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,
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