December 23rd, 2013

Hola y Feliz Navidad!!!

I hope all back at home is having a super Feliz Navidad! I was so happy to receive my packages this week. I was also so happy to see inside them so many letters from all of my family! This last week we didn't do too much. But we did have our mission dinner which was super fun and awesome. We also sang in all the 4 stakes in Juarez. It was such a wonderful experience and the spirit was so strong.

During this letter I'm just going to answer some of the questions that I was asked in the letters.

Have you baptized anyone? X5

Yes, I have been able to have three amazing baptisms. They are such amazing people and I was so fortunate to be able to help them change their lives.

Are you fed?

I eat every day with the members and the food here is AWESOME!!!

Do you like your companion?

I haven't had a companion that I haven't liked. Each one of my companions is a servant of the Lord as well as I am. One thing I have learned during my mission is to have charity for all. I love all of my companions, and all the people of Juarez.

Do you use a bike or a car?

I walk every day and it is awesome. I walk about 8 miles every day. It gives me a bunch of time to think and reflect on my life and my purpose. I also love to sing hymns as I walk.

I know this church is true! I love this time of year and the chance we all have to remember the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the ^aglory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you ^agood tidings of great ^bjoy, which shall be to all people.

 11 For unto you is ^aborn this day in the city of David a ^bSaviour, which is Christ the ^cLord.

 12 And this shall be a ^asign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

 14 ^aGlory to God in the highest, and on earth ^bpeace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:8-14

I love you all and hope you all have a merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Thorpe

December 16th, 2013

Hola Familia,

I have been having such a great December here in Mexico. I have been enjoying the cold, strange as that sounds. But its actually been pretty nice. I have been super excited as we have been preparing to sing in all of the stakes in Juarez. We are somewhat starting to adjust to our area and we are starting to actually have a lot of success in our area. A recent convert in our area had a huge party at her house and we stopped by to visit. Her son returned home from being in a rehabilitation center for drugs and alcohol. His sister has a bapstim date for this saturday but we will see if that happens. We were also visiting her brother and he seems pretty cool. We are going to try and put a fecha. I have the goal for about 5 baptisms between December and January.

We have been struggling a bit with the Work of Salvation in our ward. I think the problem is that the members really don't understand how it works or the leaders don't quite understand.

I'm super excited for next week because one its Christmas, and two I GET TO TALK WITH MY FAMILY BY SKYPE ON THE 24th!!!! I love this time of year, I really do. One thing that I really like about this time of year is to sing the Christmas hymns. I, like dad, Love the hymn Silent Night. I love to sing it and I truely feel my Saviors love as I listen/sing.

I hope all is going well in Utah and all is well with everyone who reads this. I love you all and hope you all have a Super Merry Christmas!

For unto us a ^achild is born, unto us a son is given; and the ^bgovernment shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The ^cMighty God, The ^dEverlasting Father, The Prince of ^ePeace.

2 Nephi 19:6

Love Elder Thorpe

December 9th, 2013

Hello and Feliz Cumpleaños a mi hermanita Brooklyn! 14 años que suave. Espero que tengas un muy feliz cumpleaños!!!

Well this week was somewhat better than my last week we had more success! We actually received like 7 new investigators and the work is improving quite a bit. It's been really a bipolar week in respect of the weather. It's changed from cold to hot almost every other day.

I was super excited to be able to see the Christmas Devotional. I really loved the talk by Elder Nelson as well. I loved the part when his grandchildren were singing "Im trying to be like Jesus." I absolutely love that hymn. It really made my day.

But what I loved most was when we all sang Silent Night. I couldn't help but have tears. I felt the spirit so strong and I felt my Saviors love for me. I know that Heavenly Father loves all his children because he sent his only begotten son into this world. I know through the Atonement of Christ we can be saved. I love this time of year when we are reminded of our Savior. As missionaries we are going to have the opportunity to share the spirit of Christmas with all. We are going to be singing in all the stakes of Juarez and then later we will be singing in some public places.

I know that my Savior lives.

 Elder Thorpe and new companion

Love Elder Thorpe!

December 2, 2013

Well as all of you are probably assuming I got transferred, that would be true. I am actually not that far from my old area. We are actually neighbors. We share the same building so I get to see all of my old friends from Oasis. All of the JAS were asking for my Facebook so I'm sure it will be fun to continue to talk to them after the mission as well. The coolest part that happened before I got transfered is we had a baptism. It was actually really fast. In the morning during our personal study, her daughter called us and said, "My mom wants to get baptized this Saturday." Ha ha so that was cool. We taught her everything in about two days and baptized her the next. It was super awesome.

 

I am a little sad that I did get changed from my last area. But all for the better. Now I'm in the East stake. I'm in a Ward called Aeropuerto, which translates to airport. It's been quite a hard week actually because I'm opening a new area with a new comp. Its been kind of hard to go and search out all of the investigators and members in the area but we are surviving. I'm pretty bummed because we went from a super awesome house to a really crappy house that has nothing and its super cold at night. In the morning, because we still dont have gas, we shower with freezing cold water. But all is well and it will get better.

 

We went to the temple again. So that was super awesome. I was super busy confirming about 150 youth so that was super cool. There were about 500 people who went to the temple with us so that was such an awesome experience.

 

Elder Salines returned once again to Juarez because the leaders here just don't get it. The Lord truely is hastening his work but his servants are lazy. Last night to all of the Ward councils of Juarez and to President Derbez, he promised that the missionaries will in the mission will have 1,000 new investigators by January. That was super awesome. He is such and awesome General Authority.

I'm soooo looking forward to talking to you on the phone this Christmas I hope all will have a super awesome Christmas.

 

 

With much Love,

Elder Thorpe

 

 

71 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and ^alabor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the ^blast time that I shall ^cnourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come.

November 18th, 2013

Well this was the best week of my mission so far! It was incredible to see the Lords hand in our work that we did and in my life. Everyone here is getting all excited for Christmas and its been super awesome. This week we were teaching a family who are less active and their son isn't a member of the Church (he's 10). But they are such a super awesome family and they are progressing so much. We taught them about the Doctrine of Christ found in 2 Nephi 31. It was awesome to see their understanding of the gospel expand in their minds. I wasn't completely sure but I kept getting strong promptings from the Holy Ghost to commit Gael (the 10 year old) to baptism. After that he said yes and that he would pray to know if this is the true church. Then we felt prompted to commit his dad to prepare to baptize his son if it was him who his son chooses for his baptism, and he said yes as well. That was such a huge blessing for us this week. We want to have him baptized on December 22.

Also this week we decided to look for many new investigators through the area book. If you don't know what it is, it's a book with all of the names and addresses of people that we have taught or contacted. And let me tell you there are a ton of names. But we decided to contact about 8 families. Out of the 8 we recieved 4 new investigators this week and that has been our goal as a zone to receive 4 new investigators every week. That was such a blessing for us this week.

Also this week we had the opportunity to work a lot with FamilySearch and look for names for the members in the work to bring to the temple to do baptisms. It was super awesome seeing the members get excited over their own family history work. On Saturday we got to go to the temple, we were originally told that we would be baptizing members. But the temple president told us that they already had someone and didn't need our help. Then we were told that they needed help with witnesses in the sealings. But they didn't need help with that either. So all of us 8 Elders were standing in the dressing room trying to think of what to do....Then the Temple president came to us and said there was only one person in the next session and they needed help in the session. Now our Mission President was very strict about us not entering into a session. But the Temple President said he would call and ask if we could. Later on we were told that we could enter into a session and we all got super excited.

It was my first time in Spanish I really wasn't that nervous at all because I can understand/speak spanish just fine now. But as I sat there and learned more about Gods plan for us, I couldn't help but have tears. I know that God loves me and that he made this beautiful incredible world for us. I know that He loves each and everyone of his children and so he sent his Son to suffer and die for us, so that we can once again return to live in his presence. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I know that this is the true church and that in this church is where the Priesthood of God is found.

I love you all and miss you all!!!

Love,

Elder (Braiden) Thorpe

November 11th, 2013

Well this week was some what a struggle we were running all over visiting the members trying to get their Family History work. In the end we didn't get very many names. So they canceled the Temple trip and it's going to be this Saturday. As the missionaries we are going to baptize and confirm all of the people we are hoping for about 100 names, who knows. But this week we are going to be working really hard with all of the members.

I spoke in Church as well this Sunday. I spoke on.....Family History (what do you know haha) I spoke on how the Savior loves all and wants all of us to return to live with our Father in Heaven. I also spoke on how there are two parts to the work of Family History, there is the part of those who have passed on, and the work that we as members need to do. And without both parts they can't return to live with us as a family in Gods presence. After we spoke in church many people came asking what they needed to do to find their Family History Work. It was super suave!

We are quickly approaching transfers and I believe that I will get changed to a new area and my companion will start to train a new Elder (an American). Everyone is super anxious for the new missionaries because there will be American Sisters, and it has been a long time since there were American Sisters in Mexico. The mission continues to grow and progress every week and it's pretty crazy the changes that continue to take place.

In December we are going to have a music and the spoken word. I'm super excited for it. We are going to perform in all of the Stakes which is 5 and in some malls around Juarez. I think it will be a neat experience and we will find many new investigators. This is always my favorite time of the year. I love to feel the spirt as we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

I'm so glad that I am a missionary and I feel so blessed to be serving here in the Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Mission. I love the Savior and his teachings. I Know that Families can be Forever.

Love,

Elder (Braiden) Thorpe

November 4th, 2013

Nov.4, 2013

Well this week was one of my hardest weeks in the mission and why is that, because of stinking Halloween. It was super hard to find people in the house because all were either at parties or out doing something for the holiday. And yes they actually do celebrate Halloween here because it’s a border city. But I will have to say its worse in the USA. But as well this week was somewhat a good week we had success finding a new investigator through a less active family, which is super awesome. It’s a young boy with the age of 9 years. He seems pretty excited to be listening to us and hopefully we can reactivate his family so his dad can receive the Priesthood and baptize him. That is our goal. As well with that we have an investigator who is super awesome her daughter is the only member of the church in their family, and this last Sunday she accepted baptism. She will be baptized Dec.17. I don’t think that I will still be here but I hope she stays strong and continues onto baptism.

I believe that it is the season of giving blessings, because in this last week we gave about 4 or 5 blessings. I finally have it all memorized in Spanish so I can give the blessing without reading cards or the white bible. I’m so glad and blessed to have the Priesthood in my life. (When you get the chance I need my line of authority its now a requirement in the mission) But I am super excited with the progress that I have made over these almost 8 months.

I’m super excited for this weekend because this Saturday we are going to the TEMPLE!!! It has been so long and I am super excited. We are going as a Stake and it’s going to be my first time in Spanish I'll let you know how it goes.

I love you all and miss you all and am so excited to feel the Spirit of Christ this Christmas. Love you.

Elder (Braiden) Thorpe