Lima Life

 Hola familia!

Guess what? I am currently writing from a smartphone! I did not think i would ever be doing this in my mission. It turns out we are part of the pilot program for all of south america. We are one of few missions with these smartphones. Its a great learning experience because I feel like an old person. I have to learn how to use technology again after 21 months. The great part is that we are using whatsapp which is a great way to stay in touch with members and investigators. We are able to maintain greater contact with them and help stregthen them between lessons.

Another big thing is that we found out that yet another apostle is coming to Lima! Elder David A. Bednar will be here on may 31st to meet with the missionaries. Its an exciting time to be a missionary. Haha but this week has been really good, to start off on monday we sent a member to go buy krispy kreme donuts for us from the centre of Lima which was super delicious. Also this week we had interviews with President Godfrey. I told him that my grandparents know the new mission Presidents parents and he was really surprised, we got a chance to talk about the mission and he told me a few experiences from his mission. I really admire President Godfrey he has taught me a lot of things during the course of my mission.

A story as well, the other day we are walking by some children and they ask us what country we are from, as usual we tell them we are from Canada and the United States but as we are walking away we here the kid go and say to his friends "one of them is from the united states and the other one is from JAPAN!" Good times. Also we found a little Peruvian boy who just happens to be a fan of the Utah Jazz. Good times.

This week we also started teaching Linda - she is 27 and has been going through some health problems. One of her friends presented her to us. She is super awesome and is super happy all the time. She smiles even when shes sad or crying. It was awesome because we did a tour of the church on saturday with her and she brought her mom. Then on sunday we sent a member to go pick her up, but what happened was we got to church and saw her sitting there with her boyfriend (who she also invited - the great part is that they talked about marriage a ton in sunday school) and when we talked to her she said that she talked to the member to see if he was going to pick her up and the member had slept in. So she came alone to church. How awesome! The Lord is preparing people to hear his restored gospel. We just need to look for them.

Anyways, looking forward a ton to this week. Tell grandma I said I love you!

Elder Thompson

AND FROM 2 WEEKS AGO:

This week obviously started with transfers - I did not get transferred! I am going to stay with Elder Powell another transfer which I am so excited about because this is the second time in my whole mission that I am going to have a companion for two transfers. Also one fun thing is that the new zone leader is my CCM companion Elder Calhoon! Interesting that my mission starts and ends with him.

Anyways, this week has been pretty chill. I told you guys about Johan who is going to be baptized in two weeks - that was exciting. We´ve also been working with his family. We´ve also been working with another family this week who are the Castillo family. They are cool, it´s a Mom and her two kids and her nephew. The Mom has been going through a tough time because she´s a widow and also lost her daughter - we had a chance to talk with her about the Plan of Salvation and also talk with her son and her nephew - they are both a little doubtful about a lot of things and have a lot of good questions. The good thing is they are willing to act because they came to a family home evening we invited them to.

I love being here on the mission, I realize a lot of times that there are things in Peruvian culture I just take for granted now - example like that all the women here greet people with a kiss on the cheek - I have had to dodge a few kisses in my mission. The people here are awesome, also the food. But most of all the part that makes me happy is being able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and have the oppotunity to help people down the same road I am trying to walk on. And in the process I realize what corrections and what course I want my own life to take.

I love you guys a lot!

AND FROM OUR CALL ON MOTHER'S DAY