September 11, 2012

Hello dearest family and friendships!

First of all, and most important…HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARMY!!! I love you SO much, and I hope you know, that everything I am or ever hope to be I owe to my angel mother! I love you Marm!

Well…this has been yet another boring missionary week! We worked hard, and we’re trying to get our baptism THIS MONTH! The mission has a goal, and has been ramping up towards getting 300 baptisms this month, and I WANT TO BAPTIZE!!! I heard about the goal in June, and ever since then I’ve been praying and working my little tail off to be able to contribute in a major way to this goal. I left my old area with 7 baptisms just waiting to get in the water, and I came here and they have ZERO progressing investigators. My first week here we had ZERO in church. Can’t get baptized if you don’t come to church! So…I’ve been pretty frustrated with it. We thought we had a lady named Monica who was going to get baptized, she’s been pretty positive, and says she’s received an answer that the church is true. We knew we would have to marry her and her husband, but what we found out yesterday is that she was married earlier. Here in Guatemala it is MUCH easier to part the red sea than it is to get divorced. So…we’re really literally asking for a miracle to get her baptized in the month of September. Other than that, we’re pouring over our area book so we can find someone, ANYONE who can get baptized! I WANT TO MEET THIS GOAL MORE THAN ALMOST ANYTHING I’VE EVER DONE. So…prayers in part of me and my companion would be greatly appreciated!

But…we’ve been having a good time here! Elder Luna, I thought, was going to be a rough companion, but things have been getting easier every day. Other than he keeps eating my food. That’s gonna have to change. I think he made some preconceived conceptions about me, and didn’t want to let them go…but then he got to know me! He has a reeeeally hard time loving the people, and there have been several times when, during a lesson, I just have to look at him and tell him to stop talking. He just gets too mad! So, we’re working with that. And as I help him with that, I realized it’s helping me more than him! I find myself thinking to myself fairly frequently, “Well…I’m a representative of Christ here in Sonora. Is this something Christ would do if he were me?” And that is REALLY helpful! Also, I think it’s saved me from doing or saying some dumb things! It’s really a better way to live life!

So…to explain the pictures. Friday, it rained. HARD. REALLY REALLY HARD. Like…INSANELY HARD. Friday, my umbrella broke. IT REALLY REALLY BROKE. So…I got a little bit wet. Just a little bit. And it rained at about 2 in the afternoon, which meant that I got to walk around nice and soggy for the rest of the day. This is the result on my poor feet. They looked like a dead persons feet. It was pretty gross. So, naturally, I figured I’d take a picture to commemorate the experience!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second picture is of my bed! I decided that the Oregon shirt is just too painfully small for me, and so it is now a pillow case! And this is how my bed looks every single day! Mom…I do make my bed every day! Promise! Love me some Oregon! Now…just need to find the better school’s shirt, and it would be even BETTER. But for now, I will deal with the green and yellow on my bed. But understand, I drool on that every single day. U of O gets what it deserves!!!

Found out this week that my comp is DEATHLY afraid of dogs, and it’s HILARIOUS. One of our investigators has a dog named doggy (Which is clever, cuz no one here speaks English. Appreciate that.), and every time you pet it, it growls. But it’s a really nice dog. So, we had just finished a lesson, and I was playing with the dog. The harder you pet it, the more it growls, so I got it growling really good, and basically threw it at my comp. You’ve never heard a grown man scream so loud in your life. Aaaahh…yeah…Christ definitely wouldn’t do that. Woops.

Good news! The Tuesday curse is broken! Last week no one died, and the week before that…well…I only came across a half dead guy. He had just gotten the TAR beaten out of him for who knows what, but I helped load him into the car to get to the hospital. But the curse is broken! Celebrate!

So, this week I got a surprise call from the President of the mission. It was in the morning, and I had just gotten out of MY DEVIL SHOWER when our phone rang! Not too unusual, so I ran over to get it, but it said, “Presidente Brough” on the caller ID…uh oh. What’d we do? It’s a bit unusual to get a call from the president of the mission unless you’re a screw up. Well…he told me, “Elder Hopper…I just want you to know that I am praying for you by name every single day until you baptize this month. Don’t get disanimated. You’re gonna get it.” All morning long I had been just down in the dumps cuz we didn’t have any really progressing investigators or anything! It was just SO cool to see how the Spirit worked through Pres. Brough to help me! It was just a testament to me that the Spirit, and Heavenly Father really works through us to help His children here on earth. So, the next time you have a thought to do something nice or to help someone…DO IT! Whether it’s the Spirit or not, DO IT!! You may never know if it was the Spirit, but it was a good thing, so DO IT!!! That’s the whole reason we’re here on earth, to help other people! Make other people’s lives better. So…DO IT!!!!

Fun fact from Mexico: It is a crime to fly the flag except for the month of September. This week is Guatemala’s independence day…I should have some interesting experiences with drunks next week! I’ll keep you posted!

Today is 9/11. I would just like to say that I LOVE America. Seriously, every day I’m here I love America a little bit more. We are so blessed to have people who were willing to die so we could have all the freedoms we enjoy. Look around you, and realize everything you have wasn’t purchased with YOUR blood. Now, give thanks for the country you have, and do something to make it better. Also…Brad; I love you a ton. You’re my hero. Keep doing what you’re doing and know that I’m praying for your safety and that of your friends every single day.

Well…that’s all I’ve got! Keep praying for it, cuz I need a MIRACLE this week! I love you all! Keep being awesome!
Muchisimo amor,

Elder Hopper