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 Thorpe
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