July 16, 2012

Dearest people tuning in:

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes, package, emails, cards, etc. I really really appreciate it. Everyone reading this, you're amazing!!! This past week the weather has been kind of all over the place. (take that back, every week the weather is all over the place.) On Monday I played Street hockey for the first time in Canada with the Elders in our Zone. I even scored! :) Very proud of myself. We had a CRAZY Hailstorm on Wednesday. It woke up Sister Roberts and I at 3am and was coming down pretty hard. When we woke up the next morning at 6:30am our parking lot was full of hail and I mean full. It kindof looked like it snowed. We ran out in it and the hail looked like the ice from Sonic. It was really cool. I have attached some pictures for you to see. Something else super exciting- I ran into Tolga on the street!!!! Tolga was my first baptism with his dad Gino back in December. I haven't seen them since their confirmation (since I was transferred to Innisfail like the week after). He was walking down the street with a friend and I pulled over to say hi. He was so excited and surprised to see me. I'm hoping to get the opportunity to meet with him and his dad this week on exchanges. Last Saturday we also got the opportunity to "Blaze a trail" in Devon. We were able to do weed whacking, tree hauling, and bark racking for a park in our Zone. It was beautiful and all our hard work paid off.

So, this last week was a good one (as most are). We officially got a new investigator. Chris! I mentioned him last week and we taught him twice this week. He is absolutely amazing. He said that he believes it's no coincidence that he is here and meeting with us. He has already been to church 3 weeks in a row and is reading the Book of Mormon, almost done with 1 Nephi. We had supper with him at his fellowshippers' house. We went over the Restoration with him and I recited the First Vision. As I did he started to get teary eyed/ emotional. As I invited him to be baptized he cut me off and said, "Yes! Of Course!" He is so prepared and it is so refreshing to teach him. He is a spiritual spongue. He also told us that he stopped drinking alcohol (we haven't even taught him about the Word of Wisdom yet) and after our Sunday School lesson on Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy he said, "We can meet each Sunday. Looks like my Sundays just opened up after that lesson." He really is such a neat guy. I'm so grateful I have the privillege of teaching him. I will try and get pictures for you all to see.

Yesterday Sister Roberts and I got the opportunity to teach Relief Society (I didn't realize how much I missed teaching R.S. until yesterday- I taught Relief Society before my mission). Anyway we taught from President George Albert Smith's Manual Chapter 14 "How to effectively share the Gospel." Dad, I think it's cool that we taught the same lesson on the same day (maybe even the same time depending on when your church starts). Sister Roberts and I decided to incorporate Elder David F. Evans talk from conference "Was it worth it?" in which he talks a lot about Naturally and Normally sharing the gospel. It was such a great lesson. We gave the sisters two examples. A good way to naturally and normally share the gospel with your friends and then a bad example. We decided to play ourselves and role play in front of everyone. So I was Leanna and Sister Roberts was Mckensey. I played the non-member friend and the scenario was that we were eating lunch after seeing Harry Potter 7 Part 2. The Bad example was hilarious. Sister Roberts randomly threw in the Gospel, trying to connect it to Harry Potter and a scene from the movie. She said, "That's exactly what we believe." She really tried to stretch a connection, used tons of big words, talked the whole time, and gave me a Book of Mormon and three different pamphlets all at the same time. Everyone thought it was pretty funny. Afterward we talked about what she did wrong and then gave a good example. The good example was amazing. The spirit was so strong. I almost started crying. It was cool too because both scenarios started the same way, but when Sister Roberts really listened to what I was saying and the Spirit she was able to connect with me in such a stronger way. Overall it was a great success and really got the sisters pumped for missionary work. The following is a quote from Elder Evans talk.

"If we will pray and ask Heavenly Father who we can help and promise to act on the promptings He gives us letting us know how we can help, He will answer our prayers and we will become instruments in His hands to ho His work.... "Never delay a prompting." (President Monson) As yu act on the prompting and do it with love, watch as our Heavenly Father uses your willingness to act to bring about a miracle in your life and in the life of the person yuo care about."

Well, remember that I still love you all so much. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. I can really feel the support that I recieve from back home. Share the Gospel Naturally and Normally this week and become the instrument in Heavenly Father's hands to bring about a miracle.

With all my love,

Sister Thompson

P.S. Pictures= #1 7 Eleven Birthday party! Gotta love free slurpees. #2 Thanks family for the package!!!! #3 Our parking lot covered in Hail. #4 The closest I'll get to "Hail" as a missionary ;) #5 A "Sonic Ice Truck" wrecked in our parking lot and this was all that remained.