February 16th, 2015

Dear Family,

I can't believe that I have hit 7 months! Wow time really does go by fast while serving the Lord. So I was thinking last night that whenever I send out letters, I feel like they are never interesting and so I wanted to try to make them sound more interesting and well, just better. So this is my attempt to do that..

 

So as you know, I am training and I couldn't be happier! I am so happy that I am still here in Chao and that I am able to have a ¨Son¨ here in Chao with me! haha. This first week with Elder Campos has been pretty good. The start of the week was a little slow because Elder Campos has been trying to adapt to missionary life, but we were able to have a few great lessons with a few investigators and less actives. This first week I have been trying to help Elder Campos adapt to missionary life and just a few other minor things from the mission, which he seems to be adapting really well. He is super quiet and doesn't always like to open up and talk a whole lot, but toward the end of the week he started opening up to me a little more and started to open up more as well with the investigators in sharing his thoughts of the gospel. We have started practices every morning, especially with the lessons because he isn't completely familiar with the lessons and all of the main points of the lessons, which I didn't expect him to be, but the practices have been going really well and have affected the way that we teach together.The first few lessons were a little scattered and we weren't completely united, but I had a talk with him on unity and the importance of having the same vision, which I believe has helped us a lot.
This week was a great start for him as well because we were able to have a baptism and an Alma rescatada, which he was super excited about. I am glad that all of that was able to work out this week and that he could come into the mission with a great week of missionary work. The work in Chao is growing each and every week. Our consejo has grown so much in the last month and I feel like our branch is more unified than it has ever been. We missed a couple of key families at church this last week and I think if they were there we would have reached the high 90's in assitance again, but all and all this last week was a great week for us. 

 

So as I mentioned, we had a baptism this last week! His name is Frederico and I am super excited for him. He is one of the investigators that I had that right when I met him, I knew he would get baptized! I am super excited to continue teaching him and hopefully in a year enter into the temple with him! We are hoping that this next week we can help his receive the Priesthood and maybe even a calling! Who knows? Also we have a less active in our branch that we have been working with that has become more active and is working to go to the temple, so we are super excited for her. 

 

Luckily this week I was feeling way better and that I was able to get back out working. At times I miss Elder Farnsworth because we were so unified and could teach any lesson, knowing exactly what the other would say, and so this first week of teaching was a little rougher. Elder Campos is way quiet and a bit shy and so the lessons have been mostly me talking, and when he normally talks he testifies about the gospel of Christ, which is great, but not always what we are talking about. That is alright though because he is in training and learning. I feel so blessed to have such great people in my life like all of you that raised me so great in the gospel and of the knowledge that I have because of that. I look forward to this next week of teaching a practicing with Elder Campos and I hope I can be the example that he needs to become a great missionary.

 

I LOVE this gospel so much and the blessings that come from it. I testify of the truthfulness of the gospel that it truly does bring true happiness. I testify that Jesus is the Christ and that he loves us so much. It is through him and his mercy that we are able to progress and be saved. I love the Book of Mormon so much and I see the truthfulness of it as I read and apply the doctrine into my life and my teaching. I hope you know that I love you all so much and that I know that I am here on my mission as a representative of our savior Jesus Christ, doing his work.

Love,

Elder Thorpe

February 9th, 2015

Dear Family,

This letter might be really short because I haven't really done anything this week. 

Elder Farnsworth and I had 1 normal day of teaching at the start of this week, which was Tuesday, and then on Wednesday morning Elder Farnsworth got super sick and got a really high fever so we couldn't go out and teach. Then on Thursday we were supposed to have interviews with President but Elder Farnsworth was still really sick, and you know what happens when your companion is sick... You get sick as well. So Thursday night I got super sick. I couldn't eat or drink anything without throwing up (I know gross) and I had a 102.4 fever so I couldn't do anything as well. It got so bad that in the middle of the night I was waking up every 15 to 20 minutes throwing up.. (sorry this letter is a little gross..) And then finally at 2 or 3 in the morning I asked my companion for a blessing which we were both able to give each other a blessing and after that we were both completely fine (Talk about Priesthood Power) And that was pretty much the week, although we were able to teach a few people on Sunday. 

So this week is change week and so I am sure you want to know what is going on! Well, I am staying here in Chao and I am TRAINING!!! Oh my goodness I didn't think that I would train this early in the mission. My companion will be a Latino because there are no Americans coming in this round. But yeah.. I am training in Chao and will be here at least 12 more weeks! And that means that Elder Farnsworth is leaving, so I am a little sad about that because we are doing so great here in Chao, but I am excited to be training now!

Well I hope you all know that I love you and that you all have a wonderful Valentines day!

Love, Elder Thorpe

February 2nd, 2015

Dear Family,

Well, we have hit the month of February! That is so crazy for me to think! This last week went by super fast and was pretty great. We had a pretty interesting experience with a couple of our investigators this last week. Basically what happened was one of them hid under a bed from us because I guess he didn't want to listen to us and then we were told we couldn't visit them anymore by their landlord because he only allows one religion in his house. So that was interesting. We also got into a Bible bash with the landlord, which is never what we want to do, but it ended on a good note. He pretty much proved all of our points to be true and proved to himself why his religion is false. I am not sure if he realized that or not though.

Also this week we found another really awesome new investigator that has come to church twice and we have been working with him a lot this past week. We think that he could be prepared to be baptized in the next couple of weeks, so we are really working hard with him.

Other than that, the week was pretty normal. We played basketball this morning and today for P-day we are going to watch the lego movie and play Inca-Pong, we are pretty excited for that. 

Well, I love you all and I will talk to you next week! 

Love,

Elder Thorpe

January 26th, 2015

Dear Family,

There wasn't a lot that went on this week, so this email will probably be really short... Pretty much we taught a lot of people like normal, found a really sweet new investigator that has already started reading the book of mormon and committed to a baptism date. And other than that I didn't have any crazy experiences or stories for this week. It was a pretty normal week for me full of the spirit as usual.

This morning us gringos convinced the Latinos to play basketball and so we drove to where we play basketball and they all showed up with investigators and members and said we had to play soccer, so what we decided was that we would play soccer on one condition that it would be gringos vs. Latinos. Now you are probably thinking that the Latinos took it to us, but us Gringos acutally started out the game really well. My buddy Elder Craft had a sweet pass to me which resulted into a goal. We then ended up stomping all over them and won the game 3 to 0 and told them next time we will have to play basketball and see who is better at that sport... Hahaha 

That was the fun thing that we were able to do this week.

Sorry for the short and maybe boring email, but I hope you all know that I love you so much and pray about you always! 

Love,

Elder Thorpe

P.S. Happy Birthday Ashlee!!! I love you

Missionary Selfie

January 19th, 2015

This week for me has been super crazy. I have decided that from now on I am not going to say that we are going to have a baptism because each time I do, they fall through. So now you know that we didn't have either of our baptisms this week, which is ok, because I guess it wasn't the right time, but we are still working with both of these individuals so that they are able to receive the blessings that our father in heaven has for them. 

This week we had really good success with member lessons, which is what we always want, so that when investigators come to church they don't feel as uncomfortable. So that was really good this week. We also found a couple of really awesome new investigators that we are excited to teach so that was really good for us this week. 

On Thursday night Elder Farnsworth and I were a bit down because we had just lost both of our baptism dates and we had only had 2 lessons that day which was really low for a day and so we were a little upset. We went to dinner that night, which we eat at a restaraunt with 4 other elders and we were all there in the back room when all of the sudden a drunk guy walked into the restaraunt. Now, in Peru there is no limit on drinking, and so this guy was as drunk as can be. Our pensionista tried to tell this guy to leave but he wouldn't and he was trying to go past the back counter, which we needed to go out from there, so I told my pensionista to not worry and that I would take care of it. So I took my plate and started walking out but he wouldn't move so I asked him to move, but he wouldn't budge. I then gave my plate to Elder Farnsworth just in case and started to talk to this extremely drunk guy. He was trying to push me to the side to get past, but me being a big gringo, just about twice his height, wouldn't move. He then started yelling all this crap about the United States and about my white skin and blonde hair... Everyone was just dying in laughter, but basically what happened is that my pensionista and I got him to leave... 

He then stayed outside and my pensionista went to talk to him and he told her that he was waiting for me to come out, so she got scared and had us go out the back way on a moto taxi.. hahaha

So that was my crazy experience for the week. 

I hope you all know that I love each of you so much and I am always thinking about you. This Gospel is true, Jesus is the Christ. He is my savior and older brother and for that I am forever grateful for him. God's plan of Happiness is perfect and through the atonement of Christ and living his gospel, we can progress in this great plan of happiness and receive all that our father in heaven has, which is everything. My hope and prayer is that we are all able to do this and stand before our Father at the last days and declare unto him, as Alma says, that our works have been works of righteousness.

Love,

Elder Thorpe

January 12th, 2015

Dear Family,

Can you believe that just in 3 days I hit my 6 month mark! Wow that is so crazy! I honestly can't believe how fast time has gone. It has started to go a lot faster recently and I think that is because I have become more fluent in Spanish and I don't get frustrated as much because I can't say whatever I want to say in Spanish. This last week wasn't the best week as far as lessons, but I feel like I still felt a great spirit with everyone that we taught. We had a couple lessons with a few people that are looking good to be baptized this week, so hopefully all goes well with that.
We also had a lesson with a couple that were really close to getting married and then they just got in a fight right in front of Elder Farnsworth and I as we were trying to teach them and so we don't know what is going to happen with them. Let's just say in that lesson I learned a bunch of swear words becuase the wife kept on apologizing for swearing... So that lesson was kind of crazy. We are really hoping that some of these new investigators that we have will start progressing so that they will be able to enter into the waters of baptism. 

Well today we are going up to a mall in Trujillo for P-day. I hope you all know that I love you and that you are always thought about in my prayers.
Love,

Elder Thorpe

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