Leadership Training Mtg 11/22/10

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

Wow, this week was absolutely amazing!!! Of course I forgot all of my notes and things like that, but... I went to the leadership training meeting this last week. It started early Tuesday and went till Friday! All of the Zone Leaders and the District Leaders, then the Assistants to the President and President Perry and his wife were there, it was so amazing! I don't want to sound like I'm tooting my own horn or anything, but I'm one of the future leaders in the mission!!! :) That is a direct quote from President Perry. haha, who would have thought that. The leadership meetings started at 10:00 am and went till about 5:00 pm everyday that week. All that it is, is we learn how to better ourselves, our companions, our districts, and our zones. Pretty much just improving the mission all around. We learned so much stuff, and I'll include that in my letter home. (all the details and things like that) It was so great to go there and see what happens and learn and receive revelation and inspiration for my area and what I can do to help it improve. The Assistants and President Perry trained all of us and they are so amazing! We role played a bunch, which I'm beginning to love because being there I realized how much it actually helps. haha. One way sweet story... After the first meeting we go out and do work. I went out with Elder Duke, Carpenter, and Gill in Downtown Richmond and we had an appointment to go to, a referral to go see. Turns out she needs devils to be cast out of her!!! Really!? We go into her house and it is just all foggy (they had the oven open trying to heat up the house) and it just felt like a scary movie. She starts talking to us about all of these crazy things that are happening and how there is a devil or something inside of her. It was really creepy, she was so serious about all of this. We end up saying a prayer and talking to her about it, then Elder Duke gives her a blessing. (all of us standing up because she has no chairs in her house) After the blessing she falls to the floor. She gets scared asking if that was really supposed to happen, and starts talking to us about this vision that she sees when she closes her eyes. The fog starts to go away and we start to talk to her about the gospel. Talking to her and realizing she is beginning to change her kids come out, we start talking to all of them now. After talking to her about Jesus Christ and how her Father in Heaven loves her, her whole countenance changes. We end up setting her and her daughter for baptism, and we went in a circle and all took turns saying prayers. Whatever evil spirit was there left, and the good spirit, the Holy Ghost just filled the room. It was an amazing experience, miracles happen and the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and it will change peoples lives. Applying everything that we learned at this meeting will change my mission, it is such a good thing I learned about it all so early in. That week was just full of miracles, everyone sharing stories about what happened the last night, all of the missionaries applying what they learned and seeing the blessings that come from it. I loved that experience! I truly can't wait to step it up, I know that Lord trusts me, and He is calling me to help other missionaries and to help bring His children closer to Him. This work is divine... I know it is true. I love you all so much! Thank you for everything that you do for me, I pray for you always and I hope the best for all of you! I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hopkins

One more thing...‏

haha, Kinda forgot a big thing that is happening this Saturday!!! Mario Martinez is getting baptized!!! It's a single adult who was baptized in Florida, but he never received the Holy Ghost. He hadn't gone to church for a really long time and he found his back awhile ago. We've been teaching him, he had his interview on Sunday and he's all good to go! I get to baptize him at 11:00 on Saturday! This area is so good! Things just keep happening and we are being so blessed! I love it. So that was all, I love you mom, I love you family!!!

Elder Hopkins :)