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

April 23, 2012

Hola todos!

Esta ultima semana fue loca!!! With the temple open house and everything going on we continue to be incredibly busy, but I have to say that this time is AWESOME. I never thought that on my mission I would experience people coming up to me and asking how they could become a part of our church. People do this at the temple open house. The temple sparks within them that divinity that they received from their Creator, the understanding that their real purpose for being here on earth is to progress and eventually return to live with our Father in Heaven. We were told before the open house started that we would be seeing more members than non-members at the open house, but I have found that to not be true. Most of the people I talk to are not members and they usually have questions for me. Our shifts at the open house are usually either from 7:00am to 12:00 pm or from 5:00pm to 9:00pm so we end up standing for most of the day because we are at the VC for the other half of our day giving people presentations. Before the temple open house started we usually had time to sit down and rest at the VC but people are coming like crazy and we almost have no time to even eat our meals! It's awesome! The other day we have over 900 people come and visit us here and over 1400 people visit Historic Liberty Jail! Needless to say I am utterly pooped but I have been praying fervently for the Lord to not only give me strength to be able to stand up and greet all of these people, but to give my very best and to use the personality that the Lord blessed me with to help touch the lives of some of these people. It is a more of a struggle some days and this last Thursday started out to be one of those days where it was hard to even smile because I was so tired. We had the early morning shift at the temple open house and I was wondering how I was going to make it all the way to noon without either having a massive freak out or dropping to the floor(both are a bit dramatic, I know:D). Well I said a prayer and trusted that just like the Lord has helped me through every other moment of my mission that He would do so now, and of course He did. I prayed that I could have people come in that I could teach about the gospel so that I could be fulfilling my purpose(at the temple open house our purpose is to ask people how they liked the temple open house, and not necessarily try to teach them right away). Well my prayer was answered and shortly after I prayed I met this couple with a teenage son who had many questions and I was able to go sit down on the couches with them and answer all of their questions and actually teach them the first lesson and parts of others. They were Lutheran and one of the questions that the woman most wanted to ask me was what our church believes about children who die before baptism. I told her what we know from the scriptures, that children under the age of accountability(age 8) will automatically go to the celestial kingdom(I was able to teach them about the plan of salvation!). She was very happy to hear this because she said that she did not agree with the beliefs of some of the people in her church which are that those children will go to hell. They were not ready for missionaries to come to their home but we talked about how they can chat with the missionaries on mormon.org and they were all really excited about that and as they left they seemed to leave lighter. It was incredible! I cannot even imagine how I could deserve to be in this place and this time, with these AMAZING people. The Lord is so good to me and I feel incredibly humbled by all of these experiences.

Well as you can probably see my p-day is on Monday for the rest of this transfer so you all will be getting my email at the beginning of the week for awhile. Last p-day, which was on Wednesday, I told the other sisters that we should go to a museum(I. LOVE. MUSEUMS!!!!) for p-day because it was the last p-day of our dear p-day buddy Sister Sawyer. They said that they were game so I asked the senior missionary couple that was on p-day that day too and also the Director of the Visitors' Centers and his wife if they wanted to come. They all were excited to join us and so we headed to the heart of our area, down town KC,MO. The dear senior couple were nice enough to give us sisters a ride and we seriously had a BLAST! They museum is called the Nelson-Atkins museum and it is one of the top art museums in the world. We got to see original van Gogh's! I have never seen so much beautiful and historic art in my entire life. It was the most fun p-day that I have yet experienced on my mission. I am including a few pictures from this day because it was just plain amazing and such a refresher for my soul. I love history.

Our investigator, Kathy, went to the temple open house this last Thursday night and we were on shift so we got to see her as she came out. Wow. She absolutely LOVED it! She said that when she was in the Celestial room she could not have spoken even if it were allowed. She also said that she felt like she was floating through the temple, and that she felt like the Lord approves of this house that was built for Him. I told her that in a year from the day that she is baptized she can go back into the temple and she said "Yeah! I am so excited to go back, I don't care if I have to wait, it's worth it!" Yesterday at church in gospel principles we were talking about family history work and she asked a ton of questions about the subject and then told us all that she will be making sure that her parents work gets done. How cool is this?!!!! She is so excited for her baptism, and man....I can hardly wait myself!!!!

I also have a bit of sad news this week. We ended up having to drop our investigator Keith because he is not progressing at all. It started to turn into more of a social visit than him coming closer to Jesus Christ. We have been teaching him since Hermana Méndez and I first became companions so I was pretty emotional about it(I bawled my eyes out when we got to the car) but I know that it was what we needed to do, and I totally still have faith that Keith will find his way and that he will be okay. I will continue to pray for him.

Wow, life is great yet it is so crazy to think that back home you all are continuing to live your lives. Don't you all know that you are supposed to put your life on pause until I get home from my mission?! I guess you didn't get the memo...well I say this because within three days I learned that one of my close friends, Royden, is getting married on May 5th, then I saw my cousin Todd and his wife Laura(Hey guys you are in my email!!!), and then I got to see my aunt Kathy May and her two kids Sarah and Adam. It was so crazy and also a reality check that things will not be the same when I get home...they will be better. Sometimes change feels hard, but as a missionary I am learning that change is the lifeblood of progression. We NEED change and it's nothing to fear. Okay so I am embracing it. I AM EMBRACING CHANGE!!! I know that it is what the Lord would have me do, and I know that you all can do it to, because change will always come but we choose how to respond. I know that if we choose to respond by looking to the Savior to help us through, the only one who really understands, we will become new creatures in Christ.

I love you all with my whole heart! para siempre.

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

April 18, 2012 - Week Two Of The Temple Open House

Hola todos!

I pray that this email reaches you all well! We are in the middle of the second week of the temple open house and things have been sooooo crazy! We have had a record number of people come into the Visitors' Center and The Historic Liberty Jail. Last Saturday we had casi 900 people visit the VC and over 1100 visit the Liberty Jail. We are at the temple open house three times a week plus doing all of our normal duties so needless to say we are busy almost every single second. This is the most wonderful time of my life! I feel so exhausted but so very happy. We had the awesome opportunity last Saturday to bring our most recent converts who were baptized two weeks after I arrived in Missouri to the temple open house. I am going to attach a picture of this special time to this email. They loved the temple!!! Oh and they only speak Spanish so the tour that we went on was a Spanish tour and I was asked to help out. I am starting to feel more confident in my Spanish, especially this last week because at the start of this new transfer last Thursday my companion and I decided that we only speak to eachother in Spanish, never in English. We have tried to do this before but this time we are being much more diligent and I have prayed fervently to let go of my pride so that when I really do not understand her I tell her or I ask to please speak slower. I tend to say "otra vez por favor" (again please) many times a day. I love my companion very much! She is so patient with me and she really wants to help me learn this language well. I also feel good about my improvement this week because I have been praying that I could have confidence in my Spanish and speak it without being apologetic about how I am not fluent. Hermana Méndez says that when you keep apologizing for your lack of perfection in the language that the person/people you are talking to will not focus on your message but the way that you are speaking, and they will lose confidence in you. I have really worked on my confidence and I have seen a HUGE difference in the way that the people treat me. This has been such an answer to prayer!!! I really want you all to read the scripture that is the theme for this transfer of my mission and probably for my whole mission. It is D & C 103:36 and it states "All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your ^adiligence, faithfulness, and ^bprayers of faith." Okay so this says All victory meaning...ALL VICTORY. Not just victory but glory too. And what is it brought to pass by? Diligence, faithfulness and PRAYERS of FAITH. This scripture gives us all we need to know. Be diligent. Be faithful. Each and every day say prayers of faith. I know you all can do this because if I can do it, anyone can do it. This scripture is such and answer to prayer for me and I am so thankful for my dear friend Hermana Crystal who shared it with me last Thursday. It has helped change how I feel about the work and what I can do. I can speak Spanish and every day I am learning how to be better and better in the language, but also I am coming closer to my Father in Heaven. I submit that NOTHING has helped me to be a better person than my mission. I love being a missionary.

So I need to tell this little story. At the temple open house we are constantly greeting people and answering questions(and eating cookies, ha ha) and this last Monday this is what I was doing when I met this awesome granola-ish couple from Oregon. Within the first ten minutes of me meeting them they had found out a ton about my life and they already wanted me to come over to their house in KC so that they could give me their old wild life photography equipment and teach me how to use it and they absolutely insisted that I walk out to their pick-up and pet their two dogs! It was so funny! I tried so hard to talk about the temple but they were all like "Oh we know Mormons, we grew up around them and have even helped pay for four mission". Crazy right? Well guess what?! Turns out that they live in our area!!!! We are going to go over there for dinner and to teach them next week.

This week I do not have a ton of time because we are in a hurry to get to the Museum in KC. I love you all!

Have a great week!!

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

PS The picture of us on the golf cart is a hilarious story! I will try to remember next time!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWg9APxG16Q&feature=colike

April 12, 2012 - The House of the Lord

Hola todos!

Wow, okay I need one second for my brain to warm up and for my thoughts to come together. This week has been soooo great, and yet extremely exhausting! We were able to work at the temple open house for the first time last Friday. How can I really even describe this experience in an email? Well last Friday was just such a magnificent day. It was the 6th of April, so the 182nd anniversary of the organization of the church and also Jesus Christ's birthday. My companion and I are working at the reception area that is located at the end of the temple open house tour(this is a fancy way to say "the room with the cookies") when we get the news the President Keyes is bringing the great grandson of Joseph Smith through the open house and they will be arriving in the reception area shortly. Well sure enough, just a few short minutes later President Keyes and his dear wife walk through the door with a man who has the nose of the Prophet Joseph. As President brings him(and his wife too, she was such sweetheart) over to meet us, overhead there is music playing and you will not even believe what song the Mormon Tabernacle choir was beautifully belting. Joseph Smith's First Prayer! But wait! It gets even better! President Keyes is actually working with him(his name is Dan Larson) and his wife, teaching them the gospel. Most of Dan's family is part of the RLDS church, or some break off of the church and for a long time Dan was himself. Keep in mind that Dan is over 70 years old. Anyway, as I shook his hand and was introduced by my mission president I could not help but think about the Prophet Joseph and how happy he must be that his direct descendant is coming back. Dan is actually very close to baptism! He and his wife LOVED the temple. Is this not so very significant? We finally have a temple dedicated so very close to the land that Joseph consecrated as land for the temple, for Zion, and at this very same time one of his posterity is coming back into the fold of God! There were only six of us sisters that actually got to meet Dan and his wife, so I am so thank for this opportunity.

So just an update on Kathy, our investigator with a baptismal date. She is still loving the Book of Mormon. She is currently almost done reading in Jacob. She is also going to be attending the temple open house with one of her friends who is a member. We are working at the temple open house three days a week, so for the next few weeks we are not going to have much time in our area which is a bit difficult, but I know the Lord will bless us and the people that we teach.

On Tuesday we worked at the temple house again, this time there was a TON of people! On Friday when we had worked, it was the VIP tour so there was not too many people, but on Tuesday it was crazy! For the first part of our shift I was presetting the movie that the people watch before they go on the actual tour. So I introduce myself, give some information about the tour and then turn the time over to the tour guide. The thing is that I was in charge of two rooms and there was a total of six rooms. We had to make sure that there was never a time when two rooms were coming out at exactly the same time to walk over to the temple(these rooms are in the chapel that is located right next to the temple) because it would cause a traffic jam and chaos would then ensue. So I was given two stop watches. I would start one right as one movie was starting so that we would know how much more time we had until those people are ready to come out and head to the temple. Then I would go over and preset the other movie and start that clock watch. The movie is 12 minutes long. Anyway it was pretty crazy, but the cool thing was that if you were an outsider looking in you probably never would have known how crazy it really was. The church REALLY is good at crowd control. We had at least five hundred people going through there and hour if not more.

Due to our getting up at insane hours(5:15, hey its feels SO much earlier than our normal 6:30) in order to work at the temple open house, plus having all of our normal responsibilities, I have to say that I am spent. I have never known this kind of exhaustion in my entire life! While at the temple we are answering questions constantly. You would be shocked at the number of non-members that we have come to the open house! A lot of them belong the the Community of Christ church(formerly the RLDS church). I have to tell one last story because it meant so much to me. Well I said that we are constantly being asked questions at the open house. On Tuesday I had this big group of people come into the reception area right after going on their temple tour. Now before the tour starts the tour guides tell their group that they have to hold their questions until the end because there is always a group coming right after them so they cannot pause to answer questions while inside the temple. The place that comes right after the tour is where we are. Is is FANTASTIC!!! I love it when these people have so many questions for us. Well like I said a big group came over to me, I would say there was about twenty people in this group. They had all come together and they were baptists and catholics. They all started firing questions at me(I bet it looked pretty funny too because they literally encircled me) and I prayed that I could answer with the Spirit and then answered them. This one lady just had this sour look an her face and she kept asking these questions with this tone like "Well how do you explain this young lady!". I kept my cool and after I had finished answering someone else's question where I had mentioned that the temple is the House of the Lord she then said "Well if you worship in a chapel on Sundays but you say that the temple is the House of the Lord, is the Lord not there when you worship on Sundays?". At this point I think she thought she had caught me in a lie or something, she just was acting a bit haughty. I prayed for inspiration as to what to tell her and then the Spirit spoke through me. I said "Just like in the Old Testament in the times of King Soloman we have temples that are sacred and holy places, Houses of the Lord. You could compare our chapel to the synagogues of old where all people could go to worship and where the Spirit of the Lord resided." Well she looked at me and her face got a lot softer and she said "Oh, okay, thank you". I answered a few more of their questions and then they thanked me and went to go finish eating their cookies. Okay these were NOT my words. I have never spoken of "synagogues in times of old". I feel so overwhelmed with gratitude that the Lord allowed me to be His mouthpiece for these people. As they were leaving most of them even told me that they would fill out a comment card too and that they had really been impressed by the temple and our members. The Lord's blessings never cease to amaze me.

Well I am about out of time. I just want to let you all know that I love you and that I pray very fervently for your well being. Remember to do the small and simple things and you will see great things come to pass.

con amor,

Hermana Thorne

April 5, 2012- We'll Bring the World His Truth

HOLA!!!

Wow...there is SO much to talk about this week! I am so excited to write this email! Okay who all enjoyed conference? Raise your hand!!! (I am laughing picturing you all raising your hands in the varies places where you resident, ha ha). In all seriousness, was this last General Conference not AMAZING?! I love our dear prophet and his apostles so much! As I was attempting to watch the very first session on Saturday at our ward mission leader's home (please keep in mind that he has a three year old daughter that is the most rowdy child in our ward, and between her screaming at the top of her lungs because she wanted to watch Fineas and Ferb and her tromping up the stairs in a rather awesome dinosaur costume, I was rather amused and distracted) I found myself wishing that my mom was sitting next to me with her crocheting and that Doug was there too nodding off and calling conference "con-pucky" like he did as a child, along with my little sister fiddling away on her iPad(those kids and their technomology). Did you all love President Utchdorf's talk? Stop it? I loved this one!!! It spoke right to me.

After the first session of conference on Saturday I got to experience one of the coolest things that I have experienced thus far on my mission. Do you all remember quite awhile back when I went on exchanges and I was with Sister Minall and I stopped the car and told her that we needed to find someone on this street so she asked me which house that we should go to and we found a kid named Brandon? He was baptized on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so wonderful!!! I can hardly believe that he is now a member of the church. I was able to conduct the music at his baptism and I cannot even describe to you the feeling that I had as I watched him be baptized. Tears washed down my cheeks as I realized that Brandon has been one of the very first evidences on my mission of me really trying to allow the Lord to direct me, and letting go of my pride. He is going to serve a mission too! Can you believe it?! The Lord loves His children so very, very much. I will love my dear friend Brandon forever. I am going to attach a picture of us at his baptism too.

Okay so a quick story about my camera. Random I know but stick with me. Last P-day we went to Sonic with one of the senior couples and at one point realized that our windows were rolled down so we went to roll them up. Right after eating lunch we went over to Walgreens to develop pictures and I could not find my camera. Any of you who really know me know that I LOVE to take pictures, so I was heartbroken because as all of us(my companion and I and the other companionship of sisters that have p-day with us) were thinking about and as we went back to every place that we had thus far visited that day, we realized that I had not even had my camera out at most of the places. We decided that it was most likely that someone had stolen it out of our car window when we had left it rolled down for that short period of time. Wow. This was such a hard moment for me. I lost so many pictures and a camera that I had bought myself especially for my mission. After we finished looking for my camera we went home, I cried for a bit, took a nap, and then when p-day ended at six we went to our area and followed through on our plans. I prayed that I would be okay and that I could let it go because crying and worrying about it was not going to help anything. When we got home that night I cried again and my companion and I laid on the floor all dramatically(it was very therapeutic for me ha ha!) and she even held my hand for a bit(this is a big deal for her, she is slowly turning into more of a "touchy feely" person which she says that I am). Well my mother always says that you can be sad about something for one day, and then the next day you move on and go on about your daily tasks. So that is what I did and I continue to do. What else can I do? This last week I did not have a camera and I realized that it was not a big deal. I am still a missionary. I am still the happiest that I have ever been in my entire life. Life is good. With our without a camera.

So should I now tell you what happened yesterday?!!! Well my companion and I were at the VC in the morning waiting for the time when we would get to leave with all of the other sisters to go to our momentous training from Elder Walker of the first Quorom of the Seventy(He is the executive over all of the temples) when we realized that we had a voicemail on our phone from the mission office. Someone had found my camera!!!! It was actually Walgreens saying that they had it!!! I got my camera back! Not only that but I seriously learned to a much greater extent what is REALLY important in life. The Lord is wonderful!!!!!!! I am still a missionary AND I have my camera.

Okay so I mentioned that yesterday we had a training by a general authority. Yeah. That really happened. He flew here to train us on how to work at the temple open house. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life!!! He told us stories about how many people have come unto the waters of baptism because of open houses and we also learned of the reason why they have us sister missionaries do it. I was hand picked to be here. That is such an awesome feeling and it makes me want to do my very best. This occasion was not only momentous because we had a general authority training us and because we were being about to work at a temple open house in such a beautiful and historic place, but also because all 43 of the sisters in our mission were gathered together in one place at the same time. It was such an awesome sight! Us all being together at the same place at the same time almost never happens. At the end Elder Walker open it up for questions and the sisters did not seem so have a ton of questions so I asked him "Alright, what is the limit on cookies?" Well this caused an immediate uproar of laughter that I honestly did not expect. I thought I was telling a cheeky joke that people might chuckle at, but everyone thought it was hilarious and Elder Walker laughed so hard. He then asked what my name was and told me "For you Sister Thorne, there is no limit!" So there you have it. For the whole time I am working at the open house I get to eat an unlimited amount of cookies. :D We also got a tour of the new temple before the open house even begins on Saturday! This temple is seriously incredible. It has some of the most beautiful features that I have ever seen. What a fantastic day.

So along with the open house, guess who is coming here to dedicate the temple?! President Monson! and Elder Holland!!!! Okay, okay...I know that this is so much good news all in one email but guess what else?!!! We as missionaries in the Missouri Independence Mission get to sing "We'll Bring the World His Truth" at the cultural celebration the day before the dedication!!!!!!!! For President Monson and Elder Holland!!!!!!!!!!! Hermana Méndez and I almost died when we found out about this!!! I feel so very blessed to be here at this time.

The work continues to progress. I absolutely love the people of Kansas City!!! This last week we did not find any new investigators but we did teach some great lessons to our investigators. Kathy continues to progress and is excited for her baptism date in June. She LOVES the Book of Mormon. Everytime that we call her and go to teach her she tells us about where she is reading and she wants to talk through everything that she does not understand. I LOVE this about her. And she normally already understands what is going on. She has changed so much from when we first met her! She is so much happier and less dependent on others to make her happy. I can testify that whatever Christ touches lives.

I am attaching a picture of a friend that I found. My companion would hardly get close enough to take a picture because she was so afraid of it. It actually jumped toward her and she screamed and ran away. It was quite humorous.

The Lord is so aware of you. You personally. I know because I have felt the prayers that you pray for me back home(Yes Nikki I have felt your prayers). I know where in true happiness lies. "The Lord is my light so why should I fear".

Until next week my loved ones,

Hermana Thorne