Buenas tardes familia,
Well not much out of the ordinary happened this week so I'm going to keep the email pretty short.

We've been working a lot with our investigator, Jesus Roberto, and I seriously love teaching him. He just understands everything so well and he already looks like a member! His baptismal date is set for the 12th of this month and I'm really excited for him and for how much he's progressing.

Today we hiked up the cerro de la campana (a big hill in the center of town) with six other missionaries and had a really good time, even though I felt like I was going to die because of how hot it was haha. We were there for a couple hours and I'm pretty positive it was at least 110 today. We also went to Peter Piper Pizza after and had a good time there.

On Sunday we said goodbye to a young man in the ward who's been doing a lot of splits with us and it was really sad but at the same time exciting to see him leave for the mission. We tried teaching him and helping him out in how to be a missionary and what mission life's like and it made me remember the feelings I had when I first left for my mission. Now I've only got about 10 months left and I'll be home before you know it!
That was about the week for me, if you have any questions just let me know. Love you guys, take care!

Con amor, Elder Thayne

Buenas tardes familia,
Wow I am so surprised and happy about baby Nixon having arrived!! That is such great news and I'm just so glad that everything with the birth went well. I know that Lauren and Jesse will make great parents and I can't wait to meet the little guy! Thanks for all of the photos and updates. Have fun and take care of him for me for the next ten months aight? Haha

I don't have a lot to say this week, I guess I'll start off by sharing about what happened at the zone conference we had with Presidente Robinson. He and his assistants talked a lot about 'changing the culture of the mission.' They commented to us that they wanted to make the mission more of a mission where the missionaries contact and open their mouths more with the people. They said they want us to contact at least 10 people a day and to count how many people we talk with a day. He also wanted us to work more with the members, including four splits a week with members and that he wants us to go to the ward council meetings every Sunday. He also gave us a goal of teaching at least twenty lessons a week, so my comp and I have been talking a lot more with people and pushing ourselves to teach at least three times a day. I really liked what I heard again from Presidente and I feel like that's exactly what the mission needs right now.

Apart from that, we met a SUPER PREPARED investigator on Tuesday and set a baptismal date for him for next Saturday, the 5th. His name is Jesus Roberto and he had already had plenty of experience going to church (he went to another ward previously) but now he's had a change of heart and wants to get baptized. He's 29 years old and to be honest I've never seen anyone as prepared for baptism as he is, I love teaching him and he's really a great guy.

That was about the week for me. It's been really hot but we've been able to find a lot of work to get done. 

Thanks for all of the emails, I love and miss each one of you guys!
Con amor, Elder Thayne

Buenas tardes familia,

Well to start off, on Saturday we had a baptism for our little investigator, Julio Cesar Castro Villa! I had the privilege of baptizing him and man it was such a special day! Over the past couple months I was able to develop a real, sincere love for him and his family and to me this baptism was one of, if not, the most special days I've had out here in the mission. We had to work a lot with his dad to allow him to get baptized because he had a lot of doubts and worries about his son but we were able to help him to accept his son's decision and even help himself to gain a testimony of his own. Julio was so excited as well and I just felt so happy and so much love for them. It was such a great day. We had an after-party over at their place and we were even able to buy him a cake! He really likes Spongebob so we got him a Spongebob one haha. He was confirmed on Sunday and I feel really content with the work I've been able to get done with this family; now if his parents would only get married so they too can get baptized!

Other than that, there was probably only one other really noteable thing that happened. I happen to have a new companion now haha. On Friday the zone leaders called us and told us that my comp was getting transferred to an other area, Pueblitos. Sometimes the mission has things called 'special transfers' and I got a new companion. I was super glad to be getting a new companion to be honest. Elder W is from Honduras and has been out for about 14 months. He's a nice guy, a bit strange but we get along alright because he's chill. 

Other than that, everything has been going great. It's been reaaaally hot lately, I'm pretty sure it's gotten above 110 a few times in this past week alone. But we´ve been working hard still and I'm hoping to have a lot of success with my new comp.
Thanks for all of the emails, I love and miss each of you guys!
Con amor, Elder Thayne

Buenas tardes familia,
Phew, this week was full of plenty of hard work. We went visiting almost every single person in our area book and even had a young man from the ward who got his mission call a couple weeks ago go tracting with us twice for the whole day. Not much was that different though as far as work-wise, but we have a baptism this Saturday for an investigator of ours (Julio Jr., 11yo) and I am super excited for him. He had a really hard time learning all of the lessons but we were really persistent and now he's even studying and praying on his own! I've never seen any kid have so strong of a desire to get baptized and do what it is right, I'm so proud of him and can't wait for this weekend! Both of his parents are listening to us and going to church as well, it's just that they aren't married or otherwise they'd be hopping in the font as well haha.

I had the opportunity to go to the temple AGAIN this week for a sealing session of some members that my comp used to teach in one of his old areas and it was great! I had never been to a sealing session and to be honest I loved it. It helped remind me that that (getting sealed) is the ultimate goal I have for each of my investigators here in the mission and for me as well haha when I get home and find that special someone ;)

Well to be honest not much else really happened for the two of us out here. My feet are all blistered up from all the walking we've been doing but I guess that's just part of the work haha. I got to meet everyone in my district on Tuesday, they're all really chill and I like them a lot. Hermana Castro (from Peru), Hermana Barton (from California, she just got here from the MTC so her Spanish is really bad but I talk to her in English to give her a break haha), and the zone leaders Elder Bernhisel (from Wyoming), and Elder Pérez (from Puebla, Mexico). I'm hoping we can have a lot of success together here during our time in Hermosillo. 

Well, have a great week you guys! Les amo mucho, cuídense!
Con amor, Elder Thayne

Buenas tardes familia!

Whew well this week a lot of stuff actually happened (for once haha). I guess I'll start it off about transfers...they zone leaders called us on Saturday and told me I was getting transferred to.....NOWHERE! I'm staying in my same area with my same comp doing the same thing in the same heat with the same investigators. Very exciting, I know. But with an exception, they assigned me as district leader!! According to the zone leaders I'm going to be their district leader and a leader of a companionship of Hermanas that just got here. I'm super excited but at the same time I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit nervous. Time for me to set the example and become the missionary that others need me to be. These transfers were a bit weird because there were SO many in the mission. For example, my comp and I were only some of the very few that didn't get transferred in our zone. Only five of our 16 in our zone stayed and the rest all went to different areas. It's the first transfer that Presidente Robinson has done and I think he moved around a lot of the missionaries to give the mission a bit of a fresh start and pump some new blood into the areas. 

This Friday I had the opportunity (for the first time on the mission) to go to the temple here in Hermosillo! It was such a great day and I'm so glad I was able to go. The temple here is sooo small though haha, I had no problem finding my way around anywhere and watching the video and doing everything in Spanish was so cool. The celestial room was really peaceful and I was able to receive some personal revelation there. I feel like it was the best thing I could have done around my year mark out here because it gave me the opportunity to refocus and remind myself why I'm here and that the temple is the ultimate goal I have for all of those I teach. Presidente Robinson is giving all the missionaries that are in Hermosillo a chance to go once every six weeks, it's great. I also got to talk with Presidente Robinson for a bit as well and every time I see or talk to him I'm impressed. He has a great way of thinking and he never lacks showing his love to us missionaries.

On Saturday we went with the zone leaders, Elders Mitchell and Heredia to their area to a humble family that needed some roofing work done. So we went over there and helped them move over tons of concrete, gravel, and sand to make the mixture for the roof and moving buckets full of that mixture up a ladder to get the roof made. It was A TON of work, like three hours of lifting, shoveling, and moving that stuff, but it felt really nice to know that I was able to help a really humble family out in any way that I could. We all got plastered in wet concrete but overall it was a super fun experience. 

Anyways, that was about the week for the both of us. We worked really hard to find new people to teach and it really paid off. The mission is becoming a lot easier now and I'm learning to enjoy it and not worry about the things that don't really matter. 
Thanks for all the emails! I love and miss you guys so much, have a great week!
Con amor, Elder Thayne