January 27, 2014

G'day!

 

Thanks for the e-mail this week, I loved reading it! So many exciting things happening! If you do end up planning to do the 40-Day fast program, who knows, I might be home for some of it haha. Probably not though, seeing as it's still just over 4 months to go. So anyway, the big news of the week is obviously as you said transfers! So Elder Lau......will be going......and Elder Hopkins...............will be staying! So I'm very excited to stay because this is probably the best ward that I've been blessed to be in on my mission. Elder Lau was sad to leave so soon because he really enjoyed it as well. But I'm sure he will have a great new area and new companion. Also, I will be training a new missionary again! So that's exciting as well. This will be the 3rd time for me so hopefully I can apply everything I've learned from the first 2 experiences from training into this one to help the new missionary have a great first experience in the field and learn a lot. So the transfer meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) as usual but the new missionaries don't arrive until Wednesday, at least that's how it's always been in the past, so I'll let you know next week all about my new companion! Both the sister missionaries in the ward are staying as well which is good, they've been doing a great job since they've been here in the area. We will probably be the youngest district in the mission because every companionship this next transfer will have a missionary in training except one (who only just finished training this transfer), which adds up to 5 new missionaries! But that will be great because new missionaries always come out with such fire and enthusiasm and there are always many miracles when a new missionary is in the area. P-Day is quite busy today due to transfers tomorrow so I will briefly summarize our week for you. We were able to teach several lessons this week which is good as always, however, most of the lessons were unplanned. We had heaps of set up appointments to go to but nearly all of them fell through which was too bad but the Lord opened other doors as he always does and we had some good opportunities to teach some new investigators. One of the best experiences this week was one of our Burmese investigators, Ellen, had accepted a baptismal date for March 1st on Tuesday. That's always a great miracle but when you first set baptismal dates you still wonder how serious they are about actually going through with it. However when we saw her again later in the week we reviewed the Restoration of the gospel again using a cool analogy with cup-stacking. Afterwards we watched the video about Wilford Woodruff's conversion called 'The Great Apostasy' which is really good about why the Restoration was needed and why we need to be in the right church, but is also quite straightforward. After the video finished we asked her how she felt and she said that she really wants to get baptized (again) into the church because she knows it's true! So that was such an awesome experience and so we're excited to help her reach that date for baptism now that she definitely is sure about it. The only possible concern that might come up is just with her family's allowance of the baptism seeing as the family is all Baptist (because of Burmese culture, and not because of conversion, which is the case with most Burmese we meet), but we know the Lord will provide the way. Another one of our Burmese investigators, Zaza, has already finished reading the Book of Mormon! So she, and her sister Julie, are progressing really well and they feel really good about all we teach and when they are at church (they've been 3 times so far). Their concern is also with what their family will think, so our goal is just to help them have heaps of fellowship and good friends in the church so if they do join and their family doesn't approve they won't feel on their own but they'll have plenty of support. This past week we also had interviews with President Maxwell, which is always a great opportunity, and those went really well. He's a great mission president and has a lot of love for the missionaries of this mission. I was able to talk to him about the BYU application thing and so that should be done soon as well after I finish it myself. Another miracle we had this week was with one of the less-active members we visit. His name is Joel and for the past 10 years or so he's had a pretty rough go at life. You wouldn't guess it from his looks but he's a really nice and humble guy though even through all his trials. So we've slowly been helping him get back into the small things of the gospel, such as praying and reading, over the past few weeks. And he says that he feels a lot better with it. As well as that he doesn't have the best influences around him but he's said since we've been visiting him those bad influences are slowly just disappearing, which is pretty cool! And so this past week we had a really good and spiritual lesson with him and he accepted the invitation to meet with Bishop Beckwith! So that's a huge step for him and we know that Bishop will help him out heaps and be able to relieve him of a lot of pain and guilt he feels as he begins to change in his life. So everything has been going really well here in Mooroolbark and I'm excited for another transfer here! It still is really hard to imagine that there's only 3 transfers left, and it probably won't sink in for a while! Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful week and that the Lord continues to bless you heaps as well! I love you and I'll talk to you again soon!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hopkins

January 20, 2014

G'day!

 

Thanks for the e-mail! This past week was an awesome week! We set a record for lessons taught in Mooroolbark at 24 this week, which kept us very busy! It was good as well to be able to be in lessons in people's homes most of this week because it was the hottest week in Victoria history (or at least for a really long time). There were 4 consecutive days of 41 plus degrees and one day was up to 47 (which in Fahrenheit is 116!!), so by the end of the week Elder Lau and I were cooked medium-well. But the Lord always blesses us in the face of opposition, even if the opposition is the weather, and so we were blessed to have heaps of lessons and find many new people to teach. You mentioned Shannon and Van, so update on them is Shannon doesn't feel ready yet but is still attending church each week, and we have stopped teaching Van because his family didn't like us coming around. But on the bright side there is a new investigator from Burma as well who said he would work towards baptism in the end of February. We continue to find heaps of people from Burma to teach, and one miracle of sorts this past week was that we found out that at this next transfer there will be a missionary from Burma coming to the mission! So the leaders and Bishop have already contacted President Maxwell about the missionary coming to Mooroolbark haha so we hope that he does because he would be a huge help in converting many people to the Gospel and crossing the language barrier. We also had a pretty cool little miracle that happened as a result of diligence last Monday. So we went to see Wendy again with the sister missionaries in Croydon because they both spoke Chinese (Elder Lau's is rusty since his 1st language is Cantonese) and when we were there Wendy was there with a friend from the ward who was also a female. Obviously we can't go into a house without an additional male there so we said that the sisters would stay and we would go somewhere else to work. However, Wendy said to come in (she not being familiar with the missionary rules and having cooked us some food) and even the member said to just come in since it wasn't like we would do anything wrong. But we stayed firm and said we couldn't come in and so we went to try and find something else to do. As it turned out, we went to try to see a new contact we had talked to over 3 weeks ago who we couldn't contact and they happened to be home!  We were able to teach them a good lesson and they seem really keen to learn. So even though it was something small it was a good testimony to us of the importance of being diligent to all rules (or commandments) even if the situation seems harmless and likely wont cause any problems, because we wouldn't have seen our contact if we had stayed for a lesson with Wendy. We also introduced a new idea to the ward this past Sunday to help with the missionary work in the area. It was suggested by one of the sister missionaries and it's called a '40 day fast.' It's where the ward picks a day to start (we did it so the 40 days end the day before testimony meeting) and then member families are assigned (or sign up) each of the 40 days to fast together for missionary opportunities or names of people to teach and then when they think of the name or find the person to set a time for them to come into their home with the missionaries. Also, on the day a family is assigned to fast, at the end of the fast they will make time to have the missionaries into their home (either briefly or have them for dinner) so they can discuss with them how the fast went and if they had seen anything come of it yet. Obviously not everyone will have something happen on the day so it could be a few days or a week later that the missionaries have to come again for a follow-up visit. But it seems like a really exciting program. As well, to help the members remember their commitment and day, they will each be given a paper saying what day they are fasting and what time the missionaries can come (or something like that). We are starting it in the Mooroolbark ward on February 16th I believe, and ending on April 5th. I thought I would describe that program in more detail since Dad you're on the bishopric and perhaps you could talk to them about that as well for the Dimple Dell ward since the church around the world is focusing on the missionary efforts. But we're very excited for that nonetheless and know it will bring about some great miracles and strengthen the ward. Simone is still going alright, still working with the word of wisdom so she might be baptized a couple of weeks from now. Hopefully I will still be in the Mooroolbark area for that! Transfer news is given to us this coming Saturday but obviously the Lord's will trumps our own, but we have our quarterly interviews with President Maxwell this Wednesday so maybe I can slip in a few words about staying. Haha just kidding, whatever the Lord decides will be right. It still is so crazy to think after this week I'll only have 3 transfers left on the mission! It goes so quickly so I'll be sure to make the most of my time remaining. Anyway, my time is up for today but as always I'm grateful for all you do and your wonderful examples! Thanks for praying for the missionaries there too, I know prayers make all the difference! I hope I get heaps of opportunities to help them out after I'm back. Well have a wonderful week! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hopkins

January 13, 2014

G'day!

 

Thanks as always for a wonderful e-mail this week! I loved reading it and it sounds like you are having as many 'miracles' as me! I did have a very good birthday this past week and the cake was good as always! So thanks for that! Elder Lau bought me some dinner from a restaurant called 'Nando's' which was really good (it's like grilled chicken with some spicy sauce that's delicious!). So this week will have to be a quicker e-mail again because we have Zone P-Day that we have to be at soon and the library was very busy so we weren't able to use the computers as early as we normally do. This past week was another really good one though. One cool miracle that we saw came while we started going through the area book and tried contacting all of the former investigators that missionaries had taught over the past several years. As we did that, about 6 hours of it over 3 days, we were blessed to have really good responses by most of the people and have 18 people that invited us to come back this week. So that was really good for us and we have gone through maybe half of the former investigators so we hope the 2nd half will be just as fruitful and receptive. We also were able to teach about 17 lessons this week which was great. Jack will be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood next Sunday which is exciting and he asked me to ordain him which will be an honor. It will be the first time I've ordained someone to the Priesthood, so it will be a memorable experience for both of us. Simone also said she is still preparing to be baptized as well, so we hope in the next week or 2 she will be ready for that. Another cool miracle happened at church. If you remember, I think I mentioned last week or 2 weeks ago (I might not have) about a less-active Chinese lady and her daughter that we went and visited and invited to come back to church. Well this Sunday she (Wendy) showed up to church! It'd been a long time since she'd been to church but there were heaps of the members of the ward that remembered her and made her feel really welcome, which was great! And her daughter seems quite interested in the church as well. So there are heaps of good things happening in the ward and in the area! The ward members are continuing to 'catch the wave' of missionary work as well and more and more people are stepping out of their comfort zone and finding people to share the Gospel with, which is bringing about heaps of miracles for them as well. Anyway, as I mentioned before, this week is a shorter one, for which I apologize, but I'm grateful for all the love and support! I hope that you have a fantastic week and continue to receive blessings in all aspects of your lives! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hopkins

January 6, 2014

G'day!

 

Happy New Year! Crazy to think it's 2014, time flies! As always thank you for the e-mail and I'm very glad to hear about all that's going on. We've done the opposite of you here in the Mooroolbark ward and switched from 1 pm church to 9 am church. As a missionary, all church times are basically the same since we have the same schedule regardless haha. And I'm glad to hear you get to feed the missionaries again this week. And regarding having investigators to teach, if you haven't seen the church's 'Work of Salvation' site you should definitely look on there. If you go on LDS.org and look down at the left hand side column there should be a link for it. It has heaps of great videos that motivate and give ideas of ways we all can be involved in missionary work, and not necessarily needed to provide people for missionaries to teach (although that is always an opportunity we should be prepared for). So this past week turned out to be a massive miracle week and probably the best New Year's Day ever! So as I mentioned last week Simone and Jack weren't ready to be baptized yet on this past Saturday, and then when we went to their house on Tuesday Simone actually told us she had no more interest at all in the church and that she felt it wasn't true. As we talked to her we found out again that her sister (the less-active member who doesn't have a belief in God anymore) had told her more really deep stuff mixed in with false accusations (only after Simone's continuous asking) and which really discouraged her from wanting to be involved in the church. After talking with her though we answered most of her questions and reminded her of the answers she's already received and she and Jack agreed to fast with us that night on whether the things we've taught them were true and if baptism into the church is what God wants for them. We also set up a lesson for the following night and a dinner so we would break our fast together. So the next day we had exchanges and I was with a missionary in another area and Elder Lau was in Mooroolbark with another missionary as well. We originally had fellowship set up to come with us that night but they actually suggested to us that it might be better if we asked Bishop to come. So we followed up on that counsel and asked Bishop if he was available, and even though it was New Years Day he agreed to come out with us, which was a miracle in itself. So they went on to have a lesson with Simone and Jack that evening and she brought out those concerns again and Bishop just spoke by the power of the Spirit (according to Elder Lau, he and the other missionary practically sat there and listened as well because Bishop just had heaps of inspiration coming through) and answered all of their concerns well and the Spirit testified to them of the things they already knew. Bishop's words combined with the Spirit did so much to help them that just before the closing prayer Jack paused them and said, "After hearing what Bishop said I've decided I really want to be baptized this Saturday." They were all almost speechless and overjoyed and when they called us that night, the other missionary and I were so overjoyed as well! It was truly an answer to our prayers and fasting! Simone also said once she is living the word of wisdom she will be baptized as well. So long story short, Jack was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints this past weekend! Elder Afele was blessed to get permission to come back to the baptism as well and he performed the actual baptism (his first one he's ever done) and there were a total of 14 missionaries at the baptism haha. They had great support there at the baptism and even Simone's sister and her husband came to support Jack and also her sister came to church too! So that was definitely one of the best miracles of the mission so far and Jack after the baptism told his mom (who told us after) that he felt like a big joyful feeling that he couldn't really describe but was different than anything he's felt before. So he will be a really great member of the church and soon Priesthood holder. I've certainly gained a huge testimony of the power of fasting on the mission, probably more so than any other principle of the Gospel, so I love it! Also on Sunday the Stake President was in our ward too and met Simone, her sister, and Jack, as well as our other investigators there (we had 5 non-members there in total which was wonderful) so it was great for those investigators to talk to him and hopefully feel the strong spirit. They all loved the meeting and want to continue to come, two of them was the Burmese investigator Zaza that I mentioned last week and her sister. One of the investigators that was at church as well was one who we hadn't been able to contact for a month and a half but finally caught up with him on Saturday after the baptism and he was keen to come to church the next morning and pick up where we left off. The Sister missionaries are also doing great as well and had several investigators at church too, so Mooroolbark is in the process of exploding with success! There were also like 3 new families that moved into the ward as well that seem very strong in the Gospel, one of them being from Salt Lake City! So the ward is being greatly blessed by the Lord right now. So it was a wonderful New Year's week and a miraculous start to 2014 and we look forward to many miracles and blessings ahead. Thanks as always for your love, support and prayers. I'm grateful for the Gospel and the opportunity it gives us to improve each day through Christ's Atonement and repentance and as we do the Lord opens the windows of Heaven for us. Love you heaps and have a wonderful week! Talk to you again soon.

 

Love,

 

Elder Hopkins

 

P.S. In the picture: Elder Wood, Elder Hopkins, Jack, Elder Afele, Elder Lau