November 10th, 2014

Dear Family,

This week for me has been so fantastic! I have so much to say, but such little time to say it, so I will try to say it all in a simplified version. 

So the beginning of this week was pretty much normal. We taught a bunch of lessons, probably more than we have ever taught in the past at the beginning of the week. We encountered a few new investigators that have been searching for the gospel in their lives for a while now. Elder Diaz and I are super excited to start teaching them and share the good news that this great gospel has! 

My cough has died down and I think the bronchitis has gone away, so that is some good news for you. This week we have been fed some really interesting food. I'm not sure why our pension has been feeding us this food, but lately we have had cow heart, squid, octopus, some really weird soup that smells like fish, and this really weird, well just something else really weird that I have no idea what it is. 

Along with all the weird food, something else happened that was extremely weird and foreign! IT RAINED! Oh how grateful I was for this. I haven't seen rain in 4 months and so I was so excited for the rain! 

So on Saturday we practiced for a really big activity for a stake in Chimbote, where there would be Mormon messages, testimonies, and musical talents. The missionaries were asked to do all of the music part of the program and so we practiced our singing. My companion and I were asked to sing a part in "I know that my Redeemer Lives" and so we practiced that a lot Saturday night. Then late that night we got a call and were asked to sing a song together of our choice. 

We chose one of my favorite hymns, "How Great Thou Art" and practiced that all night. 

The time came to perform and I was a little nervous, because there were over a thousand people at this performance. I said a prayer in my heart and was filled with the comfort of the Holy Ghost. The spirit was so strong in this performance, and I know many peoples lives were touched by it.

That was pretty much my week, but before I leave, I have one last thing to say!

We had a baptism for Dario! It was so great to see the fruits of the work that has been done here in this area, and we look forward in seeing many more fruits come forth!

I love you all and hope you have fantastic weeks!

Love,

Elder Thorpe