June 24, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam! 

This week has been super crazy! So much has gone on every single day we have just been so busy! But I have a feeling that this next week will be mostly finding. I guess we'll see and trust in the Lord.

Training is going great. Sister Pack has already committed 3 people to baptism. She is sweetly bold in all she does and very courageous. She is a natural leader as I've said before and I already know she is going to go on to do great things. We covered How to Begin Teaching this week and we did the role play that you did with us at Zone Conference. We timed ourselves to see how quickly we could get through all 10 bullet points and then did that about 5 times. We got down to a minute five seconds! And we have started implementing How to Begin Teaching in all that we do and it has worked wonders. No wonder it is so important!

As for our investigators: We have 4 progressing. That would be Emma, Joanna, Kent and Gene. Emma prayed about her baptismal date and got her sure answer that she needs to be baptized. It was a difficult lesson because Joanna was in a bad mood and the spirit of contention drove the Holy Spirit out of the room. But we were able to confirm Emma's answer and she is very excited to move forward on this path.

Kent is doing amazingly! We had a lesson with him in which he responded, "I really felt something. It's amazing when you meet people who really care about you and your eternal potential." True charity works! I love that they talked about that in the broadcast. When we truly love them, an invitation to church will never ruin friendships. I believe it was Elder Nielson who said that. Awesome.

Then we met Gene this week. He is praying about a baptismal date of July 27th or August 10th. We taught the restoration (with how to begin teaching!) and it was incredible. The spirit was very powerful and he started crying. He already wants to get baptized and is coming to church this Sunday. 

Tammy dropped us yesterday after the broadcast. She had her neighbor call us and ask us to "stop bugging everyone". We called Tammy and she said, "didn't you get my neighbors call?" We said that we had but we wanted to make sure everything was okay and make sure she knows that we love her. She said she did but she didn't want to see us around anymore. It's amazing to me that as soon as we have spiritual powerhouse experiences (like the broadcast last night) Satan will come in and hit us at our weakest spot in our armor (that's for you Mandy!). It was completely heartbreaking and I prayed very fervently last night that there was nothing more I could have done as the Lord's servant. I started crying when a line from Elder Woodard's letter that he wrote me came flashing into my mind. "You have NOT failed." The Lord uses each of us to answer His children's prayers. We are each angels in His hands. It will all be okay.

This week has been awesome! Btw, WE LOVE SISTER HUGHLETT!!!!!!!! We would be no where without her. She has done so much for us and continues to do so every day. She is our light and our strength in Jasper and her and Breanna are truly angels. We love them with all of our hearts. 

The broadcast was amazing and I thought of home the entire time. I cried during the Missionary Medley with the kids and I think I actually saw Cam in the missionary crowd! Cool right?! It definitely bolstered my spirits and I'm ready to dive back into the work.

In response to your letter: Kent is early 30's I think. Gene is probably the same. We met each of them contacting. Proving yet again, as they said at the broadcast, that tracting is completely ineffective. It just is. Kent is a single man but Gene has two daughters, Macey and Olivia (12 and 11) who are interested.

The neighborhood of the new apartment is so beautiful and safe. It truly feels like home. Everyone is so nice. We are down stairs. I don't have any pics this week. Sorry! But I will make sure to get that done by next week. I also finished my Father's Day tape and put pics on the USB so I will be sending that today.

We went to the post office and changed our address so it should get forwarded to the new one. I got a letter from Grandma-Great this week. Is that the one you're talking about? I did get that. It was perfect. Thank her for me.

70,204 missionaries to be exact. We are indeed becoming the true Army of Helaman. :D And I am a part of it. :D

I think that's pretty much all this week. Sorry the email is shorter! There is much to do today and still many letters to write! I hope you all have fun in Park City and I can't wait for pics of the basement, pics of the fam and pics of Tifenn!!!! I miss her so much!

Oh! Also, I don't count my MTC time in my mission time so I haven't yet been out for 100 days. I don't do that because it isn't actually included in my 18 months. My mission will actually be 18 1/2 months long. I'm getting home September 17, 2014. Did you know that? It's on my ministerial certificate. Which is pretty awesome. :) So I believe today is day 98. :D

I love you all so much! Have fun at Heritage Days! Be good! Make good choices! 

Love eternally,

Sister Thorne

June 17, 2013

Hello Thorne Family! 

Week already finished eh (that's just for you Justin Hill!)? It has been a really long week. I have completely exhausted myself every single day and it has been really difficult. I go to bed tired and wake up tired. Maybe I need to start taking some Iron supplements..... It's hot as heck itself and it's going to get worse, but I honestly love humidity! It makes my skin so soft and I love the taste of it. That sounds weird, but the air really does taste like water! It's awesome!

As for Sister Pack, she's doing really well. She does excellently in role plays and she really does talk to EVERYONE already. She says hi to everyone and just loves to get to know everyone she can. She is very bold and she already knows all the lessons forward and backward and can apply them to people and teach to their needs very well. She has the gift of the discernment of spirits and she follows what the spirit tells her. She teaches with power and authority and is basically just amazing.

As for our investigators: we only have 3 progressing right now. I think that we are going to have to drop most of our current investigators this next week and go on a finding scavenger hunt. They don't make meeting with us a priority and they just don't keep commitments. It's been really stressful for me right now, but I think that that is the direction we need to be going. We will shoot for our 20 contacts a day and 5 hours of tracting and work on finding this week to enlarge our investigator pool.

For progressing: we first have Tammy. She is doing SO well! We had an incredible lesson with her and her two girls today. She is down to just 5 cigarettes a day (from 15/day) and we set a new baptismal date for July 27. We really think she'll be able to keep this one this time. Her daughter Dara wants to get baptized as well but Tammy doesn't have guardianship, the grandpa does and he doesn't like Mormons at all and won't let them come to church. It's a sticky situation.

Next is Emma and Joanna. They are still reading from the Book of Mormon, well at least Emma is. Joanna is very floaty, as expected of an 11 year old. But Emma is very serious about this and knows the church is true. She has been reading and praying with real intent. The only obstacle now is getting a member into the home who speaks Spanish so we can try and meet with their Mom (who doesn't speak English). We will make that a goal this week.

Finally is Kent. We met him last week and he is prime! We had an awesome member present lesson with him this week and he has been searching for the truth for many years. He is already asking about the requirements to get baptized and wants to go on a mission. I am excited to see where he goes.

As for your letter:

Wow! Sounds like you all have had an insane week! So many adventures!

Apartment: WE GOT A NEW APARTMENT!!!!!!!!! The new address is 550 Kirkwood Dr #507, Jasper, IN, 47546. It is absolutely stunning. There are no bugs whatsoever. It's all white and clean and we scrubbed everything today so it's all sparkly. I just love the place. It's already starting to feel like home. We moved in Friday night. We've got everything moved and up on the walls. I'll try and take pictures this week and send them. You can google it though. It's the Geoplex Apartments in Jasper, Indiana. They are super nice.

Package: Yes, I got it! Thank you so much! I loved the candy and especially the letter from Dad and the rose from Brit. I also got Brit's graduation announcement, Hillary's letter, a letter from Ryan and a letter from President Spackman. I started recording on the tape today. It will be a Father's day tape and I will get it to y'all as soon as I finish it. Probably next Monday.

Brit: Happy birthday my love! I sent your b-day present today! Sorry it's late.... please forgive me? I really think you'll like it. I also have some other things in the package as well as letters for everyone but Daddy because he got his special letter this week. Also congrats on the pageant! I won most tickets too! I think I gave my piggy bank to Kadi for her birthday though... hmm.... I don't really know where it is... oops. :) But that must have been so fun! I expect a letter with all the deets soon okay?

Dad was in Indianapolis on Friday right? I was thinking about him all day! My Daddy was only 2 hours away! It's crazy to think that he was so close and was even in the same time zone! I miss him so much. I miss you all so much.

I'm glad Pop got my Father's Day letter. Did he show it to you? I saw that card at walmart and I simply could not pass it by. I knew I had to send it to him. I didn't mean to make him cry. Tell him I'm sorry please? But I would love to get a letter from him sometime. I get some from Nancy lots and I love them to death! They make my week! But I'd love to hear from my Grandpa too. Same goes for all my Grandpa's. :)

I'm glad you are going to Hillary's farewell. You can go proxy for me. I wish I could be there. Please tell her that I will be thinking of her and that I love her to death. I also told Cam to look out for her at the MTC so she'll have someone looking over her there. Just look for some Argentina missionaries and they might know him. I think he leaves the MTC July 6...

I think that's all for today! I love and miss you all so much! Be good okay? Make good choices! Also, if you get a fb invite from a Joshua Nielson, accept it. He was my zone leader who just went home this last Wednesday. He's awesome. :)

LOVE YOU!!! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! 

Love eternally,

Sister Thorne

Sister Pack and I

 

 

June 10, 2013

Hello my lovely eternal family!      

Well, another week has flown by! It has been so crazy! And we are both prepared to move on to higher adventures this week. Transfer calls came on Saturday. Sister Black will be moving to Beckley, Kentucky and whitewashing that area. She will also be training. First, whitewashing: when you take both missionaries out of an area and start again with two new missionaries. Usually they will take one missionary, leaving the other in the area so they can teach the incoming missionary about where everything is and such. So basically whitewashing is opening a new area except you already have a foundation from previous missionaries. Make sense? So Sister Black is basically doing exactly what I did 6 weeks ago. I am so proud of her. I will be staying up here in Jasper, Indiana and I will also be training a newbie. Yay! My 4th companion in 2 transfers! Yay...... haha I am excited just extremely nervous. I hope I can do a better job than when I got Sister Junk. 

As for investigators this week: We were able to meet with many of them but hardly any of them were keeping commitments we had extended (namely attending church) so none of them were really progressing. Many things seemed to have come up Saturday that didn't allow people to come. Several of our investigators had to work, a couple parents didn't give permission for them to come and many had emergencies happen. Satan is working harder than ever before. But he will be bound and we will work twice as hard to get them all there next week. But for investigators that are actually progressing we have Tammy and Dara, Emma and Joanna and Lor Ryn. 

Tammy we are seeing a lot of success with and I have high hopes for her. She attended church and loved it as always. She is quitting smoking one cigarette at a time. This past week we went from 15 cigarette's a day to only 10 and this week we are moving to 7. We meet with her every morning to give her her daily baggy of cigarette's. I fully believe that if we give her 3-4 more weeks, she will be able to bag this addiction. Dara is her daughter whom she gets almost every weekend. Dara loves the church and wants to get baptized. The main problem is that Tammy doesn't have any guardianship of Dara, but she is working on that as well. 

Emma and Joanna are doing good. We are encountering a problem with their Mom. She is very involved in the church they are in right now and she doesn't speak any English. We tried to get a member in there who also speaks spanish but they canceled on us 20 minutes before the lesson. We will work on that this next week and see if we can form a bridge of understanding in that area. 

Lor Ryn is doing wonderfully as well. She wasn't able to come to church because she didn't have a car and she lives all the way down in Dale (we don't have any members who live there nor any who can drive that far to pick her up). But she is trying to work things out with her husband where she can have the car this next weekend. 

As for your email:

I could not be more proud of my little sister right now. Britney, you made me cry. I'm still crying. I took one look at you and thought, hey, that is exactly what I looked like 2 years ago. I wore the same cap and gown, I got high honors, a PVA cord and Nation Honor Society. But this time it was my little sister.... and I couldn't be there for her.... I thought of you all night though. Just so you know. I love you Brit. I am so proud of your accomplishment. That's my girl. :) 

Mandy: I heard somethin's up. Email me please! You promised to tell me about boy stuff. You pinky promised with our secret handshake! *secret handshake* I'll talk to you next week kk? :) Also, I got Norman Mormon!!!! I laminated him and he goes with me everywhere! I will start taking pics with him so you can see. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!! :D Thank you! Your letter meant the world to me. :) 

Josh and Brandon: Keep on keepin on! That's my mission motto. Only 3 weeks left. You can do it my dudies! And I also got Brandon's letter. Thank you! 

Oh! Letters this week: I have gotten all of Grandma Kathy's. Thank her for me. Her cards always come exactly when I need them. I got a letter from each of the Taylor's!!! Ah! I loved it SO much! Let's see... Oh! I got Brandon's and I think that's it. It was such a bounty of letters this week! I feel like I took a step into paradise! It was weird going to the mailbox and actually finding something in it. haha :P For the package, I haven't gotten it yet. Did you send it to the Braedon's address? When should I have gotten it? 

I think that's all. I need to run. We have SO much to do today to make sure Sister Black is ready to move and train on Tuesday.  

I will talk to you all next week! Love you!!! :D Give Hillary an extra big hug for me! 

Loves forever,

Sister Thorne 

P.S. Oh! And a letter from Sarah. :) 

From Mom:

I’m pretty sure I sent the package to the Braedon’s on Tuesday. You should have gotten it. Hmmm. Keep your eye out for it. Are you still living there? Did you get a new apartment?

Love you dear!

Mom 

From Shannah:

We are still at the Braedon's but we move back to our old apartment today. We may be getting a new apartment some time this transfer. But we really have no control over that seeing as everything has to be done by the mission office missionaries Elder and Sister Halvorsen. The roach count is officially over 100 so hopefully within the next 6 weeks things get figured out. I just really hope that this new missionary I'm getting won't get scared off by coming into the mission field and being welcomed by this apartment. I guess we'll see.... 

From Mom:

Ugh! Be so brave dear. Think Merida….

From Shannah:

I see her when I wake up every morning! I love that doll! But yes, brave is exactly what will be required of me.

 

From Sister Hughlett: They are digging out for my patio.  She is working really hard.  The elders and young men were over Wednesday and will be back Saturday but they wanted to help dig today.

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From Sister Hughlett: This is our new sister missionary.  Her name is Sister Pack.  Don't know a whole lot about her yet.  

June 3, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam!

Another week gone. That's so crazy! It seems like just yesterday that I emailed you. This week has been very difficult and very very busy. We had Monday-Memorial Day, Tuesday-P-day, Wednesday-work HARD, Thursday-District Meeting, Friday-The Funeral and Sister Training Conference, Saturday-Weekly Planning and Sunday-Church. Add on top of that our studies and daily training; Wow. There was a lot to do this week. Also, last week, we actually lost contact with nearly all of our investigators. None of them would answer phone calls or doors. We were very worried. But over the past weekend we were able to miraculously contact each of them again. I say miraculously because it was never planned. We would be driving down the road and see them walking down the side. We went to the park for a lesson and saw one of them sitting on a bench. It was never planned. But we were listening to the spirit and following it. Heavenly Father knows where His children are and if we listen to Him, we will be led to them. That has probably been my biggest lesson I learned this week.

As for our investigators:

I first want to talk about Tosha. She is amazing. She has a little 6 month old and she wants to get back into religion so that her daughter can grow up with it. She has had 3 miscarriages and has lost her grandfather and brother whom she was very close to. Every commitment we have given her she has kept. She prays and reads. She's excited for baptism. She doesn't smoke. She's awesome. There's only one problem. She was supposed to come to church Sunday (we had a ride worked out for her and everything) and the ride came to church and said when they went to the house, the father came out and said that Tosha was in the hospital! She is pregnant right now so we are hoping and praying it's not the baby. We haven't been able to contact her yet but we will be calling her again today.

The next ones I'd like to talk about are Dustin and Jennifer. They are engaged and as cute as can be. We found them contacting at the park. We have taught them 2 times and they are reading in the Book of Mormon. They're only hang up is that they get caught over the little things. Little questions that don't matter. We will have to address that as we go on. Our goal for them this week is to commit them to baptism.  

Next is Tammy. We have discovered why she couldn't stop smoking! She doesn't understand the doctrine. Apparently she doesn't remember anything about the lessons she has been taught by previous missionaries. She didn't even remember that we don't believe in only Heaven and Hell! So we are reteaching her (and her 2 daughters) all the lessons. As we taught about the Celestial Kingdom and all it means to us and how it is there we can be with our families for forever and then talked about how we have to obey ALL of God's commandments to get there, you could see the wheels turning in her head. Hopefully as she better understands the doctrine, she will have a greater desire to quit smoking. 

Finally is Emma and Joanna. We had the most miraculous lesson with them and especially for Joanna. We were going to talk about the Plan of Salvation but we went in and they hadn't done their Book of Mormon reading so, like the Zone Conference training had taught us, we dropped that lesson and read from the Book of Mormon and talked about how important it is to read from it and pray about it. Halfway through talking about that Joanna mentioned how she didn't like praying. We asked Why and she said it was because she didn't feel like she was important enough to talk to God. That just broke my heart. This 11 year old girl didn't feel like her Heavenly Father loved her. So we immediately, we all got down on our knees and had her ask God if He loved her. We stayed silent for a moment and then asked how Emma felt. She said good. We talked about how the Holy Ghost is a still small voice and suddenly Joanna said, Oh! So that's what that is! We asked her what she meant and she said that there was this voice repeating in her head, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" She was very touched as were we all. We are doing a church tour with the two of them this afternoon. That was a huge testimony builder to me that God loves each of us individually and most especially His very precious daughters. Amazing.  

As for you letter: Yes, Sister Junk left the recorder with me. She is so sweet! I don't know if you know, but she is actually in Oklahoma right now working. Thankfully, she is safe. She has been doing service all week, picking up from the tornadoes.  

Sister Black and I actually talked about that this week. It's a good thing Heavenly Father knows I would have died if I had gone foreign! Bugs. Yuck. haha :) 

The funeral did go well. It was very beautiful. I played the piano from 9-11 (yes, 2 entire hours. My butt hurt SO bad!) during the visitation before the funeral. Then I played the opening and closing song. It was a lot easier for me to handle because I had been to a little 2 yr old funeral before. Anna was very close on my mind during the entire thing. Many people have not though. We found out he died by asphyxiation. While he was napping, throw up got lodged in his throat and he stopped breathing. The Bland family are amazing and such a strength to me. Each of them bore their testimony yesterday and were such examples to do so. I can't even believe they actually came to church. I will strive for the rest of my life to have the quiet dignity and strength of Sister Amy Bland. 

If you can, tell Malia and Nick hi and that I love them lots. :) I hope that all is going well for them and life is flowing smoothly. Yes, Cam is at the MTC. He sends me a little snip it weekly about how he is doing. Pray for him. He's struggling with the language. But he is doing amazingly. :) 

Brit: (sung to the tune of Happy Birthday) CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!! CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!!! CONGRATULATIONS DEAR BRITNEY!!!! CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm so proud of you my dear! Graduating is huge! I have thought of you especially this week and have prayed for you diligently. I hope that all these preparations are going well and that you are so excited and ready for the pageant. Never forget how much I love you and how I tell everyone out here about my gorgeous sister who is going to go on a mission and who I am so proud of. Love you!!! :) 

Manda-Lou: *secret handshake* How's my girl doing?? I haven't heard from you in forever. Syd gives me an update on you whenever she gets one. Is school almost over? Are you excited? What's it like living in Zach's ward? I bet it's a blast! If I lived that close to a cousin so close to my age, he'd be like my best friend!!! I bet that's so cool. :) Lead with power and authority and most especially by example. I have learned the importance a leader can play in your life out here. Those girls will grow to love and respect you. Don't do anything to lose that precious trust. :)

Joshua: Don't you dare quit piano dude. Just saying. I am the only piano player in the Jasper Ward right now and I played for the funeral and I play for Primary or Relief Society on Sunday. Playing the piano is such a precious talent and you will use it on your mission. I can already imagine how amazing you play. I hope to hear you play a Beethoven for me by the time I get home okay? :) I love you so much and I think about you every single day. :) 

Brandon: DUDIE! I hope you are doing okay! I love you so much! How are your adventures goin? Be good for mom and dad okay? I'm glad your hair looks good again. :) 

Also this week I got a letter from Grandma Kathy. She said she sent it to the mission home but she actually sent it to Evansville. I think she thinks my Evansville address is the mission home address. Do you think you could clear that up for me? And thank her for the letter. It came just when I needed it. I can't even put into words how much it meant to me. 

I think that's it for this week. I love you all so much! Pray for us extra this week. Transfer Saturday (June 8) is always really really hard and stressful. We'll see what happens and I'll email you next Monday. Be good! Make good choices! 

Love eternally,

Sister Thorne