Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at
9:46 AM
Hola familia,
first off, Dang
gina...y'all write these things late in to the wee hours of the morning!!
Besides that,
Congrats to DJ and Karolyn on their amazing union in holy matrimony. Good
stuff. Sounds like y'all have been having a lot of fun with tons of
family too. Oh, and how in the world is Chris already putting his papers
in... I thought that was a long time from now...or at least from when we talked
about it last...which was like 4 months ago...
3rd off, Yes, I
received the most amazing authentic Italian cookies from my most loving mother.
They were...I say were because they are all gone...ridiculously
delicious, honestly, probably the freshest I've ever had. Sad part about
the story is that I got them on a Wednesday, and then I went on exchange to
another missionary's area and left the dang cookies there...so it took a week
for them to get back to me, but eventually they did, and they still tasted
delicious.
So, interviews went
well...they definitely aren't long enough...it feels like we barely get started
before it's time to switch to the next person, but I love my mission president.
He is the best. Seriously, like a father right now, (by no means
replacing you, dad ;) ).
Okay, so from now on,
mail will be sent directly to me...if it happens to get sent to the mission
office, it will still get forwarded to me, but they want us to do it directly
now, so our address...
817 Stadium Dr apt. F
Wake Forest, NC 27587
good stuff.
So on Friday the 13th
(woooooooooo (say that like a scary wooo) ) we get to go to the temple :)
Good stuff...now are you ready for the better stuff...on Friday the
20th...I get to go to the temple to witness a sealing for a less active couple
now active that are getting sealed together for all time and eternity. We
worked with them pretty heavily in Morehead and now I get to attend :)
I'm ridiculously excited :) It would have been nice for my first
sealing to have been my brother's but this will suffice :)
We found a new
investigator last week which was super exciting. He grew up Jehovah's
Witness and then disagreed with that when he got older and went on a search for
truth in religion and never found it, so he just stuck to the bible and gave up
on the establishments. ...until now (or so we hope :) )...we're really
excited to teach him and know he can go far and be blessed so much if he'll
just give the message we share a chance...that's all he has to do is give it a
chance...the spirit and the Lord will do the rest :)
Seriously, if y'all
haven't watched all the members and missionaries videos on hasteningthework.lds.org
...you need to. They are so powerful.
Chris is going to
love BYU. It's the best. So, one of my brothers (not real of
course, but spiritually so) left for his mission in Bakersfield, California
last week. He's going there directly, and next week another leaves for
Brazil, and 2 weeks after that another leaves for Brazil. It's weird, but
I feel like I'm losing all my best friends even though I've only been here for
about 3 months. Good stuff.
Not much else to say,
but I love the people here. There are so many wonderful people. I
just wish more of them would accept the Gospel and message we share so they can
receive the promised blessings. Last story...on Saturday morning, we left
in jeans and a t-shirt to go help someone move...as we were driving out of our
parking lot, we had to wait for this homeless looking man holding an empty
Styrofoam cup to cross in front of us. Part of me wanted to stop. I
could just feel what I imagine the Savior feels for all of us. He needed
what we had, more than he even knows. But, I pulled out and we started driving
down the road. About 1/4 mile down the road, Elder Nelson made a comment
about how nice it would be if we just knew about every single person that was
ready to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ into their life in Wake Forest.
Additionally, this very powerful and spiritual song was currently playing
in the car. I knew we had to turn around and talk to that man. So,
I pulled to the side in an awkward position while I decided where it would be
best to park, so we could go and talk to him. We found a side street and
then walked over to talk to him in my BYU shirt with my tag on. I had my
Book of Mormon and a pass along card, and I struck up a conversation...as much
as you want this story to end with an amazing miracle, it didn't. He just
forcefully repeated that he didn't have time...he wouldn't even take a card.
It was very sad to see. It kind of hurts. I just want
everyone to have this...but so does our Father, and He's a lot more powerful
than me, yet even He can't infringe on our agency. Still, I was grateful
I followed the spirit and didn't have to look back wondering if possibly he was
someone who would have listened had I just opened my mouth. We just don't
know exactly who's ready, but our Father does. This fact emphasizes the
point that we must do everything in our power to make ourselves into very fine
tuned instruments for our Father to work with and accomplish His work. We
must give everyone the opportunity to accept or reject invitations, which is
why we must always invite invite invite. As the Savior did, invite others
to Come and See. Even if it's 1 in 100 that listen, we will feel the
Lord's reassurance that He is pleased and that He is there.
Thanks for being the
most amazing family in the world.
with Love that would
fill our ever expanding universe,
Elder Thornton
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