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
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