April 24, 2013

April 24, 2013

Chapter 6: Praise to the Man

Chapter 6: Praise to the Man

I can hardly believe that it is almost time to leave for Barcelona! I will leave bright and early Tuesday morning via train (which I am so excited about). This week has dragged a little, but I think it is just because I am so excited to go out and teach the people of Barcelona (or whichever area I am assigned) the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I always thought it was strange when you read about the histories of some of the early missionaries and how they would stand on street corners, proclaiming the gospel to all that would hear, but I completely understand that now.  I seriously just want everyone to hear the words I have to say, feel the spirit, and believe that Christ is our Savior and He has restored his Gospel on the earth once again. However, I found that this desire of mine is going to be a lot more difficult than I thought. Last Saturday, it was proselyting time once again. It is a mix of the scariest and most exciting time of the week since you don´t want to say something that you don´t mean to, but you just are filled with the spirit as soon as you hit the street. There´s not really a feeling quite like it. We were in Goya once again this week, and I was assigned with the same companion I was the first time we went proselyting. At first, I was a little nervous about this since the first time I was with her…it was less than enjoyable, but I was praying for love! If God can touch the hearts of those we are trying to speak with, then he can touch mine, right? Well, there we were on the streets and the first two people we spoke with wanted the Book of Mormon AND wanted to hear more. It was super exciting not only because we found two people who were receptive to our message, but because my companion has yet to receive a reference during our proselyting experience each week. I was feeling pretty good, which is probably why God decided to humble me. Haha For the next hour and a half no one would listen to us. Not a single soul. So get this, we come across this lady who comes up to us and says, “Wait! Missionaries! Stop! I want to talk to you!” I was simply elated…that is, until she opened her mouth again. She proceeded to say as we came over to talk to her (in English), “You people don´t know God! You don´t believe in the right God!” I just stared at her and asked, “Well, who do you believe is the ´right´ God?” And she just looked at me with the a scowl of a menacing bear and said, “I am a Catholic. It is the only true Church and we have the ONLY true God!” My companion jumped in and said, “That´s great! We believe in the same God then!” That did it. She went off for a good five minutes about how all Americans are evil because the pilgrims were all convicts who had to endure indentured servitude and then killed all the Indians. AND because Joseph Smith is American he obviously didn´t learn from the Indians. As I was about to say, “Have a wonderful day” my companion started and said, “Well, the Book of Mormon is about the Indian´s ancestors…” I thought saying that we believed in the Same God sparked something, oh no. I just stood there in a state between amusement and horror as I watched this small little companion of mine try to bear testimony over this woman´s accusations of how we capture souls in our church. Needless to say, she did not want our Book of Mormon. Her loss. I still laugh about it. However, I did not want to end my day on that lovely note with that little miss sunshine. So, we said a prayer that on our way back to the CCM, we would find someone else who would be receptive to our message. Well, God answers the prayers of these missionaries! We were sitting on the Metro, and the first woman we talked to asked where we were from because we looked different (remember, we sparkle ;) ) she wanted a Book of Mormon before we even explained what it was about. The next man who came sat by us asked where we were from. As we were talking (in Spanish this time, might I add) we found out that he was from Peru, I believe, and that he didn´t believe in God. When we asked him why, he said that he didn´t know why. Well, I took out the Book of Mormon and bore my testimony of the divinity of the book, and that if he read it, he would come to know God and Jesus Christ. With tears in his eyes (and I am not just adding that for dramatic effect) he accepted the book and said he wanted to come to church Sunday. Can I just go into the field already?? Haha I was so excited for the rest of the day. Then Sunday came, and it usually one of my favorite days of the week. For our afternoon devotional, we watched the Joseph Smith and the Restoration movie (the same one that plays in Salt Lake). Before we started, the President got up and said, “As missionaries, you will be able to take a different perspective from this movie, and you will feel your testimony grow.” I had already seen the movie a few times, so I didn´t think much of it. However, I was proven very wrong. The entire movie just over and over and over I felt the Holy Ghost testify to me the strength and the divine calling of Joseph Smith. Even his name has taken on a new, sacred significance to me. My testimony echos the words of the hymn, “Praise to the Man”. Wow. After the movie ended, all the missionaries just wept for about 10 minutes without saying a single word. I still can´t quite get over the power of having a room full of missionaries. The rest of my week was not nearly as exciting. Part of our job as being the Training Sisters is having personal interviews with all the sisters in our zone. It has made me love each and every one of them so much! There are some strong sisters here that are going to work miracles, let me tell you. J The rest of the week has been filled with tons of study, yet I still don´t feel like I have a hand on the language. It might be interesting for the first while since in Barcelona they speak Catalan, in Valencia they speak Valencian, and in Bilbao they speak Bask… This will be fun, Also, our Italian´s companion arrived from Argentina this week (yes she speaks not only Spanish, Italian, and English, but she also knows French). And we love them both so much!! They are just a hoot! Sorella (sister in Italian) Lemos helps us with our Spanish and we have a good time. Every night, we still go around to all the rooms and tell them good night, often accompanied by their favorite Disney song haha Apparently, all the hermanas think I would make a great Disney Princess at Disneyland when I get home. I think it was me and Sorella Fossa´s duet of “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty that really gave them the idea hahaha I love all these girls, especially my companion, and I will miss them dearly come next Tuesday. I love Madrid, but BARCELONA here I come!!

04-18-13

Chapter 5: If the Savior Stood Beside Me

Chapter 5: If the Savior Stood Beside Me

In a word, this week was all business! As the new Training Sisters (it´s been changed from coordinating sisters to training sisters—we are the first of this calling in Spain, and first batch around the world), we have had a fun time getting to know all the sisters here and have personal interviews with them to see how they are all doing. The other sisters here are so inspiring, and they make me want to be a better missionary. Well…most of them. No, I am just kidding—they are all great. Haha So last P day we got to have some good old fashioned girl time and go shopping in Sol! Although I did buy a couple cute shirts, the greatest prize of the day was the churros con chocolaté! We do not know churros, my friends. Essentially, they are deep fried croissants dipped in a dark chocolate fondue like sauce. Absolutely scrumptious, but I could feel my cholesterol increasing by the chocolatey mouthful. (Let me indulge myself, I am slightly malnourished here.) Saturday we had the opportunity to go to the park again to proselyte. This time, I had a different experience. Usually, and not to brag, I have some of the highest numbers (yes, I know it´s not about numbers, I am just stating facts here). However, this Saturday, my temporary companion, Sister Bracken, felt more inspired to have deeper conversations with just a couple people. We talked with some lovely people from Finland. Yes, I was blessed with the gift of tongues to speak Finnish. Ok, so I wish that was the case, they just spoke English. And they were more interested in the customs of our church, but we weren´t able to give them a Book of Mormon. Then, we moved on to a girl who was 18 years old. At first, she didn´t seem very interested. We talked to her for a little bit, but she seemed a little distant. Then, I felt like I should tell her about how the Book of Mormon is about Christ´s dealings with the people in the Americas. Immediately she seemed more interested because her family was from Venezuela. Then a miracle happened. We were talking about the similarities between our church and the Catholic Church, and my companion brought up abortion (she speaks more Spanish than I do) and I panicked. I was thinking, “What on EARTH are you doing??” BUT I was sorely mistaken. It was inspired. The girl practically grabbed the Book of Mormon out of our hands and said she wanted to read it to know of its truths. She said she admired our boldness. Oh my goodness. Haha We only talked to one other man that day, and he was the same way—didn´t seem very interested. We asked him about his family, and he said he was sad that he wasn´t able to see them very often. I bore my testimony of how through Christ, families can be together forever. His face completely changed. Hope filled his eyes when I showed him a picture of the temple, and he is going to accept the lessons. Sometimes it´s hard to just bear your testimony to a total stranger (and if you had asked me a few months ago, I would have even said it´s kind of crazy), but you have to have faith that through your testimony, the Holy Ghost will bear a powerful witness of the truths that we are spreading through Spain. Then Sunday...Oh Sunday. Actually, it all began Saturday night. An hour—AN HOUR—before I was going to bed, Sister Sullivan asks me to sing a solo in Church. The. Next. Day. I said, “Sure, what hymn?” I assumed, wrongly, that the song I would be singing was a hymn. After further discussion, I learned the song I was to sing was a special arrangement of If the Savior Stood Beside Me. I was so glad I was familiar with that song. So I had one hour the next morning to learn it with the accompaniment. I guess as a missionary we are supposed to be ready at any time to receive any call, right? Haha The funny thing is, I was already singing at the Devotional in a group, and still had to finish learning THAT song. Luckily, they chose I Need Thee Every Hour. It ended up being really pretty, and I was glad I had the opportunity to sing it…even if I only had a half hour to get it down. Haha Alas, my day of Music is not yet over. That night, the entire MTC (thank goodness, I was getting a little tired of solos) sang on the street in front of the temple some hymns. It was really kind of fun! As we sang, people watched out there balconies of nearby apartment buildings, and people pulled over to hear us sing. It was so great. That night, we had a fireside of some missionaries that served here (actually the Elder that served here knows Brother Lisonbee) and his Wife is an opera singer. She sang Savior, Redeemer of My Soul, O Divine Redeemer,and Joseph Smith´s First Prayer. It was super beautiful. Then Sister Benson and I walked around the temple until we had to go back. It has such a wonderful spirit here. We honestly had one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission thus far standing outside the temple and just feeling the power and joy of the eternities radiating off the white stone of the temple. We felt so comforted that the language would come when we had our focus on helping our investigators feel what we were feeling. The rest of the week has been full of studying, studying, oh! And studying. We also have to practice teaching our fake investigators, which can be extremely annoying, but I guess practice makes perfect, right? We had the Italian missionaries arrive this week, and they are so cute! Not like that, they´re just sweet. Haha We have one who is staying in our room temporarily until her companion from Argentina arrives. I am picking up some Italian, but mostly working on my sign language. Haha No she´s great, and she speaks quite a bit of English. When we can´t communicate in English, we go to Spanish because they are so similar, and if that doesn´t work, we resort to charades. She´s really funny, but she doesn´t like bedtime…As a result, I have not slept this much these last couple days. Haha I love the CCM, not the food, but the rest is great! I can hardly believe that this next week will be my last full week here, and then it is off to Barcelona!! I love you all so much, and I love getting your letters! (Hint, hint) haha hasta próximo semana!!

Os amo!!

Hermana Hopkins

p.s. The first counselor in the CCM presidency has a blog with pictures!! It´s called thesullivans inspain.blogspot.com you can see some of the pictures that I have been failing to send. ;)

PS to Chapter 4

This week, Sister Benson and I were called as the coordinating sisters of our zone! It is the girl equivalent to a zone leader. Pretty impressive huh? Alright, so not very impressive, but we get to go around to all the rooms every night to make sure everyone is doing ok and are getting to bed on time. We sing them the good night song from sound of music and give them candy. :D

Chapter 4: Girls give me everything you got, because you shine and you have a sparkle in your eye

On the streets of down town Madrid, you meet the most interesting people. It all began on last Saturday when my temporary companion and I missed the Metro. (Yes, I struggle with the system apparently, even though it was not my fault!) We were able to find our way to the other missionaries and where they were proselyting, luckily so all was well. We were walking down the street when we came across a man. Now, this man was scary beyond all reason (get the movie reference?) I´m talking about the tattoos, big muscles, leaning against his motorcycle, don´t-talk-to-me-or I- will-take-you-out kind of attitude—you get the picture. My companion leans over and says, I really feel like we should talk to that man. My first reaction? “That man?? Do you have a death wish?” but then I realized I felt like we should as well. Sigh…So we carefully, nonchalantly walk up to him and introduce ourselves. As a peace offering, I told him I liked his motorcycle. I hate motorcycles, but it is survival of the fittest haha Anyway, we started talking about his beliefs, and he was an atheist. I hat…love atheists. But this one was different, my companion asked him why he did not believe in God. He didn´t have a reply, so we bore our testimony right there about how God lives, he loves us, and he has a plan for us through his Son Jesus Christ. He accepted the Book of Mormon and said, ”I want to know for myself.” We walked away, and then saw him on a different street about 15 minutes later still reading the Book of Mormon. Although I can hardly form the words I want to say about our relationship with God and Jesus Christ, I know that Book of Mormon can. Then about a half an hour later, a man came up to us and started asking us about our name tags. He was completely drunk, and he was smoking a cigarette, but we felt like we should start to talk to him. He said he didn´t have a religion because nobody teaches right about Jesus—rough translation. While he is talking, bits of his cigarette are flying from his mouth and hitting me in the face; I was just thinking, “Don´t grimace, don´t grimace!” I squirmed a little when I saw a bit of the ember fall into the shoe and I felt the warm goo over my foot. However, he wanted to read the Book of Mormon and find out more how we teach about Jesus. Hopefully, he still remembers that when he´s not intoxicated, but I sure had a good laugh afterwards. Well, remember how we came a little after the other missionaries? Ya… we realized once it was time to meet two hours later, that we had no idea where to meet. Haha So here we are two obviously lost Americans standing there wondering where we should go. To the side of us we hear, “Are you two girls lost?” Instead of turning and replying, we turned and simultaneously said, “ENGLISIH!!” We were so excited to hear English words that we could understand. Haha Well, we see this cute, spunky Mexican lady that was so enthusiastic. We talked to her for 15 minutes about our missions, and Utah. She loves Utah because she came all the time to visit family and that is how she learned English. (her English was impeccable, I was shocked to find out she was Mexican). It was mostly just small talk with her, but she was a doll! My companion and I felt so inspired at the same time to bear our testimonies about Eternal Families (it felt so good to do so in English!) and she just so excited! She said , “Girls, give me everything you got, because you shine, and you have a sparkle in your eyes!”  We gave her a Book of Mormon and a Family Proclamation. She just kept hugging us and saying, “I am so grateful for you two, I love that you are doing this!” Golden I believe. She said she was going to stop by our temple as well to learn more (because we had been talking to her before about Temple Square). It made my day. Once we got home, we watched the Saturday morning session of Conference which was so inspired. Oh my goodness.  There is nothing quite like watching conference in the MTC with aspiring missionaries. On Sunday, we watched the Young Women conference for relief society…and it was honestly incredible. We all were taking notes like crazy, and crying even crazier haha. The video that comes on (I believe Lex and Mom would know what I am talking about) depicts a girl going to the temple and her journey of life to get to that point. I realized that the temple has gotten me to that point as well. I wrote more about it in my letter to Lex. Speaking of temple, there is honestly nothing quite like attending a session and walking into the Celestial Room that is full of missionaries. We are all praying so hard for the Lord´s guidance, that I have never felt his presence quite so close. It is truly amazing. And get this, the walls in the temple are all marble. Not just faux paint, it is real marble. It´s incredible. Last week, we were able to take a temple tour and we went into one of the sealing room, and President Sitterud gave us a spiritual thought, and he told us all to remember that feeling of being in the sealing room because it will show on your faces the joy of eternal families when you teach. So cool. The rest of my week has been pretty…slow. A lot of studying, a lot of sitting, but it will be so worth it soon.  I had one night where we were teaching one of our investigators, and I totally bombed the lesson. I could not answer anything in Spanish, and when I did, I had about five umms in between each word. I was pretty frustrated. I knelt down that night and just prayed with all my heart, “Please if you are there Heavenly Father, let it be known to me! Help me with this language!” (I know, I know it was kind of a drama queen moment). Anyway, the following moment we had a devotional with Hermano Ajorno that was supposed to be about teaching the Restoration. We all sat down there, and he took one look at me and announced, “I originally wanted to talk about the restoration, but I feel strongly prompted to speak about the love of God for you missionaries.” Wow. My favorite thing he said was, “There will be times on your mission when it will be hard, and you will fall on your knees and weep;  but remember, the Father and the Son weep with you.” So mom, I am being watched over here, no worries :D. I love you all so much, and am very appreciative of your support!!

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Hopkins

Chapter 3: How My Purse Almost Killed Me

So there I was, in the Metro.  It was P-day, the sun was shining, and we were on our way to the Center of Spain. Being the chivalrous missionary that I am, I let the other missionaries get off first. As I was walking out of the Metro (the equivalent to the subway in New York),  the door shut on me! I was quite literally a Metro oreo, and I was a moment of shear panic. Haha My companion whipped around and like shrieked, and grabbed my arm to try to pull me out of the door. We successfully dislodged my squished body out of the doors in time to turn around and see that my purse, my big, Marry-Poppins-sized purse, still stuck between the doors. I knew the Metro was about to leave, but my life was in that bag!! Quite literally. All my money, passport, ID, etc. You get the idea. With one final tug between my companion and me, we were able to tug my purse free in just the nick of time. The Metro sped off as my companion and I stumbled away. Between the shot of adrenaline and the panic of the situation, we laughed and laughed (almost cried) and laughed some more. What made the situation so much better was a little Peruvian man in the background was laughing even harder than we were. He was honestly doubled over. I have never been so embarrassed in my life. When we were going up the escalators to get to the street level, the Peruvian man tried to sign to me that I need a smaller purse, but he was laughing so I can´t be sure. Hahaha I get the point. So I am on the hunt for a smaller purse. Anyway, last P-day, like I said earlier was so much fun. We went to the geographical center of Spain where there is a BEAUTIFUL park and statue of Don Quijote. I have pictures. J Then we went to an Egyptian temple that they brought from Egypt—obviously. Haha  It was soooo…disappointing. Haha I mean it was great if you like a bunch of clay blocks with holes in the wall. But I took some pictures of the hieroglyphics for Padre.   Then they let us off in the shopping district of Spain. My companion and I were not about to pass up that opportunity! However, we only came back with a single crepe.  It was an absolutely delicious crepe, but it wasn´t  a purse haha. Also, we went to Sol which is like the equivalent of Times Square, and I saw Mickey Mouse! Ah! haha

The best part of the entire week was proselyting at the Parque Retiro. I had another companion, Sister Griffin, on a split. She doesn´t speak Spanish. At all. So I knew we would need a prayer. After we prayed, we just went out and proselyted! Get this mi familia y amigos, we gave out 8 Books of Mormon, got 5 references, and had 28 contacts. We were sooooo blessed. The most incredible experience was this little Spaniard lady came running up to us and said in broken English, “I know you. I know you two.” WOW! I was reminded of when Aunt Kathy told me there were people I promised on the other side of the veil that I would come down and teach. We continued to talk to her and wanted to know where we met for church, and we gave her a Book of Mormon. If I don´t get another experience like that on my mission, then I will be satisfied knowing I was able to be a part of her life.  We had another way cool experience as well. We went and talked to this girl that looked like she was in college, and she was like “Ya I am just looking for a religion right now”. Golden. We started talking to her and introduced her to the Book of Mormon—in Spanish might I add—and I got this strong prompting to bear her my testimony, and this random thought came into my head to tell her that Christ loved her specifically. I did so, and her face completely changed, and she accepted the Book of Mormon and started reading it right there. Incredible. We continued to have experiences like that for the rest of the day, but I don´t have time to write it all. Also, after we were finished, all the missionaries gathered in the Center of the Park and sang called to serve, I am a child of God, and Onward Christian Soldiers. The Spirit was strong that I thought we would convert the Park. Then came Easter. It was so bitter sweet. My companioin and I had the Spanish flu, ok so it was just a cold, and so we were sick all day. It was so spiritual though all day. And I had two tender mercies. 1. Usually we have crazy food, but we had roast, mashed potatoes, and Sister Sitterud (bless her heart) made us sugar cookies. Just like Home J Then the presidency of the CCM sang Consider the Lillies, and we all bawled. Two of them were in the MOTAB, and it was gorgeous. Then we watched a video of Christ and it was so powerful. They depicted an angel that came to comfort Christ in the Garden while he suffered, and I wrote this poem. It´s not great, but I thought you might all like to read it:

When Christ went into the Garden of Gethsemane,

He knew he would suffer there for all in agony,

Yes, the greatest of all began to bleed from every pore,

And trembled from the pain he so meekly bore.

I hope I was an angel to stand with him there,

To bring some peace and comfort from heaven to share.

I hope that in that moment He knew my love for Him,

Even though the night was long, and the light so dim.

When Christ´s disciples couldn´t watch Him through the night,

I hope my presence he could feel as he endured my fight.

Now I stand in need of Christ every moment of the day,

I fall, but through my Savior, I know there is a way.

Because I know all He did that night so long ago.

 I stand to serve him here my courage now a glow,

Yes, I will share His gospel to all his children here,

Because I know Jesus Christ is my strength and is always near.

Yep that´s my poem. :) So I heard two great quotes that pretty much describe my experience here. The first is the days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days. That could not be more true. Really. I am already halfway through, but each day has hours and hours of studying that seems to drag on for ever!! haha Luckily I have the next quote that helps me out. It was Elder Cluff in my District (Mom, I believe you have been talking to his mom on missionary moms?) anyway he said this, "My district is my family; the Lord is my light; Home is my motivation". That could not be more true. I love everyone in my district. haha Just a few more details about the CCM. This week I was very adventurous, by force, with what I ate. Yes, I had sauteed bouncy balls (they said it was octopus, but I don´t believe them), calamari, and shark. The shark was actually way good. Tasted like tilapia.

Also,  I just got back from my p day activities, which is why I am emailing so late. We just got back from the Museo del Prado. Incredible. Absolutely incredible. It is one of the most important museums in the world. I got to see a few of Goya´s works and see the Las Maninas which is the most important of all the paintings in Spain pretty much. Also got see a couple Rembrants (just for you Padre!). I took a lot of pictures, but I never have time to send them, but I will try. I think that is all for this week. I love you guys sooo much! I love it here, I love the people, and I love the work! (Most of the time).

 

Mucho Amor!!

Hermana Hopkins