June 24th, 2019

hello everyone !! soooo much has happened this week, hopefully I can remember it all hahah

so first of all, we got transfer news yesterday, and on Wednesday I will be headed up to Mansfield, which is in the Arlington stake!! I am so excited!! 

NEW ADDRESS:

400 N. State highway 360 #1716 Mansfield, TX 76063

this whole week has been a crazy, busy, long, stressful, exciting, happy, etc.... week, all because of the Jones'. BUT I wouldn't have changed any bit of it. Thursday, we realized that we had told Dale (recent convert) and Nancy (member who is engaged to Dale), that we would decorate Dale's backyard a little for their wedding, that would be happening on Friday. 

well, what ended up happening was we recruited our friend Sister Holmes from the ward and our relief society Pres Sis Colby, to help us out with this. we made a trip with them to the dollar store and put our ideas together, with the help of pinterest, and got some stuff to make this the best wedding day for Dale and Nancy. we then were going to go get a cake from the grocery store, but then I told them that I missed baking stuff so I volunteered to make the cake. (side note: I'm not a baker, and I don't think I've ever really made a cake besides the pre-mixed boxed ones that you just throw in a pan and call it good, but I thought baking a cake sounded fun so I said I would do it) 

well after a very long Thursday, planning this entire wedding and throwing it all together last minute, while still having to be a missionary and go out in between baking and decorating to go teach the gospel, I'd say it turned out pretty nice. And Dale and Nancy were SO happy with how it all turned out. They didn't even ask us to do all this but we figured it was their big day and we wanted to make it special for them. And it all cost about $15 !! 

I am so happy for them though and excited for next June when they will get to be sealed in the temple :) 

yesterday I was able to speak in church about the Holy Ghost. as I was preparing for this talk I looked back on my journals and past talks that I've written, to gather some stories to share lol and it made me realize that one year ago I was in Tonga and one year ago on the 30th of June was the day that I decided to serve a mission. that seriously feels like just yesterday! now here I am, and I can't believe I have been a missionary for 5 months already. time flies when you're having fun ;) 

we have had some crazy storms here, which have caused lots of trees falling over and lots of destroyed houses/roofs from the tornado. (I'll put some pictures of the houses after the storm) but on Saturday we went by this lady's house that had a tree fall down onto their neighbors boat and fence, to help them cut it up into small pieces for it to be taken to the dump. It was a very big project but luckily a few members showed up and helped which made the job go a lot faster! 

a cool story that happened this week was with a lady named suenita. About 5 weeks ago, me and my comp sis ward and the YSA sisters went around a neighborhood singing to people the song "come unto christ". we sang it to this lady, and she insisted that we come back again and visit with her. we stopped by a few times earlier this month, but she was never home. well, Saturday night we decided to go stop by one last time before heading home for the night. she happened to be in her garage just as we pulled up, so we went up and talked with her. she told us that she couldn't visit for long but that she really wanted to hear another song from us. right when she said this I thought to myself oh no, this is not gonna be good. first off, it's just us two missionaries instead of the 4 of us like last time, second, sister ward has been sick all week with a cold so her voice is kinda gone at the moment. we quickly decided to go with the classic, I am a child of God. we ended up singing it, and I mean it didn't sound as bad as I thought it would. but that whole experience was just so spiritual and cool. this lady had felt the spirit so strong the first time we sang to her, that when she saw us again she was yearning for another song, just to feel the spirit present like she had previously felt. who knows if anything will end up coming of it, but I do know that Heavenly Father is aware of her. and I know that we were sent to her house to bring the spirit through our songs. :) 

well I hope you all have a great week this week! I love you all!! 

 Love, Sister Thorpe <3