Hello everyone!
Well I guess this is really it. This will be the last email I send home because next Monday I will be in Tempe going through all the "going home" stuff. It has certainly been quite a crazy road with good times and bad times and scary times and funny times. I have learned a lot and I still feel like I am learning. It is just hard to believe it is coming to a close. When I look back on it I can still remember the feelings or things I was thinking in all of my area's and even the feelings I had in the MTC and right before I left. When I look at it that way it feels so much like a dream but when I look back and think about how 2 whole years have come and gone and now I start school in two weeks...it's just crazy!
This last week was the best weeks statistically of my mission. We taught 28 lessons this week. We only knocked on two doors this week trying to contact someone, other than that we were teaching in a lesson. We probably spent 24 hours teaching this last week. It was truly a blessed week. Things that happened just don't usually happen. There truly were miracles this week. One in particular happened Wednesday afternoon--we had a member come with us and in 2 hours we taught 5 lessons. It was flawless, just one person after another we got in, taught, committed them to do something, and got out. That just doesn't happen.
On Monday at the close of pday we went out and I just drove the car to whoever's home came into my mind. The first place we went to was an old investigator who wasn't home but we then walked around the corner because another person popped into my head. We knocked on his door and he peeked out and gave us his number and said come back the next day. Well when we go the next day he said that no more than 5 minutes before we knocked on the door he was praying expressing some anger towards God because of his living condition and some other challenges and prayed that if He was really there something would happen. Well, we came strolling up and there we were and he knew that God heard his prayer. During the lesson he thanked us for coming by and for talking with him.
In my 29 weeks here in the area, we have gotten at least 1 new investigator every single week and going into Saturday we didn't have one yet. Right after dinner we headed out and again I just started driving and let whoever's name that came into my head be the one we would go by. Well a couple that we are teaching in our area came to mind and so we went there. We pulled up and there were 4 or 5 kids out, all of which we have talked to before and have played street soccer with. We started talking to the oldest kid out there who happened to be this young girl. She began to tell us she lost her Book of Mormon and would like another copy. Both of our ears shot up and we asked how old she was--8 years old-- then where she was living--she happened to just move into the same house as our investigator's and will be there for the school year. She then preceded to tell us that she took the lessons in Casa Grande and even remembered their names and wanted to learn from us now and come to church with us. We taught her a little bit right there on the doorstep, SHE even prayed, and off we went with the streak still going. It was almost too humorous to even think about.
And in our family ward that is on fire right now, all of our investigator's made HUGE steps toward baptism. Two of them will be this weekend and I will get to perform the baptism for one of the them. Another lady I have taught and have grown close to since March said she wants to get baptized and wants to get baptized before I leave but will probably be in the next month or two. This lady is by far the most intelligent investigator I have ever had and knows so much and has made remarkable steps. The ward is helping her out so much because her husband died in January, her family hates her and she has no one else. She now has shared her testimony twice in church and says she "feels at home." And our other family that is getting baptized September 24th was able to come to the Temple with us and we were out taking pictures and letting them "touch the temple." The 11 year old said when she touched it she felt "bubbly and happy inside" and it gave her goosebumps. It was such a neat experience getting to go with them to the temple.
I know Heavenly Father's hand has been such a part of all of this. A lot of prayers, a lot of faith and a lot of stepping forward even in the midst of the unknown has brought all of this. The spirit of missionary work is finally in the area. It has been a long, hard but fun road and I will forever cherish these memories from my mission.
Thank you to all of you for all that you have done for me and all the support that has been given to me!
I will talk to you all soon!!!
See you on the other side =)
with love,
Elder Thomsen
Monday, August 15, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
E-Mail August 8, 2011
Hello everyone!
Well, this last week is probably one of the highlight weeks of my mission. First off I would like to thank everyone that wished me a happy birthday or sent a card or note or package. I am very grateful for that! It was a great way to get this week going so thank you. =)
We were very busy this week. We taught 22 lessons this week amidst having a whole day we weren't able to work because of another meeting. It was crazy! This week was also special because two people who we thought wouldn't be able to be baptized before I left had some incredible spiritual experiences and "aha!" moments and now they will be baptized on August 20th if all goes well. I am so excited! This week was just such an amazing week. We didn't have time to think about anything else besides where we were already late to when it came to lessons. One of the other families we are teaching is doing really well too. Last night we had a lesson with them and the dad, who is a less active member coming back into activity in the church, bore his testimony to his wife and kids on the Atonement and repentance and began to cry and you could just feel the light coming from him. He is overcoming a few habits he kicked a month or so ago so on September 24th he can baptize his wife and daughter and niece. They are going strong and loving the ward and church and the kids love it so much too. I am really excited and happy for them and know they will reach their goal of getting to the temple next year to be sealed as a family.
Another one of our people we are teaching we met with 4 times this week and spent over 6 total hours this week in lessons with her. We made some incredible progress though. We basically dedicated this whole week to going through the Plan of Salvation with her and taking it step by step. She bore her testimony again in church yesterday and that was pretty special. Her faith is increasing every single day and she is getting closer and closer to joining the church. She has said that she feels so at home here and in her testimony personally bore her testimony saying how grateful she is "for Elder Thomsen and Elder Walmsley and for all they have done for me."
Sunday at church I bore my testimony in 2 of the 3 wards we cover. I was the very first person in the family ward to get up and the second person in the singles ward. I felt like out of all days for me to get up and share my testimony that was the day I needed to most of all. It was a bittersweet testimony Sunday because it will be my last one as a missionary until I serve a mission again later on in life with my wife. After Sacrament meeting in one of the wards this lady came running up to me and the first words out of her mouth were "Thank you so much for sharing your testimony today. It inspired me to know what to say to my friend about the church." Come to find out this lady was from Utah and happened to stumble into our ward for church, not knowing why she felt like she should go to this ward. She also said that she could feel the spirit so strongly as I bore my testimony of families and she said that it made her begin to cry and even when she was telling me her story she began to get emotional. It was a very special feeling to know that my testimony meant something to her and made a difference in her life. Then in the next ward-our singles ward- I got up and shared my testimony on temples and how I love them so much and how that is one way Heavenly Father shows his love for us. It was neat because after I shared mine, almost every single person that went up shared their testimonies on temples too. =)
I have done quite a bit of thinking this last week about why I stayed here in Chandler for so long and why in the first place I was even sent here to the area. I have realized that I was sent here so I could make some kind of impact and develop friendships and bonds with people so not only could they grow but I could grow as well. I feel very strongly that some of the friendships I have developed here have "saved" people from ultimately leaving the church or never coming back. I have only had 8 baptisms here in the area but the work I have been able to be a part of with people becoming active in the church again and the work I have been able to do with some of my recent converts have been just as special and dear to me as a baptism would be. I know I was sent here to Chandler for specific reasons and I know Heavenly Father needed me here for so long so I could be an instrument in his hands.
Well, thank you again for all the support and all the prayers. Next week will be my last email as a missionary...it's so surreal....I hope everyone is doing well!
with love,
Elder Thomsen
Well, this last week is probably one of the highlight weeks of my mission. First off I would like to thank everyone that wished me a happy birthday or sent a card or note or package. I am very grateful for that! It was a great way to get this week going so thank you. =)
We were very busy this week. We taught 22 lessons this week amidst having a whole day we weren't able to work because of another meeting. It was crazy! This week was also special because two people who we thought wouldn't be able to be baptized before I left had some incredible spiritual experiences and "aha!" moments and now they will be baptized on August 20th if all goes well. I am so excited! This week was just such an amazing week. We didn't have time to think about anything else besides where we were already late to when it came to lessons. One of the other families we are teaching is doing really well too. Last night we had a lesson with them and the dad, who is a less active member coming back into activity in the church, bore his testimony to his wife and kids on the Atonement and repentance and began to cry and you could just feel the light coming from him. He is overcoming a few habits he kicked a month or so ago so on September 24th he can baptize his wife and daughter and niece. They are going strong and loving the ward and church and the kids love it so much too. I am really excited and happy for them and know they will reach their goal of getting to the temple next year to be sealed as a family.
Another one of our people we are teaching we met with 4 times this week and spent over 6 total hours this week in lessons with her. We made some incredible progress though. We basically dedicated this whole week to going through the Plan of Salvation with her and taking it step by step. She bore her testimony again in church yesterday and that was pretty special. Her faith is increasing every single day and she is getting closer and closer to joining the church. She has said that she feels so at home here and in her testimony personally bore her testimony saying how grateful she is "for Elder Thomsen and Elder Walmsley and for all they have done for me."
Sunday at church I bore my testimony in 2 of the 3 wards we cover. I was the very first person in the family ward to get up and the second person in the singles ward. I felt like out of all days for me to get up and share my testimony that was the day I needed to most of all. It was a bittersweet testimony Sunday because it will be my last one as a missionary until I serve a mission again later on in life with my wife. After Sacrament meeting in one of the wards this lady came running up to me and the first words out of her mouth were "Thank you so much for sharing your testimony today. It inspired me to know what to say to my friend about the church." Come to find out this lady was from Utah and happened to stumble into our ward for church, not knowing why she felt like she should go to this ward. She also said that she could feel the spirit so strongly as I bore my testimony of families and she said that it made her begin to cry and even when she was telling me her story she began to get emotional. It was a very special feeling to know that my testimony meant something to her and made a difference in her life. Then in the next ward-our singles ward- I got up and shared my testimony on temples and how I love them so much and how that is one way Heavenly Father shows his love for us. It was neat because after I shared mine, almost every single person that went up shared their testimonies on temples too. =)
I have done quite a bit of thinking this last week about why I stayed here in Chandler for so long and why in the first place I was even sent here to the area. I have realized that I was sent here so I could make some kind of impact and develop friendships and bonds with people so not only could they grow but I could grow as well. I feel very strongly that some of the friendships I have developed here have "saved" people from ultimately leaving the church or never coming back. I have only had 8 baptisms here in the area but the work I have been able to be a part of with people becoming active in the church again and the work I have been able to do with some of my recent converts have been just as special and dear to me as a baptism would be. I know I was sent here to Chandler for specific reasons and I know Heavenly Father needed me here for so long so I could be an instrument in his hands.
Well, thank you again for all the support and all the prayers. Next week will be my last email as a missionary...it's so surreal....I hope everyone is doing well!
with love,
Elder Thomsen
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
E-Mail August 1, 2011
Hello everyone!
Well another week has been completed and now there are only 2 more emails after this one.....it is rather scary I must say. I am excited to move on in life but I don't think it has set in yet. I really don't think it will until my last week in the mission. It's all good though. This week should fly by simply because we are going to be so busy. We planned roughly who and when we would be having lessons with this week so it should be exciting because if all goes to plan we should be producing 20+ lessons this week. I am excited!
This last week was a pretty good week. We found out that the family that we would hopefully be baptizing on the 20th won't be able to because they have family that have already booked plane tickets for September 24th. It'll be all good though. And the other couple we thought we could is a little further away then we had originally anticipated so they will come eventually. We still have our one girl in our singles ward that wants me to baptize her August 20th so that should be good. It's been a bitter sweet week because they are all coming along just fine, just not at the speed I want them too but thats mission life. As long as they get baptized sometime I will be happy.
We spent the majority of Saturday working outside of our mission. We were at the Mesa Temple Visitor center from 10 am to 5 pm so that was crazy. We went with two different families that we are currently working with so that was pretty neat. They have redone a few things there so it was nice to have a change of scenery! The spirit is still strong there so it is all good!
Besides all of that there hasn't really been too much going on excitement wise. I'm still running/biking--I biked 5.2 miles in 14 minutes so that is pretty sweet! Granted it's on a stationary bike but still!
Well thank you for all the support and prayers! Please keep praying for the area and the people we are working with! I will talk to you all soon!!!
with love,
Elder Thomsen
Well another week has been completed and now there are only 2 more emails after this one.....it is rather scary I must say. I am excited to move on in life but I don't think it has set in yet. I really don't think it will until my last week in the mission. It's all good though. This week should fly by simply because we are going to be so busy. We planned roughly who and when we would be having lessons with this week so it should be exciting because if all goes to plan we should be producing 20+ lessons this week. I am excited!
This last week was a pretty good week. We found out that the family that we would hopefully be baptizing on the 20th won't be able to because they have family that have already booked plane tickets for September 24th. It'll be all good though. And the other couple we thought we could is a little further away then we had originally anticipated so they will come eventually. We still have our one girl in our singles ward that wants me to baptize her August 20th so that should be good. It's been a bitter sweet week because they are all coming along just fine, just not at the speed I want them too but thats mission life. As long as they get baptized sometime I will be happy.
We spent the majority of Saturday working outside of our mission. We were at the Mesa Temple Visitor center from 10 am to 5 pm so that was crazy. We went with two different families that we are currently working with so that was pretty neat. They have redone a few things there so it was nice to have a change of scenery! The spirit is still strong there so it is all good!
Besides all of that there hasn't really been too much going on excitement wise. I'm still running/biking--I biked 5.2 miles in 14 minutes so that is pretty sweet! Granted it's on a stationary bike but still!
Well thank you for all the support and prayers! Please keep praying for the area and the people we are working with! I will talk to you all soon!!!
with love,
Elder Thomsen
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