Week 64 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Bowl - Thanksgiving day

With Fellow THS Alumni, Sam Dean

This week flew by! And since we pretty much had a p-day on Thursday, it feels kind of weird to be having another one today. Today after p-day, we'll be driving down to Indy to spend the night there. Tomorrow morning we'll have our multi-zone conference with Elder Nash from the Seventy and I'm really looking forward to it! It's always fun to get together with other missionaries and I'm sure we'll learn a lot.

Thanksgiving was tons of fun! We played some football in the morning and the weather was perfect! It was a warm Thanksgiving which was weird because last year it was snowing while we played football. After football we cleaned the apartment up a bit and then went bowling with Juan. It was a lot of fun, but it's safe to say that my bowling could get a little better. But I sure as cuss couldn't get any worse ;) Afterwards we ate at the Alarcon's house and a lot of the branch was there. We had pork and rice and potatoes and it was soooo good. On Saturday we had a great branch activity and it was a huge success! The non-members that came outnumbered the members and it was a lot of fun. Activities are always such a great way to make people feel comfortable in the branch. 

We got tons of member help this week and taught a lot of lessons with members. It was good to receive that help and hopefully we can get even more members involved and excited about missionary work. We've been teaching this guy named Felipe. He is super open and willing to come to church, but his family isn't as interested. He said his kids feel comfortable in the Catholic church and they don't really like when we come over. So we'll try to bring some youth with us so they can get to know them a little better.

On Friday, we were tracting and we came to this house with about 10 cars parked outside. We could see from the outside that there was a party in there. We knocked on the door and they let us right in! We taught the whole party about the Restoration, but sadly, they were all super catholic and there were two guys who were being very rude and it kind of kept the rest of the people from taking part in the message. But we taught all of them and it was about 20 people. Afterwards we left a few pamphlets for them, they gave us some food, and we left. It was a pretty cool experience to teach that many people!

My Ponderizing scripture this week is in Alma 57 21. It's one of my favorites.

21 Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.

Pres. Cleveland has been emphasizing being exactly obedient as he tries to get the whole mission entirely on the same page. Sadly, there will always be some who don't quite understand the importance of obedience to every rule or commandment, but I think it's something that takes some people a little longer to learn.

  I know that this is the work of the Lord. There is no way I could do this work myself. I've seen too many miracles to deny that this is the Lord's work and His church. I know Joseph Smtih was His prophet and that we have a prophet on Earth today. I know the Savior was born of Mary in Bethlehem and he came as King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He bled, suffered, and died for us and through his grace we not only will be saved, but we can be made perfect. 

I'm thankful for everything I have and especially for my wonderful family! I love you all so much and I'm thankful for all you do for me! Have a good week and a great Christmas season! I love you and I'll see you on Christmas! 

Love,

Elder Thayne

Peppermint ice cream especially made for Josh!   Juan Alarcon knows the owner of  "The Chief", a local ice cream shop.  He's a good friend to have when you get a late night call for a dire need for peppermint ice cream from a missionary!

Thankgiving Bowling! 

Elder Thayne OBVIOUSLY needs to work on his bowling skills!  

Week 63 - Pray always - key to any commandment is consistency

My Ponderizing scripture this week is D&C 10:5 

 5 Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.

I love this scripture and I think it can apply to any commandment. "Study the scriptures always", "Pay tithing always", "Love others always". I think that the key to any commandment is consistency. And I definitely see the need for prayer especially in this world and in this work.

Our week was alright. We have been having a hard time getting people to come to church lately. The only investigator we have that comes consistently is C. He's the husband of a recent convert, A, for whom I actually conducted the baptismal interview the last time I was in Elkhart. C. comes to church and prays and participates, but he still doesn't want to get baptized. He seems to talk about it as if it will happen someday, it's just a matter of when. We finally discovered that he really hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon and we told him that he definitely will not know if this church is true without reading from and gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

S. said they've called him S. ever since he was a baby. He said he had really big cheeks so they called him that and the name stuck. S. has been attending a Pentecostal church that he really likes and it's been hard getting him to come to church. We also found out he is still on probation from when he went to jail and he has a court date for early next year. So we won't really be able to set any baptismal goals with him until he gets all that cleared up.  

Yeah, I did have to go to the dermatologist on Monday. He said it was probably poison ivy or some other allergic reaction to nature. I've been taking Prednisone and it's already clearing up a lot. Juan is on the Stake Music committee, so he's conducting a stake Christmas program and he's asked us to be in the choir. So we had a practice at the stake center last night and we're singing a lot of great Christmas songs. I'm looking forward to Christmas and the wonderful spirit that it brings!

I love you Mom! I hope you had a great birthday! Safe travels for thanksgiving and I hope you all enjoy the holidays. Love you! Have a good week!

Week 62 - "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" - thrust in your sickle!

Well since I slacked last week, I'll start off with my ponderizing scripture: 2 Tim. 1:7-8

 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but ofpower, and of love, and of a sound mind.

 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;"

I like this scripture a lot and I think it applies to sharing the Gospel really well. 

This week was great!  S. is still progressing pretty well. He was only able to go to the last hour of church yesterday because another friend invited him to a Pentecostal church and he went there during the first 2 hours. He seemed to like that church a lot but hopefully he can come to Sac. meeting next week so he can feel the spirit of the Sacrament. We ate at the Alarcon's house yesterday and we invited S. to come with us. We ate chicken and mole and it was good that he was able to meet the family and establish a relationship with some people in the branch. 

I gave a talk in Sac Meeting yesterday and I talked about sharing the gospel and more specifically, how helpful and necessary it is to have members with us in lessons. I shared 2 Cor. 13:1 which talks about how the word being established by 2 or 3 witnesses. I also shared one of my favorite stories from the Book of Mormon about Alma and the sons of Mosiah and the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. I specifically shared Alma 27:4-5

 4 Now when Ammon and his brethren saw this work of destruction among those whom they so dearly beloved, and among those who had so dearly beloved them—for they were treated as though they were angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction—therefore, when Ammon and his brethren saw this great work of destruction, they were moved with compassion, and theysaid unto the king:

 5 

Let us gather together this people of the Lord, and let us go down to the land of Zarahemla to our brethren the Nephites, and flee out of the hands of our enemies, that we be not destroyed.

I love this story and I've read it many times, but I never really saw it in this light. I love how verse 4 shows the love and appreciation that the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's had for the people who brought them the eternal gospel of Jesus Christ. "for they were treated as though they were angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction".  All of us can be an "angel" for someone as we share with them what can save them from everlasting destruction.

Last time I was in the branch when I was serving in Elkhart, I noticed it was a little hard for the Goshen Elders to get a lot of help from the members since there aren't as many members in Goshen. So I was a little worried about that as I came into this area, but we've been having a lot of success using members. I've found that if you really just ask anyone and everyone to come with you to lessons, you'll get the help. So it's been good to have a lot of help from the members in fellow shipping the investigators.

It's getting pretty chilly up here, although we haven't seen snow yet. At the end of this month, Elder Nash from the Seventy is coming to tour our mission and train us in multi-zone zone conferences. It will be cool to have him here and to listen to the counsel he will give us. 

This past week, we were tracting in a trailer park. We found ourselves talking to a white lady named J. At first, she told us she didn't believe in God at all and wasn't religious. We thought we had no hope of teaching anything to her. But I had a feeling to share the Plan of Salvation with her and to explain to her that she was taught all of this already in the Pre-mortal life and I said, "If any of this rings true to you or sounds familiar in any way, that's why." We then taught about God's plan and our part in it and by the end of the lesson she was agreeing with it and finding truth in it. It was a great testimony to me that everybody on Earth really has already learned all of this, it's just a matter of helping them come back to it. 

Yeah there are quite a lot of Amish up here. There always at the stores and stuff. We've talked to one of them one time but never really tried to teach him. And no, I don't believe there are any Mexican Amish haha.

My rash is a lot better, but still itches. It's definitely improving though. The nurse didn't even come to zone conference, so it looks like I'm on my own haha. But it's getting better and should be gone soon. 

Not much else to share this week! I love it in Goshen, but I'm not looking forward to the winter. It should be a good adventure! I love you Mom! Happy Birthday this week! I'll write a letter and send it. We'll see if it's on time... Sorry! Love you, bye!

Elder Thayne

D&C 4:4

I'm taking this whole "thrust in your sickle" thing seriously!

Week 61 - Transferred to Goshen, Little Mexico and a TON of Amish

Well, as you've already been informed, I've been transferred back up north to Goshen, Indiana! It's a pretty small city, but bigger than Elkhart. There are a TON of Amish people here and you can see them riding around in their carriages. They even have horse stalls at Wal-mart so that's Goshen. It's really good to be back in this branch with a lot of the members I had grown to love, and it's also great to get to know more members whom I didn't have the fortune to meet when I was in Elkhart.

Being District Leader is nothing big. It's literally the same exact thing as being a normal missionary, except I have to collect numbers from my district at the end of the week and report them to our zone leaders. We also have a district meeting every week and I have to make the program for that and assign trainings and stuff. It's not a big deal at all, I'm just glad I get to keep preaching the restored gospel. And I don't know if you remember when Zach told me that Sam Dean, from our school, got called to Indy, but I'm now in his zone and we even share a car with him and his companionship. It's a little strange seeing someone from my high school out in the mission field, but it's good to see him again. 

I like Goshen a lot! There are a ton of Hispanics here and Juan said it's nickname is "Little Mexico." My new companion is Elder Ebeling from Draper. He, just like Elder Shepherd, just got done being trained. He's a way funny guy and he's super athletic, so it should be fun playing basketball with him today. His Spanish could use some work, but so could everyone's when they first come out. 

We have a lot of sweet investigators. One of them is S. His real name is V, but his nickname since birth has been S. so he prefers to go by that. Before I got here, S. got put in jail after the missionaries had been teaching him for a while. On Friday we actually went by the jail to set up a video lesson over there, but before our scheduled video lesson, we got an email saying that it was cancelled due to his release! To be honest, I was kind of looking forward to teaching in jail, but I'm definitely glad he's out. We taught him yesterday and he definitely has a thirst for knowledge and desires to find the truth. We had a really good lesson about prayer and the Book of Mormon. We committed him to a baptismal date for Nov 28 and we're hoping he'll be ready by that date. It's the second time he's been in jail in the past 3 weeks so our biggest concern is keeping him out of there. ;)

I'm glad to be back up north even though it's going to be freezing cold! I'm going to tough out my last winter in Indy and then it'll be warm the rest of the way. I love you! Have a good week!

Love, Elder Thayne

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Week 60 - Spanish missionary training and finding those who are lost

This week was a pretty good one! It was the last week of the transfer so I was notified on Saturday that I'll be getting transferred and I will be a District Leader in my new area. We'll see where I go tomorrow, but regardless, I'm sad to leave this area and my companion. I'm looking forward to new experiences in a new area.

Sadly, this week we weren't able to meet with S. and A. They've been really sick and haven't been feeling well enough to meet with us, consequently, we will probably be moving their baptismal date to the next weekend. 

On Tuesday, we had a Specialized Spanish Training at the mission home. It was a training for just the Spanish Elders. It was fun to see all of them and to catch up. We were there with Pres. Cleveland, Juan Carlos, and his dad. We also had a skype training by a former member of the Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Lino Alvarez. Elder Alvarez talked mostly about our purpose as missionaries and how to better fulfill that purpose. Later we had several other trainings by Pres. Cleveland, the assistants, and the Zone Leaders about other facets of missionary work. After all of it we went to a Chinese buffet (for some reason missionaries here like to eat at Chinese buffets a lot), and then returned to our areas. 

Tuesday night, we were knocking doors in an apartment complex and we found ourselves talking with a Mexican man from Guanajuato named L. We talked for a little bit, and at first I didn't think we had any hope of teaching him anything because he didn't seem interested, but after talking to him for a bit, we talked with his wife, G., and they let us in and we ended up teaching their whole family of 5 about the restoration of the gospel. The lesson was great and we had a return appointment on Friday but sadly I wasn't there because I was on the other side of the city on exchanges. I heard the lesson didn't go too well, and they didn't end up coming to church, but hopefully E Shepherd and his new companion can meet with them soon. 

We were tracting on Wednesday and we found this 22 year old guy named J. He said he didn't have time but that we could come over the next day. We went on Thursday and when we were talking to him he told us he had a brother on a mission in California. That was when we found out he was a inactive member who moved from Kentucky and that he had actually been calling the church and leaving messages asking for missionaries to come over. We had just randomly knocked on his door! He said he wants to get back into church and eventually work towards serving a mission like his younger brother. We told him that is a good idea and we visited him a couple more times last week, but he wasn't able to come to church. 

Well that's pretty much it for this week. I'll let you know where my new area is when I can! I got the backpack, thanks Mom! I love you!

Elder Thayne

Elder Thayne and Elder Shepherd - peace out!

Saying Goodbye to M and her grandson T