August 12, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks so much for the e-mail this week it was fantastic! I really loved all of the stories that you included they were great! It was especially mind-blowing about the man that came and blessed the lady but didn't turn up in any of the photos on the news! I agree it would be very cool if it was one of the 3 nephites, you never know! haha. Well this past week was very incredible with a lot of great things happening! But I guess first of all I should report on transfers, eh? Well Elder Gabignaud is..........staying! and Elder Hopkins is.........also staying! As you said not really any surprise there since both of us were new to the area this past transfer but nonetheless we were still very excited to be staying again because we've been able to see heaps of success thus far and hope to be able to see some of the fruits of our efforts this past transfer come to pass. So anyway, the blessings of this week started like right after e-mails last week because we were able to get an appointment with Coral and this time we were actually able to teach her in the home of the Laycocks! We had just been teaching her at the library so far but since you met all the members, including the Laycocks, at the fireside last Sunday she felt more comfortable coming there instead for the lesson. And a bonus-we didn't have to whisper while teaching anymore!! haha which is always a blessing. This lesson went really great though and we were especially grateful we could hold the lesson with the Laycocks because Elder Laycock was really able to help with some of her questions and concerns and the spirit was much stronger in their home as compared to the library. At the end of the lesson we also were able to set a baptismal date with her for the 7th of September! She called us later on that evening and told us how excited she was to be baptized and how she'd already called several people to come attend her baptism then, most of them members she had known from down in Melbourne. So of course that got us really excited to know that she is genuinely happy to be baptized! Throughout the week we were able to teach her 3 more times as well (once more the next day in the Laycock's home, as well as in two other member homes for the other lessons) and they all went equally great! She is doing really well at learning and asks some really good questions during the lessons, ones that she has written down between lessons from her reading and just in general. And that is a fantastic sign as well because we invite all of our investigators to do that but practically none of them actually do! haha. So she's been able to develop some really good relationships with the members through that. She also called us on Saturday afternoon and asked if the baptism could be a week earlier which just added to our already high level of happiness. So she is going to be baptized on the 31st of this month, which is the main reason why Elder Gabignaud and I were excited to stay so that we could be here for that! Coral was also able to attend church for the first time yesterday and had a great experience and the members continued to do a great job in fellowshipping her and making her feel comfortable and loved. She got to go to one of the member's homes for a big lunch after church as well so right now she is loving it! So she is definitely our top person that we are working with at the moment and we'll continue to try our best to provide her with many spiritual experiences and lasting friendships. This past week we were also able to set another baptismal date with the younger sister of one of our already existing baptismal dates. So things are starting to progress really well for our area and we are able to have more and more appointments each week as compared to our first few weeks where we practically had no appointments at all. And things are also starting to go better with the less-active members of the branch as well. There is one family that everyone hopes will come back because they were a strong point in the branch before and have a lot of relatives in the area who they would be able to help if they came back, and we were able to have a dinner and a lesson with this family on Saturday night at Elder and Sister Laycock's house. That went really well and hopefully there will be more opportunities for that in the near future as well. Well unfortunately I've already run out of time, it goes by so fast! But Elder Gabignaud and I are very excited for another 6 weeks together here in Wangaratta and know that we will continue to see miracles and blessings every day. I love you heaps and miss you but I'm glad everything is going great back home as well! Thanks for all that you do to support me! Have a great week this week and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins