Week 27 Trust

This week has been crazy! 

We found out on Tuesday that our bed bug man was coming on Wednesday and we had to leave the apt for 4-6 hours. We called our office couples and asked them where we should go because we are still supposed to be self isolating. Wednesday morning, we frantically moved everything(basically) out of our apt and loaded things into our car. Then we had district council over zoom. He was supposed to come at 12, but he didn't come until 1:15, so we were just sitting, ready to leave and not really able to do anything. We got keys from our office couple and our new bed bug covers.

The exterminator came and he ripped open our box springs and lo and behold, there he found a bed bug. So for those who have been following. We actually did have bed bugs, it wasn't from our neighbors luckily we got them taken care of, hopefully.
We were so privileged because we got to stay in an apt that senior couples used to live in. Oh man, that was beautiful. I'll include pictures. Sadly, it was only for a few hours. We went back to our apt and cleaned and put everything back for good, hopefully.

We had some crazy lessons this week. We are actually teaching Milton and he is asking questions! It's awesome.

Harold and Melissa, we invited to be baptized, and they are still praying about it. We are really trying to help them understand authority. Its rough.

Barbara is progressing! She is loving Come Follow me, and in yesterday's lesson, she said she knows the Book of Mormon is true.

DQ we just finished teaching the Plan of Salavtion. He understands it and says it's really cool. We have a member there who us able to help translate for him.

Finding has been going better this week and we have set up a few return appointments, so that's good. Calling people has been getting better.
It's funny because the days don't feel as long and the past 3 weeks have flown by. We have only been quarantined for 2, but because of bed bugs, it feels like we have been for 3 weeks, lol.

So we got emergency transfer news today as I was writing this email. Even though we had bed bugs, we are still doing transfers.... that's fun. Transfers are tomorrow.

I am staying here in Ithaca and my new comp is Sister Oleson. She was Sister Barretts companion a few transfers ago, so I already know that she is a great missionary!
Sister Barrett is going to Rochester with her MTC companion, so she is pretty excited about that. We are sad we are leaving each other. We thought that we were going to stay companions until next transfer because of the bed bugs.... but surprise!

In other news, I hit my 6 months this past week, so that's cool.
And today we cut my hair. Only like an inch or two, but it was still something.

I am learning that God is really preparing me for a life of change. I hate change, it causes me so much anxiety, but God is helping me rely on him more and more so that when I have crazy circumstances in my life, I will already be willing to have complete trust in Him. I know that everything we go through prepares us for something bigger and better. It's scary, but I remember that Christ knows exactly what I am going through and He loves me so much. He wants to help me and His arms are continually stretched out.

I have a picture hanging up on my wall of Christing hugging a young woman. This picture reminds me of His ultimate love for me.

I love you all!
Sister Thacker

Bed Bug Info

Cute Apartement

 My redecorated wall after bed bugs

District Picture Social Distancing 

Week 26

So this week has been a doozy.

We got a message early in the morning on Tuesday informing us that we would be self isolating in our apartments for the next 2 weeks. We have been doing online and over the phone work and it has been an adjustment. We have seen some miracles! We gave invited 3 of our friends to be baptized. They are currently praying about it to know if it is what they should do. (It is, but they need to know that for themselves).

We have been able to have more members join our lessons because of the convenience of video call lessons. Our friends are progressing!
One of our friends received the Come follow me book and her heart is softening to the gospel and she is more eager to learn the doctrine for her own salvation not just to know what our church is about. It's amazing to see the change!

We have scheduled a few lessons from calling people who have been taught previously! That's so exciting! I know the Lord is blessing us in our efforts.

Some people might be wondering what the missionaries are doing while in isolation. Are we on a break? Are we cleaning? Reading? Sleeping?
All of these would be false! We are keeping our normal hours and we are working just as hard if not harder. If we need breaks from long periods of time calling people, we can take "lightning breaks". That's when we would clean or study something, etc for 20ish minutes.
In addition, we take two, 30 minute walks each day.

This is a hard time. We are trying to figure out how to be missionaires while not doing completely normal missionary activities.

These thoughts helped me recognize something from my studies this morning.
I am reading through the Book of Mormon and right now I am in Ether. Today I read chapter 2.
This is when the Brother of Jared is asking the Lord how they are going to make it across the ocean in these big barges. He asks how they are going to breathe and how they are going to have light. The Lord told him what to do for the air problem. But when he asked about the light problem, the Lord asked the Brother of Jared what he thought they should do. The Brother of Jared preceded to go work. He molted out of rock, 16 stones for the Lord to touch and cause to shine. God knows all, He can do anything, we now know there are quicker things that God could have given him. He could have given him solar panels, light bulbs, batteries, etc. But if God have given him all the answers, the Brother of Jared would not have worked as hard as he did and learned to trust in God even more.

Sometimes when we find ourselves in situations where we have no idea what to do, God will get us started, but then He will let us do the rest. He does this to help us grow and learn to rely on Him. He will not leave us alone in the process, but we will have to do our share of the work.
In this difficult situation, God provided us missionaires a list from our leaders of things we can do to continue sharing the Gospel. But how to implement them in each of our missions and areas, we have to figure out ourselves. As we are obedient to the things already given us, and strive to add onto them, God will consecrate our efforts and make them more than anything we imagined.

This applies to everyone, this is a difficult situation and we may not know what to do. I promise as you are obedient to the things you already know, follow the commandments and listen to your leaders (the prophet, apostles, general authorities, and local leaders). You will blessed with direction on what to do. Then, as you have drawn yourself closer to God and Christ, you are open and WILLING to listen to the Holy Ghost and you will know what you need to do during this time.

I love you all and hope you stay happy and healthy!
Love Sister Thacker

Also because of small businesses shutting down, we won't be getting a exterminator to come check and treat for bed bugs.
Oh yeah, and we might of not even had bed bugs in the first place.
Living out of trash bags for nothing

I also will hit my 6 months this week on the 25th

Pictures:

1. This was Sister Barrett on day 2....

2. We finished a puzzle this week, it took us 2 days thank you mom!

3&4&5. We took pictures cause I looked good

6. We still got to go to the store today, it was just entirely empty.

Week 25 The Longest Week

This has been the absolute longest week ever.

I want to preface this email with a quote from a Dark chocolate Dove wrapper: "After every storm there's a rainbow, no matter how long it takes to show up"

This week it has been one thing after another that has tested my sanity.

My week put simply (all of these things occured in our apt besides the virus ones)

Tuesday: Bed Bugs and Spider, interviews with President Vest.

Wednesday: Centipede

Thursday: mirror shattered, centipede #2

Food storage for possible quarantine, church cancelled

Friday: dishwasher broke, got more info on Corona

Saturday: missionary work continues, finally found toilet paper

... if any of those don't make sense, sorry lol.

This has been the hardest week for me and my anxiety.

But I have come out of this week with more trust in God and a stronger testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. I know that He was with me every second, reminding me He knows what I am going through and I can rely on Him to become stronger.

On Sunday we has a really sacred opportunity to have the Sacrament brought to our apt and blessed there.

The spirit was so strong and the priesthood holder blessing the water got choked up as he was blessing it. It is amazing to feel the power that comes through worthy priesthood holders.

I am also so grateful for the Prophet, President Nelson and for his guidance from God for this world.

I encourage all of you to watch the videos that have been shared on the church website and President Nelson's Facebook these past few weeks. I truly know that God is working through a living Prophet to prepare us for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

These videos will help us prepare for General Conference when the Living Prophets and Apostles will speak Gods word to us.

Also a talk that I kept thinking of this week is titled "Mountains to Climb" by Henry B. Eyring from April 2012. Please read it!

Proverbs 3:5-6

Love,

Sister Thacker

Week 24 Oh How Lovely Was the Morning

Hey family and friends!
This has been an awesome week!

I am going to work my way backwards from the end of the week to the beginning.

I just want to say, I love Daylight Savings!! Yes, losing an hour of sleep is not the best, but I love that the sun stays up so much later! Yesterday, we went to a park that is on the Fingerlakes, it was gorgeous! I will include photos of course. We met some cool people too.

Friday to Saturday we had exchanges and I went down to Binghamton with Sister Wright and Sister Steiner. Binghamton is awesome! I had so much fun and I met some very unique people. It helped me see how much I have grown over the past 5ish months. I am able to talk to people and share my testimony easily and without much nervousness. God has really blessed me with courage to do His work.

We also had Zone Conference on Tuesday and that was amazing! It was held in Palmyra and then we had the opportunity to go to the Sacred Grove.
The Sacred Grove is where Joseph Smith prayed and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. Beforehand we watched a video of the First Vision and we sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer and The Morning breaks. The Spirit was so strong in that Chapel. Then we walked in the rain to the Smith family home and to the Sacred Grove. 
We had about 30 minutes in the Grove to pray, read the scriptures and ponder. The peace that was in that Grove was more than I could imagine and I felt so much love from my Father in Heaven.

I know that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ in that Grove of trees and because of that miraculous vision, we now have the True Church of Jesus Christ on the Earth with His power and authority. I know as it says in Mosiah 3:17, "there shall be no other name given nor any other means whereby salvation can come into the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent."
I know as I strive to follow God and Jesus Christ and keep Their commandments, I will return to Them and have everlasting joy.

I invite all of you to have a Sacred Gorve experience. I am not saying that you need to come to the Sacred Grove, (if you can you should) but take a little bit of time to find a quiet spot, and pray to your Father in Heaven. Then wait, remain quiet and I promise, you will be able to feel love from Him and you will know that He is there.

I hope you have a great week! Love you all!!!

Sister Thacker

Week 23

I know its lame to talk about the weather, but seriously it's been crazy here. We had super warm weather the beginning of the week. Then it was freezing and we had snow. Now we have warm weather again.

So anyways, this week has been awesome!

Highlights:

Milton

Service

Harold and Melissa

Trainee

DQ

We had two awesome lessons with Milton this week, and he came to church!! He is so great and tells the best stories!

We do service every week at Food Net, it's like meals on wheels. We get to wear jeans!! It's so nice!

We had an awesome lesson with Harold and Melissa on Friday about faith. The spirit was so strong! They are amazing and make we just need to get them to church again.

We had a trainee join us on Friday because her trainers were at a meeting all fat. We had the best time! She is amazing and doing awesome.

We had a friend, DQ, come to church on Sunday on his own! He showed up and the Brach was so amazing at fellowshilling him. He is coming back next week.

Tomorrow we are going to the Sacred Grove for zone conference. So I will share a spiritual thought next week and share beautiful pictures.

For this week the pictures I have are of me haha, enjoy! Also our friend Jim gave us cookies this week, dark chocolate raspberry cookies, yummy!

Love you all!!

Sister Thacker!