Elder Almen Thorpe - April 13. 2014

Up date on my week! Hey family!

This weekend was just so filled with meetings after meetings after meetings...and yes I did fall asleep in some part of the meeting but only because I went into a deep sleep of revelation...joking, I just accidentally zoned out on one or two general conference talks.

So, since New Zealand is a day a head, the people in the states had to record the General Conference program for us. It  took a week for us to get the video so if any of you are wondering why my last email wasn't about conference that would explain much hopefully.

Conference was a spiritual uplift for me! Wow, how powerful was Elder Hollands talk on the first day!? My companion and I looked at each other in awe because Elder Holland challenged every single member of the church with boldness but also kindness! I still can't get over how power and strong he was in delivering his message. It is true what he said because we as members can't be afraid of our religion. That is an everyday life for a missionary being tested by others who believe in another religion. I never thought about how big religion was and how big of a war we are in, in standing up for our own beliefs.

I also loved President Eyring's talk on "Hero's". Even though we have athletic, comic, and storytelling hero's, the most important hero's we have are the Priesthood Hero's! When I think about it, I have been surrounded in my life by a lot of good Priesthood holders who are hero's. At the time I wasn't thankful for all the examples that God put in my life and now I am very grateful for that. If it wasn't for all those priesthood holders who were an example to me, I wouldn't be here. It is so important to be that example for the next generation because they are the special generation. The kids growing up don't know what is in store for them. We as priesthood holders, family, friends, and parents need to be that hero for the little ones. They are growing up in a world were technology will become big in their life. Being out a mission has shown me how blessed I was to be using technology. Now, not using it every day helps me even more because I can concentrate and open my mind and eyes to what I want in life rather than what I "wanted" life to be like. Life is not all about money, big houses, shoes, clothes. What you need and what you want is different than what is needed for the family.

Overall, all the speakers were great! It is amazing to hear from the prophets of the Lord. When you think of it, they know so much but they teach with the level that everyone can understand and grasp the message. They don't teach to tell us "hey we are smarter than you" kind of teaching, but a teaching of "hey we know what you are going through is tough, we love you for your hard work and effort and we are here to help, and we know you aren't perfect that is why we are here to help".  The prophets teachings are teachings like Jesus Christ's   teachings when he was here on the earth. 

 

Also during this week my companion and I found another person to teach. His name is brother Maka. We found him on a TWE (talk with everyone). We showed up at his house and taught him the restoration. From there we figured out that Brother Maka is an aviation engineer! Similar to President Uchtdorf. Brother Maka works on planes and tests them out to make sure they are good for the pilots to fly. We is seeking!! As we were teaching we found out that he didn't know that having the authority is something really important because anybody can get baptized and dunked under, but if you don't have that true authority, that dunking down in the water and back up doesn't mean much. He wants to learn more and is seeking to learn more! He is an elect soul! He sets an hour a day to read the Bible so we are going to give him a Book of Mormon and he will be reading that. We will be meeting up with him today, later tonight! It will be exciting! We found him about two weeks ago randomly on the road. The Lord works in many ways! He has truly put someone for us to teach in our path! Please keep him in your prayers! 

 

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Miss you all and love you! from Elder Thorpe.

Can't wait until mothers day! Keep up the good work!