January 21, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks once again for a wonderful e-mail this week! I look forward to each P-Day when I get to read it. Now that I'm able to e-mail on the usual day I'll hopefully be able to include more detail then last time. This past week was great and these first two weeks in Geelong literally feel like a few days. It amazes me that the time on the mission continues to go faster and faster even when it was already flying by! Just means you have to make every moment count! So in this Geelong area that we're in there wasn't very many investigators or less-active members that were in the teaching pool, so we haven't been teaching many lessons, just a lot of contacting and finding. We spent the first couple of days (an hour or two each day) organizing the teaching records for the area from the Area Book. We finally got all of it sorted out nicely, and after removing some of the records from back in the Joseph Smith era we were able to get a good, large list of former investigators (people who'd been taught either a bit or a lot but either stopped investigating the church or weren't progressing) to go and try to contact again. So in these first two weeks when we haven't been in Members' homes for meals or in a lesson, we've been walking around contacting these people. It was something that I'd never tried to do before in Pakenham but we felt impressed that we should do a lot of it here. We've decided that we want to contact all of the former investigators (and there's well over 100) before we start just normally tracting. We've actually seen so many miracles and blessings as we've done so and gotten quite a few new contacts and investigators to go and teach. Most of the former investigators we were going to contact had moved but out of the first 10 or so that we tried to visit, about 6 of the people now living there seemed very prepared to hear the gospel. So that's been a big blessing and has increased our teaching pool for the area. Almost all of the former investigators that still do live in the same place have also said that we can come back to teach them as well, which is fantastic as well. We've also been using a pattern of contacting that I remember learning from President Lifferth a while back where he talked about if you go and try to contact a less-active member or a former investigator and they aren't home or have moved, don't just rush on to the next person on the list, but tract the house to the left, the house to the right, the one across the street, or even the whole street because their must be some reason Heavenly Father wants us to go to that certain area. As we've applied that idea we've seen a lot of great blessings come and we've met some really great people as well. Something that has also really helped me in my missionary work was something that Elder Pearson mentioned at the conference last week. He was talking about how everyone is on a level between 1 and 7 of how prepared they are to receive the Gospel, with 7 being completely ready and 1 being quite hostile. He was talking about how as a missionary you shouldn't try and make every 1 that you see become a level 7 right away, it's not often achievable. He said that every person that we meet though that is like a 1 or 2 or 3, we should recognize that they aren't ready for the Gospel but before leaving them we should just do or say something to help make them a level higher for the next time they see missionaries (by just being really friendly or saying something like "if you ever need anything at all, service or help, just ask the missionaries and we'll help you right away). That was something that really opened my eyes because so far on the mission as I've assumed myself and seen a few other missionaries do I've wanted every person that we meet to become a new investigator to the church even if they want nothing to do with it. But that's helped me realize that I need to focus and think about more of the bigger and long term picture than just the immediate one. I think that's helped us a lot since he said that. So in Geelong, the main investigator we have is named Joe who is the partner (soon to be husband in March) of a less-active member named Camilla. They're the nicest couple and are really receptive to the things we've told them and what they've learned since they've been coming to church the past few weeks before I got here. Camilla is actually the daughter of the former 2nd counselor in the bishopric of the Pakenham ward so I'd actually met them 1 Sunday before when they visited family in the ward there! Small world! But we'll start teaching them the missionary lessons this coming Wednesday and Joe seems very prepared to hear the Gospel so I'm sure we'll see a lot of blessings and miracles there. Yesterday (Sunday) we had a big multi-stake conference because they were also creating a new stake on this side of Melbourne as well! So Elder Pearson as well as Elder Ireedin (not sure if that's the right spelling) of the 70 were there to preside (unfortunately they were at a different stake center so it was just broadcast to ours (the Wyndam stake center) and gave some wonderful talks. Elder Pearson's main point of his talk (he was the last speaker) was that with the hard and difficult times that are in the future for the church and its members, the only thing that will keep us from faltering is by 'clinging' to the Iron Rod (from Lehi's dream) or the Book of Mormon "Every day, Every day, Every day." I found that to be very enlightening and I think it helped a lot of the members there. My favorite line that he said which I think might be one of the best I've heard from a talk was "I can't imagine Moroni having any sympathy for anyone in our day saying we weren't able to read the scriptures because we just didn't have time to get around to it, when records were hidden and protected, the best blood was spilt, and the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum gave their lives so that we could have this to read every day, every day, every day. I just can't think of any excuse that would cause him to feel that way." I found that to be so profound! But anyway, my time is running out for this week, but I'm glad I was able to include a bit more this time around! I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead and that Heavenly Father continues to bless you! I love you and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

January 15, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks so much for the e-mail this week! I loved reading it and appreciated all your notes. First of all, hopefully you weren't too worried when you didn't receive an e-mail yesterday. Remember when I told you last week that we'd be having a meeting with Elder Pearson of the 70? Well for our side of the mission that happened to be on Monday, while the other side of the mission was on Tuesday. So we left our flat at 6:30 a.m. and didn't return until 7 p.m.! So unfortunately there was no possible way for me to e-mail you yesterday, however, I'm using the extra little bit of time we get each week to e-mail you a quick letter today. So since I don't have much time at all to write I'll have to just fly through everything. First of all, the news you're all waiting for, my new area is in the Geelong area. Since you probably aren't familiar with Melbourne's geography, Geelong is about an hour or two outside of Melbourne city on the west side of it. So quite a big change from Pakenham about the same distance from the city but on the east side. Geelong is also quite a large city, comparable a bit to San Francisco, because our area goes ride up the beach! Pretty cool since I haven't seen a beach since we've been in California. And also, the situation has now gone from bikes to no bikes, haha. So my companion and I have just been walking around and using public transport (buses), although our area is quite large. However, the Geelong area actually has 4 Elders in the ward, so two different areas, north and south, and we're in the south Geelong area. The other Elders have a car though so we sometimes catch rides with them to appointments. Next big news is regarding my new companion! His name is Elder Rua (Roo-ah) and he is from Tahiti! This is only his second transfer in the mission so I'm his follow-up trainer since his 1st companion finished his mission last transfer. So that's pretty exciting to be working with a missionary still fresh in the field. His English is also really, really good considering he never spoke it before the mission and ended up only getting 3 weeks in the MTC to learn, so that's one miracle he's experienced. He's also really funny, his personality is like the exact same as my roommate Michael from BYU so we get along really well with having fun but also working really hard. Our area isn't nearly as big of a teaching pool as Pakenham had become, so there's a lot of room for progress and improvement. However, we've already seen a lot of success by organizing all the teaching records from past missionaries and trying to find some new investigators to add to our list. The Geelong ward is actually the biggest ward on paper in all of Victoria, however, the attendance is quite low, so there's heaps of less-actives and inactives throughout the ward list. So that's one of the goals Elder Rua and I have, to go through the ward list and try to visit all the members on it in our part of Geelong and see if we can find some less-actives who are ready to come back and live the Gospel again. My birthday on Thursday went well, it wasn't much different than any other day but I did enjoy opening your package with all of the goodies! That definitely helped make it a great day! Elder Pearson at the conference was also incredible! I'd never heard him speak before but after hearing him talk with us I want to hear him every General Conference! He was such a wise and powerful teacher and the spirit was so strong each time he spoke. The blessing he gave all of us at the end with his testimony was also really special and powerful. The room was so quiet as he was speaking then that you literally could hear no sound at all during the breaks in his speech. I loved the opportunity to hear a general authority speak in person and so close. That was definitely a highlight for the week. Well sorry I don't have much time to talk this week, I tried to include all the main things that I could think of quickly. Thanks for the e-mail again and for all of your love and support! I will definitely talk to you next Monday (Sunday for you) for sure, so I will talk to you again then! Have a wonderful week, love you!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

January 7, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks heaps for the fantastic e-mail this week, it was so great to read it! The weather has been quite the opposite here, with several really hot days and another one that was almost 110 degrees! It was a really great week though and we were able to accomplish so many things! Well first off I guess I should let you know about the transfer news! Elder Hirata..............will be staying in Pakenham! And Elder Hopkins........will be leaving Pakenham! My 7 1/2 month reign in Pakenham is ended, haha. So obviously since I've been here for so long and since it was also my first area I'm going to be a quite sad to leave but I know there's still a lot of exciting things ahead and it certainly will be interesting getting used to a new area. Elder Hirata will actually be training a new missionary in Pakenham (they told him early because he has to pack a little day bag to stay up at the place where they bring all the new missionaries. So that should be interesting, hopefully he'll do alright! I'll find out tomorrow who my new companion is as well as my new area so unfortunately you'll have to wait for a whole week in suspense before I can let you know where I am. It's been so busy the past 3 days (including today) because we've just been rushing around from house to house non-stop so I can say goodbye to all of the members, less-actives, and investigators I've become close with. I've been able to see most of the people that I'd hoped to and just have a few more to see today. My last week in Pakenham was really good though and we accomplished a lot! New Years was pretty normal for us as we did our countdown at 10:30 because we still had to keep the same schedule. It should be a great new year though and I hope it brings a lot of success and blessings. It already has brought some big blessings as the highlight of the week was we were able to set a baptismal date with Rodney for March 2nd! That was a huge blessing to be able to do that and his wife really helped a massive amount in making him feel comfortable with the date and bearing her testimony, so it went really well and hopefully Elder Hirata and his new companion will be able to help him reach that date, as well as Joan reaching hers! It was really a testimony builder for me going around and visiting all of the people that I've taught a lot in my time here in Pakenham because I heard all of them talk about the impact I and my 2 companions (Elder Rafferty and Elder Hirata) had had on them. I think as a missionary sometimes you don't feel like you're making too big of an impact in lives but just kind of 'doing your job' but hearing those people say what they did it made me realize the effect I have, and anyone has, on people as a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ. So I'm sorry that I'm going to have to cut it really short this week, but things have just been really, really busy. I look forward to tomorrow though to finding out my new area and new companion and I will work hard just the same in the new area and hope to see heaps of success! Thanks so much for all of your immense love and support for me, it means so much and has helped me get to where I am right now. I hope that you have a wonderful and fun week ahead and that you have a fantastic new year as well! I love you and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

Elder Hopkins and Elder Hirata with Jaynielee and Mathew Gloster (children who recently were baptized), with Bishop Smith in the middle.

 Elder Hopkins with Barry and Joan Willmott.

Elder Hopkins with Jocelyn, a less-active member.

December 31, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks so much for this week's e-mail, I loved hearing from you again! It was especially a huge blessing to be able to talk with you on Skype, it was wonderful to be able to see you again! Thanks especially for the Christmas presents as well as thanks to everyone else who sent something to me, it meant so much and made it a really wonderful Christmas day! This past week was really, really good and it flew by so fast, in large part because of the Holidays! On Monday we had a really nice Christmas Eve dinner with a family from the ward with some of their extended family as well. It was really good and we were so full afterwards! They gave us some nice treats to take back with us as well which was so generous of them! Christmas turned out really well as well (obviously mainly because I got to Skype with you!) and we were able to spend some time at 4 of the members' homes. We had some really delicious food and certainly didn't go hungry! It was nice to just have some time to enjoy with the members and relax just a bit on Christmas. It was also kind of nice that on Christmas morning it was actually a bit cold! So it helped make it feel a bit more like a Christmas in Utah instead of Australia haha. But obviously we couldn't rest for long because it was back to the regular work the next day! Despite it being the week of Christmas and a lot of people being really busy or out of town, we were still able to get a good amount of lessons in. It was really exciting this week because we were finally able to set a baptismal with Joan Willmott! We set it for the 9th of February so we really hope and pray she'll be ready on that day. That's the first time since I've been here in Pakenham that we've been able to set a date like that, so that was a huge blessing for us. We weren't able to see Rodney this past week, but we were told by his wife that he made it the whole month of December living the Word of Wisdom perfectly! That was a big miracle for us to see and it's been awesome to see how their whole family has been blessed from Rodney's commitment and determination. She said it's been pretty difficult for him but he's really put a lot of effort into staying strong which is so awesome to hear! We continue to pray that he'll be able to go another month as well keeping this commandment. Since we weren't able to see them this past week, we weren't able to try to set a date with Rodney, but we hope to be able to this coming Friday when we have an appointment with them! Well, the biggest miracle for us this week missionary-work wise was definitely the baptism of the Gloster children this past Saturday! It was such a wonderful day for them and for their family and the service went really well, with a lot of members attending to help support them. Jaynielee (age 10) and Mathew (age 12) were both baptized by Bishop and confirmed by him as well at church on Sunday. Erin Sky (age 9) said she wasn't ready to be baptized yet earlier in the week, so she didn't end up being baptized on the same day as the other 2 children, but she wants to wait to be baptized on her birthday which comes up on May 27th. So that will still be really good for her to be baptized and confirmed then! Mathew and his older brother Jack (age 14) also were both ordained as Deacons and received the Aaronic Priesthood at church yesterday as well! So it was just a really wonderful series of events for the Gloster family and it seems like they'll all do really well in the Pakenham ward. Brother Gloster also was at church for all 3 hours yesterday for the first time in a very long time, so that was really awesome to see as well. Another big miracle we witnessed was that David (Melissa's partner) came to church as well yesterday! After he'd told us that he wasn't going to come to church any more and we'd tried to help him see the importance of it, we certainly weren't expecting to see him there. So we look forward to when we see them this week and have the opportunity to ask him what prompted him to come this past Sunday. The whole week was really great and filled with lots of blessings and miracles, but unfortunately I don't have time to mention all of them! I really hope we're able to have a lot of success this coming week seeing as it's the last week of the transfer! We find out the news this coming Saturday of who's staying and who's going so we'll hope for good news! It will be an exciting transfer no matter what news though, since it will be the beginning of all the new missionaries coming in! So we'll work very hard this week and help Pakenham continue to grow. Thanks so much again for the e-mail, and especially for all of your love and support and prayers, it helps so much and I'm eternally grateful for all of it. I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead as well and a fantastic New Year! I love you!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

December 24, 2012

G'Day!

Thank you so much for the wonderful e-mail this week! I loved getting it and reading it as always. Merry Christmas-Eve as well! It doesn't feel like Christmas one bit over here. I think for two main reasons, one being that as missionaries we really don't have any time at all to get into the festive spirit or do any celebration type things, and two being that it's the exact opposite temperature that I'm used to this time of year. So it definitely will be an interesting Christmas season this year. I guess first off it's nice that the world didn't end on the 21st a few days ago! haha. I wonder what everyone was saying after they realized life was just continuing on, especially for those who sincerely believed that was going to be the end. Well this past week was one of the fastest weeks of the mission so far! It just flew by soooo quick and I can't believe it's already Monday again. I think the main reason was that we had the big, all-day Christmas conference on Thursday, so we had to squeeze everything we normally would do on Thursday into any empty time on the other days that we had. The Christmas conference went really well though and it was an awesome experience! They said that there were about 180 missionaries there (which doesn't include the 20 or so from Tasmania, who had their own conference down there). It was especially fun to see all of the other missionaries I've gotten to be good friends with that have moved to other areas. The first half of the conference was a really nice devotional type thing in which they read off the Christmas story, while after every paragraph or so they'd have a musical number or a video or have us all sing a Christmas hymn. So that was really nice and it was good for feeling the Spirit. They also had some of the missionaries that were the only ones in the mission from their home country talk about how they celebrated Christmas with their families. They had one from Pakistan, Kenya, Canada, and I can't remember the other one at the moment. But they all did a really good job and it was cool to hear some of the different traditions that they each did. After the devotional we all went and had a huge feed that they'd prepared for us (it'd have to be really huge to feed 180 hungry missionaries). It was so delicious and definitely filled us up. After the lunch, they set up the cultural hall for the second half of the day which was a talent show. It actually turned out really well and there were a lot of cool talents that people had. A lot of them did some sort of musical talent, whether it was just singing, or guitar and singing, or even beat boxing and singing (which was pretty cool)! Elder Hirata actually participated in it (because Sister Lifferth called us and asked him to) and he played a pretty difficult piano rendition of "If You Could Hie to Kolob." He did really well considering he'd had about 2 hours total practice time and since it was a pretty hard song to play. So that was neat! There were also some people who did some dances which were cool, and then some slideshows, and the longest one was about a 23 minute skit which was pretty funny! So that was a really awesome experience there and I think everyone really enjoyed it. I certainly look forward to whatever they do next Christmas. On the regular missionary work side of things we had a pretty good week. The Glosters did switch the baptism to the 29th (this Saturday) so that the Dad could be there for it, so that will be a really great day this week. The kids have already learned heaps since we've taught them just two times and they remember everything quite well. Rodney has still been doing really well, and is now probably our most progressing investigator. He's been living the Word of Wisdom perfectly since we taught him about it and the best thing is that he's recognized a lot of blessings that their family has received since he's done so. That's probably the most important thing, because when you see the Lord bless you once for doing something, you from now on will continue to do so because you know that it's a true commandment, so hopefully that will be the case with Rodney as well. We found out one cool experience with one of the less-active families that we visit regular this past Saturday. It was with the Sekene family (Vince is actually using the computer next to us in the library right now, haha). Last visit with them we'd given them a challenge to read the Book of Mormon daily for the coming week because that was something that they'd been a bit slack on. So they happily accepted the challenge when we gave it to them. When we saw Bro. Sekene on Saturday and talked to him he said their family had experienced so many blessings since they've kept that challenge. I guess I wont go into too much detail of what the blessings were but he said that they had just received a massive amount of unexpected blessings that really helped them and were much needed. So that's always a testimony builder to me to see when others are able to enjoy the wonderful blessings that come from keeping the commandments, even when it's one of the much basic or simple such as reading the scriptures each day. It's just a proof that Heavenly Father knows each of us and all of our efforts that we do each day, big or small, and will always provide the things we truly need. Those experiences that Rodney and the Sekene family had are the kind that you truly seek and want because those are what provide a testimony of the Gospel and are something you can always turn back to if you ever are in a difficult situation or ever have any doubts that Heavenly Father is there and if this is his true church. We really hope that this coming week we'll be able to set a baptismal date with Rodney because we feel that he's ready and feel that the Spirit has really been working in him and we know he and his family have seen so many blessings since he's begun to live the Gospel. This past week we also had quite a tough experience with a less-active man that we teach. He was really, really depressed lately because he missed his kids (one who had died very young and the others who I'm guessing were taken from him). He also was sad at the state of life he's in because he's let himself go a lot in the past few years. He told us that recently he'd also had a lot of suicidal thoughts but he'd tried hard to push them away. When we were there he told us that he felt the was no point for him to be here any more. However, we were able to have a really good, long and powerful lesson with him about the plan of salvation and how God has a plan for each one of us and if we still here on Earth it's for a specific reason. He seemed like the lesson helped him a lot, the hardest part for him was understanding why his daughter died so young. We told him we didn't obviously know the reason why her time had come, only Heavenly Father knows that, but that because she passed on when she did that she'd be going straight to the Celestial Kingdom. He appreciated that knowledge, and through the help of another member who he's close with he was able to be consoled and ended up coming to church yesterday and had a wonderful experience. So we had a lot of good lessons this past week and look forward to a lot more this week. I especially look forward to Christmas tomorrow and being able to talk to you! As I always say, I appreciate so much all the love and support and especially the prayers on our behalf. I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas season! I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

December 17, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks for the great e-mail for this week! I always love hearing about everything cool that's going on back home. I feel like this past week went by really quick as well and there were heaps of good things that happened. We witnessed a lot of miracles this week that I'll mention. The family I mentioned last week who's three kids are preparing to be baptized are really great when we went to see them this week. They were very nice and the kids seem to be really excited for their baptisms. We set the date with them on Tuesday when we taught them for the 22nd of December, which was awesome! Talking to our Ward Mission Leader yesterday, though, he said that when he went by to see them and just confirm some things for the day that the Mom said they may have to push the day back a week because they're unsure if the Father will be able to make it on that day, so we'll find out for sure later today, but even if they have to push it back that's of course ok because it will still be great for the family and obviously will be a special day no matter what day it is. The next miracle we had this week came on Thursday. We were at the library for our weekly 30 minutes on the church website and towards the end of our time there, there walked in a African man who looked familiar. After a few seconds I realized that it was Puot! (If you remember him, the Kenyan man who was about to be baptized but got kicked out of his house and we lost contact with him) So we waved him over and he came and talked to us for a little while. He said that he was only in Pakenham for the day so we were very lucky to catch him! We were able to get his new address (in a town called Cranbourne which isn't too far from here) and said that we'd be able to have the missionaries there come visit him. So that was an awesome blessing and we were very happy to see Puot again, as he was as well to see us. The third miracle for the week had to do with Rodney. Last week we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, which we had been told had been his only real issue in the past (just with coffee and tea and he would have an occasional drink for social reasons). So when we taught him this time he understood really well and at the end the spirit was there so we were able to challenge him to live the Word of Wisdom for at least the rest of December. He said he couldn't make any guarantees but he would try his best to do so. So we considered that a really good blessing to get him to commit to that. When we saw his wife, Sister Dean, yesterday she told us that Rodney has been doing really great so far with the challenge to live the Word of Wisdom! So we thought that that was a big miracle for us, and we really look forward to seeing him this week and getting his opinion on how he's seen it help him both physically and spiritually already. And now for the fourth miracle of this past week (heaps this week, eh?) which happened yesterday at church. During Sacrament meeting, about halfway through, there was a lady who I didn't recognize that came and sat down next to us (we were sitting on the row closest to the door). After Sacrament meeting was over, we found out that her name was Karen. She was actually a non member and had just decided to rock up (come) to church yesterday for the first time to see what we were all about. She said that she'd seen it heaps of times just driving past and it intrigued her so she decided that she'd like to just come check it out. Now obviously that's an incredible miracle in and of itself, but it kept going with her. She not only stayed and came into the gospel principles class (the missionary class) but also went to relief society as well! Some active members have a hard time wanting to stay all 3 hours, haha! Obviously we didn't see her in the Relief Society hour, but throughout the missionary class (the lesson was on charity, a perfect and low-key principle of the Gospel to introduce someone to) she was very attentive and was following along in the book and everything. The members that joined us to help in the class told some great stories as well which helped the spirit to be there. So after the 3rd block, we went to talk to her again. She said that she really loved church, and that she hopes to be back next week as well!! She also mentioned she's interested in joining the ward choir (they sang in Sacrament that meeting) and that after the busy holidays are over she's keen to have us around to teach her more about the church and the Gospel! Wow! That was definitely one of the most incredible things that's happened to me on my mission so far, and is awesome to see that she had courage enough to come on her own to check it out. I'm sure we'll see many more miracles to come with her in the near future. She and the Relief Society president exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses so they'll be in contact with each other for the time being. This transfer has really been filled with miracles thus far and it's been really great to see. This next week will be packed as! We have heaps of lessons and appointments planned out and we will be constantly busy (hopefully, at this point not everything is confirmed). Also, this Thursday there will be the big missionary Christmas devotional which should be really fun. All the missionaries from the Melbourne mission, except those in Tazzy (Tasmania), will be there and it will go from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. I'll save all the program details til next week when I can give you all the specifics of what went on. So anyway, our week was excellent and we are really excited for this next week and all the exciting things that are going to be happening this time of year! Thanks again for the wonderful e-mail and especially all the love, support, and prayers on our behalf! I love you and I hope you have a wonderful week ahead as well! I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

December 10, 2012

G'Day!

Thanks once again for another great e-mail! I really enjoyed it! This week was incredibly busy and eventful and Elder Hirata and I saw a lot of miracles. Well on Wednesday we did get to go to the Temple and that was an incredible experience as always! It was wonderful to be able to feel the spirit there and receive heaps of personal guidance and revelation. I learn so much each time I get to go through the Temple and my resolve to be better grows each time as well. After the Temple on Wednesday, one of the member couples in the ward took us out to dinner. We got permission from President Lifferth last Sunday to go with them because they wanted to take us to a restaurant in the city. So that was really cool to experience a bit of the city! It was just a little street restaurant that served souvlakes (I'd never heard of them before but they're really good!). We weren't quite in the city center but still close enough were it felt as congested as the city haha. It's unbelievable how busy it is there. They said that on the weekends the traffic can make you take about 2 hours just to go a couple of blocks! The area we were in also had some incredible houses as well which I'm sure would cost a fortune. But that was really fun to go up there with them. This past week Elder Hirata had quite a bit of bike trouble haha. On Thursday towards the end of the day, he got a flat tire. Now Elder Hirata had never changed a tire before and it'd been so long since I'd done it that I'd forgotten how to. So he just called up some other missionaries and they walked him through it step by step. We had to walk over to the nearest shopping center (which was quite close to our flat) to buy a new tire and a little repair kit just in case. So we got the old tire off and the new one on just fine, so we thought everything was all good once again. However, when we went to fill it up with air again the next day it was still remaining flat. So we inspected it again and when Elder Hirata used a kitchen knife to pry off the old tire he had accidentally poked a hole in the inner tire tube as well! So we had to walk back to the shopping center to buy some more supplies before we finally got everything fixed. So the whole ordeal took us about 4 hours, haha. But the Elder Hirata vs. Bike match still had round 2 to go. When we were riding down a steep hill coming back from an appointment, he took out his planner to check something and while he was looking at it he didn't notice a big bump on the sidewalk. I was behind him a little way and I just saw him fly a few feet in the air and fall almost in slow motion! Haha. He just fell in the grass though and he wasn't hurt besides a scratch or two. We realized later that he must've lost his bike lights when it happened because, come nighttime, his light appeared to have broken off the holder. So today we stopped by the shopping center again so he could buy a new light. So that was quite a crazy week for him, haha. Now on the actually missionary side of things, it was a really good week. Despite us not having a lot of time to work this week, because of the Temple and city trips and the whole bike thing, we ended up still getting in heaps of lessons, and saw some of our main investigators make some great progress. Melissa nearly quit smoking this week, she'd given it up for two days but then had one again. She said that she's down to just one a day though which is the best she said she's ever done! So that's been really good news, and we're helping her to pick a day to fast to help her receive extra strength, spiritually and physically. Also last Sunday, our investigator Rodney Dean fasted, and throughout this whole past week he was reading and praying individually and with the family every day! So that was huge progress to see with him and we can see that it is blessing his life. Hopefully soon he'll feel ready to make to the commitment to be baptized. Yesterday, at church, we had the biggest miracle of all. One of the less-active families who's just been coming back to church the past 2 or 3 weeks, has requested us to come teach their 3 unbaptized children (ages, 9, 10, and 11)  and baptize them before Christmas! Wow! So that was a huge blessing to receive that request and that will be so wonderful for the family and especially for the children. We'll be seeing them this Tuesday and will set a baptism date with them then (likely the 22nd of this month). So that'll be a great Christmas present for the Pakenham Ward! So we're really looking forward to begin to teach them this week. So a couple days within the past few weeks have been really hot and made us appreciate more the fact we had an air conditioned car! The hottest it's gotten so far in Pakenham has been 44 degrees Celsius (about 111 degrees Fahrenheit!)! That was just brutal, haha. But we've slowly been getting used to being in the heat here so hopefully it never gets too bad for us. Well we're really excited for all of the great things coming up this holiday season and continue to hope to see many miracles as we work hard. I hope that you continue to enjoy the winter and the holiday season back home! Thanks again for the wonderful e-mail. I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

 Elder Hopkins and Elder Hirata on their bicycles.

 Cruiz and Chelsea at their wedding, with Elder Hopkins and Elder Hirata.

 Rodney and Angie Dean and family.

 Cruiz and Chelsea with Afa and Lisa and family.

 Vince Sekene and his boys with Elder Hopkins and Elder Hirata.

 The Melbourne Temple at night.

 (Left to right) Elder Hirata, Elder Hopkins, Ward members, Barry and Joan Willmott.

The ugliest spider Elder Hopkins has ever seen.

Elder Hopkins' District, Zone Leaders, and assistants from the last transfer.