Email from her first area: Metapan

Hey What is up familia!! Well i am here in El Salvador now, and it is my second day here. It has been so much fun!! Yesterday I got assigned a new companion. Her name is Hermana Chiquin, and she is from Guatemala. She is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. Yesterday was my first day doing contacting on the street. We invited lots of people to go to church, and we ended up getting a new investigator and having someone commit to baptism. It was a great way to start off my first day! me and my companera went grocery shopping yesterday so that I would have something to eat for the week. And there was a man in the store that kept asking me for money. I kinda got scared, I just said lo siento, which means I am sorry, because I didnt know what else to say. Well he kept coming up to me, and I thought that on my first day in the mision field, I was going to get robbed. But it is ok, he eventually went away.

All the houses here have gates around them, and bars on the windows. It is extremely diferente here than it is in the united states. Me and my companion live in a red house. It is pretty nice. The plumbing system is not to good here, so we dont flush our toilet paper, we just put it in a grocery bag next to the toilet. And we dont have a washer or dryer, so we get to wash our clothes my hand, and then we hang them up outside to dry. :) Oh...and the shower in the casa, well...it doesnt have running water, so there is a room with a huge basin of water in it, and then a hard concrete floor with a drain in it. I scoop out the water with a small plastic container and pour it over myself standing over the drain. I am so grateful for my shower shoes because there are bugs that are all over the floor when I shower. These last few days have humbled me. I continue to be humble every time I walk outside of our house. People here have absolutley nothing, but they still find reason to be grateful, and to be happy. This is my challenge for you this week...as you go about your day, keep a piece of paper and a pen with you. Every day when you want to complain about something, write down something you are grateful for instead, or a blessing you have recieved. Make a list during the week, and then at the end of the week...put it up on your fridge or mirror, or wherever you can see it. You are truly truly blessed. I never realized how blessed and spoiled I was until I came here. This experience has truly changed me. Love you all so very much. Have a good week, I will email you next week!! Love Hermana Thomas :)

So a lot of the group photos are with my district at the CCM. The other pictures of the bathroom ect are of the house I am staying in now. There is a picture of me and my amiga, hermana estevez on the bus, on our way to El Salvador. She is the sister that got super sick in the CCM. Hmm que mas...oh I forgot to tell you, I am serving in an area called Metapan. It is about an hour and a half from the mission home. I absolutley love it. And did I tell you that a local was telling me he wanted to marry me? yeah it actually happened on my second day, thank goodness for a companion that speaks spanish, because I had no idea what he was saying. jaja

Arrival in El Salvador at the Mission Home!

Today is the big day.  I don't have an email to share, just some pics from the Mission Presidents cute wife!  Ali has been friends with her on facebook a few months before she left on the mission and they messaged back and forth a bit.  The missionaries took a bus ride from the Guatemala CCM to the Mission home in El Salvador.  Here are the pics!  She looks great!  Can't wait to hear about her first area.

Meeting Sister Cordon

Meeting President Cordon

Subway for lunch!

 LOVE IT!

 

 

Last week in the CCM :)

hey familia!!! so one more week until I go out into the real world!! a lot has happened in this past week that I want to share with you! so we had pday last week, and we all got to go to Wal-Mart and then the mall. they had a Wendy's there, and I was so excited!! I got a baconater and a frosty and fries! it was a little piece of heaven that I have been missing for the past month. ha-ha but I have a way funny story to tell you, so there is this elder in my district, elder dickerman..and when we were at the mall, he went to get lunch from taco bell, or pizza hut, or something like that. when he went up to the counter, he was trying to ask for a drink, so he said "yo quiero bebe." the lady looked at him and was like..."COMO"???? ha he found out later on that bebida means drink, and bebe means baby. So pretty much he told the cashier that he wanted a baby. I'm surprised he didn't get slapped. he will never live that one down! now for my spiritual experience for the week. We have a latina sister here, Hermana Estrevez who just got here about a week ago. The poor girl had to get her wisdom teeth pulled out this past Saturday, and her mouth hurt so bad! I gave her some ibuprofen that night, and sent her to bed. Us sister leaders got a knock on our door at 12:30 am from hermana estrevezs room mates saying that there was an emergency and that we needed to come right away. Hermana Peterson and I ran to the room, and hermana estrevez had gotten a really bad fever, and was cold and shaking. I've seen people with a fever, and I have seen people be sick before, but never as sick as she was. it was pretty scary, and she said that she wanted a blessing. so Sister Peterson and I ran up the stairs to get presidente. we told him she needed a blessing, and he said to just put her back to bed and if it got any worse by 3 am, to come get him again. pretty frustrated at that answer, and that he wouldn't see her right away...we ran back downstairs to her room and said a fervent prayer. after the prayer, an idea popped in my head. You know how when I got my wisdom teeth pulled out, Taylor Hammer brought over tube socks so I would fill them with ice and tie the ends together to hold them on my cheeks? so I thought about that..the only issue was, was that no one had tube socks, and the kitchen doesn't have ice. we remembered though, that they have two freezers in the comedor that they keep popsicles in for our meal times. I ran in to find some Popsicles to put on her face. (keep in mind this was Saturday night, and also, we get the Popsicles restocked only once a week.) i knew that there might not be any left. I went to the first freezer and there were none. keeping a prayer in my heart, I ran to the second freezer, to only find 2 Popsicles left. it was such a huge blessing in that moment, that i just wanted to cry. I got some of the gallon bags that were packed in my suitcase, and the bandannas that grandma Kathy had gotten me. I wrapped up the popsicles and gave them to hermana estrevez. with the popsicles, and extra ibuprofen I gave her..it held her over for the night, i want to emphasize the importance of prayer, and with following promptings. no matter if you are in a time of distress, or if things are easy going, don't ever forget to pray to your Father in Heaven. He is always there for you. He cares, He hears your prayers, and He always wants what is best for you. And you already know what I feel about following promptings. If you receive a prompting, act on it, never delay. I love you all, I pray for you all several times a day. I want to leave you with a couple of scriptures that portrays how I feel. 2 Nephi 33:3, and Moroni 8:3. In Moroni it reads: "I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of His Holy Child, Jesus, that He, through His infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end." Have a great rest of the week! Stay safe, have fun and just be true to yourself. When I email you next week, I will be emailing from El Salvador, and will have received a new companion, So I will make sure to update you all on everything. Te amo familia!!

Another e-mail from our Missionary :)

Before her letter starts... just a reminder she has asked us to send her letters via Dear Elder or through the mail, she only has 1 hr. a week to send emails out and she ends up spending most of her time reading the emails she is receiving.  Here Address is listed on the blog.  Thanks!  :)

Hey Familia!! How is it all going in the states?? I am so happy for Mitch Williams! I knew he was getting married in May but I forgot when. Maybe message him for me and tell him congrats!  So this week has been a lot of fun!! The days here seem to pass by so fast and I cannot believe that I am already starting my fifth week here! I want you all to know that I survived an earthquake last week. It wasnt too big, but all of us Norte Americanos were all excited that we could actually survive through something like that. jaja So rainy season has finally hit..and like I have said before, when it rains..it pours! It is the coolest thing! I have never seen it rain so hard in my life. As soon as it starts raining, all of us Americans jump out of our seats and crowd around the window to watch while the latinos just sit there and laugh at us. Seriously the smallest things entertain us here. I have a funny but kind of bad story to tell. There are some districts who are actually leaving tomorrow. so all the sisters have been going around asking us to sign their journals so that we can keep in contact during the mission, or just write them a good luck note. There is this sister, her name is sister pocock...and we dont get along too well. she kinda has the holier than thou attitude. anywho, she left her journal on my bed yesterday so i could write her a message. I wrote for her to literally go and baptize the hell out of everyone. i thought it was funny, but i guess she didnt. she came in at around 10:20 last night and was like, hey so i whited out your message because i didnt like what you wrote..can you please write something else? ha all the girls here with their girl drama, its pretty much crazy.

 I want to stress this week the importance of temples. I cannot get enough of going to the temple here. there have been a couple of weeks here where i have really struggled with the language. and to be able to go to the temple and just pray to heavenly father for peace, is the most wonderful feeling in the world. it is the closest thing to heaven on this earth, and i love it so much. i dont know what i would do without this peace and privelege i have of doing a session every week. i also think about my future investigators, and i have been thinking a lot this week about how it is important to baptize, but how more important it is to get my investigators to the temple. my ultimate goal on this mission is to see familys get sealed for all time and eternity in the house of the lord. also a nice thought..for any of you that wear a CTR ring, you know how we all learn in primary that CTR means choose the right? Now that you are more matured in the gospel now, and are adults, I have a new meaning for CTR. It is, Current Temple Recommend. Please every time you look at that ring, remind yourself to always try to stay worthy to attend the temple. Do not deny yourselves the rich blessings you could recieve, remain worthy and do your best to obey the commandments and serve the Lord. He has put temples on this earth for your benefit, as well as for the benefit of others. I have a scripture I would like to share, because this is what I have become, and hope to continue to be. Not only does it pertain to me, but also to all of you as well. It is found in 3 Nefi 5:13: Behold, I am a Disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His Word among His people, that they might have everlasting life. 

Please wish clint and kamille the best of luck, and let them know that they are in my prayers. love you all!!!! :) - hermana thomas

Yay for Wednesdays!!

Here is our latest email from Hermana Thomas.  She has requested we all try to write her a physical letter or use DearElder.com.  She only gets one hour a week to write emails.  Unfortunately most of her time is spent is reading the emails she is receiving (guess that's what she gets for giving her email out to everyone) instead of being able to spend her time responding to letters received. She has three weeks left at the Guatemala MTC.  Please use dearelder.com or send her a letter through the postal service. The address is:

El Salvador Santa Ana Belize Mission
Guatemala Missionary Training Center
Bulevar Vista Hermosa 23-71
Vista Hermosa I, Zona 15
Guatemala City, 01015
GUATEMALA
After that you can send letters to the Mission office once she is in the field.

Mission Office Address:
Sister Alicia Nicole Thomas
El Salvador Santa Ana/Belize Mission
Apartado Postal #142
Iglesia de Jesucristo SUD
CP Santa Ana, Santa Ana
El Salvador

So without further ado, here is Sister Thomas:

Hey familia I was so wondering how Tiffanys wedding went!! I am so glad to hear that it went well, and her pictures are beautiful!! Ahh I love those little kids so much!!! We went to go teach some less actives the other day, and I saw little kids for the first time in a few weeks....I seriously wanted to scoop them up and hug them and play with them all day! All of us sisters were freaking out, "little kids..oh my gosh they really do exist!" haha I cant tell you how glad I am that you guys are moving out of that ghetto place!
Oh my heck it was Miles birthday huh?? Yo olvido, lo siento. ha Tell him late happy birthday for me!! ,) Well this week has been interesting...I guess it is good news, so I will tell you that me and my companera were called to be sister training leaders aka zone leaders. It is funny, because we got that calling, I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday. Anyway, it was on our Pday. We had gone to the temple, and I was really struggling that day because I wasnt catching on to the language and I felt stuck. When I went to the celestial room, I prayed so hard. Probably the hardest I had ever prayed in my life. I prayed for Heavenly Father to give me something I could work with..to give me a challenge..to give me a chance to serve others so I could be forced to learn the language better. Right after that, we were called as zone leaders. That was a pretty quick answer to my prayer. I dont know why I would be picked as one of the candidates for this calling....Ive never served in that large of a capactity, but I know that the Lord needs me to do something with that calling. So I will do my best to serve Him and all of the girls here the best that I can. :) Oh and as far as packages go..please feel free to send me all the brownies you want. I really am dying for brownies here, and they seriously dont have a lot of chocolate here at the CCM. Oh the sacrifices I have to make to go on a mission. I guess peoples eternal salvation is more important than my crazy addiciton of ice cream and brownies. ,) Hey I also have a favor to ask. It takes awhile to read the emails I am sent, so sometimes I am way short on time with responding to everyone. I love to get emails, but can I also get a dear elder every once in awhile. It makes all the difference to get a physical letter, and to be able to open in up and read it, OH MY HECK! I almost forgot to tell you about Hermano Alejandro. We all thought he was an investigator, Turns out he is actually one of the CCM teachers here. He  acted as an investigator so that we could practice with our teaching skills. I remember he came into the classroom one night, and he was crying, saying how much he had felt the spirit from us teaching him. We were all ready to fill the font because we all thought he was going to announce that he wanted to be baptized. And then he pulled out his teacher name tag, and thanked us for the great experience. He couldnt stop crying. I was kind of choking up too...I didnt know that we had touched him so deeply, even though he really was just a teacher here. Well I love you all!! Please write me when you can! Dont worry about me down here, I am doing great!! Couldnt be better, or more happier!! Oh and for the pictures,  they wont let us upload them onto the computers here, so I really do apologize, but you all wont be getting my pictures until after I get out into the mission field, Its driving me crazy because I have great pics to send to you all! And also, us missionaries will not be able to call on Mothers Day, because we are still in the CCM. SO HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the wonderful women in my life! I love you all so much!! I cant thank you enough for how much you have impacted my life. I will always be eternally grateful for you all. :) I have run out of time! GAHH! haha but I love you all. Have a great week! And I will make sure to email next week! Love - Hermana Thomas         p.s.....ummm whats the news with mitch and gina?? She hasnt emailed me yet, but everyone sent me an email saying that there is great news. I am practically dying right now! haha