Week 65 "I was dreaming of a white Christmas"

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day calling people (those we know and random numbers) and singing Christmas Hymns! We had a lot of fun!

We talked to some fun people this week and even found a new friend! We also put our friend Tracey on date!

It's been a harder week, for a number of reasons, but I have been learning patience, charity and endurance from these struggles.

I know Jesus Christ knows exactly how I feel and I can turn to Him and rely on His grace and mercy. We can't be perfect in this life but we can only become better each day. And even then, we fall short. Only through the Grace of Christ can we return to Heavenly Father, on conditions of faith and repentance. Christ can work with even a desire to change and become better.

I love you all!

And I can officially say, I will see you next year! (3.5 months left)

Sister Thacker

Pictures

Our homemade Apple pie

Our failed monkey bread (we had instant pudding, not cook and serve)

Gingerbread house

Our "white Christmas" the whole 1.5 feet of snow melted...

Yummy Christmas dinner

My cute family on Christmas!

Week 64 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!🎄☃️🎅

Wow! What a week this has been...

I feel like I say that every week, oh well.

So for context we haven't found anyone new in 3 weeks and we haven't heard from Marissa or Peter. Our lessons have been pretty spotty too with Tracey, Gregory and Garth. It's been a lot of finding these past few weeks. Anyways! So we had interviews with President Vest on Friday and received some promptings on things we can do to improve. Since that day, we have found 3 new people!

One of them was from calling the box, another one was a former in area book, and the last one was a referral!

So we got the referral last night around 7:30 and we immediately called her. Her name is Donna and she is awesome! She answered and said, "Wow! That was fast!" after we introduced ourselves. She is looking for direction in her life and is excited to learn more about our church and even asked about baptism!

We also talked to this super sweet member yesterday. She answered the messenger call and had her bird on her head! She was so much fun to talk with!

The birds name is Birdie of course.

This week, we finally got snow!!! Approximately 1.5 feet of snow

Pictures will be included. We went out on one of our walks and decided to scrape off our car and try to shovel out the cars around us. It was so much fun! This was Sister Larsen's first real snow because she is from Texas. We made snow angels and trudged through the snow on our nature walk! Snow is so pretty!

We also made homemade snow icecream, she loved that too

We also started Caroling over the phone and people are loving it!

My spiritual thought comes from the First Presidency Christmas devotional from a few weeks ago. We have started sharing it our members.

Sister Craven said, "In a world so much in need of peace, our gentle words, our acts of compassion and kindness can be the means of wrapping another in a warm, swaddling blanket. I have come to understand that the more we act on promptings to serve others, the more heavenly blankets the Lord gives us to share. 

What promptings have you received? Who do you know that is in need of a heavenly hug? 

Our personal or virtual touch may make all the difference in the life of a loved one or even a stranger."

We have invited our members to think of someone who is in need of a Heavenly hug thus Christmas. A Heavenly hug can be anything from an actual hug to a simple act of service.

As this week of Christmas begins, I invite you all to think of someone who is in need of a Heavenly hug and to reach out to them in a simple way. I can promise you will feel the joy that comes from service and you will be able to help someone in their moment of need.

I love you all and hope you have an amazing Christmas! Drink some hot chocolate, sing Christmas songs, play in the snow, and most importantly, remember the true meaning of Christmas is the humble birth of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ

Love,

Sister Thacker

Photos

Lots of snow pictures

We also made Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!

Week 63 🎶Grandma got ran over by a reindeer🎶

Hello everyone,

This week has been good, slow, but good.

We had transfers this week, Sister Johnson got transferred to North Syracuse. Sister Larsen and I are still here in Bennington! It's going to be good transfer.

So not a whole ton has happened this week with our friends, however, Garth came to church with his significant other Stephanie and his son. It's the first time we have had a friend come to church since I have been here in Bennington!

Its snowing right now and later this week it's supposed to be in the single digits!!

My spiritual thought comes from Saints Volume 1. I have been reading it during lunch and dinner, it's so good! It's been eye opening to even more of the hardships the Saints went through, and I have learned so much about the early members of the church. My testimony has been strengthened of the truthfulness of this Gospel.

If anyone has questions about early church leaders or History, I would encourage you to read Saints. It tells the History like a story from the journals of the early members! It's super interesting.

Anyways, my spiritual thought comes from Joseph Smith: “Every species of wickedness and cruelty practiced upon us will only tend to bind our hearts together and seal them together in love.”

We all go through hardships and no matter what Satan throws at us as a world, nation, church, or family, our hearts can be bound and sealed together in love as we look to Christ and rely on His Atonement.

I hope you all have an amazing week! Love you all!

Sister Thacker

PICTURES

We got Christmas presents from Sister Broberg, w/ antler headbands.

Our Christmas tree

Interesting picture I found while doing Facebook work... it also said, "no weiner dogs were harmed in the making of this picture"

Sister Larsen's chair finally gave out, these chairs are so old and worn, it was bound to happen sometime

Week 62🎅It's the most wonderful time of the year🎄

Happy December everyone! Its still brown out here. We did get a little bit of snow and of course we got pictures

This week we invited our friend Peter to be baptized! He is amazing! He said that when the time came for him to be baptized, he would be ready so excited for him!

We also have invited our friend Tracey to be baptized! She is progressing really well and is loving what we are teaching her.

We had a zone discussion this week about the talk Careful vs. Casual. Now this is about the 3rd time that we have studied this as a mission, so going into this training I really hadn't received any new revelation from reading this talk again. As we talked, the Spirit spoke to me what things I could be more careful in doing related to keeping the missionary standards.

President Vest was very bold with us missionaries and reminded us that anytime we are gossiping, or are saying or laughing about vulgar or immoral things we are swimming in the filthy river in the Vision of the Tree of Life. We are moving ourselves into the gray area and closer to the great and spacious building. In the gray is where Satan works at us the most, because he knows if we allow a little bit to slip in keeping the commandments, he can lure us into the darkness.

There is always a way to get back to the light, but it is only through turning to Jesus Christ, accepting Him, and relying upon His Atonement to repent and change. There is always hope because of Jesus Christ. 

I hope you all have an amazing week!

P.S. this week is transfers, so just in case, don't send me anything in the mail until you know for sure that I will be staying.

Love you all!

Sister Thacker

Snow! It only lasted a day...

First presidency Christmas Devo and Hot Cocoa

My wonderful district

Week 61 - Thanksgiving😊🦃

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving

Its been an amazing week! We had a great Thanksgiving delivered from a local restaurant (provided by our wonderful branch) and we made our own because of course, but we made ham not Turkey.

We also saw miracles on Thanksgiving! We were calling the box (a great finding method) and a man named Gregory answered! He was willing to hear an uplifting scripture and to talk with us again! Yesterday we were able to walk to his house and drop of a Bible and a Book of Mormon for him and he is the cutest!

We got to have a devotional with Elder and Sister Groberg. If you don't know who they are check out to the movie, The Other Side of Heaven. They are so cute! We got to watch clips of the movie and then he explained how each of the experiences affected his conversion to Christ. It was awesome!

I hope you all had an amazing week. Just a reminder to be grateful for the little things in life. As President Nelson said, there is healing power in Gratitude. There have been so many things I have been studying or listening to that talk about the importance of Gratitude in terms of our happiness. I promise as you look for the blessings in your life and are grateful for them, you will find more happiness in your life!

I love you all, pray that we get snow over here soon please! Happy December!

Love Sister Thacker

Thanksgiving #1

Pie

Thanksgiving #2

More pies

My cute companions