Elder Jantsen Thorpe August 2017-2019: Amazing Easter weekend of General Conference!!

Hey gang! This week I am switching it up a bit and throwing in a #whatseldergibbyssnack! Haha my dude ate a full chocolate cake! A member gave it to us and I was gonna throw it away; Elder Gibby was like "No! I'll eat it!" He had a piece after lunch and dinner for 2 weeks and it was gone!

What an amazing Easter weekend of General Conference!! So much fire was spit from the pulpit, I loved it! President Nelson truly is a prophet called of God! It's so awesome to see the Lord literally Hastening his work, what a great time to be a member of the church! One of my favorite talks was by Elder Wilson, he talked about being spiritually self reliant and he said, "being spiritually self reliant is to be able to receive revelation for one's self." And then he went on to say, "the arrival of a typhoon is no time to dust off the gift of the holy ghost and learn how to use it." We must all learn how to receive revelation for ourselves so that when our "typhoon" comes we will be ready!

Had transfers this weekend and I am staying here to finish training elder Gibby! Almost all of Rockford is staying the same so it will be another fun transfer full of some good missionary work!

I had a pretty awesome experience this week. Elder Gibby and I were walking back from an appointment and we came to this big field and there was a guy in the middle. As we got closer he started walking towards us. We asked him how he was doing and he just mumbled under his breath. As we got closer I could see it was an older guy, probably in his 40's, with his hood on. I noticed that he was crying. We asked if there was anything we could do for him and he said no and started walking away. I ran and caught up to him and put my arm around him and I told him that he was a child of God and that no matter how hard things get in life he always has a father in heaven who loves him who he can turn to in prayer. The man stopped crying and we talked a little bit about his family and his life. He then said he had to get going to pick up his daughters. Before he left he looked at me and said, "Hey, thanks man, for taking the time to stop and talk to me!" Then we parted ways. I was able to feel so much love for this complete stranger and it was one of the most amazing experiences I've had on my mission. Sometimes we can get caught up in thinking that we are on missions just to baptize people, but I've come to know that it's so much more than that. God puts people in our paths for us to brighten their lives and share the light of Christ with them!

Finally, a quote from President Nelson, "Keep His commandments and we will be alright!" That's as simple as it gets! Keep on keeping on!

Elder Thorpe