lookin over a four leaf clover.‏

This last week has been Great. It is the first week that we didn't have 2 exchanges :] On friday we were able to get some elders from our district to our zone to do a blitz. We tried to hand out as many copies of the book of Mormon as we could in one day. it went pretty well, we handed out half a box. Most people just wanted to bash with us. There was this one guy that said he read a book all about Mormonism and how it is a cult. I asked him if he asked god and he just said that he talked didn't need to because the author of the book is his pastor. It is sad how some people will look over the source of all truth and take one mans word for it. 

So I haven't told you much about our investigators. Basically they are all black Portuguese people. I love them they are amazing, but it is hard to teach them because we only have one translator and he has a full time job and is in the bishopric so he is super busy. So Elder Walters and I were determined that we would get some English speaking investigators. so we called all of our potential investigators in our phone durring weekly planning and we got lessons set up. so we are excited to teach someone through our own words and not through a translator.
This week we were able to teach Jessica, who is 10, the restoration. luckily she speaks English so we were able to teach her without a translator. She seemed really interested in the book of Mormon and she was excited when she got her very own English Book of Mormon. We committed her to Baptism on the 12th of June. I am so excited! She just seems so amazing for someone so young. We are hoping to meet with her older sisters sometime to see if they would be interested but we might need Jessica to come along because they don't speak English that well.
Something that I have been learning a lot this week is the power of Members. They are so Important and if you have a good relationship with the ward it is easy to spread the mission fever. Right now a couple people in our ward have this bug, but i think if we keep working hard it will spread like wild fire.
Anyway I know this Church is true and I am so happy to be out here sharing it. I just get a rush when people are touched by the spirit and what we are teaching them. it is fun to see the understanding that comes into their eyes when the spirit is there. I hope that you all have this experience in your life sometime to see someones understanding change right in front of you.
I love you all and I love this Plan.
Have a great day!
Elder Thayne

So we went over to Brother Donnelly's house to do some service (yard work) 

and he has a ton of interesting items lying around everywhere. 

I feel like the american pickers should come here.

Getting down to work‏

So this past week has been both amazing and sad. On Tuesday I was leading out the area with Elder Black who is a super obedient missionary. He is great. we pretty much had finding to do all day,(The usual day we tract or GQ for 3 to 4 hours). We ran into a ton of people who really needed the gospel in there lives. we got 5 return appointments which was miraculous.

The next morning, in my personal study, I was putting myself in my investigators shoes and studying what I think they need to know. I got this feeling that Vanessa (one of our Portuguese investigators) needed an invitation to be baptized. I kept getting the number 17 popping into my mind. I looked at the calender and June 17th didn't look right and May 17th was way to close. I saw the 30th of this month and that felt right, but i thought, "That has nothing to do with 17" after looking at it for a while i realized it was 17 days away from when we were going to teach her. It hit me that i just received revelation from the holly ghost telling me that she needs to be invited to baptism on a specific date. I know that if we are worthy and we are looking for revelation then the Lord will give it to us.

The sad part about the week was a lot of our appointments fell through. Oh well we will get them next time. It is just hard always having to communicate through a translator.

We had 4 investigators at church this Sunday which was great! We got to talk to them and see how they liked it and i think they all really enjoy it. Some of them have kids so i think that is hopeful in growing the wards youth because we only have 2 young men and 4 young women. We are actually losing the oldest boy, he is going on his mission to Canada!

Funny Story:

I was leading out the area on Friday morning with Elder Lauricella who is super funny and a hard worker, oh and he has the coolest middle name...wait for it...Strider! just like Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. anyway we went to mow the members lawn and he always feeds us after. so when we went inside to eat we found a giant plate of carrots, two giant plates of chips (fat fries), a pot of beans, a pot of corn, three eggs each, a huge head of broccoli, peas, and the backside of a cow. We were given a challenge that looked impossible. We never finished it all, but if Elder Lauricella had eaten his half then we would have. The moral of this story is we get fed well by the members.

Anyway, I love you all. Thank you for all of your letters! sorry i don't respond to them all I just don't have too much time. I hope you all know how much a appreciate you. 

I love this Gospel and I am learning so MUCH. It is funny how much i have used the atonement out here on the mission. I love it so much and every time I use it I gain a stronger testimony about it. I have so much to learn and a lot of times I feel amateur(which I am), but I know this Gospel and the Ordinances that we invite people to do are the only way to God. This is the Greatest work I have ever done.

Elder Thayne

 My Companion

 My Flat

My District

Today was Awesome!

Hey mom i love you so much. I hope you had a great mothers day. i also hope that my email this week was better than the other ones. I don't have much time so i will write you next week. Love you so much. 

Elder Thayne

ps. I miss your back rubs.

Aint no Place like home

The more that I'm out here the more it feels like home. I am doing pretty good at picking up the Irish accent, I am loving the people i am serving more and more, and my flat is looking more and more like my room. Just teasing we are keeping it pretty clean. 

This week I have had some good experiences while on exchanges. I was first on exchanges with Elder Stanley who is from England and we went tracting for 5 hours in the rain. It was tough but we got 6 potential investigators from it. We knocked on this one Polish guys door and he cam out and said he wasn't interested. We were persistent but he didn't budge. So we decided to move on. when we got to the end of the street I had the feeling that we needed to go back. Elder Stanley was encouraging and he went along with it. I had no idea what I was going to say but I knocked on his door. He came out and I just told him the truth. I said that I had the feeling that we needed to come back and tell him about this gospel. I had a strong feeling that he needed to hear it so I bore my testimony. He gave me the same answer he told us last time. Then Elder Stanley invited him to a sports day on Saturday where they would be playing football and volley-ball. He looked up fast and said "Volley-ball? I love volley-ball, but nobody plays it here in Ireland. I will try to come this Saturday but if I can't I will for sure be there next Saturday." That made my day. We were rejected but we followed the prompting of the spirit and he blessed us.
A lot of my time has been dedicated to tracting. When I was on exchanges with Elder Blossil, from Orem. We went tracting all day to. Something that Elder Blossil does that I really want to work on is persistence. He is so persistent, but he is never overbearing. He shows his love to them while he is being bold so they don't really have an excuse to be mad with him. We had so many discussions where someone would start off hostile and he would totally change their attitude. He would always lead the discussion back to the restoration. It was evident the spirit was there. 
When I went on exchanges with Elder Hatch we were able to go to a fireside that night where the secretary to the first presidency was speaking. He had been the First Presidency's secretary since Joseph Fielding Smith. He was amazing and really re-invigorated me. He gave great advice and he talked a lot about the sustaining of prophets. He bore his testimony about how they are the Lords mouth piece and how they hold the keys to run the Lords Church.
I would like to add my testimony on to his. I know that this is the Lords Church. Jesus Christ is at the Head of it and we do get direction from God through a Prophet. I know that following the Principle of Jesus Christ's gospel is the only way to happiness. I love this gospel and I know it is true.
Elder Thayne 

Exchanges!

The Good: I have been able to get a ton of experience finding people. I have been asking for referrals, chapping (tracting), and GQing (street contacting.) we have dedicated a lot of our time to finding more investigators to teach. It has been really fun at times and I have learned so much.

We also will be having a baptism this transfer. I wasn't there when they committed her but she sounds really solid.

The Bad:

This Saturday my companion was really sick so we didn't leave our apartment except to do our progress record.

The Funny:

 two men came up to and asked us what we believe so we were really excited. we started telling them but then we found out they just wanted to bible back. haha they wouldn't let us talk. then this lady that no one knew came up and  asked our names. she said she wanted to pray for us. she then tried to tell us that she will cast out demons out of us. she start doing this weird prayer haha. it was so funny. we had some one try to cast demons out of us haha.

I am so happy to be out here. I have loved it so much. I honestly haven't been in my own area a ton because i have been on so many exchanges. I have 3 more exchanges this week so wish me luck. 

I know this church is true. Joseph Smith did restore the Lords church in these latter days. I love this gospel and i am happy that i can be part of this work. thank you all for your support and love.

Elder Thayne

Northern Ireland!

Hey everyone! 

Before i went to Northern Ireland i went to the mission home in Edinburgh. The drive up was so gorgeous with all of the rock walls, rolling green hills and sheep everywhere. It is beautiful there and my mission president is amazing.  We hiked up Pratts hill and we made a goal of what we wanted to accomplish while we were out on our missions. we were told where we will be serving then we were able to go out and do some street contacting which ended up being really successful. we got like 10 peoples contact information and we passed it on to the Elders in that area.

so I was called to an area named Portadown, it is near Belfast. Our area is big and there is only 2 of us so we have a lot of work to do. I am looking forward to working hard and building trust with the ward. My Grandpa Platt served near this area so i will be looking for people who might know him. from what I know, my Grandpa was an amazing missionary. If I can emulate him while I am out here than I know that I will have served a successful mission.

My trainers name is Elder Walters, he is from California and he seems awesome. I can tell i will get along with him and we will work hard. we have 10 Missionaries in our district and we will be having our first district conference tomorrow. so that will be fun to meet all of the other missionaries.

 I know this church is true and i am so glad to be out here to tell my brothers and sisters about it. I wish you all the best of luck.

Elder Thayne

Almost Out in the Field

So i only have 1 day left till i am shipped of to Edinburgh Scotland to meet my mission president. I am leaving the Preston England mtc at 6 in the morning on friday. so i have to get up at 3:45. haha oh well. I can't wait to get into my first area and to meet my trainer. it is going to be an amazing experience.  I just can't wait to get out there.

Don't get me wrong i have had an amazing time here at the mtc. the food is spectacular, the teachers are wonderful, the mtc president is great and i have met so many great friends. we have learned how to have a ton of fun with the little resources we have. us missionaries can get pretty creative when we are board. we play this game where we try to steel a pent (penny) out of someones hand before they close it. and we would have an ultimate tic tac toe tournament. we have fun at the mtc that is for sure but I have been work hard.
All day everyday is none stop learning, teaching, and planning. i am literally up from 6:30 till 10 every night just learning how to be a more effective missionary. haha i have never been more tired! But i have never been more happy. i am learning so much and i actually enjoy it so i don't mind being taught. Winston Churchill once said, "I am always ready to learn, bu i a not always willing to be taught." most of the time i can see where he comes from. but when it comes to this topic i want to be taught as much as i can take in. our teachers here are great. they know how to make it fun and spiritual. they teach so well and they make you want to be the best missionary ever.
I never knew that the Lord could make you grow soooo much just in 2 weeks. but he has. I know that this work is the greatest thing ever. I know this is where i am suppose to be. I know that this church is true and i know that God is preparing people right now to here my message. 
I love you all. 
Elder Thayne
May the Lord be with you, always.

so the first picture is a picture of my district. elder Du Plessis's brother is serving in capetown south africa. he is in the east london mission so i thought that was cool :]

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