Chapter 50: M.I.A

Chapter 50: M.I.A.

The following takes place between Tuesday and Sunday on the week of Carnaval.

Actually, it all really started Friday night. There we were, walking down the street when we went to call a member to see where he was going to meet us for our next cita when suddenly, our phone stopped working. It just died. We tried to get it to work, but it just died. So, we finished off the night and went home. Now usually, we have to call our District Leader every night to tell him we have made it home, but I didn´t know his number...since it is in the phone...so we tried to come up with a plan, but we thought of nothing. We didn´t really want to be on the streets late at night for Carnaval (pretty much their biggest holiday here, which means a lot of drunks in the street), so we decided that we would just take our phone to the store in the morning, and went to bed. Little did I know that our District Leader had called the Elders in our area who couldn´t leave for Carnaval and were told to call the closest members to us to make sure we had made it home ok. Well...he wasn´t home, and they couldn´t get a hold of anyone. So, the Zone Leaders got involved because that is who is next alerted, and after trying to get a hold of us for an hour, they went to the Assistants to the President who sent an alert out to the missionaries in our zone that the Hermanas of Vilafranca were MIA. Oh my gosh.  All because our phone was broken. Well, finally the Elders here got a hold of a couple of members at 12:30 at night, and the next thing we know, our door bell goes off ringing like crazy. I jumped out of bed and was ready for the oncoming attack and my companion slept through it. Are you serious?? haha Anyway, so I woke her up, and then ran to the door and it´s our Bishop, who happens to be a police officer here. So, naturally, with it being so late I wasn´t thinking rationally when the Bishop yelled, “Hermanas! Open the door!” and I am just thinking, “Oh my gosh. We are about to be arrested by our bishop.” So shaking, I open the door to see the very worried face of the bishop and the primary president. I felt so bad when he told me how he found out that I went in to make him a sandwich while he talked with my companion at the door. It will definitely be a night I will never forget. Now work wise we truly had a miraculous week. One of my favorite things is we are teaching the wife of a less active member from Ghana. She has been investigating the church for almost three years now and the missionaries have just had no luck with her. Well, I wasn´t going to have that! She´s been wanting a child for years now, and the bishop gave her a blessing last November that she would be able to have a child. Well, She is now about four months along, and she knows that it was because God blessed her. So, when we went and visited her this week, I asked her to tell the story, and how she felt. We explained that when she is baptized, she will receive the Holy Ghost to guide her as a mother, and she would feel the guidance of God during the birth as well. She accepted!! We are now planning her baptism for the 22^nd of March. Not only that, but we found a Grandma and granddaughter from the Dominican Republic on the streets that are so excited about the Book of Mormon! They said, “Why doesn´t the whole world know about this book from God??” We replied, “Well, that´s part of our purpose as missionaries and members!” It was so exciting. Also, I was really bummed about missing the baptism of Husane, my Muslim investigator back in Castellon, and I was praying for another opportunity like that. Well, God answers prayers! Meet, Mimon. Our new Muslim investigator who is also preparing for baptism this month! It will be a long road, but he said he would like to study the Book of Mormon. He really is intrigued by the idea of repentance bringing peace. He´s invited us over for couscous this week with him and his wife. He is from Morocco, and he came to the ward activity this week and really seemed to enjoy it. We did a mock plane crash. It was so hilarious. We had the hall of the church decorated (legit) like the inside of an airplane with instruction videos and flight attendants and everything, and sound effects! When the plane “crashes” two angels appear and takes us to each of the kingdoms of glory. It was really funny that in the Telestial room, the bishop and stake patriarch were playing poker there and talking about their “past lives”. The Terrestial Room was actually heart wrenching! It was this Mom looking at photo albums and talking about how she had been a returned missionary, her family had been sealed, and then slowly they just stopped doing the “little things” like family home evening, reading scriptures, praying, going to church every week, and how they fell away and are now separated for eternity, and they now just wanted to be in the presence of God. It was really good for the less active members that came and made us all realize how important the little things really are. Then the Celestial room there was a senior couple in the ward in their temple clothes holding hands and with Mormon Tabernacle Choir playing, and everyone just walked in and cried. It was a beautiful activity! We had one last miracle on Sunday night. We needed to teach one more lesson to complete our goal, and our cita we had planned fell through. We were so sad, but then the member we had with us stopped this man on a bike that happened to be his friend and he says, “Hi, I am doing a fast right now. Do you know what a fast is? It means I am really hungry, but I am praying really hard.”  It made the friend stop and talk with us, and we were able to have a great lesson on prayer right there in the street. I love last minute miracles where you think there is no way, and then God gives you a miracle just to remind you that He is watching over his work and wants to bless us. So, even though half the mission and ward thought we were M.I.A. This week, we were definitely right there fighting through!

Les Quiero!!

Hermana Hopkins

p.s. I heard this quote this week, and I wrote it down and put it on my wall to look at every day,

“Every day is beautiful and a blessing from God.” It´s so simple, but I really know that everyday is a blessing, and that is what keeps a smile on my face when times get tough.