March 18, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks as always for the great e-mail this past week, I loved reading it! This past week was filled with a lot of miracles! We had some amazing experiences and met a lot of great new investigators. One of these new investigators is named Thea, and everything worked out perfectly for us to find her. We'd just come back near our flat from a cancelled appointment and Elder Matuu got a flat tire on his bike. Unfortunately we don't have a bike pump and at this time our phone wasn't working either so we couldn't call any of the members to see if they had a pump. So we had to just walk over to the nearest gas station (or petrol station as they're called in Australia) to use the air pump there. However, as luck would have it the air pump was out of order so we had to keep walking up the road to find another station where we could pump Elder Matuu's bike up. As we were walking on the sidewalk a member pulled up next to where we were and asked if we needed any help, which we did! So the member took the bike and put it in her car and drove it to the nearest station to fill it up for us (obviously we couldn't go with her since there wasn't another male in the car). So we just had to wait in that spot for her to come back, so as any missionary does to pass time we did some tracting! It was a big group of small units in a two story complex, so we started knocking on doors on the bottom level, and either no one was home or no one was interested. So we walked up the stairs to the next level and we were talking to a lady at one door and she wasn't interested in the end but while we were talking to her another lady from the first floor came out holding a pass along card in her hand we'd left on her door and asked if it was us who left it there. We said yes and she then asked if we can come talk to her after we're finished. So the other lady told us she wasn't interested and we walked back down to the first floor, and from past experience I thought this other lady was going to just yell at us for putting a card on her door. However, she was really happy to see us and told us that she'd very recently been thinking about getting into a church. Her father was Catholic but didn't enjoy the church so she was never baptized into it but she really felt like she wanted to find a church to go to. So obviously we were very happy to invite her to learn about the church and also attend the meetings which she readily accepted. She also said her mother wants to find a church as well. So we'll begin teaching her this week and she said she'll come to church this coming Sunday! So that was a huge miracle to find her mainly because of the circumstances and how everything had to be exactly perfect to find her: the bike had to be flat at that time when she'd be home, the gas station pump had to be broken, and the member had to stop us at that exact spot (which was at the complex) and had to be female so we couldn't ride down with her. Turns out the member couldn't even find any pump that was working around the area so Heavenly Father just provided the perfect opportunity for us to find Thea, because who knows if we would've ever found her had it not been at that time. So I just found that an awesome example of Heavenly Father providing people to us in whatever circumstances He needs to (sometimes even frustrating, haha) in order for His purposes to come to pass. Along with Thea we met heaps of others in similar situations who were just asking us if they could be taught and come to church, etc. so Heavenly Father provided us with so many miraculous encounters this past week, which proves that hard work and obedience does merit rewards from Heaven, so we just have to remain exactly obedient to keep these investigators progressing and coming closer to Christ through applying the Gospel in their lives. Also, on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this past Thursday, Elder Wood (one of the Zone Leaders, who on a completely off-topic note was in the Ensign a few months ago because he was a professional wake-boarder but put it on hold for his mission) and I taught a first lesson with one of our Chinese investigators named Jaryn. It was such a great lesson and he literally was just soaking up all the information like a sponge and described how he was feeling the spirit at church and in the lesson (although he didn't realize that it was the spirit at the time). He's very ready and wants to follow Jesus Christ and we were able to set a baptismal date with him for the 20th of April and we know if he keeps doing what he's been doing and receives all the lessons that he'll be ready by that day to be baptized. So that was another wonderful experience this past week as well. Noah's grandmother passed away this past Thursday as well, unfortunately, but the family said she'd been struggling with cancer for several years so it's in a way good that she's in the spirit world now free from her pain. The funeral is this week so we'll be able to finish teaching Noah again next week and hopefully prepare him for baptism either the 30th of March or the 6th of April, so that will be a great blessing as well. The Geelong area is building up really well now and we have a great amount of people we're finally able to teach after struggling to get anyone the past 9 weeks I've been here. I wish I could list all of them and their stories but unfortunately I don't have time for that. The weather has also cooled down heaps and has even been raining quite a bit these past few days so that's a break for us on the bikes so that we don't have to be sweating buckets trying to get to our appointments on hot days. I'm really excited for this week and to see many more miracles as well and begin helping all these new investigators work towards baptism as well and receive the blessings of the gospel in their own lives. I'm grateful for all your prayers and love and support and know that many of these blessings and miracles we've seen have come as a result of them. I hope that you all have a wonderful week ahead as well! I love you and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins