Week 63! Miracles!

Yet another great week! A little long, but we had some beautiful miracles that kept us going!

The first one was on Tuesday! Our appointment had fallen through, and for us, that almost always mean knocking in the area. Because if you don't have appointments then you got find some new ones. As we were working our way down the street we came across a house that was completely demolished for renovation, and we almost skipped it. But we had a prompting to knock on it anyway. So we did, and we heard someone say, "Hallo, what can I do for ya?," in English! We then had an excellent conversation with this man! His name is Chris, and he is from South Africa. He has had a really rough past few months, and really needed someone to talk to right as we knocked on his door. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon, and he said that he would read it in the next month, and that he would love to keep on meeting with us to talk about it. As we were leaving he said "Keep in touch!" at least 5 times. We are really excited to work with him!

The next day we were looking up some former investigators and as we were parking our bikes we felt prompted to talk to the man sitting on the bench. Little did we know that just this last month he lost his wife and his 2 daughters. He was in total despair, and we showed up at the perfect moment to help him. As we listened to him, we testified of the reality of life after death, and eternal families. He really opened up, and he accepted a Book of Mormon. As we were leaving, he asked us if he could give us a hug, which was super amazing because both Elder DuWors and I had the feeling but we both felt too awkward to ask. I feel super blessed to have been in the right spot and at the right time for him!

As for our other investigators, we made some amends with Sarah with some pastries since we have been pretty demanding on her. Joris said that he really enjoyed church and that he wants to come again after he defends his thesis on the 4th. 

This week has made me feel super blessed and has helped me better understand the blessings of obedience and hard work. For the most part we found a lot of rejection this week, but because we just kept on pushing through we were able to play a huge part in the lives of several people.

I did a pretty poor job of taking photos this week, but here is one of minigolf! Elder DuWors and I were neck and neck until the last few holes, where I really lost my game... 

I love you all! Thank you so much for the birthday wishes, and enjoy the fall!

Love,

Elder Thornton

Week 62: Lots of Miracles... and rain.

Goedemorgen!

This week has been great, but it was super wet! Easily the wettest week of my mission. Before Sunday it had rained every day since Elder DuWors had gotten here. But we worked super hard, and talked to a lot of people, and so we saw quite a few miracles.

Joris (the investigator I talked about last week) came to church! I'm not really sure what he thought of it. He still doesn't quite get that he needs to take studying this a little more seriously. So we will do our best to help him out with that.

We finally got back into contact with Sarah, who was set to baptized on the 30th of September. After asking several different members to go on a joint teach with us, we finally found one, but we called him 10 minutes before to confirm, and it turned out he had forgotten... So we decided to just head in there without a joint teach and hope for the best. Her cousin opened the door, and said that she wasn't home, so we went to leave, but I felt prompted to share the Book of Mormon with him. And he let us in! After about 15 minutes of explaining the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, Sarah walked in! She actually was home... but after she ranted about how all churches are saying different things and so forth, we just reminded her of the story of Joseph Smith, and told her to come to church. So hopefully she gets it a little more. We're going have to get after her because she didn't actually come to church. 

But we did find a couple more people to teach this week, so we are excited! It's gonna be great! 

We also got a few referrals from a member, so we are excited to follow up on that.

 We took the opportunity to teach this lovely family last p-day!

 And we walked through a pretty cool graveyard.

And we helped build a member's shed. 

Love,

Elder Thornton

Week 61: Elder DuWors first week!

Hoi!

This week has been super great! It has been pretty crazy with transfers and with a greenie who needs to do a bunch of paperwork for visa stuff, but we have seen a ton of miracles! 

Elder DuWors is super cool! He is from Seattle (I have still never had a companion from Utah. The goal is to go the whole mission without one :)  ) and he did cross country before! YAY! More running! He is super hard working, and at the pace he is going he will learn a ton in these next couple transfers. 

For his first lesson we got back into contact with a sort of "investigator" from a few months ago. His name is Joris, and he has already read all of the Book of Mormon. On top of that, he knows it is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. But he has some problems with polygamy and church history. Now before everyone starts sending me advice on how to fix that, don't. Trust me, I tried everything. We are going to keep on helping him understand it a little more, and help him develop the faith to overcome his challenges. By the way, he is super smart! He is currently working on his Doctorate and he is studying the effects of pornography and sexting on the teenage mind. So you could say he is a kingdom builder. Plus he has been to Temple Square 4 or 5 times and knows the Mormon Tabernacle Choir director. So yeah, pretty cool.

As we have been working super hard we have been seeing Gods Hand in our days! It feels like my first transfer with Elder Stanger, where we just put the pedal to the metal and started baptizing. I am super excited! 

One example is Monday! We had to go all the way down to Leiden in the Netherlands for some paperwork, so it took the entire day, but on our way back to the station we ran into Jamiel, who was interested in meeting with the missionaries, so we got his number and sent it on through to the Leiden Elders. The rest of the day was filled with perfectly timed travel miracles, for which we are always grateful.

Elder DuWors and I

 Station in Gent! Super Pretty!

I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Thornton

Week 60! Third time's the charm...

Hey everybody!

This week has been pretty great, and we heard about Transfer Calls this Saturday! Elder Dial's mother is coming in October for a family reunion and is going to stay for a few months, so it wasn't going to work for him to stay in Antwerpen. So he is headed to Rotterdam! And I am staying here and will be getting another greenie! I am pretty excited and I feel pretty lucky, not only because I get another opportunity to train but because there are a few other missionaries who are training again, but they are keeping their 2nd transfer greenies! That means they will be a 3 man companionship with two greenies! 

We had zone conference this Wednesday, and it was incredible! Elder Gary B. Sabin of the Seventy came, and he was incredible! He talked a lot about personal conversion and helping investigators achieve that too. I was super impressed with his scripture knowledge, and I now have the goal to memorize more scriptures. I really liked how he explained true identity, how we have an eternal destination. It was super spiritually up-lifting.

Our lesson with Elder Dial's aunt went ok, but she doesn't think that she needs a church in order to be a good person, which is totally true! All she needs is Jesus! We are

​n't​

here to sell a church, or a prophet, or even a book! We are here to deliver the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and thankfully it has those sources of truth like a church and a prophet! I just wish that people would give us a little more of a chance to help them understand it and to be open to just test it. If it isn't true, then you just took a little time to find out why a whole bunch of "weirdos in Utah" do "strange things." If it is true, then it is pretty important. I have developed a super strong testimony of the completeness of this gospel, and its ability to answer the questions of life. But yeah... she didn't want to keep on "investigating." But someday! Elder Dial's mom is coming, so you never know what could happen!

We are going to kill it here in Antwerpen! I am super excited for this next transfer!

 It is the beginning of fall! I love it!

 There was this huge line of old military vehicles that drove through the middle of the city! They were

Bus back from Zone Conference :) 

 escorted by tons of police bikes that stopped traffic at every intersection. It was pretty cool! 

Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Thornton