September 2, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks so much for the fantastic e-mail this week! Glad that you had a fun and busy week! Our week was much the same, very busy again! So I guess I will start off with news about how Coral is going. So unfortunately her appointment to get her surgery was cancelled (like the 3rd time that has happened) so she was pretty upset about that. Also, during the week she still had a few struggles regarding the word of wisdom so the baptism as well wasn't able to go through this past weekend. However, we had a really powerful spirit-filled lesson Friday night at one of the member's homes with her and she was able to recommit to live the word of wisdom fully (she had gone 5 days perfect before so we are confident she can live it permanently this time) and she set a new date for herself which is the 14th of September. So we fasted for her this past weekend as well as the member family, and feel strongly she will be able to be baptized on that day. The rest of our progressing investigators are continuing to do well, and our church attendance is slowly increasing which is great! We had another fireside at Elder and Sister Laycock's last night (Sunday) which was on the word of wisdom. Another senior couple from a nearby city, Benalla, gave the presentation and it went really well. There was good attendance there from the branch and the best part was we had another investigator there named Chantelle. The miracle of that was we hadn't taught her the word of wisdom at all (or really any of the commandments yet for that matter) but afterwards she said she really enjoyed it and that she would start applying it in her life! The Spirit does marvelous things! This past week we also were able to start teaching several new people, investigators and less-actives. One investigator we have started teaching is half-papa new guinea and has 6 kids! She has been to practically every other church under the sun but had never heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We were able to go with Elder Laycock twice to see her this past week and both times went great! She soaked everything up well and asked some great questions, and bonus-she kept her commitments! She said she will be at church this next Sunday and is keen to work towards baptism for her and her kids. Another person we've began teaching is a less-active man who hasn't been to church in about 10 years. He is a returned-missionary and has two kids out on missions at the moment, however, due to certain events and circumstances his testimony has dwindled a bit. He is a really friendly and great guy though and has agreed to let us come by on a fairly regular basis to help him regain his faith. He is also a Melchizedek Priesthood holder which the branch desperately needs more of. So that is exciting for us! One other cool experience with finding new people during the week was on Wednesday. We were at the library waiting to meet with Coral and her brother (who was up for the week from Melbourne) and just sitting in some chairs. One lady just walked up to us and asked if we were Mormon missionaries and after we said yes she asked if there was a church here and where it was. She said that she had lived in Melbourne and had some friends who were LDS and who were a very good influence on her so she had always had curiosities about the church. So we hope to be able to begin seeing her this week and teaching her more about the Gospel. So the power of example is true!  This past week we also had 2 exchanges, on Thursday and Friday. It was the week of Geelong exchanges because both times I was with Elders who I'd served around in Geelong. On Thursday we were with the Zone Leaders and it was just a 4 hour long exchange but still was a great experience. I was with Elder Hasson if you ever remember me mentioning him, who has just 1 transfer left after this one. And on Friday we exchanged with the Elders serving in Echuca. My companion for that exchange was Elder Matu'u! So that was a great experience to be able to serve as his companion again, even if it was just for a few hours. We saw some great miracles and were able to accomplish a lot during the exchange. I also was able to interview 2 kids that were being baptized on Saturday which was a cool experience since it was my first time doing that. They passed the interview excellently and did get baptized the next day which is great for Echuca! Even though the exchange on Friday was just about 5 hours it took the whole day because it was a 2 1/2 hour drive to get there and a 2 1/2 drive to get back! So we were pretty exhausted after being in a car so long haha. This next week is very busy as well and for the first time in 11 weeks I get to go to Melbourne again! We have a leadership training meeting on Friday that we get to go to in Melbourne so I will be going to that. Also, tonight is family home evening again at the Laycocks with the Hickling family, if you remember me talking about them 2 weeks ago who we had the family home evening with before. So we are staying busy which has been great, every missionary's dream is to be flat out every day with something scheduled every hour (at least I hope that is every missionary's dream!). Hard to believe the transfer is already half over, time goes so quickly! I am always grateful for all of your love, support, and prayers which help to keep me going strong and staying in good spirits day by day! I hope you have a fantastic week this week! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins