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!

December 29th, 2014

So last week was a blast! We had our super awesome pachanga (party) with the Jones family! They are super awesome. We played games and watched The Saratov Approach, ate a ton of hot dogs, and made ginger bread cookies! It was super fun. I talked with their son a lot who got back from his mission recently.  He served in London. He was a ZL too so he gave me some advice and some ideas of how we can help our zone work better. Then later we went to a sisters house after we had our zone meeting and had dinner. She made our whole zone a bunch of tacos. So that was Monday.

I was super happy to skype you and talk to you all. We didn't do much on the 24th because we were told we had to be in the house early. So we didn't do anything afterwards.

On the 25th we just went to the family history center and played games with some other elders. So that is all we did that day.

Believe it or not it snowed here! We had a snowball fight in the morning with the elders who haven't ever seen snow in their lives. I also taught them how to make a snow man which was fun! I never thought that I would see snow in my mission.

So today I'm super excited were going to the gym in Dublan to play a basketball game against the high school team here in casas (los Lobos). We´ll see how that goes.

Well love you all!

Elder Thorpe

oh I also made my first tamale!

Christmas Eve with the Jones family

Making tamales

Snow in Mexico

December 22nd, 2014

Hey I dont have hardly any time this week to write becuase a lot of members are throwing us a huge party but I just want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I will be skyping at 1 instead of 6. Our mission president told us we couldn't be outside of our house after 5. So I hope that doesn't mess any plans up!!!

Oh quick story so we were in Juarez for the leadership council meeting and we always stay in a hotel when we go. So while we were in Juarez Ricky Martin was having a concert there as well. So when we got back to the hotel at night you won't believe who was staying in the same hotel as us. Ricky Martin, and we got to meet him! It was cool even though I don't even know any of his music except for liven la vida loca. Also while we were in our room we looked out the window and there was all his admirers yelling and when I opened the curtains to look out they all started screaming and pointing at me because they thought I was him haha.

We almost had our baptism this week but he had to go to Chihuahua for something. But we keep working hard with him! Also the young women of our ward made us a goodie bag for Christmas to show their appreciation for us, it was nice.

Well I love you all and am so excited to talk to you on Wednesday.

Love Elder Thorpe

Ricky Martin admirers 

December 15th, 2014

Wow!

This week was super awesome! We have been preparing this entire week for our Multi Stake Christmas Choir program that we had yesterday! It was super good!!! I was in charge of doing all of the tech stuff and getting all of the videos ready! We had two big screens that we used during the program and we put on the new video of the birth of Jesus Christ to start it all off to get everyone in the right mood. Then we sang a couple of hymns/Christmas songs about Christ. Then we had another video that we showed it's a mormon message called the true meaning of Christmas (its the one with all of the little kids). Then we sang some children Christmas songs like Feliz Navidad. I really got into that one and my companion and I started dancing haha! Then we ended with some more songs about Christ and his birth. Then we ended on a really spiritual note. We put up the video He is the Gift! It was so awesome.  We only planned on having about 1,500 people show up but more than 2,000 people came to see it and more than half of them were not members of the Church. It was such an awesome experience!!!

I love this time of year, and I love the Savior! I am so grateful for the love that my Heavenly Father had for us to send his son! I am also so grateful for My older brother and the love he had for us to come down in a imperfect world and live and die for us! I love this church and everything about it!

I KNOW ITS TRUE!

Love Elder Thorpe

Ps. Ill skype you at 6 on the 24th

December 8th, 2014

Hey!!!

So Cambios were yesterday and I'm still here with my companion!!! I'm super excited that we are still together! He will be my first companion that will be able to talk to you in english when we skype! I hope that the package that I send gets to you all in time! If not I'll send what is for who.

I'm sorry but I don't have a ton of time to write because of all the changes. I feel that Brooklyn had a hard week and her phone got stolen. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Braiden Thorpe

December 1st, 2014

Hey!!!

So this week was super fun! We officially started the campaign of ¨Él es la Dádiva¨ (He is the Gift). We are super excited with what is happening in the missionary work. We are planning on using it in our Choir activity as well. This week we are going to go to all of the stores here and talk to them about putting the video in their stores. It has been super great.

This week I also got to celebrate Thanksgiving with my companion. We made our own Thanksgiving dinner. It took about an hour for us to cook the turkey legs but in the end we ate good! It wasn't the same as always but it was still fun to celebrate a little.

We have been super busy in the mission preparing all that we want to get done in the mission during December. We are going to head up to Juarez to see the Choir that they are going to do there, the 18th. I'm so excited for Christmas and still not sure when I will call to Skype but Ill let you know next week.

Love you all!

Elder Thorpe

Turkey legs cooking

Thanksgiving dinner

Acting like Fresas