April 23, 2012

Hola todos!

Esta ultima semana fue loca!!! With the temple open house and everything going on we continue to be incredibly busy, but I have to say that this time is AWESOME. I never thought that on my mission I would experience people coming up to me and asking how they could become a part of our church. People do this at the temple open house. The temple sparks within them that divinity that they received from their Creator, the understanding that their real purpose for being here on earth is to progress and eventually return to live with our Father in Heaven. We were told before the open house started that we would be seeing more members than non-members at the open house, but I have found that to not be true. Most of the people I talk to are not members and they usually have questions for me. Our shifts at the open house are usually either from 7:00am to 12:00 pm or from 5:00pm to 9:00pm so we end up standing for most of the day because we are at the VC for the other half of our day giving people presentations. Before the temple open house started we usually had time to sit down and rest at the VC but people are coming like crazy and we almost have no time to even eat our meals! It's awesome! The other day we have over 900 people come and visit us here and over 1400 people visit Historic Liberty Jail! Needless to say I am utterly pooped but I have been praying fervently for the Lord to not only give me strength to be able to stand up and greet all of these people, but to give my very best and to use the personality that the Lord blessed me with to help touch the lives of some of these people. It is a more of a struggle some days and this last Thursday started out to be one of those days where it was hard to even smile because I was so tired. We had the early morning shift at the temple open house and I was wondering how I was going to make it all the way to noon without either having a massive freak out or dropping to the floor(both are a bit dramatic, I know:D). Well I said a prayer and trusted that just like the Lord has helped me through every other moment of my mission that He would do so now, and of course He did. I prayed that I could have people come in that I could teach about the gospel so that I could be fulfilling my purpose(at the temple open house our purpose is to ask people how they liked the temple open house, and not necessarily try to teach them right away). Well my prayer was answered and shortly after I prayed I met this couple with a teenage son who had many questions and I was able to go sit down on the couches with them and answer all of their questions and actually teach them the first lesson and parts of others. They were Lutheran and one of the questions that the woman most wanted to ask me was what our church believes about children who die before baptism. I told her what we know from the scriptures, that children under the age of accountability(age 8) will automatically go to the celestial kingdom(I was able to teach them about the plan of salvation!). She was very happy to hear this because she said that she did not agree with the beliefs of some of the people in her church which are that those children will go to hell. They were not ready for missionaries to come to their home but we talked about how they can chat with the missionaries on mormon.org and they were all really excited about that and as they left they seemed to leave lighter. It was incredible! I cannot even imagine how I could deserve to be in this place and this time, with these AMAZING people. The Lord is so good to me and I feel incredibly humbled by all of these experiences.

Well as you can probably see my p-day is on Monday for the rest of this transfer so you all will be getting my email at the beginning of the week for awhile. Last p-day, which was on Wednesday, I told the other sisters that we should go to a museum(I. LOVE. MUSEUMS!!!!) for p-day because it was the last p-day of our dear p-day buddy Sister Sawyer. They said that they were game so I asked the senior missionary couple that was on p-day that day too and also the Director of the Visitors' Centers and his wife if they wanted to come. They all were excited to join us and so we headed to the heart of our area, down town KC,MO. The dear senior couple were nice enough to give us sisters a ride and we seriously had a BLAST! They museum is called the Nelson-Atkins museum and it is one of the top art museums in the world. We got to see original van Gogh's! I have never seen so much beautiful and historic art in my entire life. It was the most fun p-day that I have yet experienced on my mission. I am including a few pictures from this day because it was just plain amazing and such a refresher for my soul. I love history.

Our investigator, Kathy, went to the temple open house this last Thursday night and we were on shift so we got to see her as she came out. Wow. She absolutely LOVED it! She said that when she was in the Celestial room she could not have spoken even if it were allowed. She also said that she felt like she was floating through the temple, and that she felt like the Lord approves of this house that was built for Him. I told her that in a year from the day that she is baptized she can go back into the temple and she said "Yeah! I am so excited to go back, I don't care if I have to wait, it's worth it!" Yesterday at church in gospel principles we were talking about family history work and she asked a ton of questions about the subject and then told us all that she will be making sure that her parents work gets done. How cool is this?!!!! She is so excited for her baptism, and man....I can hardly wait myself!!!!

I also have a bit of sad news this week. We ended up having to drop our investigator Keith because he is not progressing at all. It started to turn into more of a social visit than him coming closer to Jesus Christ. We have been teaching him since Hermana Méndez and I first became companions so I was pretty emotional about it(I bawled my eyes out when we got to the car) but I know that it was what we needed to do, and I totally still have faith that Keith will find his way and that he will be okay. I will continue to pray for him.

Wow, life is great yet it is so crazy to think that back home you all are continuing to live your lives. Don't you all know that you are supposed to put your life on pause until I get home from my mission?! I guess you didn't get the memo...well I say this because within three days I learned that one of my close friends, Royden, is getting married on May 5th, then I saw my cousin Todd and his wife Laura(Hey guys you are in my email!!!), and then I got to see my aunt Kathy May and her two kids Sarah and Adam. It was so crazy and also a reality check that things will not be the same when I get home...they will be better. Sometimes change feels hard, but as a missionary I am learning that change is the lifeblood of progression. We NEED change and it's nothing to fear. Okay so I am embracing it. I AM EMBRACING CHANGE!!! I know that it is what the Lord would have me do, and I know that you all can do it to, because change will always come but we choose how to respond. I know that if we choose to respond by looking to the Savior to help us through, the only one who really understands, we will become new creatures in Christ.

I love you all with my whole heart! para siempre.

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

April 18, 2012 - Week Two Of The Temple Open House

Hola todos!

I pray that this email reaches you all well! We are in the middle of the second week of the temple open house and things have been sooooo crazy! We have had a record number of people come into the Visitors' Center and The Historic Liberty Jail. Last Saturday we had casi 900 people visit the VC and over 1100 visit the Liberty Jail. We are at the temple open house three times a week plus doing all of our normal duties so needless to say we are busy almost every single second. This is the most wonderful time of my life! I feel so exhausted but so very happy. We had the awesome opportunity last Saturday to bring our most recent converts who were baptized two weeks after I arrived in Missouri to the temple open house. I am going to attach a picture of this special time to this email. They loved the temple!!! Oh and they only speak Spanish so the tour that we went on was a Spanish tour and I was asked to help out. I am starting to feel more confident in my Spanish, especially this last week because at the start of this new transfer last Thursday my companion and I decided that we only speak to eachother in Spanish, never in English. We have tried to do this before but this time we are being much more diligent and I have prayed fervently to let go of my pride so that when I really do not understand her I tell her or I ask to please speak slower. I tend to say "otra vez por favor" (again please) many times a day. I love my companion very much! She is so patient with me and she really wants to help me learn this language well. I also feel good about my improvement this week because I have been praying that I could have confidence in my Spanish and speak it without being apologetic about how I am not fluent. Hermana Méndez says that when you keep apologizing for your lack of perfection in the language that the person/people you are talking to will not focus on your message but the way that you are speaking, and they will lose confidence in you. I have really worked on my confidence and I have seen a HUGE difference in the way that the people treat me. This has been such an answer to prayer!!! I really want you all to read the scripture that is the theme for this transfer of my mission and probably for my whole mission. It is D & C 103:36 and it states "All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your ^adiligence, faithfulness, and ^bprayers of faith." Okay so this says All victory meaning...ALL VICTORY. Not just victory but glory too. And what is it brought to pass by? Diligence, faithfulness and PRAYERS of FAITH. This scripture gives us all we need to know. Be diligent. Be faithful. Each and every day say prayers of faith. I know you all can do this because if I can do it, anyone can do it. This scripture is such and answer to prayer for me and I am so thankful for my dear friend Hermana Crystal who shared it with me last Thursday. It has helped change how I feel about the work and what I can do. I can speak Spanish and every day I am learning how to be better and better in the language, but also I am coming closer to my Father in Heaven. I submit that NOTHING has helped me to be a better person than my mission. I love being a missionary.

So I need to tell this little story. At the temple open house we are constantly greeting people and answering questions(and eating cookies, ha ha) and this last Monday this is what I was doing when I met this awesome granola-ish couple from Oregon. Within the first ten minutes of me meeting them they had found out a ton about my life and they already wanted me to come over to their house in KC so that they could give me their old wild life photography equipment and teach me how to use it and they absolutely insisted that I walk out to their pick-up and pet their two dogs! It was so funny! I tried so hard to talk about the temple but they were all like "Oh we know Mormons, we grew up around them and have even helped pay for four mission". Crazy right? Well guess what?! Turns out that they live in our area!!!! We are going to go over there for dinner and to teach them next week.

This week I do not have a ton of time because we are in a hurry to get to the Museum in KC. I love you all!

Have a great week!!

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

PS The picture of us on the golf cart is a hilarious story! I will try to remember next time!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWg9APxG16Q&feature=colike

April 12, 2012 - The House of the Lord

Hola todos!

Wow, okay I need one second for my brain to warm up and for my thoughts to come together. This week has been soooo great, and yet extremely exhausting! We were able to work at the temple open house for the first time last Friday. How can I really even describe this experience in an email? Well last Friday was just such a magnificent day. It was the 6th of April, so the 182nd anniversary of the organization of the church and also Jesus Christ's birthday. My companion and I are working at the reception area that is located at the end of the temple open house tour(this is a fancy way to say "the room with the cookies") when we get the news the President Keyes is bringing the great grandson of Joseph Smith through the open house and they will be arriving in the reception area shortly. Well sure enough, just a few short minutes later President Keyes and his dear wife walk through the door with a man who has the nose of the Prophet Joseph. As President brings him(and his wife too, she was such sweetheart) over to meet us, overhead there is music playing and you will not even believe what song the Mormon Tabernacle choir was beautifully belting. Joseph Smith's First Prayer! But wait! It gets even better! President Keyes is actually working with him(his name is Dan Larson) and his wife, teaching them the gospel. Most of Dan's family is part of the RLDS church, or some break off of the church and for a long time Dan was himself. Keep in mind that Dan is over 70 years old. Anyway, as I shook his hand and was introduced by my mission president I could not help but think about the Prophet Joseph and how happy he must be that his direct descendant is coming back. Dan is actually very close to baptism! He and his wife LOVED the temple. Is this not so very significant? We finally have a temple dedicated so very close to the land that Joseph consecrated as land for the temple, for Zion, and at this very same time one of his posterity is coming back into the fold of God! There were only six of us sisters that actually got to meet Dan and his wife, so I am so thank for this opportunity.

So just an update on Kathy, our investigator with a baptismal date. She is still loving the Book of Mormon. She is currently almost done reading in Jacob. She is also going to be attending the temple open house with one of her friends who is a member. We are working at the temple open house three days a week, so for the next few weeks we are not going to have much time in our area which is a bit difficult, but I know the Lord will bless us and the people that we teach.

On Tuesday we worked at the temple house again, this time there was a TON of people! On Friday when we had worked, it was the VIP tour so there was not too many people, but on Tuesday it was crazy! For the first part of our shift I was presetting the movie that the people watch before they go on the actual tour. So I introduce myself, give some information about the tour and then turn the time over to the tour guide. The thing is that I was in charge of two rooms and there was a total of six rooms. We had to make sure that there was never a time when two rooms were coming out at exactly the same time to walk over to the temple(these rooms are in the chapel that is located right next to the temple) because it would cause a traffic jam and chaos would then ensue. So I was given two stop watches. I would start one right as one movie was starting so that we would know how much more time we had until those people are ready to come out and head to the temple. Then I would go over and preset the other movie and start that clock watch. The movie is 12 minutes long. Anyway it was pretty crazy, but the cool thing was that if you were an outsider looking in you probably never would have known how crazy it really was. The church REALLY is good at crowd control. We had at least five hundred people going through there and hour if not more.

Due to our getting up at insane hours(5:15, hey its feels SO much earlier than our normal 6:30) in order to work at the temple open house, plus having all of our normal responsibilities, I have to say that I am spent. I have never known this kind of exhaustion in my entire life! While at the temple we are answering questions constantly. You would be shocked at the number of non-members that we have come to the open house! A lot of them belong the the Community of Christ church(formerly the RLDS church). I have to tell one last story because it meant so much to me. Well I said that we are constantly being asked questions at the open house. On Tuesday I had this big group of people come into the reception area right after going on their temple tour. Now before the tour starts the tour guides tell their group that they have to hold their questions until the end because there is always a group coming right after them so they cannot pause to answer questions while inside the temple. The place that comes right after the tour is where we are. Is is FANTASTIC!!! I love it when these people have so many questions for us. Well like I said a big group came over to me, I would say there was about twenty people in this group. They had all come together and they were baptists and catholics. They all started firing questions at me(I bet it looked pretty funny too because they literally encircled me) and I prayed that I could answer with the Spirit and then answered them. This one lady just had this sour look an her face and she kept asking these questions with this tone like "Well how do you explain this young lady!". I kept my cool and after I had finished answering someone else's question where I had mentioned that the temple is the House of the Lord she then said "Well if you worship in a chapel on Sundays but you say that the temple is the House of the Lord, is the Lord not there when you worship on Sundays?". At this point I think she thought she had caught me in a lie or something, she just was acting a bit haughty. I prayed for inspiration as to what to tell her and then the Spirit spoke through me. I said "Just like in the Old Testament in the times of King Soloman we have temples that are sacred and holy places, Houses of the Lord. You could compare our chapel to the synagogues of old where all people could go to worship and where the Spirit of the Lord resided." Well she looked at me and her face got a lot softer and she said "Oh, okay, thank you". I answered a few more of their questions and then they thanked me and went to go finish eating their cookies. Okay these were NOT my words. I have never spoken of "synagogues in times of old". I feel so overwhelmed with gratitude that the Lord allowed me to be His mouthpiece for these people. As they were leaving most of them even told me that they would fill out a comment card too and that they had really been impressed by the temple and our members. The Lord's blessings never cease to amaze me.

Well I am about out of time. I just want to let you all know that I love you and that I pray very fervently for your well being. Remember to do the small and simple things and you will see great things come to pass.

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

April 5, 2012- We'll Bring the World His Truth

HOLA!!!

Wow...there is SO much to talk about this week! I am so excited to write this email! Okay who all enjoyed conference? Raise your hand!!! (I am laughing picturing you all raising your hands in the varies places where you resident, ha ha). In all seriousness, was this last General Conference not AMAZING?! I love our dear prophet and his apostles so much! As I was attempting to watch the very first session on Saturday at our ward mission leader's home (please keep in mind that he has a three year old daughter that is the most rowdy child in our ward, and between her screaming at the top of her lungs because she wanted to watch Fineas and Ferb and her tromping up the stairs in a rather awesome dinosaur costume, I was rather amused and distracted) I found myself wishing that my mom was sitting next to me with her crocheting and that Doug was there too nodding off and calling conference "con-pucky" like he did as a child, along with my little sister fiddling away on her iPad(those kids and their technomology). Did you all love President Utchdorf's talk? Stop it? I loved this one!!! It spoke right to me.

After the first session of conference on Saturday I got to experience one of the coolest things that I have experienced thus far on my mission. Do you all remember quite awhile back when I went on exchanges and I was with Sister Minall and I stopped the car and told her that we needed to find someone on this street so she asked me which house that we should go to and we found a kid named Brandon? He was baptized on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so wonderful!!! I can hardly believe that he is now a member of the church. I was able to conduct the music at his baptism and I cannot even describe to you the feeling that I had as I watched him be baptized. Tears washed down my cheeks as I realized that Brandon has been one of the very first evidences on my mission of me really trying to allow the Lord to direct me, and letting go of my pride. He is going to serve a mission too! Can you believe it?! The Lord loves His children so very, very much. I will love my dear friend Brandon forever. I am going to attach a picture of us at his baptism too.

Okay so a quick story about my camera. Random I know but stick with me. Last P-day we went to Sonic with one of the senior couples and at one point realized that our windows were rolled down so we went to roll them up. Right after eating lunch we went over to Walgreens to develop pictures and I could not find my camera. Any of you who really know me know that I LOVE to take pictures, so I was heartbroken because as all of us(my companion and I and the other companionship of sisters that have p-day with us) were thinking about and as we went back to every place that we had thus far visited that day, we realized that I had not even had my camera out at most of the places. We decided that it was most likely that someone had stolen it out of our car window when we had left it rolled down for that short period of time. Wow. This was such a hard moment for me. I lost so many pictures and a camera that I had bought myself especially for my mission. After we finished looking for my camera we went home, I cried for a bit, took a nap, and then when p-day ended at six we went to our area and followed through on our plans. I prayed that I would be okay and that I could let it go because crying and worrying about it was not going to help anything. When we got home that night I cried again and my companion and I laid on the floor all dramatically(it was very therapeutic for me ha ha!) and she even held my hand for a bit(this is a big deal for her, she is slowly turning into more of a "touchy feely" person which she says that I am). Well my mother always says that you can be sad about something for one day, and then the next day you move on and go on about your daily tasks. So that is what I did and I continue to do. What else can I do? This last week I did not have a camera and I realized that it was not a big deal. I am still a missionary. I am still the happiest that I have ever been in my entire life. Life is good. With our without a camera.

So should I now tell you what happened yesterday?!!! Well my companion and I were at the VC in the morning waiting for the time when we would get to leave with all of the other sisters to go to our momentous training from Elder Walker of the first Quorom of the Seventy(He is the executive over all of the temples) when we realized that we had a voicemail on our phone from the mission office. Someone had found my camera!!!! It was actually Walgreens saying that they had it!!! I got my camera back! Not only that but I seriously learned to a much greater extent what is REALLY important in life. The Lord is wonderful!!!!!!! I am still a missionary AND I have my camera.

Okay so I mentioned that yesterday we had a training by a general authority. Yeah. That really happened. He flew here to train us on how to work at the temple open house. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life!!! He told us stories about how many people have come unto the waters of baptism because of open houses and we also learned of the reason why they have us sister missionaries do it. I was hand picked to be here. That is such an awesome feeling and it makes me want to do my very best. This occasion was not only momentous because we had a general authority training us and because we were being about to work at a temple open house in such a beautiful and historic place, but also because all 43 of the sisters in our mission were gathered together in one place at the same time. It was such an awesome sight! Us all being together at the same place at the same time almost never happens. At the end Elder Walker open it up for questions and the sisters did not seem so have a ton of questions so I asked him "Alright, what is the limit on cookies?" Well this caused an immediate uproar of laughter that I honestly did not expect. I thought I was telling a cheeky joke that people might chuckle at, but everyone thought it was hilarious and Elder Walker laughed so hard. He then asked what my name was and told me "For you Sister Thorne, there is no limit!" So there you have it. For the whole time I am working at the open house I get to eat an unlimited amount of cookies. :D We also got a tour of the new temple before the open house even begins on Saturday! This temple is seriously incredible. It has some of the most beautiful features that I have ever seen. What a fantastic day.

So along with the open house, guess who is coming here to dedicate the temple?! President Monson! and Elder Holland!!!! Okay, okay...I know that this is so much good news all in one email but guess what else?!!! We as missionaries in the Missouri Independence Mission get to sing "We'll Bring the World His Truth" at the cultural celebration the day before the dedication!!!!!!!! For President Monson and Elder Holland!!!!!!!!!!! Hermana Méndez and I almost died when we found out about this!!! I feel so very blessed to be here at this time.

The work continues to progress. I absolutely love the people of Kansas City!!! This last week we did not find any new investigators but we did teach some great lessons to our investigators. Kathy continues to progress and is excited for her baptism date in June. She LOVES the Book of Mormon. Everytime that we call her and go to teach her she tells us about where she is reading and she wants to talk through everything that she does not understand. I LOVE this about her. And she normally already understands what is going on. She has changed so much from when we first met her! She is so much happier and less dependent on others to make her happy. I can testify that whatever Christ touches lives.

I am attaching a picture of a friend that I found. My companion would hardly get close enough to take a picture because she was so afraid of it. It actually jumped toward her and she screamed and ran away. It was quite humorous.

The Lord is so aware of you. You personally. I know because I have felt the prayers that you pray for me back home(Yes Nikki I have felt your prayers). I know where in true happiness lies. "The Lord is my light so why should I fear".

Until next week my loved ones,

Hermana Thorne