February 19th - February 25th

Hello everyone!!

I made it to the great state of Texas, FINALLY!!!!

So I flew here Tuesday morning, and my mission president, President Whitney and his wife were at the airport with the AP's to greet us and take us back to the mission office and mission home to eat some dinner and have some trainings. It was the longest day haha but it was so nice to finally be here. We stayed the night at a members house that night and then had transfer day on Wednesday, where I said goodbye to my first companion, sister McMahon and said hello to my trainer, Sister Blaney!! She is a true blessing, I got so lucky with my trainer. She is from Maple Mountain, Utah. 

It has definitely been a crazy week full of confusion, blessings, miracles, and meeting lots of new people... but it has been the best!!! It is a bit of an adjustment being a missionary out in the real world, especially coming from Utah hahaha. my area is pretty big and it's s only 2 wards. So some people drive like an hour just to come to church, and that's not even that long of a drive compared to other areas. It definitely says a lot about those people who travel far for church, and I admire those people for doing that each week.

So the city I am serving in right now is called Copperas Cove, there is a military base here called Fort Hood which is where a lot of the members live. So that's pretty cool. A lot of the families whose husband's were deployed just got home so it was nice to meet a lot of them at church yesterday. We have one girl named Gabriella who is on date for baptism on March 23rd, so I am very excited for that! We have a few different people we are teaching right now, but one in particular is this guy named Gage, the story of gage is... So we actually went to go contact this other guy named Robert. We were knocking on his door, and no one answered. Then we see this truck pull up in the driveway (who wasn't Robert) and in my mind I'm thinking that this is why we came to this house, like this is the guy who we were meant to find today. so we decide to go talk to him. We introduced ourselves and he said his name was gage and we ended up talking with him for a little bit just trying to get to know him. Long story short, we gave him a book of Mormon and shared our testimonies with him and exchanged numbers. So that we could follow up with him. So we start walking down the street, knock on a few more doors-talk with a few more people and then decided to go back to our car and go to a different neighborhood. As we were walking back to our car we ran into Gage and he was with another guy this time, they were just out in the road playing basketball. So we go up and talk to Him and His friend and ended up inviting them to church. So we are going to be meeting with gage sometime this week which I am very excited about. 

So yeah Texas has been pretty good so far! 

The weather has been a lot warmer than Utahs weather which has been nice, it's nice enough for me and my comp to go running every morning which is a blessing bc we get fed by members like every night. 

But yeah! I'm doing good and I'm loving the mission field! I hope y'all are doing good! 

Love, Sister Thorpe ️️

Sister Brooklyn Thorpe

1605 n main st #p 

copperas cove TX 76522

week3

Hello everyone!

So not sure if everyone heard the news or not... But missionaries can now call/FaceTime their family on P-days! So it has been a great day video chatting my family and getting to see their faces and hear their voices.

This week has been so good. I've realized that Sundays are my favorite days of the week because we get to be around our branch presidency and hear some great talks from them. I always feel the spirit so strong when I am with them, they are just so sweet and always know the things I need to hear.

Every Monday we have service from 6:25-7:40. It's always such a long day but it's also another one of my favorite days because I get emails from all my missionary friends/fam who have their pdays that day. But anyways for service we usually just vacuum hallways and clean bathrooms. It's not that bad, nothing too hard.

On Tuesday we had a devotional and Elder Soares, who is a member of the 12 apostles came and spoke to us. It was a great talk all about obedience and being worthy to serve a mission. He left us a blessing and said

 "if we are obedient then we may have the power and courage to rely on the spirit, rather than our own works and talents" 

Which is sooo comforting to me. The Holy Ghost is the best tool to have as a missionary. It's the way God communicates with everyone. Without it, a mission would almost be impossible. Obedience brings blessings, for sure. Andddd the spirit, which is the biggest blessing of all. 

Also this week my roommates figured out that I sleep talk. It has happened twice now that I have woken them up from it but the funniest one was last night, apparently I yelled out, "don't forget to pray!!!" idk what I was dreaming about but I said it so loud that I ended up waking myself up after I said it bc I had yelled it so loud. Hahaha I feel bad but oh well haha I can't help it, I just want everyone to remember to pray I guess. 

On valentines day I got some really pretty flowers from someone special, so that made my day and week a lot better too :) 

As well as my moms packages that she has sent me, she's the best. 

Me and my comp decided to start taking the stairs everywhere we go in exchange for working out everyday. So we figured out that there's 91 stairs up to our classroom and we go up and down those about 6 times a day. Plus when I take the stairs I get a good view of my bffs apartment over at byu which is fun to see. 

Every night me and sister McMahon listen to 1 or 2 conference talks. The words of the prophets and all other general authorities always bring me so much comfort and brings the spirit so strongly into our companion studies. 

Something cool that I learned/realized this week is that even if you only bring one soul back to christ on your mission its one more that didn't have a relationship with him before. 

And that one could even be yourself. And you will find yourself as you focus on everyone but yourself. 

You have to lose yourself in order to find yourself. 

I can't believe my time in the mtc is already over! I fly to fort worth earlyyyyy Tuesday morning and I cannot wait!! I'm sure the first few days are gonna be a little bit of a weird adjustment but I'll get the hang of it haha. 

My mission has been so life changing already. I just want to share the message of Christ and His gospel to everyone who is willing to listen!! Because it really is the best message in the world and I know that it will change their lives as it has changed mine.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week this week!! 

Love, Sister Thorpe 

Ps I can now use the "hangouts" app to chat so if you wanna download that, it can make it easier to communicate with missionaries! :)

Week 2

This week was SO GOOD!! the things I have realized and come to know on my mission so far have been life changing. I'm so grateful for this time in my life that I have to be here.

The first Sunday of the mission was longgg, especially since it was fast Sunday. I really enjoyed it though, it was probably the first time I have fasted till after 5:00. But the first Sunday in the mtc you get to watch this devotional given by Elder Bednar and only missionaries in the mtc have had the chance to see it because they only show it here, but it is SUCH a confidence booster. Especially because the first few days are really hard and it almost seems impossible. But everyone always says just make it to Sunday and it gets better and I honestly think it is because of this talk that we get to watch. The thing I took out of it and that hit me the most is when he said, "Get over yourself. It is not about you!! It is about Him, and serving Him. The character of christ is to turn outward in Love, service, compassion. When the natural man, like myself would turn in."  he talked mostly about turning outward and becoming more like Christ and how he would be. that totally changed how I viewed my time here on my mission. And how I want to be long after my mission as well.

The rest of the days pretty much look the same. I have met some of the most amazing people, me and my comp are friends with these two other sisters, (sis Vanderwiel and sis Blazzard they are serving in Tucson oh and my comp is going to fort worth with me btw) But anyways we have the best study sessions and always learn so much from each other.

On Tuesday there was this old man who walked into the mtc and saw me and my comp and said, 
"Just when I thought Sister missionaries were perfect you come along and are even more perfect."
Haha he was so sweet and it just made my day. :)

Tuesday night we had a devotional and Sister Joy D. Jones was the General authority who spoke at it. We sing in the choir so we got to sing the song "hurrah for Israel" which actually has such a cool story behind it. But anyways she is so amazing. My favorite thing she said was
"We can't know who we are until we really know who's we are"
Which is sooo true. Once you realize your plan and your purpose in this life and that Heavenly Father is our father in heaven, that's when you can really find yourself and who you are in the world.

TRC's are going well, we finished teaching Kenny and a girl named Ellen. Both super amazing. I love TRC's and being able to practice teaching people the doctrine of Christ.

I just want you all to know you have a purpose on this earth! You can find peace when you turn to the Savior and Heavenly Father. He does want to hear from you and he loves you. No matter how far away you have "strayed" God never gets tired of telling you he loves you. If you get anything from this email, just remember that. You can pray to ask Him if he loves you and I promise he will answer your prayers.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!

Week 1

Hello everyone!! It is so crazy that I'm official a missionary. Its only been 4 days but its felt like it's been 3 weeks. The MTC is great, you can feel the spirit so strongly everywhere you go. There are tons of missionaries everywhere you look and everyone always seems to be so happy, I love it. The first day when you get here your name tag has an orange sticker on it and it is crazy how many people say to you "Welcome to the MTC" after ten minutes I was about to take off the sticker haha. My Companion is sister McMahon (Mck-Man) she is from Arizona and we are literally the same person. We like the same foods, have the same clothes, have the same personality, even the same makeup brushes haha. Heavenly Father definitely blessed me with a good first companion here.

The food is alright. Not the best haha and there's no caffeine to be found. It's the wost especially since I'm adjusting to the long days and early mornings. I'm starting to get used to it tho. 

We had our first TRC yesterday, which is where we find someone in a group of people (they're just actors) who come to the mtc to help us learn how to teach better. His name is Kenny and we have our first official appt. With him Monday. So I'll update you on that next week.

Last night we got to workout for the first time and I ran a mile for the first since like 9th grade. I felt very accomplished after that haha.

My district is very small, there's a total of 6 sisters and 2 elders. The 4 sisters are serving in Provo and the elders are serving in Arcadia California. 

I also had the chance to go to the temple this morning which was very much needed. I felt so much peace there. 

Its only been four days so not much has happened and I haven't taken that many pictures but I'll send the few that I took. 

My pday is Saturdays while here in the mtc and I get to email from all day until 6pm. But I can't use the app Google hangouts while I'm here. But I do get to read any emails that are sent to me throughout the week so feel free to send me emails to keep me going haha. Well I love you guys and I'm praying for you all!! I hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Thorpe