July 1, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks so much for the great e-mail, I really loved reading it this week! So the first full week Elder Gabignaud and I had here in Wangaratta went really well and we saw heaps of miracles. Our time here so far has pretty much been door knocking and trying to contact past investigators or potential investigators other missionaries had found. It hasn't been too bad though since we've been able to get quite a big teaching pool to hopefully begin working with, all thanks to the hand of the Lord in preparing people. I think the biggest finding miracle was finding a lady named Emma and her family. We were riding our bikes (I think you asked how we get around here, and it's all bikes but the area is basically completely flat so it's a cake walk compared to Geelong which was stock-full of hills haha) along a certain street going to try and visit someone and we passed a fish and chips shop where there was a group of people sitting down in front of it. There was one big, rough looking guy there and he called out and pointed down the road at another group of people and said, "Hey, I think those girls down there want to talk to you!" And afterwards they all laughed so we took it that it was just nothing, just trying to stir us up, so we just rode by the other group (which we probably should've talked to anyway) and went on to our next appointment. So fast forward about 2 or 3 hours and we're riding around a little ways away from there and are trying to contact another person on the list of past investigators but when we got to the address, there was no house with the number it gave. So instead of just going on to the next person, we just thought we'd tract the houses closest to the address given. The first house wasn't interested, but when we knocked on the second house a lady came to the door and it just happened to be one of the women that was in the group we saw before. And we talked with her for a few minutes and briefly shared about the Restoration and she was really interested! So we gave their family a pamphlet to read for now and we see them for the first time this week. So that was a really cool experience, in two ways, we'll do better in talking to everyone no matter what, and that when Heavenly Father wants us to see and teach someone, He will provide the ways for our paths to cross (multiple times if He has to). We also have been beginning to teach two boys Tiamatu and Hakai (11 and 12 years old) who the past missionaries had taught just once before. They're really great and interested for their ages and are the cousins of a couple of member families here. Their older brother was baptized a while ago but none of their other immediate family are members and they never were baptized themselves (they might've been too young back then? not sure). But we were able to teach them and set a baptismal date with them to work towards on August 3rd, which they are excited to work towards. So that was another huge blessing. And our other goal to help them as well is that their extended families here aren't active members (but are really nice) so we hope to help re-activate them in the process too so that Tiamatu and Hakai have some more influences close to them to help keep them on the right path. We also have some other promising investigators as well, but unfortunately I don't have the time to speak about each in detail. Or second time at church here was great as well! Our talks went well and we hope that the members were able to take something from them. Elder Gabignaud spoke on 'the importance of gratitude' and I spoke on 'how living the Gospel brings blessings into our lives.' So we had good topics to speak about and certainly didn't have a shortage of things to talk about. The rest of church (for Sunday School, and Priesthood and Relief Society) they showed the worldwide broadcast for training mission presidents, called 'The Work of Salvation.' We didn't quite get to finish it all (there's about 20 minutes left which they plan on showing next week) but it was fantastic! I don't know if you got the chance to see it, but I highly recommend it! It is one of the most powerful church videos put together that I've seen. It had a lot of relevance to me seeing as it was on missionary work, but they geared the whole broadcast to the membership of the church as a whole so there's something everyone can learn from it. So, if you haven't seen it I suggest you should put it on the list of things to do this week because I think it can definitely inspire everyone. It seemed to help motivate the members of the branch here because we have 6 dinners this week, all 6 of which will have non-members or less-active members present, which is the first time that will happen on my mission thus far. So that's really great to see the members are wanting to help and get involved in the missionary work here, it certainly makes all the difference. One of my favorite quotes from the videos was saying (which I think they were speaking to Bishops at this time) that missionaries are simply in a ward to 'assist' in the missionary efforts. They didn't say to 'do all' or 'take control of', but really just to 'assist' the ward/branch in it's missionary efforts and that the ward/branch members and their leaders are the driving force of the missionary work. Well, that's about all I have time for this week, but I'm glad that you are doing well and I hope that you have a fantastic week this week! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins