Christmas and New Years emails

Hola Familia!

Happy New Year first of all! New years here is crazy at midnight everyone lights off fireworks and the streets are just crazy for a solid 20 minutes because everyone is shooting off fireworks! Also it`s apparently a tradition that decorations for New Years are all yellow, so as we`re walking around last night and today the streets are littered with yellow balloons and used fireworks. Man it`s crazy.

It was awesome to talk to you guys last week! It seems like Christmas is pretty much the same! That`s awesome that Jordan`s home! Is he gonna go study?

The week before Christmas I got transferred to a new area! I am now in the Magnolias ward. I live in an area called Santa Maria right by a school that`s up on a hill called colegio Santa Maria. (A quick side note is that I google street viewed our house and it doesn`t exist so you won`t be able to see where we live unfortunately). There are a lot of hills here! My legs are gonna be like steel by the end of this transfer. My new companion is Elder Cocentino from Santa Fe Argentina - he has about 6 months in his mission, two transfers more than me and is 19 years old. Something interesting is he knows how to freestyle rap in Spanish and it`s gotta be the coolest thing I have ever heard, I`ll see if he`ll let me send a video.

The ward here is Magnolias is huge, there are two other companionships of missionaries is the ward and there are consistently over 200 members in sacrament meeting every Sunday. The majority of the members here are recent converts within 1 or 2 years. The missionaries here baptize a lot of people. Which leads me to Miguel. Miguel is 13 years old and got baptized this week! He is really cool and knows a lot about the church, he has been coming to church with his parents for a month and really enjoys it. When I came to the area my companion had already invited him to be baptized. His parents have been taking the discussions too but unfortunately like many couples I have met here, they are not married. But we are going to continue to work with them to hopefully set a marriage and baptism date in January.

Mama I liked what you sent about having faith rather than fear. I have seen that here in many different ways. As I missionary my purpose is to invite all people to come unto Christ (invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo) and I have seen that working with faith is such a huge part of making that invitation. Jesus Christ invited people to come and follow him, that invitation is extended still today. There are people that have shown that they are ready to change their life in order to follow Jesus Christ. I love the scripture in Matthew 11 that says

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavyladen, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I ammeek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto yoursouls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

When we have faith in our Saviour he will help us find rest unto our souls, he knows how to sucor his people according to their infirmities. He is my Redeemer and I know that through him I can be clean of my sins and find peace. Yo se que vive mi Señor.

Love you guys,

Elder Thompson

CHRISTMAS EMAIL:

Hola Familia!

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas. I got another surprise this past week. I got transferred to the another side of the mission! My new ward is Magnolias and my companion is Elder Cocentino from Argentina. He has been out on his mission for just slightly longer than I have - 6 months. We are one of 3 companionships in this ward. There like 225 active members and about 100 of them are converts within the last year. It´s crazy.

 Chirstmas is a really good time to remember God´s gift to us - his son Jesus Christ. He came to this world and was born to be our Savior and Redeemer. He came in humble circumstances and lived a humble life. He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemani and on the cross so that we could overcome the obstacles that we fce in our everyday lives. He lives and he is my Redeemer. I love you guys!

Before Christmas dinner at the zone conference​

Elder Jardine (Utah), Me, Elder Palomino (Peru), Elder Chicaiza (Ecuado

​At zone conference​

The district with Latino Santa - the Hermanas (Hermana Marquina from Peru and Hermana Parra from Argentina) in our district had a talent show in their ward this week and our district presented a sketch as part of their talent show - and after we took photos with Santa!​

Elder Cocentino 

The baptism

The view from my apartment