May 19, 2014

G'day!

 

Thanks for the great e-mail this week! It's always great to hear about how everything is going. I think these last few weeks of e-mailing might be a bit shorter than normal because it seems we are rushing around everywhere to try to do as much as possible before I leave. But anyway, this past week was a pretty good week for us. This past week we were finally able to have a lesson with the Sudanese family we were teaching a little while back, if you remember, and we were able to set a baptismal date with the mom for the 14th of June. So hopefully she continues to progress to that date after I leave. It's a really strange feeling when you set things up for when you know you'll no longer be here! We also were able to start teaching another less-active member family this past week which is always a good opportunity to help bring back the lost sheep. We also were able to have a meal with Mary (the Burmese recent convert from back in November--amazing how long I've been in the area!) this past week which was great! If you don't remember what happened, after her daughter found out and basically dis-owned her as a mother for being baptized because of the difficulty of living there she went to live in Sydney for a few months. The day she moved was like the same day Elder Suan got to Australia, so it was sad at first that he didn't have the chance to meet her and vice versa. But just 3 weeks ago she moved back here to a town close to Mooroolbark and so Elder Suan and her were able to meet for the first time. They were very happy to have the opportunity to meet each other and will likely see each other again in Burma (obviously Elder Suan will be back after his mission but she is planning to move back in like 2 years as well). Sunday was interesting this week. During the passing of the Sacrament towards the end of it one of the older men there (Brother Blair, he and his wife were senior missionaries for the mission for about my first year of being here) started feeling faint and then passed out. So many brethren rushed to his aid and someone called an ambulance and they helped him out of the chapel and the ambulance took him away. Apparently he had a mild heart attack, but now he's doing ok. Everything else is going good as usual, the returning less-active girl, Danielle, was able to meet with Bishop on Sunday as well which was great. Thanks for all your love and support! I hope you have another great week this week. I love you heaps and I'll talk to you soon!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hopkins