Monday, April 11, 2016

Hello everyone!

So this week was a hard one.. Like most but this was probably one of the hardest of my mission. I'll start with the happy part of the week!

We have a baptism coming up!! We just started teaching a kid named Zander and he is so excited to get baptized!! He said yes before we were even able to finish the question! He's an awesome kid and we are so excited for him to be able to get baptized and to continue to grow and to learn!

We might have a few other baptisms coming up too! We are starting to see a lot of blessings in our area!

Sister Campbell! 

We also had exchanges this week and I got to meet a man named Fred who is getting baptized on the 23rd! He watched conference and after that he knew without a doubt that the church was true! We taught him about the word of wisdom and he didn't know anything about it but he said whatever the missionaries told him he knew he needed to follow. So now he is going to stop smoking and drinking coffee! The people that we get to meet as missionaries are so amazing! Hearing the testimonies of people who want to get baptized so badly is such an amazing and special thing! It's such a blessing to be a missionary!

So the hardest part of this week was that a member of one of our wards passed away. He was such an amazing man and it was a surprise to the ward and to his family. He and his wife have been married for about

25 years I think and he got baptized not too long ago. They were able to be sealed together in the Las Vegas temple just a few years ago.

We had a zone training the other day and we had a bunch of members come help us do role play!

This man had such a strong and amazing spirit. When I shook his had for the first time I knew that he was a special man. He sometimes would say things that were a little off but you always had to laugh at it. His name was Brother Golden and his name fit him very well. He was a golden man and he lived up to his name. It was hard to say goodbye to Brother Golden but he has left a lasting impression on everyone he has ever met and he will always be with us in our hearts.

I also gave a talk this week! My second talk in this transfer and we are only half way through.. But I love it! One way that I can tell that I'm growing is that I'm not as uncomfortable when I give talks! I have more confidence and I don't sit there looking down reading my notes the whole time. I write a couple notes and then I look up at the congregation the whole time that I am speaking. If any of you know my family very well you know that none of us (except my Mom and Drew) like to get up and talk in front of people. It has been one of the biggest anxieties I've had in my life. I now look forward to speaking!

Of course I still get worried and scared before I talk but I know that I will be able to get through it and that I will actually end up enjoying it! There are so many blessings that I have had since I started my mission! It's such an amazing experience!

 

We also had rain!!  I loved it!!

Hope everyone is doing well! Love you all!

Sister Hopper