Transfers!

This last week transfers took place which was super crazy. I didn't really care because I knew I wasn't moving, and neither was my trainer. Everyone else was freaking out though. It's like Christmas when transfers come, people find out if they will get a new companion, and where they will move to. In other missions when transfers happen, the leaders will call the missionaries and tell them where they are going and who their next companion will be. Our mission is a bit different. The Mission Recorder will send out an Ibon code to each companionship, and the companionship puts the code into a machine at the nearest 7/11(They're everywhere in Taiwan). They then get a paper printout which tells them all the information they need and that they'll be leaving the next morning. It makes the mission a lot more organized and transfers go much more smoothly. So Elder Hooker and I were just chilling doing our studies when we get a text from the Recorder with an Ibon code. We were super confused, cause we weren't supposed to get moved. We rushed to the nearest 7/11 and he printed the code out and started going crazy. It said he was going to be moved to Hualian and become a District and Zone leader there. Which is usually impossible. Right then the Zone Leaders called me and asked me how I felt about the transfers. I told them I hadn't read it yet. They told me to read it out loud to them. It said that Bali would be closed as an area, and I would finish my training with Elder Swank. I knew it had to be fake, and then they told me it was haha. It really fooled Elder Hooker though. It looked Legit and everything. But yeah, I'm still here in Bali for the next 6 weeks with Elder Hooker.

This week was our first week having a member accompany our lessons! We have been working really hard to get members involved in the work here. They are so important in every mission, and if you don't have the support of the ward, you won't be as successful in your area. Member missionary work is the way to go because this last week was raining a ton. Taiwanese people won't be outside when it's raining, so there isn't anyone to talk to. Bali is already a small area, so street contacting in the rain usually doesn't end up too good. So we have been trying really hard to work with them. We brought our investigator Ke Jiemei to a member named Coco's house. She did really well and was able to share a few stories with her and help her understand how the spirit works. Ke Jiemei is progressing very well as an investigator. She accepted all of the Ten Commandments, and is trying to read the Book of Mormon every day. She told us that she reads it to her son Louis before he goes to bed. When she gets tired, he makes sure she reads it haha. We are hoping to meet with Louis soon, his Mom just wants to make sure he wants to.

Sadly we had to drop one of our investigators this week. His name is Zheng Dixiong, and he's the one who accepted baptism when I committed him to it the first day I was here. We knew going into this lesson with him that it was kind of our last hope. He hasn't been keeping commitments, and never wanted to come to church. His wife is a Christian, and he is a Buddhist so it's tearing their family apart. Our bishop came with us to teach him, cause he knew him before from work. We invited him to church and talked about how it has blessed us, but he said he wouldn't come. We then asked him about his Book of Mormon reading and he said that the Book of Mormon's teachings were not in harmony with his faith. By the end of the lesson we asked him if he could say a closing prayer which he had always done before. He paused for awhile and then refused. We left on good terms with him, but we knew we had to drop him. Bishop told him that even if he didn't join our church, he should still join his wife's church to be able to have the family united. I had learned about being bold more while teaching this week which has always been a struggle for me because I'm not as bold as I could be with my language skills the way they are.  So before we left I said something like this:" God gave us the Book of Mormon, The Bible, and Prayer so that we can know the truth for ourselves. If we aren't reading and praying with a desire to figure out what's true, God will not answer us. This is why you don't know if you want this. Because you have no desire to know for yourself." I was a little surprised about what I said, but I could feel the spirit stronger because I did. I know that if we follow the Spirit's direction, even if it seems strange, we will be blessed.

One last funny thing happened this week. One of our investigators is named Eddy. It's his English name, and his English is some of the best I've seen out here. He's been to Idaho as an Exchange Student, and was put with a member family. The members did great, and gave his referral to us when he came home. He loves them and is always keeping in touch with them. He's a really nice kid, but his parents won't let him get baptized till he's 18 cause they don't know if that's what he actually wants. He's 15 though which is old enough to make a decision, parents are just very protective of their kids over here. After English class one day we asked him if we could talk about the Book of Mormon a little bit with him, he agreed and then we asked him how much he knew about Joseph Smith. He said umm, and was thinking for awhile and then said:" After he saw God and Jesus Christ he was in his room or something at night and an Angel came to him. The light was brighter than the sunlight or something and he told him about some Golden Plates or something. Then he tried to fall asleep but the Angel came back like 3 more times, and when he was done it was already morning. So he had to go outside to work and then he told his Father about it and he said that he needed to do what God wanted him to do. So he found the Golden Plates under the ground on a hill but he couldn't take them out. He had to come back every year for four years before he could take them out. And then when he was translating he fought with his wife and couldn't do it anymore. He asked God why he couldn't do it and God said that he needs to have peace with his wife or he can't translate." Anyways... he just went on and on. He knew way more than most members I know haha. He's a super cool kid, so hopefully we can talk to his parents about letting him come to church.

That's about everything that happened this week! Love you all.

-Elder Thayne

General Conference

I know all of you have already seen General Conference, but we just watched all of the sessions in the last two days. So many talks stood out to me that I could share, but they were all great. One thing that was really interesting as I was listening to the talks is that I was getting answers to my own questions as well as answers to my investigators questions. I wish they could have all been there because it was so good. One of the talks that really stood out to me was the Brazilian who talked about knowing when people are called of God, and we are supposed to support and listen to them. He talked about Priesthood leaders and Bishops, but something he didn't mention was with Missionaries. I really reflected and what really applies to me is about my companion. Elder Hooker and I are very different people. We grew up differently, and our outlook on life is different. The thing that brings us together though is our love of the gospel, and how we want to share it. People can be completely different, but when they have a united purpose just as Elder Hooker and I, we are able to be successful and work well together.

This week we had on our schedule our first interviews with President Jergensen. While we were making our lunch in our apartment one day we heard the phone ringing. It was from him. Whenever a mission president calls you personally when they are always so busy it's never a good thing haha. He just asked:" Where are you guys?" I found out that the schedule was wrong and we had to drop our plans to make it there. While we were there we had an interview with him. He doesn't know much about me yet, so mine only lasted about 5 minutes. We were praying about our investigator Ke Jiemei's situation and went to President for some wise counsel. When I brought it up with him, he just gave me a really simple answer. He told me to share 1 Nephi 3.7 with her and talk about faith. The lord will provide a way for her to get baptized. It was so simple, but so profound. Later on that week we met with her. We had planned to not share that yet, cause we still didn't know what to do about that situation. I got a spiritual prompting while we were talking with her though so I shared it. She's trying to find a way to move out of her husband's house. The Lord will help her, it's going to take a lot of faith though.

The guy in the email I talked about last week turned out to be a fake. I think he came and made it sound like he was really interested in our message, took a picture with us and then posted it somewhere. Every time we call him he asks who we are and then just hangs up. It's sad to see people like that because we know our message will bring them peace and happiness, but they just won't accept it. We are trying to find new investigators over here though so we'll keep working hard!

DOGS. Dogs are really starting to be a problem over here. In Bali its a big mountain surrounded by a river and some ocean. The parts closer to the shore have a little more city and more people. As you go up the mountain it gets a lot more rural and there are a few houses strung out. I've run into dogs a few times and almost got bit. I guess it's an inevitable thing over here. I swear Satan controls dogs when they see missionaries. They are always so angry hahah. One time, Elder Hooker and I were biking down this hill in the dark( In Taiwan it gets dark at 6:00 and we are out till 9:30. We do most of our proselyting in the dark) I got behind him and as he was riding past this junkyard he rang his bell and a bunch of dogs came out. I was behind him so I stopped. They started running at me though so I barely got out haha. It sure does make your heart race! 

Overall everything is going really well over here. I could feel the spirit a lot this week! Make sure to watch some conference if you haven't yet. It gives you so much counsel on what to do. 

Here's some Photos of me, Elder Hooker, and Elder Swank in District Meeting

Exchanges

So this week was really interesting. It started out with Elder Hooker and I going to the Bali beach by the Taibei Port. We saw some old people along the beach, and they talked to us and were finding clams in the beach. We saw how they did it so we just walked up and down collecting clams so that was cool!

Something I found out about Bali is that it is pretty small. It is seperated from the main part by a river with only one bridge going across. Before the bridge, Bali was pretty isolated so there was a lot of intermarrying. Many of the people on this Island are kind of inbred cause they're all from the same place. Especially Bali. They have a lot of mental institutions here so that's fun. They have some mountains here, but people pay lots of money to bury their ancestors there. About 30,000 people live in Bali. There are about 200,000 people buried here though. It's kinda ironic. The most expensive spots on the land are given to dead people haha.

We went on exchanges this week with some Elders in our district. I was assigned with a Native Taiwanese and went to his area. The language barrier was huge! He's supposed to be learning English as his second language, but he doesn't have any interest in it. When I'm studying chinese during language study he just sleeps haha. My Chinese is better than his English so we just did most things silently. While I was with him, we visited some member families and shared some stuff with them. We went to this one family's house and I tried to share "The Restoration." They had three little girls that were crawling all over me though so it was hard to focus. They kept saying:" Chuanjiaoshi"(Missionary) and then said some other stuff. I just pretended like I couldn't understand so I could keep teaching haha.

People always use me to do things that they don't want to do cause I'm new and I need "Lianxi" (practice). It's kinda funny cause we were at church the other day and the teacher asked if I could pray. There were about twenty people in the class and I had said it last time. He said he didn't care, and I needed "practice." Anytime we are at an appointment with food, Elder Hooker is just eating and doesn't really care to talk to the person haha. I try to make conversation, but I don't know much Chinese. Afterwards he just says: "Hey, I was just being a good trainer and giving you practice!" Whatever haha.

I also ate some squid! It wasn't my favorite thing for sure, but it wasn't too bad!

While we were sitting down in this 7/11 one night a guy walked up to us and said in English:"What does Jesus mean to you." It kinda caught us off guard cause his English was really good, but he was obviously Taiwanese. He was a Christian who had been baptized a few months ago. He just wanted to learn from different sects. He wanted to know what we believed. As we were talking with him and sharing the first lesson with him, he was intrigued. We talked with for awhile and he just kept mentioning:" The things you guys are telling me is what I believe in. I believe in a God who loves his Children." He also kept asking us why all the other Christian churches didn't like Mormons very much even though we belive in Jesus Christ. It was hard to explain that one haha. He was awesome though. After we talked to him, we found out he lived in another area! We have to pass him on as a referral. Not many people live in Bali sadly. We gave 4 refferals this week, but hopefully next week we can find more people!

We've run into a few problems this week with our investigator Ke Jiemei. She is trying to keep the word of wisdom, but when we brought up the law of chastity there is a problem. She is divorced and she has two kids. In order for the kids to get to go to the same school, they have to live in the same house. The only way they can live in the same house is if their parents live in the same house. They are in seperate bedrooms, but she has to leave in order to get baptized. She was going to move in with her parents, but Taibei city is going to bulldoze their house to create a new street, and they can't do anything about it. She would be homeless if she tried to move out cause she doesn't have a job. There is just a lot of trouble with this. Please pray for her and give her faith to move forward even if their isn't a clear solution to this circumstance.

Love you all

-Elder Thayne

Bali

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry I didn't send an email last week. I'll make sure to send more when I have time.

Well I'm here in Bali. I can tell you a little more about it cause I'm going to be here for awhile. It is in the north of Taiwan, and there is a river right by it. It's actually one of the most rural places in New Tabei City. It still has a lot more city in it though. The biggest city I really knew before my mission was Salt Lake City, and Bali is bigger. Taller buildings and everything. A lot of old people live here, there are a few elementary schools and such, but it's mostly older people. The older people are by far the hardest to talk to. They will usually smile at you if they are in a: "Protected space." Basically a place where you can't talk to them haha. If you do try to talk to them they say:" Bu Yong." That just means. No usefullness. 

The air quality here in Taiwan is pretty bad. It's an Island a sixth of the size of Utah, but it has 26 million people. So many people it's honestly crazy. Everywhere you go there are people. Lot's of opportunities to talk to people! I just wish I could speak Chinese and talk to them. They are all pretty understanding though, they know it's a very hard language. They just never understand what you're saying. 

Something funny that happened, was my hair was growing pretty long. I needed a hair cut. We went to this kinda sketchy place to get my hair cut. I didn't want to go, but Elder Hooker said it was cheap. I was pretty sure they were going to mess up my hair but I did it anyway.They did pretty good on his hair but when it came to mine, they messed up big time. I tried to make it easy on the lady and I said:" Don't even cut any of the top, just cut the sides." I'll let you judge the pictures for yourself. It was so bad that I went and bought clippers myself. I tried to fix it myself, and it looks better but I don't know how to cut hair haha. Oh well, guess I'll just let it grow back.

Hmm I could talk about so many things. We have this investigator right now. Her name is Ke Jiemie. She's honestly so amazing. She came up to the Elders here and asked them if she could get a spanish bible for her friend who is in Jail. They said that they didn't have that, but they had a book that was similar to the Bible, cause it testifies of Jesus Christ. She became more and more interested in our message, and the focus shifted from trying to help her friend who was in prison to her. We've been teaching her a lot now. We came to a lesson with her planning to teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ, but when we got there she said:" I've already given up Coffee, and Tea. I don't drink either. I'm trying to give up on smoking right now, but what else do I have to do?" We were blown away for sure. We still don't even know how she knew about the Word of Wisdom, but we shared that with her. She is willing, she's just going to have to give up some things, but she's amazing. She came to church once, and brought her kids.

Things are going very well out here though. I'm trying to work as hard as I can. I'll keep working on getting more people to teach, but the Lord always provides a way. That's my calling: "Preach the Gospel," I love what I'm doing. It's easy to be out here because I know God approves, and I always have the opportunity to choose the right. I love you all! Enjoy the pictures!

The poster picture is about a motorola cell phone calendar. Notice the date on it.

They have a drink here that is the equivalent to gatorade. It's called:" Shupao."

The snails here a huge! That is actual sizing by my hand.

Lots of people at the Bali Wharf.

A girl that was really cute. Her name is Elsa, and she just threw up the asian peace sign when I got out my camera haha.

Barely made it!

I'm here in Taiwan finally!! It took a lot of miracles to get here but I'm here. 

Wednesday was my last real day in the MTC. We got all packed and then said goodbye to everybody and all of our teachers. We stayed up late that night talking to everyone in the zone and saying our goodbye's. We got up at 4:00 the next morning because half of the missionaries that were going to Taiwan were leaving at 5:00 in the morning. The other half of the missionaries (which included me) would stay and then leave later at 8:00. My companion Elder Beus was in the earlier group so I didn't have a companion most of the day. We got up and cleaned the room and then left to the airport. When we got there we found that our plane to San Francisco was delayed so we had to wait. Our plane to Taiwan was already cutting it close, so we didn't know if we would make it. We arrived in San Francisco, but before we had even landed; the plane to Taiwan was already boarding. We ran off the plane, took our stuff and ran in the airport like a bunch of crazy missionaries. They were just about to leave without us as we ran in. It was a miracle for sure. We then had a 13 hour flight till we got to Taibei, it was super fun.

When we got there it was around 5:00 A.M. over here. The mission president came and picked us up and we left to get to the mission home. The second I stepped outside with my suit coat I could feel the humidity and the heat. I started sweating super quick and it was pretty gross haha. We dropped all of our bags and stuff off and then went out to get some street food. The AP's got us the food, and while they were standing in line, they gave us English Class Fliers. They told us to go hand them out to people and start contacting. The scariest part of doing that is I didn't really know how to communicate. I found this guy and he was on his phone playing a game and didn't want anything to do with us. I had to find like three people before they would even just take the flier. The food was super good though, and we made it back to the mission home to go to sleep. The Elders in my room were heading to bed when these two temple workers walked in our room. The temple is right next to the mission home and chapel, so people will come to the mission home and stay a few days for the temple. These two old guys couldn't speak Chinese, they only spoke Taiwanese so I didn't understand a word of what they were saying. One of them jabbed me in the chest wondering where my missionary tag was. I was already out of my shirt and everything getting to bed so that was weird. I could understand they wanted us to be quiet so we went to bed. At about 3:00 in the morning I heard this drum going. I had no idea what it was and then I saw this old guy banging on the wall for like twenty minutes. Needless to say, I got no sleep that night.

The Saturday was a good day. The AP's went and bought us these things for breakfast called FanTwan's. They were really good, a picture is down below. We then went to the Grand Hotel to a place that Taiwan was dedicated for missionary work. When we got back to the Mission home we received our Trainers! My trainer is an awesome Elder. His name is Elder Hooker. He's from Bountiful Utah, and has been on his mission for about 13 months. He is really good at Chinese, and I rely on him with almost every conversation I have. We got our trainers and then all split up to go to our areas. It was sad cause we had to say goodbye to everyone, but I'll see them again. 

Elder Hooker and I left on the MRT which is the subway here. Then we took a bus till we got to our area. It's called Bali. It's like the northernmost part of New Taipei city. It has mountains in it, surrounded by tall buildings and lots of city. There are so many people that live here and it's really a beautiful place. You can see the ocean and it's great. When I got to the apartment I found out that I don't have a bike yet. The company told us they would get us bikes in the next few weeks so I'm using an exchange bike. A bike that an Elder left here when he went home. Luckily it's still pretty good. We dropped my stuff off, and then went out proselyting. It is probably the most food I'll ever eat here honestly. We went and ate dinner out, and then I wanted a Mango smoothie cause mango season is over now. We met this lady that we wanted to become an investigator. She treated us to CuaBing. It's like shaved ice, but huge. It also has beans and different things. It's not very sweet. I finished the whole thing and felt super full. We wanted to share a scripture with her, but she wanted to go somewhere else. She took us to a restaurant right after and we ate a ton of food there. I basically rolled out of there after. We met this investigator named Zheng Dixiong. He was a super nice guy, he had a little son that was going crazy, but we still taught him. As we were teaching him we started talking about baptism. We didn't plan this before, but I invited him to be baptized my first night! He accepted baptism, but he wouldn't confirm a day because of a few things. We will hopefully meet with him again next week and try to help him. 

I just realized how long this email is, I have so much to say, but that's probably good enough. I love you all and I'll send more pictures next week!!

-Love Elder Thayne

Flying Out to Taiwan (JUST KIDDING)

It's been a good week this week! Parts of it went by slow, and others fast. It was going really fast because our original plan was to fly out tomorrow morning. Last weekend though, we got a notice that our visas haven't come in. They finally told us that they are close, and that we will be getting them sometime this week. We are probably going to be leaving around Thursday this week. A lot of the people that were going to be flying out there were pretty mad. It didn't really make that much of a difference to me though cause I know there has got to be some reason why we are staying a few extra days. It's just getting us more and more excited to get out there!

We taught our last Skype TRC to a member in Australia who is Chinese. It was going pretty well, but I noticed my companion wasn't saying much for some reason. We went the whole lesson, and then after He told me that he wasn't able to hear her, he just heard static the whole time haha. I guess he just bore testimony of stuff I was saying so it worked out. The lady liked us a lot and said that if she came to Taiwan while we were there, she would take us out to eat food. She is actually the one who's daughter fellow-shipped  my teacher when she was less active so they're good friends.

Speaking of my teacher, I love her a lot. She is very opposite from me, but she is amazing. She really cares about her students even if she doesn't show that much. She shared with us her conversion story and it is really powerful. I can tell that she wants to send us out to go and care about people. She wants us to not go out and baptize, but to go out and convert people unto Jesus Christ. That's the only way to lasting conversion, anything else and they wouldn't be able to stay in the church.

We had in-field orientation this week which basically just got us into the right mindset to go out into the field, and it got us all pretty excited. The sad thing is some guys in our zone are leaving. They left this morning. People from Day 1. Things are getting real now. We all know that now is the time to work the hardest we can. It's kind of sad cause I don't know if I'll be able to see most of these Elders again. In my zone, there are 15 missions so it's pretty spread out. Everyone is happy to go though, and start serving real people. The Elders and I that our here still are the oldest ones in the MTC now. 

Well here we are, my 9th week. The MTC has been a great experience. I've gotten to know lots of amazing missionaries, and be able to look to them as an example. I've been taught by two great teachers. Very different from me, but also who loved me. They taught us some Chinese, but the biggest thing they taught us is to have desire. As I'm leaving this week the thing I've really learned from the MTC is to work my hardest and give everything I have to this work. I'm never going to get another chance like this again. So might as well give 100% of myself. 

I love you all so much. 

-Elder Grayson Thayne

SMELL THE BARN

So this week has been an interesting week, although not much happened. 

We started off the week with a Skype TRC. It's basically just you and your companion skyping someone who speaks Chinese, usually a native, and then teach them a lesson. We taught this lady and her husband was a non member. She told us within the first 5 minutes that he had died 5 years before. It was really shocking that she would share something like that, but it was nice she trusted us. I then shared that I have recently had someone pass away close to me too and I was able to connect with her. We taught her about faith and the power that it has and can bring to us. By the end I could see she had some tears so I guess that's a good sign haha. She talked a lot though and would go on for about 4 minutes talking without stopping and we had no idea what she said. Our teacher told us to not let them talk that long, because she knew we couldn't understand the member haha. I guess it'll just come in time.

During that same time, our teacher was skyping one of her friends from China. I moved my chair over and said hello to the lady. I then said that Ye laoshi loves me. Ye laoshi turned over and just said:" Shei Ai Ni?" which means who loves you? She is crazy and really savage sometimes, but I still love her and learn a lot. She told me a few days later that Chinese people won't tell you they love you, they tell you through their actions. Chinese can be harsh sometimes!!

We got our travel plans this week! I'll put a picture down below, but I was super glad to get them. It really shows you that you are actually going somewhere to teach people. It gets you to think about your MTC experience and things you could've done differently. I don't know if I'm ready to go Preach the Gospel to a people who have never heard of it before in a foreign tongue. Ready or not though, here I go. The crazy thing is that all the teachers in the MTC were called into a meeting to discuss teaching. They found that missionaries have been teaching with almost too many materials. Some missionaries are relying on the teaching materials too much instead of teaching to the people's needs.

 I really had a breakthrough with this. I know I could be teaching way better than I am now. This whole week while I've had this in my mind, I haven't even thought about the language, it's all just been about personal testimony and conviction in the lessons you are teaching. The theme this week for me has been to strive to get a deeper testimony of these things, so I can teach them to others. I really have this desire now to study and find for myself these things. There's only one was to make these powerful and give these messages to these people. And that's through the Holy Ghost bearing witness of what you say. I am working on having the Holy Ghost with me all the time as a constant companion. I know I can be more obedient and waste less time. This is what I'm trying to accomplish. Some MTC rules are a little weird, and it will be different in the field, but me and Elder Beus have decided to be 100% obedient this week before we go out to the Field. We are really wanting to change.

I was able to see my cousin Karter come into the MTC this week which was awesome! We talked and I know already that he'll be great. We have different experiences at the MTC, but it's all the same work. It's good to see familiar people before you ship off to a foreign land. It gives me a strong start for sure.

Sorry this email is short. Nothing much happened this week. This time next week, I'll be packing to get on the plane and I'll have much more to tell. Love you!

-Elder Thayne

Oh yeah and the title has a story behind it. When horses smell where they want to go(which is usually home) You can sense it and they speed up to get there. We are speeding up and want to get to Taiwan now!!!

God Loves to Kiss

I know this is a weird subject line but I'll explain later.

So this week was a good week. Elder Beus and I wanted to make our lessons better. We are limited because of the language of course, but we knew for sure we could do better lessons and work harder. We were already planning a lot for the lessons, but we needed to rely on the spirit more and let it direct us instead of our plan. We got more personal this week with our lessons and got to know the people more which is what you want. I accidentally went too far though during a lesson with a member. I straight up asked her if she was 23, and it turns out she was. The problem was that it isn't very polite to ask age the way I did. I guess I asked her age as if she was less than ten years old. You are supposed to use a different word for older people so she got kind of offended. It was a learning experience though haha.

I still haven't gotten fat here for some reason. I have been eating so much and haven't been exercising. I just don't really see the point in exercising very much anymore cause everyone says I'm going to lose all the weight I gain when I get to Taiwan because they feed less than most places, and you're biking all the time. I'm pretty sure I won't be fat by the time I come come, can't say the same for my cousin Karter though(@AtlantaGeorgiaMission).

We brought in another big group of missionaries this Wednesday. A total of 762 in one day. I was hosting and met some really cool people, some guys I know from high school too which is awesome. Seeing all these missionaries coming into the MTC every week is amazing to me, I never realized how huge this work was until I came to the MTC. We got 42 new Chinese missionaries just in our zone. Canto's and Mando's. The other day I went to Choir because I like the Director's stories that he shares. That day he was telling us how amazing it is to live in the time right now. He was telling us that in this dispensation we've had about 1 million 300 thousand missionaries go out. Then he said about 800,000 of those missionaries have gone out during Thomas S. Monson's Presidency. In a little over a decade there has been more missionaries than the other 150 years or whatever. The work is really hastening, and I'm beyond excited to be part of it. I love that this calling I have right now is the most important work in the world. I'm lucky to be here and be a part of it. I'm going to give it my all during these next two years I promise. 

Something crazy happened in our zone this week. We had a sister here for 3 weeks, but she had a boyfriend before she made it out here who just got back from his mission. He emailed her this past week and told her to come home and he would marry her in the temple. I don't like the way it happened because she was torn in two between her mission and her boyfriend. She eventually made the decision to go home and marry him after a blessing from the MTC presidency. It was just really crazy and out of the blue for all of us so we didn't know what to think. Everyone has different opinions about it, but we're happy she is happy. It just tells me that God works in mysterious ways sometimes and we just need to trust him when we don't know what to do because he does have a plan.

We had a pretty weird devotional last night that I wasn't going to talk about but it was funny. When you're at the MTC for 9 weeks, the devotionals are the thing you look forward to the most. So last night we got a devotional from this singer who does a lot of EFY songs and stuff. He has a very good voice and it was great to listen to him. The weird part was when he started talking, he was talking about how God loves to kiss. He also said that he himself likes to kiss people to show his affection. He said:" Once at my daughter's wedding reception, I kissed most of the people there. And a lot of them were guys." After that line I looked around and everybody was cringing. It was really funny cause no one expected that. He was a dramatic guy, but he's a very good singer. Thought I could share that with you.

I was on the tours this week and I got to see a lot of people I knew, It was nice to be able to see people I know that could lift me up before I leave to Taiwan with a totally different culture. It makes me even more ready to go out and work hard.

Regrets are a big thing when talking about missions. Last week our teacher Ding Laoshi was talking to us. We got new Zone Leaders to replace the ones that left, and our sisters became the STL's so they went to a meeting one day that we went to a class, just four of the elders in my district. Ding Laoshi wanted the whole district to hear what he had prepared so he just started talking about the Plan of Salvation and how we could teach it simpler and more complete. It was good and then I asked a different question about our lessons. We then went into a deep discussion about what we could do to be better. I love those talks the best because I've learned to love how to self-improve while here. We were asking how we could make the most of our missions every day, and know that God is proud of the work we have been giving him. He was talking seriously about his mission and how day after day, he felt like he had messed up over and over. He never felt like he was the best missionary he could've been. He told us that the last week he was on his mission, God gave him an answer. He finally told him that he had served a successful mission, and it wasn't about Investigators progressing as a measurement of success. It's about knowing you are doing everything you can. Heavenly Father told him he was successful and was proud of him. Only then he had 0 regrets.

I love you all, I have less than two weeks here now and it's almost my time to go. I look up to all of you.

-Elder Thayne

Just some pics at the beach:

Lock Your Heart

Hey everybody,

This week was good at the MTC. Our Chinese teacher gave some of the Elders and the Sisters Chinese first names. They're actually really cool. Elder Cheung's Chinese name means glorious sky and heaven shine or something like that. She hasn't given one to me yet. She's had us memorize 7 things in Chinese in order to get our Chinese name tags. The 7 things are: James 1:5, 1 Nephi 3:7, Moroni 10:5, The purpose of a missionary, I am a child of god, The first vision, and the baptismal invitation. It's pretty hard stuff but It's really nice to know it in Chinese. The language is progressing. It's pretty slow, but I know that God will help me learn the language in his time not mine. I know that all I have to do is put faith in him and everything will work out the way he has planned.

Some of the Elders and I have been trying to practice flips outside. We went out one night and they were teaching me how to backflip. An old senior missionary was walking by when I was gonna do a flip off the wall and we just kinda sat there and waited for him to talk to us cause we knew we were in for it. He just got a little mad at us and told us to go to our dorms. I think they're extra stingy on this because lots of people have been disobeying the rules and staying out really late. We got locked out of our room so we went and got a new key. Turns out the one they gave us was wrong so we went back and got another key and we weren't in bed until 12:00 but it wasn't our fault!!!

This Sunday I had a little bit of redemption from missing Elder Bednar's talk last week. This week we had the opportunity to have Elder Ballard come and speak to us. What was cool is that it was broadcast to most of the other MTC's in the world live. It was an amazing talk, he talked about obedience and keeping the rules. How it keeps us as missionaries safe, and keeps the Power of God in our teaching. We want to have people when they see us know that we are messengers from God. He referenced Spencer W. Kimball talking to missionaries around 50 years ago. A Missionary just disobeyed a small rule and bad consequences started because of that decision. The missionaries that were with this Elder were interviewed and asked why they didn't tell their Mission President what was going on before it was too late. They just said that it was his decision to ruin his mission and they weren't going to get in the way of that. Elder Kimball then said:" What about your mission? This is your mission. This is your church. You all are representatives of Jesus Christ." He was saying that we are responsible for every other missionary, not just ourselves.

The main point of Elder Ballard's talk was that we need to Lock our Hearts. He said to not open it for anything while we are on our missions. You can't fall in love with someone you don't open your heart to. There are problems with Missionaries losing their focus on their purpose . He reaffirmed that our main focus is Jesus Christ and he's the only one that we should be looking to. We have time after our missions, but right now we have a different purpose.

 I just really loved his talk cause it told me that no matter what, the thing that matters most is bringing people unto Christ and not focusing on yourself or your needs. We are so much happier when we are focused on others and helping them better themselves and strengthen their relationship with God. It's only when we revert back to ourselves and try to help ourselves progress that we fall short. I want to learn Chinese so bad, but if it's not for the right reasons It won't come to me. I've realized that if I focus on helping others God will give it to me. 

During the tours this week some of my best friends saw me. Hunter, Daniel and Dawson. Seeing them was so awesome and I was so happy. It's so cool to see people like future missionaries and past missionaries on the tour. Sharing experiences just makes the spirit of missionary work escalate. By the way sorry that this email is all over the place. It's just a kinda random fact week.

We hit our six week mark so all the missionaries in our zone left. We are now officially the oldest missionaries in the MTC!! It's pretty weird honestly that people are coming and going all the time. But it just means I'm getting closer to leaving to my mission. A huge group of Mandarin and Cantonese missionaries left which was sad. They've been here for the six weeks we have and we all got super close. They passed down all of the traditions to us and now it's our turn to keep them going. In Sacrament meeting they sang a special musical number: "Be Still My Soul." It was really cool because the Cantonese sang the first verse, Mandarins sang the second, and they both sang in English the third verse. It was really touching.  We woke up at 3:00 this morning to say goodbye to them and they gave us some advice and told us it would be us in no time. They told us not to waste our time in the MTC. Seeing these people leave just makes me want to work as hard as I can for these last three weeks we have. 

Anyway, sorry for the random email but I hope you enjoy it!! Here's some pics

Letter to Mom

I was hoping they would be able to see him!! That's great! Yeah it's weird cause he came way after me and he's gone now. That's nice of the Lyman's to say. I hope I get to see them. I was doing tours on Saturday and it was really fun that's when I saw them. I'll try to make things work, but I'm probably gonna be in class at that time when they come. 

Yeah I miss you guys a lot too. Is Mitchell done with the big video of our trip though?? Yeah there is lots to talk about and not much time. Me and my companion are progressing, we have different minds, but we are both trying to work really hard. My teacher is off and on sometimes. I can tell she really loves me and wants me to be the best missionary I can be and that's really cool . She just does it in a way that tries to tear you down. She puts the Sisters on pedestals and she is constantly telling us we are bad missionaries if we aren't studying every second we have free time. It's just really annoying and it's like I'm always having an internal battle with her. I do what she says, she just thinks there is  only one type of perfect missionary and I'm not the type she likes. I just have to keep relying on God and that's what matters. I know he's happy with what I'm doing, I just have to bite my tongue when I talk to her. She is an amazing teacher though and I'm really happy I get to learn from her.

I was really surprised when I got that package. It was really awesome though!. Yeah I left that MP3 player cause it was broken. Really they don't have them at smiths anymore? If I can have that that would be awesome. Just some instrumentals and stuff. Like Inception songs, and chill songs that are nice. They are pretty lax with music in my mission. I also really want that song you sent the lyrics to. It sounds amazing, Nashville Tribute would be amazing too. Just load it with tons of songs if you can. Yeah I really want lots of pictures of stuff. If you could send me like a racketball that would be nice. That's awesome you are working on the scouting, you'll get caught up on it I know it. Halsten is getting a lot done it seems. I'll for sure email sister Griffin too. 

I heard you guys are going to Chicago!! Good luck with that! I can tell Afton is nervous about going to EFY. She'll do great though. Halsten will be alone haha too bad. That's crazy that Parker is getting married. I hope he and Mitch still get to hang a lot. I actually met someone who shot with Mitchell the day before on the tours and we sent him a snapchat which was cool. I also saw one of Noah Thayne's best friends and we took a picture together, and they thought that we look a lot alike.

That's great to hear your friend moved out here, pretty exciting! When you said there was a boy Afton's age I got a bit nervous though. I hope you guys are looking out for her. Boys can get kinda crazy. I'm super proud of you for doing your personal progress and seeing you can grow your testimony. Simple things like that can help us immensely. I'm trying to rely on the Lord more, but I've always just relied on myself so it's something I have to work on cause I know there is no way I can do this by myself. I'm happy that we have this family though. I love our family so much and we are so lucky it's as special as it is. I want my family to be the same someday.

1. I forgot I had it and I suffered this whole week without medicine which blows but I think I'm finally getting better now. I guess it's Karma.

2. They don't let me take pictures of them. They are pretty strict about things, but I took one awhile ago.

3. No we don't go to the temple or outside much which kinda stinks. I am just going crazy honestly haha. 6 hours of classes, 3 hours of study, and service and stuff makes you crazy. 

4. It's hard in a different way. I feel like this is what I should be doing, and I'm wanting to learn to strengthen my testimony and help others instead of just to get good grades. It makes you think that it really does have a purpose which is nice.

Well hope this is good enough for this week. Love you Mom!!

-Elder Thayne