Week #5

August 23, 2013

Due to problems with visas, last Friday Elder Thayn told us he received a letter stating that he was being temporarily reassigned stateside. He would have to wait until Thursday or Friday of this week to find out where he was being sent on Monday.  

Surprise!!! 

Argentina!!!

              

Not Stateside 

(leave on Tuesday)

Email #1

Well it has finally come! Our travel visas (so technically not our official visas)! We found out last night so that was really exciting. We leave this Tuesday morning. Our flight leaves at 12:30 PM and our first layover is in Dallas, then Miami, and then finally Asunción, Paraguay! Except we're not sure how we get from Asunción to Posadas, Argentina, but I'm sure we will figure it out. I'm super excited but also a little scared since it will all be new to me. 

Today we were able to go to the temple again. It was so sweet, like always. I really like the new endowment video because I feel like it has more emotion put into it. Anyways, so our Branch President's wife wanted us to participate in the sealing of her parents who have passed away almost a year ago and also of having her being sealed to her parents. It was really neat to see. Watching performances like this truly testify to me that our church is the true Church of Jesus Christ. 

For our Tuesday night devotional Elder Maynes from the Presidency of the Seventy spoke to us. Here are some of my favorite things I learned that devotional. 

This one is actually a quote from President Monson, "The demand is increasing, but the impact is everlasting." He was referring to missionary work. 

The other thing I really liked was how he compared Joseph Smith to the perfect investigator of the past, present, and future. And then he compared Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as the perfect example of missionaries. Although we will never be able to be as perfect as Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, they are still who we should be striving to be like. 

Well that's all for now, I hope everything is going well back at home!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Thayn

Email #2

 Here's a picture of me, Elder Averett, and Elder Murphy at the temple this morning ;) Yeah!

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."

Week #4

August 16, 2013

This week Elder Thayn wrote two emails to post on the blog.
First email, about his experiences this past week, second email, pictures, just two and neither of him. :(

STATESIDE???

Previously, Zac had mentioned the troubles missionaries were having getting visas especially in Argentina, Brazil and some other South American countries.

Email #1

Hello everyone, 

So I will start out with the news I just barely received within the last hour. 

So, we finally found out if we were going to be reassigned or not. In our mail we received a notice that our visa clearance has not been cleared so this Thursday or Friday we will receive a temporary reassignment. Since now we know for sure, we're all getting kind of excited because it's like getting another mission call! I will make sure to tell you guys where I will be reassigned as soon as I know next Friday.  

On Tuesday we had our Tuesday Night Devotional and there were rumors the speaker was one of the 12 apostles and...... it turned out it was true! 

Elder Scott came and spoke to us, it was pretty sweet! It's really amazing how strong the spirit is with him, like as soon as he walked in it was like a wall that hit us! A good wall that is haha. Here's some quotes from him that I really enjoyed: 

"The Lord has called us to succeed, not to fail." 

"Pray, even when you have no desire to do it....that is when you need Him the most." 

"He is our PERFECT Father." 

And then my favorite was... 

"Sometimes he will let us struggle so we can grow." I really liked this one because it tells me (us) perfectly why we have hardships in our lives. 

After he finished speaking and the closing prayer had ended no one even moved. It was crazy, like no one even thought of moving. It was almost like a 6th sense in the way where our spirits didn't want to leave, that strong presence of the Spirit. It wasn't until Elder Scott stood up and started walking off. It was funny because as he was leaving he yelled out to us "Be good" and then right before he left through the doors he yelled "I love you" It was funny.

Also on Tuesday we had TRC which is where we teach members a 20 minute lesson. They just come and volunteer here at the MTC. But this time we did TRC over skype! Me and Elder Averett skyped a member named David from Texas. It was a really neat experience, but also kind of hard cause it was more difficult to understand him since it was through skype.  

Just today we had the opportunity to go to the Temple!! We went at 6:50 in the morning. We were able to see the new endowment video which is 13 minutes longer and what I thought was better too. It's always so peaceful in the Temple, especially in the Celestial Room. We will get the opportunity to do it again next Friday so I can't wait! 

Well that's all for now. I hope everything is well at home! I would like to challenge everyone to come closer to Christ and our Heavenly Father by trying to make our morning and evening prayers more sincere. Maybe by taking more time to say them and having no distractions around. For after all he is our loving Father and wants to communicate with us as much as possible. Thank you! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Thayn

Hmm...did you get that? He is giving us a 

to make our prayers more sincere, by taking more time and having no distractions around us...are you up for the challenge???

Email #2

Here's a pretty picture I took of the temple last Sunday!

That other picture is a picture of my "new missionary Host" sticker. I totally forgot to mention that on Wednesday our zone was able to be missionary hosts. It was pretty cool! The first one I got was an international missionary who was from France. And yeah basically he did not know any English... haha it was really hard to show him where everything was and get everything he needed but we eventually got it all. This was his first time in Utah he said. He was going to Tahiti, I just wish the best of luck to him in the MTC! haha. The other one was from Bountiful and he was the usual, we picked him up at the drop off and took him to his room and everything. It was a cool experience, but kind of weird to see all the crying parents and stuff. It reminded me of when I got dropped off, haha. 

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."

Week #3

August 9, 2013

This past week (Wednesday, August 7th) was Zac's 19th Birthday. His first birthday out on his mission, which was spent at the MTC.

Week #3 also means...

 Zac only has 3 more weeks left before flying to Argentina. 

Once again, Zac sent a short email to post followed by 2 more emails of pictures...

Email #1

Hello everyone! 

So I have to say, holy smokes! My birthday was the best I could ever ask for on my mission! I just feel bad because I have like no time to write everyone thank you notes, maybe I will throughout my two years! Haha So thank you everyone for your love and support! I got a total of 7 packages for my birthday. I didn't even have enough time to open them all on my birthday, so yesterday was my second birthday! 

So I figured out the hardest rule to follow in the missionary handbook is no communicating to family/friends with of course the exception of P-Day. Especially this week with all the letters I received. So be patient with me when it comes to responding to all of your letters. 

Earlier today we were able to clean the temple of which I mentioned in last week's e-mail. It was sweet! We cleaned the cafeteria, men's & women's dressing rooms, and some stair cases. We were able to sit in the Celestial room for 10 minutes and just relax and think. It was probably the best 10 minutes of cleaning the Temple. It was only a little awkward because I was in my black vans shoes... But we were in white scrubs that we cleaned in. But after knowing its totally okay since we're cleaning it was really neat! We were also able to see the Brides room so that was pretty sweet! 

Oh and we got some more exciting news in our district.... This Wednesday we will be hosts for the new incoming missionaries! It's weird cause I feel like I'm still new here. 

This week has been pretty good, more challenging though. So now we have two investigators that we teach every other day. So it works out to where we teach one of them everyday. Also being a zone leader has brought more challenges. Like, showing the new district (that came in two days ago) around and answering their questions, and also Sundays are just full of meetings! Haha but still good. 

So I decided the MTC is an emotional roller coaster! Haha but things are getting better now. It's just funny because sometimes I feel like I'm really understanding Spanish but then other times I'm so lost and confused. I have strong faith in the gift of tongues and I have already seen it be apart of me so far into my mission. Thank you guys for all of your support and remember that I'm also praying for you all back home! :) I will make sure to send some pictures! I love you guys! 

Love,
Elder Thayn

Email #2 

Me and Elder Averett's robes of power! The old zone leaders passed them off to us!

A box of cheerios an elder gave to me for my birthday! The cheerio lady was dressed immodest so we covered her up!

 All of the letters I've received from everyone.

Email #3

All of the packages I got from my birthday plus one more that's under my desk!

My haircut I got! The back is pretty short.

These are the elders that left on Monday to Honduras and Mexico.

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."

Week #2

August 2, 2013

Yesterday, August 1, I received a handwritten letter stating he had exciting news. 1st that his district  was chosen to clean the Provo temple next Friday. 2nd that he and his companion, Elder Averett, were called to be Zone Leaders. Awesome news isn't it? He has only been at the MTC for two Sundays...he seems to be doing so well! (Sorry, proud mother moment)

Today we were blessed with an email and 2 emails with pictures to post, Plus a handwritten letter from Elder Averett, he seems really sweet!

Email #1

So time has started to speed up finally here at the MTC. Spanish has been going pretty good, there's just so much to learn in such a little amount of time. But I know with faith all things are possible!  

A mission has so far been the biggest test of my faith, and it hasn't been easy one bit. With all the learning Spanish put aside the MTC is a great place to learn and grow your testimony. It is so spiritual here and I have learned so much. 

So anyways, last Sunday President Tyler pulled me and Elder Averett aside and asked us if we're willing to become the new zone leaders in our zone (11). Of course me and Elder Averett accepted this great opportunity and calling! I'm really excited but also kind of nervous about it all, since I feel like it's a big responsibility. I'm sure me and Elder Averett will do great though. 

Oh another exciting thing that is happening is that our district (11C) has been chosen to clean the Temple a week from today. I heard its a rare experience, so we're all super excited for it. 

As of this week we have started teaching an investigator everyday now, instead of every other day! It is a hard challenge especially now we have to plan two different lessons for two different people. 

Our first one (who we will be teaching tonight) is Pedro and he has been exploring different churches and trying to find the right one for him. 2 days ago we taught him about the restoration and we related him to Joseph Smith! It was such a great lesson and the Spanish seemed to flow easier than ever before. 

Our other investigator Israel has been attending our church for the last 6 years every week too! His wife is a member. So we taught him yesterday and... that didn't go too well, he asked questions we didn't understand and couldn't really respond back to in Spanish. Like he doesn't know/believe how someone (us, lds members) can testify to know certain things to be true . So yeah Israel will be a challenging investigator to teach. We plan on teaching him about the holy ghost so hopefully that will be good for him. 

On Tuesday we had a devotional at the Marriott Center and Elder Richards spoke. A thing I liked that he mentioned was how missionaries always tend to complain about how hard a mission is. And what he told them was "It's not the first time someone has asked that question: Isn't there an easier way? Our Savior even asked that to our Heavenly Father when he was here suffering for our sins." I really liked that because I/we can relate to our Savior when we are going through hard times and just want to ask our Heavenly Father if there's an easier way. This also gives proof that Jesus knows exactly what we're going through. 

Well that's all for now! I hope everything is going well back at home! Send all my love to the rest of the family! I love you guys.

Love always,
Elder Thayn

Email #2 

Our weekly Sunday trip to the temple and a pic of our district in front of the temple! 

A protester yelling "Throw your crowns on the ground, for you are not gods" and "I call you to repentance" oh and the other funny thing was when he was singing and in the middle of the song said "Jesus said this"! Hahaha funny stuff.

Email #3

Oh yes and of course our new tradition "comb-over Wednesday"! Just so everyone knows I was the one to suggest it and start it!  

Our drawing of our ship (our district) and our duties on the ship! Oh and I forgot to tell you guys 

I'm getting a haircut today at 2:45 so next week I will put the picture on of my new haircut! I hope they don't cut it too short! haha

 "NOTICE: These email messages and pictures are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited."