Chapter 37: I´m doing WHAT again??

What a crazy week! The last week of the transfer always seems to fly for me. This week we were definitely blessed with a miracle. We were continuing to have the worst luck with our investigators, and then my companion told me how she felt prompted that we should pass by an investigator that we found a couple months ago that seemed to have no interest. Well, we did, and we got the usual response, "I can´t today, but come back tomorrow, and I´ll be here." I just looked at my companion and thought ya right. I didn’t even know if we should waste the time coming back. Well, we did and it was incredible. She was completely changed. We taught her the Restoration, and she wanted us to come back. We had the Relief Society President come with us to an appointment to teach the Plan of Salvation, and she said she wanted to be baptized! There is always power in the Plan of Salvation. I love to see the look in people´s eyes when they find out for the first time that they can live with God and their family for Eternity.  Her name is Ana, and she is from Peru and she has a husband and son. She´s by far the most interested out of the three, but she is just learning so much. She really is asking questions and diligently seeking to find the truth. We came back the next day and she told us, "Before we start the lesson, I didn´t have an opportunity to read out of the Book of Mormon today; can we start our lesson by reading a chapter?" She is truly incredible. What´s even more incredible is she came to church! And the members just loved and accepted her. I am so excited. I think we may have some Word of Wisdom problems, but she has enough faith to overcome them. I am really excited to continue working with her and her family. Sunday night, the Relief Society President invited her over for Family Home Evening, and I think she had a good time. Have I ever said that I love the members here?  Which is why I am so glad that....drum roll please....I am staying in Castellón for another transfer! I was completely and utterly shocked. I knew that either me or Hermana Jarman was leaving, and it´s almost always the senior companion that leaves first when they open an area. In fact, I had pretty much begun my farewells, shed a few tears at one house (for the record, they started crying first, and I just couldn´t help myself) but then we received transfer calls. I was honestly panicking all day in anticipation of this call. I hate transfer calls.  Anyway, our district Leader finally called us, and he told us where all the Elders in the district were going first (He was trying to kill me, I am sure of it) and then he said, "Hermana Jarman, you will be opening the area Gerona with Hermana Benson (my MTC comp! lucky duck...) and Hermana Hopkins, you will be staying and training." WHAT??? Training again?? So yes, I am right back into the training program. I can´t believe I was called to train back to back, especially since only 4 Hermanas are coming into the mission. But, I know it´s what the Lord wants me to do at this point. So, we went around and let Hermana Jarman say her goodbyes. We visited our Spaniard family, Ana and Cristina. And the Grandma is about 80 years old, and just cried and cried. It was so sweet. Then she tried to teach us the pasa doble. hahaha I don´t think I will be making it on Dancing with the Stars anytime soon, but it was a sweet memory. It was definitely a bitter sweet weekend. I was grateful I got to stay in Castellón for the Holidays, but it was really hard to say goodbye to Hermana Jarman. I felt like her mom getting her ready to leave on her mission. She´s been trained, well, actually she trained me, and I know she will be so great up there. Maybe a little bit colder, but she will work miracles. As for me, I am nervous to train again, but I guess it´s what I signed up for.  I really do love being a missionary. Fernando has been really flakey this week, so we need to keep working with him, and Gris said she wouldn´t be able to meet with us this week just as a quick update. Happy Thanksgiving for real this week.  The Elders had us all convinced that it was last week, and we had a full out party! I even made a pie, and when we called the senior couples to tell them Happy Thanksgiving they informed us that we were wrong, it was next week. hahaha! We all had a good laugh. But hey, now we just get to celebrate it twice! So yes, I am so grateful for all the prayers and support, especially during this week.

Les Quiero,

Hermana Hopkins

Chapter 36: Hermana Hopsicle

Yes, this week I was Hermana Hopsicle. I don’t know what hit Spain, but it sure wasn’t the weather I was expecting—not to mention I am in the warmest area in the mission right now. People keep telling me that I should be used to this being from Utah, but I don’t think they understand that I have been living in Spain for the last 8 months, and have become accustomed to the warm, Mediterranean air not the bitter-cold, humid wind. However, it is starting to warm back up, slowly yet surely. Unfortunately, this weather report seems to be work report of our week as well. Every time we got some sunshine, we were hit with some rain. We taught Fernando this week, and it was an incredible lesson. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and my companion told me before the lesson that she would also like to teach the word of wisdom. I thought that was crazy! We already knew that he had a problem with drinking, and so I was thinking we would make sure that he had a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith before teaching it to him...but as the time came, I felt it was the right time to talk about it as well, and so we did. We taught the word of wisdom, and he just looked back at us like we were the craziest people he had ever seen. It was the biggest let down ever. I was just thinking, “Great, we just lost our best investigator.” However, then he looked up at us again, and told us, “Hermanas, I somehow knew all my life that smoking, coffee, tea, and drugs were bad for me, but I have had a problem with alcohol. I have been trying to stop. Last night, I felt a presence stand next to me as I was about to take a sip of alcohol that told me to stop. I know that I need to stop and that this is the right path for me.” I was shocked!! He told us he still wanted to talk to his son and his wife about his baptism, but he would try to stop drinking alcohol. It was definitely a bit of sunshine! However, the end of the week came, and we decided to fast as a companionship because he told us that he would tell us if he would get baptized this week on Sunday morning. A couple hours after we started the fast, we got a call from the Elders telling us that they found Fernando drinking outside. I was so upset. He came to church, but got an emergency call and had to leave before we really got a chance to talk to him. This one might take a little bit more power from the Heavens than I originally thought. We also started teaching this other women named Gris. She is from Ecuador, and she is so open.  We taught her the Restauración, and at the end we asked her what she thought, and she replied, “Well, I guess I need to be baptized.” You guessed right my friend!  However, she didn’t come to church like she promised, so it will be a little easier said than done.... It was, however, a very trying week. I think God had to send us little miracles to keep us going. One day in particular comes to mind. We had a really long day—everything cancelled on us, it was raining, and we were cold and tired—the perfect setting for a miracle. It was so tempting to just go back to our apartment a half hour early just warm up and make calls or something. However, we decided to be good little missionaries, and stay out, and God sent us a miracle indeed! We were walking, or splashing more like, to a little park inside of our area—it seemed fruitless since everyone was inside enjoying the cozy warmth, but then we saw a man walking his dog in the distance. Since he was the only person brave enough to face the cold, we thought maybe he was warm enough to accept our message. We walked up to him, and he was Hussain! Our lost Muslim investigator! After we had talked with him and made an appointment, we saw another one of our investigators that we had lost the phone number for, and hadn’t been able to contact him. It was such a blessing that wouldn’t have happened if we had gone back! So although we had some rough patches this week, we were definitely blessed, and the forecast for next week definitely looks a little brighter.

Les Quiero!

Hermana Hopsicle J

Chapter 35: Boomin´Brazilian Baptism

            This week, my companion and I were working on finding two new investigators everyday. It seemed like a really big goal, but we put our faith in God and got to work. So Wednesday, we had a day packed full of visits and potential new investigators, and every single one of them cancelled. Yes, every single one. It was awful.  We just roamed the streets, half heartedly contacting people. Yes, I realize this is not the attitude a missionary should have, but it was a bad day.  So, we had one cita left, and we were super excited for this young Spaniard that we found. So, we invited one of the young adults to go with us, and then we walked to his piso....and he wasn´t there. I was about ready to...I don´t even know. But then, the young adult said, “Well, I know that one of my friends used to live in this building. Let me call him and see if he would like to listen.”  Not only did he want to listen, but he said, “Alright, let´s go pick up my other friend and maybe he would be interested as well.” We were in shock. Just like any other Spaniard, we went to go get tapas and discuss the gospel.  It was really such a miracle. Although we didn´t meet our goal....or come close to actually, the Lord blessed us to have the faith to continue our crazy week. 

Oh and yes, Thursday morning we met with Aglaice,and it was the moment of truth. We talked about her goal to be baptized this Saturday and asked how she was doing with the Word of Wisdom. She told us, “I was with my friends one day, and they all went to a bar. They all were asking me, even more than usual to drink some beer. I told them that I had to go home and study something, and I couldn´t. The next day, I went out again and saw my friends outside the same bar smoking and drinking, and they invited me even more than the previous day to join them.” Then she just looked up at me with this sad expression on her face, and my heart plummeted. However, she continued, “I almost did, but then I felt this light or pull from God to help me resist. I told them that I was preparing for my baptism and that I couldn´t do that anymore. They told me I was crazy and that this church has way too many restrictions. And I told them that they only tell you to not put harmful substances in your body—that we need to eat healthily. And the bartender overheard and said he respected my decision to follow God, and will have a Fanta or Pepsi waiting for me whenever I needed it.” My jaw was about on the floor at this moment—just last week she was struggling so hard with the word of wisdom, and now she was an advocate for it! It was a blessing straight from heaven, and she had her interview that night, and was ready to go for her baptism on Saturday. Now, I knew that it was too easy...This never happens the week before baptisms. Yet, Friday came and went, and Saturday morning came. So far so good...her baptism was at 12:00, so we had to get to the church pretty early to fill the font. Now, the font is a blue little swimming pool thing supported by metal bars that the Elders have to put up and down every time there is a baptism. Plus, I learned from the last baptism that it leaks. So, we tightened all the corners, and put mops underneath the font to try to stop the leakage. Again, so far so good. Aglaice came on time, got her baptismal clothes on, and we took pictures. So far so good. Then we started the baptismal program, which was very sweet. So far so good. Then, it was time for Hermana Jarman and I to sing. We got up and sang “Where Can I Turn for Peace” since it was one of her favorite songs. We got through the first verse and started the second when we hear this BOOM coming from the font. Oh no. Everyone jumped out of their chairs, and one of the little kids there yelled out, “Did I hear a dinosaur??” One of the Elders went to go assess the situation, and by this time Hermana Jarman and I were just standing in the front dumbfounded, unable to comprehend what was going on. Then, about a minute later, BOOM. The metal supports the held the font up were exploding because they forgot to turn off the water. The Elders sprinted out of the room to turn off the water, and the relief society president calmly says, “Hermanas, will you continue your song.” I was just trying not to laugh at this point. It could not have been a better song to be singing. We finished the song, and it was a beautiful baptism. We were so blessed! The next day she was confirmed a member, and it was so cute. As soon as she sat down, she said, “I want to pay tithing, where and how can I do that?” It was a hard journey, but it was so great.

            Also, we were teaching Fernando, our batman from the Dominican Republic. I just have no other words to describe his voice. Haha He sounds like batman with an accent from the Dominican Republic. He´s had a pretty hard life, and so we taught him the Plan of Salvation. I think it´s my favorite lesson to teach because it just makes sense! I love seeing the understanding that fills people´s eyes when you teach the Plan of Salvation—that their life has a purpose. At the end of the lesson, we had this grown man just crying. It was such a tender moment. He said he would pray about being baptized this month. I love Dominicans.  Most of our investigators were busy this week, so we didn´t get to meet with very many of them, but the lessons we had were so great, it made me realize how excited I am to be a missionary at this time right now. I love this church, and even though it´s hard sometimes, I know it´s true with all my heart. Thanks for all the prayers for Aglaice; I know it´s what was the difference in helping her overcome her addictions.

Les Quiero!

Hermana Hopkins 

Chapter 34: Happy Halloween

Chapter 34: Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!! I definitely missed the United States version of the spooky holiday, but we still tried our best to make it festive. It´s not really celebrated here in Spain. The day after is El Día de los Santos, which is the equivalent to Memorial Day in the United States. However, Halloween was also one of the Elder´s birthdays in our district, and I was bound to make it special for him as well. So, I made Halloween cupcakes! Complete with orange cream cheese frosting with “bug” sprinkles. And yes, I made the frosting beating it with a fork. I was pretty proud of myself.  Then my companion and I were scheming on how we could dress up by still following mission rules, and then it hit us! We were going to be each other! Haha So I dressed up like my companion, and she dressed up like me, and we switched chapas (name tags) when we delivered the cupcakes. I only saw about 5 children in the street wearing costumes because really here in Spain, it´s a holiday that gives adults an excuse to go get drunk. No trick or treating here. That morning, we taught Aglaece who was supposed to get baptized last Saturday. She told us, “Hermanas I thought I would let you know, that when you started visiting me, I was smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. Now, I have gotten down to 2 cigarettes a day, and I promise if you give me a week, I will be baptized.” I´ll take it. We are really really going to work on her next week. For English class that night, we always give a spiritual thought at the end, and I thought I was being pretty clever by giving a thought about the Holy Ghost. After class, we approached this Brazilian lady about seeing if there was a time we could visit her and explain to her a little bit about the church. She has a friend in the church and said, “Sure! In fact, why don´t I come pick you both up on Saturday and you can come to my house for lunch!” I love Brazilians. Sometimes, I think I should have followed my brother and dad´s examples and served there as well. Haha Anyway, Saturday came and we talked on the way, and then we pull up to this little Spanish villa in the countryside of Spain. I was in awe!! It was the most beautiful little home I had seen in Spain yet. There were tons of palm trees and fruit trees, and she went to town on this lunch! She had a “princess garden party.” set up among the trees in her yard with these darling little decorations, and a feast prepared. I thought I had eaten a lot in my life...but I think if you add together all the Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners I have had in my entire life, it might just maybe would add up to what I ate. I couldn´t move.  She served us this GIANT plate of rice and beans. I thought that was the main dish. Oh no. Then she pulls out the fist and potatoes....a HUGE fish, mind you. Then when I thought I couldn´t fit another bite in, she filled my plate. Twice. And there was no telling her no.  My companion just looked at me with her cheeks filled with food, and this panicked look in her eyes. I was stuffed to the gills. Then came the dessert. She brings out this big plate of fruit, ice cream, and chocolates. We shared the message and invited her to come to  church, and she drove us home, and we died. We had to lie on the floor, half laughing and half crying for about a half an hour before we could get out and work again. Also, we have continued to work with Fernando. Well, we taught him the restoration, and we asked him if he would like to be baptized. He was just like, “Yea! I´ll be baptized.” Ummm, what??  Not only that, but he actually came to church! I was so excited. I think he might have some word of wisdom problems, but after dealing with Algaece these last couple weeks, it doesn´t quite phase me like it did before. He had to leave Sacrament meeting early, and it was so funny, he walks out the door, and then sticks his head back in and in his deep, gravely, Dominican voice says, “May Jesus bless you all, see you next week!”  All the missionaries just bursted out laughing. We couldn´t help it. I love the people we are teaching. We have had a few nights this week where every appointment cancelled, which leaves us on the streets to do contacting, door knocking, etc. And those nights are hard. But, we also have seen the Lord´s hand in this work so much. Last night I was not in the happy missionary spirit that you see in church movies. Every cita cancelled on us, it was windy outside, and I was exhausted since we had to be up early for a conference. I was just walking grudgingly along, and I was thinking, “This is just a miserable night.” So, I said a prayer in my heart for a miracle. We were knocking doors, and no one would even let us talk. Then we found this Spaniard that seems to be prepared just for us. He talked about how he has been looking for the truth since he believes that the Catholic Church has changed too many doctrines from the bible, and how the bible needs something to complete it since so many truths were taken out. I am so excited to teach him! He is so open to our message. God really does answer prayers, sometimes not when we ask for them right away, and sometimes yes. This week is going to be really busy preparing Algaece for her baptism, so please pray for us here. I have a new testimony of the devil during the weeks before baptisms!

 In the words of Fernando, “May Jesus bless you, and see you next week!”

Les Quiero,

Hermana Hopkins 

Chapter 33: Agency.

I have to admit, if agency wasn´t such a great gift, I would be really sick of it by now. On Tuesday, we went ot Aglaece´s house, super excited after the great lesson we had with her about the Word of Wisdom. The next lesson was the Law of Chastity, but we figured that she wouldn´t have a bit of a problem with it since she is slightly anti-man... haha She has told us that she thinks that men are just a political figure in the home. I guess she has had some bad experiences.  We decided to just teach it straight up since she sometimes gets our Spanish mixed up since she speaks....Portuguese –sort of.  What a mess!! We walked in the door, and I could sense something wrong....She could not even walk straight. Oh NO. I was just thinking, “Oh my goodness. She is drunk!” Well, here is where you just have to learn from your mistakes. Being the...determined missionary that I am, I decided to continue with the message. Ok, ok I know what you are all thinking right now -bad move. It was, I admit it. However, she wasn´t drunk as we came to find out, we just weren’t sure what was wrong with her.  Anyway it was an awful chastity lesson, so we asked if we could come back in a couple days. I was not happy with her for one, and so I lost the spirit trying to teach her. When we came back two days later, we decided to re-teach the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. We took it from a different approach though and told her that she is a Daughter of God. She told us that she has never taken drugs, she hasn´t taken a drink of alcohol since we told her not to same with tobacco, and has limited her coffee to once a week. So what on earth made her act like that in the last lesson?!! Then a thought came to me to ask her if she slept ok the night before. Uhhh....I was thinking that is the weirdest question in the world; there is no way I am asking that. But I guess I have asked stranger things, so I asked her anyway. She told us, “Well, I haven´t been sleeping right, so I have sleep medication to help me.” Well, that answered the fact of why she was acting so weird the day before! So, we still have hope with her, but I am not really sure how to approach the fact that her sleep medication makes her crazy! Oh well, she is still super great. She accepted the Law of Chastity, finally, and recommitted to live the word of Wisdom. It was a much better lesson! This week, we have really been working with less active members. We met with the bishop to see how we could really help some of the inactive sisters, because for some reason, there are a ton! He said that no matter what age the woman is, to work with them about the Young Womens theme. I thought that was a little strange at first, but then he went through each of the values and described the importance of them for staying active and strong in the church. Focus on faith, then divine nature, etc. I was really excited to see that it actually has been working! I never realized how important or inspired those simple values are. It was the best thing to see a couple of the girls we have been working with show up at church this last Sunday. None of our planned investigators showed up, but I will take it! We had Stake Conference in Valencia, and so we all got on a bus to get there as a ward, and one of our investigators showed up that we have only taught once equipped with a white shirt and tie (that is a big deal.) And to top it off, a member brought us an entire family of investigators. It was like Christmas morning!  Especially since this week has been really hard. We saw rejection after rejection after rejection! We´ve been trying to find new investigators, but the Jehovah Witnesses have given us a bad name I think.  I feel like I can handle the rejection side just fine, it´s the fact that we have nothing to do if we aren´t teaching people, and we are just on the street or trying to get into buildings to knock on doors. A lot of people told me that Spain would be really hard because there are so many Catholics, but the problem is with the Atheists! I have never seen so many atheists in my entire life! I feel like it´s a disease swarming all over this country sucking the faith out of everyone. It´s honestly a relief just to hear someone say they still believe in God. However! I was praying one day just to find one person that would be willing to listen to us. And that is when we found Fernando. Oh Fernando. He is from the Domincan Republic (and don´t we all know how much I love my Domincans) and he talks a little bit like Darth Vader mixed with Batman, but that´s ok, because he is simply great! He said he would read, pray, and go to church. He called us Sunday morning and said something came up with his kids, but at least he called! I am really excited to continue to work with him. That night, bishop took us with the ward mission leader and his wife to go visit a menos activo that lives about an hour away in a little town on the coast, and he said he wanted to show us something really quick. We got out of the car and walked into this lush Spanish garden filled with fountains and thousands of twinkling lights. Then he told everyone to be still for just a second, and you could hear the sounds of the gentle waves of the Mediterranean Sea crashing on the moonlit coast. It was a moment from a movie—there was even the ever so slight strumming of the Spanish guitar in the background. In that peaceful moment, I knew that God was here watching out for me, and that I felt so much more at peace. Then it was back to work! When we got back, we still had an hour left of the day, and we felt like we should call our Spanish investigators to make sure they are doing ok. Sometimes I think they enjoy our company more than our lessons, but we felt particularly prompted to give them a call. The grandmother, the most Catholic of them all, answered the phone and said, “Oh I wish you would have called a few hours earlier, I am tired and I don´t have time for you to come over tonight.” I felt this strong feeling that I should keep the conversation going. We kept talking about how her week was, and how her family was, and then she broke down. I just heard sobs over the speaker and she said, “I have lost my faith, I have no desire to pray or anything, please come over right now!” Well, that was a change. So we rushed over there to find this poor woman bawling in our arms, and asked for us just to sing to her hymns. So we did, and slowly the tears stopped, and she decided she was going to read and pray again. The miracle kept going though because we thought this family wasn´t really paying much attention to what we were teaching, but then the daughter comes in with Book of Mormon in hand and said, “I was actually hoping you would come by sometime, I had some questions about this book...” It ended up being such a great, spiritual lesson, and they all said they would try coming to church. It was a hard week, but there seems to be a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel from these last couple weeks. Our mission President said this week that the success isn´t in the results, but it is in the effort. I have really seen that so far in my mission. Even when it´s hard, I know that God is there. I love the work here in Castellón, I can´t even imagine leaving now! Thanks for all the prayers,

Les quiero,

Hermana Hopkins 

Chapter 32: Hands of Angels

Chapter 32: Hands of Angels

This week seemed like a sprint to the end! It started off a little slow, and then it just got crazier and crazier!! I don´t want to bore you all with the less exciting parts, so I will just skip to the climax. Aglaece, our sweet Brazilian investigator had some word of wisdom issues. It was a little discouraging at first because we felt like she didn´t quite get it (hence her idea last week with quitting coke and hot chocolate.) So, we planned out this great lesson all week for her. We decided that we were going to reteach her the Atonement and how Christ can help you overcome any trials or challenges that you have, and God will always provide a way for us to follow the commandments. So, we went to her piso and everything was going great, and then this idea pops into my head. I had a grocery bag in my purse (you never know when you will need a grocery bag), and I said, "Aglaece, this is a bag of your faith in the Savior. (Super cheesey, I know) I want you to put all of your coffee and tobacco in this bag and trust that Christ will heal you of your addiction if you rely on the Atonement. She looked a little bit taken back, but simply said, "Alright." And she got up got her pack of cigarettes and coffee and threw them in the bag. She then said she would try to be ready for her baptism this week. However, it´s stake conference, so we have to change it for the 2 of November. Oh well. My companion and I walked out of that lesson so composed....and then as soon as we knew we were out of eyesight and hearing of her building we just jumped up and down so excited!! I have never had an investigator progress this far with the word of wisdom that has actually had a problem with it (Francisco and Feily didn´t use any of those things).  I was really relieved that it went well. She is so sweet! During the week we have been preparing our nine year old little girl for her baptism over the phone since she lives so far away. We called her everyday and did little mini lessons with her, made sure she was reading the Book of Mormon with her mom every day, giving her a practice interview, etc. Her mom wanted this baptism perfect, and so it was a lot of pressure. We had a ward activity on Friday to help with as well. They do this international celebration of cultures activity, and let me tell you. They celebrate it more than Christmas. EVERYONE has to participate. They wanted all the missionaries from the states to do a line dance, but we didn´t have time, obviously, to choreograph such a thing, so we all did things in companionships. So my companion and I sang the Star Spangled Banner, naturally, and they called us the night before to make cookies from the United States. The Elders already were making chocolate chip cookies, and so we were trying to plan our baptism, fit in making cookies, and being normal missionaries all at the same time. The life of an Hermana. What can you do? So we decided to make peanut butter cookies, and everyone was in shock that you can make peanut butter desserts. In Spain, they only make it to use in meats. It was a success, and I felt super patriotic singing the national anthem. It was soo funny though! I looked out over the crowd and I noticed a lot of our Latin American members had their hands on the hearts, and afterwards they came up to us and said, "We just had to put our hands on our hearts because we are Americans too." Yes, if you try to tell someone that is from South America here that they aren´t American, they feel extremely offended. Whenever you say you are an American, they correct you and say you are a NORTH American. hahaha Oh well. It was really fun, and it was a great way for the ward to bring their non-member friends. We are excited to work with some of the investigators that they brought. Then Saturday it was funny, I woke up and I could just taste the baptism stress in the air. As a missionary, you want your baptisms to go perfect. Of course this is NEVER the case. Something has to go wrong. It´s just the way they work. We went out early to get everything done so that everything that night would go smoothly. We finished the programs, and went to take them to get them printed when I noticed all the papelerias (sorry, I don´t know what they are in English. I have been sitting here 2 minutes searching for the word.) And I have no idea why they would be closed on Saturday, but they were. So we were running frantically all over town looking for somewhere that would print these programs. Luckily the Elders called us and found this tiny little place that would do it for us. Actually, I should give a big shout out to the elders because they set up the font for us that morning and stayed with it all day for us. (It´s not like we have at our stake center, you have to construct this pool like thing in the church and connect it to the water) We wanted to do it in the sea (probably would have made my mission right there) but it was too cold they said and she has asthma. Another time... Anyway. We thought everything was going just dandy when I was walking by the font and I hear this little splash under my foot....and then I followed the sound and saw that we had a little pond outside of our font. Yes, the font was leaking EVERYWHERE! Oh no! So of course the elders went for the first thing they could think of. Duct tape. It wasn´t just any duct tape, oh no. They got Avengers duct tape to plaster all over the font. hahaha!! The best part is they never even found the leak, we just kept mopping and mopping for about 2 hours to keep it under control. The worst part of it is that Castellon is still really hot and really humid, and the water they were filling the font with was practically boiling I swear. After being in there all morning, I couldn´t tell if I was inside the font or outside of it. We were all drowning! Luckily, one of the Elders got the AC to work, and we had everything under control right before they arrived. The service was really beautiful. Gisela, that is her name, told us before that her favorite color is red, so we went and bought her a red ruby necklace and put the virtuous woman scripture with it and told her she is far more precious to Heavenly Father than rubies. Then during the service, one of the members gave a beautiful talk about baptism. I think I have heard this metaphor before, but it was just so perfect! She talked about baptism being the key to your heavenly mansion that God is preparing for you, and it was just so precious. Honestly, we were all bawling. Gisela´s dad is not a member either, and I know he was touched by the whole thing. Hermana Jarman and I sang "I feel my Savior´s Love", and then she was baptized and confirmed. It was so precious. Hermana Jarman turned to me after and said, "You know, at first I didn´t feel like this was our baptism since it was practically handed to us, but I guess this is one of those baptisms that we can thank our ancestors for." I really liked that idea. I know that there are angels watching over all of us, and that there are people in Heaven who love me and love the people that we are working with. Plus, I feel like one of the most important parts of a baptism is keeping an eye out after them for the rest of their lives to make sure they stay active. I am so grateful to be a missionary here in Castellon, Spain where we see the hands of angels everyday! 

Hermana Hopkins

Chapter 31: 7:35 p.m.

For the record, I had a big long email all typed out, ready to send, when my computer crashed! I was so sad!  I am now short on time, so this might end up being a little shorter than originally planned.  This week was a little all-over the place, quite literally. My companion had to go to Barcelona for a couple of days to get her residency card, and I had to go to Valencia to be with another Hermana. (Our companions went to Barcelona together.) So my companion and I were sent to Valencia to meet up with the other Hermanas and we arrived at 6:40 at the train station. Their train to Barcelona was supposed to leave at 7:35. So, we had plenty of time to just wait and relax in the train stations. However, knowing me, I can´t just have a simple travel time. Right? So we were supposed to meet up with the other missionaries at 7:00 to do the trade. However, 7:00 came and went and there were no signs of the other Hermanas. I thought this was really weird, but President has been really particular about not missing trains, so I decided to just get my companion checked in and just wait there by myself until the other Hermanas got there. However, the lady checking us in just looked at me with a pained expression on her face and said, “Sorry mam, this train ticket was made for the train station across town, and it would take a miracle for you to get there in time.” Not on my watch, I thought.  I just turned to my companion and only had time to half-murmur, “run”. And we took off sprinting and I had no idea where to go! Haha! I called the Hermanas and sure enough, they had accidentally sent us to the wrong train station, and we had 20 minutes to make a 40 minute trip. They all told me to just turn back and call the office, but there was no way! I asked them to give me the directions for the quickest way there which was through the metro. So there was my companion and I, sprinting through the metro station and literally diving through the metro doors. By this time it was 7:21 and we were still 20 minutes out from what everyone was telling me. Oh ye of little faith! We got out of the metro and just sprinted through town and ran into the train station at 7:33 and got her on the train at 7:34. Thank you, thank you, it truly was a miracle.  We got transfer calls this week and we’re both staying in Castellon, which wasn’t a big surprise since I am still training her. However, a couple of our Elders were leaving, so we had a farewell party for them with the JAS. One of the Elders loves to play ping pong, and he has been undefeated for his whole time here, until I came along. Being a missionary, I am afraid has definitely not taken away my extremely competitive nature, and of course, I can’t let a challenge like that just fall away! Thus commenced our ping pong tournament. I am very proud to say that out of 8 games, I won 8. haha I am just here as a humble servant of the Lord, and I am helping others be the same. Haha :) Although we had some missionary activities this week, we were working hard as well. We are always looking out for the little miracles here. Our progressing, Brazilian investigator, Aglaece is supposed to be baptized this week. However, we found out about some word of wisdom problems that we have been trying to work through. She loves the church but she has a hard time giving up her coffee! We asked her in church how it was going, and bless her heart, she told me, “Well, I have given up hot chocolate and coke, but the coffee is a little harder.” She told me that those are addicting substances as well. Oh well. I guess it´s the principle of it. So pray for her that she will be able to resist coffee. Hussan, our Muslim investigator came home for the weekend (a HUGE miracle) and called us to see if we could run him by the Book of Mormon so he could study it! So, we might only be able to meet with him every other week, but I was content that he at least has the Book of Mormon. I love it so much! It has the power to convert far more than anything I could say. So as long as he is studying it, I know he will receive an answer. Then, I was praying for one more miracle this week for my companion. I am used to disappointment on the mission, but last week really had an affect on her. So, Sunday after church the bishop pulled us into his office and said, “My Hermana Princesses (he is so great haha!) We had a member call us that lives two hours away, but she is still in our ward boundaries, and she said she felt inspired for you two to teach her daughter who is 9 years old and baptize her this week! So now we are planning a baptism for a sweet 9 year old. (After you are 9, it is a missionary baptism)! It was such a tender mercy! So we are going to meet with her over the phone and plan it for this Saturday! It´s a little rushed, but I will take it. We also had a sweet experience the other night. We lost all of our appointments (I am a little used to it by now), and so we felt impressed to pass by a member. We passed by and we started talking about his family. He told us he has been praying for us particularly to drop by because he has 4 daughters and all of them are less active and two of them are married to non-members who are interested in the church! We told him we would be delighted to work with his daughters. He told us when he went on a mission he made a covenant with God that if he served with all his heart, that he would bless his family his whole life. His family was baptized while he was serving, and he says he knows that the Lord will keep his promise by sending us to him that night! It was so great to see how just a thought to pass by a member can be an answer to prayers. I also pray that as I am working that the Lord will bless my future family to stay close to this faith that is the most important thing in my life. I love the church because it truly is the only true church of God on the earth today. Thank you so much for your prayers, I love you all! Besos y Abrazos!!
Les Quiero,
Hermana Hopkins