I'm Going on a Diet

It's official I am going on a diet. I have been out for just over a month. I weighed myself the day before I left home, the day I left the MTC, and just the other day. I have gained 15 stinking pounds in the past month. And it sucks!!!!! Seriously! So Sister Seegrist and I are going to start helping each other. The food is so good! but I HAVE to eat smaller portions. hahaha. It's really not a big deal but kinda. if I keep gaining 15 pounds a month, I WILL weigh 400 pounds when I get home!!!

So, anywhoo. What a week! There have been so many ups and downs, but I'm going to spare you the details, sorry ;) Love you tons but I am supposed to only tell you positive things :) Here goes:

 

Tuesday we were out in the Prarieville area. We were trying to find the home of a less-active sister and we finally found it. She had just had a baby a week ago and is originally from Logan! So her and I chatted about that and it was great and wonderful and stuff. So we shared a lesson about the plan of salvation and it was AMAZING!! I could feel the Spirit and I felt like we were lead by the Spirit in everything we said. After, we asked if we could come back and she said "yes." I felt amazing! We had done the work through the Holy Ghost.

 

Wednesday we went to visit a neighbor of ours. We don't live in our area, so she technically isn't ours to teach but we try to talk to her every once in a while. Wednesday she was very rude to be quite honest. I might have started crying... I know I'm tender-hearted. But, oh well. I just felt so bad that she has no interest in the gospel, because I love it so much, and I know with all of my heart that it is true. So, after that we went to a few members' homes to teach, and we tried to see some less-actives. We went to a member's home that we hadn't planned on, and she was set on showing us the Mormon Message called "Good Things to Come" by Elder Holland. It was exactly what I needed to hear and I definitely needed a little inspiration after that first lesson. It was so amazing, and the member told us that she was uplifted by what we shared too. It was really neat. We then went to a less-active member's home. She was baptized and even the secretary in the primary for a while. She went for about 5 years and fell away. We got started talking about family history and she had never done any so we were able to set up an appointment for her to go start on her family tree. it was so neat. I absolutely loved it.

  

Thursday, we went with a member to visit some of her neighbors that weren't members, and we were able to find a guy that wasn't a member but he was given the Book of Mormon over 20 years ago. He has read it and knows that it is true. So Sis. Seegrist asked him if he would be baptized, and he said yes!!!! Ok, just kidding. He said "no." He said something to the effect that "I was born Catholic, I was raised Catholic, and I'm gonna die Catholic" I wanted to just shake him and be like, "You know it's true silly man!!! What on earth is wrong? Didn't you understand any of it?!?!?!?!" but I stopped myself from doing that because it would have been a little inappropriate. :) On the way to our next appointment, we listened to the song "For Good" from Wicked and I thought of dad quoting it to me before I left :) It was great. We then went to a members home for dinner. They are my FAVORITE people in the entire world. He is a convert and she was raised in the church. They have 3 kids but only one still at home; he is 3 and his name is Henry. He is the cutest little boy alive! I think they are so great! The dad just opened a tortilla plant in Louisiana. The first and only one here. Pretty neat huh!

Friday was a hard day. We called or tried to visit at least 12 people and only 1 person let us teach them. It was kind of hard but them we were able to redeem ourselves and taught 5 lessons on Saturday so all is well in Zion.

  
Saturday I had the most amazing experience of my life. it was called crawfish étouffée. mmmmmmmmm. Oh my goodness that's why I've gained 15 pounds I'm sure! haha. We went out to lunch with a widow in our ward to a place called Chimes East. Go ahead and look it up and don't be appalled that it's a bar and grill because everything down here is. The food was amazing and the company was even better. I even started talking to one of the Elders who told me his deep dark secret about wanting a tattoo. He told me all about it, and it was really funny actually. He is one of the best Elders I know out here (don't worry he's really not getting a tattoo).
 

Sunday, church was great. All of the talks went well in sacrament and there wasn't anything too crazy that happened in Sunday School or Relief Society :) We did have dinner with a couple crazy families that made us a little uncomfortable. They were just very loud and excited. But here's the cool thing about yesterday. I was struggling a little and got a blessing and I was promise that you'd all be safe and well at home! So that was great, and I feel like I am so much more at peace now. After we got back from dinner, though, we started getting a call from a Utah number - 801 area code - ans I was a little freaked out for a second. SO, I answered, "Hello, this is Sister Thornley" and the guy on the other end said "Hi Sister Thornley! This is Reuben." I racked my brain trying to think of a Reuben that I know, but I don't know any thankfully. He proceeded to tell me that he has a sales job here for the summer and was selling in the area where we serve. He met a guy that wanted to learn more about the church and wanted a Book of Mormon. He told me all this great and wonderful stuff. I was overwhelmed at how great it was! We have plans to go and meet this referral tomorrow and I am so excited and nervous. It will be amazing! So I'll let you know how that goes. But last night after I had that experience I had a dream that I was gettting a call from another Utah number but it came up with the name "Jeff Bennett" and I answered apprehensively. It was just really funny. haha.

But yeah! I am doing great! The Church is still true and I am loving the work. I hope you're all doing great and that you had fun vacationing. Tell tess to write me about it. Love you millions!

 

 

Love, Sister Thornley

Ummmm ... Yeah, I'm Bad at Subject Lines

July 16, 2013

 

Ok, so here's to another week. I honestly can't believe that it has come and gone that fast. It's amazing. So Monday night we went to an investigator's home and had dinner and their kids put on a varity show for us that was the sweetest thing. The little girl sang "I Am a Child of God," the boy played the harmonica, and then they both danced. I loved it and was able to really get to know them. Their names are Jaime and Trampus ( I know that's definitely a Louisiana-worthy name) (: I got to help him make ceviche, helped her wash dishes after, and really talked to them. It was so neat and I hope that they continue to have a desire to learn and grow in the Gospel.

 

We have been working on a program that is called The First 12 Weeks for the first 12 weeks of your mission. We learned about using family history in finding and teaching investigators and members. It was so cool because I know how to do that. I felt really blessed that you have taught me to appreciate that. I did have a question though. My pedigree chart show some work that hasn't been done and I just wondered if it was a blooper or not. It was on mom and dad's side so you will go look and double check on them.

 

Tuesday we met with a brother that is in his seventies. He only has one leg and dad would LOVE him. He was the neatest guy ever and I could have talked to him for hours about his childhood and growing up and stuff. Dad, he told me about smoking his own bacon and building a little 4x4 smoke house and then putting the fire in a barrel and doing the pipe over to the smoke house so he didn't render the fat. It was so cool and I felt like a hick marveling at it ;) After that we went and taught a lesson to a sister that is less- active but I don't think she ever went to church after she was baptized. She doesn't know anything and that Joseph Smith saw a blue green light that was descending from heaven. That's all she knows about the first vision. So, we are really going to work with her and teach her from ground zero.

 

Thursday we were supposed to go play volleyball early in the morning but everyone else slept in, so I just stayd up until we were suppposed to be awake. We did service for a sister, the one that had Gossner's milk last week. While we were there, it started raining like crazy. They said that if it would have lasted for 24 hours, because of the amount of rain we got, it would have been cnsidered a hurricane. But, we were safe inside ;) After that we went to the library and a guy stopped us as we walked in and ranted for like 15 minutes about how we weren't supposed to have a denomination and that was of the devil. It was the creepiest feeling I ever got from a guy before. Really interesting listening to him try to justify and explain it though because he couldn't. We had dinner with a member family. he served a mission in Ogden and she served in France. They were a really neat family to work with and I'm excited to work with them some more.

 

Friday we went out to a place called St. Gabriel (ya mom you can stalk that too). Look up Bayou Paul Rd. That's the beautiful rural place we were at. The road kill is armadillo, and if you pick it up within 48 hours, it's dinner too. (: MMMMMmmmmmm. I feel right at home ;) We also went to the temple. It was amazing! We went through a "fragrance free session" with a sister in our ward who is allergic to any sorts of perfumes and strong smells. It's really scary if she has an attack from someone's cologne! But, the Baton Rouge Temple is gorgeous! Take advantage of having a temple near you! You should go every week!! Seriously I miss going every week. Also, Friday was my 1 Month Birthday! Happy Birthday to me!!! Whoot whoot. It was a good day and I even got dad's package with the bacon in it. Oh yeah, I'm enjoying that ;)

 

 

   Saturday we went and visited a brother in our ward who just got out of the hospital. He is the funniest sweetest old man and started telling us about this foot file and that he has and he has one for his lemons and one for his foot. I told him that's great as long as he doesn't get the two mixed up. He then wanted to show Sister Seegrist, because she didn't know what we were talking about. He tossed it her, and she, said "I hope this is the lemon one" as she was handling it. He said "No, but my feet are always clean when I use it!" I thought Sister Seegrist was going to throw up. hahahahaha. His face was priceless, so immediately we both pulled out our hand sanitizer. The brother just laughed and laughed. He is so amazing. After that we went and visited some less-actives and tried to visit our investigators. We didn't have much luck talking to them, but we put in a lot of effort.

Also our bishop served in the Italy Ca... (I dunno the name) Mission. The same one as Bob Evans though. So I asked if he knew the name, and he was pretty sure he got to the mission right before Bob left, and that Bob was his district or zone leader. He said, "Bob Evan ... is he tall with dark hair?" and I wanted to say "no" that he was bald, and then I remembered that he hasn't always been bald.. ha ya. whoops. But it was cool.

 

Sunday we got to teach the Sunday School class. It was supposed to be 14- and 15-year-olds, but it was 14 and up.  A little intimidating but really, really good. Sis. Seegrist was a little intimidated about teaching them, but after I got warmed up to the kids, I felt really comfortable. We talked about covenants and ordinances and the opportunity that we have to make covenants with God. We shared the story of the people of Alma burying their swords and covenants with God to never kill again. So we made little swords and then had them write a sin that they would give up and burried them after that. It was really cool!

 

Also! Blue Belle ice cream is amazing. Nothing against Gossner's, but no comparison. If you can order some somehow, order chocolate or key lime pie. mmmmm.

 

I love you much!

 

This work is too important to give up on. There is something out here that I need to accomplish and it's gonna take 18 months. I love you a million!

 

Thanks for all the letters this week! They were much needed! Love you!

 

Love, Sister Thornley

New Vocab

So, my week was pretty busy!

 

We went to a new family in the ward and after talking to them, he looked at his wife and said, "Should I send them to my parents'" and his wife said "yes." He told us that his parents weren't members but they go to church with them every week and we're the first missionaries that they have given their address to. So we felt very blessed that we earned their trust enough for that!

 

On Wednesday we made brownies and I made stir fry for lunch (thanks for teaching me how to cook so I don't eat junk food) We had three appointments cancel on us so we went and had media time at the library which is where we can go and watch Mormon Messages and read conference talks and stuff like that. We can do that up to an hour everyday. Cool huh! We had dinner with a member family n after that she came teaching with us n we visited some less-active members.

 

 

 

Thursday, the 4th of July, was a long day. We had our first dinner at 3:pm, another at 6, and another at 8. We watched fireworks over the Amite River with an investigator in our area and his friends. He is in his 50's n all of his friends that we watched the firewowrks with were just like the people from swamp people, hardly understand 'em, they were drinkin and smoking but they were real curious about the work we were doing and the Church. It was pretty neat actually. Oh, and the first dinner we went to was with Nana, she was saying the closing prayer before we left n said, "Lord, thank you for these bratty girls and the opportunity that they had to eat my good food. I know it's only good food because you're in it and your hand was in makin it" ..... yeah, she's a convert and the greatest person alive. She feeds us every week. haha.

 

 

Friday, we went and did some service for a less-active sister in our ward. We were cleaning out her cupboards and guess what I found!!!!! GOSSNERS MILK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoot whoot. I took a picture with her. Katie sent me a talk and on Thursday, I shared it with a family that really needed it. It was so cool! It was very inspired n I feel blessed to have such a supportive family like you!

 

 

 

Saturday we had Zone Teaching Meeting and they asked me to share the spiritual thought for the meeting. We learned a lot about plannign n stuff n I felt very uplifter adn I knew what we needed to change to find more investigators. After that we went proselyting. We went to a road that was gravel n the people opened the door n said they were Catholic but she was greatful that we were out sharing our beliefs so we got to come in and talk to her and her 21-year-old son who plays college baseball at SLU (not LSU). We shared about the atonement n Christ's sacrifice. I could definitely see their faith grow and I think that maybe we can continue to share with them and they will listen and open their hearts. We met with a less active couple after that and he was telling me how our ward was so great so I asked him straight up why he didn't come, then n he said "Well it's my own fault n I ain't got no good reason to not come" I said, "Well then I'll see you at church on Sunday then." He kinda ho-hummed about it and we talked a little more. I told him that he could wear his work boots and shorts for all I cared and if I could I would wear mine. When I told him I had a pair of boots he kinda got surprised and said, gosh you'll fit right in with the coona*#*# down here in boots. So go look up what a coona#*# is. Sorry for my cussing ;) haha. We got a whole history lesson about 'em. So when we got up to leave I shook his hand, and he said "Thanks for stopping by." I said, "No problem. I'll see you at church tomorrow. I'll save you a seat right next to me and you can wear your boots" :) haha He said "Ok that he would." He never came but I think it got him thinking about it. I hope we visit him again this week.

 

After that we went our to a place called Alligator Bayou to call some members. We sat and watched in the Bayou for like 30 minutes n watched a set of bubbles swim around. It was so sketchy. I recorded some of it (: haha.

 

Please write me letters!!!!!! and emails and everything!!! I love you so much!  Just excuse my grammar and spelling and punctaution. I know it's attrocious.

Love y'all so much!

I'll be fixin to get at least ten letters this week ;)

Love y'all millions

Love, Sister Thornley

 

 

THE Best Day So Far!

Today was the best day of the MTC (mission training center) so far ... no doubt in my mind. Read this slowly and feel the spirit of my experience.

We decided that we were going to teach our investigator about prayer and the Spirit. When we got to our appointment with Luwanna they told us that we had to sit in a room and wait, so we did. While we were sitting I heard her talking to the coordinator and she said, "there's nothing to think about or feel!" We got really worried that we had failed last time, so we started praying about it and then had to sit and wait for half an hour. He finally came and got us and we went down to talk to her We started by apologizing that were nervous last time and wanted her to know that we are regular people, and we care about her, so we spent about five minutes telling her about ourselves and then I told her I really wanted her to feel comfortable to share with us anything she wanted, and that was when she opened up to us.

She told us that her mom was a druggie and she never knew her dad. Her mom died when she was little. She also lost her only sibling her sister, too. She told us that her whole life she spent just surviving. She ran away from her foster care home at 15 years old and had been on the streets since then She said that she knew she had learned and grew because of it but that she didn't wish that upon anyone else. she said she saw and experienced things that no one should have to experience and see, and she was very emotional. she told us that God had never answered her prayers, and I asked her if she had asked with faith that He would answer, and she said she guessed she hadn't. She then talked a little more, and I told her that I didn't know her from Adam but I do know that Heavenly Father does and that He is literally her Father in heaven and loves her so much! I told her that she was a daughter of God and because of that, He loves her and listens to her and knows who she is and what she's gone through.

We then read James 1:5-6, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." We talked about what that meant and then read the bible dictionary about prayer and read the last two paragraphs of the Book of Mormon's introduction. And, we read her what Joseph Smith says about it in the intro. I then gave her her own Book of Mormon and asked her to read Moroni 10:3-5: "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth  of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." We talked about that and I committed her to read in the Book of Mormon and pray about it. She said "Yeah I think I might be able to." and I said "You will?" She said "I'll try," and I said, "No, no cop out. Will you read and pray if it's true?" and she said, "Yes, yes I will."

And, then we asked her if we could end with a prayer. My companion asked if I would pray and I said, "No, actually will you pray, Luwanna?" and she said she would. I told her how to pray and she gave the most simple beautiful prayer I had every heard. She prayed that she would have comfort. She prayed to know if what we taught was true and thanked God for the sister missionaries. I honestly, in the middle of the prayer, stopped breathing because the Spirit was so strong. I had to remind myself to keep breathing the rest of the prayer. It was the most amazing experience in my life. The Spirit was the teacher - not me, not Sis. Hild. Tessa! Thank you for the conference talk! It was an inspiration for what we taught her about being a daughter of God. http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/05/we-are-daughters-of-our-heavenly-father?lang=eng

The gospel is true! I AM in the right place right now. The Spirit has taught through me, and I am learning and growing! Share my experience.. I hope it will encourage you and others to share the gospel!

Sis. Thornley

You might be a freshman if...

Well, after pondering for weeks, I figured it is time to get this thing up. It won't be long, but hopefully it will make you smile a little bit. All of these are for real things that have happened to me or someone that I know or have heard talking on campus.

Here are my top 25 "You might be a freshman if..."

1. You might be a freshman if, your dad wants to FaceTime all of your dates because he can't be there in person to give them a bullet with their name on it.

2.You might be a freshman if, your mom still drops you off at school.

3. You might be a freshman if, you think becoming a True Aggie means that you have finally registered for classes.

4.You might be a freshman if, the top visited pages on your laptop are Netflix, Facebook, and Canvas/Blackboard.

5. You might be a freshman if, your 7:30 class is overruled by your bed almost once a week.

6.You might be a freshman if, you refuse to call your apartment home and instead call it your "temporary situation"

7. You might be a freshman if, you slide down the apartment's stairs on a mattress.

8. You might be a freshman if, you have sat inside the dryer in the laundromat.

9.You might be a freshman if, you eat peanutbutter on a tortilla regularly and call it a meal.

10.You might be a freshman if, you're so desperate for food and money that you're willing to eat a live goldfish in exchange for a dollar and the promise of brownies.

11.You might be a freshman if, after you eat that fish you tell your dad that you had sushi for dinner and when he asks how it was you tell him it was so fresh it was practically still swimming but it could have used some wasabi and soy sauce.

12.You might be a freshman if, you ride a razr scooter to all of your classes

13.You might be a freshman if, you lock yourself out of your apartment at least once a month and you have learned to just leave the downstairs windows unlocked because it will happen again soon.

14. You might be a freshman if, you have ever been asked on a date and 3 weeks later the guy that asked you out is engaged and then you realize that you have to accept the fact that it won't be the last time that happens.

15.You might be a freshman if, you have complained about Creative Arts this year.

16. You might be a freshman if you decide to go to lunch with your friends instead of your Mythology final which you failed to study for

17. You might be a freshman if you dye your hair blonde for the first and last time.

18. You might be a freshman if you have a full blown water fight in your apartment.

19.You might be a freshman if you kiss more guys in one year than you can count on your hand... practice makes perfect. (don't worry mom that wasn't me, I promise ;))

20.You might be a freshman if you tape balloons to doors with cheesy jokes on them and it gives you a major adrenaline rush.

21. You might be a freshman if your idea of a night out is dressing up like a dinosaur and shooting foam arrows at your friends.

22.You might be a freshman if you find yourself performing ring checks when you swore you'd never do it.

23. You might be a freshman if you play "your team, my team" from your kitchen window.

24. You might be a freshman if you go to become an Ultimate Aggie, a policeman pulls up and your best idea is to jump into the bushes... that cop ain't never gonna find you in there.

25. You might be a freshman if you have cried, laughed , loved, adventured, etc. and now as the year is coming to an end, the laughing and crying happens more frequently.  You know you'll miss the adventuring and you've made friends that will last until the bitter end.

Thanks to everyone that made my freshman year of college unforgettable. There's not one thing that I would change. None of the heartbreak or crying, none of the nights we stayed up until 3 am laughing and partying, the fort we made, the camping trip in the rain, the night I ate the goldfish, the amazing YSA ward I was a part of, my decision to serve a mission, and every single other adventure we had. As we all go our separate ways I hope that I have left at least one good memory with you.

If you're reading this I hope that you did have or will have a freshman year of college that was as good as mine. Adios my friends and good luck in all your life's adventures.

 

 

My Plea. To You, From Me.

Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God." I am going to apologize in advance, this is kind of a deep post but it is something that I know I need to get out of my head or it will drive me crazy. I hope that this won't offend or hurt someone's feelings because I know that this is a subject that is close to the hearts of some of my friends that have had personal experience with a loved one, but my reason for sharing this is because I realize how hard that must be.

After hearing about a teenager in my mom's class that recently committed suicide, my heart and mind have been very burdened today. Someone once told me that if you say that you've never thought that suicide would be easier than living then you're lying but the fact of the matter is that it is not your place to decide when your life should end. Only Heavenly Father should have that power and we should not take that decision into our hands. Wow, huh. I hadn't ever thought about how close this was to people's minds. Maybe it's not to everyone. I sure hope not because I have decided that there are so many things that I am looking forward to in my life that I don't even think that the "easy" way out is going to solve a temporary problem. It won't solve any problems, in fact.

The reason for my post today is to propose something to each of you. When I was little, there was a kid that I grew up near that was always picked on. Even my friends were contributors to the mean words that were said to him and it was heart breaking. But I refused to participate. If someone said something mean to him, I would tell them to stop. If he was sitting alone, I would sit by him. If he walked past me, I said hi and smiled. Not a fake, "I feel bad for you" smile, but a real smile. The kind that told him that I wished everyone else would take the time to get to know him and love him. I really wished they would. I remember lying on a blanket in my backyard talking to my dad one day and he asked me, (i'll change the kid's name for my personal reasons) but my dad asked, "What kind of a kid is Pete?" I thought about it and told him about the kids that made fun of him and how they would torment him just to make him lash out on them and try to hit them. I told him that I wasn't mean, though. My dad looked at me and said, "Pete's dad was talking to me today and thanked me for raising you right. He told me that Pete said that you were the only friend he had."

I'm not saying that Pete was suicidal. I don't know if that is how he felt. I do know that I wasn't going to let anyone be mean to him. I wanted to make him feel loved and now I look back and realize that I made a difference in his life, even if it wasn't a big difference.

I would like to ask each of you to love someone deeply and truly. Smile at a stranger. Say hi to a person that walks by with their head down. Help someone that is carrying a table and chairs by themselves. Sit next to someone that is alone and learn something about them, maybe ask them about something they love. Don't say or think mean things about someone that is different, learn about why they are different and you might be surprised by how much you really have in common. Step out of your comfort zone and do something that you normally wouldn't. I beg you, make a difference in someone's life because that change may touch them more deeply than you realize. I love you all and I know that Heavenly Father loves each of you unconditionally. Now go and share that love with someone else.

Take a Little Time to Love

Last week, I was driving through my little hometown in Northern Utah. I was on my way to pick up my good friend Robyn and decided to take a back way to her house. I was driving behind our local high school on the street that my mom grew up on when I saw a little girl riding her scooter on the sidewalk. Now don't get all nervous that the little girl is going to get kidnapped or hit by a car or something, SHE DOESN'T!!! (when I was telling Robyn this story she got this terrified look on her face because she was afraid something bad was going to happen to the little girl)

Anywhoo, I was driving my car and there was a minivan driving in front of me. The little girl on the scooter took two pushes on her scooter and stopped as the minivan drove by her. I assumed that the minivan was a neighbor and thats why she had smiled and waved at them so i didn't think that much of it. Then, the little girl continued on her way, took two pushes again, stopped as I passed and waved to me, too. What a small act it was but it completely made my day. I didn't know the girl. She was an adorable little brunette that was probably 5 years old. She had little piggie tails and her scooter was pink. I am a 19 year old that was a stranger driving a jeep through her neighborhood. (didn't mean to make myself sound like a creep, I promise) But it didn't matter to her who I was. She stopped and took the time to do something that made me feel loved.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our lives that we forget to think about other people. It took this little five year old to remind me that everyone deserves our love. Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us and sometimes he needs someone like me to be the instrument to show someone else his love for them. This was my lesson this week. Love one another. Even if you have to stop pushing your scooter for a few minutes and take the time to smile and wave at a stranger. You never know who you will influence.