Monday, November 28, 2011

November 28, 2011

Hola!
Hows everyone doing? Well first off today we had transfers today and i was transfered to a place called Mitre in Salta its a few miles out from the capital. Its so weird leaving the only place ive been in but it seems like an awesome place here and not to mention im close one of the two Mcdonalds that there are in the mission. But my new comps. name is Elder Rose from Salt Lake City, Utah and hes an awesome guy i can tell hes a hard worker. But the weird thing is im living in the same place as Elder Brinton, who was in my house when i first started the mission so its pretty cool too see him again. And also with an Elder from Paraguay who Elder Brinton is training. Other than that right now its pretty stormy outside which is a good break from the heat.
 Well i cant believe you postponed the soccer game but i guess we did the same thing last year. And unfortunatley i didnt do anything special for Thanksgiving. Well i dont have really anything to update you about on the people im teaching because i havent taught anyone yet so ill just tell you what happened before i left Alto Comodero.
First we were teaching Leonel who still hasnt felt like hes recieved an answer to his prayers but luckly he didnt get to disanimated. Then Barbara and Alejandro both realized that they want to be a part of this church and they even shared with us on how much changes theyve seen in their lives since theyve been listening to us it was so cool to hear and see the changes the gospel had in someones lives. Well ill fill you in more on how the area is next week. But thanks for everything
Love,
Elder Thompson

Monday, November 14, 2011

Nov. 14, 2011

Hows everyone going? Thats cool DH made it to state in football it sounds like they have a chance. Well things here are going good its pretty hot right now but everynow and then well get a day where it will rain like today which a good break. But ya dad the people still have the same problems with cell-phones here too. We even have a sign by the sacrament room door reminding people to turn off there phones and everynow and then youll get someone who forgets and there phones goes off but you just have to hope that doesnt ruin the experience for your investigators. And as far as my comp. goes he knows some english because every missonary here that doesnt speak english is given a packet when they come in to study from while the people who are learnio do anything for thanksgiving spanish are studying spanish.  And mom we dont get tng even though they have a holiday for just about anything else you can think of they dont have a thanksgiving day. But most of the members know what it is because of all the missionarys that have been here before. Well the last couple days where pretty awesome first off we had to wake up at like 4 in the morning Saturday and then travel to Salta which tiring but definatley worth it. Then we met up with all the missionarys in the mission which was cool to see cause i got to see all my old comps. again. Then when Elder Christofferson, Elder Jay Jensen, and Elder Arnold got there we got to shake all there hands and the wives too. Then we got to hear from Elder Jay Jensen who taught us about the power of the hymns that we sing and how theres a reason we sing them before and after every sacrament meeting because it invites the spirit so fast.
 Then we got to hear from Elder Christofferson which was awesome he talked to us a little bit about the process of how we get our calls and how speacial this mission is to him because he served here before. Then he allowed us to ask him questions that we had. And one that a like alot was how can we learn to understand the difference between our thoughts and the impressions of the Spirit. He let Elder Arnold answer it first who told us it isnt always necissary to be able to tell the difference as long as the impressions that your feeling are positive, uplifting, and will bring you (or the person your teaching) closer to Christ. Then Elder Christofferson told us if we want to be able to understand the Spirit its like learning a new language you have to pray for help, study (the scriptures), and apply what youve learned. He also taught us alot about prayer he started off with a story from someone, i cant remember who, but he was a preacher of some other church and someone asked him how his prayers have changed from earlier in his life till now. And he answered before i spent a long time praying for a long list of things, but now i spend a lot of a time in my prayers in silence. And he related prayer to the change this preacher had how we dont always have to be talking constantly in our prayers but its ok to stop everynow and then to listen to what the spirit is telling you during the prayer. Unfortunatley we didnt get to hear to much from Elder Arnold but what he said to us was awesome.
  Sunday also turned out to be a good day we ended up being the blessed zone because in our whole mission Elder Christofferson only spoke to the Stake in Jujuy. We also had a good turn out of our investigators. Barbara and Alejandro and there family showed up which was awesome and Leonel was able to go too. Weve also been working with someone named Lucas who's mom is a member who has been progressing a lot lately who was really interested in see Elder Christofferson. And the part that i liked was when he told us how blessed we are if we want to hear the word of God all we have to do is read the scriptures. And he also spoke a little bit on the importance of the Holy Ghost and how great of a gift it is that we have the ability to be able to recieve the guide in our life. Then at the end he invited all the youth and little kids to got up and shake his hand. Which was a good experience for Barbara and Alejandro because there two little kids got to go up and shake his hand. So overall it was a really good week.
Well thanks for all the love and support and everything else.
Love,
Elder Thompson

Monday, November 7, 2011

Nov. 7, 2011

Hows everyone doing? Things are starting to get really hot here, and the temperature is a little different than salta youll have to see if you can find the weather for Jujuy, Argentina. And ya the members are really good at feeding us, we usually have a calender in the church where the members can sign up to feed us and all the days that they could feed us are always filled up. Which is cool cause where i am borders a couple countries so theres members from different places so we get to try out the food from places like Bolivia, Uraguay, and Brazil and of course Argentina. Well the spanish is looking good dad and yes its definatley helped my spainsh alot having a comp from chile, because pretty much eveything i do and say now is in spanish. And my comp. is from Talagante, Chile which i guess is a town just outside of Santiago. Well this last week we had a good week Leonel has been progressing aton along with Barbara y Alejandro. Leonel had his 3rd week in a row going to church and is loving it, its easy to see that hes been prepared to hear the gospel. Barbara and Alejandro also came to church for the first time last sunday which was the perfect one for them because it was fast sunday and i could tell the testimonies had a strong impact on them. And yes the members are great at fellowshipping our investigators Leonel already has a good friend in the church, and we also had another one of our investigators come to church for the first time and he went right into the young mens class because hes friends with one of the members in there. But ya this next week coming up should be an awesome week because first off on saturday all the missionaries in the Salta, Argentina mission are meeting up to listen to Elder Christofferson, Elder Arnold, and Elder Jay Jenson then on Sunday Elder Christofferson is coming up to Jujuy to talk to our stake and the best thing is we have a lot of investigators that are interested in going and listening to an Apostol.So ill let you all know how that goes, thanks for all the love and support.
Love,
Elder Thompson