Emergency transfers, another baptism, and a chalk fight!

Hey everybody! We had some surprises this week, as you can tell by the subject line!

Apparently there was a huge incident in another zone with some missionaries being extremely disobedient...I´m not exactly sure what the details are, but due to that incident, about ten elders got sent home. :/ So a lot of missionaries got moved around to accommodate this change! I´m still here in my area, but they decided to transfer my companion. They called us at 9:00 in the morning on Thursday and told us he had to be in the mission office with his bags packed by 4:00 in the afternoon. So we packed up his bags, said a few quick goodbyes, and he got sent off to the mission office to find out what his new area was going to be!

So surprise! I already have my third companion of the mission. His name is Elder Hastings, from Idaho! My first Gringo companion! Haha I thought I would enjoy having a companion that speaks English, but it´s actually super weird...haha I´ve just gotten really used to speaking Spanish all the time, so when my companion starts speaking to me in English my brain doesn´t know what to do with itself. Haha but that being said, he´s super cool and nice, and a great missionary, so that´s good! We get along pretty well! We have about two weeks left until this transfer officially ends, and I have no idea if I´ll stay here in Gardenias for another transfer or if I´ll get sent off somewhere else. So I´m excited to see what´s going to happen!

We had a really great baptism this week! We baptized a ten year-old boy named Angel. His parents are extremely poor and very irresponsible in taking care of him, so he practically lives with his aunt, who is a less-active member who we´ve been working with. One day we were teaching her and talking a little bit about baptism, and he piped up and said he wanted to be baptized! The whole time we´d been working with this family we´d just assumed he was baptized, but it turns out he wasn´t! So this Saturday I had the opportunity to baptize him, and I´m pretty sure that was my favorite baptism I´ve had yet. I just felt the Spirit so strong. Sometimes I get a little worried when we baptize kids as young as him that they don´t really understand what they are doing, and that they want to get baptized just because it seems fun or something. But after his baptism, I asked him how he felt, and he told me, "I feel so much joy in my heart!". I totally wasn´t expecting him to say something like that, and in that moment the Spirit testified to me that he really was converted to the Gospel and ready to be baptized, even though he is so young. He also loves to read the Book of Mormon, and always loves to show me his favorite parts that he´s read. So he´s super great!

Angel's baptism

Angel's family and my new comp Elder Hastings

Melisa, a random girl from our ward. She wanted a picture for some reason. She flirts with me a lot...so as you can see in this photo, I´m keeping my distance pretty well. Haha :)

We also had a color chalk fight as a zone today for P-Day, so that was pretty awesome!

Other than our baptism, this week has been a little slow as far as teaching goes, due to the emergency transfers and the fact that I had to help my companion get to know the area. But we´ve got some high goals for this week, so we´re ready to get back to working like crazy! I´m really just starting to love being a missionary. Obviously there have always been moments and days that I´ve loved, but in the past it´s been generally pretty tough to be a missionary. It´s still hard, but lately, even on days when nothing particularly special happens, I go to bed feeling the Spirit so strongly and just loving being out here. So go missionary work! It´s the best!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Thomas :D

Here are some other pictures...

My new comp and I at the color fest!

Elder Garcia

Elder Hala! My hilarious, district leader. Haha.

Elder Galicia

Elder Peralta! One of my best friends here in the mission, I hope I get to be his companion one day.

Elder Dennis!

Elder Vides!

My district!

Elder Raymundo!

Elder Sánchez! This kid is hilarious. Also the tallest Latino I´ve ever met.

Elder Godinez! He entered the mission at the same time as me, he comes from an extremely humble background. Most incredible testimony I´ve ever heard.

Elder Daugherty!

Elder Solis!

Elder Solis and Elder Sánchez with the photo bomb!

Elder Diaz

The field after the color fight!

My district with our cool district T-shirts we just made!

The backs of the shirts! I´m not sure why my district leader gave me the nickname Simba, but that´s what I got! Haha. Also, that symbol signifies a baptism here in the mission. We put it on there because our district has baptized more than any other district for the past two months in a row! As for the hashtags, that´s the district name our district leader came up with for us. Haha he´s a funny guy.

My district attempting the Whip Nae Nae dance. Haha.