Another
wonderful week has gone by fast in Mooroolbark! This past week was
actually the last week of the transfer so I guess I will update you on
the news there. So Elder Afele will be moving and I will be
staying in the area. We were sad that we both couldn't stay together in
the area, especially during Christmas time, since we'd been having
heaps of success. However, we know the miracles will continue to come
for both of us. Elder Afele will actually be becoming a Zone Leader
which is pretty cool, but we don't know what area it will be in. So I
find out who my new companion will be tomorrow at transfer meeting.
Anyway, this past week was excellent again and the work continues to
roll forth greatly! We are continuing to be very blessed by the Lord
with opportunities to teach, and for the past 4 weeks we have been able
to teach 84 lessons in total! So we have been able to steadily maintain
between 20 and 21 lessons per week, and the ward has been fantastic in
helping us as well as they are all stepping up to take part in the work,
whether it is fellowshipping investigators we have or bringing their
friends to church/activities. A great example of the
success you can have when missionaries and members work together was on
Saturday. The Mooroolbark ward had a big Christmas party at the chapel
that they'd put a lot of effort into. We made an effort to invite as
many investigators as we could to it because activities are always one
of the best ways to help people get involved in the church and get to
know the members. We were blessed to have 10 of our investigators come
to the activity as well as a couple of less-active members, and some of
the members brought some non-member friends as well. Heaps of the
members went up to those of our investigators and fellowshipped them and
talked to them throughout the activity (which was about 3 hours) and
those that brought non-member friends introduced them to us. So because
we were able to work well together and everyone was so friendly and
welcoming to all who attended (of their own free will of course, not
because they were asked to talk to any investigators)
the activity turned into a huge success and all those that came really
loved it. One of our investigator families that came that have 2 kids in
their late teens actually told us on Sunday that the ward activity was
actually the first time in a couple years that they had spent that much
time together as a whole family, which was amazing to hear! So when the
members are exemplifying the pure love of Christ and have a desire to actually work with the missionaries miracles are
guaranteed to happen. Also at church this Sunday there was a less-active
member who came who hasn't been to church essentially since he was
baptized about a year ago and who we've been trying to help get there
for several months, so that was another miracle. Simone and Jack are
also still progressing really well and another example of how the
members make all the difference is in Jack. When we first started
teaching them Jack would kind of do his own thing and listen in
occasionally
but didn't really believe in God or Jesus Christ. But as we have been
teaching them more and more he has been slowly becoming more interested
in the Gospel and church. But the biggest change happened as he attended
some of the youth activities the past few weeks and the young men
really helped him feel included and made him instantly part of the
group. Jack for the first time really felt loved and that he fit in in a
group of people his age. He has loved it so much that on Saturday at
the ward party Simone had to leave for an emergency but Jack actually
begged her that he could stay and she agreed and let him stay for the
remainder of the activity. The wonderful fellowship and love of the
young men not only has effected Jack's feeling of fitting in but also
has increased his desire and love for church and the Gospel. He actually
told us last night over the phone that after reading the scriptures and
praying more for the past little while that he now
believes in God and in Christ! We were so overjoyed to hear that and
felt so grateful that he and his mom have found the path of the Gospel
to help them through a really difficult time of their lives and
especially that the ward members young and old have helped them feel at
home and loved. As each new week goes by as well we have been able to
continue to receive from the Lord more of His children to teach and we
are remaining very busy in the work trying to be able to visit each one
of them during the week. We also found out another really cool thing
this past week with one of our new Burmese investigators (there are
heaps of Burmese people here in Mooroolbark). They are from the Chin
state in Burma and said after we came the first time and taught them
about the Restoration, they thought about the name of the church after
the lesson for a while and remembered that when they were younger they
actually attended The Church of Jesus Christ in their village
their and some of them were baptized at age 8! Not only that but they
said that heaps of other Burmese people here, who all currently go to a
Baptist church simply because it is in their
native language, also use to attend the church there! And there are
about 900 Burmese people that go to the Baptist church here so who knows
how many are actually members! We still have to investigate a bit to
find out if it truly is our church they were talking about but
nonetheless it was still pretty cool to find that out. We are also going
to start a free English class for all of our Burmese investigators to
help them to learn English so they can understand more of the Gospel
when we teach them but also so they can become a more involved people in
their society. One of the members who's 23 years old got back recently
from teaching English in China and has agreed to help us with this each
week, so we look forward to getting that started up probably next week.
Mary
(the Burmese lady who is our recent convert) is also doing amazing in
the Gospel! We were unsure how she would go with continuing in the
church after baptism, as in how much she would be able to understand and
how far she would progress because of the language barrier, but she has
continued to attend all 3 hours of church each week and is soaking up
all the things that she is learning. We just finished teaching her about
the Temple this past week and she will be preparing soon to go there.
She obviously has a unique opportunity to do a wonderful work for her
family since she is the only member of the church in her family. So
everything is going so well here in Mooroolbark and we are loving the
work! I'm very excited to be here for another transfer and look forward
to this wonderful time of year! I love you heaps and I'm thankful as
always for all that you do for me and all the prayers offered on behalf
of my companion and I and also for those we are
working with. I hope you have a fantastic week ahead this week and I'll
talk to you again soon!
Love,
Elder Hopkins
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