First baptism!!!

Day of service helping move all these bricks.

August 5th, 2013

Hola!!! So I had a pretty awesome week! We started off by teaching a new family that are investigating the Church. They are super awesome and they have a baptismal date for the 24 of Aug. They are super awesome and even told us that they were wanting to get baptized in the LDS church. So they are looking like some pretty solid investigators. Oh and they are living with a member family who are super awesome. We have been working super hard with more members and I think its strengthening the Ward and helping the area to improve.

We had interviews with the President as well this past week. But first La Hermana instructed us on how to work out correctly and stay clean in the house. When it was my turn to be interviewed by the President I was a bit nervous because I still can't speak spanish very well. But I went in and I could understand him (even though he speaks really fast.) and he could understand me (or so I think). He told me that Elder King and I have a new rule. Him and I can no longer speak in English!!! Let me tell you its been quite a bit of a struggle these past like 5 days! But I can see how much it's been helping me with my spanish. In fact a lot of the Members are telling me that I am speaking a lot better spanish. Its also crazy how much spanish I understand as well. I think the hardest part for me now is speaking, because now I feel that I understand a lot more.

It made me think of one of my favorite sections in D&C 46. It talks about some of the spiritual gifts that God gives to his Children. I love verse 26 though it says: 26 And all these ^agifts come from God, for the benefit of the ^bchildren of God.

Now for the big news of the week.....I had my first baptism!!! Its actually a really cool story we weren't even teaching Victoria. We were teaching her less active sister and her family that she is living with. The family she is living with started coming back to church and later Victoria came up to us and said she wanted to be baptized. Victoria is different and special. She has the age mentality of a 10 or 11 year old. But we still taught her and she passed! I baptized her and we will confirm the gift of the Holy Ghost next Sunday!

I love all of you and miss all of you!

Hope is like the beam of sunlight rising up above the horizon of our circumstances. It pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn.

-Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Elder Thorpe