Week 65 - Training conference with Elder Nash - our prayers are more empowered by faith after we have been obedient to the commandments of the Lord

This week was kinda slow, and I've had a cold since last Monday, but our Multi-Zone Conference was AMAZING! Elder Nash was incredible. Such a powerful speaker and you can definitely feel the power of his witness and his calling. One of my favorite things he talked about was obedience in the 2nd chapter of Ether. In this chapter, the brother of Jared is told to build some barges and we read of his obedience in his prayers to the Lord.

18 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared cried untothe Lord, saying: O Lord, I have performed the workwhich thou hast commanded me, and I have made thebarges according as thou hast directed me.

 19 And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whithershall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them wecannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; thereforewe shall perish.

Elder Nash pointed out that because the brother of Jared was exactly obedient in building the barges the way the Lord wanted him to, he was able to start off his prayer saying, "I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me". He explained that our prayers can be that much more empowered by faith after we have been obedient to the commandments of the Lord. If we don't get up on time or aren't obedient to the mission rules, then our prayers can't be like that and we can't have the faith that the Lord will bless us. 

I loved the way he explained the concept of obedience so simply and powerfully using the Book of Mormon. And then he made a direct and clear application to missionary work and things that we need to do better as a mission. It was by far the best conference I've been to on my mission. 

We had a pretty cool miracle this week too! At the Zone Conference, the Assistants to the Mission Pres. role-played a lesson with Elder and Sister Nash, where they said they were worried about their kids straying off the path. The Assistants then addressed their need and testified and left them with a commitment to pray as a family. The very next day, we were tracting and after teaching an 18 year old girl, we asked if she knew of any Hispanics that lived close by. She told us her neighbors were Mexican but she warned us that they were very rude. We were hesitant, but decided to knock anyway. On the other side of the door was a very nice lady who didn't even speak Spanish. We started talking and she almost immediately explained that she had been worried about her children getting into the wrong crowd and she's trying to keep her family together. It was literally the same exact thing they had practiced at Zone Conference! It was cool because we were already prepared on how to address that need and help her overcome her problem. We're hoping the English Elders can teach her soon!

Yesterday we went by a less-active members house and we had previously heard that her husband was against the church. But we went and taught them both and they were so nice and it was a great lesson! They enjoyed it and I ended up having a ton in common with their 14 year old son A. who runs XC and plays the drums! I even got to play his set yesterday which was really fun :) it's been a looooong time! We're hoping E. and A. keep learning more and that Edgar has the desires to be baptized. 

I love you Mom! Thanks for the wonderful advent calendar! I hope you guys have a great week and a merry Christmas! Love you!! 

Elder Thayne

A Member wanted us to do service and burn a bunch of branches and stuff...so
we took some really cool smoke pictures. 

A Member (Bro Juan Alarcon) bought us a selfie stick

Elder Nash - He speaks Spanish, so he was willing to take a picture with the Spanish Elders

On our road trip to Indy...with the selfie stick