AUGUST 14, 2015

Maayong Hapon! (Good Afternoon)

Next Thursday at 6:30am  I will be on my way to the airport! This week has been good! Yesterday we had In-field orientation for 8 hours straight! That was exhausting but I learned a lot! I learned how important members are in missionary work! I am so excited to get out into the field! 

We has something really funny happen in a lesson this week! Our investigator asked us who Jesus Christ was to us, my companion was responding and said "Siya utot lalaki ko" which she thought meant "He is my boy sibling" (They don't have a word in Ilonggo for brother so you say boy sibling) but the word fr sibling is utod not utot. Instead of saying "he is my boy sibling" she said "he is my boy fart". After she said that our investigator laughed so hard and we couldn't figure out why until after the lesson we asked our teacher what she said... We sure got a good laugh out of that!

Today we went to the Provo Temple and did an Endowment session. Then after we went to the cafeteria and ate breakfast. I can not tell you how incredible it was to have real food again!!!! Also this week I learned how simple the gospel is. There is no reason to make it difficult or hard when sharing the gospel with others. The gospel is a beautiful and simple thing!

I cant believe next pday I will be in the Philippines! Thank you for all your prayers i have really felt them! Have a good week! I encourage everyone to pray for an opportunity to serve someone this week! 

Halong! (Take Care)

Palangga 'Taka!

-Sister Thayn

AUGUST 7, 2015

MTC LIFE

I cannot believe I have been out on my mission already for a month! Time is just flying by and I am starting to get scared that it is going to go by too fast! This week has been incredible! It has definitely had its rough days but so much good has happened that its hard to remember those hard days!

This past Sunday we had and awesome fast and testimony meeting! Someone brought up the saying from the scriptures "And it came to pass" She said how this line is repeated over and over in the scriptures and she said how hardships come into your life but they also will pass. Just like Nephi, he had hard times but they did also pass. Two quotes that I loved from Sunday was, "Its not a testimony without the test" and " Work not worry, Faith not fear" 

Sunday night we had a devotional and Sherri Dew was the speaker! Tuesday night we had a devotional that was absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!!!! We never know who is speaking until we are all seated but on Tuesday we knew it was going to be an apostle! As we were all singing the prelude music the doors opened and in walked our MTC president, his wife, and then walked in.... President Russell M. Nelson and his wife! When we all saw pres. Nelson we all stood up and I was in instant tears! The spirit was so incredibly strong! The second he walked in the room it was as if the world changed! The spirit that he carries with his was unlike anything I have ever felt before and was undeniable! It confirmed to me that he is a man of god and was here to speak to us for god! It was such an incredible experience! He talked a lot about the second coming and us being reunited with god and how incredible that homecoming will be! When the talk was over and pres. Nelson left the entire room stayed silent and nobody wanted to leave and ruin the spirit that was there! It was INCREDIBLE!

This week the rest of our zone left for the Philippines! Then 35 new people came in! Crazy! But we got our flight plans today and we leave in 2 weeks!!!!! It is starting to be more real now that we have our travel plans! 

Well life is so good and I am just doing my best to learn more and more about the language of the spirit! Thanks for all your prayers and letters! They are very much needed! 

Hope you all have a good week!

Palangga 'Taka! ( I LOVE YOU)

-Sister Thayn

JULY 31,2015

20 days left at the MTC

We leave for the Philippines in exactly 20 days! Time is just flying in the MTC! I am learning more and more everyday! I still feel like I don't know much at all but for being here a little over three weeks I cant believe how much I know!!! I had a cool experience the other day! I was sitting down at the table to eat dinner and folded my arms to pray and I started praying and it was all in Ilonggo! It felt so natural and I didn't even have to think about how to say the prayer I just knew! I am not saying it was an elaborate prayer it was very simple and short but it was such a tender mercy showing me how real the gift of tongues is! 

Last Sunday I was able to teach Relief Society and I was very nervous for it but I was able to really rely on the Holy Ghost to direct my lesson and it was very successful! At the end of the lesson we sand "Dearest Children" and the last line really stood out to me, it says "He will bless you, he will bless you, if you put your trust in him." And this is so true we just have to put our trust in him! 

We also had an incredible devotional this week were the speaker said something so profound to me! He said "God doesn't use a spotlight when a flashlight is sufficient." This is such a perfect way to describe the Holy Ghost, because sometimes I am expecting a spotlight when he is showing me a flashlight. You need to be patient and look for the flashlight!

This week I also received a blessing. It was such a cool experience to have must of the elders in my zone be able to give me a blessing! It is incredible to have so many people willing and able to give blessing at any given time! The spirit was so strong during the blessing. 

Also this week I had the most incredible experiences with my investigators during our lessons. During one lesson with our investigator named Francis we extended to him to be baptized and he agreed!!!!!!! YAY! I was then able to bear my simple testimony in the little Ilonggo that I knew but the spirit helped with the rest. Im not sure if what I said was correct or even right but the spirit was there and really helped our investigators faith grow and help him come closer to Christ! 

With our other investigator named Teresita this was our second lesson with her and we taught about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and our plan was to invite her to pray to know this message was true, when we were able to say this I knew that is not what Teresita needed right now the Holy Ghost told me that we needed to invite her to do something different to meet her needs. I didn't know how to tell my companions without completely interrupting the lesson so when my companion invited her to pray she declined. She said she wanted to learn more about the message before she prayed. She also asked us why we were here to teach her. After she said this I knew exactly what we were going to invite her to do instead. So I bore my testimony to her that I know that god loves her. I know this because I have felt it in my own life. And I told her how we are here to help her feel this love and help her grow closer to Christ through reading the Book of Mormon and praying. I then invited her to pray to know of gods love and she accepted and said that she could do this and we also invited her to read the first chapter in 1 Nephi before we had our next lesson. She accepted and the Spirit was in the room and I feel like it really touched Teresita's heart! 

These experiences were incredible and truly strengthened my testimony of how important the Holy Ghost is. If I didn't have the holy ghost with me in that lesson I wouldn't have been able to know what Teresita needed in her life. I wouldn't have been able to say the words that I did so she could understand me! It was such an incredible experience!  

Something cool about the Ilonggo language is that only 2 missions in the world speak it! They also only started teaching this language in the MTC 2 years ago! Before they just taught the missionaries Tagalog and the missionaries would just learn Ilonggo in the field!

My companions and I are the only missionaries going to Iloilo right now in the MTC. The rest of the sisters in my district and the ones that we share a room with are going to Bacolod.

Well this week has been good! Thanks for all the letters and Dear Elders! 

Hope all is well! 

Talk to you next week! :)