Ch. 78 The End?

Chapter 78: The End?

As tears blur my vision while staring at this keyboard, I can´t help but think of a time exactly 18 months ago. I had just passed security, and as I was waving goodbye to my family going up the escalators to my flight to Spain, I once again was fighting back the imminent tears. I kept thinking to myself, "It´s only 18 months, you can do it! Be strong!" and I was immediately blessed with a peaceful feeling that I knew everything was going to be alright, and that I was doing the right thing. Now, as I am saying goodbye to this beautiful country, life as a missionary, but most of all, the people I have come to love with all my heart, I am once again telling myself, "It´s been 18 months. You can do it. Be strong!" As I look over this last year and a half, in some ways I can hardly believe that it has passed soo fast. Then as I think about it, I think to myself, "It´s only been a year and a half?? I´ve grown in many ways, seen so many things, and learned so much." Looking back, I realize that I probably went through a lot more trials and a lot more difficulties than happy and joyful times. However, those wonderful memories make up for any hard time. I thought I was leaving my family for a year and a half, and I physically left my blood family, but I have been so blessed to have found an even bigger family here in Spain. This last week, I just couldn´t quite fully express my gratitude for all their love. Every time I turned around, it seemed, someone was shouting "Surprise!!" and I would see a room full of bright faces wishing me the best in my travels. Marta and José Luis threw me a surprise family home evening complete with a cake with my name on it, and made a poster of my nametag. Then, on Thursday, I was greeted into our "dinner appointment" by all the young adults and youth in the ward. Everyday was packed with sweet memories but bitter goodbyes. On Sunday, the entire ward got together and planned a suprise farewell. I walked into choir practice, and the bishop asked me if I could start playing the piano. I walked into the room to start playing, and there was half the ward smiling at me. I could hardly believe it. After that, the bishop gave them the time to come up and bear their testimony and say something that I had done for them. Obviously, I was eyes were dripping like Niagra Falls. Especially when our wonderful Bishop got up. As soon as he started to tear up, I couldn´t stop the water works, and that´s how I feel I´ve been ever since. Marta got up and bore her testimony, and it was just a powerful witness to me that my mission was worth it. Every minute. Even if Marta, or any one of my other converts, was my only convert, it would have been worth it. Even if I didn´t have one baptism, it would have been worth it. Why? Because the most important convert of my mission perhaps was myself. I have always had a testimony of the gospel of Christ; I never really put it in question. However, as a missionary, I have been able to see first hand that the church brings happiness. Why? Because it´s the truth! The little things like prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, paying your tithing, really do matter!! As we do these things, we see so many blessings. I have learned that as we are exactly obedient to what the Lord says, we don´t have to just wait to see a miracle happen, but we can expect them. I know that angels truly are ministering unto the children of men, and there are people all over the world that are being prepared. We only have to be worthy to find these people. I can´t honestly say that I´ve always wanted to serve a mission. The call to serve really came to me as a surprise. I wasn´t really praying about serving a mission, but it was probably the most recognizable prompting that I have ever received. And I would never ever take back the decision I made to serve the Lord for this short period of time in my life. I know that God lives, and that He is our Father in Heaven. I know that out of love, He sent His son, Jesus Christ to be our Savior and Redeemer and be our perfect example. I know that out of love, God restored the Church, that His son did this through Joseph Smith and I testify that he saw what he said he saw because I have felt it manifested to me by reading the Book of Mormon. I know that we can feel of their love and learn how to apply the gospel to our lives by reading the Book of Mormon. I know that we have the priesthood restored, and we have a living prophet. I know that through the keys that he holds, that we can be sealed to the people that we love forever. That is the knowledge that kept me going through the hard times and brought me comfort when I was tested. I leave with you all with my testimony as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to bear his name for the last 18 months. It definitely has proven to be a “happily ever after” but I don´t think that it´s the end. There is still so much to do, to learn, and grow. I love you all, and thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Les Quiero a todos!!

Hermana Hopkins

Ch. 77 The Gospel is For Everyone

Chapter 77: The Gospel is For Everyone

One of the biggest lessons I´ve been able to learn in the mission thus far is the fact that this gospel is for everyone. When I was called to Spain, I imagined myself teaching little Spanish families in the Spanish language. I never imagined myself helping my companion frost a dragon cake at the last minute while throwing chopsticks in my hair for a Chinese baptism. But, that´s what happened this week. We were going all out for possibly my last baptism in the mission-we wanted to go out with a bang. So, my companion and I got chopsticks from his Chinese Restaurants, and we wore the colors of the Chinese flag, and we made a cake and frosted a dragon. It was super impressive. We had a Zone Conference all day until 4, and the baptism was at 8, and we didn´t get back into Vilafranca until 6, so it was a really hectic preparation, but everything went super smoothly. Until the Elders came. Quianbin—Bin for short—still hadn´t had his interview (that normally doesn´t happen) until an hour before the baptism! We were pretty certain that he would pass, but we were getting pretty nervous to cut it that close. Well, when the Elders walked in, we knew that something was wrong... to make a long and very depressing story short, they had lost all of our mail from the last month on the train. So, if you have written me a letter in the last month, I´m sorry but I will never get your letter. It was a little bit of a downer on the baptism, but we tried to stay focused. It was a nice little baptism. Most of our investigators his age were able to attend, and I think they were really touched by his faith. It´s a big step for Bin since he doesn´t really understand the language all the way. He is just following what he can read and the little Spanish he can follow. Yet, he is always there on time to everything, and sucks up every word that he can understand.  He really is such a great example to me. It was really interesting as well; during the welcome he received from the Bishop, the Bishop talked a lot about ancestors. He said, “Of all the converts that I have ever welcomed to the ward, you are the first where I´ve been so prompted to tell you to start looking for your ancestors to take to the temple. I know the Chinese have a lot of respect for your ancestors, and this is the greatest honor you can do for them.” It was really cool, and afterwards, we met with the Bishop in his office, and he repeated the same thing, “Bin, there is someone waiting for you to do their work. You need to start working on your genealogy.” So, we are going to help Bin start his genealogy this week. I´m really excited. We´ve also been working on a few young adults that are so close to baptism. I don´t think I´ll be here to see any of them baptized, but they are practically members. The young adults have just exploded in this ward. It was funny, we have been working with one in particular, Bryan, for about the whole time I´ve been here. He hasn´t really progressed, but he likes the activities. The problem has been all along that he really questions the existence of God in the first place. He always got really close, but he said that the elders would usually scare him off, and then he would stop taking the lessons for a while. So, we´ve been trying to win him over to the dark side...er...the light side this entire time. I didn´t really ever see very much progression with him though, until this week. We were in a cita with him and he said, “Hermanas....I think I felt the Spirit.” We just dropped our jaws. “WHAT?!?” WHEN?? HOW!?!” He explained that he´s been feeling a lot of peace and comfort recently as he comes to family home evenings, and he started reading the Book of Mormon (obviously a good sign, right?) He still has a lot of doubts, but it´s the closest that he has ever been to baptism in his life. I really see a lot of potential growing now. I´m really excited to see how his story ends later. As for now, we´re trying our best to make sure he feels the love that God has for him, and how much He wants him to know that He is there guiding him....and we may or may not have tried to do that through a spaghetti fight. (Don´t worry mom, there wasn´t sauce on the noodles. No stains.) haha I guess you could say that we aren´t your usual hermana missionaries, but we get the job done. Also, I had my last intercambios (I have no idea what this word is in English anymore. It´s where you switch with another hermana companionship for a day) and I ended up working in Hospitalet a.k.a. Little Latin America right outside of Barcelona. Seriously, there are like no Spaniards there.  So, I was with another Hermana going to her investigators for a day and we went and visited an ex-exotic dancer from the Dominican Republic. It was a hoot of a lesson, let me tell you. She was so interested in the gospel though! It just shocked me of how, once again, this gospel is for everyone. I´m just trying to do everything I can so that I can leave Spain with no regrets, and spread the gospel to as many people as possible, and I´ve been so blessed to see as many miracles as I have. One week to go, I can hardly believe it. Pray for me—I´m sure it will be a roller coaster of emotions. It doesn´t seem real!! Les quiero a todos!!

Hermana Hopkins  

Hermana Hopkins with Nicole on her baptism day

Ch. 76 Reinforcements Have Arrived

Chapter 76: Reinforcements Have Arrived

After the gruesome battle scene that we saw last week, we decided to go into this week much better prepared—ready for the battle. Not to mention, we had a Talent Show to plan! Yes, it was our turn to plan the ward activity, and we were so excited to put on an awesome talent show, but I´ll get back to that in a minute. We went to Nicole´s house last Monday night to figure out why she had left for Barcelona to party instead of coming to her own baptism. When we walked into her house, there was a very different spirit there, but don´t worry. It was a good change. It ended up being a miracle that she made those decisions so she could feel the consequences of choosing the wrong before baptism. She even asked us for a copy of Preach My Gospel so she could prepare for a mission. . She seemed like a completely different person: more mature, more spiritually-in tuned, etc. She told us that she experienced some pretty tough things while she was gone and that she wanted to be baptized immediately. Hermana Vaziri and I just looked at each other with a little bit of worry in our eyes. The last time she wanted to be baptized immediately.... we asked her when she wanted to be baptized and she looked us right in the eyes and said, “Tomorrow.” Uh.... “Or... Saturday.” Ok, Saturday we could do. We could put together a baptism in four days, but over night is a little hard. So, we decided we were going to go to her house every day so that she would have a little bit of spiritual nourishment every day. So, Hermana Vaziri taught us how to make fudge all together before our Family Home Evening (which is when she announced to all the young adults that she really was getting baptized), and we did her hair for a date... however. We did have a scare after the date. She went to Barcelona again and didn´t come home for 3 days!! We felt a little bit better because she had permission from her mom, but she was cutting it really close, and we didn´t want her to be with all her friends and all the temptations right before her baptism. So we prayed a lot, and then had to focus on our talent show. We spent a couple days putting up stars and moons in the church because it was the Noche de Talentos (night of talents...uh talent night? Is that better?) and then we were helping the young adults put together their talents. They wanted to do a skit, so we were trying to be original. We weren´t coming up with something funny for a skit, and then it came to us: synchronized swimming. It was hilarious. We got blue sheets and we held them up in front of the stage while they did a “synchronized swimming routine.” Hermana Vaziri and I ended up dancing a country dance, and they made me sing as well, but the young adults really stole the show. It was really a fun night, and we had a great turn out. However, we were exhausted when it came time for baptism planning.... but we were determined to be more prepared this time. We were not going to let Satan have any room to come squeezing in and chilling her feet! No more cold feet baptisms! So, we called in reinforcements. Yes, it was time to call in our miracle worker... Marta! Our last recent convert has turned into our best assistant here. (She just got called as a Relief Society teacher and Young Women Camp Director—she´s an angel. Oh and just a bragging moment. She got called as the camp director 5 days before girls camp. (What a champ.) Anyway, we called her in, and bless her heart; she pretty much babysat Nicole all day for her baptism. Nicole thought we had planned a secret girls day out with her to honor her baptism....but really we just wanted to make sure she was accompanied by someone responsible who had the spirit all day. While we went crazy looking for ingredients to make the desired chocolate cupcakes, Marta took her out to lunch, then to buy cupcake decorations, and then to her house to pick out clothes for her baptism. We were so grateful for her by the end of the day. However, the cupcakes have a long miraculous story. Ok, not that long and not that miraculous, but you know. Vilafranca is in the middle of their biggest celebration for the entire year, and so all the stores are closed. So, when Nicole asked us to make chocolate cupcakes, it slipped our minds that we didn´t have chocolate powder or eggs. So the hunt began to find these items. We were about ready to call our elders that live a half hour away to pick us some of the ingredients when we thought of Jose Luis´ parents (our UNO family). They live right next to us, so we decided we would try it out. Exhausted, and about ready to die, we were soon given not only our eggs and cocoa powder, but a few recipes to try, powdered sugar to make frosting, and a huge plate of food for lunch. They were our little angels. Oh! And don´t forget the ice cream. Even though they aren´t members, I think they got some major bonus points with Heavenly Father for giving His servants a scoop of ice cream on a hot, crazy day.  Anyway, we made the cupcakes and flew together everything we needed, and met Marta and Nicole at the church so they could start decorating the cupcakes while we filled up the font and got the program done. Besides the fact that the printer wouldn´t work to print out the programs, everything was going really smoothly. As soon as the program started, the spirit just filled the room. Marta shared her testimony, and it honestly just brought tears to my eyes to see how much she has flourished in the gospel in just a short amount of time. After Hermana and I sang, we went to the font, and as Nicole and Bishop stepped in, he put up his arm to say the baptismal prayer, but then she put up her hand indicating that she needed a moment. We all just sat there and felt the spirit fill the room, and we watched her brush two big crocodile tears from her cheeks. She had finally felt the love that God had for her. As she went under the water, it was almost like you could feel her leaving her rough past behind her, and starting over new. One of my favorite parts of baptisms is asking them how they feel in the bathroom before they change. She explained that right before she went in the water, she could feel all the bad feelings she had ever had just leave her, and she just felt clean. It was really sweet when she bore her testimony too. It was one of the most spiritual baptisms that I´ve had. However, nothing can go perfect.... after the baptism we were panicked for time to drain the font, and the thing to drain it stopped working. So, we all joined together and grabbed bucket after bucket of water and carried them to the sink. I´m just grateful that no one slipped and fell... it was kind of fun though.  Also, to add to the craziness of the week we taught Quianbin the rest of the lessons he needed to know for his baptism. It was....so easy. Satan doesn´t touch our Chinese man.  We had to get creative in our teaching, so we pretty much straight up read the lessons with him while he followed along in Chinese. It was so funny though. When we taught the Word of Wisdom he was like, “This. This is easy. I no smoke. I no drink. Next.” hahaha Then when we asked him if he was ready to keep the law of chastity, he looked at me as though I were Potifer´s wife provoking him in the flesh. He was horrified that I would even question him. He´s just the best. He reads and studies more about his baptism than anyone I have ever seen. Should have expected as such from the Chinese....He´s great! So, even though Satan thought he had us beat last week, he should have thought twice before he crossed the Hermanas de Vilafranca!! Les quiero a todos!!

Hermana Hopkins  

Ch. 75 The Battle Continues

Chapter 75: The Battle Continues

The battle field looked worn and heavy-laden with weary soldiers and dark woes. As they fought with all their strength, there seemed to be nothing they could do to progress against the imminent enemy. As this week went on, I felt as though I was this soldier having to add on more armor and plot different strategy attacks in the raging battle verse the adversary. Nicole went with the young adults to a three-day campout. We had originally planned her baptism for this Saturday. We knew it was going to be tight though since we still needed to teach her a few things, have her interview, and all the other essential planning. We went forward with a prayer, but I felt this ominous  feeling all week that it was going to be a lot harder than we were expecting. My companion kept assuring me that these feelings come the weeks of every baptism, but I knew it was different. Well, when we finally got to see her on Thursday, we rang her doorbell, and her brother comes down the stairs. He looks at us and says, “Uh...my sister isn´t home.” and we just replied, “What do you mean she isn´t home?? We were going to teach her today everything she needed to know for her baptism.” He just had shook his head, but wouldn´t look at us in the eye. I knew something was up. We kept questioning him on where his sister was, and so he finally let us see the texting conversation he had just had with his sister. It went something like this:

“Franklin, tell the hermanas that I am not home. I decided I´m not getting baptized this Saturday, and I want nothing to do with the church anymore.” We just sat there, staring at the phone completely stunned. We had been progressing so well with her! No, we weren´t going to give up that easy.

To the frontline gentlemen… er...Hermanas. And so began the battle with Satan.

We ran up to her door, knocked on the door and sat there. And sat there....and sat there... until she finally came and opened the door to her house, but then she ran in her bathroom. (We must be scarier than we thought). My companion tried to coax her out to talk, and I just kind of sat there perplexed at the whole situation. It didn´t make any sense. Finally, her mom came in and was able to coax her to open the door. Right when we walked in you could almost sense a darkness in the room that was visible in her eyes. However, as soon as we made eye contact with her, the darkness left immediately and was quickly replaced by a peaceful light that showed in the smile across her face. I don´t think I´ve ever seen anything like that. I also don´t think I ever truly valued the power that missionaries have being set-apart representatives of the Lord. As we sat down to talk to her, she explained to us that she didn´t know if she felt ready to give up the things of the world to be baptized. We assured her that alone, she probably couldn´t, but with the help of the members here and the Lord she was more than capable. We also told her that if she didn´t feel ready, that it was understandable, and we would wait to do the baptism another week. She told us that she would pray about it and she would get back to us. Honestly, we took that as a –we should-prepare-for-next.-week sort of an answer, and we didn´t think about it until Friday afternoon. We were eating lunch when Nicole called and said, “Hermanas, I need to talk to you now. Can we go get an ice cream?” “Of course!” we practically half yelled while sprinting out the door. We went to her house and on the way to the closest ice cream shop, she said, “Hermanas, I´ve decided that I still want to be baptized this Saturday. I know it´s what I need to do.” As we were sitting there celebrating with her over our ice cream, our bishop in his full police attire came over and pretended to arrest us. Hahaha It never gets old....anyway. After putting away the handcuffs, Nicole explained to him about her decision and our Bishop did a happy dance right there in front of everyone in his police uniform. We don´t joke about baptism. Ok, even though that sounds like we joke about it, we were just really excited.  Anyway, as we were leaving, she asked us if we would make orange cupcakes for her big day since it´s her favorite dessert. Of course we were more than willing. As we were parting, we had the feeling that we should follow her to the train station—she told us she was meeting a friend from the Barcelona ward here. We thought it seemed sketchy, but we decided that our only time making cupcakes would be right at that second with one of our investigators, and our Betty Crocker domesticated side got the better of our fearless warrior side. What can you do?  So, we decided to go get the cupcakes done, and at midnight Nicole´s mom called us. Concerned, we hesitantly answered the phone, “Hola?” She replied, “Hermanas! When are you coming back with Nicole, isn´t it a little late...?” I don´t think she realized that Hermanas can´t be out past 10.  However, we were obviously concerned that Nicole hadn´t come home. We decided to pray right there and just put our trust in the Lord. To make an extremely long and exhausting story short, we were in the chapel at 7 o clock with an arm full of cupcakes, an empty font, and a runaway girl that never went home. We found out later that she was in Barcelona with her ex boyfriend. Obviously we were disappointed, but we did everything we could do. Maybe she just needs another week or two....who knows. Which reminds me....Yes, Satan is pushing really hard with Nicole, but Quiangbin came to his lesson last Wednesday and pointed to the picture of baptism and then to a girl receiving the Holy Ghost, and he says, “Hermanas. I want this.” and after a little bit of Spanglish, we decided that he was ready to be baptized in a couple of weeks. He is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy, prays, and hasn´t missed one Sunday since we first invited him. He is incredible. We told president to start looking for a priesthood holder that speaks Chinese. Haha He told us that the Lord is preparing an army in China, and he´s seen a lot of miracles in the mission with the Chinese. I thought that comment was perfect with the week we had. We aren´t backing down here! The battle continues though. The only white flag you’re going to see is the white baptismal clothes!

Les Quiero!

Hermana Hopkins

Ch. 74 Let the Spirit Talk

Chapter 74: Let the Spirit Talk

Obviously, I needed a lesson about the Spirit, because I feel like I had to be on my toes all week with our investigators! We had a family home evening that was combined with an investigator family, the bishop´s family, and all the young adults and most of the young men. One of the sister´s in the ward was supposed to give the lesson, but two hours before, she called us panicking that she couldn´t give the lesson and needed us to do it. We sat there spitting out ideas for about an hour, and finally felt like we should do a lesson on the armor of God. We threw together a complete armor set of cardboard fabulousness. Haha Oh, and we used my pink fuzzy slippers—there´s just something about them that scream “preparation of the gospel of peace”, and then we ran to the family home evening. We asked for a volunteer and it just happened to be our bishop. We all died laughing as he fit himself to our nicely tailored, cardboard armor complete with pink fuzzy slippers. But I think it really helped a few of the young men understand the importance of always putting on the armor of God.

Then, we had to do a split on Wednesday night. I was going to teach a struggling family how to do family home evenings, and my companion was going with our recent convert, Marta to teach our Chinese investigator Quianbing (I know, the spelling changes weekly). When I got to the Family Home Evening, I had it all set up in my mind of what I wanted to do, and as soon as I sat down, I realized that I needed to teach the Restoration. I argued the idea back and forth for a while, but I knew this family needed the Restoration. The mom and daughter were baptized a little over a year ago, and the father and brother are investigators. As I taught them of the story of Joseph Smith, the brother just stared at me and said, “He was my age...and he had his prayer answered.... and then he restored the church of Christ. How can I know if that´s true?” I explained to him that he just has to do what Joseph Smith did. Afterwards, the sister announced that she wanted to prepare to go on a mini mission (the members here have the opportunity to serve in one of the areas of our mission for 3 weeks to a transfer), and she´s been less active for the last few months, so it was a great miracle. Meanwhile, my companion is having a lesson in Spanglish with our lovely Chinese man. He´s so great! He hasn´t missed a week of church since he has started taking the lessons, yet he barely understands what is going on. The spirit must have touched him, because there is no other way he would be following like he is. He´s so funny, everyone loves him at church because he bows to them when they shake his hand, and is very respectful to the older members in the ward. He usually has to leave early so he can go to work, and he tells us, “I have to go now. I return.”  He´s so great. We have also been working a lot with Nicole this week. She is making such big steps of progress. Every time we go though, we end up teaching a different lesson then what we had planned. She was doing so good until she went to this party and drank half the night. So, obviously tithing was not what she needed at this moment, so we made a list of all the characteristics that she wants in a future life and family in the church, and all the characteristics of a future alcoholic partier, and had her compare them. I really hope we were able to get through to her since she is so close! She is stronger than she thinks, but she has no one to tell her otherwise, so we are stuck helping her fight this battle against the adversary. She actually is going on a campout for the next couple days with the young adults in our ward (there are more of our investigators going than members. Haha!), so hopefully she will be able to build up a support. Their dad had us come running to their house the other night at exactly 7:00. We had to be there exactly at that time, not a minute more, and not a minute less. We rang the doorbell at exactly 7:00, went up the stairs, and when he opened the door, there was a big dinner waiting for us. We asked what it was all for, and he replied, “It was the only way I could think of to help try and repay you for what you are doing for my family. Thank you.” It was such a tender moment to see the spirit working with them, and softening their hearts.

Last week, I was given the assignment to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting because the theme was going to be missionary work. Easy enough. So, this whole week of course I have been procrastinating it since it was only 10 minutes and I knew I only had to share a couple experiences, bear my testimony, and that´s all I would have time for. Halfway during the week, I got a call from the ward secretary asking me if I could actually talk for 15 minutes. That was fine, just add a couple of my favorite scriptures in there and it was good. However, on Sunday morning I got the distinct impression that I needed to have an outline for something a little bit better. I decided that it was probably because God doesn´t like us to be procrastinators, so I decided I would come up with something with a little more substance. When I got into the sacrament meeting, I noticed the bishop had a funny look in his eye when I walked in the door. What could that possibly mean...well, when he announced it was my turn to give talk, he stopped me as I was just about to get up to the microphone and whispered in my ear, “Hermana Hopkins, the other two people who were assigned to give the talks today didn´t show up. Can you talk for about 30-40 minutes?” I just stared at him and started to laugh as I looked down at my half-a-page outline. Then he whispered, “Just let the Spirit do the talking.” Ok, easy enough—I kind of just wanted to roll my eyes at that comment, but I also knew he was right. So I said a little prayer in my heart that I would be guided of what to say for pretty much the entire sacrament meeting....and it was a really incredible experience. As I was talking, ideas just kept coming into my head, and it was one of those moments where I really felt like the spirit was just putting the words right into my mouth. As I finished my talk, and sat down, it was really a testimony building experience for me to see the spirit work right through me. I thought it was pretty cool and I started to relax, but as I got up to greet a couple of our investigators, the Sunday School President came over to me with a panicked look on his face, and said, “Hermana, the Sunday school teacher has an interview with the bishop, could you teach the class??” I had no idea what the class was even on, but of course I agreed to it. I walked into the class and saw the word “Honesty” written up on the board, and picked up a manual and read the first paragraph really quick. Ok, I could do this. As I was about to start the class, the president walked by me and whispered, “Hermana, just let the spirit do the teaching.” I think my week was definitely preparing me for this Sunday. On Sunday, we were so excited that Marta was called to be the Young Adult President in the ward. She´s going to do so great, and I felt like a proud mother as she was being sustained. Actually, it was a miracle because her mother came to church to see her sustained too. I hope she was able to feel something. I realize that the Spirit is so important in this work, but sometimes, I wish the spirit would give me an hour´s notice...haha

Les quiero a todos!

Hermana Hopkins  

Ch. 73 UNO

Chapter 73: UNO

 “Ok,” I thought as I looked down at my cards, “I got two reds, a wild, and a draw two.” As we continued our fast pace game of UNO, I knew this had to be the craziest missionary tactic that I had come up with yet. As we were sitting with José Luis and his family in their dining room playing, I also knew that it was going to be worth it. José Luis is the boy that I told about a few months ago that had decided to go on a mission despite all the conflicts that seem to keep coming his way (many of those coming from his own family), and we promised him that we were going to try our very hardest to help his family be baptized before I leave my mission. When we got there on the blistering hot, August afternoon. It would seem that everyone was dying of the heat with little or no energy left in them. Well, that is hardly the kind of attitude needed if we are going to have an interactive lesson about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. I knew we were going to have to do something different because this particular family has had the missionary lessons for over 4 years, and the dad hardly has stayed in any of the lessons before. I was determined that this was going to be different. So, when I sat down in the dismal room, I looked for anything that could spark some energy. That´s when I saw the deck of UNO cards waiting for us on the table. That was it. I started to second-guess myself, but I really felt like we needed to play this game of UNO. I think their family was expecting us to start a normal lesson, but when I suggested we start with a game of UNO instead of a prayer...let´s just say it spiked everyone´s curiosity!  Everyone joined for a couple rounds of some UNO, and it did just the trick. When it was time to start the lesson, everyone stayed and was alert during the whole lesson. José Luis´s cousin, Hector, is our age and doesn´t believe (or should I say doesn´t think he believes, but he really does) in God. I´ve noticed that problem a lot with the young adults in Spain, it´s really sad. But, we taught him the Restoration, and we watched the Restoration movie with him, and he seemed like he was really starting to understand. What I love is that all his questions and concerns are easily resolved in the Book of Mormon. The more and more that I teach, the more and more I realize how and why the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. What was the miracle about the lesson is that José Luis´dad not only stayed through the whole lesson, but he told his nephew, “If you want to know if God exists, you have to do what Joseph Smith did and ask with a sincere heart.” My companion and I just stared at him—yes, we were seeing progress. In fact, José Luis was so excited afterwards that he said he saw new hope that he had never seen before in his family. He wants it so bad...and so do we! Even though they didn´t come to church this week, we plan to have a good Family Home Evening with a couple families in the ward and Bishop´s family. It will be great. Also, this week we had a really touching lesson with Nicole. Nicole has a goal to be baptized in two weeks, and she was progressing so good....until her boyfriend comes into the picture. I´m not sure if I have already told her story or not, but this is the same girl who was 17 and thought she was pregnant, it ended up being negative, and then her boyfriend turned abusive. We´ve been really able to progress with her, but she still has some ways to go. She told us that she wanted to go back and be with him, and we just stared at her like some sort of wild zoo animal. WHAT??? My companion grabbed her shoulders and said, “NICOLE! What are you THINKING??” Sometimes as missionaries, I feel like people´s mothers. Haha But, she just replied, “Well I just love him and he asked for forgiveness....and I really love him!” I couldn´t understand. How could you love someone like that when you are seventeen, and he´s almost put you in the hospital not once, not twice, but five times!! We want to help so her see she deserves better than this. I was thinking that she must be lacking some serious attention around the home maybe. So, we called the whole family in, and we talked about how we are children of God and that he loves us, the impression came to mind that we should do a “love circle”. I have done it several times in the mission, and I go around and have each member of the family say something nice about every other member in the family, or something they admire in them. I thought it would be good for Nicole to see that she can find love within the home, but I must say, I was definitely surprised. When it was time for Nicole, her mom just started bawling and went off on a pretty much where-did-I-go-wrong tantrum, and don´t even get me started on what the grandma said!! I just stared at them, and said, “OK, let´s just focus on the positives.” and then her grandma just stared at me. I gave her an encouraging nod, but she just continued giving me a blank stare. Are you serious?? The dad told me to just continue and move on to the next person. I could now start to imagine why she is having so many problems! When it came to the dad, he started by saying some things that were kind of harsh as well, and by this time Nicole just broke out bawling, and threw herself to her mom. All we could make out was, “Mom, I´m sorry. I´ll change and try to be better. I want to be better!” And that´s when the dad said something that was so inspired. He said, “Nicole, if you want to change and be better, I think you need to follow the invitation of the Hermanas and be baptized. It won´t be easy, but it will be worth it. I´ve made some bad decisions in my life, but the decision to be baptized I will never regret. To this day, I still remember how I felt as I entered the water. You can experience that as well just as your brother did recently.” (Her brother was baptized 8 months ago) Now, this father has been less active for over twenty years, so we were all taken-aback when he said that. It will be a miracle to see Nicole baptized, but as a missionary I know that we can expect miracles when we do all that we can...even if that means pulling out a deck of UNO cards.

Les quiero a todos!

Hermana Hopkins  

Ch. 72 Slam Dunk

Chapter 72: Slam Dunk

"Hermanas! I have an 'ideal' investigator for you", Edmond exclaimed in the middle of the lesson. We just looked at the strange outburst of our little African investigator with a puzzled look on our faces. We had just finished teaching him about Joseph Smith, so slightly confused, we replied, "Yes?" 

"After we are done with the prayer, we can go visit my friend and his mom that are always in this park. They don´t believe in God, and they need to believe in this. Is that ok with you?" We told him we would love to meet his friends, and after we had finished the lesson, we were led briskly down the road to go visit Edmond´s friends. We have been teaching Edmond´s family for a couple months now. (His parents are the ones that fed us the African food). Edmond is only 10 years old, but he is so mature and smart, and just has the happiest personality. We love teaching him, and he loves to be involved with the church. The parents have a really positive view of the church, but....let´s just say they are a little hard to make commitments with. So when they say, "See you Sunday!" We know it really means, "See you the next time you catch us at home." haha I guess everyone has something to work on... Anyway, we got to the park and the mother and son were nowhere to be found. So, we sat on the bench next to our disappointed African boy. He had a Book of Mormon in his hand already to go (can you say hello future missionary??), when he looked up and saw another friend playing basketball. He looked at us with a sly look on his face and said, "Hermanas. You are from the United States...do you play basketball." I just smiled and replied, "Yes, I know how to play." He looked over again and asked us, "Well....what if we played with my other friend while we wait for my friend and his mom to get here." I looked down at my pencil skirt and dress sandals......

"Ok. Let´s go." 

So we started playing a little game, and that´s when everyone in the park saw two Americans playing basketball, and naturally, everyone wanted to play against the American girls in skirts. Let me just say it was hard, but we made America proud. :) haha Even some parents came over and played! We had a good game going when we realized we were going to be late for our next lesson. We agreed we would come back in a couple days to share a message, and everyone agreed to it, and it was even more of a slam dunk because the friend and his mom came at the last minute and said they would be willing to listen to our message too. I was so excited. With starting my last transfer in the mission today, I am glad that I was able to start with a swish. 

Also, this week we decided to give Josep and Angela a challenge. We have been working with them this entire year, and they come to church, but they aren´t really in the process of conversion since they say they don´t have the faith to pray or read their scriptures. So, we wrote them individual letters and explained that if they read and pray together every day for a month, they would see a miracle with their family. They accepted the challenge, so please be praying that they are able to recognize the miracle that God puts into their lives!! Marta as an update is doing wonderfully. She is progressing and really wants to keep learning. She loves planning things with the young adults, and they are all best friends now. She´s so incredible, and I am grateful she feels like she has a family in the church. 

This week we also started teaching...Qxia Bin. Sorry, no idea how it´s spelled, and yes. yes, we are teaching a Chinese man. Just one more country to check off the list. However, he doesn´t really speak that great of Spanish...or English...so we watch the Restoration in Chinese with Spanish subtitles. He has a lot of potential, and he came to church this week. He is the only member of his family here in Spain and he´s about our age, but his whole family has a Christian background (I thought that was really odd being from China, but cool too). It will be interesting to see how we can further our teaching with him. 

As the final piece of news.....everyone get ready...because your prayers have finally paid off....

I received the news today that CATI AND TONI ARE GOING BACK TO CHURCH!!!

To say that I didn´t scream and jump up and down and cry a little would be a lie. I did all of the above, in the middle of the train station today when I saw my old companion being transferred. So please keep praying for them. I love them so much, and it would be the icing on the cake to finish my mission next month knowing they are back on track. I love you all so much, and I am so grateful for all your love and support and prayers!!

Les Quiero!!!

Hermana Hopkins

Ch. 71: The Missionary Soap Opera

Chapter 71: The Missionary Soap Opera

 

“If he doesn´t want to be part of your family, he needs to be kicked out on the street!”·Not the words that I was necessarily expecting to come out of my companion to a crying investigator. I was just trying to take in the whole situation. I felt  like my role as a missionary this week has taken the Hollywood direction, and my role is now the lead missionary in the newest LDS soap opera.  

CUT.

Let me explain a little more. Every ward has their “eternal investigators”. These are the people who for some reason or another won´t get baptized, but are practically members. They come to church, they go to activities, some of them even have visiting teaching responsibilities. Well, we have been working with a family that seemed to be under this criteria, and we were determined to shake things up a little bit. We went into the house and gave a lesson on the blessings of baptism when the mom calmly explained to us that she couldn´t get baptized since she wasn´t married, and they couldn´t get married because her “partner” had a problema with cheating on her with this other girl (what??), and that she wasn´t going to get married to him until he could prove himself loyal. We thought the whole situation was bizarre, and the poor kids have had to watch their parents go through that. We are especially working with their son, Manel. Manel is a recent convert that was baptized just over a year ago, and has been through sort of a roller coaster ride since his baptism. Essentially, he was baptized to please his mother, but soon after had a very strong spiritual experience and knew this really was true and that he needed to truly change. That change has been kind of hard for him, but he´s getting there.  He´s been coming and helping us with our citas and really has a strong testimony. Well, the other night right after we had walked into our piso after a long day, we heard the timbre ring (In Spain there is a timbre at all the apartment buildings. You ring it, and you can talk through it to the piso you want to talk to so they can let you into the building). We were wondering who on earth would be ringing out piso timbre at 10 o clock at night, and then we heard Manel´s voice come over the phone.

“Hermanas?”

“Yes Manel?”

“Can you read me a scripture.  Any scripture. Just read me a scripture.” We could tell he had been crying and so we grabbed out our scriptures with haste and starting reading scriptures that we had previously found comfort in. He explained to us that one of his best friends had been killed in an accident and with all his family issues, well needless to say he was going through a rough time. We shared our testimonies with him, and tried to give him the most comfort that we could. After about 45 minutes, he left for home feeling a little better. Every time I open the scriptures, I am more and more convinced of the love of God that we can find on every page, and I am so grateful that this recent convert has also learned of their power. But, the story doesn´t end there. On Sunday, his Mom comes into Relief Society and just collapses on my companion bawling. Obviously alarmed, we took her outside and she explained to us that her partner wanted nothing to do with her, but was still going to live in the same piso.  And she doesn´t have a job to pay for the bills or food or anything, so she can´t really tell him to hit the road. That is where my companion cut in and told her that her “partner” needed to take a hike. I just told her that she was a Daughter of God, deserved better than that, and that she should talk to the bishop. Well, later that evening we returned to the church for an activity, and she comes up, practically skipping no less, and informs us that they had worked out their problems and are getting married next week. I just sat there and stared at her. She was more excited because that meant she could get baptized. Again, I just stared at her. We didn´t want to give any advice, or get involved with the situation more than necessary, but this family could use all the prayers they can get.  Hermana Vaziri and I both looked at each other with concerned faces. Yes she could be baptized….but why on earth was she marrying this man that has been cheating on her for eight years?? This part of the soap opera is to be continued…

However, our drama unfortunately doesn´t stop there this week.  Last week, I talked a little bit about our runaway investigator, and she had a really sad experience. There we were working in the ward garden with her brother actually, when he received the call that we all needed to run to the train station. We all ran there to see his mother their just bawling (I think I have seen enough tears this week to feel our next baptismal font!) This part might be kind of graphic for young audiences, but I thought it had a good moral to the story. (and it has an ok ending). We have been teaching this 17 year old girl, she just ran away, and a few days later she called her mom crying that her boyfriend had tried to strangle her, she was alone, and pretty badly beaten up. We convinced her to come to church with her brother and her mom, and she told us that she felt so loved. I was so grateful she was able to find the love and attention she was looking for in a healthy way…but I can´t help but wonder why she keeps going back to these situations. This is the third or fourth time. It´s absolutely incredible to see the difference in people´s happiness after coming to church. Luckily, this week is youth conference, and so she along with all the youth in the ward are off to Barcelona for the week, and I think it will be a healthy distraction for everyone.

                And just when you think the drama couldn´t get worse—it does. Ok, actually this is more fun drama. African drama! Yes, our cute little Alberta is just about to pop; I´ve never seen anyone more pregnant in my entire life. She was told that she still has about a month to go, but I just don´t see how that is possible. Well, she had a doctor´s appointment to go to this week, and her husband usually goes and translates for her, but he got called into work…So, she called the only other English speakers she knew. We´re here to serve, so why not! I told her that we would all go to the hospital with her and translate. The doctor´s appointment was a presentation about the epidural and the actual birth. I was a little worried about the vocabulary that I was going to need, and then my fear tripled when I soon realized the presentation wasn´t in Spanish. It was in Catalan. I leaned over to Albertha, “Albertha, you told me this was in Spanish. This is is CATALAN.” She just looked at me with wide eyes and replied, “But Hermana Hopkins. You’re a missionary. I know you can do it.” Ok, what am I supposed to say to that!! So, I tried to do the best I can. Catalan has a lot of Spanish influence, so I was able to make out most of it…I hope I explained to good enough for her. Halfway through, they did a presentation of how they do the epidural… I looked over at my companion and her face was just green, and she was rubbing her temples. I was trying not to laugh when I realized I was getting kind of queezy too… That was a really big needle….. The best part of the whole presentation was when they were trying to calm down a couple of almost-mother´s that were also in the room by saying, “We want your birth to be comfortable and a pleasurable experience.” My companion and I looked at the needle, and the picture of the woman giving labor on the board and tried to hold in our laugh. Comfortable and pleasurable is not how I would describe child birth. It was a very different experience compared to most of our usual missionary service. We also are helping Albertha clean her piso this week….We asked her how to clean her carpets, and she handed us a little brush that I would normally use to clean potatoes.  My arms were practically shaking after we had sufficiently brushed the crumbs out of the carpet. Vacuums—God bless the USA. Haha  As we cleaned, Albertha told us, “I don´t care if my little baby plays soccer or is good at school…I just want him to be the next prophet!”  We told her that you never know….and she said, “Ok, well at least a bishop.”  She´s so cute.

                The only “normal” missionary news I think I have is when we had a really sweet experience with Marta this week. She is just getting a long great with all the single adults in the ward, and is just growing so strong in the gospel. We decided to take her to a visit with another investigator her age, and she just bore such a strong testimony. We told her that she just seemed like a missionary! Well, later that night at the family home evening we were at, she announced that she felt the impression that she needed to serve a mission, and that she was going to spend this next year preparing to go. I almost started crying right there, but instead I jumped up and down with her and gave her a big hug. She is honestly so prepared, it´s been such an exciting conversion process. It was funny too because in the activity on Sunday we had a testimony meeting, and she went up and bore her testimony, and two ward members came up to her and said, “We just feel like you are going to go on a mission!” She broke out into to tears and said that it was exactly in her plans to do that.  It´s like she has been a member for years. She´s so great! Although I feel like this week was very long, and full of drama, I think the things I have been learning the most is just how important the gospel is in my life. I am so grateful that I have always had that anchor. That´s not saying I haven´t had problems or won´t have problems, but I know that there are some problems that you can avoid by living the gospel daily. I am so grateful for parents who raised me in the gospel and taught me correct principles. This week has been a very humbling week to say the least. I am so grateful for the people I have in my life!!

Les Quiero a todos!!

Hermana Hopkins 

Ch. 70 El Dia Blanco

Chapter 70: El Día Blanco

The Día Blanco (The day of white)  was an idea instituted by our district leader a couple weeks ago. The challenge is that we would all fast and work for one day so that we would see a baptism. Marta was able to fall in our hands, and we worked and worked so that she would be prepared to be baptized on July 19--El día blanco. It was honestly a very easy process. It was as if God had been preparing her all her life, and we just reminded her of the things she had already known before. She was more worried about the outfit she was going to wear to her baptism than the actual doctrine that we were teaching her. It was just like everything clicked. She went to school to be a wine tester, and she said, "Ok, I won´t ever drink coffee, tea, alcohol, or smoke.... Next?" haha Now, if only all of our investigators could be like that. Tithing--makes sense. Chastity? Has always lived it. It was honestly so incredible to see how angels really are preparing the hearts of these people. I was especially excited for this baptism as well because my whole mission I have wanted to have a Spaniard convert...I have loved dearly all the cultures here, but everyone thought I was sent to Spain to teach the immigrants. It was nice to see my first Spaniard--Catalan no less-- baptism here. The ward was all there to support her and it was a wonderful service. The only problem was the water got cut off for our entire building half way through filling the font, so we were panicked when all that was coming out were little drips....we were able to get it about 3/4 of the way filled, but it made it really hard for the baptism, and they had to do it three times to get her all the way under. Oh well, what can you do.... I really will never have the perfect baptismal service. haha We were so excited with the baptism that we really didn´t notice how hard the rest of the week really was. We have been working with the family of one of recent converts a ton, and they all came to church last week, and we were SO excited. Especially since the dad hasn´t been to church in over 20 years. However, their daughter (who was the closest to baptism) ran away this week. What?? And so the whole family was in shambles when we passed by, and it was just so sad. I couldn´t help but look at all that Marta was sacrificing this past week and how happy she was and then looking at this family that just can´t get their feet in the water, and wonder, "why not?" The gospel doesn´t bring instant answers to all of our problems, but it brings long-lasting happiness for eternity. I am so grateful that Marta was able to recognize that. After her confirmation this Sunday, she sat down during sacrament meeting and during one of the talks about the temple, she just had tears rolling down her cheeks. I asked her what was wrong, and after the meeting, she came over and told me she just felt so impressed that her grandma who passed away was waiting for her, and she just felt so much responsibility in getting these names done. I am so excited to start down this road with her of teaching her about genealogy and the temple. I feel like God prepared her just for us so that she could start doing this work for her ancestors, and He trusted her to do it. It was a beautiful day all in white, but I know that  there is a day to come where she will be all in white in the temple, and that day will be far more rewarding to her as she opens the door to her own exaltation and that of her ancestors. I love the beautiful plan of salvation that our loving Father in Heaven has prepared. It just makes sense--it has all the answers that will give us happiness in white. All in all, I know the Lord is watching over the work here, and we will see many more "dias blancos"!  

Les Quiero!!

Hermana Hopkins

Ch. 69 Miracle With a Cherry On Top

Chapter 69: Miracles with a Cherry on Top

This is the last time I am making a birthday cake on my mission. We always get ourselves into the worst situations. A couples weeks ago, our bishop gave us the assignment to go visit a family that has been less active for the past few years. Most members thought it was impossible, but we were up for the challenge. When we got to their house, we were given a semi-chilly reception, but we ended up warming up to the family fairly fast and easily. We gave them a challenge that if they read the Book of Mormon daily, prayed as a family every night, and came to church on Sunday, they would see a miracle. We also promised them that we would bake for them an American birthday cake for their daughter´s birthday. We were really surprised when they came to church last week, and we knew they were going to receive their miracle....and their birthday cake. Now, I usually love to make cakes. But, we woke up that morning realizing that we had no recipe, and Betty Crocker has only come out with select flavors here in Spain, so we scrimmaged around everywhere and just happened to find a recipe that a member had given us of an apple cinnamon bundt cake. My companion was determined to turn it into a vanilla birthday cake. So thus began the adventure. Really, the cake part went pretty well. It looked...almost normal. Then she wanted to make a butter cream frosting. I left the room, came back, and two minutes later I saw her adding egg whites to a very white runny material. What on earth. I just started laughing and she said that it was too liquidy, so she was going to try to fluff it up with egg whites. Well, I noticed that she had used all of our powdered sugar, so I just laughed and let her to it. When I came back it was even worse, so I decided to try and help out. We were going to make our homemade powderered sugar. It almost worked. After half a bag of sugar through the blender, it was getting better....but not quite. It tasted awful, and it was still too runny.....and my companion adding flour to the concoction sure didn´t help the poor frosting´s cause. Time for Plan B. I asked her what she had added and she said, sugar, milk, eggs, flour....so I though quick, sugar cookies!! So we started adding a ton of flour and salt and put them in the oven, but we still didn´t have any frosting. I noticed my last companion had left one small container of cream in the fridge....it would work. I boiled it, added the last of my precious peanut butter and wah lah! Peanut Butter frosting. Next thing I know, my companion is loading a bunch of vanilla ice cream to the top of our cake, and putting the hot frosting on top. Oh goodness. it looked so awful. hahaha We just sat and laughed and laughed. Then, they called us (they were planning on picking us up) and told us that they couldn´t pick us up, and that we needed to catch the bus that was coming in 5 minutes that was a least a 10 minute walk....with an ice cream cake....in the hot sun. Bring it on. We took off running cake and all (I am sure plenty of people were looking at us wondering what on earth the two Americans were doing) and got to the train station 3 minutes late....or so we thought! The bus ended up coming 10 minutes late. Tender mercies. Well, it was a 25 minute bus ride, and once we got to their house, our ice cream cake was now....I don´t even know what. They kept asking us why we were laughing, and we just replied that we needed to use their freezer. We had a nice lunch, and we shared the message. It was the coolest experience; the entire family had changed. Each member’s countenance was shining, and then they told us this. The mother turned to us with tears in her eyes saying, "I think I have forgotten about the Lord. I have been looking for a job for at least 6 months now since we are really struggling. I stopped going to church years ago because I just didn´t have the time. Now, we did this challenge this week, and the day after we went to church, I got a job offer that pays well. I don´t know why I ever forgot about the Lord." It was such a big testimony to me that missionaries really do have the power to promise blessings, and they really do come true if people do their part as well. The whole family came to church again, and the daughter is now working on going on a mission. It´s just incredible the difference reading, praying, and coming to church makes. Now, the cake comes back into the picture.....we pulled it out of the freezer after having this sweet experience, and it looked like....well awful. So we covered it with sprinkles, put in the candles, and said a prayer.  We brought it in and sang and cut the cake, and watched as everyone put their first bite in their mouths......Hey. It wasn´t that bad. One of the members that was there said, "I am a professional chef (oh gosh) and this is one of the best cakes I have ever tasted. This vanilla sauce is done to perfection (melted ice cream) and this peanut butter cream cuts the sweetness (thank you)." So it was a miracle right down to the cake we ate. haha But the cherry on top this week was really Marta. I am just so humbled every time that I meet with her. She is leaving all her family behind her to be a member of this new family, and she does it always with a smile on her face. She says she gets nervous sometimes, but she knows that this is what God feels for her. Every time we teach her she just takes notes of what we says, and never doubts it. She has a lot of questions, but she is so sensitive to the spirit that the spirit just testifies the truth to her of everything. I really am so excited for her!! This week was really full of lots of miracles, and we have decided to do the "week of miracles" for all of our investigators, so I am sure we will all be seeing a lot more. It´s such a sweet experience (and I am not just talking about the cake!)

Les quiero!
Hermana Hopkins

Ch. 68 Both Sides of the Veil

Chapter 68: Both Sides of the Veil

My whole mission I have been told by everyone that there are people on both sides of the veil helping with this missionary work. I really had a testimony of this when I was in Castellón teaching Cati and Toni. When I had received news that they had decided to stop taking the lessons, it wasn´t that my testimony was rocked, but I would be lying if I said I didn´t lose a little bit of that hope to find investigators like them. Well, this week, God opened my eyes a little bit to the blessings He had in store. This week we have met with Marta almost every day. I would have never guessed how prepared she really is. All the members have just fallen in love with her, and when they ask us about her, they usually just break out in tears. She makes everyone remember their own conversions, and really brings a light to the church. Let me explain what happened this week. During the week she was telling us about some experiences that she has had along the way on her road to conversion, and I just had to share them. This week we decided to have a Family Home Evening with Marta with the Stake President, and we had a lesson completely about Jesus Christ. We decided that of all the concepts of the church, that the life and Atonement of Christ would be the most important for any investigator to understand, especially one who didn´t have a previous Christian background. It was seriously such a wonderful lesson. I actually learned a lot myself! Afterwards, she told us something that just melted our hearts. She told us that she had told her family of her decision to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (her very active Jewish family) and in the words of her grandparents, “For making this decision, you have just separated yourself from the family. We do not consider you to even be our own granddaughter.” She has received a very similar response from all her family. The only person that seems to tolerate her decision was her father, so she is going to move in with him here in Vilafranca. I was thinking that I really hope that I would have that faith upon finding the church to be willing to sacrifice everything for it. The ward members here are really opening up and letting her know that she has a family here in the church. Later in the week, we taught her the Plan of Salvation, which I always consider to be the make it, or break it lesson. It was wonderful. The spirit was really strong, and she understood everything. Instead of the usual questions at the end of the lesson about the basic doctrine, I was surprised when she asked, “So, this makes the temple work make sense. I understand now. I have been asking a few of the members why we have temples, and this just makes everything make sense. When can I go to the temple to do the work for my ancestors? I want to go as soon as possible.” I could hardly believe my ears!! It was such a tender mercy. The member turned to her and said, “Marta, your ancestors have been preparing for you to find this gospel so you can do their work.” Marta turned to us and said, “I know. I can feel it. It just makes sense.” She also continued, “ I also understand why God has given us the church here on the earth. He gives us the church so that we have a powerful tool to be able to return to His presence.” It was one of the most powerful Plan of Salvation lessons that I have ever seen or taught before. I think the comments that were said actually touched me more than Marta. As we walked home that night, I sent a silent prayer heavenward for the tender mercy of letting me really see the promise fulfilled that there are angels preparing the hearts of the children of men. When we went to church with her on Sunday, she just cried through the whole thing. She is so special. She just seems so willing to sacrifice everything for something that she now knows to be true. Really, it´s moments like these that make being a missionary worth it. What´s funny is, really these moments don´t come very often. In fact, for many missionaries, they may only come once or twice, but when they do come, they make up for all the hard times. We have seen so many miracles this week, but Marta has really become more of our shining investigator right now. I know the last couple weeks before baptism can be extremely hard, so everyone please pray for this special girl. I know that people really are helping me from both sides of the veil, and it was so apparent this week.

Les quiero a todos!

Hermana Hopkins  

Ch. 67 The Spirit of the Church

Chapter 67: The Spirit of the Church

You know you are going to have a good week when it starts by getting pulled over by an undercover cop. It´s great to pull jokes on new missionaries to the area when our bishop is a police officer...and he has been planning this one for at least a month. I got a call when we got into Vilafranca from the Bishop, and when I answered, I had instantly changed into secret agent mode.

“Hermana, say `Hello Paco.´”
“Hello Paco.”
“Now say, How are you Paco.”
“How are you Paco?”
“Good. Now. I am behind the bridge. Lead your companion down there, and be serious. OK?”
“Ok”
I was trying to not break a smile; it was so hard!
“Now Hermana, ask me if we still have an appointment for 7 o clock. And then say good bye Paco” I repeated it, and led my companion down into the trap. As soon as I saw Bishop, I almost started to laugh. I could do this. He walks up to us non-chalantly and flashed his badge. I had to look away, because I almost laughed. He said, “Where are you going with all this luggage ladies?” I explained to him that we were going to our piso, we were missionaries from the United States, etc etc—playing it cool. My companion just stared at me like this could not be happening. He asked for our passports and residency cards, and he just muttered, “I knew it.”
“You know what?” My companion replied, looking slightly annoyed.
“This face is on our wanted list for drug dealing, and the name matches up.”
I almost broke my straight face right there. Oh my goodness, I was dying on the inside. My companion looked absolutely horrified, especially when Bishop continued, “I bet all this luggage is full of drugs, I am going to have to call in back up.” I tried to make it look like I wasn´t laughing, so I tried to look like I was on the verge of panic. (My companion later told me she thought I was going to cry, so acting may be in my future thank you, thank you haha) Anyway, the joke continued. My companion was getting more and more frustrated. She was trying to get his attention, “Hey, Hey! Excuse me! I am not dealing drugs! I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ. I AM NOT A DRUG DEALER.” I couldn´t take it. I had to turn around. Bishop finally “hung up” the phone, and asked to speak with our representative. I told my companion to call our Bishop, and she said ok, took the phone, and it was the best thing ever. She turned her back and started explaining the situation the best she could in her broken Spanish, and didn´t realize for at least two minutes that our bishop was standing two feet away from her. Bishop couldn´t hold it in anymore and he blurted out. “Hermana, I don´t think the police officer would think you were dealing drugs if you buckled your shoes right.”
“WHAT??” My companion whisked around, and we a good, long laugh. Then the Bishop became our much needed taxi. She had a lot of suitcases. It was hilarious.
As far as the week goes, I didn´t realize how large our area was until I had to show it to someone who had never seen it before. It was a little hard to try to explain to her exactly why we needed to sprint to the bus to catch the one that went to Vilanova at 3:35 so we could get the train that leaves Vilanova to get to Cubelles at 4,10. Welcome to Vilafranca´s area. Oh well.

I am often worried about the work the first week of transfers, but we saw one of the greatest miracles in my entire mission. Remember our sweet “ex-Jew”, Marta? Well, we went over to her house this week, and it was incredible. We decided to watch the Restoration video so she could actually see it, and she opened right up. We asked her if she had been able to read any of the Book of Mormon, and she looks at us and says, “Only a little bit....” We asked her where she was, and she replies, “I am just starting Mosiah.” Are you serious?? We were just with you a week ago, and you think that is just a little bit? My mouth just dropped open. Then we asked her if she enjoyed church, and she replies, “Hermanas, I have something to tell you. When I went into church, I had a little bit of a closed mind....when I left, I have never felt happier. It´s a feeling that I just can´t explain. I felt like I had someone with me, guiding me all week. I felt something that I can´t deny, and I want it for ever. Hermanas, how can I be baptized??” I just stared at her...what did she just ask me?? We explained to her the process, and when she came to church on Sunday, and told the bishop that she has never felt something so strong than when she comes to church. It was such a tender mercy especially since all we did was teach her the Restoration. It just goes to show you how powerful the Book of Mormon is. She told us that when she had read the Jewish Books like the Tora ( I think that´s what it´s called) she had felt nothing, she simply felt nothing. So that is why she asked to be excommunicated from their church—she even had to slit her wrist and have blood fall to leave their church. I am super excited to have the opportunity to be part of her conversion. What a blessing. As for Josep, we are still working on his battle with the cigarettes...except he is sick of peanuts. We´re going to have to get more creative....

I am just so happy to be a missionary here right now. Everyone is telling me that I don´t have very much time left, but I still have so much to do!!  Pray for Marta and Josep!!

Les Quiero!!

Hermana Hopkins  

Ch. 66 Operation Peanut

Chapter 66: Operation Peanut

I knew we were going to have to do something drastic. Things were just not progressing. A couple weeks ago, we made a “non-smoking” kit for Josep—our Catalan investigator, and he sort of followed it half-heartedly. Well, that was just not going to work. We knew that if he wanted to feel the spirit, he was going to have to stop with his smoking problem, so we took things to the next step. Operation peanut has commenced. He told us that of the entire kit we gave him, only the peanuts took away any of his desire to smoke. Ok, I can work with that. So, Hermana Ward and I went to the store, and saw that they were having a sale on peanuts. Obviously, our idea was inspired. We ran and picked up 7 bags of peanuts. We wrote on each one: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc. and then an inspiring scripture and a little note of encouragement. We would go at different times of the day and leave it by his door. He called us on Saturday night and said, “Hermanas, you are either going to get me to stop smoking, or turn me into a monkey!!” Either way works for me....haha But, what was really incredible is we got to see the power the word of wisdom has for making us more in-tuned to the spirit. Not sure if that makes any sense, but let me explain. My companion got the transfer call on Saturday night as well that she would be leaving Vilafranca, and so we went to his house on Sunday so that she could say goodbye to him. He told us, quite non-chalantly might I add, that he recognized a time in his life where God had truly helped him. We just looked at each other, and I think my jaw literally dropped. We have been working for that for the last 4 months. We asked him to tell the story. He looked at us, and the tears came to his eyes as he told us, “11 years ago when I went to get my daughter out of the orphanage so I could take her to Spain with me, I remember talking to the Colombian worker and convincing her why I would be a good candidate. As I was talking, I remember the words just coming, and I didn´t know from where. It´s taken me almost 12 years to realize that God was giving me the words to say through the Holy Ghost.” He wiped the tears from his eyes and continued, “I have....I have....what is it that the people in church say?? I have....oh that´s it. A testimony. I have a testimony now that God really was watching out for me. I just don´t know how to express my testimony very well.” Hermana Ward and I were just shocked. We have been trying to get him to recognize the hand of the Lord in his life for so long, and we finally got him to admit it. I am really excited to see him progress now. I feel like the hardest part is done, now we just need the spirit take over in the teaching.

This week was much harder than last week—probably some humbling was necessary. There was one funny story that happened though. I shared the story a few weeks back of Lucresia (the woman who saw the light on the Book of Mormon) and meeting her friend, Consuelo, who had a lot of interest in the church. Well, we always struggled getting into the friend, but we decided to pass by the other night. We got to the door to go in, and she pushes us aside and takes off running and crying. Hermana Ward and I just kind of stared at each other with a what-on-earth-are-we-supposed-to-do look in our eyes. We decided to follow her and see if she needed any help. We found her on the street corner heaped up in a little ball just crying and crying. I had no idea what to do, so I just sat down on the street next to her and rubbed her back...Then she looked up and started talking to me, and all I could smell was pure alcohol. Oh no. I was honestly getting drunk off her breath, I am sure of it. I have never smelt something like that. She was so drunk....She explained to me that her son is stuck in Colombia, and that he can´t seem to get his visa to come here. So, she really did have this problem, but this is where the drunken part comes in. She just looks at me, squints her eyes, and says, “You´re a princess, do you know that?” Why...yes....yes I did....haha She continued, “Will you please marry my son. PLEASE. I will pay you ANYTHING to marry my son so he can get his Spaniard residency. PLEASE MARRY MY SON.” Well, if that´s not the weirdest marriage proposal I´ve ever heard. Here we are on the street corner with a bawling lady and she´s begging me to marry her 35 year old son. I tried to explain to her, “Look Consuelo, first of all that wouldn´t work. I´m American....” She looked at me for a long second, and replied, “That´s ok. America is great too. My son could be American. PLEASE MARRY MY SON.” Oh my goodness. I tried to be nice, “Consuelo, I am a missionary, I can´t marry your son.” She cried even harder. Oh my goodness I had to get out of this. “Consuelo...it´s just...” she cut me off. “No. Don´t Speak. Just marry my son.” Ok, it was time to get out of here. Just then, her friend Lucresia came down (miracles do happen) and took her back inside, and we were able to flee from the scene. Phew. That was a close one. This week we really didn´t get to meet with very many of our investigators since they were all working crazy hours. I have never seen anything like that! It was a hard week, but it made us really value the experience we had with Josep on Sunday. I am sure that this week will be better, especially with my new companion here, Hermana Vaziri. She is from Nevada and has such a fire and energy for the work; it will be fun to see where our area takes us. President kept Vilafranca closed to elders, so it´s just us here. When I look at all the people we are supposed to visit on a map, I have to just close my eyes and pray that we´ll be able to get to all of them. I know that we are God´s hands here, but sometimes, that´s a big responsibility. Ok, all the time. Especially now that I am the only one that knows the area (and by knowing the area, I mean I can at least get to where I need to go for the most part, and the other part I can use a map.) I am really going to need the angels help this week, but I guess they have never failed me before. Pray for me!

Les Quiero!

Hermana Hopkins