Staying in "Fort Laud"

Hey everyone!

How is everything going? Things over here in Fort Laud are going pretty good. We’re finding a lot of people, but it's hard to get them to keep commitments. But I LOVE this area a lot. There are some really really good people, which I'll talk about in a second.. But now for what you all want to hear... Elder “R”- transfers. Elder Thorne- stays. Which is a pretty big relief for me. I'm super happy I'm staying. This will be the longest I've been in an area. I was in Boynton for 3 transfers. But anyway. Life at home sounds good. Cold though. Man I am not excited to come home to that ha. It's pretty hot over here, especially on bike, but I hate being cold..

So investigator wise.. Sorry I haven't talked a lot about mission stuff. We're teaching a guy named “R.” He's a big big guy who likes a lot of the stuff we teach. About 11 years ago he was struggling, but he turned his life around and started going to church for 10 years straight. Then he fell away and he says he's been spiritually weak. Then we came knocking on his door. He wants to come visit, but he feels like he needs to go back to his church at least once before visiting someone else. That kind of scares me.. Ha jeez... But he's really cool. He has a 15 year old daughter who he's really worried for. So we say that him coming to church and getting baptized will be a huge example to her. 

Then we have “J.”. A cool younger guy who really wants a better life. We testify a lot about Jesus Christ and the atonement and baptism and he understands it, I just don't think it's really clicked, ya know? So I gotta figure out how to help him get to church and keep commitments to help him build his faith and repent.

We harvested into a super awesome couple like a week ago, “A” and “H.” They're way cool. We taught them once, and they're pretty open. They're super nice and friendly and love us a lot, so after our lesson (which included soda and cookies), they fed us fried chicken and coleslaw!! They have the cutest little boy ever, “Z.” Yesterday, they just had us over for dinner. We had a spiritual thought afterward, but it was just me and elder “R” at the table eating while they kind of did their own thing ha. We're going back on Thursday, I'm sure the new guy will love that.

Those are our cool investigators. We have a couple more “eh” ones. Like “A.”. He said he played football for the U of Missouri. He's a sweet guy. Totally closed to the BoM though.... 

Oh yeah so the conference with Elder Haleck. I guess you guys already heard about the promise and blessing.. Ha. But yeah it's super awesome. That was like the coolest experience ever. I'm so blessed and proud to have been able to sign my name on that paper to show that nothing else in this world matters right now than sharing the gospel (All the missionaries in the mission signed a paper which will be placed in the cornerstone of the FT Lauderdale Temple). Being there with Elder Haleck was cool. He talked a lot about the BoM and gathering of Israel. It was neat.

Other than that I think that's about it. I'm at the “P’s” typing on their iPad :) I like it a lot.

Ok, well, these next transfers will be very interesting... The end is coming up fast.. Ha it's crazy. We'll see how it goes. I miss you guys. I love you a ton!!

 

Elder J Thorne