Father's Day 2015

Buenos tardes mi familia!

Still here... in Madereros. Haha. This change is flying by, but I feel like I have been here in Madereros forever. We only have 2 weeks left of this change. It will be weird to have another companion next change because Elder Roca and I are so use to working together. We have a lot of fun in Madereros. It is a pretty crazy area. Drunks, druggies, and fights. Haha. I will share some stories when I get home just because they are better to tell in person. Elder Roca and I have a million impressions of the people that we do because there are so many characters. We are always laughing.

This past week wasn’t super eventful. We had a surprise zone meeting on Tuesday (see picture). On Wednesday it rained A TON! Then hail. It was hard to work because we were staying under coverage for a time and then just gave up and just got wet. I find myself switching pairs of shoes so one night one can dry while I use the others. We were supposed to have a noche de barrio and we were in charge of it, but then it got cancelled for the rain. The thing with Mexico, is people don’t have cars in the states, so when it rains, everyone treats it like it’s a snow day pretty much haha.

So I guess I will share about 2 of our investigators, Nancy and Maria. Nancy is 30 years old and then her Mom. Nancy has a 2 year old boy who makes a TON of noise. We had a FHE with our mission leader and his wife and a member with Nancy and Maria. We have been helping them prepare prepare for baptism on the 28th. We started talking about it at the FHE and she exploded. She said she didn’t know if she should get baptized. The next day we went to visit them and I had a feeling that they really should hear about the Plan of Salvation and the reason they are here and why baptism is important. We taught them super clearly about the plan. We ended up acting out the kingdoms so she would understand. We had a member with us, who has darker skin. So the member was the telestial kingdom, Elder Roca was the Terrestial kingdom and the gûero (the white guy) was the celestial kingdom. It was pretty funny. Anyway, after she understood the plan of happiness, she accepted to be baptized this week. She understands the Plan that God has for us. We are super excited for her and Maria and hope all goes well this week!

Today we had interviews with President. They were pretty good. He explained to me about conditional love and unconditional love. We need to have unconditional love where there are no conditions about our love. We love the people no matter what. That is one thing I am trying to always work on. 

Shout out to Dad yesterday! Happy Father’s Day! You are the best! 

This next week I think even more about our plan here on earth as it is the 6th anniversary of Clayton’s death. I miss him so much. I think one of the reasons it is the Plan of Salvation is because it literally SAVES us from the feelings of loss. I am so grateful for this Gospel and for our family. I know that we can all be together again one day.  I love you all!

-Elder Thomas

PS – Separate note to Dad that deserves posting:

Hey Dad! I know it was yesterday, but today is closer to father’s day than last week...HAPPY FATHERS DAY! You are the best. I am so grateful for you! You are the best. Even though I am in a different country I still feel like you are taking care of me and I can feel your love. I miss you so much. I could not ask for a better dad. Thanks for everything. You are such an example to me and I am so happy you are my Dad! Love you!