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