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