Week 46: In the hospital...

Hey guys...

We had to spend a little bit of time in the hospital today... for something completely unrelated to that photo :). I just wanted to see if more people would read it if they thought I almost died doing something stupid. :) But yeah, Elder Etchells had to go to the doctor to get something checked up, so I couldn't help but to take advantage of the title.

But yeah! Our week has been great! I got to do another baptismal interview this week. His name is Tim, and he is from China! His mother surprised him with a trip to China a little bit after he started investigating, so I did the interview through Skype. And we came directly from some service, so I was only wearing my top "missionary clothes" with some basketball shorts on the bottom. I thought that was pretty funny. He will get back this Thursday, just in time for his baptism on Saturday! That means we will have two baptisms on Saturday in the ward!

We have been knocking some student flats, and they have shown a ton of interest. We have given out several copies of the Book of Mormon, and we have had a couple great lessons with some of them already. One of them is Chris, and he is legitimately looking for a church! He asked us about Church after the first lesson, and he couldn't make it this week, but hopefully next week!

Groningen is beautiful!! I wish you guys could all see it! And now it is warm! Yay! As much as I love missionary work, it is way more fun when it is beautiful weather.

Studying in the park

And I though I was ADHD... Not only did Elder Etchells forget his nametag, but he forgot he was wearing his crocs... :) Thankfully it is just p-day.

I love you all! And I keep on hearing about all of these people getting married from second hand sources, so I would love to hear it from you guys too! :)

Love,

Elder Thornton

Photos from the past 3 weeks

 Classy bike photo :)

First photo with Elder Etchells

We went to a deportation camp, and these were some super cool radio dishes used during World War II

Week 44! Moederdag!

Hey everybody!

This week has been great! We have been staying super busy with appointments, biking, and finally some solid finding. It is springtime, finally! and so we have also been doing a bunch of yard work for members. The weather is beautiful right now, and now when it rains it is not super cold outside, so it doesn't really matter when we get wet. 

I got to do my first baptismal interview this week! That was pretty cool, and it went fairly well considering they never actually told me how to do it. His name is Robert, and he is already been coming to the ward for several months, so the ward already loves him. He has a really strong testimony, and it was an honor to do that for him. 

We got two new investigators this week, and they are both pretty cool. One is Ramona, and she a neighbor and also referral from the Richardsons. We are super excited to teach her with the help of the Richardsons! The other one is Mike! His friend Benjamin is a member from Arnhem, and he was visiting and brought Mike along to church. He is super cool! He is 19, and has already read to Omni in the Book of Mormon.  He would totally be one of my friends in real life, so this is going to be awesome!

We got to Skype our families yesterday, and that was a wonderful way to re-energize. I loved it! and I know Elder Etchells really loved the chance to talk to his family too. He is doing great, but still is learning how everything works as missionaries. I am super glad I get to be his companion.

I love you all!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Thornton

Week 43! Baptizing and Training!

Gooie Dag Iedereen!
So much has happened this week, so I hope I can remember enough to write about it. With transfer's, picking up my Greenie Elder Etchells, and a bunch of little district leader things, we have been super busy! But it has been so much fun!

Elder Etchells is my new companion! And he is super cool! We have a lot in common, and I think we are going to be great friends! Also, he has the most important missionary quality of enthuisiasm. I would argue that there is nothing that helps a missionary have a great mission better than just loving it. He is really excited to work, and to learn, and has the refreshing MTC faith that as we work hard and are obedient, we will see success. And we most definitely will! The ward already loves him, and we love the ward so much back. They are the best ward ever. If I could stay here my whole mission, I would.

As for the baptizing part, Groningen is exploding! In our district's transfer goal for baptisms is 8, and it is totally going to happen. We already have 2 solid dates, and there are several other miracle investigators who will be getting baptized soon! I will probably talk more about them as they get closer, especially since they aren't our investigators, but are actually from the Assen Elders and Sisters in our ward! But I will get the exciting (and honestly pretty scary) opportunity to conduct the baptismal interviews for them as theirs dates come up.

Anyways, we are really excited for this transfer, and I can't wait to keep you all updated on the miracles to come!

I love you all!

Love,
Elder Thornton

Sushi in the Centrum for Sister Merz Birthday last P-day!

Elder Etchells! Yes, he is taller than me, but he is younger by a few months. So I can feel at least a little decent about myself :)

Week 42: Marcel Got Baptized!

Hoi jullie!

This has been a crazy week! Super busy, and we are going to have to do a lot of finding this next week, but it has been pretty miraculous.
Marcel got baptized! I don't think I have talked a lot about him, mostly because we set his baptismal date only a few weeks ago. He is from Groningen, but his parents are from St. Martin and Suriname. His dad investigated the church 10 years ago, and he was actually the one who referred Marcel to the missionaries after a really hard time in Marcel's life back in October. He met occasionally with the missionaries from then, but he started meeting consistently with us about 6 weeks ago, and through that process he decided he wanted to change his life and get baptized! His service went really well, and he can't wait to keep on progressing.

We received transfer calls this Saturday! And I will be training here in Groningen! On top of that, I will be the district leader, which is pretty abnormal since most districts are led by a companionship of District Leaders in this mission, so this transfer is going to be an adventure! I will pick up my greenie this Wednesday, so that will be pretty exciting! Elder Mostoller is headed to Tilburg to be a zone leader. He is going to do great!

On top of that, it was Koningsdag​ ​(Kings Day or the King's Birthday) It is a huge national holiday here, where everyone has work off. There are always a lot of stands where people sell miscellaneous things on most streets in the Centrum, so as missionaries we get to take advantage of this opportunity and set up our stand to hand out free copies of the Book of Mormon. We were in Leeuwarden and it went super well. We gave out more than a box of books (over 20 books) and got several new potential investigators. It was pretty fun!

Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Thornton


​We asked if he ever gets to do anything fun on P Days: "Last PDay we didn't do a lot except clean and do some yardwork since we live in a house that could probably sleep 8 people. But most of the time we head down to the Centrum to do something fun. Today we are going to eat Sushi for Sister Merz's birthday. I will make sure to take some photos.​"


Photos;
​1) ​Koningsdag! Orange is the national color, so I did my best to be patriotic with the rest of the country.
​2) ​Service! We got to chop and stack wood for an older couple in the ward. It was super fun!
​3) ​Marcel!