WEEK SIX - INSTRUCTION FROM ELDER KOPISCHKE!

On Monday we went with the Bartlett sisters and participated in some much needed retail therapy. I forgot all my jewelry, so we went to the mall and all spent some time (and money) at Charming Charlie's. I got several pairs of earrings and my new sunglasses, which I will include a selfie of. It was super fun just hanging out and relaxing. I love malls and I love the other sisters! That night we had dinner with the J. family; they have the five kids, three girls and two boys, all under the age of 12! They are a super great family, and they gave us a referral for their neighbor, who we will be seeing this week. 

Tuesday our Sister Training Leaders came down and went on splits with us. It was a really good day, I spent it with Sister F., who I really enjoy. She is going home next transfer, but it was really good getting to know her better. We focused mostly on less actives and recent converts, and visited both Sister W. and Sister G. Crazily enough, Sister G. now has the shingles too!:(Teaching with Sister F. was great, she is ultra-good at listening to the Spirit and allowing it to guide her to the exact thing that the person needs to hear. I really admire her closeness to the Spirit and it has really driven me to try and develop that ability. 

The next day was not as good of a day. We stayed up too late the night before because the sister training leaders stayed with us and we were talking. We were also irresponsible and didn't really plan for the next day, so Wednesday was a bunch of random knocked doors and basically no lessons. We did have lunch with the G. family though, and it was interesting. Sister G. is a super intense lady. It was cool to eat with her, because she has a lot of connections to Liberty Mississippi, and we know a lot of the same people there. This day really reminded me of the importance of working hard and being organized. It doesn't feel good to spend an entire day doing nothing of real worth or purpose. 

Thursday was a much, much better day. We met with a guy named C. who had met with the elders previously. We were able to help him with the concept of living prophets and schedule another appointment! He is a really cool guy, and he is super interested in religion, but he works every Sunday, and that is probably going to be an obstacle. We also saw Sister G. and her son G., and this visit was the real miracle of the day! First of all, G. who is really really shy, and hasn't ever been willing to talk to missionaries, has totally been opening up to us lately. He and my companion Sister M. have connected over Anime, and he and I have been able to discuss Cosplay, so now every single time we go over there to visit he comes down and talks with us for a while. We invited him to come to a family home evening with The S’s & J. our investigator, and he told us he would be willing to go! Anyway, on Thursday we went over there and he came down and asked us if he could draw us a picture. Of course we said yes, and I am so excited to see what he makes for us. THEN, we read Jacob chapter 3 with Sister G., who as y'all know, likes to be difficult and doesn't really have a testimony of the BoM or Joseph Smith. I was worried about this chapter, because while I think it is an amazing chapter of scripture, there are many opportunities to ask difficult questions.  Thankfully, however, that is not what happened. Sister G. loved the chapter. She gave spiritual thoughts on the scripture, agreed with what we taught her, and the Spirit was SO STRONG. It was a breakthrough. I am just so thankful for my Heavenly Father and his ability to soften hearts. He makes the work easy and my burdens light. 

The one bad thing that happened this day though was that we have to drop A. & D. as investigators. :( They missed our appointment again this week, and we went over there every day, and they were never home! Then, on Thursday we got a call from a woman who had seen our number on their door. She was looking for D. because he had sold her a stolen car! So I think they may have skipped town. I'm really sad, but maybe someday they will be more prepared to hear the word. 

Friday was maybe the most spiritually edifying day of my mission so far. We all headed to Little Rock  at 6:00 am and had a six hour instruction from Elder Kopischke of the 70. He structured it like one of Elder Bednar's question & answer sessions, and it was so amazing. He invited us all at the beginning of the meeting to write down questions we needed answers to, and promised us that even if we didn't mention those questions the whole meeting, that we would receive answers. I wrote down multiple questions and received answers to all of them. Heavenly Father is so good at using every situation to teach us personally and powerfully. As I listened to Elder Kopischke's words I was testified to over and over again that I need to be here right now, and that my mission is exactly what I need to be doing right now. Then, on the bus ride home, a couple of missionaries began talking to our bus driver about the gospel. Then we sang hymns and had a testimony meeting, and by the end of the bus ride we had committed our bus driver, Brother Jones, to baptism!! He set a date for  July 25th. It was such a miracle. We didn't get back to our area until almost 8:30, so we just went and got dinner with the Bartlett sisters and spent the night at their apartment. 

Saturday we visited with Sister W. again and I brought her some tea that I thought might be this African tea she used to drink a lot, but couldn't find anymore. I don't know if it was the tea she was looking for, but she loved it anyway! I left the whole canister with her. (Side Note- this tea was Word of Wisdom approved, I promise!) We talked to her for a long time, she has a short surgery on the 30th because she has a collapsed vocal cord. This is a same day surgery that is not very intensive, but if it doesn't work she will have to go in and have a more serious procedure done, so please continue to pray for her, and pray specifically that her surgery on the 30th will go well. She really appreciates the prayers.  Saturday night was the only time this month we did not have an appointment with a member for dinner, so we decided to party it up and went to this crazy sushi buffet with nine million kinds of sushi and tons of tempura and this super good miso soup and a bunch of different desserts. We stuffed ourselves, and I was feeling it all night, hahahaha. How ironic, the southern food hasn't contributed to weight gain at all, but if I keep eating sushi like that I'll gain my mission 40 in no time! We spent the rest of the night contacting less actives and it went okay, there is a lot of reactivation work to be done in this ward.

Sunday we went to church and I got to participate in my first ward council as a missionary! It was cool to be able to discuss how to better help our investigators on so many different fronts. After church we went with the priesthood to bring Sister W. the sacrament since she is still in too much pain to come to church. Man that woman has a powerful Spirit. Spending time with her makes you so appreciative of the gifts of the Spirit, while at the same time, so ashamed of how lightly you have been taking your blessings. After we finished the sacrament she started crying and told us how much love she felt from the ward and that the treatment she was receiving from everyone was better than she could have ever imagined. She is such a blessing to know. 

Sunday night we were with The N’s again, and I love those crazy kids!! She made Navajo tacos and they were AMAZING, and a really nice throw back to home. Being over there is always a blast, and Sister M. is the best, she has ordained herself my mission mom. 

Over all this was a good week. I was spiritually edified and grew a lot as a child of God, however, we did not work nearly as hard as we could have, and I am very disappointed in myself. There are too many children of God who have not heard the word yet for me to have this kind of a week. I am dedicating myself to working as hard as I can, as much as I can, this next week and I am writing this so that you all can hold me accountable come next Monday.

Please pray for me, and I continue to pray for all of you. I have the best life filled with the best people and the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I am unimaginably lucky, and I thank you all for being such a huge part of why I have the best life ever.  

Sister Hannah Thomas  

WEEK FIVE - WE GOT IPADS!!

I am typing this on my own actual iPad, which is like, hecka exciting, seriously. 

     This week has been super good. On Monday we spent our P-Day baking with the Bartlett sisters. Sister S. in our ward (she's super awesome, we've eaten dinner at her house three times already and she helps us out constantly) let us come over and use her kitchen, which was great because she had The Other Side of Heaven, so we watched that while we baked. We made two pies, a cake, and snicker doodles. One of the pies was for our Zone Leaders since they put us on full car, the cake was for our District Leader because it was his birthday, and the cookies/other pie were for us. Everything was really good except we accidentally got distracted by The Other Side of Heaven and didn't hear the timer go off for the cookies, so they got a little burned.... But we scraped off the burned part and they were still good! 

    The not so fun thing about Monday though was that our investigator family The B’s. didn't show up for dinner with the member family the Bu’s. :( I was pretty upset because I was really excited to be able to teach them in a member's home, but it didn't happen. Thankfully The Bu’s still were happy to eat with us and they were really nice about the B’s not coming. We ate our other pie with them and after a little family time with them I felt much better. The other funny thing about the Bu’s family is they have a daughter named S. who just graduated from high school, and she and I get along really well, but then I've been to at least 5 dinner appointments where the person has gone, "You know who you remind me of, S. Bu’s!!" And then one of the Elders thought she was me the other night at Book of Mormon study and we both laughed our heads off. It's a thing apparently.  

    On Tuesday we spent a lot of time just out and about, mostly trying to contact less actives without much success. That night we had dinner with a family in our ward named The C’s. He is a professor at University of Memphis, and she has a master’s in French. They have three boys and all three of them are smarter than me and none of them are older than eight! All three boys are learning French and German. They are a very unique and interesting family. That night we also watched and studied General Conference talks with Sister W., a recent convert. I really don't remember if I told you guys about her last time, but I am too lazy to go back and check so whatever. She is like, at least 80 years old and got baptized last September. She is super super fun to listen to, but she can talk, A LOT. Her husband died in 2001, so she lives on her own and all her family is in Canada. She is very good at puzzles and needle point and I love her. She's been having a lot of health problems recently though, so please keep her in your prayers :( 

   Wednesday we tried contacting less actives, and still were met with no success, but while we were in one of the less active's neighborhoods we started knocking doors. While we were walking down this street, there was a mom and two daughters doing some yard work. We always offer to help people when we see them doing stuff like that, but people almost always say no. This time though we asked the girls if we could help and without even asking any questions they said yes! It was kind of strange, but we were really happy. As we talked to them we learned that the mom's name was T., and her daughters were named A. and R., and they used to take lessons from the Spanish sisters! That's why they were so willing to let us help them! We went inside after we were done with the yard work and taught them a brief lesson. She told us they were Catholic, but agreed to let us come back and teach them next week! That night we went to dinner with a lady named Sister L. Her story is so awesome. She was inactive for a long time, and then in 2008 she felt prompted to start reading the Book of Mormon again, so she did and has been active ever since! She is so awesome and hands out Book of Mormons to everyone! 

   Thursday was the glorious iPad delivery! We had Zone Meeting and that's when we got the devices. We spent a lot of time getting them set up and what not, and since I have tons of problems with technology already, being away from it for a while meant that I didn't know how to do ANYTHING, and messed up EVERYTHING! The Office Elders were not happy with how many problems I had! But then we had a miracle! We stopped by our investigator family the B’s just to see if they would talk to us because they hadn't been answering our texts, and the father D. was in the front yard talking on the phone. He was super happy to see us! He explained that his son had been in the hospital all week and that is why they had missed dinner and hadn't been responding. He told us they are still really anxious to learn, and we set up a teaching appointment for  next Tuesday, invited them to church this Sunday, and got a referral!! 

    We also saw our less active Sister G. on Thursday. We are working really hard to help her understand the importance of the Book of Mormon, so we read with her every Thursday. She is so much fun to be around, we love her! She works a lot and Sundays are hard for her, but I am really hoping we can get her back to church soon.

   That night at Book of Mormon study group Sister W. told us she'd been to the doctor earlier that day and found out she has shingles :( she was really upset and cried a lot, so the Arlington Elders gave her a blessing and I think it helped. She's worried that this will interfere with her getting her service dog next month. Pray pray pray for her!! 

    Friday we spent some time finding with a laurel in our ward. It was really fun, and we were able to teach a few lessons on the street. We had dinner with The S’s that night and it was wonderful, as usual. After our dinner we stopped by to see Sister W. She was doing a little better, the pain medication is working for her, but she is still having a hard time with the pain. We talked to her for a long time about life, and the blessing of the Atonement. I really love her and hope she will be able to begin to feel better. 

   Saturday morning we helped our investigator J. move some stuff around in his house because he is getting two roommates. I think it will be really good for him, ever since his wife died he has been really lonely. He did tell me he is thinking about pushing back his baptism date though, and I was not so happy about that. :( Hopefully we can get him to where he needs to be to feel good about that date! Pray for him to get the confirmation he needs to take the plunge (literally!)

    After we finished with Jacob we decided to go looking for some former investigators, and decided to try and talk to a young guy named Ja. that the Elders before us had taught. We knocked on the door at his house, and his 15 year old sister answered. Her name is J. and she told us she remembered the Elders. When we asked if we could talk to her a little she said sure and sat down with us on the porch. We ended up teaching her the full 45 minute Restoration lesson! The spirit was SO STRONG, and when we asked her how she was feeling she told us she knew God had sent us to teach her that message!!! We set up a return appointment and I am just so excited.

    Later that night after we had dinner with some members (The S’s again actually, ha! They feed us when no one else has signed up for dinner!) We decided to make cookies to bring around to all our new neighbors. We actually got back to the apartment late though so we were only able to visit with one set of neighbors, but it didn't matter because the one set we met with was so awesome! It's a family, her name is Sh., his name is R., and they have a son named K. We knocked on the door and they invited us in immediately. They were super friendly and kind. They asked a lot of questions about what we taught and we set up an appointment to teach them on Wednesday!! They were very neighborly, and offered help and even pointed out where a police officer lives in our complex. They are so super sweet and I am feeling so blessed to have met them. K. knocked on our door Sunday after we got home from church and had written us a note and brought us freezer pops! He is so cute! 

   After church yesterday we went and visited Sister W. We had the sacrament brought to her since her shingles kept her from coming to church. When we told her she could have the sacrament brought to her in her home, her eyes welled with tears and she thanked us profusely, saying she hadn't even known that was possible. Her reaction made me ponder how much importance I have put on the sacrament in my own life, because I have missed plenty of church for a variety of reasons and never even given not taking the sacrament a second thought. Even when I take the sacrament sometimes, rather than ponder the blessing it is to receive it, I just go through the motions of taking it. What a blessing to have Sister W’s example to make me think of it in a different way! The sacrament is vital to our salvation, but for those of us who have had the opportunity to take it our whole lives, it doesn't always hold the importance it should. This week I have committed myself to pondering and appreciating the blessing of the sacrament not only on Sunday, but every day, because to appreciate the sacrament is to appreciate the Savior. 

    Sunday night we ate with the N. family. They are seriously the best. They have five kids, the oldest is named J. and he's 17, then M. is 14, A. is 12, C. is 10, and G. is 2. They are super crazy and loud and they run around like maniacs, but they remind me of home sometimes (: Sister M., the mom, is seriously THE BEST cook. Dinner over there is always a blast. 

    All in all this was an amazing week. We got six new investigators, had the opportunity to serve investigators and members, and grew closer to Christ through our continued service of him. I love my Savior and I absolutely love this gospel. My blessings are so numerous. I cannot list them all, and try as I might, I know I will never be worthy of them. How loving is our God?!! 

Sister Hannah Kathryn Thomas

WEEK 4 - INVESTIGATORS!

    This week has been crazy and super eventful! 

     There's a lot to tell you guys about so I'm just going to start typing and if I tell you things in a weird order just know that it's not like certain things are more important than others, it's just how it's panning out! 

     So first of all, this week the entire mission met in Little Rock to go through iPad training under Elder Zwick of the 70! Little Rock is about 3 hours away from Memphis so we had to meet at our building at 5:15 am and get on a big bus out to Little Rock. It was well worth it though, the training was such a spiritual experience and Elder Zwick commands the spirit so strongly. Towards the end of the training he told a story about how several years ago he was sitting in a conference room alone with L. Tom Perry, when out of the blue Elder Perry stood up and said, "Elder Zwick, when are we going to get these missionaries on the internet so they can do the Lord's work for real??" He then bore testimony of L. Tom Perry as an apostle of God, and told us that while in the Temple with Elder Perry just a week ago, Elder Perry bore testimony about the Lord hastening his work on both sides of the veil. How timely a testimony. I know that Elder Perry is already hard at work saving countless souls in the Spirit World. 

    The other really cool thing that happened this week is that we had the opportunity to meet with a family named the B's. There are four of them, A. and D. are the parents, and they have two daughters, C. and A. We met them street contacting and our first lesson went really well! A. totally believes that Joseph Smith saw God and that the Book of Mormon could be true after the first lesson!! We are having dinner with them in a member's home TONIGHT! They are so elect!! I would ask that all of you pray for them to be able to come to church this next week! I also want you all to pray for J., our long time investigator with a baptism date for July 1st. He is a wonderful person and he has a really strong testimony, but his wife just died and it has really taken a toll on him. 

    Along with J. and the B's we have a first lesson with a guy named D. this week. He seems interested and excited to learn but has been out of town for the past week. He was a media referral from SLC, so pray that lesson goes well  tomorrow! 

     ALSO WE GOT AN APT AND A CAR! We were actually really sad to move out though, Sister B., one of the Bartlett sisters we were staying with, and I got to be really good friends and I really miss living with her. 

     I love this gospel and I am so blessed to teach it. Until next week!

Sister Hannah Kathryn Thomas 

Sister Thomas - WEEK THREE - ARKANSAS (Well actually Tennessee!)

What an insane, crazy week!

     We left The MTC at 3:30 am Tuesday morning, and since Sister Cawley and I are such special spirits we decided it would be a good idea to pull an all nighter and just not sleep at all before heading to the airport! It was a horrible decision and it made my day really hard, but I just love Sister Cawley so  much that it's okay. The flight here was okay, when we got to the Atlanta Airport, where we were supposed to  be able to call home there were no working payphones so I missed the opportunity to call and I was really upset. I cried on and off the whole rest of the day.  

     When we landed in Arkansas President Wakolo & The AP's where there to pick us up. Most of the other missionaries were seriously dying in the humidity, but it was all too familiar to me (: We then headed to a church building there in Arkansas to have a short orientation. It was good, but I was kind of stunned so I honestly don't remember much about it. I do remember however, that there was a little boy running around in the church that sounded just like Jeb. That caused the tears to flow, lemme tell ya. I cried all the way though my interview with President Wakolo, so I think he probably was not very impressed with me, but oh well, it is what it is. We spent the night in the mission home and it was really nice. The food was great and the spirit was strong, but my head really wasn't in it. My head was at home with my family and I honestly spent the whole night feeling like I needed to go home. Thankfully other people are much better at being tools in The Lord's hands than I am. 

    As I showered that night I cried and cried and cried. Then I got in my bed and was laying there feeling  more depressed and upset and homesick than I have ever felt. As I was laying there however I felt impressed to look through the binder they had given me in orientation. At the back of the binder I found an envelope with my name written on in in what I assume was President Wakolo's handwriting. I opened it, expecting some more paper work, but instead I found a letter from my mom all about how proud she was of my decision to serve a mission and how even though she missed me, what a blessing she knew it would be. All at once I remembered why I was there, and I remembered that I also knew what a blessing it was that I have the opportunity to serve a mission. The Lord knew I would need that comfort, and thankfully my mom and President Wakolo are excellent tools in his hands. 

      The next morning was the transfer meeting. Sister Cawley stayed in Arkansas in an area called Bryant, which is pretty hick. We were really really really sad we had to separate, but we have been texting and she seems to be doing super well. I am serving in Lakeland Tennessee! It's a suburb of Memphis and our area actually has quite a bit of Memphis in it. Our ward is really interesting because we have several neighborhoods full of million dollar homes, but we also have areas that are fairly poor, which makes our ward a very interesting mix of demographics. My companion (and trainer) is named Sister Mendicino, and she's from Midvale Utah & graduated from Hillcrest! She and I don't really know any of the same people though. Our companionship has gone super well over all. We aren't best friends like Sister Cawley and I, but we get along. 

    We are reopening the area for sisters, and we don't have an apartment or car right now, so we're staying with sisters in a different area and we are relying on members for rides everywhere. Thankfully the people here are AWESOME, and so willing to help out. We did service for this woman named Sister Wilson and she's like, at least 80 years old and a recent convert. She has a lot of health problems but she's super active and I LOVE her! She's lived an amazing life and loves the gospel so so so much. There are also lots of YSA girls who are ready and excited to come out teaching with us. This is a seriously great ward.

I am so thankful and excited to be out here on my mission. I love the Lord and I love these people already, but I also love all of you so much.

Sister Thomas 

Sister Thomas - WEEK TWO 5/18/15

It's been another crazy week here at the MTC, I feel like I was JUST writing my email for the last week! I've continued to learn and grow exponentially, and I am just so thankful for the blessing to be here. The MTC really is the refiner's fire, but I can feel how much better of a person and missionary it has made me. I can't believe how much I've learned, but as I prepare to fly to Arkansas tomorrow I just really hope it's been enough. The crazy thing about the MTC is that it makes you realize how unprepared you are, but rather than that being discouraging it just motivates you like CRAZY.

Sister Cawley and I are seriously best friends. We are so devastated that in a few days we won't be companions anymore!! We are going to miss our whole district SO much though, especially some of the missionaries going to Michigan. Sister Phelps and Elder Hartley are going to be hard to say goodbye to because we have grown really close to them. Thankfully Sister Cawley, Elder Arbon, and Elder Croft are all coming to Arkansas with me and I ADORE them all! Our district has truly become a family, even our Branch President has commented on our closeness, and we are going to be so sad to split up. Thankfully there's email, right?

Sister Cawley and I have been teaching nonstop and I LOVE IT. I truly love love love teaching and I can't wait to do it all the time. We've had two role play investigators played by our teachers, but we have also had the opportunity to teach a real investigator named Jamie, and we met with her 4 times. It was an interesting experience, she was a total sweetheart and we loved her, but we never felt like she was really dedicated to her commitments and because of that she never really had a spiritual break though, so the lessons didn't go badly I guess, but I don't think we changed her life either. I'm beginning to understand what they mean when they say you will truly love the people you teach, and I'm really sad we weren't able to get Jamie to the place of baptism, but truthfully I imagine that's how most meetings with investigators go.

One of the sisters in my district had to go to the hospital this week because of severe side pain, and she told us they said she had an ovarian cyst, but they didn't give her any prescription pain medication so I'm not sure if that's true. She keeps taking advil and telling everyone she's hopped up on pain meds even though it's just advil, hahah. I don't know, she's funny. She's going home tonight, and she doesn't really seem sad about it so idk, maybe it's for the best.

Being sister training leaders with Sister Cawley has been so much fun! We loved having the opportunity to meet the new missionaries this week and help them get comfortable.Just this brief time has testified to me of the importance of service. I can't wait to serve the people in Arkansas. I love you all so much and I miss everyone all the time. I am so lucky because literally every single person I know is totally amazing. As much as I love you though, I know your Heavenly Father loves you so much more.

Sister Thomas

Sister Thomas - WEEK ONE – 05/11/15

WEEK ONE – 05/11/15

The past week here has been really intense. As a missionary I feel I have grown exponentially, but I have also felt that growth as a person, church member, and over all follower of Christ. This week has been such a blessing. The first day was emotional to be sure, leaving my family behind was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I have already received so many blessings for making that sacrifice.

As a missionary I have learned countless lessons since coming here, but some of the lessons that have truly stuck out to me are the importance of baptism and extending that invitation as soon as possible, what a sacred responsibility it is to be one in purpose with The Godhead, and teaching and recognizing repentance as a wonderful blessing instead of a difficult experience. I have felt blessed to come to understand the meaning and purpose of my mission and I will do everything in my power to be the best missionary I can be by helping others come unto Christ.

I have also been blessed to come to know the Spirit better as He tries to communicate with me. Our role play lessons with our teachers have been intensely spiritual experiences and even though they haven't been real investigators I have received divine inspiration several times while teaching. I am so thankful for the gift of the Spirit because I could not teach these truths on my own. The fact is I don't teach them at all, the Spirit does, and I just act as a lightning rod to allow the Spirit to bless others. 

On a more temporal note, I really love everyone here. There is one Elder in my district, and he's pretty difficult to love, but I'm working on it. Overall though my district is amazing and we all became friends really quickly. My companion's name is Sister Cawley and I LOVE HER. I was so blessed to get a companion I love and get along with. She's from LA and we're total bros. There is one other set of sisters in our district, Sister Phelps and Sister Tolson. They're really quiet, but super nice, and we've gotten along well. There are two sets of Elders; Elder Hartley & Elder Julander, and Elder Arbon & Elder Croft. Arbon graduated from Corner Canyon so we have a lot of Alta friends in common! Arbon & Croft are coming to Arkansas on the 19th with Sister Crawley & I, and the other half of our district leaves for Michigan the next day. Sister Cawley and I were also called as the Sister Training Leaders (it's kinda like the female equivalent of a Zone Leader) and we are so excited for the opportunity to serve our fellow missionaries. 

Adjusting to the schedule was a little hard, but I've gotten on track now and am no longer feeling tired. I can't believe I've been here since Wednesday. It feels like I've been here for a few hours! I taught zone Relief Society yesterday and it was a cool experience. The lesson was on Enduring to the End, and it's a really powerful subject for me now that I am serving. I thought a lot about the importance of looking at Enduring to the End in a positive light, so now every time Sister Cawley and I say our missionary purpose, which is: To invite others to come unto Christ through helping them accept the restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, we add on the word CHEERFULLY. Because honestly, we are so blessed to have the opportunity to invite others to come unto Christ, and we should be over the moon that we are here doing this work. One of my teachers, Sister Karratti, and I were talking about how we are only called to invite people to baptism for these short 18 months and that's it. This is the only time in our lives we will have that blessing, and we should never squander it by pining after a boy or being home sick or sleepy or grumpy or disobedient or whatever, this is our only chance to do this work, so we better not waste it. What a responsibility and what a blessing. 

The Lord has blessed me so much, and it is the least I can do to give him this year and a half of my life in order to help him bless others, the kick is he continues to bless me constantly throughout the process. Ours is truly a loving God. 

LOVE,

Sister Thomas

Hannah's First E-Mail!

We got a short e-mail from Hannah! She was given permission to e-mail to let me know what time she would be calling for Mother's Day. I don't think I will sleep tonight in anticipation of her call!

Here is her first e-mail: (It's not a typo, she and DeDee think it is hilarious to call me Hennifer.)

HENNIFER I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND I HAVE AN AMAZING SURPRISE FOR YOU!! I GET TO CALL YOU SUNDAY AT 4:00 SO BE READY!!

THIS EMAIL HAS TO BE SHORT SO I JUST HAVE A FEW PIECES OF NEWS

I LOVE THE MTC IT HAS BEEN AMAZING, TEACHING IS MY FAVORITE. 

I LOVE MY COMPANION WE HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON THIS IS AMAZING.

MY COMPANION AND I WERE CALLED AS THE SISTER TRAINING LEADERS FOR OUR ZONE!

I LOVE YOU!!

Sister Thomas (;

We have had a great summer so far. The highlight has been spending time with our family. In May Jen's sister Cassie graduated from Law School at Loyola in Los Angeles. Jen was able to spend an entire week with her. Jen's mom, dad and brother Zach drove to L.A. from Texas and the Kratz family drove from Utah. Jason's family also came for graduation, so we were able to expand our circle of friends. Jason has an amazing family that is as wonderful as he is. It was the trip of a lifetime and Jen will never forget the amazing time spent with her little sis.

In early June, Jen flew to Salt Lake and drove back to Texas with her big sister Stac and Stac's kids Emma, Grace, Kate and Max. It was a long but very fun trip and Jen loved having 24 entire hours to visit with Stac. The Kratzes (minus Gregster) spent 3 weeks in Texas and our kids loved having cousins around to play with. They spent almost every day in their Grandparent's pool, went to the beach and had several sleepovers. It was a very sad time when cousins drove back to Utah. We miss them every day, but look forward to seeing them again at our family reunion in August.

We spent the 4th of July in Mississippi at Maw Maw and Paw Paw Thomas' house. Cousin Lizzie was there also and we had so fun with all of them. We played on the slip and slide. DeDee used her girls' camp training and made a wonderful fire pit and fire and we roasted marshmallows, made smores and shot off fireworks. The trip was way too short, but we had a wonderful time.

Hannah is staying busy with orchestra practices, as she is getting ready for her trip to Chicago, Illinois in December for the Midwest Clinic with the Dulles Middle School syphony orchestra. She also has a new violin teacher that she loves. She is taking voice, theory and piano also this summer, so music is kind of dominating her life right now. She still finds time to talk to friends for hours on the phone and chat on the computer!

DeDee is a Dulles Middle School cheerleader and is looking forward to learning cheers and cheering at games in the fall. She loved having Emma around for almost a month and has spent time with friends from school also. She is taking piano and theory this summer also and rides her rip stick until she gets too hot. She is amazing on her rip stick!

Faith is becoming quite the gymnast. She loves doing tricks and practices all the time. She is working hard on her reading and is currently being read "The Underneath" and loves the book. She has become quite the swimmer also and is like a little fish in the water.

Jeb enjoyed having Max around so he could hang with another boy. They played cars, with balls and hung out in Jeb's room. Jeb loves riding his bike and spending time in the pool. He likes to run and do cannon balls in the water. He is looking forward to t-ball and football when it finally cools off!

Bella has become passionate about princesses. She loves them and Dora and says she also is a princess. She loves nursery and church and can't wait to go to pre-school in the fall. She is the comic of the family and none of us can stay mad at her long. She just flashes us a smile and our hearts melt.

Brad is staying busy at work and with his church calling. He is also playing on a softball team and loves it. He is looking forward to our trip to Utah so he can be somewhere where it is cooler.

That is about it for the Thomas Family for now...

The Thomas Family...The past four months

We are so far overdue on updating our blog. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years, spending time with our family and friends. The highlight was having Cassie and Jason with us for two weeks. We started the new year running from place to place, and enjoying a variety of activities.



Hannah continues to be busy with violin, Destination Imagination, Young Womens and anything relating to Wolverine. She just celebrated her 13th birthday on Friday March 13th. She invited 13 friends and had a sleep over birthday party. She had black balloons, decorations and they played "toilet paper dead prom queen" took a personality quiz that told them if they were like Samara from "The Ring", Erik Lensherr (Magneto) from "X-Men", Jason Vorhees from "Friday the 13th", or Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmations. They also watched scary movies. She has the most amazing friends and she loved her party. She is preparing for the middle school talent show, where she and Dee and her friend Kelsie are singing "Leader of the Pack". She is also preparing for the ribbon festival for violin and the UIL competition for orchestra.



DeDee is busy with piano, girls camp fundraisers, kickstart competitions and her friends. She has had birthday parties and sleep overs and is also getting ready for the talent show and a kickstart competition. She won 1st place in Team Kata and will be competing in the city wide tournament in April. She just was selected as one of six students at the middle school to send their Doodle for Google art projects to Google for a competition. She has been taking art this year in school and loves it.



Faith celebrated her 6th birthday in February. She is taking gymnastics and she loves it. She practices everyday at home and can now do a kickover, back hand spring and is working on walking on her hands. It is her passion and she enjoys it very much. She also loves the music from Grease and can sing all of the songs by heart. She is doing great in kindergarten and is doing very well with reading and writing words and stories. She also loves art and draws beautiful pictures.



Jeb started t-ball in February and he loves it. He can hit the ball great and is figuring out that you must run after you hit it, not just watch it. He luckily hits it so far that he can still make it to first base before the other team gets the ball there! He also catches well and is learning how to get the ball to the bases. After a few weeks of practice he asked his dad when he would be able to tackle the other players! :) We are looking for a football league for him to join in the fall! He is also learning to write his name and is able to pick a toy out of the treasure box at school every Friday because of good behavior.



Bella is learning so many new words and her recent favorite is actually. She loves to play rough with Jeb, do "nastics" (gymanstics) with Faith and she loves going to the park and playing outside. We recently went to the Houston Stock Show and Rodeo and carnival and she wanted to go on every ride. She loved the bumper cars and laughed so hard everytime we smashed into another car. She loves her family and especially loves spending time with Mom and Ba. She askes to go to their house 20 times a day. She is also a Daddy's girl and misses him so much when he is at work and on business trips.



Brad has been traveling a lot for work. He also keeps busy with our family activities and is helping to coach Jeb's t-ball. We recently spent 5 days in New Orleans for our 7 year anniversary during one of his business trips. We enjoyed the time together so much and since it is our first trip away without the kids since our honeymoon it was extra special. We plan on doing it again within the next 7 years! :)



Jen is keeping busy with work and the Primary at church. The TABC clinic is in San Antonio in May, so work is gearing up and getting really busy. We are so thankful for all the blessings of our family and friends. We will post a photo album soon so you can SEE what we have been up to the past few months.

We celebrated Bella's 2nd birthday on September 21! Time has flown by this month. We have had alot of school functions, concerts and school plays. Hannah was first chair for her fall violin concert, Dee made it on the demo team for Kickstart and Faith had a part in the Kindergarten and First Grade school play! Jeb continues to learn in school and is actually spending time at the craft table once in a while. He brings home wonderful creations now. Today in Primary he drew a plane! It was amazing. I will try to find it later and scan it in to show everyone. Bella continues to work with me at the TABC office. She loves to watch Baby Looney Toons and Dora. She sings songs from both shows. It is SOOOO cute!

We had a great time carving our pumpkins and enjoyed a spooky but wonderful Halloween! The kids were all characters from Batman. Jeb was Batman for the 4th Halloween in a row! I stayed up all night on Thurs. before Halloween making Faith's costume. I spent a lot of quality time with my new sewing machine! We battled it out for many long hours, but I think I came out the victor. Just don't look TOO closely at Faith's Batgirl dress. She loved it, so that is all that matters! We had a great "trunk or treat" at the church and then did a little "trick or treating" after that. We missed having Mom and Ba at home, but Mom left behind wonderful goodies for the kids and Z-man was there to answer the door! It is hard to believe October is over!

We are looking forward to heading to Mississippi in November to see Maw Maw and Paw Paw for Thanksgiving!