Dear Wonderful Mother of Mine,

  Hey everybody good news so this week we had a lot of cool stuff happen this week. We actually had this week interviews with President DeLaMare and the AP's this week along with the Marikina Zone so the zone that had to all be evacuated because of the stinking floods. It was great though learned a lot of new things and had the opportunity to talk with President DeLaMare about my life as a missionary and how much I love it!!! Great week along with that I was able to get my package from you guys and have a great time with reading the scrapbook you made it was so awesome and I'm so also happy that I do not tie my tie like I used to do PANGET!!!! I loved all the things that were said seriously I love all of it especially the picture to see Nate coming home from doing the Lord's work honorably!! I love doing the Lord's work here and let me tell you its going by so stinking quickly its ridiculous!!! Had alot of cool stuff this week to do but along with your question I don't really have any pictures I'm trying to be even more careful than before and I don't want to take my camera out in the street our president warns us not to!! Still got some good pictures this week and cant wait to send them!! As well as I don't really have that much of flooding here in my area its pretty awesome, but got to go and do service at the PAO building across from the temple and help with the relief effort!!! It was good and we also had a activity with our less-actives in our area it was so much fun we did it at the Memorial Circle in our area!!!

 The area is going great we have a great investigator in our area Romela Alati-it who is actually is doing so very good we taught her this week a couple of times and we have been thinking since she is 14 years old she may be listening to us since that we are to Americans it has happened before here and well I don't want that so we have been really following up all of the things that we give her to read and well she has really been doing the things that we ask because she actually does want to find out more and find the only true church on this earth!!! Her sister is a re-activated less-active that she lives with and has been coming to church ever since we have been teaching her!!! Shes pure gold talaga!!! In church yesterday we saw her sitting with her sister and one of the greatest things happened its important to have a fellow shipper and she has one!!! One of her friends in the ward started sitting by her and talking with her and she has been going to activities with the YW!!! I love it shes doing great has a baptismal date set for September 22nd to be exactly sure that she is ready!!

 So this is what we had to do this week wasn't as bad with the rain as last week but its off and on so well see how that goes too!! I love you guys and miss you all a ton!!

Mahal kita,
 Elder Thompson


Birthday package finally came!!!



Posing at Memorial Circle Quezon City





Dear Wonderful Mother of Mine,
  So hey, guess what? Yes, it rained a lot this week it was pretty ridiculous. I never have seen so much rain in all my life it was so ridiculous. Especially with the fact that were from Arizona and well we barely get any rain there hahahaah!!! It was weird for sure it was the first time that I have ever been cold here in the Philippines. We were not effected by the floods as much as was our area. One of our families the Muyano Family had a big problem they said that they actually had over 6 feet of water by their house before we go to their house, we have to climb a couple of stairs and they say all those filled up actually their house is right next to a canal to so the water still got their house cause that whole canal filled up and got to their house. So yea we didn't get to go to them until they came to church on Sunday so yea it been a great week actually. This week got to celebrate my birthday so weird it was actually pretty fun and sad at the same time. I didn't get my package this week so yea that was definitely a bummer. Also we got our interviews canceled last week with President DeLaMare since you remember Tandang Sora chapel was where we were planning to have them at and President's car wasn't even able to coordinate through the floods actually me and the other 3 elders in our house weren't even able to get there the Zone Leaders in our zone and the other district were already there at the chapel and told us actually to wait and they would tell us when we could go. When we got the go signal we headed out in rain that was just so not nice plus the lightning and thunder going off every 10 seconds i swear. We waited for 30 minutes to go there quickly since we are pretty far from everyone else in our zone.  I stopped a taxi and asked him to go to Tandang Sora and he said this "Ayaw ko pupunta iyan sa Tandang Sora binaha talaga at hindi ako pumasok doon. He didnt want to go that way simply. We got onto the long way with using the MRT some thing like the lightrail over there in ASU it was pretty cool so we took it to the Trinoma Mall MRT station and from there walked again it was pretty fun walking in rain with alot of stuff in my hands my shoulder bag, Preach My Gospel, plus my umbrella which I always need so I don't get sick. We didn't even make it since we were about to go to the street by Tandang Sora Mindinao Ave. and we couldn't even walk we were already so wet as it was we were almost about halfway up our legs, but if we went any farther we probably get stuck. So we called the AP's and they came and got us from our shelter in McDonalds hahahaaha!!! Wasnt hungry though. Then we thought when were going to Tandang Sora chapel Nope straight to our apartment again interviews were canceled ahahahaha .

 So we spent alot of our time this week doing CSP'ing lots of our members in me and Elder McCoy's area had more problems with the floods since our area is the more poorer part of our ward. It was fun walking through squatters in only shorts, a shirt and shoes gotta love it. It wasn't bad in NIA our squatters as it was in our other part of our area Philcoa. Had a good time going to all the members checking up on them if there wasn't any problems didn't have any problems but one of our investigators asked us to visit one of her kaibigans and had her come with us to her house actually gave her friends kid a blessing of comfort and was able to be the one to give it to her. Her mom wanted us to give her specifically the opportunity to have her kid speak since her child cannot speak, but it was so good in a time of need these people turn to the Lord for help even us the Lord's servants I love it. One of our investigators Romela Alati-it who has a baptismal date set for August 25th really got affected from the floods she was really sick and last Sunday me and Elder McCoy gave her a blessing and got a text from our family the Muyano family that she lives with she was going straight to the hospital she has been throwing up blood daw. Really would love it that you pray for my area especially her at this time. Also for my birthday had a good time with that. So on my birthday I was inside the house the whole day confined. My companion, as well as another elder in our house got really sick, the reason they forgot their umbrellas so they got pretty wet hahahaahah. So yea another plus all my clothes in the back which I hand washed all got wet from the rain and well you really don't want that to happen to your clothes the rain here is pretty bad, with all the pollution so yea spent over 2 hours rewashing my clothes yea it was pretty fun along with the rain still coming down hahahaaha plus no birthday package :(. It was still such a fun week so hopefully tomorrow ill get my package since our interviews with President are tomorrow so ill tell you that next email. I'm fine here the flood hasn't really got to me other than this week with the rain had alot of rats and mice come in our house we killed alot of them this week plus one really big one me and Elder Ferrer killed at the chapel. ITS HUGE!!! VICTORY!!! STONED THAT SON OF A GUN!!! That's just for Dad and the boys!!! I love you guys and I'm fine and thank you for your prayers love you from your newly 20 year old son!!!

Mahal kita,
 Elder Thompson

Elder thompson saved his ward from this rat.

The young man and grandmother were baptized

Elder Thompson with baby

 

Hello Po Dear Wonderful Mother of Mine,

   So yes I got a new camera and yes I should have waited, but I would not have got all the great pictures this week if I did not. We actually had our zone activity today earlier and it was a blast we planned on going bowling for our zone activity, but they were actually having a tournament in the alley today so yea what a blowout huh? Its a freaking great camera, I got the Canon A810 the one that they actually had a very good deal for, yes I even know how to be a great shopper like you in the Philippines hahahah!!! I got it for only 4,985 pesos and what I got with it was awesome got a lot more than I thought I would have gotten. I got batteries, the chargeable ones that you wanted, its waterproof, plus the case is amazing so much better than my last cameras case which by the way what do you want me to do with that camera? Anyways I got alot of good stuff with it it was a bargain for sure I'm so glad I learned how to find bargains like you taught me hahahah!!! Yea hopefully I will hear from Isaac or Garret haven't since I last wrote them over a year ago!!! :) SAyang talaga eh!!! I'm glad to hear that Mason is actually getting married that's way cool good for him since shes a member maybe he will find an interest in our church who knows!!! Yea anyways the companionship is going so great we are actually hitting all of our mission standards on key indicators. I'm feeling so great its amazing out here in this area I love being in the squatter areas they may be small, but I love them the people are so open to us, but we have began our focus on the middle and higher class now so we are really going to try one part of our area Teacher's Village the only rich/middle class part of our area. Lots of less-actives around there so we are going strong here me and Elder McCoy. I honestly can say I have matured so much in this area than any other area having to be a follow up trainer/ 1st senior is a tough business, but it comes with alot of blessings which I'm so thankful for (D&C58:3-5) My favorite scripture here in the field read it ITS AWESOME!!!.

  So we are looking very good this week we have a very busy week this week tomorrow we will actually have zone interviews with President DeLaMare at Tandang Sora Chapel so ill definitely send you guys some pictures of that when we have it. Also since its my birthday on Wed, by the way have not received my package so hopefully ill get it tomorrow along with our interviews. On Wed anyways we have a Family Home Evening with the Ward Missionaries in the ward since they love to throw parties we will have one for me on Wed. Then on Thursday we will have another Family Home Evening with the Silla Family (By the way yesterday Brother/Tatay Silla attended church yesterday for the 3rd time in a row WAHOO, but hes still having trouble with W.O.W, but we are continuing on with him). Actually he gave us a referral for a less-active that lived right by them and we did not know about hahahaha!!! We taught the De Guzman family yesterday and found out that Brother is going away to Pagangsinan a province in the northern part of the Philippines in a week, but he wants us to continue teaching his family while hes away so there a up/down with that!!! We have 3 baptismal dates set one for August 25th and two for September 8th we will see how this goes. All the parts in our area are amazing lalo sa NIA ang parte sa area namin lahat siya ay squatters. We actually were able to bless a less-active in our area who is very old 80's yata and we went to his house yesterday after we received not only a text from his son, but from our bishop as well hes doing alright as I know right now, we will find out tomorrow or on Thursday depending how long our interviews go for tomorrow. I have learned a couple of recipes and actually will be actually able to use that cook book you guys gave me earlier in the mission from Sister Arnett which by the way, hows Tyler, Hudson and Adam Skousen doing right now??? Also Chris Cartwright?? Really miss those guys want to know how they doing as well as if any of the old priest quorum are coming back from their missions soon?? I will have a happy birthday for sure I gonna have a blowout hahahaha!!! Ill send you guys a picture when we get it. I love you all and wish you all the best much love!!!

Mahal Kita,
Elder Thompson


Elder McCoy and Elder Thompson



Elder Thompson and Elder McCoy with G Family

District picture (Elder T experimenting with new camera)



Another pic!
Elders Usher, Ferrer. Thompson, McCoy



 Hey Dear Wonderful Mother of Mine!!!

  So this week was a very weird week indeed. So yea to start things off today I thought I would tell you how i celebrated my year mark in the mission so what I did that day was we actually on Fridays have our weekly planning so yea got to spend a lot of my time with using weekly planning it was very weird indeed we actually planned until 2 o'clock because we have so much to plan for that's what made it so fun is to see how much our work has progressed in this area since the first time that I actually arrived here its really crazy indeed how fun it was!!! So on Friday we after weekly planning go to the chapel to have our weekly meeting with our ward mission leader, Dane!! Then after that we headed to our area and went to our planned appointments then at night around 7o'clock had a dinner appointment with one of the members in the ward, Mar Baquiran had some great chicken inasal or chicken legs on sticks kinda like the kabobs we see in America. Then we went home and enjoyed the night and like you said I didn't burn anything hahahaha wanted to but didn't.

   So we had another great week indeed and actually we are going to go look for the camera later today so ill probably print this letter from you since the only stores that you sent me only one of them I can actually go to its the one in the Trinoma Mall so we will do some researching here and its great to have a Filipino in the house cause they know what cameras are the best especially the one that is my district leader, Elder Ferrer hes actually just came off Mindoro so he knows what ones are the best for this kinda of weather here since he has experienced the worst of it all there. Speaking of which we have had just rain,rain and guess what more rain this week halos araw araw may ulan po kami nadito sa area namin!!! Lots of bahas too. Bahas are in English floods not the dangerous our house is going with the water floods, but the ones where our shoes and sock and most of our pants are submersed in the water yea don't like that at all especially how dirty our area is lots of dead things I get to see floating in the water I only cheer if its a pusa or in English a cat hahahaah (that's for you Dad). So anyways I have been having alot of success this week we have been finding alot of new people through referrals it really is a great impact referrals whereas with tracting we have to find someone for them to fellowship them whereas referrals they are already done. The area is amazing we have been having alot of success me and him. We have all nothing, but squatters and the funny thing in this area we also have the richest part of our ward as well its pretty weird the most poor part of our ward and also the richest, but we don't really have anyone living there except for members no investigators we have tried contacting one in this area who is actually the mom of one of our members in the ward, no contact so far, but there is a reason we are going there so we are trying to focus really on receiving referrals as well as contacting. Lots of good things have come through that we have in the last 2 weeks have boosted our investigator pool as well as our less-active pool. We actually found a less-active family this week the Fuentes family and I was very sad to see what has happened to this family since no one has ever contacted them. They are now attending a new religion the Born Again Christians nanay or the mother pretty much just said when we gave her a Book of Mormon that we shouldn't count on them coming to church, but we got her to commit to read the Book of Mormon the first time we visited them. It looks like alot of missionaries have lost hope for them, but me and elder McCoy haven't I know that they can come back we just need them to feel the Spirit. The Silla family are doing so very good Tatay has now come to church this week for the second time in a row. We are so happy to see his progress. He even asked us a great question, if we pray to have help given to us to overcome weaknesses, but we fall right back into it will the Lord help. Lets just say there was a long pause there, but then I remembered a scripture from Moroni 10:7 we can do anything with the Spirit, but if we don't do our part we can do nothing. Ever since then he has been doing his best to overcome. I love that family so much. So actually tonight I have a dinner with one of the Area Seventy living in our area so Ill send you some pics from my new camera I will get today. I love you mother and miss you dearly and all of you guys it was weird to hit the year, but remember what Elder Uchtdorf said about missionaries, we must always work that we are always in the middle of our missions.  I'm still going strong and don't want to stop the Lord's work here in the Philippines is going so amazing, and another great annoucement Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve is coming to our mission and speaking to us the day before our transfer day on August 30th so freaking excited. I love you guys so much.

Mahal kita,
 Elder Thompson

 Dear Wonderful Mother of Mine,

   So hey guess what I love life here in the Philippines the greatest place in the world. Just like you said I'm really enjoying the time I have to follow-up train Elder McCoy!!! Hes a great missionary I love the guy to death even though that he scares the living cud out of me when he crosses streets I always think that hes gonna die cause of how unorganized the traffic is here in the Philippines that's why I don't want to be an AP cause then I have to drive here and well I wouldn't like driving here its freaking horrible just like Utah. Absolutely no right of way its just horrible here everyone just goes when they feel like it. Its crazy, but we really didn't have anything happen to us this week,but sadly I do have something sad to tell you. My camera was sadly killed in action this week the rain here is just horrible and well it got to it, and today we went to the Kodak store in one of the malls in our area and they said it would be better if i just bought a new one instead of fixing it all the other stuff work still batteries and memory cards, just not the screen its a LCD problem and well i might need to get a new one sorry talaga but I will give you an update through pics from Elder McCoy's camera I'm using his for now. So i will wait for your reply on our next email time I'm really sorry nothing I could do the case was just not meant for here and it got killed sorry talaga. I still have pictures don't worry, but there is a good camera here at the Kodak store in our area for 6,000 pesos don't know how much that is in dollars, but it looks very good so just a thinker for you. PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME!! I love you guys so much and so sorry for the problem of the broken camera still have pics though so don't worry about that. I love you mother!!!

Mahal kita,
 Elder Thompson

Elder Thompson and Elder McCoy with their AP

Dear Wonderful Mother of Mine,

 So this week we had another great week me and Elder McCoy. Its was a long one too for sure it had a lot of up-and-downs, but i loved it was such another great week for me and Elder McCoy. First off I don't use crocs they are rubber shoes and well they are freaking hot I have never ever used those once on my mission and probably never will. I always just wear my slip-ons or my chinilas (flip-flops in English), but yea encourage him not to buy them they are of no use to him in the mission probably just going to send them back to you guys since i really don't use them at all. They are a hassle to carry around and take up a lot of space that I need for other things it's ridiculous. Also tell him to not to bring silk ties they really do bleed seen it from kabahays not myself, but I'm happy I don't have any hahahaahh!!! I also do have all of my SD cards so don't worry about that i have all of them and they are all still alive hahahahah!!! Also i do not use TP sadly i have to use my hands plus the bucket that we use for showering, but we have one for the toilet hahahaha. I love it here though since we do have a air conditioner for our bedroom, but we don't use it its so freaking mahal use it for 2 hours then it goes off, but we still have electric fans going on our faces so its still kinda nice in the room.


 So anyways we have had alot of good success me and Elder McCoy the area is a very great area lots of squatter areas in our area I love it the squatters are an amazing thing to be in even though it smells like sewer and urine in everywhere we go I love it cause its such a great place to find those searching for the gospel since the people here really have nothing at all and sobrang magpakumaba po sila talaga maghahanap po kami araw araw para sa kanila. I love speaking Tagalog so much its like going to be one of my hobbies when i get home seriously its a freaking awesome language and not alot of people know of its existence very surprise how many people don't even know about the language. So yea with our area we are both STAYING me and Elder McCoy are going to be together for another transfer we may be having a baptism in August stay tuned we have a progressing investigator named Romela she is actually a less-actives' sister so we are teaching her and actually her sister is now a reactivated member me and Elder McCoy reactivated I love it here so much. We actually on Monday shared with her about the Restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith at first we had a lil bit of a hard time, but then we got to Joseph Smith I felt like we needed to use the Restoration DVD with her instead of us teaching. We watched and at the end bot of us testified of Joseph Smith great lesson so much loved everything that happened in that lesson that day. Her sister as well as her husband both reactivated members testified to her as well. The Spirit was so strong no one could deny he was there. The best part was that Elder McCoy asked her how she was feeling all she could say was MASAYA NA AKO!!! I loved it Elder McCoy is the man I love being able to follow-up train him hes a great missionary. So we gave Romela a bap date on August 25th so here hoping will keep you guys tuned!!! I love it here in this ward and we are both staying so even more work for us to do here I love it here this mission is amazing and I'm happy to hit my year mark with Elder McCoy he is a great companion I'm glad to be able to be one of his first 3 companions its amazing. I love you guys wish you all the best of luck.

Mahal namin kayo,
Elder Jordan Thompson

Hello Der Wonderful Mother of Mine!!,

 So yea this week was also an amazing week learning a lot of new things constantly because of the fact that I'm one of Elder McCoy's first 3 companions. Really trying my hardest to be an example to him, really do want to leave an impact on all of my companions. Hes really great though really like working with him have alot of good things we are able to do as we visit people here in this area. The area is really great here I love it in this ward they are a really great ward kinda like my last area's ward. If I know anything about myself I could love it if  you don't spend alot of money to send me stuff. I'm good on the clothes even though most of my clothes are freaking ginormous on me now every shirt that I have really makes me look like I'm fat, but then when I kind of pull it a lil then it really is all just the shirt not me hahahaah!!! So many people have said "Grabe mataba ka na!!!" Wow your fat in English hahahaah then pull the shirt then their like oh Shoot!! ITS JUST THE SHIRT!!! So also we are having some great experiences in this area so yea I'm pretty happy for now!!!

   So if you guys want to know a lil bit more about the area i will tell you of some great experiences I have had in this area plus some funny ones if you want? Ill tell you anyway!! So first one really cool thing is we are actually teaching a family where the mom is a member, the dad is also a member, but the sister of the mom is living with them not a member, in short its a great family and honestly they have probably the smallest house I have ever been in on my mission probably no bigger than my room maybe and they have 4 people living in there plus when we visit so were pretty much squishing 6 people in a very small room talaga, but I love teaching them even though its really blazing hot in their house this week it has been nothing but rain, maybe for 3 days straight it has been raining shoot its stinking raining right now!! I love when its raining, but when it ends it freaking is so hot right after it add that humidity wahoo its amazing. I love the Muyano family they are a really great family and have been coming to church for 2 weeks straight now WAHOO!!! I LOVE LIFE!!!

 So also had a very funny experience yesterday after we went to church!! So me and Elder McCoy were actually on our way to a family home evening which is actually in the house above our house yes we are living with members \, but they are our landlord and they gave us a separate house for us its a nice house by the way actually has AC and actually a working shower head sadly though we don't use either the shower head is broke and the AC is just too expensive to use so yea that really stinks hahahaah!!we have it but cant use it hahahaha. I love it here though so onto the funny experience. So this week I had a very funny experience with some little kids while me and Elder McCoy were walking to the FHE some people said hi to us so we started talking to them, then started walking away then I feel a huge thing hit the side of my head then see that it was a rock, hahaha this little kid started chucking rocks at me luckily only one hit my head it hurt, but i didn't hurt cause I was laughing so freaking hard. So yea I got stoned this week if would want to call. Gotta love the Philippines!!! Also love walking around in deep sewage it feels so good hahahaha this area gets very flooded easily especially when it rains as much as it has this week. Gotta love it!!! Really like Elder McCoy he's really trying hard to be the best that he can and I'm trying my hardest to help him do his best trying to be the best senior companion I can be for him. Tell ED happy birthday ha? This area is great lots of good investigators, but we need to find even more some of them are not progressing so we are gonna see what we can do this week to build this area, its a great area. Its just like all of my other mga areas sa Quezon City alot of squatters or the really poor areas, if only you guys could see what these things are like don't really like going into them at night, but when all you have is squatters it really isn't much else you can do. Its very scary in them with the fact that there is no light or maybe just a lil bit of it, but I still love it the people are so willing to listen to us and the great thing about it is that our church is so close to our area I love it!!!

 So yea I love it here in my new area of Quezon City 1st Ward not much else is going on other than I love life and that's all I really have to tell you. A mission is amazing I have learned so much from it its been a great influence on my life so far and I'm sure it will continue to be I love you and MAHAL KO KAYO LAHAT!!

Mahal kita,
 Elder Thompson

Elder Thompson with new comp Elder McCoy

Loved eating clams for first time!!