Week 37 - Heavenly Father knows his Children

I'm glad you guys got to all spend the baby shower together, but that's too bad that you all had to do so much work on memorial day weekend. Sometimes I wish I had sooner learned how to work hard, because now I am having to work harder than ever! But I learn from my mistakes and I hope my future children aren't as stubborn as I was ;)

This week was a great one! We had transfers on Wednesday and my new companion is Elder Cruz! He's originally from Cuernavaca, Mexico, but has been living in Chicago for about 6 years now. He was actually called English speaking, but Pres. Cleveland sent him to this Spanish area because we are losing so many Spanish missionaries and we don't have enough to fill all the areas. I'm really excited to serve with him! As you can imagine, his Spanish is really good ;) so I think it will help me to improve my Spanish during the time I serve with him. He is still learning English even though he already speaks it really well, so we are both helping each other out. 

Memorial day p-day was pretty much the same as any other p-day, except we couldn't email so we just had more time to play basketball and such :) We did, however, get to go do service at the Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend on Saturday. We went in the morning and pulled weeds for about 3 hours and then they let us wander around the zoo for about a half hour. Sadly, my camera died after a couple pictures, so all I got were some pictures of a Tiger.

Last Monday, before Elder Latu left, we were biking home from the church when a lady in a van stopped us and yelled out the window, "Can you guys come by my house sometime and tell me about your religion?" Startled, we quickly wrote down her information and she drove off. About a minute later we saw the same woman pulling into her driveway. We asked her if she had time to talk now and she said she had a little bit of time. Her name is J and it turns out she had received lessons from the missionaries about 10 years ago but she remembered very little of what they talked about. She said the only thing she remembers is that they talked about different "stages" of heaven and that she had been thinking about that for a long time and she believes that it's true. We have taught her a few times since then and she loves listening to us. She's really open to the message and she's reading the Book of Mormon between lessons. We can tell she has a real desire to find truth and we can't wait to see the power of Christ's Atonement affect her life!

We had a really cool experience this past week. Every Thursday, we have a weekly planning session as a companionship. We were planning on what we can do to improve our finding efforts and Elder Cruz suggested we pray more when we tract. I agreed, so I decided I wanted to write "Pray Always" in my planner. I distinctly remember thinking out the letters as I wrote out "Pray Always" in the notes section. I looked up and we continued planning, and a few seconds later, I looked back down and instead of seeing "Pray Always" where I had intended to write it, I saw that I had inexplicably written "Angel".  Confused, I searched for reasons why I would have written that. My mind wasn't anywhere near the thought of Angel so I knew that I had written it for a reason. I eventually thought of the only person named Angel that I knew and made plans to visit him that week. But a nagging feeling that I had written it for a different, specific reason lingered in my mind.  

Well we finished up planning and had language study for about an hour and then decided to bike over to the local food bank to look for service opportunities. About a block from our house we saw a Hispanic man pushing his car. We offered to help him and he accepted, so we got off our bikes and ventured to assist him with his car problems. Elder Cruz introduced himself and asked him what his name was. Immediately he responded, "Angel". At that moment I had a strong spiritual impression that he was the reason I had subconsciously, or by some other influence, written Angel that same morning. We helped him with his car battery and ended up talking to him for about 20 minutes about God and the church. He said he had been thinking about getting into religion and was planning on studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses. After talking to him and sharing a little bit about what we believe, he invited us to come back.

So I don't know for sure that Angel will get baptized or if he'll ever end up coming to church, but I feel that the Lord sent me this experience as a way of reminding me that he leads this work and he knows his children.

Well that's pretty much it for this week. I'm looking forward to working with Elder Cruz here in Elkhart! I love you! 

Love,

Elder Thayne

Week 36 - A Trip to the Chicago Temple

This week was really fast for me! It seems like Monday always ends up coming back around super fast. On Saturday we had the opportunity to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead. We're only allowed to go do an endowment session in the temple every six months, but Pres. Cleveland lets us go whenever as long as it's with a recent convert for their first time doing baptisms for the dead. So we went to the Chicago temple with the R. family and as S. and R. did a session, the rest of us went and did baptisms for the dead. It was great to feel the spirit of the temple and to visit Chicago for my first time. I wanted to get a picture of Wrigley Field, but we didn't end up passing it so I didn't get the chance. 

It has been kind of slow with investigators and people to teach lately, but we received a huge blessing this week. On Thursday we were invited to go to M.'s   (a girl in our branch(Juan's sister)) choir concert. We are allowed to go to things like that, but I was really hesitant because I thought that there could be better stuff for us to do (tract, visit people, etc) but we felt like we should go anyway. While we were there, Juan (our branch mission leader)  was looking for somewhere to sit and he found a relative of some sort who went to the high school we were at. We sat down by him and Juan started talking to him and he expressed his desires to be baptized. We got his number and we told him we'd try to visit him next week. It was a blessing to have met him and I know that's why we were at that concert and that's where we were supposed to be. 

We are also having a lot of success with our investigator C.   We teach her and her family and she is definitely the most receptive to the message. On Wednesday we taught them about the Book of Mormon and invited them to read it and find out if it's true. We invited them to read 3 Nephi 11 before the next time we come over and the rest of the family gave a kind of half-hearted yes to our commitment and we left. Then, on Friday we decided to head over to visit C. at this taco shop she works at called Ricky's. We could tell she was super busy so we just went in, bought some horchata and said hi. As we were walking out to our car she ran out to come talk to us and we asked her if she had the chance to read. She told us that right after we left on Wednesday she sat her whole family down and made them read it together. She seemed to like it and we're planning on setting a baptismal date with her. 

We had our Zone Conference on Tuesday and it was great! Pres. Cleveland focused on the difference between a testimony and conversion. He said that a testimony is a witness received by the spirit, but conversion is achieved by consistently and loyally acting on that witness in obedience and diligence. It was a great conference and I learned a great deal from what was said. 

Well it turns out I'm staying here for at least another six weeks. I don't mind because I really like this area and the branch we have here. I just wish it wasn't so flippin hot. Elder Latu will be leaving and I have a clue of who my next companion will be and I'm really excited about it. It should be a good transfer! 

I love you! Keep up the good work. Keep Zach out of trouble.  Have a good week!

S. , Me, and Elder Latu

Me and A.

Elder Latu and I at the Chicago Temple

The Angel Moroni on the Chicago Temple

Elder Latu and I posing in front of a fountain at the Chicago Temple

Week 35 - The importance of the Spirit in true conversion

It was wonderful to be able to talk to my incredible family yesterday. It was fun to catch up and laugh with all of you. I look forward to Christmas when we can do it again. I hope you had a great mother's day! You definitely deserve it for all you do for us. I owe so much to you and I could never thank my Heavenly Father enough for sending you to me. 

Our week was suuuper slow. We just didn't seem to have a ton of success this week and not too many people were opening up to us. It was kinda rough but we're looking forward to a week of miracles this week! 

 I like that you talked about the temples and "having the temple go through you".  I have been thinking about temples and the great blessings they are in our lives. I think about how I've lived so close to so many temples all my life and I never took advantage of that opportunity. I have met people out here who drive 2 1/2 hours to Chicago to go to the temple once a week and I've quickly realized how much I took for granted the blessing of easy access to a temple. Now as a missionary I can't attend the temple as much as I'd like, and I regret not going as much when I was home. That's something that will definitely change when I go home and can go more often.

Something else I've been thinking a lot about recently is the importance of the spirit in the process of conversion. There are so many less-active members in our branch and when I hear about how they joined the church, almost all of them were just social conversions. We can spend all our time convincing people that these things are true, even to the point of baptism, but if they don't feel the spirit testify to their heart that it's true, it won't do them any good. It makes me think of a talk Elder Bednar gave in Priesthood session in April about the importance of the Spirit when serving in the priesthood. It truly is necessary.

Well that's all I got for this week. I'm praying we'll have plenty of miracles to tell you about by the time next monday gets around! I love you Mom! Thank you for being the greatest mother a son could ask for :)

At E's baptism!

This is absolutely the LAST poncho they had at Walmart.  Haha!!

This is me and Y.  She was actually looking at the camera and making a
peace sign just like me right before this was taken! :)

Week 34 - E's baptism and Ammon's gratitude for missionary work

Mom,

Yeah it's getting pretty hot up here! It was high 80's yesterday and I was dyin! It is really beautiful up here and such a difference from the cold, dead, Indiana I've known. I really miss Utah weather as it is not as extreme as it is here. 

E.  was baptized on Saturday and it was great! the week before he was really nervous and wasn't sure if he wanted to do it, but we assured him that it was something his Heavenly Father really wanted for him. J. baptized him (the ward mission leader)  because E. had requested that he did it. I'm not sure what kind of relation they have, but for whatever reason, that was who he wanted. The baptism was great and we had 3 other girls in the branch baptized by their fathers the same day. (we had asked him about something that we had heard that when investigators get baptized into a ward they try to have someone in the ward perform the baptism instead of the missionaries so they have a solid and lasting link to someone in that ward instead of the missionaries who will certainly be transferred and return home someday)  

We had stake conference and it was really good. We had Elder Grant Bennett, an area 70 at the conference and President Cleveland was there as well. Pres. Cleveland gave a powerful talk on increasing our faith and the sense of urgency we need to have with the temple dedication coming up (sometime in late july). There was a lot of focus on the participation in missionary work by the members. It was a great conference.

That's crazy that Bro. Liddle got called as Stake President!  He is well qualified for the calling. And Brother Weenig was my basketball coach a long time ago and he will be a great counselor! 

That's so fun that you all got to go to the Payson temple open house. I remember seeing the temple from the outside and it is beautiful. I'm really excited about the Indy temple and I'm hoping I'll be able to go to the open house. 

I'm so excited for Jen and her new baby! That's so weird that every single one of my sisters are going to be mother's soon! Flip that makes me feel so old! 

The other day I was reading in Alma 26 and I never realized how good that chapter is. I love how much love Ammon has for the and his gratitude for their missionary successes. It was a great chapter to read to help me stay motivated and strengthened in this important work. 

Now we're focusing on finding more people to teach and progress towards baptism. Transfers will be coming up on the 20th and I will most likely be staying (but I'm not sure). I love you and I'm so thankful for the wonderful example you are to me. 

Love, 

Elder Thayne

Week 33 - Teaching a new family

This week was a pretty good one. We, as a mission, have been focusing on increasing our faith in order to see the miracles that the Lord has in store for us. As a result, our zone taught over 200 lessons this past week which is about 60 more than ever in this zone. So we are all really excited about the good work we have to do up here. 

We have another baptism this Saturday so that's exciting! E.  will be baptized along with 3 little girls in our branch. I just hope he can stay active in the church since his mom is returning to activity in the church. But we have a pretty good day planned Saturday as we'll be having 4 baptisms :) 

So one of the families we've recently started teaching is the S Family. There are 4 that we're teaching. J. (father), M.  (mother), M.  (25ish) and E. (15ish). This family is so nice! They seem to be really sincere about learning. They said they had previously talked to missionaries, but all they would talk about was the bible. So the other day we taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel and they all said it made tons of sense. We gave them a Book of Mormon and they seem really sincere about reading it. We have another lesson with them on Thursday and we're planning on setting a baptism date for them. Sadly, M. and E. left for Mexico yesterday and won't be back for a few weeks, so we'll have to wait to teach them, but J. and M. are still very eager to learn more. 

At church we had some kind of conference in our area or zone or something where we watched a meeting in SLC. Sadly I wasn't able to listen to all of it since I was helping set stuff up and getting the late-comers settled in our little Relief Society room, but I did hear a talk by Sis. Reeves about the Atonement. She talked about how no matter how far we've gone from God, Christ's Atonement can reach us anywhere. It was a good conference and we ended up having 4 investigators at church! We will be having Stake Conference next Sunday in Mishawaka so that will be good!

I recently read the story about Esther in the bible. I love the story of Esther and how courageous she is. It's incredible the faith she had that through the fasting and the prayers of the Jews, she was able to confront the King of Syria and save her people. 

Well that's pretty much it for this week. Not a ton going on. But I love hearing from you and about all the fun stuff that's going on over in the Promised Land of Utah! I love you!  I'll see you in a couple weeks :)

Love,

Elder Thayne

Week 32 - A Baptism and a testimony of Joseph Smith

There are a few members out in Indiana who are so kind and sometimes send us pictures and little updates on Josh throughout the week.  We had received a few pictures from N's baptism and word that he had given a talk at the baptism and also at Sacrament Meeting the next day.  Yes I did give a talks on Saturday and Sunday and it was literally the first time I've given a talk since my farewell! So I guess it was overdue. In sacrament meeting I spoke on "The Work of Salvation" aka missionary work. I just spoke about the responsibility we have and the importance of the members in missionary work. I was really nervous and the talk was a little shorter than it should have been but meh. I actually didn't have any troubles with the Spanish during my talk so that was a blessing. 

The baptism went really well and N. was really excited about it. Afterwards we did go to a Hibachi grill to eat and that was a lot of fun as well. I have grown to really like that family a lot and it's gonna be hard to say goodbye to them. R. was really excited and later she told us how long she'd been waiting and praying for her daughter to accept the gospel so they could all be sealed in the temple as an eternal family. They're a great family and I'm really excited for them. 

I had given a lesson in Relief Society on Joseph Smith and how he was an instrument in the Lord's hands.  I was telling Josh that my feeling is that Joseph Smith is coming under new attacks in our day more and more by those in the church who doubt his calling as the prophet of the restoration.  It's true that Joseph Smith and the veracity of his holy calling is being attacked unceasingly these days. And as you said, doubts relating to him will automatically fill us with doubts about everything connected to what he did. At the very beginning of my mission I started having doubts about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel. I knew that I couldn't do what I needed to do out here without dispensing any doubt. As I went about doing this I decided to renew and strengthen my testimony of the Book of Mormon. As I earnestly read and prayed unceasingly, I received a witness that the Book of Mormon is true and I can say that I know it is true without any doubt. No matter what other doubts I have or had, the Book of Mormon is proof of Joseph's Smith prophetic calling as the Prophet of the Restoration. I really enjoy Jeffrey R Holland's talk about this called "Safety for the Soul". I would encourage anyone who doubts the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's witness to read or re-read the Book of Mormon and pray to God to know if it's true. Once we gain a testimony of this book, we can know with a surety that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. 

We had a really good week! We found a lot of new people to teach. We're still working with E., but it's hard for him to come to church because his mom is returning from inactivity and his dad isn't a member. He's still planning on getting baptized on May 2nd with 3 other kids in our branch turning 8. 

There are tons of great things happening in our branch here! We're finding a lot of great people to teach and doing everything we can to invite them to come unto Christ. I love you!. Thank you for all you do! Have a good week! 

Love, 

Elder Thayne

N's Baptims

At a Hibachi restaurant after the baptism

Week 31 - "Help thou my unbelief"

This week was pretty good! We'll be having N.'s baptism on Saturday and she couldn't be more excited! She's super prepared and we're all really excited for her. E. and his mom finally came to church yesterday so luckily he was able to keep his date of May 2nd. 

Pretty early in the week we were riding our bikes through this apartment complex and this car just honked at us so we turned around and the waved us over. This small Hispanic lady rolled down her window and asked us if we speak spanish. She asked us for the address of the church and told us that she went to our church a few times when she lived in Oklahoma about a year ago, but ever since she moved here she hadn't been able to find it. We gave her and her husband the address and then they drove off before we could get any of there information. I was praying and hoping that they'd come to church so that we could get their information and begin teaching them, and then about 15 minutes into Sacrament meeting, they both walked in! It was great to see them there and we got their information so we'll try to set something up to visit them. 

On saturday I was listening to a talk by Elder Holland called "Help Thou My Unbelief".  It's about the story in Mark ch. 9 about the man who brings his suffering child to Christ. Christ tells him that if he believes, anything is possible. With the little faith and belief that the man had, he boldly declared "Lord, I believe", but realizing his lack of faith he desperately pleaded, "Help thou my unbelief."

I love the way Elder Holland describes this story. He related that all of us feel like this at some point. We all are desperate for more faith and knowledge to help us out. In his talk, he stated that just like this man, we should focus on what we do believe and hold on to that until more knowledge comes. I really liked that and I thought that was something that everyone could use. A lot of times we have doubts and we don't know as much as we'd like, but if we focus on what we already know and capitalize on that, our faith and knowledge will grow immensely in God's own time. 

Not a ton really happened this week.. Sorry! I love you Mom! I hope you have a good week! Thanks for the pictures!

Love,

Elder Thayne