Hi,
This week has been pretty cool. I was a little bummed at first because it turns out that Jefferson and Joselin, who came to play soccer last week, will be busy for a couple weeks while they are working at the huge fair that is going on in Bakersfield right now. But it's all good because they told us that the fair ends next week and they'll have us over then. This Friday was really awesome. We had Zone Conference and a member of the Seventy, Elder Schwitzer, and his wife came and gave talks. It was really awesome. I thought their talks were really great. Sister Schwitzer gave a talk about how we are all able to do hard things. She talked about how she was called to serve a mission in Russia and how she didn't know any Russian at all and she was really afraid and overwhelmed at first, but she felt the help of her Heavenly Father the whole way. I thought that was really cool because I feel the same way. It is hard and sometimes I have felt a little overwhelmed, but I feel the help of my Heavenly Father the whole way. I know that we can always do hard things knowing that our Father in Heaven is helping us. Elder Schwitzer gave a great talk as well. He talked a lot about faith. One of the things that stood out to me a lot was when he said that just like faith without works is dead, work without faith is dead. I thought that was really cool. I have had some long days so far where we go out and work, but we don't have a whole lot of success. I admit that during some of those days I probably didn't have a lot of faith that we would have any success. I think that was a really good thing for me to hear. If we do our part and work hard for the Lord and have faith in Him that he will lead us to the people who need us, we will have success. It was also really cool because half the mission was there. All of the 125 missionaries serving around the Bakersfield area came down for the Zone Conference, so it was really cool to see some old friends. I got to talk with the missionaries who are now serving in Wasco, which was my last area. Henry and Henry Jr. are both doing great, and Henry is about to get a calling in the church this coming Sunday. That was awesome to hear.
This week we got a referral from a member of the ward, Brother Noyse. He is a really nice guy and he had a friend that he wanted us to visit named David. So we visited David this week and he is awesome and seems super prepared for the Gospel. He already had a Book of Mormon and he is reading it. He loves it too and says he reads it every night. He really loved the idea of having a prophet on the Earth today. General Conference is coming up, which is a conference that the church has twice a year when the Prophets and Apostles and other church leaders give talks, and it is broadcast all over the world. When we told David about that, he was excited. It was hilarious, he told us that if we can find him a ride to Utah, he will pay his own way so that he can go up and attend Conference. We loved the enthusiasm, but we explained that it will be broadcast at our church building so he doesn't have to travel so far. He is really looking forward to conference and I am excited for him to get to watch it. If you want an investigator to feel the Spirit, inviting them to watch conference is a pretty safe bet. I know it will be a good experience for him. Well, I should get going. We've got some soccer to go play. I am doing great. I hope everyone is doing well!
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson