March 25, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks heaps this week for the great e-mail, I really enjoyed reading about the exciting things from this past week! Elder Matu'u and I had a really good week this past week and saw a lot of miracles and blessings as we continue to do our best to work hard and be obedient. On Tuesday we were able to see Joseph (the Sudanese man I mentioned a few weeks ago) and his family and teach a lesson for the first time with them. Turns out the Joseph isn't just the Nuer people leader for Geelong but for all of Australia! He's the first Nuer President of Australia in history as well so he's a very distinguished person, but is very humble and kind. He is very willing to learn and apply what we teach him so we hope that we can be inspired and guided so we can touch his and his family's hearts to help them come even closer to Christ through the restored gospel. We see them again tonight so hopefully it will continue to be a great experience teaching them. We also found another man this past week who was on the ward list but nobody knew who he was. He was baptized about 10 to 15 years ago but hasn't been to church in a very long time. We've found him at a time that he's looking to make a change and have Christ as the main focus of his life again and his very willing to act on his desire. We've taught him a couple of times and we hope with the wards efforts as well that we'll be able to help him into re-activity. We also had the splits again this week with the High Priests, and the focus was just going to find out more information on some of the 'address unknown' names on the ward list. Unfortunately it wasn't overly successful as some of the last known addresses were from almost a decade ago, however some of the groups that went out did find some new people (neighbors of the houses they were trying to visit) who were interested in learning more about the message of the church. We had another exchange this week as well, this time with the District Leader, Elder Hasson and his companion Elder Pain. I was with Elder Pain in our area of Geelong while Elder Matu'u and Elder Hasson were in the other area. Elder Pain and I had some really good experiences as we worked really hard. It started out a bit slow because our first couple appointments weren't home and we did about an hour and a bit of tracting without any success. But as we kept working without getting discouraged the blessings came later as we got the chance to teach some good lessons to some investigators and also find some new people to teach who seem very interested. This past Saturday was a really packed and enjoyable day because it started off by us having the opportunity to go and play basketball a little as part off an Elders Quorum activity in which there were some less-active members who showed up so it turned out to be a good missionary opportunity to fellowship them. After that the other Geelong missionaries had a baptism with one of the long time investigators for the area named Peter. He'd progressed a long way even from when I first saw him when I got to Geelong, so it was great to see him make the step of baptism (his family was already members). It's kind of a cool story with him and Elder Hasson, because in Elder Hasson's first area in the mission he began teaching Peter and his family, he slowly made some progress and shortly Elder Hasson was transferred to another area. And now a year later Elder Hasson was transferred to Geelong and Peter and his family happened to have moved there as well, so he had the opportunity to complete the teaching of them as well and help Peter into the waters of baptism. Another big event on Saturday was the marriage of Joel and Camilla by Bishop (if you remember them, I haven't mentioned them in a few weeks because they've been so busy with their baby and the wedding preparations) so that was really great! So now that they've made it through the wedding hopefully we'll get more opportunities to continue to teach them now. We also get to start teaching Noah again this week and he'll be baptized very soon as well, so we're excited for that because we've missed being able to teach him lately (he's a fun kid to be around and teach!). On Saturday night Elder Matu'u and I opened a fast with one of the reasons being higher church attendance from our investigators, because lately we haven't been haven't the number of people there that we've hoped for. However, on Sunday the Lord answered us in a way that we didn't expect at all. One of the members in the ward who is a former bishop had been talking to an excommunicated member who'd been telling him for months that he wanted to make a change and come back to church. The former bishop said that if he wants to come to church he can come any Sunday morning and he and his family will take him there. And it happened on the Sunday we were fasting for church attendance that the excommunicated member turned up on his door and came to church! So that was a great miracle to see, especially since he really enjoyed church and said that he really wants to change and work towards being re-baptized. He'll have a lot of work to do but with the Lord's help anything can be overcome with the desire to change and improve. Sunday afternoon we were able to go and teach a man we met earlier in the week named Dave. He's 20 years old and has a small son and a partner he's staying with. He's a really nice and humble guy though and really wants to have religion a bigger part of his life again as he grew up in a religious family. We taught a really powerful lesson on the Restoration with him and he understood all the points really well and felt the spirit. He asked for a Book of Mormon and said he hopes to read the whole thing! We also invited him to be baptized once he receives a witness of the truthfulness of the restored gospel and he accepted. So that was another miracle for us as we've been trying really hard to find some really sincere investigators and we know that Dave will progress with the desire that he has. So the work in Geelong continues to improve and increase each week and we're beginning to find a lot of people who are very prepared by Heavenly Father either to receive for the first time or come back to the gospel. I know as we continue to work hard that the Lord will bless us with seeing many of these people we've found progress in the gospel and towards baptism. I'm grateful as always for all the love and support you give me and my companion that helps us keep motivated to do our best. I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead and that you can continue to see many missionary opportunities yourselves. Thanks again for your e-mail and I hope that your coming Easter weekend is a really great and special time to remember the Savior and his Atonement for all mankind that makes all of this work possible. I encourage you to share your testimony this week of His atonement and how it's blessed your life with someone who may need to hear it, whether it's a relative a member of the ward or a non member. I know Heavenly Father blesses us greatly each time we testify of His son to others. I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins