Week 88

2-25-14 at 9:45 AM

Well hello there family, 

How are y'all doing today?? Hopefully fantastically well.  I'm glad the trip down to Gilbert went well.  Yes, I may know the Sister Oliver in this mission.  But she is here, or at least she was ;)  That's neat about the wedding you're doing, dad!  Those are probably pocket change to you by now :)  You're professional!  Let's see...what else to say...I received letters 86 and one from grams.  

Let's see . . . last week was good.  Fast, but good.  I'm still pretty congested, but I no longer have the flu-like symptoms, so that's good.

On Friday, we had some good success stopping by a few less actives. The Lord truly had inspired and led us as to where we should go.  The night previous, I had searched through the ward roster and tried to pick out some people to visit that jumped out to me.  I really don't know anybody in this area yet, so it would have been a shot in the dark, except that there actually is someone that does know all the people in this ward.  Wink wink...in fact, He knows everyone in every area . . . perfectly :)  We stopped by this one lady whose story breaks my heart.  She loves the church.  Absolutely loves it.  But she just doesn't feel like she has a testimony.  She doesn't like Two facing it, so she attends a non-denominational church right now.  She said that the people there in the non-denominational church still don't know their names.  It's really sad.  It's amazing how quickly I love people out here.  I just yearn for them and desire them to have all the blessings of the fullness of Christ's teachings and church in their family.  I really do feel the love the Lord has for them quickly sometimes.  Never take for granted your testimony.  Not everyone has one, and some people would do anything to have one.  Sometimes, I think people just have something they place in the way of them receiving a testimony and they just don't realize that they are doing it.  It's sad.  

I'm really trying to help the members of the ward here to be enabled to do missionary work.  We have a really good ward here, and a lot of the members have the desire to share the gospel and do missionary work, but most people, in general, don't understand how to get from people knowing they’re Mormon and occasionally having a conversation about a gospel topic TO their friends and acquaintances experiencing conversion or learning the message of the Restored Gospel.  I really want to help the members get there.  It's a process though, and I feel like it's not something that has necessarily been emphasized from the missionaries over the last several months...

The members are really great here though.  We had dinner with a family this past week, and the husband said something really interesting.  He's a great missionary.  He brought up how he figured out that they are the only members that live for x amount of miles surrounding them, and he said something to the effect that it's up to them to bring those people the good news of the Restored Gospel and the Book of Mormon.  I wish everyone took on that personal accountability in doing their Father's work.  Not knowing people is never a valid excuse for not sharing the Gospel.  If we don't know people with which we can share the gospel, then we best be getting out there in society and finding a way to know people.  Sometimes I think people think that if they can just stay in their house and never go out, they receive a pass on fulfilling their baptismal covenant to share the gospel with others...we shall see ;)

Well, that's probably about it.  We did find a new investigator last night, so that's exciting.  I have to get over feeling like I'm not doing everything I am supposed to do here just because I could do a task quicker than someone else.  It's a semi-pride thing, or a lack of patience thing, or something else-thing. The Lord has blessed me in a lot of ways, so I know He's trying to teach me something here.  I'm going to do my best to not mess it up :) and learn :)

Thanks for all you do, family and friends.  I love y'all so much.  Keep up the good missionary work, family, as well.  Y'all are the best!  Seriously.  Thanks for being such great examples.  It continues to astound me at how well y'all did raising us and at how diligent you were in doing the little things that are imperative to building a Christ-centered home and family. 

Love y'all!

Elder Thornton #1

Week 87

Hey Family!

Feb 17, 2014 at 12:20 PM

So, I guess I'll just give you an update on these past few days.  Currently, I think I got hit by a bus...or at least it feels that way.  I may have a sort of flu.  It hit me last night really fast, within just a few hours, and I was ridiculously cold and chilled last night.  My head hurts, but I'll live.  Just an update for y'all.

Church was fantastic yesterday.  Particularly because we meet in the same building as the Wake Forest 1st ward, so I was able to see a ton of people from that ward at church.  It was so fun, reuniting with everyone.  I was able to also see a family that the husband, who we had been teaching for many weeks and who came to church for like 2 years, was baptized in December.  I wish I could have been there for the baptism, but it was great to see them all the same.  I love that family.  I love Wake Forest 1st ward.  Things are going really well there, missionary work-wise as well.  

We have a really good ward mission leader in the Falls Lake ward as well, and it seems that some good work is getting done.  

We do get fed well; the members are really great here.  This ward actually has a high activity rate, which is unusual for most of the wards around here.  

We live in the basement of a member's home; it is pretty nice and the family is awesome.  They also have a really great last name...ready for it . . . Thornton!!! That's right.  Our Bishop, his son, is also a Thornton.  Crazy, right?? Hey, what I need from y'all is the genealogical records on the history of the Thornton name, so we can see if we are distantly related :)  

Other than that, life is going well.  I don't have much else to say.  Time continues to fly.  I was finally able to justify wearing my huge boots that I have been lugging around for a year and a half.  That was nice.  

We saw a huge miracle with this family that we had dinner with the other night.  We were talking about missionary experiences, and she talked about how her friend down the street had posted on Facebook that she was looking for a church.  About 15 people posted comments on it, but this member didn't, she wanted to do it in person.  We thought that was a great idea, and we bounced some ideas back and forth.  Ultimately, she decided to go that night and bring her a Book of Mormon with a Mormon.org card in it.  So, now it's Sunday, and we followed up with them.  They ended up not being able to go that night because they were throwing a huge party and didn't want to interrupt them.  (The trial of their faith btw), so they exercised greater faith and went Sunday before church.  It almost made them late to church because she ended up having a ridiculously good conversation with her at her kitchen table.  She brought her a Book of Mormon, showed her the Family: A proclamation to the world on her iPad, gave her a Strength for Youth pamphlet, and something else I think.  It was incredible, and she was very warmly received.  The friend described herself as a sponge.  She believes in God, but wasn't really raised in religion, but wants to raise her kids in religion.  It was amazing.  When we saw her after church, she came up to us and gave us each a big ol' high five.  As always, it was amazing to see the excitement and joy that comes from sharing the gospel and reaching out in love to our brothers and sisters.  We're excited to see where it goes from here.  She also invited her to church soon.  Good stuff :)

Well, I think that's basically it for last week.   Thanks for all y'all do.  I love y'all very much :)

Thanks for being the best family and friends in the world :)

Love,

Elder Thornton

Week 86

Family, there's snow . . . a lots of it, :) (For NC at least :) ) (2)

Feb 12, 2014 at 1:42 PM

So . . . right now, I'm sitting at a computer, watching the snow fall down like it was Colorado or something.  It's capital A awesome.  :) :)  Not only that, it was cold before it snowed, so the ground was a little colder than it was a couple of weeks ago when it snowed.  It's pretty much shut down the town.  It's actually caused a big damper for most of the departing missionaries.  They have had their flights cancelled and delayed numerous times.  Ergo, today, they sent out some of them with some of the companionships in the Raleigh area, mine included, so that they wouldn't have to be stuck in the mission home all day.  But then the snow came . . . I love the snow.  

Speaking of which, transfers.  So I am now serving in an area outside of Raleigh and Wake Forest in a ward called the Falls Lake ward.  I'm really excited.  I also go to church in the same building as the wake forest 1st ward, so I'll be able to see some of my friends from the 1st ward. :)  I'm excited.  My companion's name is Elder Curtis, and he is from Gilbert, AZ.  I love him to death already and we're going to have a ton of fun together.  I'm really excited.  Things are already getting super busy.  Elder Curtis is a experienced missionary, so I expect to see a lot of good things happen in our area and with the work.  

It was sad to leave Hope Mills and the work that is going on there, but I'll tell you what.  We went out with a bang.  We had 6 investigators at church a few less active members.  And I guess since I can't really remember a lot about last week since that was like a million years ago, or so it feels, I will tell you a testimony building story about consecrated goal setting.  

I have learned a ton about setting goals and reaching those goals on my mission.  So, the big push across the world, as directed by the Lord, is for the missionaries to teach 20 lessons per week with a decent part of that coming from direct involvement of the Ward Council.  Well, Elder Bagley and I have been hovering around 12 or so per week, but this last week, at the beginning of the week, we made the specific goal of teaching at least 3 lessons a day on every day we had, with possibly an exception of 2 on one day or something.  Either way, we wanted to get 18 lessons because on Friday, we were going to be in another companionship's area for the entire day, so we only had "6" days in our area.  I say "6" because on Sunday evening we had a previous responsibility where we were going to be unable to teach or proselyte.  The week started, and we saw miracle after miracle.  It was truly amazing.  In those 6 days, we taught 20 lessons.  We hit about 3 a day with I think 5 on Saturday and 1 lesson on the day we were gone all day, where we came back in our area for the dinner appointment.  It was incredible.  And, Friday, the day we were gone, is 1 of our 3 largest proselyting days.  When we set a goal in faith and do all we can to accomplish that goal, we will see miracles.  And I can promise that you will achieve more than if you had not set the goal at all, even if you don't fully reach the goal.  Many times, though, in the big picture, you will exceed your goal.  It was amazing, and fortified my appreciation for and understanding of true goal setting and how it enables us to do more and better accomplish the Lord's will.  

It's still snowing . . . hard.  I think the snow completely shut down the Atlanta airport.  I don't know what else to say...because I couldn't email Monday, everything from last week has fled from the grey matter of my brain . . . sadly . . . but I guess in the end, it dura matar!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to have to sign off now.  I have to go.  Probably, I 'll "talk" with y'all next week.  

I love y'all so much, 

Elder patty

Week 85

Mi Familia favorita (for obvious reasons)

Feb 3, 2014 at 10:26 AM

Hey y'all.  Shucks.

Thanks for all the birthday cards and stuff (I think that was last week).  Tell Bernice and Tom thanks and that I sent them a card via Nana for the Christmas goodies too.  Also, tell Grandma and Nana thanks as well.  And all others involved :)  The battery charger does work.  Hurrah.  Let's see...

We did get some snow last week.  I would say about 4 inches Tuesday night.  It started out raining at like 28 degrees, weird.  Then it turned into a hail-y, sleet-y, "snow", and finally at around 10:00 or so, it turned to real snow.  And guess what, it shut down the whole town for like 3 days.  Fail.  We ended up having to cancel all the district meetings Wednesday and do a zone wide conference call district meeting instead since the roads were still pretty bad that morning.  Get this, the kids got 4 snow days for this.  That's right, 4.  They got Tuesday off because they were predicting snow that afternoon . . . hmmmm . . . okay.  Then they got Friday off for who knows what reason.  Apparently, 5% of the roads still had a microscopic trace of ice dust left on them, and the buses just wouldn't be able to handle it.  4 snow days.  Sheesh.  Who would have thought.  We did make a snowman on one of our lunch hours.  It was fun.  I think I threw a snowball at Elder Bagley too :) 

Other news...we had 4 investigators come to church and also 3 of their primary aged kids that aren't technically investigators.  So, that's 7 people and a baby.  It was exciting, but I'll tell you what.  Church as a missionary is the farthest thing from relaxing.  It is so hectic trying to make sure everything runs smoothly and that everyone is taken care of including investigators, Less actives, Recent converts.  It's crazy.  Trying to make sure everyone gets to class, everyone stays in class, people are learning, enjoying, fellow shipping, feeling the spirit.  Whew!  I feel whooped after church.  And it's a good thing the spirit is the one that converts and not us because if we were trying to sell the church, we would fail.  Keep in mind yesterday was fast and testimony meeting.  I learned/re-learned something yesterday.  Take this for what you will.  When you go up there to bear your testimony, try to focus it around the Savior.  If you're going to talk about Joseph Smith, talk about how Christ restored His church through Joseph Smith.  If you're going to talk about the Book of Mormon, talk about how it brings you closer to Christ or how it teaches and testifies of Christ. 

I have ascertained due to a conversation with El Presidente Bernhisel that I will be transferred.  I will be going back up to the Raleigh area.  I'm excited.  It should be really good, except for the fact that this will most likely be my last area (which is weird to wrap my head around)  My companion is going to be great.  I'm excited.  But I'm sad that I'm going to miss these baptisms that will happen in about a month.  And I'm pretty sure one of our investigators might kill me for leaving.  I think she thought that I would be here for another 6 months when I told her I had 6 months of my mission left.  Or she may kill Elder Bagley since I won't be here anymore, but that wouldn't be smart because then she would have 2 new missionaries. .

Oh, another intense story.  So there is a set of Spanish sister missionaries, one of which is from Mexico.  I sent them a slightly complex text the other day in Spanish (complex for me) where I said in Spanish "Sisters, please send your goals and actuals for January and the baptismal goal for February when you can. Thanks"  And Yesterday, I saw them at church, and they asked which one of us knew Spanish.  I said I did a little, and then they proceeded to inform me that the native Mexican sister was astonished at that text because she said it was perfect Spanish, and she was convinced that someone must have told me what to type.  It made me have such warm fuzzies inside :)  Tee hee.  Good story right.  Wow, this email is bizarre, but I guess y'all are probably used to that by now ;)

We had a combined leadership council meeting in Knightdale, outside of Raleigh on Friday.  That was good.  (District leaders, zone leaders, and sister leaders, assistants, and President and Sister Bernhisel)

We also played some B-ball last Monday.  That was fun.  I like basketball.  I can't believe that Chris has been out over a month already.  Seriously, he's almost done with the MTC.  That's insane!  I thought he entered the MTC like . . . ayer! ;) 

Oh, I received 83 from mom, one from Kayla, and one from Grandma today.  Good stuff.  Haven't read them yet.  Oh, and sorry for being such a bum on sending pictures.  But, you'll have to forgive me.  The bible says so ;) 

Yesterday, we had a really good conversation with this lady that we decided to knock on her door when we trying to visit someone else.  She told us about how she was very religious and all, and something that Elder Bagley and I have really improved on is building off people's surety in their faith.  When they say they've been "saved" or that they have a strong faith in Christ or a church already, we just express our joy and excitement for them and then start building higher.  I love sharing the Book of Mormon with people who already love the bible and Jesus Christ.  I say "Have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon? Have you read it?? NO?!?! Well, as one who loves Jesus Christ you will love the Book of Mormon!!" I proceed to testify and/or explain and/always following the spirit in what to say.  I think it kind of catches them off guard.  But it's kind of like this.  If I asked someone in the 1920s if they were dissatisfied with their TV.  Very few would say "yes actually, I was wondering if they had any of these things color."  What we have to do is show them a color TV and then say, wouldn't you rather have that instead of that Black and White one.  Of course all would say yes, unless you were blind, then you wouldn't care. But regardless, it's the same with the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through the prophet Joseph Smith.  Very few people sit there and say, Geez, I wish someone would just restore the true church to the earth and bring forth a book of scripture written by ancient American prophets.  We have to show them how amazingly well it would build upon their faith and foundation.  I love it.  Then, anyone who gives it a chance would never turn down a color tv aka the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that brings ultimate joy, peace, and direction to our otherwise chaotic lives in this world.

Anyways...thanks for being the best family in the world.  I love y'all.  Thanks

Love,

Elder Patty