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