Bad boys, bad boys...wach you gonna do?

Well..Hows it going Family?

This past week went by way quick. we were super busy, it was pretty nice. Everything is going really good here. We are still teaching Marco and he's getting married this week to his girlfriend, and then we actually switched the baptism to saturday instead of sunday. he is pretty excited. I want to try and do a musical number with my companion like nearer my God to thee and i can just play it on the Uke. Well see about that one... Speaking about hawaiian stuff, so there is this one family from hawaii the Espinoza family and they had us over for dinner last night. Kalua Pig with cabbage, oh man that was so good. we were joking how he invited us over as one peace offering... haha il tell you why. it's a pretty funny story.

So last week we were talking to the Ojeda family because w are teaching the kids and somehow the idea of making pizzas came up. so we went to church last week and made some pizzas from scratch. they were bomb! after we made the pizzas we had a lesson there and it was good. We taught about the restoration and the spirit was strong. the cool thing too was they understood easily too. but after the lesson we realized we had to leave to go to another one and so we didn't have time to clean up... so we left thinking we'd come back in an hour and finish cleaning up. so we are in the next lesson and everything and the other missionaries that work english sent us a text asking us if we made pizzas... we were like, yeah thinking they ate all the leftovers haha... but they told us to come back to the apartment so we left the appointment and headed back home when they told us. Bro Espinoza went to check up on the church kus he is the building watcheroverer... and he saw the mess and thought some punks came in and threw a party so he called the cops... so after the other misionaries told us this... haha we ran to the church and they found out it was us and we got scoldings but it was pretty funny. so just so everyone knows the missionaries still can get the cops called on them. we learned our lesson after that one. that's for sure.

Oh and what was cool was this past week we finally got a hold of a less active member who we have been trying to get a hold of for like 3 months and we had two lessons with her in just this week. which was sweet because she really wants to change and come back but she has a hard time leaving the old lifestyle. but it showed me that God has given us alot of things to give us the chance to change and follow him and therein receive the blessings from that. So we testified about the Restoration and how we have a living prophet that guides us and we have the priesthood to act in God's name to access the atonement of Christ and then we shared how the Atonement cleans and erases everything and we can be made saints through Christ and after that you could see the light in her eyes with the hope she was getting.

The same thing happened with this one brother who has a problem drinking. He's a way good guy, super nice and everything but he just has that problem that just drags um down and he wants to get out of it. so we shared the power of the atonement and how he can access it and that it's gonna come through the small steps. but after a while he will be able to see a huge change of heart... and it was just sweet to see the power of healing that Christ has. it doesn't matter what problems we have, we can be free of all those things through Christ and having Faith in him and taking those small steps of repentance everyday of our lives and feel at peace after we have done that. nothing else gives us that chance but Christ. So it's really cool to represent him and share his teaching with other people even though there are alot more people that can do it better then me. i'm way thankful.

anyways hope everything is good.. and i guess i'll see yah next week
Love,
Elder Thomas

Milk and cookies, yeah baby

Hey Family!

So yeah i put some pictures for you guys so you can have some updates. That's our apartment with all the Christmas decorations we put up. alot of it was from some members haha, and we still haven't taken it down...still going strong with the christmas spirit haha.

This past week was crazy! we were super busy having a good time and having alot of appointments. We went to the Mormon Batallion twice and it was sweet kus i haven't been there forever. so it felt good to go back because the visits we have there are always way powerful. you can feel the spirit super strong. The first time we went there, we went with a brother we are teaching, his name is marco...he is a stud! way good guy and super interested. so anyways you probably remember me talking about him before. but we went to the place and watched the new Jospeh Smith Movie and it's so good because it talks about faith and sacrifices and it was cool because after the movie i shared a scripture in moroni10:32. and i was actually reading it a couple days earlier and i read it and it hit me hard with the spirit and i thought about marco and when i shared it that night - same thing... felt super powerful and the spirit hit it home right to his heart... which was way sweet!! kus usually like i read the scriptures and i study for people and i'm just eating it up... loving it haha but when it gets to the time to share i feel like it doesn't come out as good. but this time it did and it was way cool to see God's hand in that. because after that we commited him to baptism for the 29th and he accepted!! he actually said Amen so i'm pretty sure thats a yes haha. So we are way stoked for that. and he came to church again this sunday and loved it and loves reading the scriptures we leave for him. so he is super solid! it's really cool to see.

Then you remember how last week i told you how we biked down to that one family and woke um up to get them ready for church, well we did it again haha... but this time with a car... so million times better haha. so they came too. and i mean church was da bomb.. .so much people came it was packed full!! so much that we ran out of bread and the bishop goes up there and says oh well... we never had this happen before but it's really good so just wait while we get more bread haha. oh man i was cracking up. So yup everything here is going awesome and the work is shooting faster than i don't know, something way fast. We are having alot of stuff to do! Oh and then this one night we went with this hermana to go visit a family but the family was not home so we asked if she knew anyone that lived close by and she said well yeah. so we went to go see one but she wasn't home so we were heading back while we stopped by this one house we actually got in and this lady was super nice. we had some milk and cookies.. ohhh man vanilla oreos. super good. so as you can tell the visit was really good. come to find out this sister was a member... she was baptized 40 something years ago... and so we taught her and she's been trying to find a church. she just kinda turned away from the church a long time ago but not because of anything wrong about the church... it just happened. but she's searching again and hardly remembers anything. so we are starting to teach her again. she's excited and wants to come to church next week too. So a ton of stuff. Just loving it out here like always.

Hope you guys are doing good and everything I miss yah and love yah alot Cuidense
Elder Tomasito

The work is going well (15 foot face waves!)

Hey Family!

So yeah this week was pretty good here in San Diego - some good stuff is happening it's pretty sweet! This past week we went to go visit a family we used to teach and we taught them again and it went way good. We invited them to church, which they never had been to yet, so on Sunday morning we stopped by and woke um up and got them to come to church haha it was pretty funny stuff. we just waited there until they all got ready! It felt good though, when we were all sitting in church just because man they are gonna get blessed for following God's commandments.

This past week it was funny. well everyone here knows i'm from hawaii and i like surfing so like on thursday or something people kept telling me how big the waves were because there was a swell that came in - aparently 15 foot faces. but i don't know about that one. so i said we should go check it out and to make it centered on our purpose. we stopped by an investigator's house who lives by the beach haha nah well we already had it planned to go see him. so we to go see him and he is doing way good! he lives with his girlfriend who is a member but less active. they are super nice and he is actually doing really good. he is reading the Book of Mormon and everything, coming to church and so he is solid. we are going to see them tonight and invite him to baptism... so we are stoked about that.

Um lets see what else. shoot sorry we don't have a lot of time kus we gotta meet other missionaries and head out to the midway today. We were late to email because we were eating some food. Dad that was bomb the meat thanks for the package. we have been pounding that down and we only have a little left now. but it was way good. eating like kings haha so yeah thanks!

um well i love you guys alot. take it easy
Elder Thomas

Bring on the spam anytime

Hey family!

Happy new year.. new years here was pretty good. lame part was that we had to go in early to be safe. there wasn't any fireworks either becuase its all illegal here. so that was kinda wierd. i'm used to all the chinese red firecrakers. but it was cool... on new years eve there was this family moving out of the apartments we live in, so we just started helping um carry stuff. they are a way sweet family super funny! kus they would always be chilling outside the apartment and they would see us walking and they would just joke around. they would always tell us eh.. what are you guys doing, take the tie off and go rest, you need a break, don't worry we won't tell your bosses or anything, just take a break haha. so they would always joke and we would joke back. we were pretty good neighboor friends. so it was pretty sweet that we could help um out. it was fun we did two trips. they moved to a house down a couple blocks and so we would load up the u-haul and then ride our bikes to the new house and meet um there to unload. Actually, thinking about it... this whole week was full of service. Because we helped carmen out with her yard. the one i told you about last tuesday. shoot, i even brought the camera to send some pictures but i left the cord haha, close..

Anyways, Oh i got to tell you about this one night. we went on exchanges. i went to with the english elders because they teach a couple hawaiians and so they asked me to come. it was some good stuff. the funny thing was right before that we went and ate some mexican food kus we were hungry and haven't taken dinner and i was full after that but come to find out the appointment with the hawaiian family was dinner too. i was like ahh no, but they brought out the food and it was rice with hawaiian stew and spam.. oh, man it was the bomb. i even got two plates. so even though i've been living mexican pretty much two years... still got the hawaiian side going haha, i always got some extra room for the Hawaiian grinds.

we had a couple cool experiences too on the street lastweek. Well we stopped by this one brother's house who we caroled too and we started talking to him about our message a little more and it was cool because he told us how this new year he set a goal to grow closer to God and so i thought sweet, well what better way to get closer to God than reading the Book of Mormon since it's another testament of Jesus christ. so we invited him to read it and testified how it will change his life. it was cool because it just was a simple conversation. we stopped by a ton of other families and we have alot of potentials to start teaching, so we are super stoked. it's gonna be pretty crazy. so we are starting the new year pretty good.

hopefully everything is good over there too. love you guys alot and talk to you next week

Elder Thomas

No need for fancy words...just love

Hey Family!

So It was good talking with you on christmas. Pretty fun stuff. Sounds like a lot of good stuff is happening out there in hawaii. Things here in Cali are going way good. It was fun this morning we got to help a sister out with her back yard. man one of nicest yards i have ever seen! i mean looked like the magazines haha. her name is carmen and we are teaching her the lessons and sharing the message with her. she is a super nice lady i love that sister. so we got to cut some trees and make some borders for the garden and take some ferns out. i took some pictures. before and after pictures. it's sweet to see the difference. man we should show how good we work for free haha. we are going to go back and help somemore next week. But i forgot to tell you the story how we got to talk with her again. Well it was kinda the same deal with the other family and so it was hard to get a hold of her and set a time to come back. but we went to carol to her and she loved it. she told us to come back that wednesday and it was a super good visit. she told us how we were the only ones who sticked through the hard times with her and how she feels close to us and just feels different when we come over and we have only been there twice no joke! so it's not even that much. but she took our hands and looked us in the eyes and told us that and thanked us. it made me realize how simple God's work is. so simple it passes over our heads if we don't pay attention. God doesnt require fancy words for us to speak or huge acts of service. he requires us to love and if we love our brothers and sisters we just talk to them, love um, visit them and offer to help and the spirit is what makes those acts powerful. it's kind of like the story in the Book of Mormon with Ammon. how he just served the king and then did more. my companion and me were talking last night just how so many people are having hard times and getting mistreated. taking their hope away and leaving them with sadness and worry but i realized you know what? true love fixes everything. we can be the people to love them and help them because we know God's plan and that he still loves um and we can give them a reason to hope. that's the good stuff! i love being on my mission and learning that but i know i don't have to be a missionary to do it.

But funny thing going back to carmen, she asked what can she do for us and we told her well listen to the message haha and she told us oh yeah i have plenty time for you guys... so that was sweet! it's going to bless her so much we are pretty stoked.

Funny story.. so we were biking to an appointment and we were kinda late and i waved to this one guy and he asked a question about if their was a bike shop or something nearby. i don't know but we pulled over and started talking to him and he asked hey so you all just talk to everyone and we were like yup... then he asked well why were you going to not talk to me haha. so it was kinda funny he was getting on us for almost passing by him. good thing we stopped...

Ok well i got to go, but have a good week!

LOVE you guys
Elder Gidiyaon..haha
Elder Thomas

Scary...but nice

Hey whats up family,

We had a way good week.. a ton of stuff happened but haha i can't remember right now what it was.. my bad! Just know it was really good.. oh We did meet with a family and for the first time we talked with the dad because he was in Mexico for a few weeks and so we didn't meet him until this week. It was crazy too becuase he walked in and he looked pretty tough and angry too. so we were like oh man... but we talked with him and he sat in. it turned out good. i mean he's a nice guy. well they are a nice family. But that night we taught the plan of salvation and it was way good. it seems like a long time since that lesson, hopefully i didn't tell you this before. if i did..then my bad but it's a really good one anyways. so we started to talk about the atonement and invited them to be baptized this month. but i mean the spirit was super strong. you knew that it wasn't us asking but God and i know they felt that... because they were quiet! i mean not one noise. not even a no... and this family is a strong catholic family but they felt the spirit that they couldn't deny it and say no. it was a really good experience. the crazy thing too is that their kids listen in too but they don't know a ton of spanish so it's kinda hard for them to understand. but after we asked them to be baptized in spanish they knew it was a question and so they asked us to say it in english and when we said it in english one of the kids said yeah i would be baptized. so one of the kids wants to be baptized! it was cool. only thing is he is moving up to Fresno this week so we are gonna send the missionaries up there for them to visit with him. so we are stoked for that!

Oh we also went and stopped by this one kid that we are teaching. He's only like 15 but super cool. well after two weeks of losing contact with him, we stopped by again and talking a little bit more about the restoration and it went really good. we ended up inviting him to be baptized december 31 and he said yeah. so right now we are just helping him continue to read and pray and also come to church. we are trying to talk to his parents. but no such luck right now they are always at work. but we keep praying for an opportunity. so it will come. So far things are going good. really good. It's super cool especially right now because we go around sharing christmas messages, inviting people to remember the real reason for the holiday and inviting them to learn more about Christ. Its pretty sweet.

Anyways i'm doing really good. gotta get back to work. so i'll talk to you next week.

love you guys!
Elder Thomas

The Flying Calendar

Hey whats up family,

Hope thanksgiving was good. it was pretty sweet here. we got invited to this one members house to go eat dinner there and it was some good stuff! there were these one stuffed mushroom things.. oh bradduh those things were crazy good! it was nice to have mashed potatoes too, haha i haven't had that in a long long time. so things are going way good right now. we got tons of appointments this week. it's gonna be sweet!! i got to tell you about some stuff that happened yesterday. Well we got to teach this one girl, she is 16 but is super open to the message. we stopped by yesterday and we shared our testimonies and why we're here being missionaries and we left her with a Book of Mormon and we are gonna come back tomorrow and teach the restoration. She is way nice and picks up things from the spirit real quick which is cool. so theres alot of potential right there. But ok this story is the sickest one ever. most coolest miracle. so last night we planned to go see this one less active guy named fernando and we didn't know him or anything, we just decided we would try and pass by and invite him to learn again and come back to church. so we find the house and were walking up to it when he opens the door and comes outside and just welcomes us in. It was a blessing because this past week for some reason we were just not able to get in many houses and so we go inside and he just told us that we couldn't have come at a more perfect time and he was just asking who sent us. but really no one sent us. we just wanted to go and stop by and see him and so it really was God. s o we told um God sent us and he was just super thankful we passed by. before we started anything or even talking he just asked if he could say the prayer and he just really needed that visit because he hasn't been to church in years and hasn't even heard the gospel in years, no visits nothing...and he just has been having a hard time too because he drinks and that just has been killing him inside and he feels really bad. but this guy is just ready and so we had a lesson with him and it went way way way good. So we left him a chapter to read and we set up another appointment for this friday. so we are excited to help him come back to church and the whole 100 yards baby.

Oh and its crazy its almost december! november flew by way too quick and i was tired of seeing how much time was flying by so i threw away the calendar haha. that way i don't know what day it is or anything and when its time for home. it will just pop out of no where. so that's my plan. Because everyone i talk to is like oh wow well elder your almost done... so i'm just gonna stay in denial haha. wait ah i forgot what i was gonna say. oh so for december we have a christmas activity in our ward. it's gonna be a dinner kinda thing, but we wanted it to be more missionary work kus thats really what the activities are for. so one of the sisters came out with a sweet idea of having a church tour, and with each room have one of the groups like young women or young men, priesthood all of those groups share a presentation of a part of the life of Jesus Christ, so it is gonna be really good. i'm stoked. so right now we are trying to set it all up and everything and get a lot of people there too so the activity can be good.

Let's see what else is happening...well nothing much. everything is going pretty good here. trying to invite more and more people to Christ. it's really cool. man i'm just glad i'm here. hope everything is going good there in hawaii. oh and eat some hawaiian food for me! i miss that heavenly stuff. But there is this one place called big kahunas that just moved down here in our area and we got cupons for it so i'll see if it lives up to the real stuff. i hope so! well love you guys alot...

Love,
Elder Thomas