Another Week Done Well - 08/30/10

Alright, so I think that I am just going to write about the highlights today.
First off, sounds like bishop really hit it hard with Justin, haha, that would have been pretty funny. Hopefully angel moroni waved back! ;) I'm way glad his farewell went well, I'm planning on sending him something, so it will go to his house then hopefully his parents can forward it to him.
So on Tuesday the 24th it was the first day of school! The campus, or the grounds as they say here, were filled with students. What we did is we made a survey and copied a bunch of them so we could start conversations with the students and take this survey with them. We were planning on getting some new investigators out of it, but people were running around trying to get the feel of things, we all split up to cover a little more ground, and I had some good conversations with people but that was about it, hopefully when they get all settled in it will work out a little better. The questions were stuff like: What is the purpose of life? What is your religious background? Do you believe there is a God? What is your desire in this life? End Goal? What is the bible? What is the Book of Mormon? and the last one, If there was a prophet on the Earth today like Abraham or Noah or Moses, what would you ask him? It was cool to get different answers and see how people reacted. haha
Wednesday we had a lesson with Natalie Sikes and we would really appreciate it if you could pray for here, she is now in the red zone like football, she gets baptized this coming Saturday so Satan is really working on her. She's still solid, just needs a little help and confidence.
Thursday we had a district meeting and I was prepared to talk on 2 Nephi 31. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, oh man I love it. Go ahead and read that, it's one of my favorites! After that we met with Sarah Richardson who if you could would really appreciate it if you would pray for her parents, they are making her wait a year before she can get baptized, which means she has to wait 2 years before she can get married to Thomas Vance. Crazy stuff but she is amazing and has a solid testimony.
Friday night we had another great date night with the Buers, mom you got that picture. They are such a great couple, we haven't really met their kids because they are always asleep before we get there. But they are such a great couple and they enjoy having us over which is really great!
Saturday... Happy Birthday Justin! Today I went on exchanges with a kid from the singles ward who just recently got off of his mission, we went out to crozet and was able to meet with Lisa. It was sweet being in charge and taking the lead in the lesson, it went really well. Lisa says the church is to white for her... :( sad day, but we found out that her 13 year old son wants to start taking lessons with us which is so great! Then that was really it.
Sunday was absolutely amazing! I was so nervous though because I had to teach the gospel principles class on tithing and fast offerings. Which actually went great!!! I loved it so much and I was totally being led by the spirit in what I said, it was absolutely amazing!!! Often times we look over tithing or we don't fast with a purpose, but we receive such great blessings when we do these things! 3 Nephi 24:10, great promised blessings! And then we had our 5th Sunday of the month meeting, and talked about our ward mission plan! We're really focusing on mormon.org and prayer. Praying for missionaries world wide, praying for missionaries in your area individually by name, and praying for your own missionary oppertunities. Missionary work will soar if all members did these things. Then the making a profile on mormon.org and sending videos and posting it to your facebook will work a bunch too. After that we met with Natalie, and like I said, things are getting hard, but we really helped her out and things are still good. I got lip gloss all over my white shirt because her daughter kept trying to kiss me... She is a cute little girl, but she knows how to get in your space, haha. She's in love with me... hahahaha
Well that was pretty much my week, thank ya'll ;) for your support and for everything that you do, I love you all, and you are in my prayers!

With Love,
Elder Hopkins

My Testimony - 08/23/10

I'll just end it kind of short and sweet, I love all of you. Serving a mission, even though it's been just about 4 weeks now (not counting the MTC) has been so amazing. I'm so glad I decided to come and serve the Lord. Of course there are times when I think of home, but nothing makes me happier than having an amazing lesson, or an amazing study in the morning! I've felt the spirit so strongly and been led by that spirit already so many times. I can't wait for more of those amazing opportunities! They truly are the greatest things ever! I love my mission, I love the people, and I love my companions and all others who are here with me. I thank you so much for your love and support from back home and really does mean so much to me. I love this work, our mission is exploding!!! In our area we have 20 people set for baptism this next week, our goal is 23 and I'm sure we are going to crush that goal! Now that school is starting, it starts tomorrow, things are going to change, we actually get to see people on campus and start up conversations with people! THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN HERE!!! I am so so so excited (also kind of scarred... haha since I'm such a talkative person) but truth be told I am a more talkative person, the Lord has helped me so much in that and I am so grateful that he has. I love learning about this gospel, I love teaching people of the happiness that it can bring into their lives and into the lives of their loved ones. You are all missionaries as well, please please PLEASE go onto mormon.org, make a profile, send videos, and connect it to your facebook page! We can use the internet for good, why not use it!? I challenge all of you to do this, to go onto mormon.org and make a profile and send a video to one person so they can do the same! This is a new focus that the church has and it is amazing, people love it here! Anyways, I'm so grateful for each and every single one of you. I've said this before, but you are getting these e-mails for a reason, you've impacted my life and I am so grateful for that. This church is true... it is growing, People are coming to know of the things that we have known, it has to be true!!! I know it is, I know this gospel is true and I know that my Savior lives and we can live with him again! Endure to the end, grow in faith, we can never have to much faith, repent and follow the commandments and we are promised that we will have eternal life! 2 Nephi 31:20. Thank you for everything, have a great week, enjoy all of your blessings, and write me anytime you have a question or want to say hi ;) I'm here for you, my work isn't just here, I want to help all of you increase your faith as well! I love you and best of luck in all that you do!

With love,

Elder Hopkins

•Another week in Virginia ‏ - 08/30/10

Hello everyone!

Ha-ha these titles for the e-mails are funny... Maybe I'll get clever sometime and actually make a good one. Alright so we just got done playing basketball, eating lunch, and cleaning our apartment, fun stuff right!? Ha-ha, but basketball was way fun, a member comes and plays with us, and his name is Brother Bishop, um... He went up for a lay-up and I totally pinned him up on the backboard, hahaha oh man it's a lot of fun. I love these Elders, it is so much fun to just play around with them and talk about things, it's all so great! So starting from last Tuesday: We went and drew a huge MORMON.ORG (and I mean huge) chalk drawing on campus where a lot of people walk by, it was a lot fun! After that we drove around but it wasn't the most successful day, a lot of people weren't home when we were supposed to see them or they rescheduled, but that night we got to play basketball with some less actives and investigators. That was a lot of fun, just tore it up there. haha, but we got to talk to a lot of them, they are all black, so me dunking it really gained some respect. ;) but that was pretty much it for Tuesday. Wednesday we went and saw Nan Mosley, we talked to her about baptism and the importance of it and what happens after we're baptized, she says she wants to get baptized but she just won't set a date, it's kind of frustrating but it will happen when it needs to happen, she is a great lady and loves missionaries, but she definitely has her own pace. After that we went to see Natalie Sikes, who is just soooo solid! We taught her about the Word of Wisdom, the Law of Chastity, and the 10 Commandments. It was a really good lesson and we committed her to stop drinking coffee and she hasn't had any since, and she thought it would be super hard to stop! Amazing stuff!!! After talking to her we go to see Shauntay who would go to the singles ward, but as we go there we see a note on the door by her roommate saying that she has to move out! It was kind of sad but we just had to leave it at that... Then we went to see Kendra who is a member, but going through some pretty hard times, we talked to her about hope and it was a great lesson, in PMG under christlike attributes. Then we go to our new bishop’s house for a meeting, and he lives on this huge farm! He had so much land; there is even a little airport! haha then that was that day. :) Oh also, look up Josh Groban - You Are Loved! haha, it's a good song that we listened to with Kendra. Thursday we had a district meeting which was good, just talked about what's going on where, then we always go to Asian Fusion after a district meeting, which is an amazing Chinese buffet! :) :) After that more unsuccessful meetings, but then we go and see Sarah Richardson who is engaged to Brother Vance, we watched the video Finding Faith in Christ and talked about faith and increasing it, such an amazing lesson, it was totally led by the spirit which is always the best having that divine companionship with us! Speaking of that, look up the Divine Companionship talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. :) Then we went to Sister Kirby who is a less active and just read scriptures with her and made sure she understands, we also talked quite a bit about faith, so we read Ether 12 and Alma 32, some of my favorite scriptures! On Friday we had weekly planning, which always builds up our companionship, then we had a meeting with Brother Snow who is the bishops brother, who used to be bishop and just met with him and talked to him about things that were happening. Then we go and see Sister Kirby, we talked to her about revelation and how we receive it and the importance of it, lessons with members is always so amazing because we can go deeper into the doctrine. I'm going to send this one but hopefully I will get to get back on here in a minute, time ran out at the library so we'll see if I can get back on. I love you all!!!

Elder Hopkins

We had your sons over for dinner and a lesson last Friday night. We jokingly refer to it as "Date Night with the Elders"! In all seriousness, we love having your sons in our home and are grateful for their testimonies and the Spirit they bring with them each week. They are dedicated missionaries and we feel fortunate to have the opportunity to meet with and learn from them. We hope our own son grows up to be the kind of missionaries they are!

Please enjoy this picture from our "date night."

Warmly,

Courtney & Troy Buer
(Charlottesville 2nd Ward)

Hello From Virginia - 08/16/10

Tuesday was GREAT! I went on exchanges with the elders in Staunton and it was just so great! For some strange reason I was talking a bunch and pulling scriptures out of thin air, I was totally led by the spirit. We were just walking down a street and we saw a lady cleaning her car and we just went inside with her and had this amazing discussion about the gospel, I was talking so much it was way cool! She is a Baptist but I could totally see her getting baptized so hopefully they follow up. Also right after that we were knocking on doors and this kid rides by on a bike, so I wave and he totally just cusses me out, I just started laughing but it's pretty different with that happening instead of them just waving or something back. Also that night I had my first home cooked meal, different kinds of chicken, mashed potatoes, and vegetables, it was really good! So ya, that was just a way good day! Wednesday was an alright day, a few things fell through, but it happens, we talked to Lisa and things are still going good with her, she really needs some help so if everyone would just include her in your prayers it would help so much. The coolest thing about Wednesday was I taught someone who speaks French by myself with no companions; of course I had a translator and her husband so it was cool to be there. Taught him the restoration and invited him to be baptized so now he's just going to think about it, but the spirit was definitely there! Thursday we had a zone conference and President Perry and his assistant missionaries. Zone Conferences are soooo amazing and our mission president is so powerful, it was great to be there and just catch the vision, which I am going to talk to everyone about later. We talked with Sara Richardson after that, and she is getting so close, we talked to her and her fiancé about eternal marriage, she wants to get married in the temple so baptism is totally going to happen hopefully in the near future, so pray for her too! :) We met with Natalie Sikes that night too, she is so solid and is so excited about getting baptized, she is so great and her little daughter, Harley, is the cutest little girl ever!!! Ha-ha, so good stuff there! Friday we had our weekly planning which takes awhile, but we got it done. A lot of things fell through then, but we had a dinner with Kim Willaby who is like a professional chef! The meal was amazing, some chicken on rice stuff I forget what it was exactly, but it was super good! She's going to travel around the world with her boyfriend and go cook at these huge restaurants (ya can't spell) but she is legit, but they don't want to hear about the gospel right now, so that's a bummer. Then we had a lesson with the Buer family, members, and they are so great, brother and sister Buer are so great and they love learning more about the gospel. We just talked to them about listening and asking inspired questions (pg 183-186 in Preach My Gospel) it was good stuff and they loved it, I loved it, the Holy Ghost is AWESOME!!! :) Saturday we met with a new investigator for the singles ward named Shauntay and she is progressing really well, she is set for baptism on Sept. 25th I think it is? So ya, we were able to meet with Lisa and Marcus, and also Lisa's son James who is 13 and we're going to start working with him. It is so cool!!! :) Then we had dinner at Natalie's house and it was amazing pasta stuff, talked to her about the gospel of Jesus Christ which is AMAZING, haha I love this gospel so much. Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, 2 Nephi 32:21 I think, I sure hope I’m right, but I don't have my stuff with me right now. So sorry if that isn't it. Sunday was good, we had meetings and I went to the family ward by myself, well with the other elders who go there, and it was really nice, Lisa couldn't make it, but Natalie was there! :) Then we had lessons with some of the single sisters from the singles ward and it went really well! Sorry this is kind of a crazy letter but I really don't have much time, I love everyone so much, study Preach My Gospel, it is amazing! Also, the vision I talked about from our mission president... mormon.org!!! Everyone go to mormon.org and look at it, make links on your facebook, make links to your blog, send those videos to friends everywhere, it is growing huge and it is a huge way we get referrals so it helps so much! Will you do that? "YES" says everyone! haha ok good! :) I love you all and have a great week, can't wait to hear from you! :)

With love,

Elder Hopkins

Amazing Week - 08/08/10

Dear... Everyone,
This week has been absolutely amazing! If you couldn't tell by the title of this e-mail, but yes, amazing! So after we e-mail and do all of our personal stuff we get to work again, so we go to lessons and do all that fun stuff. After talking to less active members and knocking on doors I pass out my first pass along card. Not a huge thing but still pretty sweet. Tuesday, not much happened, just lessons and teaching investigators. Wednesday, I go on my first exchanges because my companions are zone leaders and had to go to Richmond for a meeting, I'm going to talk more about my companions in a bit, but I go with Elder Carpenter, and Elder Harris, two great missionaries. We go to a little mobile home neighborhood and begin to knock on doors, not much success; I get my first door slammed on my face though! Sweet right!? Right before my companions get back, around 4 we go to the last lesson we have scheduled together, her name is Ashley, long story short they committed her to baptism! Soooo sort of my first one, but we also gave her a blessing and I was able to stand in on that, powerful stuff. Later that night there was a huge thunderstorm!! Thunderstorms are so sweet here! Even though they are super cool, it was my first power outage and it was pretty intense, so trying to plan and study that night was a little rough but it's still gotta happen. Thursday was a really frustrating unsuccessful day. Pretty much everyone canceled and we just didn't get to do much that day. Friday we had a zone meeting so that was cool, I was able to meet all of the other Elders in our zone and I had the spiritual thought so I talked about the importance of bearing testimony. It was really good. :) Not much else happened that day, a few more cancellations but it wasn't all that bad. Now Saturday! The longest, but it was awesome! So every Saturday we get to play Saturday sports which starts at 9 am, which means that we have to wake up at 5:30 am to exercise, workout, study, and plan. At Saturday sports we play ultimate frisbee!!! How great, it is so much fun to play, so when I get back home I won't miss a beat. ;) The members and leaders who play are so great and it is just so much fun! After that we have a lesson with Meagan Lake who is the relief society president and we just wanted to help her as best as we could, I shared with her the beginning of Enos talking about prayer and receiving revelation through sincere prayer. The lesson went over great! Then... The highlight of the day!!! Natalie Sikes, a progressing investigator I've only met with twice, but Elder Brockbank has only met with her twice before that, she is set for BAPTISM!!! September 18th! It's amazing and she is really confident about the whole thing and after we set the date she said she felt more relaxed and ready. It is so amazing! I was bearing my testimony about not having a perfect knowledge, we don't need a perfect knowledge of everything in the gospel because that is impossible, I said how I'm just 19, I have a lot to learn, but through faith in Jesus Christ what she KNOWS IS PERFECT! I shared my testimony about Thomas S. Monson because that was what our lesson was about, modern day prophets. Then baptism just came in! So good, we were lead by the spirit, she felt it, we felt it, oh... so AMAZING! Alright, I'm running out of time, we only have an hour to e-mail. We met with Lisa White and she is progressing so much, and Sarah Richardson is on the very edge! Pray for them please. Later that night as we were getting home there were drunk guys outside in the parking lot yelling and swearing, then some older lady was walking by and started yelling and swearing at them for being worthless, she told us to call the cops afterwards and the cops showed up and took one of the guys away. Pretty crazy stuff. Then... One of the companionships didn't call in that night, so at 11:00 we have to head out to Waynesboro which is like half an hour away and check on them. We get there at 11:30 and their car is unlocked and they won't answer the door. We throw stuff at the windows and nothing happens, 30 minutes goes by and we say a prayer. I check the windows and I just slide one of them up and we crawl in, there phone is on the couch and they are upstairs asleep!!!!! So that all happens, we get back home and finally get to bed around 1 am! So from 5:30 am to 1:00 am, it's kind of a long day, then having to wake up at 6:00. Pretty rough. Sunday was good, we got a new bishopric in the singles ward and I gave a blessing to Marcus, it was really sweet. That night, we helped moved a non member couple into a new home and I saw FIREFLIES, oh it was the coolest thing ever! But ya, so it was a really good week. Now a little on my companions... Elder Brockbank is a professional wakeboarder, snowboarder, and dirtbiker!!! He's legit; also he is the greatest missionary/companion. He is also from Sandy Utah. Elder Comer plays football for BYU, he plays corner and he is so cool, he is so bold it is awesome! He is from Springville Utah. They are the greatest and I am learning so much from them! Well that's pretty much it, I love you all, study the scriptures, be sure to pray, and always have faith, it is so important! I studied a bunch on faith today, Ether 12 and Alma 32, talk so much on faith, also read the Bible Dictionary on Faith. I love you and enjoy your week!

With Love,
Elder Hopkins

Elder Hopkins with his New Mission President

"We were pleased to welcome your son, Elder Neil Hopkins, to the Virginia Richmond Mission. We love him already and are aware of his great potential to be an excellent missionary. He spent one day with us receiving orientation and he is in good health and good spirits. His drive and determination will be of tremendous help as he joins a wonderful group of missionaries already serving the Lord in this area.

We are thankful for the part you played in preparing Elder Hopkins to serve this mission and we are honored to serve with him. Enclosed is a photo we took upon his arrival at the Mission Home. May the Lord abundantly bless you as you support him in his call"

President and Sister James C. Perry

Neils group of missionaries were the first to stay at the Mission Home with Pres and Sister Perry as they had just been in the Mission since the first week of July.