Hey everyone,
This week has been great and really busy. It has been kind of weird, because the district is totally different. Every missionary in Delano left, except for me. So I have been trying to help everyone figure out their areas as well keeping up with our own. The new missionaries here are all great guys. There are six Elders in the district now and they are all fun to work with and it is going to be a great six weeks. I can't believe week one is already over. My companion is Elder Jordan Myers and he is a really nice guy. He is from Georgia and knows Spanish really well. It'll be a great transfer.
So this week we have done a lot of biking. We let the other Spanish Elders have the car for the majority of the week so that they could figure out their area, so we stuck to bike for most of the week. It was pretty hot, but I am totally used to it by now. We found a bunch of new investigators so it has been great! We have found and taught a bunch of kids who are in high school and they are such great kids. The only problem we are running into is parental support. With the kids we are working with, like Erika, Evelyn, Jonathon, and Pedro, we are trying to involve the rest of the family and parents as much as we can. That will be our big focus for this coming week.
We also found Jose Villapudua this week. He is super cool. He was taught about a year ago and was close to being baptized, but he had a really hard time giving up smoking. This time he seems really dedicated. He says he has been waiting for the missionaries to come back for a long time and he is ready to give things another try. He is sincere and is on the right track. We visited him twice this week. The first time he told us he was smoking a pack of cigarettes per day. When we visited him this week, he told us that he was down to a half a pack per day. He is making progress already and we are excited for him! Tonight we are going to be having a family home evening with a family in the ward and he is coming.
A lot has been going on in Delano this week. We rode our bikes by the park and we got really excited because there was a huge festival/carnival going on and it looked like it was full of Hispanics. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a Philipino festival. We went and thought we were going to be able to talk with some Spanish speaking people, but oh well! They had some really interesting food there so we tried some of it. At least we had a pretty good lunch. Last night they had a huge fireworks show as the grand finale of the festival, so we watched from our apartment patio. It was pretty great.
This week Elder Myers and I got in a bike crash! hahaha When we bike, he usually follows me super close, so the other night I went to turn and his tire crashed into my tire. My gears and chain are kind of messed up so I have had to use the other Elder's bike. haha It was so funny. I will have to get that fixed soon.
This week I have been working a lot on my attitude, or trying to. Sometimes it is really easy to have a bad day, but it is always my choice. The other day we were busy biking across our area and it was super hot. I was thinking to myself how much I missed the cooler weather in Michigan. I had to catch myself and try to look at things with a better perspective. I tried to look at it in a different way. Pretty soon, I was thinking instead that I was probably getting a pretty good tan! I really am happy and enjoying my time in Delano. There are so many awesome people that I get to serve and work with. I hope you all have a great week. I miss and love you. Take good care.
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson
p.s. Also this week, I hit my 18 month mark! I have officially served a Sister mission! Woohoo!
This week has been great and really busy. It has been kind of weird, because the district is totally different. Every missionary in Delano left, except for me. So I have been trying to help everyone figure out their areas as well keeping up with our own. The new missionaries here are all great guys. There are six Elders in the district now and they are all fun to work with and it is going to be a great six weeks. I can't believe week one is already over. My companion is Elder Jordan Myers and he is a really nice guy. He is from Georgia and knows Spanish really well. It'll be a great transfer.
So this week we have done a lot of biking. We let the other Spanish Elders have the car for the majority of the week so that they could figure out their area, so we stuck to bike for most of the week. It was pretty hot, but I am totally used to it by now. We found a bunch of new investigators so it has been great! We have found and taught a bunch of kids who are in high school and they are such great kids. The only problem we are running into is parental support. With the kids we are working with, like Erika, Evelyn, Jonathon, and Pedro, we are trying to involve the rest of the family and parents as much as we can. That will be our big focus for this coming week.
We also found Jose Villapudua this week. He is super cool. He was taught about a year ago and was close to being baptized, but he had a really hard time giving up smoking. This time he seems really dedicated. He says he has been waiting for the missionaries to come back for a long time and he is ready to give things another try. He is sincere and is on the right track. We visited him twice this week. The first time he told us he was smoking a pack of cigarettes per day. When we visited him this week, he told us that he was down to a half a pack per day. He is making progress already and we are excited for him! Tonight we are going to be having a family home evening with a family in the ward and he is coming.
A lot has been going on in Delano this week. We rode our bikes by the park and we got really excited because there was a huge festival/carnival going on and it looked like it was full of Hispanics. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a Philipino festival. We went and thought we were going to be able to talk with some Spanish speaking people, but oh well! They had some really interesting food there so we tried some of it. At least we had a pretty good lunch. Last night they had a huge fireworks show as the grand finale of the festival, so we watched from our apartment patio. It was pretty great.
This week Elder Myers and I got in a bike crash! hahaha When we bike, he usually follows me super close, so the other night I went to turn and his tire crashed into my tire. My gears and chain are kind of messed up so I have had to use the other Elder's bike. haha It was so funny. I will have to get that fixed soon.
This week I have been working a lot on my attitude, or trying to. Sometimes it is really easy to have a bad day, but it is always my choice. The other day we were busy biking across our area and it was super hot. I was thinking to myself how much I missed the cooler weather in Michigan. I had to catch myself and try to look at things with a better perspective. I tried to look at it in a different way. Pretty soon, I was thinking instead that I was probably getting a pretty good tan! I really am happy and enjoying my time in Delano. There are so many awesome people that I get to serve and work with. I hope you all have a great week. I miss and love you. Take good care.
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson
p.s. Also this week, I hit my 18 month mark! I have officially served a Sister mission! Woohoo!