Hola todo!
Hermana Thorne here, writing from a beautifully overcast day in Kansas City, Kansas. I am still gathering my thoughts, trying to figure out exactly what I want to write because our week was a wee bit CRAAAAZY. Well first of all let me say with gladness that although transfers was this last week, both Hna Sant and I are staying in the Kaw River ward. I was really happy to hear this because she is great and I wanted to get to serve with her for one more transfer. She may not have been as happy about it though, she has a bit of a struggle with this area because it is full of things that disgust her(i.e. dogs, cats, drunk men, germs, the occasional gunshot(or firework because this week we could not tell the difference), public transportation, etc.). She was really excited to be called to the VC and would like to go there soon. I have tried to comfort her and she is doing fine now.
So I experienced my first 4th of July in the mission field. It was a day of miracles, I can say that for sure. The day before we had been walking a good amount of the day in a very hot temperatures and we both started to get pretty sick, I am thinking we were starting to show signs of heat exhaustion, so we went and bought some powerade and took it easier for the rest of the day. On the 4th after our studies we headed down to the bus stop(it is like a mile and a half from our house down this big hill) only to find that the bus was not running because of the holiday. As we sat on the bench discussing what we would do next, I was sweating so much that I felt like I had jumped into a swimming pool. Down the street was a bank thermometer and it read 103. We could not get into our area because we need the bus, and the thought of walking up the hill in that mid-day heat was extremely daunting. After taking a short break in the shade we made our way back up the hill and when we made it home the member that we live with, Sister Jones, asked us if we had a dinner and if she could take us anywhere. We did not have a dinner so she made us an AMERICAN 4th of July dinner, hamburgers included. It was amazing! Also that night(and during most of the day) we heard an insane amount of fireworks and after we planned for the next day we went outside to see if we could see any going off from our house. Yes we for sure could...EVERYWHERE! There are not restrictions on what kind of fireworks that you can light of here like there are back home. Everyone and their dog was lighting off the big time fireworks so we had a show going on all around us. It was the loudest 4th of July that I have ever heard!
We were really excited for the weekend to come too because we were having a 17 year old girl come to serve a mini mission with us for three days. Well she came and she really got to experience what it is like to be a missionary in the Kansas heat. We did not have a car last week so we walked everywhere. Now we thought that 103 degrees was bad...when we were getting on the bus into the city on Saturday I took a picture of the thermometer when it read 108. Yes...with humidity!!! We could do nothing but laugh and try to find people who were out in the crazy heat. We did actually end up teaching quite a few people that day! We also experienced my first real scare with a dog. We were walking up to this house that had this cute little beagle like puppy chained up to their porch. The puppy was barking like crazy and I went over to pet it before we knocked on the door. Just as Sister Beesley and I got close to the puppy this huge white dog crawled out from under the porch and jumped toward us growling and snapping. We backed up just enough for it's chain to pull tight and it was not able to get to either of us...yeah we both probably wet ourselves. Lucky Hna Sant was behind us and did not even know what had happened. Don't you worry, I took a picture of the dogs through the fence afterward. Phew, I am so glad that we did not let our little missionary get eaten on her first missionary experience...her parents would have been so upset!
I learned a ton this week about avoiding sin and temptation. While we were doing companionship study one of the mornings that Sister Beesley was here, she talked about not putting ourselves back into the circumstances that we were in when we committed sin. For some reason this really stuck me. Why would I ever put myself in a situation that I had before found to cause me to sin? Many people do this because it is comfortable and all that they know, they go back to the things that they have done before...I would go back to the places I had been and the people I knew, situations that made me more prone to commit sin. The Lord asks us to stretch ourselves, to let go of those old habits and sometimes even to cut ourselves off or distance ourselves from the friends that we are more apt to sin around. The Lord asks us to really upon Him for happiness and then to share the pure love that we receive from Him with others. God is the source of Love, God is love, and that is where all love comes from. I testify that if you are needing to change circumstances in your life to allow you to be more successful, do not be afraid of this. When you are asked to give up something that you feel that you love, or hold dearly by the Lord, He really does want to give you something better. Trust Him, He will never fail you.
I am doing well, I am healthy and happy(and hot most days :D ha ha!). I pray that you all are doing well and I love you so much!!!
con amor,
Hermana Thorne
Hermana Thorne here, writing from a beautifully overcast day in Kansas City, Kansas. I am still gathering my thoughts, trying to figure out exactly what I want to write because our week was a wee bit CRAAAAZY. Well first of all let me say with gladness that although transfers was this last week, both Hna Sant and I are staying in the Kaw River ward. I was really happy to hear this because she is great and I wanted to get to serve with her for one more transfer. She may not have been as happy about it though, she has a bit of a struggle with this area because it is full of things that disgust her(i.e. dogs, cats, drunk men, germs, the occasional gunshot(or firework because this week we could not tell the difference), public transportation, etc.). She was really excited to be called to the VC and would like to go there soon. I have tried to comfort her and she is doing fine now.
So I experienced my first 4th of July in the mission field. It was a day of miracles, I can say that for sure. The day before we had been walking a good amount of the day in a very hot temperatures and we both started to get pretty sick, I am thinking we were starting to show signs of heat exhaustion, so we went and bought some powerade and took it easier for the rest of the day. On the 4th after our studies we headed down to the bus stop(it is like a mile and a half from our house down this big hill) only to find that the bus was not running because of the holiday. As we sat on the bench discussing what we would do next, I was sweating so much that I felt like I had jumped into a swimming pool. Down the street was a bank thermometer and it read 103. We could not get into our area because we need the bus, and the thought of walking up the hill in that mid-day heat was extremely daunting. After taking a short break in the shade we made our way back up the hill and when we made it home the member that we live with, Sister Jones, asked us if we had a dinner and if she could take us anywhere. We did not have a dinner so she made us an AMERICAN 4th of July dinner, hamburgers included. It was amazing! Also that night(and during most of the day) we heard an insane amount of fireworks and after we planned for the next day we went outside to see if we could see any going off from our house. Yes we for sure could...EVERYWHERE! There are not restrictions on what kind of fireworks that you can light of here like there are back home. Everyone and their dog was lighting off the big time fireworks so we had a show going on all around us. It was the loudest 4th of July that I have ever heard!
We were really excited for the weekend to come too because we were having a 17 year old girl come to serve a mini mission with us for three days. Well she came and she really got to experience what it is like to be a missionary in the Kansas heat. We did not have a car last week so we walked everywhere. Now we thought that 103 degrees was bad...when we were getting on the bus into the city on Saturday I took a picture of the thermometer when it read 108. Yes...with humidity!!! We could do nothing but laugh and try to find people who were out in the crazy heat. We did actually end up teaching quite a few people that day! We also experienced my first real scare with a dog. We were walking up to this house that had this cute little beagle like puppy chained up to their porch. The puppy was barking like crazy and I went over to pet it before we knocked on the door. Just as Sister Beesley and I got close to the puppy this huge white dog crawled out from under the porch and jumped toward us growling and snapping. We backed up just enough for it's chain to pull tight and it was not able to get to either of us...yeah we both probably wet ourselves. Lucky Hna Sant was behind us and did not even know what had happened. Don't you worry, I took a picture of the dogs through the fence afterward. Phew, I am so glad that we did not let our little missionary get eaten on her first missionary experience...her parents would have been so upset!
I learned a ton this week about avoiding sin and temptation. While we were doing companionship study one of the mornings that Sister Beesley was here, she talked about not putting ourselves back into the circumstances that we were in when we committed sin. For some reason this really stuck me. Why would I ever put myself in a situation that I had before found to cause me to sin? Many people do this because it is comfortable and all that they know, they go back to the things that they have done before...I would go back to the places I had been and the people I knew, situations that made me more prone to commit sin. The Lord asks us to stretch ourselves, to let go of those old habits and sometimes even to cut ourselves off or distance ourselves from the friends that we are more apt to sin around. The Lord asks us to really upon Him for happiness and then to share the pure love that we receive from Him with others. God is the source of Love, God is love, and that is where all love comes from. I testify that if you are needing to change circumstances in your life to allow you to be more successful, do not be afraid of this. When you are asked to give up something that you feel that you love, or hold dearly by the Lord, He really does want to give you something better. Trust Him, He will never fail you.
I am doing well, I am healthy and happy(and hot most days :D ha ha!). I pray that you all are doing well and I love you so much!!!
con amor,
Hermana Thorne
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