June 2nd 2014

This week was a very exciting week. Oh by the way, I think I'm funny cause I say it was exciting but I ended that sentence with a period and not an exclamation mark haha... I am having the greatest time!! :D

I have told you about Dina and Robert, right? They live at the Salvation Army and Robert is going to be baptized this month! They came to church yesterday!! Their dedication is inspiring. They rode the bus to get to church! I remember Hermana Munoz would do that every week to get to church in Lake Austin. President Spencer, the Stake President back in Orem, would ride his bike all the time to church! I love it!

We met a wonderful woman yesterday, we were about to get in to the car and I saw a woman sitting on her back porch on the second floor of the apartment complex we were in. I got closer and asked if we could give her a card, she said yes and we agreed to meet at her front door. We left everything in the car and met her at her door, she invited us in and offered for us to sit down. She sat by us as we asked her what her desires are for her family and what she would like to learn. She expressed that she would like to learn more about God because she didn't really grow up going to church but now she has two children of her own. She said that her friends go to church and love it but she just hasn't put much effort into finding a church. We scheduled to go back tonight and invited her to go on to Mormon.org. I am excited to go back because I felt impressed to say hi in the first place and it worked! When I act on the promptings of the Spirit miracles happen. When I don't, I feel an emptiness and a regret that I do not like to feel! I would much rather feel the joy that comes from meeting and talking to the people that God wants me to.

With the ward split this week we have been meeting a lot of new people, I am excited because this is kind of like a transfer but not haha. 

My new companion keeps me on schedule, she knows what needs to be done and she does it. She is an inspiration! Sometimes she reminds me of me and its a weird feeling haha... I wonder if that's how you feel as you raised us kids?? Kinda weird but cool, right? I love getting to help my companion grow and see her succeed! She will be a great trainer soon to someone else!

On my birthday I got to eat dinner with Hanna and Adrian, Hanna is the sweetest! They even got me a chocolate cake! It was delicious! And also the Barrera family fed us on friday and it filled us right up! Which was good cause I was starving haha. Their family is really struggling right now with quite a few different things. Keep them in your prayers for sure.

We said goodbye to a family who is moving to Kileen to live on base there, I will miss them. The dad served his mission in Mexico and told us during dinner about a month ago about a time when cockroaches came spewing out of a hole in the wall... I will never forget that mental picture! That family is so funny haha!

I wish I could pull all of my thoughts together but I seem to be all over the place... Just know that I am all around excited to be here!

There is so much more to say!! Since my camera is broken I will just have to draw pictures of all that happens for yall haha.

I know that Heavenly Father loves me! I know that Christ lives and I know that the Book of Mormon is TRUE. It helps us to know of so many spiritual truths that the world is still confused about. For example, we all will be resurrected. Alma 40:4

And did you know that the Book of Mormon was translated in less than 2 years, from 1827 to 1829? A young farm boy could not have made all that up. End of story. 

I love the Lord. I read in 3 Nephi 21 all about the promise Christ made of Missionary Work coming forth in our day. Love it.

Hermana Ally Hopkins 

May 19th 2014

Mom,

I like that you put smiles everywhere haha. My last companion has taught me the importance of giving sincere compliments and being positive. I know that if you start with yourself by doing just that, that is will rub off eventually on them. But it takes patience and consistency!

My new companion is straight from the MTC and she is from Battleground, Washington! Her name is Sister Smith and she is a fireball when it comes to the gospel! She has a strong testimony of Joseph Smith and her prayers are so sincere. They aren't very long, I like that haha. Sometimes we can get insincere in our prayers in front of other people because we might be trying to please them instead of talking with our Creator simply and clearly as his child. We have been working as a mission on having shorter more powerful lessons. I thought about it and I really would probably get bored with two people lecturing me for an hour unless they were really funny or something haha. It makes sense that we ought to take less time explaining all the details and just learn how to clearly and simply present the doctrine and let them feel the Spirit.

I took the Spanish test on Thursday before transfer meeting and I wasn't nervous at all cause I know I am going to fail hahahaha. Being in an English area has made me forget a lot of things that I used to know. But it is wonderful to get to talk to the occasional Spanish Speaker.

On Friday as we were going about we had to park for a moment to figure our which address to put in the GPS. I looked up and saw a man and woman sitting on the porch of the house that we parked in front of. I felt like they probably were wondering what we were doing right in front of their house. So we got out and I explained that we were missionaries and were just trying to figure out where to go for a second. I don't even remember how we started talking about the gospel, it just flowed. We scheduled a return appointment for Sunday. When we went back yesterday only the son was home, he answered the door a little confused and then the mom drove into the driveway a second later! That was miracle number one. She hurried up and told him to sit down and listen to us. He didn't understand why or who we were but he sat down haha. She grabbed some chairs for us and we all sat on the porch. Her other son came to the door and stood at the door to stay and listen. Then their two younger sisters came up and we taught the Restoration on their porch. The mom, Elodia, said that she has seen missionaries in Mexico riding their bikes and that she wants her son to be one of them someday! We invited them each to be baptized and they each said yes! We rescheduled an appointment for tonight (the following day). We walked away in awe haha. I am grateful for the strong faith that my new companion has. She did such a great job! I was so proud of her!!

We also ate dinner with Ani and Adam on Saturday and invited them to come to church. I was wondering what has been keeping them from coming. Sometimes we put obstacles in our own way. Faith is the key. Do we have faith that if we depend on God that he will take care of us? Do we have faith that if we gave our all, our heart, might, mind, and strength, that he would provide for us and bless us and guide us? Repeatedly in the Book of Mormon the promise is made that if we will keep the commandments we will prosper in the land. Isn't keeping the Sabbath Day holy one of those commandments? Where is our faith at? Do we actually believe that promised blessings are in store if we keep that commandment with exactness?

I am grateful for the knowledge that we have of the Plan of Salvation. I am grateful that we understand more clearly the things that are in question in the rest of the world because of the Restoration of the Gospel. I know that the Book of Mormon is evidence of our Father's mercy for us, his imperfect children. I know that we have a living Prophet today, and for that I am thankful.

I love and adore you!

Hermana Ally Hopkins

May 12th 2014

his week was pretty crazy! So we all went to the temple as sisters, it was a wonderful experience and I was so happy to see my past companions. They are all on fire :) Wednesday we went on exchanges with the STL leaders and we saw miracles for sure. Tonight we have an appointment with one of the people that we met that day, he is the husband to a family of Mormons but he says he is catholic. He said it was weird that we came by because he had just been studying in the Bible about people preaching when we knocked on the door. His name is Eddy. I am excited to go back :) Also we found a family of less active members and they have a little boy who is 8 and not baptized yet. He knows a lot and we could tell so we asked him to teach us from the pamphlet instead of us teaching him. He did it! And He was awesome! He even said the closing prayer and said in his prayer, "Heavenly Father, you are awesome." It made me smile so big haha :) I love the sincerity of those we meet in their prayers. You can tell that they mean what they are saying. We had a zone meeting on Friday and I was asked to teach from the pamphlet in front of everyone in less than 7 minutes. I butchered it haha but that's okay, I just gave them all a "C" version so that they could only improve upon what I showed them. Then after that we went on another exchange with the Sisters in Bulverde. I wish my camera worked because it was BEAUTIFUL! The Sisters there stay with a member and their house is a french style mansion. It is on a plot of 20 acres with wild peacocks on the property and a gazebo and a tennis court and a pool (even though its filled with green water and algae since no one has used it in forever) and a tree house down the way and a small house just further down for the guy who lives there to keep up the property and back in the mansion there is a spiral staircase inside, with a courtyard in the back and the third floor is where the sisters stay and it is it's own little french style apartment and I felt like I was in a dream! You would have loved it :) I think its a good thing that my camera is broken or else I would have been very distracted taking loads of pictures. BUT I wasn't :) We saw three families who are all members but we practiced using the pamphlets with them and invited them to give a pamphlet to a friend. The Bulverde area is a little tiny bit like the Pleasanton area where everything is pretty far apart. But also its very different cause the houses are a lot nicer haha. I almost thought that with transfers this week I might get transferred there! But we got transfer calls yesterday and I am actually staying and training a new missionary! I am soooo excited!! But also I am really going to miss Sister Breakall.. These have been some of the best three months of my life. She is so amazing and I have been simply BLESSED to have gotten to spend three months with her. She is incredible and she is the new STL Leader! 

Christina got baptized on Saturday! She is simply magnificent. I have been touched by her strong desire to do what's right. She has been attacked by her family and clients and her health has decreased as well. I am seriously so privileged to have gotten to be a part of her life. The day of her baptismal interview she moved in to another ward because her family was being unkind and she actually is now in another ward's boundaries. So unfortunately we had to pass her off to the 8th ward sisters and I am really going to miss her. She will be taught the new member lessons by them and I know that she is in the right place and that she will be taken care of. Her baptism was crowded so we went into the bathroom to watch from "backstage" as I call it. She saw us and smiled. Then she was immersed into the water and came up with a smile again :) She came into the bathroom and we put a towel around her and just hugged her and cried for a minute. Her life has been changed. My life has been changed. After all the talks and everything we went to go eat some cookies and I looked at her for a minute as she talked to those around her and she was glowing. It's a soft and calm look. She received the gift of the Holy Ghost to complete her baptism yesterday and she was blessed with health and with support. I am excited to continue to see her progress and see the Gospel carry her like it carries all those who let it. 

True joy comes from living the Gospel. You can't find lasting and pure happiness and joy anywhere else.

I Love the Lord.

Hermana Hopkins