Hey dont worry about the news because none of that hit in my area where I am so its not a big deal, but its still really sad because it happened during Christmas time and that so many people died and who knows how many of those were members. So anyways with the news I am NOT TRANSFERRING:) So I will be with Elder Hopkins longer than any other companions I have had. I will actually do a setup call with you guys before I actually call you. So that you guys can for sure be ready for when Elder Thompson calls you. I did receive my Christmas package it was so cool. I love it it had so many good things in it. I loved it its amazing especially the journal and the banner you sent were awesome.      So unto the great stuff that we were able to experience this week. So last week we are happy to be able to say that our area is really progressing especially the investigators that we have with baptismal dates. They are all really progressing they all attend church, read the assignments that they are given by us. They pray too and its so good to see how they are progressing. One thing is that stinks though is that one of our investigators that has a baptismal date may be moving back to the province so that really stinks but we are going to send a referral to the missionaries out there if she does go back. We had our ward christmas party it was so stinking awesome it totally beat our ward parties by a mile. I do miss our parties, but I really do think that it kicked our ward's butt. They asked two of our elders to perform so we had elder butler and hopkins go because me and the other zl have no musical talents. It was cool but we had to leave early because it went past 9 and well thats the time that we have to be home. Really this week we went to investigators and taught some lessons this week because our new focus in our mission is bring back less-actives to church because it says that 8 out of 10 investigators that are baptized in the Philippines go inactive so they really want us to focus on the lessons after baptism and all the goals they must do such as receiving the Priesthood and going to the temple. So yea thats what we will be doing for now on so you will be hearing alot about less actives as well as investigators. I have 5 people set for baptism on the 14th of January and 1 set for the date of Feb 3rd so I will have a very good transfer this transfer if all goes thru. So I will be needing those prayers definitly now more than ever.     Well anyways that has been my week in a nutshell. I love you guys and pray for you guys every night. I love this work here I love the people here they are totally replacing anyone in our neighborhood .        MAHAL KITA,          Elder Jordan Scott Thompson

i think this is a jeepney???

  Well well well this week has been such a good week this week I just don't know where to start. I went on splits 3 times this week like I said I went with Elder Butler twice this week. Elder Butler is the other ZL's companion and he is way good. Hes only one transfer ahead of me and he is way good at speaking Tagalog. We have had good times together because in just in these 2 transfers we have gone on splits together 8 times its been so fun having Zone Leader companions is really weird because they do alot and you don't realize it until you are one or you companion is one. We got some really good pictures with investigators in his area and in my area. I also got to go with Elder Cabuenas hes the only Filipino elder in our zone other than the sisters hes the only Filipino. He goes home in Feb so he doesn't have much longer left. He's a way good missionary and he is such a stud. Well we have transfer day on the 22nd of Dec so I'm not and I'm looking forward to that. Elder Hopkins is such a great companion he helps alot with my teaching and the language, he always makes sure that I lead in the lessons, and the tracting.

       So this week was such an awesome week I don't even know where to start. Well this week alone we gave out about 5 baptismal dates this week and what makes it even better is that they all took their dates its so awesome. So we first gave it to an investigator named Billy who we actually found through our recent convert family the Corrales family. He is so cool hes 17 years old and was actually taught by missionaries before, but one day they just stopped coming one day, but we gave him the date of Jan 14th and he accepted. He's such a istig investigator he always has questions, and always keeps our commitments. He has been so fun to teach and we are continuing to have him progress through the gospel. We also have another 3 investigators named Donna, Venos, and Madeth. The funny story about this is that Donna is actually the elder's quorum president's daughter and was never interested in us teaching her when I was with Elder Burgan, but the first day i was with Elder Jiminea they came and listened to us and have been progressing ever since then. They are all friends that have been wanted to be taught after the other we first taught Donna, then her friend Venos was interested and wanted to listen to us and then Madeth got interested and just last Fri we gave them all baptismal dates on the 14th of January as well just like Billy. Finally there is Mimi an investigator that I found through one of the members. I was on exchanges that day, but its been 2 weeks since then. So we have taught her the whole first lesson and she loved it. She is a little shy, because if you know anything about the Philippines is that every girl thinks any white boy or American is guapo(handsome), so with two of them makes it a little bit more. She has been progressing so much though and when I was on exchanges with Elder Cabuenas, Elder Hopkins gave her a date also on the 14th of January so if all goes as planned we will have 5 baptisms on the 14th. Its way exciting. We had the awesome opportunity also to go to temple tour on Thursday of last week, we brought the Corrales, Clemente, Venos, Madeth, and Billy (Donna wasn't able to go), plus our Elder's Quorum President to it. It was such a good experience and you could totally see the Spirit work with everyone that was there. If you could rely on anything to convert people its so definitely the temple. I loved it and the Spirit I felt as I was there. This Wed I actually am hosting along with my zone at the temple so I will be able to see Elder Burgan again WAHOO!!!. I also got to see Elder Stallings and McDonald there it was good to see them and the progression that they are having. I have lots of progressing investigators so my area is definitely looking up.

  So that was my week in a nutshell. Enjoy this Christmas season and always remember is not about how much you receive its about how much you can give. Always remember and that the greatest gift of all is the Savior's atoning sacrifice for us all. Also just to say it I have eaten many cool things, but this week we ate at the Corrales family after a lesson and I was able to eat sardines YUMMY!!!!:) and calamaries, its not the salmon eggs that you would eat in America its tiny squid that taste so freaking good I cant tell you how good they are. I also have had dried fish and its so good here that I think it even beats the fish back home. But I'm not entirely sure about that. I love you guys and enjoy the Christmas weather, because its starting to get hot here. So yea enjoy that.

  Mahal ko kayo,

       Elder Jordan Thompson

Hey family and friends from the beautiful city of Quezon City, Philippines. Everything here is amazing and I loving it still. Well things have been going a little differently here this week has been quite a kick in the butt.  We got punted alot this week it was tough this week, but today on P-Day  I was able to attend the temple and that is always a good thing. Back to the good old work on Wed or tomorrow. I have received things from friends and ward members and its awesome to see how much support that a ward gives to its missionaries out in the field. I love it, its always good to receive things from friends, family and members. I really appreciate the things I receive it always makes my day when I receive things like that. So I will be taking alot more pictures this week, because I'm pretty sure Tanner and Christiaan have a bunch of pics so I need to step up with that. I'm really sorry its just that I don't like to take pics cause i might look like a tourist and I might get mugged. Hhahahahaah but I will definitely still try to take more pictures. So no cool stories this week except that we really went tracting last week and we were able to go to new areas in my area. O wait there is a story so we were going to have a baptism on Saturday, but that fell through. RecAnn wasn't able to be baptized on Sat because the day before she was to be baptized her Dad all of a sudden decided not to let her be baptized at all so that really really stunk, but we still have gone to her and we are going to try to teach the family and see what that does. Other than that i have really been tracting to find new investigators, we found one through a member, she lives right above his house and they are really good friends. She has been really receptive of our message and just on the 2nd time we visited her she prayed to know that what we were teaching her was true. The Spirit was totally there and how did we know that because one there was no doubt in my mind that it was there and second she started crying and that was so powerful. We gave out a baptismal date to one of our investigators and he accepted and he will be baptized on Jan 14th 2012 I'm hoping to be in this area for that time, but I'm pretty sure ill transfer to where I don't know MINDORO???(hopefully). So yea I loving the work here tomorrow I get to go on splits again with Elder Butler, hes the other Zl's companion and is the only one in the house that is from the last transfer that was with me so that will be fun. By the way there is an Elder Davis in my mission in fact hes my DL in the other district in my zone. Its really cool to know that there is people in my area that know people that I know its ridiculous. The people here are so stinking awesome its ridiculous, but I will definitely be sending you guys some photos soon sorry again on that. I love my zone everyone gets along well its way cool. MAHAL KO KAYO!!!!

 Elder Thompson