This week has been full of lots of events. I will start from the beginning of this week.
On Monday, we were having a great day and we were passing by one of our investigators that was baptized on the Feb 22. I had to opportunity to confirm her on March 1st. She was my first confirmation in the mission field. Her name is Lindalva and she is probably in her early 60s. When we passed by her we were talking to her and her son Anderson about the Plan of Salvation. We asked her if she had any questions and then for me, a miracle occurred that has strengthened my testimony of this gospel so much. She asked:
"When you confirmed me I FELT A FIRE IN MY HEAD AND IN MY FEET, a warm feeling and I could only think about good things and nothing bad. What was that?" I got to testify to her that that was the Spirit testifying to her that the gospel is true and that she was making the right choice. If anyone has a question about how do I know if it is the Spirit, there is a scripture in Galatians 5:22 that talks about the feelings of the spirit. Later that night we had a Ward Council meeting where the bishop asked us what our goals were. I saw a different face coming from us. What I mean is that when we talked we showed a new motivation because before the elders in our ward weren´t very animated or excited. In our ward there are a lot of less active members that need help and we told the members that there is a new focus for us (missionaries) and that is that we need the help of the members to help those that have left the church for some reason to come back. Also that day my companion and I made a lot of contacts with people in the street. We were inviting them for soccer and it is funny because my companion is from Argentina and now he is in Brazil.
Tuesday was a rough day and a very long day. Tuesday morning we left for our zone meeting with all the other missionaries and when we came back and went to lunch my companion's back started to give him a lot of pain causing us to go back to the house. We stayed there for the rest of the night. Also when we were at lunch the family has a little girl named Isabela and she is 7 years old. It was funny because there was this mattress in a room and she went up to it. She is a very small girl, I think less than 4 ft and it was funny because she pushed this mattress and it fell on top of her. Then she managed to push it back up and then when she was walking away it fell on her again. We started cracking up laughing.
Wednesday was a very funny day. Então (so) that morning was normal and we woke up and and had our study time. When we went to lunch another elder in the house and I, led our companions to the wrong house supposing that this sister was the one that we had confirmed lunch with. It was funny because when we sat down she asked us if we had already had lunch and then we all looked at each other because we knew that we were in the wrong house for lunch. After that when we got to the right house Elder Rodriguez and I went teaching and he is one tough guy. I say that because when we were teaching his back was giving him a lot of pain. That day we passed Lindalva again and she started asking us so many questions about the temple and told us that she really wants to go and she has heard so much about it from others. I was so happy for her. Later we met a less active sister and she told us that she loved the church but she left because she didn´t feel involved and we talked with her and here is a piece of advice for all members that read this. When you see someone that you don´t know in church, go introduce yourself to them and make them feel involved. Afterwards talking with this less active sister (Nayara is her name) we made a contact with a kid that was mute and we encountered his friend that said he had a Book of Mormon and that he wanted to know more because he had been reading it. He is 18 years old and his name is Samuel and he is a pretty chill kid.
Thursday was a relieving day because we went to a specialist for my companion's back to see if he had a problem or something because it gave him a lot of pain this past week and we found out that it was just a tense muscle.
Friday was tough. So my companion told me after lunch today that I was going to be senior companion and that he would act like he had been in the mission for one week. So we walked everywhere doing contacts that day and it was tough. There are so many decisions that a senior makes to make a schedule run smoothly and wow I was tired that night. It was an even longer day because all of our teaching appointments fell through. That night though we met a member and went and did a visit with him at Lindalva's house and with her son Anderson (he is really tough to teach). When we arrived with our member we found out that they knew each other because they used to live next door to each other and that this member played soccer with Lindalva's youngest son Vinicius. Throughout the lesson we talked with Anderson because he had a Bible study class with the Jehovah Witnesses and he is a very skeptical person. But I have seen such a change in him these past 5 weeks because he seems happier after we teach him. After that visit we did a visit with another family that I have seen so much change in for the first time we taught them. Their names are Antonio (father), Renata (wife) and Jenifer (daughter) and this family had a lot of problems with each other. We did a visit with this family and they were so happy that we had come by. Antonio told us that he is very happy that we came by and talked to them about the word of God because it has changed his family so much. I felt so happy afterwards because they show so much potential. When the member dropped us off at our house we entered and started planning out our next day and then Elder Georgeiopolus came to our room. He asked, "HOOPES, HEYGON IS DOWNSTAIRS WITH PIZZA!!!!" We ran down and Heygon the member said, did anyone order pizza?? I love him so much. He is a chill guy.
Saturday was a great day because we started off with a service project at a Lindalva´s house sanding metal stands that were coroded for their tables. Afterwards my companion looked like Michael Jackson before he dye his skin white. Then we had lunch and we started with a plan for that day and it became a little rough between my companion and I because we had some misunderstandings. Then we returned to our house and talked and right now everything is better than ever!!! After we talked we started to plan again and we heard our house door open because I left it unlocked by accident and we were both on our beds in the last room. We heard someone walking toward our room and then Elder Rodriguez looked down the hall and then looked at me with a scared look and asked, "WHO IS IT???? I got so scared and feared that there was a robber in our house and when I entered the hall I saw Rogeriol....... whooo (sigh of relief). Rogerio is a recent convert with 7 months in the church and he walked into our house because we called and asked him if he could do visits with us and so he arrived early. When we left we made our visits with him and everything was amazing. Afterwards we went to a burger restaurant called Gulosos and had burgers. It was great!!!
Sunday was great because we had church and when we were coming back we almost got in a car wreck because some people here do not know how to drive. We didn´t get hurt and there was no collision. That day we made contacts and I encountered a woman that believed in reincarnation. It was very interesting and she is the first person I have ever encountered with those beliefs. We tried to make an appointment but she said no thanks. That night we made another visit to Anderson, the son of Lindalva, and we made this visit with Heygon and we invited him for baptism for the 4th time. He accepted under the condition that he feels ready to be baptized on the 21st of March. 2 weeks!! I was so happy. I feel that he will be ready because he has changed so much from the first time I met him!
That was my week so far. Until next time, and if you have any questions just write because I love letters!!
Sincerely,
Elder Hoopes
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