G'Day!
Thanks
heaps for the great e-mail this week, I loved reading it just like all
of your e-mails! I'm glad that everything is going well and that you've
seen a lot of blessings. This 1st week of the transfer has been a really
good one! First off, it was a false alarm about the car! The other
missionaries still got to keep it in their area, I think Elder Hasson
was just trying to trick us and it worked, haha. I think the best part
of the past week was obviously the action-packed weekend of Saturday and
Sunday, consisting of a great General Conference and of course Noah's
baptism and confirmation. The baptism went really well and there were a
quite a few of the ward members who came to support him and his family
which was really great to see. There was a very good spirit there and
Noah was very happy to be baptized and receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost. His brother Luke, the one that had just returned from his
mission 2 months ago, was the one who baptized him and then his Dad got
to confirm him which was very nice for him. We felt really glad that we
could be a part of his first steps in the gospel and we know he'll grow
to be a faithful member throughout his life. So that has certainly been a
great way to start off this transfer and we hope that Joel will also be
able to enter the covenant of baptism this transfer as well. He and
Camilla were able to attend conference and really enjoyed it. There's
nothing like being able to be taught the Gospel by the most inspired men
and women on earth at this time. I thought this conference was a really
excellent one and thought all of the speakers did a really great job
with their talks. I did catch the reference you mentioned to look for
last week, that was exciting that the Australia Melbourne Mission was
mentioned! Especially at the time that I'm
serving in it. It be hard to pick a favorite talk that I had this
conference, there were so many that I enjoyed. I really like President
Monson's talk in the Sunday morning session, though, and especially his
story at the beginning of his talk, I think that's one of the funnier
ones that I've heard him tell! I also thought it was a great talk on
full obedience and consecration to the Gospel, and also thought it was
an interesting point when he said we'll receive more knowledge regarding
the Gospel only when keep the commandments. As I watched conference I
also wrote down a lot of some of the quotes that I liked and thought
were very significant and I won't include all of them because that'd
take to long, but I might include just a few. Some of them you might
remember or might not but hopefully you like them as much as I did! "You
will do no greater eternal work than in the walls of your own
home"-Boyd K. Packer, "Rationalized false faith does not
condone sin" and "See men as they may become not as they are now"-Craig
A. Cardon, "A man can't fully exercise the priesthood without a woman,
just as a woman can't exercise the procreative power without a man"-M.
Russell Ballard, "Don't rationalize any future happiness by taking
shortcuts now"-Richard G. Scott, "Love increases through righteous
restraint and decreases through incorrect indulgence"-David A. Bednar "A
true friend doesn't ask us to choose between them and gospel values"
and "To resist temptations of Satan we must put on the whole
armor of God"-Robert D. Hales, "With increased vision comes increased
motivation" and "Revelation isn't a substitute for hard work and
spiritual homework"-Tad R. Callister, "You find yourself when you serve
others"-David L. Beck, "God understands we get to Heaven one step at a
time and rejoices in every effort to walk towards Him" and "Sometimes we
confuse difference in personality with sin, and
by that they aren't pleasing before God" and "We carry a container of
oil to heal the sick in one hand, in the other hand a loaf of bread to
feed the hungry, and in our hearts the word of God which heals the
wounded soul" and "Don't wait for a particular calling to be involved
fully in the work"-Dieter F. Uchtdorf (his was one of my favorites too)
and then in his talk the next day "Spiritual light doesn't come from
sitting in a dark room waiting for someone to flip the switch; it takes
an act of faith". Well that's already heaps and heaps of quotes and I
wish I could list you all of them! Maybe I'll just include a little one
in each e-mail instead of loading them all of at once. But hopefully you
liked and noticed some of those quotes as well. Maybe put some up on a
wall or write them to someone else or even just ponder about them one
day because the words of the general authorities are truly inspired and
uplifting and they relate to us in this
very time. If you had any favorite quotes from general conference I'd
like to hear them as well! Anyway, writing down these quotes has taken
up a lot of time but I certainly enjoyed going over my notes from
conference and re-studying these sayings and the doctrines that were
taught so hopefully you got something out of me listing them as well.
Well I'm very grateful again for the e-mail you sent and I hope that you
have a miracle filled week ahead! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you
again soon!!
Love,
Elder Hopkins
Elder Hopkins, Luke (Noah's Brother), Noah, and Elder Matu'u at Noah's baptism.
Elder Hopkins, Luke (Noah's Brother), Noah, and Elder Matu'u at Noah's baptism.
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