With great knowledge comes great responsibility...

The subject of this letter pretty much tells the story of what this week was like and what I learned most. For my brief spiritual message we were told by a speaker this week that our time is the one of the most precious gifts that God has given us. How we use is it is how we show God how committed to being a Disciple of Christ we are. The more we choose to take those 5 minutes we have sitting around somewhere and study his word or find someone that you can go and make their day the more we show our willingness to be as Christ.

Moving forward this was the hardest week that we have had most likely because of some things that happened. The first thing that comes to my mind was the teachers coming and sitting down with me and Elder Cox and telling us that our Zone has a lot of things that they need to work on and that they don't want to be the ones to bring it up so they asked us to lead a meeting where we were supposed to practically chastise our Zone..... HAHAHAHA what a terrible assignment!!! We were worried because we didn't want to come off in a way that would offend people but the teachers brought up some really good points and so we starting game planning for how we could make that happen. In the end we lead a group discussion about how our goal is to be like Christ and that to get there we all need to focus on not getting comfortable and always working to better ourselves. It turned out way better than expected and I felt like the Elders and Sisters in our Zone in the end taught me way more about being Christ-like than We taught them.

Also this week was our first full week as Zone leaders and I had not idea that the mission would include answering so many calls on the phone they gave me having to do with insurance and winning awesome sounding vacations to Hawaii. hahaha but Being zone leader is almost exactly how I thought... practically nothing different with my day to day service here but it's fun.

I got to see Elder Herd here this week along with Elder Taylor and a lot of others from Davis High. It feels so weird to see all of them here because sometimes I feel like I am seriously back in school just going from class to class in some super extreme uniform but alas deep down I know that in less than two weeks I'll be on a plane to Africa. How crazy is that!! 13 days is what it sounds like. We haven't gotten our official travel plans yet but we get it this week and from what we have been told it sounds like we will be leaving Sunday the 13th of August. I am so excited to go and have the opportunity to come to know these people that I have been coming to love more and more each week. One of our devotional speakers advised us to pray for the people in our mission every night and now I feel such a connection with people that I don't even know yet. I know that I won't be able to communicate very well but I just want to be able to try.

It's getting harder and harder to write these emails at the MTC because I feel like the days are all mushing together and I honestly can't even remember exactly what happened this week. I think things are starting to feel a bit repetitive (yeah I know I stink at spelling) !##$#$@#$

quick side story that is sooo important.... I found out his week that when I was asked to spell doughnut for the group and I went up and spelled it the way I have MY WHOLE LIFE: Donut. AND GUESS WHAT that's how it is spelled in Portuguese so obviously my call was definitely divine. Okay side story over but I really do love it here but I am also extremely ready to move on to the next step. I'll keep on moving along here and I can't wait to tell yall when I'm heading to Mozambique next monday!

-Elder Thornton

Welp Crazy Week 3

This week has flown by and I was just about to say nothing out of the ordinary happened this week but alas much hath happened.

To start I just want to say that if you have any question why the gospel is so important in our lives just read Mosiah 2: 40-41 and think about that a little. It hit me just how much of a difference this gospel makes. Not just a big difference but all the difference. This week my district had the opportunity to be the "Host" for the new missionaries. Man it was kinda weird because I was expecting to help some people that were as scared and just overwhelmed but that wasn't the case.

First off because there were so many missionaries coming this week they started dropping off people in the underground parking at the MTC which was SUPER WEIRD but anyways I got to the car of the guy I was escorting and he was with one other young man who was driving. When he got out I asked if it was his brother or a friend or something and the Kid just said..."He is just some dude" and then they hugged and he said well where do we go now. HAHAHA I had literally prepared a whole speech about how they only have like 4 minutes to say goodbye and take pictures and stuff and he was out in 10 seconds so that through me off a bit and it just kinda got weirder from there. I kept on asking him questions and he would't really respond. He would look at me, say something under his breath and then look away. HAHA talk about uncomfortable! But overall the experience was good and I helped 4 other missionaries and those didn't go as awkwardly so it was fine.

I got to see Levi Hassan and Ryan Lindberg come in and that was crazy awesome. I'm really looking forward to seeing Ryan and Braxton this week too. I also had the opportunity to "Host" the MTC tours that were going on here and that was pretty cool too because I was able to just talk to some super cool people and find out more about their lives. Also a side note... Mozambique is not a death sentence... haha i felt like every time I told someone I was going there everyone went silent and wouldn't make eye contact with me. HAHA so that was awesome.

Also this week I played some more soccer with our resident Pro soccer play and boy did I find out quickly how badly americans suck at that sport... Also sad note Elder Plummer said he wanted to try and go to BYU and get a soccer scholarship and I had to break him the sad news that he can't play college soccer because of eligibility. He was okay with it though because you know... in Honduras he's like a superstar. We found out that his dad also played professional soccer and is the current highest goal scorer IN HONDURAS HISTORY... wow he is insanely humble and didn't even mention he played soccer until like the end of the first week.

So cool inspirational story of the week. Elder Plummer has been a little sad lately because he never gets mail... so Elder Grange told his girlfriend to send him a letter and she sent him this awesome package and he absolutely loved it!! It was super awesome to see how much he appreciated it.

The language has been hard but it is coming slowly. I feel like I can speak a little bit also sometimes I go completely blank and I end up telling people that I want to take all their time today to teach them a message and for some reason the investigator didn't want to hear the rest of what I had to say.... yeah pretty weird huh... hahaha I am starting to go through the cycles of the MTC food and I am starting to get sick of it but I have actually lost 11 pounds so far which is pretty chill. The people that came in with us are leaving right now and it makes me really want to get out of here haha. But so far I actually really do like the MTC. Being the new Zone leaders has been interesting. Especially because now I carry a cell phone... haha never thought Id say that for a couple years.

 I appreciate all the small thoughts and prayers. I have definitely felt myself at times being lifted up when I get discouraged. Ill keep working at the language and I'll let you know what's new next week. Y'all rock and I miss home but I am so excited and happy to be here. Pictures to come.

And the adventure continues

AND SO the adventure continues!!

So many things happened this week and I hope that I can remember them all but here we go! The second biggest surprise of the week was that the Hafens... Sam Hafen's grandparents came and gave the same lesson we received at the early morning devotional a few months back. That was defineitely a blast from the past but moving on..

The new buildings here at the MTC, T4, has to be my favorite thing about the MTC yet. Some days we get to head over there and read scriptures and study during the sunset on the 6th floor and just watch the sun go down over Utah lake. Easily some of the most spiritual experiences I have had here. My spiritual thought for today comes from my priesthood meeting where we talked a lot about agency and Satan's plan for us and my Branch president pointed out that if we look closely at the world and in our own lives, Satan is still trying to implement his plan even though he already knows that he has lost. He is convincing people that their actions have no consequences and that we as humans don't have the ability to change. "Oh I was born that way"...."I just have a bad temper"....That's just who I am and so forth. He mentioned that when we are denying our ability to change we are in an essence being just like animals that have no control over their natural desires. Just some food for thought.

Now onto the week... My branch is soooo funny it's insane. This kid named Elder Jones, whos our current Zone leader, the other night was reading us a letter his girlfriend sent him and and talking about her a lot. So Another Elder, Elder Harper, wrote a fake letter to Elder Jones pretending to be from his girlfriend and it was a Dear John letter! HAHAHA He opened it during lunch and the whole table was just busting up laughing but he didn't hear us and for like half of the letter Elder Jones thought it was real! Anyways he finally realized it was fake and just started laughing way hard and just said I HATE YOU GUYS. Long story short the whole lunchroom heard him and made him read it out loud and when he finished the whole lunch room stood up and started clapping and laughing and cheering for Elder Harper. HAHA luckily Elder Jones is a pretty chill guy and he laughed it off.


This week has been a little stressful at times because our teachers have officially stopped speaking any english at all to us and for the first day I thought my head was going to explode. I am understanding so much more than at the beginning but I get a headache after a while if I concentrate to hard. Teaching lessons has been difficult because I have so much to say from my heart and my Portuguese skills are like level 0.2 so that makes it a little hard to communicate but I am struggling through it.

My latest news is that me and elder cox  have been asked to be the next zone leader for the rest of the MTC stay. I'm not to worried about it because I am watching our current zone leaders and I am pretty sure they have done a total of like 2 things in the last two weeks so it shouldn't be too bad. My ankle and stomach are 100% better now and I am trying  my best to avoid all the junk food. I swear the MTC is trying to fatten up the missionaries because get this... they put out cookies at first knowing everyone is like... oh I can eat a cookie that's not to bad... and then when the cookies are gone they put out like blueberry pie or cheesecake. Who does that!? I've been doing alright and the professional soccer player.. Elder Plummer has been working me out so i am actually feeling pretty good right now.

Another story that may or may not make you smile is that one day I was sitting in our classroom and I accidentally farted....a natural part of human life... or so I thought because A Sister in my district got supper offended and ran out of the room yelling about how disgusting I am. It sufficeth to say that she wouldn't look at me or even be in the same room as me for the rest of the day! HAHAHAHAH but luckily I used the great apology skills I learned in kindergarten and now everything's  alright;)

I am waiting for the day that portuguese starts flowing from my mouth but I realize that won't be for a long while. The MTC isn't bad at all. They take care of you and everybody here is all Mormon and stuff which helps with my moral for the moment. I know that this Gospel is true tand that when we live in a way that is in accordance with what Christ wants we will start to see amazing miracles happening through us. And the adventure continues.......

So The Adventure Begins

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is writing me and sending their love and prayers....really I feel it so strongly here as I am struggling to learn the language. I also just wanted to talk about an experience I had on Sunday. I was teaching the Priesthood meeting with my companion Elder Cox (who you will hear more about later) and I brought up a scripture (D&C 42: 14-17 I think) that talked about what the role of the Holy Ghost is in the lives of those teaching the Gospel. While reading the scripture the Holy Ghost spoke to me saying that even though I am not learning the language as fast as I want and even though when I teach lessons in Portugese I feel like a failure in reality our job as missionaries isn't to convert through our words but to invite through the Spirit. I felt a lot of comfort because now I know that as long as I am bringing the spirit to those I teach I am doing everything I need to in the sight of God.

Anyways... onto what the MTC is like. WOW IT IS HARD. But at the same time it is so much fun. My companion Elder Cox is the vice Governor of Utah and he is an amazing guy. He has a strong testimony and he and I really work well off of eachother. Whenever I say something he always is able to add something that means a lot to either me or the people we teach. He also was in a band... an actual band that played gigs and stuff so yeah he's pretty rad! Elder Grange sleeps below me on my bunkbed and he is in my district. I literally spend all day with him and it is so awesome to have him hear. Hayden is still the Hayden we know and love! His companions name is Elder Galland and he is such a cool guy too. Another Elder in my district is named Elder Plummer and he is from Honduras and played... wait for it.... PROFESSIONAL SOCCER... He is so cool and one of the funnest guys I've met here.

My first day at the MTC was soooo long and I started to have some feelings of homesickness but I was so busy I was able to push past those and really get into getting wrecked by learning the language... haha but one of my teachers actually served in Mozambique and I was able to talk to him about it and he loved his mission. Get this though... there are sister missionaries going to Mozambique too! sound like they usually spend their time in the cities while the Elders spend their time in the more Jungle like areas of the mission and the poorer areas.

Then day 2 we finally got some exercise time and ...guess what.... I totally destroyed my ankle landing on someone so now my ankle is all black and blue and swollen... and the MTC food is killing me... almost literally! Hahaha I've had a stomach ache since the first full day but I'm working through it! Also I diagnosed Elder Galland with an infection on his leg(he had gone mountain climbing the day before he came and got seriously cut up and didn't go to the hospital but had his neighbor stich him up) and when he went to the clinic I was right. Maybe I'm supposed to be a Doctor haha but really everything is going so well. I love being able to focus my efforts on becoming who Christ would want me to be.

 I wish I could write everyone back that has written me but the way our schedule worked out today and how slow I was at folding laundry(HAHAHA I guess you were right mom when you said I needed practice) I don't have a ton of time to write today. My P-days are on mondays and they are actually super weird.... I feel strange not having a super set schedule but it's all good. The Elders in my district and I are way close and we have a good time but we also follow the rules to the dot which is something the teachers here have been trying to drill into our heads.The second day here we had to teach a Woman named Neide ( pronounced Naygee) in portuguese and boy that was hard. I felt like an idiot when she would talk to my face and I had no idea what to say back but I am slowly getting better and better.

Man I miss you guys. Its been a little tough realizing I am actually gone but I know why I am here and each day before I go to bed I kneel down and recommit myself to the Lord and to what I am doing here. Hope life treats everyone as well as it's treating me. I LOVE YOU ALL. I can't figure out how to send photos so I'll hopefully send some soon.

-Elder Thornton

I'M ALIVE

Wow, this has been a whirlwind but it has been so great already. I can't even count the amount of times that I have felt Wow, this has been a whirlwind but it has been so great already. I can't even count the amount of times that I have felt the spirit and that I've wished I'd slept a little bit more recently ;) I love you guys and I am so grateful for all the work you did to get me here. I'm where I'm supposed to be and the peace I've felt with that has been such a blessing just today so I can't even imagine what the next couple weeks are going to be like. It really hasn't hit me yet that I'm gone but I do miss y'all.

and the adventure continues....
Love ELDER Thornton