Week 47

I got this picture on Sunday morning from Sister Palmer. It always makes my day to see pictures come across my email or on a text.

 Sunday, July 3, 2016

Elder Maxwell and Elder Hopkin

Modesto, CA

Hi Mom!!!! :)


Yah, there are a lot of new missionaries coming in this transfer - I think we're sitting at about 17 right now. Should be fun! I'll probably be getting a new companion this transfer, and that'll add a little to the stress. But that's not for 2 more weeks, so I've got a little time! :) To answer your question, I feel like I'm getting the hang of some things, and other times I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing :) The duties with my assignment are so random that new things come up all the time! That's super nice of Sister Palmer!

So... I think I told you about Nancy right? The super funny lady that we met as a street contact? We got to teach her this week, and she seems super prepared! We taught her about the Plan of Salvation, and she was like "Oh, I haven't heard that before!" then moved on as if she already accepted it! She's been reading quite a bit in the Book of Mormon too! Her dog got sick and she's out of town now, so we haven't gotten to teach her recently, but I'm super excited about her! Other than that, not a whole lot happened this week I think... I went on an exchange with my district leader, which was fun. Elder Maxwell found a new investigator that day that I haven't met yet :) Apparently she's going to the army soon so we won't get to teach her lots. The most eventful thing this week is that we moved! And I decided I'm never moving again in my life! :) Dang that does not fit with my personality! So we started moving stuff on Friday and did more on Saturday and cleaned a lot today and need to finish cleaning tomorrow. Ugh! But it's almost done! And I really like our new place - it's a little smaller but a lot nicer. And it's only 2 minutes away from the mission office as compared to 15. So a step up for sure! I think that's about it for the week!

Camp Cuz sounds like it's going to be fun! I wish I could be there, but I think that'll be good for some of the other kids to be the oldest. That's kinda weird that Cooper and Kaleb won't be there either! That all sounds a LOT like our family...that's pretty funny! :) Dang I can't believe about Alisha! That's so exciting!

So we spent a lot of time cleaning today, and we had a 4th of July barbeque with the Manteca zone, my old place! It's been fun to hang out with the missionaries here! But I'm a little low on time now. And I was just informed of an official email time restriction, which is about half an hour less than I'm used to...so my emails might be a little shorter now. Thank you so much for the email and the spiritual thoughts! I love those scriptures! I need to study Alma 38 again - it's so good!

Oh, super quick! My companion and I did some service for a retired Pentecostal pastor on Saturday. He isn't interested in learning about the gospel, but he's such a nice man, and it was a great experience serving him. He said that he and his wife prayed for us and he blessed us a couple times and he said that few things have touched his heart like this service did. And all we did was move gravel into his yard! :) It was an incredible reminder of how service can touch people's hearts and hopefully prepare them to hear the gospel, and of how there are so many good and kind people out there!

Well I should go. Thank you so much for everything; I love you so much! I hope you have an awesome week, and I'll be looking forward to your email! :) I LOVE YOU!!

Love,
Elder Connor Hopkin :)