January 23, 2012 - The Missouri Saga: A Tale of Two Sisters...

Here are the pictures :D

Oh we were able to do a musical number in sacrament meeting this last Sunday. It was "How Great Thou Art". I sang along with the two elders that serve with us, Elder Nichols and Elder Leighton, and Hermana Dent played her violin. A member of our ward played the piano. It was fun but the Elders warned us a head of time that they were not good singers...turns our that they both are a bit tone deaf...yeah...ha ha! The ward seemed to like it though and it was a lot of fun. I know it invited the Spirit. Thus the picture of all four of us.

Love (again),

Sister Thorne

Querido familia,

I have to be honest, sometimes I have no idea where to start when I begin to write these emails. I start to feel a bit overwhelmed because there is SO much to say! This day I feel a bit choked up as I start to write because my dearly loved companion, Hermana Dent, is leaving. In two days. On a plane. Back to home to Hoytsville Utah. Have I cried about this? Yes. Will I be fine? Perfectly. Yet I feel such a sadness at losing her companionship, she has helped me to know how to work hard and to love the people in a different way than I knew that I could. The Lord blesses us with these awesome people on a mission and it seems the moment that we get really comfortable with them, a change is made. I honestly believe that we can only be great missionaries for the Lord when we are very very humble. Well its done. I am officially feeling humble (wow I sound real humble don't I?). But seriously, I am taking over my area on Thursday. I will be getting a new companion and good night nurse, who knows what we will do if she does not speak Spanish...the Lord WILL provide. He will qualify both of us in whatever we need to do His work. I know this.

This last week was full of so much joy. Hermana Dent and I met this lady by the name of Elizabeth. This story begings with us driving to the far end of our area to deliver a Bible to a woman who had ordered one online. We had tried to call this woman who had ordered the Bible on our website many times, and finally decided to stop by to give it to her. Unfortunetely she was not home. We then tried an inactive member that lived in that same area but alas, she was not home either. We knew that there was someone who needed us somewhere near and so we started knocking on doors. As we were walking we saw a woman walking up to her front door. We called hello to her and she was very friendly right away and invited us over to sit on her front steps with her(the weather was beautiful). We ended up teaching her the first lesson and other principles. Her beliefs are very close to what we believe, but she has a hard time with the Book of Mormon, although she has only read anti-Mormon material. She has been to a Bible college and loves her Savior. It was while sitting upon her front steps on this strangely warm winters day that she bore her testimony of the Jesus Christ to my companion and I, and I felt changed. I started to understand even further why this work is so important. Elizabeth is married and is pregnant with her first child. She loves the Bible and God. We know that she can be with her family forever, and now we are so blessed to be able to teach her this eternal principle. She is the reason we traveled so far into our area that day. God loves and watches over His children, and He leads us to those He has prepared.

Oh man I LOVE the gospel! Okay so a few funny stories from church that I am just dying to share. First one...well let me start off with saying that I can guarantee that none of you have seen a ward as...diverse as the Kansas City Riverview ward. I think I may have told you that it is in Spanish and English? Well we also have people from the Marshalese(not sure how to spell it) Islands, some others from Afganistan, and many black people from the south. In sacrament meeting we have this awesome black sister who leads the music, and boy does she LEAD.that.music! She puts her whole body into it and waves her arms this way and that way. Is there any rhymn, reason, or pattern to the way she leads? I submit that there is not. She just feels the hymns and moves however she pleases. It is so crazy and I laugh as I write this...I love her so much. She said in her testimony of fast Sunday that when she was called to lead the music in sacrament meeting it helped her to feel alive again. Well, it has helped her to be consistantly active, and I do believe that it keeps the ward members awake during while we are all singing, so I am all for it! Oh also do you remember that cute little black kid that I could not pick up in the chapel? Well I saw him again this last Sunday and I swear that kid just gets cuter and cuter. I cannot for the life of me remember his name though...I am so white...I tend to forget names that I am not used to and his is a very not white person name. So yeah. HA! I am going to try to send an attachment with a picture of him in this email. I am at the library so we will have to see...

Well goodness, the time grows short. I must be off to teach the good word to an investigator who accepted our baptismal challenge! We are so excited! Words cannot express how I love this work. I pray that you all are doing well and that each day you are looking for opportunities to share what you have been blessed with. Spiritually. Financially. Physically. The Lord works His miracles through His servants.

Until next week...

Love,

Sister Thorne

January 9, 2012 - Sweet Hour of Prayer

HOLA mi familia!!!!

I trust that all is well on the home front? Thank you so much for those who had a chance this last week to write me about what you are giving to Christ. I love hearing how the people I love are giving themselves to the Savior so that He can continually refine them into the people that they were made to be. I know how much it has changed my life to understand what role that Jesus Christ plays in my life.

Okay so some big, big, BIG things happened this last week. Hermana Dent and I were able to start teaching three new investigators!!! Two of them are a mother and daughter by the names of Marita y Fransesca. We found them one night when we were looking for another family whose information we had, but they ended up not being home. The reason that we chose Marita's house is because we walked by it to get to the original family's house and I noticed that their garage light made this horrible high pitched buzzing sound. When we were walking past it again after trying to contact the first family I noticed the buzzing noise again and this time I stopped and told Sister Dent that we should go knock on their door. I learned a lesson very different from any that I have before that night. The Lord was directing us to this mother and daughter and the way that He caught our attention was by the loud, and very annoying, buzzing of their garage light. He gets our attention to make us focus on where He would like us to go. Are we open to all kinds of direction? I know that I have not always been. The Lord does not always direct us with warm fuzzy feelings, or strong, specific promptings. Sometimes he sends an annoying noise that makes us direct our attention to His work. Marita and Fransesca are SO awesome. We get to go see them again tonight!!! They love the Lord and already treasure His words.

Okay so if any of you have not already been informed of this, my mission president, President Keyes(I LOVE HIM!), asked me the night that I got to Missouri and stayed in the mission home, if I would like to be switched to an Hermana(spanish speaking). I was quite blown away, having not expected this in the least. I actually said to him "Um, President you know that I did NOT go to the MTC for that right? Is that allowed?". He laughed and said that yes he knew, and sometimes missionaries calls get changed in the field, it just is harder to learn and requires focus and dedication. I told him that I would love to and that it would be a dream come true. President then told me that I would need to pass off all of my lessons before I could start studying my Spanish. So here is the awesome part...I passed off my lessons last week! President was pretty shocked because it usually takes quite a bit longer than this, but I was so ready to be able to start my Spanish lessons that I worked my tail off to memorize all of the necessary information. I also get to drive now! The day after I passed off my lessons I was able to get cleared for driving and then that night Sister Dent and I were off into downtown Kansas City with me at the wheel. Was she nervous? Yes. Was I? Yes. But hey, I figure that every single day I am put outside my comfort zone here, so I might as well just jump into everything and learn it right from the beginning. It really is not bad driving here. There are just a TON of weird one way streets.

So now I am studying Spanish. I gave my first Spanish prayer at church in Sunday school yesterday. Hermana Dent and I pray everyday together in Spanish and have since I first got here, but I have not been asked to pray in church until this last Sunday. It went well and I know that I shocked my district leader because he did not know that I have been learning Spanish along the way. I have had no choice but to start picking it up, seeing as how the vast majority of people that we talk to, we are doing it all in Spanish. I LOVE the Spanish language! It sounds so fluid and beautiful. Everyday I learn so much more and I am SO thankful for this opportunity!!!

Tonight we have something really exciting planned. We are teaching some of our new converts how to do Family Home Evening, and we are having our new investigators come over to join us. Also attending will be an AWESOME member of our ward, Hermano Zaragosa(he is a convert of 6 years from Mexico) and we are so stoked about this. We know that this combination is going to really help with our new investigators understanding the church and with our new converts learning the foundations of the gospel. We have put so much thought into what we will be doing and last night after we found out that our new investigators will be able to come I made my companion do a victory dance with me(I know she secretly loved it). I love these people! It seems to me that latin americans are so ready for the gospel. I love the culture and I LOVE the food. We have this beautiful food prepared for us by these adorable little hispanic woman who have made it the same way for years. On Christmas Eve Hermana Balam made us homemade tamales! Oh...me gusta los tamales muchissimo...

One other quick story. We have this awesome family in our ward, the Johnson family, and Hermana Dent and I go over there for dinner about once a week. This last week we were able to stop by in the afternoon to say hi to Sister Johnson. She has a 3 month old baby and so she stays home with her. Sister Dent and I sat down and talked for a bit and Sister Johnson asked if we wanted some water, we went in the kitchen with her to get it because she was holding her baby. We then went back into the living room and were about to leave when Sister Dent asked Sister Johnson if there is a certain way that she likes her dishes done(while in the kitchen we saw that she had dishes in the sink and no dishwasher). At first Sister Johnson said no that she could not let us do that, but we insisted and went into the kitchen. Sister Johnson followed us in and when I turned back to ask her something I saw that she was crying. At that moment I was so grateful for my companion who follows the promptings of the spirit and is so aware of the needs of those around her. Sister Johnson needed help that day. She was so thankful, but really I think that Hermana Dent and I were more thankful for the chance to "go about our Father's work". I am so blessed with such a good example for my trainer. What a wonderful experience.

Okay so I was thinking the other day while at the Visitors' Center how much I love gospel artwork. I love staring at it and trying to feel how the artist felt while creating it. I hope that you all have at least one picture of the Savior in your home. I challenge you to take just a few minutes out of your day and ponder on a painting of the Savior. Think about what He has done specifically for you. Do you allow Him to comfort you? Do you allow Him to rejoice with you when you rejoice? I know doing this helps me to grow closer to my Savior and best friend. I love Him with all that I am.

I love all of you so much. Let's make this week one to remember by serving those around us!

Love,

Sister Thorne

January 16, 2012 hablo espanol un pocito...

Hola mi familia!!!

How the time is flying! How are you all doing? Oh man, I hope that you all are FANTASTIC! Although I don't have much time to think about you all back home, I do love and pray for you all :D

Okay, okay...where to begin? Well Hermana Dent is gone...no not deceased(maybe a little ha, ha :D) but she is back home in good ol' Hoytsville Utah. This last Thursday I met my new companion, Hermana Mendez. How blessed I feel to have the opportunity to serve with her! Not only is she from Mexico so she speaks the Spanish language B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.L.Y, but she also has such a great love for the gospel and especially for the word of God. We are both very passionate people and we both love to laugh a lot. She is still getting used to my kind of humor and laughing a bit more than she is used to, but I know that this companionship will blossom into a beautiful life long friendship, and more importantly that we will be able to be instruments in bringing our brothers and sisters into the fold of God. AH! What could be better?!!!! I submit that there is nothing better!!!!!! So long story short, although change is quite difficult and there have been a roller coaster of emotions with the changes that this last transfer has brought, I love my new companion. Also I may accidently keep breaking into an imitation of her accent(I LOVE the way she speaks!!!!)...tis a bit embarrassing... ha ha

So a few weeks ago I went on exchanges with another Sister who serves at the VC with me named Sister Minall. We were just together for one night and one day, but it was an AMAZING night and day! I am not sure if I have already talked about this in a previous email but if I have stay with me. We woke up and did all of our studies then headed out to her and her companion's area. We decided to go look for some people that her bishop had assigned to her. The first one we went to the house was clearly vacant so we decided to knock some doors in the neighborhood. We went across the street and no one answered the door. We then decided to leave and find the next person that the bishop had given to them. We got in the car and I pulled into a drive way to turn around and as Sister Minall was getting back into the car (she had to get out to back me up, oh sweet missionary life :D) I saw this guy stick his head out of the door of the house whose driveway I was using to turn around in. We then drove away down the street. As I was driving away I had a distinct feeling that we needed to go back and see that guy who I had made eye contact with briefly. For a second I just shrugged it off because I did not want Sister Minall to think I was crazy if nothing came of it and maybe it was not the spirit but my own thoughts. I then knew that I needed to act on these feelings so I told Sister Minall that there was someone on this street that needed the gospel and could we pull over and find them? She asked me which house we needed to go to and then we stopped the car and walked back. The same guy(well kid, he is only 19) that I had seen when we were turning around answered the door. He ended up letting us in, even though his mom was in the back yelling "They better not be Mormons!" with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth(she is hilarious!). We were able to teach them the first lesson and to make a long and drawn out story short, he is now(only two weeks later) preparing to be baptized and has also said that he wants to serve a mission. Can you believe it?!!!! I am so glad that we decided to turn around! One of my teachers in the MTC said that when you are doing everything that you can to be close to the spirit then you can trust that you thoughts are coming from the spirit and to trust them. I have really put this into practice and it is true. I know that if we are being righteous that we are entitled to our thoughts being so in line with the will of the Lord. He wants us to be this close to Him and it is so possible for us to be. I know that by small and simple things, great miracles can come to pass.

Well the language is coming along...slowly but surely. I am striving to trust in the Lord. I never understood so much the saying that goes "When you pray, pray like it all depends on Him, then get up and go to work like it all depends on you". I study my Spanish while at the VC for at least two hours a day and then we go out into our area and teach in Spanish. Most of the time we also have a dinner with a family who only speaks Spanish too. So the point I am trying to make here is that I spend a very large amount of my time listening extremely intently so I can know what is going on and so that I can occasionaly make some kind of a comment. My new companion Hermana Mendez does speak Spanish beautifully, but the thing is that she speaks it VERY fast. She knows this too so she tries to slow down when she is speaking to me so that I can at least have some idea of what is going on, but most of the time she is going a million miles a minute. I have learned to love the phrases "lo siento" and "otra vez por favor" ("I'm sorry" and "again please") because I need them so often. President Keyes told Hermana Mendez that she should try to only speak to me in Spanish. We are building up to this because it is very hard to get to know someone when you are taking five minutes just to tell them that you would like to eat lunch now. Ha ha! It's funny yet true. At the end of the day I am EXHAUSTED because my brain has been working over time all day. How blessed I am to have her teaching me! Not many Hermanas get this opportunity so I thank my Father in Heaven each day for my huge blessings.

I love this gospel with all that I am, I rejoice in my Savior because I am nothing without Him and with Him I can do things that I had never dreamed of before...we all can. I have started reading Jesus the Christ and it has changed me in ways that I cannot even describe. I challenge you all to read it if you have not, and start again if you already have. What greater cause shall we go on in than coming closer to our Savior and sharing the love that we find there with our brothers and sisters? There is no greater cause. This next week is going to be the best of our lives. I know it. Smile, it takes less muscles than a frown. :D

Love,

Sister Thorne

January 3, 2012- Oh the New Year HAS arrived...

Hola familia!

I hope this email reaches you all well! I will not have much time to write today because my time in the library is very limited due to the recent holiday.

This last week was great, although many people asked us to come back after the holiday, so this week is going to be super busy and thus super awesome! We found 3 new investigators (WOOOOHOOO! pause for applause) and we really worked hard to teach with the spirit. I am learning patience differently than I have in my whole life, and this comes from being with someone twenty-four/eight(all.the.time) who I did not choose and whom I need to love in order to teach and find with effectively. I do love my companion, there are just moments when we are both tired, worn out, hungry, etc. when we both are feeling irritable and maybe suffering from a bit of hormone imbalance...all this can be a recipe for a bit of disaster, but I have found new levels of understanding with Hermana Dent. I have found WAY more patience. I did not EVEN KNOW what patience was before. I still have not even scratched the surface. Good night nurse. Through much prayer and always thinking about what I am going to say to her before I say it we have grown very close and continue to work on better communication.

I am so excited for this New Year! Have you all thought about what you are going to give to Christ? Will you please email me if you have the time giving me some detail? I would love to hear what you all are going to give, it helps me to know how I can improve. I bet you thought that I would not follow up on the challenge I gave you in my last email...turns out that missionaries follow up! It is a very important factor in teaching, it builds the expectation of accountability. ha ha! But I really just love to hear how you all are coming closer to Christ :D

I have to go, but I love you all so much! I hope your New Year is starting off well!

Love,

Sister Thorne

December 27, 2011 - Day after Christmas Miracles

Hola me familia!

Como estan? Estoy aprendiendo espanol. Yo se un pocito espanol. So...I am progressing every day! I was able to talk to a few of you this last Sunday on Christmas and that was AWESOME! It was so great to here that you all are doing so well.

I wanted to share some miracles from yesterday that my cutie patootie companion Sister Dent and I experienced. The night before, Christmas night, I said our night time companionship prayer and I was really feeling a longing to understand when the Lord is prompting us. I prayed that we would be able to feel when the Lord was prompting us and to know how to act on those promptings. It was the most spiritual prayer that I have experience yet on my mission. I just felt like we were not being able to be fully utilized by the Lord to help His children to come closer to Him. So the next day Father in Heaven answered our prayer, FIVE times! The first one came while we were waiting in the car for the other sisters to come out of the grocery store(yesterday was our p-day). I had a random thought come to me about Sister Dent's relationship with her boyfriend back home. She had been worried about it for the last little while, but did not want to talk about it alot because she wants to keep her focus on the work(she is awesome :D). I felt like I should say something about it and so I did. She looked at me and said "I was just thinking the same thing, thank you for saying that." She then seemed so much more calm about the whole thing and peaceful. I really had no idea, the thought was random and I know it came from the Spirit.

The second miracle/prompting came to us at six o'clock when we were headed out to our area after p-day. We had planned to go see a few different people but when we headed to the part of town where they were at we just did not feel very good about it. So we pulled the car over and said a prayer, asking Father in Heaven to help us know where we were most needed that night. Right as we ended the prayer we both knew that we needed to visit a new investigator that we have who is currently living at the mental institution wing of the hospital(that is a full story in itself!). We headed over there to see her and she was so happy that we had come, and as we taught her we knew that the Lord had directed us there.

Before we headed in to see our investigator at the hospital we were sitting in the car, deciding what to bring into the hospital(we are not allowed to bring in anything but a B of M and pamplets etc), I felt prompted to bring a new copy of the B of M but I only had my one that I was reading, having already given out my new copy. I ended up bringing my copy and some pass along cards. Here comes the next answer to our prayer, we were being escorted out of the pychiatric wing with a family who had been visiting their son/brother(we have to be escorted in and out). Sister Dent and I overheard them talking about how they wanted to get their son out of the hospital and they seemed pretty upset. When we finally got to the lobby I approached them and gave them all pass along cards(there were three of them) and told them how the message of Jesus Christ that we have to share can help us through all of our rough times. One of them said that he had heard about us and walked with us outside, he said that he would call us and I asked him if he would like a copy of the B of M. He said yeah sure, so I handed him my copy. He was really happy! We said goodbye and then Sister Dent and I ran to our car and grabbed a new copy and hurried back to get my copy and give him the new one(phew!). When we approached him again to give him the new copy he was already looking through my copy!!! It was awesome!

Then on our way from the hospital we decided to tract until it was time to go home. We only had about a half hour so we were driving to find a place to tract, Sister Dent saw a house and said lets go to that one. We stopped and went up to the door. The man who answered the door was very friendly and said that he had even been to a few sacrament meetings because he had worked for a member in Independence a long time ago. His name is Ronn. He talked to us for a bit and said that yes they would like to hear our message and gave us his phone number! MIRACLE! The Lord totally directed us to his family!

This last one actually happened right before we met the man that I just talked about. Sister Dent and I went to an address not far from Ronn's first because it was a referral from quite awhile ago. Right as we pulled up to the house I did not have a good feeling. Sister Dent seemed to hesitate too, but we both just got out of the car and started walking up to the house. Sister Dent rang the bell and right as she did I just felt like we needed to get out of there fast. It was funny because I said "We need to go." and Sister Dent just quickly followed with me, no questions asked. We got in the car and high tailed it out of there. She had been feeling the exact same way that I had, but we both still went because we wanted whoever lived there to have a chance to hear the gospel. We then knew that the Lord has told us that He will protect us from danger, but that we must listen to Him when He prompts us to do something. I do not know why we needed to leave, but I am okay with not knowing.

The Lord loves each of us so much, and I firmly believe that He prompts us so much more than we really know. As we do things to come closer to Him and to show Him that He is our number one priority, and that we love Him, His promptings will become so much more clear. I know that I am nothing without the Lord. Being on a mission humbles me every single day. Everyday I learn that I am need to be a better teacher, missionary, friend, daughter...a better everything.

I love you all so very much. As the New Year approaches I have a request for you all, and I ask that you all share this with your families. Can you all think of one this that you can give to Christ this year? For example, one of the things that I am trying to give Him is my fear of men. I know that as I give this over to the Savior, using His infinite Atonement, I can be more useful in the hands of my Father. Please find one thing that you can give Him and write it down, also try to write down actions in which you can take to give Christ whatever it is that you choose. We talked about his in sacrament meeting on Christmas. Lets all give Christ the ultimate birthday gift, ourselves.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Love,

Sister Thorne

p.s. Thank you all for your love and support, it really helps me!!!

December 19, 2011 - Tis the Season... :D

Hola me familia!

How are you all?! How is this beautiful Christmas season treating you? Oh how I love you! I pray for you all everyday :D

Okay so last week I talked a ton about what has been going on here. Here is the thing...it just KEEPS getting BETTER!!!!!!!! My companion and I love one another so very much, although each day we have to make sure that we are communicating openly so that we do not have misunderstandings. Missouri is just wonderful. This last week we found quite a few new people to teach, and I love them all so much. We also got to go into the heart of Kansas city to teach on of our investigators and that was so much fun. Our area is really...nice. Ha ha! Well nice in the sense that we have SO many people to teach! We do work in an area that is low income, but wonderful because so many of the people are so humble. I just love spreading the good word.

Miracle of the week: Last Monday I was playing morning sports early in the morning with the rest of the missionaries(elders and sisters), we were playing basketball. Not five minutes into us playing I rolled my ankle something fierce. Seriously pain ensued and I was scared to death that I was hurt pretty bad. I went to the ground and prayed right there that I would be okay so that it would not affect my missionary work. Guess what? It hasn't! Within five minutes the pain was gone and I jumped back into the game. Yes my ankle did swell a bit and I am still needing to wrap it and be a bit careful, but the Lord took away my pain and what I know could have been a bad sprain ended up being only a minor nuisance. HOORAH right? Yes HOORAH. :D

I am SOOO excited for Christmas! Sister Dent and I will be going to a ton of people's houses and singing to them and giving them a small gift, and just generally spreading the love that we have for the Savior to them. This is the best Christmas season I have ever experienced in my life. Oh what the love of the Lord can do for us...we cannot put boundaries upon Him, and when we have complete faith we become whole and JOYOUSLY happy!!!!!

I am writing you all handwritten letters so I am going to end this now.

I love you!

Sister Thorne

December 12, 2011 - MISSOURI!!!!...Misery? No, no no :D

Hola me familia!

I pray with all of my heart that this email finds you all well and happy. Can you even believe it? I am in Missouri!!! Where shall I even start?!!! So much has happened!

Okay well this last Wednesday I said goodbye to my dear MTC(I LOVE it there!) at 6:30AM, and drove to the Salt Lake City International Airport on a bus with my other Independence amigas y amigos. We left SLC at 10:00AM for Missouri. My mission president, President Keyes (pronounced differently than it looks. It is like k-eye(like eyeball)-s, not like car keys) and his wife were at the airport to pick us up right as we walked off of the plane. We (all 19 of us new missionaries, 7 Sisters and 12 Elders) then rode with the Assistant's to the President and the Keyes to the new Kansas City temple that is almost done being built. It is BEAUTIFUL! We then went to a new site, the memorial of the eight witnesses. It was just dedicated three weeks ago. We were the first missionaries to see it! After that we headed over to Liberty Jail. Yes LIBERTY JAIL! This was awesome! I love it there and I cannot wait to get to serve there! After Liberty Jail we went over to the Independence Visitors' Center. Finally we headed over to the mission home and were trained on a few things and ate an awesome home cooked meal. The remainder of the evening was spent having our interviews with President Keyes. I have to say that he is a WONDERFUL man. He has the most incredible spirit about him, and he just loves the people around him. My interview went so well! I have some pretty big news, but I will save it until things are more solid here :D President told me that I will be serving in the VC(Visitors' Center) to start off with, and living just a few blocks away from it. I was thrilled to hear this, although my best friends fromt the MTC were sent to Liberty Jail to serve there first. It mattereth not though, because I have made a TON of other friends and I continue to do so on a dailty basis.

Okay so now lets talk about my companion. Her name is Sister Amy Dent and she is from a small town just outside of Park City Utah. How do I like her you ask? Well I don't...I LOVE her! She has taught and is teaching me how to be a hard working missionary, devoted to God and His children. She is quiet so that is the biggest difference between the two of us, but she does love to smile and laugh (although it is quiet when she does so...this is a bit different for me ha ha! ) We get along well, and are learning to teach well together. The ward that we are serving in is in Kansas City...this ward is the coolest ward that I have EVER been to. There is a TON of diversity. About half of the ward only speaks Spanish so the ward sings in Spanish and English and there is a translator to help with the talks and classes. We have been working very hard with inactive members and to find new investigators. Sister Dent and her old companion taught this couple. There names are Damarius and Juan Pablo. They are from Cuba and have only been here in the US for 10 months. So cool right? Want to know something even more cool?! They are getting baptized this upcoming Saturday at 2PM!!!! My first baptism in the field! I am so excited that I can hardly contain myself! I look forward with much enthusiasm and hope to the large amount teaching opportunities we will have in this ward. I love them so much already! Oh and funny story, Sister Dent and I walked into Sacrament Meeting and I saw the cutest little african american boy(he is probably about 2 years old) and I went over to give him five and he threw himself at me and grabbed me around the legs, begging for me to pick him up. I panicked for a second because we cannot hold or touch children except hand shakes or high fives. I bet my face looked so funny! Thankfully his grandma was close by to tell him that "No the missionary cannot hold you sugar." Ha ha! Oh I wish I could have held him! He is such a CUTIE!!!!

In the VC we serve with one Senior Couple for each shift that we work. Well let me clear this up to, our shifts. For six hours a day we are in the VC and for the other six hours we get to work in the field. Sometimes I wish that we had more time to work with our ward and the many, many, MANY people who need our time, but God helps us to make the time that we do have be enough. Anyway, I just LOVE the senior couples. When I got here they said that the sisters are like family to them, because none of us have our families out here, so we are all adopted. There is so much love in the VC. I thank the Lord each day that I am so priviledged to get to serve there. I also did my first solo tour yesterday with a big young mens/young womens group. I took them throught the exhibit called God's Plan for His Family. I hope that all of you have a chance to see this sometime. It is in most Visitors' Centers. Anyway, the teenagers were not super receptive, but the Spirit was there in abundance so I felt good about it afterwards. The other sisters were amazed that after I have been here such a short period of time I would already do a tour by myself, but why wait? I know the Spirit will guide me, and He did.

I live in a house a few blocks from the VC called the Willis house. It is very nice and thankfully warm. I know that you all think that you know what cold is back there in Utah and Idaho...but let me tell you...you DONT! ha ha! It is freezing here. Coats do not work! Because of the humidity the cold eats right through your clothes and it takes a bit to warm up once you are back inside. I know what they mean on a Muppet Christmas carol when they are singing about Ebeneser(spelling?) Scrooge and they say "it chills you to the bone!"...but this time in reference to the Missouri winter...oh man I hope someone knows what I am talking about...ha ha! You all know me though so oh well. Please at least smile at that. Even if you don't I will at least picture you doing so. :D

Missionary life it beautiful. Tiring, but the best thing that I have ever done in my entire life. Please remember especially during this Christmas season that this message that we have to give about Jesus Christ is the BEST gift that we could ever give. Material things will NOT last, but the love of God is eternal. Please think of someone to share a short gospel message with, you never know how much it may help one of our brothers or sisters.

I have not had the chance to write letters since I got here...I am only able to write on P-day which is Monday for me. I will be writing you all today and sending pictures.

Grandma and Grandpa Thorne, can you please print this off and give it to Dad? Thank you so much! I hope that you both are doing well!!! I love you!!

Aunt Loni, Thank you for your letter, it came at a much needed time. Tell you boys that I love them, and I love you all.

Ryan, I hope school is going well and that you have enough funds to take care of your needs. I pray for you everyday and I love you SOOOO much!!!

Doug, I was hoping to talk to you while I was at the airport but you were at work. CONGRATS on the call to the bishopric! I wish I could talk to you about it. I will on Christmas day:D

Mom it was so great to talk to you at the airport! Thank you for the MANY, MANY, MANY things that you have done for me and continue to do. I love you with my whole heart.

You can all reply to this email and I can read it next P-day. I pray for all of you everyday and I know that the Lord will bless you while I am gone.

Love,

Sister Thorne