Chapter 65 Super Hermanas

Chapter 65: Super Hermanas

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

Ch. 64: And Then There Were Two

Chapter 64: And Then There Were Two

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

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

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

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

“Hello?”

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

Huh??

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

Les Quiero!

Hermana Hopkins 

Ch. 63: An African Safari and a Lawyer

Chapter 63: An African Safari and a Lawyer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Les quiero!

Hermana Hopkins

Ch. 62: The name's Hopkins, Hermana Hopkins

Chapter 62: The name´s Hopkins, Hermana Hopkins

I often feel like a secret agent or detective. I have my list of people that I am given by the bishop, and I am supposed to go see if they are still alive. Ok, that´s not my only objective.

You see, the ward lists here in Spain seem as if they haven´t been updated since the first missionaries came into Spain. (That´s not even being sarcastic) So lately, the missionaries have been given the task to hunt down the people that nobody knows who they are on the ward list. We have done a pretty good job at cleaning out the list, until we got down to a few pesky names that we could not confirm if they still lived where it said they lived. We passed by, and no one was home. We passed by their neighbors, and they didn´t know the name of the people who lived next to them. Wow, friendly neighbors. Haha My entire time here in Vilafranca we have been working on this little list of people and slowly but surely we have been eliminating, until the final name.

Antonio. 

We passed by and passed by and nothing!! Finally, on Friday night our last cita cancelled on us. It 9:30, and we only had a half an hour until we had to get back to piso. I had this feeling come over me that we should go back and try knocking on the door (that we had already knocked on earlier in the day). I went back and forth questioning if it was really a prompting, or if it was me just trying to come up with something to do for the last 20 minutes of the day. We decided to go. We rang the bell....and waited....and waited....and I was just opening my mouth to say, “It´s time to go,” When a voice came over the speaker, “Hola?” I jumped straight up and told him we were looking for Antonio. He said that it was him, and he let us in. We couldn´t stay long since we had to go home, but we asked if we could come back the next day. He said yes!! Right before he left he asked me for my name, “Hooopkeenz.....Jopkinss.....”

I quickly replied, “Hopkins, Hermana Hopkins.”

I really felt like I need the 007 theme song in the background in this moment. We had successfully found our missing man! When we came back the next day, I saw hope in reviving this fallen soldier (sorry I really am into this secret agent thing). He told us that he still reads the Book of Mormon when he can, he just stopped going to church about 4 years after getting baptized because of work, and now that he doesn´t have any work, he just feels like it´s been so long since he has been “practicing religion” that he doesn´t know if he can go back. Well, that´s where we step in! I am really excited to see how it goes with him. I think we can help him get back on the path.

We also met with Bryan´s brother, Eric this week. His is a very interesting case...he too investigated the church about 3 years ago, and he was almost baptized with his friend who actually was baptized (who is now the ward missionary). When his friend who was recently baptized left for Perú, he randomly went and got baptized in the Pentecostal church. It didn´t make any sense. Anyway, so we retaught him the Restoration, and he said that he never realized before that our church had the same organization that the church Christ established had. (Way to go past missionaries....just kidding...sort of …) And that he said he would pray about it, and he would tell us this week what his answer is. I see a lot of potential in him as well!! Of course, we had a cita with Marlon this week, and he just tries to complicate everything! Haha Every little thing he tries to come up with some philosophical explanation! He said that every night he gets on his knees and he really feels like he is going to receive an answer to prayer, but as he begins to open his mouth to pray, his mind just keeps telling him all the feelings he could feel based on chemical reactions in his brain, and he stops praying. AHHH!! I don´t really know how to get through to him. We have really spiritual lessons with him every time, but he just refuses to accept it. It could just be that it´s not his time...but I have a really hard time accepting that as a missionary. I think I have had a hard time with that my whole mission! However, even though I am Hopkins, Hermana Hopkins; I know that God´s timing is a whole lot better than my timing. I have had that witnessed to me over and over and over again. I know that this is His work. I think about Albertha, our cute little Africana who the missionaries first found over 8 years ago, and she was prepared right when I got here to Vilafranca. She told us a cute experience this week she said, “Hermanas, the other night I woke up really sick. And I mean really sick. I didn´t want to feel like this while being pregnant, because being pregnant is hard enough. I woke up and I said, `God. I need you to heal me. I am going to go back to bed, and you can heal me during the night, ok??' When I woke up the next day, I felt fine. God healed me! God is wonderful, isn´t he. Yes, God is wonderful.” It just put a smile on my face and she said, “No, it´s true! He is just wonderful. Sometimes, when I sit down to pray, I pat the couch next to me and I say, 'God you can come sit down. I need to talk. It´s going to be a long talk.' Then, I tell him all of my problems, all of my worries, and we go through them together, and he helps it all work out. Yes, God is wonderful.” It just was such a faith booster to me that when we have faith in God, He really does step in, and He loves us so much! God truly is wonderful.

Hermana Hopkins, over and out.

Les quiero!

Hermana Hopkins  

Ch. 61: "God, are you there?"

Chapter 61: "God, are you there?"

 “God, if you´re there....please let me know.”
Silence.
More awkward silence.
Nothing...
All of us were anxiously waiting for what would surely be the world´s biggest answer to prayer. Not once, not twice, but three times I heard this exact phrase with three different investigators. And not three times, not twice, not even once was the sweet spirit that was felt after the prayer sufficient for the person offering it. We have got a lot of work on our hands. I feel like I had the exact same lesson with our three boys that are questioning their faith in God. Marlon, Josep, and Bryan all had such powerful lessons, and are all seeking an answer, and none seem to be getting it. However, I know at the same time that they aren´t doing all they could to get their answers. It´s so frustrating! We were in our cita with Marlon, and he said, “If everyone is telling you about 'feeling' something like the Holy Ghost, I feel like psychologically, you would eventually make yourself believe you are feeling something. For example, if there is a cup on a table, but I paid everyone that passed by and said there was no cup on the table 100 dollars, eventually people would question if there was really a cup on the table.”
I just kind of looked at him, and thought, “Really, are you serious?” but I replied, “But if there was three witnesses that there is a cup at the table that don´t fail, it makes it more credible, no? That´s the role of the scriptures. Have you been reading the Book of Mormon?” He sheepishly looked up and said, “Um....a few verses....when I have time.” If you don´t read the Book of Mormon, then how are you supposed to know it is all true??
The lesson with Josep turned into a showdown at his dining room table. “Josep, how are you supposed to know if God exists if you don´t pray and ask him if he is there?”
“God doesn´t listen to me. He doesn´t want to listen to me. And you know what, if God does exist, why do people pass through such hard times. Just so they can grow and learn' examples just doesn´t cut it for me.” When we finally got down to his real concerns, he jumped up from the table and went and got us a five course meal to keep us quiet.....Not that I don´t love food, but it could have waited!
The last example was with Bryan. We had a super powerful lesson with him about prayer and the Book of Mormon in receiving our answers. He just kept saying, “I get it. I finally get it now.” we were just like, “That´s great! So will you come to church tomorrow?” “No I can´t, I am going to be tired.”
What. Are you serious.
With all three of these situations, they are all expecting God to show Himself to them, but they aren´t willing to come to Him. I suppose with time...
At least to brighten our week we had a really powerful lesson with actually, an active family in the ward. We have been advised to go teach the Restoration to active families, and it was a really sweet experience. It was one of the most powerful lessons that we had done of the Restoration in a long time. We found out afterwards, that the 16 year old son was praying the night before about exactly what we talked about. Although he was already a member, our purpose as missionaries is to invite all to come unto Christ—not just people who are unfamiliar with the church. It was a beautiful sight to see the Dad wipe the tears from his eyes as he testified of Christ and Joseph Smith to his son. It really strengthened my testimony that all the doctrines of the church help strengthen the family. We also were able to go do a big service project on the mountainside next to our little town here. We went and picked up glass for three hours as we talked with the ward members, and afterwards had a big paella. I am going to miss the paella here. Haha I really just got a big love for the ward here, these members are great, and I am so blessed to be here. We contacted some potential investigators this week, and we are excited to meet with them. I have been feeling a little, maybe forsaken here for a while. I could feel a little bit of empathy for the investigators that were crying out for God, and not receiving answers. So, I looked over what I needed to do and decided I just needed to be myself more! God wants me to be me, and that´s why I am here. The morning I decided that, we contacted this man that is a writer and musician. God answers prayers. His name is Juan and he even said that he would hook me up with his publisher in Barcelona if I wanted. I don´t think he understands that I don´t have a lot of free time on my hand to write novels on the mission. Hahaha But, he has a lot of potential, and I am excited to meet with him. I know that God really does answer prayers, but sometimes, we put our own pavilion over our heads!
Les Quiero!
Hermana Hopkins  

Chapter 60: Fishing for Fishermen

Chapter 60: Fishing for Fishermen

This week proved to be a little bit of a testing week. I think the Lord wanted my companion and I to be tried together as well since He kept us together for another transfer. Yes, we are going on our third transfer together. I rarely hear about that, but it will be nice not having to adjust to any changes. My companion was sick again this week, so a couple of days were spent in piso.... This week on Wednesday we had our Sister Training Leader come, so of course we filled our day with our citas that never cancel. We started off in the morning, and our first cita that we had called us-out of breath and got out, “Hermanas, I had to get out of the country.” WHAT?? “ Yes, my father is sick, and I had to leave asap.” Phew....ok. I thought we had like a convict on our hands....haha but the rest of the day kind of followed suit. All of our invincible citas were cancelled left and right. Of course it would be like that when we have someone there that is practically grading us.  Luckily we had some plan Ds that we were able to go visit. (A, B, and C cancelled.) But overall, it was an ok day. Actually, something really great did happen this week. Often, I have felt in my mission that some of my biggest miracles have come through my friendships with the members. This week, our friend José Luis, he was baptized last year and we visit his family a lot and he comes with us almost every day to citas, told us he decided to go on a mission!! He said that he has really been debating back and forth on it, and his answer I thought was so simple and sweet he told us, “Hermanas, I have been thinking about what you told me about praying for a mission. And so I knelt down to pray and ask God if I should go, and my prayer was answered before I even started it. I thought to myself, 'Is God really going to tell me to not go on a mission?'. So that is when I knew I was going to go.” I thought that was such a simple answer, God really does want us here!! I just have thought that sometimes as missionaries we get discouraged when we are going fishing, but we overlook when we are able to help gather a few fishermen. We were so excited! We did a family home evening in his house over the weekend. He is the only member in his family, and he wants more than anything to be united with his other family members. There was a really sweet spirit there, and I hope it was something they could feel as well. I really love that family. The mom is going to Perú for the next month, so that was kind of a let down,but maybe it will give her some time to ponder everything we have taught her. Then I got to talk to my wonderful family Sunday, and it was just the boost I needed. Thank you :) That night, we received a text from the Stake President inviting us to a family home evening with him and his family with an investigator that he was going to bring. Wow! So we went, and had a wonderful time. I never realized how powerful family home evenings were before the mission. I would say that it really is what marks the difference between strong families here in Spain, and well, not so strong families. It was a really powerful lesson of Joseph Smith, and hopefully this girl was able to feel it as well. She is from England, so the lesson was half in English, half in Spanish. It was really a fun time. I love working with the members—we really are here to build up the fishermen, as well as catch a few fish along the way. I love you all, and thanks for your support!!

Les Quiero!!

Hermana Hopkins