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