Letter Home 4-19-2015

Hello family and Friends!! Sorry about last week..I told my parents that I got a really bad cold flue and was stuck in the flat for about three to four days. What my companion and I got up to in those three to four days was probably a time that changed our lives!! No not really, but we did get a lot of time to catch up and talk about how we could better cook foods. In all we had a great and fantastic week this week!! There was a lot of rain and wind blowing at us while riding our bikes, luckily my companion and I did not get hurt or blown away.

Exciting news for this Thursday! One of our investigators that we have been teaching is finally getting baptized!! He is in the youth and seventeen years old. His name is Peter, my companion told me that he has been teaching him for six months but in those six months Peter has increased his desire to finally take that step in accepting the Savior. I came in this area in the middle of everything and not knowing Peter that well at first. We now have a bond that all brothers have. My companion and I treat him like he is our little brother, he loves being around the members. One things he said is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is different from other churches because in the church we learn knowledge upon knowledge. The members are excited for him to be baptized this Thursday. He cant wait as well. Over the course of the months, he was a young man that got into trouble, didn't have motivation or goals in life, didn't believe in God very much but now with patience and helping him he has changed those desires of his, has a goal in life, and is now looking for a better future for what he wants. What a journey it has been with him and many more that I can't wait to continue on with him!!  

During the week my companion and I have been looked after without a doubt! Everywhere we would go we were put in the right place in the right time by Heavenly Father. It was all because we had that desire within us to do whatever we could to have opportunities to share the gospel and help those who are in need. I am very humbled to acknowledge that none of these miracles would have happened without seeing the hand of our loving Father and our Savior Jesus Christ in it together to help us succeed. Lets just say that our bikes were not used as much this week because people would give us rides from one appointment to another. We would get done with one appointment and would leave our bikes at the members house for the night. The next morning while walking back to go get our bikes surprisingly one of our members noticed us walking and pulled over to offer us a ride. Then later on we were biking past this man named Leo and we started talking to him. After a little chat he had to leave to go back inside, my companion and I happily said thanks to him for talking to us. As he was leaving my companion noticed that he had a flat tire. Knowing that we had an appointment in an hour and we were not in any distance of a bike shop that would be in walking distance, Leo came out and saw that we were trying to fix our bikes. Noticing that we didn't have any gears on us to fix the tire, he offered to give us a lift to a bike shop that wasn't too far, car distance that is. This was a non member, who used to live in England and who we just met, we happily took his offer and he drove around with us to get a new bike tube. It was an interesting time to spend with him talking about the importance of families. Leo helped us fixed my companions bike, told us some jokes and told us to come over anytime we wanted. My companion and I went away in gratitude for the wonderful generosity and help Leo gave to us. We made it on time to our next appointment.

Later in the week we were able to go to our bishops house to meet with him and ask what else we could do to strengthen the unity in the membership of the ward. He was able to give us some insights that when we seek the leaders help we are also seeking the Saviors help. He told us to go see one of our new members that just moved into the ward, who is a single dad. His name is Sam, he got baptized three years ago, married with his wife in the temple and everything. Sam is going through some trials of his own and lives in a home were all his family members are Catholic and him and his kids are the only members in the church. He was happy to see us show up to support him. The look on his face changed from worried to a relief and comfort. It is amazing that Heavenly Father could use leaders and members as instruments in helping his child feel his love, being there brought comfort and  helping him know that God is aware of him and his situation. We were able to give him a beautiful blessing of comfort. That showed me how it is so important to always be worth as a Priesthood holder.

On Sunday, we had a lesson on Joseph Smith with the Elders quorum. M my companion and I taught the dads. Just seeing and hearing all of their stories showed that even though they are grown ups they too have struggles of their own. One of the members in the class asked this question "How do we keep our roots secured in the ground of the gospel"? We all turned to Helaman 5:12 which talked about living our lives on the foundation of Christ. When we center our lives on the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are more acquainted to Heavenly Father. When we are found not living around the gospel of Jesus Christ we see ourselves lost in confusing times and second guessing our testimonies. This next part is funny! When then brought up the song that we all have learned from primary called "wise men build his house upon a rock and the foolish man build his house on a sand". We sang it with the men. We even did the hand gestures. Yes, I thought I would never see the day of a group of dads singing that song come true, well it did and it happened because we all then felt the spirit of the unity and love we all had for each other! I can say that dads are absolutely funny and still have that kid side in them. 

The work is going great! The members are becoming more involved, we are finding balance in all things in the work, unity, love and in the gospel. I love the work, I love how being surrounded with great influences has strengthened me, I love the good I feeling when taking those small and simple moments to just listen to someone, to uplift them goes a long ways. Thank you all for your letters of support and comfort. Hope all goes well this week! Remember to smile and have fun! 

Elder Thorpe 

 

 

Letter home on Easter

HAPPY EASTER!! What a wonderful week to celebrate our Savior, Jesus Christ and all he did for us. My companion talked and we came up with all the appreciations and blessings that we have received in our lives. I have learned so much in just this week of doing the work. I will try my best just to highlight the most important parts of the week that will hopefully have a principle that you will be able to use. On Sunday we had a fantastic Easter sacrament meeting. Not too many people showed up but those that showed up were meant to be there on that Sunday morning. We had one of our couple missionaries talk about the importance of gaining a testimony. What is a testimony? It is having that firm belief that God is a loving God, Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer of the world, that Joseph Smith was the prophet that restored the proper authority on earth again, the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Later Saints is Gods kingdom on the earth again. How does one know this? It is by the Holy Ghost that one can gave a divine testimony about all these truths, one must pray with a sincere heart and with "full intent" knowing that Heavenly Father will manifest the truth through enticing of the Holy Ghost. Each of us have had in our life a moment where the Holy Ghost touched our hearts, that moment we should always cherish, but it doesn't just stop there. Just like Alma as he described the truth being as a "seed of truth" in the Book of Mormon, we each need to continue in nourishing that truth that we have had given to us by God himself. In the introduction of the book of Mormon in the last two paragraphs, the invitation is even extended to all of us in three ways. 

One: read

Two: ponder

Three: pray 

If we do those three steps, continue in searching and strengthening that testimony then we wouldn't have to second guess ourselves. It's just like what President Uchkdorf said "doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith". The plan of salvation is the plan that we all knew in the pre-mortal life. As we ponder, read and apply the principles found in the plan of salvation then we will see the gratitude of having that plan. 

My companion and I are full of gratitude for the miracles that we received this week.  We were coming back one day just after visiting one of our members that came out with us. She is a recent convert to the church was able to experience the missionary life getting a glimpse of what happens on the other side of being a member while helping none members out. We had another Nephi experience were we just rode our bikes down an alleyway in the night time, which is probably not a good idea, but while riding, my companion and I ran into a girl name Marianne. We didn't  feel comfortable trying to stop here so we just said hi and bye while continuing on riding our bikes through the alley way. After that she said two wards that caught our attention that made us come to a stop, "hi Elders". We stopped and were surprised because nobody but members calls us elders, usually none members calls us Brothers. She then explained to us that she used to talk with missionaries when she lived in Australia. She told us her feeling that she wanted to get baptised, took all the lessons and loved the church because she was accepted as herself and even though she did not know much she was welcomed and felt loved. While listening to her, my companion and I were lost for words, not knowing what to say, the only words that came out were "really", not very wise words to use but at that time we were shocked. Marianne then expressed that she wanted us to come over and start teaching her again, and that she has been praying ever since she moved to New Zealand to meet up with missionaries again and get in touch with them to continue in searching in the church. Later that week one of the YSA girls came out with us and connected great with her. The conversation ended up talking and sharing all of our insights about the ten commandments. I'm so grateful for Heavenly Father putting us at the right place at the right time. My heart is full of gratitude for the tender mercies that we received. Moments like these I just take a deep breath and give a smile of gratitude and a heartfelt prayer for the blessings of serving him. 

One attribute that I learned about Jesus Christ would have to be the attribute of humility. Being humble in all things, giving credit to Heavenly Father for every miracle that he did, every person that he healed and every heart that he changed, Christ had that perfect humility. While reading the New Testament I have recognized that Jesus Christ would never acknowledge himself. His acknowledgement would be always towards his Father, he wouldn't say "oh yes this was me" rather he was more giving his Father the credit. I have come to love the Savior, as he has changed my life, my views of the gospel, and felt his tender mercies and felt that reassurance of hope that future will be brightly shined before all of us as we continue to give him the credit for the blessing we receive while life here on earth. 

Thank you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week and conference. See you next time. 

Elder Thorpe.

 

 

 

Letter Home 3-22-2015

Hello family and friends!

What a wonderful week and just as you all know the weeks are just flying by fast. It is almost Easter and a time to remember our Savior, Jesus Christ, he is someone that I have come to know really close, His love, comfort, and of His example. This Sunday the members had the opportunity to talk about the importance of the sacrament and how we should take that moment to make it holy. We should keep our thoughts on the Savior while the sacrament is being passed out, not thinking about what we will be eating or doing after church. Remembering what our Savior sacrificed for all of us. Here is an insight; baptism gives us that cleansing process signifying that we are promising the Lord that we are showing him that we are willing to serve him all our life and that we are moving forward and letting go our old life and starting a new perspective of life. That is great that baptism does that but here's the catch, we are not always clean so we can't be baptized every time we make a mistake. Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, have given us the sacrament to help us continue being cleansed through the atonement without having to go through the process of baptism again. The sacrament is a symbol of us renewing or re-making those promises that we made with our Heavenly Father when we were baptized. It is acknowledging that are willing to allow the atonement to cleanse us from our sins. Even though we have been baptized we still need that continual thirst for the sacrament. A person who doesn't continue to partake of the sacrament is one that will see themselves further distancing themselves from the spiritual protection. In all the sacrament is very important and will be a impact in our lives if we take a minute, think and realize what we are taking, who we are making these promises to and how it can continually protect us. 

This week we worked hard! To the point that when Sunday rolled around our eyes began to be baggy. It was truly that first week on my mission that my companion and I were able to truly push ourselves to opening our mouths and start spreading the gospel nonstop. At times we were usually in a rush and thinking we needed to get to an appointment on the other side of town and then from there to go another one as well. That worked well, but the difference this week was that we were able to seek those people out even if they were interested or not in the gospel and truly invite them to hear the message we had to share. My companion and I were biking from neighborhood to neighborhood, from house to house looking for the opportunities to invite people. We would practice every morning, taking an hour or two in our study to practice how to do brief one minute power statements so that the spirit can touch the hearts of those we would talk to. We noticed that teaching takes the skills of not only talking but also, listening, watching carefully, and listening to the promptings of the spirit, knowing what to say and do at the right time and moment. As missionaries we have had the time in our life in two years to develop these skills, but we are still a work in progress. It takes time little by little to be fully were we need to be. Why am I talking about this? Well it is because it is to show that everyone of us has this ability to become a teacher just like Jesus Christ. It is a like someone learning how to play a sport for instant basketball. The person who wants to be in the big games takes all their time and energy to practice that one shot or free throws so that when he or she gets that opportunity to play in the big game he doesn't have to have that feeling like he is not ready to perform, rather he is fully confident that all the practices that he did is well worth all the time. Just like us, we can be put on the spot in life were for an instant, like a missionary, we need to open our mouth to share the gospel or for those at home stand, we need to stand up for what we do believe in. We won't have to be unprepared. Just like athletes who learn the basic fundamentals we as Later Day Saints can grown and learn the basic fundamental principles of the gospel to help us in times of needed reassurance. Learning the basics is something that my companion and I have found that has helped us during this week. For example one basic would be opening our mouth to share the truth. 

During the week our investigators have been progressing and accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ. For example two of our investigators named Con and Peter are accepting the challenges that are put in front of them all because they are willing the change their life and follow our Savior Jesus Christ. Peter is giving up his addiction to smoking and is willing to read the Book of Mormon for that extra protection of spiritual armor. Con is starting to recognize the spirit and is willing to give up his past and follow the path of our Savior. He has been taught by many missionaries but this time it is different because he is very meek. Also Dentzen, a mom that is stuck in her wheel chair and can't move, is finally softening her heart to the spirit and is now understanding what she is needing to do to move on. She has a smoking problem. She is wanting her family involved in the discussions. Everything is going great, we are getting rain and the work is moving along. My companion and I are excited to push ourselves and to be more in tune with the spirit. 

Thank you all for the help and prayers, hope you all have a great week! Elder Thorpe 

a visit from Elder Bednar

Hello Family and Friends!

Wow this week was unbelievable! We David A. Bednar come and visit us along with the Hamilton Mission on Tuesday. It was unbelievable to see him in person. He is so funny, he started cracking jokes with us and also with his wife, sister Bednar. They both were joking around with us missionaries. There were some missionaries who would get up and ask a question and before they would start he could tell they were scared so this is what he would say "Elder, don't worry I'm not going to yell at you". Just being in the presence of a apostle of Jesus Christ just would overcome the elders and sisters. Elder Bednar was all about understanding the Holy Ghost and how big of an impact the Holy Ghost has in our lives. He taught by the spirit, he spoke by the spirit of the Holy Ghost and he invited and asked questions directed by the Holy Ghost. It was amazing to see how he taught a full chapel room of elders and sisters just about one principle. He taught in a way were it was more of a discussion than just him preaching to us, he got everyone involved, showing us what the difference is when we talk by the spirit and when we don't talk by the spirit. Something he said is that "a conversion is something we all need", what he means by that is that our testimonies are great to have but we need that solid foundation of gospel principles to help our testimonies to be planted firm in rich soil. A conversion is were we study gospel principles, the modern day prophets teachings and learning more "line upon line, precept upon precept". It takes time for us to be able to grown and understand all things. It was a wonderful experience and one to never forget. My companion and I came out of that meeting with new knowledge and understanding. Elder Bednar taught in a simple way so that we could all understand on our own level as well. Just after that meeting I just couldn't get over the feeling of wanting to understand the Holy Ghost more!

This week was great! Mostly all our miracles happened on fast Sunday. My companion and I were able to follow the spirit and invite two of our members out to teach some of the investigators that we are working with. We first went out during the afternoon with our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Paki. He stayed out with us for two hours until dinner. It was amazing to be able to go out with brother Paki. We went over and visited this lady who is in a wheel chair. We got this referral from the members. It was the first time ever seeing her and we could just tell by listening to her she has been through a long trial in her life. She was explaining that she would never ask for help because she just felt guilty asking. Brother Paki, my companion and I were able to extend the Lords hand to her and express to her that we were there to serve her and her family. She had surgery on her back that made her unable to use her legs from the waist down. She was living all alone with her daughter, just two of them in the house. After talking with her, she wanted us to come by again and teach her more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. After we got done visiting her, we had the impression to go to another house. We decided after a time of pondering to finally go and see this home which happened to be one of our less actives house. She explained to us that we were supposed to come see her and talk to her about how she could help her family get back into the routine of coming to church. She wanted a My Family booklet so she could give it to her grandchildren to remember where their family came from and who they were. We were directed by the Spirit. Later that night we also went out with one of our YSA member, his name is Clinton. We were able to visit some of our YSA less actives with Clinton and he had a great time. We were walking down the road in the neighborhood at night time and saw this lady that had her car broken down. We helped her move her car while it was in neutral into a safer place to park, the look on her face was a look of relief that she was able to be helped by a group of LDS boys or missionaries. We then were lead into another part of the road, ran after this giant tree of a structure... Tongan guy walking down the road and caught up to him. We caught up to him and were able to leave him a pamphlet to read. We then turned around and bumped into another person named Terry. We met Terry sometime during the week and all of us were surprised a about running into each other again..Terry was in shock. We caught up with him, and at the end he said that it must be a sign that we ran into him twice in one week. He invited us back to his home to teach him about the gospel of Jesus Christ. After he left, Elder Fitzsimmons and I ran up and jumped up bumping into Clinton like a sandwich, we were filled with joy!!! 

Having those experience brought to memory the time when Nephi went back into Jerusalem and had no clue were he was going but he was lead by the Spirit. We were lead by the Spirit and were put in the right place at the right time. It was an amazing start to the week! The lesson was just follow the Spirit and the impressions that we had on our hearts and mind. The Hly Ghost works on us all the time, we may not feel it because of how we get used to it but it works by nagging on us when we need to do the right thing until we finally come to a decision to follow it and also when we just go and do without thinking there are those moments when the Holy Ghost is there to guide and protect us. It was a great testimony build up that we were blessed with. Love doing the Lords work and seeing the gospel in action. Listen to the Spirit and follow its counsel!.

Have a great week, see you all again in another week! here we go March! 

Elder Thorpe

Letter Home 2-22-2015

Hello family and friends!

This week flew by fast, we were able to continue on in another week of working. Tomorrow which is Tuesday here, we will have a latter day Apostle of the Lord coming to visit us. David A. Bednar will coming tomorrow!!! We will be seeing him as a whole mission and also with a little twist with that, the Hamilton mission elders and sisters will be joining us in this conference. Just last week we had one of the seventy come a visit us and now we have an Apostle coming down to see all of us...everyone is getting excited. Elder Bednar gave us all some assignments to do before his visit. He has an understanding of the spirit that I never heard of. He understands the role of spirit in the Lords work, in ourselves and how it is the key in everything we do. He is the reason why I have been having this urge, wanting to understand the spirit a lot and how we as missionaries can better teach and describe the spirit in a way that it is not our words but the words of Heavenly Father reaching out to his children. We are all very excited about tomorrow and what is to come!!! 

For P-day we were able to get together as a district to meet up and play some basketball. Loving the Panmure area that my companion and I are able to work in. All the kids in the neighborhood are getting to know who we are and what church we are representing. We were able to get a line of teenage kids from one end of the street to the other all lined up to have a race from one bus stop to another which would be a 100 meter dash. It felt like we were in the Olympics, well for me it did, my companion was on the side counting down and telling us when we can go, he did a great of shouting the word "GO!". It was a great way of connecting with the kids and to see that the rest of the neighborhoods kids sitting and watching as well, laughing with us, not at us...I hope. We were able to have a great week because we got my companions bike working. We are back in action on the bikes again. We were beyond ready, our hearts were beating hard because of the hills and the nice sun shining on us, we knew it was a going to be a beautiful day to be able to go out and serve others. 

This week was a lesson the come from two scriptures, Ether 12:27 "weaknesses" and Helaman 14:30-31 "good restored back into us". These two scriptures were the highlight of our companionship this week. Elder Fitzsimmons and I were able to rethink about the week and how it was a eye opener for both of us. Even though we both thought that we were all good, not needing anything else, boy were we wrong, the Lord was able show both of us our weaknesses. Just as the scripture in Ether says, as long as we are humble enough, we can let the spirit inside of us to work in making those little adjustments. We saw a big difference when we were both humble enough from learning from our mistakes, thats the reason why we all have weaknesses. It is something not to be ashamed of but to look at it as an opportunity to improve and that was something we caught onto. We were able to see the miracles that happened. It comes from understanding the spirit and that we are literally sons and daughter of a loving Heavenly Father. We are all his spirit children, he has a mission for all of us to return back to him. On Sunday, Elder Fitzsimmons and I felt the spirit work in both of us as we were "seeking" the spirit by faith. We didn't wait for the spirit to show us the miracles but we went out seeking for those spiritual moments that would help our testimonies of the gospel grow. We were lead to one of our part member families and caught up with the whole family. The mom is a member but hasn't been to church in years but we were able to teach her 22 year old son named Con. He used to take lessons from past missionaries but back then didn't have a desire to give up some of the things that were holding him back. Just listening to Con to see where his understanding of the gospel was, the spirit directed us into teaching him how to recognize the spirit for himself. We able to use the wind as an analogy, we can't see the wind but we can feel it so that is similar with the spirit. When we do things according to the Lord, we have the spirit manifest to us the truth. When we are not trying and are doing things against Heavenly Fathers direction then we tend to loose the influence in our life. We did a pro and con list with Con on why he should continue what he is doing and why he shouldn't continue what is doing. He was able to see the big picture from the list and saw there were more con's than pro's. That got him to really think and ponder about what he has been doing. We left him with a commitment to continue to test the gospel principles we teach and to apply it in his life. He gladly accepted us to keep coming over. 

After leaving Con's house we road our bikes down the neighborhood and felt the impression to go down the street that we did-not have in our plans to go down. It was an experience like Nephi had when he had no clue why he was to go where he was to go to find Laban but he trusted in the spirit to direct him where to go. Then he found Laban laying down on the ground. That experience was just what happened to my companion and I, we had no idea why we needed to go down this street but we followed the impression and went down. We applied our brakes softly, and noticed a man leaning against his car. We went up, introduced ourselves, and found out that he was related to some people that are members of the church and would see missionaries in Tonga as well. FuFu is his name. He has five boys, no girls besides his partner. FuFu expressed that he had a weakness and that he just couldn't overcome. Something that would always pop up in his head and continually come and go. We shared with him that when we build our house on the foundation of Jesus Christ then we can see our families unified more. He also didn't understand the spirit but being able to study about the spirit my companion and I were able to teach him by the spirit. He didn't realize some of the things until we explained it to him. He also happily accepted our invitation to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ and to try it out with his family. 

This week was all about understanding the spirit and how it is a big part of conversion. It was a fun week, interesting, life changing and always full of joy! We were able to have some great family nights with some of the members, playing games as well as doing service. The members are loving us and trust us more and more as we go and see them! Love this area and the people. Hope you all have a very uplifting week! Words of advice, just follow and trust in those promptings. They are there for a reason.

Tell we meet again. Elder Thorpe

Letter home 2-16-2015

Hello Family and Friends!

Sorry about the late weekly letter. Monday we had a meeting with one of the quorum of the seventy who looks after the New Zealand mission. His name is Elder Nielsen. While shaking his hand I was about half way to his stomach. He is very, very, VERY TALL and for some of you that don't know me yet I'm pretty short. Today is our P-day instead and it is really weird to have one on Tuesday which is something new but fun and I am being obedient not trying to break any rules promise. This week was an eye opener weak for my companion and I. 

We were able to ride our bikes through the streets and meet people here and there making sure that we didn't miss someone we didn't talk to. Gotta love the Islanders down here because they all have really inspiring stories. My companion and I had a week of just following the spirit and letting it do the work instead of us. We were at one of our members house teaching one of their daughters who is a member but not active in the church. We ended up getting to know her and what she has been doing. Her partner that she is with is a member as well but is also not active and they have a small son. She expressed that even though she grew up as a member she never knew "what her purpose was". That caught our attention, we both sat there and listened to her reason and were able to focus on her rather than to focus on what to say. We showed her a video on Mormon message about a brief description of the plan of salvation and then gave her an invitation to read the plan of salvation pamphlet. She happily accepted the invitation! What a special miracle to be able to follow the promptings of the spirit to go to that house to be able to see her at the right place at the right time. Later on we were able to tell some jokes with her and gain that trust from her that we were there to help her and her family. After we got done, her brother who is a returned missionary from a long time ago showed up to the house with his wife who is a non member. His name is Noah and his wife and him were happy to see us at their place. We have been able to teach Noah's wife about the truth. We had a lesson with him and her a couple of weeks ago and they both left with something new to learn. We were able to catch up with them both, Noah has never been open to the missionaries before but is now openly engaged with us. For example he thought he still was the young missionary that he once was and asked if he could ride one our bikes. While trying to do some tricks that he once was able to do, Noah while on my companions bike heard something crack!...all of the sudden it went from laughing to "oh snap!". My companion being the great Elder that he is shook it off and smiled and said everything is okay. Noah accidentally broke the chain of his bike, but we all still laughed it out!. The thing is, we were blessed to have the opportunity to take Noah out with us for the rest of the night to visit some investigators. This was the first time in ages that he has been out with the missionaries, so having the moment to go out with him sure did bring great memories back to him. At the end of the night all that mattered was that the Lord put us in the right place at the right time and that we didn't panic. We trusted in the Lord and went with what he planned out. Even though one of us is without a bike we were able to still move on and work hard. 

Monday rolled around and we had one of the Seventy show up to our mission to have a big meeting with us and four other zones in the mission. Elder Nielsen was able to come out to teach us about the principle of working in unity, loving others and their differences, loosing ourselves, trusting in the Lord, understanding the spirit and much more. Our mission president told us a story that stood out and something that we could all apply. He told it like this. "there was this man rock climbing and found himself hanging onto a branch for dear life. The man then suddenly heard a small voice and this voice was a gentle voice. It went like this,

the Voice: "do you believe that I created this mountain?" 

the man: "yes'

the voice: "do you believe I can make these rocks fall?"

the man: "yes"

the voice:" do you believe that I can make a strong enough wind that will blow you back onto of this mountain?"

the man: "yes"

Then there was this long pause...and the still voice then said these three powerful words "then let go". This story can be applied in all our lives, we need to trust in the Lord and let go of the past and move forward hoping that our future will be better than our past. There are times where Heavenly Father is going to tell us those exact words that the man heard "then let go". We need to let ourselves go and go to work, loosing ourselves and being more selfless. Not letting our natural selves interfere with the spirit that hinders the work. Doing His will is more satisfying than doing our own. Follow the spiritual promptings that we get having that full faith that Heavenly Father has a plan. We have to find our connecting points with others, get to know them, and then when they say a concern or problem turn fully and let the spirit direct us in "what to say and what to do". We used the spirit as an example of the wind, we can't see the wind but we can feel it, just like the spirit we can't see the spirit but we can feel its influence on us when we start doing what is right. A missionary once told me this "by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass. When we understand who we are then those basic principles of the gospel are what will help more in feeling the influence of the spirit. There's nothing more satisfying than work!!! We were also taught about marriage and how being with a companion teaches us to love our differences, accept each other and to be able to work things out just like we would when the time is right to get married. The mission is preparing us to become better sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and grandparents. That is why is is important to work in unity!

Last experience we had, was right after the meeting we went back to our area around six o'clock.  We were walking down the street on a hill and noticed that one of our investigators named Phil was sitting on his front porch. Phil expressed to us that he was concerned about his family, he was one day at this party and saw and man get beaten to death and was one of the witnesses. He went to the police to see those six guys that beat that man to death, he said that ever since that experience he has been very uneasy and scared if one of them would shows up to his place. Now they are all getting out of jail. Our brother was looking for a way out, to find the peace and comfort that he needs. We shared the importance of becoming closer to God. We were instruments in the hands of the Lord seeing him change from scared to being comforted by the spirit, he said he didn't believe something that wasn't there. We told him to read read Alma 32:27 which says "let this desire work in you" meaning let the spirit of the Lord in your heart that he will be able to help. He changed after that and told us he didn't know how to really pray so we directed by the spirit to go into helping him become acquainted with his Heavenly Father. 

What just happened this week, I have no idea just doing Heavenly Fathers will. A week of lessons, insights, and uplifting moments. It is time to let things go and get to work! Thank you all for all you have helped with! hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Thorpe a.k.a Islander boy with a smile :)

Birthday celebrations and a hospital visit

Hello family and friends back at home in good old USA! It's a new month and I can't believe it's that time of month again. My companion, Elder Fitzsimmons birthday was last week and we got to celebrate it with the other elders by meeting up at one of our flats. There were eight of us total at one of the flats. We got up to playing some intense board games and afterwards we sang him a birthday song. Some of us went outside and played some good old American football tossing the pig skin around just like old times. My companion and I also got onesie PJ's from the warehouse just for ten dollars. Yes it was what he wished for and I had no way to get out of it so we went and bought some and I might say they don't look bad. The other Elders were just in shock when we showed up at their flats wearing onesie's. We wore them proudly around everywhere we went, we got some weird looks here and there but missionary work has helped us out, not being afraid to be ourselves.

Throughout the week we were able to see some miracles happen while being out riding our bikes. We were running out of time, about time for us to go back into our flats. As we were going around the corner of a street at night time, we noticed a guy sitting on his steps of his house in his front yard. Taking no thought about time and not worrying a out what to say to him we turned around, parked our nice looking bikes and went up to him. While introducing ourselves to him, he asked where we were from we told him we were from the United States. From there we started talking about our religion and why we were out here in New Zealand. Thank goodness for the spirit with us because we were able to come down to earth with him and talk to him showing that we were normal. We told him "As missionaries we are out here for two years without our families to invite others to hear the message that we share. We don't force people to hear the message, we don't want to increase the number of our church, but rather we want to let others known that they can find inner peace through the message we share about Jesus Christ and how because of Him we can be forgiven. Many of us have trails and situations in our lives that we feel we are not good enough but because we have a loving Heavenly Father, we can have that peace for ourselves and in our families". The man was able to open up to us and see that we were just there to help him and invite him for himself to find out about the wonderful message we share. We got a return appointment with him, his name is James, 21 years old and doesn't know much about God but wants to find out for himself. During the week we went back to his house, went inside and talked to him for a good hour and a half about what he wants. At the end we invited him to let us continue to come by and share more, we left him with a picture of Jesus. His sister and her little boy were also in the home so we were able to talk to them as well, not about the gospel but just about life. It was a miracle to find James, he is quiet but takes everything in and is humble, very humble. 

Throughout the week we were able to teach part-member families. On Sunday we also met another person, her name was Tina, 32 year old woman who is in another religion but we were able to just stop on our bikes and talk to her. Found out she is half Fijian and half Samoan. She is the middle child in her family, doesn't have a family of her own but just studying school. She told us her story that she used to smoke and do drugs when she was in her teens but came to find God for herself and gave all that up, drinks here and there but not as bad. We were able to just talk to her for a long time. She asked us about Joseph Smith and how hard it is for her to believe that, she said she just believes in the bible. We were able to explain to her the importance of the Book of Mormon, and that it is another testament of Jesus Christ, meaning it testifies of Him and His work. We told her the Book of Mormon is the key stone to our religion and without us missionaries wouldn't be out here. She took the invitation to read, ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon. 

In all this week was amazing! Full of life changes and the chance to see people here and there. To be able to listen to their stories in life and how they have become who they are today. This is the work of our loving Heavenly Father, putting us in places where we need to be at the right time and at the right moment were someone just needs to see us or hear words of comfort. It is that hope of not having a perfect knowledge of things but knowing that it will happen that brings those miracles everyday. We use the word hope a lot but do we really understand what it means?...Hope is that anchor to our souls that helps us feel that comfort about the future knowing that if we put our trust in Heavenly Father everything will be alright. That is something I have been studying this whole week, trying to make my hope better and stronger, understanding Gods will more than my own. 

Thank you all for your prayers of comfort and your love, it has been a big help on my mission. I have been through some trials here and there but I know that I can turn to friends and family for help. This week I went to the hospital because I had an asthma attack, but everything is okay now and I have an inhaler. All is well for me, still smiling and working hard, nothing brings more happiness than work, work, work!! Have a fantastic week! 

Elder Thorpe

Letter home January 25th

Hello family and friends, 

Its seems to me that there are always lessons to be learned, even if we are not seeking them. There are lessons that our Father in Heaven wants us to learn on how to improve. My new area is great! Full of Samoans, Tongans, and Maori people. It is not in the city, city of Auckland but it is the same as my first area when I started my mission. The community is great, they know us as "brothers" or in other words that is what they like to call us when we bike by in the streets. My companion and I do not have a car which is okay because being in a car you don't get to see as much as you would on a bike. For example, having little girls that are seven to eight years old (these are some of the members daughters) who can barely fit on the bike but they somehow manage to reach the pedals and start going the distance which is not far for my companion and I to catch them as if we are running. Yeah, so being on a bike is beyond more exciting than being in a car. It is much easier to get out and talk to people rather than randomly parking the car on the side of the road and getting out of the car where it might seem a little scary for some people have two young men getting out of the car with white shirts and black name tags, just to talk to them. We missionaries are definitely not afraid of awkward moments that frequently happen to us. But that is okay, being weird means you are happy! 

Elder Fitzsimmons and I have had a great week of finding people to teach. Mostly the people we are finding is from just stopping on the side of the road and introducing ourselves to them. Most of the time they said "nahh all goods keep going" but sometimes they are "hey brothers, hot day to be riding on bikes, what are you two up today?" My companion is by far the funniest  person I have ever met who knows how to be down to earth to the Islanders we see.

We were able to find some of our less actives. We found an 18 year old named Loma, big Tongan kid who looks like he should be in his twenty's or thirty's but is diffidently not. Loma expressed to us how he hasn't been coming to church and shared with us how back when he was 15 he was motivated everyday to go but as the years went by things just started to change for him. We had one of the members out with us. Being a returned missionary he was able to help us with Loma. Loma expressed that he still wants to come to church and wants our help. The member was able to invite him to play a game of touch rugby on Monday with him and some of his buddies. With that invitation we could tell that Loma is just wanting help in his decisions in life. Later that week we went back and taught him a lesson about three things:

1.) Church

2.) Prayer

3.) Read

We used three cups and three knifes to teach this lesson.  We put the cups in a triangle formation. We told him to try to connect the knifes all together without having the knifes touching the opposite cups but somehow constructing them together so that the book could sit on the knifes in the middle so it doesn't fall. They tried all different ideas but just couldn't get it so that the book could be held. So we showed them, that when the knifes are all connected, overlapping each other at the end, the book did not fall through but was held by the knifes. We showed him that the cups represent church, prayer and reading scriptures and that when we miss one of those it is hard to be able to get back into that better routine of ours. He was able to see what he needed to work on, it was amazing to feel Heavenly Father using us as instruments in his work.

Later on in the week went by to see one of our investigators named Peter, a 16 year old who is giving up drinking and smoking. He has been sober and not smoking for the last eleven weeks. This is coming from someone who grew up around smoking heaps. Story...Peter's dad wanted to know where his grandfathers side came from because he had no clue where his dads family came from. We were able to show him the "My Family History" website. He logged on and through the my family history website, he was able to be lead by the spirit and found his dads side of the family. To be able to see the look on Bryan's face (Peter's dad) was very emotional. We could see the Lord softening his heart and seeing how he wasn't into the church that much to now being someone just wanting to find his family. It was amazing and absolutely unforgettable how that all came together just by talking about families and having an interest in finding who we are. 

That is something I have always wondered in my life, who I was, where did I come from and why am I here. It is a peaceful feeling to know from the gospel of Jesus Christ and His teachings that we are able to build a solid foundation for our families to be built on. Doctrine and teaching skills that can help every single one of us when we are all different and unique. In all my lessons this week, being patience and doing the will of our Heavenly Father more than doing what I want to do kept coming up. Patience is something we can develop but is very hard. One needs to go very deep in order to achieve this attribute. It is something I am working on. Sometimes I think, why isn't this happening, or why is this happening to me and I forget that the heavenly virtue of patience is needed. We may want things to happen faster than we want them to but it really comes on the Lords time. I love being who I am, I love being out on this mission and able to learn from each companion and the different areas, and most of all accepting Heavenly Father's will rather than my own will. He will not force us into doing something, he will guide us. It is just up to us to understand those feelings in our heart and to follow them. 

Thank you all for everything! Words cannot express how thankful I am! 

Remember to have fun, laugh and joke around cause that is what we do all day everyday.

From a.k.a Elder Thor have a fantastic week! :)

Elder Thorpe and his new companion

A surprise visit...

Colin and Shelyle Beckham came for a visit on Sunday. Colin is the ward mission leader in a ward that Almen often went on splits with Elder Christensen (another missionary from Layton).
It was such a joy to meet people who love our son. They told us that Elder Thorpe works hard every day and plays hard on P-day.

Elder Thorpe got transferred

Hello family and friends! Well looks like our mission president couldn't keep me away from Auckland....see you later North, hello Auckland again! I am no longer in the great North were all the Maori people are but I am back in Auckland were all the great Samoans, Tongan, and Maori people, multi culture mix. My new companions name is Elder Fitzsimons and yes he is from Utah. He is way too funny of an Elder. Funny story is that Elder Fitzsimons and I met each other when my last companion Elder Hall and I had to stay at one of the flats during that long night before the temple trip. W ended up at Elder Fitzsimons flat with him and his companion. It was a very happy moment for my companion and it was a very shocking moment for me. It is going to be a fun transfer and one to always remember. My new ward is Glenn Innes. The ward is great, fun, and really excited to welcome me and this other elder into the ward. We are double covered in the ward. Our bishop is Bishop Roos. He knows a couple of my old companions as well.

On our first day in the area my new companion and I were walking down the road because i didn't have a bike, but that problem is fixed. We saw a lady sitting on her porch with her little boy. We decided to go up and talk to her without any clue what might happen, we thought it would be a quick hi and bye but to our surprise it was more than that. We got to know her and her partner as well. Halfway into our conversation she told us that her last name with Smith. In my mind I thought it would be a long shot to ask if she knew this man named Leo that I was seeing up in the North. She said "yes that is my uncle!!!" My companion and I just were blown away, we told her how I was teaching him about the church and how he knew all the Mormons but he just wasn't a member. That opened them up and they were comfortable with us. They forgot what name we were wearing on our name bag and just saw us for who we were. It is amazing to see what miracles come when you listen to the feeling in our hearts. Even though we didn't teach the family, even though we didn't invite them, I know that visit was something that family needed to be introduced to the gospel. We have a return appointment with them in a couple of weeks, which is long but worth the wait.

After that we were able to continue our night to go over and teach this 17 year old boy named Peter who is interested in the gospel. Peter's story is that his older brother is a member of the church and seeing the change in his brother got him interested in wanting to know what he did to be who he is today. Peter has a smoking and drinking problem, but with his own will and us just inviting him, he has been sober for seven days. He is changing little by little each day. We told him that the spirit works when we are changing ourselves. We may not know it because we expect a big boom but the spirit works when we just take a minute and find ourselves and see what changes we have made to come this far. What an example this kid is to me, he is quiet, really humble and willing to change. We are hanging out with him later on today!! 

On Sunday this other Elder and I had to get up in the middle of sacrament and introduce ourselves. I went first, wish I had gone second but this is what I said to the ward,"Hello, my name is Elder Thorpe, I was born on the Marshall Islands, adopted when I was six, grew up in Seattle Washington and now living in Utah....cool story aye?" The members were really laughing so that I had to wait a few minutes before it was quiet again. That is pretty much how I have been introducing myself to everyone in New Zealand, it is a mouth full and long. Some think I'm Samoan, Tongan or even Mexican but they would have never guessed that I was from the Marshall Islands unless they looked at my height. The ward is great, the members love us and are always enjoying our weirdness which is always good. I'm going to love this area a lot, and love being around my Islander brothers. They are just too funny to be around.

This e-mail is going to be short because of my limit on time. Until we meet again next week!!! Thank you all for the help and support, best of luck this following week! 

Elder Thorpe... Mormon Crew in New Zealand!


Saying goodbye to the Elders in his last area

Letter Home 1-12-15

Hello family and freinds!

I hope everyone has been having a great week. It was a fast one here. I can hardly remember what happened this week. Sunday felt like it was Friday and Friday felt like it was Monday, the weeks and days just don't match up in my head. It has been really hot, sun is high in the sky and there aren't any clouds in the sky. The members have been telling us that this is only the prep of the start of summer...If this heat is not summer then I can't imagine how hot it is going to be when summer does hit. Other than that we have had a terrific week of teaching, finding, contacting, and re-activating less actives.

A lot of work was done this week and a lot of intersting moments with people. We met this man name Jeremiah from North Idaho, the first, at least for me, real country cowboy person I have met in New Zealand. He was funny, came up to us with a big smile and called us Joseph Smith. It was funny, this guy was stright up about what he believed and didn't believe in religion but had respect for us. We were able to talk to him for a good twenty to thirty minutes about hunting and America. He wasn't too interested so we didn't want to force gospel topics on him but it was a great feeling to talk to him. We were able to get his home address and he told us we could stop by but it would be really hard for us to catch him, we told him its part of the fun like playing hide and seek.

We were able to go around to teach Cherie this week with one of the moms in the wards. Our ward has a lot of single moms that are strong and have amazing conversion stories or stories of coming back at activity in church. We brought sister Tamihona out with us and she brought her tweleve year old boy with her into the lesson. Cheire and her two girls and little boy were there too. It was good to be able to teach her the plan of salvation, which goes over the reason for the family and what our purpose on earth is. She was able to understand and have that feeling like she knew what that plan was for her and her family. It felt good to be able to teach her and invite her to continue reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. Sister Tamihona was able to share her story about becoming less active and re-activating back into the church. It was amazing to hear her stroy about how its been five years since she has been back to church. Now she is going to the temple and has a purpose and role to play for her kids, teaching them what they need to learn. It was a great lesson and one to learn from.

This Sunday Elder Hall and I were going through our plans, we were working in the hot weather on Sunday and were both talking about how if we were both home we would both be sleeping in the afternoon after church but since on the mission napping has to wait. We showed up to one of our potential investigators house and were able to meet with him, his name is Leo Smith. Leo is 71 years old and is a Cathloic. He has been meeting with missionaries ever since back when they used to show up to his house on horses. Leo knows all the members in our ward, knows a lot of members, and has family that are members and has been going to church sometimes. Elder Hall and I didn't know what to teach him. We were able to use a little time we had to come up with an idea of what to share with him, when Leo returned from the bathroom we resumed our conversion. We just sat there and listened to him, we would ask just one question and listened with love on what he needed to share. From what we heard his sister just recently died, same with his brother a long time ago and same with his parents. Leo is a family person and cares for his family, we were able to also find out just by listening carefully that he didn't know his purpose in life. He told us a story that he had to go to the hospital because he had a heart attack, while in the hospital he told us that he dreamed that his mom told him "no Leo, its not your turn". He thought he was going to die but he didn't and woke up. Not knowing why it wasn't his time, he has been wondering and trying to find that answer his whole life. We shared with him the plan of salvation and how the plan gives us our purpose and what we need to do while here on earth. He said "well if this is the answer then I will read and find out because it is something I have been trying to find even in prayers, but it is still going to be hard to convert me from Catholic to Mormon". We told him we just wanted to share how we have found our purpose in this life from the plan of salvation, didn't ask him to change religion, didn't force it on him all we did was invite him to find out for himself. 

The ward is doing great, we have been helping bishop with the ward list and contacting people. We are just a few names from being done and updated with the list so that we all know who is active and who we need to focus on. Its been great to be able to work with the leaders and to see how much help they need and how helping them helps them move onto the next step in the ward. The ward clerk and us have been updating the list and have them all printed out and ready for the ward council leaders to have so they know what they need to work on in their quorums. Its been great to see that done and over with and seeing the blessing that come through doing the little things for the members and heveanly father. Its been a hot, fast, but remarkable week! Can't wait for another one of hard working.

This week is transfers and we will find out if I move or stay, I have been here for six months, it might be time for me to go. Thank you all for the support and help! Wish you all a great month of January. Tell next time!!

Elder Thorpe

Christmas photos

Al's Christmas letter

Hello Whanau means family in Maori language. This week was an interesting week for all of us missionaries. We were all able to call our families which made the week even better. It was good to hear from family and to hear that everyone is still keeping themselves busy. This year has just gone by fast and seeing people grown and seeing a lot of different challenges being thrown at us. There is probably no harder work that I have ever done in my whole life and missionary work is the toughest, now I know why people say "it will be two years of a life time of experience". While on the phone with my family I was a little bit tired but that is okay because just hearing their voices gave me back that extra boost to keep on going.

On Christmas eve we went to breakfast at our Stake Presidents house with all the other missionaries. We all met up at his house around nine in the morning and were surprised with the food that was laid out for us. It was a good time for all of us missionaries to spend time with one another and the members. We started playing this hand game that my companion and I learned from little girls so we introduced it to the other missionaries, it was a game to never to be forgotten. Lets just say that I didn't come in last place in this game, representing the Thorpe family pretty well at card games and hand games. We later had to leave to go to the chapel with two other Elders to spend Christmas with their bishop and his family. The Christmas music was up, the family were taking nativity pictures, and kids and adults were dancing to the music. We were then asked to go up to the breakfast table to load our plates up with food, round two of food was not as bad as I thought it would be. Elder Hall and I then went to another members house of ours and had lunch with them. You could say lunch was longer than usually because our stomachs were already getting bigger. The McClugages family played some card games with us while we were waiting on another member to come up to take us to their house. We played three to four hands of cards that I finally at the last hand did come in last place. After hanging out with the McClugages, my companion and I headed to the farthest part of our area, near the bushes on the edge of the Island were we can almost touch the water. We spent our last visit with the Mahaga Family eating, yes last but not least, dinner. Surprisingly we were hungry enough to eat all of our food on our plates. Elder Hall and I played more card games with the kids and the adults. The Mahaga have seven kids. The oldest is 23 years old and the youngest is seven years old. We later went outside in their yard. The view is awesome, you could see the whole ocean, they lived on top of a hill and it was beautiful, the sun was coming down and we were all playing four on four rugby touch. Nothing like playing rugby during the night time in the bushes to call it a Christmas. The members took good care of us and gave us gifts each time we would be at their places, we didn't ask for any but the moms here do take good care of us. Best Christmas I have ever had in a long time, traveling from place to place, playing games, and remembering the importance of Christmas, spending time with the families and always remembering our Savior.  

During the week Elder Hall and I were able to see some miracles. My companion had an impression to go by one of our former investigators house to go check up on his dad but really instead of the dad, their son Jerome who we gave to the sisters to teach because he earlier moved in the sisters area is now back in our area. He told us that while living in his new place he was being bullied by other gang members. He had all his stuff stolen, tv, food, and bed gear. Jerome also told us that he didn't have his family to spend Christmas with because they were all gone. Right there at that moment he started to cry, he was lonely, scared and could not reach us and he wanted to call us but didn't have any credit to. I went over and gave Jerome the biggest hug ever. Here was this 23 year old looking for help and we were able to follow the spirit and be directed in his direction. I am so grateful to be able to be worthy enough to hold the priesthood because right there we offered a blessing to Jerome and he felt the burdens light on his shoulders. We are now going to be teaching Jerome once again but this time he is back in our area. He wants to see us three days a week and expressed that he wants to become a member of the church. It is wonderful to be an instrument in the Lords hand. When we are able to be used to go over to gave one of our brothers who is having a hard time our Heavenly Fathers love and encouragement. Even though we can't see them, they are able to use us members, if we are keeping ourselves worthy enough to be able to follow the guidance of the spirit to help others. 

My companion and I have learned a valuable lesson this week on how important it is to be in tune with the spirit. It was a week to stay true to our purpose and to focus on others rather than ourselves. Heavenly Father loves us so much, enough to cut us down so that we are able to humble ourselves to receive the guidance we need to help in the work. It was a fun week, a week of many blessings and a year to never forget. Still having fun, smiling and always making others laugh once in awhile. Thank you all for the letters, pictures and for being there for us missionaries. Have a wonderful week and always remember to smile. 

Elder Thorpe