Goodbye and Hello

This still doesn't feel real.  I can't even comprehend the fact that I'll be home this week.  I think the Lord is really just blessing me being able to stay so focused these last few days.  I'm enjoying every last minute.  I don't even really know what to say.  I've felt so many emotions about the idea of coming home. I'm excited, scared and devastated to be leaving all at the same time.  It's hard to let go of this chapter of my life but the Lord has prepared me the past 18 months for the next chapter that I am about to take on.  I feel like my time spent here has been the training ground for the rest of my life.  I'm so grateful for the things I've learned here and the things that I will be able to apply  after the mission.

Reflecting back on the past 18 months I remember the joy I feel as I meet someone on the street and love them after only 10 seconds of talking to them, and the joy I feel as I see my companion overcome challenges and gain confidence after many long days of being discouraged. along with many other things that brought me so much joy.  I think that is truly why missionaries love their mission so much.  It's the littlest things that happen each day that brings so much happiness and although I'm dreading all the hard goodbyes that are to come, it will all be worth it when they're replaced with many hellos, one of them being to you. 

I can't say it enough, but I am so grateful for the time I've had to be here serving the Lord.  These have been the most rewarding months of my life.  Although I've been miles away from you and the rest of my family and friends that I love dearly, I've felt more support and love than ever before this past year and a half.  I've received so much strength from all the prayers offered in my behalf and more than anything, I've felt continued guidance from the Lord.  What I thought would be my biggest sacrifice has turned out to be by far, my greatest blessing.

Prayer

I'm currently serving in Kentucky! I always thought Tennessee was Random, but Kentucky?  Good thing I love it already.  I'd tell you the name of the city if I knew it, but I don't.  It's right on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky.  We live above an old pawn shop and the mental hospital is down the street from our cute apartment so it's easy to make friends here.  (Don't be worried.  I still have my pepper spray you sent me.)

I had the opportunity to give a training on prayer this week which was perfect considering that has been a topic that has been heavily on my mind and that I've been studying a lot lately.  I thought about how much prayer has helped me to love and also, how prayer is such a great expression of love.  We had an experience this week that really taught me this concept.  We were walking through a neighborhood when we stopped and talked to this family and the mother was so grumpy!  She kept telling us how much she knew about our church and how much we had been deceived.  Although it was hard to get very many words out without her cutting us off, I insisted on at least leaving her with my testimony.  After I had expressed a few things that I knew to be true, I could tell that she was even more angry.  I looked over at my companion who had the sweetest, biggest smile on her face and she asked this lady if it was okay if we said a prayer with her.  My companion offered such a sincere prayer of solely gratitude. She thanked Heavenly Father for allowing us to meet this family who were such good Christians and thanked Him for their example of the love that they have for the Savior and eagerness to come to know him better. After she ended, I looked up to see that their entire countenance had changed.  To top it off, she asked this lady if she could give her a hug and the lady agreed.  It was so incredible to me how drastic the difference was as this lady was able to feel the love that we had for her and more importantly, her Savior.

Elders are so weird

Through that experience, I learned of the power of prayer.  I was also reminded of how through prayer, I am able to express my gratitude and show my love towards others.  I need to do it even more.

Such good things are happening here in Kentucky.  The Lord is teaching me a lot! I'm so grateful to be here.

Sister Thiriot

Is this my daughter?

 Usually I put only Danielle's letters in this blog, but today I feel I need to give you a little introduction.

 Sometimes when I read Danielle's letters, I ask myself, "Is this my daughter?"  Danielle has changed so much on her mission.  I can see through her that God truly can change a person.  He can take a little girl who has had a lot of hard things happen in her life and gently but dramatically change her in ways that are astounding.  I wish I could take credit for the wonderful woman she has become, and sometimes Danielle tries to give me credit, but it is not me--it is God.   God didn't coddle her nor did He scold her. He patiently waited for her to put her trust in Him. Then it was through Danielle's obedience that she got to know Him in a more personal way--In a way in which He was able to show her how much she means to Him.

Here is part of her letter:
 
"I have been feeling the spirit so strong throughout my day, so I guess I'm grateful for that. Something else that I was able to recognize is that my nature is truly changing.  President talked about how often times we change our behaviors (meaning, we wake up at 6:30 because our companion does and we go out to work because we know we need to) and I can admit, that a good portion of my mission has been because I know I needed to.  Granted I did love it, but I would wake up at 6:30 because I know that is what missionaries should do and I want to be obedient.  I go out and work all day again, because that is what I have been called here to do.  He talked about a change of behavior VRS. a change of nature.  When we have a change of nature, it truly becomes a part of us.  It's not out of obligation or duty, rather out of sincere desire. Having a desire because I love the Lord and I love his work.  My motives have changed a lot.  It's not about going about doing good just to do it.  It's about doing good because that is my greatest desire and that is the Lords greatest desire.  I wouldn't say I have it all figured out by any means and I still have much to work on but my love for the Lord and his work has drastically increased as I allow the Lord to change my humble heart.

I wanted to share my feelings and things the Lord has taught me as of lately.  Often times this journey of life may seem long, tiring and miserable   but I think about what that moment may be like when this is all over and we return to our Father in Heaven who is awaiting with outstretched arms.  Think about the joy that we with feel!  I can't even comprehend the amount of peace we will feel, feeling entirely safe in his presence.

Thank you for teaching me the gospel Mom.  I could name so many  events that I have learned so much about the gospel simply from your example.  You'll never understand even to the slightest, the influence and impact you've had on my life

Love you so much!   

XOXO, Sister Thiriot

Danielle will be coming home August 14th.  I've heard it will be a hard adjustment for her--even harder than the adjustment of going on a mission and being in a new environment with people and places that are strange.  But when she comes home, nothing will be the same as when she left, but more than that, She will not be the same. 

Lookout Mountain--you can see 7 states from where we were standing!  I'd assume you could see both North Carolina and Gorgia in this picture

having more hope

This week was crazy! I spent two days in Georgia as I was able to go on some exchanges with the sisters!  Sister Hatch and I fell so behind on everything and have been playing catch up the past few days! We still lack on progressing investigators, however things are looking better than last week!  We've met a few people who are actually putting in a good amount of effort to find out if what we teach is true. Also, I found a live mouse in my shoe the other day.  I went to go to slip on my shoe when I saw a brown, furr ball in my shoe.  Sister Hatch about had a hard attack.  I did learn something meaningful this week though. We were driving home from an appointment of a lady who had dropped us and I look over at Sister Hatch who is crying.  As we talked, I could see how much frustration and discouragement she was facing as she questioned why everyone was dropping us and what we were doing wrong. I kept thinking and praying of what I could do or say and after a few minutes of silence, she looked at me and said, "Sister Thiriot, I know that there is someone out there who will listen to us. I know it."  I just smiled and agreed and we continued on with our day.  I will never forget that! Although I may have not been as discouraged, I admire that she was able to conquer such discouragement simply by having more hope.   I'm so grateful for my companion and the things that she teaches me.

Easter time

.Easter was good! We had lunch at a members and worked the rest of the day, sharing the message of Christ to anyone and everyone we came in contact with.   Every single appointment we had, cancelled.  That about sums up our past week actually.  Every investigator we did have, dropped us, including Sierra who had a baptism date.  It's been so easy to get frustrated just because we feel like there is something else we can be doing but are unsure of what that is.  We're still doing a lot of finding and on average, getting about1-2 new investigators per day which is actually the highest thus far on my mission but we're having the hardest time having 2nd appointments with them!  Everyone we have been teaching lately is so flaky and we've realized that our faith in any appointments not cancelling is decreasing. We've been praying about it a lot these past few days and I am certain that the Lord is trying to teach me something.  I'm willing to do whatever it takes and I'm really trying different approaches in the way I talk to people and even just in my teaching.  On the bright side, there are a ton of other people to talk to when our appointments cancel. 'Tis the season that everyone is always outside and I absolutely love it.

I've been pondering a lot about the opportunity I have to testify of Christ this past week.  Last week, there was an incredible member that got up in testimony meeting and bore such a powerful testimony.  Relief society came around and there was another opportunity for testimonies. After about 2 seconds of that awkward silence where no one wants to be the first one to stand up, that same member stood up and said, "I don't want there ever to be a second that I could be bearing testimony of my Savior, and not taking the opportunity to do so."  It reminded of a scripture in 2 Nephi 25: 13 where Nephi expresses the same desire.  It says, "Behold, they will ^acrucify him; and after he is laid in a ^bsepulchre for the space of ^cthree days he shall ^drise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Wherefore, my soul delighteth to prophesy concerning him, for I have ^eseen his day, and my heart doth magnify his holy name."
 I've thought a lot about this and about sweet sister and the example that she's been to me.  I, like Nephi "delight to prophesy concerning my Savior" and although that is what I have been called to do and I feel like that is what I spend so much of my time doing, I feel like I can testify even more not only through my words, but through my countenance and to really appreciate every second that I've been given to do so.

I wish I could say more, but my time is short. I hope all is well with you and I hope you know how much I love you. 

Love,
Sister Thiriot

Coasting on the Sabbath

I was reading in 1 Nephi 10: 19, where it talks about diligently seeking to know the mysteries of God, and that doesn't necessarily mean that I'll receive some crazy revelations that are unknown to man, but more so personal revelation given to me through the Holy Ghost.  As I read that, I thought about my Patriarchal blessing and how that is something that God has reveled to me personally and so I had an increased desire to study it this week.  I made a copy of it, and really went through marking it up, referencing to scriptures and studying each individual line and I honestly can't even express to you how much I've learned as I have done that.  I feel like I'm really coming to better understand who my father in heaven has designed me to be and he's given me clear direction in becoming that person.  I encourage you to do the same and let me know how it goes.  I can assure you that you won't be disappointed in the results.

At women's conference I felt Gods love for me so strongly and more than anything, I felt so much peace.  I felt like God was letting me know that he's proud of me and it felt so good.  It's so easy to be hard on myself because I'm so imperfect and inadequate and constantly focusing on the things I need to change (which is how it should be) but I guess it's just been a slap in the face being a missionary because it's not really about me at all.  I fall so short of being the teacher and disciple that Christ was and as I am trying to help these people, that is the thing that I most yearn for.  I so often find myself wondering what Christ would say if he were sitting next to me teaching these people?  Anyways, it was a good reassurance and reminder that I'm doing my best and that's what matters because Christ has already made up the rest. 

So I'll let you in on a completely necessary event that happened this week, just to maybe give you a little laugh. Yesterday (Sunday) we're pulling out of the parking lot of the church, heading to our dinner appointment that is 17 miles away and our gas light comes on and just that day in Sunday school, we learned about keeping the Sabbath day holy and how we should avoid even the littlest things such as filling up our gas tank to devote that day entirely to the Lord.  Well Sister Hatch and I looked at each other and laughed, said a prayer, and coasted basically the entire way there and back, (and not even kidding about all the way there.  the cars behind us seemed to be a little bit aggravated at the sped we were going) but we made it to all of our other destinations throughout the day.  I feel like God has a pretty good sense of humor and I'm sure he was giggling just as much as we were yesterday.

Mom, I love you.  I wish you could even comprehend how much I appreciate you.  Thanks for all that you do for me

New companion--new area

Scripture I really like:  2Nephi 1:15 "But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love." It is inspired from the song "Savior, redeemer of my soul" but I just love the wording of it.  I can just picture it so clear, the love that my savior has for me. I realized this week how grateful I am for my testimony.  That also reminds me of what my companion and I have been studying lately.  We have decided to study one christlike attribute per week out of chapter 6 preach my gospel (PMG) and study it every single day and pray to better inherit it.  If you have a preach my gospel (which I hope you do), you should try it.  It's nice to just focus on one attribute and really try to make it become part of my character.  This week we chose virtue, and I'll just share a passage right out of PMG .  Concerning virtue, it explained: 

"Your mind is like a stage in a theater; in the theater of your mind, however, only one actor can be on stage at a time. If the stage is left bare, thoughts of darkness and sin often enter the stage to tempt. But these thoughts have no power if the stage of your mind is occupied by wholesome thoughts, such as a memorized hymn or verse of scripture that you can call upon in a moment of temptation. By controlling the stage of your mind, you can successfully resist persistent urges to yield to temptation and indulge in sin. You can become pure and virtuous."

It made me realize how important it is that I continually have a scripture or hymn in my mind so that my mind is never left bare.You asked for an update about the area /companion.  I don't really know what your looking for but her name is Sister Danalyn Hatch and she actually goes by Dani.  Cool huh?  She's from Ogden, UT and been out for nine months.  She's a hairstylist, she's really sweet and been a really strong and faithful member her entire life.  She's knows the gospel SO well and has taught me a lot.  I really am so lucky to have her.  

I don't know if I ever told you that I was called to be a sister training leader meaning that Sister Hatch and I work with the sisters in our zone, going on exchanges, giving trainings at meetings, and just making sure that the sisters are doing well.  We have a fairly small zone which is nice because we get to work pretty closely with them and really focus on their needs.  There is 8 sisters in our zone and it's such a blast! I've learned so much from these sisters. 

As far as the area goes, I live in Ooltewah. The area itself is Seventh day adventist-ville because of the university here which is something I've never delt with before on my mission.  I'm used to the good old baptists so this is kind of new to me!  They're so strong in their faith, it's incredible. It feels like a whole different mission working with them because they're just so, different.  We have a big ward-- the biggest I've served in thus far.  We have about 180-200 active members and a lot of young families!  It's been so much fun and we're really spoiled here.  We have an amazing bishop who is 110% missionary minded which makes the members really excited and involved as well.  We don't go a day without getting fed and we have members come out with us daily.  

We've been teaching this guy named Ty, who is very knowledgeable and strong in his Methodist church.  This week was our third time meeting with him and we've really been involving President Brodniak (who is a member of our ward and also works with President Irion) to help us teach.  Sister Hatch and I were really unsure what to teach him because he got caught up on the littlest things such as the nature of God, and how we can't know of truth by the spirit or a feeling, but of the evidences and sadly, we weren't all that excited for our appointments with him just because we really didn't know how to help him. Much of our lesson turned into him and President Brodniak flipping through the bible going on a scripture chase and I noticed how inadequate I was feeling as I realized that I couldn't even comprehend most of what they were saying.  Throughout the entire lesson, doubts began to enter my mind about how my knowledge was so limited and how badly I felt like I should know more as a missionary and at the end of the lesson, I found myself bearing my testimony about how I know that the things we teach are true not because of how much I know, but because the Spirit has testified to me that they are and if my testimony was based on the knowledge I had of the gospel and the evidences it contained, that I obviously wouldn't on a mission right now.  I'm not even really sure if what I said effected him whasoever but I recognized that the spirit really taught me something that night.  I realized that I may not know the scriptures as well as I'd like and my knowledge of the gospel may be limited but I do know that this is the restored gospel without a doubt and that is enough.  I can still have confidence and say just as President Brodniak can that these things are true even with the little knowledge that I do have because I have received a spiritual witness that it is.

I've had many more learning experiences this week, and I'm so grateful that I get to work with so many incredible people. I hope that you too can sit back and realize how much the Lord blesses us, even with the simplest things, such as a testimony.

Love you!