September 9, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam! 

What an awesome crazy week we have had here in Morehead! It has been one of those weeks in which I feel like I've lived a lifetime but it's really only been a week. To think that at this time last week, I was emailing with Sis Saunders and now I am with adorable Sis Sperry! Time sure does fly...  I have already learned so much about Sis Sperry and about myself from being with her.  

As for me: I am doing really well! I had a few very stressful moments this past week but we took a leap of faith into the fog and of course all turned out well. Trust in the Lord with all my heart and I know He will direct my paths right? :) It has been an all new adventure training Sis Sperry. Different than any of the others. I think I feel confident in the atonement and more confident in my gifts and abilities to train now. I don't hesitate to correct, I am able to help push her every day, I am more confident in the rules, I feel happier and have the spirit more with me than any other first transfer trainee I've ever had. I think being with Sis Saunders really  helped me to be able to cement myself as a missionary and now I feel much more capable to train others. Could I possibly be getting some of this down? Finally? :-0 About time! haha :) 

As for investigators: we have 4 progressing: Kat, Amy, Erin and Abdullah. 

But first, our big triumph of the week was that Bro Hamm came to church!!!!! He hasn't been in over 8-10 years! No one in the ward even recognized his name on the ward list at the start of last transfer and yesterday he came to church, got a ride from a member and stayed all three hours. I think he really liked it, especially the sacrament. Ah! I was so excited to see him finally renew those precious covenants. Now we are working towards the Melchizedek priesthood and the temple. :) 

Kat also came to church. She is just a sweetheart. She has been so crazy busy with work, school, sorority and student teaching things. She told us that she is constantly going from 8 in the morning to midnight that night every single day. But she still came all the way to church and she has an appointment to meet with her pastor from home this week and talk about her choice to be baptized. That is the last point on her parents list of requirements to fulfill before they will be okay with her getting baptized. She is so bright and radiant and SO excited to finally get there. I will tell you next week how that appointment goes.

Erin wasn't able to come to church. She went with a friend. :( But she is still reading in the Book of Mormon and we stay in daily contact with her. We are hoping to get a set appointment set up with her today. The biggest problem is to help her stay focused. But she said yesterday that she is thinking about quitting smoking because she wants to pick up running. That's a good thing! :D

Next is Abdullah. We finally got him his Arabic Book of Mormon yesterday. He LOVES it! He immediately opened it up and started reading the introduction. He just drank it all in. We spent the entire lesson last night talking about who Jesus is. Where we (LDS and Muslim) are similar in our beliefs and were we differ. At the end of the lesson, he said his first vocal prayer with us. :) We also gave him Mosiah 3:4-13 to study. Next time we will be talking about that even more and talking about the Atonement. Baby steps.

Last is Amy. We contacted Amy outside of La Finca last Wednesday. We went to meet with her again on Friday. We had an amazing first lesson where she opened up about some very difficult trials that have come at her the past year. She started crying and said how she knew we had been sent to her. She has already read the Introduction and 1 Nephi 1. She has so much potential. We are also hoping to meet her 16 yr old daughter Caroline this week.  

As for your email:

1) Funny story with Bro Curry's action pics. So Sis Sperry and I were just talking to people on campus in our little Free Speech Zone because that's what we do. We had just finished a pretty good contact and I'm looking around for our next victim when I look up and Bro Curry is sitting on the steps with his phone out, camera snapping, looking extremely stalker creeper. Sis Sperry look and me and I looked at her. We were just like... uh... let's move. So we walked to the other side of our Free Speech Corner and contacted over there. haha silly creeper Brother Curry.

2) I also say Books of Mormon and think of Best 2 Years every single time that I do. haha :) We get the Vietnamese and Arabic ones from the Mission Office in Louisville or the ward can order them super cheap. At the mission office they have a copy of the Book of Mormon in pretty much every language. Then, we can just call one in and get it if we need it. So when we went to Louisville on Tuesday to pick up Sis Sperry, we picked the Arabic one up. The ward ordered the Vietnamese one for Tung.

3) That's fun that you got to email Sis Sperry's dad!

4) SOUTH AFRICA?!?!?!?!?! You've got to be kidding me! No flippin way! AAAAHHHHH!!!!!! FLOWER!!! You are so grown up! I just can't even believe it! My little Thor is going to go baptize people in South Africa!!! No, I can't cry. Stop it. No more crying in the library. I do that every week! Well, it's Flower's fault. Please give him a giant hug from me and tell him I can't wait to see pics of him serving the Lord on an elephant. I am so proud of you bro. So so so very proud.

5) Whoa whoa whoa.... Justin was nearly married?!?!?! Why on earth didn't I hear about this before? You can tell him that I am seriously mad at him for not getting any updates on his life at all. He was my one cousin I could look up  to for mission advice and he's just completely disappeared. Stinkpot. :P But no, Chels is not dating anyone right now at all. She's just dating around. She actually just recently broke up with someone and needs a smile. Text her!

6) The Saints and Sinners race sounds so much fun! And it's for missionaries? That is so cool! What an amazing idea. :) Please tell the Parvins hi for me. :)

7) Congrats to Brei! I want pics of my first little niece when she comes! You 2 are such amazing parents and I tell each of my companions about my favorite big brother Chris and sis Brei. :) I LOVE YOU!!!

8) The temple was absolutely amazing. I completely and totally bawled through nearly the whole thing.... I just kept thinking of my first time in the temple in Brigham City and my last time I was there in the Draper temple. Both such special moments for me and my Mum and Daddy. I can't wait for Brit to go through next spring! We got to go as a zone. So the room was completely filled with Elders and Sisters and the witness couple was President and Sister Woodbury. There was such an amazing feeling to be in a Celestial room full of missionaries. Cool experience: I walked in to the Celestial Room and President shook my hand and Sis Woodbury gave me a giant hug. Immediately I saw my Savior at the end of my life doing the same thing and saying, "Well done thou good and faithful servant." I will live my life so that that idea can become reality. Second cool experience: while standing in there with about 50 missionaries the song Army of Helaman came to mind. I just smiled and started to weep. What a vast and beautiful predestined Army I am blessed to be a part of. 

9) I will send some pics of us sisters in front of the Louisville Temple after the session. The temple is so tiny! It can't be any bigger than our stake center back at home. You seriously almost pass it on the road there. So little! But so cute. :) And now very special to me.

10) Deacon was the little 1 1/2 year old that passed away in Jasper a week after Sis Junk left. That was probably the hardest week of my mission. 

My thought this week is very simple. Get. To. The. Temple. It doesn't matter what you have to sacrifice, just do it. The temple, the promises we make there and the work for the dead that we can do there is one of the greatest blessings we have in these latter days. It is so precious and will renew and uplift your spirit every time you go. Without the temples and their sealing power, missionary work would be useless. If you've been to the temple, go again. If you haven't been recently, do everything you can to be able to enter those doors once again. I know that those blessings will help us through any trial. 

I love you all so much! Have a great week and I'll talk to you next week!

Sister Thorne

 Sister Anderson, Sister Logan, Sister Dickerson, Sister Hiner, Sister Bready, Sister Sperry, Sister Thorne, Hermana McDonald, and Hermana Penman in front of the Louisville Temple. Aren't we cute??? :D

I love Kentucky. Period.