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| Working Overtime. (2 year mission has ended but now a 2 week extension - and he DOES look exhausted!) |
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| Dinner with the Stake President's family |
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| His Area - Lake Amatitlan |
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| His companions got him a cake celebrating his 2 years on his mission! |
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| Baptism |
May 1, 2013
Hey hey,
sorry that I started to write the other
day but i couldn’t finish, I had to take an Elder to the hospital,
we left at like 11:30 and didn’t get back till 9 at night, so
that's why I'm not writing until today. (he's fine, it was just a long day)
**Also before I forget to tell you,
next week we will be writing on MONDAY, so please send emails before
monday morning.
This last week was absolutely great. We
had a small miracle happen. So I might have told you that we were
trying to get papers for an investigator so that she could get
married to her less active husband that is now active. Well we tried
to get the papers a while ago, and they told us that the books they
were in were destroyed, and it would be like a 4 month process to get
them. Well on tuesday last week we visited this lady, and she had
gone to try to get her papers too, and to our surprise she was able
to get them, so we quickly got a wedding planned, married them and
baptized her on the Saturday 27th. It was a good way to spend the
day on my 2 year mark. Yes, I've already been a missionary for more
than 2 years, I'm on overtime right now.
But it was really fantastic, when she
handed us the document that she needed, I just held it in my hands
and just stared at it for a few minutes. They are one of the poorest
families I have ever visited and baptized, but they were so ready for
the gospel, teaching them was not a struggle, they accepted
everything easily.
Also we put a fecha with Marisols
little cousin, nancy, so she should be baptized on sunday. Shes 9
years old and is so excited for her baptism.
Also there was a girl we found, a 20
year old named "M", that we found cuz we were teaching her
grandparents, and she was there for a lesson, we started talking about missions and
how she could go help people by serving a mission, and then we said
somewhat jokingly "look, come to church with us three times,
we'll teach you, and baptize you on the 12th of May, and then in a
year from now, you can go on a mission." and shes like oh cool,
so we started teaching her, she came to church, and she absolutely
loved it, and so we have a baptismal date for her on the 12th of may.
we need at least 2 more than we have planned to be baptized these
last 2 weeks to complete the goal that I have, but I feel good cuz if
these baptisms happen, and they will, I will have baptized every
weekend for 7 weeks in a row which is great.
For your question of what ward I want
to go to on sunday when you are here, it depends, if we are going to
have baptisms here in my area right now, we'll come here, and go to
the baptismal service, if not, I was thinking that we would go to
Guajitos, in the capital. well see. I'll have it planned out.
So that you know what will happen when
you get here, we wont get any private time until wednesday night.
After the change meeting, I'll be in the Presidents house waiting for
my interview, and then you'll be in the downstairs lobby where we
have the dinner, and then all the missionaries whose parents aren’t
picking them up will come down, and then they'll all watch when the
missionaries whose parents are there come down, then well hug blah
blah blah, and eat dinner all together. Then we'll have a testimony
meeting all together, all the missionaries, and the parents will be
there to watch, and then we'll leave there and go to the hotel
together. that's all I really know, I don't know toooo much detail.
On monday I went to the stake
presidents house for dinner, and we had a great lasagna, and cake,
and we were there for his family home evening, he's a great church
leader, this stake is recognized throughout all of central america
for being a great missionary stake. He also gave me two ties as a
gift. President Denis Pineda is his name, great guy, great family.
Also something really really great
happened on Saturday, the three people I just baptized a very short time ago, all
went to the temple to do Vicarious Baptisms, and they loved it!
what a great way to strengthen their testimony right off the bat.
Fantastic.
Also I believe that The Elders in the
office just called Dad, to ask him information about how to contact
President Miller. They just called me to ask me his phone number.
Ps. I did get the package with all that
good stuff in it.
Now as I'm finalizing my mission, I'm
starting to be at peace with the fact, even though I'm going to miss
the mission like crazy, I no longer have much of a fear about
finishing. I know that I've worked hard, and I've become the
missionary the Lord wants me to be in these last few months, and I
keep working. The only thing that I wish, is that I could do it all
over again with the knowledge and diligence and faith that I now
have. But the mission is not the end of things, its a start, a start
to a new mission, with different challenges and different rewards.
I'm not quite ready, but in a few weeks, I will be ready to get it
started, for the mean time, I've still got 2 weeks left to make a
difference.
For mothers day, we'll have to call on
the sunday, on the 12th. I have Church from 8 am until 11 am. I
might possibly have a meeting after church but I doubt it, next week
well confirm the time, sounds good?
ps, I'm so down to hit up a lake on a
boat. we'll just need derek to shave his chest before hand.
Well, I love you all, take care.
From Guatemala, with Love,
Elder Hopkins
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