Christmas Eve

Me and my companion, and the worst Santa Clause I have never seen at a ward Christmas activity, but we brought investigators and they loved it!

My second companion, leaving to go home!

Another friend leaving to go home

A youth from our ward leaving for his mission on Wednesday

December 24, 2012

Hey familyyyyy.

Thats awesome that you got my package, I was hoping to hear that good news. I'm glad you liked your gifts, its an Elder Hopkins Personalized frame, you can put your favorite Elder Hopkins picture in there and it'll look great.

Also did that little Quetzal coin keychains get there for madi and Sam, i hope so.

it was really just some last minute gifts that i got together, cuz i haven't been to Antigua for a while, not until mid january will i go again.

So my Phone number is xxxx-xxxx, an i think the area code for Guatemala is 502, so dial 502-xxxx-xxxx. but you might want to look on the internet to figure that out, i don't remember from the last time you called, maybe you do. so yeah, call me tomorrow at 9 30 MY TIME, i think thats 8 30 your time

they never said that we can do test calls, but if you want to call to see, and just leave a message. i probably wont be home to answer anyways. tonight we are allowed to stay out until 12 45 tonight with members, but i think we're just going to be out till like 10 30, 11 00 ish, just to eat and hang out, and then come back to the house, cuz from our roof we have an awesome view of all the city, to watch all the fireworks from there.

Yea, those sisters were kidnapped, that was the scary thing of the week, and the kidnappers were calling other missionaries and stuff, i actually don't know too too much about it, but we were praying all day about it, all the missionaries in Guatemala, and i think central america too. Yeah that sister was in my district just a little bit ago, I was her district leader, she even gave me a lollipop the day before she was kidnapped. but thank goodness that they are safe now.

But yeah, I'm excited for the call tomorrow too, make a little of Questions that you want to do to me, will make the phone call a little more lively this time ha. 

I do plan on opening my Christmas presents tonight actually.

Were still working with these 2 youth, "D" and "M", their dad doesn't want to give them permission, but we're going to go there today to see what he says, the family "G" in as Pilas as always, we just gotta wait until their one son comes back to Chimaltenango so that they are baptized together, he'll either come the 28th, or the first week on January.

but I'm all good, and I hope you are too this Christmas holiday, Enjoy those Christmas cards, it says Stay classy, but the spanish version of saying it.

i also got a card from Tyler Johnson the other day, actually i got it the day that he entered into the mtc, cool.

Well, well talk tomorrow,

love you all, 

From Guatemala, with Love,

Elder Hopkins

Christmas Activity

Leaving for the temple at 2:30 a.m

At the temple, still dark out!

The great lunch afterward!

Getting his Christmas parcels

The other Elders that slept at our place 2 nights and traveled with us

Our Zone!

Baptism of Pablo

 

December 18, 2012

Hello familyyy.

all is well in Guatemala,

it wasn't day of the dead, but it was the burning of the devil day, which is what i think you meant. yes lots of devils burnt, i didnt have my camera, but i have pictures of it from last year, lots of firecrackers and fireworks and all that good stuff.

So this week we had a baptism, Pablo was baptized. it was a small but nice service, i ended up baptising him, thats what my companion wanted even though it was his first baptism, but yea it was good.

Tomorrow is changes, but im staying here with my companion, so there's no changes for me.

I talked to a guy named Jonathan Ruiz this week, funny, ive already talked with an Amanda Ruiz here as well ha.

Also we are teaching two people, from separate families, one is a young woman named Helaman, and the other is a young man named Nephi. neither are members, but with names like that they should be. were working on it.

So we had a great Christmas activity last week, got up super early, actually we had a sleep over with elder Tanner and elder Mcmillan in our house, got up at 2 30 the next morning, had a good time in the temple, them went to a chapel and ate great food, played sports, had a fireside by President and Sister Brough, and then ate more food, then got back to our house at 8 40 at night, had another sleepover, and then got back to work.

I actually got my Christmas packages already, but i haven't opened them yet, im going to wait till Christmas, great willpower hey?

also the Broughs gave each of us a mini spanish preach my gospel, so i no longer need one, thank you!

I have no idea what wrap thing your talking about, but maybe something called Baleadas, there actually from honduras, but yea, i donno ha.

Thats so nice of you sending packages off to some friends of mine, there should be a package arriving soon for you guys, i sent it a couple weeks ago, let me know when you get it.

oh also in the pictures you sent me there was a bunch of things referring to calgary as the yyc i think? is that the airport? i don't remember. who knows.

so our attendance lowered to 6 this week, but we hope to get it back up to 10 ish next week. we are still looking good for january, to meet our goals, we are having some problems with 2 youth that we are going to baptize real soon, their father doesn't want to give them permission, but we plan on bringing with the dvd of finding faith in christ for a christmas gift and know him a little better, and hopefully he'll change his mind,

so next week i will be writing on the monday, 24th, and i will give you my phone number then.

all is good in Guatemala, i still hold my record on never pooping my pants, although about an hour ago i came real close, luckily there was a gross bathroom on the side of the road that i could pay to use, as i couldn't have made in another block to the house haha. im sure you want to know that, but every other white missionary that I've talked to has pooped their pants.

your sons a trooper.

heres some pictures of the christmas activity, the baptism, and my district and my zone.

Love you all tons!!

write you and talk to you soon!

from guatemala, with love,

Elder Hopkinsito xoxo

This week: Most lessons taught, most people at church and most investigators found for my Area

A cold foggy night in Guatemala

December 10, 2012

hello family,

This week was great actually, we were able to teach the most amount of lesson that I have taught in the area, have the most people at church that I've had in this area, and reach my record for new investigators that I've found in this area.

We foud a really poor cowboyish family, the man buys and sells livestock. but they actually came to church on thier own after the first time that we visited them. actually, the day before we found their son in law, and taught him, and we asked him for a reference, then the next day we found a family fom the reference, and then we asked this family for a reference as well, and right after we found another family from this reference, and then we asked them for a reference as well, but the referene they gave us wasn't home, so we'll go try to find them another day.  It was just a great chain of references. It was great.

Also the Family "G", they are great, they're doing really good, they brought 2 friends to church on sunday, and they arent even baptized yet. awesome. They are not even members yet but their doing better missionary work than most of the members. We're going to baptize the 4 of them once her son gets back from Christmas vacations with his dad.

Pablo, is doing good, we are going to baptise and confirm him this weekend. He's already read the whole book of mormon, and reads it every night for a half hour. 

Diego and Melvin, 2 kids, are still coming to church, they've come like 4 times already, we're going to baptize them on the 30th, we want to take it slower with them, because thier parents don't come to church, and we want to make sure that they'll stay active.

This week I did some baptism interviews in a little town called Comalapa, out in the middle of nowhere. when you walk down the streets there, you dont hear spanish, you hear katchiquel. Spanish is just the second language. In one of the interviews, I had a translator present because the lady was more comfortable speaking katchiquel, but she only needed a few things translated. It was kinda cool. I love the native people.

Oh yeah, so I did get a suit made, a 3 piece suit, with a vest, I got it a little while ago, it has the guatemalas flag embroidered on the inside, its really cool, maybe one day I'll send a  picture of it haha. I want to get another one made, and put corte inside, the native cloth. its gonna be cool. 

So the pictures i sent are me and the other elders in the district out in this little town of Comalapa, at the chapel. Just me and a book of mormon, and one night it was really cold and foggy, so I got a cool picture of that.

Tomorrow is the Chistmas activity, we have to leave at 2:45 in the morning, yes, at 2:45, to be in the temple at like 5:30 6 ish, we live kinda far away haha. The elders from Comalapa, Elder Tanner,and Elder Mcmillan are going to sleep over at our house tonight, it should be fun. I did divisions with Elder Mcmillan on wednesday and we had a good time.

Thats so funny that Guatamala is only a little bit further than Halifax haha, even though Tyler is going to Halifax on his mission, and its in Canada,  he is going to a far away place haha. I  love that guy. I can't wait to reunite with him one day.

I did get that preach my gospel in the mail, thank you for it, i appreciate it, the only this is.... that I dont ever study anything in english anymore haha. in fact I left my big english preach my gospel in some old area cuz i never used it haha. but thank you for the thought.

I really don't need any thing in the mail right now, i think I'm all good. I satisfy my hunger cravings with tortillas beans and eggs, or platano frito now. and I'm all good with everything else, just save your money and give it to me to buy cool things in Antigua or Panajachel for you.

yeah, the buses are pretty crazy here, i think the mixture of  the stuffiness, and occasional very bad smelling guatemalan, with the sharp fast turns, and starts and stops, get me feeling sick every once and a while, other times I'm perfectly fine. Maybe when you're down here we'll get on a bus so you can experience it haha.

So the Christmas call will be on the 25th, I will write you with the phone number on the 24th, thats what I've  been told to do. So i was thinkining that 9:30 am my time will be perfect, now I'm pretty sure theres a time difference be like and hour so we'll have to be sure with that. right now its 10 00 am here.

and wow i just got the picture of tyler and lincoln, (I sent a picture in my email to him) wow there are so HANDSOME! girls, you better be writting them while they're out in the field cuz you don't want boys like that to forget about you.

well, i think thats just about it for this week, next week i should be back to the regular schedule of writing on tuesdays.

stay classy canada.

From Guatemala, with love,

Elder Hopkins

A chapel in Comalapa

Another great week, besides the sickness on the bus again and NOTHING to cook on!

Our Christmas tree

Dec. 4, 2012

Tanner didn't write this in his email today, however I found it in his emails to the office.. (Tanner allows me to go into his email to check that all emails get forwarded onto us that he intends to send because sometimes pictures get stuck in cyberspace and I have to resend them to myself)  So - They have had no microwave for a few weeks as it broke and now their stove is broken too.  There is nothing for them to cook on, he says if the office would send them something to cook on next week they will be heroes to Canadians forever!"  I guess he is learning to adapt and improvise!

Hey  fam, all is good here is Guatemala,

Awesome that dad went to kicking horse this weekend, that would have been fun, next year I'll be there too ha. So cool that a Guatemalan family moved into our ward, thats fantastic! I'll have a little piece of Guatemala with me when i get back haha. heres some Guatemala phrases to tell them. Que Chilero!, how cool. Que onda. ill leave you with just two to practice for now haha. Yes i have met Elder Falabela, he spoke to me in the ccm (mtc in Guatemala) and I think in the field as well. I was wondering where he went cuz hes not part of the central america area presidency anymore, but that cool that his niece is living in my ward now. ha.

Yeah I'll look for a Christmas nativity for you here, I know a booth that sells Christmas stuff, I talked to the guy and he told me that they sell Christmas stuff all year round, cuz I also wanted to get one for my family when I have a family, gotta think of the future ha. but yes, I'm planning on going to Antigua later this month for a district activity, where I'll get it for ya, and some other goodies. I wont send it through the mail though, I'll just keep it with me. I'll only have one more area in the mission so i will only have to pack up this one last time, and then one more when I leave for the great white north.

good to know that sam is now 23 and had a good birthday. I hope you saved me a slice of black forest cake. yuuuummmmm.

Tell Tyler Johnson that I love him and to fight till the end of his mission, there are good days, and there's bad days, its inevitable, but thats the mission life.

So this week we invited everybody to the Christmas devotional, we made invitations and everything, we had 6 investigators there, and one of our investigator's doubts was about prophets, but she said she felt so good listening to Thomas S Monson, and now she knows that he is a prophet. it was great. her name is "H.G."  , her and her 3 kids are going to be baptized,  i know it, but the kids are off visiting their other family for Christmas vacations, so we are going to baptize them in January.

Also, Barnie, from the coast, already received the melchezedek Priesthood, hes Pilas! He's changed so much and hes just progressing so fast, he says that hes going to go on a mission, i hope it happens,   but ya, anyways, him and his family are doing great.

so its not every monday that im going to be writing, but this next week, i don't know what day I'm going to write, because on Tuesday we have a Christmas activity, and we're going to the temple and stuff, so I doubt I'll be writing on tuesday, it will either be on monday or wednesday I'm thinking, just so ya know.

I sent some attached pictures of the invitations that we handed out, and another journal entry, and a great breakfast that I made, and   me and my christmas tree ha.

Journal Entry:

"Today I had another training meeting with President Brough.  But on the way, we were in a super crowded bus and the buses here drive like wildmen, so I started to feel sick and I started to throw up.  I had my sweater that I covered my mouth with and luckily I didn't eat breakfast, so there wasn't really anything to throw up, but we quickly got off the bus to rest for a few minutes.  Ay ay ay, the buses here are so rough!    I've gotten sick many times on the bus.  Who knows if I'm claustrophobic or if the many turns, stops, and starts make me feel sick.  It was a good meeting though"

also in january Todd Christofferson is coming to talk to us, awesome! i haven't seen an apostle since the mtc. it'll be awesome.

So thats all i got this week, have a great week,

From Guatemala, with love,

Elder Hopkins

A GREAT breakfast I made!

The invitations we created for the first Presidency Christmas devotional