Feeling So Blessed

Written March 4, 2013

Hey there family!!!!

Well I am glad that you got my travel plans because I didn't. But there is an Hermana here, a senior sister that will be going home with me in May and she has been asking if we have the same travel plans and I just say, I have no idea but I am sure everything will be taken care of. Wow, Brookie told me that Hermano Bridge is going go pick up Connor in Argentina, that is super cool, we will be pretty close together here in America Sur.
 

This week came and went and before you know it we have changes again!! Next we have changes but there are a BUNCH of new missionaries coming into the mission. Like the Elders there said that there are so many missionaries going out that the church almost doesn't know what to do with them. Here we have 15 new sister missionaries coming in!! That is crazy!! Almost all of the Hermanas in the mission will be training in the next couple of changes! President has already told us that my companion and I will be training here in our sector and so we will be dividing up our investigators and our sector so that we can start working with the newbies. I only pray that my companion is Latin!! The odds are on my side since only one is coming in from the states!! It just makes it a little bit more difficult when your companion doesn't understand what is going on, but not impossible. 

 

This last week was really a good week. I just feel like I am soooo happy right now in my mission. I really have learned so many things, and am just realizing them now. But I just feel super blessed to be in this sector with the investigators that we have and my old sectors are progressing like crazy...well maybe I was the problem...but I am just so happy with what is taking place right now. The blessings truly come after the trials, or maybe I just learned how to open my eyes and see the tender mercies of the Lord. I think sometimes the mission is like we are working with our head down and we can't see what is taking place around us, but then when we leave and look back we see all the beautiful things that happened as we worked.

I read an amazing part in Jacob 5 this week when I was learning about the Lord`s vineyard. Well lets just say that the work is not just for those who have name tags. We all have our part in the Lord`s vineyard.

Well I have to go I love you all!!!!!

Hermana Thacker

Trust in God

Written February 25, 2013

Hey FAMILY!!!!

Well we had an amazing week this week!! Really!!! Last night my companion and I were talking and I just said, "Wow I am just sooo happy with what we did this week." I felt the Spirit, we had some really amazing lessons, we found some good people and WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!! Well I wasn't a big part of her process in being baptized but I was there in the end and I knew 100% that this little woman had a huge desire to follow Christ. It was probably one of the specialist baptisms that I have ever seen. She was so anxious last week about getting baptized that she could hardly wait. During the meeting she was a little nervous but when she came out of the water, there was only pure joy in her eyes, and when she entered the bathroom she began to cry and only said..."gracias Señor, gracias." She was teary eyed for the whole rest of the meeting even when we the missionaries sang a song....oh it was so bad!!...we didn't practice beforehand because the Elders were late....but nothing could take away the feelings of a true remission of sins. She was truly filled with the Spirit. I was super excited for her to receive the gift of the Spirit on Sunday because if there is anyone who has a pure desire to follow Christ it is Estrella!

Lets just say that I am super super happy...and Mom you are right I don't like talking about the end. I have no idea what I will be doing after the mission, but I will get it figured out when I have time to get it figured out. 

This week  my companion and I had some difficulties with some things, but I think I know the reason why I am with Hermana Adorno. Sometimes the mission is emotionally difficult but I have come to realize that the Lord has taught me something really important in the mission that I didn't realize before. I realized that the Lord has taught me that the most important thing that we can understand is that we are not perfect. We will never be perfect in this life, and I have learned that that is ok if we are willing to repent and become better. I have learned that the Lord doesn't expect us to become perfect over night, but what He does expect is that we become better in and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I learned that the only expectations that we need to live up to are Heavenly Fathers, and He will let us know through the Spirit if we are living up to those expectations. There are a few scriptures that I like in Alma 36...actually I love this whole chapter because it talks about the conversion process of Alma but in the beginning he is giving counsel to his son Helaman and he says if you want to prosper in the land...keep the commandments of God and then a little later he says, and those who put their trust in God will find help in their afflictions and trials. The commandments do not restrict us, but free us from the bonds of Satan. 

I wish you all could have heard the testimony of Estrella, the little woman that got baptized. She is 64 years old and has so much faith in Christ. When we asked her if she was willing to keep the law of the tithe after her baptism she said, 'With great pleasure and faith in my Savior'. I love this woman. Even though I got here at the end, I feel so much love and respect for her, I think that she has taught me more that I have taught her. 

Hey Grandma and Grandpa, I have been thinking a lot about you guys lately because I have been eating lots of tomatoes. But the difference is that now I don't eat them because I have to now. But I eat them because I want to. I know I am a changed woman. I guess some things do change!! 

Well gotta go, time never lets us do everything...it always runs out!! I love you all!! Just know that I know nothing about coming home! Sorry. 

I LOVE YOU ALL

Hermana Thacker

Blessed More Abundantely

Written January 21, 2013 

Wow,

That is all I can say after this letter. There was lots of things to think about and lots of news that came out of this week. How are you doing mom? I am super happy for you that you are super excited about your calling. When we are willing to do the Lords will we are always blessed more abundantly than when we try to do things our way. It will be a challenge I think to figure out what to do but mom, I think that you will go crazy if you are not baking for someone. All I told my companion is that if you aren't doing it as a business everyone in the branch will always food and all the ladies from you calling as well. My only input is that you should consult with the Lord first and then pay attention to how you feel, then follow the answer that you receive and everything will be great. BUT WOW. No TLC. I worry more for the people of Shelby than for you!!!! hahaha I'm only thankful that you are my Mom and you will cook for me forever!!!! :D 

But this week. WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! Wow, it's been a long time since I was able to say that! It went really well and our little Susana was super ready to get her feet wet in the font and make a covenant with Heavenly Father. She really understands what it means and is already starting on her family to help them accept the gospel as well. We have started talking to her mom seriously about the church and we are hoping that little by little she too will feel in her heart that it is true. Her mom was super excited about the baptism and I think she truly felt the Spirit! 

 

Wow, I am just soo happy right now in my mission. We still have trials and challenges but we are seeing lots of the little miracles from Heavenly Father. It truly is amazing to see the fruits of your labors. I told Dad that people in my old sector are going to get baptized as well!! But with that we had some challenges this week as well with our other investigator. She has a baptismal date this Saturday but her parents won't give her permission to do it. They have good reasons for not signing but I think that they just lack hearing the testimony of their daughter. Oh well. It's not the Lords timing and we are still going to work with her. I'm not going to write much because I want to send pictures. But know that I love you and think about all of you!!!!! Let me know how this week goes with everything!

LOVE YOU ALLL SO MUCH!!!!!

Hermana Thacker

Truly Converting

Written January 7, 2013

Hey there again!!

Mom I completely understand about the whole time issue. I don't think it is quite fair that time has seemed to speed up since I have been in the mission. I feel like with so much to do, time just gets shorter! Like today I wanted to get so many things done, but walking just makes us lose so much time! Well the new year came and went and I am soooo glad that the holidays are over, but really you want to know what we did for news years. We had to stay in the house. At 6 we normally go to work on our P-days, but we just had to stay in the house since everyone would be partying. I think any normal person with a normal job would be super happy to just be in the house relaxing, but I have to say that the next day I completely felt like I had been robbed of an entire day of my mission. I thought...how great that we don't have anymore holidays coming up. I don't want to be in the house!

This week was truly amazing. We still have our challenges but we have seen so many miracles and tender mercies and are now seeing the fruits of our labors here in our sector. I just have to say that the blessings never come in our timing, and that we need to be patient and grateful for all the the things that we are given from the Lord. Even our challenges and trials. They make the tender mercies much more sweet!! 

 

Yesterday we had 4 investigators in church. It was a challenge of our mission President to have 4 investigators in church every Sunday this new year. We have barely kept our heads afloat with one...but yesterday thanks to the many prayers, fasts and sacrifices 4 our investigators were able to enjoy the Spirit and participate in the sacrament, at least to have an experience with the Spirit for one day in church. It was fast and testimony meeting and it was super good as well!! I have to say that I am the happiest that I have ever been in my mission because I know that the people I am teaching are truly converting to the gospel. Are reading their scriptures because they want to, are searching for answers and have desires to follow Christ. That is all I ask. I know they will all be baptized in the future whether I am here or not it doesn't not matter to me. All in the Lords timing. I just want to say that I have learned so much about so much. I wish I could write better and faster to tell you guys everything, but we have the eternities to talk. 

I am so excited still about Brent and I tell everyone that he is going to serve a mission. He will be so much better than I ever was!! Tell him that he should look at his email and write me!! I want talk to him!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!! Tell everyone Hi that I love them and FELIZ AÑO NUEVO!!!

Hermana Thacker

I ask for Your Prayers

Written December 31, 2012

Hey there family!!
 

It was super fun to talk to you guys at Christmas, but the truth is that I really only had one hour to talk. Someone told the elders that we had two hours, but in reality we only had one. Oh well! One hour really is super short but we take what we get. Now we can only read emails until the next 5 months during mothers day. 

 

Mom I love the idea and the focus of the relief society. I hope that you can help the members get excited about the work and go find those people who have forgotten a little of the importance of the gospel. I'm super excited for you that you get to go out and work with the stake and help people come closer to Christ through the relief society. This really is our goal to come unto to Christ and then help others come unto him as well. In all of your work and service, this service will come to be of the most worth for you because it is an eternal work. I told Dad about Brent that he had told me before I left that he wanted to serve a mission but since so much time has passed since then I thought that he lost the fire and had moved onto other things. He is going to be amazing!! Way better than I ever could be since when he has a goal, he goes and gets it. This will be a huge blessing and trial in his mission!
 

This week had its up and its down and I'm ready for the holidays to be over. I really did enjoy talking with you guys at Christmas, but truly I feel like I don't want to be in the house passing time. I want to go to work. This week was kind of slow and we didn't find many new investigators since everyone told us that they were busy but we could come back later, but we did have some big successes as well.

One of our investigators who is 15 years old had a fight with their parents this week about the church and they told her that if she wanted to keep talking to us that they would call the police. She was super upset because she has come to church for the past 4 weeks now but her parents really don't support her in investigating another church. Well, we ended going and talking to her mom and getting everything figured out, but they still don't support her in getting baptized but at least they are letting us still talk to their daughter and letting her go to church. We have some plans that we are going to do this week to get to know her parents some more and we know the power of fasting and praying so we are also going to fast with Belén, our investgator, this week. 

 

We also had another strange, never saw it coming, thing happen to this week. The Elders in our sector have a golden investigator who has been super amazing. Hermana and I have taught her a few times as well since she wanted to get to know us as well, and since shes 20 years old it's a little easier for her to talk to us as Hermanas. But this week she told us that now she doesn't know if the church is true or that God really exists. We all thought that it was a joke. But in the end it wasn't. Hermana and I went to her house yesterday to see her and it was like night and day. 3 weeks ago she was super amazing, reading praying and going to church. Now she doesn't want anything! But at least today she called us and thanked us for our visit and that she still wants us to come by this week. Well, I only ask for your prayers for our investigators...Belén, Isabel and Gerardo, and Susanna.

Oh Mom you don't have to send bug spray...I'm totally fine! Don't waist money on that because they have it here! And I have some!! No worries. The bed bugs haven't bit in quiet some time. Well, know that I love every single one of you!!! Hope you start the year off BIG!


con mucho cariño!

Hermana Thaccker

FELIZ NAVIDAD: I want to live moments like this one over and over again

Written on December 24, 2012.

Hey there family,

¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!

I know that we will be talking tomorrow, but I just have to tell you the amazing things that happened this week! ONE: I got your packages! Ok, well I got two from Grandma Lois...THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! We are stinking loaded with chocolate in the house, but with four Hermanas I think it is necessary to have an overload of chocolate during Christmas! I also got my package from you Mom..well, one of them. I think you told me that you sent three. BUT: I loved it all! I was totally needing face wash and new makeup and the sunscreen is the best since the sun is super intense here! I have to be honest and tell you that my companion and I ate all of the thumb print cookies in two days! It felt like Christmas time for me. Sometimes it is really hard to not think about home and what you are doing and the time you guys get to be together and I'm not there, but then we go out to work and I think..well my family has the gospel and is working toward their eternal salvation and their are people here who don't understand what that means. But I hope that everyone is happy and excited to be together for the holidays!!!

Well, I have to tell you really quickly one of the biggest miracles that has happened in my mission!! Yesterday I received a stronger witness of the power of prayer, fasting and sacrifice. I think I have mentioned before that we have two investigators named Isabel and Gerardo a married couple. Well we have been teaching them for a long time, because we found them about 11 weeks ago when we first got here in San Fernando. These last few weeks my companion and I have prayed and debated a lot about them. They really are amazing and we love them sooo much, but sometimes people just get to a point when they don't want to progress anymore and there isn't anything that the missionaries can do. We invite, they commit, but if they don't do they can't receive a witness or a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. They both are reading the Book of Mormon and praying, but they have both said that they haven't received any answers to know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. 

 

Well for 11 weeks we have invited them to read, pray and attend church. For the last 11 weeks they have not come to church. So, I told you that the week before we had an amazing lesson in the church with them..it was a surprise for them but it really was a neat experience and for the first time we saw them both in the church. Even though it wasn't Sunday they could still feel the spirit that is there. This whole week we had talked to them about going to church, but it really is just difficult for them. They are both shy people, and they don't leave the house much, and they don't socialize much either. They have their family and work and that is enough for them. But this week we invited them to baptisms in the church so they could participate and also in church on Sunday so that they could be there for the confirmation. Well, we called them Saturday and it being Christmas and all they were busy with family and their two daughters and didn't commit to anything. We left it at that and thought well the next week isn't Christmas and maybe they will come next week. 

As we sat in church we were content with the one little investigator that has come to church 3 times in a row now and as we sat waiting to start singing the sacrament hymn one of the members told my companion that an investigator had just come in. I thought that it was one of the investigators of the Elders and as I turned to look I saw that it was Gerardo. Still today when I think about it my eyes fill with tears. But yesterday when I saw his face my heart about jumped out of my chest!! I couldn't believe it. I looked at my companion and her face looked exactly how I felt! In shock and complete amazement. As he came to sit with us I couldn't keep the tears back and we started to sing the song "I Stand All Amazed." 

 

After weeks of fasting, praying and sacrificing we saw the fruits of our labors. Our investigator, who almost never leaves the house, came to the church alone! In this moment the Spirit testified of the power of the Atonement in changing the hearts of our investigators. I have to say that a lot of the times I feel like I am doing all the actions of a missionary, I live like one, I have a plaque, but none of the fruits are quite as visible as this one was!  I thought that it does not matter how difficult the mission is, I want to live moments like this one over and over again. I love the difficult fights, because the victories are that much more sweet!!

Well family, I will talk to you tomorrow at 6:00 pm here in Chile. I think that means 4:00 there but I am not sure. Just to let you know I am writing right now and it is almost 6:00 here. So I don't know if you can see what time you received this email from me, but I think we will be ok. I will try my Skype a little before hand so that everything works out. Pray that we can have good internet because we will be in a members house. But I think it will all be ok. Say hi to everyone, that I love you all and I can wait to see you all tomorrow!!!!! Be prepared to talk to my companion...she is  awesome and I am prepping her with some English!! Get ready to practice your Spanish!!!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!! Les amo un monton

Su hijita, hermanita, nietita, y no se que mas

Hermana Thacker!!

Delivered Flowers

Written December 17, 2012.

Hey there family

Well, I can't believe that another week is done already. I feel like my companion and I just made plans for the last week and here we are making plans for a whole new week. I wish the time could just slow down a little bit. I feel like there isn't hardly enough time to do it all. It sounds like everyone will be home for Christmas again this year?! That would be cool to talk to everyone again at Christmas time. Oh about that we will be talking Christmas day I think early afternoon for you guys. I will get all the little details figured out this week and then next Monday I will let you know exactly what time and everything!! Mom I am super excited about you and your calling and that you are loving it! I have never heard you talk about you callings like this and it just makes me that much more excited!! I hope that everything is slowing down for you a little bit since its Christmas time and all. But tell everyone Feliz Navidad from me! 

This last week I just want to tell you really quick since I don't have much time that we had a really cool lesson with our investigators in the church. Since this couple has never gone to church we decided to do something different and surprising with them. We decided that we were going to take them to the church without telling them. We planned it out that our branch President would meet us in the church so that we could give them a tour and let them get to know the church on a normal day so that they didn't feel so uncomfortable in the church on Sundays. Well, before the lesson we called to see if leaving the house was even an option but we said nothing about going to the church. Isabel said that is would be totally fine and so we showed up to the house excited and almost giddy to take them. As we started to talk about leaving they understood us wrong and thought that maybe were kidding or  something or that we were going to have the lesson right outside their house. When we told them that we were going to leave the house and the area they kind of freaked out. Isabel and Gerardo grow and sell flowers and had to wait for a few clients that were coming to buy. We thought...'oh no..we have to get them to the church today.' Well something amazing happened and Gerardo...who normally is pretty closed about the church...jumped into high gear, found some scissors and went and picked the flowers so that we could deliver them and then go to the church. In the end we finally got there...on hour later...sorry President, but we walked them through the church and showed them everything!! Then we had a little lesson in the office of the branch president and everyone left with a smile on their faces. Isabel said that she felt really peaceful in the church which was amazing because there quite a few people there practing singing and doing lots of other things. 

When we left the church they asked us if we had ever done any thing like that before and honestly we hadn't. The left with big smiles on their faces in a taxi and we walked home super content. But the only thing is that they have major challenges getting to church on Sunday. Oh these people.....how I love them..and get frustrated over them! 

Well, I have to go!! See you all next week. Tell the Bridges thank you from me!! That is super nice of them!!!

Hermana Thacker