February 17, 2014

G'day!

 

Thanks for the e-mail! Glad that everything is going well for you. In answer to your e-mail, that was me with the BYU password thing but I figured it out and now I'm just waiting for President Maxwell to do his part of it. Thanks for letting me know about the classes, that seems so early to sign up! But I will think of what to take, and be sure to mention about my desire to study film and what classes will help with that. Thanks heaps! Oh and also a suggestion for looking at classes and deciding which to choose, use the website ratemyprofessor.com (or net?) which gives reviews of each professor in different aspects. I used that before in choosing my teachers for each class and it made a huge difference! Also, I had a quick request, I meant to send it several weeks ago but I keep forgetting about it. I was wondering if you could send a list of my line of authority because I don't have one with me and I thought it would be something good to have. And this past week I did get your package, thank you so much! I still have to send thank you cards to everyone else from back in Christmas time, I've written most of them but my attention span stopped there with them haha so I just need to go buy stamps and send them off. Anyway, this past week was so good! We saw so many miracles and were very blessed. One miracle was with our investigator Ellen. She already has a baptismal date for March 1st but we talked about it with her more this week and her desire continues to increase to be baptized then. She said she understands she would have to devote herself to the Gospel because she knows it is true and not still be tied up with everything in her other church. The only potential obstacle now is just since she is 17 we have to get parent's permission, but we have faith that the Lord will bless us to be able to get that. So we are excited to see her progress to being baptized. Also, another huge miracle with Jobe came this past week as well. Kind of in two parts--the first part being on Friday. We hadn't seen him since church and we called him up to set up a time to see him either that day or the next day. While we were talking to him he said, "So is someone coming to pick me up again for church on Sunday? I will be waiting." So that was awesome to hear that he was excited to come to church again, because often we have to remind and prod investigators several times to come to church haha. Anyway, part 2 of the miracle came on Sunday when we were in our Sunday School class. We were talking to Jobe and he told us basically how in the past week he had received a testimony of the Book of Mormon and knew it was the word of God. He said how when he reads the Bible he always gains knowledge and said he feels it gives him more power, but when he's been reading from the Book of Mormon the Spirit comes in very strong and touches him deep in his heart, more powerful than he's had before. So that was awesome! And it gets even more miraculous because he told us after our church he was going to go to his other church that he's been going to and tell all of them about the Book of Mormon and that they should read it and come to church! So he is a legend and it's amazing to see the conversion he is already experiencing. So next Sunday at church we are going to give him heaps of copies of the Book of Mormon to give out to people. We also had a similar experience after church in a lesson with the teacher in a Pentecostal church. After we shared with him the Plan of Salvation it got him thinking a lot, especially about the 3 kingdoms of glory and he said that during the week (we meet with him each Sunday) he would study about it more and pray to receive confirmation about it. He told us that after he knew that it was in fact true and from God that he would then teach it to his class at his church. So we hope and pray that both he and Jobe are successful in their efforts and that we see a big surge of conversions to the Gospel here. We are continuing to be extremely busy, which is good, and are almost to the point where we can't see everyone in one week. So the Lord is blessing us so generously at the moment, and we just hope we can continue to work hard enough to deserve the blessings. This past week we also had 2 exchanges which are always good. On one of the exchanges, Elder Snyder (the other missionary) and I were thinking of what we could do between 10 and 11 a.m., which is always a difficult time to work in something effective. Elder Suan and I had received a referral the day before from a member who had met a Sudanese family who had just moved into the area. So Elder Snyder and I decided to try and contact them. We managed to see them at their house and set up a time to have a lesson with them that afternoon at the member's home who met them. So we ended up having the lesson and it went really well! The member family was really great at testifying and showing love to this family. They were really keen to come check out the church here since they were looking for a local church to go to anyway, and one of the daughters (age 14) was also interested in coming to Young Women activities as well. So that was another great miracle for this past week. On Tuesday nights we had splits with the ward as usual and had some really good visits as well. You might or might not remember me mentioning it at the beginning of my transfer with Elder Lau, but there was a less-active member from Zimbabwe that we met who was going on holiday for quite a few weeks and who asked us to visit him when we got back. So we finally got to see him again with a member who knows him well (who happens to be a councillor in the bishopric) and he really wants to work back into the Gospel and have lessons in the future. His wife is not a member of the church so he was very keen to bring his family to like some activities or even have her go to some Relief Society activities where she can meet some great people in a casual environment. So we look forward to working with him further throughout the coming weeks. Well I think that is unfortunately all the time I have to write today, but hopefully it's enough to read haha. Everything is going great and Elder Suan is getting accustomed well! As always thanks for your love and support which helps immensely. Just another small request, I just remembered, one of the sisters in the ward, Sister Burton, is extremely ill and has been for 2 weeks now, so if you could include her health in a few prayers I'm sure it will be a big help as well. Well I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon! Have a great week!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hopkins

February 10, 2014

G'day!

 

Thanks for the e-mail this week! And also a big thanks to everyone else who has sent little notes the past 2 or so weeks, they make my day! I'm grateful for all the support throughout my mission that has helped make it the incredible experience it has been. This past week was really good as most weeks are. Elder Suan and I have unofficially become the Burmese speaking missionaries for the Mooroolbark ward haha. The sister missionaries are teaching most of the English speaking families and investigators right now because 1) a lot of them are females, and they have a bit of an advantage on us with connecting and relating to them and 2) we are luckily extremely busy already with all the investigators and Burmese that we are teaching that we don't have time to teach all the others too. Mooroolbark has been such a great experience for me because basically ever since I got here and was serving with Elder Afele and Elder Wood, we've been having anywhere between 15 and 24 lessons every week so we've been blessed to be very busy. And since with Elder Suan being a new, language-learning missionary that's 2 extra hours of study every morning which makes our schedules even more packed. It's been good with Elder Suan because he's a great teacher and is able to help the Burmese people understand more by frequently explaining to them things in their own language, but of course I'm not just a fly on the wall but still am teaching just as I normally would. As I said before the Burmese people are mostly Baptist and it's very difficult for them to change even if they know the church is true because if they do the entire Burmese community, including their own family, shuns them. Which if you remember is what happened with Mary and her family, but she is so strong so she stayed true to what she knew. So most of them that we teach understand and accept what we teach, but the progress towards conversion and baptism could be a longer one than normal because it's a hard decision to choose to be on your own, which is unfortunate that that is how it is. There's one investigator we're teaching though who's name is Jobe (Joe-bee) who seems very interested in the gospel. He was at church yesterday for the first time and really enjoyed it and the members were very good at introducing themselves and making him feel welcome. What helps him to be much closer towards conversion and baptism is that he isn't regularly attending a Baptist church (some other church) and he doesn't live with parents who he relies on for financial support. So if he were to join, he wouldn't have to go through as much difficulties of being 'on his own.' And of course in saying all of these things I'm in no way saying anything bad about the Baptist church specifically or the Burmese people, it's just a part of their culture that they stick to the family's way or they stick to their own way. So because of Jobe's situation at the moment we feel he could be prepared for baptism very soon. The biggest difference maker for our investigators and for any investigators I think is when they make the effort to come to church on a consistent basis so they have the opportunity to feel the Spirit and see the restored gospel in action, so Jobe and several others have already made that step and because of that they are the ones who start progressing more and have more of a desire to learn. Also, at church, the Sacrament program was an introduction to the 40-Day fast program starting on the 25th of February as a way of informing all the members about it and helping them to be excited for it. So the first speaker was one of the sister missionaries, Sister Baker, and she talked about what the program was and what the members' responsibility was. I was the second speaker and talked about fasting, what it is and the blessing that we receive from it. And then Bishop Beckwith spoke last about the law of the harvest and about aligning our will with the Lord's will. It all turned out really well and all the members are very enthusiastic and optimistic about the program and in just the first day of signing up families we've covered 24 of the days (with a lot of them having 2 families on a day), so everyone is very willing to be involved. We know it will bring so many miracles and strengthen the ward and it's members. So everything is continuing to progress in Mooroolbark and it's only the 3rd week of the transfer, so we know the rest of it will be very busy for us! I hope you have a wonderful week this week and continue to see many miracles of your own! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hopkins

February 3, 2014

G'Day!

 

Thanks heaps for the e-mail this week! Sorry I'm e-mailing later than usual this week, we've been busy with so many things. So anyway it's been an interesting week! Tuesday morning I woke up and just started throwing up heaps! Great way to start the week and the e-mail. I felt so sick the whole day and the following day wasn't much better. So I missed transfer meeting and I also missed the meeting where we are assigned with our new missionaries, which I was sad about, but I needed to recover unfortunately. However, I'm all better now which is good! Elder Lau went to an area called Morrabin. My new companion is the man! My whole e-mail could be written about him haha. So his name is Elder Suan and he is the perfect missionary for this area because he is from Burma! So he's an answer to prayers for sure and will have a great impact on the people here since there are so many Burmese people. All the members were so excited to meet him on Sunday and Bishop Beckwith was especially excited since they all know about the Burmese people in Mooroolbark as well. So Elder Suan converted to the church 3 years ago from the Baptist church and is currently 21 years old. There are 5 brothers and 1 sister and his parents, but only he and 4 other brothers are members. His brother (who's currently a branch president there) is the one who invited him to church and he later met with some senior missionaries. There are no proselyting missionaries aloud in Burma so those are the only missionaries that can go there. He is a part of the only branch in all of Burma which has between 30-40 active members, and he is only about the 12th missionary from Burma to ever serve and the first ever in this mission! So it's a massive honor and responsibility to be serving with him. I've never felt so overwhelmed with responsibility to a companion before since I am obviously showing him the basics of being a missionary, teaching him English (which is pretty good but still has a lot of improvment room), and teaching him a lot about the Gospel as well because he still doesn't know too much about it but the most important thing is that he knows it's the true church. His life goal is to be able to translate the Book of Mormon, and many other church materials, into Burmese since they don't have it in their language yet. So he is awesome and has a really bright future. He's very hard-working and already very good at talking to people and teaching the Gospel. It's been a big blessing thus far because most of the Burmese people we've been teaching here speak limited English but he's able to talk to them in their own language and thus answer their questions better and teach them more powerfully. On his first full proselyting day in the mission field he gave away 4 copies of the Book of Mormon to Burmese families so he's doing great! We know there will be heaps of miracles this transfer as he helps the Burmese people come to a greater knowledge of the truth of the restored Gospel. Our investigators that we have are continuing to progress well and Ellen was able to come to church for the first time this week and stayed for all 3 hours! So that was awesome to see and she really loved it and is excited to come again. We are starting the 40 day fast 2 Sundays from now which will bring many more miracles as well! So exciting things are happening in Mooroolbark as always. Well since I started later I also have to finish sooner, but hopefully this is enough for this week. I love the work and everything is going great! Thanks for all that you've done for me and continue to do for me on my mission. I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

 

Love,

 

Elder Hopkins

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