Elder Thorpe and Pres. and Sis. Angulo

Casualty of walking all day.

Happy Birthday Elder Thorpe.  We stopped in at Walmart and got a chocolate cake to celebrate.

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.

When we arrived we were all super excited and anxious to meet him. He walked in 10 min. after we arrived and we all stood up and the spirit that came in was just amazing. After we sat down we all went up row by row and shook his hand. It was super cool meeting another Apostle, and shake his hand. He of course spoke spanish and having only been here for 4 weeks I didn't understand him. But I understood some things. I listened with all my heart to what the spirt was saying to me.

I wrote,"My call is inspired. My service as a missionary will effect and bless the lives of my family, my future family, and my friends. Be patient in missionary work. I am called to the work."

What he said in his talk was,"We as apostles see you as companions, shoulder to shoulder. The mission here is going to improve really soon."

Then he pronounced an Apostalic Promise."Over the next few weeks you will know if the Lord is satisfied with our work. He will let us know."

His last words were,"REMEMBER SEEING ME & HEARING ME TODAY, REMEMBER THAT I KNOW JESUS CHRIST & I KNOW THAT HE LIVES.

The whole time he kept talking about how he was super humble to be there with us. One thing he said that was cool was when the apostles call us to this mission they say,"I hope they're strong."

He also talked alot of the importance of reading the Book of Mormon everyday. I can't tell you enough how happy this made me because this is exactly what we have been telling all of the members here in our ward. Reading is extremely important.

My feet are starting to finally get better so that's good. We still have been having a hard time getting a hold of people here. The area that I'm in is super poor and everybody just works so it's hard to find people home. My spanish is still a struggle and I have been trying to participate more in conversation its hard though with the lack of words.

I know tha the work is going to improve and the Lord will bless me one way or another. I know that he lives.

Elder Thorpe

 Elder King and Elder Thorpe

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.

So we got a pretty sweet announcement this week. The Prophet and all of the counselors and the twelve are holding a special broadcast for missionaries and bishops in June. President Angulo thinks something big is going to be announced. Quien Sabe.

The food has been pretty easy to get used to here some of it is still kind of weird, but it all tastes good. It's increasingly getting hotter here and sometimes I wish I was somewhere cold. But I still love the heat and its all good.

-Elder Thorpe

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.

I loved hearing from all of you yesterday on the phone its weird thinking that I won't hear from you again until Christmas.

Anyways all is well here in Mexico, send me some pictures on the email. I want to be updated on the family too.

Love,

Elder Thorpe