May 28, 2012 - A whooole new world...

Hola todos! 


Yeah...the title of this email should tell you everything. I was transferred...to the one place that I had prayed and prayed that I would be transferred to! Kaw River ward just across the river in Kansas City Missouri. This is the only other Spanish speaking ward that sisters get to serve in. I could hardly believe my ears when I got the transfer call because I am follow up training and I did not think that I would be because I did not go to the meeting that people who are training normally go to. Thankfully I had a feeling that I was leaving so I did say goodbye to most of the people in my ward and those whom I was teaching. It was very very hard to say goodbye and honestly I felt like my heart was breaking but I knew that it was time to go. 

Well I thought that the Riverview ward was one of the craziest things that I had ever experienced but I had not yet been here to Kansas City, Kansas. Way more of the ward speaks Spanish and honestly my Spanish has already improved in the small amount of time that I have been here. My companion's name is Hermana Sant and she is from Virginia. I love her so much! Already we get along really well and honestly I feel a lot more relaxed than I did before because we are more similar than I have been with any of my other companions. She just gets me more(if it's really if possible for anyone to get me ha ha:D) We live with a member of the ward in our actual area! Before I was living in Independence and driving to our area every day. The members name is Sister Jones and I am very thankful to her for the hospitality that she shows to us missionaries. 

So we only have a car every other week here in KC, K. Every other week we ride the bus and walk a ton. I absolutely LOVE it. My companion does not exactly feel the same(she is a bit of a germa-phobe and the bus grosses her out) but she is such a trooper and we do what we have to do to get where we need to be. Let me tell you that the Lord protects His missionaries. I have a story about two elders in the mission, not in our zone but I think their area is not too far from here. Well President Keyes was supposed to come and do a training for all of the VC sisters two days before transfers last week. Well he did not end up coming and we got word that he was not coming because a companionship of elders in the mission had gotten in a serious car accident and one of them was even life-flighted to the hospital, while the other was rushed in an ambulance. Well all of us were really worried and praying that those two elders were okay. The very next day the director of the VC got up to talk to all of the sisters at a meeting that we were having and he told us that both of those elders were able to go home later that night. The doctors at the hospital were completely amazed that both of these young men were able to go home and especially the one that had been life flighted. Neither one of them had even broken a bone! What had happened is that they ran into a tree and it caused a ton of damage...yet they were both okay, able to go home and stay on their missions. I can tell you that I have felt the hand of the Lord already since being here in KC, K. The other day we were walking down a street towards our dinner appointment in a part of town that is a teeny bit shady and we said hello to this man that was walking past us and right away he asked if we were Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses. We told him Mormons and then he proceeded to try and chew us out and was really getting up in our faces. Well we turned to walk away and it seemed like he might try to follow us but thankfully he did not end up doing it. Well right after we left we saw this other man behind us and he said "Don't worry ladies, I would not have let him lay a hand on you." It was this "old biker dude"(as he called himself) and he walked with us for a bit and showed us where he lived and he said that if we were in this part of town and anyone tried to hurt us again to remember where his family lives and to go straight there. So. Who are we to choose the way that the Lord protects us? Whether it be in the form of an "old biker dude" or having no broken bones after having totaled a car by crashing into a tree? Dios sabe todos do nuestros situaciones. 

I pray all is well! I love you all so much. Sadly I do not have a card reader for my memory card so until I get one I won't be able to send pictures. I will try to describe in detail to make up for it, ha ha! 

les amo mucho!!! 

con amor, 

Hermana "Espina" Thorne

May 21, 2012- Hola!

Hola todos!

I love the chance that I get to write these emails each week because I have a moment to recognize many of the things that happened in the week previous. Looking back on this last week I can hardly believe that it is over and the start of a new one is here! This new week brings with it transfers and I have a feeling that I am going to be moved. My current companion and I have been together for 3 transfers (4 and a half months) and I have never heard of any sisters who stayed together more than three transfers. Seeing as how I have the seniority in the Riverview ward we both feel like it is most likely that I will be changed. I will know tomorrow night and I will update you all in my email next Monday. I am a bit nervous yet excited for change. Yesterday was a bit hard saying goodbye to my ward family. My heart is in Riverview. I have grown to love these people so much that I did not want to ever think at all about having to leave them, yet I know that where the Lord chooses to send me next will be the place that I need to be.

Last week I feel like we were working more on helping the investigators that we currently have to progress. We also had a kind of crazy week. Well....okay so I don't remember if I talked about this in my last email but at the VC we got a call from a girl named Tara who wanted to know where the church in Kansas City was. Well I told her and then I found out that she wanted missionaries to come over to her house and teach her. So we did. When we got there we realized that she has some kind of mental disability. This first day of us visiting her brought an onslaught of calls almost every hour alongs with texts in about the same abundance. We told her that she cannot call us that much because we need to be able to teach others the way that we are teaching her. We told her that she could call us and text us once a day. This did not happen. She continued to call us a ton and also she started calling the VC asking for me. Last p-day we were told by some other elders who were here at the library writing home too that she is in contact with them as well and she wont stop calling them. We think that she might already be a member of the church so we are currently trying to find her records. She keeps calling the VC and coming by to see me(not sure why she specifically wants to see me) and even showed up at the church yesterday AFTER church. I dont know what to do because she just really needs love, but as missionaries we cannot provide what she needs. We already told our bishop about her but today we really need to call him and see if he can get someone in relief society to befriend her and help her. I am praying for her everyday.

A member of our ward took us out to eat this last week at one of those Japanese steak and seafood places where the guy cooks the food right in front of you and does a little show. It was for sure the nicest place that I have eaten at on my mission. We had so much fun!!! These three people sat down next to us and this guy asked me about my name tag and through dinner I was able to teach him a ton about the gospel, actually the whole first lesson. He seemed really interested and asked for my "business card" before we left and I gave him a Book of Mormon. He later text our phone number and I think he thought it was just my number and he wanted to go to the same steak house again. Yeah. Hopefully he is interested in the gospel...we will send the elders to him! Oh and at the steak house when the cook guy threw the food for us to catch it in our mouths...I caught both!!! I may have been the only one at the whole table who did it too... :D You know what? I am not exactly sure if having a big mouth is something to brag about....

So we had an appointment with our investigator named John Freeman this last week but he was not home when we got there. Ever since the very first time that we went to his house I noticed that his lawn really needed to be mowed but his friend that is helping him recover from his surgery, Jody, was going to mow the back lawn and actually asked me to help her start the lawn mower...I dont think that she could get it started again or something because the lawn was not competely mowed. Because I had helped her start the mower previously I knew where it was at in the shed in the backyard, so I told Hna Méndez that I wanted to mow his lawn during the time that we had set aside for his appointment. I was just praying that he would not show up while we were doing it! Well I mowed the front and then we both mowed the back. As I was mowing I was laughing thinking was we looked like out there in our Sunday best mowing John's lawn. Well we finished and they did not come while we were doing it! Later that night we got a phone call from John's friend Jody and she told us that John was like "Who in the world would do this?!" and Jody thought for a minute and then she said "It could only have been Sister Thorne (when she had asked me to help her start the mower before I actually had tried to take it from her and mow the lawn myself, I mean the woman in 75 for heaven's sake!)". John told her that there was no way that we could have done it, and then they found the note that we had left on the door reminding them that they had missed our appointment and that we would call to reschedule. Jody said to John then(keep in mind that Jody is a member) "Oh those sister missionaries did this, you just don't understand people from my church John!" This was one of the greatest moments to see how happy John was to have recieved service. What a wonderful day!

Well this week was great, and I can't wait to find out what is going to happen at transfers. I love you all so very much and I pray for you daily. Hey, look for some opportunities to serve and remember that it is hard to be sad when you are singing an uptlifting song.

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

May 14, 2012 - Las Madres.

Hola todos,

I hope that Mother's Day went well for everyone. To all of the Mothers that I did not get to talk to Happy Mothers Day! I love you all very much! Yesterday I was able to speak to my mom on the phone and it was so nice to hear her voice and yet still a bit weird when she said "Hi Heidi!". I told her that right now my name is Hermana Thorne and she said "Hi Hermana Thorne!" which was honestly even more weird for me. Its a bit crazy to have my two worlds mix, my home life and my mission life.

What to say about this last week...well we now have two new investigators with baptismal dates. One of them is a girl that was being taught by some sisters who work with us in the VC but their investigator who alredy had a baptismal date with them moved into our area. I actually feel really bad about this because these sisters have worked hard teaching this girl and then out of the blue she moved into our area. Well she really is ready to be baptized so that will happen on June 1. We also had this other girl named Tara call the VC and I talked to her on the phone. She asked where the LDS church in Kansas City was and I asked her where she lived and she just happened to live in our area! We went over that same day and taught her and actually set a baptismal date for June 2. During our first meeting with Tara we were having our lesson out on her front porch and in the middle of me testifying she just screamed bloody murder. I about peed my pants(well, skirt...). She then said oh I thought that cat was going to get ran over by that car. Wow. Then we saw this other cat walking over carrying a snake in its mouth so we all were distracted again and I was mortified that this cat was going to murder this snake and so I walked over to the cat and it dropped the snake. I then proceeded to assess that damage done to the snake by the cat and came to the conclusion that the injuries that the snake had sustained were only minor but it was acting as if it was dead. The whole time my companion is completely discusted(she hates animals and especially snakes) and Tara cannot stop laughing. Well a moment later I realize that the snake was just playing dead because it began to wiggle like crazy to escape the hands of its hero, so I set the poor soul free into the tall grass. Wonderful experience.

This last week I was also incredibly blessed to get to go on a trip with some of the other sisters from the VC to Liberty Jail, Farwest, and Adam-ondi-Ahman. I had previously been to Liberty Jail but not to the other two locations. For some reason Liberty Jail was far more meaningful to me this time. I felt an INCREDIBLE spirit there and I felt my testimony of the Prophet Joseph magnify even further. Then getting to travel to Farwest and to hear the stories of the saints there and the way that they devoted themselves to God, yet were driven from the land that they had purchased by force was such an emotional experience. I would urge you all to visit these sites if you have not done so and at the very least read up on them in church history and the Doctrine and Covenants. There are so many beautiful lessons to be learned from the early saints. They suffered afflictions, some because of their own poor choices and some because of the choices of others, but through it all the majority stayed true to the faith and now we ourselves are the fruits of the early saints labors. Beautiful. My favorite place was our last historic stop, Adam-ondi-Ahman. Wow. I felt so very blessed to be standing on that holy ground. I was able to take a minute by myself and ponder on the significance of the place where I was. I was looking down into the valley where we are told there will be a gathering when the Savior comes again. You know what? I know with my whole heart and soul that this will come to pass. I felt the truth of it ring within me, and if we are prepared we shall not fear, we can look to the second coming as a day of joy, the wonderful fulfilling of prophesy.

Next week are transfers and I have a feeling that it is my time to be transfered out of the Riverview ward. If I am completely honest with myself this is one of the hardest things that I could ever think of experiencing. My heart is here. I love these people SO much. My trainer Hermana Dent said that you never will really know heartbreak until you have to leave your first area on your mission. At the time that she said it I thought that I am sure I will be fine when the time comes, and I totally will be. But it is going to be hard. And that's okay. I have learned so much that it does not matter who your companion is or who the members of the ward are. They are all children of God, and He loves them very much. I firmly believe that when we lose ourselves in the service of others and give our whole hearts to the service of God, it is much easier to turn to Him very first in our moments of sorrow and affliction. Every day is a new day to grow closer to the Savior. Do not be afraid to love with all that you are because that is the way that the Savior would have us love. Don't allow the fear of rejection to keep you from giving the love of God to others. Whether someone chooses to accept the love that you give them or not is not up to you and it will not effect the love that you have. Love with all that you are.

I love you all so much! This gospel is true. Share it with those around you and I can promise that you will feel a joy that you never knew that you could experience.

:D hasa luego

Hermana Thorne

May 7, 2012 - We Thank Thee Oh God For A Prophet!

Hola todos,

Wow. Okay I have SO much to tell about in this email that I am trying to figure where is best to even start here...lets start with Necie. So last week we had exchanges and I got to work in my area, Riverview (Kansas City) with a sister named Sister Bingham(I pronounce it Biiiiiinghaaaaam, picture it with a nasally british accent and you will better get the idea). Previous to this day of exchange excitment I had kept having the name of this woman come to my mind that we had already contacted and she had told us that she was open to learning more but her husband is "a mean drunk" and that we could not meet with her at her house. Well we were not entirely sure what to do because her schedule is pretty conflicting and without the eventually okay of her spouse baptism is out(per Preach My Gospel). I could not help but think about her so Sister Bingham and I went and she actually allowed us to set up a time to come back to her house! And we did! The very next morning Sister Méndez and I went back to her house. Can you possibly guess the kind of questions that she asked us? She asked us if it were possible that she be forgiven of her sins, and she also asked us what happens when we die and where we were before we were born. She told us that she has been to MANY different religions but they all left her with the same "holes". We taught her lesson two and are going back to teach her the Plan of Salvation tomorrow. She said so many things that made me feel so blessed to know that the Lord is preparing people for us to meet. I already love her so much!

A quick update on Kathy. She is doing SO well! She is now in chapter 55 of Alma. Last week when we got to her house she had a bunch of jewelry out that she had made herself and she gave it to Hna Méndez and I. After our lesson she said the prayer and in the prayer she said "Dear Lord, thank you for the chance that I had to give Sister Thorne and Sister Méndez that jewelry, it made my heart so full of joy to see them enjoy it". She is so stinkin cute! Such a lovable cat lady, and she is so proud of it. She is continually looking forward to her baptism next month.

I know I told you all about how we were going to sing for the Prophet at the cultural celebration...well WE DID!!!! This last weekend was one of the best in my entire life. On Friday night as Hna Méndez and I were walking to an appointment that we had in the middle of the big city we walked past the marriot hotel(where the Prophet would be staying and where we would be meeting the next day to practice our performance) and we wondered if the Prophet was already there. Then on Saturday after our shift at the VC we headed with a couple of other sisters into the city. I have to tell this funny little side story. The other sisters that were with us were Sister Whittier and Sister Allen. Neither of these sisters had been to the big city but they had heard stories about our area and the crime in Kansas City(don't worry Mom, I am fine!) so I might have taken this to my advantage...no, not might have. I did. ha ha! I told the sisters that before Hna Méndez and I were able to serve in this area we were told that there was one rule that was most important when you are serving in Kansas City. You NEVER under any circumstances look anyone AT ALL in the eye. You look at the ground or the sky but not at ANYONE. They then were all like "Oh really? Okay..." and I was like "It's to keep bad things from happening..." and Sister Whittier then said "Okay we can't look them in the eye? Wow...it's like they are animals..." You should have seen their faces! They were terrified to be going to the city. Then I followed it up with "Also, mutants live in the city, so watch out for them too." This was proceeded by them calling me a jerk and then us all laughing for quite awhile. Okay it was a bit grosera(rude) but we are still laughing about how for just a second they thought they as missionaries we could not even look at anyone because we are in the city... ha ha:D

Okay so on to the big event. All of the missionaries in our mission(200, 42 of them being sisters) met at the Marriot hotel to practice right before the cultural event that was held a few blocks away at the Municipal Center. We all sat down in one of the ballrooms of the hotel and for the first time with all of us from our WHOLE mission together, we sang "Army of Helaman". Wow. I have not felt that much power since I was at the MTC singing with all of the other missionaries. Honestly this was even more powerful because of the love that I have developed for my mission and the missionaries serving with me. President and Sister Keyes were sitting up at the front on this stage type thing and as we started to sing Sister Keyes had tears running down her face and she was not even able to sing along with us. I felt tears well up in my eyes too as I hear the emotion in the singing of all of my fellow missionaries and as I remembered the once in a lifetime opportunity that we were blessed enough to be experiencing. President Keyes then spoke to us, telling us how there is normally never an occasion when a whole mission will gather together, especially not for the opportunity to sing to our beloved Prophet. I felt so blessed at that moment and my whole being felt that at this time and at this place I am supposed to be a missionary and had I served any sooner or any later I would not have been there. My heart still feels overwhelmed with gratitude to my Lord for this calling as His missionary.

After our practice we headed over to the Municipal Center and we were blessed enough to have had seats reserved for us in the nose-bleed section(we actually originally were not going to have seats at all, but to have to stand through the whole thing so these seats were AWESOME). Our time to go down and walk out onto the stage was closer to the end of the two hour performance so we were able to fully enjoy most of the show from our seats. When the Prophet came in and we all started singing "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet" the spirit was incredible. There was a total of 3,500 youth performing and about 10,000 0f their family and friends there to watch it. The kids did an AMAZING job. It was one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. Kenneth Cope performed my favorite song of his "Broken". You all should try to find it and watch it. Our signal to start heading down finally came and so we all got up and filed out. We ended up having to full on run down the empty hallways to where we would enter. As my heart was beating 100 miles a minute while we were waiting in the opening to go on and looking at the thousands and thousands of people that would be watching us sing to the Prophet, my companion pulled on my arm about ripping it out of the socket trying to get my attention. I turned around to see what was the matter and there right in front of me, waiting to shake my hand, was Kenneth Cope! He shook my hand and I said "Oh my gosh! Hi! Uh...You are awesome!" ja ja! and then he said "No! You guys are awesome!" :D. ja ja! So. I met Kenneth Cope, he told me I was awesome, and then directly after we walked out to an arena of almost 15,000 people who all stood for us right as we walked out. The Prophet was actually the first one to stand. As we walked out singing those sacred words and I saw everybody get to their feet and the kids who were performing get down on their knees, I can say that I have NEVER in my entire life felt anything close to what I was feeling in those few short minutes. As we got to the place where we were asked to stand I turned and sang with all of my heart to the Prophet of the Lord. Even thinking about it now gives me goose bumps. The Prophet stood for us missionaries. I have never felt so honored in my entire life, and I know that all of the other missionaries were on the same page as I was. The Lord has blessed my so abundantly.

Wow. So I have already written a ton, I know, but I need to talk about the dedication. Yesterday my companion and I got to go to all 3 of the temple dedications. This was fantastic. I will never forget the spirit that I felt while singing the Spirit of God. I felt the joy of the early saints who have passed on coupled with the saints who now live in this area who will be able to attend the temple frequently now. It was amazing and I never will forget it. With all of my heart and soul I love the Kansas City Missouri temple. Whoever I marry better be ready to drive here to get married. Just putting that out there. It's must. My heart is here.

Okay I have to go. Remember who you are!!! I love you all very very much! Smile, you know the truth!!!

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

PS There is a robin that has a nest in a tree right outside the VC and I named her Lori-bird(Mom it's you!). I check on daily and sadly the other day I saw that one of her eggs had fallen from the nest. I hope there were others. I think there was. Um...also an senior elder at the VC likes to tease me and tell me that he is going to through a baseball at the nest and knock it down. Rude. I shall not react.... :D

April 30, 2012

Hola todos,

I pray all is well in your various places of habitation. Today in Missouri it is foggy. Beautifully foggy. The temple open house is now over with, having ended last Saturday. I have mixed feelings at the temple house being over. I had the best time of my life working as a missionary there and yet I was so exhausted emotionally and physically that I can't help but feel a little relieved. Also I am so excited to be able to work more in our area and find some awesome new investigators. We have recieved a ton of referrals from the temple and now we are just trying to figure out how we are going to have time to visit them all! I am continually amazed at the miracles that are still coming from the temple open house. I can hardly wait for the dedication of the temple this next Sunday, and even before that the cultural celebration in which we are going to not only watch but be a part of singing "Army if Helaman". I think I already told you all this but oh well...it's awesome! We had interviews with President Keyes on Friday and he said that there is probably never going to be another opportunity for our whole mission to gather together like we will be to sing to the prophet, so needless to say our mission President is crazy excited about this too. My companion shows her excitement by REALLY wanting a new outfit. I show my excitement by peeing a little. Well, what can I say? We are very different, but we are both so very excited about this upcoming weekend!

Thinking back on this last week, the thing that I automatically think of that was most memorable was how much I improved in my Spanish. I have really been trying hard to improve in the organization of my Spanish studies and to really make an effort to study my vocab and grammar whenever I have a free second. I have noticed a bit change in how comfortable I am with speaking with native Spanish speakers. I just decided that they are my people and I am going to be comfortable with them when talk to them and so now I really do. Instead of freezing up when a native speaker looks in my direction because I am afraid that they are going to speak to me in rapid fire Spanish and expect me to answer, I now listen to them calmly and ask them to repeat what they said if necessary or to please speak a bit slower. I am telling you, I can totally pick out a native spanish speaker from a crowd of people when they come to the VC, I just look for the person who has the same body language that I have when someone is speaking spanish to me and I don't understand. I love being able to approach them and speak to them in a language that they understand and to watch the relief wash over them when they realize that I will be able to communicate with them. It is so cool!!! Mom are you sure that I am not really a native Mexican?... :D I.Love. Hispanics. 

It's crazy that this month marks me being on my mission for six months. I feel as if Mom and Doug dropped me off at the MTC just yesterday and that I still have so much to learn! This time in my life is the most precious time and although I love everyone back home, I am glad that I still have a year to be with these people who have come to mean the world to me. I have pondered about why my mission means so much to me and I have come up with a few conclusions. When we give up all that we are for something, we let go of some of the things that were occupying our heart and feel them with new things. I feel as if I let go(I am still trying to let go) of things back home and replaced them with the work of the Lord. There have been so many times out here that I have wished that I was a better member, friend, daughter, sister, etc before I served my mission. I have wished that the things that I was letting "occupy my heart" were not of such little and not lasting worth. Yet when I feel this regret I can do nothing but turn to my best friend in the entire world. My dear beloved Savior. Wow. He knows. He knows it all. He knows how I am not good at balancing things out. He knows how hard it is to try and accomplish all of the many things that I want to accomplish, to try to always be like the Him, to try to make sure that I am reaching out to all of those who need it. He knows how I am learning to be better as a sister, friend, and most importantly a missionary. He knows. And through Him the pain of imperfection is taken from me, and the feelings of "not being enough" turn into feelings of "all is well". There is not other place to find this. Plus its a process. I love in the beautiful hymn "Amazing Grace" where it says "I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see". This process is not just one big time where all of a sudden you can see and you are found. Its a daily, weekly, monthly, even yearly process. So. After having said all of this I found the question come into my mind, where do I turn for peace? Where do I go first? Icecream? My companion? A friend? My mother? Or will I choose to make the lasting choice? The eternal choice. I want to choose to turn to Jesus Christ and to allow the Atonement that He already suffered for me not be in vain, and as I sit here at a little library in Independence Missouri(a place that a year ago I NEVER would have guessed that I would be) I find myself wanting even more for you all to choose Him first too. There is already enough pain in the world, there can be less if we choose him first. I know this with all that I am.

I love you all so much and yes sometimes I miss home, but more than anything I am grateful. I will forever be grateful for this time in my life to serve my Lord with all that I have.

You all have the BEST week ever and smile at a stranger. It's so fun!

con amor,

Hermana Thorne