June 20 in Orizaba, last post ever?

I'll get home on Wednesday sooo.... yeah this is probably the last. 

E and H are progressing fantastically. They're super excited for his baptism in July. R is still doing well. 

News on E: We finally saw him! long story short, he couldn't contact us for a while, but then we saw him this week. He's doing fantastic. All is well for him right now. I admire him and his faith.

I'm super grateful for the opportunity that I've had to serve a mission. It has been undoubtably the best desicion of my life. I know that we are spirit children of loving Heavenly Parents. I know that we are here on this earth in order to progress, and be able to one day become like them. I know that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world, and that through faith on His name, all people everywhere may be saved, through the grace of His infinite atonement. I know that this is His church today, that because of His love for us He has called apostols and prophets in order to guide us in these latter-days. Most important, I know that everything that God does here for his children is because He loves us. And the most important demonstration of that love is that "God so loved the world, that He sent His Only-Begotten Son... for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved." Therefore it is up to us to take the desicion to "come unto Christ, and be made perfect in Him... that ye become holy, without spot." That is what I've been working towards here these past two years, both in myself, and among the Mexican people. There really is no greater work. I would know. I've done it. It was totally worth sacrificing these 2 years. It really wasn't a sacrifice. It was the biggest blessing I've ever recieved in my life, and I'll be eternally grateful. 

Until next week, 

Elder Thompson

June 13 in Orizaba

Well this was an incredible week. I'm glad, too, because I only have 2 weeks left. I didn't get trunky or "die" as we call it here in Mexico last week, and it won't happen this week either! 

So we found another family of gold! Their names are E. and H). They actually just kinda showed up to church and we started teaching them! E is 21 and H is 22 and they have one daughter. They were investigators of Elder Chamberlain almost 2 years ago! Actually H is a member and E is the investigator. They never got baptized because they needed to get married and they didn't want to, but now they do! They even gave themselves a date! I'm super grateful to Chamberlain. They already know everything they need to and have testimonies, now we're just working on changing their habits. Helping them begin to read and pray every day, have family home evening, do family history work, and keep their sights set on the temple!

R and his daughter A are doing fantastic. Doing good so far for the 3rd. 

So there have been some interesting occurrences here in Mexico lately. For those of you who have even half a mind to world news, same-gender marriage was legalized in the United States a while ago and for those who don't know, Mexico is now trying to legalize it too. (Sadly, many heterosexual couples here aren't married anyways). Now, I'd like to explain the standpoint of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on this.

We believe that marriage, between a man and a woman, is ordained of God. Not only ordained, but absolutely essential to the Great Plan of Happiness established by our loving Heavenly Father for us. We believe that those who strive to destroy the sacred fundamentals of the family will stand accountable to God himself at the day of judgement. Those sacred powers of procreation are given to us in order for us to be able to experience the joy of being a father or a mother, like our own Heavenly Parents, and NOT to be misused, mistreated or abused. Exercise of the power of procreation outside the bonds of matrimony between a man and a woman injures our divine potential, and our ability to truly love, and "GOD is love." Therefore by abuse of these things we CANNOT become like Him, we CANNOT receive the blessings of a happy family, and we cannot reach our divine destiny as joint heirs with Christ. 

When we have abused these powers, the only way out is to change, to repent through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Through him, we can "have mercy restored to (us) again", and our virtue as well. 

Strict adherence to the commandment known as the law of chastity is the ONLY way a family can be happy and blessed in this life, as well as the next. All other ways lead to lack of eternal progress, because we destroy our own seed of divinity that is within us. 

"Can man take fire into his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go up upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?"

All this stuff prolly sounds old fashioned. Outdated. Not quite the world's standard. That's because Gods standards don't change when the world's standards change. He is unchangeable, from eternity to eternity, and absolutley perfect. He has no beginning, and no end. I guess you could say that that makes Him rather old fashioned. But His way is the best, and only, way. 

These are the standards that we teach as missionaries, and that the church teaches, these are the words established by the prophets, and there will never be any exceptions. 

June 6 in Orizaba

Wow it was another crazy, super stressing week here. Literally everything happened this week, but God is also blessing us a ton. We had 6 investigators in church this week, and we randomly found another who was seeking more truth. On Wednesday we were walking around with NOTHING and just randomly knocked on a door and the woman who answered said: "I'm not that interested, but my husband reads the Bible a lot. He probably will be interested. If you come back in about an hour you can find him." So we left, ready to come back in an hour. About 15 mins later this older guy who looks like the Mexican version of Tommy Lee Jones with longer hair shouts "Hey, you guys were looking for me?" So we started talking to him and it turns out to be her husband. He's what we missionaries call "of gold." He really does know the Bible, and Nephi's prophecy in the Book of Mormon that one who believes the Bible "will believe in this also" came true in him. When we shared with him the experience of the first vision of Joseph Smith he said "I don't think that you are lying. I know you're not. I believe you." Then we invited him to pray and ask if it's all true and we came back the next day and he said, "I did what you asked. I felt the spirit. I know its true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. What else can you teach me?" 

He's amazing. He is preparing to be baptized on the 3rd of July. 

Anyways, thats all I have time for, talk to you all next week!

May 30 in Orizaba

Well this week was awesome! E is progressing super well. His baptismal date is for the 19th of June. He'll prolly be the last baptism of my mission. He's super excited. We had stake conference this week and he said he loved it. We also put a baptismal date yesterday with F for the 26th, so if E isn't my last, then it will prolly be F. M had his date for the 12th, but he didn't come to church this week, so we'll most certainly be pushing it back. God has really started to put people in our path these last couple weeks and even though I may go home before I see the end result, I'm happy to know that I've been a part of everything. That's plenty of an honor. 

Time to work until there's no time left. Talk to you all next week!!