The Best 2 Years: Elder Jace Thompson in Omaha/Japan: the one with Christmas

"Boom you looking for this?"

Monday was Christmas!! And man did we have fun. We started the day with opening lots of gifts and eating a ton of candy. After that we went to the church and called pur families. We then left the church and met up at a ramen restaurant with the sister missionaries and Makoto. After we finished eating, we went to a mall and all picked up gifts for a white elephant gift exchange. After that we all went back to the church and did our white elephants and then played lots of games. It was super fun and a great way to spend Christmas. At 6:00 it was back to missionary work so we went to a nearby train station and sang christmas carols with the sisters. And by the end of the day, elder hall was feeling a little sick.

Wednesday, elder McMaster woke up sick and him and elder hall were both pretty miserable.

Thursday me and Elder Perkins both woke up sick so now all of us were miserable. We all had fevers, stuffy noses, and headaches which was not fun.

Saturday was a big mission wide cleaning day and we spent a big chunk of the day just cleaning our apartment. Which was good because we all just felt like dying. We also taught Makoto the Plan of Salvation which she really loved!

Sunday we taught Makoto the final lesson which we usually teach at two separate times because its ALL the commandments but when we got halfway through, she wanted to hear the rest of them. After teaching her the last lesson, we all were talking with some members and the sisters missionaries and I was thinking about it and because we finished all the lessons, Makoto could get Baptized this next Sunday. So I asked her if she wanted to move it up a week or if she wanted to keep it on the 14th and she decided to move it up a week! So now she is going to get Baptized next Sunday!! After all that, we went to a ward family's house for dinner and it was a ton of fun! The sister missionaries and Makoto were there and it was a blast!

Spiritual Thought:

2 Nephi 2:25

Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

Man that verse is something else. This week we taught Makoto the Plan of Salvation which has been her favorite lesson so far. She especially loved hearing about the spirit world and how everyone is given a chance to accept Jesus Christ.

I love this verse so much because everything happend for a reason and it all happened accoring to God's plan. Not only this but the reason God's has this amazing plan is so that we can feel eternal peace, joy and happiness. Even the bad things we go through, are there to make us happier in the end. Even when we can't see why God is making us go through something hard, he is doing it for our benefit.

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. "

‐C.S Lewis

Well thats all I got for this week and man was it a long week. Being sick really is the worst and I hope I get over it soon. But Sunday was sooo great and I cant wait for next week!