Kool Aid of Death

Mom moment: We are grateful to the Starks family who had Ian and Elder Marques over for Thanksgiving dinner.  They were very kind to send us pictures of the festivities. Ian doesn't mention it, but they have 2 baptisms this weekend. Please keep him and those they teach in your prayers.  Ian and his companion, Elder Marques, would love to hear from you this Christmas season. 1631 Buena Vista Avenue Carthage, Missouri 64836 

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It all started with an exchange we had. Our good friend Elder Marques went to the land of Cassville, (or in other words, the place where I got kicked in the head and got a real bad black eye), and another missionary joined me here in Carthage. It was rainy and we had to bike due to mileage restrictions to our car.

We skidded to a halt near the home of a family we would be teaching and were greeted by a middle aged Mexican man. He was dressed in the fanciest clothes and rings that the local Hispanic stores provided. He waved and told us 'Que Dios les bendiga' and wanted to talk. We spoke with the kind gentleman who expressed his gratitude for young people spreading the Word. Then in broken English he attempted to talk to the both of us about the real deal with religion. He said religion was a wall men put up and all you needed was a belief, and then he challenged me pray and see what God wanted me to do. I saw it coming from a mile away. He finally gave up on English and focused his whole lecture at me. What he said was true though. He said, "Thomas," as he got uncomfortably close to my face and I backed up, "do you know that God is writing down every single word we say right now?" I agreed and tried to testify what I knew. He practically pleaded with me to change and I did the same to him. We left inviting him to do everything we could and he did the same. I felt bad for him and I knew he felt the same. 

Then came a discovery. My companion for the day found one of the English Elders half gallon jug of Kool Aid. The sugary substance was too good to lose and so we drank a bunch of it. Fast forward two days. The owner of the Kool Aid and myself are infected. Two days later still infected with a gnarly headache. The lesson learned: Don't drink sketchy sugary Kool Aid.

I love you all and appreciate your prayers and support you send my way! 

Adios

Elder T

homas

Sincere Questions

She makes dinner for them every Tuesday. So grateful for the members who take great care of the missionaries!

We were about half way through teaching the 10 Commandments to someone who just woke up. She was trying to focus despite the exhaustion. She is going to get baptized not this Saturday but the next and had a few questions about the commandments. After a slight interruption between the fifth and sixth commandment from a small boy belly-flopping on the couch, the investigator stopped us and asked a question. It was very sincere and out of genuine concern. "How old are you?" she asked looking at me. I told her 20 and she said, "I thought you were much older, because you are loosing all of your hair. Have you gone to a doctor about that?"That is really what happened. I might purchase a toupee.  

I have felt a little bit discouraged as there have been moments this week that have highlighted my weaknesses, and not just rapid hair loss. I was feeling down and things weren't looking up. At dinner that night I asked the husband if he wanted to come on an exchange with us and even though he had a full schedule he came with us. He helped us out and helped out the investigators too. As the night went on, he changed from stressed to kind of happy. He was smiling. After another appointment fell through he stopped our usual conversation about weather patterns in Missouri and said, "You guys are great missionaries. You are making a difference and you are hard workers". It was surprising. We had just knocked on a bunch of doors with no response talked with two people and did nothing incredible. I know for certain that the Lord was working through our exchange to tell me something that He tried to tell me before. It was very kind of him. Not only was he helped but we were too. Service helps both participants. I'm glad I have felt the Savior helping me and I know He knows us all personally.

Thanks for your help and prayers!

Adios

Elder Thomas

Carthage, Missouri City Hall

Elder Vasques

Carthage Comps

Bad Eye: Take 2

The birds chirped and then froze mid flight on a chilly morning in Missouri. Elder Thomas's alarm blasted and he awoke but his left eye did not open. He did what any missionary would do and forgot about it and then fell asleep during his morning prayer. But after his companion was at a functional level of awakeness to communicate, he relayed that something was really wrong with his eye. Elder Thomas brushed it off and went back to work. The day went on and the eye changed to a crimson shade and the other missionaries told him something was amiss. He dismissed these statements and continued on. I believed I was fine and I still said I'm not sick in a futile effort to exercise the mind over matter tactic. Well, things got worse and we went to the house to weekly plan. At the close Elder Marques told me that it was really really bad but we had a dinner and so something had to be done.

In front of a recent converts home was a graduation party for her sister. The English Elders had already arrived and the Spanish Elders were no where in sight. They were ready for dinner and tacos were already being eaten. Then came a car over the hill next to the home. One of the English elders with taco in hand watched the car pull up. It was a little dark and the figures of the people inside were difficult to determine, but as the car came underneath a street light it was perfectly clear. Inside the car was Elder Marques and his companion Elder Thomas wearing a winter hat, his Mr. Mac winter coat. And an eye patch.

Mom, in my defense, the family we were eating with is really kind, I was hungry and it was the quickest solution at Walgreens. At that dinner I suddenly became the most popular Elder around. Questions varied from, 'Do you really only have one eye?' to 'Is it still Halloween?' Although one English Elder was doubled over laughing at me with my burglar hat, trench coat and eye patch, I was banished to the apartment to recover.

There I watched every 90's church made film we had, watched the Testaments in Finnish and cleaned up our area book. I learned a lesson as well. Patience. I was so frustrated at the fact that I couldn't do anything. I wanted to be out and about and not confined to my apartment with nothing but old Mormon 90s songs playing in my mind. But I prayed to know what to do and got my answer. Stay home. I was frustrated but learned some more about patience. When we are patient we show our faith in a different way.

I was able to go to just enough church to take the Sacrament and see that one of our investigators came! She asked about my eye and so did everyone else. So I was banished. Again.

Later, I called the mission nurse and she said go to a doctor. I called the doc and got a prescription of 'getoverit' which works often with this ailment. It is pink eye, she said, and it will go away soon.

Thanks for your love and support and prayers for me, my companion and my friends!

Elder Thomas

Ghost Pepper

 Before I begin I would like to take a look at last week. We all ate a habanero, except me. I chewed on it and then as a fire engulfed my esophagus I nearly vomited and spit the pepper out. But last night something nuts happened. We were all enjoying the usual dinner conversation when the conversation took a turn to hot peppers. The husband left and returned to the room with a ziploc baggy of something nefarious. It contained what is know as the Ghost Pepper. It is roughly 10 times worse than the habanero and has made people go blind. Elder Sokol, champion of spicy products, took the challenge. Now to brief you all, this Elder has eaten 10 habaneros at once before and has a stomach of a camel spider. The wife and husband of the little family urged him on and the wife even got some weird medicine mix ready to numb his mouth. But then from the corner of the table came a voice of reason. The little girl said, 'Please missionary, don't eat that'. But it was too late. He had made the decision. Before we could scare him away from the imminent pain he was already chewing it. 

     I learned I will never eat one of those. The vein in his neck bulged out, he began to sweat and then he drank a bunch of water. His reaction was surprisingly boring, but for a man of his strength and capabilities I knew if I consumed one my frail frame would shrivel up and I would get an ulcer in my brain. Twenty minutes later his red face went back to normal and it was all good. Next up the Carolina Reaper Pepper.   

     Early in the week we had a really good lesson with a less active member and her husband. He told us he wanted to know more about eternal families and we were very excited for them. We set up an appointment on Sunday morning at the crack o' dawn and when we arrived, we had a feeling they were asleep. We approached the house at around 9am and in this area of the woods that is early. These people work everyday for 14 hours and Sunday is the day of rest. No one wakes up until 1pm. 

     We approached the door and the only noise we could hear was the sound of a dead mouse trying to free itself from a glue trap. I was really trying to follow the Spirit because I didn't want to offend the family by waking them up, but I knew that we had set it up with them for that time. We called and no response. We texted and no response. My companion and I battled over what we should do, going back and forth. And after some time I knew that the Lord wasn't going to tell us and it was a time for us to learn. I prayed that they would be home and it would be alright that we were about to wake up the whole family, but then I realized they still had their choice. We decided to knock and wait. My thinking was that we at least needed to give them an opportunity to have the message and if they weren't home or they didn't come to the door it was their choice. After we knocked there was no change in scenery or noise. They didn't answer and all we could say was that we tried. 

     I learned that the only thing we can do is provide an invitation and the people we teach or the receiver of the invitation is the one that decides if they act on it. Our Heavenly Father gives us chances to grow, learn and be blessed, it is our choice to take an act of faith and receive it.

Thanks for your prayers and help, I love you all!

Elder Thomas

Miracles with the Italian Stallion

I apologize in advance for the grammatical errors and lack of understandable words. I just ate a full habanero. That is one of the peppers higher on the Scoville Scale. My mind is in a state of disaster. 

After knocking on what seemed to be every door I had ever seen in the whole city, I remembered one final home. It was a referral of another missionary. He told us it was the 'key lime pie' colored house on a street near Little Guatemala. He told us they had talked with her before but that we should stop by.  The member we were with drove us over there and we knocked on the door. A small Latino lady answered and after a quick exchange of Spanish mumbles we determined there must be two key-lime pie colored houses on the street. We asked her if she was religious and after showing her a video about Christ, she told us her background of leaving her country. She told us of her struggles getting here and her desire to have her family together. She attended church frequently but her husband was a little less strict about his Sabbath observance. Unfortunately, I bore my testimony of an unrelated topic as I suffered from a focus lapse but luckily, my companion bore his testimony of the reality of eternal families and she was all ears. She told us to come back and was one of the more prepared people I have seen. I'm glad we have companions to back us up when distracting bugs interrupt my thought processes.

It was 10:13 and the Sacrament hymn had begun. We spent the whole morning setting up  the translating equipment and my companion sat in the back waiting to start. "E" had not arrived nor any other Spanish speaker. I silently prayed that "E" would have the opportunity to come to church. I was sad but focused on the words we sang. I had prepared more the usual this week and awaited the prayers. The time of the Sacrament passed peacefully and quickly but the moments of peace reminded me of something that our investigators missed this week. Then as the deacons shuffled to the front a door opened to let a little kid inside. He ran in and sat down next to his parents but in the open space of the door I saw one tan child. With the Sacrament over and the testimonies beginning I bolted to the other door with one of the English Elders. We ran around the Church and found in the foyer "E", her cousin, her kids, nieces and nephews entering the Chapel. Although they missed the Sacrament for the most part they stayed for the remainder of the services and loved them all. My brain stopped working after all the translating I did. Heavenly Father heard our prayers and gave them the opportunity and they took it.

Thank you for the prayers and support, I love you all!  

Elder Thomas   

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"International Elders"