But, we had a great week! We've been working really hard,
and our numbers have been WAY down, which is REALLY frustrating to me, cuz I
feel like I'm working harder than I've ever worked, but we're just not
producing! I think I said something about this last week too, but I had my
interview with President last week, and he told me that that is pretty normal.
Satan FIGHTS against news and their trainers to keep their numbers down so that
the confidence of the new missionary is destroyed. So, we've been working hard
to find news and get them baptized cuz my kid needs to get in the water! It's
weird...our numbers are way down, but the number of progressing investigators
is more or less staying the same. Even though Heavenly Father is permitting
that Satan fights against our numbers, he's still blessing us with some awesome
investigators! The chosen will still hear the voice no matter what!
So, we have this family who is working to get baptized.
Their son got baptized about a month ago, and he LOVES the church. Every once
in awhile, you find families that are an awesome source for baptisms for a few
months, and that's the case here! Tito is his name, and about two weeks after
his baptism, his dad decided he wants to get baptized too! So...we're working
with him! The only problem is that his dad is OOOOOOLD. Well...I guess he's not
THAT old, but old in Guatemala is different than old in America. He's 80, and I
wouldn't be surprised if he just kicked the bucket any day. He's in baaaaad
shape (Sorry for any of my elderly readers out there. Hope I didn't offend you,
but I guarantee you you're in better health than this guy, even if youre 95).
But, his wife and him have been living together for about 60 years, and still
haven't gotten married! She's just a funny old lady, and she just LOVES us, but
HATES the idea of getting married. But that's not the funny part. There are
Three things that I can count on every single time we go over there. One: She
is going to say the phrase, "Yo pensé que no iban a venir!" or,
"I thought you weren't going to come!" Two: She is going to try
and hug me. And three: The front button of her shirt will be wiiiiiiiiiiiiiide
open. If she wasn't such a sweet old lady, I'd be thoroughly creeped out by
her, but she's just so cute! I'll try and get pictures with them before I leave
this area, which shouldn't be TOO hard, considering I'm going to be here till
February.
This week we FINALLY got our death trap of a shower fixed! I
can't remember when it broke, but I think we've been taking REALLY cold showers
for about 2 months...ish. I will never, EVER complain about a, "cold
shower" when I get home, and we're fighting over shower times on Sunday
mornings! I now know what a cold shower really is! It's amazing how good of a
mood a hot shower will put you in! I never thought I'd be so happy to have
electricity once again running inside my shower stall. Yikes.
We were knocking a street this week, standing at a door
waiting for someone to come out when a group of six or seven kids rounds the
corner at dead sprint looking at us with crazy in their eyes. We were very
confused. They ran right up to us, tagged my companion, and ran back around the
corner. We thought...well that was weird....when they came running around the
corner again! This time even MORE crazy in their eyes! This time they tagged
me, and ran back around the corner! We figured they were done by this point, but
then they came BACK!!! By this time we were pretty certain that no one was
going to come to the door, so what did we do? We ran away! Notta one of em
touched us. Success.
So our ward has a ward mission leader, obviously. He's a
real go getter. He LOVES to work and to plan activities, and to help the
missionaries. I love it. The only problem? He always plans waaaaay over his
head. We had an activity planned this Saturday for all the recent converts and
investigators. It was a DISASTER. There were 6 people that showed up. We were
planning for 55. But...he'll be blessed for his intentions, not the results of
his efforts. Unfortunately, he just moved away this weekend! So...no more go
getter ward mission leader, but also no more awkward ward activities. Win some
you lose some, I guess.
We got to go to the Christmas Devotional this week...IT WAS
AWESOME!!! Although listening in Spanish isn't nearly as good. When they
invited the congregation to sing at the end it was really funny...they don't
translate that, they just throw it up in ENglish and hope for the best...me and
the other Gringo missionaries were having the time of our lives singing our
hearts out, but everyone else was just confused...Ohhhh I love being a
missionary.
I have been really focusing on working with the ward this
past week, like I told you last week in my email. The only problem is that I
have NO idea where to start! I just didn't know what to do! I knew that the
members were going to be a huge source of support for us, I just didn't know how
to use them at all! I had been praying, and thinking, and praying, and reading
the scriptures, and praying some more to find a good way to use the members!
Then i came across this scripture that I just LOVED!!! It's in 1 Nephi 17.
Verse 51. The Lord had instructed Nephi, a guy who I imagine had never built a
ship in his life to build a vessel that could carry his entire family ACROSS
THE OCEAN. Just take a minute and soak in the magnitude of that responsibility,
and then think about how he must have felt...I imagine his thought process was
something like this, at least for a
second..."Ummmmmm....WHAT?!?!" But then I'm POSITIVE his,
"I will go and do" attitude kicked right in. That's why the Lord
commanded him to do so many amazing things! God had faith that Nephi would do
it. He could depend on him. But in 1 Nephi 17:51, I love it!
51 And now, if the Lord has such great power,
and has wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how is it that he
cannotainstruct me, that I should
build a ship?
Now...if the Lord can instruct Nephi, a guy who I imagine
has never even BEEN on a boat to BUILD one, then how is it that he cannot
instruct me to work with the members? So I've been looking to the Lord a LOT!!
And you know what? I bet that that ship was the MOST structurally sound ship in
the entire world at that point in time! But...now we're seeing success! We had
an FHE with three families from the ward yesterday that helped a ton! The Lord
is guiding me to be able to work with the members! And now we're going to
BAPTIZE LIKE LOCOS!!! There's so much more to this story, but I am SO out of
time!!! Boooo!!! Just know...the Lord will instruct you when you have righteous
desires!!! So turn to Him!
Ok...I'm out!! Love you guys a ton!!
Have a great week!!
Love,
Ok...I'm out!! Love you guys a ton!!
Have a great week!!
Love,
Elder Hopper 2
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