#7

Hello Everyone,

This week has been one of the most trying weeks of my mission.  The nice thing is that we ended up just laughing and smiling at how horrible it turned out but you know we were blessed in comparison to other missionaries in the mission so we can't complain.  We also had a super cool miracle happen in the mission to that i will share later.  All in all things are going well and the countdown for coming home unfortunately begins next week.  This is the last week of the transfer so i COULD move but i don't think i will.  If i moved i'd be shocked! So there you go.

This week we got stood up by 14 times.  That is the most that i have ever had in one week in my mission.  I don't know why that happened but even confirming the day of or a night in advance couldn't prevent the falling through of rendez-vous.  I don't know what it was but it pushed me to really reflect a lot on the church and what it is in my life.  We got to go to a 7th day adventist church this week as well and that opened my eyes to their religion/version of Christianity.  It was fun we sang and hooted and hollered Amens the whole time and we prayed a ton and stuff like that.  It was fun but it was missing something.  The week before we also went to a catholic mess, it's just next to our house, to see what that is like and i felt the same lacking.  All in all they were lacking the Spirit.  Now i don't want to sound like i am hating on other religions but honestly, I know that every person can feel the Spirit of God when talking and thinking about Jesus but without the constant companionship we can never feel complete.  Even though it was great seeing a lot of people who believed in Christ, the thought kept coming to my mind, they have now idea what they are missing.  This is what compelled me to think about the church so much.  Why is it that everyone in France/ the world Hates us?  We are not weird, we don't do anything bad to people, frankly our religion is so chill compared to others!  The media i feel is one of the WORST influences on the church and unfortunately people are dumb enough to hear everything that comes out of the television.  People have no idea who we are.  When we were at church sunday i really tried to focus on my feelings and i was so calm and at peace.  I needed that.  The Spirit was so strong.  I don't know why it was stronger than usual but i knew that it was good you know.  There is a verb in French that goes, faire le clown, meaning to act like a clown or in a nonsensical way.  One investigator told us It's different in your church, you are very modest, polite, and you don't faire le cown.  I loved that and i know it is true.  I love our church because not only do we show a reverance towards sacred things, but we are also very complete.  I feel like i can find any answer through the gospel and the more and more i study the more and more i find that you really can.  That is how i know that it is true, along with the testimony that i have already aquired. Also i love that the church doesn't participate in any type of war against other Christian faiths. I feel like the people that hate us the most are our own Christian brothers, and i am so glad that i belong to a church who could care less about what people say about them because we know who it is we represent more than any other Christian faith. I love the people in other christian churches but there is no church on the earth except our that will get you closer to Christ.  That is why i love the Church, that is also why i ramble sorry..... hahaha

The cool miracle that happened this week in the mission was this.  Last week was the first week of the year in which our mission didn't have a baptism planned for the weekend.  Also we are really doing very well in comparison to where we were at this time last year.  So president asked that the whole mission to pray and to ask all those ready for baptism to be baptized on the Weekend.  We were all a little surprised but we all looked over our potentials and did the best we could to find people.  The zone leaders then asked each companionship to find a quite place and to kneel and pray that people would get baptized that weekend.  So we did that and this morning we found out that the mission had 5 baptisms this weekend!  How cool huh?!  Unfortunately we didn't have a baptism but the prayers were heard!  How cool. I was super happy when i saw that!  Our mission is doing really well as of late and i see it only getting better and better!

Anyway so that was the week a bit.  I love you all and am so grateful for you!  LOVE,

Elder Hoopes

WET

#8

Alors j'ai seulement 8 lettres qui me reste.  WOW! Only 8 of these left!  Crazy huh!?  Well all good things have to come to an end.  But i will for 8 more weeks just work it.  I am doing well.  This week i got extremely fatigued.  Like honestly i was mentally, physically, and emotionally drained and so i took it slower so that i could give my mind some rest.  I was getting pretty burned out from doing so much so right now we are going to do things a BIT differently so that all goes by a little smoother.  But other than that the week was good.  We had Elder Texiera and his Wife came down for the mission tour and that was nice. Unfortunately i didn't find it the most ravishing.  I went in with questions that never got answered mostly due to a lack of time and a something coming up to where he couldn't stay the entire time.  But whatever. I talked with Elder Nelson, one of my best buds bout the stuff and he helped me see some of the answers which was nice.  I was able to see him, Elder Awerkamp, Elder Gubbay, and a lot of my other buddies from around the mission.  It turned out to be good in all but it's true i wasn't super inspired....  I think that happpens from time to time.  But you know there were a lot of good things that were said in anycase. 

So this week wasn't to crazy i honestly don't have a ton to write home about.  We do have some people that are progressing toward baptism but it is taking a bit of time.  More news on them to follow in the future.  However there is a fun story that happened while we were walking the other day.  We passed this Arab couple holding a 2 year old baby who was crying, crying, crying.  Then as we got closer she looked at us stopped crying immediately and said to her parents Yasu or Jesus in Arab.  Then her parents smiled and said yes yes sweetie. How fun is that.  I don't know what it was.  We didn't even say anything to the kid but somehow she recognized Jesus in us even from being in a muslim home.  Interesting. Children have a special connection with things like that.  

Another fun thing that happened is Kevin's little brother Bryan got baptized in Brussels this weekend! And guess who baptized him??? Kevin!  Kevin was able to baptize his little bro.  That made me so happy talking to Elder Petersen about that.  Talking to him in general was fantastic!  He is such a great guy.  Apparently a couple of the brothers are having difficulties but it's ok.  Their choices you know but Andrew, Dablo, Michel, Kevin, and now Bryan are doing excellent.  Carlos apparently according to Dablo is "drinking a little and is hanging out with chicks." He is just caught up in little antics but he'll learn.  Hanging out with chicks lol of Dablo!  I still can't wait to see them soon!  I love those guys so much!  Ummmm so yeah brussels is just the best still.

I Want to make sure that connor knows i am thinking about him and WISH him a super happy birthday!  Joyeux Anniversaire!!!!  Also tell laura congratulations on having the twins how fun!!!!!  They are adorable i said to you earlier mom!  Well i love you all and i hope that all is going well back home!  See you soon!

Elder Hoopes

p.s  This week it rained harder than any other week before.

# 9‏

Well hello everyone!  First off it is great to hear that everything back home is going nice and smoothly.  It is also nice to see the House repainted!  It looks super nice and connor and carson make two really good old timers!  REally though it is always nice hearing from everyone back home.  So this week was an interesting one i must say.  We had some cool success and saw a lot of really cool things however, we met two really interesting people.  We'll talk about that later. But on a fun note i am the lowest weight that i have been since Senior year.  I am at 196lbs right now!  I've shredded weight here in Evry!  I have just eaten a ton of fruits and veggies Carbs if any early in the day and LOTS of protein throughout the day not eating much if at all after 5!  So it is cool.  My goal is Between 180 and 190 so we'll see how that goes.  And another fun thing yesterday there was a group of 25 spaniards who came to the Chapel.  They were members of the church in the South of Spain but in anycase i was able to speak with them and communicate totally in Spanish!  How tight?!  And now i am going to try to learn a little bit in Japonese!  Haha a member wants to teach me!  So i said YEAH!  Ummmmm other random things before i tell you the funny people we met.....I don't think so if i remember i'll write it later.  

So anyway this week we met a man who was part of a secret magic society cult of which i won't say.  BUT HE was one of the head men in it, he said he got to the point where with enough initiation and time and other disclosed practices he became "Master."  He watched the Joseph Smith prophet of the Resoration video on youtube and got really interested to learn more and so we are now currently teaching him.  We will see what happens but he was interesting.  He was Really nice and super funny, total normal guy too.  He studied to be a pastor, saw the flaws in the bible, turned to other churches, didn't find what he wanted so he turned to the world of sorcery and stuff.  He is a nice guy and got out of that stuff but i still feel he is holding onto a lot of the things he learned out of obligation.  So voilà.  

Next man we met.  He came to our rendez-vous and the minute he came in we felt something.....different but continued anyway.  He came to us and told us that he wanted to really better his spiritual life and he said that more than anything he wants to find out who he really is.  After a little bit of talking he came out and told us that he believes that he is the "Second son of man."  Yes you got that right.  He told us that he was basically the new Jesus on the earth.  He didn't claim to be "THE Son of God" but he did say that at his birth he was born with a glowing light around him and that he disconected himself from the ambilical chord of his mother in the womb before he was born.  Apparently also Japanese doctors delivered him......don't know why that is relivant.  I don't think i have ever been so direct, bold, and crushing as i was at that moment.  The poor guy.  We asked if he was scitsophrenic (if that is how you spell it), if he did hard drugs and all that stuff, because he told us he did hear things in his head all the time.  I wasn't rude but i definately wanted to know how he found this to be true and he just said that he had meditated on it and that was all.  I then proceded to site scripture after scripture and he said well yeah but i don't believe that.  I said to him that he could not at all make such a claim if he didn't even know the scriptures, what they are, what they represent, and who they come from.  We told him that he could be believe what he wanted but not to say another word about it until he had read the scriptures.  So voilà.  Our second interesting man.  He takes the trophy for most interesting person i have ever taught.

So yeah there you go.  That was our interesting people report for the week.  The week itself was long and trunky i must say but at the same time we worked hard and still found 5 new investigators and taught more than last week.  So we are making some really good progress!  But yeah that is about it! still am working on getting that package!  They never even came even after i coordinated with them!  so i will give them a piece of my mind!  It's to bad dad can't call HAHA!  Anyway i love you all so much!  This week Elder Texeira of the 70 will be coming and so i will have cool things for you next week.  I love you all so much!

Elder Hoopes

Lady Bug Riding!  It's the mascot of the department. HAHA

Me and Elder Collett

#10. 9 of these to go.‏

Ok voilà

So i know that i didn't write last week but of course that was because we talked on the phone instead and that is totally cool!  SO just because i don't have a ton of time i will have to be pretty quick, but i do have a pretty cool story to share about prayer that will blow your socks off.  So ok normal things this week lots of contacting, but we did find 3 new amis, set a date with a guy, (deets to follw) and we taught 3 times as many lessons this week than we did the week before.  So things are good.  Still a lot of oppostion but i can't say that during my mission it has ever been easy but we are working through it.  Things with Elder Collett are good too.  We are getting along well.  He is a young missionary and still has a lot that he needs to learn but he is coming along really well. Also I had a great birthday!  We had Himalayain Buffet and then Cheese and Baguettes (my favorite) for dinner!  Super nice i must say!  Haha it is cool now that i am 21.  

Me i have really been thinking about the future.  I am focused on the mission but naturally like at night and when i have free time i tend to plan and think about what is coming in the future and i feel fairly confident about what is coming but still it is weird thinking about that.  I have to be honest one thing that has been really bothering me not bothering but causing lots of reflection is who i want to marry.  I am not choosing right now.  I haven't even been on a date in two years.  I guess the question i have been reflecting on is Who is the man that my future wife prays to have?  Who do i need to become in order for her to be as crazy for me as i will be for her.  Things like that, so i am taking the time to really form my character before i get home so that when that moment does come, Heavenly Father will have helped mold me into who i need to be. One for my future wife but i guess the over lying factor is who is the priesthood holder i need to become.  Voilà c'est ça la question.

So to Share the story that happened.  So this is a story about prayer.  We have had nothing since we got here but from the start we knew that we could ffind someone to get baptized otherwise we wouldn't be here.  So we prayed really hard last wednesday in order to find someone that would be ready to be baptized.  So we prayed specifically for that and asked the Lord to provide someone for us to baptize.  So we got home late from something last wednesday from our normal plans and we had an left to contact so we went and contacted everyone that walked our way and we found 3 new numbers.  We also set a rendez-vous with one guy named juvet for the following day.  So it was on my birthday, we went to his house and taught him.  Within the first 10 minutes i would say we felt totally pushed and impressed to give him the baptism invitation with a baptismal date at that time.  Before teaching any principles too.  We said to him "What kind of relationship would you like to have with Heavenly Father?" And he said i want to be closer to him, i want to HAVE a relationship with him.  So we told ok well you do that by being baptized.  That is the way we come closer to Christ.  We take his name upon us and are baptized and so he accepted for the 16th of June.  I was so shocked and amazed really that it all happened so quickly!  It was wonderful.  So yeah that is the miracle, that Heavenly Father answers prayers and, you know even if Juvet for example doesn't want to do it in the end, heaven forbid, God will have still answered our prayers.  Cool Huh!?  I love it.  I am going to mis having these kinds of experiences.

Voilà! C'y était la semaine.  I love you all so much and i hope all is going well!  You're all so great!  Talk to you later!

Elder Hoopes

Bonjour!

Hello Everyone.  So as you know i will be leaving Brussels or as i like to call it, the Land of Promise.  It stinks not going to lie.  I get sick of the daily routine sometimes but still you can't acruge with the blessings that you recieve here honestly.  So yes i said goodbye to the ward and to the recent converts.  Carlos, Charles and Andrew (of the brothers), Michel and Kevin were there, so i will be seeing Lassissi and Abdullai tomorrow before i leave.  It has been a bit hard.  Still the hardest place to leave has been Limoges i don't know why but definately these people are they who i will miss the most.  I cant wait for you to meet them.  They are great!  So yeah i still have some goodbyes to say and you know what is also funny???  In this ward even though i worked my butt off i thought that i had gone unnoticed by the whole ward like they didn't even care that i was there but there were many families who came up afterwards and said some very sweet things to me that made me feel so loved.  A couple of people came and told me that they looked up to me and admired me and that they were so thankful for the work i had done in the ward and honestly that made me feel so good inside.  The thing i hate the most about a mission is not being accepted by the members that you serve which is quite often the case.  However here i feel like they do accept me and are proud of the work that we did.  So yeah it will be hard to leave but i am going to the only other part of the mission that is call Heaven on Earth and that is Évry.  

15 kilometers from Paris, huge ward, great members, and good work.  We are pretty much whitewashing in which means that they are pulling out two missionaries and putting in two as well. So hopefully we are not walking into nothingness but probably we are.  they don't just whitewash to whitewash.  All i know is that i am going to work these last 12 weeks to the bone!!!  My new companion is from Kaysville, Utah and his name is Elder Collett.  He is apparently a nice kid and his MTC comp loved him but i have never met him before. He is a young Missionary i think in his 4th Transfer.  So we'll see how that goes.  I am looking forward to the new experience.  

The Baptism went super well and i able to give him the Holy Ghost on Sunday.  The spirit was so strong in both meetings and especially when we gave him the holy ghost.  so that was super great!  Ummmmmm anything else i don't think so i will be talking to you all on Sunday anyway so we'll see you then.  I love you all

Elder Hoopes

Biran(kevins brother who will soon be baptized now), lemy (friend who converted them), and KEVIN

Carlos Yotat Murphy

Carlos, Charles, and Andrew

Charles's first recent convert!

Story of our Transfers HAHA 

I am moving!!!!!!!!

Uhhhhhh..........  I am moving to Paris!  My city is in the surrounding area of Paris in a city called Évry.  It is about 20 minutes by metro from Paris.  My new address will be 

Elder Jonathan Hoopes
17, cours Monseigneur Romero
91000, Évry
France

There you go i will be moving out on Wednesday!  It will be hard saying goodbye to all of the brothers let me tell you......

Elder Hoopes

Hello Hello

Sorry for writing this on Wednesday.  We were in Paris on Monday and yesterday was labor day and so today we are taking our P-day.  How is everything going.  I hope everything is good and that everyone is happy and well.  Things here are going well.  It is the last week of the transfer and chances are that i am leaving so heads up who knows where i could be heading off to.  I don't know.  That is for sure.  Hope to go to a city called Strasbourg but i don't know what will happen.  We'll just wait and see.  Ummm....  Oh yes so the brothers got your package!!  they loved it and they loved how personal it was for each one of them they want to write back to you and thank you.  They felt so much love and honestly they say that they feel like they are a part of the Brothers.  For each one of them their favorite part is not the ties or the shirts it is the picture of the brothers.  they feel so much love from the fact that you are thinking of them.  Charles told me when they got the package they started dancing and singing because they were so happy!  So funny.  Really that was such a sweet package and each one of them is so thankful for it.  They all are looking forward to meeting you guys.

So this week was cool.  We were in Paris for our mission council which went well and then we came back to brussels and got started working right away.  Last week we taught for the first time in my mission a 20 lesson week.  We got in fact almost all of the standards of excellence in the mission which was really cool and satisfying.  We did work hard last week.  Things with me and Elder Petersen are fantastic.  He is such a great Elder and we get along very VERY well.  He is super great.  Things here are still kickin and Carlos should be baptized this weekend.  Another one of the brothers!  Haha they are so great and each one of them is actually staying active.  Also Michel has now the Aaronic priesthood and is just so great. He is the man and such a miracle find.  Other than that not much has happened.  I feel the end getting closer and closer and i don't like it.  I also have been weighed down by these thoughts of breaking up with Afton and that is actually weighing me down a lot too but i am trying to keep on going.  I need to work HARDER!  I don't feel super effective right now and so i need to change.

Well We are in may and that means it is almost MOTHER's DAY!  I get to call home.  I was planning on doing that around 4 or 5 our time so 7 or 8 your time.  I hope that works.  I will try to call with skype but you never know if we'll find someone.  We'll plan more next week but yeah i really look forward to talking and opefully seeing everyone!  That will be such a blast!  I also loved the videos that were sent!  Carson is a baller!  Connor that is cool that you are working so hard on your eagle scout and that is so great that you are looking out for others!  Keep it up brother.  Well i love you all so much and i am so thankful for all of you!  We'll talk to you later

Elder Hoopes