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
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