May 15, 2012

It looks like your Mother's day was pretty fantastic! I'm glad you were able to relax a bit and had a good time.

Oh, I've got some good news... Turns out I can talk on Google+ for as long as my heart desires on Christmas and Mother's Day. It's just if you call on the phone that you can only be on for 1 hour because it generally costs a ton. But since Google+ and Skype are free, we can be on for as long as we want. So on Christmas Eve we can talk for longer! Good thing I found this out after I was done talking to you guys...

Yes, I did take money out of my account. That sounds about right to the amount. We're trying to find me a trombone today, and then we'll go barter and try to buy it at some point later. I might actually buy one online, since they have a website here called merkadolivre that you can buy stuff for really cheap. It's kind of like eBay, but without the bidding part. But just let me know if there are any more changes in the amount.

So far we've only had 6 baptisms, but we have 5 more (possibly 6) planned for this weekend. I'll let you know next Monday how things went!

So this week... I was transferred to the area Jardin Jandaia on Monday, and stayed there until Friday morning. I got a call Thursday afternoon from the mission president, and he said, "We're going to have a re-transfer!" so I went back to Ipiranga. My companion here is the same one, Elder Henrique. He was having some health issues the week that I was in Jandaia, and the elder that was with him was just making everything a ton worse for him, so President had me come back here to help out Elder Henrique. Looks like I'll be here in this area for at least 2 more transfers, at least one with Elder Henrique, but we'll see how everything turns out in the end. I might become the senior companion at the end of the one or two transfers that I'm here with Elder Henrique, also. 

Well, I think that's everything. I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Hopper #1

May 7, 2012

So many good things happening at home! Such exciting times ahead for everyone. Sounds like the ward will be quite a bit different when I get back, but for every bad thing that happens, another good thing happens. Did we only lose part of the ward and not gain any ground? It'd be cool to get to know some new people, too.

 This week was pretty good. The Barbosa family (the one with the three girls and mom that we baptized) had some good progress this week. The dad of the family decided that he wants to be baptized and that he would go to church. He had been saying he would go to church for a while now, but this week he actually did! But we visited him after church around 6, and he had been drinking and smoking after church that day. Also, to add to the bad news, I was transfered to another area, so I can't be there to teach him anymore. Gleon is his name, by the way. He was talking and said that he wants me to baptize him, so probably me and my new companion will go to his baptism since I'm in an area that neighbors the area I was in. But the whole family is happy now because he went to church and has a huge desire to change things that he had been doing.

What else happened.... This week felt like it was super long. But I can't remember anything that really happened... Oh! We met a kid who is the student body president at his school this week. We were walking in the street and he called to us and just wanted to talk for a little bit, and we started talking about what we do as missionaries, and he asked if we could share a message with him. We taught him about the restoration and asked him to read the Book of Mormon and pray, and he told us that he already believed that it is true, but he still prayed about it. He told us the next day that he had a dream that night where he was walking in the street with his family, and they were walking to a different church when he heard a voice telling him to take his family to our church instead. The voice told him that the LDS Church is the true church and that he should go there and bring his family with him. That day we asked him to read Lehi's dream, and the next day when we talked about it, he said that Lehi's dream was a lot like the one that he had. He has a baptismal date for the 19th, so I won't be able to be there. Unlesssss Gleon gets baptized that day, and then I will be there to baptize Gleon and everything will be good!

 My new area is Jardim Jandaia and my new companion is Elder Cavalcinti. He's Brazilian and doesn't speak English, so it should be fun! But I guess we live in a really big house with 2 other companionships, so it should be pretty cool. 6 missionaries in the same house! This transfer should be fun.

 7:00 should work for me for Sunday. I will still call you on Saturday night probably (Saturday afternoon for you) on your cell phones and try to confirm plans. I have all your numbers memorized still, so I will not have a problem getting a hold of one of you! I can't wait to talk to you all!

 Anyways, I love you all! I hope everything goes well with the trips and surgery plans and fixing all the things around the house!

Love,

Elder Hopper #1

April 30, 2012

The garage door broke again? I remember the first time that happened... It was super loud and scared the junk out of me. Sounds like you don't need Drew aroud to break stuff for you; it just breaks itself!

So many good things happening at home. It's great to hear that even though it's hard back there, that everyone is happy and you're all safe and things are still going well. It's amazing to see how blessed we are these days. No matter how hard it gets, we need to just keep on trucking (that was for you, Annie) and endure! We will be blessed so much for enduring and continuing to do the things that we know we need to do.


So this week we had two baptisms. One was a boy that's friends with an inactive family, and the other was a man who was the last person in his family to not be baptized. He married his wife (who is a returned missionary) almost 20 years ago, and they've been trying to get him baptized ever since. Last Monday he called us and said, "I want to be baptized this week. Can I meet with you tonight?" So we met with him, taught him a bunch this week, and baptized him on Saturday! No one believed that he was actually getting baptized. The cool thing about all this, is that in a year they can be sealed in the temple. Their son, José, was sitting in the room waiting for the baptism to start and I was talking to him, and he just started choking up all the sudden, and it hit him suddenly that his family can be sealed in the temple now. Before this, José was having problems with smoking and drinking and partying and all that junk that teenagers do, but now the thought of his family being sealed makes him bawl like a baby and he's been talking to me about going on a mission. It's pretty amazing how that stuff happens. Also, since I will still be on the mission when they can be sealed, I can travel to the São Paulo Temple with them for the sealing.


Another thing reeeeaaallly cool happened this week. You know how when we were little and there was a thunderstorm, we would count the seconds between the flash and the noise? Well, we had a rather big storm come through on... I think it was Thursday. We were standing in front of a house of a member, about to enter, when suddenly there was a HUGE flash of light and a crack louder than any noise I have ever heard. Lightning struck one of the telephone poles about 20 feet in front of us. I thought that a bomb had gone off in the street or something. It was CRAZY. But awesome at the same time. It was funny because when it happened, we had no idea what we should do. We just stood there for a second looking around at all the people who had ran back into their houses.


Only one more thing. You should definitely start a "Elder Hopper Trombone Fund" so I can buy one. I already have $150 in my account, right? So only like... $150 more? I'm sure I have plenty of willing donors out there to help me buy a trombone on the mission. ;D


But! I love you all! Thanks for everything you do for me and Elder Hopper #2!
-Elder Hopper #1

I forgot one thing! On Mother's Day I want to try and use Google+. I guess we already had missionaries use it, so it should be fine for me to use. I will ask the mission president still. That way, maybe the whole family can talk. Brad, Drew, and the rest of us! When I call, it will probably be around 7 or 8 my time, so 2 or 3 your time. I know that you'll be in church, but I'm sure that you can make the sacrifice. I have an hour to talk as well. I will probably call on the Saturday before to confirm everything with you guys, so expect a call Saturday Afternoon, also.
I think that's all....
I love you all!
Elder Hopper #1

I lied! Only 4 hours behind me! 3 or 4 your time!

April 23, 2012

Family with the girls! We baptized the other daughter on Saturday! The Dad is having problems... He can't quit smoking and drinking coffee, and he started drinking again this last week. He still hasn't come to church at all, but hopefully that will change in the next few weeks.

 Dad, I have a question about the sacrament and I don't have the resources here to figure this out. If you aren't there for the sacrament prayers, can you still take the sacrament? I thought that if you weren't, you can't, and also when the bread and water are covered back up, the are no longer blessed. It makes sense to me that way because we wouldn't throw away blessed bread and water, as it is a pretty sacred thing.

I found out something horrifyingly sad the other day. For a thing of deodorant like I use but half the size, I have to pay almost R$20. Waaaaay too much. So I guess I'll have to find a good kind here to use... But oh well! Just more of the Brazilian life for me!

I am actually in the city of Riberão Preto. We're serving the area of Ipiranga, if you look up Ipiranga it should pretty accurately show where I am. Our chapel is on Rua Paraná. And my companion is Elder Henrique.

The food... I ate a chicken heart a while back. That was interesting. But I really haven't eaten much weird food. Most of it is really just rice and beans. And guaraná. I think every house that I've eaten at, we've had soda of some sort, and it's almost always guaraná or Fanta. We have lunch every day in the house of a member here, so we really don't eat at all in our house. For breakfast (which my companion decided we're not eating from now on... long story), we usually go down to the store on the corner and buy some bread and cookies, and I eat the bread for breakfast and the cookies for dinner when we get back home. 

Speaking of Lainey going to Rexburg, my dream when Drew and I get back would be to have Lainey, Annie, Drew, and I all going to BYU-I, all living in the La Jolla apartments. How fantastic would that be? That is depending of course on if Drew and Annie aren't married by then.

Well, I think that's all for this week. I hope you all are doing well! Oh! And I got two letters from the Dunlop's today! It was good to hear from them. I'll have to write them back soon. Still haven't recieved any of the other letters, like the ones that Madi said she sent... Ah well. Probably next week.

I love you all!

-Elder Hopper #1

April 16, 2012

Óla, família! Como vocês estão?
Aqui no Brasil coisas são muito bem. Estamos ensinando muitas pessoas e aprendendo muito sobre o evangelho de Cristo e como nos podemos ser melhor cada dia. É maravilhosa que nos temos essa oportunidade para compartilhar uma coisa tão feliz e tão bom com as pessoas aqui.
Essa semana foi um poco devegar, mas acontece. Nos vamos ter um grande semana essa semana com muitos pessoas ensinado e talvés um batismo! Nossos pesquisadores não gostam muito de ir à igreja, mas eles estão progregindo ainda.
I can't express in Portuguese how excited I am about the work that we're doing! Even if we don't have success or we don't have baptisms or whatever, as long as we are doing our best, we will be blessed with people to teach and help.
This week we taught quite a few lessons to a group of kids that age from 12 to 19. I think it was a total of 9 kids that we taught. We met a kid name Luan who already had gone to church once before when he was much younger, but doesn't remember much about it, and we started teaching him. Him and his group of friends are a pretty rebellious bunch, but they are pretty accepting to the gospel and our teachings. They are all willing to make changes in their lives if it means they're following the right path. None of them went to church this week, but they said it was because there was a zombie walk in downtown Ribeirão Preto on Sunday morning. They said they'll go to church next week, though.
Sounds like things at home are still going well! Camp Yamhill was always a ton of fun, so I'm sure you guys had a blast there. Har-de-har, I've heard those jokes before. People are always so mean to the trombone players! Speaking of which, there's an elder here from the US that played trumpet at BYU-Provo before the mission, and he actually bought a trumpet to play while he's here. I'm considering doing the same thing with a trombone, but they're all terribly expensive here. Something like $750 for a valve trombone made in China... Way too expensive for me. Hopefully at some point I can find a trombone for less than that and buy one!
I think that's all for this week. Have a fantastic week and know that I love you all! Even those of you who have not written me letters yet! ;)

Love,
Elder Hopper #1

April 9, 2012

Mom! Stop getting yourself hurt! We can't afford to have you not able to be yourself! You should definitely get that taken care of, though. Funny how that works, because this week I had been feeling like something at home had happened and that you guys weren't doing so well, and I guess that must've been what it was. I'm glad to hear all is relatively well, though!

We have had sunshine every day still... It's actually quite annoying. 100* weather every day is not exactly what I enjoy... And it stays around 80 in our room while we're sleeping. It rarely drops below 80. But it's okay because that means that when it gets cold, I'll just enjoy it that much more!

That's great for Lainey! What position has she been playing?

President Uchtdorf's talk definitely was great! I remember him saying that and even though it's quite funny, it's so true. We shouldn't worry about things for no reason! Life is so good to us, and we should be grateful for every little thing we have. I agree that that talk was for Annie. I wish she would've listened to conference. Just like Drew, I was amazed at how much you can learn when you pay attention the whole time. My view on general conference has changed a ton this session!

That's great that Annie's happy, too! Does she have a job yet or has she been looking still? I want her to email me or something! It's been a while since I got to talk to her. And Lainey too! Speaking of siblings, what about Brad? Is he still doing alright? He hasn't emailed me in a while, so I don't really know what's going on with him.

This week was pretty much the same as the others, lots of working and walking and sweating. The family that we baptized last week was confirmed yesterday during sacrament meeting, and that was a good experience. We've been working a lot with a man who is the father of an active family, but he's inactive. He has a drinking problem, and has been trying to overcome that for a while now. It's difficult to see the struggle that his wife and the rest of his family is having to go through because of his choices that he has made, especially when he knows exactly what he needs to do and he already knows the truth about this gospel. My companion does most of the talking when we talk to this man because most of the time I don't know what they're saying... But this last time I was able to understand a lot more and contribute to the conversation. It's so hard to watch him sit back and ruin his own life as well as the life of his family. Every time we talk to him, I'm more and more thankful for the family that I was raised in and the great parents I had. I know that it wasn't always easy for you guys, but I am so grateful for everything that you taught me and the awesome example you guys were for us kids.

Drew wrote about President Packer's talk about his dad, and I feel the exact same way that Drew does! I hope the work that we're out here doing makes you guys proud and gives you a reason to be happy. This opportunity that we have is so amazing, even though it is hard to be away from family for so long. I hope at the end of it all, Drew and I can both return in the same manner that Pres. Packer talked about, after having done our best.

Well, I think that's everything. I love all of you!
-Elder Hopper

April 2, 2012

Hello family!

That sounds like a nice break from this weather... We got some rain a couple days ago, but it was still way hot and didn't really feel good. It just soaked us and got my Book of Mormon and Bible all wet. But I guess it's supposed to start cooling down here pretty soon, so we all look forward to that. I was thinking about it, and I realized I'll only really be here for one whole summer. It's weird how fast it seems time is going to pass and how little time I actually have here!

Conference was so good! But I missed cinnamon rolls! One of the elders that I live with (he actually got transfered today so he doesn't live with us anymore) suggested that we make some cinnamon rolls, but it's so hard to get all the ingredients and everything that we didn't try at all. But I loved conference! And I loved hearing the Tabernacle Choir. It was all so good!

Sounds like everything is going good with the grandparents! I can't wait to see the remodeled kitchen when I get back. Grandpa always does such a good job on all the work he does around that house that I'm sure it will look fantastic.

So this week was pretty good. We got a bit of rain, a lot more sun, met a few new people, and I still haven't gotten sunburned! Plus we got to baptize part of a family yesterday between the two sessions of conference. Two girls and the mom, and then there's still another girl and the dad that weren't baptized. Hopefully they will follow suit shortly and be baptized, too! I got to baptize the youngest daughter, who is 12, and it was a pretty great experience. In all, we had 5 baptisms yesterday in that chapel. 3 in our ward, and 2 in another. What a great day!

So we had transfers today, and turns out that, as I said earlier, one of the elders in our house got transfered (Elder Farrington). He was our district leader, but now he's going to be a zone leader somewhere else. And now my companion will be district leader while still training me. Should be an interesting transfer!

I think that's everything.. I hope you all have a great week and I love you all!]
-Elder Hopper