Zacamil- Week 14

Hola Familia!
Well first off, I wanna apologize for my depressing letter last week.... I just remember after sending it that I thought, well crap... that was stupid to say.  I was thinking, way to go tanner... But it seriously meant so much when you said that little Ashlyn Allen prays for me every time she prays... I dunno if I mentioned it last week, but that was awesome. I printed that email out to save it:) BTW, I also printed my priesthood line of authority... THANKS! for doing that for me. And I´m glad my little package got there! That was a relief... and it got there fast. I didn´t expect that. I thought mid November or early December... I guess I was mistaken! But I´m glad you all liked your stuff! I always keep my eyes open for cool tourist stuff, but this country really isn´t a tourist country... so its tough.. but I am always keeping my eyes open for stuff for you guys!
So yeah, it has stopped raining...  Luckily I am in the city so the drainage system is a lot better. But out on the other side of the mission in San Miguel, its bad... lots of floods and stuff... But Now every things good! At least in our area.  Also, I read in the paper this morning that there was a big earthquake in Turkey yesterday... there must be stuff that happens like that every day... we just don't hear about it... just like you guys had no idea about what was happening here! weird... But my umbrella finally broke... so I bought another and that broke as well. But I fixed it with some duct tape.. duct tape can fix anything. But yep! Its been sunny since Thursday!
Last Monday, we were doing a family home evening with the Lopez family..We were watching the RM...jaja and Sis. Lopez's sister called and said that their little boy had just broken his arm and was sobbing crying. I guess it looked like Austin's when he broke his! So we quickly ran over there, I gave him a blessing, we left and went back the next day and it was like nothing had happened! There were having a birthday party and stuff. (see pictures) there may or may not have been some drinking going on... drinking of juice! jaja.
But this week has been OK, numbers-wise.. I have never worked harder, but our numbers don't show... jaja.. QUOTE: You cannot control the numbers, you can only control the effort. Speaking of numbers, yes my comp still wants to baptize a ton. He'll figure it out. Yeah, we can go baptize that many, but it would be like baptizing inactivates... its exactly what dad said. Its about quality not quantity. All of my converts so far are all active and strong and have their testimonies... I don't wanna have converts a that are gonna fall away.
Also, this week, I had the second best lesson of my mission. We taught that one family about polygamy. Remember, he had a huge problem with it? It ended up being a 3 hour lesson where we watched the Emma Smith movie, read a butt load of scriptures, and by the end, they finally got it. I was so excited. Then they all came to church on Sunday and said that they wanna come next week as well. YEAH!!! I am almost positive that we can baptize them in November. Maybe heavenly Father was trying to teach me something when they weren´t baptized a few weeks ago. But also, my comp gave them the assignment to read Jacob 2 with emphasis on vs. 30. After that he said that he has never been sure about the Book of Mormon before, but now knows that it was from God. Fist pump. After that, we went to the familia Lopez and they downloaded the song Paradise for me! VIVA COLDPLAY! It's a pretty song as well. It sounds like a big song... a lot like lost was on the Viva la Vida CD.
Speaking of my comp, he´s really great... we are just two totally different types of people. I´m a hard worker, I think, but I like to work intelligently to get the most out of it... he doesn´t. He basically wants to kill himself from working. Its just one of those things that everyone told me before I left... You have to have time for fun. Fun is one of the things you need to have a good mission... I sure hope that he finds out how to have some fun one of these days...but other than that, he´s a good guy... he´s just really bold with investigators where I try to be their friend first and gain their trust and then be bold... but you know, whatever! (Have you ever wondered where you came from, why your here, and where your going?) :)
So I have had a countdown in my agenda of when the new Coldplay CD comes out. ITS TODAY! I want the low down... track by track review please. Whats good? Whats bad? (nothing) track by track!
Yesterday, we found someone that isn't a member but I thought that he was! He´s been coming to church with his wife for like two months and we found out that he isn´t a member! So we went by his house yesterday and by the end of the lesson was asking what he needed to do to be baptized! Crazy awesome!
"That which you serve, you come to love" good quote for you there... jaja
 So, about the Facebook, ehh... do whatever you think is right. I dont plan on using it for anything but keeping in touch with the people from down here, but I wouldn't mind having my close friends from home... but whatever! Thanks!
Well I don't have a lot of time to address all of your letters, but thank you for all of them and I really enjoy reading about what is going on!
I love you all!
ELDER TAN MAN (still LM)

Zacamil- Week 13

Hola!
So this week has been pretty darn crazy. For one, I started training a new comp & it has been raining non-stop for the past week. I guess there's some hurricane going on or something? Some areas are really, really, bad. Like really bad! People losing there houses and stuff. Major mudslides and flooding. It was no surprise that the church down here all started doing humanitarian work.
So yeah, Monday night, at about 11:30, The president called when we were sleeping. Elder Coy got up and answered the phone. He then woke me up and said that I was wanted on the phone. I think I said something stupid because I was so tired and I didn't know what was going on... jaja.. but the president said that he wanted me to train a new missionary. I obviously acepted, probably because I was sleeping, but he told me to come to his area in the morning for a little bit of training. So,needless to say, I could not sleep that night. I was so nervous. And humbled that the president thought that much of me... I just finished MY training!...The president usually takes zone leaders and makes them trainers... I felt, and still feel way under qualified. Tuesday, I found out that I would be staying in Zacamil... Its quite likely that I'll be here for another 3 months. That would be ok... I like this area for the most part... its one of the only areas in the mission that has a mall you can enter without permission...jaja! Anyway, I sure hope that I can be as good of a trainer as Elder Coy was to me... Pres.Glazier said that the people that affect your mission and really your life most are- 1, the Lord.. 2, the mission president.. 3, your trainer (papá). Elder Coy has taught me so much and I will never forget him. On The day of the changes, he gave me a blessing before he left. I was, and still am, super nervous. But the blessing was much needed.
But Monday and Tuesday, we just visited some of our converts and families that have been really good to us and on Wednesday, Elder Coy got changed. We stayed in the church like all day waiting for the bus...but we made it fun.. jaja
That night I talked with my new hijo for a little bit.. His name is Elder Brose.. He's a gringo from Missouri.. He seems like a pretty cool guy.. He's just got some really high goals and stuff. Stuff that has never been done. Like baptizing a thousand! Thats pretty much impossible... but I felt something that maybe feels a little like parenting. :) I didn't want to let him down. I wanted him to get that goal even though its like impossible.. I personally have never had a goal for numbers and I really don't like it when missionaries have number goals...but I still don't want to let him down. Sure Alma did it, but he had 14 years... or something... I dont remember the story very well...That next morning, I spent my personal study praying harder than I ever have before in my life. Just crying, and pleading with Heavenly Father ... please help me to be able to do this. It almost seemed like everything Elder Coy had taught me went out the window...I've forgotten it all! That day, we didn't teach a ton, I just took him to meet members... so that helped a lot. That night, he started to cry and say how hard this really is and all that.. so I just talked to him for 2 hours straight... just trying to help him feel better.. I told him a little bit of how the mission is, how the culture is and how it is going to take a while to get the hang of it. The rest of the week went pretty smoothly...its just different... and you all know how much I dont like change... jaja... I was all ready to be junior comp and do what my comp says... I guess thats not where the Lord wants me... D&C 122.
But its all good! I'm staying positive.. Its just hard because I've also had a fever on top of all that... after church I went back to the house and slept for 3 hours. It was magical.
But anyway, so yeah, there's like a ton of rain.. the country is in like a state of emergency... the assistants called this morning and told us all to not leave our houses for the next two days unless its important... but I'm safe! So don't worry. :)
So, I got all teary eyed with the poem that Ellie sent and that comment about Ashlyn Allen praying for me every night. I have never stopped loving that family and it was such a huge blessing to hear that I still mean a lot to them and that they still are loving me! T-Allen is doing some good work up there right now... I know he is..
But thank you for everything! Sorry this was kinda a little depressing letter.. things are actually going pretty darn awesome... so dont make the mistake of thinking otherwise. I've been seeing lots of little tender mercies... But I'm sorry I don't have much time... but Can you give me my preisthood line of authority and the address to Grandma Thornton? I realized that I will never have enough time to write a email to her... tell her sorry until I can send a letter...BUT, thank you all for your letters... you have no idea how much they helped this week... the comments that you all wrote and everything... Hope everything goes well with dad also! good luck pops... and I love you all!
Elder T

Zacamil- Week 12

HoLa FaMiLiA!
Thank you for all of your letters! I actually just got dad´s like two min ago.. jaja. Whoa, Primary teacher.. good luck pops! So how´s everything going??? From the sound of it, everything is going great! Things getting back to normal... sounds like anyway... yeah, grandma is awesome. She wrote me this week! So that was pretty cool... hopefully I have time to write her back, because I wasted a lot of time sending fotos.

One of the reasons we had so many fotos this week is because we went to the volcano. that was pretty spectacular. Way legit. On the way up, it was awesome. Nice smooth road. All I wanted was a bike. It would have been so fun.. But yeah.. It was awesome. Actually, the bus didn´t even make it up all the way, so we had to walk about twenty min to get to the top. It started to rain after about an hour so it got really foggy and actually really cold. I haven´t felt those temperatures in a long time. Easily fifties... but it was an awesome experience. Today we are going to play futból in a super cool field. We rented it our for  90 min and I´m stoked. jaja
Also, this week was Elder Coy´s birthday!  It was pretty awesome. I think that we had like 4 parties for him with different members and stuff. It was really fun! I bought him a tie for his birthday. I bought the same one for me. I think I sent a picture of that... but yeah! it was awesome. The cake maybe wasn´t the greatest, but its all good! So I am at 170 lbs. I´ve never been this heavy, but I´m not getting fat, I think its because I´m working out my arms, chest, and abs a lot more than doing cardio. My arms chest and abs have never been stronger or bigger. I´m getting huge!....jaja. It wouldn't be because of all the donuts! :)
Also, I sent a package home this week. So that should be coming soon. I hope you like the things I got you. So you know how everyone says that I sound like dad when I talk and all that? Well when I answer the phone here, its the same response! They always think that I sound like Elder Coy, my papá in the mission. How weird. I guess I shouldn´t be too surprised, right? So I guess I kinda have a Guatemalan accent.. cool! That's kinda cool because I like the Guatemalan accent more than El Salvador's. ja  Accents are funny. Our zone leader had a Chilean trainer so he talks with a Chile accent. Its pretty cool sounding. The only accent that I don't like is...... wait for it.................. the Argentinean.... sorry Hunter....jajaja.
Every morning, we have hot chocolate. Its really good. but they give it to you in a bag inside a cup. So when you are ready to drink it, you take the bag out and pour it in the cup. I was sitting on the couch in our cook´s house and spilled boiling hot chocolate all down the front of me. I´ve never felt that kind of pain before in my life! I thought that I would have blisters and all that. I could only think of when it happened to Brynn so long ago. It hurt like a mother bear. When we got back to the house, I expected to find large ugly blisters... because this stuff is insanely hot. Its like boiling in the cup when they give it to you. But when I examined, there was just a small red spot. After an hour, it didn´t even hurt. I thought, holy crap, garments work! I should have been seriously burned bad... but wow. Testimony builder!
Also, transfers are this week. I dunno if I´ll go or not. Part of me wants to leave but part of me wants to stay.. we´ll see what happens on Wednesday!
We had divisions this week. I went to go sleep in the house of the missionaries who work in the office. They have a super nice big house. WITH......wait for it.........................................A HOT SHOWER! I had my first hot shower of my mission. Probably one of the only ones... but that's OK! The cold ones aren´t so bad... jaja.
So last week, when we were fasting, one night we were contacting someone on the street who didn´t seem really interested, but a good looking girl walked by and said hi to us, like they always do (culebras), and kept walking. We finished our conversation and went on our way. She was waiting for us at the corner and came up to us and asked what she needed to do to come to church with us. We asked for her contact information and all that and then she said, You´re Elder Coy right? And he said yeah, how did you know? She then proceeded to tell a story about when he gave her an umbrella when it was raining really really hard. I was not in the mission field yet, but Elder Coy taught me something that day, people remember you and the things you do. Elder Coy was a true example of Christ and she wanted to know more about us. Oh, the power of fasting.
So yes, we did have some baptisms this weekend. They were a wonderful experience. We baptized Rosa and Veronica (mother and daughter) and Hermana Miriam whose husband  baptized her.  It was a fantastic experience.  I baptized Rosa and confirmed Veronica. I cannot tell you how great a feeling it is to bring someone to the gospel! So that family that we were going to baptize... We have been working with that family for the whole time I've been here in Zacamil. We found them on my first p-day here. We have been working so hard and praying so hard with them. Its the same family that we taught while we were out with Elder Martino. Finally they were ready and agreed to be baptized on friday. I dont think I've ever been more excited. All of the hard work, and everything was coming together! The next day, we had the powerful baptisms of Rosa and Veronica. Then, this family was going to be baptised on Sunday. That night, I went with the DL to do their interviews. The husband said that they would not be getting baptized. He said he'd been reading on the internet about polygamy in Joseph Smith's time. We explained everything, but he wouldn't change his mind . Unfortunately, the wife wasn´t there to help because she has a strong testimony. She has two jobs and provides for the family and when she gets home late at night, reads the Book of Mormon. She is a great example. I couldn´t have been more heart broken. All of our hard work, thrown out the window. The husband has always been hard to convince... I thought that I was going to cry! Sunday morning was Hermana Miriams baptism. Although I was really excited about that, the sister missionaries said that whole morning I never smiled with my eyes. I cannot begin to tell you how much that hurt.  I was so sad. I still am a little... I´d rather dip my jewels in honey and go on a bear watch than go through that...oh wait, that kinda already happened..ja. but These lyrics for some reason came to my mind when all this was happening:

I descended a dusty gravel ridge
Beneath the Bixby Canyon Bridge
Until I eventually arrived
At the place where your soul had died
Barefoot in the shallow creek
I grab some stones from underneath
And waited for you to speak to me
In the silence it became so very clear
That you had long ago disappeared
And I cursed myself for being surprised
That this didn't play like it did in my mind
All the way from San Francisco
As I chased the end of your rope
'Cause I've still got miles to go
And I want to know my fate
If I keep up this way
And it's hard to want to stay
Awake
When everyone you meet
They all seem to be asleep
And you wonder if you're missing your dream
You can't see your dream
You can't see your dream
You just can't see your dream
A dream
And then it started getting dark
And I trudged back to where the car was parked
No closer to any kind of truth
As I must assume was the case with you

I never thought of this song in disappointed way before. Its always been one that I liked...But anyway, our converts together are absolutely amazing. Veronica came up to us after church and said that the blessing I gave her was amazing and she bore her testimony in church and came up to us and said that we were angels that were sent to her. She said that she didn´t know what she was missing until she got what we have. After that, I was OK. I finally perked up a little and thought, Its for the better.. I don't want to baptize inactives. But what she said to me was just what I needed.
Mum, thank you so much for all that you do for me. You have no idea. That mormon.org site is awesome! I loved watching the videos in the MTC and stuff. I think that would be a great idea to have the family make a profile. That would be legit. Also, I have a daunting request....Can you make me a facebook? Something so that I don't forget the families and friends that I have made here. But here would be the deal, you cannot accept anyone as a friend unless they are from El Salvador or served with me here... what do you think? Something that would be easy to find me for the people here? like a name like Elder Tanner Tod Thornton? I really don't know how facebook works... still hate it... but want one for my home dogs here. I love you mum!
Dad, congrats on your new calling! just remember, the Lord brings us down low so he can lift us higher. You are going to learn a lot teaching them and it will be hard, but it is where you´re supposed to be. The Lord needs you there for some reason or another. But just have a good attitude about it and realize that they are just little kids.. they are going to be a little disrespectful... But you´ll do great! Other than that, things sound good! Are you getting back on the bike yet? Any races coming up? anyway, I love you dad. Ecl 4:9 & 10. I don't remember what it says, I just have priesthood written next to it..
Austin, Whats up lady? Hows everything going? So you got asked to winter formal already? So are you stoked? Hows football going? I hope every things going good brotha. You´re my hero. "To the world you may only be a one person, but to one person, you may be the world." A nice quote for you there... also 1 Tim 4:12. Its a good one. mentioned a lot during conference. jaja. Love you brotha!
Ellie, Actually, Elder Martino is a seventy member and the area president here. Cool right? He gave the closing prayer in the Sunday morning session. But it sounds like things are going great! read 1 Tim 4:12 also, Its good. And stay away from those boys! Love ya!
Brynn, I´m so proud that you got up and bore your testimony. I´m glad that you are so sensitive to the spirit and can receive answers easily. That is a huge gift. 1 Tim 4:12 would be a good one for you as well. Love ya Brynn!

I love you all and tell grandma thank you and that I love her and I´m sorry, I don't have much time because I sent like 40 fotos... but I´ll write next week!
ELDER TTT

Zacamil-Week 11

Hola familia!
Thanks for your letters and all that! Its good to see that you are all doing well. So I have so much to talk about with just a little bit of time... We are going to the volcano today for P- DAY! Like half of the mission is going with us... so that´ll be really cool.To say the least, this weekend has been absolutely crazy.
First, we made pan dulce again this week. and the hermano gave me the recipe so know I can make some stuff.. jaja. its super good. When I get back, you´ll have to try it:)
El Pato is amazing. I shared a can between four of us and they all said it was amazing. So legit. And yes I got both packages... thanks mum! you´re the best:)
So Sept is over and that means there is no more 2 for 1 donuts. Our final donut count is 62 donuts this month. I´m glad this month is over! jaja. We were going to take a picture next to all our donut boxes, but we didn´t have time... so next week!
So the houses here are really close together and small. They have these weird windows that are always open because no one has air conditioning, I decided that it is extremely difficult to teach a lesson when Coldplays the scientist is playing super loud next door... jaja.
Also, I know that Mons goes into the MTC soon... what info do I need to send a dear elder?
"Si no trabajarás para Dios, Él no trabajará para ti." Good quote. translation for you gringos-"If you do not work for God, He does not work for you."
We were walking one day and these two little girls were sitting on the side of the street. They were  maybe ten years old. They were like,"hey look at the two gringos!" and then the other said, "they´re not gringos, they´re Mormons!" kinda funny story right? maybe.... jaja.
So all the scripture cases came! They look really good. All of them were perfect... except for mine. he spelled my name THANNER. I wont have that...I  know that I will get another set of scriptures in the future so I decided to get a cover for English as well. But they look super good and I´ll work on sending them soon. asap.
So something I say a lot is "OK". Here they don't say OK.. they say "va" So every one thinks its the funniest thing. So now, a lot of the members started saying OK. Its kinda funny because they just use it whenever... I say " Gracias hermana para la cena. Bien amables.." Etc Etc. Then she´ll just say.. OK!  Just one example for ya... It cracks me up! jaja.

So I decided that it is super cool when one of your converts gets a calling in church. Hermana Elizebeth is now the family history person for the ward. How cool is that? It just makes you feel all good inside. The challenge here isn´t so much baptizing... its more keeping them active. I have been very blessed with the converts we have had because all of them are active. And actually, we have 3 set baptisms for this weekend, but the goal is 6. We want to baptize a family of three this week as well. The familia Ochoa. They are a very odd family for El Salvador. And by weird for El Salvador, I mean they´re a normal family. The husband and wife love each other and never fight. In other words, they would be a perfect family for the church. We all wrote letters to each member of their family and I think that helped a lot. The wife and the 14 year old girl came to the first session of conference on Saturday and the husband came to priesthood.  They all came on Sunday. They said they really liked it. The wife wants to get baptized but the husband is just a little skeptical.. but I tell him all the time that there comes no testimony until after the trial of their faith. So he actually started to read a little bit and pray a little bit and decided that there is nothing that could ever be bad in the Book of Mormon.  I hope with all my heart that we can baptize them. It would be my first family baptized.
Another story of two investigators that we have.  Rosa and Veronica. A mom a her daughter.  We are never able to teach them because they leave for work at 6 in the morning and don't come home until 9 at night. They always come to church. You don't normally find people like that here. But they have been here every week since the first time we found them like 6 weeks ago.  We just haven't  been able to teach them the lessons.  They came to both sessions of conference on Sunday.  Elder Coy is really good with people. So he took them into a classroom one at a time to extend a baptismal date for this weekend.  The mom accepted, but the daughter didn't.  We were a little disappointed but it was OK. She said she just need a little more time to figure it out for herself. That not such bad news, at all. So, that night we walked into the house to hear the phone ringing. Elder Coy quickly answered it. It was the daughter. She said that ever since she has said that she needed more time, she felt something bad in the pit of stomach, or something like that... I don't know exactly how she described it... but she said that she would be baptized this weekend. YAY! Miracles happen.
The other baptism we have scheduled was a reference from a member. Her mother in law is a less active and so is her husband. But she is legit. She teaches us everytime we come. Literally. We give her the pamphlets, she studies them with the scriptures and when we visit, she teaches us what she knows. thats very odd for El Salvador also. So we gave her a Preach my gospel.. and she studies that. She started the Book of mormon like 2 weeks ago and already is in mosiah. She is going to be a great teacher in the church.
So conference this year. Crazy good.  Its kinda hard to believe that 6 months ago dad and I just finished the Tour de Phoenix!  weird. It was also cool to know that I was watching conference at the same time as all you! Except maybe mum and dad...being in Ireland and all, but it was really cool. Probably one of the best ones I´ve seen... but I normally say that every time... so I dunno.. jaja. But there was quite a few themes. One that I noticed was missionary work. There was like 7 talks that said something about missionary work. Missions. Missions Missions.   Also, Elder Martino gave the closing prayer in the Sunday morning session. That is so cool that he called! It just stinks that you weren´t there... he was probably waiting until he got to the states to call... I'm so glad that Grandma was there and answered the phone! but that's really cool the nice things he said. So yeah, I watched all ten hours and I have never been more in tune. AMAZING. My favorite full session was priesthood as it normally is.. My favorite talk was by far Elder Hollands.. like always.  Austin, Watch that again and again!  Please watch it. And all you kids watch Boyd K Packers again. Satan is real and wants to take people down with him. Read your scriptures every day! No matter how much homework you have. Get up every morning and plead with the Lord to help you get through the day and then again in the night to thank him. Be thou an example of the believers. Remember the messages. Missions Missions Missions.
"To those of you who are not yet to the season of life when you might serve a couples mission, I urge you to prepare now for the day when you and your spouse might do so. As your circumstances allow, as you are eligible for retirement, and as your health permits, make yourselves available to leave home and give full time missionary service. There are few times in your lives when you will enjoy the sweet spirit and satisfaction that come from giving full service together in the work of the master" Mum, dad, prepare. You have no idea how awesome it is. :)
Psalms 46:10
1 Peter 3:15 => always be ready to give an answer.
Dad, So it sounds like Dublin was awesome! And work will be OK.. just stay humble. Fast. My testimony of fasting has grown so much in these couple months. It is real and it works. Pray. Read your scriptures every day. Something that I have really liked since I got here is the last chapter in John. Lovest thou me more than these? One day when I´m back we can sit around a fire with some Hot Chocolate and talk about  it:) I love you dad. You are my hero.
Mum, sounds like Dublin was awesome for you as well! Thanks for you letters and the constant love you send. Thanks for always making sure I have everything and all that. You do more for me than you know. Just make sure that dad is always doing the basics... as well as Austin and Ellie and Brynn. Make sure that they know that when times get too tough to stand, kneel.
Austin, you stud. It sounds like things might settle down now that football is almost over right? I hope it does. You are an animal. Just remember to always do the basics. There´s 48 half hours in a day... just use one to read the scrips. love you brotha..
Ellie, how was your conference experience? I want to know how you felt and what you learned. Will you tell me? Cross your heart. Cross it! Good. no turning back. jaja I wanna know all about it.
Brynn. I wanna know what you learned as well. Tell me what you're reading about in the scriptures... How´s school? Grades OK? Piano? lemme know! Read Moroni 8:3

I love you all and thank you for all that you do for me! You have know idea what your letters mean to me.
Elder T