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  

Chapter 65 Super Hermanas

Chapter 65: Super Hermanas

I couldn´t help but shudder as the all-too-familiar smell of scrubs and disinfectants welcomed me at the hospital doors. I have been trying to avoid this moment my entire mission, but I couldn´t avoid the looming Spanish Hospital. As they sat me down in the chair, I still couldn´t believe that I had agreed to this. I just heard bishop´s voice, “You got this Hermana Hopkins!”
Maybe I should rewind a little bit. Exactly 24 hours actually...
“Hermana Hopkins, Donating blood is a great cause.” Our bishop told me encouragingly, “You´ve never done it before?”
“No Bishop, and I don´t think we are allowed to as missionaries.” I was praying that there was something in the white handbook. I guess having my dad as a doctor never helped me get over my fear of the sight of blood.
“Well Hermanas, why don´t you call your president and ask for his permission. I would be really grateful for your support.” Ok, what could I say to that? So I picked up the phone and Hermana Pace (the president´s wife) answered.
“Hi Hermana Pace, I uh....I think I already know the answer to this.... but I thought I would just check....Missionaries can´t donate blood right?” Her bright voice came back over the line, “Why of course they can! It´s a wonderful thing to do, and we fully support it.” Ugh. The bishop just looked at me with a I-told-you.-so sort look in his eye....
“Bishop!” I exclaimed, “I can´t donate blood... I´ll pass out I am sure of it, and then how am I supposed to do the work of the Lord??”
“Hermana, the only way you wouldn´t be able to give blood is if you were pregnant.”
“Well Bishop....” I looked down and gingerly rubbed my belly, “I have something to tell you—I´m...”
He just laughed, “Nice try Hermana.” Well, it was worth a shot. I still had a questionable look in my eyes I suppose and that´s when he told me, “Hermana. All day every day you are working to save the souls of the children of God, no?” I shook my head. “And you realize, that now you have the opportunity to save a physical life. Is a missionary not going to sacrifice a little blood to save a life?” Ok. How was I supposed to say no to that!! Although I was afraid of contracting some Spanish disease, I filled out the paper work to give blood. It was actually a neat experience. When I sat down in the chair, they explained to me what they use the blood for and thanked us for our sacrifice, and put the needle in my arm. As long as I didn´t look at the little sack filling up with my own blood, I was ok. The bishop looked at me and said, “Hermana, you´re looking a little white there...”So I replied, “Bishop, I am always white!” The nurse had a good laugh at that one. She said I was handling it just fine. So there you go, I am now saving more than just souls here.
We were visiting a family this week where the husband is a member, but the wife has never accepted the missionary lessons. We decided to give it a shot, and we left to go find them in one our new towns. When we got there, she seemed very inviting, and even made us cookies, and sat down and talked to us. When she went up to get us juice, the member turned to us with his eyes wide open and said, “I have never seen her like this. She´s never accepted missionaries like this!” I would love to be able to unite this family, and the little girl they have is the most precious thing in the world. As we were leaving, the father asked her what she thought of us girl missionaries, and she said with eyes wide open, “Son guapisimas!! No son hermanas, son SUPER HERMANAS!!” (They are beautiful. They aren´t Hermanas, they are super hermanas) We just laughed, and I liked it. Super Hermanas...it has a good ring. We really felt like it this week though. We were going crazy trying to cover our old area and the elders area. It was an adventure though. I don´t know if I have ever been so exhausted in my entire life. We had some great lessons, but the whole week is just slurred together because  we were running non stop. Sunday though is the day that sticks out most clearly in my mind (maybe because it was just yesterday. Haha) We received a message from Mormon.org saying someone had interest in learning more about the gospel. That never happens. We were so excited. Her name is Marta, and we were super excited to go and teach someone that already has interest in the church. We met her at her house, and she seemed really sweet, She´s a Spaniard and my age. Actually I am exactly one year older than her.  Anyway, we asked her to explain why she had interest in the church, and I was completely shocked and excited all at the same time. She told us, “I was going about my everyday life, when I met this boy at work. He was from Peru, and we got a long really well. We started to talk about dating a little bit, but he had to go back to Peru. We have continued talking and that is when he told me that he wanted me to go be with him in Peru. However, he also told me he was a Mormon, and that he didn´t want me to come before I checked out the Mormon faith since it was such a big part of his life. Well, here´s the thing. I am a Jew. However, I decided to go through the process and essentially excommunicate myself from the Jewish faith...” (my jaw dropped about a foot. I was teaching an ex-Jew.) “And I knew I should give this a try, so give me everything you got.” I was so excited. We taught one of the most spiritually-powerful restoration lessons that I have in my entire mission, she even had tears well up in her eyes. But, before the first tear could fall, her flamboyant and boisterous mother comes clanking into the room asking us if Mormons have more than one wife. I almost died. Grr....So we will have to continue our teaching with our ex-Jew, but I couldn´t help but think we were completing a prophecy as we handed the Book of Mormon to a Jew—cold chills anyone? Afterwards, we had a very...humbling cita with one of 17 year old investigators. She is the sister of a recent convert, and we have been visiting the whole family and building a relationship with them for a while. When we walked in, I noticed there was a different look on her face. I asked her, “Boyfriend problems?” and she just kind of half chuckled and rubber her stomach. Oh no. “Actually, I´m pregnant.” I didn´t know what to say. I just stared at her. She seemed to be waiting for a comment, but I just continued to stare at her. I sent a silent prayer heavenward with the words that I needed to say. The words just weren´t coming. Knowing I had to say something, I opened my mouth and said, “Nicole...I just want you to know.....” she looked at me expecting a call to repentance I think, “I want you to know that God loves you.” I wasn´t expecting that to come out, and I actually could feel the tears burning in my eyes as I continued, “God loves you so much. I want you to know that you are a precious daughter of Him. He wants you to know that you are not alone. No matter what we have chosen, He never leaves our sides. He wants you to know that what you have done is in the past, and now you have not only the chance to change one life, but two. You can follow Jesus Christ and find the peace and happiness that you have been looking for.” She started to get emotional as she told us, “I thought God had abandoned me...” I looked at her and I told her, “Never, but don´t just trust me, put it to the test. Try to come closer to him, and he will draw closer to you.” I was not the one talking. I don´t think I have quite experienced anything like it before. I know that we are the instruments of God here, and that He really does love all His children. It doesn´t matter what we do—we all make mistakes; He is always waiting with an invitation to come unto Him with open arms. I have such a strong testimony of that now more than ever. This week, I didn´t know how we were going to be able to do it with the Elders being taken out. It was a lot of area to cover. But something that I have learned on the mission (and especially this week) is right when you think that God has given you something too big to handle, and you take one blind step forward with faith, He´ll always be there to show us that nothing is impossible. Even taking the gospel from the Gentiles to the Jews!
Les Quiero!
Hermana Hopkins 

Ch. 64: And Then There Were Two

Chapter 64: And Then There Were Two

Women seem to be in short supply here in Vilafranca. I feel like almost all of our investigators are men, and we just had rotten luck having women to come out from the ward to help us this week. We only have two young women that are old enough to come and help us, and one of them is handicapped, and the other lives an hour away...The adults that usually can help us all have been out of work, and all found work this week. As great as that miracle is, it left us empty handed....and we can´t go and teach a man if a woman isn´t present. So, we had to get creative this week, and have a lot of lessons on park benches, in stairwells of apartment buildings, you name it. haha However, I think being in a couple of these humble circumstances helped build the humility of our investigators.

Eusebio has been a very interesting investigator. (He is the single father from Bolivia.) He´s been reading the Book of Mormon like nobody I´ve ever seen. He underlines almost every word I feel like, and looks up any word he doesn´t quite understand. He comes for Sacrament meeting, but he usually has to leave to go pick up his son from his mom´s house who lives in a different town. However, he always refused to pray about the church. We asked him to pray about if this was the true church, if the Book of Mormon was the word of God, etc. but he always seemed slightly leery. It was really strange. So, we were determined to uncover his doubt this week. So, on the slightly-damp floor of his staircase, we just read from the Book of Mormon, and the rest was kind of history. He started questioning us about baptism, why we do it, what the correct form should be, and all the usual questions. When we asked him what was keeping him from taking that step, well, let´s just say I never expected this kind of answer. He looked down at the ground, and looked up ever so sheepishly and said, “Look Hermanas, I really need to get a residency for Spain...so I am thinking about paying a Spanish woman to marry me...or something bad like that. So, if I am going to be committing sins, I don´t think I should get baptized...” I just kind of looked at him and the thought came to me, “Read from Alma 7.” I swiftly opened my Book of Mormon back up and read to him from Alma 7 where it says, “lay aside all the sins that easily beset you.” We explained to him that God wants us to be happy. He wants to bless us. However, if we want the blessings and help from God, we have to do things His way, and trust in Him. We then read with him one of my favorite scriptures in Mosiah 2:41 that explains how we will be blessed in all things if we obey the commandments. We asked him to offer the closing prayer, and it was the sweetest experience. He closed his eyes, and started, “Heavenly Father, thank you for sending the Hermanas to me...” Silence. I peaked one eye, and saw alligator tears falling from his cheeks. The spirit had cut him to the core. He just cried and cried, and continued, “Please help me to read the Book of Mormon more so I can find the strength to overcome these temptations. Help me be strong...” when he closed the prayer we just sat in silent for a good 2 minutes and listened to his little sniffles. Finally, I looked up at him and said, “Eusebio, this is the Holy Spirit of God testifying to you that everything that we have told you is true. Remember it, because it is evidence that God loves you and wants the best for you.” It was really one of the most powerful moments in my mission!

Then there was Josep. This week, we had a family home evening with him at the Stake President´s home, and it was fun to see! He is very open, and very honest, and quite frank. So when the Stake President was explaining the Holy Ghost and prayer, Josep was not afraid to cut in and say, “Well that´s great and lovely, but I have never felt it.” We spent the next hour talking about moments where he could have felt the spirit, but just didn´t recognize it. He´s so funny! He´s like, “Well there was this one time in church when someone gave their testimony, that it just hit me different. It really reached me.” and we were like, “Josep! That´s the spirit!!” He is so stubborn he just said, “Well, it might have just been her gift of speaking.” OH goodness. So, we decided to just leave it and pray about what he needed when we went and visited him again. We felt strongly that he´s got to stop his smoking to be able to fully recognize the spirit. So, we were going to need a miracle, and so what better than do a lesson out of Moroni 7 and talk about miracles and faith. So, we did. He looked at us during the lesson, and said, “Usually, the scriptures don´t reach me. But this one. This one reached me!! So he got up, got a pen and marked it carefully.” Hermana Ward and just looked at each other. It was time. We had been preparing all week an anti-smoking and anti-coffee kit, and we were ready for a miracle. We had been asking people who had quit smoking what they did, and so we compiled it all into a giant kit that included: peanuts, grapefruit juice, mint gum, sunflower seeds, malta (for the coffee), and other such materials. He just laughed as we took it all out and put it in front of him. He knew where we were headed with this. We gave him the challenge to try to quit smoking and drinking coffee this week, and that he would see a miracle. He accepted it!! We were shocked! So pray for Josep that he can get over this addiction.

The rest of the week was going by a little slowly, until Saturday morning. We were halfway through the second verse of “Now let Us Rejoice” in our companionship study, when the phone ring. I was tempted to just let it ring when I saw that it was the Elders, but I decided to answer.

“Hello?”

"Hey Hermanas, what are you doing all day today and all day tomorrow...? And would you like all of our food?"

Huh??

We were receiving a call from President at the same time, so I hung up from them and then answered the call from our president. President Pace started to explain, "Hermanas, I thought you should know that we are taking the elders completely out of Vilafranca, so come Monday you will be the only missionaries in Vilafranca. I trust you. You have two days to get caught up on the elders investigators and everything."  I just stared at the phone. Can this even happen? Two Hermanas alone with an entire ward?? Not to mention, an entire ward that covers 6 or 7 relatively big cities (not towns-big cities). We didn´t know whether to celebrate or panic. I was really excited to take on the challenge, but it´s a lot of responsibility. So, wish us luck here! We are going to need it. We are essentially white washing the Elders´area while maintaining ours. The rest of the weekend was spent learning the most important parts of the elder’s area and investigators. I still can´t quite grasp the idea, but here we go. Ready or Not. Two hermanas about to take on this entire area.

Les Quiero!

Hermana Hopkins 

Ch. 63: An African Safari and a Lawyer

Chapter 63: An African Safari and a Lawyer

“What is that...?” I thought to myself, “...Is that a fish head?”

The plate of African food was being put into my lap, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I have been avoiding this moment my entire mission. Missionaries always have the tales of the famous African dishes, and my time had come.

“So, Albertha, what´s in it?” Bad question. BAD QUESTION.

“Well, carrots, tomato, pepper, (not so bad), sardines (a little worse), fish tail, fish head, an...”

“ Alberth“a, you better eat up, or your food will get cold.” I didn´t even want to know the rest.

I took a deep breath. I can do this, I can do this.....Actually, the first bite wasn´t that bad. The second bite all I could taste was sea salt, and some part of a fish. Oh no. This African fish stew was not going to be good with me. I discovered if I kept the plate far away so I couldn´t smell it and I swallowed fast, I would only feel the fishies slipping down. Gulp. Albertha told us while she was eating that there is a special dish they make for women who are pregnant and want to have their baby. She said, “We make this dish, they eat the dish, and out comes the baby. Just like that!” What are you trying to do to me Albertha....hahaha Fortunately, our lesson was a lot more appealing than our meal. She is the cutest little convert ever. Her husband (who is slightly less active) came in and we asked him to offer the prayer, and he started to protest a little bit, and Albertha points to him and says, “You WILL pray, and you WILL invite the Holy Ghost to stay in our home.” There´s nothing you can say more to that! And she made her own dress for church this past Sunday. It was pretty impressive.

Saturday was also a crazy day for us. We were supposed to meet with our investigator that had the really incredible experience with the Book of Mormon (the one with the light), but she was an hour late, so as we were sitting in our meeting spot trying to think of something to do for 45 minutes, a man named Frank came and sat down next to us. We had contacted him once before, so we just started chatting about life. He explained to us that he used to be a lawyer, but now he was retired. He was asking us about our mission life and what we believe in, and he said, “I get along with you girls, and I´d like to have you over for dinner. What about if one night you girls come over at 10:00?” (that´s a normal time when Spaniards eat dinner.) We explained to him how we had to be in our piso, at the latest, by 10:30 and how we actually have to call our District leader to tell him we are home. He just looked at us and said, “Look, I am a lawyer, it´s my job to get through loop holes. Go home at10:00, call your leader, and then come back out. It is simple. Plus, I have some great wine and coffee.” Oh great. We explained to him how we don´t drink alcohol...or coffee. He looked completely perplexed, but finally said he would make hot chocolate. We also explained the importance of us obeying all the mission rules. So, it will be interesting to see how our lawyer will progress.  Finally, Lucresia (the woman who loves the Book of Mormon) showed up, and she brought her other friend, so we excused her tardiness.  I was so excited. The friend that she brought was so great. We were explaining the Restoration, and the friend, her named Consuelo (comfort in English) was just eating it up. Lucresia just said, “Look, the Book of Mormon is just like the Bible but even better. You get to read about Christ without thinking so hard about what it´s actually trying to say. It just says it! And it’s relatable!” It was so great to see how her testimony keeps growing of the Book of Mormon. It just stinks how she works EVERY day. ALL day. She only gets off work one day every month, and it´s the last day of the month. Some day she´ll come to church and get baptized.... But for now, we can work with Consuelo. Then, later in the day, we had to help the Elders set up for their baptism, actually, we had to go pick her up from a town a half hour away on a train. She´s....well....let´s just say not quite there. I think she has some mental problems. I have never seen anything like it. She was crying hard for like 3 minutes, and then would be happy and smiling for the next 10 minutes, then panicking again, and then completely peaceful. I didn´t know what to do....I just kind of sat there trying to figure out how I could calm her down during one of her crying attacks. She kept repeating how she´s been emotional for the last 3 days, and that she just wanted to feel peace before her baptism. I was trying to think of something when I thought of the story of Alma the younger. Three days of misery and then joy. Perfect! I shared with her the scripture, and she was fine all the way through after that. What a miracle. After the baptism, we also had another little miracle with Josep. His daughter went with the Young Women to go ride horses, and so he was able to really tell us all the doubts and problems he has going on right now. It´s pretty much a mess. I felt so bad. It turns out that he has his ex wife who is the mother of his daughter, and his real wife who actually raised the daughter and is more like a mother to his daughter both in Colombia. The ex wife gave up Angela (the daughter) for adoption, and he had to go find her in the orphanage and pay to get his own daughter out while he was in Colombia. He brought her here to Spain with his real wife, but she could only stay for 5 years with her visa. Now, to make a very long story short the ex wife is coming to try to take Angela away, and Josep is trying to work to get his real wife here. He´s waiting for God to help him with the situation, and until something happens, I am afraid he´s not going to progress in the gospel. WHICH, is not how it´s supposed to work! We are working with him about if he shows his faith in God, that God will help us. We are really working with him though, we can feel the miracle around the corner!

This week though, I really felt like I was serving my mission in Africa. Between the African cuisine and continued visits with Albertha, it would appear that I had traveled to Ghana without realizing it. The African Safari doesn´t end there though. On Sunday, our ward did a “blitz”. A lot of the members and all the missionaries got together, and we got sent to visit all the less actives in our ward. It was a great activity. So, we went to the first two houses that we were assigned, and there was no one home. Then, we went to another less active home of another African, and actually, a Jehovah witness that was visiting let us in the door. I never thought I would say thank you to a Jehovah Witness...kidding! Sort of...anwyay. We got in there, and he wasn´t home, but his daughter was! His daughter is not a member and is investigating a lot of different churches and has a lot of questions. So we taught the daughter and she said she would love to go to church next week. I love working with the less active members. She´s 15, and we´re going to go get ice cream with her this week. Ice cream is one of my favorite tools of the missionary work. Who refuses ice cream??  It was quite the eventful week! In the words of some of my favorite Africans, “me do po po po!” (I have no idea of the spelling)

Les quiero!

Hermana Hopkins