Trainee love!

Wow, what a week! So yes I am training! My new companion is Hermana Sharp! She just turned 20 and is from West Jordan Utah. She is so sweet and we are becoming great friends. She is excited to get to work. This is her first time learning Spanish so she knows un poquito but has a desire to learn. It was funny because on our first day she came out, right before a lesson she says, "So I can understand about everything but I can't speak". She was quiet during the whole lesson and then when we left. When we got outside she said "I didn't understand anything" haha. "Tell me what just happened!" haha. She is cute. 

We taught Omar and he has agreed to be baptized! The 27th of this month will be the date if he comes to church again this week so we are very excited. When we were teaching him the plan of Salvation I had to kneel down to use the table so we could use our picture cut outs. I knelt down and the carpet was wet but I couldn't do anything... come to find out their baby just peed there. So during our whole lesson I just knelt in the baby's pee haha. It was hilarious. Oh well, he agreed to be baptized on that date so it was worth the kneeling on the wet carpet.

WE GOT TO KEEP THE AREA WITH ALL THE INVESTIGATORS!! We live in the same area now in an apartment. It's mainly in East Sac and Carmichael and we got a part of the Elders area also.  Hermana White is training Hermana Cosby and they now have the farther area (Citrus heights, Orangevale, etc with one investigator but I know they are working hard and will make the area blossom with new potentials!)

Andrea is definitely making me worried. She has been listening a little bit to her sister-in-law who is a testigo de Jehova. She is saying she is confused. She feels good in our church but struggles when listens to her sister-in-law talks to her. She also hasn't been trying to stop drinking her coffee through out the week. She loved coming to church and she knows the gospel is true, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God but she is confused and needs to think about things. Tonight we are having a Noche de Hogar with her and her little boy Ismael and the Rojas Bustos. We are going to talk about the Restoration and hopefully she will understand more about how we are the only true church. Yes there are good people out in other churches and they are have some truth, but La Iglesia De Jesu Cristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias contains the fullness of the gospel. It will be fun tonight!

So I have truly gained a deeper love for reading from the Book of Mormon daily. Every time I read I thirst for more knowledge.  It truly is the word of God and a powerful missionary tool. Everything we need to know, teach and learn is contained in that book. I love how everything in it truly testifies of Jesus Christ. 

We picked up a new investigator this week named Francisco! He is a searcher! He says that he hasn't seen the Lord in his life a lot because of all this trials and hard times but he wants to! He prayed with us for one of the first time in years and said, "I am willing to do anything to know you and feel of your love". It was one of the most powerful and humble prayers I have ever heard. I am so excited to watch him grow and feel that he is a son of God. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! Seriously though, I get to invite people to come unto Christ all day. What could be better?? oh and during our lesson with Francisco his dog was sitting on Hermana Sharp's lap and just peed on her hahaha. True companionship, we both get pee on our skirts in the same week. You've just gotta laugh.

I feel so blessed to teach in Spanish. I truly love the language and am improving so much each day. I can't imagine coming out here to teach without already knowing some Spanish (it would be so hard). My goal is to sound like a "Mexicana" real soon. Especially by the time I get home. Hermana Bustos told us that we could come over to her house during language study and she would make our Spanish perfect. I am excited!

We met some crazy people (like really crazy). Carmen and Ricardo. They are 76 and 88. She said she has been praying for 6 months for someone to come by and teach her about God. She has had 4 heart attacks, is blind in one eye and has osteoporosis.  They are so sweet but crazy! They had all these weird ideas about our church and just grabbed our hands and started praying (and kissed us on the cheek). That was my first prayer circle.... not doing that again haha.  They both LOVE to talk, especially over one another. We taught them the about the restoration and they absolutely loved it. We invited them to be baptized in May and they said yes!! 

The work is truly moving along in our area and we are so blessed. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! :)

Con amor,

Hermana Thomas

My new companion Sister Sharp

WHAT!!??





Wow. What a week. So Transfer Tuesdays are SOO intense. It's like waiting to get your mission call all over again! You just go out and work all day and wait for President to call. So Last night we just got out of a lesson and were getting into the car and President Lewis calls. He starts by, "Hi Sister Thomas. How are you doing?" . I said "hi President. I'm great and you?" I wanted to say "Well, President I am nervous and feel like I'm going to throw up... haha". He said, "Sister Thomas. We have been fasting and praying a lot about you for next transfer. I know you haven't been out for very long but we are calling you to serve as a Trainer. Do you accept?" WHAT!!!?? So I said yes without hesitation. But what!??? I AM TRAINING!!!! There are Spanish sisters that have been here for months, even some who have been here for over a year that aren't going to train but The Lord and President thinks I can? Well its time to exercise the most faith I ever had and train a new sister. I am nervous beyond comprehension. But I am excited and putting my trust in the Lord. Do you think I can do it? haha. So I am staying in East Sac still. They are splitting our area though. I will be living in an apartment. I will still be in the same ward and zone but I am getting the area that was the farthest, that we never had miles to travel to (so starting fresh with like a few old potentials and no investigators). I will miss Andrea and Omar, but will still get to see them at church. I am going to work my hardest to make it the best area ever! I will still be in the same district as Hermana White but I will miss her as my companion. She has easily become one of my dear and life long friends!

Conference was amazing this week!! I hope everyone had the opportunity to watch it! We watched all the sessions in English and they had Spanish headset translators for our members and investigators. All the talks were amazing but Elder Cardon's talk on forgiveness was so powerful and really stood out to me. The Lord is willing to forgive us we just need to come to him and try our best to become like His son. Of course Elder Holland and Elder Bednar had powerhouse talks as well. I want to testify to what Elder Anderson said, it truly is "Missionary Fun" :). Elder Nelson's talk was great as well. We need everyone to catch the wave! The work is progressing and going forward and I am so glad I am a part of it out in the field but you are all apart of it as well!! We were able to watch the Sunday morning session with her. She really enjoyed it! We are going over tonight or Hermana White will be tomorrow to see what she felt. During our lesson with her last week I was able to promise her (through a prompting of the spirit) as a representative of Jesus Christ that she would feel the spirit and receive an answer to her prayers, questions and doubts about being baptized. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life as when I made that promised. It's amazing how the Lord will fill your mouth and spirit with words to say. I can truly testify of that. We got to talk with her for a minute after conference and she loved it and said she has a lot to think about. She loved the talks about marriage and being a parent and she got to see President Monson for the first time! She loved his talk and I know she felt his love and that he is a true prophet of our living God.

Funny story. Last week we were over at Hermana De Mexico's talking about referencias and she has a big fat cat. It was hanging around me. Finally it came and stood right by me (inside I am dying, because you know, I hate cats). All of the sudden it comes and sits on my lap. This big fat cat. I wanted to kick it off but she says "Wow Hermana. He doesn't like anyone, he wont even do that with me. Do you like cats?" what am I supposed to do? Tell her I hate them? haha. no. So I was all, "yeah, cats are great". I was dying. Hermana White was dying of laughter haha.

Hermana White and I were able to go to the temple this morning. It was beautiful. I have been so stressed thinking about training but by going to the Lord's house I felt comforted. He is the only one who could/can give me that peace of mind and confidence. We are so blessed to have temples here on the earth. The Sacramento Temple is gorgeous!! love you all so much. I am excited to meet my new trainee tomorrow morning. It will sure be an adventure!! Les quiero con todo mi corazon!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Thomas

P.s. I am going to miss Sister Schow so much! Luckily she had a blanket of a pic of her and her husband so I can always remember haha. Is this the greatest thing ever? haha. LOVE IT



 

 

 

Brother and Sister Schow Blanket

Sacramento Temple with companion Sister White

No Easter Feast for Us!

Wow, I can't believe its already Monday again. Time flies by! We had a great and interesting week here in East Sac! I hope you all had a great Easter and Happy April Fool's Day!! I bet you wished I was at home right now pulling my famous pranks on you! :)

Omar- Omar and his family took us out to dinner on Tuesday. It was really fun. We asked him about church and how he felt when he was there and he said, "I am so much happier. I want to be a better person now. I went to work on Monday and all my co workers told me I seemed different, happier. I want to be a member of your church!" It was like music to our ears when he said those last words. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! He is praying about April 20th. He doesn't know a lot yet, but he knows the gospel is true and that is start! I am so happy and excited to see how he progresses and watch his testimony grow.

Andrea- She came to church again! She is so excited for General Conference. When we taught her about prophets she loved it and said that would be amazing. I think that once she will be able to see President Monson talking to the world, it will become real for her and she will gain her own testimony through his love and character. I am excited. We are still just waiting for her to chose a date. We brought a calender and said choose a day! She said, "What about October??" we said, "No way!!!" we talked to her about April so she is praying about the 20th of April.

Ana- Ana is progressing very slowly but she is still showing progress. She loved the chapel tour but was unable to make it to church Sunday. We watched the restoration with her and asked her if she believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. She said, "I don't know if he was a prophet but he definitely was called of God to share his beautiful message..." We are going to have a great lesson on prophets tonight to make sure she understands! 

Thank you so much for the Easter package! The clothes are so great and all the fun letters and toys from Joce and Kandace were perfect. We got some great pics and then gave the bunny glasses to the kids at the ward Easter activity at the park on Saturday. It was fun and we (the missionaries) got to hide all the eggs haha. We have a fun and crazy ward. The pic is of my district at the activity! Also, Hermana White's mom sent her and I our very own Easter baskets. That was so nice of her!

This past week we went to the new missionary meeting! I got to meet back up with all the missionaries that came out to the field with the same day as me. We got to ask the President questions and have a testimony meeting. It was amazing to see how much everyone had grown in just one month. I was so excited to see Hermana's Pitcher and Hanson from the MTC! :) Also, one of the questions we got answered is super important. We heard all these rumors about email change and guess what!? WE CAN NOW EMAIL EVERYONE!! FAMILY, FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, ETC. He told us to limit our email with friends but we can now!! Everyone was like jumping for joy they were so excited haha.

They are going to open 13 new areas next transfer and they announced sisters will start using bikes! I hear it will be English Sisters first so we will see...! Also next week is transfers (since I'm training we should stay the same) but I will email Tuesday not Monday.

This week I have really learned more about the power of pondering scriptures. By pondering and meditating over scriptures throughout the day we can receive revelation. I was reading in Enos about how he prayed with his whole soul, "struggling with the spirit". If we pray and labor with all diligence we can receive answer. This is very important as a missionary. When I study I am studying for the needs of my investigators  Since I am thinking about them all day and how I can help them gain their own testimony, pondering what I read in the Book of Mormon can continually apply to them and help me know what to share to answer their prayers and questions. Que grandioso es my llamamiento! :)

I will leave you with a funny story. Hermana White and I went over to Herman Sanchez's house for Easter dinner. It was gross haha. I have never had something so yucky before in all my life but we had to eat it with a smile. I don't even remember what she called it but it was this huge fat meatball with an egg inside sitting in this grease soup stuff haha. We felt sick all night. But we just laughed about it after. I hope you had ham, potatoes and yummy stuff!

I am so grateful that Christ was resurrected so that we can return to live with God one day. I LOVE being a missionary and sharing this message with people. Most Hispanics believe in Christ so we just add onto their beliefs.  We had a hard time finding investigators last week, but we have some fun plans ahead. I love and miss you all! I am excited for Kevin and Morgan. The wedding pics look great and I bet it was fun to have the Meier's up from Texas. Love you!

Hermana Thomas

Happy Easter everyone.

Thank you Easton and Stratton for the Easter Bunny mask.

 

My district at the ward Easter party at the park.

Easter baskets for us?

The Greatest Joy in Life

Wow, what a week! I LOVE being a missionary. I didn't even know this much joy in life was possible. I love, lov,e love it. Every day I learn something new but this week I learned a lot. 1) The importance of prayer. What a wonderful and powerful tool it is. Prayer is a missionary's best friend. As I prayed more frequently each day I could feel the Savior's love stronger and more present and everything worked out better. 

ANDREA CAME TO CHURCH!!! I wanted to frolic around the church I was so happy! She came and brought her son Ismael (who is 8). She loved Sacrament and gospel principles. She knew all the answers in class and loved reading and participating. He also really enjoyed primary! We are going to try to have her finalize a day for baptism this week. Then she will be firm!! :) Sister Lewis, Mission President's wife, came out on Thursday night. Sister Lewis, Hermana White and I and we were able to teach Andrea. It was such a powerful lesson even though Sis. Lewis didn't understand the Spanish. We talked about living prophets and got Andrea excited for conference. We had Sis. Lewis testify of what a prophet has meant in her life and then we translated. Sis. Lewis said that she didn't understand a lot but she knew the spirit was present. Then she watched us do a planning session. She said that the mission is blessed to have Hermana White and I in it. It was a fun night to get to know her and feel of her love. It was like you mom, coming out to appointments with us.

I don't think I have told you about Omar yet! He also came to church on Sunday!!! He is actually friends with Hermano Garcia in the ward. He has been trying to get him to come to church for years. He came once like a year ago and said it was nice but really long. He said he had to sneak out and thought "get me out of here, 3 hours is way to much time" haha. He is so cool though. We have been teaching him and his wife a lot and they have 3 little kids. He said that he has been to a lot of churches before but never wanted to go back to any except our church. He came to sacrament and he said it was so uplifting and wants to be a better person. His wife is super catholic but she likes to listen but doesn't want to go to church (ours or theirs) because she is tired. They have been reading from the book of Mormon together though! They invited us over for dinner Tuesday night and we are going to teach them El Plan De Salvacion! He said last week he would be baptized if he knew it was true so I am hoping between church and reading the scriptures we can commit him to a date! He said he even had a dream about Jesus! 

So exchanges in South Sac were fun and interesting. Hermana Novacovich is super nice but way trunky. She goes home in 2 weeks. She also isn't the most obedient missionary so that was awkward but we were able to teach a lot of lessons. And everyone kept telling her that I have better Spanish than her and so I felt bad. We taught a lady named Luz and I was able to testify to her about the love Heavenly Father has for her. I have never felt such a strong love and power as I testified in that moment. I also got to teach the restoration a lot and as I stated Jose Smith's words of the first vision, again I felt this power that I can't describe. It was the spirit leaping out of me testifying and I again was reminded of how true this gospel is. Also we read about the great and abominable church in 1 Nephi 13 with her and she says, "This sounds like its describing the Catholic Church" haha. It was funny. We also taught his Catholic guy Jose all about the Restoration and he was so impressed. He was all "Wow, that is the exact organization as Christ had. Where does your prophet live, etc? he loved it and had lots of questions!

SHAYLA GIBB IS ENGAGED!!!?? I knew this would happen.... well I am really happy for her and Stephen and a little upset they don't want to wait for me to get back. June 7th. That is soon! You better send me her invitation. Tell her congrats and good luck! I am so happy for them both! I will be expecting a letter with a sincere disappointment that I wont be able to attend Tiff said Kait Manscill is also engaged! Crazy. Everyone will be married when I get back, cant wait! haha.

We visited the mission office this week to get some supplies and it was so fun. I felt like a celebrity. Everyone is so nice and wants to hear all about the work! President Lewis was also there so we can to talk to him for a few minutes. 

I decided that tracting is like Hide and Seek. All the Latino's are hiding in these White Areas and we have to go find them! I had my first days of tracting in the rain. Not gonna lie, it wasn't as much fun haha. 

We have an investigator Ana who is awesome! We were able to give her a recorrido de la capilla and she loved it! The missionaries have been teaching her for over a year now. She was a drop but we decided to go visit. We have had some great lessons with her and she is actually reading the Book of Mormon and praying and doing her compromisos so we added her! She is progressing but slowly. She might just be ready now!

That is so fun that Sister Holt is back! I cant wait to hear all about her stories one day! in 2 Nephi 16:10 it says, "Make the heart of this people fat.. and be converted". That is my goal. I want to make every one's heart fat. Filled with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I LOVE being a missionary. Every day I wake up and say a prayer. I ask for help that I can accomplish the Lord's work and I thank my Heavenly Father that I have this amazing opportunity to be his servant and invite others to come unto Christ. Have I told you yet how much I love it? I can;t even describe my joy. My favorite scripture Alma 26:16 sums it up. I love you and I hope you have a great week and a great Easter! Be safe! Estas en mis oracions diariamente!!

The pic is with the Rojas Bustos family! Hermano Bustos is a Recent Convert. We had a noche de Hogar with them monday and they invited us over for dinner Saturday!

Con Amor,

Hermana Thomas

Rojas Bustos Family

Crazy people, crazy week

I can't believe it's already Monday again, wow. Time just flies by out here!! I have some crazy things to tell you about this week!

CONGRATS DALLIN! Wow, the Netherlands!? That is awesome. Missions are the greatest things in the world. That is funny that he is leaving during the reunion. I am so excited for him! He is going to be such a great missionary! :) (Dallin is Taylor's cousin leaving July 24th for Belgium, Brussels, Netherlands speaking Dutch). Thank you so much for the package! I loved it! You had all my favorite things inside! You are the best family in the whole world! I am so lucky, its true. Oh and the elders were excited about the ties, thanks! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Bob last week! I hope he had a great day! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOCELYN this week! Do you have any fun plans? I hope you all have a big party and celebrate the two birthday's!

We have had some weird things happen. We go by every week to visit a potential Marta. Last time she had her mother over, and they are all devout Catholics. They love the Virgin de Guadalupe. Well her mom told us that she respects us that we are serving the Lord and talking about Jesus. She kept calling us prophets. So I told her that we are called of a prophet but we are only missionaries. She told me that I was wrong and that we are prophets. She was so impressed that we don't date or call boys on the phone haha. Not a big sacrifice, not gonna lie haha. Then we ran into this black guy named Petey. Some of the English Elders have been teaching him. He told us that he would rather have us, "The beautiful female missionaries" teach him. We told him we only teach in Spanish and he was willing to learn Spanish haha. Oh boy. He told us all about his life and his "baby mama". Luckily, we only teach Latino's haha. We also ran into a man that said something that made me really sad. He is from Mexico and is Catholic and told us that we can't pray to know which church is true. Whatever Chruch you grow up in is right. So I asked him if when he prays if he asks for things and he said yes, so I asked him "why can"t we ask God which is church is true then?" He just wanted to argue. So all we could do is testify that we know our church is true and we invited him to pray and ask God.

 

So finding people is pretty hard. On Thursday we tracked for over 3 hours with no results. We usually have to knock on people's doors that speak English and then ask them if they are any Spanish Speaking people in the apartments. (Since we have already visited most of the Spanish speaking people in that area/apartment).

 

Here is the Andrea update. She didn't come to church this week :( Her friends little boy has cancer so they had a little fundraiser for him yesterday. We did go over that night and they gave us fish tacos and we got to talk to her and her husband. We always invite her husband to join in on the lessons when we are there but he always says "Estoy ocupado". Last night we got to teach both of them and it went really well! He believe in Extra Terrestial stuff and had lots of questions so that was interesting but we invited him to church and everything and told him that some of this questions can be answered by coming to church. We are having a noche de hogar with la familia Rojas Bustos (the dad is a recent convert) today and we invited Andrea and her son (the dad has to work) so it should be really good. I am excited!!

 

I can't remember if I told you this but every week we have English Classes at the church. This week Hermana White and I taught. It was so much fun, we also get to learn a lot of vocab words in Spanish from they so it is beneficial for everyone. Jesus (menos activo) has been coming every week now and he even came to church one week so the work through classes is paying off!

Sis. Schow went to the dermatologist to have her skin tested for cancer.  They had to cut out a big chunk of skin off her nose. She needs daily wound care. Guess who gets to help her!? Me!! I love it. She always tells me, "I love having a little nurse in the home to help me". I think I love it more than her though haha.

 

Last night we had dinner with el obisbo and his family and the elders in our district. It was really good (and normal food haha) and we talked about how to help the ward out.

Well it's time for me to go to zone sports! We are playing soccer today, I'm excited! I have intercambios tonight and tomorrow with Hermana Novacovich in South Sac tonight so that should be exciting! I hope you had a great Dia De Dan Patricio! I love you all and miss you!

Con Amor,

Hermana Thomas

 

                                         Dinner with the Bishop, his family and our district.

            Alan, age 8.  The Pinto's family pet chameleon.
        Look Stratton and Easton I am holding a mini-dragon!

Querida Familia!

How is everyone doing? It was another great week out in East Sac! Hopefully, I can remember everything!

We met a Diane Bounds. She is a RM! She got back from the Concepcion, Chile mission last month. She knows Cy!! (Who doesn't though haha). She comes out to appointments with every once in awhile and is so great!

Now let me tell you about the best part of my week. Milagro Wednesday!  BEST DAY EVER! We went to visit a lady named Marta who was listed as a potential from a few weeks ago, and she actually let us in! We were able to talk about the restoration and she seemed pretty interested. She gave us a return appointment for this week so I am excited! 

Then when we had dinner with Hermana Jimenez. It was my turn to share the spiritual thought. I was getting ready to share the scripture that I had prepared but I had a feeling to do a different one. I wasn't sure why, but I just went with what the spirit was telling me. I shared in 1 Nephi 19:23 about likening the scriptures unto us. I asked her how she does that in her life after she reads. She then told us that she can't really read very well because the writing in the Book of Mormon is so small so she hasn't been able to read the Book of Mormon for years now! She has had people just read to her. I am so grateful I listened to the prompting of the spirit so we could help her! We went and brought her one of those huge ones so she can read (kinda like the one's you and dad have you use when you don't want to wear your glasses haha). She was so grateful and excited. 

Now, are you ready for the best part of the day? We went over to teach Andrea about the doctrine of Christ. The lesson was going so well and the spirit was so strong, I started shaking like crazy and then extended my first baptismal invite. Andrea said YES!! It was the greatest feeling in the world. She said it is something she wants to do. She knows that we are representatives of Jesus Christ. We haven't committed her to a date yet because she said she still wants to learn a lot more and still needs to come to church 3 times, but hopefully we will be able to do that this week. It seriously was amazing. Definitely a "The District 3" moment and we were able to complete all of our Goals Wednesday. Wow, do I love the mission.

Some random things: There are SO many squirrels here! And I think they are flying ones because about 90% of the time I see them in the air. Oh, everyone thinks we are Jehovah's witnesses at first. There are a lot around here and they go out all day on Saturday's. Don't worry, they soon notice we are LDS since we are two white girls speaking Spanish haha. Everyone is so impressed if you can speak Spanish and you aren't Latino haha. We ran into like 3 people this week that were baptized into our church when they were in their 20-30's but then "found another way". It is so sad because all they want to do is argue or fight. All we can do is invite them to read the book of Mormon and come to church again.

We teach English classes every Friday night for the members in the ward and investigators. It is so fun and I learn some stuff too! haha. Let's just say I'm better at Spanish.

Food this week. Well I tried my first Chicharones y papa's con chile y limon. I LOVED it! Who would have thought that Hermana Thomas now LOVES chile y limon and comida picante? Tiff would be so proud haha. We also went over to Hermana Jiminez's house for dinner one night and she has a chicken in her front room. Kept in this little cage for like a cat. Gotta love it. Hermana Pallares also made us pupusas one night. They are so good! We also have mole every once in awhile. It was good and has this chocolate sauce stuff mixed in. I am loving this spicy Mexican food. I even eat like peppers and stuff now. Oh I also had cactus salad. It was pretty good! No more picky Hermana Thomas!

We found some potentials last week and added 4 new investigators so hopefully we will have a successful week! I love and miss you all so much but I truly am the happiest I have ever been. Missionary work is definitely tough, pero vale la pena!

Con el amor de todo mi corazon,

Hermana Thomas

Arriving in Sacramento, CA.  Mission President and Sister Lewis.

                        Trying new foods. Cactus salad and Chicharones!                                 

A new kind of LOVE

Hola querida familia!!! How is everyone doing? This is THE greatest thing of my life. I can't tell you how much I love serving a mission. It really is everything I ever thought it would be and more! It is no longer just a dream! On Thursday Hermana White and I were walking down the street and I looked at us and then the ghetto apartments, the sun shinning down and it hit me. It's real! I am really here and am a real missionary. I couldn't imagine anything better.

Where to even start? Well Hermana White is my trainer and new companion! I love her so much! She has only been out for about 7 months but her Spanish is amazing and I am learning so much from her. She works so hard and is such a great teacher and so sincere. She is from Massachusetts and went to BYU before her mission. She is 21 and we will be together for my birthday and possibly her's too! We get a long so well, I just love her!

Now for the area. We are serving in East Sac in the Del Norte Area. We have a HUGE area to cover (because we are the only Spanish speaking sisters in the area). We cover Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, Orangevale and a little of East Sacramento. We live just outside our area in Carmichael with a member. Her name is Sister Schow. She is 82 years old and is a hoot! I love her to pieces. The mission home is actually just outside our border and so it is in the Roseville mission. That is where we had dinner the first night, it was so fun.

Some fun facts about the California Sacramento Mission. It is the best mission in the world. It is also one of the most diverse mission's in the world! We have over 12 languages: English, Spanish, Cambodian, Mhein, Marshallese, Tongan, ASL, Laotian, Hmong, Korean, Russian and Chinese. Crazy huh? I am blessed to be in an all Spanish district (which is rare). It is Hermana White and I, Elder's Rizo and Austin (who are actually the Zone Leader's as well, rare to have Spanish one's) and Elder's Lee and Torres. They are great! We had our first district meeting Friday and I really enjoyed it! We also have 3 other English speaking companionship's. Elder Hinckley (English speaking) is serving here and his dad served her 30 years ago!! cool huh?

We are so blessed to have soo many great members here. They LOVE the missionaries. We have dinner appointments at least 3-4 times a week. This week we ate with Hermano Garcia. He was so kind and made really good rice. I love having dinner and talking in Spanish. It is the best! We have like 5 dinners this week from other members of the ward and they know I'm new so they are making authentic stuff, I'm excited!

Something really cool are mission does is MIRACLE CALLS!! Whenever anyone in our zone has a miracle happen (a great lesson, someone wants to get baptized, investigator came to church, etc) they call and leave a message to the Zone Leaders and they send it out to everyone and you get so excited and pumped for each other!

I met the Pinto family this week. They are less active, which doesn't make sense to me because they have such strong testimonies they are just flojo. They are amazing though! Leslie is 15 and we go once a week for an hour and do service and help her with her homework (English) because she is failing.

We went and taught Angelica Mora and her family. She is a recent convert. Wow do I love her. She is so strong and and this desire to continue to learn everything. It is amazing to me how easy it comes to love people out here. Especially the Latinos.

I also met two investigators! Susana! We went by and her son told us she wasn't home, so we left and then Hermana White thought we should call her so we did and she told us to come back! Her friends were over and her one friend talked the whole time about how we has been baptized into every church because they are all true haha. It was very interesting. We tried to remind her of her baptism and to read from the Book of Mormon. I got to testify to her and it felt AMAZING.

We taught Andrea last night. She is our most progressing investigator. We taught her the importance of el dia de reposo and we are going back Wednesday so hopefully she will read and keep her compromisos!

Church yesterday was probably the weirdest, funniest thing of my life haha. At 11 there was like 5 people. Then at like 11:10ish everyone came. They aren't really the best at following schedules that well. Testimony meeting was amazing and the spirit was so strong! RS was very interesting. Hermana Sanchez (yahoo, already loved her once she told me her name) taught about fasting. She said she fasted for one whole week! Fasted from food and water. She also didn't shower because Jesus didn't either when he fasted for 40 days... haha. She took it very literal. I'm over in the corner dying because the Elders brought a new investigator and I bet she was thinking in her mind that we are crazy people, fasting and not showering for a week. Luckily, Hermana de Mexico (that's her real name, so cool) corrected her and told her you fast because you want to and its only for 2 meals. It was interesting haha. Then they left the last 15 minutes for testimonies and the Hermana's would get up and say stuff and others would shout out loud their approvals and stuff. Example "I have a strong testimony of fast" oh yeah, me too! haha Hermana White and I were cracking out.

Well I love it here so much. I am so grateful that I already knew Spanish before because it would be so hard. I love being immersed. I feel at home when I speak and teach in Spanish. It is the language that will be spoken in the Celestial kingdom, no doubt. Verdaderamente, estoy viviendo el sueno. les quiero muchisimo!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Thomas

 

We live in the home of Sis. Schow

 

My new companion beautiful companion Sis. White

Sis. Schow let's me study in her snuggie!