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.