Heidi's journey of Independence as she serves God's children in Independence, MO teaching them the word of God as a Sister Missionary!
To find out more about the LDS church visit: www.mormon.org
Well I am just going to just jump right in. This last week was a wee bit crazy and wonderful all in one. The first part of the week was a bit slow and my companion and I were having a bit of a hard time because we could not seem to find new people to teach and we were both running low in the motivation area. There was a very bright point to these couple of days though! Ivan gave me his guitar because he is moving so now I can play! Also one of the elders that is serving in our ward too is letting me borrow his simplified hymn book and it has guitar chords in it! I am now singing hymns with the guitar! It was such a blessing from the Lord because it really helps me to release stress and anxiety to play. Another cool thing about this hard time was that although I felt some depression and didn't know exactly how everything was going to work out I did not freak out or anything. I knew that everything would be okay and that "this too shall pass", and you know what? It really did. In fact it was followed by an AWESOME miracle! This last Saturday we fasted with Lawanda and Tiauna(our mother and daughter investigators that we have been teaching since June) with the purpose of Lawanda's boss giving her Sundays off so that they can be baptized and come to church every Sunday. We actually asked Lawanda to fast with us and she said that would. Well Saturday was a day full of tracting and trying to find new investigators for us. Now being able to eat was not really bad at all but we were both dehydrated from the heat(yeah it was warm and humid here on Saturday...the weather keeps changing!) but we stuck it out until dinner when we had planned to break our fast. We had some success in finding people and right before we went to our dinner appointment I asked my companion if we could go see Tiauna(Lawanda's 11 year old daughter that is getting baptized too!) before we ate dinner. When we got there Lawanda was home too and she told us that her boss had given her Sundays off starting this next week but that she would have to work the next day. So we planned the baptism for the 3rd of November. Well five minutes later Tiauna walks in the door coming home from the store where Lawanda works and tells her that her boss said that she actually gave her this Sunday off too! So we were able to move the baptism up a whole week! We have been praying for this to work out for so long. I know with my whole soul that fasting is what did it! They did come to church yesterday for the first time in over a month and they all loved it. Tiauna and one of her other daughter's Myqueria are both going to be performing in the Primary performance next Sunday and they are both excited. I feel like this is such a sacred experience because the Lord gave us more than we even asked for. Do you want to see miracles happen? Fast with real intent, with whole purpose of heart and the Lord WILL bless you. I know it's true because it has happened here!
In the title of this email I wrote about the Liberty Jail. Yesterday we were so blessed to get to take our recent convert Ivan to the Historic Liberty Jail to a very special fireside that happens once a month for recent converts. It is called the President's devotional because our mission president actually puts it on. It is like a big testimony meeting of recent converts. It was so incredible! Ivan was really nervous to share his testimony in front of so many people but he ended up doing it. I felt so happy that it seemed like a dream. He is reading the Book of Mormon every day and praying. It is the most incredible feeling in the world to see someone progress and change like he is. Also he is receiving the Aaronic Priesthood this next Sunday. I know the Lord puts us in the right place at the right time when we are being righteous. I am so glad that we met Ivan! We also got to go through the presentation at the Historic Liberty Jail after the fireside with Ivan and a member of our ward here, Ramon Morinigo(he is one of my good friends here in the ward, a very kind man from Argentina). My old companion Hermana Méndez actually took us on the presentation. It was AWESOME to get to see her. I hope that I get to serve at the Liberty Jail here soon.
I am praying that all of you out there remember how much you are loved. Keep smiling and remember who you are!
It's me again, your favorite sister missionary serving in the state of Kansas. As I write this I am thinking about all of the many different places that you all live(mostly on the west side of the country) and I am praying that in all of your many different places you are all finding joy in the journey. I love you all so very much and I am thankful that you are supporting me by reading my weekly emails.
Oh my goodness, this last week has been FANTASTIC. My companion and I worked our tails off trying to find new people to teach. Last Tuesday we had planned to tract quite a bit because we wanted to find people in a new area that we had not worked in a whole lot. That day we worked really hard to use every moment of our time talking to people and we ended up teaching 12 lessons that day! It was INCREDIBLE! By the time we got home we were so exhausted that we planned for the next day and then pretty much fell right into bed, that night I don't remember moving at all while I was trying to sleep I just zonked right out(this is pretty unusual for me on the mission because I normally lay there tossing and turning and thinking about the things that happened during the day). So. Another reason why this last week was so cool is because I know the reason why I worked so hard is because of Elder Holland's talk from General Conference. Every time that I had a temptation to be a bit lazy or let someone pass by without talking to them or every time I just felt like taking a few more minutes than I should at lunch time or being late for my studies into my mind popped the words "Hermana Thorne, do you love me?". Every time throughout the week that the Lord has sent these words to my mind I feel tears come to my eyes and I know that I need to show Him how much I love Him by my actions. It is not enough to just say that I love the Lord. I feel like a different person after this General Conference, especially after that talk. I have started to realize so much that it doesn't matter at all if I am tired, or hungry, or I don't feel confidence. If the Lord could create everything with such utter perfection He can help me change my thoughts so that although I may not feel well or even have the desire to do something I can still do it. The way that I have done things most of my life has obviously not really worked out a whole lot. I sometimes do the same thing over and over expecting to receive a different result. This is one definition of insanity...So. How hard is it for people to change? Well, how hard is it for ME to change? Before I thought it was really, really difficult. In fact I think I wondered if it was at all possible. I think this negative way of thinking came from the promises of others that they would change and then they didn't. I think it came also from me promising myself different things over and over and not keep the promises with myself. You know that part I think is the very hardest, not keeping promises that you make with yourself. If you can't trust yourself because you have let yourself down so many times then you just start to feel so alone because you don't even have you to lift you up. When you feel horrible about who you are a lot of the time you turn away from the Lord. So. I have said a lot of things here. I guess that I am writing and writing to finally make it to this point. I believe with all that I am that making and KEEPING promises is a beautiful secret to happiness. I cannot even believe that this has taken me so long to figure out! For example; we are baptized at eight years old or older into the church. Right there is our first promise that we make with the Lord. We PROMISE to take His name upon us and we are in return PROMISED blessings. If we break our promise to the Lord, how do we feel? Another example might deal more with friends or your spouse. If you make a promise and then you do not keep it how do you feel? How does the other person feel? It is very hard to develop trust within a relationship if promises are not kept. I think for me I am now realizing that before I make a promise or a commitment to someone I really need to make sure that I can fulfill this promise. Of course everyone makes mistakes but I firmly believe that making and keeping promises can not only build stronger relationships, but will also boost your confidence in yourself and the confidence that others have in your. We are a covenant keeping people, remember? This means we keep our promises. I did not know that I would be speaking so in depth about this but I hope that it helps someone out there.
Okay so we got to go the the Gladys Knight program and it was AMAZING! Most of you who know me know that I LOVE gospel music and that was what this was. We got to dance and clap and yell amen! Not even joking you! They are trying to help people understand that the way that we sing the hymns and do some of the things that we do in the church is tradition not regulation. I felt the Spirit in abundance and we have already received 4 referrals from that night that we will be visiting this next week. I was in absolute heaven while listening to Gladys and the choir. I clapped like no tomorrow and sang my heart out. There were a TON of non members there and a good amount of them African-Americans. I think my soul may have accidentally gone to the wrong body and really I was supposed to be a bodacious black woman because I LOVE SOUL MUSIC! It was a bit funny to see some of the members not know how to react to the program because they are so used to the traditional hymns of the church. Well the First Presidency wants the church to start adopting the culture of the members because there are SO many diverse cultures within the 15 million people who are now part of the fold. I am ALL for it! :D Oh! I loved it!!!! Our recent convert Ivan also went and thought it was awesome.
I love you all and I want you to know that if you are feeling down, nothing can help you feel better than listening to some uplifting music, praying or reading your scriptures. Before my mission I thought that these were cheesy answers that probably did not really work. I am testifying to you right now that these things really DO work. I am a witness of this because the things that I have been asked to do on my mission have been the hardest things that I have been asked to do in my life and I am the happiest that I have ever been now because I am partaking of living water through the scriptures and prayer. Sometimes we want to turn to other things but they will not quench your inner thirst. I promise if you really work first on your relationship with the Lord everything else will fall into place. Everything.
Pues como estan?!!!! Esta semana pasada fue MUY bien. We had a great last week. I am learning on my mission that I am not perfect but as my companion quoted to me the other day "What do we do when we fall Bruce?"(Batman) "We get back up." I love her. That is what I am really learning. I am going to fall and I do fall but what I am really learning is to get right back up and not let the fear of falling again keep me from running harder. I am learning so much about myself and what will trigger feelings of anxiety and depression in me. I have come to realize that I absolutely adore cleaning(I know Mom, you are wondering where this part of my personality was when I lived with you :D). Whenever I am starting to feel anxiety or overwhelmed I look around and usually realize that our apartment or just my space is messy. I then take a deep breath, say a prayer and clean something. Without a doubt I feel better and then I can refocus on the task at hand and I feel like I am totally capable of doing anything the Lord asks of me. Right. CLEANING. Who knew...
Well we really had a cool miracle last Tuesday night. We had set up an appointment with Ivan(our recent convert...WOO HOO!) to teach him the last lesson that we teach them after they are baptized. On the way to the appointment my companion says "Hey we haven't really talked to Ivan about tattoos, only piercings. Let's make sure that we talk about it tonight." I told her that I had been thinking about that the week before but forgot to mention it. So while we are teaching Ivan he actually mentioned the word tattoo and we were reminded about it and we talked to him about how it was not good. He then ask about the tattoos that he already has and we told him that it was fine because he was baptized but not to get more. He then told us he had a tattoo on his back. We didn't really think anything of it until the end of the lesson when he just was acting kind of weird, like closed off to us and so we asked him what was wrong. He then told asked us why we talked to him about tattoos that night. We told him about the conversation that we had had in the car on the way to our appointment about telling him about tattoos. Well he said that he did not yet have that tattoo on his back but he had an appointment to get it that very night at his house. He had had the appointment for months. He could not understand how it was that we knew to talk about it. We tried to explain that they Lord is so aware of him and is always looking out for him. He still is talking about how we knew to talk about it. I know without a doubt that it was through inspiration. The Lord answers to the needs of others through His servants. Are you one of those servants? On Friday we had such a great day. We had a bit of a rough day on Thursday so we were really pumped to find some good investigators on Friday. We prayed for success and knew that we would be doing a ton of tracting. Due to the fact that we had district meeting in the morning then a planned dinner appointment we ended up only having about two hours of tracting but in that time period we taught 8 lessons and found 3 new investigators! It was just what we needed. We prayfully picked a place to go the night before and then stuck to our plans and found people that we know we were supposed to meet. Faith precedes the miracle. I feel so very blessed.
Also we got to go to a Quinciñera on Saturday night for our dinner. We were only there an hour because that is how long that we can stay at dinners but and hour was enough. The music was very loud and I just really wanted to dance so it was just kind of weird because of course we can't. Also EVERYONE stared at us. EVERYONE. We are very white and obviously missionaries. Ivan really wanted us to go so we did. Hispanics know how to party, that is for sure. I think I will wait until I go home to go to another one of those parties.
So one last really important thing!!!! GLADYS KNIGHT is coming here!!!! With her choir called "the Saint's United Voices". Some of you may have heard the CD. Anyone Gladys is a member and there is a big program going on in Independence that they have been talking about for months. You have to have tickets to go and it is a missionary thing so in order to go you are supposed to bring a non-member. Well we had set it up Lawanda and Tiana(some of our investigators) to go but Lawanda has to work. This morning we got a call from one of the assistants to the President and he asks us if we have anyone going to the program. Well I feel kind of dumb because we really don't have anyone a hundred percent sure. He just says "Oh, that's cool. Do you sisters want to be helpers with the program? We need ushers and people to help out. Only 3 companionships of elders and three of sisters can do it out of the whole mission. Do you guys want to do it?" I about died!!! I said yes of course we would love to do it. He then told us that we will get to be there all day on Satuday. I will get to see Gladys Knight! I feel so blessed. We have such a huge mission and so many sister missionaries so for us to get to do it is such an honor! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!
I love all of you and I pray that you are all finding joy in the journey. Wasn't conference terrific? I just LOVED the Bee talk, well I loved all of the talks but that one was my favorite.
AAAHHH! I don't even know where to start in this email...this last week was jam-packed full of awesomeness. First of all...IVAN WAS BAPTIZED!!!! He is officially a member of the church. Last week we finished up all of the things that he needed to know before he was baptized and then last Saturday we had THREE baptisms in our ward!!! There are three sets of missionaries in the Kaw River ward and all of us had one person being baptized. It was incredible, and one of the best days that I have ever had. Ivan was so prepared to be baptized. I read through the baptismal interview questions in Spanish to him the day before his interview so that we could make sure that there was not anything else that we needed to go over, I felt such a peace come over him. He was so excited and nervous the day of. Uh...we may have forgotten to tell him to make sure to bring an extra change of undies to the baptism. So he gets to the baptism and he was all excited and ready but he had forgotten his towel and did not know that he needed extra boxers...yeah it was a bit funny...not sure how he overcame that issue and not really sure that I want to know...ha ha! Well the baptism went so well! Yesterday he was confirmed and it was one of the best days that I have yet experienced on my mission. Right after Ivan was confirmed he said that he felt and warm feeling come over him. He was grinning from ear to ear, I have never seen him smile that big before. He has been welcomed so well into our ward. I can hardly believe the change that has come over him. He is a forever friend to me. My mom does not know it yet but he is my long lost brother, it will be a bit exciting for her to know that she has a Mexican son that was lost at birth and who has a way better tan than her. Also he has no freckles or red hair. But no matter! He is still my brother and one of my dearest friends. I am so thankful that the Lord allowed us to teach him.
We also got to go to the Relief Society General Session at out stake center Saturday night. It was just an all around beautiful weekend. They fed us this incredible food and we got to go with one of my favorite people ever, Jennifer. She is a recent convert. Well we were fed spiritually. I just cried through the whole session because I guess I had forgotten how much I love to be spiritually fed myself. Everything we do is to help the others around us learn and understand and for that short period of time I was able to just listen and try to soak in the goodness of their words. I have missed so much getting to have deep conversations about the gospel and about doctrine and yet I have grown so much in my testimony and the way that I feel about the Savior. I love the feeling of unity that I get when I am around all of these faithful women of the church. I was reminded in the session about how much the Lord loves His daughters and how very special we are to Him. Sometimes we all forget how much the Lord loves us personally because our lives are so busy. Take a moment to day to remember everything that the Lord did for you this last week then remember how much you mean to Him. He is so aware of you personally I know that it's true. I know that it is true because the Lord allows me to feel just a glimpse of the love that He has for the people of Kansas City Kansas, and believe me it is an awful lot.
I pray all is well. Don't forget who you are in the midst of the noise of your cell phones, computers, ipads, or whatever else might drown out the whisperings of the Spirit.
