March 2nd, 2015

Well this is it! I can't believe that this moment has come. The time has flown by way too fast. So we had our baptism for Friday "Karen", unfortunately I wasn't able to attend because president had me off doing a special assignment in Casas Grandes. But I'm ok with that because I'm helping the mission with a big project that president is starting. So we are doing this thing with the Book of Mormon and I'm Mormon pass-along cards. We are presenting the BOM with 8 questions that are answered in the BOM. We had a 98% that they accepted and we got a refferal out of it. I was there with another Elder for 3 days and we recieved 120 refferals for the mission.

I am so happy that I went on my mission I have learned so much and I am greatful for all the experiences that my Heavenly Father gave me. I love this Church so much and I know that it is true. I love the Savior and for his sacrifice that he made for me and for all of us. I love the mission and I am super sad to be leaving the field. I know that the Book of Mormon is true! 

Love, Elder Thorpe

February 23rd, 2015

Hey so This week was awesome!!! We had a baptism of such an awesome guy! His name is Jose Luis. His parents are super catholic but they told him they would support him in whatever decision he would make. So he got married to his wife and they have the goal to be sealed in the Temple!!! His baptism was so good, his mom came which was awesome and she felt the spirit so strong. We had a member baptize him who has been such a help to them and he was so excited to do it.
On Sunday we had 8 investigators at church and they were so excited and they all loved it. The members were such an awesome help and they all talked with them and showed them around, and helped them feel more comfortable. I was so happy to see all the members making an effort in helping with the work.

So were going to have two baptisms this week one on Friday for Karen and another on Saturday for Orlando y Zoè! We are so excited for them, they are such great people and are going to be such great members of the church.

Oh so I forgot to say this we are living in the house of the other missionaries from our ward and we are all American. Don't worry we are being obedient, but it is so much fun!! I'll send pics of how much fun we are having.

Love, Elder Thorpe

February 16th, 2015

Hey so this week was really long I felt but it passed by so fast. This week We confirmed a baptism that we will be having this Saturday. We are super excited to be having this baptism, It was been a long wait for him and he is so excited. We had a cool activity that we did for Valentines day. We had an idea to receive more referals by taking pictures in a giant cut out heart and taking the pictures to their houses and sharing a message on the importance of the family and the gospel. We got a pretty good number of referals we ended up getting around 272 refereals in two days. It was great! I am so happy to see the work going forth.

​I have been doing great in my Book of Mormon reading I am almost done with Alma, I am loving it!!! I love the Book of Mormon so much and I love learning so much from it every day.​

February 9th, 2015

Hey!

So this week was so awesome. Man I love the mission. We experienced so many miracles this week it was almost hard to believe. So for starters...we went to the end of Juarez we call it el fin del mundo. It's like houses and then literally nothing. We had to go there to look for referals. We ended up finding nothing and then had to walk about 5 miles to where we eat for the day. 

We had a really spiritual experience with one of our investigators. His name is Jose Luis. He really has been wanting to get baptized for a long time. The only problem is that his mom is really catholic and he was afraid of what she would think about his decision. So we have been working with her for these past couple weeks trying to help her feel the spirit. Lately she had been really getting into the lessons and she reads the Book of Mormon too.

So we got some good news from them Jose Luis and his wife (who is a member) are getting married. Boom...so that helped a lot. Also we had a really awesome lesson on the plan of Salvation. We really tried to put an emphasis on what we need to do in this life to return back with Heavenly Father like baptism. In the end we asked what everyone would be willing to do to achieve the celestial kingdom.  The mom told us that she wants to understand our church better and she will support her son in whatever decision he makes. When she said that, I felt the spirit inside me leap for joy and I felt as those missionaries of the Book of Mormon. After she said that I aske Jose Luis if he would like to be baptized. He shared a powerful testimony of how he knew the church was true and he accepted. He will be baptized the 21 of Feb. 2015!

We also had some really amazing experiences with our other investigators. 3 others told us that they knew it was true and they are going to get baptized on the 28th of Feb. So pumped!!

I love you all!

Love Elder Thorpe

February 2nd, 2015

Hey so this week was probably one of the best weeks I have ever had in my mission. We worked so hard this week after having kind of a tough week last week. We made the goal this week to do whatever we could to find new investigators, because that is what we were lacking. We finished this week with a total of 13 new investigators. The majority of them are families and they are so awesome. I'm so happy we found them even though I won't be able to see them get baptized. In our mission the investigators have to go to church for 5 weeks before they can get baptized. But that's ok. It's important that they can receive their own conversion. We should have at least 3 baptisms before I finish. I am so excited for the people that we are teaching.

I have been really enjoying my daily scripture study.  I have been doing really well with reading the Book of Mormon. I have been learning so much and I am so happy for the scriptures.

My companion and I have been getting along great, he is so awesome. We come up with some of the funniest things to do to keep us going when times are tough. Sometimes if there is a tire up ahead we run up ahead to see who puts their foot through first and whoever does it first is on varsity for football. It's really fun!!

Well I love you all and I am so excited for Ashlee's baptism.

Also...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEE!!!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

January 26th, 2015

Hey so I am back in Juarez. It wasnt what I was wanting but oh well. So my new and last companion is Elder Chapman. He is an american from Gilbert Arizona. I think its funny that I havent had one American companion that is from Utah. Well he is really cool, he only has 3 months in the mission so he is still struggling with his Spanish. Thats ok though.

The ward Independencia is awesome. we have 4 American Elders in the ward. I have never seen that before in my mission. They are all a bunch of great guys. One of them is the son of an ex mission president.

So this week we have been teaching a lot of investigators who are so awesome. The only problem is we  need to get them all married. The good thing is that Valentines day is coming up and here in Mexico you can get married for free that day.

So it snowed again, not as much as it did in Casas Grandes but it still snowed. I started reading the Book of Mormon again. I finished it on Monday and started again on Tuesday. The mission reads it every 12 weeks but since I'm going home in 6 Im trying to finish it before I go home. So I am reading 13.275 pages per day haha. I'm so happy to be sharing this message with everyone in my mission. It is the best.

Love, Elder Braiden Thorpe

Snow in Juarez

Elder Chapman and Elder Thorpe

January 19th, 2015

Hola Fam!!!

Well I am getting changed and I figured that I would be changed because its going to be my last change before I go home. I am going to a ward called Intependencia. It's supposedly one of the best wards in the mission for work because they baptize a lot. I'm still a senior companion so that's cool. I'm happy with my change and I am happy to be finishing my mission in a good area. My new companion I think is an American, not 100% sure on that but I'll know tomorrow.

I can't believe that I only have 6 weeks left in my mission. Time is passing by so fast and I am super nervous because I don't want it all to end. I love the mission and I have learned so much. I am so grateful for my testimony that I have developed over these past two years.

 

I'm really sad that I am leaving Alamedas. I have learned so much in the area. I am also really sad that I wont be able to see David get baptized. I hope he still follows through with his decision and gets baptized. I am really sad to leave all our investigators who are progressing. 

We found this one family this last week who are amazing. For our first actual visit with them the made us dinner (but a really good dinner Lasagna) Then at the End the sister asked us why we say that if someone has been baptized into the catholic church that they have to be baptized again. So we explained that in Lesson 1 and talked about prophets and the priesthood and Jesus Christ and the Apostles and the great Apostasy. And then the best part of the lesson when we explained about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. In the end we invited her to pray and ask if all that we had taught was true and that she would start to read the Book of Mormon and she accepted. So today just barely we got a call from her friend who is a member saying that she was super excited that we went to teach her friend and that her friend is really happy and wants us to come over and teach her more and her family. She also said that she is reading the Book of Mormon and she is really excited.

I know that God lives and that he loves each and everyone of us. I am so happy to be sharing this incredible message with all the people that I come in contact with. I love the Scriptures especially the Book of Mormon. 

For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

-John 13:15

I love you all and hope the best for everyone that reads my letters. I pray for all of you and the ward everyday.

Love,

ELDER BRAIDEN THORPE

Packing up for last transfer of the mission.

January 12th, 2015

Hey so this week was fun. We went to Juarez again to have our Leadership Council meeting. It was fun because we got to Juarez really early and we went to the mall by the offices to hang out and eat food. So we went there for a while. Then we headed to the offices and hung out with the secretaries and we watched a bunch of Mormon videos. We had a really good meeting on Leadership and how to set better goals and how to plan better. I really liked it and learned a lot. One of the sisters that gave a training used a lot from a book that Stephen R. Covey wrote. It was really good. President is going to give all of the leaders the book. We also got to eat a sandwich that is really common in Mexico City called a Guajolota!!! Its basically a tamale sandwich!!!

So this Sunday are transfers and President was basically saying during the training that all of the Elders who are about to go home are going to be made District leaders, senior companions, or junior companions. He is doing this to help either an entire district, to help the junior companion become a senior companion, and then if your junior companion you help the senior companion to be a senior companion too. I'm 100% positive that I am getting changed.

​Well Love you all and hope you enjoy the normal life.

Love,​

ELDER BRAIDEN THORPE

January 5th, 2015

HOLA!!! Well this week was full of spiritual experiences! It was kind of tough because of the vacation days that are still happening, but we decided to turn it around and make the most of it! We decided to use some of the letter envelopes that I was sent. We wrote a nice letter about new year and Christ and how we should think about him all year long and make goals to strive to be more like him. We also put in each envelope a ¨He is the Gift¨ card as a little gift. Well on the 31st we went out and started knocking on doors to give them their gift from us. We contacted about 40 people in 2 hours and the results were amazing. We found 3 new investigators and 10 future investigators. We were invited into several homes to talk about our purpose of the card we wrote for them. The spirit was so powerful as we went about spreading the gospel.

I love you all and hope you have a Feliz Año Nuevo and a prosperous one too.

Love,

Elder Thorpe

Oh I also made seven layer dip for my companion to eat on the 31st it was good!