Monday, May 27, 2013
May 27th, 2013
So I had a pretty solid birthday here in Mexico. It was full of service and teaching. I was able to teach the first part of lesson one in spanish which was pretty intense. Later for lunch a member gave us money to go get lunch, so we went to Wendy's and got a family pack, which was awesome. After eating we went to go get a cake from walmart. I decided on chocolate. We went back to the house and dropped the cake off and headed back out into the blistering heat. After a long day of work we went home to prepare our things for meeting Elder Christopherson. We went to the Juarez Central missionary's home because it was closer to where the bus would be to pick us up. So there we celebrated my birthday and ate my cake. The cake was amazing. We then went to bed and slept hardly.
The next morning we arose at 4:15 to get ready and head over to the bus. It was about a 3 hour bus ride which was long and tiring. But we were extremely excited to meet an Apostle. I tried to read as much in the scriptures as I could to prepare myself spiritually for the meeting.Monday, May 20, 2013
May 20, 2013
Hola Familia,
I am so excited about turning 19 this Friday. It's kind of crazy thinking I am going to be 19. One of the Elders was telling me about a story of when they changed the mission age from 20 to 19 and how the first 19 year old in that mission later became an apostle. That would be my favorite Jeffry R. Holland. He said, "you better prepare yourself Elder, your gonna be an apostle some day." I laughed and looked at him and said, "Funny." We have been working super hard in the mission, Our ward isn't the strongest of all the Wards in the world. Things here in Mexico are different with the Church. We found out that hardly any of the members are reading the Book of Mormon. So Elder King and I are doing something about that. We have a list off all the names of the families and we are going to each family and commiting them to read the Book of Mormon. Reading the Book of Mormon is super important. Especially reading it, meditating it in your heart, and praying about it. Just like when Joseph Smith was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus they told him that none of the Churches teachings were right. They spoke highly of Jesus Christ but their hearts were far from him. Unless we take the teachings of Jesus Christ to our hearts, we are just like any of the other religions. Having the Savior in our heart is extremely important.
So we found some new investigators this week. We actually had a really cool experience with finding one family. We were on our way to go talk to a less active family, when we both had the impression to turn around and walk back through the park. As we had almost walked through all the park a man stopped us and asked us if he could talk to us. We agreed and we talked about what we do and what the church is about. He seemed super intrested and sincere and asked if he could cook for us and listen to our message. The Lord works in mysterious ways.I am so excited about turning 19 this Friday. It's kind of crazy thinking I am going to be 19. One of the Elders was telling me about a story of when they changed the mission age from 20 to 19 and how the first 19 year old in that mission later became an apostle. That would be my favorite Jeffry R. Holland. He said, "you better prepare yourself Elder, your gonna be an apostle some day." I laughed and looked at him and said, "Funny." We have been working super hard in the mission, Our ward isn't the strongest of all the Wards in the world. Things here in Mexico are different with the Church. We found out that hardly any of the members are reading the Book of Mormon. So Elder King and I are doing something about that. We have a list off all the names of the families and we are going to each family and commiting them to read the Book of Mormon. Reading the Book of Mormon is super important. Especially reading it, meditating it in your heart, and praying about it. Just like when Joseph Smith was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus they told him that none of the Churches teachings were right. They spoke highly of Jesus Christ but their hearts were far from him. Unless we take the teachings of Jesus Christ to our hearts, we are just like any of the other religions. Having the Savior in our heart is extremely important.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
May 12, 2013 Mother's Day
We were able to talk with Braiden for exactly 40 minutes on Mother's Day. I didn't know how serious he was about the 40 minutes until he told me we only had ten more minutes and I looked at the cell phone and saw that we had been talking for 30 minutes already. It was so good to hear his voice. He is in a area where when he was called on his mission John said to me I hope he doesn't go to Juarez. It is a pretty dangerous area which means very strict rules for the missionaries. They only have elders in the area since it is not safe for sister missionaries. He told us of some people they had met and some of the problems they run into as they are teaching people. One of them being that many people are living together and not married which poses a problem for them to get baptized. He has a great companion that is from Vancouver, WA. He seemed very happy but I know that he misses home. He doesn't say it but you can just tell. I know it's not easy to remember to write to missionaries but now that I have one out serving I understand how much they long for letters from their loved ones. He says the members take good care of them and feed them lunch everyday. He said they have also made a friend who has a hamburger place who has a son who looks up to the missionaries. This man frequently gives them hamburgers so I guess I can quit worrying about him being fed. In a couple of weeks they have a big conference where Elder Christopherson is coming to split the mission. I am glad this is happening early in his mission and that he will have the same mission president throughout his mission. He is doing so great and he says he appreciates all the prayers in his behalf.
May 13, 2013
Ok so as we were walking to go email we saw a bunch of cops over by the mall and they had two escaped convicts in hand cuffs, so that was an intresting way to start our day. Then when we walked into the mall we walked past 20 swat cops with heavy duty machine guns, apparently they are looking for someone here in the mall. Anyways If the mexican music here doesnt drive me insane here Im sure all of the dogs will.
The President yesterday told Elder King and I that we should look for a family that we can baptize either this week or next week. We have 4 potentials but we still have to teach them alot of the lessons. I keep reading in the Book of Mormon everyday and I have been loving every moment that I get to read it.May 13, 2013
A letter from Elder Thorpe to his home ward in Lehi, Utah
During my mission so far I have found that reading the Book of Mormon is extremely important. Its not only important for me as a missionary but for individuals and as families. Joseph Smith Said, "The Book of Mormon is the key stone to our religion." Without the Book of Mormon there is no point to our church. In other words without the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are lost! In the introduction of the Book of Mormon it says, "We invite all men everywhere to READ the Book of Mormon, To PONDER IN THEIR HEARTS the message that it contains, and to then ASK GOD, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who Pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth & divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost.
This Brings me to one of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon. Alma 32 is on of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. We are going to take Alma 32:28,30,37-43 and analyze them. In 28 Alma compares the word to a seed. Now I like to think of the "word" as the Book of Mormon. He says we must take that seed & plant it in our hearts. In 30 The seed begins to sprout and we recognize that the seed is a good seed, and our faith is strengthened. In 37 the seed begins to grow into a tree, and we see that we must nourish it so that it will bring forth fruit. Now if we begin to neglect the seed and we dont nourish it, it starts to whither away. We must nourish it and look forward with faith.Monday, May 6, 2013
May 6, 2013
Ok so our assistants didn't communicate clearly, our real P-day is on Monday. This first week was super crazy. I hardly understood anything that was being said my first day. Luckily the assistants are American and can translate for us. There were six Americans that came and 16 Latinos. The first night we all slept in the mission home which was super small and crowded. The next day we went to the church to meet our new companions. My new companion´s name is Elder King. HE IS AMERICAN!!! I was happy about that so now I can atually communicate with him. So...for my first area. I am located in Juárez. So I will now be in the Juárez mission instead of the Chihuahua Mission. Oh something really cool. I am the very first American to serve as an 18 year old in this mission. So that will be something really cool to tell people. So yeah I can only take out bits and pieces of lessons that we teach. I can almost always understand the topics of the conversations that go on here, but its still really hard to understand what is being said.
So we dont skype in this mission yet. We will have to see what the new President says so we only call home. How it works is we call home from one of the Church phones and then you call that number back and then we talk. We only have 40 min. to talk so we cant waste time. I call home on Sunday (mothers day) and I will be calling at 4. The time is the same here as it is in the USA.
I know this church is true and I am proud to be on a mission.
Love,
Elder Thorpe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)