March 29, 2012 - Buenas tardes!

Hola todos!

Como esta?!!!! I am doing well here in good ol' Missoura. Spring continues to amaze me and my allergies continue to rage(they are not that bad I just never have experience them before). I wish that you all could experience a rainstorm here(especially you Mom! I know how you love rainstorms!) they are INCREDIBLE! When it rains it POURS, and the lightening is maravillosa! Last week it rained about 8 inches, something that I have never before experienced in either Idaho or Utah.

Just an FYI, because I am serving at the Visitors' Center I do not have a normal P-day. My P-day this transfer is on Thursdays(today :D). If I stay in this area next transfer it will be on Wednesday. Speaking of P-days, last P-day we went over to the Community of Christ temple across the street from the VC to take a tour. Ever since I rolled into town I have not been able to stop staring at this structure. I will attach a picture for you all to see what I am talking about so that we can be on the same page. Well just a little background on what the Community of Christ church is. They used to be called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No, not the polygamists, the ones that believe that Joseph Smith's son should be the prophet. Well about 12 years back they changed their name to the Community of Christ. They are seriously very nice people and they are very proud of their temple and tabernacle. I have been so curious as to what is inside for so long, and what we found when we got there did come as a bit of a shock to me...they had us watch this rather...different movie about what they believe before we toured their temple(their temple is open to the public as no ordinances are done, it is used mainly for an assemble hall and for the prayer for peace that they do every day at one pm). Well I have to admit that I was more confused on what their beliefs are after we were done watching the movie than before we started it. They did talk a bit about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon but they view it mostly as a nice book and I think that what their worship is based off of is the word Peace. I do not honestly know what other doctrine they believe but hopefully I will have a better understanding during the rest of my time here. I think the thing that really stood out to me was the difference in feeling between the VC and their temple. When speaking with the members of the congregation here they were not exactly sure what they believe either, and it makes me feel so grateful for my testimony and the witness that I receive on a daily basis of the truthfulness of the gospel.

I have to tell a short story about my district leader and his companion. During our district meeting last Friday he looked at all of us(keep in mind that our district is made up of 5 companionships, and 4 of them our sisters) and told us that he had an object lesson for us. He then proceeded to tell us that he wanted us to meet someone who had been "trapped in her carnal desires, or her hunger". We were all extremely confused and had no idea what was going on when he asked us to get up and to follow him outside. We all followed him to their car where he got an old baseball bat and then had us follow him out to some trees behind the church building where we were having our district meeting. At this point I was a little bit nervous because as much as I like our district leader he can be a bit out there at times. Well before we had even left to go outside he told us that his companion, Elder Heath, was going to play the roll of Jesus Christ, and then he handed Elder Heath these thick, leather work gloves. So as we reach the grove of trees we see this little cage that is full of something covered with fur, and as Elder Heath walks towards it, it begins to growl. Elder Nichols(our district leader) proceeds to tell us that this raccoon had been driven by her carnal desires and found herself caught in this trap and that she could only be released by Jesus Christ's Atonement. Well Elder Heath(playing the role of Christ) goes to release this poor creature and it is quite aggravated(to say the least). The poor thing finally backs out of the trap after having been released and high tails it into the woods. So then Elder Nichols relates it back to repentance and being "set free". ONLY ELDERS WOULD DO THIS!!!!!!! We actually took a video of it, I will have to see if it is small enough to send in this email. That poor little raccoon! They had even left it in there overnight! pobresita... Well... I tried to learn about repentance and apply it to our investigators from this, but I just could not get past that poor little creature! What if she had babies? They had caught her for their landlord and were relocating her. Elders. hmmm.

Yesterday we began teaching two young boys named Malcom who is 9 and Ramelo who is 8. They are the younger brothers of a member in our ward. These boys are seriously awesome. They live in kind of a shady part of Kansas City and are black. They love it when we come over and teach them. Yesterday we taught them how to pray and during the whole lesson my heart was so full as I thought about the chain of abuse and addiction that runs in their family. I pray with my whole heart and soul that because we are teaching them how to be close to their Father in Heaven and who their Savior is while they are young that they will be able to be different from what they were born into. When Malcom told me what he knows about prayer and why he loves his family I almost was brought to tears because I thought about how I learned to pray when I was way younger than him, and how when I was growing up I did not have to fend for myself the way that these young kids do. We are the link that they have to the Lord, and that is a seriously huge responsibility. I found myself wanted to make sure that I am doing all that I can do to exemplify the Savior because I am His representative. I pray every day that there is no one, especially no child, that falls through the cracks, that does not have someone to love them and to teach them about the love of their Savior. Please keep a look out for these children. I know that there are many of them but think about the difference that you could make in the life of one divine child of God.

My dear and wonderful friend Nikki has created a blog for me! Thank you Nikki! You are SERIOUSLY the BEST!!! it is called feastprayloveheidi.blogspot.com I am almost positive that this is the link, I just did not bring my letter that she wrote it in here to the library so I am not positive, but try it and see!

OH! Some awesome news!!! Today I am OFFICIALLY an HERMANA!!! I put on my Spanish name tags this morning! Hna Méndez did a little ceremony for me, per the request of President Keyes( I LOVE him!) so my name is no longer Sister Thorne, but HERMANA THORNE!!! I feel so blessed to be able to learn this language and to have the amount of people that I can communicate the gospel to be increased massively!

I am attaching a picture of the first Mexican birthday party that I have ever been to. Great food. Great people. Also a bouncy fun house. Man, latinos know how to party! Also I held this little chicken. It was not a chick, but also not a full grown hen. It was a teenager. Please excuse its bare chest.

Also a random thought. The other night I was awoken abruptly by my head slamming into the floor of our bedroom. You see both of our beds are raised with cinder blocks so they are quite high off of the ground, especially mine. Well somehow I ended up literally diving head first off of my bed and landing directly and top of my head with my body following. Even as I landed and was woken up I was not entirely awake but I remember being afraid that I had broken my neck because I was in pain. Hna Méndez asked if I was okay and I said "I think I fell off of my bed" and she said "I think that you did..." and I then responded "that sure is a long way to fall" then slowly got up(still a bit afraid that I had broke my neck) and then went right back to sleep. Now the evidence of my dive into the floor was(besides my sore neck) the clip that I usually have on top of my head to hold my hair up while I sleep. It was shattered on the floor. My skull had SHATTERED it! I cannot believe I am still intact, and how did this even happen??!!! I shall attach this picture as well. Mom, I know that you may not be surprised, don't worry, my neck is fine.

As my mission president says "Have a blessed day" /week!

LOS AMO!!!

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

March 22, 2012 - Sticking Out Like A Sore Thumb

Hola todos!

No joke, I cannot even believe that a whole other week has passed by! Time is FLYING! I wish that you could all see the spring time in Missouri! It is like Heaven! There is SO much green everywhere, and there are these amazing trees that bloom with colorful blossoms of white, purple, green, yellow, and orange. I was telling Hermana Méndez the other day that it reminds me of the sacred grove here(I actually have never even been there, but I imagine it to be this way), so that makes it even more cool. My other very favorite part is that there are TONS of birds here. I recognize only a few of them, cardinals(BEAUTIFUL! and my favorite), robins, and sparrows. All of them are singing when we get up in the morning and all through out the day. See? Just like Heaven! The weather is just wonderful. We did not experience what the locals call a "normal Missouri winter" full of ice storms and horrible temperatures, we just had a little bit of cold weather and like one day of snow. I have to say that I do not feel like I missed out. I am SO happy that spring is here, although I have never experience humidity before so I am adjusting. Oh and I also have been experiencing allergies for the first time in my life, probably because when it is warm here it is like you are breathing in water/pollen. Not sure if that makes complete sense, but come to Missouri in the spring and you will better understand.

So some exciting new about the Kansas City temple open house coming up on April 7 - 21. We are going to be working at the open house three days a week while it is going on. I am so excited about this!!!! This is such a rare opportunity! And think about the history behind this place! Finally the saints get a temple on this holy land. We also get to be in the cultural event the day before the dedication of the temple! We will walk into the stadium behind our mission president singing "We are as the armies of Helamen"!!! When my companion and I found out about this we almost died!!! We are not sure if the prophet will be there, but how blessed we are to be a part of this!!! Last week when we had our mission conference with Elder Evans our mission president's wife gave all of us a pin that she had had made especially for our mission of the Kansas City temple. We get to wear our pins until the end of the temple open house. I feel so honored!

I am not sure if I have previously spoken about our investigator Kathy, but we have been teaching her since Hna Dent was here. She has been coming to church and a few days ago she commited to baptism! To me she seems like such a different person, so much more full of light. She is such a slow mover with everything and she has been telling us this for awhile, but I think we kept taking it as an excuse for her to not do what we were asking her to do. Well I have learned very much that we need to teach specifically to the people and their needs, the way that they need to learn. I love Kathy! She is such a typical cat lady and she is so proud of it. The other day she was wearing this shirt that said "An outfit is not complete without a few pet hairs!". Oh man she is just great!!!!

Just a little side note. The other night I was saying our companionship prayer right before bed and I was blessing Hermana Méndez feet to feel better because they had been hurting her. Please keep in mind that I was exhausted and my brain was pretty much spent by this point. Well just like all of our prayer I was saying this one in Spanish. right after I asked the Lord to bless her feet, I repeated it once to make sure that I had it right and when I repeated it Hna Méndez tried to hide it but she started laughing hysterically(which is uncommon during a prayer for her, she usually keeps her cool). Turns out that I had said "Por favor bendice los pelos de Hermana Méndez" meaning "Please bless the hairs of Hermana Méndez". Feet is actually pies not pelos. She still thinks that this is hilarious. Oh blessed español.

I love my companion so very much. This last week I was struggling a bit with feeling ornery(I think that is how you spell it). I just was getting annoyed by everything, especially in our companionship. I would not lash out at her or anything, but I just kept being quiet and cold when I would start to feel frustrated. She would ask me if everything was okay and I would give her the typical girl answer of "Yes I am just tired". Finally I broke down into tears, and she was so relieved that I was acting more like myself, ha ha! We talked for a long time and I apologized for the way that I was acting and she taught me such a valuable lesson at this time. Right in the middle of our conversation she asked me to get down off of my bed and kneel down with her, so I did. She then said the first prayer that I have ever heard her say in English when we are praying together. She asked Heavenly Father to help me to know that He is proud of the work that I am doing as a missionary, and that I could be blessed to take the advice that I give to so many people and try to see myself the way that He sees me. Then we got up, hugged, and went to bed. It was that simple. We could have talked for hours upon hours about the way that we feel, but it was all solved with this simple and beautiful prayer that she wanted to make certain that I understood, so she said it in English. Well I have pondered on this principle. What if we went to Him first? Before anger, before hurt, before sadness, even in the midst of joy and happiness. What if we went to Him first? How much time, emotion, and energy could we save to be used in a greater way? We could save ourselves hours, days, months, or even years of heartache if we would just turn to the Savior first. Why? Because He knows. He is the ONLY other person that you can go to and ask "Hey do you remember feeling what I feel right now? Do you remember how much it hurt? How I felt like giving up?". I can tell you that He does remember, and He wants to help you through it with His perfect love. There is nothing you are going through that your Savior and Friend has not felt. Go to Him, allow His understanding and love to encircle you. Allow Him to change you.

This gospel is my greatest joy, and I am so thankful for the incredible opportunity that I have to serve. How can I put into words the joy that missionary work brings? Thank you for your support and love my dear loved ones.

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

March 16, 2012 - Rollercoaster ride

Hola todos!

This week I have really been praying for all of you back home and hoping very much that you are all doing well. This last week was an incredible week for our companionship. I was really having a bit of a struggle with the habit that my companion and I had gotten into of making fun of one another's weaknesses and really using sarcasm that was not at all productive. Well last Saturday I woke up knowing that that day was the day to really address the concern and pray for the best communication possible as well as the best outcome possible. The Lord heard my prayers and we were able to discuss the situation and in my point of view it has changed completely. I know any of you who know me know that I like to have a good laugh(understatement? I think so...) but I have realized by having companions and working around a massive amount of the same women day by day that sarcasm or joking that could ever be thought to be tearing someone down is not okay. If we lived in a world where everyone was building one another up, and where we could have more trust I think a LOT more people would listen to the message that we have to give. Well this is something that I am really learning and I know that I am supposed to be serving with Hermana Méndez because she has a bit of an issue with it too. Well we decided that we would always have one anothers back, that we would not say things that may hurt one another and that we would develop trust so that we can be better friends and better missionary companions.We have also been having more patience with eachother and trusting one another enought to give eachother the benefit of the doubt. I did not understand how important it is to start with this relationship, but it is crucial. The thing is that others can tell when we have a good relationship and it effects how much they actually trust us. Well as we started to implement these changes into our companionship I feel so much lighter, so much happier, and so much more filled with the Spirit. I love Hermana Méndez so much! It is so joyful to get to serve with her. I have been really trying to watch what I say and do and the way that I have been able to do this is by asking myself what my intentions are behind what I say or do? Am I saying things out of resentment, fear, to hurt someone because I feel hurt, out of anger, feelings of guilt or self-pity? Or am I having faith that the Lord will provide and that the actions of others are not what I am allowing shape me, but the love of God is what guides my life?

Oh my gosh, I have to tell you all this!!!! This last week investigators that we have had since Hna Dent was my companion came to church this last Sunday! They are this cootie-patootie hispanic couple with two little girls. They showed up just a few minutes late, but right before the sacrament started. While the sacrament water was being passed I heard the father who was sitting next to me lean over and say something to his little seven year old girl, Ashley. We found out the other night that he had said "Don't drink that!"(in Spanish of course) but he did not know what if it was wine or not. Also another funny moment was when we got out the hymn book to sing the closing hymn and he started to sing then stopped and leaned over like he was listening to me. Of course I felt a bit akward at this but I just kept singing along and after the prayer he said "You sing beautiful". He later told my companion that we both sing like angels, I don't think they sing as much in the other churches that he has attended. His wife is simply hilarious. When she thinks that I am not understanding something that she says in spanish she will look at me and then say a word in english and then ramble on in rapid spanish(ha ha! no comprendo!!!). I love them though because they love that I am learning Spanish(it actually made the mom, Maira, cry one time when I bore my testimony because she had never seen someone try to learn Spanish to teach her about Jesus Christ) so they don't mind when I have to pause to remember the word that I want when we are teaching them. Many of the people we teach are like this. I love the Hispanic CULTURE! Oh and Hna Méndez says she will be finding me a hispanic husband so that I can really be a part of the culture. :D But, you know, AFTER the mission of course.

Alright who of all of you knows who Elder Evans of the Seventy is? He is actually over the missionary department. Well he came and spoke to us at an all day mission tour on Tuesday. It. Was. AWESOME! I was so moved and inspired by everything that he had to say. I feel so much more rejuvinated!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah and you will get to see at this upcoming conference because he is speaking. After the mission conference I was lucky enough to get to give a presentation at the Visitors' Center for my mission president, President Keyes, his wife and Elder Evans and his wife. You know that feeling where you just feel so overwhelmed with the goodness around you and the excitement that you feel, and the love of God, and the feeling of being so blessed, mixed with a ton of exhaustion? Yeah, that was my day on Tuesday. Also Missouri has officially skipped winter and gone straight to spring(or so it has really felt). It was 80 degrees the other day and the VC air conditioner is broken and I was wearing a blazer for the mission conference that had been earlier that day. I thank goodness that I did not pass out from heat exhaustion right there in front of President and Elder Evans, although Elder Evans would have never forgotten me if I had...ha ha!

Oh and the dog picture that I am attaching is me holding one of our members dogs. That was a hilarious lunch appointment! It was with our member named Sister Gilliard. She is this full figured black woman who totally speaks like a black woman. Oh my gosh! Hna Méndez could not understand her for part of the time because she was speaking slang and ghetto and so she would just shake her head yes and say things like "really? wow..." etc. I was like wow, this is how I look sometimes when someone is speaking spanish!!!

Also yesterday I went on exchanges with Sister Minall(she is also black but very different from Sis Gilliard, although she did say that "my people"(black people) would love your figure Sister Thorne ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!) and we had such a crazy day. It seemed like EVERYTHING kept going wrong! But we did have an awesome dinner appointment and then went to see an investigator that really needed to hear Sister Minalls convert testimony so I am so thankful that we had that opportunity.

My dear family and friends, I love you all so much!!!! All of the small things that you do each day to get closer to your Savior ARE helping you be shaped into the person that you can be. You are divine. Ask Father in Heaven to help you see this, I promise that He will answer your prayers, and that another result of you seeing yourself the way that God sees you will be you seeing others the way that God sees them and treat yourself/them accordingly. In this is TRUE and LASTING joy and happiness.

Los amo muchissimo!!!!

Hermana Thorne

There is a pic of my area and one while driving out to it too

March 8, 2012 - Swing low sweet chariot

Hola todos!

Hermana Thorne here. I pray all is well with each one of you in every different place that you reside. What to share...what to share...well Hna Méndez and I were asked by our bishop if we would sing for a funeral this last Saturday morning, so we did. It was a funeral for a member of our ward that was very influencial although I sadly never had a chance to meet him because he has been very sick for the last year and was in bed all of the time. We decided to sing "Oh My Father" to the tune of "Come Thou Fount". Hna Méndez went to school to sing opera, and I like to jam out on my guitar a bit like a hippie so we sound a bit different when we sing. It was really cool though, we arranged it so one of us would be singing one line and then visa versa, then we would come together and sing then harmonize at the end. We sang it acapella, and I really feel like it went well(although I was scared to death to sing by myself, with no music in front of all of those people). I love how Hna Méndez and I are so different, yet we are able to learn from one another's differences. The wife of the man who had passed away was really grateful that we preformed the musical number and I felt like it was such a privilege.

So I need to do a little update on our dear Tara who is supposed to be baptized on April 18th. Well she is undergoing a medical procedure for a thyroid problem that she has and her baptism date has been moved to the first Saturday in April. She is doing so well though! The other day we asked her if she thinks that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and she said that yes she really did. I love her and her cutie patootie daughter so much!

This week at the Visitors' Center I experienced a TON of beautiful mercies from the Lord. I met this family from Spanish Fork(shout out to Doug) and gave them a presentation. The spirit that was felt during this presentation was seriously incredible! There were things said that really needed to be heard on both parts, and when they left it felt like we were old friends, and better people. Well the very NEXT day I was able to take another presentation of a married couple who had some very deep doctrinal questions and who really needed some specific things, things that I could relate to so well. I cannot even describe to you the feelings that I had while we were going through, and how grateful I was that the Lord allowed me and trusted me enough to take these two struggling members and share with them my testimony of this gospel and of my Savior Jesus Christ. I have never felt more in my life that I am lead by the hand of the Lord and that He is so aware of His children. I feel so humbled and honored to be able to share this sacred message and my own personal experiences with these amazing people on a daily basis. I cannot ask for more!

Well my Spanish is really coming along this transfer. I have been able to order more materials to help me progress even faster. President just gave me permission to use a computer program that came with one of my text books and I am so excited about it! The day before yesterday I shared a message with a family that feeds us pretty often, ALL in Spanish and totally by myself. I prepared the topic before hand and Hna Méndez said that she was not going to help me with this message and that it was my turn to do it on my own. Although this scared me pretty bad it was so awesome for my confidence and it made me really study up. I am so thankful for the gift of tongues because I know that the Lord gives me the words, I know that He helps me to communicate with His children that speak Spanish so that they can have the same opportunity that we have. I love the Hispanic culture! Hna Méndez and I have come to the conclusion that I will be marrying a "lamanite" so that I can sorta kinda be a lamanite myself. (After the mission of course:D) Ha ha!!!

One quick funny story. So last Sunday one of our investigators named Kathy came to church on Sunday(HOOORAY!). Well this was her first time attending Sacrament meeting and she kept leaning over to me and whispering questions. I believe that I told you all about how our member that leads the music in sacrament meeting is this full figured black woman who just puts her whole body into it and waves her arms all around without a lot of rhym or reason(it is seriously different than ANYTHING that you have ever seen in a Sacrament meeting, I promise). Well after we get done singing the opening hymn Kathy leans over to me and says "I love that she signs the words of the music" !!! She thought that the music director was doing sign language! I had to hold in my massive desire to laugh out loud at this. It was seriously hysterical!!!! Later I told my companion and we laughed for a good five minutes over this. Only in the Riverview was would this happen. Only here. I LOVE this place!

The work continues on, and through the ups and downs I continue to LOVE the work. I have been thinking about how big of a difference it makes in our lives to love what we do, the hard and the easy things. I know that if we pray to be able to enjoy what we do the Lord WILL bless us with peace, joy and HAPPINESS.

"Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

Love,

Hermana Thorne

February 29, 2012 - "Doubt not, fear not"

Hola todos!

Como estan? I love you all and pray that all is going well back at home and where ever you are all located. Where to start? Okay lets start off with Keith. I think I may have told you all about him already? Not sure, but he is the one that is on house arrest(this is nice for us because he always makes it to our appointments ha ha!) and he is seriously and AWESOME guy. We had a seriously incredible lesson with him this last week, we were finally really able to talk about the first lesson and to get through it all the way. We are seeing progress in him and it is one of the coolest things! He has started praying and reading and there is a light starting to come forth that we did not see in him initially. I also know with my whole heart that we are the ones who are supposed to be teaching him, there are things that Hna Méndez and I have really needed to share with him that have helped him to come closer to Jesus Christ, and after all this is our purpose! I cannot even tell you how great it feels to be fulfilling my purpose as a missionary! I feel the happiest that I have EVER felt in my ENTIRE life! I know that we are born with a divinity within us that longs to live up to our spiritual potential and I feel as if I am starting to understand the concept that we can come closer to this potential by serving and loving others. As one of my favorite sisters here, Sister Moore from Oregon, says "Let's dream big, and love even bigger", (she got this from an EFY song, cheesy I know, but hey! I am a missionary, it is totally allowed!).

Okay so secretly I wanted to save the MOST exciting news for the second paragraph so that I wouldn't only put the exciting stuff right at the front. Ok. So last Saturday we went to the far side of our area to visit a referral that we had gotten from the mission office. When we got there and found the lady that we were looking for, Tara, she let us right in. She has a one year old daughter named Malia, she is a single mother who loves her child with her whole heart and her actions, and she is incredibly loving although a bit shy. Well she told us that her friend/coworker who had sent us over to her house, Maria, is a member of the church and had told her a bit about what we believe. She also told us that she really looks up to Maria for the way that she lives. She had many questions for us and we were able to answer a few and then set up an appointment to come back. The day of our return appointment was this last Monday. We got there and started the lesson with a prayer and right after we were done she just went right into asking questions again. Well we ended up being able to teach her the first lesson(if you don't know what this is crack open your Preach My Gospel :D) and then I invited her to be baptized...and she said YES! She said that she went to this church awhile back where they spoke in tongues and it just did not feel right, but that when we came and started teaching her and when she is around Maria she feels "nourished". We set the day for March 18! She already started reading the Book of Mormon and we taught her how to pray for an answer of the truth of it. I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW AWESOME THIS FEELS!!! I can testify now with all of my heart that there really are people out there that God has prepared to hear this message. This is the first time since coming out here that someone has REALLY treated this message for what it is as we are teaching, it's the first time that I have seen someone allow it to touch their heart and mind and to be willing to change. She said that she does not have a problem with the word of wisdom except for coffee and even then she just said "Well I better start cutting back on that", so she is totally willing to change her life for the Lord. I wish I had time to tell you all of the details of what happened and how we have seen her life be so prepared before we met her but just know that the Lord answers prayers!!!

So just on a cute little side note, we are teaching these awesome kids in this family. We are only teaching the kids and not the parents, the oldest girl is a member and has been for a year and a half now(her name is Destiny). She is such a good example to her younger siblings, there are five of them and all of them are the cutest little black kids that I have ever seen! They all have this awesome curly hair that is all crazy and they love us so much! The funny thing was that the youngest girl who is three, Amari, calls us "Mrs." instead of "Sister". She goes "HI Mrs. Thorne!" when we get there and then as we are leaving she yells "I LOVE YOU!!!". Oh my heart just melted. We love them so much and are praying that the ones who are old enough will feel the desire to be baptized and to stay active in the church, we have seen how much it has helped their older sister.

Oh I also spoke in sacrament meeting on Sunday! My talk was based off of the talk "The Light of Christ" by President Packer. I feel like it went well. I opened with telling the congregation how excited I was to talk(this is true) because as a missionary we are teaching all day long and people tend to interrupt us VERY often, but there was no one to interrupt me, but that they all just got to listen this time. I was glad that they laughed instead of giving me an awkward silence that could have been interpreted as "we may not interrupt but that doesn't mean we are listening". Ha ha. They laughed and I felt that I said what the Spirit would have me say. Hna Méndez's talk was also awesome! She used the talk called "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. If you have not read this talk, please take the time to read it! It has changed my life(well the fact that I have decided to take action to let it change my life is actually what has changed my life).

Here is what I would like to end this week's email with:

"We don't want God to remember our sins so there is something fundamentally wrong with relentlessly trying to remember those of others"

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

As we learn to forgive ourselves and to use the grace that is given to us all we will not seek to remember the faults and sins of others because we will understand the waste of time that really is. I love my Savior and how He teaches me humility, compassion and how to love like Himself.

I love you all!

P.S. I almost forgot! Transfers are tomorrow and we found out last night that I will be staying here in the Kansas City Riverview ward con Hna Méndez! Woo WOO!!!

February 22, 2012 - I. love. Kansas City.

Hola todos!

Como está! Yo oro todos es bien. I am still here. On my mission. A missionary! Man that still sounds crazy and yet wonderful! This last week was a week full of learning, love, and lots and lots of prayer. Hermana Méndez and I have really been praying for new people to meet and we saw(and continue to see) the hand of the Lord this last week, although He does not give us exactly what we want in exactly the way that we want it. We prayed for new investigators that have the desire to come closer to the Lord and we have found new people and are continuing to find new people. There was a night this last week that we were both so exhausted physically and worn out spiritually that we started to feel discouragement with our lack of "results". As we went to kneel down for prayer it was my turn to pray and I realized that I did not know what to say. I had no idea what I wanted to express to the Lord because it was so much. I also did not know how to express all of this in Spanish(we always pray in Spanish) so I felt even more overwhelmed. I started the prayer and felt peace come over me and I was able to express things that I did not know that I could express in Spanish. This experience was so sacred to me and I learned even further how the Spirit speaks to our hearts and that we can feel the spirit in all languages. It sounds kind of strange when I say it like that but so true.

So going on about Spanish I need to tell you all something!!!! Okay okay, two days ago Hermana Méndez and I were getting gas at a gas station and she was sitting in the car(the window was rolled down so that we could be within hearing of eachother) and I saw this guy get out of his car on the other side of the pump and I automatically said "hola" to him and he said it back to me and then I approached him with a pass-along card and totally told him who we were and about our message, and then he asked where our church is located and I told him where it was, what time it started, and for hour long the meetings run. ALL IN SPANISH!!! So he then thanks me and we both get back in our own cars and I roll up the window and squeal like there is no tomorrow(at which point Hermana Méndez says "um...he is still there and can hear you" which was actually a lie but she did get me good, it scared me quite bad). I needed this experience right then. I was starting to feel so overwhelmed with my lessons that I am now memorizing in Spanish and I felt like I have not gotten anywhere with my Spanish and that I should know more because I have a native companion. The tender mercies of the Lord are not limited to only certain circumstances in our lives or only given to us in certain ways. Our Father is so aware of our needs, our wants, our desires and He WILL help us to be perfected in all that we do that is righteous, He will bring about beautiful blessings. I know that one important part of the blessings of God is recognizing them. Oh how the Lord loves us.

This last week we also had another wonderful blessing given to us from the Lord. Well technically I have had this blessing since I first arrived here in Missouri but I have been recognizing it this last week. There is this family in the ward, the Johnson family, whom we have been visiting since I first got here, but we eat at there home once a week now. They are a younger couple with a three month old baby. They have been such a blessing in my life because they have helped me to feel so loved out here. There have been days when we have been working so hard to do the will of the Lord and to help bring the souls of those around us closer to our Savior and then we have a chance to go over to the Johnson's house and they make us our favorite food and they provide us with laughter and a family. We were blessed to get to do an hour of service at their home this last Saturday (we organized a bunch of craft stuff for Sister Johnson) and they were planning on feeding us afterwards. Well when we got done and changed back into our missionary clothes they were just sitting at the table and they said "We would like to take you Sisters out for dinner." Well you have to understand that this family is not entirely well off and Brother Johnson(who has been doing electrical work on the new temple) will soon be if he is not already, looking for another electical job. So we know that this was a sacrifice or a "splurge" as they called it. When they told us they were taking us out Hermana Méndez and I got all silent and they were like "Oh! Can you not do that?" And we just laughed and told them that of course we could, we just have never had this happen to us before. I know that it may seem like a small thing to you all back home, but it was such a tender mercy from the Lord to have this family be so kind and loving to us. Please if you ever have a chance, show the missionaries love. Even if it may seem like they don't need it, they really do. I am so thankful for people like this family and I will never forget their love and kindness.

The work continues to go on and ever will, whether we are a part of it or not, so let us "Go on in so great a cause!" Every morning I wake up and I remind myself that this day, this time, is not my own and that I want to have the opportunity to feel that my Lord would say "Well done thou good and faithful servant."

Los amo,

Sister Thorne

February 15, 2012 - All is well...all is well...

Hola!

Oh goodness life here in Missouri is good(Ryan ha ha ha about the Missouri being named after misery, I have NEVER heard that one before :D). This last week was the least productive that I have felt my whole mission. The thing is that a week ago when I wrote my last email I felt like I was starting to get sick, maybe just a minor head cold or something. Well it turned into a really bad cold where I was achy all over for days, had a MAJOR headache constantly, and could not stand up without getting dizzy and nauseous. Yes it was a bit miserable but today I am feeling top notch, ready to help convert the WORLD! (I said this to my companion on Sunday morning while still not feeling very well and she looked at me and said, with her eyebrow raised in doubt the way that only she can, "Yeah, we'll see". Uh...it is possible that a few hours later I was exhausted, week and needing more rest desperately. On our way back to the house I looked at her and said "With all of my heart I beg you not to say I told you so". Well Hermana Mendez is a wonderful person and a great missionary but she is still human. Her response was..."Sister Thorne. I told you so". Alas I truly am feeling better and this week has already been so much better with us being able to teach, although I am a bit worried that my companion is getting the crud(I used that word for you Mom :D) that I was suffering from. Honestly having to stay home and not be productive was the hardest thing I have yet experienced. It showed me that as children of God we have built within us a divinity that can only be satisfied when we are doing the work of our Creator, and when we are helping those other Divine people around us. That is why work = happiness! Did you hear that ma?! WORK = HAPPINESS! Yes this is me. y es verdad! Man nothing can make us happier than serving those around us, nothing!

I really need to share an experience that happened to me this week. I received a package from my dearest friend Nikki Nelson(hey girl hey!) this last Thursday. This was the day that my cold really first hit me and I was down on the couch in the guide's room of the VC. One of the sisters brought in the mail and gave me the package from Nikki. As I went to open it I realized that she had taped something to the flap probably after she had sealed it. It was a little single serving of herbal tea called Kava, it helps relief stress. On the package Nikki wrote "The Spirit told me to send this to you". Although it was not the smartest thing to do when I already had a plugged nose, I totally cried. I needed that. I needed a little love from home and the reassurance that as I am working my hardest to never make this work about me, my Father in Heaven is still aware of me, and he has given me angels(one in particular in the beautiful form of Nikki Nelson-I love you forever!) to remind me of His love. Well needless to say the rest of the package was just wonderful and the letter she sent me within it along with a talk that she had given in sacrament meeting a few weeks ago was an even further witness that the Lord does hear my prayers and answers them specifically, according to my needs. Thank you Nikki for helping to remind me of who I am; I am from Heaven, I am my Heavenly Father's little girl, and I am infinite years old :D (Thank you Nikki for being my angel, my friend, and my sister)

I have mentioned in previous letters about Denise who is in a mental hospital. Well Hermana Mendez and I visited her last night. It was quite eventful. First off I walked into the hospital already feeling such a range of emotions because I knew that this visit may be the last time that we are able to ever see her again(she has a court date this Thursday and will probably get sent to a nursing home that is outside of our area, which is good for her because she really should not be in the mental hospital but somewhere where her needs will be met, but so sad for us because we love her so much) and so I was already a bit sad. Well we went through the whole process of checking and going through security, someone came to bring us up to her floor and as we walked onto the floor we felt tension immediately. There was a big black man down the hall from us with crazy eyes and the cna that had come to get us asked us to move to the other side of her away from the big man. She said that they were having "a bit of a situation". Well I have worked with mentally and physically disable people who tend to get quite hostile so this was not very new to me. My dear, poor companion. She was scared out of her mind! The cna's just stayed really close to us and escorted us into the room where we were meeting Denise(by this time the big black man was yelling obscenities and his eyes looked like they were going to pop right out of his head!). Well the lesson with Denise went really well. We did not teach what we had planned at all but I know that we followed the Spirit and taught to her needs. I was a bit embarrassed because at the end of the lesson as we were telling her that we will probably have to send her the elders in her area(not to talk bad about elders...they just sometimes have ZERO emotion!) I started crying and could not stop. My heart was overwhelmed with the situation that she is dealing with and the fact that she is not turning to God in her need but that she is allowing herself to dwell in fear and despair. I just wanted her to know so badly that the feeling of peace that she has expressed that she feels when we meet with her is the Holy Ghost and that she does not have to lose it when we leave. She then closed with a beautiful prayer and I cried even harder. She almost felt as if she had to comfort me! But the thing is that I know. I TRULY know that most of the pain that she is going through is unnecessary and if she would allow her Father in Heaven to envelope her in His love, she could be so full of joy and peace. She is just not choosing it, and that is part of God's plan, her being able to choose. It's heartbreaking but I know that she will reflect on her life and I pray that she can read from the Book of Mormon and have a desire to change her life.

That brings me to the thought of choice. Are we all choosing to be chosen people? Yes, you read that right. We need to choose to be the chosen people, for we know as is stated in the scriptures that "many are called, but few are chosen". And why are they not chosen? Because they CHOOSE not to be. When we choose to come unto Christ that requires faith AND works. I know that I need to more fully choose each day to be part of the chosen people. Remember CPR! Church, prayer, reading. It will keep you alive spiritually! Lets CHOOSE TO LIVE!!!!

Well this has been long winded but I just wish I could share even more. Thank you for the love and support that you all have given me. I pray for you all each and every day and I know without a doubt that the Lord is blessing you all and taking care of you. Thank you for your prayer. I feel them.

Love,

Sister Thorne

PS I will tell more about the new temple opening and our role in all of it in my next letter! The open house is from April 7- April 21 and it will be dedicated and May 6!!!!! Hooorah for Israel!!!

February 8, 2012 - With steadfast faith in Christ

Hola,

Here I am, still in Missouri and still loving being a missionary. This week was a great week for me. Not an easy week but for sure a great one. I say this because I learned so very much this week. I have been having pains in my ear and I was quite worried that it was the start of an ear infection plus I was feeling some other ailments that I will not go into detail about...(a bit personal you see...) and so Hermana Mendez and I headed off to the doctor this last Monday. Oh let me tell you, she had the time of her life here. She had to stay with me so she went back to the room with me while I was being interviewed about my bodily functions. She did not even try to be mature about this, I even had to tell the nurse that I was sorry for my companions lack of maturity (she kept laughing at my answers and the look I had on my face when the nurse would ask me really person questions that I did not necessarily want to share with my mission companion). It was even more funny when the doctor came in because he just so happened to be an active Latter Day Saint and when he saw that we were missionaries he said "Oh my nurse said that you guys were really happy, now it makes sense." That just set us off even more and though we tried to keep our missionary cool we did giggle through most of the appointment. I am glad to say that I do not have an ear infection, I actually just have an issue with the muscles in my jaw. My theory is that I have been reading the B of M in Spanish out loud so much and talking at the VC, plus all of the appointments we have, my poor little jaw is just pooped. I guess I did talk a lot before the mission too...who knows. All is well.

I was just telling my companion this morning in companionship study how awesome it is when the Lord answers our prayers almost before we finish saying them. I was struggling with letting some things from my past go and I came upon a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland this morning while eating breakfast. It was an article about starting the new year right and not looking back like Lot's wife. It seriously moved me so much. It spoke of us having faith that the future holds more than the past if we will have faith enough in Christ to live in the now. Lot's wife did not commit a huge sin by looking back, but because she looked back longingly wanting to be in the city of Sodom because she did not have faith that whatever they were headed toward under the direction of the Lord would be as good or better she showed a complete lack of faith in her God. Living in the past can prevent us from having a future. There is a sorce that can change us and save us above all else. The beautiful gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Who else could know your heart better? Who else has felt literally the exact same way that you have? Who else knows that you long for joys past and that you fear that there may not be any joy in the present or future that could compare. I know that there is joy beyond our wildest dreams waiting to be found by us all if we but trust in our Savior Jesus Christ and do as it says in Alma 37 "look to God and live". Sometimes I think back to the miracle that I saw last week or even yesterday and I cannot even imagine that we could have yet another miracle or even a larger one, but that is not having faith in my Creator and in His divine love and mercy for me. I want to "look to God and live" and I pray that you all too can learn to have that desire and feel of the joy that has been prepared for you since before the world was.

A little news on how the work is progressing. The reason that I stated that this week has been a bit of a hard one is because we are having to yet again let some of our investigators go because they are not progressing. Sometimes(all the time) I wish that people would just be honest with us and say something like "You know I am just being nice and I don't really want to make any changes to my life that would bless my posterity for eternity because I am really comfortable with living in sin". It would make things a lot easier for everyone involved. I think the thing is that sometimes when we meet people they have that mind set but when they feel the spirit they start to want to change. I also know that there are people who have been prepared and our mission president wants us to find those people. We are really working hard to find more people to love and teach the word of God.

Oh! I also got the go to a Panaderia for the first time yesterday. Oh. My. Goodness! Heaven! I am attaching pictures of me eating the beautiful sweet bread that is Hermana Mendez's favorite and now my favorite too.

I love you all and I pray that you are not only physically well but especially spiritually. Remember to CPR (Church, Pray, Read), it will keep you alive spiritually(cute right? got it from my awesome companion).

buen dia,

Sister Thorne

February 1, 2012 - Hey howdy hey, from good ol' Missourrrraa!

Hola mi familia y amigos!

Is this email reaching you all well and happy? I pray that it is and that right now your face is a smiling one :D

Okay gathering my thoughts...gathering my thoughts...Alright! What a FANTASTIC week we had! Seriously I know I get excited a lot, but this one was a REAL doosey(not sure if that is even a word and if so how to spell it, but stay with me). First off I was able to introduce Hermana Mendez to Denise, our investigator who lives in a mental hospital, and the lesson went so well! You all should have seen the way Hermana Mendez' eyes kept getting bigger as we walked in and then had to register then went through the security process. It made me think back to the day that Hermana Dent and I first went there to see her. We were able to obtain a large print copy of the Book of Mormon so that Denise can now start reading it(she has bad eyesight). She was sooo grateful and the spirit testified to both of us that we needed to be with her at that time. Ah! I am so excited to be teaching Denise! I love her!

Well right after we got out of the mental hospital(this was still after our visit, we had not checked ourselves in...yet :D) we saw this man with his hood up and Hermana Mendez said we should go ask him if he needed help. Turns out he did not need help but we were still able to talk to him about the gospel and give him a Book of Mormon, then we called him later to follow up and he seemed so surprised that we actually called and very grateful. I am so thankful for my awesome companion! The thing is that we had both been feeling a bit down because our missionary work had not been very productive in the last week. As we have changed companions and are adjusting to the new transfer, there are so many things that we are both having to learn and routines that we need to get into. Well I started praying my heart out that we could be see more fruits from out labors...and boy was this prayer answered... :D

to be continued next week...

Just kidding. Ha!

Okay so really our numbers were bad and I (I am sure we both did) was (and still am) praying that we could find people that are prepared for us and that we could be as productive as possible for the Lord. The very next day Hermana Mendez and I started out at the VC in the morning. We ended up having three people come in who were interested in learning more about the gospel and it just happened to be that they qualified to be in our ward! Right there! Three new investigators! We made a return appointment after showing them the awesome presentations that we have in the VC, and we both felt so blessed! Then that afternoon we were able to go out into our area. We had an appointment that fell through and so we decided that we were going to find more people to teach, we just were not exactly sure where. We drove around for a bit, not exactly sure where we should be, after a prayer we headed over to our next appointment early to knock doors in their neighborhood. Well when we got there we parked in front of their house and then realized that they(our next appointment) had their door open and they might be able to see us. Not wanting to be creepy missionaries who sit outside people's houses a half hour early and watch them, we drove two blocks up and chose a house to go knock. The lady that answered the door looked at us like we were crazy and I thought (oh no here we go, we are going to hear it from her) and then she opened the screen door and asked us what we were doing in this neighborhood at night and then told us to hurry and get in. Her name is Luz and we were able to teach her and also set up a return appointment(she has the CUTEST kids). She still thinks that we are crazy for even coming into her neighborhood(okay okay, it is a shady neighborhood but the Lord always protects us). She even has bars on all of her windows and doors. Anyway, we then had to literally run to our appointment, this guy even stopped to ask us if we were okay and we just told him that we were late. This appointment was with a lady that we have been teaching for a little while now. Her uncle is staying with her right now and he listened in on the lesson and we set up a return appointment to come see him again too! Another new investigator! 5 new investigators this day! And we were not even late getting home, although we thought for sure that we would be. Our prayers were answered THE NEXT DAY. Who are we to put limitations on the Lord? His power and glory are endless if we will but believe that He does and will give us miracles. My companion says that we should expect miracles, so now I do, and you know what? They happen. Every. Single. Day.

This last week we started a new thing that we do every other day. We call it all Spanish day. We try every day to speak mostly in Spanish but it gets hard when trying to communicate and also when working at the VC. We decided that every other day I would be required to speak in all Spanish no matter who I am speaking to(unless of course I am doing a presentation at the VC or teaching someone a lesson in English, that would just be awkward...). Well we have done this for three days now and let me tell you...it is very different than anything that I have ever done. The other sisters at the VC who are english speaking do not love these days because I don't talk to them much and when I do they cannot understand it anyway. It is kind of funny because they ask Hermana Mendez to translate my Spanish into English for them. Some of the sisters think that they are funny and they ask me questions that take a lot more vocabulary than I yet know to answer. They love to see the look on my face when I cannot answer back(heaven knows I love to talk, and so do the VC sisters ha ha!) I have learned so much in this short period of time that I have been with Hermana Mendez. I am constantly asking her how to say things and everyday we read the Book of Mormon in Spanish out loud together(this is my FAVORITE part of companion study, her Spanish is BEAUTIFUL!), I also carry around this tiny notebook and write down the words that she tells me in Spanish(she thinks this is funny) and this has helped me a ton too.

A quick note about my companionship. Oh. My. Goodness! I love this sister! We laugh and work and laugh and work and laugh while we are working and then laugh some more. We try to work as hard as we can but also to enjoy the time that we have in the service of our Lord. I am going to put some of the pictures that we have taken together so that you all can see her beautiful face. She cries a lot, just like me! And boy oh boy can she be loud! I love it! LOVE IT!!!!!!!! Her testimony is beautiful and so sure. The Lord has blessed me so much and I stand in awe of the sisters that I serve with.

Oh my goodness, my personal study has been golden this last week. I have really started to crave personal study time. I really want to share a scripture with you all. In Alma 38:12 we are asked to bridle our passions so that we can be filled with love. The Lord is asking us to keep our passions in check so that He can give us more of His divine love. Is this something that you are willing to do? Are you willing to bridle your passions so that the Lord can give you a gift that is lasting and eternal? I know that I have not always been willing, but as I ponder each day on how to give all of myself to my God, I realize that He is my passion and He becomes even more so when I give Him my time. We love most the things we spent the most time on, or the people we spend the most time with. If you spend more time in communion with your Father your love for Him WILL grow. I know this to be true.

As Valentine's day approaches, lets consider what real love is and how we can share the love of our Father in Heaven. Okay? Okay!

I love you all!

Happy week!

Love,

Sister Thorne

These are pictures with my new companion. The one at the VC in front of the Christus statue is with my cute little Bre and her friend Emily. She was baptized two months ago and I love her to death. We actually met at the VC. The one that we took in the car was on the day that we got five new investigators. During this little picture taking session we laughed so hard that Hermana Mendez cried. Literal tears, rolling down her cute little cheeks. Oh wow. God is good, the church is TRUE. es verdad.

Love,

Sister Thorne