May 4, 2015

Dear family and friends,

So this week has been another interesting ride. So last Monday when I returned home with my companion it was around 9 oclock. That past Monday we had left one of our friends here at the airport for him to return to the mission field in Curitiba, another state in Brazil. When returning home I started to feel sick and I didn´t know why. So I got home and the symptoms started to get worse. So we decided that I should go back to the hospital and when I went I got some interesting news. I had pneumonia. So what happened is that I had to stay in house for one more week to recover. I will tell anyone that to be stuck inside the house on a mission is horrible.

I just thought of this example. I am a missionary and I have a mission. When I am stuck in the house I cannot complete my mission. I am a missionary, and my mission is personal because I chose to serve this mission. I selected to serve a mission and when I can’t fulfill my purpose I feel a guilty feeling in my heart. I left my home, my family, my friends, and all the amazing things that I love ( food, games, running, etc.) behind. I put on a name tag that says

ELDER HOOPES
The Church of JESUS CHRIST
of Latter-day Saints.

That name tag has two names. The first is my last name. Not my first but my last because I decided to put who I was before behind me not to look back, to put on my true colors and not be afraid to tell what I know to be true. To testify to the people here in Brazil about JESUS CHRIST. I know the Savior lives and that he has done more for me than I could ever repay. Why do you ask? Because He loves me...

When I was stuck in our house for a week I started to think, why am I here, what do I represent, and why did I put everything behind me. WHY?

BECAUSE I LOVE HIM TOO and I made a choice to come here to this earth and to live our Heavenly Father’s plan to come to know his Son, JESUS CHRIST, so that I may follow him and that I may help others do the same. I am out here on a mission to show the people that Christ lives and that without Him our world becomes so much harder to live in because if we don’t know Him, I mean truly know Him, then we don’t know true happiness.

I am truly grateful for the opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father and His Son and I know there are others that feel the same way as I do. In the world there are 85,000 missionaries of the church in the world today doing the same thing I am because we love Him and we want others to come to know the Savior.

For me in my week in house, I thought a lot about why I was here. During the week some funny things happened in our house. One of the elders broke his bed and now is sleeping on two mattresses on the floor. Elder Bonett and I tried to fix the bed but the results were not what we wanted.

Então to finish this letter with a scripture that I like. 2 Timothy 4: 7

This scripture has had a lot of meaning to me. To live life without regrets. So I made myself a challenge and I extend to all that read this. Think about your lives and think of the things that you are doing right now that you don´t like about yourself. Then stop doing those things. If you want to have a happier life you need to really focus on the things that matter in life. Things we don´t like about ourselves only pull us down. I am not talking appearance but how we think and what we do and how we act. So think about these things and make a change. Not tomorrow or next week or the next hour, but now!

I love you guys and I love the Lord and this wonderful opportunity to serve a mission.


Sincerely,
Elder Ashton Nephi Hoopes