Temple Day!!

Sorry I didn't write monday our p-day got changed to today so that we could go to the temple today!!! I loved it! I love the crazy cool insights and revelation that come to me inside the temple. I was also able to do some of the stuff in chinese which was WAY cool and crazy hard to understand but it really made me listen really hard. I liked it a lot! 

Oh also, I MOVED! Haha :) Yes!~ I am now in a place called NanKan its in Taoyuan. I love it here already! My companion is Sister Miller who is so fun and full of energy. Its a little humbling being in a place I don't know once again and am becoming grateful for being able to be in Yilan that long where I could know where we were going who to call and such. I love it though. There are so many fun miracles going on here. The first night we were here we set 6 new baptismal dates with investigators. SIX! In ONE NIGHT. All I can say is that I said a very long gratitude prayer that night. I am so grateful to have been able to meet such prepared and incredible people. It was such a good feeling. 

My new apartment is cute. We live on the 23 floor so imagine our building its HUGE however our apartment is a little baby guy. But its nice and hommy. The washer machine shocks you if you touch it without rubber shoes on. It will only take me a few times to get into the habbit I am sure. Another fun thing is that the district here is SO close it really feels like a family here. Very different from anything else. I have realized from moving here that I have always been a little... lonely?? Not really though just like super tight with my companion and chill with that and now I have a lot of really close friends here all pulling together as one. ANd it really makes a difference the work here is way faster than anywhere else. The work is not meant to be done just by two little missionaries we really do need us all including the members to pull it together. It is an awesome feeling! 

What else happened this week?.... hmmm... OH! Mom dad! I can't do anything fun on the first with you all cause I need to go to a wedding! Sister Gruwell is getting married on the first! So anyway... sorry to throw that wrench in the gears for your plans. 

Uhm... What else to tell you all??? I don't really know yet so next week I will tell you all more about what its like here right now its all really new and crazy I like it a lot. Its slower than taipei like people and car and building wise but faster than yilan. its a good pace I like a lot. 

Well sorry for the mushy letter all about my feelings and takeing on the move mom just asked me to tell her more about the way I am and not the stories that is going on. so I can't really do both my brain is not that smart. Simple. I have been working on being able to have more simple thoughts so that I can teach the lessons easier.. and... anyway :) yes. Love you all will try to write you all personal letters! BYE!!!!

-Sister Thornley

"This week was full of trials but optimistic for next weeks adventures!"

The subject line is a quote from my cute companion as we were reporting our week last night to the District Leader. So this week let me tell ya'll some fun stories hao bu hao?!!

(AWKWARD I just found this email in my drafts I am not sure if i sent it or not... sending it now this was from 2 or 3 weeks ago...)

Well I was on exchanges with the Sisters in WanDa and I have never felt like uhm... worried in Taiwan about stuff getting taken from me except for the pamphlets I am trying to give out to people on the streets. Well anyways there we were in their area but actually we were in their elders area passing out our english class flyers anyway so we were kind of far away from where their area was. Anyways so the time comes that we need to get going to their next lesson so we walk back to our bikes and what would you know my helmet has been taken. I was so angry! Then the weirdest thing happened. We in TAIWAN the land that sells EVERYTHING did not have a bike shop selling helmets anywhere near by. And because we are not allowed to ride without a helmet we needed to walk until I could buy one. We were already late and I was getting more and more frustrated because that is not what is supposed to happen on an exchange then angry at myself for being angry and praying for help then getting more upset when it started raining too. Moral of the story I was so grateful to be with the sister I was with. A cute sister Smith. She was so patient with it all and so helpful to me and really helped me laugh and breathe. Prayer answered. Then after we had found a helmet we were stopped at a red light and one line came into my head. "come what may and love it" anyone remember that talk?? I was so grateful for the Holy Ghost and the truth that in moments when we need it He will talk to us. It was comforting to be reminded and assured from Heavenly Father that he knows I am doing my very best and sometimes there are things I can not control. Then to cheer me up some more the Sitster Smith turned to me and said, "Ya know, I bet the guy who stole your helmet today is going to get in a wreck today and it will be your helmet that saves him. Then years down the road missionaries will knock on his door and ask him when in his life he has felt God's love and he will remember that moment that he took the helmet off a missionaries bike and that it saved his life and he will know its true get baptized then become an apostle. All because of YOU!" It cheered me up :)

This week was really great I learned so much and have really started to get glimpses of what the Lord wants me to be. I am still a far ways away from it but I am doing my best and thats what I can do for now. I am so excited to hear the prophets voice this weekend! Thank you all for not spoiling it for me! I love you all have a beautiful week!

-Sister Thornley

Good afternoon you all :) 

I told you all last week that I would write a better letter this week... well the problem is that now all the missionary days are mooshing together and I can't really tell apart whats cool and whats normal. SO the problem is that I am not sure what you all want to hear. Uhm...

 Okay so this week, our second week in a trio companionship. Fun :) Haha Still getting used to it but I really do like it its nice to have an extra person here to help out with all we have to do. This week we were really blessed! We have been meeting with a young girl named yun qian. She is adorable. 17 years old, her mom is a very less active member but her mom wants her to learn the gospel so we are meeting with her! She is so sweet however super super shy. ITs hard because she wouldn't be so shy to just us but because she's 17 we have to have an adult member with us for her lessons and it makes her super nervous but she still is so cool and will ask really good questions I LOVE HER! Please put her in your prayers she needs some help to get her to church. 

We have also been meeting with a new man Brother Hu (who) he is SO funny haha! Any of you heard of a religion called Ghostisicm? yep spelled wrong but basically its... well we aren't supposed to critise other churches lets put it like this, its so different from anything else that I have a hard time understanding his chinese because of the funky beliefs but he's really cool and willing to read and pray and search for the truth. I like him haha he could also use some prayers. Both of them have baptismal dates we really hope that they will be able to make it. 

JOY is BACK! YEAH!!! You all remember her right?? Our new convert? Well she went to India for a while and anyway now she's back it makes me so happy! P.s. mom and dad we are coming back here next july to go through the temple with her swinging by the phillapeans to go with Margie then to New Zealand to pick up Sister Keung from the airport okay?? ;) 

I was thinking how cool this mission has been because I have met so many really incredible people here from all over. I am so grateful for this experience. 

Okay... trying to think of some funny stories to tell you all yikes... not coming up with any.. OH! Haha the other day our apartment was out of Book of Mormons which is a big NO kind of thing for missionaries. So we went to go pick some up from the chapel and strapped them on the back of Sister Chamberlains bike, I wish I had a picture of it haha poor girl those things are HEAVY and then after we took her up to visit a member who lives on the mountain hahaha sucker "jia you" getting up that hill!!!!  Oh do you all know what "JIA YOU" means?? I think I have told you before it means add oil and its what they say here to encourage others. So I thought it was super cool when in conference they talked about the ten virgins and oil and how we need to add our oil drop by drop. My new thinking phrase. I love the chinese language cause it just works so perfectly with teh gospel. 

Okay so cool miracle from this week. This week we had been trying really hard to find new investigators on an average in our mission we can find about 3-6 new investigators a week. Well it got tosunday and we had only 1. I was a little sad as You could guess then last night Heavenly Father gave us a huge miracle so thank you all for your prayers for us last night they worked in 30ish minutes we found 3 new investigators! IT was SO COOL!!!!!!! 

Well I am doing really good. This week is transfers... I have a pretty big possibility of getting moved but... well according to past experiences I am kind of a once I come I stay for a while kind of a missionary so we will see :) 

Love you all very much!!!

-Sister Thornley

Hello!

Conference was soo good huh?! I loved it! We get it a week late here cause it takes a while to translate to Chinese. 

So this week our companionship got a surprise. We have a new companion with us! Sister Chamberlain from the MTC oh yeah! Party trio goin on! It was a very interesting week. My first time in a trio. And I am learning lots. We had some really cool miracles this week!

We met a guy named Triston he was sitting outside an american restaurant smoking If I remember right. Not really sure anymore so then we started talking to him and he turned us down like a bedsheet but then as we kept pushing we found a click and were able to keep talking. Turns out he met with the missionaries before in Australia when we was working there. And when we asked if we could meet again and help him learn more about baptism he was like, Ya know what? Why not? I must have some pretty good fate with the Mormon church yeah I'd like to learn. 

It was super cool. We don't get that often.  

Oh man! Cool moment. Last night my companions and I had a member come out with us so we could divide and conquer sense there are 3 of us. It was so cool! I took Sister Chamberlain Less active hunting with me while sister Nelson worked with the member on the streets. And we had gone searching for 3 families we had thier addresses and the first no one home. THe second they had moved away I was sad cause our time was short and we hadn't found anyone... again. But the last one. Knocked the door and the man came he smiled and said. How do you have time to come here tonight? (okay the translation in english is weird. they ask questions we don't ask) So we told him we felt a prompting to come visit him. He smiled bigger. He told us he had gone to conferece that day. We hadn't seen him cause never met him before. IT was SO cool!!!! Then he set up for us to visit him again this week. It was so cool to see a less active ready to come back to church again. Miracle.

I am really sorry my letters lately have been stinky my thoughts are a bit all over the place and all... i promise a good one next week okay?? Love you all!

-Sister Thornley 

Pictures

Hat made out of a fruit peel!  That's what the little kids do here on Mid-Autumn's festival.  

Outdoor Zone Conference.  I love hiking in Taiwan!