The Best 2 Years: Elder Jace Thompson in Omaha/Japan: the one with baseball and oranges

"Boom, you looking for this?"

Holy, we had a lot of fun this week...

Starting wìth Monday, we wanted to spend some time playing baseball on P day, so a couple days prior, we got a mitt, a bat, and a ball. We were also hoping that we would be able to use it to find some people and have fun with people we see around. So Monday, we went to the sandlot and were throwing the ball around when some grandpas pulled up and then some more and some more all in all there were like 20 grandpas that all came to the other side of the lot. We saw throwing some balls around...becsuse they were warming up for a game😆😆 Having nothing bettet to do, my comp and I went over and started cheering them on anytime anything happened, and they were loving it. They were all cracking up and just having fun. When the last couple innings came around, one guy came up to us and motioned for us to come down and step up to the plate. So we go down, grab a bat, and get ready to hit some nukes. The best part is this was softball, so we got this ball getting lobbed over to us. Needless to say, we both just started hitting dingers and home runs, which was awesome. From that moment on, they just started calling us "Major" as in Major Leagues. We ended the game, and you know what snack they had?? Oranges!! Apparently, baseball and oranges are the perfect combo across the globe.

Tuesday, we had DCM (district council meeting) in a far away city, so most of our day was just traveling there and back. But we made it back in time for ping pong, so it was a good day.

Wednesday was also a killer day. So going back to monday, at the end of the game, one of the guys told us that the next game was Wednesday at 3:00pm so you bet that we snagged our gear and ran over for the next game. Spent the next couple hours getting to know all of the guys and hitting nukes (the perfect combo for missionaries) and just had a good time. At the end of the game, we were all just talking and eating oranges when they said the next game was Friday at 3:00 pm. Yeah, you best believe we made that our top priority. After baseball, we met up with another one of our buddies and played basketball with him, his friends, his dad, and his dad's friends. So, all around, a good day for sports.

Friday, we headed back out to the sandlot and had another great game. They have gotten to know us better so they dont take it easy on us anymore... all these guys are at least 70 years old, but man, can they move. Not a single one of them looks like they are in their 70s. Most look like they would be in their 50s. It's crazy how healthy Japanese people are. But its great because they are all retired and dont have much to do with their lives, so they just play ball 3 times a week. After the game, they made sure we were coming to all of the games next week. So now we play softball every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So that's the story of how we joined a 70+ softball league at the ripe age of 19.

Saturday, we got on our bikes and headed an hour away to the city that I hadn't been to yet. We ended up talking to lots of great people and had a good day! We were biking by this community center type place, and we heard someone playing the piano REALLY well, so we stopped in to see what it was, and it was a piano recital rehearsal! All the people playing the piano were teenagers but they were all so good! We ended up staying and watching the rest of the rehearsal and helped them all clean up after. They gave us lots of snacks and told us the performance is next Sunday at 1:30. So next week, we are gonna have to book it out of church so we can get there on time, but it should be awesome! We also hit KFC on the way home and took some flicks with our boy Sanders.

Spiritual Thought:

Alma 34:41

But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

Hope is not knowledge, but rather the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us. It is confidence that if we live according to God’s laws and the words of His prophets now, we will receive desired blessings in the future. It is believing and expecting that our prayers will be answered. It is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance.

–Dieter F. Uchtdorf

As a zone, we are focusing on faith, hope, and charity this transfer! Last week, I talked about faith, so today, I want to talk about hope!

I love this scripture because we all have our own personal struggles and challenges in life, but we just need to be patient, hold on, and hope that the Lord will take care of it for us. I love in Uchtdorf's quote how he relates hope to trust and how we just need to put our trust in God, and we will be blessed for it!

Sorry for the longer email, but I hope you liked the story:) Well, that's all I got this week, but man, was it a good week! Overall, it was super fun, and I have loved playing softball with the お祖父ちゃん! Feel free to email me!