February 17th 2014

Hermana Hopkins has requested that her current address be removed from the blog. The address posted is the Mission Office address. If you would like her current address please be sure to let me know via the blog email.

Soooooooo many miracles and tender mercies have filled my days and weeks here. On Saturday I went on an exchange with one of the Sisters that we live with. She goes home this week but we went on exchanges anyway and it was fun. She is a great example to me of perseverance. When I started my personal study that morning I saw their white board of names and information and I saw the last name Flores. It reminded me of the Flores Family down in Eagle Pass and my mind was taken to a particular Sunday after church when Hermano Flores had been talking to me and giving me the information for some of his family members in San Antonio. I wrote down the information with the intent to get it to other missionaries up there but really I had no idea why he was giving me there information and I didn't know which area or missionaries it would be assigned to. So I just left the information in my planner and forgot about it... Now at this moment you are probably thinking, "What a horrible and forgetful missionary!" But let me tell you, this experience was a miracle. As I thought of where I had written down their information I found the map book and retrieved my old planner from my suitcases in the closet. I looked up the address thinking that maybe it was this family on the whiteboard in this other area when to my surprise it was actually in MY area. I made a mental note to tell my companion that we should go by there. That night when my companion and I were planning for the next day (yesterday) we planned to go and stop by this family to see if they were even members or not as I could not remember and potentially just forward their information on to the spanish missionaries assigned to this area if they only spoke spanish. We punched in the address in the gps last night 20 minutes before we had to be home and it turns out that they literally live a block away from where we live. That is not coincidence. We drove over and the lights of the large house were all off. We knocked lightly on the door and a woman came to the door in her pajamas. She only spoke spanish. I introduced us and asked for the names that I had written down in my planner almost 4 months ago and she confirmed that they were the flores family. I asked if they were members, she said no but that her daughter who is 19 was wanting to meet with the missionaries. I was in shock. I scheduled a return appointment for tomorrow and as we walked away I said to my companion, "You have no idea what just happened..." I explained to her and her mouth dropped. It is not a coincidence that I wrote down their information and kept it and that we live a block away from them now in the huge city of San Antonio and that the 19 yr old daughter who would come to our single adult ward is interested in learning from the missionaries. The church is true.

Oh, and remember Daniel? The one who knows that Heavenly Father loves him because of Stake conference and the Spirit? We went to the temple again with him and his countenance was completely changed. He was happy, that is the only word I can use to describe it. We pointed it out and said "You look happy!" and he said, "I am happy." and smiled. We invited him to get his temple recommend. Yesterday he said he had something to show us and he pulled out his new temple recommend from his wallet.

 We all were happy and smiling. That is the Spirit. That is the joy that the gospel brings. We took pictures, I'll attach them. This young man's experiences have not only changed his life completely, they have also changed mine.

We also had Amber at church yesterday, she loved it! We rode the bus this week as well because we found out that we have only 100 miles left to use for the rest of the month and we literally cover all of San Antonio with the Singles and also the Sister missionaries that we are over. So we got on the bus on Friday and met some awesome people! We met and taught Tim right there on the bus and gave him a Book of Mormon. He said he wanted to read it to find the truth and then he got off the bus. We talked to our bus driver who had questions about what we do and we joked around with him since we hadn't gotten off at the right time (which actually made it possible to teach Tim in the first place) so we just rode around and talked to him. He is from Virginia.

I can't possibly list all of the blessing and miracles that are going on here. But I know one thing is for sure that I have to tell you, the Lord is hastening His work. Now is the time to decide and to either accept or reject. There is less and less room for grey areas as time goes on. I know that this is the only true and living church of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I know that Joseph Smith was called by God to be a prophet and to translate the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I love it and study it daily.

I love you all and I encourage you to step out of your comfort zones and help lift someone else. These miracles have come to me as I have forgotten myself and my trials and turned outward. This time is historical.

Hermana Ally Hopkins

February 10th 2014

This week has been pretty crazy. We had exchanges on Tuesday with the Sisters in Pleasanton and I got to go down there with Sister Montgomery (my MTC companion) and see all of my old friends. It was so wonderful to use Spanish again and also to spend a day with one of my best friends. :) I truly love this work and seeing it make a difference in the lives of others, investigators, missionaries, and less active members alike. 

We also had MLC which is Mission Leadership Council which includes all of the Sister Training leaders, Zone leaders, and Assistants to the President, and the Mission President of course. We learned about grace and also about how Christ truly is our Savior. We also practiced giving correction to other missionaries so that when we go on exchanges we can correct any behavior that is not consistent with our call. I was glad to practice that as I know I am not always very good at giving correction constructively. I feel more confident now in doing that and inspiring others to be and do better instead of making others feel guilty.

Also we had an awesome experience with Daniel who has recently come back to activity. He went up to bear his testimony at the end of fast and testimony meeting. He said he was grateful for one of the members, whose name is Ali (haha cool huh), and also us sisters for helping him out. He said that before coming back he was perfectly content with never coming back into the church or even the church building. He was invited by Ali to come to institute one day and he thought originally "I know this mormon-trickery" and he asked why she wanted him to go. She said that she just wanted to invite him cause she cared. He felt like that was a legitimate reason so he went. He didn't last two minutes in the building and he grabbed his stuff and left. But that got him started on his journey back. He is the one that came to stake conference and felt the confirmation that Heavenly Father loves him. We had dinner with him this last week and he said that he was doing good not drinking anymore and also that he saw a CES fireside of Ted Callister's called "The Blueprint of the Church" and it really helped. So all of this is just the background to him going up and sharing his testimony yesterday. At the end of his testimony he started to cry and said that he knows that Heavenly Father loves all of us. I talked to him afterward and he said that as he said it out loud it felt even more real. This guy's story will always be close to my heart and I hope we can always be friends and stay in touch because he is amazing. He reminds me of Andrew because when he was in high school he was a punk rock kid and did some dumb stuff haha. Whenever I talk to him I think of Andrew and how someday he will come back. Someday he will know, like Daniel knows, that Heavenly Father loves him. I start to get emotional when I think about it because I am so grateful for the miracles that Heavenly Father has done in Daniel's life and it makes me hopeful for Andrew. 

We started to teach a young man named Jonathon this week (isn't it funny how past investigators' names keep popping up again? haha) and he has such a big heart. He used to work on the church's air conditioning so he has been inside our buildings before but only for maintenance haha. He came to church yesterday and seemed to be trying to soak it all in. He loves to draw and is great at it. He also plays the guitar and the piano and used to be a band producer (I think? or a director? something like that) so I told him when I have a band after the mission that he can help us out haha.

I sang in MLC, they asked me to do a musical number during lunch again haha. This is the second time that I have been asked during lunch to sing to open the next half of the meeting. So I sang "Come Unto Jesus" The words touched me as I sang them and I knew that the words applied specifically to specific people in the room. I don't know who exactly or which words specifically helped them but I felt a strong feeling that some of the words were helping someone individually. 

I know that the Savior lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is true without a doubt. I know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet and that this is the last dispensation before the coming of the Lord. The Book of Mormon testifies to me that God loves each of us.

I love you.

Hermana Ally Hopkins

February 3rd 2014

Yesterday and Saturday we had Stake Conference and Elder Villareal from the Seventy spoke to our stake along with the Temple President and the Mission President and their wives. Elder Villareal talked about a girl who was preparing to go on her mission and her twin sister was unable to go on a mission because of health reasons. She told her pre-mission sister that she would have to work twice as hard for the both of them. She responded that she would. She had her things ready to go and asked her father the night before for a ride to the station. He told her that she couldn't go. When she went to sleep he stole her luggage thinking to himself, "That'll stop her." When she woke up early to walk to the station her luggage was gone. She showed up to the Columbia Mission Training Center with nothing but her purse. As I listened to this story, and many others, I was brought to tears. I have been worrying about some really unimportant things. This sister was so faithful and determined to honor the calling that she had been given. Are we honoring our callings with such diligence? 

At this same conference, President Slaughter talked about a girl that he had interviewed to be baptized, He asked her how her story. One day she was working at the blood bank when a man came in wanting to donate plasma. He asked how her week was going and she said it wasn't so good because of boyfriend problems. He pointed at the church magazine in his hand and said that she needed a mormon boy haha. She looked up info online and found the missionaries. She didn't know who that man was or how to thank him but she asked the mission president to find him and have him baptize her. He said he would. He went to random chapel in the east stake to try and find him and he bore his testimony and shared this girls story in the meeting of a random ward and asked that if this man was there that he make himself known to him afterwards because the girl wanted him to baptize her that saturday. The next woman that got up said that that man was her husband and that he was in the foyer with the kids. The mission president went out afterwards and told him the story. The man, emotional, said that he never had a baptism on his mission and that he had gone that day to the blood bank to get a little extra money by giving plasma because his family was struggling. What a miracle!!!

This week I fasted for a bunch of people and that same day that I fasted we got texts from two of those people. One we hadn't heard from in two weeks and we thought he was dead until he texted us that day! The other texted us saying that he really appreciated the daily scriptures that we send through text. The latter also came to conference and it changed his life! He had previously been feeling like God didn't love him and that he had never felt the spirit before. When he went to that saturday session and heard about the girl who wanted that man to baptize her he felt an overwhelming feeling of God's love and he told us that in that moment he knew that God loves him! This experience made me smile so big haha. I love the gospel. I know that fasting is powerful. I know that God lives. I know that the Book of Mormon is true.

I love you!

Hna Hopkins

January 27th 2014

Another Update from Hermana Hopkins!

We had two exchanges this week, one was with the AP-STLs (The assistant to the President sister training leaders) and the other was with one of the companionships we are over. On tuesday I was with Sister Christensen and I learned to just answer people's questions instead of beat around the bush and tell the whole story, some people just want a straight answer! Haha. Then on Thursday we had zone conference and I learned that there is a big difference between weaknesses and wickedness. We as humans are made weak so that we can exercise our faith and trust in God to become strong and overcome those weaknesses. Wickedness is willfully rebelling against God, sinning. We need not repent for weaknesses, God gave them to us, but we do need to repent for willful rebellion. We ask for the strength to overcome weaknesses, not for them to be taken away. That way He builds us and we learn to overcome that and any future trials or challenges. I am grateful that the Mission President gave us that extra insight, it really clicked. I understand Ether 12:27 a little better now. On Saturday we did another exchange and I was with Sister Reimer. It was good fun. We taught Joseph who is a 19 yr old who is letting his mom live with him instead of on the streets. She has a great faith in Christ and told us that she prays before she reads the bible so that she can understand what God wants her to understand. We were so impressed! We taught them both the Restoration and invited them to read the Book of Mormon. They were excited to do so and Joseph came to church the next day and loved it. A member said "See ya next Sunday!" and he replied "See ya next Sunday!" He had a great time and was excited to make a lot of new friends too. We are going to see what the moms interest level really is to see if we need to refer them over to the family ward sisters. Families should be taught together! She didn't come to church but we will probably refer them over to the other sisters anyway so they can progress together.

My companion helped me to understand yesterday the need to communicate about everything to about the Spirit to each other. That's how we stay connected and are able to understand each others feelings and help each other out when things get tough. We tell each other everything so that we don't have to play the guessing game. It's something great that I am learning.

I would write more but I have already taken too much time on the computer today haha. Know that I love you all and think of you often. Little things here and there remind me of you and I use a lot of our experiences together as helpful stories or examples in lessons. Keep on being the great examples that you are!

Hna Hopkins