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