September 1

Dear Family,

This week was great.

We found out our investigator Will read the whole Book of Mormon in 10 days. Ten! He would stop to take 45 minute breaks and then continue on and he only got his job recently so he was able to do it. He came to church for the first time yesterday, and we haven't been able to teach him too much because we've wanted to give him to the Elders, but he loved it. He told us he wants to come back next Sunday and every chance he can after that. When he texted us that, I couldn't help myself. :) We invited him to be baptized via text on September 27th. He was feeling the Spirit so strong still from church, so we pretty much had to! He wants to pray about it, and we gave him a passage to read over in the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 31) and he was asking us a ton of questions. The Elders are seeing him next Sunday so we're really excited for him.

Also, Shawnee came to church! She is also First Nations and just graduated this year. We see her walking around town all of the time. We gave up on setting return appointments for a while because she just wouldn't keep them, but she just keeps getting placed in our path! This week went better though. On Monday or Tuesday evening we were talking to this couple who were confused about whether they were Christian or Jewish and were trying to tell us that if we studied the Bible more we would become converted to whatever they were following. (We study for two hours every day...) Anyways. It was kind of frustrating but we turned around and there was Shawnee and her sister-in-law Gina! (Gina went to our church when she was young and loved it.) Shawnee told us later that she had a funny feeling and they weren't planning on sitting at the bench they were at, but they felt like they needed to. It was so cool because she was able to recognize a prompting! She made her return appointment(!!) and missed part of a family barbecue to do it. On Sunday she came to church and was so happy! She loved all of it. She wanted to come next week as well and she told us that when we met her (back in May) she was thinking about killing herself that day. From that point to now, she's seen a drastic change. She said she's never been so happy in her life and her parents can see it too. When we first met her, she wasn't sure if there was a God or not. But yesterday she told us, "Thanks to you, I know Heavenly Father." It was really incredible to see her so happy.

Rachel is still living the Word of Wisdom. :) She used to be a heavy coffee drinker, but she has been completely off of it for two weeks and she loves it! She says she feels so much more calm and things don't hit her as hard as they used to. And she's not tired anymore.

I love this gospel and I love serving a mission. There is nothing like it.

Love you all!

Sister Thomson

PS. Transfer calls tonight!
PPS. Went on a hike to Mt. Tzouhalem with our landlords. :)