Hello everyone,
First off, I hope everyone had a great Halloween. Mine was pretty great even though we had a curfew and had to stay inside after 7:00. We had some of the other missionaries over from our District and made tacos. Also, we got ONE trick or treater! When they knocked on the door I was freaking out a little bit because I couldn't find the candy. I almost just gave the little girl a taco. Luckily, I found some candy I could give her. It has been a really great week. Our area is pretty big and it covers downtown Bakersfield, which is pretty cool to have in our area. We also have the biggest hospital in Bakersfield in our area too. About once a week we get a call from the mission office asking if we can go visit members who are in the hospital and may need a blessing or just a visit. It is really nice to be able to do that. There are a lot of people who have to be in the hospital for a while and don't get any visits. Well this past week we were asked to go and visit a girl named Christina. She isn't really active in the church, but she didn't have any family close by to visit her, so they sent us. When we got there she was in the hallway about to go into surgery and she was really nervous. She asked us to give her a blessing, and so we did right in the middle of the hallway. When we finished, she looked relieved and was grateful. The next day we came to see how the surgery went, but she was asleep. Her husband was there by that time and told us how grateful she was for the blessing and how much it helped her. It is just cool to have the hospital in our area and be able to help people that way.
Last Friday, Elder Morales and I went to an appointment and it fell through. He asked me what we should do and we decided to go visit one of the people we are teaching, Angelica. So we got to her house and right as we made it to the front porch, Angelica pulled up in her car and we could tell she was really upset. She got out of the car and it was obvious that she had been sobbing. Her son has had medical problems for a couple of weeks and had been in the hospital for a while too. It turned out that he had died just a few hours before. It was so sad. I have no idea what it must feel like to lose a child and I felt so bad the Angelica was going through that. It was really sad, but I know we were there for a reason. We talked with her for a little bit and on Sunday she came to church. It was a really great experience for her and she connected really well with some of the members.
We have some really great news this week. Mario has been in Los Angeles for the past week and a half visiting his son, and he was going to come back to Bakersfield for work and to be baptized this week. So we referred him to the missionaries in Los Angeles so that he could go to church. Well, Mario called us on Saturday and he told us he will be in Los Angeles for a few more weeks, but he said he didn't want to wait anymore to be baptized. So, Mario got baptized yesterday in Los Angeles!! We are so excited and so happy for him! I didn't even feel bad that we couldn't be there at the baptism. We have been teaching and visiting with Mario for the past four months and this is long overdo. He has such a great desire to follow the Lord and I am so happy he finally was able to take that step. We are really excited to see him next week when he comes back so we can see the pictures and congratulate him. I am so happy for him and his choice to follow the Savior. It is just one of those things that makes being a missionary really amazing. I hope everyone has a great week. Take good care.
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson
First off, I hope everyone had a great Halloween. Mine was pretty great even though we had a curfew and had to stay inside after 7:00. We had some of the other missionaries over from our District and made tacos. Also, we got ONE trick or treater! When they knocked on the door I was freaking out a little bit because I couldn't find the candy. I almost just gave the little girl a taco. Luckily, I found some candy I could give her. It has been a really great week. Our area is pretty big and it covers downtown Bakersfield, which is pretty cool to have in our area. We also have the biggest hospital in Bakersfield in our area too. About once a week we get a call from the mission office asking if we can go visit members who are in the hospital and may need a blessing or just a visit. It is really nice to be able to do that. There are a lot of people who have to be in the hospital for a while and don't get any visits. Well this past week we were asked to go and visit a girl named Christina. She isn't really active in the church, but she didn't have any family close by to visit her, so they sent us. When we got there she was in the hallway about to go into surgery and she was really nervous. She asked us to give her a blessing, and so we did right in the middle of the hallway. When we finished, she looked relieved and was grateful. The next day we came to see how the surgery went, but she was asleep. Her husband was there by that time and told us how grateful she was for the blessing and how much it helped her. It is just cool to have the hospital in our area and be able to help people that way.
Last Friday, Elder Morales and I went to an appointment and it fell through. He asked me what we should do and we decided to go visit one of the people we are teaching, Angelica. So we got to her house and right as we made it to the front porch, Angelica pulled up in her car and we could tell she was really upset. She got out of the car and it was obvious that she had been sobbing. Her son has had medical problems for a couple of weeks and had been in the hospital for a while too. It turned out that he had died just a few hours before. It was so sad. I have no idea what it must feel like to lose a child and I felt so bad the Angelica was going through that. It was really sad, but I know we were there for a reason. We talked with her for a little bit and on Sunday she came to church. It was a really great experience for her and she connected really well with some of the members.
We have some really great news this week. Mario has been in Los Angeles for the past week and a half visiting his son, and he was going to come back to Bakersfield for work and to be baptized this week. So we referred him to the missionaries in Los Angeles so that he could go to church. Well, Mario called us on Saturday and he told us he will be in Los Angeles for a few more weeks, but he said he didn't want to wait anymore to be baptized. So, Mario got baptized yesterday in Los Angeles!! We are so excited and so happy for him! I didn't even feel bad that we couldn't be there at the baptism. We have been teaching and visiting with Mario for the past four months and this is long overdo. He has such a great desire to follow the Lord and I am so happy he finally was able to take that step. We are really excited to see him next week when he comes back so we can see the pictures and congratulate him. I am so happy for him and his choice to follow the Savior. It is just one of those things that makes being a missionary really amazing. I hope everyone has a great week. Take good care.
Much Love,
Elder Chad Thompson