DECEMBER 30, 2015

NEW CALLING

Dear Brother & Sister Thayn,

Sister Aquino and I are pleased to inform you that your daughter, Sister Thayn, has been called to serve as a Trainer in the Philippines Iloilo Mission effective 30 Dec 2015.

We are grateful for her willingness to follow and serve the Lord with all of her heart, might, mind and strength. We are confident that her missionary experience will be a great blessing to her, to her family, and to the people that she will be serving in our mission.

Thank you for entrusting Sister Thayn to the Lord and to us. We will continue to pray for her success in her new assignment.



With warmest regards,



JAIME REYES AQUINO

Mission President

DECEMBER 27, 2015

WHITE CHRISTMAS?? AND CHRISTMAS LUNCH AT MCDONALDS??

Christmas Morning

Hello everyone! and MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year! My Christmas was so good very different but amazing! Mostly different because there was no snow on the ground! Christmas morning we woke up and opened presents that we got for one another! We got ready and were able to attend a White Christmas which is a baptism on Christmas day! None of our investigators got baptized but there were 17 in the stake that were! After the service was over we all went up to shake the newly baptized members and I shook this one sisters had and she threw her arms around me and cried and gave me the biggest hug. I have never met this sister before but she was so incredibly happy for her decision that she made on Christmas to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized. The spirit there was so incredible! After the baptism we got hungry and one of the only stores that was open was McDonald's so we ate our Christmas lunch at McDonald's!! Then we went and visited lots of people. It was a very simple Christmas but it will be one that I will never forget!

Also I was able to skype my family on the day after Christmas which is Christmas day in America! It was so fun to see a little bit of home and talk to my family! 

Skyping with the family
(Alexa looks terrified)

Yesterday we had such an amazing lesson with this family in Sister Heins area who are devoted Catholic's. We taught them about the importance of Baptism and the Priesthood. When I told the Dad that he could have the Priesthood and have the ability to baptize and bless people he was blown away! It was such an incredible experience! He was so excited and wanted to figure out how he could do that. He was also mind blown that baptism and marriage and other ordinances in our church are free. Everything that we were telling them started to click in their head and they are really starting to understand which is so incredible!  The spirit was so strong in that lesson and I cant wait to see their mindset change and come to an understanding that this is the real and only true church here on the earth because we have the power of the Priesthood! 

Proselyting in my new Christmas dress!

This week is Transfers and we are 90% sure one of us is getting transferred but we are not sure who yet! We will have to see this coming Thursday! 

I am so grateful for this gospel and for my mission. My mission has truly changed my life and I am so excited and grateful that I get to serve the lord for 18 months. Sometimes it is really challenging but the more I learn the rely on Heavenly father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost all my burdens are lifted and lightened. I love you all so much! Hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Sister Thayn

 

DECEMBER 20, 2015

The original trio together again.
(Kiera had her dress made for about $12)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!


Merry Christmas I hope you all are doing good and have a Merry Christmas! This past week has been Insane but so fun and good! We had Christmas Conference, Sister Crisanto's Birthday, Sister Fepuleai finished her mission, Now we are a three some and working two areas but having so much fun and having a good Christmas Time!

Christmas conference this year was two days long the first day was games and food and presents and lots of laughing! The second day was such a spiritual and amazing devotional day! On the first day we played a relay race and me and 4 other missionaries from my zone got chosen and we were competing against other zones. There were 5 cups with something in it and a paper covering it so we couldn't see. The goal was to put whatever was in the cup in your mouth and run to the other end and spit it out in a bucket. But if you ate you got double the points. When it got to my turn I lifted up the paper and it was a gray pigs tongue! There was NO WAY I was going to eat that but I stuck it in my mouth and ran so fast to spit it out! Oh man Christmas conference was so fun! 

Photo op with Giant Snake

Then it was Sister Crisantos Birthday and we worked a normal day but then we were going to eat out later that night and on the way to the restaurant the little girl yells over to us "Sisters! sisters!" Then she points we look over and see the biggest snake I have ever seen in my entire life on top of a car! so of course we had to take a picture by it! 

in the jungle by the swinging bridge

Then we took Sister Fepuleai home and now me, Sister Crisanto and Sister Hein are companions till our transfers which is December 31st! But the other day we went to the other sisters area to work and it was my first time there so Sister Hein took us on an adventure and we went on this bamboo bridge that moves every time you walk on it but if you fall you fall straight into the sewer! GROSS! but I survived! 

This was such a fun week full of events but I am so excited for Christmas celebrating the birth of our savoir Jesus Christ! He is the reason for the season! I hope you all remember that and have a Merry and safe Christmas this year! This gospel is amazing and without it i dont know where I would be. I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and all he has done for me! I love you all Have a Merry Christmas!

Love, 

Sister Thayn

 

DECEMBER 13, 2015

HELLO FROM THE SCORCHING PHILIPPINE HEAT!

Sunset from our apartment

 
This has been a good week we have done a lot of walking under the scorching Philippines sun! I think this has been the hottest weeks of my mission! Although it is so stinkin hot I pray for help to just be able to endure the heat to work hard and continue without being restricted by the heat. This Christmas will be the first Christmas I will have in warm weather! Yes I miss the snow but this will be such an amazing Christmas I cannot wait!

Sister Thayn & Sister C. take a break

This week we were able to teach an In-Active sister we found a few weeks ago. We have taught her a few times but this is the first time we were able to teach her with her husband. At first I was a little nervous to teach her husband because he is a big guy and looks very hard and strict and we have had some experiences before where we got bible bashed and I was afraid that was what this lesson was going to be... but it wasn't AT ALL! It was a great lesson and her husband participated and at the end of the lesson said he would read and write questions down if he had them and would be there again for the next lesson! I am so excited to teach them again. We have really been focusing on families and what better families to teach than part member families and to get the entire family active again in the gospel! 

We also were able to attend the Christmas devotional last night by the first presidency! That was great! I hope you all were able to watch that! It was also so exciting to have our newest recent convert Tatay Edwardo come to the broadcast. He was in awe at all the people at the conference center and the choir! This church is truly incredible and the gospel is the most incredible and importing thing for us to all be able to receive while we are all here on the earth. And I have the most amazing calling to share the gospel to the people here in the Philippines! I absolutely love being a missionary, although it is very challenging and sometimes overwhelming this gospel is the only perfect thing in the world and as long as I do my best Christ will make up the rest! He will makeup for my language skills, teaching skills, and challenges as long as i work my hardest and do my best! I love this work and am so grateful for the gospel and our Savior Jesus Christ and this Christmas season! 

look what happens when you live together...We all dress alike too!!

Love you all hope all is well at home! Have a good week!

-Sister Thayn

DECEMBER 6, 2015

TRAPPED TOKUS IN THE BATHROOM

Golfing with our District

Hello Everyone! It has been a crazy week but good! We have really been focusing on finding families in our mission and this week we were able to find two families! With one we were able to do a Family Home Evening with them. When we got there it was 6:00pm and it is already dark by then and we thought they weren't home because there were no lights in the house but as we walked closer they were all home waiting for us. They said that they haven't had electricity for a few months so we had FHE in the dark with 2 candles and my flashlight! It is truly amazing how happy people are with sometimes nothing.

Tatay Edwardo was Confirmed this week! He was feeling super sick but still rode his bike as usual to church! Then he was confirmed in Sacrament meet and after when the congregation was dead silent he leans over to the brother who gave him the blessing and said (very loudly cause he cant here how loud he talks) "Thanks for the blessing bro I am just so happy now!" We all started laughing but seriously Edwardo although he is deaf and old he is going to be the life of this ward! We also had a lesson with his this past week where he told us how his life was so hard and his family was so difficult and it got to the point where he considered talking his life then all of a sudden we came into his life! He said we gave him home and we are everything to him! He is now so happy and although his family situation hasn't changed he has and now is incredibly happy all though the gospel being brought into his life! This gospel is truly incredible! 

Something funny that happened this week was right when we came home from proselyting I walked into the bathroom and screamed! (Of course whenever there is something scary or gross I am always
the one who finds it or 

who it touches) There was a Toku in our bathroom! If you don't know what a Toku is, it is a lizard that can get super big that has fangs and when it gets on you it is stuck it is so hard to get off. Yeah well there was one in our bathroom! Luckily it was small so I hurried and closed the door to trap it then we waited for the other sisters to come home so they could get rid of it! So when they got home they trapped it! And this is the result of their Trap! (See Picture) 

Oh man Mission life is crazy! It is so incredible and so fun and so challenging all in one but it is amazing! I am so grateful I am a missionary and get to help bring people to the gospel and to Christ even though sometimes I get attacked by cockroaches or there are tokus in our bathroom. This is such an amazing experience and the feeling I get everyday is indescribable! I love this gospel so much and I don't know where I would be without it! 

Hope all is well at home! Have a good week!

-Sister Thayn

Note By MOM:  Kiera doesn't wear glasses, but she bought some fake ones to keep things from flying in her eyes!!!

NOVEMBER 29, 2015

EDWARDO'S BAPTISM

 


Wow this has been such a fast and crazy week but so amazing too!! We had an amazing zone conference this week that got everyone pumped and ready to work harder than we ever have before! It was so amazing and one thing our mission President really emphasized was having the end in mind. Having an eternal perspective with the people you teach. Don't just think how you are going to teach them or what you will teach them think of their potential and how you can help change their lives and not only make it to the waters of baptism but dress in white twice and make it to the temple! Also one thing that President said that I think is 100% true, he asked what is the cure for stress? and the correct answer is DESSERT!!!!! I like the way president thinks!

This week was Edwardo's BAPTISM!!!!! It was so incredible and When we were taking pictures he was just so happy and so excited to be clean and become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If only we could all be as excited he was about church and this gospel (look at pictures). He was baptized Saturday then on Sunday in sacrament meeting he was supposed to be confirmed but then they realized when he was baptized they didn't say his full name so he wasn't able to be confirmed he was then again re-baptized after church and then next week he will be confirmed! 

We also were working on saturday when we received a text from this sister that she was available to be taught! So we went and taught her and she was so receptive. Her boyfriend is an active member in Peru and told her if she wanted to know him better she needed to try going to church. So she did and now we are teaching her! We taught her about the restoration and then at the end gave her a Book of Mormon.  She said she has been wanting to read it for a while but didn't know where she could find one! We are so excited for her and cant wait to see her progress! 

Life is good and we are being so blessed here in the Philippines! I love this gospel and I love how it truly affects peoples lives and helps them get on the right track and pathway back to our heavenly father. I am so incredibly blessed that I get to share this amazing message with people everyday! Being a missionary is so amazing! 

Love you all and have a good week! 

-Sister Thayn

NOVEMBER 22, 2015

BAPTISMS and Cockroaches... 
HELLO everyone!  This was such a good week! Tatay Edwardo has his baptismal interview and is READY to be baptized! Our District Leader who gave him the interview said that he asked him one question and Edwardo did the rest of the talking and answered all the other questions without him even having to ask them! We are so excited for his baptism this Saturday!!! It is truly amazing how the gospel can change other people lives!

Edwardos Baptism interview

My companion and I goal for this Transfer has been to find and teach families. We have found a few families but none of them have been interesting and wont accept us after the first visit. It is sometimes frustrating because we can see that they are searching for something in their lives and have trials and we have the perfect and exact thing that they need in their life but they wont accept it. But all we can do is offer all that we have and it is their choice whether or not to accept it, we cannot force it on them. 

FHE with Azuelo Family

But good news we found a family this week! The Azuelo family! It is actually like three families but they all are related and live in the same houses. We did a Family Home Evening with them for our first visit and they absolutely loved it and want us to come back! We had so much fun and I am so excited to help and teach them the gospel! 

Something funny but absolutely terrifying that happened this week was I had just gotten into my Pajamas and was walking around the apartment about to go to bed and then one of the sisters yells DON'T MOVE!!!! So i freeze and then they hit me with a shoe so then I start freaking out cause now i know there is a bug on me and I thought it was gone but NOPE! I look down on my shirt and there was a giant Cockroach on my shirt and I just start screaming! It was quite the scene! HAHA but my house mates got it of and my Companion killed it! (Thats what companions are for!!!!) We all laughed so hard but I seriously had a heart attack! it was absolutely terrifying!!!! 



Laundry by hand

Well there is my week for you! Hope all is well at home! I would love to hear from you all! Have a good week!

Love, 

Sister Thayn