February 25, 2013 - Snow storms, studies, and BIG changes!

Hola todos! 


Les extraño mucho pero tambien estoy feliz aqui con la nieve:) From the pictures that I sent you all know that there has been a big snow storm here. Even more came after we took those pictures. We were not able to leave the house for two days! You would think that this would be a rather nice break but honestly it was quite painful! It is really hard being a missionary and not being able to teach. I felt pretty depressed after the first day and then the second day we tried to do more service and got out and shoveled snow after we found some shovels that we could borrow. Thankfully we have been able to go out for the last two days but the thing is that there is another snow storm coming this afternoon. Our mission president gave us permission to leave the house early today to get all of our stuff done before the second big storm hits. On Friday as we were stuck in the house we received a voice mail from President and Sister Keyes with some pretty big news...our mission is splitting!!! A new mission called the Kansas Witchita mission is being opened so some of the missionaries from our mission will be sent to that mission and the rest will stay in the Missouri Independence mission. Have no fear though, this all will be happening July 1st so it will be after I leave. This was a relief for me because I LOVE the Missouri Independence mission and it is my home while I am a missionary. This news is rather historical though, seeing as how this is the first mission with the title of Kansas in it, before our mission covered most of Kansas and then the rest of it was split up between the surrounding states. I love being a missionary when the work is exploding like it is. We are answering the call from President Monson from this last General Conference to "hasten the work". It is SOOO exciting!!!!! 

I had a really cool experience yesterday. I was able to talk with a woman in the Kaw River ward that I knew sometime in the past I had offended somehow and who was not very friendly to me at all. I really did not know what I had done but I also know that the culture here is very different. Sometimes members get really offended if you do not greet them on Sunday even if you are doing a thousand other things and did not even have the chance to be near them. I know that it is really important to eliminate all feelings of contention so that the work can further progress and that more love can fully abound within our ward family so I prayed for the chance to get to talk to her alone. Right after church I apologized to her and asked her what I had done to offend her. What she said was kind of hard to hear because at first she spoke to me a bit out of anger and said some not very nice things but as I continued to apologize I could see her heart soften and by the end she hugged me and actually took our food calendar and signed up to feed us every Sunday along with the other missionaries in the ward. By the end of this short conversation I felt emotionally wiped out and even though there were positive results I did question myself. I was dwelling a bit on the things that she had said about me and I was allowing it to make me feel some intense discouragement like maybe I really am as bad of a person as she though and I have not made a good difference in the ward. As I started to think these things I recognized these thoughts as not coming from Heavenly Father so I made the effort to immediately stop thinking this way and instead I asked my Father in Heaven "What do you think about me?". As I asked Him this question a warm feeling of comfort and peace washed over me and I knew that in the eyes of my Father I am so much more than I realize. After this experience we got to go to our Bishop's house and have dinner with him and his wife. This was such a needed break for all of the missionaries in the ward. Sister Smith made wonderful food and they asked us questions and showed us that they care about us like our parents would. After we finished eating they wanted us all to say why we came on missions. I have done this before because I have eaten at their house several times but they wanted me to share again. As I told them how I was working at Zion Adventure Company right before I came out and that it was during this time when I got to spend in Zion National Park that I realized I really wanted to serve a mission, Bishop Smith got up from the table and came back a minute later holding this beautiful painting of Angel's Landing in Zion. He told me that he had done it years before and that he wanted me to hang it up in my apartment. My eyes filled up with tears as I accepted the painting because this place, Zion, is where it all started. Making the decision to come on this mission was the best decision that I have ever made. Our Bishop is a wonderful artist and I am so excited for you all to see this painting although I have to figure out how I am going to get it home...it is pretty big...I am so thankful for the tender mercies of the Lord. I was able to end the day yesterday not feeling discouragement as I had been feeling earlier, but feeling gratitude as I looked at the painting of Zion and realized that the Lord loves me enough to have sent me here and to have shaped me into the person that I am today. What are some of the evidences of the Lord's love for you in your life?

 Have I ever told you all about our mission theme? Well in the mission crest it says "Preparation Preceeds Power". Wow I can tell you that I have a solid testimony of this. As It comes closer and closer to the time in which I shall return to the great land of Payson Utah I realize that "if I am prepared I shall not fear". That is how I feel about getting so close to the end of my time as a full time missionary. Yet TODAY I am still a missionary and I plan on helping as many people as I can in the time I have left. Living in the now is how I am able to feel a real fulness of joy and not dwell on the things that I cannot change. 

The work is going well and we are praying that we will not have to stay in the house too long with the storm that is coming. 
I pray that you all are well and happy in your various places:)

I love you! 

Love, 

Hermana Thorne 

Feb 20, 2013 -Las cosas de la semana pasada

Hola todos! 


Yet another week has passed! I was not able to come to the library to use the computer on Monday due to the holiday but we finally had time to come so here we are writing to our loved ones. There are a lot of things that I would like to address in this email so I am trying to warm up my little fingers to get them typing a bit faster. So I will start there. It has been COLD here! Yesterday I went on exchanges with Hermana Perez and we were outside almost all of the day and it was seriously SO cold. We had a really good time though and found 4 new investigators for her companionship to teach. The reason why I was on exchanges with Hermana Perez is because this last week I found out that I am the Sister Leader for the area. This means that I am supposed to help the sisters that are closest to us with whatever they need and also I get to go on exchanges with them. President Keyes has asked me to do this and actually he asked me to go on exchanges with the other Kaw River sisters every week. I am excited about this! It is so good to get to be able to teach with the other sisters, to learn from them and also to get to pass on some of the wisdom that I have gained while serving as a missionary thus far. Next week I will be going on exchanges with the set of sister missionaries who live in a city called Overland Park. This is the most wealthy area in the mission, million dollar homes and everything. I will have to let you know how that goes:) I went on exchanges there once before and I really learned a lot. 

So a funny little side note...I have strep-throat. I am on an anti-biotic and it has really made me feel a ton better. I got to talk on the phone to the area doctor( a wonderful woman named Dr. Beard) who explained to me that the reason why I have gotten sick so many times is because I have never lived in a place so humid before(i.e. Utah and Idaho) and my body is not sure how to deal with it. Thankfully we did not actually need to go to the doctor, but we were able to call her, describe the symptoms and she sent a prescription in to the Walgreen's that is not far from our home. I am thankful for modern medicine and technology because we could have lost a lot of time in our area if we didn't have it. 

The work is going really well. We have found quite a few new people to teach and we saw some beautiful miracles this last week. We had interviews with our mission president this last week and yet again it was confirmed to me that I really am supposed to be here and that the Lord knows what He is doing. I know that the mission president has put a lot of trust in me in the assignments that he has given me and I do not want to let him or the Lord down. There have been several times when I felt so overwhelmed and unsure of how to handle a situation and so I took it directly to Heavenly Father. The way that He has really been answering my prayers lately is with a sure feeling of peace. This is such a big deal because there are so many different things that I could be worrying about as a missionary and things that I DO worry about so when the Lord gives me peace I feel so thankful. Have you ever heard the quote: "If we want to ask the Lord a question we pray, if we want to hear His answer we open the scriptures."? Well this is how I have been receiving the answers to my prayers as of late. I know that this principle is so true! If we will do as Nephi directs and liken the scriptures unto ourselves we will find more strength and power than we have ever known. 

I found this quote that I want to share because it really is exactly how I feel about my mission:

Highs and Lows

A mission is a strange experience,
It's a trial and a test.
A mission throws at you the worst,
Yet teaches you the best.

I've never been so happy,
Never been as depressed.
Never felt so forsaken,
I've never been so blessed.

I've never been so confused,
Things have never been so clear.
I've never felt Heavenly Father so distant,
He's never been so near.

I've never been so discouraged,
Never been so full of hope.
I feel I could go on forever,
I think I am at the end of my rope!

I've never had it quite so easy,
I've never had it quite so rough.
Things have never been so smooth,
Things have never been so rough.

I've never traveled through more valleys,
Never ascended so many peaks.
Never met so many nice people,
I've never met so many freaks!

I've never had so many ups,
Never had so many downs.
Never worn so many smiles,
Never worn so many frowns.

I've never been so lonely,
And never had so many friends.
Boy! I hope this is over soon,
I hope this never ends.

There you go...how I feel in a nutshell. Also I am happy and working hard. Go out and do the same. Also give someone a hug today that you usually would not. :D

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Thorne 

Pictures: I ate a CRAZY hot pepper along with Sister Allen, I got a WONDERFUL Valentine's day package from Nikki and Aaron Nelson, and I drank a heavenly drink made by a beautiful Venezuelan woman :D What a week. 

Accidentally touched a dead person's ashes(the picture of me pointing to the thing on the wall-I will explain this more fully in the email), Went on exchanges with Hermana Perez, and took a pic with some inner city artwork.  

February 11, 2013 - News from KCK

Hola todos, 

Wow...no se que decir! Sometimes I sit down and just start blankly at the screen because I do not know how to describe everything that happened in one week in a short email...this last week we worked really hard to get everything going smoothly and now we are really seeing the benefits. My comp and I have made some really great goals and plans to get the work moving along here. We are going to be holding a Young Women's missionary night where the young women in the ward get to pretend that they are full time missionaries and go tracting in the chapel. Some of the members will play investigators and this will hopefully help the young women realize that they could be missionaries if they want to. Also we are hoping to get some of the young women who are 16 and older to come on team-ups to teach with us. I think that this will be fun and I hope that the girls enjoy them selves and start to realize that they all can serve missions too. The fact that women can now serve at 19 is really making the girls think more about serving which makes me so happy and excited about working with them. 

I cannot get my memory card to work so I will not be sending pictures today. Its alright because I actually don't have a ton to show, except for the pictures of my comp and I last night waiting outside of our apartment for our landlord to come. You see what happened was that I may have(okay I did) lose the only key that we had...yeah so it was quite cold but we sat outside and planned for our next day. So. I still lose things. The burning refiner's fire of the mission has not yet burned that out of me, ha ha. I am thankful for my companion that she did not get angry or anything, that was very nice of her. She is a good example of patience for me. 

I know that the limits that we choose to put on ourselves are limits that were created by us, not by God. When I left Kaw River after my first time being here I honestly felt quite broken. This is one of the hardest areas of the mission and I really was quite glad that my time here was over. I was able to heal at the Visitors' Center and again feel better. When I first got back to the VC I would just sit in front of the statue of Christ and stare at Him a lot of the time with tears rolling down my face because I knew that He was the one who was helping me recuperate from pretty intense six months in the Kaw River area. When the mission president called me to come back to this place that I felt had broken me I felt this inner peace that really quite surprised me. I am beginning to realize what that inner peace is. It is Him, our Savior Jesus Christ. I don't have to have His statue to feel that peace that I feel looking at Him at the VC. I feel it here. I never thought that I would be able to come back here and love it so much but I really do. I could not do this for myself. This is part of what having a Savior means to me, that I can do things that I NEVER thought would be possible and that I can feel joy while doing them. Jesus Christ, the Son of God lives. I know this for certain. 

I love you all and I pray that this next week is the best one yet! 

con amor, 


Hermana Thorne 

February 4, 2013- WOW...wow....WWWWOOOOOOWWWWW... :D

Hola todos! 



Uh...I am not really sure how to start this email...hhmmmm...maybe the beginning is the very best place to start? I got a call a few weeks ago from my dear mission president, President Keyes, and he asked me how I would feel about going back to the Kaw River ward. Yes, that is right Kansas City, Kansas. The cool and rather crazy thing was that I had had this little thought a few days before that maybe it might be necessary for me to go back to Kaw River, although I have never heard of a missionary returning back to an old area in their mission except for my trainer Hermana Dent but that was also done between two different mission presidents. Thankfully I had had a little bit of time to contemplate how I would feel if that were necessary before President called so I was able to answer him openly and honestly. I told him that I would love to do that but I would be lying to him if I did not say that it was for sure one of the hardest times of my life while I was serving there the first time. He just laughed at this because he is pretty aware of what the Kaw River area is like. He also said that he has only sent a missionary back to an area once before and that it went really well because the elder had been very well received upon his return and he had been able to harvest some of the seeds that he and his previous companion had sown. I then told him that I had a feeling that I might be going back and he said that he knew that the Spirit was really working with both of us. President also asked me not to tell anyone before the transfer calls came in so that was really hard because I still was not 100% sure what would be happening. Sometimes the transfers change last minute so I did not really know if I would be going to Kaw River or not. Drum roll please........I am BACK! I am currently serving in Kansas City, Kansas AGAIN! My companion and I, Sister Altier(she is really a great companion and we are becoming good friends) have added another companionship of sisters to the Kaw River ward. There are now two sets of sisters and one set of elders here. When we got here on Thursday we moved into an apartment that the elders had been living in before President moved them out of the area. This apartment had been empty for three months and when we got there it was ABSOLUTELY gross! Those elders were really nice elders but man I don't know how they lived like that! It took us all of one day and half of the next to make it livable for us and we still have some more work to do. I guess elders and sisters have different living standards?...I don't know but I really like our apartment now and we are starting to make some progress. Sister Altier is being changed to Hermana Altier so we get to speak Spanish all of the time and I am so happy because I have REALLY missed having a Spanish-speaking companion. 

Going back to the ward for church yesterday was one of the best days of my mission. I did not realize that so many people knew me and loved me and neither did I realize how many people I love and have missed in this ward. The bishop's daughter, Chelsea came up to me and hugged me and welcomed me home. I do feel at home here. I was able to share my testimony in sacrament meeting in Spanish and I just felt so at peace. It was really funny to watch the faces of the members when they saw me. It was like they were wondering if it was me or if it was someone who looks exactly like me and then I would say "Estoy aqui otra vez!" (I am here again!) and they would smile and welcome me. I honestly did not realize that I had made an impact. Sometimes as a missionary, or just as a person in general we tend to think that we are not making a difference but then when we have the opportunity to go back and look at the situation from a different angle we can see that we really have made a difference and touched the lives of those around us. I cannot really express to all of you how happy I am here. It is even better the second time and I cannot think of a better way for me to finish my mission. I love it here and although it is tough the people are the best. I also feel so glad that we have another set of sisters in our ward that live in the apartment building right next to us. Sister Allen is one of them and she is one of my dearest friends. She is training a new missionary named Hna Perez. Sister Allen has only been in the area for one transfer and so President asked me to take the lead and to teach them all how the area works and make sure everything is going okay. I am really glad that President trusts me enough to send me back here to the best area in the mission and also to be able to work with such awesome sister missionaries. I feel so thankful. 

Hermana Altier and I have a lot of work to do. We were able to receive some investigators from the other sisters because they are not teaching in Spanish right now, only English but we need to get to work finding more people to teach. We both have a lot of desire to work hard so I pray that the Lord will continue to bless us with miracles and with the ability to recognize the promptings of His Spirit. I was a bit sad to leave the Raytown ward but I think the thing that I was most sad about was leaving Sandy. She means so much to me and I will really miss her but I know as I continue to pray for her and have faith that she will keep progressing and moving closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. 

So. That was crazy news right? I have to go but I love you all. Remember your prayers and have faith that all will be well if you allow the Savior to walk beside you. 

I love you all! 

con amor, 

Hermana Thorne