January 5th, 2015

Dear family,

First of all Happy New Years! I can't believe that it is 2015 already! Time really does fly while you are in the work of the Lord! So this last week has been pretty good! The beginning of the week Elder Farnsworth and I had a couple of really awesome lessons with our breakfast pensionista who isn't a member of our church, but the last few lessons that we had with her were so powerful and spiritual that she decided that she wants to be baptized on the 17th of January! We really hope that this all goes well for her because we love her so much! In one of our lessons we decided that we should get on our knees and have her pray to know if she should be baptized, and while doing so she started to cry and the whole room was filled with the spirit. I love the little miracles that I see every day in the lives of the people that I teach.

For New Years we didn't do anything. Elder Farnsworth and I thought it would be better if we just slept, which sort of happened, but not really because Peru drinks and parties all night long on New Years. They also have a tradition to burn dolls that they make with straws that have their old clothing on them. So we saw a bunch of that happening at midnight. Also they have a tradition that during the first day of the year, everyone goes to the beach, and when I mean everyone, I really mean everyone. It was really hard for us to find people to teach on the 1st, but we encountered a bunch of new people to teach! 

This week went by pretty fast, being the first week of the change and the year. I have been preparing a training for our zone with Elder Farnsworth because we were asked to do a training on accountablility this Wednesday, so we are excited for that. We are going to use a lot of Alma 5 in our training which is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Moromon. 

Today I think we are going to make cookies and then watch How to Train your Dragon 2, so I am excited for that!

I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week and New Year!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

December 29th, 2014

Dear Family,

This email is probably going to be short because I don't have much more time to email, but I wanted to say.... HAPPY NEW YEARS! 

I hope that all of you have an amazing time this Thursday and are safe! 

I am really looking forward to this new full year that I will have in the mission and I am so excited because I am staying in Chao! Yes we had transfers, but both Elder Farnsworth and I are both staying in Chao and are both really happy!

I look forward to this change and look forward to miracles here in this area! We hope to have around 4 baptisms this change, but we will have to see what happens!

I love all of you so much I hope you have a great New Year!!!

Love, Elder Thorpe

December 22nd, 2014

Dear Family,

This week once again has been such a crazy week! To start off the week, Monday after emailing we got a call from our mission president and he told us that Elder Meaker would be going to a zone up in Trujillo to be a zone leader, and so Monday and Tuesday we prepared all of his stuff and took him up to Trujillo. So that means that Elder Farnsworth and I are co-companions because we are from the exact same group and have the exact same time in the mission! It is honestly crazy if you were to ask me how this all ended up happening.
This week we didn't have a lot of time to teach anyone because of our shows up in Trujillo and so I don't really have news about special visits that we had this week, but our Christmas shows were so great! Since Elder Farnsworth and I were both in a groups we stayed up in Trujillo from Friday to Sunday. We also had the best room to stay in while we were up in Trujillo, which is the office elder's house. Their house is 3 doors down from the Presidents house and so the night after the first show we were invited over to the President's house to have popcorn and choclate chip cookies! Also that next morning we had French toast at the President's house!
The Christmas shows turned out really great! The first night there was a protest against some dumb thing, but the police guys made them leave the Plaza. I think in total from both the nights of the show, there were about 3 thousand people that came and saw the show. Now, I am not completely sure how accurate that number is, but I am sure it was close to that. We received a ton of references from the two nights and the spirit was so strong as our mission sang of glad tidings of great joy!

Well, I love you all and I hope you all have amazing weeks and a very Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

December 15th, 2014

Dear Family,

Well my 5 month mark has come! I can't believe how fast this time has gone! This week for me was pretty good!

Basically I met a lot more people here in Chao and taught a bunch of lessons! My companions and I were able to find a couple of really awesome new investigators to teach and to bring the gospel in their lives. I am super excited for this next week because we are going to be having our Christmas show in Trujillo! I will be singing in the Choir as a whole mission, a group of 5 with my new compainons and 2 other Elders (singing 

Far Far Away in Judea) and with my old Companion (The First Noel) I am super excited to bring the spirit of Christmas to so many different people here in Peru!

Also on the 25th we are going to be having a talent show, and let me just tell you that my district has come up with a sketch that will go down in history books! We are super excited to share it with our mission!

This time of year is so great and I am so grateful that so many people remember our Savior at this time. I love teaching about the Savior and his atonement. I feel so close to him as I teach of his perfect and infinite sacrifice for us!

I am sorry that this is so short, but I want all of you to know that I love you all so much and that I hope you have amazing weeks!

 

Love,

Elder Thorpe

 

Practicing The First Noel with Elder Diaz

Practicing for the Christmas concert

Pizza Hut in Peru

December 8th, 2014

Dear Family,

So this week has been really interesting. Last P-day my companion and I got a call from the assistants and they told us that we were no longer going to be together this change because a new missionary was coming in for some reason, and so my P-day consisted of packing my things and practicing the song that Elder Diaz and I are singing for the Christmas show. So what ended up happening is my old companion is now training a new missionary and I am now in a new area called Chao with 2 other gringos! Crazy right! My mission has been pretty crazy to start out if you were to ask me! I haven't had a clean change yet, but like it says in 3 nephi 7, I will go and do what the Lord wants me to do. I know that he needs me in this area at this time and I am so happy to be here! My new companions are Elder Farnsworth (from my group) and Elder Meaker who has less than a year in the mission. 

I can't tell you enough how much I just love Chao! I love the people and the place so much! Chao is a lot different than Chimbote. Chimbote was extremely rich and where I am at is one of the most poor places in the mission. All the people here are so humble and so loving. I have had a few lessons already that the spirit has been incredibly strong and I knew that these people have been prepared by God to hear his gospel at this time. Our pensionista is so amazing. She is the wife of our branch president and she is so loving and always wants to come out with us to serve. Plus our branch president only has 2 years in the church and he is so awesome! There are 5 elders in Chao, and one of them also happens to be one of my good buddies from the CCM, Elder Craft. He is from PG and has became one of my good friends. 

Sunday I had the opportunity to help with a baby blessing, which was incredible. President Eyring gave a talk in the Christmas devotional, which we only saw a little of it, but he talked about  his great grandchild being born. I can tell you that I felt, just as he did, the light of Christ in this infant. The spirit was so strong and I could feel Christ's love as 5 of us men holding the priesthood of God blessed this infant.

Well that was pretty much my week! I love all of you and am excited to see what's next down here in Chao!

Chao!

December 1st, 2014

Dear Family,

Well I can't believe it! We have hit December. It is crazy how fast time flies, and I know that I say that all the time, but it truly does go by so fast! This past week was so great! We have been working with the members a lot for the past while, and this week we had more success with the members than we have ever had! It is crazy how big of a difference the lessons are when we have a member with us. I feel like it is a lot easier for the people to accept the gospel when they have someone that can always be by their side, like President Gordon B. Hinckley says. Every investigator in this church needs an amigo! 

This last week we had a training for leaders which was really good! I learned so much and have started applying some of the stuff that I learned in my life as a missionary. After our training we went to Pizza Hut which was pretty good, but nothing like the states. Today for P-day we are going to a pizza buffet and so I will have to see how good Peruvian Pizza is! 

This last week we had a lesson with a less active that has been progressing really well, and his daughter is preparing for baptism! Our lesson was on the Priesthood and the blessings of the priesthood. The spirit was so strong as we taught and bore testimony of this amazing gift that God gives to us. I am so grateful that I hold the Priesthood of God and that I have the authority to act in his name!

I love you all so much and hope that you have fantastic weeks!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

November 24th, 2014

Dear Family,

Well This week as you all know is Thanksgiving and since I won't be able to celebrate down here in Peru I want all of you to know how thankful I am for you and for the affect that you all have had on my life! You all have helped to make me the person that I am today, and so thank you for that!

This past week has been so great! My companion and I have been focusing more on Christ, and our plan is to not go through a lesson without focusing on Christ, because it is through him that any of this is possible. It is through him that this great work is able to happen, and so everything that we do in our lives should be focused on Christ. I love this gospel so much and am always in awe of the infinite Atonement! 

This week we taught a couple of families that were struggling with a few things in their lives.  We taught about how incredible the healing power of the Atonement is. As my companion and I testified to them of the truthfulness of this incredible act, I saw the love that our Savior has for everyone as their eyes filled with tears. I don't believe that any of us will ever be able to understand the atonement perfectly, nor the power that it has to make us whole, but what I do know is that our Savior loves us perfectly and infinitely and that it is only through him that we can became better and more like our Father in Heaven.

I hope that you all have an amazing week and an amazing Thanksgiving this week! Once again I want you all to know how grateful I am for you and the affect that you have had on my life! I love you all and God be with you till we write again!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

 Christmas fireside in the Chimbote, Peru Stake