Elder Payton Thorpe : Give it your all!

Man I sure loved those pics!! You all look fantastic. Jants, your hair is super long. Love it. Nick looks super skinny. Are you sure your eating like usual dude? Brooks looks like the stud he always has been. Mom you look fantastic as usual, and Dad, the beard works for you! Also, those camo hats you and willy had on are super sick! Save one for me! SOunds like the St. George trip was sweet, I'm glad we played good! I'm jealous that you guys met the Mormons last week! Hahaha unfortunately, I have not seen that yet. I probably won't until I get home. But I hear it's dope!

Alright, so, this week has been pretty full of changes. Elder R___ left and my new comp is Elder C____. He is from the Dominican Republic. I'll send a pic of him and me. A lot of my buds that were here in the zone all left. There were 4 of us here from my CCM group so it was a blast on Pdays, and I also had Elder L____ living right down from me so that was sweet too. But, now there are all new kids and I don't really know any of them. It's a lot different, but I guess just time to make some new friends. What's really crazy is that Elder Smith, Elder Calva, Hna Groneman and a few other kids I knew pretty well all ended their missions this past week. It will be so weird not having them here in the mission cause they have just always been here. Hna Groneman is now back in springville. Hahah that is still a bit hard for me to grasp. Hope you guys have seen pictures or something.

Another big change that we have had this week has been with the work. We have had a few people that we were teaching turn around and be real positive. For example, a lady named A______ was one of the first I visited when I got here and was kinda positive but never came to church because her baby was always sick. We went and visited her a few days ago and she said that her son has been feeling so much better and feels really grateful with the Lord for healing him and so now wants to go to church to thank God. She also told us she is willing to prepare to be baptized on the 15th of March, so lets hope and pray that that will happen for her! We also found another young girl who has gone to church before and her mom is a member but inactive. We contacted her today with a member and she asked us how soon she could be baptized. Haha it caught me off guard a little because I haven't heard anything like that in quite some time. So we are planning hers for the 8th of March. She is a really cool girl, just has a tough life. So mom/YW President, I am gonna need some advice from you for her.

Today in church a returned missionary gave the priesthood lesson and talked about how we can't afford to do things in the church or in the Gospel half way or only a little bit here and there. It made me think back to football about how Dad, Grandpa and every other one of my coaches I have had have always told me that if you only give half effort, you get hurt. It is the same way in the Gospel. If you do things half effort, those temptations come in and you get hurt. Simple as that! Not always the easiest thing to do, but its always the best way to go. So give it your all! In whatever it is that you are doing. I've said this before but a great example of that to me is you, Dad. You are always doing everything you can and sometimes more than you need to. Whether it be with work or with your calling in the church, you are always working hard. Thanks for the awesome example Pops!

I sent some pics of our house and my comp.

Man I sure love all of you guys! Take care of yourselves! There are letters coming for all of you!

Elder Thorpe