Monday, December 30, 2013

December 30, 2013

No letter last week, just our Skype call on Christmas day. (Which was awesome!)

Hey Thorne Fam!

Holy Moly! This week was so awesome and I learned so much! I had a really cool personal realization that is really helping me learn patience. So I am feeling very ready for whatever may come with this week (particularly transfer calls this Saturday) and I am super excited for this week! We also don't have much time to email as we have 4 appointments today so this will be fast.

As for investigators: we have 4 progressing, Jenny & Adam and Tiffany & Kimberly.

Jenny and Adam are so awesome! We had a great lesson with them last night on Judgement, Resurrection and the Kingdoms of Glory. We gave them some studying materials for next time and some more to ponder about. They really enjoyed it and said that they will come to church this next week!

Tiffany and Kimberly we had our first lesson with on Saturday. We taught the restoration and it was so powerful! We invited them to be baptized when they come to know that this is true and they said yes. So no date, but progress! And then they came to church yesterday! And they really enjoyed it! Tiffany's two older sisters happen to be LA members back at home so she already had a bit of a background and understanding. So cool!

Sandy (for everyone who doesn't know) did not get baptized. He ended up relapsing the Wednesday before his baptism and has since relapsed again. It was really heartbreaking for all involved but I know that everything definitley happens for a reason, especially when we don't understand it. We have decided to hand him off to the the Pioneer Sisters since he lives in their area in Lexington more time than he does here in Morehead. I really feel good about this move no matter how hard it is for me personally. This is for Sandy.

Yoyo is still doing good. She should be back in town either late this week or earlier the next.

As for your email:
1) Yes, those were my black tights. Thank you so much! I am very toasty warm! The watch is gorgeous! And fits perfectly. :) I'll send a pic of my gifts and explain them all shortly.
2) Elder Johnson?... I think I have heard the name but haven't met him. I may be getting transferred so if so, I'll see him at transfer meeting! I will keep an eye out for him.
3) Brit: Keep at that chin! Haha you're now just like Britnay the chippette! :D I'm proud of ya. :) LOVES! I miss your gorgeous face sisser!
4) Mandy: Whoa! There goes my talented chica! You sounded so very beautiful on the violin and Erin and Sister LeFevre even commented on it from the next room over! You are so amazing!
5) Caleb: Yes, you are now awesome enough that you have your own bullet point. :) Haha I've pretty much officially accepted you into our family. I just wanted to take a second and really truly thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking care of my little sister. She is an amazing princess and deserves someone that truly treats her as such. I have been so impressed with you and and very grateful that she has had you as her protector while I've had to be gone. Thanks Caleb. So much. :)
6) Josh and Brandon: Looks like you had an awesome Christmas morning! Brandon you are growing up so quick! I almost didn't recognize you in the pictures! Josh, do you know when you might get your braces off? Love you so much dudie! Stay good! :D
7) If I don't get an email or something from Andrew and/or Trent now that Andrew is home, just let them know that they will receive a pretty good glare when I get home. Just so they know.
8) Flower: GO BRO!!!! AAAAHHH!!! I can't believe you are leaving! I am so proud of you for making these life changes! You are so incredible and I admire you a lot. Never forget your big sis who is praying for you every day. Love you!!!
9) That sounds like some really good goals for this year mom! I will have to think on my own for this week and get back to you on them next Monday. :)

As for my thought from this week: as I said above, I have been studying patience. The main example I really looked at comes from Mosiah 24. I would invite everyone to really study this chapter and the chapters before because as you understand the context, this story becomes so much more. This is the story of the people of Alma the Older when they were captives of the Lamanites, particularly of Amulon who used to be one of them. Amulon is putting some really awful torments on this people and is even threatening to kill them if they pray. So they beg in their hearts for deliverance and instead of deliverance, the Lord strengthens their back as the loads are placed upon them. All of these people of Alma are recent converts, their testimonies hadn't really been tested yet so the Lord allowed the enslavement to continue so that they could test their faith and patience. But as they remain strong and their faith, hope and patience are cemented, they are finally delivered from their enemies. As I was reading this I thought, "Sometimes the Lord calms the storm and sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms the child." There truly is a reason for everything. If we will just pray for strength (not necessarily deliverance) and continue in faith an patience, we will be able to be of good cheer and comfort and we will eventually be delivered. That's a promise. I would invite everyone to study the attribute of faith and discover how you personally can gain a greater testimony of it. I know that it has truly changed my own perspective.

I love you all eternally! 
Sister Thorne
 Sister LeFevre and I. We did an awesome scarf exchange and this was our scarves!
 Sister LeFevre and I reading Luke 2 on Christmas Eve. It's tradition. :) If you notice, my shirt says 'I Love Math' in math symbols. I got it out here. It's pretty much fantastic!
 Our beautiful Christmas tree!
I am so blessed to have so many people who care about me. Thank you all for your support. :) 
On exchange with Sister Roberts! I love this girl! So... one of our appointments fell through on our exchange and we had nothing to do. So naturally we decided to go up on to campus and preach the Restoration standing on top of this block at the bell tower. There was some yelling and fist pumping involved... we were trying to be like the great missionary, Dan Jones. It's called "Danjonessin it". Luckily, none of the campus kids were actually there. :P We were up there for a good 40 min!

Monday, December 16, 2013

December 16, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam!

OH MY GOODNESS!!! What an amazing week we've had here in Morehead! We've been able to witness so many miracles!!! And there will be so many more coming up this next week! Climaxing in Sandy's baptism!!!! Woot! I am so excited!!!

As for me: I am doing absolutely fantastic! I've had a couple homesick moments when flashbacks of last Christmas hit me, but they actually haven't been that bad which is a miracle in and of itself. I thought that it would be a really hard time of year, but we've stayed really busy and seen so many miracles and have so many people who care about and love us here, I don't really have time to think about that. It's been so nice to just stay focused 110% on the true meaning of Christmas.

As for investigators, we have 4 progressing: Sandy, Yoyo, Jenny and Adam.

Sandy is all set for his baptism this next Sunday! We've got the program all written out, it just has to be approved. We've fitted him in a jumpsuit, talked over times, reviewed the bap questions and have his bap interview set up for this Saturday! It's so crazy! I feel like the time has just flown with him and I have been blessed to be able to witness such an incredible change in him. We're so excited!!!

Yoyo we just met this week and she has a bap date! It's January 26th, she came to the Ward Christmas Part, to church and she's already telling everyone about her baptism! She's amazing!!! She has been so prepared for the gospel. She's from Hong Kong and when we taught her the restoration and felt the spirit so powerfully, and explained to her that the feeling she was having was the spirit of God talking to her, she got so excited. She was like, "God is talking to me right now?!" haha She is leaving with a roommate for Christmas break but will be back the first or second week of January. So yay!

Lastly is Jenny and Adam. They are an adorable new couple we are working with. We've been working with Jenny for a while but just started working with her boyfriend Adam. They both have so many questions! We've taught them most of the Restoration and a bit of the Plan of Salvation. They have accepted all we have said and are most likely coming to church this Sunday! No bap date yet, but I have a feeling it will be soon. Our meeting with them last night ended with Adam saying, "I know you need to go, but I have one more questions for y'all to think on before next time. It's another one that no other church has been able to explain to me. What about those people who live in remote parts of the world and die before they have a chance to hear about Jesus Christ? What happens to them?" We were just like AH! We have that answer! So we gave them the PoS pamphlet to read before next time. Yay!

As for your email:

1) I did get your Christmas package. Just this morning actually! Oh my hot chocolate! AND MINI MARSHMALLOWS!!!!! I totally squealed! THANKS FOR THE MP3!!! We immediately started listening to Forgotten Carols. I have been craving that CD for the past 3 days! I'm so glad you listened to the spirit and put it on there! Thank you!!! :D :D :D I also received an adorable package from Keilee with a homemade Merida pillow case! How cute is that?! Then I got Grandma Kathy's package today as well and as per instructions, I'm not opening any of it until Christmas today. Though it's torture. :P And Sister LeFevre says thanks for her present too! That is so sweet! And we both have our own wrapping paper. :D Then I got Christmas cards from Grandma Kathy and Ann Anderton. Sister Anderton also sent both Sister LeFevre and I Subway gift cards. Please thank her for me! I am so blessed to have so many people who care about me. Thank you all for your support. :)

2) You found my tights?! Yes! I haven't been able to find any that are that warm or knit out here. I would love to have them!

3) I'm so glad the concert was amazing! I knew it would be though. And one of our investigators actually turned on the TV and the concert with Alfie Boe just happened to be on and she watched and just loved it! It was really cool to get to talk to her about that wonderful memory. :)

4) Congrats Mandy on your violin recital! Congrats Brit on your 4.0 AND YOUR MISSION PAPERS!!!!! AHHHHH!!! Sorry, just a small freak out. :P Congrats Josh and Brandon on being my best brothers ever! Love you all!

5) I believe that is Joey from Mads! So cool! And it's so weird to think that Ryan is home. It's already been 2 whole years. Time has flown by and I have been blessed with the opportunity to grow so much. I am so grateful to the Lord for who I am today and for the trials He has given me to get me here. God bless the broken road eh? :)

As for my thought: I've finally come up with my motto for this transfer! I took me a lot longer than usual. :P But this transfer my motto is "Give Him my all. 100%." I've been thinking about this a lot. The Lord has blessed me with so very much. An eternal family, the restored gospel, parents that aren't divorced, siblings I get a long with, friends I love dearly. He's given me everything! And all He has asked of me is that I dedicate this year and a half to Him. I have 9 months left and I am going to give Him everything I've got. I don't want to hold anything back. I want to be who He wants me to be. I want to lose myself in His work. I know that not everyone can give themselves to this full extent but we can look at our lives and determine what is holding us back from our Lord. What is our pavilion hiding us from Him? What are we holding back? What can we drop at His feet? These are all questions I would like you to think about this coming week and make a goal. Make a goal to dedicate more of yourself to the One who gave you everything. Then act on it. For faith without action is nothing. I know that when we dedicate our lives to him and entrust everything to His care, that we can learn to love more, have more missionary experiences and feel His blessings more in our lives.

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! :D

Love eternally,
Sister Thorne
 Being a sister missionary is so fun. It basically gives you permission to act extra weird. I love us!
 All bundled up because we were contacting in freezing cold weather. But we saw this cute window and just had to take pictures. Luckily, I did get my circulation back after about 15-20 min over our candle.
 Sister Thorne, Yoyo, Sister LeFevre, Yoyo's friend (Heather)
Sister LeFevre and I asking Santa Claus for a white Christmas. And of course, his helper elf had to join. :)

Monday, December 9, 2013

December 9, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam!

Man, this week was a doozy! I feel like we did so much and worked so hard and had some good plans but nothing seemed to pan out. :/ But we will work harder next week and I know that we will see more success.

As for me: I am doing so well! We had an interesting day yesterday. We were completely iced in. It was my first big freezing rain storm! Our car was completely coated in ice and I actually got to see ice shards falling from the sky. Not snow, or hail, it's called "ice pellets", little frozen shards of rain. It was so crazy!!! So we took the day to do some more studies, and get a lot of little projects done that I just haven't had the time for and had been really piling up. So I feel so much lighter now and like I can focus so much more because I didn't realize how much I was stressing about all those little projects until they were done! Sigh... :) Such a good feeling.

As for investigators: we only have one progressing: Sandy.
Sandy is living in Lexington now during the week and in Morehead on the weekend so he did attend Stake Conference with Sister Gibbs. From what we hear he really enjoyed it. We don't really know if we are still set on his bap date. Sister Gibbs said she is not sure if he's started on tobacco again and we haven't been able to get a hold of him to check on that.... So I guess we will see next week!
Danielle canceled our appointment again. Apparently she was up all night the night before throwing up so she couldn't meet with us. Which means we didn't get the WoW taught which means she can't get baptized December 29th... So we are meeting with her this week and we will assess and move forward. Day by day.
As for everyone else, Tung we haven't met with. Jeannie came to the adult session of stake conference when Brother Curry spoke but she seemed really critical and not open at all... We are going to try to have one more lesson with her and then see.

As for your email:
1) Thanks Daddy for the hump day package!!! It was so sweet and we both really enjoyed it. :D
2) So I need to resolve something, Sister Saunders isn't training Sister Austin. I got confused. But Sister Austin was Sister LeFevre's comp in the MTC. So that's where the relation is. But I don't know where Sister Austin is at now.
3) We didn't get to go to the Broadcast last night because we didn't leave our apartment all day! :P We didn't even go to Stake Conference because the roads were too scary. But I will have to try to find time to watch it some time. :) Sounds incredible. :)
4) Brit: I'll talk to you more in your email. Love you!
5) Mandy: Sounds like you're having a blast with the Ovation girls! Enjoy it! It goes by fast. :)
6) Josh: Congrats on your calling! How fun! I bet you're doing an amazing job. :)
7) Brandon: Hey dude! I love and miss you so much! I hope that you're having an awesome Christmas!

As for my spiritual thought: I've been thinking a lot this week on Enduring to the End. EttE. It's crazy to think that I have been out here for 9 months and how much I have grown and seen in that time. Sometimes it feels like it's been eternity and sometimes it feels like it's all gone by in the blink of an eye. But I think of Elder Dube's talk at conference on Looking Forward. Yes, I have accomplished a lot. Yes, we may have come so far. But there is still so much our Father still wants to do with us. So much growing left to be a part of. One of my fav scriptures on EttE is 2 Nephi 31:20. "Wherefore ye must press forward with a steadfastness... of hope. If ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end... Ye shall have eternal life." I know that though we have each accomplished much in our lifetimes, as long as there is another day, there is more to learn. I know that as we truly devote our entire selves to God, that we will be truly happy enduring to the end. I would invite each of you to continue to press forward in righteousness, feasting up on the word of Christ and enduring to the end so that each of us may be able to partake of eternal life.

I love you all so much! Shorter email this week, not much to report on. But there will be more next week!

Love eternally, Sister Thorne
 Our next big adventure. We got stuck. Like seriously very stuck in the mud. A nice neighbor finally stopped and towed us out. It was like a foot and a half deep! That takes some talent right?....
 Playing in the snow. It was also raining. Rain while there's snow on the ground. Kentucky weather is so weird... But so much fun!!!
 This was us being iced in and deciding that obviously we needed to make a snowman. So this is Iron Snowman because he looks like Iron Man with his pepsi bottle button. Can't say we aren't creative!
 So after we made Iron Snowman, we obviously had to have a snowball fight... Obviously. So we both got soaking wet and FREEZING cold. But well worth it. :)

Monday, December 2, 2013

December 2, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam!

Wow this has been a crazy week! It seemed to last forever and went incredibly fast all at the same time! I guess it's true that days are weeks and weeks are days on your mission. But of course, we ended with a bang and KAT GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!! Woot! More on that later. :D

As for me: I am doing wonderfully. I love Sister LeFevre so much! She's 23, from San Antonio, Texas, but spend the last few months in St. George, she graduated from UVU with an undergrad in Communications, she wants to go into law, she's half Philippino, a convert of 5 years, very in tune with the spirit and already my sister. She is so intelligent I learn something new from her every day! This has been a huge decision for her to come on a mission and I am so proud that she did because I love her!

As for investigators: we really only have 2 truly progressing at this point. Sandy and Danielle.

First, KAT GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!! It was such a beautiful service and she was shining so brightly. Her parents came and they seemed really nice. She was baptized on Saturday and then confirmed on Sunday both by Aric. They are so cute together. Oh! And they got engaged this past weekend too! Quite the big weekend for Kat. :)
Sandy quit tobacco last night! So far so strong. That is his last thing keeping him from being baptized! We continue to review the lessons with him and help him gain his own powerful personal testimony and this next week or two are going to be the most trying. But he can do it.
Danielle had to cancel our meeting... :( but she is still reading and very interested. We'll be seeing her again in the next couple days.
Tung is not progressing and we may be dropping him. We are going to pray about it. Sister LeFevre invited him to be baptized but he just won't commit. We'll see.
Jeannie we haven't met with but she is coming to the adult session of stake conference this Saturday so we are hopeful for that.

As for your email:
1) Whoa whoa whoa... I did not even recognize Ben, Amber and Nat in those pictures. Ben and Amber are growing up so quickly! Amber sue is so beautiful! And Ben is so handsome! Crazy!
2) You know Sister Austin?!?! She's my granddaughter! Sister Saunders is training her!!! I actually got a picture with her at transfer meeting and talked with her because she's part of my posterity! SO COOL!!!! Next time I see her, I will definitely tell her about the connection.
3) As for the books, The Book Thief is gone? Sad day... :( But I do know you didn't buy Specials because you didn't like how dark it got.
4) Sounds like Thanksgiving was a blast and what a fun sleepover! I'm glad you all had so much fun. :) Thanksgiving on this end was so much fun too! You need to YouTube "Kentucky Country" The Ratcliff family (whom we ate with) had a Vegas act and actually traveled all over the world with it! They are all fiddlers. Buddy, the Dad of them all, was the first one who learned how to make violins and he taught everyone else. All the kids, grandkids and some of the great grandkids know how to play. Ratcliff violins are also known worldwide as incredible and beautiful violins. I totally thought of Mandy all day. It was so much fun to get to know them all! You'll have to tell me about the video.
5) It sounds like all you kids had a fun, adventure filled weekend! I hope that all of these stories (Mandy with her blessing, Josh with his hand, Mandy making Call Back and Britney with Caleb) all got written down in your journals! haha Love you all SO much!
6) Mom, I promise that I will cherish this season. It already means so much to me. I realize that I will never ever get to have a Christmas like this one ever again and I want to make sure that I don't miss anything. Thanks Mum. Love you! :)
7) Daddy, don't want you to feel left out so LOVE YOU TOO!!!!

My spiritual thought is short this week: 1 Nephi 11:25 talks about the significance of the Iron Rod and the Tree of Life. My invitation for you all this week is to set a goal for this coming year to read your scriptures more each day. The Stake President here challenged everyone to read 5 minutes or 2 pages or 4 columns each day. When you think about it, that's not much. But I know that it will truly bless your life and as you hold tight to the "Word of God" you will come to a true knowledge of the "Love of God". Love you all so much!

Love eternally,
Sister Thorne
 My new comp! Sister (Clara) LeFevre
 All of my living posterity! That's Sister Black, Sister Saunders, Me, Sister Sperry and Sister LeFevre. Such a happy family!
Kat's baptism!!!!!