Life in Laurelty

Hola todos,

First i have to apologize for like half my email last week being in Spanish. hahaha i just wanted my grandparents to understand really well, but it wasn't great Spanish anyway so they may not have even gotten it! lol

familia avalos is doing well. josias and alexander are 11 years old and 8 years old and they are progressing the most!!! they are awesome.

we found a new this week of an inactive returned missionarys girlfriend, he saw us and was super excited and started saying all of the english missionary words he had learned on his mission. he then told us he wants to marry his girlfriend before his birthday and he wants to help her get baptized on the same day so that they can raise their family in the church. they are REALLY awesome!!

the prophet comes next monday!!! yay!!! everyone is excited and nervous. so cool that he is going to speak to the people of pàraguay. general conference is awesome, but honestly watching it here with paraguayan people made me realize just how white everyone is in utah. lol!! our investigators were very confused as to what they were watching. we explained the best we could, but it was still pretty funny and foreign to them. so the fact that the prophet is going to specifically talk to these people will be REALLY awesome!!

remember you are loved and wanted. i bore my testimony yesterday, and i talked about basically how tired i am, and how tired we all are. lol!! life can be exhausting and sometimes we feel we are asked to sacrifice a lot. but when we think in the atonement and our savior, who made the ultimate sacrifice, our burdens can be made much lighter. going to bed early helps too!! hahahaha

i love you all. thank you for your prayers and love. there is life and work in this area now and i am so happy. Love you all!!!

hermana thomas

LOOK MOM!! i asked my comp to take a pic of me cooking. well, my exact words were "take a pic of me moving this meat around with a spatula."

my cute bff angela. she calls us and asks to hangout almost every day. we only take her up on it every other day. hahahaha!

Josias and alexander their first sunday at normal church!

super fancy breakfast place!!! i felt like a queen!!!!

Light Has Returned

Hey yall,

Emailing early today cuz i have an all day practice pretty much because the PROPHET IS COMING HERE AND WE ARE SINGING AND I AM SO EXCITED ITS NOT EVEN REAL!!!

THIS WEEK WAS THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!!! you guys. a family came to conference with us!! familia avalos. they are amazing! there was a plum crazy storm and they still came and i was so so so happy!! we asked god for a miracle and he gave it to us!!

there also was another new investigator. her name is janina. when we taught her she said after "when you guys clapped at my door i looked over and i immediately had ganas to cry. i think they call that feeling the spirit in the bible." and we were like UH HECK YEAH THATS WHAT IT WAS!!

i am so so so so so happy. every talk in conference was for me also FELICIDADES TODOS PARA EL NUEVO TEMPLO EN SAN JUAN!! yo gritaba muy fuerte y los demas misioneros saltaron de sus sillas. jaja ellos no sabian que soy media puertorequena y estaban muy soprendidos. yo lloraba pensando en mi abuela y abuelo toda mi familia. nunca he sentido el espiritu tan fuerte que en este conferencia.

there is so much more!! also light has returned because we have power again and also a new light inside me has just rekindled and i have never felt more joy.

i thank you all for everything!

hermana thomas

no pictures or anything because i am on a very sketch computer. next week!!!

PS from MOM. Translation from Mallory's Spanish tangent :)
“Congratulations to all about the new San Juan Temple. I screamed really loud and all of the other missionaries jumped out of their chairs. They didn’t know I am half Puerto Rican. I cried as I thought of my grandma and grandpa and the rest of my family. I’ve never felt the spirit stronger than I did in that conference”

Living by Candlelight

Que tal!!!???
things are GREAT HERE!!! well things arent actually that fantastic, but i feel very happy. the power has been out for three days hahaha and we are almost out of candles and everything is melting but the gospel is still true and God still loves me thus i am very happy lol.

guys this are is on the VERGE of good things and we are working hard!! its gonna get there!! i dont know if we will be the missionaries who see the results of it but things are gonna happen and good stuff is happening!!!

Elder Gong is coming in november and i get to sing in a musical number for him!!! i am very very excited!!!!! practicing is crazy cuz i see all the missionaries and i get socially overwhelmed lol but its also very fun!!!!

keep praying and keep loving, thanks for all the love and prayers!!

hermana thomas

photos: going out with Mariana on a visita, which she handled very well. a very angry grandmother got mad at us for being there and she said "i just want to give this book i like to my friend, is that okay" SO CUTE AND SO GOOD!!

that watermelon was fetching huge and delicious. they gave me a huge piece cuz they said they heard americans like watermelons.
AH ALSO DONT FORGET TO WATCH GENERAL CONFERENCE EVERYONE ITS GOING TO BE SO GOOD!!!

Dance and "Swim"

Hey ya all!!! it was a really good week!!! I am feeling much better here and its been a good week.

its crazy to be with hermana dewitt a third change, but we arent complaining!!! hahaha.

the heat has ARRIVED folks. I am constantly wet. I change outfits like twice a day because I soak through my clothes lol its so fetching gross but everyone says I will get used to it.

things have been a little slow with the work, but we are gonna keep working hard and if all we can do is plant some seeds then thats okay!! we dont have to see all the fruit right now.

I am really happy and grateful. Let me know if I can help any of you all with anything!!

love you all!!

hermana thomas

photos, we got to help the young women get ready for a dance!!! it was really cool and fun!!! we love our ward

its real hot so we decided to "swim". lol. jk, but the photo opt was too much to pass up!!!

There's also a picture of the church and of the street :)

Sunday Will Come

Hey all,

First things first. I know you were all worried about what my changes would be, and you have all been praying really hard... and welp, your prayers worked, cuz this hija [daughter] is staying with her mom one more change!!!! lol!!!! this does not happen often, but WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!!! hahahha the mom and hija now become sisters WOO WOO!!

i am so glad training is over. everyone and their dog can tell when you are in your training. its the literal worst. i already feel a huge weight off my shoulders. hahaha!!

guys, this talk Sunday Will Come, is so good! my sister sent it to me and it changed my life man. it talks about how sometimes like on metaphorical fridays life can really suck, but eventually it will get better. like some day it has to get better. So this phrase entered my mind, DONT GIVE UP ON A FRIDAY.

i have had many metaphorical fridays in the mission. where i feel like life couldnt possibly improve, or that i wasnt worthy or earned the blessings of Heaven, or i said something stupid in spanish, etc, etc. and in those moments, yeah, i didnt wanna keep going really. its hard to want to keep going when you feel like things cant improve, but thats they key, things WILL GET BETTER! Sunday Will come!!! maybe not when or how you expect, but it will, especially if you are watching for it.

sister craig and sister bingham came to visit!! it was AMAZING!! even a few relief society members from clear out in the indian tribes out far got to come into watch them, they dont speak spanish, but the spirit was there!!

thank you for your prayers. KEEP THEM COMING!!! and keep sharing light and smiles. the world needs more of that.

Hermana Thomas

photo 1, hermana dewitt and i got to help and a church open house. this super cool orchestra played, i felt like i was on a school field trip.
photo 2, me and this adorable child Nahiara. the white handbook says not to have children in your lap, but if a cute 3 year old asked you in guarani to sit in your lap and started to pull herself up, YOU WOULD BE WEAK TOO. lol

Mini Mission Activity

hey all,

good week. it flew by!!! many tears, much laughter, just like always!!! we had our mini mission activity this week, it was super awesome!!! we had all the youth come to the church and we taught them a little bit about what its like to be a missionary and got them hyped to serve missions one day. we also took them out to teach less actives and we were supposed to go in with them but then we ended up ditching them on the doorstep and it was AWESOME.

I hate when i accidentally hit enter. grr!!!!

but it was also zone conference this week. super awesome!!!

i got to sing!!

things have been good here!! we really have been trying to get people to come to church, because they cant get baptized unless they come!! so if anyone has any brilliant ideas of how to trick someone into being at church at 830 on a sunday morning let me know!! just kidding. no tricks necessary in the work of god!!! it will happen. hahahah!!

if yall didnt see the face to face devotional [with Elder Cook] last night YOU NEED TO!!!! answered so many questions for me!!!

well i hope you are all happy!!! let me know if i can do anything for any of you!!! have an awesome week!! also i recorded a song that has helped me a lot here in the mission!! enjoy!!

hermana thomas

No Time Homies

Hey yall,

Im about to slightly lie and say i have no time to write today, but the fact is I really just wanna write my fam some solid stuff because i got a new niece!!! YAY!!!! i hope you are all happy and remember God loves you and Jesus Christ is ready for you.

have a good week!!!

hermana thomas