Sister Hopper's Mission Adventure: Monday, February 29, 2016

Hi everyone!

This week has been full of miracles! So many blessings and wonderful people. We found a couple new people to teach and we found one that was a huge answer to prayer. We were on exchanges with the STLs again but this time I was with sister Loveless. We were walking back to the car to go back home hoping we would find someone to talk to on our way because we still had about 20 minutes before we needed to be home. We didn't see anyone so we decided to pray for guidance. I said the prayer and asked Heavenly Father where we needed to go. Sister Loveless pointed to a street and said "should we go that way?" And then I thought about it and said " there are a lot of members on that street. Like every other house is a member. But I can't remember which houses they are so I don't know.. Maybe.." And then someone came into my mind. A couple weeks ago we had gone down that street to see if we could find a potential. We know people were home but no one came to the door but I decided we should try again. I said to sister Loveless "I have someone in mind. Let's go." So we crossed the street and started walking down the road she pointed to. About 10 seconds later someone came running down the sidewalk! I looked at Sister Loveless thinking "is this him? Is he the answer to our prayer? Is he here?" So we started to talk to him about our message and asked if we could come by some other time and share more. He said yes! Then we asked where he lived. This is always tricky when we find someone on the street like this because the usually don't live in our area and we have to refer them. But he lived in our area! He lived in a gated community that we are in almost every day. So we set up a time and asked if we could end with a prayer. He said yes and then we asked if he would say it and he said yes again! People never do that! It was awesome. It's crazy how when you pray with faith, knowing that Heavenly Father will answer your prayer, you will get an answer! After we walked away from him I was talking to Sister Loveless and I said "we are going to baptize him. I just know it"

So the next day we went over there to see him. But his family said he wasn't there. So again we were trying to figure out what to do. We were there for a couple more minutes when Alex came walking out the door! His family hadn't even checked to see if he was there! So we sat outside and had our lesson. We got through the whole first lesson and he was so interested in all of it. Especially learning from the Book of Mormon. And then I asked him to be baptized! I just had the strongest feeling to do that and I had never done it before but after I asked he said YES! We made a return appointment and then said goodbye to him. After we left his house I about screamed at sister Loveless and said "I told you we were going to baptize him!" I can just feel the spirit when we are around him so strong. I know he will get baptized someday. Maybe not while I'm here, but he is one of those people that the Lord has prepared for the missionaries to come and I know that. These last couple days have been such a testimony builder for me. The power of prayer and having faith along with that is so important with missionary work!


		Sister V and I were trying to take a selfie with the strip but the sun was too bright..

Sister Loveless and I were walking down the street and she was talking about something and said "uhhhhhhhhh" and then right after she said that we looked over and saw this license plate

We also were scared to death by a dog that jumped up on top of a wall right next to us and it was pretty much foaming at the mouth. There is something about exchanges that make dogs want to attack me because I dog tried to bite me last time too.

We have a member in one of our wards with some interesting pets... On the top is Bella and the bottom is Autumn! We got to hold them while we waited for dinner.

My goal for this next month is to erase all doubt. Often times I'll go up to a house and immediately start thinking negative. I'll say "it looks dark. There probably isn't anyone home" but then I remember that with faith we will be able to find someone. If I go up to a house with those kinds of thoughts Heavenly Father isn't going to trust me to teach those people. The only way that we will be able to find someone is if we have faith and confidence that we will find someone and have no doubt in our minds.

I know that Heavenly Father loves me and all of his children. I've seen that so much in my life this week and we have been given so many amazing blessings. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! I hope everyone knows that because it Truly is a huge blessing that I'm here.

This picture is of the sisters that taught Bonnie! Sister V. Who is my trainer, next to her sister Erickson who is sister Vs trainer and sister Faucett who is the trainer of sister Ericksons trainer!

We also had a baptism! Bonnie got baptized! She is so happy and it was such a great experience. Bonnie is the type of person that is very shy and hates being the center of attention. We asked her if she wanted to get up and say a couple words after she was baptized and she was very set on not talking. But when it actually came down to it she got up in front of everyone and talked! It was awesome! That was such a huge thing for her and she definitely made me cry which wasn't great because I was supposed to get up and conduct the music... But it was a great experience and I'm so happy for her!