Well this is the end....‏

Hey everyone!  So yes this is the end and all i can say is that this has been they best two years for my life.  I have loved my mission so much and would not change it for the world.  It is wonderful.  It sucks having to go home and everything but with that brings new experiences and learning oppurtunities.  I just wanted to say for the last week of the mission, we taught 20 lessons, found 3 new investigators, fixed a miracle baptismal date, and baptized and confirmed 2 people.  Honestly it was wonderful hitting the standards of excellence and being able to feel the feeling of accomplishment. I have only taught 20 lessons one other time in my mission so that was a big deal.  President even called with all of the Office and his wife to congratulate us.  It feels good and i am glad that i worked my hardest.  It is not to feel prideful but i feel good knowing that we wanted to hit a goal and the Lord made it happen.  It was so wonderful and it was quite the way to end.  I loved my mission so much and will miss it so much.  I think that is all i am going to write.  See you all next week!

Au Revoir pour la dernière fois en tant que,

Elder Hoopes

Francois

Steve and Gretel's Baptism

The Fountainbleu Castle

1 more to go.......‏

Bonjour!  So yeah lots of weird mixed feelings i am not gonna lie.  I really want to be home but at the same time that scares me so much!  I feel like i am leaving for a whole new mission that they never prepared me for. UGH!  I am really stressed and to be 100 percent honest i think the most stressful part for me is coming home and dating again.  I am so scared.  School no problem, job no problem, family NO poblem, but girls yes.  I just could ramble on and on about all of the fears but in any case it needs to happen.  I just don't want to finish the mission.  I want to stay in france so bad!  

I think it is cool that mom and dad will be up on sunday!  Holy Cow!  I will be in paris also monday, tuesday and wednesday but for fear of a potential before thursday running into each other i can't tell you were i will be.  I also want the thursday to be a big fun moment!  Also MOM, Elder Gubbay asks if you could bring him some crunchy and creamy peanut butter!  He has been begging me to ask you!  You will get to meet him and a couple other missionaries that i served with/around!  Elder Gubbay is the assistant and cannot wait to see you guys!  Also you'll probably see Elder Petersen and maybe a couple others!  You should come check out the visitor center in Paris!  It is 12 rue St Merri!  It isn't far from Chatelet les Halles.  You will get to know all of that!  Ha So yeah i am really excited to see you guys!  I think it will be a good transition to going back home.  I need to also get up to date on new members of the family and stuff, if you could bring photos that'd be so great!  Um other things??? new garments? yes, um yeah i think that is it.  Oh yeah and just so you know we are eating with families, Thrusday, Friday, and Sunday! It is going to be so much fun and like i said just love the country and get ready to try some fun cheeses!  I want to show you guys some of my favorite things that you can only get in France!  

Next thing. Homecoming, do you think that will be the sunday following when we get home?  If so what am i talking about, should i be preparing something? Just so you guys know the very FIRST thing i do when i come home, even before getting released, is get a FILIBERTOS Bean Burrito and a Shrimp Quesadilla. Everything else is up to you guys.  Also how will i get released?  All the logistics i would like to know :)  Elder Awerkamps family wants to come to my homecoming as well just FYI so when you figure out if you could tell them their number is 480-503-3246 :)  I think that would be great to meet them!  Also, i have said so many alsos!  If you guys could buy a nose hair trimmer that would be fantastic!  LOL i know it is weird but it is a much needed gift for a missionary i love in this mission!  His birthday is the 4th of August! Voilà thank you!  Nothing crazy of course just something simple!

So ok now to the work side of things.  Here things are going!  Unfortunately Arlette can't be baptized because she and her "husband" aren't legally married.  They are married african style but they have to be married French Style because they were married in France.  It stinks but is normal.  However, Steve and Grettel are still good and the service is going to be great.  I am really excited for both of them!  We have some other good people who are on the baptismal train but who are still trying to organize living and life circumstances.  So yeah but this last week was really good and we got a ton accomplished!  I am so excited to see what will happen in the future i just pray that President sends a hard worker down here!  On verra bien!  Donc voilà c'est tout pour le moment!

I am happy to hear that the homecoming for Grandma and Grandpa was really fun!  I can't wait to see them!  And also i was shocked to see that dust cloud that came in!  That was so cool and i can't wait to come home to cool weather again!  I think it is great that you guys are all reading as a family!  I am also reading! I just started 3rd Nephi and I am in Joel in the Bible. I hope to finish both the Book of Mormon and the Bible before i come home!  That should be cool!  I love the book of mormon because of it's doctrinal detail.  Frankly i am sick of hearing how horrible Israel is......but it is coming along.  Haha  So there you go i think that is all!  I love you and will see you......Next Week

Elder Hoopes

#2

Hello hello!

So i am sorry that i don't have a ton of time to write today unfortunately but just to let you know everything is going great and the investigators who will be baptized on the 28th are doing great!  This week i was able to do an exchange with Elder Petersen and it was just like old times and such a relief to be with him again!  He is so awesome and the whole experience was spiritual!  We talked about some of the simplest parts of the gospel in detail and honestly when you study chapters of the Book of Mormon like 2 Nephi 2, Alma 40-43, moroni 7, Mosiah 3 things like that you see how incredible the Gospel is and how lucky we are to have it in our lives!  Thats why we need to share it!  So yeah being with him was wonderful and we were also able to see Arlette the one who came to church last week and check out what happened!

So we go to her house and right off the bat we said well you know what we want to talk about!  We said tell us what happened in your prayer.  She told us that she got an answer and that she didn't feel ready but she knew what she needed to do.  That was it.  That was all that she said to us unfortunately.  So then me and Petersen went old school Bruxelles on her and started teaching about baptism.  It was so GREAT!  There was a strong spirit and everything.  So then this is the cool part! I started testifying to her.  We said Arlette what do you want to leave behind when you leave this earth? What is your purpose?  She said that she wanted to leave this life and be remembered as a witness of God.  Elder Petersen said well you know how we do that?  Lets look her in the scriptures at why Christ was baptized.  We read how it says that he was baptized to testify to the Father that he would do his will.  We said Arlette that is your next step and i testified again and said "Arlette everything in your life has brought you to this moment.  Everything! Your child baptism, your study of scriptures, your meeting with the missionaries, but if you are now baptized by the proper authority which we claim to have you will reach a whole new spiritual plane." She said je vous coupe toute suite, which is i'm gonna stop you right there.  That was literally word for word my answer  to my prayer.  I know what i need to do and i know the next step is baptism.  I have to work things out personnally but i know that i need to do it.  So she accepted to be baptized the 28th of July as well!  How cool!  Honestly this is the result of a lot of fasting and praying and i am so happy for her and the decision she has made!  Keep her in her prayers honestly!  

That was our experience for this week!  There were some other great things that happened but that was the coolest!  This is of course the end of my mission and i am going to work so so so hard all the way til the end!  I love you all!

Peace, Elder Hoopes

#3, wow..... Miracles, Miracles, MIRACLES!‏

Bonjour Tout le monde!  Well first off thank you for your wonderful letters!  I really appreciate them!  Mom and Dad thank you for your emails!  I hope mom that my email helps clear things up for you and all your plans. Voilà  I am glad the brothers are staying busy and mom i love to hear that you are taking carson to the batting cages.  That for me just lets me relize all those moments where you guys helped me to be better and grow and it is fun to see it from another view.  Outside looking in you know.  Now i realize all that you guys did do for me, and like always i feel bad for being horrible to you guys.  But i do love hearing that Carbob, Connor and Beautiful Snoub are doing well.  By the way I really would love to get home from my mission and that same week have hunter open his call.  Time things right so that happens!  I want to be there for that!!!!!!!  Ok so i think that is it right now! I have some really cool things to share with you guys this week.

We have had an incredible week!  Blessings like none other.....  Prayers and Fasts being answered the works.  First things first.  Grettel our Cuban investigator is doing great!  I have gotten a lot better at speaking spanish thanks to her.  Dad in your letter you said that every french word you try to say sounds Spanish, for me it is the opposite haha but she understands and that is the KEY!  She is doing wonderful and WILL be baptized on the 28th.  our date for the 14th isn't going to be able to do it because of his muslim mother..... She will put him out of the house and could do worse if we puch anymore so we are going to go easy with him.  Francois our super solid invesitgator is still waiting to move out.  His Girlfriend needs to get a job so that Social Care can pay for the apartment allowing him to move out.  He i think may be baptized the 28th as well we will see.  I pray for it every night.  Arlette, she is the wife of a part member family that we have been working with super closely and patiently and SHE came to church sunday!  Why is this huge well let me tell you.  

She told us at the beginning of the transfer that she didn't want to do anything because she "couldn't believe Joseph Smith was a prophet."  So we told her she had to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon first.  She told us no i don't like reading it, i don't ever feel inspired.  So i said oh yeah?...  I will show you inspired and i listed a ton of scriptures over time we have been reading the Book of Mormon with her and she has been making a ton of progress!  She is getting more and more inspired from reading!  I even told her to admit it and she did haha.  So our last meeting with her. She read Mosiah 2-5 the day before and when we came over she told us that she loved the reading.  She said this litterally spoke to me and told me how i need to be a better Christian.  She said the morals that are shared are the same ones that i have and i was just so touched by the scriptures.  So we capitalized on this and said Arlette why do you think this is happening?.... She said with a big smile, almost acting as if she knew the answer i wanted to hear "well it must be the word of God..."  We testified and said Arlette will you follow these feeling and prepare yourself for Baptism the 28th of July?!  She said she would pray about it.  Well then sunday she is at Church!  This is huge because she hasn't come yet since i have been here because well she didn't believe in what was being taught, BUT she came this sunday and so i said Arlette it is nice to see you here!  Did you pray like we asked you too and she said "yes" so i then asked did you as about being baptized? She said "yes" so then i said Well?..... And she said with a big smile we will talk about it more tuesday!  So i am so stoked!  She was gleaming at church and so i really hope that all is good with her and that she will be baptized the 28th! This is the beginning to many prayers and fasts being answered!

So that is huge miracle for me! Next one is literally is a Bruxelles miracle and yes it has to do with a Nigerian Brother! No relation to other "Brothers" but he will be a part of them soon.  His name is Steve and Steve came into the church for the first time wanting to know more about the Chruch and Joseph Smith and all these things.  Luckily the members found him and directed him to where he needed to go and gave him a super nice welcome!  We got to know him a little bit and we decided to talk more after Church.  so we had a rendez-vous with him afterwards and it was so awesome!  He told us how he had a feeling a little earlier on that he needed to find a Church, because he believed in God but he never went to Church.  So he started searching.  He went to Jehovah Witnesses, Protestants, Evangelicals but he didn't find anything there that he liked.  He told us he hated it because it was all about money!  So he came to our church because he remembered speaking with missionaries a long time ago.  So he came and he told us that He LOVED CHURCH!  He said in the middle of the Sacrament Meeting he had this feeling that came over him and told him that this was where he needed to stay! He then told us that he felt an emptiness filled within him.  He told us that he felt peaceful, happy and full of life.  We told him it was the spirit and he said yeah i know! Ha he will be baptized on the 28th of July as well.  He is like a mixture of Dablo (Charles) and Michel!  He is so solid and i can't wait to teach him more!  

So there you have it!  I know that is an enormous letter and my wrists are hurting but it is just so cool honestly how much the Lord is helping us here.  I really hope to see 4 baptisms on the 28th.  That would be so rad seriously!  On verra bien!  Anyway that is it for this week nothing else really just those two big miracles!  I love you guys so much an i'll talk to you soon!

Love, Elder Hoopes

#4

Bonjour Tout le monde!

So it was so great seeing everything from the court of honor!  Congrats brothers for being eagle scouts!  You're done with scouts!!!!!!  WOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The decorations were fantastic and everything looked so wonderful!  I loved seeing the brothers honestly!  I don't have any real up-to-date pictures of them!  It is crazy that the next step for connor is driving and hunter is mission!  Dude i am predicting Hunter is going to Iceland!  Yes i am calling it!  In any case everything looks like it is goinng great and i am super excited to be a part of home life in a couple weeks!  As far as other things go for back home i can't think of anything else i need to comment on haha......  

SO This week was a great week honestly nothing to crazy happened.  We taught a lot of lessons and are starting to teach more in the prescense of members which is helping them build their confidence in us and stuff so yeah.  Grettel is doing super well.  She is our cuban investigator.  My spanish has been getting better and she is really progressing.  She even said how have you learned spanish so quickly and i honestly don't know how except that every time i go into a rendez-vous with her i pray alot!!!!!! It is definately the power of God and it is cool to see it in action.  It's humbling more than anything else.  As far as everyone else goes, things are going well but each one of the strongest of our amis seem to have one large obstacle stopping them from being baptized.  We are working on it.  Ummm voilà sorry there isn't more that would be interesting to all of you but it was just a normal week of work. :)

I sent mom a letter telling her about the sight-seeing and visiting after in a couple weeks. i hope she gets that soon.  I have planned most of it out i am just waiting till it gets closer to plan more precisely.  Donc voilà i hope to hear from you guys soon and we will talk later.

Elder Hoopes

Road of our Efforts

The Christ Flower

#5

Wow..... any way so i thought i would start of by telling mom how long her letter was holy cow!  I won't be able to answer all of those questions now so i will send you a hand letter tonight!  :)  But as touching some of the things!  I think it is so great to here about hunter's papers, Congratulations to Connor for becoming a priest, and the whole thing at Farnsworth is crazy!  That is just crazy!  Thank you for signing we up for classes already and thank you for the advice for BYU.  I still want to come home, do MCC, then go elsewhere after the semester.  I feel i need to come back to arizona first.  So yeah also i think it is fun that you saw Ean!  I miss that kid a lot!  ummmm what else....I do don't know oh YES!!!! RAQUEL HAD HERE BABY!  She had him all the way back on May 29th but they finally had some time to themselves and wrote me :)  Her name is issaya and she is super cute!  I sent a picture!  they are doing so good and i am so happy to hear from them!

So voilà i am short on time so i will relate two awesome experiences with you guys!

So this last week we set two baptismal dates! One with a young man named Ibrihim, who comes from the Ivory Coast and is 19!  The kid is awesome and wants to become a Christian.  He will be baptized on the 14th of July!  It was great because we have worked through a lot of people trying to find someone who would be ready for baptism and voilà!  So now the next one is crazy cool!  So i told you that i was learning spanish and i even told dad that we would be teaching an all spanish lesson.  So yeah i have been learning spanish and it's been kinda random but i have been trying and finally here in Evry comes the niece of a member who is from Cuba and will be spending the summer and maybe longer here in France.  I tried talking to her in my broken spanish and i didn't make a ton of sense but i tried my best and we became friends haha.  So Then last sunday we felt the spiritual impression to go ask her if she wanted to take the missionary lessons with us.  She agreed and said yes :)  Well so that meant i had to learn how to speak better spanish.  Luckily her aunt was there to translate if i needed help with things.  So we get there and we start talking and we tell her why we are there and everything and about 20 minutes into we start to get on the subject of Baptism.  She lives in Cuba and will probably never have the chance to ever meet the church again and she says, "i want to be baptized...." Tears filled her eyes and started in mine but i didn't cry cuz i'm so tough!.....;) But she said i need to do that so my problems will be solved and i said well gretyl if they aren't solved will you regret your decision to be baptized and she told me, "No.  What better way to plea your case before the Lord, than to say that you have already committed to follow him by baptism." I was convinced!  HA she accepted to be baptized the 28th of July my 2 year mark as a missionary!  So yeah there is the story!  She is so great and it is wonderful to see how the Lord gave me the gift of tongues to be able to speak at least a level in which the spirit could bear testimony!  It was awesome!

Donc Voilà c'est tout pour moi maintenant!  I think that is it because i am short of time but thank you again for everything that you do and i will write you soon mom!  I love you!

Elder Hoopes

#6

So hello everyone,

I will be staying and finishing my mission in Evry just to let everyone know :)  Which i think is great.  It is a great city and things are moving and going well so it'll be nice.  I don't talk about the ward hardly ever but it is the best functioning french ward that i have ever seen.  They are great and know how to do everything well!  So yeah i don't talk about them much because well i don't need too :)  Missionary work is moving.  It is best discribed as fragile.  We have to be 100 percent obedient and really do things perfectly so that we can see results here.  The Area is not a hard area at i would say it is just a mixture of a lot of different things, stress about coming home, trying to build a solid missionary base, things like that and it doesn't help that there is not a lot of support from my comp.  I have to say he is fun and does try hard it is more so that he is learning how to do everything because he never did it before.  It is like retraining but he is great just having to do a lot for him too.  I also just got called as district leader by the way.  That will great because that will really keep me busy for the next 6 weeks :)  So yeah i think that helps illustrate the situation. I really do enjoy Evry it is just different and interestingly timed in my mission experience but i am growing a lot from it.  Nothing will ever compare to how hard Cherbourg was.  That was difficult.  Mais voilà quoi.

Cool things that are going on as far as the work goes.  We have 3 real progressing amis and several others but these 3 are so close to baptism they just have big concerns that are stopping them.  One is living with his girlfriend, another lives far and has 5kids under 9 and has a tough time coming to church, the other has been baptized twice before that and is hestitant to take that next step.  So pray for them and think about them often and i know that good things will happen.  God put us here to baptize and that is what we will fight for!  Honestly it is inspiring to see what is happening in our mission as a total.  This last week we found 150 new investigators and this time last year we were only finding 55 a week!  How crazy?!  I am stoked for it and it makes me want to work even harder so that i can be a part of it!  It is so cool honestly to be a part of this mission and to have leader like we do.  When i first got in the mission it was honestly a joke.  People were so disobedient and just didn't care but now President is calling the best of the best to Train, be Zone Leaders, and District leaders and is really helping us see the possiblities that can be achieved!  I think it is so cool and i am grateful to be a part of it!

Other than that things are going well, nothing to crazy.  I can't believe that is so close to the end.  I can't wait to see you guys again.  I miss you a lot and i really am really anticipating see you.  Mom i can't wait to take you to some of the boutiques in Paris and trust me you might think oh man we will have to drive a ton..... Nothing is more beautiful than the french countryside!  Oh!  I am so excited to schare all of it with you all!  It will be great!  So yeah there is that and i think that is all. Nothing to crazy.  I love you all.  talk to you soon!

Elder Hoopes

Classic French Beauty!

The Art Quartier literally one of my favorite spot in France

The top of Mont Martre!