Chapter 41: ¡Feliz Navidad!

Twas the week before Christmas, when all through Castellón,

All the missionaries were working, indeed all of the zone.

The citas were were handled and taught with much care,

In hope that a baptism we would soon need prepare.

Yes this week definitely proved to be a trick! Everyone was working, preparing, finishing finals, and getting ready for the holiday. Which also meant that no one was available to meet! Oh well, at least we kept the spirit of the holidays in the work. The ward was preparing their big Christmas celebration/ talent show, and so the missionaries decided to just invite the world! Haha Ok, maybe not quite that many people, but we focused all of our contacting and many of our lessons with investigators on getting them to the church to see this great Christmas program. So obviously, if we were going to invite so many people, we had to make it good. The missionaries all did a musical number of the 12 days of Christmas remixed (choreographed, might I add), but that´s not all. There are only two of us “gringo” missionaries in the district, so we decided to do a taste of Christmas from the states. We made a medley of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Deck the Halls, Dashing Through the Snow, Let it Snow, Winter Wonderland, Sleigh Ride, Rudolph, The Christmas Song, O Holy Night, Angels We Have Heard on High, Silent Night, Joy to the World, and finishing with the First Noel. Not to brag, but it was pretty awesome, and it definitely used all the creativity that I have. It ended up being so great! We had so many investigators that came! Ana, my Spaniard grandma, even came!! I can´t believe we got her out of the house. She said she just came to here me sing and nothing else, but I know she felt the spirit throughout the night! And she brought her granddaughter, Cristina, who also seemed to really enjoy the evening. I really love this ward! We have also really been focusing on our new family Tony and Kati and Gemma. I honestly just love them so much! We had a couple really good lessons with them this week (yes, it would be appear that they are the only people in Castellón that were available these last couple days). We taught them the plan of Salvation, and Kati practically jumped out of her chair at the end and bursted, “I want to be baptized. I know this is exactly what I need.” Tony, although not quite so explosively, also nodded and said he would like to be baptized. I could hardly believe it. However, they will be a little bit more difficult than I originally thought. We came back a couple days later to teach the Restauración. I wanted Gemma to be involved in the lesson (she is four years old), so we came up with the idea of using little plastic cups to teach it. (build a pyramid with the priesthood as the middle bottom cup, then the 12 apostles, then the gospel, then a few points of doctrine, and you top the pyramid off with Christ. When you this example of apostasy, you pull out the priesthood and the church collapses, and you build little churches.) It was great! They understhood it perfectly. Even Kati said that this explains why she never felt right in the Orthodox church. Then we explained the story of Joseph Smith. We got to the part of the first vision, and after we said, “Este es mi Hijo amado, Eschuchalo” (This is my beloved Son, hear Him) there was just a silence. Then I looked up at Kati, and she had her hand kind of over her heart and gasped a little. Oh no. I had a fear about this. Orthodox are so strict on no one seeing God the Father (and Catholics aren´t so great on it either, so I was keeping my eye on Tony). After another pain-stakingly long moment, she looked at us with tears in her eyes and just said, “How pure. How pure Joseph Smith must have been.” Phew. I glanced over at Tony now, and he just said, “I know people have revelations. I don´t think I will see God the Father, but I had a dream before my daughter was born that I would have a child, and so I know God talks to us.” Ok, so at this point I was just so excited!! They love the Book of Mormon, and now they understood a little more of where it came from. They informed me that they are on like chapter 20 of Nephi (This is after 2 days of receiving the book). Tony said that he loves the Book of Mormon because it is so relatable to his specific needs, much more than the bible. Score!  Afterwards, we rebuilt the church with the cups so that they apostles now showed the faces of the modern day apostles, and the top of the church is President Monson with an upside down cup that says revelation with Christ once again on top of the church. They said they knew it was true. So they are so golden. Kati said the closing prayer, and she pled that they would be ready for their baptism. After we said Amen, the thought came to my mind, “Ask them if they are married.” Oh no. I fought with the thought back and forth for a minute since we just had an incredible lesson with them, but the Spirit is never wrong. I asked them, “So…how long have you been married?” And they both replied together, “We´re not married.” NOOOO!!! Sigh. However, I have hope because they continued, “Marriage has always been in the plan, we just have been so busy and stressed this year that we haven´t gotten around to it.” We explained to them that in order to be baptized, they needed to be legally married because the gospel is for the family. We testified of how from the view of children, having parents married has been a great blessing to us of security and love. It was funny, Kati turned to Tony, and said, “Well, what are you waiting for, propose to me!” haha  So, we will be planning a wedding before the baptism, but I just love that family. They have a lot of family problems (neither of their parents want them to get married for one), but I know that with God they can over come anything. We have also been working with Ana, our recent convert. We decided to read with her Lehi´s dream this week, and she just said how she wants us to work with her family more, and of course we are more than willing! I am so excited to finally be working with families. Aglaice´s sons are coming for Christmas and planned a party for the young adults in the ward to come and introduce them to the church. Everyone is just getting into the missionary spirit! Towards the end of the week, all the missionaries realized that normal proselyting was just not going to work before Christmas, so we decided to do something completely original. Ok, so not so original, but we have been going caroling in all of our areas with the ward. On Saturday, we visited the nearby towns and sang to them, and on Sunday night, the ward choir wanted to do it as well. So us missionaries and about a fourth of the ward went around to all of our recent converts, less actives, and investigators and sang to them some Christmas songs. I think it was the most success I have ever seen in one night. I am always shocked by how music really invites the spirit, and seeing the support from the ward was incredible. (We even had a traveling piano. Yes, we do caroling the fancy way hahaha) It was such an amazing experience. I guess it really made me think about Christmas. I really have had a hard time thinking about Christmas away from my family this month, but this week was different. I realized that this is the only Christmas that I will be set apart as a missionary of Christ´s church to give people the greatest gift they could possibly imagine. It really did bring me a lot of joy. I think this was kind of like the midlife crisis that I hit this week. haha Yes, I am halfway through the mission as of this week, and I can hardly believe it. It has been so hard, but I am just starting to see how incredible this work really is, and I love seeing it bless families. I am so grateful for the church, the gospel, and the Savior in my life because it really has been the greatest gift.

So, especially during this Christmas time,

I hope you can feel of my love through this little rhyme,

I´m  grateful for you, and I hope your tidings are glad,

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Feliz Navidad!”

Les Quiero,

Hermana Hopkins 

Chapter 40: I´m Dreamin´of a White Christmas

I still can´t figure out how it happened. As I look back over last week, it seemed to be just a blur. We had zone conference and preparation day for Monday and Tuesday, so we didn´t really get to work until Wednesday, and just because I know Wednesdays are normally hard days to work, I made sure we had good citas that I knew would not cancel for almost every single hour. They all cancelled. Usually this wouldn´t be too horribly surprising, but this week was different. We had a baptism to plan for, and our baptismal candidate was no where to be found Wednesday afternoon. She has never cancelled on us. Not once. And now, she was missing in action. Alright, so slightly dramatic, but we had 3 days to get her prepared for her baptism, and she had never even heard of tithing...so to say I was stressed was an understatement. So, we said a prayer that we would be able to find her, and if it be God´s will, that all would fall into place for her baptism. So, we decided to pass by her piso once again later that night. We went up to her door, knocked, and waited. And waited. And waited. My companion looked at me and said, “Well, now what do we do?” Me, being frustrated and having no idea what to do replied, “We are going to sit down on these stairs and give me five minutes to figure out what we are going to do.” So, we sat down. About three minutes later, my companion said, “Alright, let´s go. We´re wasting our time.” I normally am the one more like that, but I just didn´t feel ready to go, so I told her to give me two minutes. About a minute and a half later, Ana walked up the stairs. It was a miracle. (So, being lazy isn´t always bad.) haha She said how she had to run somewhere, and her phone was broken so it was such a good thing that we were there. We rescheduled for the next day, and everything went smoothly. We taught her everything else that she needed to know, and she accepted it all (even the law of tithing!).We asked her to say the closing prayer, and it was so cute! She just said, “Father, please open the hearts of my family so that they will receive the blessings of this gospel like I am.” She then had her interview Friday, and then Saturday afternoon, she was baptized.  Her husband, who has been absolutely closed to the idea, came to her baptism and started asking some questions afterwards (it was slightly bad because they had to baptize her about 5 times because her dress kept ballooning up in the water.) But, he genuinely sounded interested afterward. She gave her testimony after, and it was simply beautiful. I loved that she said she was excited that God was giving her, “a little angelito to put on her shoulder” as the Holy Ghost,  to help guide her family to heaven. It was interesting, when she was confirmed on Sunday, the Bishop blessed her that the Holy Ghost would help her maintain her future sealing to her husband, and that she would have an eternal family. Everyone’s heads kind of shot up a little bit, because I have never heard of a confirmation blessing like that! But, the miracle doesn´t end there, in fact, it was only the beginning. But I have to rewind a little bit. In the beginning of the week, we found this family knocking on doors. (Well technically, it was when I was still sick, so my companion found them). They asked about the ward choir, and started coming to practices. The dad is Spaniard, the mom is Romanian, and they have the most beautiful four year old daughter I think I have ever seen. However, you have to realize that this couple makes an impossible team. Spaniard=Catholic. Romanian= Orthodox. Both extremely stubborn religions. However, the ward just loved them in the choir, and they were all shocked that we brought this family. We had a lot of lessons planned on Friday night, so my companion and I were on splits again, and she got to go teach them. She said she just talked about their relationship with God and the Book of Mormon. Well, the dad started crying as he said the closing prayer, and the mother said, “You knocked on the right door. I know that you didn´t do that by coincidence.” They came to the baptism, and you´ll never believe it. The mom came up to me after me, and asked, “What do I need to do to be baptized?” I was so shocked I could hardly answer. The elders told me that they both had been talking in the back about this is something that they think they really want for their family. They love that they can choose for themselves to be baptized. They also came with us to Valencia for the Stake choir performance. I feel like they are more members this week than half the ward. I am really excited to actually get to teach them more. My goal my entire mission is to invite a family to be baptized. The Lord is really blessing us here in Castellón. As I thought of Ana in her white, baptism dress; her future family in white temple dresses; and the new family in their own white attire, I couldn´t help but think, “I´m dreamin´of a white Christmas.”

Les Quiero!

Hermana Hopkins 

Chapter 39: God Loves His Missionaries

As many of you already know from my photo shoot, I got a few days off this week. I thought it was slightly strange that the ward members that were with me wanted to take so many photos, and then one of the sisters that stayed with me told me, “Oh hold up this book that your mom made you, it will make her cry!” And that is when I realized, to my complete horror, that they had been posting those photos on Facebook. So, sorry that many of you had to witness me sick on the couch for the weekend. But, let´s start at the beginning of the week. My luck of last week seemed to have seeped over into this week as well. We were just not getting anywhere! However, then Wednesday came and we met with Ana. I have been really nervous about the next few lessons with her, because she was ready for the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity—the scariest lessons. Ok, maybe I shouldn´t say that...but, in my mind, they are. I wasn´t too worried about the Law of Chastity since she´s married, has a family, etc. However, judging by the wine bottle display she has in her living room, I was slightly worried for the Word of Wisdom. I knew that her scheduled baptism was only a week and a half away, and if she had any problems with the Word of Wisdom, then it would make it really difficult. So I was actually really nervous when we started the lesson. However, we asked her about her Book of Mormon reading, and she replied, “Well, I didn´t really have the opportunity to read as much as I would have liked....” then she pulled out her Book of Mormon, opened it, and there was the first 10 chapters of Nephi marked, highlighted, with little notes in the margins. I knew that the next two parts of the lesson would be fine. You know if your investigators are reading the Book of Mormon sincerely, and wanting to know, that there is no way they won´t be converted. (So the issue really is as missionaries is to help them gain that desire to read). Law of Chastity was a breeze, and then came the Word of Wisdom. Gulp. After reviewing a little bit about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, we had her read in a little pamphlet we have what exactly is the Word of Wisdom. She looked down at the pamphlet, looked back up at me, looked down, looked up at the member that was with us, looked down....(holding my breath the whole time), and she looks up again and says, “Well, that seems simple enough, ok.” What?. That´s it?? It was almost too easy...she continued, “I don´t really like tea or coffee, never been on drugs, smoking is disgusting, and I only drink on Holidays....so...yep.” YES! I could barely hold in my excitement. So we are still on for her baptism this Saturday. Baptism weeks are always so crazy. The Elders also had a wonderful baptism Saturday that she was able to attend and know how it will be for hers. (Fun fact: 80% of investigators who attend baptisms, whether they have received the lessons or not, will be baptized!) So that was definitely the highlight of my week. As I said last week, I have been fighting the Spanish flu...Ok, so really just a bad cough. Well, Wednesday night I was seeing little improvement, and Thursday was even a little worse. So, Friday morning, I was finally convinced to call the mission nurse. Our conversation went something like this, “Hi Hermana Clark, it´s Hermana Hopkins *cough cough*.” She shortly replied, “Hermana Hopkins you sound absolutely awful.” Thank you, that´s always something you want to hear. “Well Hermana Clark, I sound worse than I feel. Really I don´t feel that sick, I am just wondering what I should take to get rid of the cough.” She then sent me on a wild goose chase for this medicine to get from a farmacia, on a holiday, thank you, all across town and demanded that I stay in piso for the next 3 days. I was totally bummed!! I only got permission to leave for the Elder’s baptism they were having and Church. I hated the idea of staying inside, especially when I didn´t really feel all that sick. I almost went out anyway, but decided to be obedient. Instead, I decided we were going to enlist the young womens and the young adults to help us out for three days so that my companion could go out and work, and the members could stay with me. It was actually kind of a fun idea. They got to be missionaries for the day, or a babysitter of a missionary. So, I was debating how much I should actually put that they did for me in my letter thinking you would all think I am a spoiled, lazy missionary, but I feel like these people deserve the shoutout. So, Friday, Melanie stayed with me and wrote me a cute letter and she taught me Spanish for about 6 hours. The next day, a member came up to me at the baptism and was trying to ask if I could come to her house instead of her coming to ours. I am pretty good at Spanish, but I couldn´t quite figure out why she wanted me to go there. However, I got permission to go there if someone drove me there. So a different ward member overheard and volunteered to come pick me up. So Rita (Tamara on Facebook) stayed with me until the ward member came to pick me up. She brought me my favorite candies and a green candied apple. When I got to the members house (Her name is Marta) she led me back to a room...and told me to get on this strange, almost hospital-like looking bed. I thought that it was the weirdest bed I had ever seen. Haha But I layed down, and then she pushed a button, and oh! It was a massage bed. Not just a masssage chair, a massage bed. So, yes. I got a two hour massage in the house of this member. She was concerned about my cough, so she got this thing that heats up that you put on our neck and chest. It felt wonderful. She just sat and told me stories of when she was in Ecuador, her concerns, how she wants to be a better missionary for her friends, etc. It was like talking with my mom again. It was really sweet. She also gave me a recipe book so I could make some Christmas goodies. When I told her I would have to make her something to repay her, she said, “Oh no! This is my opportunity to serve the Lord by caring for one of his chosen missioanries here; you don´t realize how special you are to us.” I almost got teary-eyed.  Then the other member came and picked me and Rita back up to go back and wait in our piso for the rest of the night. When I got there, Melanie and her sister had made me chicken noodle soup, and Rita had picked up some Spanish bread during my massage. Haha I felt slightly guilty when my cute companion staggered in the door, absolutely exhausted. However, I think God wanted me to stay in, because there is something I learned. God doesn´t leave his missionaries comfortless. I was being taken care of while I was sick by the wonderful members, and my companion was blessed with so many miracles. She found so many new investigators (including 2 families), and taught more lessons than we usually teach as an entire district in two days. It was an absolute miracle. Plus, she has only been in the field for a week. I was so proud of her! I was one proud trainer, let me tell you. Then Sunday came around, and an investigator came to church and said that he had been watching his friend grow in the church, and wanted to change like he had. We had a lesson with him after church, and he said he wanted to be baptized. We were so blessed this week. Really, I was praying that if I did stay inside and take a break that we would still be able to find those people who are ready. I couldn´t physically go out and work, so God put them in my path for me. It was so great. As a sad note though, Fernando´s wife called and said we weren´t allowed to bother him this month of Christmas. I was really disappointed, but I guess they have their agency. But, I wasn´t about to let that dampen my mood. J I was so excited about our new investigator Miguel. He is from Peru, and we will work with him more this week, but he is so golden! Also, after church, my edible gifts from the members didn´t cease. In fact, I was brought an entire meal including more chicken noodle soup, a chicken and rice dish, and my personal favorite, chocolate chip bread pudding with pineapple sauce. Then later in the day when Rita came to watch me again, she brought me some dinner. I should get sick more often perhaps...haha J We had Zone Conference yesterday, and I officially got the ok to go back to work, and I am really excited to work with these new investigators!! I just have felt so blessed this week. I know that Heavenly Father loves His missionaries.

Les quiero!!

Hermana Hopkins  

Chapter 38 A Long Week for a New Missionary

Chapter 38: A Long Week for a New Missionary

I was really thinking about what I wanted to share this week in my email, and I wasn´t quite sure. It´s been a long week. For starters, I spent a couple of days in Barcelona so I could pick up my new missionary trainee! I still couldn´t believe I was training again. I felt like I was at the meeting for trainers just a week ago. I can hardly believe it´s already been 3 months. Well, I was really nervous because I was told that I would be training a native. I don´t know why it made me more nervous, but it did. What´s really weird is my entire district is training. However, I had nothing to fear when I found out I would be training Hermana Portas. She was (let´s make sure I get this right) born in Venezuela, her mom is from the Dominican Republic, her dad is a Spaniard, she was raised for 10 years in New York, and then moved to Madrid. She is 23 years old, and her English just cracks me up. It´s perfect English, but a heavy New York accent haha but we are officially the youngest district in the mission. The district leader and I came in to the mission together, and we have the most time. It´s a little crazy. Anyway, we were told to pray for a miracle during our first week, and that we should also pray to see a baptism during our first month together. I felt like that was no problem since we were supposed to have three people getting baptized next week. That is, until one of them fell off the face of the earth, one of them had to reschedule, and one of them hasn´t come to church and so they can´t be baptized. It was definitely a bummer. Ok, so it was just down right depressing.  However, this is why I was debating what I should say in my weekly email. I feel like most missionaries try to make it sound as great as possible in their emails, and then all the other missionaries feel like they are the only ones suffering judging off the other emails. So, here is me being real this week. It was really hard. It was the first week in my mission where I haven´t had a whole lot of desire to work. After two out of our three baptismal candidates said they couldn´t meet with us this week, the distant Christmas decorations in the window started to haunt me. haha It was really hard not to think of the festivities that would soon be taking place at home. Not only that, but I´ve been sick for three weeks now, we were breaking cold temperature records, and it was the first week of training. During the first week of training, you always feel more pressure to be obedient, to be excited about the work, and show what the field is really like. Well, as you can probably tell, it was much easier said than done. Also, you don´t really appreciate your old companions until they are gone. I forgot how hard it is to be the only one who knows the area.  It´s funny because once your cita cancels, you kind of look at each other like, “what now?” and I was the only one who knew the area enough to decide where to go next. So I decided we would work with my Spanish Grandma this week. (The one that tried to teach me the Paso doble last week.) We had a three hour long cita and she said she would come to church! ( Yes, three hours). Normally, I wouldn´t try to work with an 80 year old woman so fervently, but then I heard this story from a Spaniard in our ward this week, and she told us that her grandma got baptized when she was 80 years old, and then her mom was baptized soon after. Obviously, I thought, this was a sign for me. She asked us to come back the next day, and after eating chocolate con churros (a Spanish winter favorite) she told us how she couldn´t come to church because she felt like she was betraying the Catholic Church, and it was too cold. I was so upset! However, there was one bright spot in our week. We have been trying to catch this family that we found contacting on the street for the last 2 months and they were never home! The mom´s name is Milagros (which translates to miracles in English), so it was obviously a sign! We went and started just teaching them a little, because they said they had received lessons before from the missionaries. The mom seemed a little less than enthusiastic, but reluctantly invited us back as she was cradling her crying two year old between her knees.  However, her 13 year old niece was also in the room, and when we talked about the Book of Mormon, we asked Milagros if she thought the Book of Mormon could be true, and the little 13 year old piped up from the corner and bursted out, “Yes! I believe it´s true!!” We were definitely taken back. She is just this tiny 13 year old that looks like she is 8. Oh well, I´ll take it. She said she wants to come to church (she didn´t show up though.) and that she wants me to teach her English, and she´ll read the Book of Mormon. It just makes me realize how strong the faith is of a young girl. I hope that if I wasn´t born in the church that I would be able to recognize the truth when I heard it and stand in front my entire family and tell them I know it was true before even reading it. It was really great, and I´ll be excited to meet with them this week. As for Ana (our progressing Peruvian investigator) she went out of town, but will be back this week, and Fernando. Oh Fernando...we tried to meet with him 3 times this week, and do you know what his excuse was?? He had to pick oranges and take a shower. If that´s not the worst excuse I have ever heard, I don´t know what is. Well, hopefully this next week we´ll see some more success and a little bit more cheer from the Scrooge. Haha  Aglaice called this morning very concerned about my health and gave me a care package to help me get better, so no fear. No forces are going to get me down.  Les Quiero!
Hermana Hopkins 

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

Chapter 30: Another One Bites the Dust

It was a rainy day, when I was reminded of a part in Princess Diaries. She is driving to the ball, when her car breaks down and she exclaims, “Is this what I get for driving without a license?!” Then it abruptly begins to pour! Well, a couple of weeks ago I wrote something in this email around the lines of, “And now we have more investigators than the Elders combined!” Now, we are being humbled big time. It all started Monday night when we received the phone call from one of our investigators named Ruben. He started, “Hermanas, I really am interested in your message, but my girlfriend isn´t comfortable with your church, so I will just come by the church when I come.” It was really sad to lose that family, and little did we know that it would be a bad omen for the crazy week that was awaiting us. The next day we were on our way over to teach Aglaece and Mygl—our most progressing investigators that we have. As we walked up to the door of the building, we noticed Aglaece was just leaving, and she was just like, “Oh sorry Hermanas! I completely forgot that we had that cita today! Can you meet tomorrow at the same time?” That was just fine with me, but then I asked, “That´s fine, but where is Mygl?” Then it was like a movie: there bursting between us with all his scrawny strength is Mygl. I barely had time to catch myself from falling backwards to realize that he had a suitcase in hand and he was going faster than I knew a 60 year old man could go!! I just looked frantically back at Aglaece, and she had a smirk on her face, and I asked her, “What just happened??” and she said, “He hasn´t been paying his rent for the past couple months so I kicked him out.” Little did she know she just kicked out our investigator preparing for baptism this week. The only Spaniard, interested investigator was running away from Castellón. Naturally, my companion and I took off, running down the street as fast as we could screaming, “Mygl, Mygl!! Espere!! (wait)”, but our frantic shouts were to no avail (not to mention slighly embarassing), and that was the last time we have seen our little Spaniard, and he won´t answer his phone. However, I knew that the next day would have to be better because we were meeting with Hussan, our Muslim investigator with a thirst for Christianity. So, this whole last week we were scrambling to find an Arabic Book of Mormon, and although difficult, thanks to some connections I have with the mission office, we received an Arabic Book of Mormon. We were on our way to drop it off at his house, practically skipping since we were so excited to show him the Book (he´s been asking about it incessantly) when we received a call....with his name on the caller I.D..... I almost didn´t answer it. This feeling of dread just filled me. Oh. No. I answered it very hesitantly, and this is the horribleness that met my ear, “Hermanas! I just wanted to tell you that I got a job is Valencia, and I have no idea when I will be back. It could be days, weeks, or months.” Well I said, “Hussan! We just got your book for you today and were just on our way over to your house to drop it off to you, are you still home?”. No, no he was not home. He replied, “I just got to the train station 5 minutes ago. I´m sorry, and we´ll be in touch in the future.” My companion and I just sat down on a bench and just stared out into the smokiness of the common, empty, European street. We were being struck down for my snobby comment I knew it. I just turned to my companion and said the words to the classic ballad of Queen, “Another one bites the dust....” Disappointed, we continued our days of knocking on doors and street contacting to try and find new investigators. The next morning greeted us with a bitter overcast. I knew it was going to be a good day, it just had to be right? We had two different appointments scheduled with Romanian families that we were excited about. I love teaching families, because I love testifying of the blessings of the gospel for the family. Well, we rang the bell at the bottom of the building, when this voice comes over the speaker and says, “Who is it?” we replied cheerfully, “Hi Magdelena, it´s the missionaries!” Normally, the door clicks meaning they let you in, however the voice replied, “Uh....this isn´t Magdelena...this is...uh someone....she is in the hospital...don´t know what she will be back...” It was obviously our investigator. Right then someone else walked out of the building, so we snuck in and went up to the door and she answered it with a look of “Oh man I have been caught”, and told us she just doesn´t want us to come over anymore....This week was turning into a joke! So we walked over to the next family, and we get up to the door and the mom answers and says, “ You know what Hermanas, we just don´t have  time to listen to your messages anymore. I am sorry.” And another one goes, and another one goes...... My cute little companion turned to me and said fighting back tears, “Hermana, what are we doing wrong?” and I was just thinking, “I don´t know. God is probably just punishing me for being a horrible, arrogant trainer.” haha But I replied, “Sometimes you have to go through humbling times as a missionary to recognize the good times.” I think I only meant that half-heartedly because I seriously thought we must being doing something wrong as well. Haha So, my objective for the rest of the week was simply to make my trainee feel a little bit happier. I have 5 bits of advice for missionaries to stay sane/happy:

1.       It´s ok to stop and get chocolate. It always helps.

2.       With number one, once you have lost most of your investigators, chocolate only gets you so far. Buy ice cream and sit down and enjoy the company of your companion.

3.       Belt Disney songs that make you smile. While you are at it, quote your favorite Disney movie. We quoted Emperors New Groove about 3 times this week. “Llama, he´s supposed to be dead!” :)

4.       Now, you are probably all thinking this is why they don´t have any investigators, but then comes this next piece of advice—recognize that God loves his missionaries and is with us every step of the way and that this is His work, and He doesn´t send us here to fail. Whenever you need reminding of God´s love for you, just pray and read the Book of Mormon. There is so much power in that book.

5.       Count your many blessings!

6.       Ok, so really I have six. Don´t be afraid to laugh. Really. This was an awful week, but there was definitely some funny moments. For instance:

We were knocking doors when this woman opens the door—calm, cool, and collected—when we proceeded to tell her that we were missionaries and we had a song about God´s love that we wanted to share with her (remember Gospel Caroling). She promptly responded, “I am sorry, but I was just about to throw up, can you come back another day?” Ummm....yes....we will leave you right to that. Haha!
Then, the next door, was this half-naked super grumpy looking man that looked like he was a little damp. We started telling him that we were missionaries (just because I had no idea what to say when I saw him, and I was trying not to laugh) when he interrupted us and said, “I was right in the middle of a shower, if you will excuse me!” and slammed the door in our face. We just looked at each other and laughed so hard! Then the next day we were doing the same thing when this cute little grandma opens the door with glasses bigger than her face and when we told her who we were and what we wanted to do, she just shouts in the graggly, shaky voice, “NoOOoo! Not the Mormons!!” tried to close the door quickly, but didn´t quite have the strength and continued her half shout; “Nooo!! Nooo!!!” we slowly backed away and we could still here her protests two floors down the builidng hahaha Needless to say, not a successful week, but some very memorable memories. Haha I guess what I am trying to say is that we had an awful week, but we tried to make the best of it. I know the Lord is guiding His work, and we are going to work harder than ever to get it going here in Castellón, Spain. The ward here is incredible, so I know I have been so blessed. I love you all and can´t even express how grateful I am for your constant support and prayers. Les Quiero!!

Hermana Hopkins