July 1, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks so much for the great e-mail, I really loved reading it this week! So the first full week Elder Gabignaud and I had here in Wangaratta went really well and we saw heaps of miracles. Our time here so far has pretty much been door knocking and trying to contact past investigators or potential investigators other missionaries had found. It hasn't been too bad though since we've been able to get quite a big teaching pool to hopefully begin working with, all thanks to the hand of the Lord in preparing people. I think the biggest finding miracle was finding a lady named Emma and her family. We were riding our bikes (I think you asked how we get around here, and it's all bikes but the area is basically completely flat so it's a cake walk compared to Geelong which was stock-full of hills haha) along a certain street going to try and visit someone and we passed a fish and chips shop where there was a group of people sitting down in front of it. There was one big, rough looking guy there and he called out and pointed down the road at another group of people and said, "Hey, I think those girls down there want to talk to you!" And afterwards they all laughed so we took it that it was just nothing, just trying to stir us up, so we just rode by the other group (which we probably should've talked to anyway) and went on to our next appointment. So fast forward about 2 or 3 hours and we're riding around a little ways away from there and are trying to contact another person on the list of past investigators but when we got to the address, there was no house with the number it gave. So instead of just going on to the next person, we just thought we'd tract the houses closest to the address given. The first house wasn't interested, but when we knocked on the second house a lady came to the door and it just happened to be one of the women that was in the group we saw before. And we talked with her for a few minutes and briefly shared about the Restoration and she was really interested! So we gave their family a pamphlet to read for now and we see them for the first time this week. So that was a really cool experience, in two ways, we'll do better in talking to everyone no matter what, and that when Heavenly Father wants us to see and teach someone, He will provide the ways for our paths to cross (multiple times if He has to). We also have been beginning to teach two boys Tiamatu and Hakai (11 and 12 years old) who the past missionaries had taught just once before. They're really great and interested for their ages and are the cousins of a couple of member families here. Their older brother was baptized a while ago but none of their other immediate family are members and they never were baptized themselves (they might've been too young back then? not sure). But we were able to teach them and set a baptismal date with them to work towards on August 3rd, which they are excited to work towards. So that was another huge blessing. And our other goal to help them as well is that their extended families here aren't active members (but are really nice) so we hope to help re-activate them in the process too so that Tiamatu and Hakai have some more influences close to them to help keep them on the right path. We also have some other promising investigators as well, but unfortunately I don't have the time to speak about each in detail. Or second time at church here was great as well! Our talks went well and we hope that the members were able to take something from them. Elder Gabignaud spoke on 'the importance of gratitude' and I spoke on 'how living the Gospel brings blessings into our lives.' So we had good topics to speak about and certainly didn't have a shortage of things to talk about. The rest of church (for Sunday School, and Priesthood and Relief Society) they showed the worldwide broadcast for training mission presidents, called 'The Work of Salvation.' We didn't quite get to finish it all (there's about 20 minutes left which they plan on showing next week) but it was fantastic! I don't know if you got the chance to see it, but I highly recommend it! It is one of the most powerful church videos put together that I've seen. It had a lot of relevance to me seeing as it was on missionary work, but they geared the whole broadcast to the membership of the church as a whole so there's something everyone can learn from it. So, if you haven't seen it I suggest you should put it on the list of things to do this week because I think it can definitely inspire everyone. It seemed to help motivate the members of the branch here because we have 6 dinners this week, all 6 of which will have non-members or less-active members present, which is the first time that will happen on my mission thus far. So that's really great to see the members are wanting to help and get involved in the missionary work here, it certainly makes all the difference. One of my favorite quotes from the videos was saying (which I think they were speaking to Bishops at this time) that missionaries are simply in a ward to 'assist' in the missionary efforts. They didn't say to 'do all' or 'take control of', but really just to 'assist' the ward/branch in it's missionary efforts and that the ward/branch members and their leaders are the driving force of the missionary work. Well, that's about all I have time for this week, but I'm glad that you are doing well and I hope that you have a fantastic week this week! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

June 24, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks so much for the wonderful e-mail, I loved it! Well I'll have to start learning to type faster because I have a lot to say but the library in my new area has less available time then the other computers I've been able to use on the mission thus far. So hopefully that wont cause to much hassle. Well anyway the biggest news is obviously with my new area and new companion. First off, my new companion is actually brand new to Australia and his mission. His name is Elder Gabignaud and he's from John Day, Oregon (a little town of 2,000 people). So after a long streak of 6 companions not being from America, my 7th companion is. So he just got here on Wednesday (he and a lot of the other missionaries had served for like 2 1/2 weeks in the Washington D.C. South mission while waiting for their visas) after 20 somthing hours on planes and then a few hours after getting here we had to train up 2 1/2 hours to our new area. Since the transfer meeting was on Tuesday and the new missionaries didn't get in until Wednesday I just stayed with another missionary who was training as well in a nearby area for the night. The transfer meeting was a really fantastic one by the way since it was President and Sister Lifferth's last one! They put on a really nice program and all of the missionaries in the mission (except for the ones in Tasmania unfortunately) were allowed to come to it, so there were over 200 missionaries in the chapel. The spirit was very strong throughout the meeting and all of us missionaries were very sad to see President and Sister Lifferth go but we know they'll do great work back in Utah (I'll probably see them from time to time since they only live an hour or so away in Centerville) and I'm sure the new President and his wife will be great. The exchange of mission presidents officially takes place at the end of this month. I'll have to include some pictures next week because I forgot to bring my camera to the library with me. With some other transfer news, Elder Malifa and Elder Bisby didn't actually end up in a tri-ship but they just ended up putting 2 more Elders in Geelong, so that will be more helpful instead of one companionship covering both areas. Also some really exciting news, Joan Willmott did get baptized on the 15th of June as well! Barry Willmott got to baptized her and it went really well, so that's fantastic! I would've gone to it but of course we had the baptism in Geelong which took priority in this case. Not really any news with former companions because everything kind of stayed the same. Also, one really cool thing that I forgot to mention about Geelong last week, was that the person who dedicated the Geelong chapel was none other than President Thomas S. Monson! How awesome is that? Of course he wasn't the prophet back when the chapel was dedicated but I'm sure Geelong is destined for some amazing things if he was the one to do so. So anyway, the new area that we're serving in is called Wangaratta. It's way up north in Victoria not far from the New South Wales border. There's about 20,000 people who live here and the church here is actually just a small branch so it's like the complete opposite of Geelong. Our first Sunday yesterday was very different since there were 23 members who attended (25 if you include us) so it felt almost just like a small fireside haha. I think it's really awesome to see faithful members like that though who still come every week and serve in their callings. There's certainly a lot of work for us to do if we hope to accomplish our goal of turning it into a ward in the next 8 weeks, haha. We have already had the opportunity to participate a lot in the branch already as we are now the designated passers of the Sacrament, we had the opportunity to speak for a few minutes in Sacrament, and I'm actually the branch pianist haha (I'm sure you'd be happy about that Mom!). We've also each been asked to speak next Sunday in Sacrament meeting, so if we've ever been apprehensive about speaking or helping with a lot of ward/branch responsibilities that will all change now! I love the chance to be able to serve and participate more because then the branch will get to know us more as we get to know them more. It's also been interesting coming into the area since both of us are brand new to it and (even the senior missionary couple is new as well) since there unfortunately wasn't too much happening in the area before. But as we've organized the flat and all the past information and then gone out to start working from the ground up we've already seen heaps of blessings and miracles. The Lord was very generous to us as in just 3 days we found nearly 20 people that would like to learn about the church. So we were both very excited about that and we hope to see each of them this week and begin teaching them. I can't really talk about any investigators or less-actives that we're working with yet since we still don't know any well enough to describe them to you but hopefully by next week I'll have more to say about the work we're doing with some. What makes things even more stressing for us and the branch president (who's actually the senior missionary Elder here, Elder Laycock) is that 2 of the active families here are moving out of town soon which will definitely leave a bit of a whole in the branch seeing as that would take out the 1st councilor in the branch presidency, the Elders Quorum president, and the young women and gospel doctrine teacher. So exciting times in Wangaratta, haha. So we'll have to work extra hard here to help the branch continue on and so the membership can increase. The senior missionary couple, who are from Calgary, Canada, seem really great and dedicated though, so I think they will be a big help to the branch. We're trying to organize more activities where the members can invite people to though so that will hopefully get things started off a bit for missionary opportunities. We've also worked a lot with Elder Laycock to develop a lot of plans on how we can help the branch grow which we'll start working on as well. So Elder Gabignaud and I are excited to work here in Wangaratta and know we'll see heaps of miracles during this transfer. Thanks for all of your love and support and prayers as always! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

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June 17, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks for the great e-mail this week! I loved it as always! This past week flew by really fast and it's hard to believe that the transfer is already over! I guess first off you probably want to know the transfer news. Well it's sort of an interesting one this time, after a wonderful 6 month run here in Geelong I will be moving to a new area. At first I was very sad to be leaving because I really loved my time in Geelong and all the people that are here, but after a day and a half I've been able to accept it as the right move. Too bad I can't make it two 7 1/2 month stints in a row, haha. So I will find out tomorrow where my new area is and who my new companion is which will be exciting and hopefully will be just as great as it was in Geelong! So be looking forward to that in the next e-mail. Also, Elder Pain is moving areas as well (he'd been here 3 transfers, or 4 1/2 months) so they've moved both Geelong 'veterans' haha. He's actually going to be going to Tasmania which is exciting! And now, the reason why I said it was interesting before: Elder Malifa and Elder Bisby are both staying, but Elder Malifa is moving to the other Geelong flat and they will be in a tri-ship (3 companions in one companionship) and will be covering all of Geelong themselves! So that will be very interesting seeing as it was a pretty massive area for us already, and now it will be even larger for them. So that's the transfer news for this time, and there won't be any more transfer news for another 8 weeks since this one is an extra long transfer to make up for this 4 week transfer. Which makes me very hopeful my new situation is good since I'll be there for at least 8 weeks, but I'm sure it will be great! So anyway, on to our week. The highlight of this week was definitely the baptism of Tayah which was wonderful. Rasta was able to baptize her on Saturday and Rasta's cousin who's in the ward as well confirmed her yesterday. She looked very happy throughout the experience and so did Rasta. It was also a great opportunity for their family because through this experience it has brought a lot of the extended family back together again that live in Geelong that have been less-active for quite some time (3 families to be specific) and they were able to attend the baptismal service and then church as well. So they'll all be a wonderful addition to the ward in Geelong. Elder Malifa and I also gave talks at the baptism which was a great opportunity and an honor to be a part of the program. I'll send some pictures from the day of the baptism. Also, there was another baptism and confirmation Sunday after church for Luke McCoy (who just turned 8). The McCoys are a family from America and moved here at like the exact time that I got here, so we had gotten along really great. We went to that obviously to support their family but also because they asked me to conduct the program. That was a really great honor and I felt very humbled and blessed that they gave me that opportunity. So with two baptismal services in one weekend it was a very spiritually uplifting time. Definitely the best way I could've imagined my last weekend in Geelong to be. The Sacrament meeting program was also fantastic, which was great seeing as it was my last time meeting at Geelong chapel. There were 3 talks, all on prayer, and all the speakers did a great job and they were all the type of talks you dream of having as a missionary when your investigators attend church. When we went to see Joel and Camilla Sunday night so I could say goodbye to them, they said they really enjoyed it and Joel said it helped him a lot which was great. The rest of the week wasn't nearly as eventful as the weekend but it was really good as well. We were able to visit many of our investigators and teach quite a few lessons as well as get several new people to teach, so Elder Malifa and Elder Bisby will have their work cut out for them next transfer covering both areas. The rest of today and tomorrow will be very busy for us since Elder Pain and I will be rushing around trying to visit everyone we would like to say goodbye to and take pictures with and what not. I've certainly had a really memorable time here in Geelong even though it was difficult there at the beginning there for a while. I've definitely learned heaps about the gospel, about missionary work, and about myself since I've been here the last 6 months and can really see a big change in myself. It will certainly be interesting as well to have a new mission president now, and sad to see President and Sister Lifferth leave, but I'm sure President and Sister Maxwell will be awesome as well! Well I hope that you have a fantastic week as well this week. I had to write a bit quicker this week since today is just jam-packed with stuff to do and people to go and see. Next week I'll have heaps to tell you though! Thanks as always for your love, support and prayers that help so much! I love you very much and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

In the pictures: Rasta is the one baptizing, Tayah is obviously the girl, and then the boy is RJ (Rastafari Jr.) who's Rasta and Jess's 2 year old son. And you know who we are of course!

 

 Rasta prepaares to baptize Tayah.

 Rasta, Tayah, and Rastafari, Jr.

 

 

June 11, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks so much for the wonderful e-mail this week! Sorry I didn't e-mail yesterday, it was another public holiday here (the Queen's birthday) and so all of the libraries were closed. But I'm able to e-mail you today instead so that's good! This past week was another really great one with many blessings and miracles. The first of which actually happened a few minutes after I e-mailed you last week. So as I told you last week, Riannan's partner wasn't very accepting of her decision to investigate and we were afraid she wouldn't be able to continue taking lessons. However, as I said we had fasted for a miracle to happen we received a very immediate blessing. After e-mailing we received a call from Jess saying that Riannan would really like to receive a priesthood blessing because she was facing a lot of trials and challenges. So we were very humbled and excited to receive that news (that she wanted to receive a blessing, not from the fact that she had trials). So we immediately went and got ready to go see them at Jess and Rasta's house, and our ward mission leader Luke came with us as well to help. Riannan was there with several of her kids and was very happy to see us again. We explained about blessings a bit since she'd only heard of a blessing that same day and then we were able to give her a blessing of comfort and counsel. The spirit was very strong and she really felt it. She said that everything in the blessing was an answer to questions she'd had and difficulties that she'd been experience which she hadn't even mentioned before the blessing. She said she felt that a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders as soon as 'amen' was said. So that was a testimony builder of the power of blessings to us and especially to Riannan who loved the experience! She told us that she will still take lessons with us as well as her son who turns 8 next month in July and she's determined to help her family become more unified through the gospel. So that was an awesome miracle and another testimony builder of blessings that come from fasting as well. I love fasting so much after all the miracles I've seen from it on the mission! Also, Tayah is going to be baptized this Saturday which will be great! Rasta will be the one baptizing her (I think I mentioned that last week?). Also on Saturday we receive the next transfer news, which obviously isn't the main event that day but still exciting. A lot of people have said that there will probably be very few transfers since President Lifferth is finishing just so that the mission can have a smooth transition with the coming of President Maxwell. We were able to see Joel again this past week (twice in fact) which was great. They're still doing really well and he's been doing much better with his reading as the first time we saw him we gave him a commitment to start reading daily again. He's started from 1 Nephi and is going to try to read the whole Book of Mormon and he's going well so far. On Sunday we also had another great blessing. We were finally able to see Jaryn again after a few months of not much contact. If you remember he was the Chinese investigator that was really keen that would come with the Wang family (who Candice Wang by the way comes back to Australia at the end of the month). We only were able to visit with him briefly because we'd had another scheduled appointment but we were able to set up another time to see him this week and begin teaching him again, which is awesome! He'll be really good to see again as he has a strong desire to learn about Christ and follow Him. Last Thursday for Ward Council we had the Wyndham Stake President come and train all of us on the rescue effort and our favorite--missionary work! It was really great and it was him saying that the members need to start taking a more active role in providing the missionaries with people to teach and also in going out on visits during the week with the missionaries or with their quorums on the rescue visits to those members who have fallen away. So hopefully that will help Geelong see even more success than it already is having. Well since it isn't our regular day to e-mail I'll have to cut it short today, but I'm really glad that you were able to have a great week this past week as well! I hope that you have a fantastic week this week as well and continue to see many blessings and miracles! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

June 3, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks heaps for the e-mail this week! I loved it as I always do. First of all, big congratulations to Ben on your mission call!! Going to Ghana will be incredible! You'll be a fantastic missionary and bless so many lives there. Also, I thought I'd mention a little bit about transfers again since I only mentioned who my companion was. So with all my companions: Elder Rafferty is still a Zone Leader for the zone that Pakenham is in, Elder Hirata is in an area called Sunbry and is doing well, Elder Rua is still in Pakenham!, Elder Matu'u is still in the place that he was in when he got moved (Echuka), and Elder Taufa is in an area called Glen Roy which he'd actually served in earlier in his mission. Also, Elder Rua told me that Tracey and Tommy are still heaps active and that they're going to the temple this month (not to get sealed yet, that can be in September) which is awesome. The Glosters are also still doing well and the other girl that wasn't baptized before was baptized this past weekend! And one last bit of exciting news is that Joan Willmott is hopefully getting baptized on the 15th of this month which would be so exciting! If she does hopefully President Lifferth will allow me to come down to see it since I was there helping teach the Willmotts for so long. So this past week was another really good one, and there work continues to increase. Tayah (Jess and Rasta's daughter) is still going excellent and when we see them again tonight we're thinking of moving her date up to this coming weekend because we feel she's ready to be baptized. She's very smart for her age and has a good understanding of the gospel. Also, a bit of sad news with Riannan, her partner that she lives with unfortunately wasn't as accepting to her learning as she thought so she has to put further lessons on hold for now. She still reads and prays, however, herself and with her kids which is awesome! We fasted this past weekend for the partner's heart to be softened though so hopefully that will help the situation. She's so prepared though so I have no doubt at some stage, whether sooner or later, she'll be baptized. Jess continues to be a missionary machine as she has a nan who she's been talking to about the gospel as well and the nan really wants to learn and be baptized as well! So we hope to see her sometime this next week and begin teaching her. Also, yesterday at church Jess and Rasta had their 7 month old baby, Hunni, blessed. Bishop Sandford was who they asked to bless her and Elder Malifa and I we're asked to participate in the blessing as well which was a wonderful experience! You asked about Joel as well, I haven't mentioned much about him lately because there wasn't much new to mention unfortunately. He and Camilla have been unbelievably busy these past 3 weeks so we haven't been able to see them to continue teaching lessons. Camilla started a 70 hour per week school course which commits a lot of their time. However, we did get to sit down with Joel for a little bit this past week and share a brief lesson which was nice. He still really wants to continue learning and progress towards baptism, he just needs to work on a few things a bit more until then. We have several new investigators who seem really keen and show a lot of potential. These few however, seem more like long-term investigators because they have quite a few things that have gone wrong in their lives as well as a lot of things that aren't in accordance with Heavenly Father's commandments. But the important thing is that they're very humble and want to change their lives, and as Alma says that if all we have is a desire than we only need to let that desire work in us until we can believe and have strong faith. It's also good that we're able to teach and help some people in this situation as well because I think you can feel the most joy and it can be the most rewarding experiences when you're able to see people make such big changes in their lives to come closer to God. So that has been good for us this past week. Also we've been doing well in finding new people to teach throughout the past weeks. Throughout my mission I've always liked tracting more than just talking to random people on the street or near the town centers because I felt it was easier to do and I found it less difficult to talk to people like that. However, this transfer we've tried only talking to people walking around and not do as much tracting, and it has gone really well. I think my perspective has changed to liking that way more now. I won't go into pros and cons or anything because anyone not a missionary probably wouldn't find it interesting or even understand haha. But we found quite a few people that way that we're going to see this week, so we look forward to that. We've also gone around to visit several old investigators that Elder Rua and I had taught the first transfer I was here but had lost contact with and we were able to see heaps of them and set up appointments to begin teaching them again which will be good! Well I'm starting to run short on time but I'm glad that you had a great week this past week and I hope that you have an even better week this week and continue to see heaps of blessings and miracles. I'm so thankful for you love, prayers, and support that helps me to keep going! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

May 27, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks heaps for the great e-mail this week! I loved reading it! This past week and first week of this transfer was an awesome start with my new companion. His name is Elder Malifa (mah-lee-fah) and he's from Auckland, New Zealand. He's been on his mission just 3 months (this is his 3rd transfer) but he has a great excitement for the work and has a strong desire to work hard and be obedient. He just turned 20 a few months ago and is the oldest of 5 kids. He was raised in the church and both of his parents were converts to the church at a young age. We're really excited to work together and see a lot of miracles in Geelong this transfer. So this past week flew by heaps fast! Now that we have a car to use, the added mobility has really helped us get more done in the time we have each day. We've also been able to go more often to areas that were farther away that we had a harder time getting to with just bikes. And it has come at a very opportune time, because Rasta and Jess (the returning less-active couple I mentioned last week) live about a 30 minute drive away from our flat! We were able to visit them twice this past week and on the first visit it was just on splits again with the ward. When we saw them then we had a really great visit and made plans with them to start teaching their daughter. Also, Jess had an awesome experience just a few hours before we came because she was talking to one of her friends, Riannan, and started talking about the Gospel and how they had been coming back to church. Her friend was super interested in what Jess told her and said she really wants to make God a bigger part of her life, especially for her kids as well (she has 4 and the oldest is almost 8). She said that she really wanted to meet us and have us teach her more about the church and everything about Christ in general (she doesn't have much knowledge of Him or God because she'd only been to church a few times in her whole life). So we scheduled a time with Jess and Rasta for the very next day to come teach their daughter and Riannan at the same time. So we were able to get out there and had an amazing lesson where the spirit was very strong. Riannan is close to, if not the most prepared person I've met on my mission so far. She loved everything she learned (we started at the basics of everything, God, Jesus Christ, prophets, and eventually worked our way up to Joseph Smith and the Restoration) and felt everything was true. She made some awesome comments and really followed the lesson well. And she (along with the daughter) accepted a baptismal invitation for June 15th, just 3 weeks away. And when we gave her a Book of Mormon at the end she told us as soon as she got home she would be reading all night long. We're going to teach her again tomorrow night so we're really excited to help her progress. The only concern at the moment is that she isn't married to her partner so we'll have to address that when she's built up her testimony a bit more and understands why it's something God wants for us. It helps that her fellowship, Jess and Rasta, went through the same thing when Jess was baptized so they'll be able to help her and relate to her perfectly. I know we were able to be blessed with the opportunity to teach both Riannan and the daughter (Taya) because of our hard work and obedience over the past few weeks and the Lord trusts us with His prepared souls now. We just have to maintain and continue to increase that effort in order to be guided to help them reach their baptismal goals now. So that experience was probably the biggest miracle and highlight of the week! Another cool miracle we experienced was that there was a new contact we'd gotten about 3 weeks ago named Susan who was really awesome and wanted to hear the message we had to share. However, when we went back a couple of times she was never home. Then just yesterday, I went to see her with Elder Malifa for the first time and she happened to be home. She came outside to talk with us and said that she was actually moving to a place about an hour and a bit from here because she'd been thrown out by the owner after being there 11 years. So miracle 1 of this story that we were guided and blessed to see her the night before she left. And miracle 2 was that as we continued talking to her and she mentioned one of her daughter's and her family living in a place called Deer Park, and after she said the names of them Elder Malifa said that was a family he and his previous companion had been teaching! The kids had just gotten baptized that day and the parents were getting married and baptized in 2 weeks as well. So that was incredible to find that out and Susan recognized it as some sign from God, the same as us. We were able to get her phone number and passed it along to the missionaries in the area she's moving to so hopefully they'll be able to help her come closer to Christ as well through the restored Gospel. We're also teaching a new Sudanese woman who's very keen to learn about the church. After our first lesson with her she loved it so much she gave us like a billion referrals of her friends in the area haha. So that was a huge blessing, and we'll go visit all of them throughout this week. We also met with Bishop this past week to introduce Elder Malifa to him but also to discuss the ward and he gave us a referral to visit a new Tongan family in the area. We were able to meet the mom that same day and she said although she has a fiance at this time who goes to the Uniting Church she and her sons (both in their 30s, one with a family of his own) really want to come to church again and be a part of the Gospel (apparently they've been away for a while). So that will be great to visit them since there's really no islander families in Geelong to see. We also helped with the moving in of a Chinese family named the Songs who are moving from a ward in the Melbourne city. They're wonderful people and will be a great blessing to the ward here. There's so many experiences to share but I'm running out of time! Haha. Maybe one last one of the power of the Spirit in the hearts of others. The first full day Elder Malifa and I got to work together in Geelong we went to talk to people the Geelong city. One guy started up a conversation with us about the God as we were walking along. We talked to him for about 10 minutes and he had some very interesting beliefs about God (kind of hard to explain them here because often times they didn't make much sense) but he was very knowledgeable and we were still able to have a good talk with him. We eventually were able to give him a Restoration pamphlet and after a few more minutes of him questioning us he eventually said he wouldn't be needing the pamphlet anymore. He was pretty set to his beliefs but we kept the conversation going because it'd been like 20 minutes of talking to him now and we didn't just want to walk away empty handed. At this point Elder Malifa and I felt very guided by the Spirit on what to say to him and we were able to respond to all of his comments powerful and made him sit and think for a minute several times. A few minutes later and he asked us for the pamphlet back and gave us his number to set up another time to talk with him. So we could tell that the Spirit had worked in him to soften his heart from the beginning to the end of the conversation. Well I'm unfortunately out of time, but I was able to share most of what I was hoping to. I'm continually grateful for all of your love, prayers, and support that play a big part in our success here! I hope that you have a fantastic week ahead and continue to see many miracles and blessings! I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

May 20, 2013

G'Day!

Thanks so much for the fantastic e-mail this week! I loved reading it as always and hearing about everything happening back home. Glad that all is well and also that I was able to talk to you face to face on Skype for Mother's Day! That was so much fun and it was definitely the highlight of my week! Well this last week of the transfer was very busy and exciting and we saw heaps of blessings and miracles. Where to start? I guess I might as well start with the transfer news because that's probably what you're hoping to hear the most. Well Elder Taufa is going to be moving areas and I am going to be staying for another transfer in Geelong! Wow! That will make 6 months in Geelong after this transfer. However, this transfer is a bit interesting because it is only going to be a 4 week long transfer due to scheduling with either President and Sister Lifferth's departure or with the schedule of the MTC's. So if we thought that the 6 week transfers went by really, really fast than this next transfer will go by in the blink of an eye! The following transfer after this next one though will be extra long (8 weeks!) in order to make up for the 2 weeks taken off of this one. But I'm very happy to continue to be serving here in Geelong because I really do enjoy serving here and we have a lot of potential for the next couple of weeks with our investigators and teaching pool. The other Geelong missionaries, Elder Bisby and Elder Pain, are both staying as well, so not much change for Geelong. So I'll find out who my new companion will be for this next transfer tomorrow at transfer meeting and I'll let you know next week! I'll also let you know where my previous companions are as well if I see them there. So there's the news, pretty exciting. Now for the rest of this week. On Wednesday I didn't actually end up going with Elder Taufa to the islander meeting. We had been planning to ride up there with the Zone Leaders but one of the Zone Leaders (who's just Australian and not from the islands) decided it'd be more effective for us to just stay back and work for about 6 hours instead. And it was certainly effective! Since we'd been planning to go to the meeting they didn't really have any set appointments scheduled so it was just going to be finding and searching for new contacts and investigators for 6 hours. As we went out we just tried to talk to everyone that we saw (we didn't really do any tracting but just talking to people on the street or at the nearby train station) and we saw so much success. Because we just worked really hard in that time and were able to talk to pretty much everyone that we crossed paths with we ended up finding 20 new people (not just any people but really interested and solid new contacts) for them to teach! So that was a huge miracle for us because it's difficult in the mission for most areas to get 20 in a week. So we know the Lord was very generous to us and after having that experience I can use that as kind of a bar for the future of what we can reach if we have faith and really work hard. So that was a really awesome experience that day, but the day wasn't finished yet. After Elder Taufa and I got back to our area about 6 p.m. we had a quick dinner before the other missionaries picked us up for the ward splits that night. I went with one of the members to go visit a lady that was on the ward list named Leslie. When we got there her daughter (about 17) answered the door and was very nice and then went to go grab her mom. Leslie then came to the door and was very friendly and at first she said that she wasn't a member but after we talked with her for a few minutes she said that her mom was an active member in our ward and that she was baptized when she was younger but hasn't been to church in a long time. And it also turns out that the member I was with sort of knew her from a while ago as well but he didn't make the connection before because the last name of the list is different from when he knew her before, so it was an inspired assignment! The daughter also stayed at the door with her mom listening to us and seemed quite interested in what we had to say as well. They said that we can come back again this week so that's great! While I was there, Elder Taufa was out with a member of the Stake Presidency visiting a less-active couple about 40 minutes from the chapel that they'd visited the week before as well, named Rastafari (how cool is that name?) and Jess. Rasta (as he likes to be called) is actually the brother of one of the members in Pakenham that I knew quite well. They're married and have a couple of kids but haven't been to church in quite a while. However, when they've been visited the past few weeks they've expressed that they really want to start being involved in the Gospel again. And yesterday at church they ended up coming, so that was a huge blessing to see! They stayed all 3 hours and had a really great time and got to meet a lot of the ward. They want to start coming every week again and also to talk with Bishop Sandford about preparations so they can also go to the Temple to be sealed as a family. And if that wasn't enough blessings and excitement there, they also have a 9 year old daughter who they want to be taught and baptized soon as well. So they're a fantastic family and we really look forward to seeing them often and to begin teaching their daughter as well. So Wednesday was a really great day for us, and Thursday was equally great at Zone Conference. It was a really great meeting and good to be with all the other Elders and Sisters there. The main focuses of the meeting were teaching Repentance to our investigators (not just how we often think of the big things, but even if they haven't been keeping commitments like reading and praying), getting our areas to a level where we're able to have baptisms weekly, and then increasing the effectiveness of our personal study time. They also talked about a few other things, but I was able to learn a lot from that meeting and felt motivated to apply the things we learned to helped our area grow. Saturday was also a really great day because the other missionaries in Geelong had 3 baptisms (a mom, and her son and daughter) and we were asked to participate. You'll be happy to know that I was the pianist for the meeting, so I'm having opportunities come up to keep up my piano playing. I was also asked by the family to be the one to baptize the daughter, age 12, so that was really special to be a part of that! Elder Bisby and Elder Pain performed the other baptisms. Then the next day at church the 3 of us performed the confirmations for the same people that we baptized, so that was a great experience as well. It was the first time I'd confirmed anyone before so I was a bit nervous but it ended up going really well and the spirit was felt. So it's amazing that I've been out for half of the mission now! I've learned more than I could ever imagine in these past 12 months and I'm so thankful for all the incredible and miraculous experiences I've been blessed with thus far. I thought I'd just include the most important lessons (to me) that I've learned in this first part of my mission:

1. Act on every prompting we receive if it is something that is in line with the teachings and commandments of Heavenly Father

2. Willful obedience to all the Lord asks is the most beneficial attribute we can obtain in this life

3. Without faith, it doesn't matter how hard we work or how good we are at speaking or whatever it may be, we can do nothing

and 4. Patience with myself, my companions, and the Lord

Anyway, I'm running out of time, but I've been able to get across most of what I wanted to say! I really enjoyed this last week and I'm very excited for this next transfer as well and I know that if my new companion and I maintain a high level of faith and exact obedience then there are so many blessings and miracles the Lord has prepared for our area. Oh and I almost forgot, the mission president's fireside was also really great! Since I'm short on time now, I can't talk much about it other than it was focused on the Restoration of the Gospel. And one of the highlights of the meeting was afterwards when I got to talk to President for a minute and he said he's going to get our area a car for this transfer! Woohoo! That will be an incredible blessing and help to our area. My legs were shouting for joy when he said that because they were getting bored with riding the bikes for the past 6 months. We'll still use the bikes often though, but now we can go and visit those who are further out which we weren't able to see much or focus on because of our limited transportation. So anyway, thanks again so much for the e-mail this week and for all of your wonderful love and support and especially prayers on our behalf! I hope that you have a fantastic week this week and look for opportunities for your own missionary work. I love you heaps and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,

Elder Hopkins