many miracles. We were able to go on exchanges and teach this lady who set a date. But things are awesome. My companion is the bomb. Things are going great, and our Ward is awesome too! People are just being prepared. Let me know if you need anything! Love, Elder Thompson

Hello! I hope everyone's week was great! We had another week of some awesome miracles!!!! Oceanside is on fire. So many great things! It was just a great week! Me and my companion have been teaching a lady named Elise from Carlsbad about once a week since the switch. She wasn't to sure about the Joseph Smith thing, however she had stopped drinking green tea to obey the Word of Wisdom, so it was kind of interesting. Anyways she had called us 2 weeks or so ago to ask for some more imformation on Joseph Smith. So we brought a pamphlet of Joseph Smith and she said she would read that as well as the book of Mormon. We were kind of concerned to see if she would do it cause she was extremely busy. Well, the other day we were over there and we had brought what we thought was Joseph Smith the Prophet of the restoration DVD from Bishop (the hour long one) to watch with her to help her have a better understanding of who Joseph Smith was.However when we got there we realized it was the wrong DVD ha ha but it was a 12 min shorter version. So we watched that and it was pretty cool. The spirit was there, media is great! Afterwards, we asked her her feelings and if she had felt any peace. She said she had felt peace earlier when she was reading the Book of Mormon. We said "what?" ha ha. Anyways she explained that she had been cleaning and hurting really bad all over from Fibromyalga earlier that day. So she said she just sat down and started reading the pamphlet and the introduction to the book of Mormon (she had a desire to know-key) and she prayed, and within 3 minutes all the pain was gone. It was a crazy miracle. You could tell she had become converted herself, she knew what God was telling her. It was different now. it was a really cool experience, the spirit was strong. Miracles. It was pretty amazing. We just walked out and were like..Wow! We also were able to set goals as a mission for the number of baptisms by the end of December. We were also able to teach a family in our apartment complex yesterday (the husband is Less Active and the wife is a nonmember) and they are both from Benton, Arkansas! And I went to institute with the husbands sister! We were talking it up it was pretty crazy! We were talking about all kinds of stuff. We could relate very well. They are awesome and we were able to also watch the Restoration (19 minute one) DVD with them, which me and my companion are hoping to start implementing more in contacting, and they invited us back the spirit was strong. It was cool to see how we could relate when it was harder earlier. What can we say.. Arkansans... but really it was pretty cool to see how God had prepared me for people on our missions. Anyways they are awesome! Tons of miracles this week! We also contacted this lady yesterday who spoke Spanish, so we only could say a little but she was truly elect! We are called to bring to pass the gathering of the elect. And the elect here his voice! Pretty cool! so we must hunt and fish and hunt and fish and we will find the elect, if God is willing! We also talked to this guy on Saturday who invited us back before we even offered! Tons of miracles!! All to Heavenly Father! -Elder Thompson

Elder Leolo, Hannamen, Thompson

Oceanside, California

Hello Family! It has been a great interesting week Surprise! Ha ha. Soo me and my companion were sitting having personal study and almost finished when we got a call from the Assistants...and they needed a spot filled in Murrietta and they needed a good missionary so they took Ole Elder Bird to Murrietta. Now i am in a tri-panionship with Elder Hannamen and elder Ioeulo both from Utah and Hawaii here in Oceanside. These missionaries are awesome! I love Oceanside 4th ward. Elder Hannamen and Elder Iouelo are so full of love it is amazing. And they are obedient. We are also right by the ocean(hence the name) ha ha. We have had some good times. We have got to have some powerful lessons. President Kendrick is also very cool. He is so humble and he lets us know he loves us. It is pretty cool. He is very laid back but in a safe way. When he sent me our weekly letter he just said two words-"thanks Elder, love you." He is pretty cool but it means alot! We have half car half bike here in Oceanside. It would be fun if we had full bike. Its alll good! biking can be fun, We were able to have some lessons at the church this week and it is amazing to feel the spirit there. And to be able to have some Fun lessons at the same time. People need to be both spiritually and socially converted to the church. Friends overcome fear. Members are important. We might start meeting some Less Actives there also. Anyways, last night i learned more about the importance of remembrance. When we remember we feel the spirit. And how do we feel the spirit in remembrance? We re-live the experience in our minds. We also got a new Ward Mission Leader yesterday. He seems pretty cool. We also have a baptism lined up for Saturday. Her name is Mandy...Thompson. There are a ton of Thompsons out here. They are all pretty nice. So things have been going awesome here in Oceanside. We are having a good time, a little too much fun though . We can see the ocean from our apartment. working effectively is very important. These elders are also contacting beasts..yes I said it. And they work. So tell GG i said hi. As well as Grandma Harlow and Thompson. The work is great! The weather is great. The spiritual experiences are amazing and lessons.. Oh ya...and when you think you need new shoes....just shine them. ha ha. Love, Elder Thompson

That is really cool! I am glad you all had such a great time! keep it up! I have some new companions that are awesome! I love it here. They are full of love. Glad you had such a great time! Enjoy resting! You need it!

Carlsbad, California Week 2

Thank you for the email! That is awesome! Glad to hear you are at EMily's and doing alll that stuff! That will be fun!! That should be a blast. YOu will have fun! I am sure Emily will be making some awesome food! Glad to hear you got to go also! And thanks for the letter! Glad to hear about the shoes. I will see if i get time to write a letter, send it to chantellse adress! Short one this week! This week has been a great week! I went on exchanges in a different ward from Friday night to Saturday, as my companion was exchanging also. But on Saturday we were able to meet our new mission President. His name is President Kendirck from Plano, Texas ( Dallas are). He is awesome. He seems like a ver down to earth tpye of mission president. He is very nice as well as sister kendrick. They are both awesome. We were also able to have interviews with him and ask them any question we wanted. He runs(trots) for 30 minutes every morning. There youngest child is 17 but is going to BYU-Idaho. Anyways. Good week. Cool district. WE have been having some good times. WE were able to find a few more people to teach this week. Over all things have been good here! It is a bike/walk area. People are awesome as always! :)

The OBrien Family

Janae,

Elder Thompson requested my husband before he transferred to play and sing Come Thou Fount and asked us to email it to him but the file was too large. I tried to attached the file her but it is giving me the same issue. What I can do is wait for you to accept my request and send it through your wall. Your son is an amazing missionary and he was trained by Elder Clark who was a great missionary as well. We truly enjoyed his company and cared about him. Our daughter Ella adores him and she was sad that he had to leave. Your son is serving the Lord with one thing in mind, to make our Heavenly Father proud and he is doing a remarkable job.
Thank you for sharing him to us.

Sincerely,

The OBriens

Alex is in Carlsbad!

Ha ha mom, It's alright, I guess it was time.. I was hoping to create a new Facebook and change my age..ha ha but its all good. I am so glad to be here!

Everything is going so great!

I am glad you are talking to some more mothers! I took some pictures. Elder Russel and Thompson are also awesome and the rest of them.

The people here are awesome! A little different than Temecula but it is AWESOME. It has been an amazing week once again! Enjoying things!

Glad to see JAMES and SISTER ROBERTS and BILL!!!!! THAT IS SOOO AWESOME!!!!!I am soooo glad they have all SHOWED UP!! THAT IS SOOO AWESOME THANKS!!! SO ya it has been a while. That is awesome that you got to go to the potluck also and that Dad got to go to New Orleans!

I am right on the Ocean.

Jordan starts school tomorrow right? WOW! Crazy!

So yesterday, our New Mission President cam e in from Plano, Texas. He seems pretty awesome. We also gained a stake (the Murrietta Stake) It has been Crazy! I am excited for President Kendrick to take over he seems awesome! I got transferred to Carlsbad. Right on the ocean! It is leaves you at awe.The people are way cool also! Very nice. Man, and there are 2 sets of Elders in our ward! And Bikes and feet. It is great! This area is pretty cool! Brianna would love it. So awesome! I am going to send some miracles in pretty soon if i have some time. It has been crazy awesome! We had an awesome transfer meeting also. We all said good bye to President and Sister Cook. Good times. Alright,. i also took some pics Oh ya, and my new companion is Elder Bird from Springville, Utah he is AWESOME! this is my MTC (Elder JAbosens) last area. But that doesn't matter. Just so you know it is RIGHT on the coast...Crazy! Both my MTC roommates last area. k. So yesterday me and my companion went out to eat with a lady who was a convert of about 5 years. She talked about how she had started to look into the Church while she could not walk right and was in bed and she listened(without any contact with missionaries) the entire Book of Mormon, Doctrine of Covenants and Pearl of Great Price before she could walk again and she just new it was true. As soon as she could walk she got up and fell and broke her wrist (she was also almost blind). So she also walked with a walker. So she had to stay in bed another 2 months. Well 2 months were over and she got up on Sunday, still determined. And walked a mile and a half, holding a walker with a cast on her arm and barley being able to see, to the Church building. When she got there she asked for the Bishop ( she had brought her tithing) and told him she wanted to be baptized. Anyways, amazing. She was baptized a few weeks later. After that she wanted to do baptisms in the Temple for her family but she was concerned because she couldn't see however she just kept feeling like it was going to be OK. AS she got to the Temple and went to the front desk she lifted off her glasses so the Temple Recommend guy could see her face and as she did her sight was restored right there and than. amazing. Last week on Monday we texted a Less Active to go see if we could stop by. He said we could on a quick note. We had knocked on this guys door probably 10 times and he always said we could come back. Anyways this time he let us in and you could tell, a light was just turned on inside of him He was happy. And when we got there his wife came down the stairs with tears on the verge of crying and said she had to tell us something. She mentioned a few things she had been going through in her life and started crying a little in the process. She is pretty awesome. She is not a member and she wanted to come to Church. her husband stated that it was time to come back. He was planned to come back to church last Sunday for the first time in 23 years.. It is pretty amazing. He mentioned how he used to love to go but things just hadn't worked out and he had gone through a rough time. Now his wife is hopefully coming with him because she has a strong desire to go back. Anyways that was in Temecula but pretty cool..

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men?...29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men." Moroni 7

Have a good week! You don't have to put the Ladies story on there i just thought it was pretty coo.l. Actually do. Got to go! There are a lot more pictures to send! Will send more next week! Let m know Bye love you mom!

One last Temecula Post... A Little late :)

It took a while to get all of these that Emily took but I am so glad to see them!