Hello everybody,
It has been another awesome week in the good ole city of Delano. The new Elder in the ward is Elder Hidalgo. He is so cool. He came straight from El Salvador to California for his mission and hardly knows any English. He actually came out with me and we sat together on the plane from the MTC. I remember how difficult it was to communicate with him then, but his English has improved a lot. He stills says funny things sometimes. The other day we were in the car and I was driving and he wanted me to go faster so he yelled, "Hasten!!" haha That is a word used in the scriptures a lot that means to quicken or go faster, but isn't really used a lot otherwise. He is a really funny Elder and a great missionary and he is fun to have in Delano. He just came from Bakersfield 2nd and it was cool to hear some good news about a couple of the people Elder Morales and I taught. I was so excited to hear that Mario, an investigator we taught while I was there who got baptized the week after I left, and Yasira got married! I never would have imagined that would happen. We had been working with them the entire time I was there and it was so great to hear that they finally tied the knot. It is always great to hear about good things going on in old areas. I'm so happy for them.
We spent quite a bit of time out knocking on doors and talking to people on the street and it led to meeting a lot of cool, new people. One of those people that we met was Ashley Martinez. She is a cool young girl who is about 20 years old. She has never really gone to church, but she says she wants to start figuring things out. She was just really open with us and really wants to learn more. We also met Erika, Evelyn, and Alejandro. They are really cool kids between the ages of 17 and 10. Erika is the oldest and their parents aren't around a lot so she does a lot of the cooking, cleaning, and helping out around the house. She also takes care of the 10 month old baby! She is a busy girl, but wants to learn more because her family has never really had time to go to church and she wants to start now. We found some other great people and had some good lessons with our other investigators so it has been a great week.
Rustum is doing great. We had an awesome lesson with him and Amerika last week. It was so awesome to see their new baby, Keira. She is a really cute, tiny little baby and they are both so excited to have their first little girl. Rustum had a really cool experience last week. The last time we had taught them, we talked about the importance of prayer. We talked about an example from the Book of Mormon where a man named Enos prayed and "cried unto God in mighty prayer". It was a great lesson and later that week Rustum had a great experience with prayer. I guess there were some complications with Keira's birth and they had to stay a few days before she was ready to be brought home. When they were finally able to bring Keira home, she couldn't sleep all night. He went to check on her at one point and she was crying really loud and her skin was starting to turn yellow. It kind of freaked Rustum out so the first thing he did was prayed. He said he just kind of poured out his soul to God and asked Him to let his tiny baby be okay. They rushed her to the hospital and within a couple of days the baby was better. He said that when he prayed, he felt a lot better. He said he felt like God was trying to tell him that everything was going to be fine. Rustum is such a great guy. He is so excited to be a dad and wants to do everything he can to raise her right. It is so sweet to see him with her. I really love working with this good family!
Everything else this week has gone pretty well. Nothing too crazy except for the heat! I took a picture of the car thermostat so I can prove to the fam just how hot it gets when we are out. It doesn't help that there are pools everywhere we turn! haha I am loving Delano though. I am having a great experience here. I hope you all have a great week and have a great Father's Day! Love and miss you all. Take good care.
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson
It has been another awesome week in the good ole city of Delano. The new Elder in the ward is Elder Hidalgo. He is so cool. He came straight from El Salvador to California for his mission and hardly knows any English. He actually came out with me and we sat together on the plane from the MTC. I remember how difficult it was to communicate with him then, but his English has improved a lot. He stills says funny things sometimes. The other day we were in the car and I was driving and he wanted me to go faster so he yelled, "Hasten!!" haha That is a word used in the scriptures a lot that means to quicken or go faster, but isn't really used a lot otherwise. He is a really funny Elder and a great missionary and he is fun to have in Delano. He just came from Bakersfield 2nd and it was cool to hear some good news about a couple of the people Elder Morales and I taught. I was so excited to hear that Mario, an investigator we taught while I was there who got baptized the week after I left, and Yasira got married! I never would have imagined that would happen. We had been working with them the entire time I was there and it was so great to hear that they finally tied the knot. It is always great to hear about good things going on in old areas. I'm so happy for them.
We spent quite a bit of time out knocking on doors and talking to people on the street and it led to meeting a lot of cool, new people. One of those people that we met was Ashley Martinez. She is a cool young girl who is about 20 years old. She has never really gone to church, but she says she wants to start figuring things out. She was just really open with us and really wants to learn more. We also met Erika, Evelyn, and Alejandro. They are really cool kids between the ages of 17 and 10. Erika is the oldest and their parents aren't around a lot so she does a lot of the cooking, cleaning, and helping out around the house. She also takes care of the 10 month old baby! She is a busy girl, but wants to learn more because her family has never really had time to go to church and she wants to start now. We found some other great people and had some good lessons with our other investigators so it has been a great week.
Rustum is doing great. We had an awesome lesson with him and Amerika last week. It was so awesome to see their new baby, Keira. She is a really cute, tiny little baby and they are both so excited to have their first little girl. Rustum had a really cool experience last week. The last time we had taught them, we talked about the importance of prayer. We talked about an example from the Book of Mormon where a man named Enos prayed and "cried unto God in mighty prayer". It was a great lesson and later that week Rustum had a great experience with prayer. I guess there were some complications with Keira's birth and they had to stay a few days before she was ready to be brought home. When they were finally able to bring Keira home, she couldn't sleep all night. He went to check on her at one point and she was crying really loud and her skin was starting to turn yellow. It kind of freaked Rustum out so the first thing he did was prayed. He said he just kind of poured out his soul to God and asked Him to let his tiny baby be okay. They rushed her to the hospital and within a couple of days the baby was better. He said that when he prayed, he felt a lot better. He said he felt like God was trying to tell him that everything was going to be fine. Rustum is such a great guy. He is so excited to be a dad and wants to do everything he can to raise her right. It is so sweet to see him with her. I really love working with this good family!
Everything else this week has gone pretty well. Nothing too crazy except for the heat! I took a picture of the car thermostat so I can prove to the fam just how hot it gets when we are out. It doesn't help that there are pools everywhere we turn! haha I am loving Delano though. I am having a great experience here. I hope you all have a great week and have a great Father's Day! Love and miss you all. Take good care.
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson