Week 37--TRANSFERRED....and a new assignment

Well, it finally happened. After almost 8 months in Tracy, Connor was transferred this week. He had such a wonderful experience in Tracy--the members were so good to him, he taught some wonderful people and saw several join the Church, he had three great companions and was given some great experiences and responsibilities that allowed him to get to know so many other Elders and Sisters and to grow individually. I am sure he is in for many more positive days ahead as he goes to Modesto. I look forward to hearing all about them in the weeks to come.

Hi Mom!!!!!!!!! :)

Alright, so transfers this week! Ahhhh! I'm leaving Tracy and going to Modesto! So here's the story: on transfer nights, we usually get calls from the Mission President or Assistants. So the Assistants called and asked "Can you please come to the mission home right now?" We drove about 20 minutes down to their house, and met with President, and he asked me to be an Assistant next transfer. I'm SOOOO scared!!!!! I was sure Elder Roudabush was going to be the next Assistant, but he literally hates leadership, so I guess God was nice enough to let him stay as a zone leader :)  Anyways, I'm going to get be in a tripanionship - both of the last Assistants are staying. Which means I get to serve with Elder Lopez!! He's the one that was my district leader when I first came here, then my zone leader with Elder Moreno. He's so cool!! And Elder Maxwell will be my other companion, and he's great too! I'm pretty sad to leave this area - I've come to be so comfortable here. I know 90% of the street names and 80% of the people that walk the streets and I love the members so much! Ahhh and I get so nostalgic and I HATE leaving places! But Brian and I will come visit soon enough :) So that's the update! Elder Roudabush is staying here with Elder Grover (one of my best friends in the mission). It should be good!?

As far as the work goes... we had 3 lessons with Michael this week. He's SO solid!! We asked him if he had prayed about his baptismal date, and he said "Yah, I feel good about it...maybe even sooner!" We decided together to keep it where it is though. He's so funny and I'm so blessed to have had the opportunity to teach him. We have a few other investigators, and we're working pretty well with a couple less active members. Things are pretty good! I've had the chance to serve and get to know better some great missionaries here, and it's been a great transfer!

So I studied about prayer and having the Holy Ghost today, and it was super good! I realized that Nephi was always praying (1 Nephi 18:3) and that's part of what made him such an incredible prophet. I know you love Nephi, so I thought you'd appreciate that thought! There are so many scriptures that say that we receive the Spirit as we pray, so I realized that I need to pray harder. I have a strong testimony of prayer, but I seem to forget it more than I should. I love in Mosiah 4 and 5, how King Benjamin's people pray to God for mercy, and He fills them with the Holy Ghost and peace of conscience. Then in chapter 5 they say that they've had a mighty change of heart, which came through the Spirit that entered them when they prayed. I know the Holy Ghost changes us when we let Him. That's what's so amazing about our gospel - we receive the gift of having Him with us always. He cleanses and purifies us and allows us to become more like our Savior.

So, I LOVE these slacks you sent me, and I was wondering if in the next package you could send me another just like them? Don't worry about getting one together to send them, but if you could grab me another for sometime in the future that would be amazing. I'm getting along perfectly fine right now, but eventually these will rip I'm sure... Is that ok?

I'm glad the family is having a good time in Europe! I'm pretty jealous - I shouldn't be but I am :) I hope things continue to go well for you there! It sounds like everyone is getting along ok, which I'm super happy about. I always wish I was a little more mature and less contentious when I was home... I hope I didn't make things too stressful for everyone :) I'm just realizing that I should have treated everyone even better than I try to treat people out here, and I didn't. Thank you so much for being such an incredible Mom!! Thanks for your thought from Mosiah! I totally agree - I love how everything in the Book of Mormon points to Jesus. He's everywhere in there! And I also feel the Spirit teach me so much as I read it!! It's an incredible book! :) I love you so much! You're so special and amazing!! Let me know if I can do anything to help you out for Mother's Day!! I'm so excited to talk to you!!!!!!! :) I hope you have an amazing week - you deserve a million amazing weeks! :) I love you so much!!!

Love,
Elder Connor Hopkin :)

​My awesome district!!!! Left to right: Sister Lynn, Sister Arevalo, Elder White, Weirdo, Elder Ahau, Elder Shepherd, Elder Roudabush. They're all SOOO cool! :)

Monday, April 25, 2016

"We are sad to see Elder Hopkin leave our ward but we know he will do wonderful work in Modesto....Thanks so much for lending us your son. He is a wonderful missionary and we are honored to know him...."