May 28, 2013

Hey there family!

So, I need to make amends for last week. I complained about the green apple skittles. I was just SO wrong. I hadn't tried them, I was young, and confused...I'm sorry if I offended anybody. I no longer miss the lemon lime. Green apple, you are welcome in my heart for as long you desire to be there. Te amo.

Ok...with my repentance process begun, it had been a good week! This week, we start the month of June...the month of milagros! We have a goal as a mission of 315 baptisms! That'd be a new record! WE SHALL DO IT!!! But...we need your prayers!!! So...help us out!

So, this week was my birthday! I am now 23 years old! I'm an oooooold man for a missionary! We figured out today that the majority of gringos in my mission were freshman when I was graduating high school. Weeeird. But, to begin my birthday, Lainey's little pen pal, Kimberly, who is the daughter of the lady who makes us lunch and washes our clothes, called me at TWELVE THIRTY IN THE MORNING!!! I tried to be kind and cordial over the phone, but what with it being midnight and all...well...I just hope I succeeded. I celebrated with a LOT of cake. It was nice. The people here celebrated it more than the people back home! But with this year, my baggy year in the mission begins! I have completed my black year now! But...still not baggy. Sorry. 

So, I heard about the tornadoes in Oklahoma. Want to know how I found out? Well...we went to the Monzon home, the house of those three little girls I baptized. They asked me, "Hey...did you hear about the HUGE earthquake in Oregon?!?! It was GIANT!!! Destroyed EVERYTHING!!!" I was like...um...no! When did it happen?! They told me it had happened the day before...that it lasted 16 minutes, and there were a BUNCH of deaths and destruction. Well...needless to say, I was preeeeetty nervous. They then told me that they had a newspaper that told all about it. I told them to bring it to me RIGHT NOW!!! So, when I read it, I realized that they had mixed up an EARTHQUAKE in OREGON with a TORNADO in OKLAHOMA. So...I breathed a big sigh of relief. I was about ready to call my mission president to have him get in touch with my family to make sure they were all ok!!! 

We had some random Gringo show up at our ward this week. His name was Jeff. He served in Spain about five years ago. He is working with some humanitarian joint here. He was a pretty cool guy. But, taking advantage of the fact that he was here, staying in the house of some members, we asked if he wanted to come out and do divisions with us that night! He readily agreed. We were pretty stoked. But, at the end of church, he came up to me rather timidly, and asked, in English so no one else would understand, "So...I'm all over doing divisions, but...am I going to be safe?" I have to tell you...I tried VERY hard not to laugh. I understand, though. With the stories that he had heard, and how Guatemala is...I get it. But it was just funny. I had to reassure him that in almost 15 months, I'd never been shot, shot at, robbed, or beaten. He felt better after that, and we had some really successful divisions!

Well...thanks for putting up with another week of Elder Hopper 2's emails! Hope to see you next week! Same bat time, same bat channel!
Love,
Elder Hopper 2

P.S...THANK YOU OLIVIA HUSKEY FOR THE ONLY QUOTE THAT I RECEIVED FROM ANYONE!!!!!