July 28, 2014

Hey Thorne Fam!

Guess what????? I went to a chiropractor today and now I feel like I'm a brand new person! Brother Harding is a member of the La Grange ward and is the brother in law of Sister Storms (one of my best friends here in this ward) and he helps missionaries out for free!!!! So we went today for the first time and we are going again next Monday. I have been getting this yucky headaches every day for the past couple of months because of my neck and today, they disappeared! It was miraculous! Amazing! Phenomenal! He was definitely a miracle sent to us. I am so grateful. :)

Now for this week, it was a bit of a rough week for me. I learned a very important lesson about the Atonement. As we went through our week, we had a lot of people cancel their appointments moments before we were planning to come over. The cherry of it all was when one of our 2 investigators canceled for church 2 hours before Sacrament Meeting and the other just decided not to show up. As sacrament began, I felt very frustrated inside and discouraged because of all the let downs we had had this past week. I specifically prayed that an answer would come to me during church about something I could do to help the situation. The answer was not what I was expecting.

As the talks proceeded and then through Gospel Principles and Relief Society, the message that kept standing out to me was that I could not take on others burdens as my own. These people had made this choice for themselves and it was not my responsibility to let those choices bring me down. As I stepped back, I realized that that was exactly what I had been doing. They were using their agency, though wrongly, and I was letting it discourage me when there was nothing more that I could do about it. So I decided to study the Atonement more. The Savior has already born all burdens. Every single one of them. If I will consciously choose to yoke myself with Him and work WITH Him, we will both come out together in the end. And I will be stronger than I ever have been before.

So Sister Minson and I went through our Area Book and prayed about each person we are teaching. We dropped over half of them as the spirit let us know that it wasn't the right time for them and then we could bring our focus to other miracles that the Lord had in store for us. We began going through our Formers and making calls. As we talked to people, I felt more clarity and direction. One of those we called gave us a return appointment for this Saturday. I don't know exactly what direction the Lord will be taking us, but I do know several things. I know that the gift of the Spirit and of Revelation is real. I know that the Atonement can get us through every day, it will carry us if we will let it. I know that our Savior loves us and I know that we will see miracles as we put His will above our own.

As for your email:

1) I am so sorry about the trials that have been placed in everyone's lives this week. I can't even imagine the sorrow and hurt that those involved are feeling. I wish there were words of comfort that could be offered, but I've learned from Charley that the only real comfort comes from the Spirit. That is why He is called The Comforter. I pray for all involved and that the Spirit will be able to bring peace to their souls.

2) The LA we were trying to see when we met Jim had an address that didn't exist. XP Is that the LA you are referencing?

3) Sounds like you all have had an amazing week full of a ton of adventures!!!! Mom, I was especially jealous of that jam. I didn't realize how precious your homemade jam was until I tried store bought. Ugh. Never again. Please save some for me for when I get home! Jam on bread... yum.... :)

4) Elisa, thank you for taking care of my family for me! Every picture I see of you you bring such light, joy and smiles to them all, especially Mandy. Thank you for helping them smile. I know I've never met you, but I really appreciate it. I will miss you! I pray you will fly home safely. If there's ever anything I can do to help you, please just ask. Love ya!

Well, I think that's all for this week! Love you all so much!!!!

Love always,

Sister Thorne

 This is mi Hermana. Love you Brit!!!!!!

This is our mailman's horse. Our mailman is named Brian and his mom lives in our area and she's keeps the land the horse is on so we go visit her and Star (the horse) each Tuesday. Star is quickly becoming a very good friend. I love her!!!!

 Guess what???? The PGA IS BEING HELD HERE IN MIDDLETOWN!!!! I know. Crazy right?! It starts next Monday and Tiger Woods will be less than a mile away from our apartment all week! That's so crazy. So if you watch the PGA you will get a look at our beautiful area and town of Middletown and get to see Kentucky in the summer. You won't ever see anything greener!

Crazy scary spider at a door we knocked on. I have no idea what kind it is but it's big and creepy.

July 21, 2014

Hey Thorne Fam!

What an amazing miraculous week we have had! We have truly seen so many miracles! 

So it began Monday night, I had been having a hard time with finding new investigators in this area and I was frustrated because it seemed that no one would even let us say a prayer with them! So this was my frustration and you know? God definitely has a sense of humor. Monday night we have dinner with a member and then are left with an hour of finding. A little back story, there's this one road, Oakhurst and for the past 3 weeks EVERY time we've prayed to know where we should go finding, that's the ONLY street that comes to mind. We had gone there at least 4-6 times. The last time we had gone there, we met the baptist preacher Aubrey. He was very kind, said a prayer with us and directed us to a member of his congregation, Pam, that was getting married soon that lived one street down and 2 maybe 3 houses in (gotta love Kentucky directions) and would probably love a prayer. So we went to that street and no one answered at the second house and the woman at the third house said she didn't know anyone by the name of Pam. So we left. Fast forward once again to Monday night. Once again, I felt we needed to go back to Oakhurst. So we decided to try the referral again. We knock on the second door in and a man answers. We say, "Hi! We are representatives of Jesus Christ and we've been sent to your home this evening to offer the Savior's peace and blessing through prayer. Could we say a prayer with you?" The man looks at us, puts his face in his hands and starts sobbing. We were both kind of taken aback. He looked up and said, "Girls, you don't know what you've just gotten yourselves into." He then proceeded to tell us that his 24 yr old daughter, Ryan was hit by a cement truck and killed a month ago. She's his only daughter. They have one son who is kind of holding the family together. The Mom is turning against God and the Dad was just hurt. We came in and talked for a while, said a prayer with him and offered to give him a Book of Mormon. He told us that his boss is actually Mormon and he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and had actually read a little in it! We set up to meet with him again on Thursday.

Next morning, we have an hour before our appointment so we pray about where God needs us and he directs us to try and find this LA that I hadn't heard of before. So we go to the street and... the address doesn't exist. "Grarg", I thought. So we are driving out of this circle and I see a man raking his leaves and think, "Talk to EVERYONE." So I stop that car and get out. Sister Minson said, "What are we doing?" "We're talking to that man." "What man? Oh... okay..." We go up and start talking, offer to say a prayer and he says, "Well, I actually have a really good friend who just lost his daughter, she was only 24 years old and was hit by a truck." Immediately Sister Minson and I look at each other like, No. Way. Sister Minson looks at him and says, "Is this Charley and Ryan?" "Yes... how did you know?" We told him the story of the night before and he collapsed in tears. We said a prayer with him and he told us how much he appreciated it.

Sister Minson and I discussed it later and decided that we were receiving Heavenly Referrals from Ryan herself. I'm sure that Ryan understand how much her parents and friends are hurting and she wants us to bring them comfort and the true Gospel of Christ. What an amazing miracle that we got to be a part of. I can't wait to meet her in heaven.

So we went to Charley's lesson on Thursday and it was SO spirit led. We all 3 cried and answered a lot of questions. Charley's biggest problem is his very catholic background. Because of those ideas, he wouldn't accept a specific return appointment but he did say that he would commit to continue the dialogue. I think it's hard for him to talk about everything that has happened. 

So yep! That was our miracle this past week! And this week, we already have 4 member presents set up and hopefully 2 will be in members homes. Miracles are happening! We just have to keep our eyes wide enough to see them and be worthy to play a part in them!

As for your email:

1) A TORNADO IN SYRACUSE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! No flippin way! I haven't even seen a tornado like that! And I'm in Tornado valley! Not fair! I always miss the fun. XP I'm also sorry about the Japanese Fan. :(

2) Love the pics! Brit totally looks like Hermana Thorne. You can already see the difference in her eyes as she's walking away. The mantle and calling has been set. She is truly a representative of Christ. :)

3) Did you really cry all the way home when I left? I never got to hear what it was like for you all the rest of that day. Story time? :)

4) I'm so sorry to hear about Steve and Nat!!!! Oh my goodness! Is there anything I can do to help??? A letter maybe?

Looks like an amazing exciting week for everyone! I love you all so very much and hope you have just as miraculous of a week this week! Keep on keepin on! There are miracles everywhere!

Love always,

Sister Thorne

 This is Squeakette. She's insane. XP

Random pics just because!

July 14, 2014

Hey Thorne Fam!

So... I don't even think I can compose myself to type this email. Gosh darn you Mum! I was totally doing fine until you said you would be writing this letter to 2 missionaries next week. Then I completely lost it. Thankfully, Sis Minson gave me a tissue. I wanted to write a letter to Brit, but she won't get it in time and unfortunately we had to take a silly survey so that super cut out on my emailing time. So in sacrifice, the family letter will be short so I can have time to send Brit an adequate email.

So this week was a good week. We went on exchange with the STL's so I got to spend a day in the Westend in Fairdale. That's always exciting. It's amazing the stark difference between Westend and Eastend. Make sure you live on the right side of the tracks! :P It was a good exchange and I learned a lot from Sis Logan. I love her so much! It's crazy to think she's going home in just 3 weeks. Time is flying by quickly!

We've also been putting a huge emphasis this week on talking to everyone, aka contacting. We've gotten to meet a lot of new people, but not really any new investigators. But the Lord has promised us that if we keep at it, we will find someone. He never fails His promises. :)

Oh! We also had zone meeting this week and I officially got to meet President Brough!!!!! HE'S AWESOME!!!! He's absolutely hilarious, a total tease and his wife is the one who keeps him grounded. He would says something and she would pipe in, "Larry, that's not true." "In the chapel?!" "That's totally a fib." Oh she's such a doll! And President Brough is simply the greatest. I love him and his wife so much already and greatly look forward to working with them over the next 2 months. :) The only bad thing from zone meeting was that they had just refinished the gym and we were in the building for about 3 hours. Oh my goodness.... 35 high missionaries. So funny! We were all super hyper and didn't even realize how bad it was until we got back outside. So... all the trainings were really funny because none of us could think straight. Memories!

I think that's the biggest news from this week. I'll talk to y'all next week! Love you so much!!!

Love always,

Sister Thorne

 Beautiful Kentucky!

 Our apartment.

Squirrel on our window..... there's nothing else I can say. 

July 7, 2014

Hey Thorne Fam!

This week has been a little bit of a rough week. Sister Minson got really sick for the majority of it so we had to spend some time inside which just puts me in a really bad mood. So it was rough to get through, but we are done now so hopefully this coming week will be better and we will be able to work harder, have more fun and be extra good. :)

Our most progressing investigators right now are Misty, Judy, Claire and Debbie. Misty is still doing well. She's been slowly healing over the passing of her father and opening up to us more and more. Judy said that she would be open to coming to church with us once! So that should be good. We are going to try and get her to come next week. Claire is new. We are meeting with her for the first time tonight. I'll let you know how that goes. Debbie is very very slowly progressing, but she did read in her bible this week so that's good! Andrew and Jennifer are coming along. Jennifer is progressing much faster than Andrew. She has downloaded the Gospel Library app on her iPad and has started reading the BofM! So that is awesome too!

Other than that, we are just in a huge state of finding right now. I feel like we've been trying really hard to find those who are prepared, but we just haven't seen much luck at all. But I won't give up. That I can promise you. I'm no quitter. 

As for your email:

1) I can totally understand about Marsh. No worries. I don't want to stress everyone out. If it will be too difficult to do it that weekend, we can do it some other time or next year. Whatever works best for you all's schedule. I am excited that my first Sunday back will be the re-dedication though! That will be awesome!

2) Well, for the 4th of July, we began the day with District Meeting. All the missionaries wore red, white and blue and we had a GREAT training on Charity by Elder Benham. Then, we went out to lunch with the Willis's. They are moving to India this week so it was nice to get to say good-bye to them. Finally, we ended by going to the Ward Party at the Blackwell's! (Pics to follow) Basically the rules were to proselyte until 6pm. Then from 6 to the end of the night, be with members, but you don't have to be out proselyting. AND we didn't have a curfew! So we got to stay out and watch fireworks! It was SO much fun! Sister Minson got a big group of us in a circle and we played volleyball until late into the evening. I got sore! But it was still fun! So that was our 4th of July. :) Looks like yall's was fun too! 

3) Brit: good luck!!!!!! You will be an amazing missionary. Did you ever get my letter with my 15 things to do? Is there anything else I can help with before next week?

4) I've started on the gospels! I've got it worked out so that I will be done by the time I get home. I finished Matt 13 yesterday. Loving them! And I'm learning SO much!

Love you all very most!

Love always,

Sister Thorne

 This is at Andrew and Jennifer's and their little girl, Olivia decided to try and pile all her stuffed animals on top of me. We fit them all!

 Sis Minson crocheted a hun (from Mulan) hat for Merida! She's so talented!

 Lousiville 3rd 4th of July Party. So much fun! They had a bouncy toy (in the right corner) for the kids and a big huge field (behind me) for all of us to play on. They had soccer set up, a volleyball, softball+mits and other fun toys. It was such a blast!

June 30, 2014

Hey Thorne Fam!

Well, President and Sister Woodbury are officially home safe in Salt Lake City, Utah. We will miss them terribly. I know I already do. :( We now have President and Sister Brough! I haven't gotten to meet them yet, we will do so Wednesday at Zone meeting, but I've heard from everyone that he's really awesome and exactly what this mission needs. I'm so excited to get to officially meet our new mission parents!

So this past week has been a really good week for us! Well... it started really really REALLY crazy, but after priesthood blessings for both Sister Minson and I, it got much better. So in explanation, Sister Minson and I got a referral for two teenagers last weekend and we contacted them via phone and they both seemed really excited. We got there and the parents were leaving, taking the two younger kids to dinner and said the two older ones were inside and excited to meet with us. The parents were also really kind. It was a trap. We got in and Jailyn (14) and Justin (17) talked to us for an hour and a half about how we were wrong, going to hell and have been deceived by Satan. They had a paper with scriptures to "prove" this to us. They are southern Baptist. We can only assume their pastor or parents put them up to this to "pit" their testimonies against ours... Sister Minson and I left, very very shook up and heart broken to be told such awful things from the mouths of children. We both ended the night in tears. Tuesday, we got priesthood blessings from a ward member and from there the week just got better and better. Wednesday was a little rough, but Friday and Saturday ended by running from appointment to appointment with miracles and great experiences at each. Opposition in all things. :)

Other than that, we are officially passing Chris off to the Louisville Singles Elders (aka the Assistants) because he is 26 and has a major crush on a woman in our ward and may have a crush on us. So we figured the Elders would be a much better fit for him. We will pass him off to them on Wednesday.

Misty, has had a really rough week. Her father passed away Saturday night but she's handling things pretty well. He's had cancer since December. We got her a priesthood blessing from Bishop and the Rolling Hills Elders during Sunday School and have been staying in contact with her.

Other than that, we've been meeting with a lot of LA's and working a lot from that angle. We will see how it goes!

Sounds like everyone is doing great on the home front! Staying SUPER busy and having many adventures! I hope they are being written down in journals! Please tell Elisa welcome for me and I really wish I could get to know her more. She sounds super adorable!

Love you all so much! Talk to you next week!

Love always,

Sister Thorne

We got a birdfeeder this week and we got to see a beautiful blue jay!!!! They and the Cardinals are my favorite. :) This is Tipsy. As you may be able to see, he constantly feels like he's going to fall so he always keeps one wing slightly unfolded, just in case. His lack of balance earned him the name Tipsy. He's my favorite. :) 

 Someone learned how to hijack our BIRDfeeder...... Silly Squeakers. 

We taught the Sharing Time lesson yesterday so we talked about writing the name tag on your heart and being an example. We also talked about the importance of the 2 different names on a missionary name tag: your family, Christ and the church. It was fun!

June 23, 2014

Hey Thorne Fam!

GUESS WHAT?!?!?! I'm staying in Beckley with Sister Minson!!! Which means she is going to get to kill me and I'll be here until I die!!!! :D :D :D :D :D WOOT! I am so excited not to have to get to know another place so quickly before I leave and to get to just solely focus on this amazing area. With Sister Minson! We are going to rock Middletown to it's core and have a blast doing it! :D

Haha well, in other words, the work this week was very slow at first, out of 18 set lessons, 9 canceled on us. It was super frustrating and I was getting a little discouraged. But then yesterday, Heavenly Father just put together a couple miracles for us. Chris was able to come to church and the mission fireside. He had a really great experience at each and I was able to learn a lot of things that I needed. He always seems to help me end on a good note. :)

So as for Chris, he is still smoking but we have a new game plan. We want to go through and finish the lessons, really focusing on reading the Book of Mormon and building his testimony of it and the Atonement and then come back and attack WofW again. We'll see how that goes.

Misty we weren't able to meet with. Her family is going through a really difficult time right now and she has just kind of secluded herself away from everyone. She's very hurt, so we are just focusing on loving her right now.

Judy wasn't able to meet with us, but should be good to go to meet with us this week.

We picked Andrew and Jennifer back up and had a really good lesson with them. Sister Minson did great with dealing with Andrew's stubbornness and teaching in a way that allowed him to teach himself. She is such an incredible teacher.

The only other thing to watch out for us tonight we will have our first lesson with Jailyn and Justin (bro and sis possibly). They are Mormon.org referrals and we contacted Jailyn and she was SUPER excited to talk to us and get a Book of Mormon. We haven't met with them, but they seem to have incredible potential. We think they are about 16-18 years of age because Jailyn said she was still living with her parents. So we'll see! I'm super excited!

As for your email:

Sounds like everyone was able to have a great week! It was so good to get to see Grandpa Ralph and Grandma Mary again! They both look so happy. :)

How is An and Kris? I miss them so! I hope they were able to enjoy the adventure and especially the fudge!

Britney! Stop being so crazy!!! Calm down and enjoy these last few weeks. Take this one from me. You need to chillax.

Mandy, STOP DATING!!!! AH! I don't think I can handle that idea! It will blow my mind. SO NOT okay. Grarg....well... I guess it's kind of okay... but only if you write me more you little stinkpot! Love ya! ;D

Josh and Brandon, keep going! You're awesome! Love you all so much!

I think that's it for this week! Love you all!

Love eternally,

Sister Thorne

 It's kind of hot......Yep. It officially hit 100 degrees. It has been SUPER gross this week and it's only going to get worse. We hear August is going to be miserable. Good thing we get to go knocking on doors in it every day! Well, Sister Minson and I are currently have a contest to see who can drink more water. She's winning.... but I WILL beat her!

 The Hurstbourne District!!!! Back row: Sister Thorne, Sister Galloway, Elder Benham, Elder Downs, Elder Davis, Elder Hancock, Sister Bready, Sister Minson. Front row: Elder Stohel, Elder Champion, Elder Forrest, Elder Polson

We said goodbye to the Woodbury's last night. They go home Friday. I will miss them so! I love my mission parents!!! 

June 16, 2014

Hey Thorne Fam!

Another week flown by! This week was full of ups and downs, but it was a seriously awesome week! We had some sad let downs, but also saw miracles. So, the usual for missionary work! :P

This week we were able to meet with Misty! Our lesson went really well and everything was all set for church Sunday but... she didn't come. Apparently she woke up sick Sunday morning. We were kind of bummed about that, but Steve (son, baptized a couple weeks ago) and John (son getting baptized soon) came and we think John's baptism will really help her to get moving a little more.

Then we met with Chris. It was kind of difficult to stay in contact with Chris this week because he lost his phone at the church, which gave us a perfect alibi to get him to church! But... his ride (Chris Berry) came to church empty handed. Chris just totally skipped out on us. We picked up his phone for him and took it back to him. He had no excuse for missing Sunday, but we were able to get his phone back to him.

We also met with Judy! She's actually our only progressing investigator and my miracle for the week. If you remember, she's super hardcore catholic, but this past week she totally had her Bible and Book of Mormon out and ready for our discussion. She was really excited to meet with us and she had not only read the chapter we prescribed for her, she had also reread and studied it and read a few more chapters! So she's starting from the beginning of the BofM and reading the whole thing! It's amazing to see her heart softening bit by bit. Right now, her biggest hardship is understanding WHY we need a Prophet. An interesting question. It's fun! :D

Then for our new investigator this week, we have been trying to work more closely with the ward council so this week we visited several formers that our ward mission leader suggested we try back on. One of them was Mikaela. We were able to catch her at home AND schedule a return appointment! Woot! We will be meeting with her this week.

As for your email:

1) I'm hoping I stay here too! If I pass by safely this Saturday then I will be here until the end of my mission and Sister Minson will get to kill me! Woot!!!!! :D

2) The Rush Funplex huh? Well, it will definitely always be the Syracuse Fun Center to me. Please see if you can find Derek there! And get pics with everyone! Tell them all I love them tons and I miss them sooo much!

3) What's the name of the neighbor family? I would love to pray for them specifically.

4) Sounds like everyone had a fun week! Love you all tons!

Love always,

Sister Thorne

 Sister Minson and I always try to find new games to play while tracting. Fortunately for us, it had just rained so there were big puddles everywhere. A whole new world of possibilities! So we found a huge rock and threw it to see who could aim to the puddle better. Sis Minson won.... but I will claim a rematch next storm.

 Sister Minson was completely weirded out by my freaky ankles. Maybe Ripley's Believe it or not will want this picture? Haha.... Yay flexibility!

A delicious Sunday breakfast for lunch with omelet's, hash browns and cinnamon rolls. Yum!!!