The week where we committed a new investigator to baptism (February 27, 2017)

I'm down to my last week (probably) in Rocklin😢 Dang all the goooood
stuff happens right as I'm about to leave areas!! Haha no but really
this week was the bomb. Sister Smith and I have been hitting the
pavements hard core these past two transfers and we're finally seeing
some potential come up out of all of it.

Here are just some of the highlights:
-Tuesday brought a lesson with a lady named Kelli that we've been
TRYING to meet with for the past couple of weeks. She was a referral
and sounded really nice and excited over the phone. Well we went over,
had a bomb lesson about the restoration of Christ's church upon the
earth, challenged her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and
Joseph Smith, and invited her to be baptized!! She was all like um yes
I was just hinting about how I should be baptized last week and we're
all like ok we can help you make that happen :) Seriously so sweet and
she is so eager to learn about her true potential in this life and
beyond.
-I went up to Granite Bay to go on exchanges with Sister Tsalagi! We
picked up a new investigator for them and did a little bit of service
at a care home. Needless to say, my Kings in the Corner skills have
soared thanks to my grandmas there showing up and kickin butt each
time we go.
-We were tracting in a gated neighborhood and a random lady started
running up to us. She and her husband had both served missions and
were just excited to see missionaries walking around! They invited us
in and we met the husbands parents who aren't members but are THE
sweetest (Gina and Todd). They sent us on our way with yogurt (that
miiiiight have been 3 weeks expired but whatevs) and some dang good
banana bread. Ooh and they told us to stop by whenever! Hello new
potentials!!!
-On Friday we biked our lil butts off! I thought I was going to be ok
(and I slightly was) but we had accidentally scheduled a ton of stuff
in the Rocklin 1st ward which is farther from where we live. Soooo I'm
a little saddle sore but hey life's good I got to bike!!
-We had four investigators to church hallelujah! Marriage and family
class was bomb as usual. I'm learning lots Mom lol.

In a meeting this week we talked about how important it is that we are
helping people find ways to keep the sabbath day holy. I know that
Sunday is a day meant for our benefit, for our rest and spiritual
growth. I know that church is the place to be and that we are renewing
sacred covenants when we partake of the sacrament worthily. I would
challenge y'all to find a few ways to improve your sabbath day
worship. I can promise that peace, a greater sense of belonging, and
an increase feeling of God's love for you will accompany that effort.

Love y'all!
Sister Thorum

1. Casually putting a Book of Mormon into a shared library💁🏼
2. Inside jokes?¿
3. Selfies cause I love rolling down the windows in the car while driving
4. We be tractin with beautiful sunsets
5. We found little balls of seeds that were little bombs so naturally
we had too much fun chucking them at the ground and each other

The week where I had to dig up the bug spray they gave us forever ago and we all thought we would never have to use.

Another week has just flown by. I'm creeping closer to my halfway mark
and even closer to having to leave Rocklin :( Just tryna bust my butt
out here to find those who need what we have to share. Aaaand trying
to battle the legions of mosquitoes that all magically decided to turn
up this week.

This was the week where I was reunited with Sister Crans!! On Tuesday
my favorite valentine aka Sister Crans came up from Citrus Heights to
take us out for a special ladies Valentine's Day luncheon☺️ It was fun
getting updates on how her family is doing and everything. Her husband
is now the ward mission leader and she loooooves being around the
missionaries even more. (I kinda think that wives of ward mission
leaders are fairly comparable to First Ladies am I right??¿) we also
heart attacked a bunch of folks who needed a lil bit of lovin that
day. We left Karla, one of our investigators, bawling because of the
notes we left for her. Mission accomplished.

Wednesday was ZONE CONFERENCE! I luv luv luv getting together with
other missionaries. We learned about the doctrine of Christ and how we
can implement it better for ourselves. We learned different ways we
need to work on repentance daily. I have noticed that when I am more
humble and willing to repent my teaching skills improve and my desire
to share the gospel increases greatly. We got to sing a sweet lil
version of "Heavenly Father Loves Me." Maybe I'll try and send out the
recording we got of it.

Thursday I went on exchanges with my sista sister (trained by the same
sister) Sister Cozzens! We just talked and talked and talked and did
work and talked and talked. She is headed home this transfer and we
determined that we need to stay in touch with each other. We also met
a less active lady that we've been trying to reach for the past few
weeks #miracles! Then we exchanged back in Granite Bay
#golfcourseinyourbackyardsaywhaaaat.

Friday brought, you guessed it, more tracting! Luckily we were able to
have a few doorstep lessons. I hope that even if we don't get to teach
most of these people they will still be spiritually uplifted by us
being there to share some of the scriptures. You never know I guess.

Saturday we tracked our lil butts off and did work! One MIRACLE that
we saw came after I went through I little internal struggle. We had
been knocking doors all day and my brain was a little fried from
figuring out where to go and who to try and see. I had kinda hit a
wall and didn't have much motivation to knock doors for another 45
minutes. So we took a few minutes and listened to some motivational
words from modern day apostles and prophets about missionary work. It
did the trick. We ended up finding that day a lady and her little
family that want us to try back this week. I was very humbled that
day.

Sunday was fun because we went around contacting tons of folks. We
have two people that want to set up appointments this coming week!

Fun fact of the week: the apartment right above the YSA sister's
apartment took part in the Great Flood part 2. Sooo it was raining
inside their apartment and they had to get out of it for a little bit
while they dry it out with a million fans. It's been one giant
sleepover :) #rocklin4sisterapartmentforthewin #4sistersto1bathroomok

Hope y'all have fantastic weeks!!! Keep it real.
Sister Thorum

1) Mamma Crans
2) the best zone you will ever meet (minus the APs #sorryboutit)
3) our bomb attempt at making a heart on Valentine's Day #missionarydab
4) we knocked this fabulous iridescent door this week #imnotthatcreepyok
5) zone conference❤️
6) my sister sister
7) me feeling happy and humbled on our fun day of tracting
8) having too much fun with YSA sleepover ft. Sister Winward
9) zone song

#TheGreatAreaBookCrash2017

Hello everyone! This week has just flown! Area book crashed on
Saturday but luckily we just had one lesson and a bunch of tracting.

Last Monday brought miracles :) We had the Mondell family's first
family home evening together! It's an evening spent together as a
family learning and having fun and going over your upcoming week. They
loved just being able to spend time together. We taught the Plan of
Salvation and had them each take a step of it to draw out. It was
humbling to see how deeply they thought about things. You could really
feel the spirit there that night. I definitely have a testimony that
the family is the most basic unit of God's plan for all of us. They
are strongest when they are built upon the teachings of Christ.

Tuesday was the bomb too! To preface my story, that morning we did
some tracting and then headed to do service. Before we left, I felt
the impression to put some pass along cards and a pen in my jacket
pocket. I didn't think too much of it but thought, "Eh, what the heck
why not?" Then we were on our way! We did service at this one thrift
store and got to work in the furniture department this week. We
started talking with one of the workers and listened as he told us of
some of the struggles him and his family are having to face. As we
were getting ready to leave I was so grateful that I put the cards and
pen in my pocket because I was able to leave our number with him! We
told him that our church loves family and could provide some peace for
him and his wife. Well, as every missionary like EVER understands,
normally people don't get back in contact with you from that. BUT WAIT
WE GET HOME AND WHAT DO WE SEE?! A text from him saying he would talk
to his wife about meeting with us!!! BLESSINGS!

On Wednesday we had interviews with President Marston. Half the time
we talked about my family's new puppy back home😂 But he let me know
that I'll probably be leaving Rocklin next transfer at the beginning
of March. Gotta bust my butt before then! No idea where I'll go though
lol.

Thursday was zone meeting and then a lesson with one of our returning
less actives, Sister R! She is getting back in the habit of reading
her scriptures every day. We read from the Book of Mormon with her.
Never underestimate the power of that book ;)

Friday brought more door knocking! We also were able to contact a
referral we received for a part member family who just moved from
Citrus Heights. They were busy but we were able to swap info! Im
excited to teach them hallelujah. We had dinner with THE cutest (ok
one of the cutest because there are a cute) pregnant lady!! Sister
Rodriguez graduated from the ByU nursing program a bit ago and said to
keep in touch when I go back :)

Saturday we had another lesson with Sister Mondell. She opened up a
lot more to us and we had a lesson from 3 Nephi 27. She did something
I hadn't seen anyone else do before. She would read through the verse
and then say it in her own words. It was so fun to see how she
interprets things and how much the gospel means to her. That family
still has a ways to go but we definitely have a better direction for
them. We were able to resolve some of her concerns and recommit her to
read from the scriptures a little bit every day. That morning I had
prayed for an opportunity for us to us technology in our missionary
work and it came in handy during her lesson! We were able to show her
how to search the scriptures by topic using the topical guide on her
iPad. She was seriously so excited and felt like that was something
she could handle. The spirit changed so much throughout that lesson. I
know that Heavenly Father is very aware of each of His children and
their needs and abilities. He wants to help us improve and knows that
we all go at our own pace. I love getting to see that out here.

Sunday was funday fo sho. We had breakfast at one of our ward's
bishop's house. Cinnamon rolls never tasted so good. We had some
people to church but one of our investigators couldn't make it because
she almost ended up in the emergency room for her hand. Dang it Satan!
Luckily she's ok and in good spirits :)

Welp, since the day of luv is coming up I guess I could bear my
testimony on charity, the pure love of Christ :) I'm almost through
with my reading of Jesus the Christ and I can't help but think of how
much He must love us to have done what He did on our behalf. He had
the power to stop all of the terrible things people wanted to do to
him. He could have retorted to every person who ignorantly assaulted
Him. But He chose not to. He chose to see things in an eternal
perspective. He knew that His sacrifice was needed in behalf of all
mankind. Heavenly Father loved all of us enough to send His perfect
Son to suffer and die for us so that through Him we might be saved.
I've been trying to emulate that perfect love for those we teach. I am
definitely NOT perfect at it yet, but  hey I'm getting better.

Love y'all!
Sister Thorum

Ps I'm all good mom the flood warnings and evacuation didn't come down
this far. The missionaries in the areas north of us got evacuated
though.

Lol had to document the day area book crashed

Welcome to Antelope p. 2

TAMMY GOT BAPTIZED! Holy cow, happy day!!! Sorry to jump to the climax
of this email but I just had to get it out there :)

Monday was pretty normal. We celebrated Chinese New Year by deep
cleaning our apartment and figuratively sweeping out all the bad
spirits. It felt great!

Tuesday brought a ton more finding. We did however have a lesson that
night with our newer investigator Karla. She went through some big
trials just this past week! Her daughter tried to rob her and then the
next day a man from the Verizon store she went to followed her home!
Luckily she is safe and in good spirits but there are just people to
take advantage of her at like every turn. She's quite the trooper!
Also, since one of our nights was open for dinner she had us over for
a lovely night of Panera soup and bread :)

Wednesday furthered the proof that missionaries do indeed still knock
doors. We're getting pretty good at it nowadays if I do say so myself
:)

Thursday I was on exchanges with SISTER TSALAGI!!! She is easily one
of the happiest missionaries I have EVER encountered. She has such a
fire for the work. She wants to talk to everyone and knock every door
and testify of the Savior and His love for us everywhere. It was a
reminder for me that that is what I'm called to do out here. Her fire
was contagious! That day we knocked a ton of doors, did a bunch of
service (including giving our sweet old grandmas pedicure foot rubs
:), and found a potential who is getting married this summer and might
need help getting her house in order! Little miracles everywhere.

On Friday we found a golden investigator for the YSA sisters! We were
just tracting in the crazy winds that were trying to blow us down the
street. We knocked this one door that had music blaring from inside
the house. I was kinda sorta rockin out on the doorstep when a girl
named Demori opened the door (whoops sorry not sorry). She is this
super hip and spunky 19 year old who thinks Mormonism is really cool.
She has a couple Mormon friends that she thinks are cool for following
all things in moderation. We shared Mosiah 4:9 with her about
believing in God and in His infinite power and wisdom. She told us
that she feels like her faith has been struggling and that she would
love to learn more! We told her there are other missionaries that
cover a congregation of young single people and they have fun
activities and stuff. She was just THE nicest person. I'm more than a
little excited. Stay tuned for updates from the YSA sisters :)

Saturday brought more tracting and we found a possible family that
said we could come back! (Fingers crossed). Later that night we got to
drive back to my old stoppin' grounds in good ole Antelope. It is so
fun to drive through and reminisce about all of the good times there.
Ah the memories. Lots of Tammy's friends and family members came for
her baptism :) It was just really cool to see how much she is loved.
Among those were the Arnold fam (aka my Antelope fam) and my old
companion, my homegirl SISTER SEELY (aka Kim but I mean cmon that's
still a little weird for me to say)! Ooh and Elder Call (my old ZL who
found Tammy) got permission to come down and baptize her! Sister
Arnold gave the talk on baptism and I got to give the talk on the Holy
Ghost :) When Tammy was actually immersed in the water her family
members were quietly calling out, "Hold her down there longer!" Lol
what would we do without family? She was beaming. After she came out
of the water she did what I had her promise me that she'd do. She
looked up in the mirror at her reflection. I told her to imagine how
Heavenly Father saw her in that moment. She was clean and pure and
ready to receive the gift to be able to have the Holy Ghost with her
always. SO HAPPY!

Sunday we got to have a lesson on the plan of salvation with one of
our 9 year old recent converts and her family. We may or may not have
played hide and go seek with all the kids beforehand but that's
neither here nor there. They try so hard to be a united happy family
and I love it. You could really feel the spirit testifying of the
truthfulness of our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness for us. We
tried tracting a little after that but it turns out that not many
people want to talk when there's this little thing called the Super
Bowl on...

Im nearing the end of the Book "Jesus the Christ" and the other day I
was reading about his Atoning sacrifice in all of its different
aspects. It finally hit me that there was a time in his struggling
where he was entirely alone. He did what no other person could do. He
did it because he loved us and he knew that him giving his life was to
fulfill Heavenly Father's plan for us o make it back to him. How
grateful I am that we have a Savior who did that and who lives today.
I know he will come again and I can't wait :)

Hope everyone's week is the bomb diggity🤘🏼

Love,
Sister Thorum

if you look really close there's the church in the background

casually holding a ball python named Lucy

\

excuse my crazy car but SISTER TSALAGI

sun rays all the way down to Antelope

TAMMY

The OG Tammy squad

Justin being Justin

I needed me some Sista Frost

we go big in Antelope

WE LOVE KIM

sorry.  I was just kinda feeling my hair that day

"I hate alllll the bashers in the whole world" (January 30, 2017)

Jk hate is a strong word. I very much dislike running into people who
enjoy religion bashing of any kind. This week we knocked on a lady's
door and instead of politely turning us down, she decided to tell us
about all of the things wrong with our religion and how we should
reevaluate all the things we believe in. She also proceeds to describe
how we don't believe that Jesus is also known as God or the Lord. EVEN
after I tried explaining to her that we do.... We graciously tried to
bow out of the conversation when we knew that she was only going to
hear what she wanted to hear :)

This week was great!! We have some fantastic new additions to the
zone. Volleyball will continue to be on point👌🏼

We did a TON of tracting this week but found some fun potentials to go back to!

We had a fantastic lesson with Brother Mondell this week. He said that
he hasn't noticed his burdens completely lifted, but that there's
definitely some improvement. He says he just wants to keep practicing
it. HES SO CLOSE YALL! He seems to be talking with a lot more faith,
like he knows his Heavenly Father is aware of him. Both him and his
wife came to church on Sunday and we had a great lesson in the
marriage and family class they're holding in the ward.

We got to teach a new investigator named Raj who randomly called us
out of the blue a few weeks ago. He wanted to learn more about what we
believe it! We finally met with him this week and taught him the
Restoration. By the time we recited the First Vision and read Moroni's
promise he was all like, "So are you gonna give me one of these books
or...?" Haha he wants to read the whole Book of Mormon by the end of
February!

Our missionary schedule got changed up a little bit but mostly in
regards to flexibility. We have a little more wiggle room on when to
do certain things throughout the day. I'm loving it so far. Pluuusss
we get a little bit longer p-day, so I will not complain :)

I'm trying to work on focusing on the sacrament throughout the week.
I've found that it helps me to repent of the little things as I go. I
have more drive to change and be better. This way, when I get to
Sunday and I need to turn my thoughts especially to the sacrament, I
feel less like a chump who does it last minute. I find that I'm calmer
and more focused! I'd highly recommend it☺️

Hope everyone's week is fantasmic!!
Love,
Sister Thorum

TRANSFER DAY

Reunited and it feels so GOOD

I beat teen pregnancy!! (January 23, 2017)

Heyyyy guess who's not a teenager anymore?! Thank you for all of the

birthday wishes. I was very taken care of and we had dinner and cake

at the Mondells!

Monday we got to brush up on our sweet volleyball skills. Watch out.

Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister Wall to YSA. The party was

ragin. We got to follow up with Juliet and she has been reading from

the Book of Mormon! She's reading it more like a story but she'll get

there. We knocked more doors and found a sweet little Asian family

that they're going to go back to. Back in Rocklin they found a lady

named Karla in our apartment complex! She lives at the address of a

former investigator and needed help moving in. She said that she is

probably not going to be Mormon at all but we were able to answer a

lot of her questions about what we believe. Turns out we have a lot

more in common than she thought we did :)

Wednesday brought more knocking doors! Went over to a former

Investigators house and played play doh with one of her sons. His mom

seemed so appreciative of us coming over and still thinking about

them. Later that night we had a lesson with Sister Conklin and helped

her gain more insight on how to receive revelation through reading the

scriptures.

Thursday was pretty awesome. We had the BEST lesson with Brother

Mondell. We solely talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how

to access its enabling power. He is going through some interesting

trials at work with some hard feelings to get over. But he recognizes

that he can't give them up on his own. I was able to bear testimony to

him that the Atonement literally covers everything. It helps us let go

of feelings of bitterness and anger. It can replace them with feelings

of peace and joy. We're so excited to hear how his week goes.

Friday was awesome too! We helped Karla a ton and unpacked half of her

house. We also knocked a ton of doors within our apartment complex. No

luck yet but we'll keep trying!

Saturday was the bomb as well!! We had a lesson with Sister Mondell

and her son! We taught the Restoration more in depth and answered a

lot of their questions. Sister Mondell has been living the word of

wisdom and said that she has been feeling a lot more mental clarity!

She won't say it's solely due to living the commandment but we're on

the way!! They committed to reading the Book of Mormon and praying

about it and to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet.

SUNDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY AND IT WAS FABULOUS! We had a couple people to

church which was fun! Later that night the Mondells had us for dinner

and made special chicken alfredo and birthday cake! They even got me

an orchid and some other stuff! My heart was full :) Ooh and I got a

fun new watch from my family that says "Hello Sunshine" on it because

my mom is uber cute like that. WOHOOOOOO BIRTHDAY!! Now back to

reality :)

Nothing much has changed with Sister Smith and I except that I'm a

senior comp now lol. I was hopin to stay JC fo lyfe but I guess not😂

I had a really big testimony strengthening experience in Brother

Mondells lesson. As we were talking about the Atonement, I had to

reevaluate why I know it to be so powerful? Why do I love being a part

of this church so much? I came to a very honest conclusion. I love it

because it makes me happy. So genuinely happy. I love knowing that I

have a Savior I can always look to for strength.

Hope everyone's week is the bomb.com🤘🏼

Sister Thorum

transfer devo

Ya know, just trine take a good birthday selfie.

It's gettin' a little Indiana Jones up in here! (January 6, 2017)

Well this week just zipped by.

Monday brought a few car troubles but now I know how to effectively
fill a tire with a slightly jacked up hubcap with air
#sistermissionarypower

Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister Winward and we were working in
the YSA Ward! We did a ton of knocking but we found this really cool
girl who goes to Sierra College. Ames Juliet. She let us in out of the
pouring rain and we started to tell her who we are and what we do. She
apparently is from Brazil but her family let her go to school in
Illinois right by Nauvoo! She even knew what Carthage jail was and
everything! She has a little bit of a Catholic background and feels
like God is there. We left her with the Book of Mormon and a challenge
to read. So cool right?! For all those of you missionaries who are
reading this: TRACTING WORKS (sometimes). At least we're proving our
diligence and putting our faith in the Lord and that He will place
those who are ready in our path. Also, that day we had a first lesson
with their new investigator Ricky. He is dating a member and she came
and another guy from the ward came. We taught and testified that we
have a Father in Heaven who wants to answer our questions. He loves us
enough to give us prophets and priesthood power. All we have to do is
search, ponder, and pray to ask if it is all true.

Wednesday brought more knocking. Ran into a non member who a lady in
our ward is trying to fellowship. Didn't know it until Sister
Hutchinson brought it up and then we were all like, "I hope we made a
good impression on her (the non member) while we were chit chatting
with her". You never know who's watching, people.

Surprise surprise, Thursday brought more knocking as well. We tracted
a couple streets in the Rocklin 1st ward area. On one court we found
several people who we think legitimately want to have us back! Stay
tuned folks. Had a great lesson with Brother Mondell. It's cool to see
how when you really focus on the Book of Mormon, answers come. We're
just helping him realize what some of his answers are because he is a
very analytical person. He's gonna get it we just know it!

Friday was weekly planning and more contacting.

On Saturday we had a lesson with Brother Mondell's son! I guess he was
the first one to official start taking the missionary discussions. We
kind of took some time to find out where he was at and what all he
knows. He straight up said to us that he feels like he knows the
history of the church more than the principles behind it. Like wut.
This kid is so smart and we are way excited to teach him and really
help him understand those foundational principles of our gospel. High
hopes for this family.

On Sunday we had a couple of people to church as well!! I just love
how much fellowshipping goes on within the ward. Everyone is on the
look out at church to have the chance to reach out and say hello to
people they don't know. I feel like that would be a fun calling, just
to be a sacrament meeting greeter who gets to know everyone and their
stories. Everyone just needs to feel loved and accepted once they
enter the church building.

We went on a mini Indiana Jones adventure today. We checked out the
tomb of Joel Parker Whitney!! He founded a bunch of stuff out here so
thought we might check it out. Pics included.

This week I had the thought of "I'm getting a little bit tired". Right
after that thought I told myself, "but I gotta keep going." I know we
all have times that we are just exhausted, mentally, spiritually,
physically. But I also know that the Savior is the source of energy
and living water. Whenever I remember my calling as a missionary and a
representative of Jesus Christ I feel a sudden boost of energy come
into me. By myself I wouldn't be able to push through being tired.
With Him, I have the strength I need to spread this gospel. That's
what we all get to experience as members of the church. We are never
to be weary in well-doing and I believe the way we do it is by
centering all of our works on the Savior.

Thus begins BIRTHDAY week!!! We'll find some way to celebrate me not
being a teenager anymore. This should be fun :)

Hope everyone's week is the bomb,
Sister Thorum

casa de Santa Fe with the homies

tracking through apartment complex puddles aka the ocean

chilling at zone meeting