October 14, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam! 

Goodness gracious time flies! This week has been so amazing! The miracles just continue to come and we are so blessed to be able to be here and be a part of them. What a huge blessing.

As for me: I am doing fantastic! I am so excited to be able to be in Morehead for another transfer! Thank you so much for this opportunity! I got a bit sick this past weekend but I'm nearly over it. I think it was just a bad sore throat. So I stayed in and slept for a bit Saturday morning because I hadn't slept at all the previous night and now I am doing much much better! The Lord certainly does watch out for His missionaries. :)

As for our investigators: progressing are Stephen, Kat, Bill, Jeannie and Muhammad.

Stephen we got to meet with again and he has started reading in the Book of Mormon. Not very much, but little by little. His main concern now is his current wife, June. She doesn't seem completely supposed nor completely supportive of this choice of looking in to the church. So we are meeting with both him and June this week.

Kat talked to her parents this past weekend and they okayed her getting baptized!!!!!! Her official date is November 30th. This is so big and I am so excited! Brother Curry told us she is doing amazingly and I am so proud of her. :)

Bill came to church on Sunday. He didn't particularly like it. He said he didn't "feel spiritually nourished." But we had an amazing lesson with him, Bishop and Sis Gibbs and we retaught the Restoration focusing more closely on what Revelation is and how we can receive it. He then ended the lesson by Bill giving his very first out loud prayer! Yay!

Jeannie watched conference and we stopped by her house. She is doing well but we won't be able to sit down and have a lesson with her again until October 24th.... so we are doing random drop by's and we will hold in there until then.

Muhammad is now progressing and Abdullah is not! Weird huh? Muhammad is reading from the Book of Mormon but Abdullah doesn't like to. Their biggest concern right now is that neither believe that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. They say they won't believe it until they see him doing some big miracle like parting the red sea or something. We told them stories about him healing people but they both say that's not big enough. We explained about faith 3 or 4 times but they don't understand... we're really not sure how to help them understand that... any suggestions?

As for your email:

1) I believe it would be from L.R. and Karla Hughes. We watched Sunday Morning with them. They are such a sweet couple. :) We call L.R. Hughes "the Colonel" because he is one and that's just what everyone in the ward calls him. :)

2) Transfer news!!! Sister Sperry and I are staying together in Morehead for another week!!! Woot!!!! I am so happy to be able to stay in this wonderful area with my wonderful companion and my non-creepy Ward Mission Leader (just for you Brother Curry!) and my fantastic ward family. :) I am so blessed!

3) Adams Canyon looks like a blast! So much fun! And Mandy and Melissa, you are so stunning! Love you!

4) You should be getting a link from Brother Curry soon. He took a video of Sister Sperry and I just talking and it putting it up on YouTube for all y'all to see! How fun! :D

5) Sounds like you had a super fun week and a blast of a weekend! You got some quality time with both Mandy and Brit! Lucky! Thanks for the pics. You are all so adorable! :)

6) YAY!!!! CONGRATS BREI AND CHRIS!!!! AH!!!! She is so very beautiful and I can't wait to meet her. :) How do you say her name? Is it like Bell or Bell-uh? So very beautiful. :)

As for my spiritual thought: I found my motto for this transfer! It's FHCVKPHD aka Faith, Hope, Charity, Virtue, Knowledge, Patience, Humility, and Diligence. This transfer I am really going to focus on the Christ like Attributes. Those are the 8 listed in Preach My Gospel that are also mentioned in D&C 4 but there are many many more out there. There is work we can do each and every single day to become more like our Savior. As he beckons us to "Come" unto Him, we do that by becoming more like him. That process is not always easy, but it is absolutely worth it. So this week I will be focusing on Faith and Hope since they go hand in hand. Alma 32:21 says "Faith is to hope for things which are not seen which are true." As we build our faith in Christ through daily scripture study and prayer, we will have a brighter hope for the future. I know that Christ is our ultimate example for eternal happiness. I know that as we come unto Him, we can find true joy. I invite each of you to study the scriptures and plead with your Father in Heaven each day this week and then see the difference that the simple things make. By small and simple means are great things brought to pass. Love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love eternally,
Sister Thorne

This is on our hike up to Lakegee. So stunning. :) 

 Sister Thorne, Sister Bowman, Sister Sperry and Sister Bowling. This is our awesome group that did the hike.

 Sister Sperry took this one. She says AMT stands for "Amazing Missionary Trainer". She is so sweet. :)

Our bestest friend Emily got us some sweaters since we didn't have any good winter clothes. Here is us modeling 2 of them. :)

October 7, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam!

Oh my goodness! Such a long, crazy, busy, amazing, fantastic, stressful week! I feel like I've just rode one of the craziest roller coasters ever built. But, ain't that missionary work? :)

As for me: I am doing so wonderful! I had a bit of a struggle with homesickness preparing for and then seeing Daddy at conference. I did cry. Several times. The worst one was Abide with Me. I thought of Grammy the entire way through. Then of course, they had to show Dad's face on the line "I cannot commune with thee." And then I lost it. It was bad... And just as I pulled myself together for the final moment, they showed him as the final close up. Man.... I REALLY lost it. Poor Bill sitting next to me gave the most worried look and then the Elders in front of me, just laughed. Oh Elders. But the wonderful thing is that Dad is part of the big reason why I am out here. I know that he is so very proud of me and I know that he wants me here because he knows how much it will benefit me, he having been there before. And so I am doing really good now. :) I feel renewed after the many things I learned from conference and I am ready to go for this week. Let's baptize!

Oh! I also got to watch Music and the Spoken Word! A member invited us over to watch it so I could point out Dad and then we got to stay and watch Sunday Morning session with them. It was so cool because they had an in-your-face close up of Petey! It was really cool to get to see him and Dad. :)

As for our investigators: We have 2 with a bap date!!!! Stephen and Kat. Progressing is: Bill, Jeannie and Abdullah.

So we met Stephen (pronounced Stefen) late last weekend. He lost his mother in law last November, his wife last February (with only a month's notice. She had cancer) and then his father last May. We went back on Tuesday and took Sister Jex with us. We talked about being sealed in the temple and how the power of the priesthood has been restored. In every things we talked about we mentioned baptism, just as the APs taught us. Then we challenged him to be baptized! Second lesson! He said he wasn't sure yet. He was very hesitant but we got him to agree to setting a goal of November 3rd. He was going to watch conference and we are calling him to see how that went and his BofM reading as well. I love the spirit!

Kat is as amazing as ever. She is receiving the lessons again from Brother Curry and Brother Monnett. So far so good. She watched all 4 sessions of conference from her dorm room and she particularly liked Elder Dube's. She's awesome. :) And Eric is her boyfriend near fiancé.

Bill!!!!! I am 99% sure Bill is going to get baptized. He came to the church to watch all 4 sessions of conference and he watched Priesthood session from home. We fasted for him Saturday and he fasted Sunday as he received his blessing. Cool enough, there was actually a baptism of Sariah Bowman (an 8 yr old) between sessions that Bill got to watch. Then, since they were there, the bishopric all participated in giving him his blessing. So we had all 4 Elder's and the bishopric. Elder Allen was the voice and it was so beautiful. Bill said after, "Those were not his words. They were the words of God." Miracles. :)

Jeannie is an investigator. If you go back to my first email from Morehead, we helped her move into her new house with the Elders. She works with Brother Curry on campus and so he enlisted us in helping her move and from there we were able to form a friendship and start teaching her. She is probably in her 40's? She is a single lady. She's amazing. I really love her. :) And she is doing pretty good. We met with her Wednesday and talked about the Restoration. Still mentioning baptism. It's kind of like inception. She also watched conference this weekend. Her only thought we could get out of her was that it was "interesting" We plan on dropping by sometime soon to see what she thought of it all.

Finally Abdullah. He totally brought another Muslim friend to our lesson this week! His name is Muhammad. We went with Rachel and talked about the Restoration. Muhammad had some really good questions and we were able to follow the spirit in helping him understand the answers. He is very intelligent and Abdullah said it was a really good review for him as well because everything made more sense the second time around. I don't know if they were able to watch conference. We need to follow up on that.

Also one side note: Tung came to Saturday morning session of conference! We then had an amazing lesson with him, Bill, Sis Gibbs and Bro Nelson between sessions. We talked about what was said and connected everything to church attendance and why we go to church. He said he will be in DC this coming weekend but he is going to try to come to church the next week! I'll keep you updated on that.

And no, we aren't teaching Erin any more. She is now going to Crosspoint. You should Google it here in Morehead. I'm.... not a fan.... We have 4 different investigators that are struggling with church attendance because of that great and abominable church. Yes, we are still friends. :) Always. :) She should be asking to be my fb friend soon. We see her probably once or twice a week as we are coming and going. She may be moving soon though to a better apartment. We'll see.

In response to your email:

1) BRIT!!!! EMAIL ME BEFORE I POUND YOUR LITTLE BUTT! Anyways, sounds like you are having a lot of fun adventures and I love getting the pics. :) You are amazing and you are going to be an incredible missionary. Ask Sis Sperry, I talk about you at least once a day. I miss you tons and you one of my rocks out here. I love you, you dork. :)

2) Mandy: I got a letter from Melissa this week!!! I was so stinkin’ happy! I miss that girl like mad. I plan on writing her back today. Please tell her I love her and give her an extra big hug for me. As for you you cutie. You are more and more gorgeous each week. I know I say that all the time, but that picture of you and Melissa is stunning. Keep the boys away! haha Love you. :)

3) Josh: Good job on grades dude! You're following after your big sister huh? That's my boy. :) I'm so proud of you. Keep it up!

4) Brandon: Still being a stinkpot I hear? Good. :) haha Your hair still flips right? Good. That's how the cool kids do it. ;D

5) Mom: I think that is so cool that you looked at conference that way! It's amazing what a difference looking at things through a nonmember or less active's eyes can make. It's the same for scriptures too! They take on a whole new meaning. :)

My spiritual thought comes from conference. Here are my fav quotes:

"Never look back. Look at what we still have to do." -Edward Dube

"Come, join with us!" -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Faith over fear. Hope over despair. Light over dark." -Boyd K. Packer

"We need women who are tender, kind, refined, faithful, good, virtuous and pure." -D. Todd Christofferson

"Hope is never lost!" "We are infinitely more than our limitations." -Jeffrey R. Holland

"there is not one of us He does not desire to save. There is not one of us He has devised means to save. There is not one of us who does not have Holy Angels guarding us." "I gave them to you because you could and would love them no matter what they do." -Henry B. Eyring

"Decisions determine destiny." -Russell M. Nelson

Also, I noticed that at least 6 different talks mentioned something with the word "come". Elder Dube and President Monson said "Come unto me." President Uchtdorf said "Come, join with us." Elder Valenzuela said to "Come unto Christ." Elder Dyches said "Come follow me." And Elder Vinson said we should "Come and see." This must be important because as President Uchtdorf said we should pay attention to repetitions. So as I was pondering this, I discovered my thought and invitation for this week. Are we doing all we can to Come Unto Christ? Are we doing all we can to invite others to Come Unto Christ? What are we doing, that needs to be "prioritized" as Elder Oaks says? I would invite each of you to look at your life and discover what is keeping you from coming unto Him Who Always Beckons. He is waiting for you. He will never give up on you. His love is always there for you. It just is. I know that as we look into the tiniest of details and work to truly align our will with God's we will find the well of all peace and joy.

I love each of you infinitely! Have a wonderful week! :D

Love always,

Sister Thorne

 Look dad, it's a Japanese Pocky Stick!

 Isn't Kentucky so pretty? And the leaves are all starting to change colors. It's just breath taking.

I had extra budgeted money last month so Sister Sperry and I dyed my hair. :) It now has a reddish highlight in the sun as you can see. I LOVE IT!!!! 

September 30, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam! 

What a wonderful week we had here in Morehead! So much is happening and the work is going forth in leaps and bounds I never before imagined. :) It has been so wonderful to see how this area has changed over the course of the past 10 weeks. :) I am doing absolutely fantastic! This week has been so productive and we have truly seen miracles as we have worked hard and just keep working harder. I have a feeling that this weekend is going to be really amazing. We invite everyone we meet to conference and we already have some really cool experiences planned out for our investigators. I feel that it may be a hard weekend for me as I will see my Daddy and I miss him more than words can express, but staying busy will help me a lot. :)

As for investigators: we have 5 progressing! That would be Kat, Jeannie, Abdullah, Tung and Bill.

Kat has a bap date!!!!! She is pretty much sure with it. Eric will be coming home from BYU to baptize her and her parents sound okay with it over text. She will be meeting with them sometime in the next 2 weeks to make sure that all will be well on that front. She is looking at November 29th or 30th. Thanksgiving weekend. :D Also, Brother Curry and Brother Monnett will be meeting with her to give her the lessons all over again. The ward is completely taking over and I LOVE IT!!!  The work of Salvation!! Woot!

We met with Jeannie last night. She had a really cool experience this week with Brother Curry. She started asking him questions about the church and they ended up having a 2 hour conversation about the church wherein Brother Curry says he basically covered all of the discussions. Then we met with her last night. We decided to put into action what we had learned from the AP training during interviews. So we made a lesson plan where we taught L3 and in every point of the lesson, we inserted the idea and benefits of baptism in some way. At the end of the lesson we invited her and she said that eventually yes. She likes what she has heard but she wants to learn much much more before she makes that commitment. So no date, but that is such huge progress!!! :D

Next is Abdullah. He is still reading in his Book of Mormon and praying, but we weren't able to meet with him this week because of midterms on campus. So I will have more to report on him next Monday. Hopefully he will be able to watch conference.

Tung is actually progressing! We met with him Saturday and he has been reading his Vietnamese Book of Mormon and he is planning to come to the Saturday morning session of conference. He is really excited to hear the prophet speak. After the session, we will be talking to him about the Doctrine of Christ. So Saturday we talked to him about the Atonement. We didn't have much time but we were able to discuss what it was and the first gift of the atonement or immortality. 

Finally, Bill. Oh how I love Bill! Bill has officially finished the Book of Mormon and read all of the Pearl of Great Price and is working on D&C and the Book of Mormon again. He now knows where to find the BYUTV channel and will be watching it periodically and is planning on coming to the Saturday afternoon session of conference. He will be sitting with Brother Williamson. He is going to watch the other sessions from home. After the Saturday afternoon session, Elder Allen will be giving Bill a blessing of healing. Bill has been really struggling with several physical (and maybe mental?) diseases and we talked to him about the priesthood and he actually requested a blessing of healing. So we prayed about it and really felt that Elder Allen should give it. So we talked to him and he will be fasting Saturday to prepare for it. :) We are really really excited for that.

As for your email:

1) What a busy busy week you have had! Brit: lookin like you're having a blast! Keep it up! Memories last a lifetime. :) Mandy: don't be confused all the time silly! You're too smart for that! :P But seriously, you are growing up so quickly! You are more and more beautiful each Monday I get to see you. :) I love you. *secret handshake* :') Josh: YOU GO DUDE!!!! I am so proud of you! You should look into the Ensign for this month. There is a really cool story about scouting in there that I think you would really like. As I read it, I kept thinking about you. :) Brandon: Keep being a stinkpot! Mom: It does sound like you're busy! But I know you are changing student's lives because you have change mine. You're giant capacity for love has shown me how to love all the people I meet how here, no matter how they treat me. Thanks for being my example on Charity! Daddy: I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2) The RS sisters are always willing to go out with us. We have a very missionary centered ward here and especially in Morehead. I am so very grateful for that. It is a huge blessing. Go Owingsville ward!!! :D

3) No, we actually will lose the QS challenge.... :( Turns out the Owingsville Elders got 34 quilt squares and we only got 21... The challenge ends today and we don't have the miles or time to try and go out and find more. But Elder Gaither and Allen (who won) said they are asking Brother Curry if we can all feast because it's no fun to eat if you don't have your friends there. :) We have such amazing Elder here! :D

4) Yes, I did get to watch the RS broadcast and yes, I did cry as I watched the Sister Missionary choir and I thought of you. :P I too learned a lot from the broadcast. I think most of all it reinforced the important work I am doing right now. I am inviting people to make their first covenant with God. As each person talked about those covenants, I realized the amazing responsibility that I have been given and how grateful that I have the spirit as my companion to allow me to accomplish it. :)

5) Oh Kristie! I am so sorry about your calling! I know how much you loved working with those Young Women. But how amazing of a blessing you were able to find your answer of peace at the temple. I know the Lord has many lives for you yet to change. You are an instrument in His hands and you are serving many many of his children. I love you!!!

My thought for this week comes from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. "There are messages in each general conference given as a gift and a blessing from heaven specifically for our personal life situations." He then goes on to give three concepts that will help us better receive, remember and apply the words spoken during conference. "1) Members of the church are entitled to personal revelation as they listen to and study the inspired words spoken at General Conference. 2) Don't discount a message simply because it sounds familiar. 3) The words spoken at General Conference should be a compass that points the way for us in the coming months." I know that as we spiritually prepare for conference we will be able to spiritually feast (2 Nephi 32:3). My challenge for everyone this week would be to ponder in your heart and pray about 3 question that you have for the Lord. Second, expect that the Lord will answer them during conference. And finally, listen for when the spirit speaks to your heart that your answer is being given, whether it is the answer you would like or not. I know that God WILL be there. Always. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love always,

Sister Thorne

 I fried up some beef stick and then Sis Sperry dared me to eat all of it. I did. Yum.... :)

My absolute favorite quilt square is this purple pansy one.

Okay... maybe I'll live in Kentucky. If I can own this house. Wrap around porch, house on a hill, cute colors! Isn't it our dream house Mom? :)

September 23, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam!

Another week has gone! This week seemed to drag on a little bit longer than last week because we had a lot of appointments fall through and that always makes days seem a little longer. We are staying busy though! There is a lot happening here in Morehead. We've worked out a nice program that allows us to get out with members more. We call 1/4 of the sisters in our area on Sunday and ask them when they can go out with us that week, what time fits with their schedule. Then we make sure we have an appointment at that time or at least some LA's we can visit. And then we call some more the next Sunday. Then each sister only has to go with us about once a month so it's not a huge stress. We were able to go out with 6 sisters this past week! So the ward is starting to get more involved and we are starting to become more recognized around town.

As for investigators: we have 5 progressing!!! That is Kat, Abdullah, Bill, Jeannie, and Alisha. 

Kat is amazing like always. Everything with her pastor went amazingly. He is completely supportive. Now she just has to talk to her parents and set a date. Hopefully that will happen this week!

Abdullah is moving along slowly but surely. We are meeting with him today. We had both a really good and a really bad lesson with him this past week. The good one was with Sister Marshall and we had a set direction and if any of his questions were going to stray from what we had planned to talk about, we explained that we would answer them later. But the second, we didn't have a set direction and we went off in so many different ways, the Spirit definitely wasn't there. It was a big testimony to me of the importance of lesson planning.

Bill is a new investigator we found last weekend and met with him for the first time Saturday. In 1 week he had read up to Alma!!! He has so many questions and he is really comprehending all that he reads. He was teaching us about the Book of Mormon! We are meeting with him again today with Sister Gibbs and we are hoping that this lesson will go equally well. Maybe a bap date? I'll keep you updated. 

We had a really cool lesson with Jeannie on the Plan of Salvation. She loved all that we shared with her and agreed with it all. I know she felt the spirit. She hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon so we will want to start focusing on that a bit more. We will be meeting with her next Sunday. 

We also had a miracle with Alisha! Sister West and I, on our exchange last Wednesday, decided to teach her about the commandments, particularly focusing on the Law of Chastity which we know she is breaking. I was kind of like... uh.... so soon? But I trusted Sister West and the lesson was really really powerful. She didn't commit to living the LoC yet, but she was seriously thinking about the consequences of breaking it. Progress.

As for your email:

1) Brit: you look stunning!!!! Oh my goodness!!! I didn't realize how beautiful you are becoming. It kind of shocks me every time I see a picture of you again. I think I kind of forget during the week. :P But you look beautiful and modest and I am so proud of you and Caleb. You keep going girl. You're going to make an amazing missionary. :)

2) Mandy: I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! *secret handshake* That's my girl! Woot! Woot! Woot!!! *doing a fun little dance in the library* I am so proud that you are holding your standards high and keeping your promise to me and your Heavenly Father by listening to a prophet's voice and answering the call to not date until your 16. I told Sister Sperry as soon as I read that. I am so very proud of my little Manda-loo. :)

3) Josh: How was the yurt trip? Sounds like a blast! Good job on the grades bro! You are honoring your priesthood and making me proud. That's my Joshie!

4) Brandon: I am so glad to hear that you are having a blast at Cook! Thanks so much for your cute little email and all the awesome pictures! Your room looks amazing! Keep listening to Mom and Dad! Love you!

5) AW!!!! I can't believe that you got to see 2 of my most favorite sisters and I am missing them so much! Sister Earl and Sister Whiting have been amazing examples to me out here. They each have made me into the missionary I am today. Even though I wasn't comps with Sister Whiting, I looked up to her a lot. :D

6) Mom: Sounds like you have your hands full! You go supa mom! You're capacity to love is going to change a lot of kids lives.

7) Please tell Dan hi from me!

Thought for the week comes from Elder Holland's last General Conference talk.

"When facing the challenge of faith, the father asserts his strength first and only then acknowledges his limitation. His initial declaration is affirmative and without hesitation: 'Lord, I believe.' I would say to all who wish for more faith, remember this man! In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes."

There are many times in our lives when doubts enter into our minds. Every missionary in the beginning will look at themselves and think "Look at how much I do not know! Look at how much I have to grow! I can't possibly do what is required of me." This happens in our daily trials as well. But I know that as we hold fast to the faith that we do have, we do not doubt or fear, that God will eventually bring us the additional light and knowledge he has promised to us. So that is my invitation for this week: Hold fast to the knowledge that you have and HOPE and believe that there is more to come. Along with that, I leave Elder Holland's final invitation as well, in my own words. If your faith or testimony is failing, I invite you to lean on mine. I know this gospel is true. I know Jesus is the Christ. I know Families can be together forever. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love eternally,

Sister Thorne

 This was taken walking to the Arts and Eats festival. It rained like all day! But it was so much fun and we got to talk to a lot of good people. :)

 This is Bishop making a bowl with Hayley (also a member). Bishop is nationally renown for his pottery. So at the Arts and Eats festival, he did a demonstration with the kids where they got to make their own pot. Cool!

 Sister Sperry eating Dorito Casserole for the first time! I couldn't exactly remember the recipe so I kind of guessed. It was a little different but still good!

This is the baby turtle that I found on the road while we were biking. Of course we immediately stopped and rescued it, almost getting hit in the process. But we had to! Look how cute it is! And now it's safe. :)

September 16, 2013

Hello Thorne Fam!

We had such an awesome week! We went into the week knowing that we both wanted to work harder than we ever had before. We wanted to spend as much time as possible outside talking to people. Contacting and tracting and finding as much as we could. We just wanted to really look for those people who have been prepared. To put in our part. So that's what we did! And it has really paid off! This has been the most successful week of my time here in Morehead! It was so much fun and we already have 6 member present lessons planned for next week. Morehead is finally starting to pick up and the work is going forth! 

As for me: I am doing wonderfully. I feel exhausted at the end of each day. I sleep well every night. I wake up in the morning refreshed and ready to go. I love working hard during exercise and I am learning how to more effectively talk to everyone. It's been a trial and error process but I have learned a lot from this week. I am trusting in my Savior and His atonement and I am truly being strengthened every single day. There is a lot still to happen this transfer! 

As for investigators: we have 3 progressing. Kat, Erin and Abdullah.

Kat wasn't able to go to church because she was at home talking to her pastor about her decision to be baptized LDS. That was her parents last request before they would allow her to get baptized. Well, that and investigating for a year. We haven't yet heard how that meeting went, but we should know within the next couple of days. She got a priesthood blessing before she left so I have full confidence the Lord took care of her.

Erin came to church! We were worried because on Friday it seemed as if she was trying to drop us. We weren't really sure what to do. But we kept praying and held the faith and then on Sunday we called before church and she said she would like to come! Then during sacrament meeting, she told me that she was looking into another church too, but she is going to come to our every other week. She will read her BofM and will continue to pray and think about baptism. That is huge progress! And I fully believe that as she comes every other week, she will notice the differences in her weeks when she doesn't come. :)

Abdullah is... full of questions. We met with him twice this week. We first watched the Finding Faith in Christ DVD and then the next lesson (last night) was all about questions that he had about Jesus Christ, Repentance, the Priesthood, the Atonement, etc. It was really really difficult to explain things in a way that he would be able to understand. It wasn't a very good lesson. We were very scattered. The spirit wasn't felt. So this week I am going to go back and study Alma 17 and 22 and look more into teaching simply. We are teaching him again on Tuesday and Thursday, both with different members. 

Tung canceled our appointment so there isn't much new to report on him.

We haven't had any contact with Amy this week either. She has had a big pain in her neck and has been to multiple doctors appointments this week to try and find out what is going on.

With Less Active's... *drum roll* Brother Hamm came to church AGAIN!!! Woot!!! Brother Smedley gave him a ride and it seemed like he really enjoyed it. :D Also.... Krista came to church! We met with her Thursday and she said she wasn't coming to church because of some things that have been said by members in the past so instead we gave her an assignment to read 1 chapter in the Book or Mormon and then, miracle of all miracles, she just showed up at church!!! We were so excited for her! We will be meeting with her again this Friday. :D

As for your email:

1) I got your package this morning! Thanks for the USB drive back! I also LOVED the life saver. Mmm... :) And your cute note as well. :) Speaking of notes, I got one letter this week from Theron Johnson. He's a sweetheart. :)

2) JEFF HANSEN IS MARRIED?!?! Say what?!?! Whoa whoa whoa... you should probably start from the beginning on this one. Are there any other marriages/engages I should know about?

3) Question: Why is Marsh getting so much rain but Utah has been in a drought all summer? How does that work?

4) I love the pics of Brit and Caleb! They are so stinking adorable together! Britney: Date him!!! Oh wait... you are. :P haha love you sisser! I am so glad that you have found someone who treats you like the princess you deserve and who gets along with our family so well. I am so proud of you and I hope you never ever forget that. I hope school is going well!

5) Next time you see Kei, please tell her I love her from me. I miss her SO stinkin much! Congrats on Jarron though! He is going to be such an amazing missionary. 

6) I thought of you and Dad all day yesterday. I prayed extra hard for you to have a good day. I love both of you so much and am so grateful that you cherish your marriage enough and love each other enough to make it 24 years. I see a lot of relationships out here that help me to realize how special my Mum and Daddy's friendship is. I love you both!!!

My spiritual thought for the week is this: D&C 10:5. "Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work." That is my motto for this transfer. So for the next 4 weeks I am going to be focusing on making my prayers more specific, thoughtful and sincere. I would invite and challenge all of you to do the same. I know that when we truly make our prayers a discussion with our Heavenly Father and that we truly pray ALWAYS that we will defeat Satan in every trial of our everyday lives. As we pray always, we will be blessed with the strength and understanding to withstand every whirlwind (Helaman 5:12) that God allows Satan to throw at us. I am thankful for that truth. 

I love you all so much and I will talk to you next week! 

Sister Thorne

 THIS IS THE COOLEST CARD EVER!!!!!!! Sis Sperry's family got it for her! It was drawn by a Disney animator. The front blond one is Sis Sperry and the back brunette one is me! That's what I would look like if I were a Disney Missionary Princess. My hair is even getting long! It's to the middle of my back! Ah!

 The tobaccer (tobacco) fields.

 This is a bomb shelter we saw at a house we tracted. So obviously we had to get a picture. It made me laugh. :P

Sis Sperry and I being goofy. :) Aren't we cute???

This is where we park our bikes when we go to volunteer at CSS. I think it's pretty ironic.

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.

September 4, 2013

Hey Thorne Fam!

Anyway, this past week and 2 days has been very crazy and very busy but so much fun! We continue to receive more and more revelation that LA's are where we are to be focusing our work. All of our investigator appointments would fall through but we got 8 LARC's (the weekly mission standard is 4)! So that is just more proof to me that that is where we need to be focusing.

As for investigators: Tung, Kat, Sandy, Erin and Abdullah are progressing.

Erin came to church!!!! Emily, a RC gave her a ride and they really connected. She was going to try and come to institute on Tuesday but she got strep throat really badly and couldn't make it. But I believe she is planning on coming to church next Sunday. She is reading from the Book of Mormon and last week we watched the Testaments with her. She really really loved it and you can see her testimony beginning to grow. We talked about baptism and she said it is something she will pray about but she didn't want to set a specific date on anything yet.

Tung canceled on us for our Saturday appointment but he is still reading bit by bit and going through the pamphlets. We finally got him a Vietnamese book of Mormon and we will be giving that to him this Saturday at our next appointment.

Kat is doing well as always. She was actually in Lexington this past weekend but she's home and still counting down to October!

Abdullah is also awesome. He can't understand his book of Mormon much so we got him an Arabic one when we were in Louisville at transfer meeting. We will be meeting with him soon to give him that.

We also had a miracle on the front of LA's. We have been visiting with LA Robert Hamm since the first week of last transfer. His reason for not coming to church was a ride and then when we said we could provide one he just said no. So we've been slowly but surely working with him all transfer. Getting him to read in the Book of Mormon and pray and such. Well, this past week, Sister Saunders had the inspired idea to talk about the priesthood. He has the Aaronic. We asked him if he wanted the Melchizedek and he said yes. We told him how much we love him and that we are just here to help so how could we help him accomplish this goal. He said, "Well, I could start going to church. Do you think you could get someone to give me a ride?" Sister Saunders and I just started to glow! We couldn't have been more happy! So he is coming to church this next Sunday. WOOT!

In other news: I have a new companion!!!!! Her name is Sister Sperry, from Sandy, Ut. She just turned 19 a month ago, so still very much a youngin. She played rugby and lacrosse at UVU for a year before she came out. She is 5'5", blond, blue eyed and just completely adorable. She is going into exercise science but loves the U! Go Utes! She is a hard worker, very close to the spirit and already loves being a missionary. She loves to talk but is still a very amazing listener. We've already basically become best friends. :)

So, the mirror Erin story. It is a fun one. So basically, 3 days before we were getting new carpet, our big, beautiful mirror in our bedroom fell and shattered all over the old carpet. I personally think it was the angels, for reasons I will explain later. We didn't see it happen, just heard it across the apartment. So we spent 30 min cleaning it up and vacuuming as many shards as possible. We then put the vacuum away and 3 days later got new carpet. But we realized that we didn't want to use the vacuum on the new carpet as it still had pieces of glass stuck in it. So while the carpet was still being laid, we went outside and took apart the vacuum to get all the glass out. As we were finishing up, Erin came out and started to smoke on our front porch. She looked at us funny (with vacuum parts spread around us) and asked what we were doing. So we went over and talked to her and ended up talked for about an hour and a half. She's had a rough life but is very strong. She has a firm belief in Christ and is looking for a religion out here. And so we started teaching her. We have grown really close since then and she is like my little sister. I just keep thinking (since she's 18 and a freshman) that I want to treat Erin like I would want Britney's neighbors to treat her. So yep! That's Erin! It was a miracle how everything worked out that we met her when we did. Timing was truly key. And He made it all work out. Trust in the Lord's timetable! 

Some quick comments about your email:

1) What's Ephraim's Rescue?

2) Good muscles Brit! You move those stairs!

3) Is Bri pregnant and I didn't know?!?!?!

4) As for my Dina: WHAT?!?! My baby!!!! She can't die!

5) Loved all the pics! Thanks! 

I'm so so sorry I didn't get Brandon or Mandy's letters written. Monday was really crazy with getting Sister Saunders ready to go and preparing for Sister Sperry. I will get them written next Monday. Promise. 

And....*drum roll*..... I GET TO GO THROUGH THE TEMPLE TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't even tell you how happy I am!!!!!!!!!!!! AH!!!!!!!! So yes. Very excited. President wants all the missionaries to go through and see the new movie. :) :D :DDD

As for my thought for this week: as it is the first week of transfer, I have been thinking about what I want my transfer theme to be about. I can't remember if I told y'all about my transfer theme's so I'll tell ya anyways. I have had a theme or motto for each transfer. First transfer was "The Glue of the Spirit hold everything together" it's a quote from Sis Earl. Second transfer was "Lord, give me mountains to climb" and that one is from my favorite EFY song out here. (That was the Sis Junk and Deacon transfer) Third was "My God is my strength" from Alma 26:12. Last transfer was "Hope on. Journey on. Love on." A quote from Elder Holland. So I've been pondering on what I want this transfer to be and I think I've decided. "Pray Always" from D&C 10:5. So that is my challenge for you all. This transfer I am going to try and build my personal relationship with my Heavenly Father and my Savior. I would invite each of you to pray, more than you even do now, so that you may "come off conqueror, yay, even conquer Satan".  

I love you all so much! Have a great week! I will talk to y'all on Monday! 

Loves eternally,

Sister Thorne

 Erin and Sister Saunders

 Our awesome district! Top row: Elder Roskelley, Elder Allen, Elder Gaither, Elder Lowe. Bottom row: Sister Jensen, Sister Anderson, Sister Thorne, Sister Saunders

The Amish at our Blood Drive. Similar to Baptists at our BBQ but not quite the same.

Sister Sperry and I the very first minute we met. CUTE!

Saying hello to Sister Sperry!