Ch. 74 Let the Spirit Talk

Chapter 74: Let the Spirit Talk

Obviously, I needed a lesson about the Spirit, because I feel like I had to be on my toes all week with our investigators! We had a family home evening that was combined with an investigator family, the bishop´s family, and all the young adults and most of the young men. One of the sister´s in the ward was supposed to give the lesson, but two hours before, she called us panicking that she couldn´t give the lesson and needed us to do it. We sat there spitting out ideas for about an hour, and finally felt like we should do a lesson on the armor of God. We threw together a complete armor set of cardboard fabulousness. Haha Oh, and we used my pink fuzzy slippers—there´s just something about them that scream “preparation of the gospel of peace”, and then we ran to the family home evening. We asked for a volunteer and it just happened to be our bishop. We all died laughing as he fit himself to our nicely tailored, cardboard armor complete with pink fuzzy slippers. But I think it really helped a few of the young men understand the importance of always putting on the armor of God.

Then, we had to do a split on Wednesday night. I was going to teach a struggling family how to do family home evenings, and my companion was going with our recent convert, Marta to teach our Chinese investigator Quianbing (I know, the spelling changes weekly). When I got to the Family Home Evening, I had it all set up in my mind of what I wanted to do, and as soon as I sat down, I realized that I needed to teach the Restoration. I argued the idea back and forth for a while, but I knew this family needed the Restoration. The mom and daughter were baptized a little over a year ago, and the father and brother are investigators. As I taught them of the story of Joseph Smith, the brother just stared at me and said, “He was my age...and he had his prayer answered.... and then he restored the church of Christ. How can I know if that´s true?” I explained to him that he just has to do what Joseph Smith did. Afterwards, the sister announced that she wanted to prepare to go on a mini mission (the members here have the opportunity to serve in one of the areas of our mission for 3 weeks to a transfer), and she´s been less active for the last few months, so it was a great miracle. Meanwhile, my companion is having a lesson in Spanglish with our lovely Chinese man. He´s so great! He hasn´t missed a week of church since he has started taking the lessons, yet he barely understands what is going on. The spirit must have touched him, because there is no other way he would be following like he is. He´s so funny, everyone loves him at church because he bows to them when they shake his hand, and is very respectful to the older members in the ward. He usually has to leave early so he can go to work, and he tells us, “I have to go now. I return.”  He´s so great. We have also been working a lot with Nicole this week. She is making such big steps of progress. Every time we go though, we end up teaching a different lesson then what we had planned. She was doing so good until she went to this party and drank half the night. So, obviously tithing was not what she needed at this moment, so we made a list of all the characteristics that she wants in a future life and family in the church, and all the characteristics of a future alcoholic partier, and had her compare them. I really hope we were able to get through to her since she is so close! She is stronger than she thinks, but she has no one to tell her otherwise, so we are stuck helping her fight this battle against the adversary. She actually is going on a campout for the next couple days with the young adults in our ward (there are more of our investigators going than members. Haha!), so hopefully she will be able to build up a support. Their dad had us come running to their house the other night at exactly 7:00. We had to be there exactly at that time, not a minute more, and not a minute less. We rang the doorbell at exactly 7:00, went up the stairs, and when he opened the door, there was a big dinner waiting for us. We asked what it was all for, and he replied, “It was the only way I could think of to help try and repay you for what you are doing for my family. Thank you.” It was such a tender moment to see the spirit working with them, and softening their hearts.

Last week, I was given the assignment to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting because the theme was going to be missionary work. Easy enough. So, this whole week of course I have been procrastinating it since it was only 10 minutes and I knew I only had to share a couple experiences, bear my testimony, and that´s all I would have time for. Halfway during the week, I got a call from the ward secretary asking me if I could actually talk for 15 minutes. That was fine, just add a couple of my favorite scriptures in there and it was good. However, on Sunday morning I got the distinct impression that I needed to have an outline for something a little bit better. I decided that it was probably because God doesn´t like us to be procrastinators, so I decided I would come up with something with a little more substance. When I got into the sacrament meeting, I noticed the bishop had a funny look in his eye when I walked in the door. What could that possibly mean...well, when he announced it was my turn to give talk, he stopped me as I was just about to get up to the microphone and whispered in my ear, “Hermana Hopkins, the other two people who were assigned to give the talks today didn´t show up. Can you talk for about 30-40 minutes?” I just stared at him and started to laugh as I looked down at my half-a-page outline. Then he whispered, “Just let the Spirit do the talking.” Ok, easy enough—I kind of just wanted to roll my eyes at that comment, but I also knew he was right. So I said a little prayer in my heart that I would be guided of what to say for pretty much the entire sacrament meeting....and it was a really incredible experience. As I was talking, ideas just kept coming into my head, and it was one of those moments where I really felt like the spirit was just putting the words right into my mouth. As I finished my talk, and sat down, it was really a testimony building experience for me to see the spirit work right through me. I thought it was pretty cool and I started to relax, but as I got up to greet a couple of our investigators, the Sunday School President came over to me with a panicked look on his face, and said, “Hermana, the Sunday school teacher has an interview with the bishop, could you teach the class??” I had no idea what the class was even on, but of course I agreed to it. I walked into the class and saw the word “Honesty” written up on the board, and picked up a manual and read the first paragraph really quick. Ok, I could do this. As I was about to start the class, the president walked by me and whispered, “Hermana, just let the spirit do the teaching.” I think my week was definitely preparing me for this Sunday. On Sunday, we were so excited that Marta was called to be the Young Adult President in the ward. She´s going to do so great, and I felt like a proud mother as she was being sustained. Actually, it was a miracle because her mother came to church to see her sustained too. I hope she was able to feel something. I realize that the Spirit is so important in this work, but sometimes, I wish the spirit would give me an hour´s notice...haha

Les quiero a todos!

Hermana Hopkins  

Ch. 73 UNO

Chapter 73: UNO

 “Ok,” I thought as I looked down at my cards, “I got two reds, a wild, and a draw two.” As we continued our fast pace game of UNO, I knew this had to be the craziest missionary tactic that I had come up with yet. As we were sitting with José Luis and his family in their dining room playing, I also knew that it was going to be worth it. José Luis is the boy that I told about a few months ago that had decided to go on a mission despite all the conflicts that seem to keep coming his way (many of those coming from his own family), and we promised him that we were going to try our very hardest to help his family be baptized before I leave my mission. When we got there on the blistering hot, August afternoon. It would seem that everyone was dying of the heat with little or no energy left in them. Well, that is hardly the kind of attitude needed if we are going to have an interactive lesson about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. I knew we were going to have to do something different because this particular family has had the missionary lessons for over 4 years, and the dad hardly has stayed in any of the lessons before. I was determined that this was going to be different. So, when I sat down in the dismal room, I looked for anything that could spark some energy. That´s when I saw the deck of UNO cards waiting for us on the table. That was it. I started to second-guess myself, but I really felt like we needed to play this game of UNO. I think their family was expecting us to start a normal lesson, but when I suggested we start with a game of UNO instead of a prayer...let´s just say it spiked everyone´s curiosity!  Everyone joined for a couple rounds of some UNO, and it did just the trick. When it was time to start the lesson, everyone stayed and was alert during the whole lesson. José Luis´s cousin, Hector, is our age and doesn´t believe (or should I say doesn´t think he believes, but he really does) in God. I´ve noticed that problem a lot with the young adults in Spain, it´s really sad. But, we taught him the Restoration, and we watched the Restoration movie with him, and he seemed like he was really starting to understand. What I love is that all his questions and concerns are easily resolved in the Book of Mormon. The more and more that I teach, the more and more I realize how and why the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. What was the miracle about the lesson is that José Luis´dad not only stayed through the whole lesson, but he told his nephew, “If you want to know if God exists, you have to do what Joseph Smith did and ask with a sincere heart.” My companion and I just stared at him—yes, we were seeing progress. In fact, José Luis was so excited afterwards that he said he saw new hope that he had never seen before in his family. He wants it so bad...and so do we! Even though they didn´t come to church this week, we plan to have a good Family Home Evening with a couple families in the ward and Bishop´s family. It will be great. Also, this week we had a really touching lesson with Nicole. Nicole has a goal to be baptized in two weeks, and she was progressing so good....until her boyfriend comes into the picture. I´m not sure if I have already told her story or not, but this is the same girl who was 17 and thought she was pregnant, it ended up being negative, and then her boyfriend turned abusive. We´ve been really able to progress with her, but she still has some ways to go. She told us that she wanted to go back and be with him, and we just stared at her like some sort of wild zoo animal. WHAT??? My companion grabbed her shoulders and said, “NICOLE! What are you THINKING??” Sometimes as missionaries, I feel like people´s mothers. Haha But, she just replied, “Well I just love him and he asked for forgiveness....and I really love him!” I couldn´t understand. How could you love someone like that when you are seventeen, and he´s almost put you in the hospital not once, not twice, but five times!! We want to help so her see she deserves better than this. I was thinking that she must be lacking some serious attention around the home maybe. So, we called the whole family in, and we talked about how we are children of God and that he loves us, the impression came to mind that we should do a “love circle”. I have done it several times in the mission, and I go around and have each member of the family say something nice about every other member in the family, or something they admire in them. I thought it would be good for Nicole to see that she can find love within the home, but I must say, I was definitely surprised. When it was time for Nicole, her mom just started bawling and went off on a pretty much where-did-I-go-wrong tantrum, and don´t even get me started on what the grandma said!! I just stared at them, and said, “OK, let´s just focus on the positives.” and then her grandma just stared at me. I gave her an encouraging nod, but she just continued giving me a blank stare. Are you serious?? The dad told me to just continue and move on to the next person. I could now start to imagine why she is having so many problems! When it came to the dad, he started by saying some things that were kind of harsh as well, and by this time Nicole just broke out bawling, and threw herself to her mom. All we could make out was, “Mom, I´m sorry. I´ll change and try to be better. I want to be better!” And that´s when the dad said something that was so inspired. He said, “Nicole, if you want to change and be better, I think you need to follow the invitation of the Hermanas and be baptized. It won´t be easy, but it will be worth it. I´ve made some bad decisions in my life, but the decision to be baptized I will never regret. To this day, I still remember how I felt as I entered the water. You can experience that as well just as your brother did recently.” (Her brother was baptized 8 months ago) Now, this father has been less active for over twenty years, so we were all taken-aback when he said that. It will be a miracle to see Nicole baptized, but as a missionary I know that we can expect miracles when we do all that we can...even if that means pulling out a deck of UNO cards.

Les quiero a todos!

Hermana Hopkins  

Ch. 72 Slam Dunk

Chapter 72: Slam Dunk

"Hermanas! I have an 'ideal' investigator for you", Edmond exclaimed in the middle of the lesson. We just looked at the strange outburst of our little African investigator with a puzzled look on our faces. We had just finished teaching him about Joseph Smith, so slightly confused, we replied, "Yes?" 

"After we are done with the prayer, we can go visit my friend and his mom that are always in this park. They don´t believe in God, and they need to believe in this. Is that ok with you?" We told him we would love to meet his friends, and after we had finished the lesson, we were led briskly down the road to go visit Edmond´s friends. We have been teaching Edmond´s family for a couple months now. (His parents are the ones that fed us the African food). Edmond is only 10 years old, but he is so mature and smart, and just has the happiest personality. We love teaching him, and he loves to be involved with the church. The parents have a really positive view of the church, but....let´s just say they are a little hard to make commitments with. So when they say, "See you Sunday!" We know it really means, "See you the next time you catch us at home." haha I guess everyone has something to work on... Anyway, we got to the park and the mother and son were nowhere to be found. So, we sat on the bench next to our disappointed African boy. He had a Book of Mormon in his hand already to go (can you say hello future missionary??), when he looked up and saw another friend playing basketball. He looked at us with a sly look on his face and said, "Hermanas. You are from the United States...do you play basketball." I just smiled and replied, "Yes, I know how to play." He looked over again and asked us, "Well....what if we played with my other friend while we wait for my friend and his mom to get here." I looked down at my pencil skirt and dress sandals......

"Ok. Let´s go." 

So we started playing a little game, and that´s when everyone in the park saw two Americans playing basketball, and naturally, everyone wanted to play against the American girls in skirts. Let me just say it was hard, but we made America proud. :) haha Even some parents came over and played! We had a good game going when we realized we were going to be late for our next lesson. We agreed we would come back in a couple days to share a message, and everyone agreed to it, and it was even more of a slam dunk because the friend and his mom came at the last minute and said they would be willing to listen to our message too. I was so excited. With starting my last transfer in the mission today, I am glad that I was able to start with a swish. 

Also, this week we decided to give Josep and Angela a challenge. We have been working with them this entire year, and they come to church, but they aren´t really in the process of conversion since they say they don´t have the faith to pray or read their scriptures. So, we wrote them individual letters and explained that if they read and pray together every day for a month, they would see a miracle with their family. They accepted the challenge, so please be praying that they are able to recognize the miracle that God puts into their lives!! Marta as an update is doing wonderfully. She is progressing and really wants to keep learning. She loves planning things with the young adults, and they are all best friends now. She´s so incredible, and I am grateful she feels like she has a family in the church. 

This week we also started teaching...Qxia Bin. Sorry, no idea how it´s spelled, and yes. yes, we are teaching a Chinese man. Just one more country to check off the list. However, he doesn´t really speak that great of Spanish...or English...so we watch the Restoration in Chinese with Spanish subtitles. He has a lot of potential, and he came to church this week. He is the only member of his family here in Spain and he´s about our age, but his whole family has a Christian background (I thought that was really odd being from China, but cool too). It will be interesting to see how we can further our teaching with him. 

As the final piece of news.....everyone get ready...because your prayers have finally paid off....

I received the news today that CATI AND TONI ARE GOING BACK TO CHURCH!!!

To say that I didn´t scream and jump up and down and cry a little would be a lie. I did all of the above, in the middle of the train station today when I saw my old companion being transferred. So please keep praying for them. I love them so much, and it would be the icing on the cake to finish my mission next month knowing they are back on track. I love you all so much, and I am so grateful for all your love and support and prayers!!

Les Quiero!!!

Hermana Hopkins

Ch. 71: The Missionary Soap Opera

Chapter 71: The Missionary Soap Opera

 

“If he doesn´t want to be part of your family, he needs to be kicked out on the street!”·Not the words that I was necessarily expecting to come out of my companion to a crying investigator. I was just trying to take in the whole situation. I felt  like my role as a missionary this week has taken the Hollywood direction, and my role is now the lead missionary in the newest LDS soap opera.  

CUT.

Let me explain a little more. Every ward has their “eternal investigators”. These are the people who for some reason or another won´t get baptized, but are practically members. They come to church, they go to activities, some of them even have visiting teaching responsibilities. Well, we have been working with a family that seemed to be under this criteria, and we were determined to shake things up a little bit. We went into the house and gave a lesson on the blessings of baptism when the mom calmly explained to us that she couldn´t get baptized since she wasn´t married, and they couldn´t get married because her “partner” had a problema with cheating on her with this other girl (what??), and that she wasn´t going to get married to him until he could prove himself loyal. We thought the whole situation was bizarre, and the poor kids have had to watch their parents go through that. We are especially working with their son, Manel. Manel is a recent convert that was baptized just over a year ago, and has been through sort of a roller coaster ride since his baptism. Essentially, he was baptized to please his mother, but soon after had a very strong spiritual experience and knew this really was true and that he needed to truly change. That change has been kind of hard for him, but he´s getting there.  He´s been coming and helping us with our citas and really has a strong testimony. Well, the other night right after we had walked into our piso after a long day, we heard the timbre ring (In Spain there is a timbre at all the apartment buildings. You ring it, and you can talk through it to the piso you want to talk to so they can let you into the building). We were wondering who on earth would be ringing out piso timbre at 10 o clock at night, and then we heard Manel´s voice come over the phone.

“Hermanas?”

“Yes Manel?”

“Can you read me a scripture.  Any scripture. Just read me a scripture.” We could tell he had been crying and so we grabbed out our scriptures with haste and starting reading scriptures that we had previously found comfort in. He explained to us that one of his best friends had been killed in an accident and with all his family issues, well needless to say he was going through a rough time. We shared our testimonies with him, and tried to give him the most comfort that we could. After about 45 minutes, he left for home feeling a little better. Every time I open the scriptures, I am more and more convinced of the love of God that we can find on every page, and I am so grateful that this recent convert has also learned of their power. But, the story doesn´t end there. On Sunday, his Mom comes into Relief Society and just collapses on my companion bawling. Obviously alarmed, we took her outside and she explained to us that her partner wanted nothing to do with her, but was still going to live in the same piso.  And she doesn´t have a job to pay for the bills or food or anything, so she can´t really tell him to hit the road. That is where my companion cut in and told her that her “partner” needed to take a hike. I just told her that she was a Daughter of God, deserved better than that, and that she should talk to the bishop. Well, later that evening we returned to the church for an activity, and she comes up, practically skipping no less, and informs us that they had worked out their problems and are getting married next week. I just sat there and stared at her. She was more excited because that meant she could get baptized. Again, I just stared at her. We didn´t want to give any advice, or get involved with the situation more than necessary, but this family could use all the prayers they can get.  Hermana Vaziri and I both looked at each other with concerned faces. Yes she could be baptized….but why on earth was she marrying this man that has been cheating on her for eight years?? This part of the soap opera is to be continued…

However, our drama unfortunately doesn´t stop there this week.  Last week, I talked a little bit about our runaway investigator, and she had a really sad experience. There we were working in the ward garden with her brother actually, when he received the call that we all needed to run to the train station. We all ran there to see his mother their just bawling (I think I have seen enough tears this week to feel our next baptismal font!) This part might be kind of graphic for young audiences, but I thought it had a good moral to the story. (and it has an ok ending). We have been teaching this 17 year old girl, she just ran away, and a few days later she called her mom crying that her boyfriend had tried to strangle her, she was alone, and pretty badly beaten up. We convinced her to come to church with her brother and her mom, and she told us that she felt so loved. I was so grateful she was able to find the love and attention she was looking for in a healthy way…but I can´t help but wonder why she keeps going back to these situations. This is the third or fourth time. It´s absolutely incredible to see the difference in people´s happiness after coming to church. Luckily, this week is youth conference, and so she along with all the youth in the ward are off to Barcelona for the week, and I think it will be a healthy distraction for everyone.

                And just when you think the drama couldn´t get worse—it does. Ok, actually this is more fun drama. African drama! Yes, our cute little Alberta is just about to pop; I´ve never seen anyone more pregnant in my entire life. She was told that she still has about a month to go, but I just don´t see how that is possible. Well, she had a doctor´s appointment to go to this week, and her husband usually goes and translates for her, but he got called into work…So, she called the only other English speakers she knew. We´re here to serve, so why not! I told her that we would all go to the hospital with her and translate. The doctor´s appointment was a presentation about the epidural and the actual birth. I was a little worried about the vocabulary that I was going to need, and then my fear tripled when I soon realized the presentation wasn´t in Spanish. It was in Catalan. I leaned over to Albertha, “Albertha, you told me this was in Spanish. This is is CATALAN.” She just looked at me with wide eyes and replied, “But Hermana Hopkins. You’re a missionary. I know you can do it.” Ok, what am I supposed to say to that!! So, I tried to do the best I can. Catalan has a lot of Spanish influence, so I was able to make out most of it…I hope I explained to good enough for her. Halfway through, they did a presentation of how they do the epidural… I looked over at my companion and her face was just green, and she was rubbing her temples. I was trying not to laugh when I realized I was getting kind of queezy too… That was a really big needle….. The best part of the whole presentation was when they were trying to calm down a couple of almost-mother´s that were also in the room by saying, “We want your birth to be comfortable and a pleasurable experience.” My companion and I looked at the needle, and the picture of the woman giving labor on the board and tried to hold in our laugh. Comfortable and pleasurable is not how I would describe child birth. It was a very different experience compared to most of our usual missionary service. We also are helping Albertha clean her piso this week….We asked her how to clean her carpets, and she handed us a little brush that I would normally use to clean potatoes.  My arms were practically shaking after we had sufficiently brushed the crumbs out of the carpet. Vacuums—God bless the USA. Haha  As we cleaned, Albertha told us, “I don´t care if my little baby plays soccer or is good at school…I just want him to be the next prophet!”  We told her that you never know….and she said, “Ok, well at least a bishop.”  She´s so cute.

                The only “normal” missionary news I think I have is when we had a really sweet experience with Marta this week. She is just getting a long great with all the single adults in the ward, and is just growing so strong in the gospel. We decided to take her to a visit with another investigator her age, and she just bore such a strong testimony. We told her that she just seemed like a missionary! Well, later that night at the family home evening we were at, she announced that she felt the impression that she needed to serve a mission, and that she was going to spend this next year preparing to go. I almost started crying right there, but instead I jumped up and down with her and gave her a big hug. She is honestly so prepared, it´s been such an exciting conversion process. It was funny too because in the activity on Sunday we had a testimony meeting, and she went up and bore her testimony, and two ward members came up to her and said, “We just feel like you are going to go on a mission!” She broke out into to tears and said that it was exactly in her plans to do that.  It´s like she has been a member for years. She´s so great! Although I feel like this week was very long, and full of drama, I think the things I have been learning the most is just how important the gospel is in my life. I am so grateful that I have always had that anchor. That´s not saying I haven´t had problems or won´t have problems, but I know that there are some problems that you can avoid by living the gospel daily. I am so grateful for parents who raised me in the gospel and taught me correct principles. This week has been a very humbling week to say the least. I am so grateful for the people I have in my life!!

Les Quiero a todos!!

Hermana Hopkins 

Ch. 70 El Dia Blanco

Chapter 70: El Día Blanco

The Día Blanco (The day of white)  was an idea instituted by our district leader a couple weeks ago. The challenge is that we would all fast and work for one day so that we would see a baptism. Marta was able to fall in our hands, and we worked and worked so that she would be prepared to be baptized on July 19--El día blanco. It was honestly a very easy process. It was as if God had been preparing her all her life, and we just reminded her of the things she had already known before. She was more worried about the outfit she was going to wear to her baptism than the actual doctrine that we were teaching her. It was just like everything clicked. She went to school to be a wine tester, and she said, "Ok, I won´t ever drink coffee, tea, alcohol, or smoke.... Next?" haha Now, if only all of our investigators could be like that. Tithing--makes sense. Chastity? Has always lived it. It was honestly so incredible to see how angels really are preparing the hearts of these people. I was especially excited for this baptism as well because my whole mission I have wanted to have a Spaniard convert...I have loved dearly all the cultures here, but everyone thought I was sent to Spain to teach the immigrants. It was nice to see my first Spaniard--Catalan no less-- baptism here. The ward was all there to support her and it was a wonderful service. The only problem was the water got cut off for our entire building half way through filling the font, so we were panicked when all that was coming out were little drips....we were able to get it about 3/4 of the way filled, but it made it really hard for the baptism, and they had to do it three times to get her all the way under. Oh well, what can you do.... I really will never have the perfect baptismal service. haha We were so excited with the baptism that we really didn´t notice how hard the rest of the week really was. We have been working with the family of one of recent converts a ton, and they all came to church last week, and we were SO excited. Especially since the dad hasn´t been to church in over 20 years. However, their daughter (who was the closest to baptism) ran away this week. What?? And so the whole family was in shambles when we passed by, and it was just so sad. I couldn´t help but look at all that Marta was sacrificing this past week and how happy she was and then looking at this family that just can´t get their feet in the water, and wonder, "why not?" The gospel doesn´t bring instant answers to all of our problems, but it brings long-lasting happiness for eternity. I am so grateful that Marta was able to recognize that. After her confirmation this Sunday, she sat down during sacrament meeting and during one of the talks about the temple, she just had tears rolling down her cheeks. I asked her what was wrong, and after the meeting, she came over and told me she just felt so impressed that her grandma who passed away was waiting for her, and she just felt so much responsibility in getting these names done. I am so excited to start down this road with her of teaching her about genealogy and the temple. I feel like God prepared her just for us so that she could start doing this work for her ancestors, and He trusted her to do it. It was a beautiful day all in white, but I know that  there is a day to come where she will be all in white in the temple, and that day will be far more rewarding to her as she opens the door to her own exaltation and that of her ancestors. I love the beautiful plan of salvation that our loving Father in Heaven has prepared. It just makes sense--it has all the answers that will give us happiness in white. All in all, I know the Lord is watching over the work here, and we will see many more "dias blancos"!  

Les Quiero!!

Hermana Hopkins

Ch. 69 Miracle With a Cherry On Top

Chapter 69: Miracles with a Cherry on Top

This is the last time I am making a birthday cake on my mission. We always get ourselves into the worst situations. A couples weeks ago, our bishop gave us the assignment to go visit a family that has been less active for the past few years. Most members thought it was impossible, but we were up for the challenge. When we got to their house, we were given a semi-chilly reception, but we ended up warming up to the family fairly fast and easily. We gave them a challenge that if they read the Book of Mormon daily, prayed as a family every night, and came to church on Sunday, they would see a miracle. We also promised them that we would bake for them an American birthday cake for their daughter´s birthday. We were really surprised when they came to church last week, and we knew they were going to receive their miracle....and their birthday cake. Now, I usually love to make cakes. But, we woke up that morning realizing that we had no recipe, and Betty Crocker has only come out with select flavors here in Spain, so we scrimmaged around everywhere and just happened to find a recipe that a member had given us of an apple cinnamon bundt cake. My companion was determined to turn it into a vanilla birthday cake. So thus began the adventure. Really, the cake part went pretty well. It looked...almost normal. Then she wanted to make a butter cream frosting. I left the room, came back, and two minutes later I saw her adding egg whites to a very white runny material. What on earth. I just started laughing and she said that it was too liquidy, so she was going to try to fluff it up with egg whites. Well, I noticed that she had used all of our powdered sugar, so I just laughed and let her to it. When I came back it was even worse, so I decided to try and help out. We were going to make our homemade powderered sugar. It almost worked. After half a bag of sugar through the blender, it was getting better....but not quite. It tasted awful, and it was still too runny.....and my companion adding flour to the concoction sure didn´t help the poor frosting´s cause. Time for Plan B. I asked her what she had added and she said, sugar, milk, eggs, flour....so I though quick, sugar cookies!! So we started adding a ton of flour and salt and put them in the oven, but we still didn´t have any frosting. I noticed my last companion had left one small container of cream in the fridge....it would work. I boiled it, added the last of my precious peanut butter and wah lah! Peanut Butter frosting. Next thing I know, my companion is loading a bunch of vanilla ice cream to the top of our cake, and putting the hot frosting on top. Oh goodness. it looked so awful. hahaha We just sat and laughed and laughed. Then, they called us (they were planning on picking us up) and told us that they couldn´t pick us up, and that we needed to catch the bus that was coming in 5 minutes that was a least a 10 minute walk....with an ice cream cake....in the hot sun. Bring it on. We took off running cake and all (I am sure plenty of people were looking at us wondering what on earth the two Americans were doing) and got to the train station 3 minutes late....or so we thought! The bus ended up coming 10 minutes late. Tender mercies. Well, it was a 25 minute bus ride, and once we got to their house, our ice cream cake was now....I don´t even know what. They kept asking us why we were laughing, and we just replied that we needed to use their freezer. We had a nice lunch, and we shared the message. It was the coolest experience; the entire family had changed. Each member’s countenance was shining, and then they told us this. The mother turned to us with tears in her eyes saying, "I think I have forgotten about the Lord. I have been looking for a job for at least 6 months now since we are really struggling. I stopped going to church years ago because I just didn´t have the time. Now, we did this challenge this week, and the day after we went to church, I got a job offer that pays well. I don´t know why I ever forgot about the Lord." It was such a big testimony to me that missionaries really do have the power to promise blessings, and they really do come true if people do their part as well. The whole family came to church again, and the daughter is now working on going on a mission. It´s just incredible the difference reading, praying, and coming to church makes. Now, the cake comes back into the picture.....we pulled it out of the freezer after having this sweet experience, and it looked like....well awful. So we covered it with sprinkles, put in the candles, and said a prayer.  We brought it in and sang and cut the cake, and watched as everyone put their first bite in their mouths......Hey. It wasn´t that bad. One of the members that was there said, "I am a professional chef (oh gosh) and this is one of the best cakes I have ever tasted. This vanilla sauce is done to perfection (melted ice cream) and this peanut butter cream cuts the sweetness (thank you)." So it was a miracle right down to the cake we ate. haha But the cherry on top this week was really Marta. I am just so humbled every time that I meet with her. She is leaving all her family behind her to be a member of this new family, and she does it always with a smile on her face. She says she gets nervous sometimes, but she knows that this is what God feels for her. Every time we teach her she just takes notes of what we says, and never doubts it. She has a lot of questions, but she is so sensitive to the spirit that the spirit just testifies the truth to her of everything. I really am so excited for her!! This week was really full of lots of miracles, and we have decided to do the "week of miracles" for all of our investigators, so I am sure we will all be seeing a lot more. It´s such a sweet experience (and I am not just talking about the cake!)

Les quiero!
Hermana Hopkins