1st week in Indiana - I have a great Trainer!

This first week has been crazy, but it's been super good! My companion, Elder Schoeneman is 18 and he is from SLC. He is  a great guy!  He has only been out in the field for 2 transfers so only about 3 months longer than I have.  He's a great trainer!  He already seems so natural at all of this and I hope that I too can get it down after only 12 weeks.  It's just me and him in our 1 bedroom apartment. It's pretty cold here so in the mornings it's hard to get out of my warm bed.  

We asked him how making his own meals was going.  We usually have quite a few meal appointments with members throughout the week, otherwise I just eat cereal or make a quick sandwich. 

He's serving in the White River area. We asked him about his branch.  I'm pretty sure the Spanish branch we are in is the only one in Indianapolis, so its area is pretty big. The branch probably has somewhere around 100 members in it.  Church was great!  The branch president had me come up and bear my testimony, and people tell me that my Spanish is really coming along! The language is definitely harder out here than it was in the MTC, but I get by. I can still speak it with them pretty well but it's hard to understand them at times. The members are super nice and welcoming. They all love the missionaries so much. When we are fed, it's always Mexican food (but much better than the MTC), and they always give us HUGE portions. Yesterday I thought I was going to burst.

As of now we only have 1 investigator, so we spend most of our time visiting less active members and tracting.  My bike was missing a part which didn't get here until yesterday, so up until now we've been walking everywhere except for when we have the car. 
We have a car from Friday to Monday every week because we share it with 2 other elders.
Our investigator's name is J.   Elder Schoeneman said that he's been taking lessons from the missionaries for a long time now and he hasn't been progressing in a while. They almost dropped him a few weeks ago, but one day he told them that he felt the spirit and decided to stop smoking and drinking. He's already been taught all the lessons but doesn't seem to remember much of what he is taught, so he hasn't made too much progress towards baptism recently. We go over there every so often to read scriptures with him and check up on him. He said he suffers from OCD and slight depression and he has a hard time being alone so he really appreciates when we drop by to teach him a short lesson or just to visit.  We don't have ipads yet, but supposedly we're supposed to get them by the beginning of next year.

A lot of the Spanish speaking people we run into while tracting are catholic, but they will often give 5 minutes to hear a quick lesson.  We try to only talk to Spanish speakers, but we run into the occasional English speaker and we'll try to teach them as well. It's almost weird trying to teach in English because I've gotten so used to doing it in Spanish instead.

That's super exciting that both Justin and Jeannie are leaving on missions so soon! They will both be great forces in the mission field! I would have loved to be there for Justin's farewell. I'm sure he did great. 

I received your package yesterday. Thank you so much! It was great to get it! It is pretty cold here so if you could send some sweaters sometime, that would be nice. I don't know if the ones I had before would still fit me though..

That's so fun that you got to go to Vegas to visit the Hyers! I am so jealous! I miss cute little Jaxon. I'm glad Zach is having fun at all of his high school dances. Tell him to enjoy it while it lasts because I already miss those days!

I love you all and I look forward to hearing from you! Thank you for all the love and support you give me!

Love,  

Elder Thayne

Elder Thayne and his Trainer, Elder Schoeneman

Travelling to Indiana this week - Nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus"

Josh traveled to Indiana today from the Mexico MTC.  Because of this, he was allowed to email us yesterday.  He had to get up at 2 AM this morning and be on a bus by 3 AM to make it to the airport.  He called Daren and I from the Atlanta Airport and we talked for about 15 minutes.  His only option to call was a free phone the airport provides, but you can only talk in 5 minute increments, so every 5 minutes he'd let us know when he had 30 seconds and then he'd call right back.  It was hard to say goodbye again, but so good to hear his voice!  He is excited to begin this portion of his 2 year adventure finally arriving in Indiana and arriving in his first working area.  We received an email from his mission president that he had arrived safely along with a picture.  I think his p-days will be on Mondays,

Hi mom!

That´s so awesome that Zach got a buck! Man I´m so jealous I wanna shoot a deer! He looks so happy in that pic. (Zach shot his first buck on the deer hunt this last weekend)  

These past few days have been awesome.  I came across a scripture in Romans 8:35, 37-39:

35:Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

37:Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38:For I am convinced, (in English it says ¨persuaded¨, but in spanish it says ¨convencido¨ which means convinced and I like it much better..) that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39:Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us form the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I really love that scripture.  Paul [tells of ] his knowledge of the love of Christ so powerfully and it fills my soul with comfort. I actually had an opportunity to share that with a volunteer at TRC on saturday.  She shared that she has 2 sons who are RM´s and they have both stopped going to church.  She said she´s been having a really hard time and I felt inspired to share that scripture with her. I could tell it really touched her and the spirit knew that is what she needed to hear.

Guess what else happened on Saturday??  Neil L. Andersen came and spoke to us! It was SO good! He spoke about the atonement and how it relates to missionary work. He said that the more we learn about the Atonement and feel it´s power in our lives, the more we´ll want to share it with others.  Before the devotional started we all got to shake his hand as well! It was a great experience.  [He shared on his phone call from the airport that They built a huge stage to accomadate Elder Anderson so that each missionary could come up and shake his hand.  He said that one day the stage wasn't there and they built it all in one day.  He said the day was amazing!]

Yesterday was our last Sunday here so we all decided to give each other blessings of comfort before 6 out of the 10 people in our district left for their missions in McCallen, Texas. I asked Elder Budge to give me a blessing and it was a great experience and a huge help. [2 of his district are going to Knoxville Tennessee where our son-in-law Kevin served and then Josh and his Companion will be in the Indiana Indianapolis Mission]

I´m super excited to get out to Indiana and share the fullness of the Restored Gospel to all the people the Lord has prepared! I love you so much! Tell Zach I´m proud of him for his kill! Let him know I´m gonna have to catch up to him when I get back ;)

Love, Elder Thayne

Josh with his District (13A) at the Mexico MTC.  6 are going to the TexasMcAllen  mission, 2 going to Tennessee Knoxville mission , and Josh and Elder Seegmiller going to the Indiana Indianapolis mission.  

District 13 A studying together

Josh and the 4 remaining Elders in his district after the 6 left for McAllen, TX on Monday

Josh arrived safely in Indiana!  Pictured with President and Sister Cleveland

Last Week at the Mexico MTC!

This week went way faster and I am so excited to ship out on Tuesday!  My flight leaves from Mexico City at 7 and I land in Atlanta at about 11 so it would be 9 Utah time I think. I'm not sure what time my flight to Indiana is yet. I hope I get to call you!   

I asked him about his daily schedule because one of my friends has a son who is currently in the Mexico MTC and he describes his day like this: “Honestly my schedule is wake up, go to breakfast, go to class and study for an hour, practice teaching, learn something about Spanish then the Gospel, then study for 30 minutes, then lunch, then study the language for an hour, then gym, then language for an hour, then study for 30 min and plan for 30 min, then dinner, then practice teaching, learn Spanish and the gospel, then go home and get ready for bed and go to bed. every. day. its pretty much all I do every day. and nothing too exciting happens, especially because nobody can come or go besides newbies.”    I sent him this description and I asked him if his schedule was similar? 

Josh's Response:  Yeah it is really monotonous here so I can´t wait to leave. 

I have seen a lot of Budge (he´s in my zone) but not Garrett as much.  I asked him about his Gym time every day and what he does.  Gym time is when we get to do whatever we want to exercise. I usually just play volleyball or basketball. I´m actually really loving volleyball lately! I have also been doing 100 push-ups and 150 sit-ups every night so I´m getting some exercise in :)

I really have been studying the character of Christ in Jesus the Christ and the New Testament lately and I love it! It really interests me and I pray morning and night to have the gift of charity towards ALL men. I really want to be able to work towards that and become more like Christ. I think that would really help on my mission.

My Spanish is coming along great.  I love talking to the Latino elders here. They´re all so friendly and funny and it helps with my Spanish as well.  One of my teachers even offered to move me to an all Latino district about a week ago because my Spanish is coming along so great, but I decided to stay with my district because I've really grown to love all these elders and sisters so much!

On Saturday we had something called TRC. Not really sure what it stands for, but we actually got to teach REAL PEOPLE!!! They said that some people were actually going to be real investigators, some members, and some less-active. We taught a couple of members.  One of them we taught the lesson of the restoration and it went really well and I was able to recite the first vision from memory and the spirit was so strong. Then she asked us how to prepare for a mission because she has a call and is going to Argentina in December and it was really cool!

We were prepared to teach the second person about the restoration as well, but then she asked us to teach about repentance.  It kind of caught us off guard, but we were able to give a pretty good lesson. It was a great experience!

That´s so fun that Dad and Zach are going deer hunting! I would love that! I love you all so much and I pray for you always! Thank you for your prayers and your support!

Love  Elder Thayne

OK...Josh is the one in the lower bunk...his companion Elder Seegmiller is in the top bunk, I stole this from his mom's facebook page.  I love how Josh is all scrunched up in there reading his Book of Mormon!  

Elder Josh Thayne and his District at one of the Elder's birthday Party

Elder Garrett Phlillips (Manila 4th Ward) and Elder Josh Thayne

Christ's Love For Us

Sharisa - I've combined a "hard copy" letter we got in the mail this past week and the weekly email he sent today into this one post.

I’m sorry I don’t write all that much in my emails.  1)I don’t have a ton to write about because not much goes on at the MTC, 2) I don’t have a lot of time on the computer.

I am learning so much here at the MTC it’s crazy!  We spend so much time studying the gospel and the language and I've really grown to love all the learning.  When I got here, I restarted reading the Book of Mormon.  I’m already in 3 Nephi and still reading so much every day.  Also, I started reading “Jesus the Christ” on Sunday and I’m already more than halfway through. I love how much time I have to study and just immerse myself in this perfect Gospel.  By the time you get this letter, I will probably be done with both the BoM and “Jesus the Christ”.  J  I have also read “Our Search for Happiness” by M Russell Ballard, and I loved it!

So as of now, we have only 2 “investigators” (because they’re pretend).  One of them is named Carolina and the other is Fernando.  I like teaching Fernando much more because he actually asks questions and it’s more like a discussion than a lesson.  Elder Seegmiller hasn’t had any experience in Spanish prior to the mission, so I generally lead the discussions.   All of my Spanish classes are definitely helping!  So much is coming back to me and it´s been great to have that solid foundation to start off.

We have been loving teaching and it´s really coming along.  One of our ´´investigators´´´was telling us that he can´t meet with us anymore because his mom is very catholic and does not like him meeting with us.  He asked why God would make this happen if this is something so good that he needs in his life.  I shared Ether 12:6 with him and told him we must show our faith in God, then we will receive a witness that will strengthen us and our testimony.  I felt inspired to share Jeannie Park´s conversion story and how her mom didn´t want her to be baptized and doesn´t want her to serve a mission.  It really helped!

Time here goes SO SLOW!  I’m sure it will get better. And I just can’t wait to get to Indiana already!  I can’t wait to eat American Food again!!!  Awh  I miss little Jax so much!

I LOVED conference! It was so great to watch it! I really loved the talk by Elder Jorg Klebingat.  It really helped me to know what I need to work on in order to improve myself spiritually.  I loved how much they talked about how the Prophets and apostles are called of God and it made me think about how greatly blessed we are to have modern day revelation.  I also loved the talk about knowing which way we face.  I know I need to improve and focus on ways I can please God instead of man. I can´t wait for the next conference!

Today we went to the temple.  Sadly, the temple is closed so we only went to the visitors center, but I loved it.  It was great to be there and to feel the peace and the spirit that resides there.  I love the temple and it was exactly what I needed.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about God as our literal Father and how much love He has for each of His children.  We watched a devotional by Elder Bednar the other day and he talked a lot about the character of Christ.  He talked about how Christ turned out [thinking of others) [as opposed] to the natural man who would turn inward (concerned only about himself).  He talked about how Christ often showed His love through service and acts of kindness.   One of the examples he gave was when Christ was fasting for 40 days and then he was tempted by Satan.  After he went through all of that it says in Matthew 4:11, “Then the devil leaveth him and behold angels came and ministered unto him.”

Now, I don’t know if you already know where I’m going with this or not, but I want you to go and read JST in the footnotes for that verse (Matt 4:11)

It’s incredible that Christ, after going through that physically and spiritually exhausting experience, would selflessly send his angels to minister to John instead of himself!  He truly is the most loving being to ever live on this earth. 

Another example Elder Bednar shared is when Christ suffered in Gethsemane.  Christ brought with him his chief apostles and asks them to only stay awake for one hour.  After suffering unimaginable pain in Gethsemane, he comes and finds his apostles asleep 3 different times.  Elder Bednar states that Christ would not have been mad at his apostles, but we imagine he’d be somewhat disappointed.  After which, he is betrayed by Judas.  After all of this happens, Christ still reaches out to help one of God’s children.  After suffering unimaginable pain, being let down by his chief apostles, and then betrayed by Judas, He witnessed Peter slice of the ear of one of his captors and proceeded to heal him.  Not only did he serve others in his hardest times, he served one of Caiaphas’ servants.  That amazes me. 

All of this has taught me so much about the love that god and his son Jesus Christ has for us.  It amazes me so much.  It give me hope and it give me strength to know that God loves me enough to help me as long as I try my best. 

I am grateful for all of the things I have learned here.  4 weeks ago I wouldn’t have known all that stuff I just wrote about.  My testimony has been strengthened so much more than any time in my life.  I’d like to bear my testimony in Spanish. 

(Sharisa –I’ve written this from Josh’s own handwriting…so hopefully it is correct since I don’t’ know Spanish at all.  I typed it all into a translator and it comes out pretty much right I think. A few of the words don't translate, but I don't know if it's my deciphering or Josh's use of words...)

Yo sé que Jesucristo es mi Salvador. Yo sé que Cristo morió para los pecados de todas las personas en el mundo.  Yo sé que por medio de la expiacion, yo puedo ser limpio otra vez.  Yo sé que sin la expiación no podria regresar con Dios.  Yo sé que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial.  Yo sé que Dios tiere on plan para yo y para usted.  Yo sé que Dios y JesuCristo nos aman mãs ue podemos comprender.  Yo sé que esta Iglesia es la Iglesia restaurado en el mundo.  Sé que Dios y Jesucristo aperecieron a José Smith.  Sé que yo soy un Hijo de Dios.  Estoy entusiasmado para enseñar Las personas en Indiana.  Yo sé que esta Iglesia es verdadera sin duda.  Digo estas cosas en el nombre de mi Salvador y mi redentor, Jesucristo, Ameñ.  

I love you so much! I hope you guys have a great week and I can´t wait to hear from you!

Love, 

Elder Thayne

Josh's District at the Mexico City Temple which is closed for maintenance

Josh and Josh Budge ("Budge") on Budge's first day

Josh at the Mexico City Visitor's Center

Halfway through the MTC!

This week was much better.  Sundays are great.  In the mornings we have from 7-9:30 for just personal study time and I love it.  We then go to priesthood which is always so good and then we go to sacrament meeting which is all in Spanish.  I have yet to give a talk but there´s still plenty of time for that.  I was reading in the BoM on Sunday and in Alma I was reading about the stripling warriors and came across a verse that really helped me: ´´They were taught by their mothers that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them´´ that gave me so much hope.  I know that my mother has definitely taught me that all my life.  As long as I just continue in this work with faith in the Lord, I know He will strengthen me and help me along my way. 

Twice a week all the Elders in the whole MTC get together and watch a devotional.  We watched one that was recorded from a Christmas devo that elder Bednar gave at the Provo MTC a few years ago.  He talked about the Atonement and said that there would have been no Atonement without the character of Christ. He stated that Christ turns out when the natural man turns in.  I learned that I need to strive to turn out and serve people as much as possible. 

We also had a devotional from president Pratt about the Atonement.  He said the Atonement is putting ´´At one´´ those who have been estranged.  All of us as mortals have been ´´estranged´´ from God, but it brings me so much joy to know that we can be made ´´At one´´ with our Father in Heaven again through the Atonement of His Son. And I can´t wait to share the same message with all the people in Indiana!

All but two of the people in my district are from Utah.  One of them actually lives in Cedar Hills and went to Lone Peak so he lives quite close to us.  So I live in a house that has about 5 separate rooms in it. Each room has 4 elders. about half of the Elders in my house are in my district. All the guys in my district are super funny! There are two Hermanas and we are all from the U.S.  On p-day we usually just do laundry, clean the house, and relax :)

My Spanish is going really well.  I´m able to give the first 3 lessons with little to no notes.  It´s so cool to be able to understand the language and have an intelligent conversation with people!

I´m really excited for conference this weekend.  They will be broadcasting it in English, but I might go see a few talks in Spanish just to see what it´s like.

Thank you for the packages and all the support and love!