Week 51 - Spreading the knowledge of the Restored Gospel and planting seeds in these people's hearts

This week has been pretty good! We had the opportunity to teach so many lessons and even though a lot of them don't seem to amount to much, I know I'm spreading the knowledge of the Restored Gospel and planting seeds in these people's hearts. 

Sad news this week, J.sent us a text yesterday saying that "he has lost the motivation to continue coming to church". He said he's been having a lot of problems and he needs to take a break from the church and meeting with us. I texted him back and told him that whenever we get close to the truth and what Heavenly Father wants to do, the enemy will do everything in his power to impede us and keep us from reaching our potential. We're praying that he will realize this and that sometime in the near future, he will return. 

We were able to teach C. again this week. The lesson was a little scattered, but in the end we were able to testify about the importance of baptism and help her become a little more prepared for the 12th. As we get closer to the day, I have become very stressed hoping that there will be enough time to teach everything we need to in order to prepare her for this covenant she will make. But I'm confident that the Lord will provide us with the time we need. 

When I say that Elder Shepherd is really prepared, I mean in the sense that he is so spiritually strong and mature. When I came out, I feel like my heart wasn't in it as much as it should have been and it was really hard for me to adjust to the change. But he doesn't seem to have any problem whatsoever adjusting to the drastic change that missionary life is. You can tell he has a deep love for the Savior and faith that He has a hand in this work. It's really helpful to have a humble, diligent, trainee like him. 

We have an investigator named M. that the elders in this area before me were teaching. I hadn't met him until a couple weeks ago, so it had been about 2 months since he had contact with the missionaries (it happens a lot when missionaries get double-transferred out of an area). His record said he was super prepared and ready to be baptized, he just needed to get married to the girlfriend he's living with. When we finally met him, it so happened that he had been receiving a lot of anti-Mormon information over the 2 months he wasn't being visited. So we testified about Joseph Smith and the ability that he has to receive an answer for himself. We haven't met with him since then, but hopefully we can meet with him soon to help him with his doubts. 

I've still been translating quite a bit in sacrament meeting. Me and Elder Hansen are pretty much the only ones willing to do it, so we usually switch off. Despite how difficult it is, I've come to enjoy translating for 2 reasons. One, because it is a great way to practice my Spanish and learn more, and two, I find that I focus a lot more on the talks and what is being said and it is a more spiritually edifying experience for me.  

Other than that, not much happened this week... Oh I forgot to mention that a couple weeks ago we got devices similar to black boxes in our cars. They track our speed and acceleration and other things to keep us in check with speeding and stuff in order to decrease the number of accidents. I'm hoping it helps my speeding problem I seem to have!

I love you Mom! I love hearing from you and the family. I'll talk to you next week!

Week 50 - Indianapolis Temple dedication and meeting 2 apostles of the Lord!

The Temple dedication was wonderful! We watched it from our local chapel and it was great to see Pres. Eyring and Elder Ballard there. They talked a lot about "knitting hearts together in love and unity across the veil". It was spiritual and really inspired and I feel so blessed to be serving here in this special time of the church in this state. 

          
They had a cultural celebration for the temple dedication on Saturday night and we were able to watch that from the chapel as well. As we arrived to the chapel, we saw two cars parked alone out front with security guards standing outside them and we figured that Pres. Eyring and Elder Ballard were in the chapel! So we just sat and waited in our car trying not to look suspicious until they walked out. They were walking out as we walked towards the door and Pres. Eyring looked at us and pointed at me and said, "where are you from?" I proceeded to tell him I'm from Utah and then he continued to ask the remaining three elders where they're from (all Utah haha). He then thanked us for our service and got in his car. Then we walked towards the chapel and there was Elder Ballard, hand extended waiting to greet us and thank us for our service as well. It was great to meet 2 Apostles of the Lord!

          
We met with C. this past week and had the opportunity to talk with her more about being baptized. She still seemed unsure which was a little discouraging, but we kept talking. She mentioned her mother, sister, and daughter who had all pretty recently passed away and she said she was worried about their spiritual well-being where they are. I felt the impression to talk to her about our visit to the temple open house and specifically genealogy and baptisms for the dead. I told her that I believe her loved ones are waiting and hoping for her to get baptized so that she can do the work for them here on the earth. We had a member there named Martha who testified strongly on the topic and helped a lot in the lesson. It was a great help! We all knelt down and prayed individually and we invited her to pray and ask God if she really was ready to be baptized. After about 8 minutes of praying, she got up with tears in her eyes and said she was ready. It was an incredible lesson thanks to the help of the Spirit!

            
Training is going really well. Elder Shepherd works really hard and he is definitely a lot more prepared than I was when I started. He speaks Spanish really well for a greenie, his only struggle is the comprehension part of it. But he's studying hard and learning a lot. It's a blessing to be able to train a new missionary.

           
 We haven't been able to meet with J. since last Sunday and we've been calling but he hasn't answered. He lives really far away so it's not really an option to just drop by sometime because we're never out that far east. We're hoping everything's ok and he's just been really busy. It's usually ideal to teach someone every day if you can haha but usually that's not possible. Teaching someone 2 or 3 times a week really helps progress them towards baptism. 

            
Now that the temple is so much closer, I've heard that we'll be able to go once every transfer! That will be such a blessing as it has actually been almost a whole year since I've gone and done a session in the temple. So I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to go.

Well that's really all that happened this week. We're still working hard to find the people who have been prepared to receive this Gospel. We have a goal to get 500 baptisms as a mission in 2015 and right now I think we're around 250 so we're praying a lot and hoping for a miracle.

           
 I love you mom! I got the package. Thank you so much! The cookies are delicious and we're enjoying the ipod. I love you Mom! Talk to you next week!

Week 49 - Learning from my trainee, he's so prepared and has a lot of faith!

Welcome home from Lake Powell! I definitely missed being there but I'm looking forward to going.. maybe next year :) we'll see how late you guys are able to go haha. 

My trainee is named Elder Shepherd and he's from Spanish Fork.  He's 18 and just graduated from high school and it's weird to see him right where I was almost a year ago. It still feels like I haven't been in the mission that long. 

Elder Shepherd and Elder Thayne

Elder Shepherd is a great missionary! He's so prepared and he has a lot of faith. One example is a lesson we had with C. As you know, she went to the temple with us and she has previously committed to many baptismal dates, but hasn't kept any of them. We were teaching her and reading about baptism out of Mosiah 18 and after we read it with her she went to the bathroom. We had planned on inviting her to baptism for Sep 12 but because of some things she said during the lesson, we weren't sure if it would take. While she was in the bathroom we were both praying silently to know what to do. After we finished praying, Elder Shepherd just said, "I feel like we should do Sep 12. I know she can be ready by Sep 12." and after praying, I felt it too. She has a lot of problems she needs to figure out before she gets baptized but we both felt so strongly that she can be ready by Sep 12. So we committed her to that date but told her that it will only happen if she shows her faith and her commitment by preparing herself as best as she can. So we're praying that she, along with us, will have the faith for this miracle to happen. 

We also found a former investigator named L. and he was pretty receptive to the message. He said he wants to get baptized and is planning on Sep 19, but he said his biggest problem is that he really likes to drink. Another investigator we have committed to baptism is a guy named J. A member in the branch has been inviting him to church and he's been coming for about a month now and we've been teaching him at church. He's committed for baptism Sep 26. The only problem with him is that he is always busy during the week and we can only teach him once a week which makes it difficult to progress someone to baptism. But we've been having some great success!!

I think being a trainer is just what I needed. My whole mission I have been a little timid when it comes to inviting to baptism on the first lesson because I always thought it was just too soon, but since that's what they hammer into your mind in the MTC Elder Shepherd came out with the mentality to invite everyone. So we've been doing a lot better at that and it's really working for us. I'm looking forward to learning more from this training experience.

Well that's all I really have today! I love you Mom and I hope you have fun unpacking and cleaning from Lake Powell :) Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Thayne

Week 48 - No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing

I'm jealous of all of you spending time together in my favorite place on earth, but at the same time I'm so blessed to be here in Indy in this special time. It was a great week as the temple open house finished up and it's been great to see the impact it's had. As I've seen the temple and the protesters there, I've come to the conclusion that the only reason they would attack us so vehemently is because it's the truth. Other than that, there is no worldly or logical reason that people would try to take down something that does so much good in the world. A lot of these people were following missionaries into nearby restaurants trying to make them look bad and doing whatever they could to deter this work. It has made me think a lot about Joseph Smith's words:

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

I definitely believe that NOTHING will stop this work from progressing. For more than 180 years this has been attacked and it has still proven true. this work truly will go forth "boldly, nobly, and independant" until that final day. We recite the Standard of Truth every 6 weeks at our transfer meeting.

Speaking of transfer meeting, we will be having one tomorrow and I have some news! Tomorrow I will be receiving a new companion and I'll be training him as a new missionary straight from the MTC. It's a little nerve-racking, but I'm a little excited. I'm mostly excited to see the same change that I'm sure some people saw in me. Hopefully he'll have some experience in Spanish, but overall I hope he comes humble and ready to learn. So I should be staying at the same address for at least the next 3 months. 

This past week, we had a lot of great experiences and opportunities at the temple open house. One of them was when my old companion, Elder Cruz, and his companion came down to the temple from Elkhart with an investigator. We happened to be there too so we were able to walk through the temple with them and the guy loved it! He loved it so much that after they went to the temple, he was eating out with the missionaries before their long drive to Elkhart and they were eating with a friend of his named V. Their investigator told V. all about the temple and how much he liked it and encouraged V. to go and see it for himself. Elder Cruz and Elder Trapp sent us V's number and we called him that same day and he was so excited to go see the same temple that his friend had just seen. So the next day, we went at 7:00 and he really enjoyed it! As we were looking at the baptism font, there is a really cool sculpture in there of Jesus Christ being baptized and I explained to him that Christ taught us that baptism is essential to enter into the kingdom of God. We explained baptisms for the dead and he exclaimed, a little embarrassed "I've never even been baptized before". A bit surprised, (since most hispanics are baptized into the catholic church when they are babies) I asked him if baptism was something he desired in his life. He told us he definitely knows he wants to be baptized and after the tour he said we're welcome to come teach him when we can! It's great to see the temple have such great impacts on people. 

During the open house, I was surprised that almost all the questions I received were either "Why are there no crosses in your temple?" and "What do you do in the case of divorce?" It was also interesting to see the contrast between the questions of people who were really curious to know or people who had the wrong attitude about it and looked for ways to prove that it was wrong. But I thoroughly enjoyed being able to serve in this special time of the open house and we anxiously await the dedication.  

One of the hardest things about being a missionary is seeing so many friends come and go! It's hard enough to say goodbye to members when you leave an area, but it's even harder to say goodbye to certain missionaries you've grown close to over time. A lot of my friends go home this Wednesday and it will be weird not to have them around! 

Well that's pretty much it! I hope you guys have a wonderful time in Lake Powell! Be safe! I love you Mom! :)

Love Elder Thayne

Elder Thayne, Elder Trapp, investigator, Elder Cruz, Elder Ryan

Week 47 - The Lord guides us to people even though we may not know it

Mom,

This week went by way fast! We've had the opportunity to help a lot in the temple with the Spanish speaking people that come in and it's been a great opportunity. I've found and some days, even though I don't even go inside the temple, I can feel the great spirit of the building just standing outside.

Sadly, there have been a lot of protesters at the temple, but from what I hear it is quite common at temple open houses. There is a man that sets up his tent everyday just right off the temple grounds who claims to be an ex-bishop of the church, but Pres. Cleveland said he researched him and he never even was a bishop. It's just more evidence that this is the truth. People will do whatever they can to attack it and defame it, but we know that the "work will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent" no matter what the world does.

Sadly, we haven't been able to meet with C. since she went to the temple, but we had a good experience with Bro. Bello on Friday. We had a lesson scheduled with Catarina, and Elder Hansen was with me in my area on exchanges so we invited Bro. Bello to come with us to the lesson. As we were driving to C's house, Elder Hansen pointed out the house of an investigator he taught 6 months ago when he was in my area. 

We got to C.'s house and knocked about 100 times before finally giving in to the discouraging realization that she wasn't home. I, being a little discouraged, started walking to Bro. Bello to apologize for dragging him out here, but Elder Hansen immediately thought to go visit that person he had pointed out as we were driving by. We drove over there, and there she was sitting on her porch. Her name is L. and she has 2 kids and takes care of 3 more and she kept expressing to us her stress and lack of peace in life. It was a great opportunity to invite her to the temple and testify of the peace found there. After the lesson, Bro. Bello said, "As soon as we left C.'s house, I just knew that this lady was going to be home and that she was the reason we're here."  It's incredible how the Lord guides us to people even though we may not know it. L. has invited us to come over and teach her some more.

Elder Markward and Elder Latu had a baptism in the branch on Saturday. Elder Markward told us he is so surprised they were getting baptized because they didn't seem interested at all, but one day they went to their house and the father of the house and suddenly just dropped his habit of drinking and said he knows he needs to get baptized. I have never seen anybody more prepared. As we arrived early to the baptism, there were a lot of members from the branch cleaning the chapel, and I was surprised to see J, the man who was to be baptized a couple hours later, was helping them clean! He had come to help clean the church and he wasn't even a member yet. He said the opening prayer in front of everyone at his own baptism and thanked our Heavenly Father for guiding him to this point. Then we went to the temple open house after the baptism as a branch, and J. showed up with a brand new suit. He truly understood the importance and sacredness of the temple. It's great to see people who are so prepared.

We are teaching a 16 year old girl named L. and her mom. Her dad is Catholic and a little more stubborn, but L. has shown a lot of interest and is really ready to learn. We brought President Coffin (branch president) and his 19 year old daughter Natalia to the lesson and Natalia and L. hit it off. It was great to have that lesson with the member support. 

Other than that, not much has been going on. It's been awesome to have a temple here and it is such a great tool to teach investigators and members alike. I just hope the branch is this excited about the temple in a few months and that they continue going to do work there. 

I love you mom! Yep, you have the right address! Thank you for everything you do! I hope you guys are all doing great. It's sad to miss Lake powell for the first time ever, but it's worth it. Have fun and be safe!

Love you

Elder Thayne

We got a picture with Dwayne Johnson!
I'm pretty excited...