Dearest Family and Friends,
You are probably wondering, "Another Canadian Holiday?" Nope, but our Preparation Day was switched to today since today is Temple P-Day (aka all the City missionaries got to go to the temple today!) It was so wonderful. I was so excited last night that I could hardly sleep. It was like Christmas.
I love the temple and I wish I could go more often. I love the peace you feel as you pray and ponder. I also loved the fact that every single person in our session(besides the temple workers of course) was a missionary. :) Two Senior couples were there along with President and Sister Campbell and then there were 32 Elders and 8 Sisters. It was so awesome. One of the greatest sights I've ever seen is so many faithful, worthy, good, young men who are totally set apart from the world, giving their time and talents to the Lord and overall just doing the right thing. It's so awesome! Elders are so cool!!! A blessing of being a missionary is seeing that there are so many worthy Priesthood holders. I have gained a new respect for men because of this experience. I can't wait for the day to find and marry a worthy Son of God in the Temple and start our Forever Family. (Don't worry family, my eye is still single to the Glory of God. I just feel that a blessing of my mission is Heavenly Father showing me how amazing some of his sons are and that if I live worthy I can have the blessing of being married to one of them.) Every time I go to the temple now (which I have now been Endowed for more than a year now. I love it!) I think of how important marriage is to our Heavenly Father. Can't wait! But I will ;)
Also, today is my 11 month mark! Elder Penrod (who was in my MTC District) wished me "Happy 11 Months today!" at the temple. Time flies so fast. I can't believe I only have a short time left. Somedays I wish I could be a missionary forever, other days I can't wait to be able to hold babies again or see my family. Overall, it has been an amazing 11 months and I'm so grateful I chose to serve. Words cannot express the joy that comes from teaching, serving, loving, giving, and being a missionary. What an amazing, unique experience this is. To anyone who is reading this and contemplating serving a mission (old, young, boy, or girl) DO IT!!! You will not regret it and you will never understand the joy you will feel until you do. This is the Best 18 months for my life!!!! Seriously, if you are thinking about a mission- write me! I'll convince ya! ;)
Last week was an interesting one. Not super successful (as far as numbers go). We did have a head on collision with Anti-Mormon stuff two lessons in a row however. First happened Friday night. At the end of June we tracted into a guy named Mike. He is Chinese, grew up mostly in Austrailia and married a Canadian. He met with Missionaries in Austrailia and when we knocked on his door he was excited to tell us that we were not Christians and how the Book of Mormon is false. Well, in our discussion, our testimonies sparked his interest and he invited us to come back for dinner with him and his wife Sheryl. Well, finally we went over for dinner on Friday night. (First time I've ever had a non-member invite me over for dinner.) Sister Roberts and I were a little nervous, but we decided all we could do was pray and rely on the Spirit. We had such a great time at their house. Mike and Sheryl are such great hosts. We got to know them and built a great relationship with them. After dinner we had our main discussion. Although we couldn't answer all his questions we testified and it was a really good discussion. Oh boy did he have a lot of questions and to be honest I didn't know what to say to half of them. However, the conversation was never contentious and in fact his questions etc strengthened my own testimony. One thing he mentioned is that most Christians send out their missionaries to do more humanitarian things. He was surprised that our church had our missionaries be more proselyting than service. That concerned him. It was neat to feel the Spirit speak through me as I testified, "Our primary role is to be Fishers of Men, just as Christ did with Peter and Andrew his brother. Although we do have many opportunities to do service as missionaries our role is to invite all to come unto Christ. Instead of giving a man a fish and feeding him for a day, we are teaching men to fish so that they can be fed for life. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that truly changes people." Until that moment I had never realized just how much my role is to help God's children become something more than they are. The next day we met with our Investigator Jerri and he brought us 6 pages of questions about things he learned from ex-Mormons, "Neutral Ground" and from church websites. He brought up some of the same concerns as Mike. Both talked about how there is not a need for the temple today. It really comes down to two questions, "Is the Book of Mormon true? And is Joseph Smith a Prophet?" If you can answer yes, then you know that God does speak to us today. I am so grateful for the blessing temples are in our lives. The Gospel has been Restored! "The Standard of Truth has been errected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumy may defame, but the Truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independant till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say 'The Work is Done.' " (Joseph Smith) How Great is our Calling?!!!? When we are truly converted we cannot be restrained from testifying. Share the Gospel!!!
I love you all so much! Thank you for living the Gospel, sharing the Good News, and helping God's purposes be accomplished.
Love Forever,
Sister Thompson
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