April 27th, 2015

My Dear Family,

This week has been really good for Elder Campos and I. We have found a lot of success in teaching less actives and conversos recientes this last week. We always tend to compare our indicadores claves with the indicadores claves claves, and this week Elder Campos and I were able to see the fruits of the work that has been done here in Chao. The attendance once again grew to the mid 80's which was really great for our Branch. We are also really excited for an investigator that we have and for her progression in the gospel. She has a baptismal date for this Saturday, so hopefully all goes well with that.

This last week we had interviews with President Marler, which were great. I really enjoyed spending time with him and learning in the scriptures. As I talked with him, I realized how much I have changed in the last 10 months. It was really good talking with him.

Sorry this letter is so short. Hopefully I will have more to say next week. 

I love you all and am so thankful for your love and prayers!
Love,

Elder Thorpe

I guess I did have more to say as I have been sitting here.

This last week during our interviews with President Marler, Sister Marler gave us a challenge to read the BOM really fast and to mark all of the times it refers to the Godhead. We received the challenge about 3 days ago and I am just about half way through 2 Nephi! Oh how I love the Book of Mormon. I am amazed at how much red is on the white pages and how centered the book is on Christ!
Also it was our turn to give talks in sacrament meeting, which was really good! My companion talked about coming unto Christ while I talked about magnifying your calling! I loved learning about that this last week! In fact, I shared a scripture from D&C 107:99-100 that I love and have memorized now! It gives me even more of a reason to magnify my missionary calling!

Well, once again, I love you and hope you all have fantastic weeks!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

April 20th, 2015

Dear Family,

I had such a good week this week! Well, all my weeks are just like that so I guess I can't say that this week was better than the last! We had district conference this last Sunday and Saturday which was really good! President Marler came and talked a lot about the Temple. I am super excited for the temple to be dedicated in just 2 months!

Elder Campos and I have continued with our vision in helping our consejo become strengthened so that they are able to help strengthen the whole rama. We have talked a lot about the scripture about "magnifying your callings" and how we can help members here understand what it means to magnify their callings. I thought it was really interesting when President Marler shared that same exact scripture in the priesthood session of conference because I had just told my companion a week earlier that I wanted to share a message with our branch about that topic. President Marler called 

Elder Campos and I up to help out in district conference, which was a really good experience. We talked about how we can work in the Lord's vineyard with members and through the spirit.
The work continues to press forward here in Chao. We are looking forward to helping a few more of our investigators that we have take the next step in their lives in these next few weeks, and look forward to finding more children of our father in heaven so that we may help them do the same. 

I love you all so much and like always, am proud to be here in Peru, serving my master!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

April 13th, 2015

Dear Family,

This last week here in Chao was really good, even though we were cut a little short of teaching time. Elder Campos and I ended up going to Lima in the middle of the week, so the good news is that we are now legal in Peru. Unfortunately we weren't able to go to the Temple in Lima, but that's alright! 

This last Sunday we had a pretty good turn out for church at 73. We are still working on raising that number and in helping our members and less actives realize the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. That has been one of our main focuses this past month or so. We have some really great members, but we want this branch to get to the point where they are doing all the little things that a member should do by their own will. We have talked about this as a companionship and we feel like that starts with the consejo de la Rama. If we can help each of them understand the importance and their roles, then our branch will be able to be strengthened.

This week we had a baptism for one of our investigators that has been progressing a lot. We were really excited for him and look forward to his progression in the Gospel. He happened to be the same investigator that shared with us his dream. I can honestly say that I see the hand of Heavenly Father in his work here in Chao, and I look forward to seeing it more and more as the weeks go on.

As the weeks and months go on I continually feel blessed to be able to serve my Lord, my God. I sometimes stop and ponder at how my life would be if I wasn't on a mission, and I honestly have no idea how it would be. I can't imagine my life not coming on my mission, doing the things that I am able to do here. I love this gospel and this work!

Love,
Elder Thorpe

April 6th, 2015

This week has been so incredible. Not only was it General Conference, but I have been able to see miracles in this area this past week. I thought I would share two of these with you that I felt have strengthened my testimony tremendously. At the beginning of the week, Elder Campos and I were fasting to know the children of God that were ready to accept the gospel in their lives. We fasted to encounter these people. The next day we had an appointment with one of our investigators. I knew that she was at home and so we knocked one time. She didn't come to the door, so I thought maybe we should knock louder, but right before I knocked I got the impression that we should go to the house of our recent convert so that we could obtain information for his baptismal record. I knew that he didn't know this information but we went anyways. As we were talking with him and his wife a man came and interupted our conversation. He had just came home from work and was on his way to rest from the day. He came to us and told us that he had a thought come to his mind that he needed to come to us and speak with us in which we were able to express our purpose to him. He then told us that he had been searching for the truth all of his life and that he couldn't find it, but at that moment he knew that he had come upon what he felt was the truth. We later had our first discussion with him, in which he expressed to us why he had come to us and that he wanted to become a member of our church. My testimony of fasting grew. I know that our Father in Heaven answers our prayers as we are obedient unto him and are living according to the gospel. 

One other experience that we had this week was with one of our investigators that will be baptized this next week. We had finished conference, in which he had come to 3 of the 5 sessions, and so we were explaining and talking about that. He then asked us to explain the Plan of Salvation another time so we did as he asked and then he felt impressed to share with us a dream that he had. He told us that he was in a garden, walking with a man. This man told him that he was going to meet Jesus Christ and so they continued walking. He then looked off to the side and saw many different people playing, singing, dancing, and even drinking. He then told us that he came to a gate in which the man told him that Jesus lived in the Temple that was up on the hill. The man told him he couldn't enter though and our investigator wondered why? He then looked inside and saw that all of the people in this place had a special mark upon them and that he had to have this mark on him to enter the gate. The spirit in the room was undeniable and as I listened a voice came to me and said "King Benjamin" I then realized that King Benjamin had explained what this mark was in his address to his people. We then opened up the scriptures to Mosiah 5 and shared that this mark that he needed was Christ. His Name. The spirit was so strong as we were able to testify of the baptismal convenant and how we receive this mark as we promise to take upon us the name of Christ. His daughter then was able to testify to him of the gospel and expressed her love for him. He then testified to us that he knew the truth and that he could feel the love and spirit of God. 

My testimony this week has grown so much and my love for our Savior. I love this gospel so much.

This week was really good and I feel the Lord continues to prepare his children here in Chao every single day.

Of Course it was conference which I loved! We had a few troubles here in Chao since the internet is so slow in Peru, but that was ok because I have already downloaded all of the talks and have started to listen to them over again. I love this gospel so much! I don't think I can say it enough! It is so true and I want everyone to know about it!

I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!

Love Elder Thorpe