Hello from Mesa Arizona,
Yeah, sorry about not telling you last week that my prep-days were switched to Tuesdays. I forgot. I'll keep a lookout for Elder V then.
Oh yeah - I sent Dad a Father's Day card. It had a picture of a little girl covering her eyes and it said "Oh he's dancing, I can't look" and the inside said "have a Father's Day that embarrasses all the kids". It was pretty funny, but I guess for some reason it wasn't liked by the machines.
Well things are going well down here. We just went to the Phoenix Zoo as a zone and so I am totally wiped out. So this email will most likely be short and not too spiritual. By the way, Rachel would have LOVED the gift shop there - there was so much Africa looking stuff for her room. I got some sweet pictures of zebra's there too, the lady was throwing hay for their breakfast right in front of us so we were no more than 10 feet away. Pretty fun stuff - but not missionary stuff so I'll get back to the area.
We set T's date to July 11th so that both Elder Morgan and I would for sure be there. We are way excited for him, he is an awesome kid. We met with D. and he said his wife is pregnant, so with a kid coming he is really pondering on what is important so hopefully he'll realize he just has to get baptized and COME TO CHURCH.
Church is just so awesome, we all need it every week. Whenever there are investigators who don't show I just feel so much how they're missing out on so much! We also got two new investigators yesterday after a dry-spell of none for a couple weeks. That was great, and the Spirit was present for the second one for sure. (The first lesson we only had a few minutes and weren't even able to teach all of the first lesson, but he wants us to come back to finish). The Lord is there to love and bless us along every step of the way. He of course cannot bless us when we are doing wrong, but as soon as we do good he blesses us so quickly and you can just feel how much he so wants us to do good and be happy!!
I've had some amazing learning experiences here on my mission, lots of things I have learned about myself and also I have felt the Lord's real influence - I can feel him now. I was so tired - but right now I feel like the Spirit is giving me energy to type spiritual things and focus. The Lord really is there and is constantly inviting us to come unto him, and also to bring others with us. I love that quote by the prophet Joseph Smith that goes like "a man filled with the love of God is not content to care for his family alone, but is anxious to bless all of the human race." (not a perfect quote, but pretty good from memory!). It is true, when we really realize the message we (everyone in the church) hold in our hands everytime we hold a triple combination, and when we sit in our meetings - we will have this amazing feeling that says: EVERYONE HAS TO KNOW THIS!!! I would be insane not to just share it with everyone. Of course as a missionary that is what I'm expected to do, talk with everyone only about the restored gospel. But as members back home, all we have to do is pray for the opportunity, the love, and the faith to share the gospel and the Lord will prepare the way. Oh yeah, and we have to be (this is a part of love) more concerned about (in this order) 1. the Lord and his will and, 2. Others. That is so important.
I love you all and hope you have a great week,
Elder Hoopes
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