November 26, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks so much for the wonderful e-mail this week! I was so thrilled to hear from all of the family! I'm very grateful for all of their great comments and am grateful for all of their continued love and prayers! Reading all of those definitely put a big smile on my face! So I guess first of all I should mention the transfer news. Drum roll! Elder Hirata.........he is staying in Pakenham! And Elder Hopkins......he is also staying in Pakenham! So not much of a change haha. We're both really happy and excited to keep working together in Pakenham! Especially I'm glad that I'm staying so that I can spend Christmas and the holiday season on familiar ground and with all the people that I've developed a strong friendship with and a great love for. I was definitely surprised at the news though, because for one, companions usually aren't together for 3 transfers (unless their both in a leadership position, such as Zone Leader) and two, I've been in the area for a long time now! I'll now be the longest serving missionary in the Pakenham area, although there's only been a Pakenham area for just over a year, but still something that amazed me! I've loved the area so much though so I have absolutely no quarrels with staying here another 6 weeks! Also, on a side note, Elder Rafferty actually got transferred again from his area so he's moved 3 times in the last 3 transfers haha. Don't know where he's going yet though, we'll hear on Tuesday. So that was definitely the big news of this past week and transfers are always a very exciting time! The rest of the week was really good as well though, although we didn't get as much accomplished as usually since we were riding around on bikes. I happened to actually enjoy riding the bikes around, however, because it was just a nice change from the car and it also helped get my leg muscles quite huge! Haha, just kidding. I did hope at some point in the mission to get the classic missionary experience, and my wish had been granted! On Saturday was probably the most difficult though, because the temperature was about 34 degrees Celsius, which would be about 93 degrees Fahrenheit! So we were quite roasted at the end of the day, but thankfully no bad sunburns! We were able to teach several good lessons this week, but we were unable to make too much more progress with our investigators. We were unable to set a baptismal date with Joan Willmott this week, so that was a bit disappointing after she told us last week that she was ready to be baptized, but I'm sure within this next transfer we'll be able to set a firm date with her. We also found out yesterday when we went to see David and Melissa (who are planning on their wedding happening in May) that David didn't want to come to church anymore. Not that he wanted to be separated from the Gospel, he just didn't want to come to actual church anymore. So we had an extra long lesson with them just talking about the reasons why David didn't want to come to church and trying to just create a good environment for the Spirit to be felt. It ended up going quite well and afterwards David didn't come right out and say he wanted to still come to church but he did say that he felt much better about it and that he felt the Spirit. We'll try to go around to see them more frequently and just encourage him and try and help him have a lot of good spiritual experiences. On a brighter side of things, this past week while we were tracting one day, we ended up tracting into a less-active lady (named Melissa) who had just moved into the area a few months ago. She said that she was baptized several years ago (about 6 or 7) and that when she came over to Australia she stopped going to church (why does that keep happening to everyone?). However, she said that she's keen on coming back to church, especially since the chapel is so close, she just has to try to get some Sundays off of work. She also has 3 kids, one of whom is of baptism age! So that was a wonderful miracle to find her this past week, and we hope to begin having lessons with her this week. There have been all sorts of members that haven't been to church in a while that are just coming out of the wood-works because there was another less-active family that's been in the area a while who just came to church again for the first time yesterday, so we'll try to go round and see them this week as well. So surprisingly that's all I can think of that's noteworthy from this past week, hopefully it will suffice, haha. But Elder Hirata and I look forward to having another great transfer together here in the great area of Pakenham! Thanks again for the great e-mail, and I hope all of you have a great week ahead as well! I love you, and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

November 19, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks for another great e-mail this week, which I enjoyed reading! It sounds like it was an eventful week! Elder Hirata and I had a pretty busy week as well. We kicked off this past week with Zone Conference which was fantastic! In case you don't remember much from the other one about 3 months ago, Zone Conference is where two zones get together and have one big meeting together which President Lifferth and his wife attend as well as the APs. There are several talks and trainings that are always inspiring, and it goes from 9 am to about 3:30 pm. We had lunch in the middle of it, about 1 o'clock which was prepared and served to us by some of the members from the Pakenham stake. So the two zones that were there were the Pakenham zone, which we're in and that is all the missionaries from the Pakenham stake, and the Braeside zone, which was all the missionaries from the Braeside stake. In total there were probably about 60 missionaries there! It was an awesome meeting and there were some great talks given by President Lifferth and Sister Lifferth that really inspired us and motivated us to work harder. Also, President Sanders, the stake president of the Pakenham stake, gave a really great talk to us that really inspired me a lot personally. In President Lifferth's talk, however, he mentioned some very interesting and exciting facts. He mentioned what you'd already told me about the missionary calls per week jumping up from 700 or so, all the way up to 4,000! That's just incredible! Also he talked about how our mission, the Melbourne mission, would be affected by this new surge of missionaries. Right now, the mission has a total of 161 missionaries. But come January and February time, the number will jump up to 250 missionaries!! That number being the maximum number of missionaries that a mission can have at one time! That's pretty amazing! He said that there will be many new areas opening and that there will most likely be no less than 4 missionaries (two companionships) per ward. He also mentioned that because of this massive boost of missionaries that almost every missionary that's been through training themselves will be training these new missionaries! So that will be pretty interesting! That was definitely the biggest announcement of the day, and has all of the missionaries looking forward to that big wave of new Elders and Sisters. So after a big missionary gathering like that we were all really motivated for the rest of the week. Elder Hirata and I were able to have a really good week and see some wonderful progress with some of our investigators. One of the greatest things worth mentioning was that when we saw Joan Willmott this past week she told us that she was finally ready to be baptized! Woohoo! haha. So that was wonderful to hear and we're really excited for her to take that first big step in the Gospel. She'll most likely have a baptismal date set this coming week that will be for early next year, so I'll keep you updated with that (as long as it's still possible for me to keep you updated, who knows what will happen with transfers!). Speaking of transfers...yes this is the last week of the transfer and it has just flown by so fast! I can't even believe that  it's already been another 6 weeks here in Pakenham and I feel it's just gone to fast! It's been a really great transfer, however, and Elder Hirata and I have really worked hard and well together. His English continues to improve heaps each week and it won't be long before he'll sound like he's spoken it his whole life! So this past week we finally were able to have another lesson with the two people we'd met last transfer, Moana and LIna, who we were able to set baptismal dates with. Now obviously they won't be baptized yet since we still have heaps to teach them and they will have a lot of progress to make, but they still are keen as (or super interested for the non-Aussie speakers, haha) and have expressed a desire to start coming to some of the church YSA activities that are held quite often. So hopefully there are good things in the future for both of them. We also will find out within the next 2 weeks or so the day that Melissa and David will be able to be married so we can set a date for her baptism as well! So the fruits of our much labor are beginning to show forth and hopefully this last week of the transfer will bring forth even more blessings and miracles! So those are the main things of note that happened this past week and we look forward to working harder than ever for this final week of the transfer! My next e-mail will have the transfer news, so bring your popcorn for that one! Again, I appreciate so much all of the love and support and especially the prayers on my behalf and the behalf of the other missionaries. I know that it really makes all the difference in our missionary work! Well I hope that you all have a fantastic week ahead and a great Thanksgiving! I'll be celebrating by eating as much food as I can (although not many people will understand why!) to try and keep the spirit of Thanksgiving alive in Australia! I love you and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

November 12, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks for the great e-mail! I always cherish every minute of reading them each week and love all the things you're able to include. This past week was a pretty good week. Definitely not as snowy as Utah right now! I'll definitely miss the white Christmases for the next 2 Decembers. Melbourne weather continues to just be a guessing game as this past week we had a couple of hot summer days, but mixed in were some rather rainy days (plus hail!). So you can never quite put away the winter clothes throughout the summertime. This past Wednesday was a pretty fun day because we went on exchanges for the day with the Zone Leaders, so Elder Rafferty and I were once again able to work together in Pakenham! We went around to see all of the main people that we taught when he was still here and they were all very happy and surprised to see Elder Rafferty so soon again. We had a lot of really great lessons as well and were able to make a lot of progress with many of our investigators. Working with Elder Rafferty again made me realize the big adjustment it's been working with Elder Hirata as he's still learning english. Not to say that Elder Hirata's english isn't good, because it is quite good, it's just sometimes more difficult for the investigators or the people that we teach to understand exactly what he's trying to say. But then I can't imagine now having to learn an entirely new language in such a short amount of time and being able to teach the gospel with it, so he's definitely doing a great job! You asked in your e-mail about us having the opportunity to do service projects, and to answer, we have heaps of opportunities for them! There are several opportunities per week for us to provide service so it's been really great to help out. One of the things that we help out with a lot is with what are called 'self-dig gardens.' Some people in the ward came up with the idea a little before I got to Pakenham and they're just raised garden beds that you build a certain way so that when you put in plants they just replenish and re-plant themselves after each growing cycle. So it's a really effective and good system and they produce heaps of vegetables. They're trying to get at least one garden bed at each member's home so we help out with that about once a week, or once every other week. Also, lately it's been getting into a tradition of helping someone move house each Saturday, haha. The past two weeks (as well as a few other weeks in the not too distant past) we've helped two different families move. Last week we helped a nonmember family move house, who'd met and become friends with a couple of the sisters in the ward, so that was good for us to be there and kind of introduce ourselves. This past Saturday we actually helped David and Melissa move house as well! Luckily they were just moving to a different house in the same general neighborhood so they're still in our area! We've also had many other opportunities to provide service and I really enjoy each change we get to help out. Not only does it provide a break from tracting, haha, but it always feels good to be able to give service to whoever may be in need. Church was really good this week as well. We were able to have several of the people we teach attend this week again, however, not quite as many as last week but still a good amount. Cruiz was able to be ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood, so that was a really special moment! The next step will be to get him and Chelsea each some sort of calling. We've also begun visiting another new less-active family as well, called the Sekene (pronounced Sakaynay) family. They're an awesome family and have just barely been coming to church again the past few weeks for the first time in a few years. Vince Sekene (the husband/dad) was baptized back in New Zealand several years ago but they all went a bit less-active when they moved over to Australia (seems to be a very frequent trend with the less-active members we visit, haha).  But they've been going very well too, and hopefully they'll be able to progress towards getting to the Temple as well. Well unfortunately I'm out of time, so I'll have to end there for this week. But we look forward to the last two weeks of this transfer! It's really flown by so fast so we'll try to make every moment count! Thanks again for all the wonderful love and support you give and especially all the prayers on our behalf! I love you and I'll talk to you again soon! Have a wonderful week ahead!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

November 5, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks for another great e-mail this past week. As always I really loved reading it and hearing about all the things that have gone on in the past week back home. This past week was a great one and we were able to see a lot of miracles happen. Cruiz and Chelsea were married this past Wednesday night and it went really well. Originally they'd just planned on getting married in Bishop's office with just them so they'd have it really low key. But over time the ward heard about it and the Relief Society decorated the chapel up for them and brought all sorts of refreshments as well, so it ended up being definitely more than they expected! It was well attended though and it was a fun evening for them. Their wedding happened to be on Halloween as well which was pretty neat. As a result of their wedding they were able to take the Sacrament for the first time in a very long time this past Sunday so that was a wonderful blessing for them. Back to Halloween for a second, it definitely wasn't as festive as what I'm used to. Australia doesn't really recognize Halloween as a holiday and only a very, very small amount of people will go out trick or treating. So it just felt like a normal day and nothing special, obviously for us it was the same as any other day for missionaries but since we didn't see any decorations up or anything it definitely felt plain haha. Another blessing that we witnessed this week happened with one of Pakenham's long time investigators Joan Willmott (the wife of recent convert Barry Willmott). Since I've been here she's never been very keen on reading the Book of Mormon or on praying to know if the church is true and what not. So we've tried and tried but nothing has really seemed to spark much interest in her. However, when we went to see them this past week she told us that she'd made the decision she wants to read through the whole Book of Mormon, cover to cover! We were quite stunned by that, especially since it was her own decision to read and not an assignment or something from us. We added our own encouragement to her after she told us and then also invited her to pray about the Book of Mormon as she reads. So it seems that the Spirit has been working in her and hopefully we'll be able to see her receive her answer about the truthfulness of the Gospel soon. Another pretty big miracle we had happen as well this past Sunday was that 8 of the less active members that we visit were able to attend church! So that was pretty great to see and most of them stayed for all 3 hours of church as well, which made it even more of a blessing! So that started off Sunday really well for us, and it got even better because the Mission President's Fireside was also this past Sunday night as well. The past couple of months we've been unable to attend because either we had noone to go (you always need to have either an investigator, recent convert, or less active member you teach to come to it if you want to go) or the ride for the people we did have to go had to cancel. So we finally got to go to it again because we had the WIllmotts, Cruiz and Chelsea, and another less-active couple Afa and Lisa attend the fireside so that was great. The fireside itself was really good and spiritual and all those that were able to come really loved it and said they'd love to be able to attend the next month's fireside as well. So we definitely look forward to that! The past week we were able to go much better with our teaching appointments and not as many cancelled as the previous week which was a miracle in itself. We also were able to continue to find heaps of people who were keen to hear more about the Gospel. So we'll continue to be busy this next week and we are constantly seeing the area progress and are developing a greater love for those that we teach as well as the people in Pakenham in general as we grow and learn to be more like the Saviour. Well thanks again for the e-mail this week and I look forward to talking to you again soon! Love you heaps!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

October 29, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks for another wonderful e-mail this week! This past week was alright, but definitely wasn't the most successful. This was definitely not the week for set appointments, because we had nearly every appointment cancel (and their were heaps of them set) after Tuesday. So we weren't able to teach as many lessons as we would've liked to, but we found other ways to do some work in the area. However, one of the lessons that didn't fall through on Saturday was really excellent. We were going to have another lesson with Cruiz and Chelsea (the less-active family, who are also getting married this week, which will be awesome!) but one of their family friends was visiting there, named Dave, who's a non-member. Several of his kids are members of the church however after they met missionaries, and his son is actually preparing for a mission. He still didn't know much about the church, though, and had heaps of questions for us. We were able to answer all of them really well and Cruiz and Chelsea actually helped answer a lot of them too, and Dave said afterwards he liked all of the answers that he'd heard and said he actually really likes Mormons now! After we finished answering his questions we had just a really brief spiritual thought which they all appreciated and the Spirit was there. Dave said after all was over, "I think I'm going to be coming to church tomorrow!" And low and behold the next day he was in a shirt and tie at church! He loved church as well, and he even got up in the Gospel Principles class (for the investigators, new members, and less-active members coming back) and told a brief life story, which was pretty amazing, and bore a short testimony! So that whole series of events was a huge miracle for us this week! Definitely made an otherwise slow week seem like a really great one. So since there were so many cancellations this week, we had plenty of extra time for tracting! YAY! Haha. But our finding went really well this week and we got heaps of potential new investigators, so we've got our work cut out for us this next week. We also were able to go back and teach that other new investigator (who's lawn was broken from last week), who's name is Falo, about the Restoration and at the end we committed him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and he happily accepted! So hopefully he will be able to sincerely read and pray and then receive his witness of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel. So there unfortunately isn't much to write down this week because not too much happened. But this coming week is looking like it will be pretty jam-packed with exciting things so hopefully I'll be able to make up for the lack of stories this week in next week's e-mail. All the other investigators we have are still going well. The baptismal dates are still looking promising, however, Michael's will change from Nov. 17th since he and his girlfriend would have to be married to reach that day, but they're planning to be married in the early months of next year. Melissa and David are now planning on getting married between early January and February (it all depends on when David's mom can come down from Samoa to see the wedding) so that's really exciting news and then after that Melissa will be able to be baptized. Tracey is still doing really well and we should be starting the recent convert lessons with her this week. It's been pretty hectic for them lately because Tommy is on a really tight contract for the next couple of months that's been keeping him away from home for many days at a time. But anyway, there's still heaps of exciting things happening in Pakenham! Elder Hirata and I look forward to working hard this next week and continue to build up the Lord's kingdom in this area. Thanks for all the love and support you continue to give me, I'm so grateful to have all the support to keep me going through everything on the mission. Well anyway I hope you have a wonderful week and that Heavenly Father continues to bless you! I love you and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

October 22, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks so much for such a great e-mail this week! It's been a really good week for Elder Hirata and I as well. Since it was the first week of the transfer we wanted to work really hard and set the standard for ourselves for the other 5 weeks in the transfer to come. And on a cool little side note, Elder Rafferty is no longer in Tasmania! After a short 6-week stint in the city of Launceston, he is back up on the mainland and is now serving as one of the Zone Leaders over the Pakenham Zone! So that'll be really cool to be able to work closely with him again and I know he'll do a great job and help the Zone progress heaps. So also because of that I personally wanted to do extra well this week to show Elder Rafferty that Pakenham is still doing well. So we were able to teach a lot of good lessons this week seeing as it was one of the few weeks were nearly none of our appointments cancelled or fell through! We didn't make any spectacular progress with our main investigators but we were able to provide some good spiritual lessons for each of them. One really neat thing that we found out this week, is Michael, the new investigator we found about 2 weeks back, told us that he and his girlfriend are planning on getting married soon now. That was really good to hear and we were very happy for him, and also a bit relieved because that was going to be one of the possible roadblocks in him progressing to be baptized if he continued to live with his girlfriend as unmarried. We also mentioned to him that the Bishop is able to perform marriages as well for essentially no cost and he sounded really keen to talk to him about it, so that was good! Another really neat experience this past Saturday, was after we finished providing some service for a member we were going to go straight to another appointment, however, we felt that we needed to do some tracting really quickly before we did so. So as we were driving along we decided just to stop on a random street that looked like people were home on. So as we got out and were going up to the first house on the street a man came out from the garage to meet us and identified us as 'mormon missionaries' and then told us that he wasn't really interested. Well anyone we meet that knows who we are as missionaries we try to talk to a bit to find out where they know us from, so as we talk to him for a minute he said that several of his relatives are members of the church and that one of his cousins served a mission, so that's how he knew missionaries. He also mentioned briefly that he was just out back trying to fix his lawnmower, so we immediately offered to help and he thought that was very kind of us so he invited us in. We didn't end up doing anything with the lawnmower but just sat down with him and talked and just found out more about him. In the interest of time, essentially we learned that he'd recently just come back to his faith (born again Christian) after he'd hit rock bottom, and he said that if we'd come to his house any sooner, like a week or so ago, he would've just turned us away, but we ended up seeing him at the perfect time (let alone when he was home and not at work) and he felt like we'd met him for a reason so he really wanted us to come back and talk to him about what we have to share. So that was a really cool miracle and probably the best thing that happened to us this week. It also gave us a greater testimony towards always following promptings we receive. That Saturday night we had the great opportunity to go to a ward party that they were having in honor of the Pakenham ward's 1 year anniversary since it was first formed. So that was a really fun event, and a couple of the people that we visit (less-actives and 1 investigator) were there as well. Sunday was pretty good as well, however, our church attendance for investigators was a disappointing 0, being the lowest of my mission, so that was a bit of a downer  but nothing that could overshadow the good rest of the week that we were able to have. Hopefully next Sunday will be able to make up for it, though! Well not too much else out of the ordinary happened this past week that I can think of mentioning right now, since it was just a normal week without either of us being transferred. But we look forward to another great week ahead, and I continue to be very grateful for all the blessings we've received, and I've received personally, in this great area. Thanks for all the love and support you provide which really helps me to keep pressing forward through all the work! I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead as well and that the Lord continues to bless you so much! I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

October 15, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks for the great e-mail as always! I'm glad that everything has been going well back home! It's been a very eventful and blessed week these past seven days for us, so where to start? I guess I'll begin with the transfer news which we received early Sunday morning. Elder Hirata will be staying here in Pakenham and I..........will also be staying! So that was very exciting news for us since we've really enjoyed this past transfer together and were able to accomplish a lot of great things in setting up what looks to be a very promising next 6 weeks! I love serving in Pakenham so much so I'm really glad that I'll have the opportunity to serve a 4th transfer here and continue to teach all of the great investigators and less-active members in the area. That was the news that was biggest for us this week but there was also heaps of other great events. Obviously General Conference was such a blessing to be able to attend this past weekend, and it was definitely one of the best that I've seen (and one of the only where I've stayed awake all of the sessions! haha). But all of the talks were very inspiring and I was able to learn and grow a lot from it and able to receive a lot of personal revelation as they talked as well. I think my favorite talk would have to be Elder Holland's as well, and not just because he's my favorite apostle to listen to. I loved the power that he spoke with and the way that he told the story as well. One of the phrases from his talk that really hit me as well was when he mentioned about returned missionaries who've baptized someone before and about them remaining steadfastly faithful and so on. That was relevant to me since Tracey's baptism wasn't too long ago. So although his was probably my favorite talk, I still had many others that I thoroughly enjoyed and were close seconds. Unfortunately I forgot the notes that I took from the conference back at the flat so hopefully I can remember most of the talks that impacted me in this e-mail! I don't know if you remember Elder Hawk's talk (from the Quorum of the Seventy) about a testimony of the Book of Mormon but that was one of my favorites as well. I really liked the stories that he mentioned and I feel like a lot of the material from his talk can help me as a missionary in talking to others about the Book of Mormon. I also was rapidly writing things down during President Uchtdorf's talk in the Saturday Morning Session because nearly everything he was saying was very profound and very true. Since I don't have my notes handy I can't remember much of the specifics, but his is definitely worth re-watching or re-reading as it had a lot of inspiring thoughts. President Monson's talks were always good of course and I really enjoyed President Eyring's talks as well. I love how President Eyring seems to always have the spirit with him so strongly as he speaks which makes me always love to listen to him and his wonderful messages that he gives. One talk that I thought was very interesting was Elder Oaks' address. He definitely must've had a lot of courage to give that talk! I think everyone that spoke though was fantastic and each had their own wonderful insight to the different principles of the Gospel and continued guidance that Heavenly Father has instructed them to give to us. I was quite shocked at Elder Boyd K. Packer's condition when he spoke! I don't remember him being in that state last conference so hopefully he's still able to be with us for a little while, but who knows. But conference was great and provided a wonderful spirit for all of us missionaries to carry with us through these next couple of weeks. So this last week of the past transfer was quite good. There wasn't too much out of the ordinary the past several days except normal missionary work. However, on this past Thursday we received a referral from the APs for a girl that they'd just met who lived in Pakenham. They told us that the girl, Moono (a Samoan name), said that they could come by on Friday morning, so after they'd given us the information we went to see her. She let us in straight away, which was nice, and her cousin Lina (who's house it was) was there as well. So we talked with them a bit to find out more about them and it turns out that Moono was a former member of the church, but a while ago she was baptized into the 7th Day Aventist church. So that was some pretty interesting info to find out! But anyway, we were able to teach a really powerful lesson on the Restoration and they were genuinely interested throughout. They asked heaps of good questions, which we were able to answer, and they felt that what we were teaching them was true. The spiritual climate by the end of the lesson allowed us to extend the invitations to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is God's word and also if Joseph Smith was a prophet, which they both were excited to do. We also were able to commit them to a baptismal date of December 1st as they receive their answer to their prayers and know that this is Heavenly Father's restored church. So that was a wonderful experience and we look forward to teaching them again this week! So with Michael from last week, and now Moono and Lina, there are some great promising investigators for us to help and teach this next transfer which we really look forward to. All of our other investigators and less-active members are still going well. Tracey is still doing well and we'll continue to teach her and provide her with spiritual messages when she's available. Melissa and David are still preparing for marriage. And most of the less-active families we've been visiting and teaching have been coming to church regularly again and a couple of the men have been moving up in the priesthood, which is very exciting for us to see. The Pakenham ward is really growing and the members in the ward continue to be a great help to us as we work here in the area. So Elder Hirata and I are greatly anticipating this next transfer and know that we'll continue to experience wonderful blessings and miracles as we continue to work hard and excercise our faith! Thanks for all of your love and support and I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead as well! Talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins