. . . The Worth of Souls: April 30, 2012

My Dear Family and Friends,

Today is the start of a new transfer and..... Sister White is transferring to Kingsway in the city (the furthest north Sisters' area) and Sister Atkinson (transferring from Red Deer) will be my new companion. It's pretty exciting! I'm am now officially Senior Companion. Crazy!!! No pressure eh? It kinda feels like I've graduated or something. I hope we get to go to Transfer Meeting. Since Sister Atkinson is transferring within the same zone they might just send Sister White up with Sister Westover. (Oh yeah, Sister Westover is training! I'm so excited for her. She will be amazing!) So, there is a lot of new stuff happening for Innisfail. I'm so glad I got to stay. I really love the people here. It is the best ward in the mission (pretty sure!)

We got to meet with Lindsay again this week. She is so wonderful. We also had supper with her and her nonmember husband yesterday. It was so great. She has had some pretty neat experiences in the past week. First off, last week her husband was having some problems at work and he called her to tell her his concerns. He was trying to decide what he should do and she told him, "Wait one second. I'm going to say a prayer and call you back." He's not religious so he was like "okay...." Well she prayed and got this overwhelming feeling that he should quit. She felt good about it so she called him back and told him. He too felt good and so he quit. Those who were giving him grief before begged him to stay. He's working there until he finds something else. She explained to us also that that morning she woke up and had an overwhelming feeling that she should fast. She didn't know why or what for, but she just fasted that the day would go well. Turns out she was fasting when her husband called and then she prayed for an answer. Prayer is real! She also told us that her husband agreed to go with her to get her Patriarchal Blessing and that her Mother-in-Law (against organized religion, has been anti-Mormon, but studies tons of religions) asked her a lot of questions about the church. As Lindsay explained about the Restoration, priesthood, things she's learned from us, patriarchal blessings, etc. her Mother-in-law made these comments "You mean that the Mormon church is organized just like Christ's church when He was on the earth?.... That's so neat that you guys actually have a Patriarch.... The Mormon church is the most Christ-like Church I've ever learned about.... Can I come to church with you sometime?" Crazy eh? Lindsay's already being a great missionary. It's pretty neat. Sister White and I met Lindsay exactly a transfer ago today. She has made so much progress in the last 6 weeks and I know she is definitely solid. She also mentioned that while meeting with Bishop she asked him for a blessing and when he put his hands on her head she felt the spirit run through her entire body. SO COOL!!! And, she told us that she quit her job too and has decided to go back to school for Accounting. She worked at a restaurant where she had to serve alcohol and the language wasn't always the best. She told us yesterday at church, "I quit my job. I realized that I can't feel the spirit when I serve alcohol and those around me are swearing." How cool is that?! I'm pretty sure she is a better person than I am. She is AMAZING!!!

This last week our ward had a Baptisms for the Dead Temple trip. It was pretty cool. A lot of adults/ recent converts who had never gone yet got the chance to go. Eniely (who was baptized last July), Sister Wells and her son Kyle (who were less active for years and came back to church last year), and Indya and her mom Lana. :) It was a great trip and those who got to go really enjoyed it.

Something else really neat that happened this week; Brother Pratt was released from the Bishopric and Brother O'Connell was sustained. When this happened both Sister White and I got teary-eyed. It was so cool to see how humble both men were. It was also neat to see Brother O'Connell sustained. He is a convert of 8 years! If only the missionaries who taught him could see him now. It was so neat.

Well, I don't have a ton of time today so this will sadly be a shorter email. I wanted to close with a great quote.

"When the Lord said,

'Lengthen your stride, quicken your pace, heighten your reach, widen your vision, and stretch your capacity,'

he was in reality saying,

"Expect a Miracle,"

for these are the stuff from which miracles are made."

-Elder Hartman Rector Jr.

"Following Christ to Victory"

Miracles have not ceased. Expect them and they will come. I love you all!!!

Love,

Sister Thompson

P.S. What would an email be without pictures?