December 31, 2013

HEEEELLO FAMILIA!!!

Well...it was a...well, completely honestly, it was a difficult week. Christmas is a LOT different here than it is there. It's basically an excuse to drink. I'll just say this...those who think it's ok to hit their children in ANY form...well...I sincerely hope they get theirs. It's the MOST COWARDLY thing a person could EVER do. With that being said, I'll let your imagination wander on what might have happened to us this week.

 

Our Christmas gift from the lady who gave us dinner!

Other than that, I am incredibly glad I am with Elder Haertel. I seriously love the guy a ton. This week we were just walking along the street when he stopped, looked at me, said, "What I'm about to do is SUPER awesome." He walked over to a family who was sitting on an outside table eating dinner, pulled out a seat, sat down, and started contacting him. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Dad was SO offended...maybe not the most effective missionary effort ever, but...sure was funny!


Christmas Dinner!

Last night, we were knocking doors. I knocked a door and a guy came out. He was nicely dressed in a clean polo shirt and nice jeans...that's pretty rare here, so I naturally thought he was a pastor. Well...I asked him if we could come in and share our message. He said, "Look...we've got a family activity going on right now." So I said that that was fine...we could come back any time! He said "The truth is that we don't live here. We live on the other side of Tiquisate." When I told him that that wasn't a problem either...we can take your address down and go there he got really serious and said, "Look, kid...I don't want to lie to you. The TRUTH is that we read the Bible." As if that were a reason not to talk to us. When he said that, I saw my companion at my side's face go up in one of those, "Riiiiiiiiiight" kind of motions, making the, "Ooooooooh" with his mouth. I swear...at that point I almost lost it. I just love the excuses people use here. Love me some Guatemala.

 



Christmas Jammies!
 

Yesterday we had zone leader counsel with President Brough. He said something that was very interesting. He said, "The three hours in the morning that you have to study get REALLY hard at the end of your mission. Satan ATTACKS them because he doesn't want you going home good at studying the scriptures." and you know what? It's totally true! This hasn't happened to me since my first change back in April of 2012...I actually fell asleep during personal study this week! Nobody even noticed, but I just felt so embarrassed! that NEVER happens to me anymore! But...it did! So...gotta fight it even harder at the end of my mission than I did at the beginning! What fun. 

Well...no mas. Sorry...boring email again this week. Should be an interesting week this week, though...lots of stuff to do with divisions and working with missionaries and meetings...yay! We did get some awesome news this week, though...Elder Cook is coming to do a conference with our mission on the 22nd of January! I am SO excited!!!
Love you all!
Love,

Elder Hopper 1

December 24, 2013

HEEEEELLO FAMILY!!!

Well....first things first...Merry Christmas!!!! I hope you all have a great one, and enjoy the time together in the cold with family and friends!

 

Well, we have had an AWESOME week. I LOVE being Elder Haertel's companion. He's really an awesome missionary, and I'm grateful I get to be his companion. He's just painfully obedient, and I love that about the guy. We just pass the entire day laughing. Seriously...I don't think I've laughed so hard in my entire mission. And the nice part is that we still work SUPER hard. The only problem is when we start laughing in the middle of lessons, and try to hold it in while the other testifies...but we work our way through it. Just now, we were walking to internet, and he started citing, "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly" then he stopped in his tracks, looked at me very longingly, and said, "Tell me I'm pretty." I seriously couldn't move for about a minute, I was just laughing waaaay too hard. I just love the guy. It's just stupid things like that.

 

Mi queridisisimo Elder Breinholt

We had a cool experience this week though. We are trying to start a branch in a little pueblo about an hour away from our area that's right on the beach called Semillero. We thought we were there, but we need a few more priesthood holders...but we're still working on it! Well, we go there about once a week, and the last bus from Semillero to Tiquisate leaves at 6:00. Well, we got out of our last lesson around 5:50, and realized that we needed to get to the bus NOW! Well...when we got there around 5:55...we watched it drive away. Well...here we were, about an hour away from our area, with the sun going down, and nowhere to go...the only two white people within fifty miles. So...what do we do? We say a prayer! Then we decided to start walking the 7 kilometres or so to get to a little pueblo called Ticanlu, where a member lives. On our way it got DARK. I was a little bit nervous, seeing as we were walking along a somewhat deserted highway alone at night. Well...we said a prayer as we walked, and arrived safely in Ticanlu. And the first person who drives up to us in a pickup truck says, "Are you guys headed to Tiquisate?! Hop in!" And what do you know? Free ride to Tiquisate! Plus...we taught him a lesson on the way! Man...if that's not a good lesson on answered prayers, I don't know WHAT is! 

 

We went to the temple this week for our Christmas activity, and I experienced something that I hadn't experienced in a LOOOOONG time. I went into the bathroom, turned the left faucet, and HOT water came out! Then...I turned off the left knob, turned on the right one, and COLD water came out!! Then...I turned them BOTH on...and LUKEWARM water came out! It's just the small things.

 

The CCM group!

After the temple for the Christmas activity, we went to a stake center in the capitol to play basketball. I still suck. Surprise. But it was fun trying again! After that we had lunch, and I got to see Hermana Brown who was visiting with her family! That was fun! It was like she had never left...like she was just a missionary still! I kept wondering where her plaque was! But afterwards we had the devotional portion of the activity with President Brough talking. The theme of the conference was, "this cup

that my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" Or something like that...I don't have the reference in front of me, and if I did...it'd be in Spanish. :P Well, he talked all about how we need to be like Christ. Something that struck me was that Christ was TIRED in the end. When He was carrying His cross to be crucified, I can only imagine how he felt! He must have been in SO much pain, and the word tired doesn't even begin to describe it. When Peter offered to help him, all He asked was if He shouldn't take this suffering that His Father had given Him. I want to be more like that. I want to be willing to endure any and all suffering that the Lord asks me to withstand. Shall we not drink the cup that God gives us?  Afterwards, we had an activity. Pres. Brough explained how one dies through crucifixion, how they have to constantly raise himself up on his hands to be able to take a breath, and how eventually one suffocates and dies. Then, he told us that we were going to stand and hold our hands out to our sides for six minutes, just to suffer a liiiiittle tiny bit and feel what He felt. We held our hands out to our sides while we listened to MOTAB sing this is the Christ and watch paintings of Him on the projector. It was so powerful. Towards minute 4 I almost couldn't stand it anymore. Try it. But the Spirit was just so strong. I'm so grateful for what He did for me, so that I can become more like Him. I love being a missionary, and I am doing all I can to be a true representative of Him.


I love you all, have a wonderful Christmas time, and remember the real meaning of this season!

Love,

Elder Hopper 1

December 17, 2013

HEEEELLO FAMILY!!!
They're playing, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" in Spanish in this internet place. How very, very baggy. Definitely won't be having a blance navidad here! 

 

Well...it was a good week! First off, we had changes! I got my first gringo companion that I've had since...June of 2012! Wow...that is a LOOOOONG time. But the best part is that it's Elder Haertel! I saw his birth in La Sonora some 16 months ago! He's one of my best friends on the mission! It's fun...when they call the zone leader's changes, they go up to the stand so that they can see their whole zone, and see who they are. So...they called the zone Tiquisate, and I knew that my comp was out, so I headed up to the stand alone, and they said, "En Tiquisate uno...Elder Hopper recibe a.......Elder Haertel!!!" And before I could get up to the stand, he knocked me over with this huge hug! It was a pretty epic moment. The whole mission just laughed at us. They were just jealous. The other awesome part about changes is that I got Elder Breinholt in my zone! He moved down to train and die, and he's with me! I'm SO EXCITED about it! It's going to be a sweet change. I just hope we both stay in the zone to die together...we'll see! 

Just took this picture! Love this man!

So, during the change meeting, we had a special treat. President Brough's family came because the very day of changes was his birthday! So his two brothers were there, along with his daughter and wife, which isn't super weird. But his brothers is odd. Well, they got to bear their testimonies. In English, cuz they don't speak Spanish. How convenient it is that I speak English. Well, one of them started out by saying, "Many of you probably think that President Brough can walk on water" We all laughed, thinking that some good story of a President Brough screw up was coming. Well, he then said, "I want you all to know, that I think President Brough can walk on water too. I can't think of ANYTHING that would make this man unworthy in your eyes to hold the position he now holds, and I couldn't think of a better big brother that a man could have." It was such a spiritual moment. The spirit just hit us all like a wall. It really made me think about my brothers, too. And I realized how grateful I am to have brothers who I can honestly say are my very best friends. It was just one of those grateful moments. I'm having a lot of those lately.

 

Also, during changes, I saw one of my converts! Tito Perez from La Sonora! This guy is my pride and joy. I was just SO EXCITED to see him! He was helping the missionaries get their bags to the change meeting, and he started to talk to me about his home teaching families, how he is getting ready to go to the temple, and how incredibly grateful he is that we knocked on his door that day. It was definitely a missionary pay day. Love getting those. They're not too frequent.

 

So, this week...the Jehovah's witnesses knocked on our door. Imagine their surprise when two big, gringo Mormons walked out, nametag and all. The look on his face was PRICELESS. There were two, but one just stood there watching the other, like he was his padawan. We let him do his thing, and we didn't take out the scriptures that I have found throughout the mission that completely destroys the testigos way of thinking, but it was just interesting to have it on the other side of the door contact. They didn't really teach me any doctrine, though. They just told me to read the Bible more, and that I don't read it enough. I was kind of disappointed in the end.

 

Well...all out of time! Love you all! I hope you have a wonderful week before Christmas! 

Love,

Elder Hopper 1

December 10, 2013

First things first.

 

I'm incredibly hungry.

 

There...now that that is out of the way...let's get into the good stuff. 

 

Well, this week we had two baptisms! We love this little family, Carlos and Verali. They are a lot of fun, and the best part is that they live in a house FULL of little kids! I love going there! It was so funny...while we were getting ready for the baptisms, my companion was in the bathroom stall getting dressed in his white clothes. Well...two of the little girls, probably about 5 and 6 came into the guys bathroom. Just waaaaaltzed right on in. Well...there was something in there that they had never seen before. A urinal. While I was trying to usher one of them out of the men's bathroom, the other one went and tried to figure out what it was! She turned to me with innocent eyes and asked, "Hopper, ¿Que es eso?" at which point she turned around, and sat down on it, trying to use it like a toilet. It was...hilarious. I just warned my companion to lock the door, and let them have their fun with these new creations that they had never seen. I didn't really know what to do...

 

So, the closer we get to Christmas, and ESPECIALLY on weekends, there are more and more drunks in the street! Well...last Saturday night, which is the hot night for drunks, this drunk guy came up to us and said, "Look...you guys just walk WAY. TOO. FAST. Do you EVER rest?!" That's a rough translation...but it was just a funny moment. I love drunk people. The fun ones. Some are just angry, though, and I don't like those.

 

I have come to the realization again this week of how incredibly grateful I am for everything. I just want you all to look around you, and realize how comfortable you are, and how INCREDIBLY blessed you are. I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be a missionary here for, if nothing else, to be the most grateful human being on the face of the planet. It's kind of hard to adequately express in words, but I'm just grateful.

 

I've been studying lately the difference between being a consecrated missionary vs. an obligated missionary. Many people come on missions because they feel obligated to do so, but if we really want to become CONSECRATED to the Lord, and His work, we need to find a MUCH deeper reason to work like we do.  Well, I found a scripture that I LOVED that talks about this. It is in 2 Nefi 2:1-3. It talks all about how the sufferings of his childhood consecrated his life to the work of God, but even after that he had to be obedient and diligent. This week in the ZL counsel President talked about his main goal for his missionaries is that they leave the mission being consecrated, and saved. It was a super powerful moment when he said, "I want EVERY SINGLE MISSIONARY to be in the Celestial kingdom. From the most disobedient, to the hardest workers. I want them ALL there, and it is YOUR job as leaders to help me make that happen." So...there is a BIG difference in being a consecrated missionary and being an obligated missionary, and I want to be that consecrated missionary. President in my last interview talked a lot about me consecrating my mission to the Lord in these last three months that I have, so...that's what I'll do! Just gotta work harder!

 

This is a Guatemalan dressing room in middle of a crowded market.

Love you all. Have an awesome Christmas. Enjoy the tranquility of it all. Here, it's the loudest day of the year. It's quite a difference, the culture. But...I'll most certainly love the tamales, and the ponche, and all the fireworks!

Love you!
Love,

Elder Hopper NUMBER ONE!!! HA!!! 

P.S...I hope everyone went to watch the Christmas devotional by the church...it was fantastic! If you didn't...go back and watch it again! Isn't internet the greatest?

December 3, 2013

I AM OFFICIALLY ELDER HOPPER NUMBER OOOOONE!!!!!! YEEEEEEESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all. 

We had a good week this week! Let me start off with the funny stories, then we'll get to the hair raising Elder-Hopper-almost-dies ones.

 

Well, we taught a guy this week. He was a paraplegic. He had an accident about...five years ago, and since then has been in a wheelchair without use of his legs. Well, I have a line that I always say at the end of a lesson to invite people to pray. I say, "Entonces, hermano, despues de leer, usted se arrodillará y preguntará a Dios si lo que le hemos compartido es cierto?" Well...for those of you who have brushed up on your Spanish...that's pretty offensive to a guy who doesn't have use of his legs. I invite you to use Google translator to figure it out, and laugh at my misfortune. I felt terrible about it. But at least it's a good story, right?!

 

So, on Saturday night we had two baptismal interviews. After the interviews, we were walking to go to work! We were walking down the main intersection against traffic, when this motorcycle going about 25 layed it right over in front of us. The motorcycle skidded to a stop like...ten feet in front of us. If that doesn't get your adrenaline pumping, I don't know WHAT will! Well, we ran mover to the guy, and wouldn't you know it...drunk as a skunk. Like...REEEEALLY drunk. He had basically face planted and skidded on his face for about 30 feet, completely RIPPING it up, he was bleeding all over the place. But the good thing was that he was REALLY drunk, so he didn't feel it. Well, the crowd that had then gathered and I dragged his bloody stinky drunk body to the curb along with his motorcycle, and while I got someone to call the police, he hopped right back onto his motorcycle! He's a bright one. Thankfully, I had seen where his key was hanging off his motorcycle on a cord, so I grabbed it. He didn't like that. So we had a tug of war over his keys. Thankfully, the fifteen people or so that were around helped me grab it from him. Well, my companion cannot see blood without basically tossing cookies, so...he was off talking to some people around the accident, and these two girls came up to him. I'm glad I've got an obedient companion, or we might have had problems. Well, it turns out that basically the entire crowd that had gathered thought that this drunk guy had been trying to rob the gringo! And that I beat the living tar out of him! Well...thankfully, that wasn't the case...maybe some other day.

 

One more drunk guy story, and we'll call it quits for this week. We were knocking doors, when we knocked a door with a drunk guy sitting right next to it. He was...a weirdo. He kept saying, "I'm a WITCH! When you want that frog in your stomach, you come call me! Cuz I'm a WITCH!!!! I'll get'im in there for you!" Somewhat roughly translated...it was a funny one. Little less dramatic, but funny nonetheless.

Foto de zona

Next week we should be baptizing a family! Take THAT, Adam! You're home, but I'M BAPTIZING A FAMILY!!! :) Love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week!!!!

Con DEMASIADO amor,
Elder Hopper NUMERO UNO!!!!

November 26, 2013

Man...I'm so boring. I'm sorry that this will be a boring week, once again.

This week, however, we had a wedding! And two baptisms! Now...those who got married will be getting baptized next week, but we're very excited about it! I'm getting painfully close to my goal of 52 baptisms in my mission! And very little time left to do it! But...it shall be done!

 

Baptisms!!!! The other one we had didn't want to take pictures...

Which one is the real dog, which is the stuffed animal?

If you look reeeeeal close, this shirt is from Seaside, Oregon! 

Mah angry face. Blurry.

Morcaff! Good coffee! Win!!!!

Real coffee, and my thoughts towards it.

The happy couple! The balloon makes me look like I have fat cheeks, or a tumor, but...such is life.

This week we had a broadcast that was specifically for Guatemala. President Eyring presided, and it was all about DyC 88:73. Go read it. It was perfect. I LOVED the conference. It really put a lot more pressure on the members, which was just a joy for every single missionary that was there. The idea of the area presidency is that one day, all the missionaries will just sit in the chapels (Air conditioning and all.) and the members will bring investigators to them so that they can teach. We're all very much looking forward to that day. Not going to come while I'm here, but...I want it to come some day soon!

 

I really don't know what else to talk about. Nothing really crazy has happened...Oh yeah! I'll tell one thing! In this area, we go to a gym at 5;30 in the morning. Well...we ran there all tranquilo at 5:40 or so, and the rule is that we have to be in the house at 6:30. We started running back around 6:20..,about half way between there was a dead guy! He had got shot at about...5:45! We didn't hear gunshots, or anything! But...apparently someone had driven by in a motorcycle and shot him! He probably drove right by us! Makes life very very interesting...We are definitely protected as missionaries.

Well...out of time, and out of interesting things to write. Love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Hopper

P.S...NEXT WEEK I SHALL OFFICIALLY BE ELDER HOPPER 1!!!!!!!!!!

November 20, 2013

Family!

Well...I'll be completely honest. It was a very boring week. We worked a lot. I got sunburnt for the first time here! That is practically a miracle, considering where I'm at...Let's see...what else...today we have a wedding! That will be fantastic!

Welcome...to the coast
 

I had a thought this week while we were contacting, and there were a boatload of birds behind me making all sorts of ruckus...I thought, "If birds fly south for the winter...are these the same birds that I'll see at home?" Food for thought.

This is a super boring one. Sorry to disappoint those who care! Love you guys a ton!!!!!
Love,

Elder Hopper 2

P.S...Only two more weeks till I'll take the coveted crown of Elder Hopper 1!!!!!

November 13, 2013

HEEELLO FAMILY!!

Well...no pictures this week. Sorry...either this computer place that I am at this week as well as last week's computers don't work, or my adapter has officially passed away. RIP. Guess we'll see next week! Today in seven! 

So...for those of you that know me very well know that I have one thing that I hate more than just about anything in the entire world. It's ketchup. And one thing that I can't stand even MORE than that is mayo. Well...those are their own food groups here in Guatemala. It's just...it's not good. Well, last week we were at a family home evening with a bunch of new converts. I wanted to make a good impression cuz I'm new in the area, and we were playing games when the mom of the house came out with the evening's snack. Can you guess what they were? Hot dogs! COVERED in ketchup, and mayo...I don't think I've ever seen more mayo in my entire life. It seemed like they were asking me to take a spoonful out of the jar and go to town on that. Now...if it had been mustard, I would have been your man. But...it wasn't. Well...wanting to make a good impression, and not wanting to offend anyone...I went to work. They brought me a glass full of pineapple pop, so that helped. But...I got about halfway through the sucker, just thinking of other things, trying to keep my mind off of the horrific tastes that were happening in my mouth, when I couldn't hold it in anymore. I gagged. Juuuust about threw up right there in the living room. You may think this is pathetic, but ask anyone who knows me really well...I would rather walk on hot coals after having shove bamboo shoots up my toenails than eat mayo. Well...I gagged. And everyone noticed. I felt terrible. Mom asked, "Do you not like it?" I responded, with tears in my eyes..."No! It's delicious!" But...I think they got the message when I left a quarter of the hot dog on the plate, and ran out of the house, embarrassed. I felt so bad. I really hope they don't go inactive because of my undying hatred towards mayo.

Well, I learned something pretty cool last week! One of the missionaries who was in my district in Villa Nueva, Elder Hulse, is in my zone now. While I was there, I was trying to get a kid of nine years baptized, but dad wouldn't let him. I got in dad's face a little bit...telling him that he was a sinner, that he needed to let his son be baptized, that his son's sins would be over his head if he didn't let him, just getting in his face. He didn't like it, and the Spirit left, and it all ended up in him yelling at me and telling me to get out. But he lived in a street that we ALWAYS walked, and I ALWAYS saw him. Well...on Monday, Elder Hulse told me a little bit about this guy. Turns out he's one of the biggest drug dealers in all of Guatemala City...he's got all sorts of money, and regularly sends for people to be shot. I told off one of the biggest drug dealers in Guatemala, and hung out in that same area for MONTHS afterwards. I have NO CLUE how I didn't die. God is seriously taking care of us.

So, here in Tiquisate, there is a lovely thing that is just starting! It is called the safra. I don't know how much the export, but I would be willing to bet that all who are reading this have eaten sugar from Guatemala. They have huuuuuuuuuuuge sugar cane fields. HUGE. But, in order to reap it, and do all that, they have to get rid of the leaves of the sugar cane that would cut if you dove right into it. So, what do they do? They burn it! So that is just starting. I guess for the next six months or so, ash falls from the sky like snow! And last week it started! Now...walking around with a white shirt with black ash collecting in the streets about an inch thick...should be interesting. I'll be sure to take pictures.

Love you all! All out of time!

Love,

Elder Hopper 2

November 5, 2013

OOOOOOOKAY. Now...before we start, I want you to go to google weather. Go to that page, and look up Tiquisate, Guatemala. Then, I want you to feel bad for me. While you are at home drinking your hot chocolate by the fire cuz it's 25 degrees outside...just know...there are missionaries out there suffering. What a blessing! It's quite a big change from my last area, which was one of the coldest in the mission, with a nice breeze, having to cover up at night in my blanket, loving my hot showers, to now, the hottest area in the mission, sweating as I sleep with a fan blowing directly on me all night, cold sholwers (That's one advantage...no more hanging shower death trap!), and sweating through my poor, poor shirts as I sit and teach lessons. It really is a completely different world here. The nice thing is that we live in a house with four missionaries, one of the four of five houses in the entire mission that is allowed to do that! It makes life a lot more interesting, and a lot more fun!

 

The nice part about this area is that EVERYONE accepts us. In Panajachel, a good week would be 35 lessons. Now, last week, with two days where we basically didn't work at all, we had 58. It is pretty nuts. I'm going to be breaking some records here. 

 

Fun fact: This is my first area that has a stop light in it. Sometimes, when we don't have anything better to do, or when we need contacts, we sit at the stoplights and contact the families that stop there on motorcycles! It is incredibly effective! Problem here, though, is that traffic laws are only like...35% enforced. If someone doesn't want to stop...they don't! Still makes life interesting, though.

 

Remember that whole thing when I almost got sent home for the annoying the animal rights activists? Well...that story has now gotten around the mission. On Wednesday at the  change meeting, a missionary came that I had never met before, and asked me how it was when M. Russell Ballard called my parents to have me sent home from the mission! I was like..."Ummm...what are you talking about?" Apparently the rumor in the mission now is that he called my parents to get me sent home because of the picture I had posted! Woops! 

 

Well...that is all, my dearest friends. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,

Elder Hopper 2

October 29, 2013

Yo siempre he querido hacer uno de estos en español. Sinceramente. Lo entenderían de todos modos...tienen traductores, pero escribir en español me cuesta un poco...entonces...ingles será. 

 

HEEEELLO!!! What a week we have had. It has seriously been...very very busy. We were going to have another baptism this week, the sister of Brenda and Yesica, but she didn't go to church. She decided that making tortillas was more important. We were seriously disappointed, and I am particularly bummed about it because I will be leaving this area tomorrow, (By the way changes are tomorrow and I'm out) and I won't be able to see her baptism. But I just hope she gets baptized someday! That is all that really matters to me!

Well...on Friday we had a meeting in the capitol, so we got to be in a bus aaaaaall day long. We left here at 5:00 in the morning, and had our meeting at 10:00...we got done with that at 12:00, and got back here at around 6:00. Personally, I love busses, but my poor companion was sick the entire time. Didn't quite puke, even though I was ready with the camera if he did. But in the meeting I got the pleasure to be able to talk to some of the missionaries that are in my old area, La Promision. He's actually a really good friend of mine, Elder Parker. We got to talking about my converts, and turns out that the Familia Tay, and the Familia Monzón are both still active! That made my day. But what REALLY made me happy was what he told me about someone that I didn't baptize. Her name was Gloria. She had a problem with smoking, and I think that a few weeks ago I told you that she got baptized. Well, he finished the story for me. Apparently she tells the story every time that they go over there. Well, when I knocked her door, she was painting her nails, so she didn't want to shake my hand. But I stuck my hand out anyways. Stubborn bugger I am. She says that she felt sorry, and so she shook it. According to her, right when she shook my hand she knew that we told the truth, and she immediately wanted to listen to us. She just felt something! But her smoking was a really dug in habit from something like 45 years of doing it. Well, we started with one cigarette less a day, starting at 15. She got down to three, and couldn't get lower than that. We fought with her, stopped by every day almost, constantly called and texted her, but we just couldn't get it less. At that point, I left. But apparently a few weeks after I left, her desire to smoke just left! She no longer wanted to! She refers to me now as, "Mi angelito." Or, my little angel. There's so much more to this story, but...those who want to know can ask me in a few months. Needless to say, when Elder Parker told me about this I seriously almost cried I was so happy. I had always heard about stuff like this happening to other missionaries, but I figured it would never happen to me. I was wrong!

 

Ok...on to the car story. Well, on Saturday we had a baptismal interview. The zone leaders do the interviews of the district leaders, but there were two district leaders on Saturday that needed interviews. So we did divisions! I went with Elder Rucker to Patzicia, which is about an hour and a half away from Sololá! So we headed out around 2:00 in the afternoon for the 4:00 interview. We got there around 4:30 due to some traffic, but she still wasn't there. The missionary who is teaching her, Elder Stapel gave her a call. She said she was in Quiche, which, if you want to Google maps it, it's roughly an hour an a half away too! And she said that she was ON THE WAY there! We were very confused...but she said that she would get there at 6:00, so we decided to wait. We went out to work and all was good and well. At around 6 we headed towards the church. No one was there. So we waited. We got tired of waiting around 6:30, so we called Elder Tanner, a missionary with his wife in Sololá so they could come and get us, cuz there wouldn't be busses to get us back there. He said he was on his was, but we still had an hour and a half to wait. So we went out to work again! When 8:00 rolled around, we called the lady again. She was in Los Encuentros, which is still about an hour away. We told her tough luck! Sorry! We'll do it another day and headed out with Elder Tanner. Well...those of you chosen few who have had the joy to be able to go to Sololá will know that in the night time it gets REALLY FOGGY here. It was just about as bad as I had ever seen it on the way back, and Elder Tanner had his brights on. I didn't want to be the backseat driver, so I just let him do his thing, trusting in the Lord, or...just...hoping. Well, a turn lane opened up, and he went right into it going about 35. He didn't notice it was a turn lane. When the turn lane ended, and the divider showed up...there wasn't time. We went right over that sucker and put a hole right through the oil pan and popped two tires. It was quite the moment! So we pulled over, and there was a car already sitting there that had done the exact same thing about five minutes earlier. We were blessings for each other...people tend to rob isolated cars in Guatemala, so I'm glad we could help each other out like that. Well...long story short, we got a tow truck there about two hours later, and got to Sololá around 12:30 at night. I was EXHAUSTED the next day. But, all's well that ends well!

Last night I got to try a dish called, "Squid in it's ink." It was in a can, for all of you RMs who think I'm breaking rules. But...it's exactly what you think it is. It was DELICIOUS. I would recommend it to anyone.

 

Also, I heard a good joke from Elder Tanner...one of those old people jokes, but I got a kick out of it. How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? 

 

Only one! But it really has to want to change! HAA!!!!

Anyways...enough of that. Love you all! And I hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,

Elder Hopper 2

October 22, 2013

Hello there family!
We had a great week this week! I never have any idea of how to begin these letters, and so they always start basically the same way. Sorry for my lack of creativity. But the point is that we get to the good stuff eventually.

 

Well, we had a serious miracle this week. We married and baptized the Lopez Sajvin family. We found them knocking doors in an aldea in our area. It was really quite a miracle, cuz I had told my comp, "Look...if we don't find anyone this time, we're not coming back to this aldea. There's no prepared people here." What faith I had, huh? But...we taught them, and it was mostly a joke cuz they didn't understand much spanish. Well...we set a return appointment, and thought about just not showing up. It sounds bad, but...it happens a lot here. Well...the next sunday, they showed up to church!!!! That was a miracle in and of itself...Well, we went back, and teaching has always been very difficult for the language, but we showed them a picture of baptism, and they got all excited about it! So...we set a date! But then the week after that, we found dad drunk out of his mind. He looked up at us from the floor and said, in an airy, amazed voice, "Vinieron!" Or, "They caaaame!" Well...we half way gave up hope, but then they came AGAIN to church! And these people don't have money to pay for the trip to church, so they walk for TWO HOURS to get there. Mom doesn't even have shoes! So...I'm all sorts of out of time now, but long story short, they got married and baptized this weekend!
Win!

 

Anywho...I love you all! have a wonderful week! 

 

Love,

Elder Hopper 2

October 15, 2013

Weeeeeeell helllllllo there! Utz' a wach?!

I just don't feel like writing today. There are days when I can't WAIT for this hour and fifteen minutes, and there are days that it's just sort of a, "Meh" kind of feeling. Today is one of those. How disappointing for the devoted reader....if there is one...

Well, we had a straight up miracle this week! We have been focusing on one little pueblo in my area, Santa Catarina. We go there about twice a week, which is quite a bit here. Well...we've been teaching this reeeeally old couple. It's quite difficult to communicate with them because the wife doesn't speak Spanish AT ALL, and the husband speaks it only with great difficulty. Well...they have now attended church four times, including once traveling a fairly good distance to Sololá to watch general conference! Normally, to be able to get to church on time, and to be able to save money, they start walking (shuffling?) at around 7:00 to get to the church building on time at 9:00. Well...we explained to them after church this week through a Kaqchiquel translator that they need to be married and baptized next week! So...we will be having two baptisms and a marriage next week! We're excited!!!! It's the same couple that, after that lesson in the church, we asked if they had any questions. I asked, "Ok...tienen alguna pregunta en cuanto a lo que va a pasar este fin de semana?" And they said, very excitedly, "SI!" I was confused for a second, but then I realized that they had no idea what I said. Oooooh the joys of communicating through a translator. We're actually going to them today, and we couldn't get a translator, so...should be interesting!

I counted this week, because I received journal number four...I have written five hundred fifty five pages of journal. 5 5 5 . That's a lot! I hope my kids...or someone...appreciates it someday. Pretty frequently as I write in it, I think..."Who on EARTH is EVER going to read this?" But...now I mostly do it for me.

Well...I come to the realization every week that I'm getting closer and closer to the end. Then I realize how much everything has changed, and how I don't want to deal with all of that when I get home. So...I think I'm just going to stay out here. I don't want to deal with how people have changed, how things are different...I just want to come home to the place I left two years ago! But it's becoming increasingly apparent that there is no way that that will ever happen. It's amazing to me how Guatemala has really become home...Everything here is just so familiar. I know what is going to happen, and how it's going to happen. I know who the people are...I feel like I know the people here better than I know some of the people I left two years ago, and sometimes even longer ago than that...it's just a weird feeling. At the beginning of my mission, there was almost nothing more that I wanted than to be at 20 months...now that I'm here...I just don't know! They told me this would happen, but I didn't ever believe them. Weird how that works.

 

Well...gonna go to the Lamanite village now. Wish me luck. Chwa´q chik!

Elder Hopper 2

October 8, 2013

HEEEELLO!!!!

First off...CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING. Seriously, this is always, hands down, the best weekend in the mission. Always. I loved the announcement that the church has gotten above fifteen million members! I can't remember who said it, but...they said that it happened about two weeks ago. You know what? I baptized two weeks ago! So...I can comfortably believe that I baptized member number 15,000,000 into the true church of Jesus Christ. Even if it's not true, I hope that you will at least humor me so that I can believe it. Win.

I also loved the story...I don't remember who it was, who talked about a dream they had had, or I think it was a dream a former prophet had had where he had arrived late to a house because he had to stop and get dressed in his white clothes, take a bath, and get ready. When he got to the house, Joseph Smith answered the door, and looked at him with a little bit of contempt and said, "You're late." The guy responded, "I may be late, but I am clean." That hit me HARD. I just LOVED it! I may be late on the mission, but I. AM. CLEAN. And that is all that really matters.

 

One last thing that really impressed me this conference was the theme of decisions. About three or four separate speakers talked about the importance of the decisions we make in daily life. How little decisions in the end can have eternal consequences. We really need to be doing our best always to make those decisions that will keep us ready and clean to be taken at ANY TIME! That one hit me hard.

I had to try this at least once before I go

Lago Atitlan

Well...all sorts of spiritual this week. One fun thing is that I got to ride in the back of a Guatemalan police truck this week. But that is another story for another day.

 

Love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Love,

Elder Hopper 2

 

P.S...only a few more weeks...that spot of Elder Hopper 1 WILL BE MINE!!!!

October 1, 2013

Queridísima familia, 

 

HOOOOLA!!!
Siempre he querido hacer uno de estos en español, pero...sería mala honda, entonces no lo voy a hacer.

 



Baptism number 39!!

Well, this week was a good one! First off....GENERAL CONFERENCE IS ONLY FIVE DAYS AWAY!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! Everyone needs to go and listen to the Prophets of God speak! It is going to be SO GOOD!!!! But...I just need to keep my mind focused on the next four days till the goodness comes. I am stoked out of my mind!!!! And this is my very last General Conference in the mission! Yikes!!!

 

I learned something new this week. I had no idea, and I am somewhat ashamed to say it. But...did you know that the word Zorro in spanish means fox? Doesn't that just BLOW YOUR MIND?!?! An investigator told me that this week, and...I was just speechless! It was amazing! It's crazy the things you learn on the mission, huh?



Pensativo

 

This week we were teaching a family. It's a really good family. The mom is a member, but the dad isn't. He has an awesome desire to change, and he wants to become a, "Man of God," as he always says. Well...we were in the middle of a lesson, when their three year old son started to get a little restless. He said he needed to go pee pee. Well, mom pointed him to the bathroom, which was out of the house, and in another little building, and told him to go! Well, he walked to the front porch, dropped his pants, and did his deed right there. It was hilarious. The best part? As he walked back in, dad asked, "And the bathroom?" And the little three year old said, "What do I care?!" I juuuuust about died laughing.

 

Well...I continue to feel bad about the lack of spiritual experiences I share on here. I promise that I'm having them! Maybe someday I'll get good at writing these letters...

 

Love you all!!! Enjoy conference, and watch it all! Even if you can't on Saturday, WATCH IT ALL ONLINE!!!
Love,

Elder Hopper

September 24, 2013

Guess what we did this week?




Just guess....







WE BAPTIZED!!!







For the third week in a ROW!!!!

My favorite little kids ever. 

We're seriously being blessed here, and I love it. This is supposedly, according to the rest of the missionaries in the mission, the hardest district in the mission to baptize in...LIARS!!! So...we're pretty excited about that!

I have decided why my emails are gradually getting worse and worse...it's because life here is gradually getting more and more normally to me. The things that would have reeeeally weirded me out fifteen months ago are just normal day to day activities now! For example...this Sunday, we were walking down a little tiny narrow alleyway headed to church, when about ten goats round the corner, with a guy behind them with a whip, selling fresh goat milk. Do you want to know what my thoughts were? I had two. One was, "Man...that actually sounds kind of appealing. If I weren't a missionary, I'd totally buy some." And two was, "He really shouldn't be working on Sunday..." Not at any point during this thought process did I realize that HE WAS SELLING MILK DIRECTLY FROM A GOAT. It wasn't till about fifteen minutes later that I realized how incredibly odd the situation would have appeared to me before the mission. I wonder sometimes what will be weird to me about home when I get there...

 



Giant leaf that was always in my way. I killed it. Que descanse in paz.

So, I will tell you about some of the weird things that appeared weird, even to me!

This week we went to one of our Lamanite villages in our area called Santa Catarina. There they speak a language called Cakquichel...it's a really weird one. Maybe you can find some examples of it on YouTube...it's worth a shot. Well, we took an RM from our ward who also speaks the dialect to help us out...only like...50 percent speak Spanish there, and if they do, my Spanish is better than theirs...it's a rough stretch to be able to communicate. So, we started a lesson with a family that spoke NOTHING of Spanish...the dad understands, but can't speak it, and mom...well...I don't think she's ever left Santa Catarina, or Panajachel in her something like 70 years of life. So, we start trying to teach, but we're not getting anywhere...so we turn it over to Juanito, the RM that was with us. He goes off for about twenty minutes, and I'm just in the clouds...but in the end he told us that they want to go to church and be baptized! Wow! So, on Sunday morning we went and picked them up, it's about a twenty minute back of a pickup ride to get to Panajachel..and you have to understand, these people are poor as poor can be. Like...mud house, tin roof, one bed, nothing to cook on, one pair of clothes with no shoes kind of poor, so they told us that they were going to walk the two  miles or so to Pana to go to church...riiiiight. So, we went Sunday morning, and threw down the 6 quets that it takes to get back to Pana...all of about 75 cents. Somewhere along the ride, I realized that dad was a little bit buzzed...he wasn't acting like it, but he sure as heck smelled like it. So, we get to the church and they're already singing the opening hymn. We get them in there, and I'm right in front of them...I walk straight to their seats to sit them down so they can enjoy the service. I get to the seat, and turn around to look for them only to find them kneeling, in the door, with their arms stretched towards the heavens in adoration to God......................................It provided for an awkward moment. But we quickly got them up and seated in their seats. I sat next to them,. and throughout the meeting, I kept hearing muttered, "amen señor, amen." So..we're going to have to teach them a liiiiittle about the church culture, and how it is that we worship...not to mention the word of wisdom. It's going to be an interesting one.

 

Yesterday, we were in a super touristy part of our area, when this gringo, who was getting out of a taxi looked at me and yelled, (His words, not mine.) "HOLY CRAP ELDER!! YOU GUS ARE ALL OVER THE WORLD!!" I just laughed, and told him, "You can't escape us!" It gave me a little laugh.

 

I love you guys! Thanks for all the letters, even though I don't get any...it's just customary to thank, but thank you for the prayers. Those I'm positive I do get...I love you all, and have a wonderful week!
Love,

Elder Hopper 2

September 17, 2013

Siiiiiigh...I'm bored.

 

With that out of the way, it was a pretty good week! We had a baptism! And my district is baptizing like CRAZY!!! The record for this district in one month is ten baptisms...we set it in June. I want to break it this month. We've already got eight, and two more weeks to go! We need to break it! 

 

So, this week was Guatemalan independence day. Holidays are a little bit better here than in the capitol where everyone is scared to leave their houses! All week long there were fireworks going off, and parties being had. It was fun trying to get around the parades and hordes of people. The best part, though, was the parade on Sunday RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH. Trying to get people to church was a mess. The attendance that is normally about 70 or 80 was 55...and 8 of those were investigators. One of the other branches in my district that is normally about 80 attending had all of 20. Only the powerful ones. But, the parade made life interesting! Kind of hard to hear the talks...

 

I did something this week that I had always avoided doing since I got here. I contacted a tourist. I was really quite nervous when I did it, too! I started it in spanish, but when they gave the blank stare at me, I knew it was time to employ the native language. They were from New York, and guess what? They didn't want anything. It wasn't a particularly hard reject, but it was funny because the excuses were EXACTLY the same as any Guatemalan! "I don't have time," and the ever famous, "I already have a church." It was a little different in the sense that he said in the end, "Look...I'm not interested." I don't hear that one very often from the native Chapines, so it made life at least a little bit interesting! But, it is SO HARD to contact in english! I kept wanting to slip into spanish! I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to give a talk in church...it's sincerely going to be incredibly difficult.

 

Well...outta time. Love you guys. I hope you all have a great week!
love,

Elder Hopper 2

 

P.S...only a few more weeks till I can take the coveted position of Elder Hopper number ONE!! HA!!!!

 

September 10, 2013

First and foremost...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Guess what happened this week?

Go ahead. Just guess.

 

Ok...I'll tell you.

WE BAPTIZED!! Two of them! I was so happy to be able to baptize this week. We baptized a guy named Lucio, who is COMPLETELY chosen. He speaks english, which will be a HUGE help to this branch, which is like...25-50% tourist every week, who don't speak spanish at all. I'm super excited about him. I love baptizing future leadership! Also, I have a goal to baptize with every companion in my mission, and I'm right on track for it! I haven't missed a one up until today! Win! It was pretty funny, as we were taking these pictures for the baptism, someone said, "Smile! With your teeth! And that little old grandma right in front said, "But I don't have teeth!!" It might have been one of those you had to be there moments, but it was hilarious to us.

 

So, as many of you may have heard, there was a minor earthquake here on Friday. As many of you may not know, I am TERRIFIED of earthquakes. Well...we were finishing up a lesson (I was on divisions in San Lucas Toliman with my dear friend Elder Watts), and a lady was praying, when I hear the classic bumping of things together that signifies an earthquake. You really hear it before you feel it. Well...we just kept praying, and I started a little prayer in my head, hoping that it would be just a little tremble, and that would be that...but it kept going, and getting stronger. The lady stopped, I said, "En el nombre de Cristo AMEN." and you have never seen anyone bolt out of a room faster than I got OUT of there. But, about fifteen seconds later, it just stopped. I hope I never live through the big one. I just don't like it.

 

Well....por fin some fun stories. Hopefully this has been a little bit more entertaining than my last few emails. Next week I should have changes and know if I'm out or not...Kiiiiind of doubt it. I'll probably stay around here. Only two changes in one area would be waaaay too little. But, I don't really care. I just want to do what the Lord commands! Ire y hare!!

Have a wonderful week, everyone! I love you all a ton!
Love,

Elder Hopper 2