Como estan?! I pray you are all healthy, happy and living life to the fullest. I am still here in Kaw River but rumor has it that I will be transferred this week on Thursday. We will see how accurate these rumors really are. I do feel like I will be leaving though because I have been here six months now. I can hardly believe that I have been here so long! I am forever thankful for my time here it has been the best experience of my life.
This last week was a pretty great one. We were able to teach Lawanda and Tiauna about temples, eternal marriage and family history work. I was SO excited to teach them about this, especially Lawanda because she will LOVE the temple. She did really like what we taught her but we didn't have a chance to really talk as one on one as I would have liked because Mariah(her youngest and my little baby girl) was sick and kept crying. We gave here this video called "Between Heaven and Earth" and she is excited to go to the temple to do baptisms in the next few weeks and then to go to the temple in a year. I assured her that Sister Castellano and I will be in attendance when she goes through the temple in a year here in Kansas City.
Yesterday at church I got up to share my testimony in sacrament meeting and just about five minutes later Lawanda got up too to share hers! As I sat and listened to her say "My testimony starts with the sisters, they came at a time when my life was so full of sadness..." and then she just cried and bore the most beautiful testimony that I have ever heard. Tears streamed down my face as I listened to her tell of how lost she really was and how at home she feels in the gospel. I wish I could put in accurate words the way that I felt at that moment and the way that I feel now but honestly words cannot fully describe it. I know with all that I am that Lawanda was my friend before I was born and I very much look forward to the future and seeing her 6 children raised in the gospel, having lives so different than that would have had otherwise. Lawanda's family actually came to the Trunk-or-Treat that we had last Tuesday night. The kids had a blast! They are all starting to develop friendships in the ward and they love coming to the church activities. I will send a picture of all of us at the Trunk-or-Treat.
So I have some other wonderful news! We are now teaching Lawanda's son Mikey and the kids grandma Becky. Mikey is ready to be baptized within the next few weeks and Becky should be ready within the next month! It was funny because Becky almost always listens in on the lessons but did not want to fully participate so we decided to make a special visit to the house just to see her this last Thursday. The Lord blessed us with a miracle because not only was Becky there, but she was alone without any kids which is something that I don't think that I have ever seen in the whole almost five months that I have known them. The Lord really blessed us to have that quality time with Becky. I felt like she just needed us to be upfront with her so I just said "Becky we know that you like to listen to what we have to say even though you pretend like you are not listening sometimes, can we now teach you please?". She just laughed and said yes and then told us her only problem was being baptized because she already has been in the Catholic church. We then were able to talk a bit more about this concern and to show her that the Lord loves her and we set up a return appointment. It was awesome! I am so thankful for this beautiful family.
My year mark is on the 9th of this month. This does not even seem real to me. There is no way that I have been a missionary for a whole year. It feels like I have only been here for a very short time but it also feels like I have always been a missionary. I want to use every moment more that I have left to the fullest because time is not slowing down at all, more often than not it seems to be speeding up.
I found a gem in my scripture study this morning. It is found in Alma 32:23 " And now, he imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned." The Lord "comparteth his word by angels". Are you choosing to be an angel of God?
I love you all, have the best week of your lives!
con amor,
Hermana Thorne
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