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!