Hey everybody,
I hope you are having a great week. Things are going well out here in Delano. Today is Memorial Day, so the library where we usually email is closed for today. Eight of us missionaries have to share this little family history center in the Delano church building. So, today's email will be a little bit shorter.
Things are going well. This week we had to take THREE trips to Bakersfield. Elder Tapia had a doctor's appointment on Friday. It was fun to go to Bakersfield and eat at Wendy's. A member was there when we got there so he treated us and bought our lunch. That was so nice. On Tuesday we had a visit from one of the Seventy, Elder Carlson. He is a veteran and shared a lot of cool ideas with us. He taught us a lot about what it means to be an effective teacher. He says that two of the most important things that we can do as teachers is to listen and observe. I thought that was really true and it was something really good to learn. A lot of times, teaching can just become talking. We just do our shpeal and don't spend a whole lot of time listening to what they have to say. But what he said was really true. Teaching is a lot better and can edify the people we teach so much better if we can learn to listen and teach according to what we feel they need. It was an eight hour meeting and he taught us a lot more. It was pretty long for a meeting, but we had plenty of breaks and a lot of activities so it wasn't too hard to pay attention the whole time. At the end he told us that the mission is for us and that we are the ones who are supposed to benefit most from this time. It was kind of hard to believe, because almost all of us are out here to help other people. But he told us that this time that we have out here is a time for us to change and become the people that our families will need us to be. I thought that was really cool.
This week we have had some great lessons with Jose, Jamie, and Rustum. Rustum's lesson was especially awesome. We had dinner with his family before the lesson and then afterwards we had a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him and his wife Amerika. They are expecting there baby girl in less than two weeks. They are super excited and they are going to name her Keira. We taught the lesson and it went really well. At the end, we invited Rustum to be baptized. We didn't want to come off too pushy. Last year when I was in the area, Rustum didn't want to accept a hard date and he ended up dropping the missionaries and taking a break from meeting with missionaries. This time we set him with a soft date for the 27th of June. We did our best to not come off too pushy and he accepted the date. He actually was really excited to be baptised. He said that he feels really good about it and he knows that something has been missing in his life. Faith has been missing. He wants his family follow God's plan for them. We are really excited for him. He really wants this for himself, his wife and little girl.
This week we also had a kickball activity with the Wasco Ward. That was so cool, because that was the ward I started in. I got to catch up with my first ward mission leader, some youth and the Perazas family. They are one of my favorite families I have met on my mission and I love them. It was so much fun to see them again. My Spanish is much more fluent now, so it was so much easier to visit with them.
Okay, well I should get going. We don't have much time on the computer. We just got home from Bakersfield where we had Zone sports and we still have to go get cleaned up so we can go to some appointments. I miss and love you all. Happy Memorial Day!!
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson
I hope you are having a great week. Things are going well out here in Delano. Today is Memorial Day, so the library where we usually email is closed for today. Eight of us missionaries have to share this little family history center in the Delano church building. So, today's email will be a little bit shorter.
Things are going well. This week we had to take THREE trips to Bakersfield. Elder Tapia had a doctor's appointment on Friday. It was fun to go to Bakersfield and eat at Wendy's. A member was there when we got there so he treated us and bought our lunch. That was so nice. On Tuesday we had a visit from one of the Seventy, Elder Carlson. He is a veteran and shared a lot of cool ideas with us. He taught us a lot about what it means to be an effective teacher. He says that two of the most important things that we can do as teachers is to listen and observe. I thought that was really true and it was something really good to learn. A lot of times, teaching can just become talking. We just do our shpeal and don't spend a whole lot of time listening to what they have to say. But what he said was really true. Teaching is a lot better and can edify the people we teach so much better if we can learn to listen and teach according to what we feel they need. It was an eight hour meeting and he taught us a lot more. It was pretty long for a meeting, but we had plenty of breaks and a lot of activities so it wasn't too hard to pay attention the whole time. At the end he told us that the mission is for us and that we are the ones who are supposed to benefit most from this time. It was kind of hard to believe, because almost all of us are out here to help other people. But he told us that this time that we have out here is a time for us to change and become the people that our families will need us to be. I thought that was really cool.
This week we have had some great lessons with Jose, Jamie, and Rustum. Rustum's lesson was especially awesome. We had dinner with his family before the lesson and then afterwards we had a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him and his wife Amerika. They are expecting there baby girl in less than two weeks. They are super excited and they are going to name her Keira. We taught the lesson and it went really well. At the end, we invited Rustum to be baptized. We didn't want to come off too pushy. Last year when I was in the area, Rustum didn't want to accept a hard date and he ended up dropping the missionaries and taking a break from meeting with missionaries. This time we set him with a soft date for the 27th of June. We did our best to not come off too pushy and he accepted the date. He actually was really excited to be baptised. He said that he feels really good about it and he knows that something has been missing in his life. Faith has been missing. He wants his family follow God's plan for them. We are really excited for him. He really wants this for himself, his wife and little girl.
This week we also had a kickball activity with the Wasco Ward. That was so cool, because that was the ward I started in. I got to catch up with my first ward mission leader, some youth and the Perazas family. They are one of my favorite families I have met on my mission and I love them. It was so much fun to see them again. My Spanish is much more fluent now, so it was so much easier to visit with them.
Okay, well I should get going. We don't have much time on the computer. We just got home from Bakersfield where we had Zone sports and we still have to go get cleaned up so we can go to some appointments. I miss and love you all. Happy Memorial Day!!
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson