The Lord is raining blessings and water

HOLa!!!

Wow what a week!! it went by soo fast!!! it seems like the time just goes faster and faster, i just need a pause button really!!! So right now, its mango season. And mangos and I dont really do very well together...its unfortunate...but its life. I am suffering with a smile. Also, everyone is giving us bread right now. This next week is the semana santa where EVERYONE leaves on vacation and eats bread. Its the same bread always, just in different forms. i like it...but its definitely a lot!

Yesterday my comp and i celebrated easter because we have changes. My mom sent us easter baskets so we both hid the others and then looked for them. silly but the tradition lives on. 

So this week we were blessed with 3 baptisms!! 2 were planned, Salvador and Brandon, and the 3rd was a suprise, Andrea. Lets start with Andrea. I told you a little about her last week and how she has been coming to church for about a month and loves it because it makes her happy. We taught her during the week and she was excited for baptism, but her dad wasnt exactly on board with it. We prayed, she prayed, we all prayed. Because of her amazing faith and desire to make this covenant with the lord and be baptized, her Dad stopped bothering her and her Mom and family came to the baptism!!! Such an example of faith from a 13 year old girl who found the path of happiness in this life. She was baptized on saturday and bore her testimony of how she knows that this church is true. LOVE IT . 

Well this area is full of miracles!! 

So we couldnt meet with Salvador and Brandon because they went to the capital. So on friday was his interview for the baptism and he knew he needed to come. His wife came to the church and asked if the us and the Elders could go to the house because Salvador was really sick. He had an accident a long time ago and has problems with his nerves. When he gets a lot of emotions, his body freaks out. So he couldnt use the left side of his body. As we were about to leave, Salvador comes limping in on the shoulder of her son and wife because he knew he needed to come to the church for his interview. What great faith! He showed his faith and desired by forgetting about his physical health and concentrated on his spiritual health. On saturday, he was so impatient waiting for his wife with the car that he walked AGAIN all the way too the church with just his son!!! We went by that morning to make sure everything was okay, he seemed very happy in his cheetah print robe! hahah But he was so excited to be baptised and has really changed!!! 

This is typical dress and hay they carry all day long.

Yesterday we got the call and my comp is leaving los arcos and we find out tomorrow where she is going and who will be my new comp!! im excited!!! BUT i will be staying here and im just so incredibly thankful to be able to be here for another 6 weeks. 

Enjoy conference and eat some cinnamon rolls for me!! 

love 

hermana thompson

Puppy TOM

Andrea and TOM

They carry the hay like this all day long sometimes.

Andreas baptism

Salvador and his family!! They are definitely hipsters and I love it!

Salvador, Andrea and Brandon got baptized.

Salvador and his son Brandon

Nancy got married.. A member in our ward

The Bishop and his wife Hermana Mati

Eating at a swanky restaurant

Look closely at the picture

Hermana Mati

My Easter basket

WILL YOU MARRY MY SON !!

HOLA!!!

Welll...this week 4 different people offered their sons to marry me. A member claims that she is already my mother in law. So if things dont work out after the mish Ive got some people waiting!! haha 

Well the Lord is still blessing us like CRAZY!!!

 

So thisweek we taugh Andrea, a niece of amember who has been coming to church. We taught her about the Restoration and asked her why she liked coming to church. She says taht in the Church is what makes her happy! It reminded me iof when I knew that this church was true because I realized the amazing happiness that I was receiving. I am so incredibly lucky to have this gospel inmy life because its what makes me the happiest in this life, and I am so incredibly grateful to be able to share it. Andrea texted us the next day thanking us for the Book of Mormon and expressed how much she loved reading it!! She will be getting baptized in April!! 

So the rainy season has begun here. Yes there are two of them. I am ujst grateful that my area isnt dirt roads anymore!! When it rains, it rains and then the power goes out. But hey, I still love Guatemala! Even though the rain caused a waterfall by my bed...leaks are pretty normal here.

So, my brother and I always played pranks. My comp and I have a lot of fun so I thought I would just play a little prank. Dont worry nothing happene.d I put picante (hot stuff in english??) in her water bottle, sadly she figured it out within seconds. Well, about two days later I went to find my waterbottle and drank it, and well, it was the water with the hot stuff. I about died and everyone just started laughing. Karma on my part. but the prank war has begun. So ill keep ya all updated.

Back to Salvador and Brandon. They are set to be baptized and I have never met a man hwo has changed so much in so little time. He comes to church every week in his suite, participates, and loves every second of it. His son is just as pilas and comes to every activity!!! Wuith every lesson I can see their happiness grow stronger and stronger. Sadly, Satan is working hard with his wife and shes being kind of a bummer, but it isj ust making him even stronger! He is really growing his faith and trust in the Lord. He has taught me so many htings and Im so incredibly excited for his baptism and I thnk he is way more excited than I am! 

This week I learned a lot about charity. With all of these poeple wanting to be baptized, it wasnt exactly hard to win their love but i was teaching lessons instead of people. I was so confused because I was not happy, yet having dream success. I realized i forgot about charity! I prayed for so much help to know how i can start teaching people and thats when i relized I lacked the charity because i was just so rushed to teach them the lessons before baptsim. I read in Moroni 7 45 about what it means to be charitable and have chosen to make these things my goal for the rest of my mission, heck the rest of my life! I need to show love for everyone because everyone is a child of god and I need to look at them as one. My favorite part of the mission is getting to know these people, becoming their friend, and learning things from that have and will change my life forever. Everyone I have met here in Guatemala has changed my life in some way and if I can improve my charity and love for them, maybe I can help them out too. 

Charity is the Love of Christ. Without it, nothing is going to work. 

love you all!!!!!

Hermana Thompson

LIVING NEXT TO A BAKERY IS AWESOME!

THEY THINK I'M WEIRD FOR WANTING TO EAT THE DOUGH...IT'S THE BEST PART!

THEY PUT MY CAKE IN MY FACE WITH LOVE

HOLA!!! 

Just wanted to say thanks for all the bday wishes!!! i feel very loved!! 

This week I not only turned 20 but i also completed 9 months in the mission. which means im already more than half way done with the mission...it went by sooooo fast. too fast. Time is precious! Its a bitter sweet feeling because I am 9 months closer to hugging my mom but also 9 months closer to leaving these people who i have come to love so much! 

For my 9 months, my companion gave me donuts and the bakery made me my favorite. Ya im starting a diet for now on haha whoops. 

My birthday was so exciting!! Its weird to think that this time a year ago I was celebrating it up in utah with my beautiful Mom who I miss!! thanks mom for the best packages!! i felt very loved!! 

So my companion woke me up with a cake and the members who own the bakery lit of little fireworks on our patio. finally i hear fireworks that are actually meant for me! haha its a bummer its illegal in california! So here in Guatemala the tradition is to smash cakes in peoples faces. Well, that happened three times. A member got me a cake for lunch, in my face, the bishops family also got me a cake which was in my face haha and we made a cake too. and that was in my face! hahaah and the misssionaries gave me one! i felt so much love!!! so much!! I have only been here for about a month and these people are treating me as if they ahve known me all my life. They put my face in the cake with lots of love!I may have also gained 10 pounds of love with all the cake! 

So we had our Multizona conference this week andwe got to watch parts of Meet the Mormons!! I loved that movie!!! It made me baggy at the part of the missionary leaving, but honestly its a great movie for everyone!!! 

So about a week ago we taught a coupel who were references. We just taught them about the restoration and the book of mormon and invited them to be baptized. They said they would pray and read, but ususally when people say that it doesnt happen. Well, on friday we call them to confirm the appointement for the next day and she tells us that she was about to call us and ask us how to join the church. They spent all week reading the Book of Mormon and praying and they felt it was true because of the great peace and happiness they felt while doing it. To gain a testimony of these things we need to do it His way. We need to pray and read and really ponder if these things are true. They did their part and have a date to be baptized!!! 

This area has just been full of miracles!! so enternally grateful with our father in heaven for letting me part of these miracles! these people are changing my lfie!!!

love you all

Hermana Thompson

20TH BIRTHDAY

Add caption

                                   Cake from the bishops wife! hna mati!! shes seriously the best!

                                                   Making the cake that my mom sent me! 

                                       My comp completed four months so we shared the cake haha

                                                             Well. it ended in a cake fight

9 Month mark Baby!!

                                  Cake from the bishops wife! hna mati!! shes seriously the best!

                                                             The center of Quetzaltenango

MIRACLES, HOW GREAT THOUGH ART

HOla!!!! 

Wow this week is one to remember!! The Lord is really blessing this area and us a lot!! I am sooo eternally grateful to be here! 

okay so first story. A couple of sundays a go one of the members came to us and told us that her husband wasnt a member. So we took a chance and went and visited them. oh my. i have never met a man sooo prepared! He started out by saying there is one God so there should be only one church. He used to go to the church about two years ago, but never got baptized because of his work and then never had the desire to go back. Usually, people working on sunday instead of going to church is a huge problem, but he told us he quit is job so he could come to church, we hadnt even started teaching him yet!!! His first wife died about five years ago and then he met Rosio, a member who was inactive, in december and they just got married! he has two kids who we are also teaching! Long story short, we invited him to be baptized after teaching the first lesson and he accepted a fecha fija!!! and his son did to! they will get baptized on the 28 of march!!! and then in a year they will get sealed as a family!!!! waht the what!!! 

Miracles!!

Okay, now this is one of my favorite stories of the week. So we had a set cita and knew it wasnt going to fall, but hey we are missionaries and cant predict anything, it fell. So there was this little side street and I felt like we should go down there. so we did. I was a little frustrated because in the whole street no one was home, or just ignoring the cute missionaries haaha. But we got to the end of the street and at this little store where I really sweet lady came out. She told us that about 22 years ago the elders visited her and always helped bring her kids to church, but after awhile stopped going and is active in a different church. We decided to teach lesson one and then invited her to be baptized. She told us that she was baptized into the church with the Elders. She then told us that she has been going through a lot of really tough times and felt helpless. She prayed on Wednseday that God would help her find her way back to the path of happiness and tell her what to do. We knocked on her door on Friday and I could see the relief on her face. Wow. We really work as instruments of God, he leads us to his children that need help. I am so grateful to be able to be part of these experiences!!! 

This week we had divisions so i went to Momostenango, a little pueblo about an hour from here, with Hermana Busk! Hermana Busk was with me in HueHue when i started out the mission!!! We took a nice long hike through the jungle to go to an inactives house and they had a sauna. So its not the typical sauna you think of. Its a pyramid with a little door on the side that you crawl in and on the other side is the fire pit. Defenitely made for the height limit here hahahaah. But it was fun being with Hermana Busk because of the looks we got. Shes about as tall and white as i am!! 

It was fun! 

Well that was my week!! 

so grateful to be here!!

love 

hermana thompson

ps thanks for all the early bday wishes!!! feeling the love!!!

DONUTS......now Bagels

HOla!!

Well, everyone told me that after my first change of area the time just goes by. Well, i feel like ive been in this area for one day, and i already have two weeks!! Its going by wayyy too fast! time is precious, use it wisely!! Also, I have found bagels!! Some omish people from the states own a little bakery that has all of the treats that i miss! chocolate chip cookies, carmel corn, donut holes, and bagels!!! Ive never been so excited for a bagel! hahah who knew there were omish people in Guatemala. 

But i am still grateful for our fresh donuts next door in the morning. 

This week we got to go and do a session in the temple as a zone! Wow! i love the temple! As a mission we get to go two times a year and its already my second time going. I love the Guatemala temple, there is a special spirit about it. I know that I have an eternal family because of the power of temples and I have no fear of life after this life. I know if we are obedient, we will be with our family and friends and our father in heaven again. 

Also, the recent convert that i talked about this week, Rudy, went and did baptisms in the temple. I have never met someone so grateful for the temple! He has truly changed because of this gospel and is a light for his family! This weekend, his daughter Andrea was baptized! She easily adapted to the gospel and just seems so much happier! They will be going to the temple together on thursday to do baptisms for their family who has already passed on. 

We should always have a goal to be worthy enough to go to the tmeple. The temple is the house of the Lord and the spirit inside of it is something special that no one can find here on earth. My goal as a missionary is to help families and people make it to the house of the Lord to make these sacred covenants.This is really the house of the Lord and has changed my life forever. Its like a little peace of heaven here on earth! 

Manuel also was baptized this week! Manuel has never felt such happiness in his life and has really grown in this gospel! He does his part, he prays and reads and really asks God with all of his faith if this is the true church of Jesus Christ. 

When Joseph Smith prayed in the sacred grove it was one of his first times really praying and asking God. Carlos, the 19 year old who was baptized, didnt believe in God, but then he really prayed to God and asked him if he was there and read the book of Mormon. He recieved his answer. If we really pray with all of our heart without doubting our faith. He will answer. Its a promise that thousands of prophets have made. I testify of the true power of prayer, but we need to have the faith. He is there waiting for us! 

Have a great week

Hermana Thompson

Manual got baptized!

Andrea got baptized!

Manuel and Andrea who got baptized, and then the members Brandon and Rudy who baptized them. 

Rudy, recent convert, his daughter, Andrea who got baptized, and his son Pablo

Quetzaltenango Temple

My zone got to go to the temple today.