Week 81 - Choosing to be humble instead of being compelled to be humble.

This week was great! The weather has been getting better and better! It's been cold the past couple of days, but it's supposed to be warmer this week. How's the weather in Utah? Summer's on its way!

S and her son L came to church yesterday!! Since L is 10 and he doesn't have any friends in the primary yet, he wanted me to go to primary with him so he wasn't alone. It was good being in primary with all the little ones. We learned about service and obedience to the commandments. L is a very mature 10 year old, and he looked pretty bored. We'll see what we can do about that. Afterwards, we invited him to come play soccer and basketball with us today for p-day, so hopefully he can come! Apparently during Gospel Principles, they talked about general conference next week and she said she's going to come! So we're really excited about it. 

We're also teaching a man named R. He's from Mexico and his having a hard time here. He has been out of work for 3 months and is looking for a job, but hasn't been able to find one. We've been teaching him for a couple of weeks, and I really can see how humble he is because of his situation. In contrast to the people who are comfortable and prideful, R is open and willing to read and pray whenever we ask him to because he's in a position where he recognizes that he needs help. I've seen a similar pattern in my life. When things are hard and I recognize my need for God, I supplicate for his help, but in the other times, I seem to forget him. My mission has taught me to remember him always and rely on his help in the good and the bad. I wish more people could learn that in their lives. 

R is progressing pretty well, but he hasn't been to church yet. He has been reading the pamphlets we give him and he's been praying, but we're hoping he comes to church this next week.He's been coming along pretty well, so I think he'll be coming soon. 

The work is moving along here in Indy! We're working as hard as ever and we're starting to see the fruits of our labor. I ask you to continue praying for us and pray that our faith will increase so we can see more miracles in our area.  Have a great week! 

Week 80 - Coincidences...or miracles?

This week was good! We saw a lot of cool miracles. Sadly, this week the alternator in our car was broken, so we were on bikes/walking all week until Friday. I've been spoiled recently with a full time car, so maybe it was good for us ;)

Tuesday, we had a cool experience! There was a lady that E. Ebeling and I had taught about 4 months ago named G. We lost contact with her and she eventually moved. Well Tuesday morning, we were tracting and found a hispanic lady that looked really familiar to me. She told us she was from Puerto Rico and that her name was G, and it clicked! We found her again! We set a lesson for Tuesday morning, so hopefully she starts investigating once again. 

We also taught a lesson in a limo!!! We have an investigator named E who owns 3 limos. He has a hummer limo and a Chrysler 300 limo in Iowa, and here at his house he has a Ford Excursion limo. We went by to teach him, and the last time we taught him we had expressed desires to see the limo. So when we saw him on Tuesday, he offered to show it to us. We got in his limo and talked for a bit, and then we showed him the new "Hallelujah" church video and shared some scriptures from the BoM about the resurrection. It must have really touched him, because after we stepped out of the limo, he said, "I'm going to go to your church someday."We're making progress!

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On Friday, we took our car to the dealership to get the alternator replaced at 7:30 in the morning. They told us it would only be a couple hours, so we came back in 3 hours to find that all they had done was identified the problem... so slow. So our plans were very delayed due to that, so we had to cancel a few appointments in Warsaw and tract in Goshen instead. We started tracting in a nearby trailer park, and we saw a white girl walking her dog. Elder Schoeneman urged me to give her a pass along card and I felt the same impression, so it must have been inspired. I yelled out that I liked her dog and approached her. I handed her an Easter pass along card and asked if she new why we celebrate Easter. She then, to our surprise told us that she was a member that had moved from Springville, UT, but hadn't been to church for 6 years. She said it was interesting that we ran into her, because she had a lot of people recently telling her that she needed to get back into church. We're hoping she listens to the Lord's invitation to come back to church given to her by His servants here on Earth. 

Later that day, we drove down to Warsaw to do some work down there and started by tracting in another trailer park (we spend a lot of time in trailer parks). We went to the house of a former we found in our area book and knocked on the door. She no longer lived there, but we taught the family that was there. We taught J and her 9 year old daughter G. They accepted a Book of Mormon and said we could come back on Friday! Well, the next day, we went to another investigator's house in Goshen named R, and while we were there, a little girl that looks just like G all of the sudden walked out of his house! Doubtful, I thought it was just a coincidental resemblance, but then the little girl said, "They came to my house yesterday and gave us some bibles!" It was G! It turns out that J is R's daughter and they live in 2 different cities 1 hour away from each other and we were teaching them both! I don't think that was a coincidence. So we invited them to church, but sadly, they didn't show up. 

Other than that, not much is going on. We started teaching another family who is pretty interested. The mom's name is S, and she lives with only 2 of her 5 kids, C and L We had our first visit with them on Saturday and we are going again on Wednesday, so please pray for them!! 

I love you! Have a great week and a happy Easter! 

Love,

Elder Thayne

Week 79 - Car troubles and lots of walking!

This week was great! After getting together with my new companion, Elder Schoeneman, we started the 3 hour drive back to Goshen on Tuesday. The weather was in the high 70's that day and it was BEAUTIFUL!!!! Sadly, we were driving all day, but the weather was good all week which has been a breath of fresh air. 

When we got back to Goshen, we had a lesson with the G family and we brought a 17 year old girl in our branch named Zully along with us. We brought her so she could fellowship and share her testimony with the kids in the G family. We had a great lesson about faith and afterwards, Zully told us she was so happy she came! She even got work off 2 days later so she could come with us again! So we taught them again on Thursday and they finally came to church! Only half of the family came, but it's better than nothing! They left after Sacrament meeting and we didn't really have the chance to talk to them, but we're hoping they liked it! 

This week, we've been having some car problems. Our battery started getting low, so we took it into Auto Zone and they charged our battery. But then the next day, our battery was dead again, so we went back in and they said it was an alternator problem. So then we had to drive to the mechanic in Elkhart, but on our way there, our battery died! We were stranded for a couple hours, but then Bro.Gibson, a member in the stake came to help us out. He put his battery checker on the battery and said the battery was just dead. So he took us to Sears to by a new battery and we put it in, but then yesterday, our car died again! It was a brand new battery! So now we're really thinking it's an alternator problem, but that seems weird since the car is only 2 years old. We're going to have to take it into the shop today to get it fixed.

Sooo, we've been walking a lot this week! But it turned out really well because we met a lot of good people. One guy named L. yelled to us from across the street and told us to come talk to him. He said his wife is a member of the church in Guatemala and he's been looking for the church here. We gave him our number and he gave us his address so we're gonna go visit him this week. We also found a great family from Texas! They're all Hispanic, but speak really good English. We saw him trying to put a cover on top of his truck bed and asked if he wanted help and he said yes. We taught them after and they invited us to come back on Saturday. It's a family of 8 so we're pumped! 

Yesterday, we had branch conference, and I had to translate because there were a few members of the stake presidency and high council at the meeting. It went really well! After, we went tracting, and Bro. Rene Rodriguez called and asked what we were doing and I said we were going tracting and I asked if he wanted to come with. He said yes!! He loves teaching with us. After we tracted, we were on our way home and he called us again and told us he had set up a visit with someone he met at work and he told us to come with him! He's awesome! We met with these people, and the guy's wife is actually a less active member! Her name is Z. and her husband is N.  We taught them about the restoration and they received it really well! The work moves on so much more smoothly when members find people we can teach!

That's all that really happened this week! We're looking for more people to invite to baptism! I invite you all to go on Mormon.org and watch the new Easter video and then to share it online and with your friends!! 

Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Thayne

After Zone Conference

Week 78 - "Llegaron mis novios"

This week was pretty good! We got our transfer calls on Saturday aaaaaand... I'm staying! I'll be staying at least another 6 weeks in Goshen and I'll be getting a new companion. My new companion is.... My trainer!! Elder Schoeneman and I will serve together again. It'll be kinda weird serving with my first companion, but we've both changed and grown so much so I'm sure it will be great. Elder Schoeneman is a great missionary and I'll learn a lot from him... again ;)

This week was good, but we had a lot of days out of our area! We did 2 exchanges with other Elders in our zone and we just worked in their areas those days. But we had a great time and I enjoyed this week. On Monday, we went out to eat with Brother Rene Rodriguez, the inactive member we found about a month ago. He is so active now and he loves taking us out to eat and go with us to visit investigators. He's a great guy. He came out with us yesterday to visit people too and his testimony is so strong. After we came back for the night, he gave us each 2 new ties and said thank you again for helping him get back to church. Something he said really touched me. He told us, "I'm sure neither of you will ever forget having found me, and I won't forget you two either." He's so grateful for the opportunity to be back in the church and we can see the joy and light in his eyes. He's come to be one of my favorite members. He's taking us out to lunch again today.

Sadly, D. didn't come to church again, but it's because the members she usually comes with were sick on Sunday. We were able to teach her on Tuesday in the home of a member family, the Contreras family. We had a good lesson about prayer and revelation and watched Elder Bednar's "Patterns of Light" video. We then talked about baptism and tried to commit her to a date, but she's not ready. We'll keep working with her. 

On Tuesday, we went to a district meeting, and and Elder in our zone named Elder Ellison was assigned to give a training. Elder Ellison is usually pretty quiet and laid back and I've never seen him raise his voice. He gave a training about confidence and faith, and during the training, it was like he was a completely different person. He was more confident and bold and he spoke loud and powerfully. I thought to myself, "this isn't Elder Ellison giving this training. It's 100% the Spirit." After his training, he seemed to return to his same old laid back quiet self. When district meeting ended, I told him he did a good job and he said "I don't even really know what I said." It was great to see the Spirit and the Lord working through him like that for the edifying of the other missionaries.

 A member invited us over for dinner on Wednesday. All 4 of the missionaries in the branch went and he bought 2 pizzas from Little Caesar's. He gave us the pizza to eat while he went and took a shower. Assuming he had already eaten, we devoured both the pizza's before he could even get out of the shower and when he came out he was like, "Could you pass me a piece of pizza?" We sat there awkwardly and ashamed as my companion told him it was all gone. Luckily, he's a really good guy and didn't get mad, but we all felt so bad. So after we left, we decided we'd go to Little Caesar's and buy him a pizza and drop it off at his house. When we walked into the restaurant, I noticed that all the people working there were teenage Mexican girls. As we entered, the girl at the front desk said "Llegaron mis novios" which, in English, means "My boyfriends are here." My companion didn't notice, but it caught me a little off guard. Knowing that they assumed we don't speak Spanish, I just played it off. Then 3 different friends came out from behind in the kitchen to see her "boyfriends" and ask, in Spanish, which ones they were. Well by this time, I just started laughing, and as I approached her all I said was, "We speak Spanish." And her face went immediately red. She was so embarrassed and my comp and I were laughing so hard! Haha we bought our pizza and left as she apologized to us. We had a good laugh.

Last Sunday we started teaching a new family of 8! The parents' names are D and G. They speak both English and Spanish, but were not sure if their kids speak a lot of English so they might end up going to the English ward if they come. We had a great lesson with them and Juan Carlos came to help us. We taught about the Restoration and at the end, it was cool to here G tell us that a few months ago, he didn't even believe in God. He said that recently he'd been reading the bible and seeing things in his life that are evidences there is a God. I thought to myself, "I bet if we had knocked on his door a few months ago, he wouldn't have listened, but now the Lord has prepared him to hear the Restored Gospel!" Our Heavenly Father really does prepare people!!

I love you! I hope you have a good week and find more ways to share your testimony! I'll talk to you next week!!

Love,

Elder Thayne

Cleaning the church ghost buster style!