Week 52 1 YEAR?!

Wow!!! Family and Friends it has been a whole year... Crazy...

I hit my year mark from being in the MTC. I am officially old.

This week has been a Roller coaster of emotions. But I'm doing good now.

We took some really pretty pictures on our drive to District Council. I have some really pretty pressed leaves

Stay obedient to God's commandments and the law of the land. You will be kept safe and continue to have peace in your life!

There is a wonderful quote that I love from the talk, "Drawing the power of Jesus Christ into our lives" by President Nelson.

"When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours."

I saw this quote apply in my life this week and I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that Heavenly Father loves me.

I love you all so much! Happy Fall!!!

Sister Thacker

Week 51 - 11 Months in New York!! Holy Cow!!

Wow! This has been a week.

There were a few lows this week, but also miracles! 

We finally got ahold of Debbye from a few months ago! She answered and I was so happy!! I cried happy tears and we set up an in person lesson for tomorrow!

We went to another orhard today pictures included. 

I invite you all to read the talk, "The Challenge to Become" by President Oaks. It is so good! A quote that I love, "From such teachings (in the Book of Mormon) we conclude that the Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts—what we have done. It is an acknowledgment of the final effect of our acts and thoughts—what we have become."

I learn two things from this: 

First, we cannot simply go through the motions and check off boxes because if our covenants and promises we do not change us, we will not have become the person who God wants us to be.

Second, our choices do not define us. No matter what we have done, we can still return to live with God. Because of Jesus Christ and through true repentance, we can be forgiven of our mistakes and change. Our mistakes do not define us, we can always repent!

I love you all! I am really enjoying spending fall time with Sister Kobe, she loves fall sooo much, haha. The only thing we don't like is the change of temperature. We run the heater in the morning and the air conditioner in the afternoon.

Sister Thacker 

Pictures

This week I hit my 11 month mark of being in the field... On Friday I hit 1 year since entering the MTC...

The other orchard!

Me and Sister Kobe

Week 50 Fall is in the air!🍁

It has now gotten a little bit chiller and that means fall is here in the North Country, which means, next week it's winter

Not a whole ton happened this week. The Jay miracle continues! His whole family of 5 is on date for baptism on the 24th of October! So exciting!

Please pray for our friends Gail and Max, it's been a hard week for them

Braden is now also on date for baptism, so that's good!

I gave a talk in church on Sunday. Brother Tefft called Friday night and asked if I would be willing to take the place of the person who was supposed to speak. Last minute talks are so fun

But Sister Kobe said it was really good

We finally had interviews with President Vest, that was good. They were over Zoom though, so not as good. But I love President Vest! He is amazing

We also recieved transfer news today, shocking, I know. But I will be ....Drumroll.... I will be staying in Plattsburgh with Sister Kobe!!! That means she is my first companion I have had for more than 1 transfer besides my trainer and I will be here in Plattsburgh for 6 months of my mission🏻 I am so excited to continue working with the Branch and our friends! And also perks because 6 more weeks of Chick-fil-A, and the nicest young missionary apartment in the mission! Hopefully I leave after this next transfer though because I do not want the North Country winter🥶

Also today for our P-day, we went to an Orchard and got fresh honeycrisp apples, cute little pumpkins and apple cider donuts.🤤 Wow, so yummy! I have many pictures

Spiritual Thought: Read the talk, Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into our Lives by President Nelson. It is soooo good

I love you all!! Have the best week️

Sister Thacker

Pictures

The donuts🤤

My little pumpkin

Honeycrisp apples

The cute orchard!

Chick-fil-a

Petting Zoo

Week 49 Scariest Event of My Mission

This week has been insane...

We put Jenny and Shelby on date for baptism and they are so cute and excited! We had a crazy good on-the-spot lesson with a man named Jay and it was amazing! He cried when we shared Helaman 5:12 with him and he wants to be baptized! He lives in our Zone leaders area and they've been trying to get a hold of him for a while, so we've been working together! He also wants his whole family to be baptized! He also testified of the Book of Mormon answering his questions from the scripture we shared.

This crazy lady referred herself to us and then we thought we were going to get kidnapped... that was scary. They all just love to share their entire life story and everything going on in their life. Oh we also had distinct council outside!!! Our district only consists of us 2 sisters and 3 Elders...so we needed a third party to come and she didnt show... so we had to be out in a public area so we sat in the back our our cars!! In the church parking lot! Then it rained!!!🤣 it was crazy! (We later found out we still needed a third party..whoops. Now we know.)

I guess you are probably wanting to hear the kidnapping story. So... wednesday after district council we get home and we receive a new referral so as we are making mac n' cheese, we decide to call her. She is crazy... I'll call her M. She starts by saying "let me fill you in." When people in New York say this... buckle up! She tells us all about how she is being hacked and the government is watching her and someone is out to murder her and so she wants to be right with God and the church. She used to be a member and cant remember if she removed her records or not. Told us all about these bad things she has done in her life and now wants another copy of the Book of Mormon and the Bible and her patriarchal blessing. We were on the phone with her, just listening basically, for 30 minutes! We just wanted to make mac n' cheese! We were hungry and she took up our whole lunch time! Anyway, we get ahold if the branch president because she is really under his authority being a past member. He talks with her and we ask him if he thinks it would be okay if we go over on Saturday to drop off her books. He said she is safe just  "North country excentric". 

So Saturday morning we call her telling her we are coming by to drop off her books... 

It honestly was so scary. Just everything she did while we were there was pretty off putting... she was very aggressive in her story telling (dont worry not towards us) she told us to close the door behind us and everything in us said dont close the door!!! We closed the door... we did NOT move from the door way though. We tried so hard to leave sooner but we were standing there listening to her talk/shout for 30 minutes! We finally were able to give her the books and get out!! The whole time we were in there, the spirit was gone and she was acting pretty hostile and I was just scared she was going to grab a gun or something and keep us hostage. As we were driving away we both agreed to never go back without President Brandt. Or ever!

We also had district P-day today and we went on a really cool hike! We had  members there and we hiked halfway up because we didn't have enough time, but it was still so much fun! Brother Bandy came with us and the Branch President from Malone and his wife came too. We are going to be so tired tonight and I have been getting cramps in my calvesyay. But it was really nice to be in nature

That's our week this is probably the longest email I have ever sent, haha.

Spiritual thought: if you are struggling with feeling love for others, look outside yourself and focus on them. I needed that this week.️ 

Love you all!

Sister Thacker

Pics from our hike and district council

We got ice cream last week!