Week 89! Fullfilled Promises

This week was pretty incredible! We were super busy with teaching the 3 districts in our zone during interviews with President Bunnell, and going on exchanges in Leiden with the Assistants. The interviews went super well and I think that all of the missionaries were able to take something out of it.

The exchanges were also super cool. I got to work with Elder Enger who is a missionary in my ​MTC ​group. It was super cool to see his enthusiasm for the work, and it is always wonderful to work with other experienced and strong missionaries. We taught nearly the entire day, and we found quite a few new investigators.

We also helped our ward mission leader move, which did take a while, but still was a lot of fun.

So even with nearly 4 full days eaten up by Zone Leader responsibilities and service, we still had a ton of success! We got into contact with several formers, we found 3 new solid investigators, and several other potentials from an Easter DVD campaign. What was the coolest about these past few days is that they have been super guided by the spirit. As we have been planning carefully and asking God what he needs us to do, he has been placing us where he needs us to be.

And even better is that Anita, the polish woman we found last week, is on track to be baptized on April 21st! She is so golden and prepared! We ended up handing her over to the Sisters though... I guess I will have to be content with ta​l​king to her during church and stuff like that. I am pretty excited for her!

I'm sorry the photos haven't been working. The library computers are not the best. Hopefully this one goes through. It is us with Fam. Methorst after we helped them move this week.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Thornton

Week 88: Miracles

Hallo!
This week has been pretty terrific, not only for us but for the entire zone! We had 3 people in church this week, which we were pretty excited about. One of them we met on Friday. She let us in on the door, and we shared the Restoration with her. When we shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon, she said that it must be true. We brought her a Polish Book of Mormon the next day and she told us that she had prayed about it yesterday and said that God told her that it was true. We invited her to be baptized, and she accepted! She didn't want to set a date until she came to church. And she loved it! She was smiling and nodding through the entire 3 hours, and she said that she felt like she was home. We are so excited for her! God truly does bless us with success as we are working hard. 

Remco was also in church, and he is still making slow but sure progress. 

The other investigator was Laurence, a man who just showed up to church a couple weeks ago. We managed to raise a few questions for him during our Gospel Principles lesson, so we will be meeting with him this week to answer his questions and share the Book of Mormon with him.

The rest of the zone also had some pretty great miracles. There were two people who asked to be baptized at church, and Groningen found a super golden investigator. Elder Kennel (a convert from only a few years ago) says that the new investigator is even more prepared than he was himself.

It was super wonderful to be able to see some tangible blessings from our hard work.

We also had Zone Conference this week, and it went really well. My companion, Elder White, had a to talk a ton through it and when it got to his departing testimony, he just went for it. My favorite part was when he told us about a dream he had had about his future daughter, and then said,"I know that our Heavenly Father loves you even more than I love my future daughter." Needless to say, he is pretty excited to go home, but he is finishing super strong, and I am sure we will still see a lot of success in these coming weeks.

Have a great week everyone! And don't forget how lucky you are to know about the restored Gospel! There are people who have been searching for a long time for it. Don't take it for granted!

Love,
Elder Thornton

(Again, his photos did not come through😕 but here are his captions so you can imagine. . .)

Zone Conference! 

We did a Bunker themed Escape room for district Pday last week! It was pretty fun 

A majestic photo on top of the famous aardvark in Arnhem

Week 87: NLdoet and Groningen!

Goedemiddag!



This week was super fun! We were pretty busy, and it continues to fly by. We went on exchanges with the Elders in Groningen (my favorite city), we had some pretty good lessons with some of our investigators, and we got to do a lot of service with the national service day of NLdoet.



When I was in Groningen on exchanges with Elder Plant we got the opportunity to look up some old potentials from when I was there, nearly a year ago. One was a super cool guy from Ghana, and the other was a student that we had met miraculously. I don't have time to tell the full story of how we found him, but it was super incredible. He was home, and we had the opportunity to teach him the restoration, he took it very well, and I can't wait to see him progress, even though I won't get to teach him. Even cooler is that as I was pondering that morning of what I was going to train on during exchanges, I was told that we would find someone who would be baptized, and I do believe that it will be him.



We did a bunch of service for NLdoet dag, which was a ton of fun. Friday we did a few jobs around a school, and then Saturday we got to do a few heavy jobs at a scout camp. It was a ton of fun.

​

I don't have a ton of time, but I want you all to know how grateful I am for this gospel! I love you all!



(He sent some photos, but I was unable to access them, so maybe next week. . .)

Week 86 Interesting Miracles

Hallo Iedereen!

We had a pretty varied week, and I really enjoyed it. It flew by like normal, and I have a hard time remembering everything we did, but overall it went really well. We went on exchanges, had some good appointments, went to the Mission home for Mission Leadership Council, and like usual spent a lot of time finding.

We had a pretty funny and unexpected miracle this week with one of our investigators. We were pretty certain that our investigator was lying about reading in the Book of Mormon, so we probed a little bit by asking what story he was on and what he had learned. After a subtle subject change, and another promting from us, he started flipping through the pages to "find where he was." At the last Stake conference a member of the Seventy promised us that we can find answers to our questions by just flipping to a page in the Book of Mormon. I can't say that I believed this promise 100%, but this investigator randomly flipped to 2 Nephi 27 where it speaks about many churches who will claim to be of God but will argue and fight with one another with the knowledge of men. He tried to prove a point with the scriptures, but it was pretty impossible because we had just been talking about that. God definitely answers questions through the Book of Mormon! Hopefully he will actually read this next time, otherwise we will have to stop teaching him :/.

We also ran into a ton of less active members on accident this week, which doesn't happen often. One of them is an excommunicated member who wants to go back to the temple, so we are hoping to help him to that goal

It was super cold this week, so the canals froze over!

We played soccer this last pday with some dutch kids. It was below freezing but we had a ton of fun.

Love,
Elder Thornton

Week 85- Meetings and Miracles

Hoi!

We were crazy busy this week, but it turned out really well! Transfer day went fairly smooth, everyone traveling across country in the beautiful train system here, and all of the beginning of the transfer meetings were super uplifting and inspiring.

Along with that we had a last minute meeting with Bishop Waddel on Sunday. He is the Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishoprick, and also a super cool and inspired person. He talked to the leaders of the mission about faith in teaching repentance and baptizing converts. It was really good, and I excited to let the Lord guide me a little more in his work.

Remco came to church again, and said the closing prayer in Gospel Principles. It was incredible! He is progressing so much!

The other Remco dropped us... :( We were pretty bummed about that. He said that he just couldn't believe in God, and I wish he would give us just one more chance. Hopefully he will be more ready later on.

We were so busy, and we had found almost no one as we were nearing the end of the week, so once we finally had some time Saturday night we hit some apartment flats super hard. As we were walking up to them it looked like almost no one was home, so I doubted the inspiration we had to knock there for a bit, but as we started knocking everyone opened up, and we found 3 new investigators! It was a pretty great tender mercy.

I love all of you!

-Elder Thornton

Picture: We had a Harry Potter themed Zone Competition, so we made wands for District Pday!

Week 84: Lots of exchanges!

Hallo!
This week has been really busy, but we still saw a ton of cool things. We went on 3 exchanges this week, so Elder White and I were barely together this week.
On Valentines day this week we were knocking later on and may have interupted a special date... It was pretty awkward.
Later in the week we finished up working in a 10 story apartment building, and as we were leaving we saw some women struggling to move a couch. We came over to help them, and got it pretty quickly to the elevator. Unfortunately the couch didn´t fit... So Elder White and I carried the fairly large couch all the way up their apartment. Thankfully they only lived on the 4th floor (5th floor if you were in America).
Another funny story is that we accidentally knocked into a member on exchanges, and I did not recognize them immediately. I figured it out quick enough that I didn´t make it too awkward, but I did feel pretty awkward.
Church was really good this week! The spirit was super strong and the lessons were really good.
We also got to meet with Remco later that night, and he is still doing really good! He continues to impress me.
The other Remco is also making a ton of progress. He is one of the few investigators I have had who has read all the way to 2nd Nephi already. And he said a prayer for the first time ever in our last lesson, so that was pretty amazing.
I will be staying in Apeldoorn with Elder White for this next transfer, so we are excited to kill it again!
I love you!
Love,
Elder Thornton

Pictures:
Windmill!

 We made Valentines boxes for zone Pday. It was pretty fun!

 Remco´s huge dog! 60 kilos or 130 pounds

Week 83! Tons of Meetings

Hallo!
We had a ton of fun this week! Even though we weren't in our own area for most of the week, we still found a bunch of success and we learned a lot from all of the meetings we went to.
We visited all of the district meetings in the zone and taught about the Book of Mormon. The many experiences and testimonies strengthened my testimony of the book even more, and it make me even more excited to share it. We also had interviews with President and Sister Bunnell, and I learned a lot from their council.
On Friday we went to MLC (Missionary Leadership Council). It took the whole day, but we learned a lot and discussed and solved several problems that are currently affecting the mission. It was a open council, so if you know me well then you would know that I participated a pretty ridiculous amount. I have changed a lot on my mission, but I still have some pretty strong opinions... I guess we all have some things to work on. :)
On the two days we spend in our area we had a ton of appointments and still managed to find a few new investigators. We are planning on seeing quite a few of them in church this next week, so keep on praying! Our teaching pool has gone from 0 at the beginning of the transfer to several progressing investigators with even more with a lot of potential.
Remco was in church again, and I am so excited for him. He has been praying and reading daily, and loves meeting with us. His desire to change amazes me, and how much he has changed amazes me even more. With the amount of effort he is putting into finding God he will get his answer very soon!

I can't send any photos this week, but I will make sure to send them next week!.\
I love you all, and I hope you all remember the incredible opportunity you have to know the gospel. It makes me so happy to see people discover it for the first time!

Love,
Elder Thornton