August 25

Dear Family,

This week was incredible.

On Thursday we taught a woman named Margo. She's in her 70's and her husband died about a year ago which has been really hard for her. We taught the Plan of Salvation and right from the start when we handed her the pamphlet, she got really excited. She looked at the picture on the cover and said, hold on! She went to the back room and brought a framed poem with a picture of her husband and the same picture of Jesus on the cover! She told us that Cecil had a small card with that picture on it near his desk all his life. He found it in his mailbox! :) That's kind of a side note to what really happened though. As we were teaching about the Spirit World, we opened up to Alma 40:11-12. I read verse 11 and Margo read 12. As she read it, she started to cry. She told us that she had been praying with almost those exact same words for her husband Cecil, with the exception that she asked that he would be in a "beautiful place" and not paradise, but she liked that better. We didn't even bother to read verse 13. As we taught about the kingdoms of glory the Spirit in the room was so incredibly strong. She told us, "What you have told me today has answered questions I have had my entire life. Thank you." We invited her to say the closing prayer and it was one of the most heartfelt prayers I have ever heard. The member that we brought with us was still rejoicing about it on Sunday. Do we realize what we have? Margo was searching for this for her entire life.

Later that day we were knocking on doors and a woman said, "Mormons!" And said, "Come in!" She told us that she had been searching for our number a few weeks earlier, but couldn't find it anywhere so she prayed that we would knock on her door. (The sad thing was we had kind of been looking at her street for a while, but never got around to actually going to it.) She used to go to our church with her mother-in-law, who was a member, and really missed the feeling she had when she was there. She never was baptized because she has a bad back. She was so happy to see us. Her name was Doreen and told us that she wanted us to go meet her granddaughter and daughter as well. (All of Doreen's kids were baptized, but were never really active.) There is more to this story...

Then we went to girl's camp on Friday and just asked the young women what questions they had about missionary service. They got to ask us questions and we just answered them for about 50 minutes and then just shared our testimonies. It was incredible! My favorite part is that some of the young women from my ward in Chilliwack were in my group! Out of 15 companionships, they were in mine!! :) And I had been really hoping to see them, especially Julianna. :)

Then on Saturday we went out to this small town in the middle of nowhere named Youbou. (you-bow) It is a 45 minute drive from where we live and we had never been there, but were close, so we went there. We were going to drop by some less active members. One of them was a single man on the ward list, but we went to the street anyways, hoping that we'd find evidence of a woman living there too so we could talk to him. As we were searching for his house (which was not marked), we noticed a guy sitting out on his porch. As we introduced ourselves, he said, "you've been here before. I recognize you." We assured him that we'd never been to Youbou in our lives, but he wasn't convinced. He pointed at me specifically and told us, "Okay I don't recognize both of you, but I know I've seen you before." He looked familiar, and as we started talking to him he kept telling us that he needed something. His name is Justin and he has the most dangerous job in logging, which is a really dangerous field, which is why he believes in God. He told us that he'd been though some really rough things in his life and he is not proud. He went to war in Afghanistan and said he drinks every day but it's not helping. He finally decided he needed to come to church and really was interested in what we had to say. He had biked from Victoria to Youbou that morning (I cannot begin to tell you how insane that is. It's like an eight to ten hour bike ride up and down a MOUNTAIN) and was planning on biking to church in the morning. We told him, don't worry we can get you a ride. And he really promised to come. But something must have changed his mind because he was not at church on Sunday. The incredible thing was that each and every talk was just for him. The first talk was on repentance, and the next two were on adversity (one was a farewell from a guy that lost his mom two years ago, and one was a homecoming from a guy that just got back from St. Louis, Missouri.) I learned that Heavenly Father really counts on us being at church! He plans on us being there, and whether we go or not is our choice, but he always has a message lined up just for us.

On Friday we got a call from a girl that that told us she wanted to be a Mormon! We called her back and she was willing to get a ride to church on Sunday from people she'd never met to meet us at church. She was so brave! We met her there and she is awesome. She got our number from her grandmother (Doreen) and gave us a call. She liked church and really wanted a Book of Mormon. I was tempted to ask her when she wanted to be baptized (and I should have!!) but I didn't. Tomorrow we'll ask her. :)

More miracles than I have time left to write happened this week. Rachel wants to be baptized! She talked to her son about it, who used to read the Bible every day from the time he was eight years old, and he explained to her that it's a coventant--a two-way promise and she realized she hasn't done that yet. And she wants to! She told us at her church (the Shaker church) they don't use a written text, all answers come through prayer. She told us that she feels like the Book of Mormon has completed this journey that's she's made throughout her life because it has the answers in it. She came to church yesterday too. (Also, her son is an investigator too--we met them together--but his girlfriend won't let us meet with him. She won't even let him see his mom too much. So we're sending the Elders. :) Pray for Craig this week!)

Can you believe it! I know that Heavenly Father lives and is watching over us each and every day. We really don't deserve this and did not work nearly hard enough to earn all of this, but Heavenly Father blessed us anyways. It's like that with everything. He just blesses us because He loves us. Just like parents just feed their kids because they love them. And He also let us go through adversity this week because He loves us. I was sick from Sunday to Wednesday. But we still we able to see incredible miracles! Why? Because He loves us. I know that sometimes we have to pass through really difficult things. And sometimes it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. But there always is. He always outweighs the adversity, whether in this life, or in the next. I know He loves each of us so much. I also know that this work that we are doing is true. I know that this church has been restrored by a prophet of God. We have been called by prophecy and set apart by the laying on of hands by those who are worthy. And we are lead to those that are ready because Heavenly Father is in charge of this work. Sometimes (all the time) I feel like there is not enough time in a day to do all that needs to be done. Miracles lie at every corner! I feel inadequate often enough, but I know that Heavenly Father really is in charge and that He wants His children to come home to Him.

Love you all.

Sister Thomson
forgot to mention--found out Justin used to work in Chilliwack and Abbotsford!
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