Welcome to Oz – I am now a “The Keeper of the Plains”

Brother and Sister Thompson,

It was a pleasure to greet Sister Thompson upon her arrival in the Kansas Wichita Mission. The enthusiasm and humility of new missionaries adds greatly to the work. We wish to express our gratitude for your willingness to permit Sister Thompson to serve the Lord as a Missionary. We know that many blessings will be realized by you and her as she fulfills this sacred responsibility.

Your missionary will appreciate a weekly letter from home. It can be a valuable source of strength as you communicate your encouragement and love. She is counseled to write home only once a week. The nature of missionary work is so demanding that time does not permit more frequent communication. Distraction can become a barrier to her spirituality and to the work. Please encourage friends to be thoughtful in this regard.

We also ask that telephone calls, both to and from the missionary, be limited to Christmas and Mother’s Day. Please refrain from sharing troubling concerns from home as this frustrates the missionary and makes her feel powerless to solve the concerns.

I will meet with Sister Thompson on frequent intervals. Zone and District leaders will see and work with her also. We will do everything we can to help her be successful in this sacred calling.

Sister Bell and I express our appreciation for the privilege of working with Sister Thompson in the tremendous responsibility of being an ambassador of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. May the blessings of the Lord be with you.

Sincerely,  Your Brother

Michael L. Bell, President Kansas Wichita Mission

Week 3 | Off to the yellow brick road

Last day at the MTC. P A R T Y!

I am so ready to get out in the field. I already love the people in Kansas. I will miss parts of the MTC those parts being: my district, teachers, TRC, temple walks, and that is pretty much it. I will NOT miss the food.

This week was so hard. We had investigator named Katie. She is a strong christian and loves God and Jesus Christ and is easy to talk too. But once Sister Brady and I started talking about religion she would completely shut off. All three lessons were hard with her. She knew the doctrine but did not feel the Spirit. No conversion can happen without the Spirit. I know that to be true. The last lesson we were really focusing on baptism and she said, “I will be baptized if God tells me I need to be.” As Sister Brady was sharing her testimony the Spirit told me to promise Katie that if she prayed right then and there with a true desire to know if this church was true she would receive an answer. I did exactly that and Katie looked at me and said, “Well don’t be disappointed if I don’t get answer.” We knelt down to pray and she asked and then ended the pray looked at me and said, ” I felt nothing.” I couldn’t believe it. I was crushed and so frustrated. I couldn’t even talk. I let Sister Brady finish the lesson and walked out of there with tears in my eyes not understanding.

Why would the Spirit tell me to do something like that if it didn’t work. I looked like a complete idiot in there. After talking with my teacher and praying and crying I realized that if there desire is not true the Spirit will not manifest the truth of all things unto you. I love Katie and am so grateful for the opportunity to teach and love her. Our other investigator Ashlee was awesome but also struggled with feeling the Spirit. She felt something special when we taught her the Plan of salvation and we got her to recognize that she was feeling the Spirit. At our last lesson with her, the Spirit was so strong and she committed to baptism and was passed on to other missionaries that will work with her.

The MTC is amazing but so incredibly hard. If you are going on a mission just know that this is supposed to be hard. This is in no way supposed to be easy. As missionaries you are set apart by  special authority to teach with the converting power of the Spirit. Heavenly Father wouldn’t send out 18 and 19 year old men and women if He didn’t think we can do this. The only way we can do this is through our Savior Jesus Christ. Pray often, read and study the scriptures everyday. If you are not on a mission I invite you to pray often, read and study your scriptures everyday.

I ask myself this question everyday before I go to bed, ” If this is so hard, why am I still here? I am still here because I love the Lord and know this is His work.” I love my Savior and my Father in Heaven. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, no conversion can happen without the Spirit, and I love all of you. I know this Gospel to be true. I invite all of you to get on your knees and ask your Father in Heaven if this Gospel to be true. I know that if you ask with a sincere heart and real intent. The Spirit will manifest the truth unto you. God is the Father of our spirits. Adam is the father of our mortality. Jesus is the father of our immortality. and our Dads are the fathers of our bodies.”  I love you and I am off to Kansas at 2:30AM tomorrow morning. I am so pumped for tornados and all that jazz.

Sister Thompson

Week 2 | My prego joke was a no go, thanks alot, Dad!

Hello Hello! I cannot believe it is already tuesday! This past week have flown by. It was so hard but amazing! Alright let’s just clarify the title of this weeks blog shall we… The new sisters that came in this week were sitting at the table eating their dinner. I turn to my district  and say,” don’t laugh until after their reaction.” Everyone in my district knows the joke and freaks out while I walk over there. I stand at the end of the table say,” Sisters, I just wanted to give you some advice… you know 18 months seem like its a long time but I’ve been pregnant twice and it goes by pretty fast.” My whole district is holding their breath trying not to freak out while the new sisters are all in shock one of them looks at me like I’m the devils child and one says, “oh really?! with concern in her voice and the rest look down at their food not knowing how to react. Best. Moment. Of. My. Life. I then reassure them that I was kidding and only one of them laughs…whoops. Well know that they all look at me a little differently its so awesome. Thank you dad for that joke. I did it for you. Shoutout to allie murphy and RJ for the sweet letters. AND THANK YOU NANA FOR THE DONUTS and your letter. I will now have to workout a little harder at the gym. This week was amazing and hard. Our TRC investigator Yui said yes to baptism and we are so happy for her. We missed our last lesson with Jessica cause we had another app. but we continue to pray for her. This week we got new investigators Katie and Ashlee. We met with them yesterday and that was way hard. The Spirit was there but I am not sure if they were in tune with the Spirit. We tried to help them recongize it. We invited them both to pray to know if God was there. I hope and pray that they will do that because I know he is there and I know he loves them but what I’ve learned this week is that as missionaries we can tell them all we want, we can testify, and help them but they have to know for themselves if this is true. And that my friends is by the Spirit. The Spirit is the true teacher like I’ve said before. I don’t have much time this week and I am so sorry about that but I hope you all have an amazing week. Being a missionary is incredible but not easy. My spirituality is being pushed like it never has before and I am so grateful for that but it is overwhelming. I invite you all to get on your knees and say a personal prayer just simply asking is God is there. I know that He is and that He loves you. He knows the personal and true desires of your heart. “The Atonement of Jesus Christ makes salvation possible.”

Love,

Sister Thompson

Week 1 | No Sugar Here

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had an amazing week cause I sure did. The MTC is incredible but incredibly hard. I am not gonna sugar coat anything cause no one does that here so here we go. Getting my name tag made it all so real. My teachers Sister Smith and Sister Harrison are amazing and teach amazing things I have learned that the Spirit is the real teacher. My companion is Sister Brady from Utah and she is amazing. We get along great but I am not used to being followed around all the time and having someone stand outside the stall while going to the bathroom so that’s super odd but its all good… Our district is awesome but we were all super awkward for the first couple days but now we are all close and get along great. There are 6 missionaries going to Kansas and four of them are elders and they are super funny. Beds at the MTC are horrible. I feel like I am sleeping on a surfboard but I love it. Our Branch President is amazing. I love President Harris and all he does for us and teaches us. Sister Brady and I are STL’s and it is such a humbling experience. I am so grateful for this opportunity to be working with the Sisters more closely and the Lord more closely to know how we can help them. We have two investigators right now. Jessica and Yui. Jessica is great. She loves to laugh and have fun. Teaching her was hard because she doesn’t see the importance of baptism but we invited her to be baptized and she said MAYBE and I DON’T KNOW so thats not a for sure no! So we are gonna teach her again on Wednesday and hope she has kept her commitments and has prayed. Yui is from Japan (see picture) and is the best. But my comp and I went in there ready to teach the Restoration coming to find out when we talked to her that she has no idea who God is and why we have a Savior so we had to start from the very very beginning. It was super hard but we learned a lot and I am so thankful the Spirit was there because the Spirit is the true teacher. As missonaries we are just mouth pieces for the Spirit. So that was fun and we are excited to go back and see them again. Sundays are amazing. I kept saying,” Elders and Sisters we made it to sunday. Thank goodness!” On Sunday we had the opportunity to watch the Character of Christ by Elder Bednar. Go watch it right now. Like today. We need to turn OUTWARD instead of inward. As a missionary and after I return home I strive to have the Character of Christ attitude. It will not be easy and we won’t change over night but I know that if we turn outward and remember who we are we can become more like Christ. This has not been easy and it will not get any easier but I am so grateful for the challenges and hard times because it is a huge testimony builder. This is supposed to be hard. BUT we can do all things only through Christ. . Brothers and Sisters, this gospel is true. This is the only true and restored church on the earth today and we stand in the fullness of it. Heavenly Father knows each and everyone of you by name and is aware of you. Joseph Smith did indeed see God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the sacred grove that day. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. That book has given me hope and strengeth throughout my life especially on my mission. I invite all of you to pray to God and feel of His love for you. Eph 4;5 says, ” One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” This is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We need to have faith in Him and His Atonement, we need to have that desire to change and if you haven’t already take that first step which is baptism. Elder Holland said, “ We must be our first convert. We are God’s investigator. If we want our investigators to have a change in heart, we need to have a change in heart. If we want them to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, we need to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.” As missionaries our purpose is the same as God’s. I know that to be true. I love you all! Sister Thompson Check out, Matthew 6-7. “Follow Me” is a popular phrase. Are you following Jesus Christ?

First blog post

Hello!

Welcome to my mission blog! I have chosen to serve a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have been assigned to labor in the Kansas, Wichita mission. This is my blog where once a week I will post the happenings of my week in Kansas. I am so excited for this opportunity to serve the Lord and represent our Savior Jesus Christ while inviting the people of Kansas to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. I know this gospel to be true with all my heart and can’t wait to share my experiences with you. I hope you find joy in reading my weekly posts as I will find joy in writing them.

Love,
Sister Taylor Thompson