He's dead but then I came back to life...

This week was nice. We got some super good work done in our area. It did start with a little stumbling block. Me and my companion were riding bikes down a pretty good hill on the way back to our area. I decided it would be fun to turn some of the bumps into little jumps. About half-way down the hill, I hit a bump and ended up a little bit higher than I wanted to. When I landed, my front tire popped. It was also raining and so the path was fairly muddy. So, I very quickly ended up on the pavement. My elbow took the bulk of the fall and I got some nice little scratches on my hands. But, we still had places to go, so we taught one more lesson and then made our way home to get cleaned up. Some people saw me walking home with my bike that night and word quickly spread around the area that one of the white dudes took a spill on the bike. 

The next day, early in the morning, we starting exchanges. I went to one of the other areas here in the zone. So, my comp went around our area telling people that I had died after the bike crash. It gave some people a pretty good scare and lots of people believed it. 

Then the next day, when I was back in my area, we went around telling people that I had come back to life. It was pretty funny. 

But, in all seriousness, we had a pretty good week this week. We taught a lot of lessons and had lots of people that we teach attend church. The work here is quickly progressing and we see God's hand in the work every day. We were studying the Come Follow Me manual with some of the members in our area and one of the young women said "It would probably be easy to follow all of God's commandments if Satan didn't exist." We kind of laughed but realized how true it was. Satan is very real and wants nothing more than for us to be miserable. But, the power of our Savior is sooo much more. God prepared a way for us to be happy in all aspects of our lives. But, it is not easy. And the blessings come because of our obedience to the commandments. So, find something in your life that may not be in exact harmony with the laws of God. And then change. That is what the gospel does. It changes people. And one day, we will all stand before God and be worthy to live in his presence. I love you all and am grateful for all of the thoughts and prayers. 

Love Elder Thomas

-I found a Christmas beetle

-We found a snake