Louis Armstrong

Elder Ficklin and I are really good neighbors.  We´re teaching almost all of the people who live near us!  :)  

 This Friday, we found a couple that is really young, but the wife is pregnant.  The husband said that he was already baptized in another church.  We taught the restoration focusing on authority, and at the end, he accepted baptism!  I was surprised, because it would appear that the whole restoration of priesthood authority actually made sense to him.  

 That´s not really normal here, so this guy is pretty smart.  They are also really easy to keep track of because they live right next door.  haha.

 We had our Musical Fireside on Wednesday and Sat.  Elder Adrian Ochoa was there on Wed with our mission president, and it was super cool.  The big problem was that I had two solos, and I was really sick on Wednesday.  

 Ugh.... I had a really bad throat, sounded like a frog.  Yikes.  But in the end, I think that it just came out sounding like Luis Armstrong.  haha.  But with a little more soul of course.  

 Thursday we had a zone conference with Elder Ochoa, and it was great.    In the leadership meeting afterwards, he said that missionaries wouldn´t get sick if they were working hard enough, so I felt super bad... cuz he knew i was really sick.  haha.  I´m trying my best, I promise!  But now I´m healthy, and we´re getting things going again.  I love being healthy!  I love being a missionary!

I think that of all the things, I learned a powerful leadership principle.  Some zone leaders were asking, how do we best influence the whole zone, because sometimes we just can´t focus on every single one?  He explained some things, and I felt like it hit me.  

You focus on the leadership.  that´s how you make lasting change.  

Focus on the district leaders, so that they can help the rest.

 Focus on working hard with your Bishop and ward mission leader, and they´ll do the rest.  That´s the real change.  Those are the guys that keep the work going forward after you leave.

 So that´s what we started doing, and yesterday we had a meeting with the ward mission leader and the auxiliary leaders.  then we went with him to the bishop´s house and proposed some ideas.  

He seems a lot more unified with us now, and I think that that´s going to make all the difference.  Now we have to teach it to the missionaries, so that the zone gets going in the same direction.  The mission plans haven´t been taking off because of the lack of unity between them and the bishops and ward mission leaders.

So, that´s that.  Just learning the basics still... you´d think that´d I´d have that down before now right?  

I love every single one of you who read this!

Elder Thalman

Cha Cha changes

This week was transfers... But Elder Ficklin and I are continuing the legacy!!!  yeah!  I love this guy.  But the rest of the zone got super messed up (in a really good way).  We love all of our new missionaries.  There are three newbies in the zone!!!  We love newbies so much.  One is this ridiculously trendy elder from Midway, UT.  The other is a Mexican sister, and the last is a PERUVIAN!  The first ever in this mission!  We´re so happy about it.  I love Peruvian people.  I taught one in the MTC, and their Spanish is super awesome sounding.  

We are preparing everything for this Musical Fireside that we´re doing this week.  My comp is playing piano, and I´m singing a couple of songs.  We also have a choir that´s a lot better than I´d thought.  In the end, the best part is that Elder Ochoa of the first quorum of the 70 is going to be there with the mission president!  I´m excited!

The new missionaries in the zone are all really positive (by new, I don´t mean they´re starting the mish, just new to the zone).  they are way excited, and I can already tell that the zone is going to improve a ton.  

Basically, being a missionary is the best things ever.  This week has been crazy just shaking things up, opening areas, finding new houses for missionaries, etc.  All nuts.  

 

But I´d thought that I´d share a super cool experience that I got from my dear friend Elder Matt Bradley who´s serving in Hong Kong.

"Every once in a while the Mandarin missionaries in Hong Kong have the privilege of teaching prepared souls who come down from mainland to hear all of the missionary lessons and get baptized in the same day. These experiences are usually really unique and refreshing to hear how the Lord blessed them with testimonies and provided them a way to first hear the gospel and then hear their usually pretty remarkable stories about how they were able to come to Hong Kong and meet us. Last Thursday's visitor baptism (picture included) was a special one.

 

So my companion and I are on the left of the picture then in the middle is the visitor's older sister, than it's the visitors husband Zhang dx, and then our visitor Chen Huan, and on the right is my former companion Elder Woods and his trainee Elder Dy. Elder Woods and Elder Dy taught and baptized the husband and the older sister two weeks ago (I actually didn't know that until Elder Woods came for the baptismal interview). Their story starts from last June and goes as follows:

 

In June her brother-in-law's older brother got back to Mainland having just lived in Canada. In Canada he got baptized and has a wonderful family. So when he moved back and met with his relatives there they were all impressed at his wonderful and unified family. They started asking him questions and learning about the Gospel from him. Then at the start of July their two year old daughter had a fever that wouldn't go away. It was really frightening for them and they didn't know what to do. Unlike previous fevers their daughter had it wasn't going away and so one particularly bad night they rushed her to the hospital and found out that she was actually in fatal condition. They prayed together as a family and Heavenly Father miraculously made her fever go away. After this experience they both knew that it was the right thing to be baptized and to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they determined to come down on July 27th and all get baptized  together as a family. When that day came though Chen Huan wasn't able to go with them and so the father and her older sister went without her. They took the lessons with Elder woods and got baptized that day. The Sunday after their baptism Chen Huan was really discouraged because she hadn't been baptized with them but she took courage when one of the sisters (who came and watched her get baptized) said that the Lord would let her get baptized at the most suitable moment for her. After she heard this then she took courage again and started to plan on coming to Hong Kong on August eighth. When the Branch President heard this he had the inspiration to have her husband baptize her on August eighth as well. They got everything prepared and while we were teaching her on Thursday she found out that her husband was actually going to come down and baptize her, and that he had all the things necessary (membership record, Aaronic priesthood ordination certificate, etc) that he needed to baptize her. While we were teaching her she also found out that a lot of the branch members would also, unexpectedly, be there to watch her get baptized. And another thing that just proves the Lord is in the detail of our lives is that Elder Woods was the only elder available that could help us with the baptismal interview. I had tried to schedule two other companionships to come and help us with the baptismal interview but he was the one that had time. During the baptismal service everyone was so happy, and I was elated to see a newly ordained Priesthood brethren baptize his wife. What an amazing experience it was! The Lord's spirit was definitely there with us, and I just felt so pleased and happy to be there.

 

In difficulties and outside of difficulties we sometimes make it so complicated and get so discouraged, but God is bigger than all our problems, He loves us and knows what's best for us, and will give us the best things according to His perfect timing. What a great comfort to me."

I love missionary work.  But I´m getting away from calling it that.  It´s all the same work of salvation!  We can and must all participate if we expect to gain our own.

Elder Thalman

Forming New Zones & a New Baptizm

 

On Monday, we went to visit Salamaleco, who had been reading the Book of Mormon a lot.  We felt impressed to read with him where he had gotten to at that point, and ended up read in 2Nephi, and Isaiah chapter.  The Spirit of the Lord was so strong and present, and all of us understood what it was saying (and I´ve never been good at reading Isaiah).  A lot had to do with the gathering of Irael (like normal in Isaiah).

Afterwards, we asked again how he felt about his baptism that Saturday (he had not yet ever given us a sure "yes").  He then solemnly explained in hushed tones that the Spirit and "light" that he received from the Book of Mormon had brought him to the personal decision of getting baptized on Saturday!  Then he said something super cool; "I had always wondered if I was a decendant of Israel, and now because of this book, I know that it´s true."  

 

That´s unlike anything that I had ever heard from an investigator before.  The Spirit was so strong, and Elder Ficklin and I were so filled with joy after, that we were on fire.  Anyone that talked to us after that that day was touched by the Spirit that we felt.  It was probably the happiest I´ve ever felt in the mission, if not in all my life.

For lack of time, that´s all for today.  Love you all!

Elder Thalman

Stand In Holy Places

This week was great. We just got done with a successful double zone unity activity, and things seem to be looking a lot better.  We just challenged a bunch of kids randomly to a game of soccer on the beach.  We played six on six, and just barely beat them.  Yeah!  It was super fun, and I almost died of heat stroke.  I actually had to dunk my head in the beach to not pass out.  I ran a bit too much, but so worth it.  And it was nice to get the exercise in.

This week we watched a movie in the church with Moncha´s family, that came to church! They really enjoyed it, and the Spirit was strong. (It was the Testaments). Afterwards, Franklin got up and said the closing prayer. He expressed feelings of joy for being in the church, and asked God to give them all signs so that they could know that the Book of Mormon was true. Then he said something a little interesting along the lines of, "and hopefully so that it is," then closed the prayer. I was filled with a sweet feeling of great, great joy afterwards. I´m really not sure why, but it was one of the happiest moments of my mission. I´m so excited for this family!

Salamaleco is still progressing great!  He hasn´t given us the good to go yet, but says that he very possibly he´ll get baptized this weekend.  But he´s getting along really well with the members, and is reading and praying like a machine.  We love him so much.  Something funny, but not too doctrinal...  We always start every lesson with him by getting his questions out of the way (because he always has super good ones).  One of his questions was, "do you believe there is life on other planets?"  My companion and I answered in unity with a sure, "yes."

"Salamaleco!" he said.  I hate to say you had to be there, but it was really really funny.  My companion and I just died laughing.  This guy is our best friend.  (one of many.  We get along way too well with our investigators).

We had to climb a mountain in the sisters´ area to do an interview of sorts... it was kinda of pointless, but I won´t bore you all with the details.  We climbed way up.  the neighbors sent us looking for the house way back down the mountain.  the land lord sent us back up the mountain!!! ugh... and it was really really hot... But yeah.  It was memorable.

Story time; The neck tie of salvation!

We were entering our house on Friday night at the end of the day.  A boy name Michael stopped us and asked if we had a pure black tie.  We both answered negative, but promised him after a few minutes of his explaining why he needed it, that we would get him one the next morning before 8am.  Without even inviting him, he asked, "what time is church Sunday?"  "uhhh... nine o´clock in the morning."  We answered.  "Okay, I´m going to go."  Awesome!  We were pretty happy.  We got him the tie the next morning, but before sleeping that night, we were already making plans for the movie titled, "The tie of Salvation."  haha.

Michael, his brother and his mother were at church the very next Sunday, and stayed all three hours!  So awesome.  We´re excited to see if they progress in the long run.

The ward mission plan seems to be taking hold, and members are visiting the investigators without us to offer friendship. It´s great and is bearing fruits already. I love the mission!

Keep it up out there with your own personal missionary efforts!  If anyone has missionary moments during the week, please please send them to me!  I´d love to hear about them!  And for those that always write me anyway, that´s your homework this week. haha.

Love,

Elder Thalman

Unity

 

This week we are doing things right for the first time.  Oh, we´re all so ignorant until we know that we are.  We had a mission coordination meeting with all of the leadership and put specific assignments for each auxiliary organization.  All the main investigators will have visits this week.  If someone doesn´t do their job, the stake pres. will know about it.  I´m pumped.  I really think that this is going to make a big difference in the work.  The sleeping giant is awakening!!!!

Missionary work is just so darn awesome.  

True success has less to do with personal acheivements, but rather in how you help others acomplish.  If we can help these members truly feel the joy of missionary work, not only will we have more success, but the success will last.  That´s all I want.  For whatever I do, that it´s permanent.

Salamaleco said something funny this week.  He was telling us about how he´s stuck in the house and doesn´t like not being able to go do stuff.  He said, "I like monkey in cage."  And I didn´t really get it at first.  why do you like the monkey? ... oh!  you are like a monkey in a cage.  That guy is so darn funny.  Really smart.  We gave him some English books to study from the mission, so he´ll learn lots of gospel vocab.  haha.  

We started asking him questions, and he was giving some cool answers.  He has afirmed that everyting that he has read from the Book of Mormon is true (he´s been praying), and that he that wrote it had to have been a prophet.  So cool!  I don´t know if I have ever seen the Spirit just work so directly with any investigator ever.

I love this mission and love you all!!!

Elder Thalman

Happiness

I think that the whole point of the gospel is that even if things aren´t perfect, or even if we´re not perfect yet, we can have peace.  And then there are lots of times where you can just be happy.  I´m just dandy right now.  Stupendous.  Is that right?  Anyway, things are good.  Not perfect, but I really am happy.

Today we went up to Pico Bonito, were there are some super sick waterfalls.  Way cool.  We went with the other zone, where my brother Elder Amendola is zone leader.  The whole thing was a blast.  I´ll send pics.

Story time!

We had a great spiritual experience with an investigator named Salamaleco.  In the lesson, we answered some questions, then he asked about the gift of the Holy Ghost.  We explained how the sun is in one place, but we can feel it´s heat here.  Everyone can.  Some scriptures were shared, and he seemed to get it, but there was just something missing in his depth of understanding.  I knew that he wasn´t comprehending exactly how the Spirit feels like.  I told him that his questions were obviously inspired by the Spirit, and that it was him that illuminated his mind to ask them.  That seemed to really click with him.  Then as my companion was testifying, the room just lit on fire.  I stopped and said, "do you feel that.  I can feel the Spirit right now."  He confirmed that he felt really tranquilo, and we could then tell him that that´s exactly how God will answer his prayers.  It was one of the best lessons I´ve had on the mission.

We were teaching a kid named Coco (his real name is Paul) and he´s way cool.  Way pilas.  Went to church and everything.  His friend is the ward mission leader´s little brother Daniel.  So Daniel loves lifting weights, and everyone was trying to lift the weight.  So... I decided I would show them what I´m made of.  There are two type of people in this world.  Those who are humble, and those that are about to be.  I did some bicep curls with it, and then some tricep stuff.  No big deal.  Now they all know I can lift it.  Cool.  So I squat down to drop the weight... BOOM!  My pants totally make an explosion noise, and they rip from seem right below the groin up the back about five inches... so yeah.  Big rip.  And that was my last good pair of pants... so while those get fixed, I finally broke down and bought two more pair today.  Good times.

This is the Lord´s work.  It´s awesome!

Love, Elder Thalman

Small, but powerful!

My new companion is Elder Ficklin from Salem, UT.  He´s super awesome, and slightly taller than my mom.  Which is... short.  But he´s the best companion ever.  He plays the piano like a mad man, and is a kick butt missionary.  We´re pretty much best pals.  Super tight.

We finally had a baptism!  Ana got baptized after a year of investigation, and she´s doing great.  You just can´t compare anything with visiting a person right after baptism and confirmation.  There is truly a difference in their eyes, and in their home.  I love it.  It makes everything worth it.

The mission is the best.  We´re working and having a blast!

If you´re not a Mormon, you should be.  You´ll be happier.

If you´re not a missionary, you should be.  Same promise.

I love you all!

Elder Thalman