IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE!

Hermana Jesse Thompson's contact info:

Jessica.thompson@myldsmail.net

Sister Jessica Christina Thompson

Guatemala Quetzaltenango Mission

5A Calle 14-35 Zona 3

09001 Quetzaltenango

Guatemala

Hola Familia!!!!

So this week was good but also the HOTTEST week of my life!!! HueHue is a lot hotter than Xela, but I still love it. I have a beautiful sunburn, well farmers tan sun burn what ever you wanna call it. but hey its all part of it! we spent most of our week knocking on doors and talking to people because we really are lacking in investigators but tahts okay! BUT the best part of the week was....CRISTOFERS baptism!!! Hes so adorable and seeing him being baptized was such an amazing feeling and he was so happy!! I would send pictures, but i cant this week cause this computer doesnt like my camera. But it was great and he was so happy!!!! I can see the light in his eyes and its fabulous. 

So everyone, and i mean EVERYONE that i talk to asks how I got so tall, so I just say its all the hamburgers in America. They laugh but I think they actually believe me. 

I decided I should tell you about my companion more. She is fabulous and her Dad sells his onions to In n Out, so I mean thats pretty cool. I told you that my last companion killed all th spiders for me, well this one doesnt so we just freak out for awhile till it dissapears. But shes so great and Its a totally different experience with another gringa but I love it! Everyone thinks shes from like Brazil so I just say Im from Mexico to fit in. 

This week we concentrtated on getting to know the members more and I have never felt closer to thme and I love it! It feels like a second family! I had this realization this week of how grateful I am for eternal families. I just imagine myself in a strange place like this, without the amazing people I have met, and without Pdays to write to my family, and thats what it would be like without the promise of eternal families. Im so incredibly thankful! 

Also, I never realized how important it is to help the missionaries! They need you all so help them out because literally the members have made this so much easier for me, so grateful for them!! Give them references, food, hugs, laughs, anything! 

So the toughest part of the week was contacting because most of the churches here tell the members to not listen to the mormons at all so some people are pretty rude but thats okay! we jsut tell them we are here to serve them and they give us a lovely look and walk away. 

So Ive only been out for 11 weeks but I cant explain how much Ive already grown from this experience. I am grateful for sooooooo much more and I truly love this gospel. My testimony grows every day and I learn to not judge by first impression. I realize how lucky I am to have the life I have and to have such amazing family and friends. Thank you all for everything you have ever done for me, I cant explain how much it has helped me get here. I cant wait to see what is more to come. 

Love you all and have a fabulous week! 

Hermana Thompson 

AND THEN THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN....

Hola Hola Hola!!

This week has been extremely crazy!!! So on Weds. I finally felt that I was getting a hang of everything and being able to talk to everyone, I was definitely used to everything with my companion and what not. Then thursday morning we get a call that Hermana Sanchez had emergency changes....as in she is leaving me....and trainers train the greenys for 3 months and I only had three weeks. So we packed all her stuff, I had a meltdown because I dont know the members or where they live (they dont have addresses here) and I dont even know our ward boundaries...but the Lord works in funny ways. We took our 3 hour busride which was one of the scariest ill leave out the details for my moms sanity hahaah and arrived in Xela. We switched trainers so I got my friend from the MTC trainer, Hermana Woods! Dont worry everyone she is still half my height haha, but teh best part is she is a gringa so we can communicate!! I discovered I actually didnt know a lot about the mission stuff so I am learning for real this time. Shes so great, I just feel so bad because I dont know a lot about the area but we are learning together! 

On monday we had an activity with cooking and of course we had to make tortillas so i decided to help. Well lets just say they laughed at my skills, but it was better than my first time trying because that tortilla ended up on the ground. I attached a photo of the family and my tortilla and I. it tasted great. So on top of all our changes we also got a new bishop and my old companion used all of our minutes on our phone for the months. its been a struggle but we are getting through it all! 

Our baptism is tomorrow and I am soooo sooo excited! Cristifer is THE BEST and loves the gospel!! Even for a nine year old he really understands it all! We accidently spelled his name wrong on the invitations, but thats what happens when you get two gringas together! 

Funny story, my companion had a bee in her hair and we were trying to get it out and this couple walks by and starts laughing at the two gringas who were freaking out about a bee. My companion told them she had an oveja in her hair whichs means sheep so that was pretty funny.

I also am sending some pictures of a little girl and I in the ward, they always want to be taller than me so she climbed up on the fence to be taller haha. I may be in a super poor place, but the people here love their families! everyone lives together and they just have so much fun and they dont care if they have money or not. This gospel allows families to be together for eternity and they really do want to learn from us. i have learned that it doesnt matter where you are or how much money you have, happiness is where ever your family is. A lot of our investigators want eternal families because that whats make them happiest. Thats what makes me happiest too. I love my family and am thankful for them each and every day! 

Love 

Hermana Thompson

Hola Familia!! 

Well this week I had chicken noodle soup with tortillas!! Just gets better and better dont you think? haah anyways we had to eat intestines this week, but dont worry my companion ate mine for me thank goodness....I couldnt do it...but my companion ate monkeys in her house so she can eat anything! My stomach has officially given up. Yes I practically slept in the bathroom for one night, but its all part of the experience! Usually its because of the fresco because a lot of people cant afford pure water, so a parasite in inevitable. I've decided to name my freddy haha chiste. 

Anyways this week we split up to contact in an area so I was with Hermana Quarez who is a gringa so it was sooo nice to be able to talk to someone in english! Anyways we were knocking and we came to this one house that was of a less active member and he had me bare my testimony in english, it was kind of bazar experience, but he came to the activities the next day and everything,so that was awesome!! On Saturday the new Chapel in Centro was opening, so we had an open house all day where we taught about our purpose as missionaries and sang a lot. Later that night we had a cultural activity which was awesome! They did a lot of traditional dances and what not, oh and there were fireworks! If they had fireworks at our stake activities maybe more poeple would go! haha 

This week we had a lot of appointments so my companion and I went on splits with a member and long story short I invited someone to baptism by myself, and they acccepted! Im surprised they understood, well I hope they did haah! Anyways, today is my official two month mark!! 16 more months is nothing! I am starting to love the work more and more every day which is great! Still super hard, but time is going by a lot faster! 

Before my mission I didnt study the scriputures as much as I could have  .In 2 Nephi 32:3 it explains that these scriptures tell you all you need to know, which is very true. Most importantly, the scriptures testify of Christ and how through him everything is possible. Because of him and this Gospel my family is eternal and I will be able to return to Him again.  But if we don't have faith in Christ, then we wont be able to gain eternal life. To know Christ we must study our scriptures. I have grown to love them so much!! 

Have a great week!!! 

This pix is at culture night.

love 

Hermana Thompson

Hola!!! 

Well! the weeks are short and the days are long, but hey thats the life of a missionary!!

This week was normal haha. My companion and I run every morning, but sometimes she is sick so I do my own exercises and I was on the roof (thats where we dry clothes so theres a staircase to it) and a little Latina lady started to copy me from down below it was pretty hilarious, but maybe it was a had to be there moment. 

So I have my first baptism date! Its with a boy named Cristofer who is nine years old and his mom is a menosactivo, but we have been teaching his Mom and he wants to be baptised!! 

These other investigators bought us dresses which is adorable, if i can make my photos work I will send a picture, its a blue dress haha its from a thrift store but i love it! This family doesnt have a lot, but the wife was determined to give us them and she is so sweet! We are hoping her son is getting baptised soon, we arent sure about the entire family. We bought them a cake (which is one of the photos) for their sons birthday, but I should add that i promise they are a happy people even though the picture doesnt look like it! 

So we walk about five miles a day and i absolutely loveeee it!  This is also another reason i love my ugly sister missionary shoes hahaha. My area is a tad hot but not really its pretty perfect! Xela (another name for quetzaltenango) is a lot colder, but im about a 3 hour busride away from there. I am always exhausted by the end of the day and go right to sleep! We have lunch with the members every day and I actually love the food! They eat tortillas with EVERYTHING HERE!! even spaghetti!! They just love their tortillas!! We dont ever have time for dinner so I just enjoy by breakfast and big lunch and continue my day! I actually love it and I feel a lot healthierright now. 

Well my emotions are all over the place. I miss home and my Mom hugs, but I know this is where Im supposed to be and I know im gonna start loving it soon. 

This week I learned that prayers work! My mom sent me an awesome quote last week that talks about ¨He will hold your hand when the walk is long or the water is cold if you just invite him to¨¨ oh boy i have invited him to a lot this week! And my prayers were answered multiple times. You just have to ask!! 

Love you!!! 

Jesse

  Not big smilers, but promise they are really happy people.  We took this awesome family a birthday cake.

My wall

A blue dress a sweet and humble member insisted I have.

Hermana Jesse Thompson -1st Area... HueHuetenango (prounounced way way) Guatemala

My new companion.  She's from Peru!

All the Hermanas in Quetzaltenango

Jesses Apartment

Hola Familia!!!! 

Let me just say my subject of the email explains it all. I am snow white because i am the whitest person here and everyone else is dwarfs because they are all so tiny!!! So lets start with leaving the CCM. The club next door had a little firework show in celebratino of us leaving..okay not really for us but we like to think so! Also, in my area there are fireworks like every single day!!! People do that at any hour for peoples birthdays. unfortunately as missionaries we are not allowed to use fireworks, but im sure there will be fireworks on my birthday ahaha. 

So I love my companion, shes a sweethart!! When we arrived there were 5 gringas (aka white girls) and I think 4 latinas so there were 9 trainer hermanas waiting for us. Anyways, I got put with the shortest latina and the only latina who didnt speak english so life has been quite the party! She is the sweetest, but its a shame I cant understand her because I bet she is even sweeter than I think haha. She kills the spiders and is half my size! Since our language barrier is a issue i point and she kills. we make a greta team. She also lost like 40 pounds in my area cause she has been in this same spot for like 5 months I believe. She only has four months left so Ill probably be her last companion. She has the biggest spirit and the people love her here!

So back to this language barrier issue. I can understand her ususally, but I really cant understand anyone else here. I don't know what they taught us in the MTC but its definitely not the same thing we learned in the CCM. But thats okay!!! My area is called HueHuetenango (prounounced way way) and is a very very poor area but I love it. I feel like im on a very long camping trip without the smores, but that okay cause i get the spirit! haha Everything is green here! They call Guatemala the eternal spring for a reason haah. 

There are a million dogs here, but in the mtc they told me if I touched tehm I was going to die so thats comforting. Every night i go to bed to a chorus of dogs howling!! haha  I love our apartment. The other Hermanas say it's the worse of everyone's but I love it!

So back to the part about me being white and tall. I must be famous here or something because I turn many many heads. I am taller than everyone and whiter, but i will say its not the greatest attention. Most of the time its guys whistling and saying hi honey or stuff in english. Its pretty annyoing but Ive learned to ignore it! The bummer part about the height is that Guatemala was not made for tall people! My head hits the bus roofs and I usually duck when entering houses. Everyone looks at my companion, then at me and says ¨mas grande¨haha here its socially acceptable tocall people fat so im just thankful no one calls me gordita haha. 

The people here are so great! i just wish i could understand them!! We have taught lessons on the floor, in the dark, and much more. They are so humble here and have literally nothing. We were walking on the main road when my companions went off the side into the mountain and we ended up at this little house. These people had wood for a bed and one bench, yet they were so happy with who they were!! The spirit was so strong in that lesson it was amazing and i know they really want to strive to come unto Christ. 

I haven't had super strange food yet and my tummy is still going strong! I did have watermelon with syrup and spam, that was strange. We have lunch with the members every day which I love! we only eat breakfast and lunch because we have to work during dinner, but thats okay with me! My mom said she will post the photos on my blog.  Its crazy cause you can cross the street and there's an american mall! Yet on my side its dirt roads and people without walls or a roof. 

This week was hard!!! When I arrived we took a three hour bus ride to my area in a school bus with tons of people. they just squish us all in there! A little man half my size came and took my heavy bags and off we went! It was crazy! Im still in culture shock! 

Love and miss you! 

I do have a change of address. I have received stuff to my old address and this is the same one but its more exact so for now on use this. 

Hermana Jessica Thompson

Mission Guatemala Quetzaltenango Mission

5A Calle 14-35 Zona 3

09001 Apartado Postal 206

Quetzaltenango Guatemala

Just added that part at the end! I love letters and will write back soon.   And love the ones I havent gotten too! haha

love you all!!!!

Jesse, Hermana Thompson, the Gringa. 

Only 5 more days left with my MTC family in Guatemala City...then off the Quetzaltenango

Last week in the MTC

Subject: My last few days of warm showers

Hola!!!

 

Well everyone! this is the email weve all been waiting for! (okay so its the one I've been waiting for.  This is the last letter from the MTC!!!!! In 5 short days Ill be on my way in a five hour bus ride with about 30 other missionaries on my way to Quetzaltenango and I could not be more esxcited!!!! I will miss the food, the pastries from the little pasty man, my companions, my teachers, the preident and his wife, my district, clean water, warm showers, but I am ready to go and begin the work!! By the way, I may not be able to write next week unless my mission presidents allow me to when I arrive next Tuesday, so dont miss me too much!

So for our Pday we went to the giant relief guatemala map which is a 3d to scale map of Guatemala! I am stoked that there is a volcano so I can go roast some marshmallows; it will be great! Then we went to a giant market in the middle of zona 1 and it was amazing! So many amazing things that people make here. I oved it!!! then we got back and had a volleyball tournament, too bad im not very good at volleyball (the bruises on my wrist are proof of my lack of skill).

Some of you may wonder how the spanish is coming along? Well a teacher told me my spanish is cute because the grammer is equivalent to a three year old so I have that going for me!!! haha  I'm working hard on it. 

The next day was probably the craziest day at the MTC! 30 new nortes came (one was my good friend from school hermana Cornelison so its been really fun having her here!) so they got our classrooms and becasue my district is the smallest (8 people, one elder went home because of medical issues) they decided to give us the cafeteria for our class, but people are always in there so we are called the nomads because we have class in about five differed places every day!

In other news. my bug bites I received have been upgraded, they went from dime sized to quarter sized. The Guatemalan bugs just love me here, lets hope the people do to!

Shout out to Presidente and Hermana Cox for inviting me and my companions up for chocolate chip cookies because i tthink we are their favorite. You wouldnt know by the way he comments about my lacck of volleyball skills, but they are pretty great!

I came on a mission because this church has brought me the most happiness in my life and I want other people to feel that happiness. But theres another reason. Because of my faith in the Book of Moromon. Its another testament of Christ and a record of Ancient American people. It is a volume of holy scripture that coincides with the bible and happened during Christs lifetime. Christ did visit the Americas, and I am so lucky to be in the area where it all happened. The book of mormon provides the fullness fo the Gospel and guidance of life. Everyone can come to know the truth of Christ through it. It promises neverending  happiness and inexpressible joy, and it blesses families! I know that and I can't wait to share it with the world and help people come closer to Christ! I have seen the blessings in my own life and its true.

 

Love ya all and talk to ya in Quetzaltenango!!!!

Hermana Thompson