Grateful for Trials

Dear Family and Friends,

I am so grateful for trials that make me stronger and help me become a better man. I have experienced several in my life, but I'm almost positive that since I started my mission I have had more than the previous 19 years combined. I should have made a list of every trial that I have gone through since my mission started, but I am sort of glad that I haven't because I like to leave those things in the past after I have learned from them. I watched a really great "Mormon message" the other day about a man that goes through a major trial and he had a very profound quote at the end that I would like to share with you. "I am grateful for the trials and difficulties that occur in my life, not because they are easy, but because they help us love." It was something along those lines and it really stood out to me, he lost his wife when a drunk driver hit his car, but he had such a great attitude about everything! I was thoroughly impressed!

Our week has been wonderful! My new companion is Elder Nordwald, he is from Mexico, Missouri and is going to hit his year mark this Thursday. He came down from Payson, AZ this last week (poor kid, it's much cooler up there) and we have been hitting the pavement hard in search of new potential members! We have been contacting referrals, knocking doors, asking the members who they know, talking to everyone on the street and even sending out mass text messages; I guess you could say we are using every means imaginable to find the elect! Our numerical success this week wasn't very high, but I feel really great about all the leads that we have, I know that there will be several things happening in our area soon!

This coming week we are going to be at Leadership Training Meeting(LTM) from 9am-4pm Tuesday to Friday so I am pretty excited about that. Elder Nordwald and I are both attending, so the only negative thing is that our area is going to be closed down for the entire week except for evenings. I know that we will be blessed though! I bet we get several calls from members wanting us to teach their friends this week. I'll keep you posted.

My prayer is that we can all find someone this week to extend an invitation to, whether that is to church, an activity, or just to come over for dinner. I know that as we increase our faith and invite others to come unto Christ, that our Heavenly Father will place the elect in our path. This is my testimony and may you all have a blessed week!

-Elder Thomas