March 26, 2012

Thats crazy that the Broncos have Manning now! How does Dad feel about losing Tebow and gaining Manning?

 That Relief Society thing sounds like it was good. The Relief Society definitely is a great help out here in the mission field when it comes to fellowshipping investigators and making them feel welcome.

 Speaking of North Bend, how are both sets of grandparents doing? I should probably send them something. When are their birthdays again? I might try to send them something when it comes around.

 This week has been good. We had a ton of work to do, and we were running around everywhere all week. We had 7 baptism interviews planned for this week, but 2 of them backed out, and the other 5 ended up going out of town for the weekend so it didnt happen. But! They called us today and asked us if we could come over and teach them today. It's amazing how prepared that family is! They are definitely willing to listen and follow the example of Christ.

We have a man here in the ward that is less active that we have been talking to almost every day now for the last 2 weeks. His name is Paulo and he has a drinking problem. His whole family is active, and they are having a had time with knowing how to help them. It is really sad to see a family affected like that and not knowing how to help or what they can do to make things better. But Paulo really seems like he wants to change and has actually been going to AA meetings the past few days. This area that we are in has a really big problem with drugs, so that's been kinda hard for us.

 So how are Lainey and Annie and Dad doing?! I've heard all about Mom's life and nothing about theirs! Except for Dad passing a kidney stone. But I want to know how they are doing! Send me letters or emails or something!

 But I love you all, and the work here is hard, but great. I'm sweating a ton every day (the temperature has not dropped below 70 here yet, and during the day hovers around 90) yet I haven't lost any weight. Still sitting around 150 lbs. But I feel better and I think I'm starting to gain a bit of muscle in my legs from walking so much so that's probably why the weight is staying on.

 This week I was flipping through my BoM and I happened upon the part about the Stripling Warriors. I remember when we were in the MTC talking about this part, and the first counselor in the branch presidency was teaching about it. The reason why the Stripling Warriors were so successful was because of the way that their mothers and fathers had taught them. They say specifically that their mothers taught them the way of the Lord and to be strong in the faith. But they don't talk about their fathers. Their fathers were the Anti-Nephi-Lehis that had buried their swords in the ground and had made a covenant to not fight ever again.

Now for the connection. You guys as my parents have taught me so well, and because of you I am here right now in Brazil serving the people that the Lord prepared. You taught me to keep the convenants which I have made and to always follow the way of the Lord. I am so grateful to have come from a family where I have a mom and dad who love each other as well as the Lord and were so willing to do anything they could for me whenever the occasion arose. Thank you guys so much for everything you have done and continue to do for me. I love you so much.

 Well, I gotta go do some more work. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Oh! And I found the apostraphe button!

 -Elder Hopper

 P.S. Any news with the Miata?

From left to right is Elder Leandro,
Elder Henrique (my companion), Me, and Elder Ferrington

Sounds like a lot is happening back home!
So, here has been really good. The food is weird (I had chicken hearts yesterday), it is hot and humid, I cant fully understand the language, and the keyboards dont have apostrophes! But! I love it here.
I am going to tell you about a family here now. They had been looking for about 2 years for a church they could go to, but didnt feel right in any of the ones they went to, so they asked God for help. They prayed to be able to find the right church to go to. They prayed on last Wednesday. On Thursday, my companion and I prayed to find more young women for the ward here because theyre lacking severly. On Friday afternoon, we met the Barbosa family who have 3 girls, one is 12, one 14, and the other is 16. Plus the mom and dad (though the dad might have problems of his own). The mom and two of the girls went to church on Sunday, and have a baptismal date for the 25, but it will probably get pushed back a week so they can be baptized with the other girl and the father, but we will see how that all goes down.

The language is coming pretty good now. My companion, Elder Henrique, can speak English pretty well, but he is trying to force me to speak Portuguese when ever I can so that I learn as fast as possible. Which is perfectly fine. I am learning it really fast and in our lessons and talking with other people I can say almost everything I want to.
The weekends around here are crazy. Everyone is outside, tons of people are driving around blasting music in their cars, and theres a bus thing that drives around blasting music (mostly American music that no one here can understand) that is pretty much Sodom and Gomorrah. It is pretty cool.
Last P-day we went to a zoo type thing (we had P-day on Wednesday because they had something else on Monday) and then to a mall. Here they call malls shopping. So the place was called Novo Shopping. I dont understand why they name the places so blandly here. Today I think we are going to go to a marketplace and then go to a waterfall somewhere for a while. It should be fun!

I love you all! And thanks for the birthday wishes!
-Elder Hopper

March 14, 2012

I made it here safely! I am living with 3 other missionaries, two natives and one from Utah. They all speak fluently, so I should pick it up quickly.

Here is my address for the whole time I will be out here. It is the address of our mission home, but they want everything sent there because it is easier just in case emergency transfers happen or something else that makes it hard to get the letters to me.

Rua São Sebastião 1003 Centro

Riberão Preto , São Paulo Brazil 14015-040

I met my mission president, and he is really nice. He only speaks Portuguese, so there will be some translating for a while when I talk to him, but that is okay. I will learn quick out here with so many people around me speaking Portuguese. I like it here already! It is hot and humid, but I can deal with that. Anyways, I gotta go and do more stuff with my companion.

I love you all and will talk to you later!

-Elder Hopper

March 12, 2012

That's awesome that you got to go to the gate with Drew! Sounds like it was a good day for all of you. Sounds like typical Drew, but it sounds like he's really enjoying the MTC. They actually give you two pieces of luggage for free when you travel with the Church. But if they're overweight, they charge you a hefty fee.
Not much happened this week... Just a lot of knocking doors and talking to people that are already saved and already have a church and already have a bible and need no more bible (I think that's somewhere in 2 Nephi 29). But there are a lot of really nice people here. No more crazy weather, no more really crazy people, we met a bit more of the ward and have really just been getting to know the place just in time for all of us to leave. Transfers are on Wednesday, and since I'm leaving on Tuesday, they all have to come up to Birmingham with me. I'm pretty excited to go to Brazil! It's going to be a huge learning curve, but I'll love it. More language, more gospel, and more nice people! It'll be a good time.
Well, I'm sure I'll have more to email about on my next P-day; more stuff about Brazil. But for now, I have nothing!
I love you all and I hope your days go fantastically!

Love,
Elder Hopper

March 5, 2012

Hello family!
Yeah, Brother Memory came and talked to my companion and me yesterday after church while we were studying. He was a really nice guy. It's too bad you missed his call, though!
The weather didn't affect us at all. It was all to the North of us. So we don't get to do any service. We just get to keep on teaching like normal!
I'm so excited for Drew! Just one more day!
Tell Lainey to suck it up and stop being sick! Being sick is for the weak and down-trodden!
Dad is going without you to DC? That's like the first time in what, 5 or 6 years? Well I hope he has a fun time with his traveling and such!
Everything is going great here. I've never seen so many people that go to church or that believe in God. I've come to a realization that I do not know the Bible nearly as well as I need to in order to teach these people. So I've started studying the New Testament in hopes that I can familiarize myself with that a bit more. We've already had some good teaching experiences and found some really good people. I have the same companion here that I had in the last little bit of the MTC, so it's been interesting with that. We both expected to have a companion who was much more experienced and could kind of show us the ropes, but we're out here by ourselves learning how to do it the best way we can. It's difficult, but we're learning a ton and becoming better missionaries every day.
I've never realized how much of a concentration of LDS people we have back home until we came out here. Here in Prattville, they just had a new ward made (the second in the area) and both wards have about 150 active members. And the ward area is pretty massive, too. The town of Prattville itself has about 30,000 people in it, so with 150 members, that's a pretty slim percentage of members (the other ward is technically in Millbrook). I never realized how blessed we were to grow up with so many good friends in the church and so many people right around us that had the same beliefs as we do. There's a lot of areas out here that just have a branch of 30-50 members even though the towns they are in aren't even very small. There is definitely plenty of work to do out here for us. The people aren't always receptive, but a lot of them are still willing to take a bit of time to just talk about God for a bit and the amazing things he has done and continues to do for us.
Well the two elders that we are living with are Elder Hortin and Elder Sorensen. They're both from Utah and they're actually our zone leaders. Elder Sorensen was actually originally called to Londrina, Brazil, but after a year he had some medical problems and had to come home for a bit. After that he was permanently reassigned to here, and I am definitely glad he is with us. These two missionaries are a great example to us and are amazing teachers. Elder Brown and I still have a ton more to learn from them.

Well, I hope all is going well and you are all staying happy! Tell everyone I love them!

-Elder Hopper

Email from Birmingham Mission President February 29, 2012

Dear Parents and Guardians,

All is well in our mission!

We have weather alerts in central and northern Alabama this evening until 9 pm. All missionaries are taking appropriate safety actions and have access to the weather situation in their specific area via their cell phones and weather radios in their apartments.

We will hold a roll call this evening to ensure everyone is safe and sound. Please check our blogs for weather updates through this evening.

http://alabamamissionupdate.blogspot.com/

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me directly (205.789.0169 or rholzapfel@ldschurch.org).

Blessings, President Holzapfel

President Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

Alabama Birmingham Mission

February 27, 2012

I made it here! Everything is cool, it's warm and not dry! I am companions with Elder Brown again (he was my last companion in the MTC) and we're living with the zone leaders of our area. We're going to Prattville. Here is our address:

100 McQueen Smith Rd. S

Apt P-8 Prattville, AL 36066

It was nice talking to everyone today and I hope you all continue to have a good day!

I love you all!

Elder Hopper