Merry Conference!!

Well... It is that time of year again!! We get to hear from the living prophet and apostles. I am seriously sooo excited. This is like the coolest time of the year. I hope that you are all getting ready. Think of questions that you have and you will with out a doubt get some answers. The church is moving forward at a crazy awesome rate and it is amazing to be a part of. 

So, definitely one of the big highlights this week was being able to talk to my sisters on Moms birthday. It has been a solid 7 months since I have been able to talk to them. Connection wasn't great, but it is amazing what technology lets us do. 

Not a whole lot happened this week. We spent a day down in San Fernando at the hospital so that we could get my comps stomach checked out. Sometimes, life just catches up with you out here. We got back to our zone, but it was too late and there was no way to get back to our area, so we just crashed at the other Elders little house. The six of us slept on 4 mattresses. I slept like trash and then we woke up and had to get ready to go to a stake activity. The activity was awesome. There were a ton of people there. The members here are sooo awesome. They all have so little, but they give anything that they can. We had the activity all day until that afternoon when the sisters in the branch had a baptism. I got absolutely fried. I got super sunburned and putting on a white shirt is now a battle. But, life is good.

This week, we did teach some awesome lessons. Our focus has been on the Plan of Salvation. Lots of the people we teach are doing a good job at reading the Book of Mormon. It brought some awesome changes in their progression. Now we are going back with them to try to put the whole thing into perspective. It is awesome to teach people about the Plan of Salvation because people's beliefs vary so much. Lots of people really haven't thought very much about it, and lots of people have some very different beliefs. But, the moment that we teach them about God's plan, the spirit hits the room and people can feel the truthfulness of the message. 

I know that God has a plan for us that is perfect. It is not easy, but it is perfect. It is the way that He knows that we can learn to become like Him. As our loving Father, He wants nothing more than for us to be happy and one day enjoy life with Him in eternal glory. I know that we are led by a  living prophet who continue to receive revelation to guide this church. He holds the keys to lead and guide us and He is doing it at an accelerated rate. We all need to keep up!! Get ready for conference!! I love you all. Thank you for the thoughts, prayers, and emails. 

Love Elder Thomas

-Sorry... not a lot of pics this week. 

And the camera doesn't do these sunsets any justice

How to eat fried worms

Well... this week was a good one. It was just a little bit harder to find time to teach people this week because we are in the middle of the great rice harvest. But, it did open up a lot of opportunities for service which is awesome. We helped some members on Saturday for like 7 hours harvest peanuts. I woke up the next day and could hardly walk because my hamstrings were so tight. I also had a super gnarly sunburn that made wearing a collar kind of a battle. But, life is good, and I gained even more appreciation for the people here and the way that they work just to make it by. 

This week we also had the opportunity to give a blessing to a member. He is about to take his finals in college and has been super nervous. He called us and asked if we could give him a blessing. He said that he was too scared to ask for a blessing, so he had never had one. We gave him a blessing of comfort and after the blessing, seeing him was the coolest thing. His emotions were somewhere between 'jumping up and down' and 'crying.' He said he felt super prepared and new that power from the other side of the veil is more powerful than anything we could possibly do for ourselves.

This week we also had zone conference. It was awesome!! It was super simple, but was all focused on what we can do to really use the Book of Mormon to hasten the work. Our zone saw changes in just the last couple of days. Every single companionship in our zone had people come to church this week. On Sunday, while doing followup calls with the district leaders, all of them told me about how they had simply used the Book of Mormon and they had begun to see miracles in their area and the areas of those in their districts. It was seriously awesome!!

This week, one of the people we are teaching gave us some exotic foods. We had fried worms, fish, and a coconut (that I pulled out of a tree). It was wild. The worms were actually way better than the fish that they had cooked (and I like fish). It is all just part of the experience here in the Philippines. 

I seriously love every bit of the experience, not because it is easy. The mission is by far the hardest thing that I have ever done and every single day is a grind. But, the blessing come like crazy. I know that the blessings come to me, my family, and friends. I love you all and send lots of prayers back your way from this side of the world. 

Love Elder Thomas

Riding in the Back of the Police Car

This week was super different. We only got to work in our area 3 days out of the week. So, that was kind of sad. We spent a whole day down by the mission office at the hospital for my companion. He has had a stomach problem for a long time that he hopes to get fixed up. But, our area is still awesome. This last week we were trying to find a tryke that could take us into town. We couldn't find one and we were just wandering around our area when the police drove by. We flagged them down and asked for a ride. They said that they were headed in the same direction and that we could jump in if we wanted. What a couple homies.

This week we taught an awesome lesson to some of our most progressing investigators. (Albert and Emely). We taught about the Plan of Salvation. It was so simple, but the spirit seriously hit that little tiny house like a bomb when we shared about eternal families. We shared about how no one is perfect, but we have a loving Heavenly Father who wants nothing more than for us to return to Him. We shared about how it is absolutely possible for us to make it to the highest degree of glory that our Father has prepared for us. The dad of this cute little family went out and bought himself a pair of shoes that he could wear to church. They don't even have enough money to buy themselves another lightbulb in their house, but he bought himself shoes for church. His faith is seriously amazing. Then they showed up to church. We had 4 of the people that we are teaching attend church which was awesome. 

This week I also got to be a part of the Mission Leadership Council again which was awesome. Our mission president showed all of our stats in a way that shoes how our mission has changed over the last 6 months. It was awesome to really see what direction we are heading in. Our mission is on a big up-curve as far as the work goes. The work is hastening out here in the Baguio mission and it is awesome to be a part of! The church is true because it is the church of Christ that has been restored through a living prophet. And we will have the opportunity to hear from him again in just a few weeks. Get ready!!! I love you all. Thanks for the thoughts, prayers, and emails. 

-Elder Thomas

 

The Faith of Nanay Norra

Alright, first let me tell you about Nanay Norra. She is seriously awesome. She is the first convert from our area. This week she told us about her conversion story. She lives clear out in the middle of nowhere in a tiny little hut. The first time that the missionaries visited her, it was in a huge storm. The missionaries lived like a 2 hours away and it was already like 9:00 at night. She told herself that if the missionaries made it home safely that night that she would continue to listen to them. (They made it home and continued to teach her). After a while, they taught her about the Sabbath. She knew that she shouldn't work on Sunday, but she justified that she would just go work in the field and then she would go to church. When she got to her field way out in the mountain, she said that she was so tired that she didn't think that she would be able to make it home. She said a prayer and promised that if she made it home that she would set a baptismal date. So, the next time the missionaries showed up, she set a date and was then the first baptized member in our area. Since her baptism 2 years ago, 37 members have been baptized out here. It is awesome. 

This week was super solid. We had 7 of our investigators attend sacrament. We were really hoping for more, but we were more than happy when all of them showed up. 

We really taught some awesome lessons this week and we have seem some super cool progression. People are finally reading the Book of Mormon!! We have like 5 or 6 investigators who consistently read and have questions. It is seriously amazing. The Book of Mormon absolutely changes lives. People feel the Spirit and they can know because of the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith was a prophet. And that we have a living prophet on the earth today. Plus, only 1 month until Conference!! We will get to hear from them once again. Well... that is about it. Today is transfers and we need to go make sure that everyone gets where they need to go. But, I love you and and will send another email next week. 

Elder Thomas

The Book of Mormon

Whelp... kind of a short one today. This week kind of just ripped by. One of the coolest things that happened was a lesson that we taught on Saturday. We didn't really have anywhere to go, and it was like 7 at night. We had the feeling to go to a house near our recent convert. We got there and they welcomed us right into their home. First let me tell you about there home. I can almost touch the walls on both sides when I am inside. It is just a dirt floor with bamboo walls and a tin roof. But, the family there is sooooo happy. They let us in and gave us 2 of their nicest tiny little wooden seats. We shared a quick scripture about becoming like little children. Regardless of how strong of our faith is, we have to start somewhere. Then we invited them to church. The next day, we were at church and the meeting had already started. But, 2 minutes into the meeting, we saw them walking outside of the church. They actually came!! It seriously made our week. 

This week we also had an awesome lesson with a lady named Mercy. We just shared a thought with her from 2 Nephi 31:20. She read the last two words "eternal life" over and over again. The spirit hit the room like a bomb. She knew that was something that she wanted. We taught her a quick lesson about the gospel and how that was the one and only way prepared by our Father in Heaven to obtain eternal life. It was awesome. 

The Book of Mormon seriously changes lives. That has been one of the big focuses in our work now. If people do not get into the Book of Mormon, then they will never be able to feel of the truthfulness of this message. But, if they read the Book of Mormon, they can know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ is again on the earth. 

I love you all and am grateful for the thoughts and prayers. 

-Elder Thomas

Our little friend "stephanie." -your welcome mom :)

-The temperature inside our house while studying

-more waterfalls

-the bridge to our investigators