Chapter 18: Please fasten your seatbelts

 

Please fasten your seatbelts, because this week was all over the place! What a whirlwind of a week!! The craziness started Tuesday when they decided to ship me off to the islands once again for a double companion exchange to the islands. So, I was going to spend the first day and a half with Hermana Haglund, and the second day and a half with Hermana Wirthlin. Well, my flight was at 9:15 on Tuesday morning, and after a crazy morning, we came sprinting into the airport, and tried to print off my boarding pass, and it didn´t work!! So after going through all these different lines to try and talk to someone to get it to work, I missed my flight. So, we had to change my ticket for the 3:00 flight. So, we decided to go back to our area and get lunch and get some studying done before we left instead of staying in the airport. Well, we live right next to the Barcelona Train Station, and that is how we get to the airport. We thought if we left 2 hours early, it would get us there plenty early. There is train to the airport almost every 10 minutes. Except for today. It was delayed for 45 minutes. Frantically, we sprinted outside and we caught a taxi. And thus started our adventure in an European taxi. I´ll have to give our driver some credit, it has got to be really difficult to drive without looking. haha! Yes, I thought it would be a miracle if we arrived there in one piece, but then another miracle surfaced. He asked us what we were doing here in Barcelona, and of course that is the perfect opportunity to talk about the church! We talked about eternal families, and he told us all about his family life. When we arrived at the airport he said, "I have been doing this for over 20 years, and never have I felt like my passengers were just meant for me. I knew you did not come into my taxi by accident today." So, God works in sometimes different ways than we think! Well, I finally made it to the islands, and I had an amazing time with Hermana Haglund. It was so much better than my previous experience. The next day, I was convinced that the devil ran the airport. Hermana Haglund and Hermana Wirthlin were switching back (yes I know, it´s kind of confusing.) but Hermana Haglund´s flight was cancelled until 4:00, and they overbooked Hermana Wirthlin´s plane and kicked her off. Later in the day, we finally got everything worked out. And the day I worked with Hermana Wirthlin was incredible as well. Why was it incredible?? Because now I know that there is such a thing as the gift of tongues. We both came in together, so we were a little worried about spending a day in the area without a trainer. But, it just clicked!! It finally clicked!! (I don´t know if I can adequately express my excitement via email.) I understood everything in every lesson, and I was able to teach the lesson without having to search for the words. Now, before we all get too excited, I think it really was a gift of tongues experience because when I came back to Barcelona, I went back to some of my original abilities...haha Anyway, back to the islands, Hermana Wirthlin and I found this incredible girl! We were actually just doing pass bys on less active members, and we felt like we should knock on the door across the hall that was a current investigator that they had only been able to meet with the missonaries once. Well, she answered and was like ya come on in!! She was super excited to talk to us, and we felt prompted to teach her the Plan of Salvation. We taught the lesson, and she looked at us in tears in her eyes and said, "Hermanas, a few weeks ago I had a dream that I was going to be blessed with a child that would grow to be faithful to God. I found out I was pregnant this morning. When I look into you eyes, I want my future child to be just like you." I got a little choked up, I am not going to lie. Then my companion did something that I thought was crazy! She asked her to be baptized. I thought, "What are you doing, we love this girl, but we know she is not married and is pregnant, there is no way she can be baptized!!" Not only did I think it was crazy, but she said it wrong, so she pretty much just said will you follow the example of Jesus Christ...by priesthood authority. haha Then the next thing shocked me. She said, "Hermanas, I know I can´t be baptized for a year (that´s how long it takes to be married in Spain), but let´s set a date so I have something to work for. I want my baby to have the best example that she can get." What!! That never happens. haha We were so excited we practically danced all the way home! Well, then my night got even better. I got a phone call from my companion in Barcelona, and I almost bawled. My contact, Feily, my cute 16 year old Dominicana is getting baptized this Sunday!! She accepted the date. I could not be happier!! Everyone pray really hard for her, because I am shocked by how hard the devil works on our baptismal candidates! She is just so ready, and she is so receptive to everything. Plus, it helps ease the wound of losing contact still with Francisco (I am not giving up, but we have to give him some time.) We had a lesson with her, and she was just saying, "Hermanas, I know everything you are saying is true, I don´t know how, but I do. I need to develop more faith, but I am ready to believe." She is so fantastic. Well. I was so excited to get back to Barcelona to tell her congratulations when it became very clear to me that the devil does indeed own the airport. My 8:00 flight was delayed until 10:00. They told us they were trying to fix some engine problems. Well, they weren´t able to fix it in time, so they said they were sending another plane in at 2:00 from Barcelona. Well, that plane was having internal probIems (I am not sure I even know what that means.) So they called in another plane for 3:00, but at that point I was thinking, "With all these malfunctions, who says I even WANT to get on that plane!!" haha well, in the mean time I became friends with a great Chinese couple from Australia. However, they weren´t interested in the gospel, oh well. What can you do. I was just glad to get back to Barcelona. It was so weird not having a companion for 9 hours that I almost forgot I was a missionary!! haha Then....Sunday...oh Sunday....haha We had this man call us that wanted to meet with us about the Book of Mormon. We had never met with him before, so we asked the Elders to come with us...I was not prepared for what happened next. I get this call that made me feel like I was about to have a secret meeting to exchange espionage secrets. I pick up the phone and he says, "Hello Miss Hopkins, I would like to change our meeting place to plaza España. Meet at the tower on the left in front of the museum. I trust you will not be late." Then I said, "Tower? Which tower? I might have to call you back if I can´t find it." Then he said, "I trust you will be able to find it adequately enough." and then he hung up. So the four of us walked to our imminent death. haha I was grateful we brought the elders with us, especially when we arrived we saw 4 evangelical preachers holding bibles. hahaha Oh. No. So, we followed them to these benches, and the conversation started very humanely. Until, that is, we told them we believe baptism is not a saving ordinance. I thought all Christians believed this, but no. Also, they said that God is a spirit, he is not our Father...The Book of Mormon can´t be true...etc, etc...We were trying to keep the spirit with us, and not have it turn into a Bible bash. Well, we were about to leave when the leader of their pack came up to me, stuck his finger in my face and yelled at me, "You Miss Hopkins have no idea what you are talking about!! You do not have divine worth--God is not your Father. You can never become like him. The Book of Mormon is false and Joseph Smith never was a prophet. Your beliefs will lead you straight to Hell. I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to stop this nonsense!!" Well, when I was putting in my papers I wasn´t expecting that to happen. haha I think a lot of people would get really mad in this situation. I just felt so sad. I felt so sad that he doesn´t believe that he is a child of God. That God is our perfect loving Father who wants us to return to Him with our families forever. I felt sad that he doesn´t realize that he has given us the Book of Mormon and prophets to help lead us back to him in the most loving way possible. So, I said, "I know that God loves me, and that he is my Father. I know that through the Book of Mormon, I can come to know and become more like my Savior. I know this is the true Church on the earth. I know this with all my heart, and nothing could ever make me deny it." I continued, "But, if it makes you feel better, I will pray about it tonight, and you will too." And we got up and left. I received my answer that the church was true just an hour later. We met with Feily, my wonderful baptismal candidate, and she said a prayer. It was a simple, and so beautiful. She wasn´t feeling good that morning because she had a head ache, so she didn´t come to church. So, she started her prayer like this, " Father, I am really sorry I missed church because I didn´t feel good. I know you still love me, but I would like to ask for forgiveness. So I can be clean for my baptism" It just hit me that it´s like a child praying to her father. It was such a special moment for me. I love this gospel and the hope and happiness it brings. Never forget you are a child of God. 

Les Quiero.

Hermana Hopkins