John's Letters

10/31/09

2009-11-15T06:41:00.000-08:00

Elder Thomas made it through another transfer in Springdale. His companion is Elder call, who has been out 5 months. Elder Call is from Utah and was raised on a farm, raising goats, milking cows, etc... He is a hard worker, and Elder Thomas enjoys biking with him cause he goes fast. The missionary work is going well. They do tons of OTM's each day. We are looking forward to his call at Christmas.

6/15/09

2009-06-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

John is doing very well in Broken Arrow, OK. He has a new address, again. I've about decided it would be best to send mail to the mission address, cause his address is really hard to keep up with. He has baptisms coming up, and his area is really on fire. He is in a bike mission right now, and loves it. His new companion is Elder Day. His mission has broke the baptism record in May. They baptized more in that month then in any other month. John has been called to district leader also. He's very busy and happy doing the Lord's work.

5/19/09

2009-05-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

John has been having great success in Grove, Oklahoma these past 4 months. He is now in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma to continue his mission. He has been called to District Leader. We don't know his new companion yet, but will report back later. As he left Grove, he said he would miss seeing a golden investigator be baptized by one day. bitter sweet, as they say. All is well for John though, he's doing awesome!

His new address: 1816 N. 15th St.
Broken Arrow, OK. 74012

Thanks for supporting John!

3/31/09

2009-03-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

Elder Thomas is doing great. He is still in Grove, Oklahoma for now. Transfers are Saturday, so we shall see. It has been nice he has been in one place fo a while. He has been studying harder and his desire to serve is growing in leaps and bounds. He has caught the spirit of all people being children of God, he wants to share the gospel to all, no prejudice.
We are greatful for John's example of service and never complaining. I can imagine there are ups and downs, but he never dwells on the downs. The Lord truly has blessed our family, because of John's service. We as a family have developed a greater love and desire to share the gospel with people as well. Keep the faith!

3/25/09

2009-03-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

John is doing really well. He is working with an investigator right now that is a knifemaker. Devin will probably send him a piece of steel just for fun. He also had a zone conference all about Joseph Smith and the restoration. He felt the spirit very strong and is invigorated by our church being a restored church and not a reformed church. What a blessing to be members of the only true church on the earth restored through Joseph Smith that contains the fullness. We all need to be missionaries and share the message. The gospel is true, Jesus is the Christ and the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

3/9/09

2009-03-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

John's letter today was very happy. His companion and him tracked into a 70 year old couple. They knocked on the door to tell them they admired their statue in the front yard and they invited them in. They gave them a book of mormon and said they be back in a week. Well they went back and they had read their assignment and was eager to learn more. Of course John and his companion are totally in awe. First of all they are pretty old, second they live in a rich part of town, and 3rd they tracked into them. So, these missionaries are jazzed.
Now it's our turn to share the gospel. Our exchange student Eva from Hong Kong is ready I think to hear the lessons. We are working on her and praying for her. She is a sweet girl and very much loves going to church, she especially likes mormon boys. I don't know why? Anyways put her in your prayers too.

3/2/09

2009-03-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

John's baptisms went through as planned. They had a service project with the ward earlier that day and finished it off with the baptism. It was well attended.
John's having great success in the little branch. They are cuurently teaching at least 4 people who are promising. He is in a car mission right now and wished he had a bike one. The members feed them very well and his weight is on the upswing. Hopefully, he can drop a few pounds soon.
He told an experience he had with a young man. He was encouraging members by doing role playing asking people to come to church. Well, the young man actually asked his friend to come to church and the friend accepted the invitation. John was thrilled to hear he did it! He loves being a missionary! He loves the gospel and the Book of Mormon! He knows the church is true.
We are proud of John's diligence in serving the Lord on a mission. He just never gives up, and he never complains.

2/9/09

2009-02-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

Johns letter was very short. He said he would have his first baptism on the 21st of this month. He said he was doing really well and enjoying mission life.

2/2/09

2009-02-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

my new companions name is elder dustin wayne hunting he is from vernal utah he has 3 little brothers and no sisters he likes football and weightlifting so we get along really good. my new area is sweet we cover a bunch of little towns namely grove, vinita, jay, ketchum, and some others i'm sure of it i'm in a branch right now it is pretty different when one family is gone it feels like no one is there cause there is only about 70 people who show up every week but there are some sweet families and we have lots of good support and we are finding new people to teach all of the time!!so how much does kendal weigh now? has he been doing his pushups?i wish i could be there for grandma's birthday make sure you give her a big hug and a kiss for me and tell her that i love her tons!! thats sweet that larrin finally proposed for real i wish i could be there for the wedding but that won't happen cause i'll only be at my year mark when it happens.missionary life goes way to fast if you blink you miss the whole week i can't believe it's week 3 of the transfer already it's crazy!!i love you all i hope all is well. tell dad that i love him and i'm proud of him. and tell him to start riding his bike. and say hi to daniel for meloveElder John LaRoy Thomas

1/12/09

2009-01-14T06:35:00.000-08:00

i'm going to grove!!!!!727-c circle drgrove ok74344thats my new address i'm still senior companion and everything we got shotgunned out of the area i was pretty surprised when they told me that i was leaving but i guess elder thomas just doesn't get to stay anywhere to long i'm excited though i get to see elder hosking and elder erbe again cause we'll have zone conference together!! so thats good news so send my mail to grove i love you i hope to here from you soon!!!

Christmas 12/29/08

2008-12-31T07:12:00.000-08:00

so christmas was sweet it was good to talk to all of you no we are back to normal life it is sweet i would rather be doing missionary work then sitting around all day anyways i need you all to pray that andrea seckler will be baptized in january!!hope to hear from you soonlove elder thomas

12/08/08

2008-12-08T10:13:00.000-08:00

dear mommy i love you and thankyou for the gloves and head bands and stuff cause it is getting cold here anyways i'm in broken arrow ok again and my new address is 7223 s collins st broken arrow ok 74014my new companion is good he's been in the area for 4 1/2 months already he's only had 2 areas his whole mission and he's been out twice as long as i have it's crazy so i'll be with him for 6 weeks then i'll get another companion but there is a lot of work to be done now i am way excited to go forward and baptize hopefully i'll be here for a while i'm tired of getting moved around so much lol no i don't mind it has helped me to learn and grow a lot and i will go where the lord wants me to go this month is going to fly by there is so much going on before christmas it's crazy we need to find some investigators before christmas so we can start baptizing in january. my old companion elder whitney is still the district leader here he is way sweet! anyways i love my life and i'm excited everyday that i get to be a missionary because the days are so few!! i love you all and i hope to hear from you soon!!Love Elder Thomas

11/24/08

2008-11-24T14:14:00.001-08:00

siloam springs is sweet!! the bishop loves us and he was way surprised to find out how new we are as missionaries cause we say that we've been out for just under a year and he asked if this would be our second call home(mothers day and christmas) and we told him that it would be our first and he said "wow you're really green" it was funny but nobody else knows cause we just go out and work hard and don't worry about time. we have lots of restaraunts cause the city is right in the middle of tulsa and fayetville and it's on a major highway so we have lots of them but we don't eat out very often cause we try to conserve money. and i'm trying to loose the weight i have gained while on my mission i've almost done it but don't worry i still eat plenty ;) and yes we have wal mart well we are less than an hour from bentonville arkansas where walmart started so yeah there are lots of walmarts in this mission i do not have a hat and gloves it would be best if i could get a pair of classy black leather gloves and a pair of the 180 earmuffs if you know what those are cause i'm always biking and wearing a helmet.tell dad i love him and that the news of him having no more ulcers is the best news i've heard in a while that makes me so happy!! how is he doing in his diet? has he been riding the bike? is he gonna start lifting weights?my legs have been growing cause of how much we ride our bikes and there are lots of hills in arkansas and the erbe-tron 8000 doesn't slow down so we are always cruizin. thats pretty sweet that kendal is able to do it all himself and tak care of diabetes tell him i love him and to keep doing pushups and running and eating good and reading the book of mormon. tell him to break a leg in the christmas play!! have in washington D.C.!!well i'm workin hard everyday keep me in your prayers!love elder thomas!

11/10/08

2008-11-10T11:30:00.001-08:00

dearest motheri am so excited about being here in siloam springs arkansas it is a way sweet little town well it's not that small but not very big either but it covers a bunch of little towns that make me like i'm at home in little old panaca a member from this ward just left on his mission he's going to west virginia it's pretty cool. we are finding lots of new investigators pretty sweet ones too we met this kid named miguel we gave him a book of mormon and we told him to read and pray well the next day we met with him an he had lots of questions and well we answered them it was sweet. he didn't come to church though that bummed me out and he wouldn't give us his address but we think that is because he doesn't want us to see his living conditions but he is a way nice kid and needs to serve a mission pray that we will be able to get ahold of him so we can teach and baptize!!! well all is well in gods countrylove elder thomas

11/3/08

2008-11-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

dear mom there is something you need to know i am no longer in oklahoma i'm in arkansas 1993 w highway 412 apt11siloam springs arkansas 72761that is my new address.funny story so on halloween day elder whitney and i were walking to our bikes minding our own buisnes when we recieved a phone call. so while elder whitney answered the phone i went accross the street to otm some people and they were rude and drove off and so i go accross the street and elder whitney asks the person he is talking to on the phone if he wants to talk to elder thomas and so i take the phone and it was pesident seal and he told me that an emergancy transfer was happening there had been problems in siloam springs and i was being sent there with elder erbe (who came out with me) to fix the area so know i am in siloam springs so hopefully you get this before you send any more mail. all is well the work here is sweet eldere erbe is awesome and we are going to rock this town i am way excited we are learning on the fly together it will be awesome!!loveElder Thomas

10/27/08

2008-10-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

John's address is different then he thought. Please note the change.

1816 N. 15th St.
Broken Arrow, OK. 74012

10/20/08

2008-10-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

John has a new address.
i'm going to broken arrow oklahoma in the cedar ridge ward and my new companion is elder whitney they say he is really good and clean which should help me a lot. has derek put in his mission papers yet? could you get his email adress for me. the work is so so sweet here i will be sad to leave i don't want to go but i know that to continue to progress i need to move on so i will go and do the work in broken arrow!!

10/06/08

2008-10-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

it makes me so happy to here from you!! missionary work is hard i can't imagine having to do this in japanese!! it gets easier every time i do it though i love talking to people it's a new adventure everytime cause there are so many different religions around here it's crazy! we have this man named paul williams that we are teaching now but he has been dodging our appointments i'm not sure what to do except just love him and keep trying and working hard i think he's been dodging us cause he has some sins that he knows he needs to repent for and he just doesn't know how and he feels guilty around us. the last lesson we had with him was way sweet we were over at a members home and the member bore his testimony andd we taught him the gospel of jesus christ (lesson 3 in preach my gospel chapter 3) it was really good we used the rock in the backpack analogy it was way sweet and i know that he felt the spirit there if you have any advice i am open and ready to receive it. on a brighter note we have two young family's that we have been teaching and we have some way sweet fellowshippers the members have been catching the spirit of missionary work seeing all of our investigators at church. stacy and dyllan francis and justin and maria smiths are the names of the family's pray for them to have spiritual experiences and for the desire to progress and learn. general conference as a missionary was so sweet as a missionary i loved it so much my favorite talk was elder bednars on prayer it made me rethink how i pray and i had been working on having more meaningfull prayers already so it just gave me the shove that i needed to improve. i've been gone for 3 months already crazy!! i want to here about your excersize and diet cause i know that as you loose weight everything will become easier and i need a little inspiration cause i've gained 10 pounds in the last three months well i love you daddy it is so good to here from youloveElder John LaRoy Thomas

9/29/08

2008-09-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

No really bad storms just a little rain here and there. I'm pretty excited about getting a letter from tyler, that will be way sweet. Physically I have been feeling great but my allergies are just as bad here as they were in Nevada. It seems like I can't find relief. Have ya'll still been doing your vegan diet? I've been trying to eat healthier but it is pretty hard in the mission. We always have salad in the apartment and I've been eating lots of fruit and I eat lots of salad at dinner appointments. Kendal has been doing really good since I left? Hopefully he will keep it up!! Tell dad that I love him and I'm praying for him always and that he needs to get back in the weight room lol. I did get my package. and I got something for Amy for Christmas for free at one of the members second hand store. I hope she likes them, and I will send it when it gets closer to time. I will probably get transfered in 4 weeks. It will be good, and I think I'm not too attached to the people here. I know that everywhere will be just as good as long as I keep working hard!! Keep praying for me and using preach my gospel in every family home evening!!!
love,
Elder Thomas!!

9/22/08

2008-09-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

I wish we could baptize people in the swamp!! That would be way cool. I also wish that people would just ask to be baptized, that would make everything so much easier! We are really close with Paul Williams, he is a great guy, and he has come to church three times now. Hopefully, all will go well. There are quite a few part member families that we are working with, and we need to do even more. We need to put it into the next gear and start baptizing. The mission is so much fun, and we live with the zone leaders. I learn a lot form them every day!! Was dad ever a zone leader? Are you using preach my gospel for family home evening? Is dad studying preach my gospel? I hope all is well at home base. Tell everyone that I love them.
love,
Elder Thomas

9/15/08

2008-09-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

We didn't get to e-mail cause it was a holiday and we had to take our preparation day, so tell everyone that I can still e-mail. I love you all. Life has been really good in the OTM .I love it here. It's starting to cool down, it is so nice! Preach my gospel is such a good book, it will make family home evening a whole new experience. The best part about the book is that you can apply the principles to everyday life. Take the "christlike attributes" section for example, you could do an entire month of fhe's on them and make it a goal to develop those attributes!! Did kendal get the bugs in the mail that I sent? How is Kendal doin in football? Tell everyone I love them!! Oh yeah , ties are a big deal in this mission, everyone critiques your ties and everyone says that my best one is the yellow one that dad hates. Anyway, I love ya'll ! Always strive to better yourselves everyday, cause if you're not moving forward the devil will creep in!!
Love, Elder Thomas

9/8/08

2008-09-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

hello everybody, i have no idea where the mouthpiece is. i got a pair of clippers for free from a missionary and i did get my package.and send me a picture of eva. now that thats out of the way, how is family home evening going with preach my gospel? it is such a great book. i love it. it is the perfect guide to a perfect life. our investigator that was supposed to be baptized dropped us. it was so dumb. i wanted to punch him in the face!! but lets not dwell on the negative. paul williams will be baptized on the 18th of october and he is way sweet and he's black and we have a black fellowshipper. he's the only black member in the ward and he's a convert. he is so good. he bore such a powerful testimony to paul on sunday, it almost brought me to tears. the work out here is slow, but we are working way hard to turn things around. president seal sent the best of the best to this area to get it to where it needs to be. i'm way excited to be here with such a great group of elders. i have learned so much in the 5 short weeks that i've been out. i love the people here, they are crazy. i've learned some great new words like; youins (which is kinda like ya'll) and dyant (which means do you want) it is so funny how they use them ,but i love it here. i can't wait to here from you again. don't forget to write!!loveElder John LaRoy Thomas

09/05/08

2008-09-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

Today we got the new address where Elder Thomas is living. He can't e-mail any more. He said he'd explain later... o.k. Anyways, his letter was short, not much else to say. He is fine and working hard. The new address is posted with the mission home address. Thanks for writing him he loves the letters of encouragement.

8/25/08

2008-08-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hey mommy and family,

Don't know what to write really. We are moving out of our appartment already into a different one cause they have tennants lined up. They want us out by the first of September which is a bummer cause all of our investigators are right around our area. I've met some way sweet people. We have 4 black investigators they are all sweet!! How is preach my gospel going for ya'll? I'm studying chapter one pretty thoroughly right now. It is so good ! I studied the section on the power and authority of my calling. It was way good ! My favorite line says "honor Christs name by your actions", and that made me think. I am a litteral representitive of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Everything I think say and do is in His name, and am I respecting that name. YES, I am ! This is his work, and I have been called to invite others to come unto Christ. I am helping them recieve the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end!!! How great is my calling! I love this work! I hope all is well. I haven't recieved anything in the last week except a letter from Amy telling me she wants presents. I love you. I OTM as much as possible. Tell dad that I love him. I am so thankful for his example in my life in showing me how to honor my preisthood as set forth in the 84th section of the doctrine and covenants. I love you, and I miss you all, but I am happier than I have ever before been in my life. I have been called of God to be here in Springfield 2nd ward to baptize these people and I will do just that!!!!

Love,

Elder John LaRoy Thomas

8/18/08

2008-08-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well i'm glad you like your new job, that is way sweet! I will be sending some pictures home. they're the ones of my apartment and my companion and some of my mtc companions. The work is going so good. I hope all of you are doing good. Have you used preach my gospel for fhe yet? If you haven't, you should. It is a great book. You should read alma 32, it is a great chapter on faith and should get you excited about sharing the gospel!!! It's a lot easier to e-mail you. If you have questions for me, oh yeah, I need gel because it is required to part your hair and I need clippers. I love you all so much!! I'm kinda dissapointed that you haven't updated me on the olympics, you better have recorded Usain Bolt running the 9.68 in the 100. I bet that was sweet, but anyway I'm about out of time. Remember otming is a way of life, and i love it!!!

Monday August 11, 2008

2008-08-11T10:27:00.001-07:00

From: john thomas Subject: Re: Hi John 08/11/08To: knifegirl89042@yahoo.comDate: Monday, August 11, 2008, 9:46 AMso here is what is going down in the OTM. the weather is hot and humid just like
expected but you just get lost in the work and you roll with it i love it. yes i
did get the packages except i left some of it in the mission home but they
should be sending it to me! let me tell you about the dinner appointments. wow i
don't know if i'm gonna be able to loose any weight cause all we eat is
meat and sugar with the occasional salad they always make a whole bunch of food
and then give you desert espescially the palmers they are great people they love
missionary work and make sure that we are always taken care of they have us over
for dinner almost every week bro palmer is a repo man (he reposeses cars for a
living) how cool is that! our investigators were all doing really well then
something happened eith them it was so weird one them has a brother who is a
pentecostal preacher and started feeding him all of this anti information and
has turned him against us but hopefully we can smooth it all out cause i saw how
much him and his family need the gospel he went from wanting to bring his family
to church and get his kids in the primary program to i can't join your
dhurch cause i don't think you baptise right. he is still a good guy and
he'll figure it out eventually. his name is paul gardner. pray for him!!! so
what exactly was the job again that you got whatever it is i'm way excited
for you!!!
so we have porches now huh? i probably won't even recognize the place when
i get back. so here is what needs to happen every monday you need to prepare a
lesson from preach my gospel it will help you out so so much it is the greatest
missionarry tool ever and will give kendal a head start on it. and you need to
buy some pass along cards and OTM people when you have the chance. so you
don't know what OTMing is well i'll tell you it means Open Thy Mouth
teach a principle and make a commitment!!! it is the best! that is what we do
when we are not teaching people we are OTMing we talk to everyone we see it is
so great. it has put me out of my comfort zone but it helps to know that the
gospel is true and even if they don't listen to us we tried and that is all
that matters in the eternities they will see us again and they will remember
that they blew off the missionaries. if you ever doubted that the church is true
just come anywhere in the OTM and you will reallize just how true it really
is!!! there is a church on every corner and they are all different. oh and by
the way springfield is the world headquarters for the assemblies of god religion
it is crazy. our neighbors are acctually youth pastures for a.o.g they are
really nice people but you can always tell when something is missing.
so how about the vegan diet how is that working out for you it would be
impossible for me to do that here because every dinner appointment has meat. has
dad been excersizing? cause i have been for 30 minutes a day every morning i run
3 days a week and do pushups and stuff 3 days a week well i am out of time i
love you all stay true to the faith!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

E-mail 08/09/08

2008-08-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

hey mommy this is my first time checking my e-mail here in springfield i love it here the members are great. we already have 8 new investigators. i love this work i am having so much fun my whole day is so full that i don't have any time to think of anything but the work it is so amazing the first people i talked to when i got to springfield was the beals they were really nice people we taught them a first lesson and we are going back on tuesday to see them again. they are pretty devout baptists but they accepted a book of mormon and promised us that they would read it i'm so excited!! my companion elder sovine is so cool he is way organized and has taught me so so much he is a great guy and i am really blessed to have him as a trainer. this is trully the lords work and i know that this is definitely the best decision of my entire life. so back to our investigators. we met this guy named paul gardner he was playing outside with his kids in the swimming pool cause it is way hott here!!! he was raised penticostal which i'm not exactly sure what that means but he hasn't gone to church for a while and was looking fo a church to join so we invited him to our church and he came and he loved it cause his biggest complaint was that all people did was read from the bible over and over again and he gets tired of hereing it so he thaught it was cool how normal people got up and shared real testimonies of what they believe he is going to bring his family next time it should be really good all of the members welcomed him in it was so great all this happened in just two days. the first night that we were here we had a dinner appointment with the palmers. bro palmer is a member of the elders quorm presidency he is way cool their family was so nice they all love missionary work the ward mission leader is a really funny gut and is excited to get work. springfield is so huge i can't believe how big it is but we are starting to figure out the area a little bit.we have been otming like crazy we talk to everybody we see our goal is 140 otms a week and 40 lessons cause our goal as a mission is to get 100 new convert baptisms this month cause we want to double baptisms me and elder sovine ARE GOING TO BAPTIZE EVERYBODY IN OUR AREA!!! well numbers really aren't that important but it is good to have goals and i just have to ramember that every number means that another soul has come unto christ. i just wanted to tell ya'll that i am working really hard and i am on a bike all day and if i'm not i'm walking it is so fantastic i feel so good when i'mteaching. well thats about enough babbling for one day i love you all and make sur you ask questions cause i won't know what to write otherwise love Elder Thomas