Elder Jantsen Thorpe August 2017-2019: First Week in the MTC!

First week

Hey everyone! This week has been so crazy! The first couple days were just so jam packed with meetings and lessons and stuff like that. I felt a little overwhelmed with how much info they were giving us and we had to prepare for a couple lessons with investigators, a sacrament talk, and a 40 minute priesthood lesson. Luckily they didn't call on any of the new elders to teach or speak this Sunday.

My companion is Elder Eltsosie, he is 100% Navajo! He has some pretty cool stories and is a really neat guy and I will learn so much from him! He loves to play baseball, so we have that to relate with. I was blessed to be put in the best room! I love all the guys in my room so much! Its Elder Eltsosie and I, Elder Scoresby, Elder Dietz, Elder Taggart, and Elder Tanne. I'll tell you a little about each of them. Elder Scoresby Is dope, he is 6'5 and is going to play basketball for USUE. He is from Idaho and he is way cool. I hope we get to be companions in the field because we get along really well. Elder Tanne is Elder Scoresby's comp and he is a cool guy, too. He has a great sense of humor and he gets along with us really well. He is also a crazy good artist. Elder Dietz is one of my favorite people I have met here. He is 6`3, or maybe 6`4 because he is at least an inch taller than Dad (; and he said he is 285 lbs. He is a big friendly giant. He is the life of our room, and is absolutely hilarious. We stay up at night just cracking up because of some of the things he says. Elder Taggart is Elder Dietz comp and he is way sick. He played soccer for Sky View. He has some crazy stories he has told us, he lived in Hawaii for a year and told us some crazy stories about surfing and sharks. He also did crazy stuff like free climb buildings. I love them all so much! Our room is the gathering room. A lot of the other Elders on our floor come into our room at the end of the day to talk to us. The Elders below us actually came up and got mad a little bit because we were being kinda loud, laughing and talking and having a great time, but it was all good. I have met so many cool people here and it's hard to see them go. My district is so awesome, too. We have all bonded really closely. It's the Elders in my room, who are all going to the Chicago West mission, then 4 Elders that are serving in the DC South mission. Elder Carter is in my district which is way cool to have someone I went to high school with! The sisters in our district are really cool, too and we have a good relationship with them, they are serving in the Fort Collins Colorado mission.

I see Elder Mortensen all the time and we had some exercise time together which was sweet. I wish I got to see Elder Gardanier more, I've only seen him twice, but I love getting to see my boys out here doin the work. Yeah, seeing the Ollerton's on the 2nd day was so awesome, I love those peeps! I've seen Taylor Murphy a couple times and I also saw Mckay Murphy and it was great to talk to them. Yesterday right before my TRC lesson I saw Steven Nelson and we took a picture, I hope he sent it to you guys! Lol on my second day of exercise time Elder Scoresby, Elder Taggart and I were balling it up (we are only allowed to play 3v3) anyways we were ballin and took this kid to the hoop and as I drove by him I stepped on his foot and sprained my ankle pretty bad. But it's good. I'll send some pics.

So we have a 3hr class in the mornings and then again at night, the rest of he time we either study, eat, or teach our TRC investigators. The food here isn't bad, we eat so much (it feels like) and its been kinda weird eating Dinner at 4:45 every day. I love It here tho, the spirit is always so strong wherever we are. I was made District Leader on the 2nd day here. I'm a little nervous, but I know my Father in Heaven will help me.

Bummer to hear about the football team, I hope they can bounce back this week! Keep letting me know everything that is going on back home! The Eclipse was yesterday!! Did you guys watch it? Elder Scoresby brought special glasses so we could all watch it, I'll send some pics of that too. I wanna share an incredible spiritual experience we had. So yesterday we were in class and we were having a discussion on service and we were all raising our hands sharing experiences and then Elder Dietz raises his hand, he can be pretty shy when it comes to class time, but he raises his hand and says "I don't know why, but I feel prompted to tell Elder Eltsosie that he is an amazing person and had such a cool story and I know he is going to be an amazing missionary." Elder Eltsosie immediately started crying and said " thank you so much, I have been praying so hard these last few days and that was a direct answer to my prayers." It was amazing how strong the spirit was in that room, we were all tearing up. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and that he loves each of us so much and when we pray to him he will answer our prayers.

I love you all and hope you have a good week! I'll talk to ya next Tuesday!

Elder Thorpe