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