We had a good week!! It hasn't been that long since the last time I emailed, so not much has happened.
We are going to give G and A a break. We finally found her 2 good jobs that she would only have to work Monday-Friday and we basically just gave her everything on a silver platter and she still didn't take it. We've been fighting and struggling to get her to progress, but she just doesn't seem to want it bad enough. So we'll give them a break for a little bit and come back in a few weeks.
J and E are still having a hard time too. It seems to us that they are only willing to come to church if there's absolutely nothing standing in their way. Obviously there will always be obstacles and challenges that they have to work through, but they aren't willing to do what it takes. We'll see if we can help them get there this week.
This week we went on exchanges with the Elders in Greencastle. Greencastle is a pretty small city about an hour south of Indianapolis and we don't get to see the Elders serving down there very often, so it was good to spend a whole day with them in their area. We visited a member down there named Brother Jefferson who's wife passed away shortly before he joined the church. He has a great love for the gospel and he has a strong testimony. He's pretty old and loves to talk, so we got Hoosier'd pretty bad (in other words, he talked our ears off), but he actually taught me a very important lesson. As we go on exchanges with other Elders in their area, we usually take the back seat to see how they do and how they handle things. So I let Elder Hock start the message and he shared a scripture from Romans 5:3-5 and a great thought on patience. I added my two cents, and then Bro Jefferson taught me a profound lesson. He asked us, "What do you usually do when people persecute you while you're proselyting?" We both responded that we try to sit and listen patiently, but that sometimes it's difficult. He then said, "You have to listen to them. But not just to their words. Listen to what they're really saying." I asked him to explain further. He replied, "Christ would have heard what they are really saying. He would have heard their pain." That hit me pretty hard, and I realized that I could be a lot better at that. It's easy to take offense and talk back to people when they persecute you. It's even easy to patiently listen and just brush it off. But Christ would listen with the true intent to perfectly understand them and the real message their saying and then he would respond with words of love and of healing. I instantly thought of times when I could have listened more intently and been more understanding and I decided that I want to improve that in my life.
uI love this quote by Pres. Spencer W Kimball:
“My life is like my shoes—to be worn out in service
Things are going great here! We have transfers next week, so I'll be getting a new companion and possibly be moving areas. I'll know for sure by Saturday. We'll keep working hard and seeing miracles. I love you and I hope you have a great week!!!
Love,
Elder Thayne
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