I am Super Grateful

Hey there family....well I don't have much to time to explain everything but I have to remind you that we will be talking this Sunday for mothers day. We got it figured out with my companions and I and I will be talking with you all at 6:00 Sunday night Chilean time so I think that we are just two hours ahead of you but I am not sure. As of right now it is 4:15 in the afternoon.

Well this last week was a pretty good one, the only thing is that the week before we saw so many amazing miracles and found so many good people and had lots of spiritual experiences but then this week when we went back no one was in their houses. It was kind of a bummer but you just have to keep going and keep teaching. The amazing little family has yet to be found again, but we still have hope that we will find them again. We taught lots of people this week but have yet to find the ones that we found the week before. We actually found another little family that seems to be progressing, we invited them to be baptized and said that yes, so now we are just going lesson to lesson trying to always have a spiritual experience. Truly the work is lost without the spirit. I love it when we go back to a house and they tell us, you know when you guys left the first time the most amazing feelings of peace and tranquility were left in the house and everyone noticed the peace.

This week we will be going to the Temple in Santiago and I am super excited about it!! But it is super weird to think that I don't have much time left. I have to admit that it makes me really nervous and a little scared to go back to the real world and not have this calling of being set apart from the world. But time never stops! I have to say that I am super grateful for all of the time that I have been given and for all of the amazing experiences that I have had. One of the investigators that I found in San Fernando with Hermana Gallardo just got baptized this last weekend! So I know that the fruits of the mission are never truly measured!

Ok mom about the job I think that it would be great if you could fill out a form for me! I need to start working somewhere even though I want to soak in lots of time with the family...and the missionaries before I get busy with stuff for me. But yes you can get the form. The food...well I will leave that up to you I have actually eaten so much in the mission that I don't really miss eating anything!! haha But know that I love you all and we will see each other this Sunday at 6!! I love you!!

Hermana Thacker

ps I would love to go to the temple with Brookie for the first time Saturday if that is ok with everyone!! It would be sooo amazing to go with you and dad as well if we can do that!!!!

I am suuupppeeerrr happy!!!

Hey there family!!!!

Well sorry I didn't get a letter off to you guys the last week. I was talking with dad and lots of people wrote me so I was trying to get letters off to all of them as well. Sometimes it takes me a long time to write to my President. But this last week has been amazing and then it got so much better when I read my email today. I AM SOOO HAPPY that Blake and his girlfriend are taking the discussions from the missionaries. He was actually my first victim from the mission but as it is that the other missionaries already beat me to it I am suuupppeeerrr happy!!! Oh and about the family home evening missionary style I am soo in! Tell them I will do what ever it is that they want me to do! But I will probably struggle with the English for a while.

So this last week I got two new companions one who only has one change in the mission and is new to the sector and the other newbie who just got here Tuesday fresh from the factory! One is from Equador and has one change in the mission and the other is gringita and is from Missouri! They are soo amazing! I was super nervous about having two new NEW companions but they are super good. I was also nervous about having a Latin and a new gringa but everything is going good so far. They really do come in now more and more prepared for the mission. They are more spiritual and willing to do the work. I LOVE IT! This last week we huge miracles take place since we put two new baptism dates with investigators and we found a family of gold!!! We found LOTS of new investigators and we are just hoping that this week they turn out to be people who are prepared for the gospel.

The family we found, we found them one day doing contacts in a new sector and we just happened to come up to one of the houses, we yelled HALO and a few seconds later a man came out to talk to us. He kind of seemed a little sketchy at first but I didn't get any bad vibes from the Spirit so we asked if we could sing a hymn for him his family. He said I`ll go ask my wife. Well he didn't come back for like two minutes so I thought that he had just left us outside without the intention of coming back so I yelled again, HALO. Well he came back and we entered the house and met a family that is soo amazing. We sang Families can be Together Forever and the mom got all emotional and said that she knew we were servants of God sent to help there family because they were going through a hard time and needed help. We prayed with them as a family on our knees and the mom started to cry with the overwhelming feelings of the Spirit. Really they are so amazing and I am soo excited to start to teach them.

Well time is up again, I love you all tell everyone that I say hi and that next week I will try to write to everyone. I love you keep reading your scriptures and praying. Out of small and simple things great things are brought to pass!!!!

Hermana Thacker

Out of small things great things come to pass!!!

Written on April 15, 2013

Hey Mom and family!!!

I can hardly believe that time has gone by soo fast. Tomorrow I will complete 17 months on the mission. I feel like it is so unfair that it has just flown by. I still feel like there is so much more to do but so little time to do it all. I really like this idea of packs of awesome. I want to bring that up with the Relief Sociey President here so that they can do a service activity. I know that they were looking for one that they could be a good idea for them as well. The Chileans are really talented as far as crocheting and arts and crafts so I think that they could enjoy creating paquetes bakanes....or packs of awesome!! 

 

I got your package last week right before my birthday so it was perfect and I also got my package from Lois and Doyle!! THANK YOU SOOO MUCH. My companions and I enjoyed it all. I loved the close, but I gave some of my gifts away to my companions and some friends in the ward. I figured that they would enjoy them for more time than I would. Sometimes my companions don't receive many things from home and I get so much that it almost makes me feel bad. But I can't just say don't send anything.

So this last week was really a pretty good week. We found lots of new people to teach and we even had a new investigator in church yesterday, well actually we had two new investigators in church..the other two didn't make it. But our new investigator is a named Molly and she is a hoot. She is widow and lives alone but is hysterical and has a really bright personality. She participated in the classes and loved everything. The first lesson we had with her we invited her to be baptized and she told us, with big eyes, that scares me. But she knows now the reason we come to her home, to help her find the truth, the restored gospel, and that this really is the only way to return back to our Heavenly Father. It was so cool on Sunday just about everyone of the testimonies given said that this is the correct path and the only true church. She told us after church that she loved it, but that she also had lots of meditating and praying to do. I love her and pray that she has the faith to receive an answer that this is the true church.

Well I have to go, time us up!! Thank you for everything tell everyone that I love them. And maybe next week I will get some pictures sent off!! Have a good week, read your scriptures and pray everyday!!! Out of small things great things come to pass!!!

Hermana Thacker

The Gospel is Personal

Written April 1, 2013

Hey there family,

Sorry I told dad too that I don't have much time today since I got a bunch of letters, but I am super grateful to get them and feel so loved! I got my package from Grandma lois and my companions and I were super grateful for the goodies. They were a little werided out about the chocolate with chilis. I told them that Mexico has a big influence on our food choices sometimes. Well at least im enjoying them!! Wow Dad told me that Connor is home now and I was thinking about who is next to go out into the mission field from Shelby? IS there anyone else preparing besides Brent?

Well this week was a good one and a difficult one as well since we didnt have too much success, but we did have some really good lessons. Wel are teaching one guy named Luis and he is amazing. He will be a amazing member of the church one day because He already has a love for Christ. I just love this man already and I hope and pray that his timing for his baptism is before the 16 of may. I want to see it! But we also had a totally amazing experience with a family this week. We have really tried to focus on teaching families these last few months but sometimes it is difficult tto find a complete family to teach. Well we had an Easter activity in one of the stakes in rancagua and as my companion and i entered the church builing a family was standing outsied and they asked us...hey we are new here and have never been in one of these churches..can we just go in? And my companio and I jumped all over that and invited them to sit with us and we showed them where they needed to go. Then we had a really neat experience giving them all Books of mormon and teaching them before the activity. I felt so strongly for this family that I still have such a desire to teach them and help them. But when we asked them were they lived....well it just so happens that they live completely out of the limits of our sector....we happily...looked for the other hermanas from this sector. In the end they asked us if we could go to their house too and teach them and I said...no only if you move into our sector. But I have no doubt that some time in the future this family will be baptized.

I realized from this experience that Heavenly Father gives us blesssings like this one everyday, how grateful I am to at least been a part of this conversion process in finding the truth. I have to say that my testimony of the Book of Mormon is what keeps me grounded in the gospel. I know that it teaches and testifies of Christ. I feel like this book is written personally for me, it teaches me how to come closer to Him and I know that every person that reads, studies, ponders, and prays will have the same feelings that I do. That the gospel is personal, my relationship with God and Jesus Christ is personal. I hope that you can have this too. But just know that I love you all! Sorry it isnt much. But until next week!!!!

Hermana Thacker

Searching for Christ

Written March 25, 2013

Hey there family!!!!

For some reason time just doesn't EVER slow down, but here we are again writing each other. I'm glad that the week was at least a little bit slower for you guys and that everyone is doing ok. I want to know all the changes too mom, but oh well we are both out of the loop with the Shelby branch. But hopefully there are good leaders willing to work. By the way how is the branch doing? Are there lots of people attending now-a-days. And who else will be going out on a mission?
 

This week was pretty good, we found some good people to teach and are excited about one of our investigators that is really eating up the Book of Mormon. Now all he needs to do is go to church and he won't be able to deny that this really is the true church of Jesus Christ. Sometime I think that people just complicate things too much, but I have realized that Satan is so good at what he does that is makes it just that much more difficult for some people to recognize the Spirit and recognize the truth. With our investigator I think that he is sincerely searching to find Christ, which really was one of the things that called my attention, but now we just need him to understand the process repentance and the importance of God's authority in the earth in order to be baptized by immersion.

I am super excited about conference and I hope that you all find the time to watch all of the sessions!! They are all important. I read a really good scripture in Mosiah 2:10 I have not commanded you to come up hither that ye should fear me, or that ye should think that I of myself am more than a mortal man." I think...when King Benjamin is talking about the importance of listening to the words of the prophets. They are literally the words of God...so why is it that sometimes we think that conference is a time to take a break from church? I hope that everyone is doing ok. Say hi to everyone for me!!! I love and miss you all!!

Love Hermana Thacker

Feeling So Blessed part 2

Written 18, 2013

Ok the first one is of my old district and my companion Hermana Adorno.
The second one is of my new comp and I on Sunday morning before going to church.

Ok this is my new companion!! Her name is Hermana Santucho....Santoochoh! She is from Uruguay and is so amazing. She came in pre-trained so I really don't have to do much. We work really pretty well together and I am just so happy that she is my companion. I was praying from the last change that my new companion would be exactly how she is. Fun, funny, nice, positive and a worker and I got everything that I wanted!

 Hey dad!!
 
It sounds like nothing ever slows down ever, but I think that you are all happy at least! This last week was really quite amazing since my new companion is so completely the best! I am so grateful that she is my companion because is the epitome of the word 'sweet'. She is a newbie and just got here last Tuesday but we have worked really hard in this week. I love that I have a real new companion because they come into the mission with excitement and just a pure desire to work. This will definitely help me not be trunky....thank goodness! Well, I am going to send some pictures this week so you know what that means...I won't write much. But tell everyone Hi and that I love them!!

Ok the first picture is of all the hermanas that trained in this changed. We had a huge group of people in the mission home since there were about 50 of us. 25 newbies and 25 trainers and there were 14 new sister missionaries which is the biggest group we have had in this mission.

The next picture is of my old companions. The one on the very left is Hermana Adorno, and the one in the middle is the other sister that I trained my first time...Hermana Neira.

I'm Training a Newbie

Written March 11, 2013

Hey family!!
 

I hope that Grandma is doing better and is at home right now and not in the hospital. But I know that my letters seem to be getting shorter and shorter but I can't help it, I feel like the time just keeps speeding up! But it sounds like the Easter concert was really neat. Did Grandma and Grandpa get to go too? 

 

This last week was the last of the change but I will not be leaving my sector, but I will be receiving a new companion. A really new companion who will come into the mission tomorrow. Well, actually in our mission there are 15 new sister missionaries that are coming in. That is the biggest group of missionaries that we have yet had and almost all of the sisters are going train newbies. But at least I know that I will be here for the next couple of changes. Today I got to see my old Companio Hermana Gallardo and she will be in Rancagua with me now too! I am super happy!! She told me that our investigators from my old sector are starting to progress more and more and I only pray that make the steps to baptism before may so that maybe I can be there. But if not that's ok...I KNOW that one day they will get baptized!!

Well this week was another good week. My sector is really amazing and is at that point that it is ready to explode with success. There will be 3 companionships now with 4 sisters and 2 Elders. So we will see what we can do with the army of missionaries that we now have. But we do have a baptism coming up, and other people that we have met that are really good, so I hope that we can help progress more and more. 

 

You know I don't have much time to write much. Just know that I am soooo happy and I am soo ready to go to work with a new companion. I think that it will only help me learn more having a newbie. Well mom I hope that the week goes well for you, keep reading your scriptures!!!!! Prioridies!!!! Know that I love you all and I try not to think about you too much, but I do pray for you all!!!

 
 OH...I don't have time to write Grandma Lois but I got her package!! Tell her that I loved the granola and all the goodies!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone loved the chocolates!!!  THANK YOU!!!

Until next week!!!

Hermana Thacker