Monday, June 29, 2015

holy garbanzo beans‏

So kind of like last week I have no time. I think I will start writing my Mass email first and then get the the individual ones if i have time.

So this last week has been amazing. We have been teaching Irina a ton and she is progressing really well. She is keeping all of her commitments and she believes that everything we have taught her is true. She is so cool  she is totally jumping into the whole church life. She has been going to young womens, reading scriptures, praying, going to church and she is going to the stake young womens camp this week. I think she will really enjoy it. Her Baptism is going to be amazing  I can already tell she will be such a solid member.
We had a lesson with Astu this last Sunday. Astu is one of our recent convert's wife. She doesn't speak English and Toze, her husband isn't the best translator so we brought Pedro along with us. We taught her the plan of salvation and the spirit was definitely there. I kept looking at her facial reaction to see if she is feeling it.  Pedro was key. We really needed him there so we could explain some things that she didn't understand before. Pedro bore a powerful testimony about the authority of God and how it back on the earth. I knew she was feeling it by then and he expression told it all. She said if she finds out it is true then she will be baptized. We asked her to say the closing prayer and as she was saying it she just started crying. and she didn't stop crying for like a minute after the prayer. She is amazing and I am sure she will be baptized. 
Life has been so good. The Lord has been giving us so many blessings and he has helped us so much. All of the people that we are teaching right now are so prepared I am sure if a bowling ball taught them correct doctrine they would be baptized. Literally Portadown is Gods Kingdom  in the UK.
I love teaching these Portugues people because you cannot leave there house without them feeding you. They are so nice and they are really sincere when they say that they want to learn they will listen and they will put in the effort to find out if what we are saying is true.
If you can just keep this ward and this area in your prayers that would be appreciated, we are teaching two northern Irish men right now and they seem to be in a rut. so if you could keep James and Christ in your prayers, heavenly father would appreciate that. Because we need some more worthy priesthood holders in the ward. 
I love you all and I know this church is true. I hope you all have a great 4th of july. our day of independance.
Shout out to Emily Eckman and Reggie Northrup. They are now missionaries for the Lord. Love these two.
Elder Thayne

this is just a random picture, my front door, the library, and me in front of the spit fire :]







Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Baptism!


I am writing on Tuesday because Monday was zone development. how do I start this letter. well this last week was awesome. We have been able to teach Jessica 3 times last week and she was Baptized on Friday. 3 days in a row we were teaching her with Brother McGee who is probably the best joint teach for her. He has a Grandpa presence about him and you could just hug this guy all day. Jessica doesn't have a father in the home so I think it was really important for Brother McGee to be there and show such an interest in her. All of the lessons went great and the spirit was so apparent. Pedro, the second councilor in the bishopric, came in when we were talking to her about the Baptismal interview and he said, "Do you feel that? I know the spirit is here and he is telling me you are a daughter of God." it was so powerful. He is just a small 5 foot four Portuguese man, but his spirit is a giant. Friday was her Baptism and it went great. I spoke on the Holy Ghost and Her friend spoke on Baptism. When she came out of the water she had the biggest smile on her face. It was an amazing experience.

I think the experience softened her sisters heart because she told us she would like to be baptized. Before this she didn't want to meet with us but now she is reading the Book of Mormon and she is coming to church. It is amazing what the spirit will do for people. It is also amazing how great of an example Jessica has been to her older Sisters. 
I can see so many opportunities to teach out here. there are so many prepared people in Northern Ireland I am just worried i will miss someone. The Lord has been preparing and will keep preparing people. When I meet someone that isn't interested I know that they aren't interested now but they are being prepared by the Lord. Their time will come.
This Monday we had Zone Development. It is pretty much when the entire zone gets together and plays games all day. It was a blast! I got to meet and get close to a lot of the other Elders. We also wrecked our bodies because we were playing football, Frisbee, american football and zombie tag from 12 till 7. It was great fun. 
We also had the all Ireland conference saying goodbye to president Brown and his wife. They are such great people and they love the missionaries so much. I just wish that I got to know them better before they left. oh well our next mission president seems amazing. I met him at the MTC and he just seems passionate about missionary work. He is going to be great. We will be meeting him, in Ireland, for the first time in 2 weeks.
Anyway, I love you all. Sorry I can't write to everyone. I really wish I could type at the speed of light so I could get to all of you, but it would appear my hyper drive needs maintenance. I hope you all have a great week.

Elder Thayne 

So this is the group I came out with at the all Ireland Conference. President Brown, Me and his wife (She is my mission mom so I am allowed to have my arm around her.) Then the best part about last week was Jessica's Baptism. Pedro is right there, You can see how short he is haha, but I love him.




Monday, June 8, 2015

Keep the Pace


So this last week was amazing and this next week has a lot of potential because of how we worked this week. We were able to have a successful week and we were spiritually fed. Elder Jeffery R. Holland came to are mission and spoke to everyone in a conference. sadly I wasn't able to meet him because he was in Scotland, but that is OK I still got to learn from him.

This Sunday we all went to the stake center to hear the conference that was being broadcast to the British isles and all the Scandinavian countries. The speakers were incredible. Elder Holland himself said this was the best broadcast he has ever heard. The spirit was so strong. my favorite speaker besides Elder Holland was the stake president from Edinburgh. He spoke about the rescue at Dunkirk.  He paralleled it to how we are part of the greatest rescue mission that has ever accured in history. at Dunkirk everything had to be used. Winston Churchill asked for volunteers to help rescue some of the ally troops who were stranded on the beach. So along with great battle ships coming to the rescue of the exhausted soldiers; you could see fishing boat's, pleasure yacht's  and all sorts of vessels that didn't seem qualified for this military campaign. 300,000 men where saved because of this mission and of those 300,000, one hundred thousand were saved by the small volunteer boats. He said that we need absolutely everyone we can get to help in this rescue effort; missionaries, home teachers, visiting teachers and friends. That talk was so powerful. Elder Holland started to cry during the stake presidents talk. Then Elder Holland stood up and he talked about the book of Mormon. His testimony is so powerful. I don't even want to attempt to write what he said because i think i would slaughter it. But it just made me realize how great of a message we have for people. this really encouraged me to talk to absolutely everyone about it.
In the mission if there is one thing that we don't need, it would be helpful parents. we have had so many chances to talk to younger people who really  wanted to learn, but then a parent would say no. This almost happened to one of our investigators this last week. James is a 25 year old musician. He is really sincere and he wants to learn more about Mormons and our culture. I called him to set up an appointment and he said that he didn't want to meet with us anymore. I was so sad, I just thought that we couldn't lose him. He said his mom told him to stop meeting with us. so I just told him that I know that this message can help him. That the book of Mormon is the word of God and he needed to read it. I told him if he didn't read it he could expect to feel lost for ever. So i was pretty Bold with him over the phone. Luckily I guess this tactic worked because we were able to meet with him again. He cam to the meeting with really good questions and really excited to read it. He told us he would read the whole book of Mormon and he said he wanted to come to Church. I was so happy. I know that the spirit of the Book of Mormon has touched his heart. 
Over all our whole week was really good. We were able to meet with most of our investigators and our lessons went really well. We have told them all what they need to do in order to progress towards Baptism. So I would really appreciate it is you all prayed for them and their needs.
Chris : He needs to have the courage to take the leap of faith and be Baptized. Simone: She needs to get marriedLynda: She needs to stop smokingJames: He needs a testimony of the Book of MormonEdna: She needs to find a new job so she can attend churchSemmy and Tatianna: They need to come to church
If you can keep them in your prayers that would be great. I know that this church is true. I know how powerful the Book of Mormon is in conversion. It has been strengthening me in my conversion everyday. I know that this is the way to happiness. And I testify that everyone is needed for this rescue. I would like to challenge all of you to find a missionary opportunity this week. The Lord will help you.
Love you all
Elder Thayne

Broken Umbrella, some doodles (mind the spelling) and me and Elder Walters in the Library.





Monday, June 1, 2015

Roller Coaster‏

 Visiting Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh.


We were able to teach Jessica Pinto The plan of Salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is so solid and she is an amazing example for the rest of her Family. We are hoping to teach her other 2 sisters also.
This week had it's ups and downs though. it was rough but it was amazing. at the begining of the week all of our appointments fell through, But then Friday came!  Total we got 2 new investigators and 3 joint teaches. we were also fed by brother Donnelly, that was filling. Then we were fed by this part member Family. The wife is from Arizona (Christi Stevenson) and the Husband is from Edinburgh, Scotland (Chris Stevenson). Yeah I thought it was funny, Chris and Christi.
I don't have much to write this week. sorry but I love this gospel. I know that it is true. It is the only way to real happiness and i have felt that happiness while out here on my mission. I know that Jesus Christ is at the Head of this Church and this is the only church with his authority. I love you all and I hope you have an amazing day.
Elder Thayne

Doing Parkour at a service project.