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

November 17th, 2014

Dear Family,

This week has been so great! Not a whole lot of different things going on, but this week just has been so great! Elder Diaz and I had more lessons than we have ever had! We normally average around 26 a week, but this week we had 35! We taught a lot of new investigators, which was good because we have been looking for new investigators to teach. I am pretty sure that I have lesson one down, because I think we taught it a good 20 times this week, but the thing is, every time we taught it, it was different! Yes the principles are the same, but as we teach, we teach to the needs of the people and not the needs of the lesson. Each lesson we teach is unique in its own way and I feel like this is the best way that the people can feel the spirit!

Along with this great week, I have hit 4 months living in Peru! This is so crazy to me, because I don't think I have spent more than 2 weeks away from living at home! I have enjoyed every moment that I have had in Peru, and will continue to enjoy every moment I have here! Also, this week is transfers! My companion and I are staying together for this transfer, so we are both extremely happy for that!

This last transfer I have really been trying to study in the Book of Mormon and understand it a little better. This has been a little difficult because I am reading it in Spanish, so I understand almost all of it, but not all of it. I am half way through Alma, and I hope to finish by Christmas!

I don't have much more to write, but I love you all and pray for you every night!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

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

November 3rd, 2014

Dear family,

This week has been pretty good for me! Well actually I should share with you some news.. I have some good news and some bad news and so I think I will share the bad news first so we can end on a good note!

The bad news is, I have had a wicked cough for about a month now and we didn't know what was going on because I kept taking all of the medicine for coughs and nothing was helping, and so we went to the clinic and it turns out that I have bronchitis. 

The good news is, they thought that I might have had Tuberculiosus but after some tests they did it turns out that I don't, so that was good! I think I am getting better with all of this medicine that I am talking, but honestly I don't feel sick or anything like that, just every once in a while I get this cough that I can't stop for about a half and hour.. I am sure I will be completely fine by next week!

More news is that I'm pretty positive that I am growing, becuase I have growing pains, and I haven't had these pains for years now. My district thinks that I am growing too, so we will have to measure myself. Not sure if this was good news or bad news.. haha

Other than this news, this week has been so great! Elder Diaz and I taught a bunch of lessons and had a really good turn-out to sacrament meeting. We had 11 less actives and 6 investigators attend! We were super excited for all the people that came! Some more news is that we are for sure having a baptism this week for Hermano Dario! He has been with us for about a month now and his desires and actions have resulted in this week being baptized. 

The people here are still so loving and caring! The food here is so great, although I do miss American food. Sometimes rice gets old, but every once in a while we are surprized with having a plate that doesn't have rice on it! 

It is getting super hot here and a couple days ago I got sunburnt, and so I think I am going to have to start wearing sunscreen! Well I don't have much more to say! The mission is great, the spanish is coming along, and I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

October 27th, 2014

Dear Family,

Wow this week went by extremely fast! I can't believe that we are in the last week of October! This change has gone by so fast for me which honestly isn't a good sign! It is crazy how fast my days go by as I have appointments and stuff to do every half hour!

This week for me was so great! It wasn't a normal week for me, because on Thursday I got on a plane to go back to Lima. I had to go to Lima because I needed to do some more paperwork for my Visa so that I can be Legal.. I think that I will be going back again in a few weeks to pick up my actual Peruvian ID! In Lima I stayed in a hotel room, which was extremely weird because I didn't have a companion with me. The other elders and I had Papa John's for dinner and ate at the distribution center for lunch the next day.

That was all fun, but the main reason why I loved being in Lima is because I was able to go through the temple! The session that I went through was extremely spiritual for me and I received so many answers! The temple truly is such a great blessing for me in my life! I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to go to Lima and do a session in the temple!

This week Elder Diaz and I have been working really hard with a couple investigators that are extremely close to entering the gate of baptism. We are super excited for them and are trying to do our best in assisiting them in their desires to follow Christ! Along with them, Elder Diaz and I have been working with some less actives! We have been trying to set goals with them as to when they would like to enter into the temple as a family! Temples have honestly been our focus as we teach less active families, and is our focus in general, because that is where our Father in Heaven wants all of his children to return to! 

I am so grateful for the temple in my life and the blessings from the temple. I look forward to the day that I will be able to make more covenants with my Father in Heaven, and with my future wife, to have an eternal family!

I love you all and I pray for all of you!

Love, 

Elder Thorpe

October 20th, 2014

Dear family,

This week has been so good! Elder Diaz and I have been working extremely hard and our work, well not our work, but the Lord's work has really shown! This week we visited a lot of less active families which was really good. One family that we visited was one that we have been visiting for a long time. They have received all of the lessons and are reactivating! We taught them about temples on Sunday and eternal families. It made me think of how blessed I am to know the truthfulness of the temple and the blessings that we can receive. It also made me think of how much I want to go to the temple and be sealed and have an eternal family. 

This week we also visited with a couple new investigators which, in the first visit it is really important that the investigators know our purpose and that we are here to invite others to follow the example of Christ and be baptized. So every new investigator we invite to be baptized. These 2 new ones this week look really promising, and I feel like they are prepared to hear the message that we have. They both accepted to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized and so we have been working with both of them in understanding and gaining a testimony of the gospel, but most importantly becoming converted.

Well that was pretty much my week. The mornings of P-day are really fun because we play basketball at 5:30! The Latinos always want to face us North American's and so me and two other elders always mess around with the Latinos. It is pretty fun! One last thought before I go... I am convienced and positive that if Elder Diaz and I were to join the olympics fast walking event we would win every time!

Love, 

Elder Thorpe

Oh I forgot to say that my companion and I tried out for the Christmas show down here for our mission and so we will be singing The First Noel together.  I am super excited!!

October 13th, 2014

Dear Family,

This week has been so great! Same with last week and since I didn't write last week I thought that I would give a short update of last week. 

Last week I was with a bunch of different people. I went from my area to other areas, but with the same purpose every place that I was in. I have really improved my Spanish these last 2 weeks, as I have only been allowed to speak in Spanish because I have no one to speak English with, so that was really good.
This week I got a new companion, Elder Diaz, and he is so awesome! He is one of the 'big names' of the mission because of his success and power house zone that he lead. I have already learned so much from him. Our area has progressed in these short few days with us being together than it has in the past! I honestly can see such a great future for the ward that we are in and I feel like we are going to start to see growth really soon! 

General Conference was so great! I learned so much from each of the speakers and have started to apply their teachings into my life and mission already! I was fortunate to watch conference in English, and so yes I could understand everything! The spirit was so strong and honestly all I was thinking is, 'Is conference seriously already over?' I love conference and I hope that all of you enjoyed it as much as me! 

This week we have a baptismal date and so we will have to see if that sticks, or if it will be moved again. 

Well I love you all and pray for you daily!

Love, Elder Thorpe