Righteous desires...

Hey gang! This week on #whatsmysnack we have Sweet Baby Rays BBQ! Apparently the Bbq sauce was created right here in Illinois and the same house they they created it in is now converted into a little BBQ pit! Holy smokes it was amazing! I was on exchanges in Bloomingdale and their ward mission leader, brother Filio who is a legend, took us there! It once again confirmed my love for good BBQ.

Monday night to Tuesday night I was with Elder Muñoz, who has become a good friend of mine, on exchanges. Monday night we almost froze as we tracted but we gucci, we got to talk to some cool people too so that was good! On Tuesday I interviewed their investigators for baptism, the Andrades. They are super cool and super ready for baptism. The wife, Maritza,  told me that she has been ready to be baptized for the past 3 months but she's just been waiting for her husband Tony. It was pretty cool to see how much joy living the gospel as a family had brought them! 

We had our zone conference on Friday which was sweet as usual. President Bingham is the goat. He taught a lot about the importance of the gift of the holy ghost, and how baptism is nothing without receiving that gift. He said something that really hit me. He said, " if we come out here and learn many things and get the holy ghost but go home and lose the holy ghost, it won't matter how many other attributes we hold onto." How true that is. The holy ghost is the most important thing that we could have in our life! We must strive everyday to be worthy of it!

Elder Stewart and I gave a pretty LIT training on desire. We shared a quote from President Oaks talk called "desire" about Aron Ralston. He's the guy who cut his arm off bc it was stuck under a rock. Aron was stuck for 5 days and struggled to get out but couldn't do it. He had accepted defeat and was going to give up and die. But then he had a vision of a 3 year old boy running to him and he picked him up with his left arm. He knew this was a vision of his future son. Bc of this vision his desire became so great that he broke the two bones in his arm, cut off his arm, and walked 5 miles to safety. President Oaks said it best, " Most of us will never face such an extreme crisis, but all of us face potential traps that will prevent progress toward our eternal destiny. If our righteous desires are sufficiently intense, they will motivate us to cut and carve ourselves free from addictions and other sinful pressures and priorities that prevent our eternal progress."

If we can catch that vision of what heavenly father has in store for us, our desires will increase and we won't let anything hinder our eternal progression! I love this gospel so much! 

I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Thorpe

#whatsmysnack  Sweet Baby Rays BBQ

Elder Munoz and I post exchange

Nu nu takin selfies

Waiting for 2 hours at peep boys to fix our tire.

Yuh boys

"It's so amazing to see fruits from our efforts from so long ago!"

Hey gang! This week on #whatsmysnack I'm tossing it back a few weeks. Back in Hyde Park we were helping a member move with the bishop and he was coughing so she asked if he wanted something that could cure his sickness. He said yes and so she pulls out this big jug with no label on it full of this thick yellow liquid. She dumps it in a cup and adds some water, stirs it up and gives it to him. She said it was her own little concoction of turmeric, lemon, ginger, honey, and chili pepper. I had been really sick for 2 weeks straight and so I was like...get me summa dat!! Man did that clear the sinuses. So strong and spicy, I almost puked, but I held it down! The stuff worked miracles. 

Solid week in the burg! Cold as crap tho! We got 5 inches of snow and the temperature was in the teens all week. Makes tracting super fun! We did meet with a Nigerian couple and it made my whole week! Ebenezer and Fola are so solid. We got in there, taught a bomb restoration, spoke a little Yoruba and they love us now! They are on date for February 16th! I love Nigerians.

We got antied pretty hard this week...Lol. A couple of born again Christians set up an appointment with us...lunch at Whole Foods, it was good food, but not the best lesson lol. We thought something was up when one of them came in with a hand full of papers. They went off on us...telling us we believe in a different Jesus and we are trying to earn heaven. Then they showed us a 15 min video of an ex-member who became a "born again" on his mission. Lol we couldn't help but laugh. Stuff like that just strengthens my testimony of the apostasy and the restoration!! I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and he did in fact restore the one and only true church of Jesus Christ!! 

I received some of the greatest news last night. I don't know if any of you remember, but way back in 2017 when I started my mission, Elder Kish and I found and taught a man named Louie. He progressed really well and had asked me to baptize him, then I got transferred and then he fell off and ended up not getting baptized and the missionaries dropped him. Last night I got a message, from one of the members in Joliet who came with us to a lot of his lessons, saying " Hey elders! I hope all is well. I’m not sure if you are allowed to use Facebook messenger, but I wanted to let you know that Louie came to church today out of the blue. He came up to me and said that he wants to be baptized. I introduced him to the Sister missionaries and he is on date for 2/16. It was pretty cool. I hope you are both doing well. If you aren’t allowed to respond to this message, I understand. Louie told me that he no longer finds joy living the type of life he is living. He remembered that we told him about the joy of living the gospel and wants to have it in his life. Sometimes we plant seeds and the fruit comes later. You are both great missionaries. Keep working hard -President Guluka" 

It's so amazing to see fruits from our efforts from so long ago! I love this work!! I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Thorpe

#whatsmysnack miracle stuff

DFP

Comp unity

"This is the Lord's work no matter what area you're in..."

Hey gang! This week on #whatsmysnack we have some dang good BBQ! After MLC on Friday Elder Stewart and I were hungry so we decided to hit up President Bingham's favorite restaurant in Illinois, Mission BBQ! Place is LIT! It's super American with dope quotes on the wall, and freaking good BBQ! They had a bunch of different BBQ sauces that were all bomb, It confirmed that BBQ is my favorite food!

Great first week here in the Burg!! My new comp is Elder Stewart, he is a stud from Provo. It was definitely hard to leave Hyde Park on Tuesday. Said some difficult goodbyes to my Nigerian family and many others that I've come to love so much! But Schaumburg is awesome such a great place with great work! There are Nigerians here as well, which made me super happy! The first one I met, Michael, is a recent convert and sat next to me at church and I said " Bowanny brother"  (how are you brother in yoruba) and his eyes got so wide and he got so excited bc I knew Yoruba. 

On Saturday we had a baptism! Micka McClain got baptized after her mom and two kids were baptized a year ago. It's been a long time coming for her. She is super cool and so solid! Elder Stewart baptized her and I confirmed her on Sunday! Her and her mom Celeste call me Thor and say I'm already a part of the family! Also on Saturday, way back in Hyde Park, Cerenity and Joe got baptized! I was able to video call them afterwards and talk for a bit! It was such a happy day! 

This is the Lord's work no matter what area you're in and I know that to be true! I'm so grateful to have the gospel in my life and to have the opportunity each and everyday to spread the knowledge I have the only true and living church! I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Thorpe

Wet Willy

Goodbye to the Bellos

#whatsmysnack Mission BBQ

Micka's baptism

Pic Nicole sent me before Cerenity's baptism.

Video calling Cerenity after her baptism

Goodbye to the Aderemi's

"...the Lord puts us in certain places at certain times for specific reasons."

Hey gang! This week on #whatsmysnack we have some home made fried chicken baby! We have some real south side african americans who have been frying chicken for 50 years who gave us all the details on how to make it. The first few that we made were trash but we got better. The last couple were real good, I love fried chicken. 

We had our transfer calls last night and I have been dreading this day, but I knew it would come. I will be leaving Hyde Park and heading to the Schaumburg 2nd ward! Heading back over to the west side of the mission, back to the suburbs! I'm super stoked bc I went and visited the Aderemi's this morning and Wale told me he wants me to send him my address and they will come visit me. He also said he has a ton of Nigerian friends in Schaumburg that I can teach! I'm hyped. 

It was a fantastic last week in Hyde Park. We had some manna fall from heaven on Tuesday, we got a referral for a guy named Wenli Quan. He is from Mongolia North China and he is the most amazing man! He was in Utah with a host family for 13 days and they introduced him to the church and now he is here for school and he is super interested in the church. We met with him 3 times this week and he is so solid! He loves the gospel. He said, "I've learned so much since coming to the United States but my favorite thing is learning about the God." He is applying for a PhD at the university of Utah and I told him I live in Utah and he got so excited and told me after my mission I need to go to school with him. I love Wenli! He is getting baptized on January 26th. Super sad to miss it but I'm so happy for him!

I can't express how grateful I am for the time I was privileged to spend here in Hyde park! I truly have come to love these people here like family! It's going to be hard to leave them for sure. I know the Lord puts us in certain places at certain times for specific reasons. I love this gospel and the opportunity to share it with all of his children! I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Thorpe

#whatsmysnack homemade fried chicken baby!

My man Semilore Opadele

Mrs. Johnson gave me a malt as a goodbye gift.

The Aderemi fam

Wenli wanted a picture with us after church.

Arnaud's birthday party