Hey family! How's everything going? This past week has been another one for the books. Elder Hernandez and I have been working really hard and it's been seeming to pay off. I want to tell you a story about a man named Julio and his family that we met on the street about a week ago. We were walking around the Colony (area of town) Manantial looking for a reference that the past Elder's had here, and we decided to ask a man for directions to this place. But something seemed different about him as we walked up to him. He had a huge smile on his face and before we knew it, he told us that he was really interested in our church and that he wanted to know a bit more. So we gave him a pamphlet (because he was in a hurry) and that was the end of it for then. The next day was a P-day, and our district meetings are way on the other side of town so we went over there that morning. But as we were walking back, guess who we run into on the street way on the other side of town again? Yep, that's right: Julio. We knew it wasn't a coincedence that we ran into him twice, in two completely different places, so we got his address and told him we'd be back tomorrow to teach him and his family. He knew that I'm not that great with the langauge yet, so everytime we'd say bye to him he would say (in English) "God bless you brother." There's just something so deep and different about the way he says it and idk, I just feel like he sincerely means it. Anyways, we meet his family and they've got three kids, ages 7, 9, and 11. We've taught them twice, but last time we got Julio, his daughter Victoria, and his son Julio Jr. to commit to baptism in November! They're such an awesome family and I really hope they go through with the baptism. It was so cool to see how God prepares people and as long as we're out and looking, the people can (I guess literally) be found.

Hay mucha lluvia esta semana! The rain would not stop coming this week. It's so weird, one minute it's 100 degrees but in less than an hour clouds can come in and giant flash floods literally run the streets. The Elders in my area all put on a ton of plastic bags one day as ponchos and we got some pretty ridiculous pictures, I'll try to send them to you as well.

Other than that, everything else has been solid for me. I really love it here in Nogales and I'm having the time of my life! I hope everything back at home is going great for you guys. I love you and think of you often. Tengan una fantastica semana!

Love, Elder Thayne

Hola familia!I hope your Mexican Independence Day was as good as mine! My comp and I celebrated it with a solid P-Day yesterday. There were tons of people selling flags, mustaches, sombreros, and almost every other Mexican thing you can think of haha. Every neighborhood had that annoying Mexican bailando music blaring so it was almost impossible to get away from the celebration haha. Our branch here threw a party for everyone including us Elders at the chapel so I got my first real taste of the fiesta culture here. It was SOOO weird haha. Everyone chanted 'Viva Mexico' at random times and some crazy dances by the children and women made it that much better lol. Elder Stephenson (the other Gringo missionary here in Nogales) and I just sat there and were like, "what the heck is this ish?' haha. It wasn't anything like I would expect it to be like. Nothing like the 4th back in the States. 

As for the rest of the week, man am I tired! My comp and I have been working and walking so much. When I get home at nights, I'm completely exhausted and literally can't work, even if I want to. But in eight hours, it all starts over again. We've been teaching about 4 (mas o menos) lessons and day and contacting/finding new people all the time. A couple of the families that we're teaching seem super ready to be baptized so I'm hoping that it all pans out for them. As for the lessons, I've mainly just been bearing my testimony at the end, saying prayers, and always trying to be friendly to the kids and seem engaged, along with smiling. I'm understanding almost everything that people are saying, but it's just a tad difficult to gather my thoughts in Spanish and say them in a timely, not weird way haha. 

I got the privilege of being able to eat a 'chiltepin' at lunch at a member's house today. If you don't know what that is, it's essentially a super tiny red or green pepper that some crazy Mexicans like to put in their food. Either way, it was freaking HOT! Elder Eve dared me and said that if he did it, I had to do it. So we put it in our mouths and within about 20 seconds I was crying like I had just broken up with my girlfriend...The hottest thing I've ever tried! Yeah I don't recommend eating that if you ever get the chance to haha.

Other than that, everything else has been super bien para mi! I've found that as you work harder, the time seems to move faster and I feel much more satisfied after a day of hard work versus one where we don't work as hard. Working hard and staying commited is going to be one of the hardest challenges for me, but I know that at the end of the day it will all be worth it. Being able to bring souls unto Christ is one of the greatest opportunities on the Earth and leaving a member's house after a Spirit-filled lesson is seriously the best feeling. Even though it may be hard, it's the Lord's work and I know there's nowhere else I should be at this time of my life.

I love and miss all of you so much and I hope you have a fantastic week. Remember who you are and who's team you're on. 

Con amor,
Elder Thayne

Hey there fam bam!Sorry for not writing you guys yesterday, our P-Days are on Monday but we had to go to a meeting in the morning so I had to write you today instead. This past week was another awesome seven days here in Mexico! I got to teach and meet so many new people. We got like three new investigators and four referrals that we're going to teach this week. This area in Nogales isn't populated with too many members, so about 1/2 of the city makes up one small branch with a total of eight missionaries serving there haha. Almost half of Priesthood meeting on Sunday was us eight missionaries lol. It's really cool though because there are so many opportunities to meet the members and find new people to teach. 

Elder Hernandez and I were blessed with a TON of rain this week. The heat was really killing us the first few days so I think the Lord had mercy on us and gave us 5 straight days of pouring rain haha. It felt so nice to just walk outside and take showers in the rain after a long day of work. On, I think it was Thursday, we were walking to the church for a meeting after a lunch appointment and out of nowhere it started pouring like it was Seattle! We had a solid hour walk (I guess you could call it a run) to the Church and man was I SOAKED! I don't think I've ever remembered a time where I got rained on that bad. The roads were absolutely flooded with about 6-10 inches of water depending on the area of the city we were in. I'll try and throw in some pictures tambien. But it was so fun to just run through the city and it really made me think of all the awesome experiences and memories that I'm going to have out here in the field. I know that it's times like that where I'll be able to have my share of fun and good times.

I really love the people here as well. The members are so nice and caring and they'd do anything for us Elders. We had a farewell fiesta for a soon-to-be missionary last night and we played soccer, football, and basketball out with the members and their kids outside in the rain. Such a good time! They don't have indoor hoops but the two churches here in Nogales both have outdoor ones so I've been able to play basketball a few times. Soccer and basketball are the two most popular sports here I would say.

Overall though (with the exception of wanting to move out and find another apartment to live in because ours is covered with insects and smells really bad), I would say I'm doing great! The food here is the bomb and I wish we could eat with the members for every meal haha. I've gone hungry a few times from not eating breakfast or dinner but we're going shopping tonight so that should change. Anyways, I'm absolutely loving it here and the work we're doing is incredible. So many people are open and accepting to talk about the gospel, it's insane. The first (and only) door we were able to knock on was super interested and we're coming back to teach her tomorrow! Before we went there that night, Elder Hernandez asked me, "Elder, which house do you want to baptize first?" and I thought about it for a minute and then a white house with blue trimming way down the road caught my eye and I said "that one." So we went there and she told us that she wanted us to come back! It was amazing to see how ready she was. I know that that's not much, but it's just a taste of what the Spirit can do and I'm hoping that we can bless that woman's life with the gospel.

Well, that about sums up this past week for me! It's been a lot of hard work and even more walking, but it's work that needs to be done and I couldn't be more happy to do it. I hope everything is going well back home for you guys! I appreciate and read all of your letters and updates and whatnot so thank you! I love you guys, have an awesome week and don't forget to pray!

Con amor,
Elder Thayne

Hola familia! Como estan? In case you haven't heard, I just arrived in Mexico on Monday and let me tell you guys, I love it! The atmosphere and culture here is super rad and the people are really nice. I arrived in Hermosillo at about 11:30am on Monday and then immediately after we headed over to the Mission home. First thoughts of Hermosillo: it's hot, it's hot, and it's hot! It was only September 1st but it was still the hottest temperature I've ever felt in my entire life. Even standing in the air-conditioned airport made me drip in sweat. Every time someone opened a door a huge wave of pure heat straight from hell entered the room, it was ridiculous. Almost everyone there carries little hand towels in their pockets simply to just wipe the sweat off their faces. No me gusta. 
But I met my mission president and wife, they seem like really nice people but they don't know any English so communication is a bit hard haha. After that, they made assignments for us and my first area where I am currently residing is.....NOGALES, MEXICO! My companion's name is Elder Hernandez, he's from Mexico City and is a way nice and friendly guy. We get along really well and he doesn't know much English but I've been teaching him English the past couple mornings for about an hour. He's super eager to learn and he helps me out with my Spanish a ton too. I'll try and include some pictures of us here at the bottom. Also, I'd say about 1/3 of the Elders here serving are fluent in English so I haven't had too much of a hard time communicating if I can't say it in Spanish yet.

Later on Monday, we took a six hour bus ride up here but I like this area a lot more than Hermosillo. It's a little cooler and not as big of a city, plus it's not straight-up flat desert land like it is in Hermosillo so I like the environment here more too. There's a lot of hills and we've been doing quite a bit of walking but I don't think it's that bad really. 

We got dropped off at our apartment that night and it isn't exactly the nicest apartment I've ever been in haha. The floor is either cement with gloss or some hard tile. We have one little pad of carpet next to our bed to kneel on for prayer so yeah. Oh and the bathroom actually isn't that bad. It's pretty dirty but I mean we have indoor plumbing (the water isn't okay to drink though so we have to get those big blue water containers and drink out of that). There's no water heater so I've received the privilege of being able to take ice cold showers every morning. Next, the sink in the kitchen. There's probably a solid 10-20 bugs and flies around or on the sink at all times. It's some pretty nasty stuff so we just got some paper plates to use. We've got a fridge which is nice but no microwave to heat stuff up fast. But overall, it's not that bad of a place. I mean, a couch would be nice but chairs work just fine. Ohhh haha I forgot to mention that our apartment doesn't have AC or any type of cooling other than a cheap portable fan that you plug into the wall ! It's not like I needed to stay out of the heat anyways.

On Tuesday I got my first real taste of the city! The city is suuuuper cool. I feel like I'm on a whole other planet but in reality I'm only about 10 minutes away from the States, it's crazy. The buildings remind me of downtown Tucson but with more crazy paint colors and grafitti everywhere haha. Either way, I like it a lot and just the whole feel of the city is dope and the people are always walking or moving it seems like. The people here, let's see, they're all about 5'6"-5'8" and have pretty dark skin. They all seem genuine and they all stare because I'm a gringo haha. I've yet to see any other gringos(that aren't serving missions)/anyone as tall as me here so you can say that I stand out quite a bit. On another note, the women here are so fine. Haha. Every other girl here looks like she could be a model and I'm not saying that just because I've been secluded from the outside world for a while, but they really are ridiculously beautiful. My companion from Mexico City said that the girls here in the state of Sonora have a reputation for being some of the most attractive girls in Mexico so it's not just me that thinks that haha.

That day for lunch I got an authentic Mexican meal, grilled peppers with cheese, rice, beans, and a chicken cake (I don't know the name but it looked the same as crab cake but with chicken instead so that's what I'm going to call it). It was SOOO good. I absolutely love the food here haha. We went to a few stores after that they're basically the same as back home, only everything is way cheaper haha. They have almost everything you'd find in a walmart or maceys with the exception of brand names/cosmetic products. 

If you're too lazy to read all of that, just know that I think this place is awesome and I can already tell that I'm going to love it. With the exception of not having some normal commodities (clean water, good housing, insane heat, etc.) everything has been going great for me! I've been growing a lot in the language and I love the culture too. I'm constantly covered in sweat but I've already gotten used to that so it's been all good.

Well, there's my thoughts about my first few days in Mexico! Continue to keep letting me know how things are back at home! I love you guys and hope everything is going super bien. Have an awesome week!

Love, Elder Thayne

Mission Office with Elder Hernandez.

Return with Honor.

Elder Thayne arrived safely in Hermosillo yesterday, September 1, 2014. Here is a letter (email) from the mission president (originally in Spanish, but translated by yours truly), and a couple of photos taken when he arrived:

Esteemed Thayne Family,

We feel very happy to have received Elder Thayne today. We are pleased to have him in our mission in this  very special dispensation of great changes and incredible blessings. He is now serving in his new area with his trainer. We invite you to continue strengthening him through weekly letters, and know that he will be blessed according to his faith and diligence.

We have added some pictures that were taken when he arrived yesterday morning.

The mission office address is:
García Conde #301 y Cabral,
 Colonia Pitic,
 Hermosillo Sonora.
C.P. 83150 (for letters and packages that you would like to send to your missionary)

If you have any questions please let us know.

Have a great week!

Please respond back to this email when you receive it.