Feliz Cumpleanos!

Hey Family! Man it sure looks like you guys had an awesome time at the temples this last saturday! Did a lot of baptisms huh? Thats so sweet! Brooks how did your bday go?? Hope it was awesome! DId you get an ipod touch?  Lucky dog! Cant believe you are 10 years old now! That means that I'm getting really old.  I always thought about the day when you turned ten cuz it meant I would be 20! Never thought the day would come, but here it is.  Jants, You still look real tall and old haha and a little out of place behind the wheel of pearl.  Mom, I'm sorry, but you just donI't have the bond with pearl like I do, she really does think she is a truck I'm telling you! She is a trooper and yeah maybe those digging rides that we had weren't the BEST for her, but we sure had a great time and made some awesome memories! Nick haha! I'm sure you were dying of hunger there at the temple trip.  But sounds like you made it through! Thanks a ton for all of the birthday wishes.  Im still trying to realize that I'll be 20 years old this week.  Time goes by sooo fast, especially this last year.  I agree, I have grown so much and I feel the same, but know that I really have changed and matured A LOT.  I'm so excited to take on this next and final year of my mission.  It's going fast! Dad, you're a goon dude haha! But thanks a ton for the answers to the questions Broseph! I still can't believe how everything you say about your mission relates to mine and what I've gone through.  We must be related or something.  Hey that's crazy to hear that Kirsti is home! I was gonna ask when she was getting home.  Could you get her email for me?  Well this week was pretty good.  The rain has come back, and it hit us a few times this week. But no worries, my poncho is still holdin strong for me! Nay's baptism was a success, and we had some icecream afterwards, and then they invited us over for pupusas and cake that night, so we were happy missionaries.  Wednesday we got to have another temple trip with our investigators, that was awesome. We had a great turn out from Manantiales, too.  All of the members brought their friends, so we were able to bring 13 investigators just from our ward.  L was able to go with his mom and he said he really liked it.  We aren't able to enter the temple obviously, but we started with all the members and investigators in the chapel by the temple and President Spjut spoke about the temple and why it is so important, then we had a few different stations around the temple where a couple missionaries gave short messages about different subjects of the gospel and the temple.  It was a real great experience and it sounds like everyone really liked it! That was pretty much the highlight of the week.  We also have started to work with a recent convert family to get them ready to go be sealed as a family.  They were baptized a little over a year ago and they are such a cool family! They always help us out with lessons or references. Elder Lopez and I presented the idea of them going to get sealed this past saturday and they were pretty excited about it.  So I'm hoping that by some miracle we could go with them to see the sealing! That would be so cool. But we'll see what happens. But L is doing really good, he loved the temple and I think it has helped animate him to be baptized.  We had a chance for him to see a baptism yesterday but they started it early and didn't tell us so we got there late and missed it.  I was pretty upset... so was Luis.  But there's another one next week that he can see. We have received a lot of references this past week from the youth in the ward.  We have been teaching this kid named j.c. He kind of started coming to church to check out the girls that were there, but we were able to have a cool lesson with him last week.  We taught him the restoration and then his best friend, who's a member, bore his testimony and told him how much he cared for him and wanted him to make the right decisions.  It was incredible to see a teenage kid testify of what he believes with no fear. It really brought the spirit and helped JC out a lot.  The mission is crazy and full of trials and stress, but every now and then those problems get interrupted by small moments like that, that make it all worth it.   Well I sure love you all tons and will miss ya a lot this week! But know that all is good here and I'll have a great birthday whatever happens!  Love you all!  Elder Thorpe Good quote for ya all: "Often the deep valleys of our present will be understood only by looking back on them from the mountains of our future experience." - Pres. Uchtdorf