Dear Family,
I cannot believe that these are my last days of training!! 
I've learned so much from my trainer Elder Coburn, the best thing being to look ahead of time and to look at all of the potential outcomes and possibilities. He's taught me so much Spanish and been such a great support. We're gonna make these last days together count. Transfers are Thursday.
Well...Tuesday this week we had exchanges with the zone leaders and because Elder Biehn is in the trio, we had zone leader Elder McCray be with us. He's not Spanish program so he was our silent comp for the day haha. So....at about 3 in the afternoon we were driving down Arlington Boulevard and I noticed there were some police cars off to the side of the road. The further we traveled, the more police cars we were seeing, like on side streets and all around. We were wondering what's going on, until finally we reached Patrick Henry Drive and there's cops everywhere!!! Every side road they were there blocking off streets and there was a helicopter above us too! We were really confused. We were on our way to go find in Falls Church and then on the way back, we noticed there was like...a convoy of police cars all in position at the front of the TDAmeritrade off of Patrick Henry!! You could tell the police were scrambling searching for someone nearby! Anyway, later we had a lesson and our investigator told us someone robbed the bank!! And they left a bag in there too so they had the bomb squad in there! We didn't see the bomb squad that was what we heard, and later we noticed Arlington Boulevard was shut down both ways. Crazy...I guessed right. That lesson we went to was with Kenny and his wife Marifer. So....Kenny is the funniest black guy I've ever met, and his wife only speaks Spanish hahaha she's Latina. Kenny doesn't speak Spanish but they someone how understand each other. I still don't know how they got together haha they're so great.
Wednesday morning was not a good morning for me. We had a member call us over at 7 in the morning! She needed us to organize her things in her house because they still have some things left out from a fumigation a few months ago. It was kinda a waste of time, but it's something that has just....strengthened my patience I guess. After that we had Spanish program! All Spanish missionaries met in the Fairfax chapel for a meeting on how our progress has been concerning baptisms. We were addressed by Pres. Burton again. But I got to see Elder Pickett again!! And Hermana Hathaway from my ccm district 
After that, we had a service for the Morriberons. They are the elderly couple de Peru! We cleaned their gutters.
Friday night was awful. Another broken night. We set everything up, we've been setting up splits with some of the priests to go out with Elder Biehn so we can cover our 2 areas again and we set one up with Roberto but...Friday night died. We had planned that I go with Roberto to visit Marina Fajardo our recent convert, that way the other 2 could go to dinner with a member and find, and then I would go to another lesson after my first one. Well...Roberto couldn't come with us so we had to move Marina because we couldn't find a man to come with us. Our dinner called and said there won't be a man in the house anymore so we took our food to go at the door haha, and then our second lesson the Estacuys called and canceled. Everything tumbled one thing after another. Those days are really really frustrating 
Sunday was good, but still really last second on the Hermanas part with the baptism. Elder Biehn baptized Kathryn...or "Tiny Hermana" is what she likes to be called haha I sent the picture last week. I played piano in Primary again. I called Hermana Portugal and asked her if I could play the guitar but she didn't let me 
aw. Last night was also my first Charlafogonera which is basically a fireside for Spanish recent converts across the whole mission to come to with their missionaries. Pres. Burton spoke again. I got to see a lot of missionaries there and so many people. It was great.
I'm already to Monday which is today!! We did our shopping and chilling at our usual shops. We also just got free slushies at 7/11 because it's 7/11 today! Go get a free slurpee everyone. This week was pretty good. We ate VERY well this week! I love Peruvian chicken so much!! 
We had 5 meals this week! I'm going to have Elder Biehn cut my hair tomorrow during he time that Elder Coburn packs. I'm eating Elder the Wise family again this Wednesday! Should be fun.
I improved my study journal this week and so I've been able to retain what I've learned a lot better. One of the things I've been thinking about is something I learned in Preach my Gospel. "Those who choose to obey are blessed, but those who ignore, reject, or distort the gospel do not receive God’s promised blessings. (PMG)" The word distort stood out to me a lot. As members of the church we probably aren't going to twist the doctrine that we have and become apostate, but we can distort the gospel even as members. Be careful not to rationalize or justify the doctrine of Christ and the commandments to fit cozily around you. If you find yourself doing this, you need to change something. The gospel is for everyone; that means that everyone must find the work that we need to do. We have been given much, so much is required from us.
Everyone stay safe and have a good week!
Week 17
Dear All,
First I want to say happy Fourth of July to everyone! I hope you all
have a great a safe holiday today. Here, it is raining right now so
this may be a flop of a 4th for us haha we'll see how it goes. I had
a...kinda sad week this week. Lots of things happened that were
bittersweet. Let me explain.
Well first let me just say what happened this week. Our mission did
add the Woodbridge area so now our mission boundaries have changed.
The mission is a bit bigger now, the missionaries from the Richmond
mission came in on July 1. Also, we got sooooo close to our goal of
finding 300 new investigators for one week. We had a
one-week-finding-fest!!! We got 278/300 but we made so much progress
in the mission! 😃 Also, another big piece of news is that....I'm
actually in a trio right now! 😱 well...poor Elder Cottle's sickness
wasn't going away, and then we found out he has tonsillitis 😰 He was
told he would have to go home at the end of the transfer....but....he
went back in to the doctor and they said he needs to go home for
surgery now. Elder Cottle went home on Thursday back to St. George
😥😥 He will have his tonsils taken out and he will come back the next
transfer. So that's good I guess. So! Elder Biehn is with us now,
and it's been hard to adjust to 3. I miss him, he is so cool.
Well on Wednesday, I finally received word that the Itos had a package
for me!!! I knew what it was and I'm so glad I got it! I had my
acoustic guitar shipped out here from home, and I got it quick!
Luckily, the Itos were at the office when it came in and they realized
it was for me and Elder Ito figured it was my guitar because he knows
that I play. He wasn't going to let it sit in the heat of the van so
thankfully he took it out and brought it to me! That would have been
bad if he wasn't there! 😱 Anyway, I got my guitar and everything I
asked for with it. It works great! Perfectly normal 😃 Our apartment
isn't so quiet anymore haha 😗
After that was a lot of back and forth from Arlington to Falls Church
getting Elder Biehn's stuff to our place. We all slept over here and
then woke up at 5am to say bye to Cottle. President picked him up
here. On Friday, we had a big service that our zone did. We helped
the McLean community setup for their activity for tonight. We helped
set up soooo much caution tape around the fairgrounds and we put in a
bunch of no parking signs around the neighborhoods. It was not too
bad, but none of us wore sunscreen so we all got sunburned. Elder
Biehn got it bad hahaha you'll see it in my pics. I finally talked to
the Sister Thompson in my zone, and she's from Vegas!! That was
interesting, but she doesn't know Rick or Deana. Friday was actually
my comps birthday!!! 😃😃😬🎂🎂 Elder Coburn turned 21 on the 1st.
That day, we were fed twice and had cake twice!! Hermana Riley flipped
out when she found out, and she immediately started to scramble
together this big huge meal for just him. She comes out and she has
this HUGE T-bone steak she made for him hahaha it was a fun day. I
actually made cake again haha I have to make it super fast now.
Saturday, we FINALLY had a lesson with Esmeralda. She's a new
investigator who actually wants to hear the lessons and she wants her
son Ezekiel to get baptized into the church! She's so interested. We
had a great first visit with her and she wanted to come to church the
next day!!!! 😍😍 yessss...we got her to church yesterday and she
LOVED it!! We are so happy we finally found her. We have been to her
house 4 times but she was never there. I believe in the "easy come,
easy go" philosophy so I'm hoping because she was so hard to see,
maybe she will be our best investigator. Anyway...she loved the
church so much especially because she could connect to what was mostly
being told in testimony meeting. She had one of her daughters pass
away at 22 years old. Let me tell you what happened...
At an activity that I'm about to write about on...Saturday we ran into
Hermana Bliss talking with Dany and Karen and she was crying and we
knew something was wrong. We received word from Karen right then that
a returned missionary Hermana Trunell was killed in a car accident a
few days ago. I don't know her, my trainer barely did, but that has
impacted our ward so much because she served here for a long time. A
lot of members were really sad. I'm not sure if anyone has heard of
that happening back in Utah, but keep that family in your thoughts and
prayers.
We were told that at a party by the Sierra family. Matias Sierra just
graduated hs so his family had a party and it was great! Even though I
somehow got the job of taking pictures for it. 😒 He's super cool,
we've been taking him out with us. He's getting ready to serve a
mission too.
Sunday was crazy crazy crazy!!! 😲😲 First, we had to go with Biehn to
interview a girl that the Hermanas were suppose to have baptized that
day but then that we found out the father isn't worthy and she really
really wants her dad to baptize her and....so it was just a ton of
phone calls and what do we do now? So many things were going on at
once and then bishop pulled the plug and said wait till next week.
So...we had to tell this super super excited little girl that she has
to wait until next Sunday 🙁 ....it was so last second on the Hermanas
part, we were kinda frustrated. But church was great, and the
Morriberons fed us after because we were eating the food that was
suppose to be at the baptism 😳 Anyway, we got a picture of them, so
now you know who the Hermanas are in my district. Hermana Bliss dyed
Hermana Harley's hair black this week and she used a glove for one
hand but not the other so we've been making fun of her because she has
a black hand now hahaha she's been hiding it. Hermana Harley came out
from Provo at the same time as me, Hermana Bliss is training her.
Well, today is today. I wish the 4th didn't fall on a p day because
it's made today crazier and I don't like that. We had a Spanish
program soccer game today!! All Spanish Elders went down to Little
River area to play on a nice field. We talked with Elder Pickett!!
I've missed him. I was really looking forward to the game,
but....then we realized that it was 16 on 16 and it got super
competitive...so I just stood around playing defense with people
yelling telling me where to go and what to do which always makes me
want to just do nothing even more haha. I don't like competitive
sports. But it was so much fun!!! It wasn't hot at all! We left that
early but Elder Biehn stayed with different Elders for the whole time.
He's been doing that. Coburn and I went to a park where Bella Vista
had their party thing, we....pretty much did a dine-n-ditch 😳😳 but
we were able to visit with a lot of people. Well...were here now at
the apartment just writing. Elder Biehn is back now. Ugh our place
is so messy now and it's hard to have 3 people here. Oh well, I only
have until the 14th....and then I'm done with training!! 😱😱
Well our small and simple goal today is to look up a patriotic
scripture. You all should do the same. We have a small and simple
video sent to us all everyday from President Huntsman and sometimes
Sister Huntsman. Well it's picture time I guess. I hope you all have
a really good week and that things improve. Along with my companion
having his b day the other day, there's someone who I love who has
their birthday tomorrow. I have to say happy birthday to my hero, my
support and the person who I just wish so much I could say happy
birthday to face to face....Someone who I think about all the time and
who I miss so much. Happy 51 Dad. Love you,
❤️❤️ Elder Thompson
P.s. Got my blessing thank you
Week 16
Dear Everyone,
This email will probably be shorter because I've been in wifi so I've
been chatting with my direct family, and I've already spilled the
beans haha. Well let me just tell you that we had 5 lessons this
week! That's pretty good compared to what we've had. We had another
dinner with Fiorela and we felt super bad because we couldn't get a
man to come with us again so we actually ate at her door again this
week! So the story goes like this. We weren't blocking the whole
hall but just about half of it because we had the table outside the
door again. A lady comes by and Elder Coburn kinda had to get up and
move for her and she didn't want to bump her bags so she was really
careful. Time goes by and then the same lady comes back down the hall
this time to go walk her dog. I didn't notice but she was probably
really mad at that point. Later on, a handicapped man was trying to
get by on his walker so we got out of the way and he even said excuse
me sorry and said don't worry about it. We were almost done, and
then...this lady comes back she's done walking her dog. I didn't have
a good feeling as she was walking up...next thing we know, she has her
phone in her hand and she's taking pictures of us and what we're doing
and getting Fiorelas apartment number too. Then Coburn says excuse me
what were you doing? Then this lady goes "oh so you're not missed out
too" then she gets a pic of our faces because we were all looking at
her weird. Then she lets out her rant like "there is a handicapped
person on this floor with no outlet and you are blocking the way! If
I come out here again and you're still there, were gonna have a
problem!" Then she said she was police and she was gonna file us for
whatever. So Fiorela asks what's going on because she doesn't
understand English very well so Elder Coburn starts translating the
situation, then she butts in again "you can say what you want, I don't
care!!!" She was just being rude and Coburn said he was just
translating, then she goes "well you can translate that into 3
different languages!" Which I still don't get haha Then she goes into
her apartment and SLAMS the door.....we just awkwardly sat there Haha
it was weird and we felt really bad. I don't believe she was police.
Elder Coburn gave her the name Satan lady ha...she really threw off
the night.
I got my Tiwi card so I guess it's official. We plugged it back in.
We had a lot of service this week! We helped clean the church again!
We also visited Hermano Perdomo who is in charge of cleaning the
church. He is my favorite member right now because he knows my name.
I'm still "the other elder" or something like that to all the members
except him...and Hermano Morriberon. But I like that about him. We
actually went and visited him and it was amazing that we did because
we found out he's really really struggling right now in life. Us
visiting him made him feel a lot better. I like him. He made us
dinner
Ugh bad news, Monica dropped us. She said her friends or family from
her country are here and she doesn't want us over right now to visit
her. They leave in 3 months ugh. Well...yesterday we had a sacrament
that did not like actually. It was great but....there was a certain
speaker that I just did not like. He is actually Pres. Huntsman'
second counselor I think. His talk was just too over the top for me.
He's so crazy in his speech, like to me it just seemed like a stand up
comedy act, he got the congregation to laugh sooo much and it was hard
to take him seriously. I'm not sure if he was presiding or not but he
called two men up and asked them to share their testimonies right
there and then..... And he kept asking the congregation for input like
to say things and to answer his questions and I'm pretty sure that's
not appropriate in a meeting where the sacrament has been taken. I
heard that from Elder Bednar. Anyway, it was really uncomfortable for
me but other than that it was good.
Well, today our personal study was interrupted by a call from Bishop
who needed us to go to the ER and give a blessing to a member there.
The blessing was great and the member seems very well, but......I had
an anxiety attack in that room. I got anxiety just being in an
emergency room again and hearing the beeps and machines and seeing the
tools and the tables and screens and the people on the tables...I
wanted out. It wasn't that bad though. Today was relaxing for once.
Chatting with my family was easier today. After chatting, we had
dinner with Gloria. She's a member that lives next door to us and she
invited us over for dinner and to give her daughter and her boyfriend
a blessing of comfort and health to overcome drug addiction. I think
I mentioned that they were arrested and all that...they are dealing
with court stuff still. It's amazing how he people you see on the
street, maybe grubby and shaggy looking people are just the same as
anyone else. We were able to eat with them and get to know them. It
was good. Well...not only is p day over, the day is over too. We
just came back from checking on potentials. Well, have a good week
everyone, and stay safe. Remember what it means to "Always Remember
Him"
Love,
Elder Thompson
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