Hey everyone,
I hope you had a wonderful week and 4th of July weekend. I am doing well. This week has been hot, hot, hot, but on the bright side, everyone has been telling us that this week it will cool off with highs in the 90's. Woohoo!!! This week has been good though. Jose and Mayra are doing great, and are getting closer and closer to being able to get married. This Sunday we met with them and the Bishop to talk about it. All they have to do is get their marriage licence and then we can have their wedding at the church. They are excited and it is really cool because this is something they have wanted for a very long time, but they haven't been able to afford a wedding. They have been struggling for quite a while, but things are finally starting to turn around for them. Jose was able to find a good paying job and they have finally saved up enough money to take care of some legal stuff and get married. It is definitely cool to see how patient they have been. Sometimes we have difficult circumstances and instead of worrying about getting through it, we need to put our trust in the Lord and trust that He will provide for us if we do our best. That is exactly what they have been doing and it is nice to see things starting to go their way.
This week we knocked a bunch of doors in the wonderful California sun! We were lucky and met some really great people. The other night we decided to go to the wealthy part of our area that we hadn't really visited a lot. We were talking to anyone we could find in one of the neighborhoods and we met the Espinoza family. They are awesome! They say that they talked to missionaries a long time ago and that they really missed them. So they invited us to come back on Sunday and we did. It is a pretty big family. It is the mom and dad along with two older daughters and two younger boys. They are so nice and are really interested in learning more. It was really cool, when the mom opened the door and let us inside, everyone came down to the living room to talk with us. Usually when we visit someone, the rest of the family goes and hides in their room or leaves or something. hahaha..... But the whole family came and sat down and they are awesome. We shared a message with them and they really liked it. They asked a lot of questions and it was a great lesson. Before we left the dad said that he wants his boys to go out and be missionaries too! They invited us to come over next week for dinner and we are excited to go back.
The 4th of July was a fun day. We had a 6:00 curfew so we had to hurry to get everything done and visit everyone we needed to visit. It was also Elder Tapia's birthday. Rustum and Amerika invited us over for cake and ice cream to celebrate. Rustum is doing great and it was fun to visit them and meet some of his other family who were there. After that, we went back home and chilled. At night we went onto our balcony and watched some fireworks. It was insane how many fireworks were going off once it got dark! It looked like every block was having their own fireworks show. The fireworks went on way late into the night. It would really freak me out at first because sometimes we hear gunshots in Delano, so I just automatically kept thinking they were gunshots! I ended up really enjoying the fireworks after I relaxed. It was definitely a cool day.
The rest of the week went really well. I am enjoying Delano and I love being a missionary. I am looking forward to the fall though. Cooler weather can't come soon enough! hahaha Life in the hot, little city of Delano is really good. I hope you all have a great week. Take good care.
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson
I hope you had a wonderful week and 4th of July weekend. I am doing well. This week has been hot, hot, hot, but on the bright side, everyone has been telling us that this week it will cool off with highs in the 90's. Woohoo!!! This week has been good though. Jose and Mayra are doing great, and are getting closer and closer to being able to get married. This Sunday we met with them and the Bishop to talk about it. All they have to do is get their marriage licence and then we can have their wedding at the church. They are excited and it is really cool because this is something they have wanted for a very long time, but they haven't been able to afford a wedding. They have been struggling for quite a while, but things are finally starting to turn around for them. Jose was able to find a good paying job and they have finally saved up enough money to take care of some legal stuff and get married. It is definitely cool to see how patient they have been. Sometimes we have difficult circumstances and instead of worrying about getting through it, we need to put our trust in the Lord and trust that He will provide for us if we do our best. That is exactly what they have been doing and it is nice to see things starting to go their way.
This week we knocked a bunch of doors in the wonderful California sun! We were lucky and met some really great people. The other night we decided to go to the wealthy part of our area that we hadn't really visited a lot. We were talking to anyone we could find in one of the neighborhoods and we met the Espinoza family. They are awesome! They say that they talked to missionaries a long time ago and that they really missed them. So they invited us to come back on Sunday and we did. It is a pretty big family. It is the mom and dad along with two older daughters and two younger boys. They are so nice and are really interested in learning more. It was really cool, when the mom opened the door and let us inside, everyone came down to the living room to talk with us. Usually when we visit someone, the rest of the family goes and hides in their room or leaves or something. hahaha..... But the whole family came and sat down and they are awesome. We shared a message with them and they really liked it. They asked a lot of questions and it was a great lesson. Before we left the dad said that he wants his boys to go out and be missionaries too! They invited us to come over next week for dinner and we are excited to go back.
The 4th of July was a fun day. We had a 6:00 curfew so we had to hurry to get everything done and visit everyone we needed to visit. It was also Elder Tapia's birthday. Rustum and Amerika invited us over for cake and ice cream to celebrate. Rustum is doing great and it was fun to visit them and meet some of his other family who were there. After that, we went back home and chilled. At night we went onto our balcony and watched some fireworks. It was insane how many fireworks were going off once it got dark! It looked like every block was having their own fireworks show. The fireworks went on way late into the night. It would really freak me out at first because sometimes we hear gunshots in Delano, so I just automatically kept thinking they were gunshots! I ended up really enjoying the fireworks after I relaxed. It was definitely a cool day.
The rest of the week went really well. I am enjoying Delano and I love being a missionary. I am looking forward to the fall though. Cooler weather can't come soon enough! hahaha Life in the hot, little city of Delano is really good. I hope you all have a great week. Take good care.
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson