July 22nd 2019

this whole week was full of so many tender mercies and miracles!! 

to start the week off we had exchanges Monday-Tuesday! exchanges are where one of us goes up to our STL's (sister training leaders) area and goes around with one of them, and the other STL comes down here with the other companion and they go around this area, if that made any sense hahah. so since I'm junior comp I went up to our STL's area. and that was seriously one of the highlights of my whole mission because they cover the two Tongan wards in our mission!!! It was seriously so fun getting to teach some lessons to some Tongan families and feel like I was back in tonga. Plus for dinner we ate authentic Tongan food and my favorite Tongan drink so that was seriously one of my favorite dinners I've had. also the family that we ate with are big time football fans and they have some older boys that played football and currently play for Utah University. so I started talking the most football talk that I could with them, thankfully I grew up with older brothers and a dad who loves watching football. anyways we got on the subject of the Texas football teams like Texas A&M and Texas tech and I had mentioned that my uncle coaches at Texas tech and used to at A&M, well long story short he knew my aunt and uncle! Like good friends with them, it was fun being able to talk about family with random people I had just met who happened to know them hahah.

this week a girl in the young women's named emma wanted to go out tracting with us, so Thursday morning we knocked doors with her for a couple hours and we actually got a few return appointments out of it! Later that night we had a lesson with some people we're teaching, and I have never had a lesson go the way that this one did the whole time I've been out. we went into this lesson planning on teaching the plan of salvation. These people are brother and sister and their names are Kobe and Sarah, 18/20 year olds. so when we go over for this lesson, kobes friend is over and his name is Terry. So he sits in and joins us for this lesson. We start teaching the plan of salvation and we get through the whole thing and Kobe and Sarah are just totally understanding, it all makes sense, a few questions but nothing really major that they're concerned about... Well Terry on the other hand is nailing us with questions. Like every question that you can think of was asked to us. (LGBT, blacks and the priesthood, plural marriage) all of it. Clearly he's done his research or somewhere learned about the church. Well what ended up happening was we taught the entire first 3 lessons, IN DETAIL. the restoration, plan of salvation, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. I honestly don't know how we did that or why we did it. It definitely wasn't intentional, but with all his questions and concerns we just went through all the lessons. It really was just kinda weird because now as I'm thinking about it, it was so spirit led. We just kept going and discussing these topics and principles. At one point it did feel like he was just trying to prove us wrong, so my companion called him out (in the nicest way) and straight up asked him if he was just trying to prove us wrong, because for I second it did kinda feel like it. But by the end he really was just interested and wanted to learn more. We're gonna go back tomorrow and have another lesson so I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Friday we went out to dinner with our friend from a place we do service at, her names Karen and she's from Germany :) we've gone out with her a couple times this month, once to a really cute diner, and then Friday we went to this Mediterranean place called Olives. It was pretty good but definitely not worth the amount of money that was spent on it haha but we took a picture there so I'll send that.

We are running superrrrr low on miles this month. So the past two days we have driven a total of 5 miles. So we have done a ton of walking and tracting this weekend. Which honestly has been kinda nice. I really like walking and being out on the streets where people are able to see us and we can actually wave to people and say hi to them. 

We've also been working with a less active family, just reading scriptures with them and working towards one of the sons baptism as well. They are from Africa, and they are the sweetest family. The little boys were doing tricks for us the whole time we were there, even the 2 year old tried doing some it was really cute haha

The past few days I've really been trying to study more about the Holy Ghost and what his role is and how he is able to be with me and so many billions of other people all at the same time. So I found this talk/article from the June 1989 ensign in the gospel library app called "What is the difference between the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ, and the Light of Christ?" 

And a couple things that really helped me understand the role and who the Holy Ghost is were these couple paragraphs, 

"The body of the Holy Ghost is like the spirit body of the Lord, which the Lord showed unto the brother of Jared before His mortal birth. Such a body resembles that of a man, but consists of spirit matter, a substance finer and purer than temporal matter." 

"Unlike the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Ghost does not fill the universe and cannot be personally present everywhere at the same time; however, his power and influence, through the Light of Christ, can be manifest at the same time throughout all the immensity of space."

So yeah I just wanted to share that quick thought with you guys, and if you have questions about the Holy Ghost or the light of Christ and who/what that is then I would recommend reading that from the 1989 June ensign! 

Me and sister Perry are still just having the best time together. I am so so so grateful for her and this area. I can't believe this transfer is almost over. It went by way too quick, but hopefully we will get to stay together another one. :) 

I hope you are all doing well!! Love you all️

Love sis Thorpe<3

July 15th, 2019

Sorry not a ton of time to write this week!! But some highlights!!!

-had zone conference!! Which was amazing, president and sister Chapman are some of the greatest people I have ever met. I'm so grateful to get to serve with them. 

-on Wednesday we got to go to a homeless shelter and serve them dinner, they were all so grateful and humble. I really enjoyed getting to spend some time there. 

-got 5 slurpees on one of the greatest holidays (7/11)

-I learned a lot about the Atonement this week and how it is a gift for all. We are all able to be resurrected no matter if we choose to follow Christ or not. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us THAT much. They love each of you more than you can imagine. And that is why redemption and resurrection is possible for all His children. No matter the choices they make. Have charity and love for everyone, no matter the circumstance or what they have done to you, and you will come closer to Jesus Christ. 

July 8th, 2019

I hope you all had a great 4th of July !! 

Sister Perry and i had a great week here in Mansfield and Arlington, teaching and serving the people :) 

they did the fireworks on the 3rd which was super weird, but we were able to go out on the road of our apartment and watch them which made it a fun night

fourth of July was a blast. i'm so happy that the 4th is sis Perry's favorite holiday too, we went all out and made sure it was a memorable 4th. we were able to help with and also watch the big Arlington parade which was so much fun!! i have never seen so many floats from so many different churches. that's one thing that i love about Texas, everyone is so vocal and proud of their religion and what they believe. which does make it hard to find people to teach, because they are all so content, but hey at least they have faith in Christ and are going to church!!

this past Saturday we taught a couple who has the coolest story EVER. it's super long so hopefully i can type it out in a way that makes sense and gets most of the details.

soooo, Gary and Sherri, they were members of the rlds church. he was even a bishop for the reorganized church for 20 years which is pretty cool. 

they have been investigating the church for about 40 years, and then in the year 2000 they decided to completely drop the rlds church. so for the past 19 years they have been dry members (not baptized). Sherri has know for a long time that this is where she needs to be, it just took Gary a little longer. Sherri would never move forward and be baptized without Gary, so Sherri has just been letting him take his time, until he was ready. 

but this past week they told us that they are ready to be baptized! they even set their own baptism date. so we set up a lesson for Saturday to start teaching them (but really they taught us, they are so knowledgeable and smart about the gospel. they've been going to church for as long as I've been alive) but during the lesson we asked them, why now? why did they finally make the decision to get baptized?

he told us that for a long time sherri has been wanting to get baptized.., but he had never asked her why she wanted to. so one day last week he asked her why she wanted to. she said because she wanted their family to be together forever. well right when she said this his mind immediately went to the conference talk "come follow me" by President Nelson from this past conference, specifically about the story of the man who asked president Nelson to do his work for him after he dies because he's not ready or willing to make the necessary changes or to take that step of getting baptized.

Gary and Sherri's son has been a member for the past 25 or so years, so Gary always just thought that his son could do the work for him after he died.

well this talk, and his wife's response to his question, made Gary think to himself that he knows the church is true. so why not now? he realized that in this moment and at this time he has the opportunity to take these steps for himself. so he told his wife that he is ready, and set a baptism date for august 10th!! i know that Gary and Sherri are exactly where God wants them to be and that he has been preparing their hearts and their minds for the past 40 years to make this covenant with Him. 

it's so crazy and amazing to me to see all these miracles and to see God preparing the people i meet and get to interact with every single day! i'm so grateful to be a missionary at this time!! i seriously am so blessed to have the knowledge of the gospel and my testimony.

today marks my year left mark, which is crazy to think, but I am so grateful for the growth that I have been able to see in my testimony of my Savior. i didn't know it was possible to strengthen my love for Him but with each and every day the spirit testifies again and again how He is there. He lives. He loves me. And He loves each and every one of you. I want all of you tonight to pray to Heavenly Father and ask him for you to feel His love for you. even if it's been years and years since you last prayed. please do it. I know and can promise you that He wants to hear from you, and that He wants to have you feel His love for you, all you gotta do is ask, and then listen. 

1 Nephi 11:17

And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.

2 Nephi 1:15 

I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

I hope you all have a great week this week. I love you all and am thankful for the prayers, and support! 

Love, Sister Thorpe️

July 2nd, 2019

(sorry my email is kinda long, but it's worth the read) 

It has been THE BEST week ever. Man, I love my new area, my new companion, my new mission president all of it!!!! The work is pretty slow here, I still am kinda unsure of who exactly we are teaching or if we are even teaching anyone specifically... Idk I'll keep y'all updated.

we do a tonnnn of tracting/contacting, but I love it!! We get to talk to so many people every day and so many people slam the doors in our faces but I don't even mind because I know that I'm doing the right thing and that I'm exactly where the Lord needs me right now! I read this talk by Elder Bednar called Come and See, from October 2014 conference, he says in it, "Sometimes we may be awkward or abrupt or even relentless in our attempts. Our simple desire is to share with you the truths that are of greatest worth to us." which is so true. Sharing the gospel isn't always the easiest thing to do, it's awkward and difficult to bring up sometimes because you don't always know what to say or how to say it. All that matters though is that you do share it, and that you have the desire to share it. Just this past Sunday we went to go contact this potential person we could possibly start teaching, we rang her doorbell and through the doorbell she told us she wasn't interested and my companion, sister perry, stood there and just very confused waved to the doorbell camera, I bursted out laughing it was so funny, but now that I'm typing it out it's kinda a had to be there moment, hahah oh well. Just know that it was so funny and who knows maybe one day she will be interested again, it was an awkward moment and interaction, but our intentions and our desire was there.

On Saturday we went out tracting, we had walked about 2 miles from our car so far and all the sudden it starts dumping rain. Like within a minute we were soaked. Everyone thought we were crazy, but it definitely made for some good memories.

On Thursday we had this "mission tour" where our new mission president was going around to 3 different stops meeting all of us and letting us get to know him and his wife a little better. Our area was supposed to meet at the Fort Worth building, so we had a member drive us so that we didn't waste too many of our miles for the month, well these members who drove us there (brother and sister ozuna) are just awesome. But while we were at their  house eating our lunch before we left, brother ozuna comes up to me and pushes my shoulders back, to fix my posture. Sister perry told me I looked petrified, I literally thought he was going to start massaging me. Apparently I slouch... So I told him by the time I leave this area I won't be doing it anymore, well we get in the car to leave and we get about 7 house down the street and he stops the car, mid street, puts it in park, opens the trunk and gets a cushion from the back and starts walking to the passenger side of the car. I'm there thinking "oh he's so nice, he's making sure his wife has a comfortable ride!" nope. He opens my door and tells me to put it behind me. He really wants me to fix the way I sit I guess. Hahah they're so fun, I already just love the ozunas so much. Even though he doesn't like the way I sit :') 

This week for the 4th we are helping with the Arlington parade! We are gonna be in the blazing hot sun alllll morning and afternoon haha I'm actually really excited for it, but I'm not excited about having to be there at 5:30 am, but we get a cool t-shirt out of it so I'm pumped about that. Hopefully we will get to see some fireworks before going in for the night, also if you made it this far, my pday got changed to Tuesday because we had interviews yesterday with President Chapman! I am actually really happy it got changed though because it made it possible for us to go to the temple this morning!! We got to do initiatories, sealings, and an endowment session, i was so happy to be able to go to the temple. You really don't realize how much you take something for granted until you never get to go. So if you are able to go to the temple, GO!!!  And if you aren't able to go, then prepare yourself, become worthy, take the steps you need to get a recommend, and go to the temple!!! It's the best place on this earth I can  promise you that 

I hope you all have a great rest of your week this week!!! Have a fun, safe, fourth of July and eat an extra burger for me because crazy enough I won't be going to a BBQ for dinner that night :/ I love you all and am so grateful for your support!!! 🇺🇲

Love, sister Thorpe♥️