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