Hey everyone,
I Hope your week is going well. Things have been going pretty well here in Cali. There is only one week until the end of the transfer, which is amazing. This transfer has gone by super fast. This is Elder Ruelas's very last week in the mission. He goes home next Wednesday and he is so excited. He has worked hard and now can look forward to going back to his family. I am happy for him. I am thinking that I will be staying another transfer here in Wasco. With Elder Ruelas leaving, I don't think that they would change out both missionaries in Wasco, especially since there is a lot going on. I really hope I can stay. We have been finding a ton of cool people to teach. This week has been pretty good.
One of my favorite families here in Wasco, The Peraza's, asked us to visit their neighbors. Their names are Alma and Damian and they have six kids. I guess there is a lot going on in that family and they wanted us to stop by to see if we could visit with them. So for the past three weeks, we have been stopping by and trying to get a hold of them. Most of the time, nobody has been home, but this past Monday after dinner with the Peraza's we decided to try by. Alma was home and we talked to her for a while. She is really sweet, but you can tell she has been through a lot. Then, the husband, Damian, came home. He is pretty cool, but he is super uptight and impatient with everyone in the family. They invited us in, and we started to share something with the two of them, but after twenty minutes they totally opened up and told us everything they have been going through. There is a lot. There is so much that they need to forgive each other for. They both feel like there are bad parents too, which was sad to hear. So we decided to share Alma 7:11-13 with them. I think I've talked about that scripture in one of my letters before, but it basically describes Christ's atonement. It was cool to be able to describe the atonement of Jesus Christ and how we can improve and become better through it. We also explained that through the atonement, all of the guilt and disappointment we feel for the things we have done in the past can be taken away. They really loved that scripture. It was really cool to see Alma run and grab a colored pencil to mark it. They invited us back two days later to teach the family. We decided to do a family home evening type thing. Family home evening is something a lot of the families in the church do each week. It is usually Monday night, when they take some time to be together as a family. There is usually a scripture or message, game and a treat. We went over there and shared a message. It was, The Family: A Proclamation to the World. It was a really good message for them to hear. We played catch phrase for the game. At first, the kids were kind of quiet, but then they totally got into it! I had hoped that would happen. It was pretty intense, but not quite as intense as my family gets playing catch phrase on the holidays. That day, Elder Ruelas and I made tres leches cake, so that is what we had for the treat. It was a fun night and the cake wasn't too bad either. I am so excited for that family. They are such a cool family and they really need the Gospel.
The rest of the week went well. We did a lot of service. We cleaned out a pool for a family we know and cleaned out a few trailers for Iris and her family. Saturday was really cool, the Wasco Elders had a baptism. The lady who was baptized is Alejandrina. She is so sweet. We go over there at least once a week to do service and she always gives us dinner. She came out of the font crying and just looked so happy. I was so happy for her. We also had a great lesson with Henry and little Henry, and they came to church again. That was awesome. Little Henry gets so pumped for Primary, I love it. Well, I have got to go. I hope you all have a great week. Miss ya!
Much love,
Elder Chad Thompson
I Hope your week is going well. Things have been going pretty well here in Cali. There is only one week until the end of the transfer, which is amazing. This transfer has gone by super fast. This is Elder Ruelas's very last week in the mission. He goes home next Wednesday and he is so excited. He has worked hard and now can look forward to going back to his family. I am happy for him. I am thinking that I will be staying another transfer here in Wasco. With Elder Ruelas leaving, I don't think that they would change out both missionaries in Wasco, especially since there is a lot going on. I really hope I can stay. We have been finding a ton of cool people to teach. This week has been pretty good.
One of my favorite families here in Wasco, The Peraza's, asked us to visit their neighbors. Their names are Alma and Damian and they have six kids. I guess there is a lot going on in that family and they wanted us to stop by to see if we could visit with them. So for the past three weeks, we have been stopping by and trying to get a hold of them. Most of the time, nobody has been home, but this past Monday after dinner with the Peraza's we decided to try by. Alma was home and we talked to her for a while. She is really sweet, but you can tell she has been through a lot. Then, the husband, Damian, came home. He is pretty cool, but he is super uptight and impatient with everyone in the family. They invited us in, and we started to share something with the two of them, but after twenty minutes they totally opened up and told us everything they have been going through. There is a lot. There is so much that they need to forgive each other for. They both feel like there are bad parents too, which was sad to hear. So we decided to share Alma 7:11-13 with them. I think I've talked about that scripture in one of my letters before, but it basically describes Christ's atonement. It was cool to be able to describe the atonement of Jesus Christ and how we can improve and become better through it. We also explained that through the atonement, all of the guilt and disappointment we feel for the things we have done in the past can be taken away. They really loved that scripture. It was really cool to see Alma run and grab a colored pencil to mark it. They invited us back two days later to teach the family. We decided to do a family home evening type thing. Family home evening is something a lot of the families in the church do each week. It is usually Monday night, when they take some time to be together as a family. There is usually a scripture or message, game and a treat. We went over there and shared a message. It was, The Family: A Proclamation to the World. It was a really good message for them to hear. We played catch phrase for the game. At first, the kids were kind of quiet, but then they totally got into it! I had hoped that would happen. It was pretty intense, but not quite as intense as my family gets playing catch phrase on the holidays. That day, Elder Ruelas and I made tres leches cake, so that is what we had for the treat. It was a fun night and the cake wasn't too bad either. I am so excited for that family. They are such a cool family and they really need the Gospel.
The rest of the week went well. We did a lot of service. We cleaned out a pool for a family we know and cleaned out a few trailers for Iris and her family. Saturday was really cool, the Wasco Elders had a baptism. The lady who was baptized is Alejandrina. She is so sweet. We go over there at least once a week to do service and she always gives us dinner. She came out of the font crying and just looked so happy. I was so happy for her. We also had a great lesson with Henry and little Henry, and they came to church again. That was awesome. Little Henry gets so pumped for Primary, I love it. Well, I have got to go. I hope you all have a great week. Miss ya!
Much love,
Elder Chad Thompson