July 16, 2012

G'Day!

 

Thanks again for writing! This week has been awesome and the Pakenham area is really starting to flourish. This past week at church we had 202 people attend Sacrament Meeting, which is apparantly is the most it's ever been in ward history! So the membership and awareness in the area is definitely growing. Elder Rafferty and I have noticed a steady improvement in our weekly statistics and it's really cool to see the progress that we've been able to make. Our work to try and sort of start anew in the area has really paid off because we have several new investigators to the church and many more people to contact so this coming week is going to be very busy and we should be able to accomplish a lot! This past week I was able to go on another exchange, but this time with the Assistants to the President. That was a really good experience. It was in the same city as the Zone Leader exchange, Dandenong, but it was in different areas than before. I was with Elder Olsen, who's from Canada, and he only has about 7 weeks of his mission left. It's easy to tell he's been out here for that long because he is a really good teacher and I definitely learned a lot of things from him that I can try to apply in my own teaching. Melissa and David are continuing to progress and this past Sunday they were able to talk with the Bishop about doing a free marraige ceremony through him so then they can do the Temple Marraige in about 12 months. This past week I've really learned the importance of the members in missionary work. Whenver we bring a member to the lesson, whether it be one of the young men preparing to go on a mission soon themselves or a couple in the ward (we actually had 3 members in one of Melissa and David's lessons), it really makes the lesson so much better. When Elder Rafferty and I just teach ourselves it still goes well but there may be some experiences that we've never had since we're only 19 that a member who might be in their 30s has had that really relates to the person that we're teaching. It really helps though that the members of the Pakenham ward are all so ready and willing to go out and help with missionary work. This past Tuesday we had our first Zone Meeting, which President Lifferth just implemented into the mission, which is just where all the Elders and Sisters in the Zone come and just give trainings or short lessons on certain aspects of missionary work. It was really great and I for one learned quite a bit! It's hard to believe that this first transfer is already into its last week! It feels like I've only been here maybe 3 weeks! The mission has already flown by so fast. This next week has a lot of great things going on so I look forward on being able to fill you in on all of them soon! Sorry that this week's e-mail is kind of short but I forgot to grab my missionary planner when we came to the library which has all of the little details that I don't always remember! But I'll make next week's letter just jam-packed full of good stuff! So I hope everything continues to go well back home and I challenge you to try to find ways to help out with missionary work (maybe ask Bishop for some ideas) because I know when the members are involved in the work miracles happen and the blessing are endless! Anyway, I love you all and I'll talk to you again soon!

 

Love,

Elder Hopkins