Hola mi familia!!!
How the time is flying! How are you all doing? Oh man, I hope that you all are FANTASTIC! Although I don't have much time to think about you all back home, I do love and pray for you all :D
Okay, okay...where to begin? Well Hermana Dent is gone...no not deceased(maybe a little ha, ha :D) but she is back home in good ol' Hoytsville Utah. This last Thursday I met my new companion, Hermana Mendez. How blessed I feel to have the opportunity to serve with her! Not only is she from Mexico so she speaks the Spanish language B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.L.Y, but she also has such a great love for the gospel and especially for the word of God. We are both very passionate people and we both love to laugh a lot. She is still getting used to my kind of humor and laughing a bit more than she is used to, but I know that this companionship will blossom into a beautiful life long friendship, and more importantly that we will be able to be instruments in bringing our brothers and sisters into the fold of God. AH! What could be better?!!!! I submit that there is nothing better!!!!!! So long story short, although change is quite difficult and there have been a roller coaster of emotions with the changes that this last transfer has brought, I love my new companion. Also I may accidently keep breaking into an imitation of her accent(I LOVE the way she speaks!!!!)...tis a bit embarrassing... ha ha
So a few weeks ago I went on exchanges with another Sister who serves at the VC with me named Sister Minall. We were just together for one night and one day, but it was an AMAZING night and day! I am not sure if I have already talked about this in a previous email but if I have stay with me. We woke up and did all of our studies then headed out to her and her companion's area. We decided to go look for some people that her bishop had assigned to her. The first one we went to the house was clearly vacant so we decided to knock some doors in the neighborhood. We went across the street and no one answered the door. We then decided to leave and find the next person that the bishop had given to them. We got in the car and I pulled into a drive way to turn around and as Sister Minall was getting back into the car (she had to get out to back me up, oh sweet missionary life :D) I saw this guy stick his head out of the door of the house whose driveway I was using to turn around in. We then drove away down the street. As I was driving away I had a distinct feeling that we needed to go back and see that guy who I had made eye contact with briefly. For a second I just shrugged it off because I did not want Sister Minall to think I was crazy if nothing came of it and maybe it was not the spirit but my own thoughts. I then knew that I needed to act on these feelings so I told Sister Minall that there was someone on this street that needed the gospel and could we pull over and find them? She asked me which house we needed to go to and then we stopped the car and walked back. The same guy(well kid, he is only 19) that I had seen when we were turning around answered the door. He ended up letting us in, even though his mom was in the back yelling "They better not be Mormons!" with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth(she is hilarious!). We were able to teach them the first lesson and to make a long and drawn out story short, he is now(only two weeks later) preparing to be baptized and has also said that he wants to serve a mission. Can you believe it?!!!! I am so glad that we decided to turn around! One of my teachers in the MTC said that when you are doing everything that you can to be close to the spirit then you can trust that you thoughts are coming from the spirit and to trust them. I have really put this into practice and it is true. I know that if we are being righteous that we are entitled to our thoughts being so in line with the will of the Lord. He wants us to be this close to Him and it is so possible for us to be. I know that by small and simple things, great miracles can come to pass.
Well the language is coming along...slowly but surely. I am striving to trust in the Lord. I never understood so much the saying that goes "When you pray, pray like it all depends on Him, then get up and go to work like it all depends on you". I study my Spanish while at the VC for at least two hours a day and then we go out into our area and teach in Spanish. Most of the time we also have a dinner with a family who only speaks Spanish too. So the point I am trying to make here is that I spend a very large amount of my time listening extremely intently so I can know what is going on and so that I can occasionaly make some kind of a comment. My new companion Hermana Mendez does speak Spanish beautifully, but the thing is that she speaks it VERY fast. She knows this too so she tries to slow down when she is speaking to me so that I can at least have some idea of what is going on, but most of the time she is going a million miles a minute. I have learned to love the phrases "lo siento" and "otra vez por favor" ("I'm sorry" and "again please") because I need them so often. President Keyes told Hermana Mendez that she should try to only speak to me in Spanish. We are building up to this because it is very hard to get to know someone when you are taking five minutes just to tell them that you would like to eat lunch now. Ha ha! It's funny yet true. At the end of the day I am EXHAUSTED because my brain has been working over time all day. How blessed I am to have her teaching me! Not many Hermanas get this opportunity so I thank my Father in Heaven each day for my huge blessings.
I love this gospel with all that I am, I rejoice in my Savior because I am nothing without Him and with Him I can do things that I had never dreamed of before...we all can. I have started reading Jesus the Christ and it has changed me in ways that I cannot even describe. I challenge you all to read it if you have not, and start again if you already have. What greater cause shall we go on in than coming closer to our Savior and sharing the love that we find there with our brothers and sisters? There is no greater cause. This next week is going to be the best of our lives. I know it. Smile, it takes less muscles than a frown. :D
Love,
Sister Thorne
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