Monday, November 24, 2014

Letter 11

Dear Family and friends!!

So this was my fifth week in the field and it has been crazy. A lot of things have transpired. First off, I was transferred and have traded with the other two missionaries in my area. This was because I was having problems with my trainer. There was nothing wrong with him and I will explain what has happened.

When I got in my area my trainer did not speak any English. Before I came he had one of the best missionaries in the mission as a trainer. He wanted me to be the best and was trying to train me as such. I have truly learned humility because all the problems had were in a way because of my inability to understand how he wanted me to change. He is an excellent missionary and has shown me a lot. He has no fear and two times now he has gone on a bus in front of everyone and has taught about the Book of Mormon and we have received a lot of contacts from that. I found out in the end I was not seeing what he was trying to do and now I wish I had. TO all missionaries it helps to talk with your companion and express how you are feeling and this is the best way to fix problems. This can be difficult if you can't talk to each other though because of a language barrier.

Now I am with my second trainer who is great. He is a Brazilian but has lived in the US since he was 8. His name is Elder Rivera and he is great but sadly I only get him for two weeks and then I am being transferred to a new area.

TO let you all know we have had new rules given to us. I now only have one hour for email for both your family and the president. Please write me letters. My parents have posted my address on my blog.

This week we had a zone meeting and training. Last week our Mission President told us no more soccer or basketball. This week we learned why. It is because 203 missionaries in Sao Paulo went home because of injuries and so the Area Presidency decided for all of Brazil: no more soccer or basketball.

This week has been great. We have worked hard. Before I have experience a lot of homesickness but this week Elder Rivera and I went to work on preaching the gospel and in the end I completely forgot about home. So I have truly learned what the phrase "Loose yourself in the work!" means.

This week we had an investigator that has a sad story. She is very rich and her story is that her son was assassinated. She also lost her husband and her mother and father. She has a lot of questions and when we were teaching her about the Plan of Salvation she was asking questions rapidly and it was hard to answer them all. She is a prime contact and is already feeling the Spirit because we can see it in her eyes when we teach her. When we got finished with the lesson we were so happy because we knew that we had shown her that she would see all of her family again. Also this week we got two contacts on the street and when we went to visit their houses we found out that they were wrong. But with the wrong addresses we got 2 new investigators. Also when we were going to visit one of the investigators, a drunk guy came up to Elder Rivera and I (we also had a member with us). This guy came up and asked if I had worked in the states and then immediately took of my nametag and took my planner and my Mormon message cards. He was looking for money in them. Then he kept saying that he had seen me work in Buenos Aires. He asked my companion and I and the member questions. After that we just walked on and he kept walking on by. Of course I got my planner and my name tag back. Yeah!!! It was kind of funny because these guys are totally drunk and just start saying random stuff. Crazy!

This week was also a little sad because we had an investigator cancel a baptism because he was scared. He is so ready and has had probably 8 to 10 elders teach him.

Well that was my week.  Ate mais ( until next time)

Sincerely,
Elder Hoopes

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