Week 80

Mi Familia

Dec 30, 2013 at 9:53 AM

Well, family,

Looks like I'm going to be the odd man out in terms of Spanish speaking...whatever ;) 

Letter wise...I did get Aunt Bernie's and Uncle Tom's package.  Tell them Thank you soo soo much, and they should expect a letter soon, but it probably won't be this week.   

I think I told y'all last week about getting Sister Nelson's package too.  I will be writing her a letter too in the next couple of weeks. 

It was good to talk with y'all on Christmas.  Y'all seem normal. 

Don't really know what else to say...

Christmas eve was really fun.  We went over to a family's home and another family joined us and we had dinner.  Delicious Mexican food.  Then, we went caroling to some families in the neighborhood, and following that, we came back and acted out the Nativity with the kids.  It was really fun.  2 really good families.  One of them, a Recent Convert family, just went to the temple and were sealed about a week ago.  ps.  Their conversion all started with a simple invitation to come to church when the other family's dad became the bishop about 11 years ago. :)

2 last things for today and that's all you get. :)

1.  Last Friday, after the leadership council meeting in Raleigh, we had a church tour that night with an investigator family we are teaching.  We stopped by a couple hours before just to make sure everything was good to go.  It was.  So, I have re-decided that I love church tours.  They are just so powerful.  Nothing can compare to physically going around the church, feeling the spirit, actually looking at the baptismal font as we testify of the importance and blessings of all people being baptized by authority, and ultimately taking a few minutes to ponder at the end while sitting in the chapel.  On a spur of the moment decision, I decided to play one verse of a hymn before we just sat in silence for a minute or 2.  I was going to play either I know that my Redeemer lives or I believe in Christ, but then a thought came to mind that I should play Be Still My Soul.  I don't know why.  And I still don't, but I do know that afterwards, Elder Bagley told me that he was thinking of that song as well.  Must be inspired, but maybe we'll never know...Either way, at the end, we invited them to prepare to be baptized on the 15 of February and they accepted.  It was an amazing experience.  Alright, not to be a mood/spirit killer now, but they didn't come to church on Sunday; they weren't there when the member went by to pick them up, but I bet there was a good reason for it.  Satan's working hard to defeat us, but he can't win. So, there!

2.  I've come to the conclusion once again that I love being a missionary.  It's not that my natural man always wants to talk to people about the Gospel and invite them to come to Christ, but I just know how important it is and how amazing it is, so I do it.  But, what I've found and what I love, which has led to the initial statement, is that as a missionary and set apart representative of Jesus Christ, when I talk to people I can tell them just that! I love being able to tell someone that I am a messenger of Jesus Christ and that I have a very important and powerful message to share with them that brings peace, direction, comfort, and answers.  I can testify to them of the truths of the Restoration, knowing with all my heart that I can guarantee what I promise.  Never again, will I be able to do what I am doing now.  Because of who I've become on my mission thus far, I will always be diligent in sharing the Gospel with Heavenly Father's children, but I won't be able to declare with that power that I am His personal messenger in this area of the world.  It's truly amazing.  And I can tell it to anyone because this is WHO I AM!!!! Whether it be the waitress, or the salvation army lady, or some random man working on jumping a truck, I am who I am, and the ability that we have to be bold as missionaries is astounding.  I'll always have the ability to be a powerful missionary regardless of what phase of life I'm in, but nothing will ever be the same as it is now for me or any other missionary.  I hope that makes sense.  Be sure to understand that I'm not saying that when we're not set apart we can't be powerful missionaries, but we then direct our brothers and sisters to the full-time, set apart representatives of Christ.  That in and of itself is powerful and is the reason that members are so important because that is something we cannot do alone regardless of how hard we try.

I love this work; I know it's our Lord's work; and we are living in a wonderful age of the world where we can be a part of such a tremendous manifestation of God's power, but more importantly, God's love.

Love,

Elder Thornton