Week 11 Mi cara vs la terria

Elder Thorn Face Plants 2k14

First off i have have been practicing backflips here in my mission. I did a few in the MTC and was really hyped up. Its just one of those things that makes me feel like myself. Because its really easy here in the mission to forget how to have fun. So ya i hadn't done one here in Honduras yet. However last sunday we had a zone activity up in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. no joke it has these massive windmills and there are some houses about the same size. Its called Ojojona. I will put a picture or two.

Back to the backflip story, at this lil activity there was some grass like real grass which just isn't a thing here. But ya i did a backflip and was pretty hyped and whatever. Then this Thursday I made the mistake of telling some kids I could do one. Then I was like yaaa probably shouldn't just because thats just what missionaries do. But they started calling me a liar, which in spanish is really really offensive because its not just like oh you're lying its that your personality is a lair. So ya I did a backflip, or rather didn't. lol I made it around but fell straight on my face after. I will put a photo. Truly a lesson of humility.

We also had another baptism this week. Her name is Ballonce which is Beyonce in english lol. She is great and she is also part of that family. Really really great kids and Christian the kid we baptized passed the sacrament on Sunday which was super kool to see. Really easy to forget how important the work is. But after every baptism when I'm changing and just have time to think about it, I really feel the impact that I'm taking part in

love you kids  ELDER THORN

Mi cara vs la terria (my face vs the earth)

Ojojona

Baptized Beyonce :)

Week 10 Soujia boi is alive and well

Power of the Priesthood

Another really amazing week here. I had the opportunity to baptize two more kids. The first being Raquel (spanish for rachel) and the second being Christan. They are the cousins of Abigail and live in the same house. Well kind of. Houses here are really strange. First off everything is made of cement, Everything. It's sad because I sit in peoples homes and I'm like this isn't homey. It's just hard to feel at home when everything is cold. But they do have hammocks. Like legit everyone has a hammock which is the koolest. But when someone starts their own family, or rather when one of the girls gets pregnant. I say that as nicely and as respectively as I can. But its true girls just get pregnant when they are 16 or earlier. Meaning that the dad sure didn't stick around, soo what do they do? They build a new house on top of their existing house!!! Its so sick. and I'm being serious. This results in everyone living in one house. Its kinda like they build their own apartment complex lol. 

As far as food goes here there isn't a lot. Both in proportion and in variety.  But ya not a lot of food. This lady named Jackie feeds us lunch pretty much every day, and on Sunday nights. We eat at the casa de hermana eva on wednesdays or something. She is sweet, that is where the pictures of the machete and stuff came from. I eat oatmeal and eggs in the morning. Trying to get ripped here in the mission lol. Eating out is really really cheep though. Like after this I'm going to go eat lunch for 50 limps which is like 2.50ish. Its really strange though because when I buy toothpaste it will be like 50 limps. So its kind of a give or take. 

I had a special moment this week regarding Christan. He is around a lot of men that are of the world. Meaning that they work on cars and drink all day. That is the only type of man he has in his life. He received the priesthood on Sunday. I have seen his very being change this past month. He wants to be an example not only for his siblings (which truthfully doesn't exists because his mom died and his dad is who knows where and he has spent his whole life with this aunt, Abigail's mom). But he wants to be an example for the men in his life. After church on Sunday we went and visited him and he spoke a lot about how he doesn't want to be a loser. He wants to do something with the life he has been given. Its amazing. People are truly amazing. I'm really starting to fall in love with the human experience. That sounds cheesy but its the only way to truly sum up what its like to be away from your family and speaking a new language but then watch a 14 year old boy change his life. 

Elder Thorn. AKA ya i dont know love you dudes

Baptism of Raquel and Christan

Altos de santa rosa which isn't my area but we went up there for a meeting the other day

This is where I wash clothes it sucks its called a pila

Week 9 First Baptism

Knowing Your Purpose

I had the opportunity of having my first baptism in the mission this week. The victim was Abigial Nawul Pavone Salinas. I write her name because I practiced saying it for a solid hour last Saturday. She has 14 years and comes from the craziest family. The last two names are her mom’s last name and then her dads. It’s a good indicator down here because often when kids tell you their name you can notice that the last two names don’t match. Meaning they have a different dad than their brother or sister. This is the case with Abigail. When Elder Vail and I go up to their house there is literally ten kids and two of those kids have kids. Its really different then home and the kids just call everyone cousin. But when we ask the moms they are like oh ya well I had a kid with this dude and then my sister had a kid with the same dude so they are basically brothers. 

As we prepared Abigail for baptism all I could think about was when I baptized my little brother in May. It was truly as far from the same as it could be. Her mom signed the paper like it was a school permission slip to go on a field trip. Despite our efforts to help her understand how important this was. When we were filling out the papers for her baptism it was the first time she had seen her dads first name. At first when she read it I was like oh no she is going to cry but no she just was like weird. Family has such a strange importance here. Her mom didn’t come to the baptism or the conformation on Sunday. The only family that came was 5 other kids. It was so different from Cannon’s baptism I sat in astonishment at how she could possibly want to be baptized. It really has strengthened my faith in the people here. I had the opportunity to baptize her and I was very nervous because I had to memorize it in Spanish. It’s not long but it’s also not something I wanted to mess up. As I went to walk into the water I completely forgot everything. But when the time came I felt the strongest feeling of comfort I have felt. And as I brought her out of the water I knew I would remember this for years to come. While I was changing I had felt like no person had experienced the joy I was feeling. The feeling that is felt when we allow to the Lord to work through us brings a completely new feeling and changes our definition of the word joy. 

My time is up but I want everyone that reads this is get involved with the missionaries in your area. Do not look at it as cargo or a burden because it will be the way you experience a new kind of joy. 

Someone hug my mom for me. Sorry for my spelling every word is just red because of the Mexican keyboard. lol they hate Mexicans here. 

Elder Thorn aka your boi

Week 8 One Minute Email

Haysi and Her Family

I have legit 3 minutes to write this email and so don't cry about typos or whatever. A completely new experience here this week. My first week may have been he worst week of my life. I didn't feel like my self or that i was doing anything here. All i thought about was how much time i had left and when i was going to see my family next. You will die in the mission if you have this attitude. I'm not kidding your body will shut down and you will probably be a little dehydrated from crying so much. Attitude is truly everything here. You have to be constantly fighting the urge to think about after the mission and how much time you have. I found a book or rather my comp gave me book, called Words of Wisdom for Missionaries. Its just full of quotes and junk. Its really helpful for me. 

My comp is doing a lot better this week by the way and we found 18 new people to teach and will be having my first baptism on Saturday this week of a girl named Abigail. Sorry that was a lot of info in one sentence that probably made no sense. 

Haysi is a girl who is 18 years old and is living with her 3 brothers. (19,14,12) their parents live in Colorado and have been there for 5 years. This means that she was 13 when they left and her youngest brother was 7. They left her to take care of the family. They send money back to them every month and the brother dropped out of school to make money. This is how the families here work. Its so sad. Its impossible to find a man here that doesn't just care about himself. 

A quote from Jack H. Goasland given in the Ensign Nov 1983 our responsibility to take the gospel to the ends of the earth starts with brethren. Sorry no time to type it

No more time but a lot more to tell which is really hard. Email you guys next week. Oh also tell grandma I freaking love her and I'm so sorry I wasn't able to write her. Her email was the sweetest thing ever. 

Week 7 Germania

DONT BE A LAZY COMP

Honduras is not of this world. One of the first things that I did here was ride on a bus. If you don’t push someone then you didn’t ride the bus correctly. Really though, everyone is pushing, shoving, and falling all over each other. Then you just hand the guy 4 limps and are like ya sorry and you get off. You could ride across Honduras for like 50 limps. That’s like 2 dollars. I’m not kidding. Oh the wheel on my suitcase fell off so ya that sucks. I found a suitcase in the dirt though and I think I’m going to bust it off and screw it onto mine or something. My house sucks. It is under construction and so every night when we get back, there is water all over. It’s annoying. Oh I get hot water though. We have this shower head that plugs into the wall that heats the water. It’s my best friend. 

I have no time to write because the computers suck here. I have had to switch computers 3 times since I sat down. But it’s really hard here for me. I thought my Spanish was really good. Well no, but I thought I was understanding most of what people were saying even if I couldn’t say much back. That is out the window. I have to focus on ever word just to get a gist of what is being said. My comp is this white kid from Idaho that is lazy. His motto is legit, and he said this my first day, "at least we tried". soo annoying. He loves to just go sit in peoples houses talk about the states and whatever. Eat food and then just leave and I’m like uhhh bro why did we go in there? His Spanish is really good though. That’s the only plus. I’m really trying to be a help to him and push him to teach but my Spanish isn’t that good at all so I cant do much. It’s hard. The mission isn’t what I thought at all. No one has a dad here. No one understands the point in getting married. 

Love you guys Elder Thorn

Week 6 mi última semana

Your boi is going to the field

Been a wild last week here. My Spanish has improved immensely and so has my desire to be here. If you can find a way to get a hold of the talks that are given at the MTC in Provo do all you can to watch them. The words from the apostles to missionaries are a different level than anything I have ever listened to. You can feel the importance of missionary work that is streaming straight from our Savior. There is truly a great work in the making. We listened to a talk given by Elder Holland and he says "every good thing that has EVER happened in my life comes as a direct result from my mission" he then goes on to talk about all the amazing things that have happened since his mission. What a powerful statement to say that EVERY good thing came from his mission. He speaks a lot about men that served full time missions and now are inactive. He literally drops the freaking hammer on these guys saying " how could you of possibly looked someone in the eyes and said I know that my Savior is real. I know that Jesus Christ died for me. HOW CAN YOU SAY YOU KNOW THE SON OF GOD DIED FOR YOU AND THEN COME HOME AND NOT LIVE IT" I put that in caps cause he is legit yelling at the pulpit to a group of 18 year old missionaries. Its an amazing talk and I hope you guys can find those talks because they have had an unmatchable impact on me and my testimony of what it means to by a missionary.

Another amazing thing happened tonight. We all gave blessing to each other before we all go our separate ways tonight. I had the extraordinary opportunity of giving two blessings. First one to my comp that left for Chili today. Amazing kid that truly has made an effort to be here in the mission field. The second was a girl in my district that I hardly know. When she stood and said " Elder Thorn can you please do mine?" a since of bewilderment shot through me. I was so side swiped by her words I said yes. 

As I placed my hands on her head with the seven other priesthood holders I felt as though I had nothing to say. As I began I felt the comfort of the Holy Ghost come over me in a wave of wonder. I felt the power the Priesthood of God work through me. I could feel that same power in the young men around me. As I finished the blessing I felt as though I knew her. I know the Lord gave me the words, which she needed to hear. 

Last thing I wanted to talk about this week happened on Sunday during sacrament. It was our last Sunday so we are aloud to speak on whatever we please. I choose to speak on the opportunity I had to baptize my younger brother. This is mainly going to be for him so Mom please make him read this. Cannon had been asking me or rather telling me that I was going to baptism him for at least a year prior to his baptism. I often would try to convince him that our dad was a much better choice. That Dad had baptized all the other kids and that he had a lot of practice. He would hardly listen to a word I said. I was clearly not worthy to baptize him when he was asking me this. As the months went on I thought more about it and cannon asked ever more about me baptizing him. It is because of my little brother’s persistence that I am getting a plane tomorrow for Honduras. Cannon you were strong when I was not. You knew I could do it when I knew not. You trusted in me when I did not trust in myself. 

Love Elder Thorn

Welcoming Elder Kimball Davis to the CCM

this is my teacher and im sad i forgot to write about him in the big email he is one of my favorite people i have ever met