Muli Shani from Ndola!

hello!!! I've now been in Ndola 5 days wahooo.... 

Tuesday i was still in Lusaka!! crazy day... we had the NEW MISSIONARIES COME IN and they are so cute. 3 new sisters!! Sister Arok, Sister Brown, and Sister Reid. So small world.. I saw sister reid and i totally recognized her.. Turns out she was in my beginning dance class at BYU!! crazy stuff.. She is serving in Lusaka so I won't see her much, but she has already graduated from BYU and she is powerful. Sister Bingham got to stay the night in our flat on Tuesday and it was a happy reunion. 

Wednesday we got to take missionaries to the airport and then get ready to go to the bus station! Sister Arok and I got on a bus at 13:30 and we didn't get to Ndola until about almost 21:00... it was so so so long. but my cute companion and Sister Arok's companion (Sister Nkosi) were there to pick us up at the airport. Sister Arok is so funny.. and she still says all the slang from back home hahaha so it's taking me back to the pre mission days. 

Thursday we start teaching the gospel! We have a great area with a lot of families that we were teaching! 

Barton:  a 50 year old man who has been taught everything.. and we were convinced he would be an eternal investigator. We went to go teach him, and we just read Alma 36 with him about repentance and committed him to pray about baptism. The next morning he calls us to let us know that Heavenly Father answered his prayers and he is ready for baptism. AHHH SO EXCITING. he told us that the day would be up to us. But he still has some smoking problems and he still goes to his other church along with the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints! So we'll see.. we're thinking maybe end of February? But this church is true and missionary work is full of miracles. 

Aaron: Father-led. His wife is a little intimidated  because she doesn't speak english but he came and brought his daughter to church!!! 

Mercy: powerful powerful member. We were teaching her cousins last night and they were just persecuting and being so rude and wouldn't accept the book of mormon. Hey it was a rough lesson... #grateful for my companion who we were able to keep our cool but most imporantly keep contention out and keep the spirit there. So grateful for my testimony of the Book of Mormon. At the end of lesson Ssiter Mercy bore powerful testimony and said that at the judgement bar of God she can now say that she did her part and taught her family about the Book of Mormon and how she won't be held accountable. YOU GO MERCY. and then she asked to say the closing prayer and seriously the most humble prayer of my life.. Sister zohner and i almost started crying. She was just so grateful her whole prayer and the only thing she asked for was that her family would feel of Heavenly Father's love for them and that the missionaries would travel safely. oh I already love her so much. 

Funny Stories: 

1. We walked out of a lesson and someone saw us and was like "are you the mormons" and we get all excited because a lot of people don't know about us here and so we start talking and we invite him to church (his name his Mr. Phiri) and he asked us if we do miracles at our church and we say that there are miracles but it's not what we do during our congregation. and he just goes off how we're limiting our faith.. and they he asks us if we go to school and i was like yeah i'm majoring in nursing and he was like "ooohhh this makes so much sense... this is why your faith is limited. you are putting your faith in science rather than in God" hahahahah i died. i love people. 

2. Today (picture above) we went to go play basketball so we are in our p-day thug clothes and we were trying to take a mirror pic and this random lady decided to join in. hahahaha 

3. Last night we were driving home through dirt roads and we got stuck in the mud... oops. and so my poor companion had to get out in the mud and start pushing. And then this random lady wiht a baby on her back joined in and with the help of both we got out of the mud. too funny. 

Personal study: 

so I've been studying Jesus The Christ.. changes my life. 

But i've also been taking my time reading Isiah in 2nd Nephi.. and there really is so much good in there. Luckily I have the institute manual which helps so much.. seriously the church is true. 

We have interviews with President this week which i'm super stoked about!! There is so much that I could say each email, but just know that i'm a happy happy missionary. Getting transferred was sad, but i'm loving my new area and love my new companion as well! 

PLAY HARD PRAY HARD. 

Sister Thueson

TRANSFERRED.... Ndola Bound

January 18, 2016

Heeey family!! The most unexpected call of my life came on Friday night... seriously we were 100% positive that transfers wouldn't affect us.. but late Friday night our zone leaders call to say that Sister Solomone is staying in Lusaka and her new companion will be Sister Tuai and that i'll be transferred up to Copperbelt to be companions with Sister Zohner and i'll be staying STL in that zone. They speak a different language... wahoo Bemba time.

I was so shocked... I was so convinced I was going to stay in this area for a looonngg time.. but God works in mysterious ways. They always ask missionaries that are elaving the ward to bear their testimonies... and I just stood up there and cried. because it was just so unexpected haha... When I told one of the member's i'm closest with that i'm leaving (Sister Jane) she just started crying... aish it broke my heart.

After 7 months of being together... of her training me, serving in 2 different countries... Heavenly Father is finally separating Sister Solomone and I.. only 1 transfer before she heads home. I'm so grateful for her and for all she has taught me!! But i'm excited to learn new things from a new companion! 

But the work goes on! This week was great great great. Seriously we have started really builiding relationships with the members that we had members working with us almost every single day, and some days we had 2-3 with us all day... Which led to a major increase in our member present lessons.. the highest we have ever had and so hopefully we'll be able to keep that up:)

FUNNY STORIES: so we had a fall through one day and so we went to go serve one of our investigator's mother who doesn't speak english... and we can speak broken chinyanja that we can communicate... but we wanted to wash her dishes because it was right after lunch.. but her buckets were empty and so we offered to take them and fetch for water. We insisted on taking 2 buckets each but she didn't let us and told us we could only do one... We walk a ways and fill up the buckets and then of course she just casually puts hers on her head and starts walking while I try to carry it... haha I didn't even make it like 50 feet. I had to keep switching hands and it was spilling all over me and everyone was just laughing at the azungu. Eventually a man came and helped me carry it half way... EMBARRASSING

another funny story.... (picture included) we went to go teach this stubborn man who won't accept the book of mormon.. but a member told us to give him another try and so we did... any who his nephew was there and he came in and said he wanted to hug the azungu and so i hugged him, and we finished the lesson and he just stayed there the whole time.. adn then when we got up to leave he just started bawling... and kept crying out "azungu.. azungu.." it was so sad.

Tender Mercies: aish so many tender mercies of the week.

1. the 2nd counselor in the bishopric calls us and tells us to meet with his cousin Kalumba. He is so great, and asks very sincere questions and he even came to church. We put him on date for sometime in February!!!

2. Hagaii... cutest 13 year old boy ever... He has come to church the past 2 weeks and we are started teachign him.. but then we started teaching his family as well. He came up to me yesterday and said "Sister Thueson you promised me you would give me a Book of Mormon and now you're leaving" and he was just so sad. haha it was cute.

3. Virginia.. the one who brought her family to church last week. She got sick on sunday so she couldn't come.. but we went and visited her and she told us that her husband is coming with her next week (we had never met her husband, but the way she talked about him made us think that he wouldn't be interested and that he would be intimidating) but we met him on Sunday and he is seriously so so so nice. and he was so excited to come to church, and ahhhh A FAMILY! During the lesson Virginia just kept saying, "wouldn't it be so nice if Jesus was here on earth to teach us so we could know what was really the truth?" and my companion and I both just wanted to shout "WE ARE REPRESENTATIVES OF JESUS CHRIST AND WE TEACH THE TRUTH" haha but we just tried to say it in a calm way.. But we told her just to pray.. She is on date for the 14th of Feb!

just too many miracles to count. Almost all of the investigators that were being taught by the previous missionaries are not progressing.. and so we have had to drop them, but we have been able to find so many new wonderful people, and that is why I got pretty sad to get transferred.. but Sister Solomone has promised to keep me updated on their progression.

I've loved my time in Lusaka and even though it has just been 6 weeks i've become really close with so many people, and they will be dearly missed. I've especially become really close with the young women because they love working with us and teaching with us. Truly the future of the church rely's on the youth.. and they are powerful.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH... until next time (from Ndola) 

7 MONTHS!

January 11, 2016

yeahoooooo 7 months today!! crazy stuff my friends the best 7 months of my life.... My good friend Sister Meg Jo just emailed me and told me to "leave it all out on the floor" hey that hit me home... no better way to remind me to stay focused than relating it to a good ol' drill analogy.. i have 11 more months to leave it all on the ZAMBIAN FLOOR. 

this week... wow wow wow. 

Monday: 2 new investigators... Dominic and Stephen and Stephen even came to church!!! wahoooooo 

Tuesday: Immigration... I'm legal here in Zambia unlike malawi hahahah.. but we had to sit there fooorrreever hey. New investigatorl.. Frasier!!! Referral from Zulu family! 

Thursday: Had my first mission leadership council! except since our mission is so big we have to do it over skype!! But it was inspiring and seriously we talked a lot about the effects that have come from not tracting... and hey our mission has become statistically 250% more effective. how crazy is that?? And Elder Anderson is coming in Feb and I get to see him cause i'm serving in Lusaka... fist pump!!

Taught the Mulenga family and the father was actually able to sit in on the lesson... except we taught the Plan of Salvation... and it didn't go as well as hoped... Sister Thueson got in a minor Bible Bash with him... and that drives the sprit away so fast. We ended up just having to bear testimony and end the lesson.. but we are going back this week to clarify some things that we had some misunderstandings about! 

Saturday: Ward Christmas Party... hahahahahahah my friends and family. the party was supposed to start at 11... (well it probably should ahve been 2 weeks ago) and we went to go help get the food ready since no one could and the party didn't end up starting until 16! hahaha it was crazy... and it wasn't even a party... everyone just came and ate chicken and rice and pasta and then left. we had teaching appointments through out the day so we would come see if the party had started... leave and teach and then come back and it was just crazy. 

Sunday: As Sam calls it... "the super bowl" you're either super stoked or super disappointed... and after 2 weeks with 0 investigators coming to church... we had 3! Well even more than that because we had Virginia Precious and STeven... and then Virginia even brought her whole family!!! who we hadn't been teaching but it was great! and I think she enjoyed it! and then a potential named Hagaii came with the Zulu family! great stuff great stuff.

funny stories of the week:

I greeted someone in Nyanja and they called me racist... hahah the fetch? I think he was drunk.

okay that's all that i can think of... pepani.

but we get 10 new missionaries next tuesday... who is excited?? I am! i love love love new missionaries and the excitement that they bring into the mission!! Sister Solomone will start her last transfer next week and I hope i'm still her companion!!

Well i'm so grateful to be here in Lusaka... I'm loving it, and there are always the difficulties but so many tender mercies. Nothing I love more than testifying of Jesus christ and his Atonement... and of course eating these caterpillars featured below:)

have a wonderful week. Play Hard Pray Hard!! 

Sister Thueson

"Count your many blessings"

January 4, 2016

I'm going to start off explaining my subject... so yes I'm sitting in sacrament yesterday... waiting... and waiting.... and waiting... for an investigator to walk through the door. I keep waiting and waiting through the whole meeting... and no one. Of course I start to get frustrated... I start to compare myself to the missionaries that were in this area before... how they used to have investigators at church and now that I'm here it's like people are running away haha... but then we sing the closing song of "count your many blessings" and I was able to look around and see so many of our less-actives at church... like 5 of them, and then the recent converts we were working with got up and bore their testimonies and I realized how truly blessed I was. Sometimes you might have to say 0 investigators at church on your key indicators... but the service that counts the most is usually recognized by God alone.

okay this week:

Alice: Alice is on date for the 17th... but is struggling with church attendance. ahh pray for her!! but TENDER MERCY: we taught word of wisdom and heyyy she was not happy about the tea thing... we thought she was gonna struggle.. but we go back a couple days later and SHE HADN'T DRUNKEN TEA OR COFFEE. she told us she was tempted so many times but every time she would just pray and then go get some juice. ahhh so happy.

exchanges: so i went on my first exchanges this week as STL... aish. I have a lot lot lot lot to learn. I was pretty nervous because i'm only 6 months old on mission and i was going with a sister who has been out 15 months from Uganda.. Sister Nyachwo. I love her she is so great... we were supposed to do our training on effective planning to increase member present and father led lessons... and i did the more informal route... like did really give it to her straight, mainly cause I was pretty intimidated to be honest... but i've been able to look back on the experience to see how i need to improve. There's a reason I was called here so I can do it:)

funny stories:  while we were on exchanges we were visting this member.. and as we were walking to his house he introduced us to 3 of his friends.  they are all really smart guys who have all graduated from university. one of them is my favorite... first he was like "wow.. you're the first american that i've seen in the flesh.." uhhhh what.. and then i pull out the book of mormon and he is like stunned and kinda took a step back. (his name is austin) and he was just like... "ohhh i've researched you people... you must be from texas" and then i jump in real fast to explain that we're not polygamist. and he was like "oh good... i thought i was staring at a product of polygamy" hahahah so i pull out a picture of my family to prove we're just an average family and he was like "wow... a real mormon family." hahah i dunno i was just so fascinating to him i guess. but he said he loves reading and so he took the book of mormon and said he would read it a month. it's gonna change his life.

funny story x2: so for those of you who aren't missionaries.. you start and end both personal study and companionship study in prayer. and the other day i kneel down to close my personal study and as i'm praying sister solomone starts praying out loud to open our companionship study.... hahahaha i just bust up laughing.. it was so funny...

funny story x3... i'm too tall for my bed... so I kick out my mosquito net in the night and my legs are just covered... malaria BO. just kidding... thank goodness for doxy.

referrals: TENDER MERCY. soooo all of the investigators taht the past missionaries were teaching are not progressing... like at all... and so we have really been searching for new invesitagors and this week... Heavenly Father loves us... we had 8 contacted referrals. all who we should be seeing this next week. One is a less-active... who he texted us how he has been less active for 7 years.. but all he wants is to come back to church and to be a good example for his family. He has always known the church has something special about it, and he wants to start from the very beginning and learn all that he can so he can find his way back to Christ... it was a very powerful text and he was at church this sunday. We'll be meeting his family tomorrow <3

Friday and Saturday my poor companion was sick... i'm the worst companion ever and made her go out and teach saturday morning... until i realized that she was about to die so we took her home... we had some great lessons planned for saturday so i was a little bummed.. but it's all in god's hands right?

new year: it's the new year which means new years resolutions. Hey it was hard to think of some... i have so many things I want to accomplish this year. I love how 2016 gets to be completely dedicated to the Lord... I get the whole year to serve as a missionary and it's not enough time. I have so much more i want to improve on and so much more I want to accomplish... but I need to take it step by step. I'm scared at how fast this year is going to go by, so I gotta make every day count:)

Any who!! I love THE GREAT ZAMBIA LUSAKA MISSION. I love being a missionary.. i'm learning so much, and I love these people. sorry pictures are so lame this week... i'll speedily repent;)