......Alaska huh..............cool......... :(

I just realized that once again i forgot my camera!!!!

OK SO WHAT IN THE FREAKING WORLD IS GOING ON WITH YOU GUYS GOING TO ALASKA!!!!!!!!!!!  AHHHHHH!!!!! That is my dream!!!!!  I have wanted to go to Alaska ever since i was in second grade and now they get to live the dream!  Yes once again i know i am in france but still you are so lucky! Send me pictures and lots of them! I am so jealous but its all good i guess and Hunter is intimidatingly huge but still you guys are so lucky!  It sounds like things back home are still kicking like normal!  I miss you guys alot and i miss just hanging out around the brothers like i used to.  Mom and dad i miss you a ton too and i miss everything you did for me back home.  I guess the only good part about hunter being enormous is that i will get all of his clothes when i get home in JUST OVER A YEAR!!!!  Hunter is massive and it is driving me nuts! Any way thank you for everything and mom getting me the new shoes and all that those will work out great!  Also this transfer ends july 18th just so you all know.  I might being staying a 4th because of some big things that are now happening that i will explain in a moment!  :) So Connor is Playing football huh?  That will be so much fun!  Mom you don't have to worry about him getting hurt because the only the people who play on the line get hurt.  The running backs and the wide receivers are the studs and have nothing to worry about! Connor is so awesome.  Omg that kid seizes to amaze me!  Dad asked me about the gift of tongues and i haven't had any real gift of tongues moments except for the fact that i learned french in about 12 weeks.  I am really speaking near perfect french the only thing lacking is the vocab but that comes slowly.  I can literally understand anyone though so no worries there.  I can't believe that i hit my 11 Month mark tomorrow!  That is incredible and after that the countdown begins until i get to see you all again!!!!

So Updates about Limoges.  I want you to all know that your prayer efforts have been answered and that our efforts are finally paying off for the better.  Jeff and Pascal both have Baptismal dates now! Pascal is fixed for the 15th of JULY!!!!!!!!!!  I will be baptizing him i think!  Hopefully he will have a member do it because that would be better in the long run but when we fixed the date with him he said it is really important to me that you are there for the baptism Jonathan.  So i just am so touched by that and his story is an incredible miracle!  The Book of Mormon has TRANSFORMED a Homosexual, Depressed, Agnastostic, into a Straight as an arrow, Up beat, hopeful, believer in Christ!  I love Pascal so much and his transformation has come through and by the Book of Mormon.  Oh it makes me so happy.  JEFF!!!  We fixed a date with him for the 13th of August.  I think that all will be well with him he just needs to find that firm testimony in the Book of Mormon that will change his life like pascals!!  So yes he is now in line to do that.  Other miracles are happening and i am so happy to be a part of them here in Limoges.  Limoges is still my least favorite of all the Villes i have served in But the work is continual and it makes up for my dislike of how limoges looks.  Yeah that is the only reason i am not of fan of Limoges is the feel of the Ville but in general it is ok and i am loving the work.  So yes that is Limoges for the moment.  It has been getting really hot out here.  The only thing that toughens my up is saying well i could be in arizona right now!  Hahahaha seriously that heat is so gnarly!  Any way well that is all that i have to write about today.  I look forward to hearing from you all soon.  I love you all so much!

Love Elder Hoopes

So ok what is up with Connor just picking up and flying out to philly! that
is so ridiculous!!! but understandable.... Happy birthday Connor! Oh
Goodness.... You're 15 now!!! That is so fun. I was telling everyone out
here that it was your birthday in Limoges! HAHAHAHAI think i am gonna to
start hearing about a lot of just pick up and go trips. You guys are so
lucky. I Am lucky to be in france but it is almost just like living a
normal life here and just going out to work everyday. It is weird i think
that this week i really hit an interesting point out here. I have forgotten
and don't know how to distinguish reality anymore. I know it sounds crazy
but honestly. I do so many bizzare things, talk to some incredibly strange
people, i am living on my own, i am changing the lives of others, studying
and trying my best to become better with God, just our day to day activities
are so unique it doesn't feel real. But on the other side of things i had
my life and everything before it and i am always thinking about that. Waking
up is the worst because i wake up from dreams of home and dreams of me
interacting with people from both worlds of my universe. It is just so
strange i really can't express it clearly. Next month on the 28th i hit my
year mark on my mission. OMG!!!! I have been living in France this whole
time wow.... I really miss everyone. I miss back home a lot. It doesn't
help not getting many letters from friends anymore but that comes as you are
on the mission i suppose. I love hearing from the family. Mom and dad your
emails are so good for me. Thank thank thank you. But i think you know
what i am trying to say. I feel so far away!!!!

Anyway on to brighter things. Today has been fun. at 10:30 we went to the
Church and we played Ping Pong for 4 hours..... I am very sore i must say.
I have gotten so good. I never really played until this transfer and i have
only been practicing with him and he is incredible but already we are
playing so competitively!!!! It rocks! Also just as news i am staying
another one here in Limoges with Elder Awerkamp. It will be great. It is
so much fun with him. So yeah he will be my first companion for more than
one transfer. So yeah and my other favorite elder in our district will stay
Elder Barker. Also on saturday as you can see from the photos we got
destroyed by a pigeon!!!! Omg! It literally exploded on us. So yeah there
is the debris and shrapnel from the blast. Also i included a picture of Pas
De Guerre. Pas de guerre in french means against war or not for war.
Everytime he talks to us at the parting moment he says to us,...."pas de
guerre" I don't know if he even has a name. I asked if we could take a
picture with him and he said "no, no, no it's not necessary" so i snuck this
picture while we were in the park and we saw him in the distance. Ha but
yeah hahaha. Ummmm

Ok so our amis are doing well. We are really wanting a baptism here so we
are really going to get more serious about the things we teach and also our
boldness. It is necessary and also i need to tighten up the loose screzzs
and be more obedient. Elder Awerkamp isn't the most obedient like he isn't
bad just very chill and sometimes i get to chill or just disregard the
rules. I really am trying to be good just sometimes i am not on my game
1000 percant you know. Anyway that is Limoges right now. Mom thank you for
the rust remover it worked wonders!!!!! I love you all so much and i hope
to hear from you soon! à bientot tchiao!

Elder Hoopes

This is Pas de Guerre, our favorite hobo

Well Hi!

So i am so happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My comp is so legit and absolutely
hilarious! He knows so many people i know and he loves like all the same
things as me just not as annoying as some as my past comps! He is so cool!
He is so happy to be in limoges and he wants to get working and so that is
fun! This transfer is going to fly by! He is so fun! It was nice to go
into Paris and to pick him up! Paris is so nice! Also i Got Smart PERSON
GLASSES! 9 Bucks at CHATELET!!!!! LOL so the pick up went well with him
but the funny thing is that he actually grabbed someone elses luggage so we
then had to go to Orleans to drop off that other Elder's bag and then we
will be going to Tours tommorrow after District meeting in Potiers to get
his bag! So yeah it was a funny mix up! It has made for a lot of
travelling! But it is fun also! Then this Weekend end we are going to
Angers for our Zone Conference! So yeah that is that!

Ha we are doing good work already and he speaks a good amount for someone in
there fourth transfer. Last week since the time he got in we taught 9
lessons. That was more lessons than all the lessons he had taught in his
last area in two transfers! We are being so blessed and having him is
really opening my eyes to how incredibly blessed we are. WE are teaching so
many lessons and are finding people left and right and they are all so
cool. The people here are really open and the members liked me more than i
thought they did. It can be tough just walking into a ward who just came
from having bad elders. So things are going good. We are having a good
time. It is crazy to think that we are already in May. Can you believe
it!? I am still trying to wrap my head around it! I hit my 9 month mark
last week and it was a pretty cool moment i must say. I hit my year mark
not to far according to missionary time which i am convinced moves at an
incredible rate! Ha so good.

We just got done teaching two lessons before coming to do emails. We are so
tired. It is our P-day! We want some rest but its ok! I would rather have
this area on fire than to have it struggling to breath like when i first
came here. We are so grateful for these blessings. I can't even explain
it. I dont want to sound prideful because lets face it we still dont have
any baptismal dates or anything like that but we are definately trying to
help our amis get to that point. But just the fact of finding people and
having a chance to teach these people is so incredible to me i must admit.
WE are the busiest i have been so far on my mission and even though i am
young and still trying to figure everything that we need to do i am loving
it! WE are having to organize people by priority! Before we just searched
and searched and would teach anyone and i mean anyone! I have walked into
homes so ignorantly having no idea what to expect so many times. I'd say
here in limoges only 40 percent of the time they are crazy or Pyshcotic. Oh
how the Lord watches over us! LOL!

Not much has changed with us and our amis except that Dieu-Merci-Michel
loves me so much! Ha he is so funny! Late to all our rendez-vous but
funny! I asked him if he had read the introduction and testimonies in the
book of mormon and he just goes "Jonathan.......i'm sorry......but i can't
lie to you.....you are my brother and a servant of God....and i'm sorry. I
didn't read" LOL!!!! I thought it was hilarious! He was about to cry! Ha
oh Dieu-Merci! He is so humble and tries so hard to follow the
commandments! He is so good. Ha we were just like dude its cool like
seriously you are just about the same as everyone we teach! Oh this guy! So
yeah! We also Found two new people Jeff and Pascal. They are both french
which is a change! ha but yeah things are going good! We also just got a
referral from salt lake! How cool! So yeah good things are happening!

So yeah that is my week! I will try calling around 11:15 your time. I
might figure something else out possibly Skpe but i don't know. We will
figure it out. It dad wants to call through skpe and everything if he is
out of town our number without the Country code is 06.71.00.26.07. I hope
that works you can call me for free but if i call you i have to pay money
for a phone card. So how about this! Call ME AT 11:15 YOUR TIME. THAT WILL
BE AROUND 8:15p.m here! I will try to find a place to skpe but if we can't
we will just have to settle for a phone call. We'll see. I am going to
email a little later in the week to find out if i can skpe! Sorry Mom i
know you have to sleep....

So ok! Thank you dad for sending all the videos of everyone! I loved
them! and hunter your pics are so sick....not tacos....haha JK! Also mom
for dinners members feed us occasionally. Every tuesday we eat with a
british family in the ward, who we teach french to. So yeah and also about
the Package i sent i went to go see where it was and the stupid french gave
me the wrong post info so it returned back to Cherbourg. Elder Paul sent it
to you guys for me last Wednesday! I hope you get it soon! Well i love
you all so much and i'll talk to you this weekend! Love YOu!

Elder Hoopes

Hey!!!!

This week once again has been great.  Things are still clicking.  As expected, we kinda hit a slump where we just weren't superr focused but i think i am getting used to satan trying to pull down the work we do here.  He is not happy at all and it is quite noticable.  So yes this week we had to kinda get over some rough spots make some changes and just keep on going.  Things with Elder Awerkamp and I are going immaculate!  he is so cool and i love working with him.  He is so humble and suseptable to me being the first companion and i can just do this ville the way i want to work it.  He is such and incredible blessing to Limoges also.  So yeah things are going really well. One thing that i love about Elder Awerkamp is that he loves everything i cook.  I have been working alot on my cooking and i have been getting really good.  Wait until you taste my crepes, Ils sont trop bon! Hahaha anyway yeah he is great.  So yeah par rapport l'oeuvre missionnaire,

So things like i said are good.  Dieu Merci Michel is still "JarJarBinksing it up."  It is ridiculous how someone who has no home, job, or girlfriend could be so incredibly occupied.  He is interesting.  like i said i would never take him into battle with me.  Annette is good.  Last week she was verbally attacked by her parents because she was investigating the church and it blows my mind the absolute close mindedness of some french people but yeah her father just tore into her telling her that we were a cult and that we did all these horrible things.  She rebuttalled by defending the Church defending what she had learded and telling them that we were helping her find more peace than the Church of her parents.  She is so good and i really have great hopes for her.  Also we had a rendez-vous with a man named Jeff today and already things are going great with him.  Also you know Frederic well We are cleaning his apartment today!  It may be the most disgusting habitat i have ever ventured but oh well.  We will do work.  We took down all the prono, scrubbed the windows, and i cleaned the bathroom......OH MY....... So yes our goal is to invite a better spirit.  Um We have a number of other amis but not a ton of things have happened with them so we will just wait til next week for updates.

My Birthday!!!! I want to thank you guys so so so much for the videos you sent me they sere so much fun.  Hunter is such a goof and if he is really as big as he was pretending to be i am extremely impressed!  thank you so much they were so special to me.  For my birthday i was able to each breakfast with Lucas and Rachel and also Lunch with them.  Annette was doing a little something for me but unfortunately the day we went over was when her parents were there.  But still the thought that counts.  The Cherbourg Football team wished me a happy birthday as well.  It was great i must say.  What a day. 20 YEARS OLD IS SO CRAZY!!!!  My first events being 20 consist of......

1. Starting an intensive work out routine.

2. We do Tai-Kwan-Do with Frederic. (he is the instructor)

3. As i passed a gay man on the street he stroked my stomach.  I'm not joking....CREEPY GYPSY.

4. Had the biggest thunderstorm i have seen in France.

5. Passed the Creepy New Caledonia Chick 6 Times.  Luckily no contact

6. Ate Three rolls of Cheese in 28 hours..... Ouch

I think those are all the big things but yeah it was super fun.  Anyway i need to go so i will talk to you all next week.  Love YOU ALL!!!!!!

Elder Hoopes

Hello!!!! Well i have to say everything sounds extremely busy back at the
house! That is really fun! Carsons sounds like he is still just tearing
everything he touches into shreds! That kid is incredible! Hunter sounds to
be super genious as usual and Connor seems to be "The Most Interesting Man
in The World." Everything sounds so fun and i am so happy for all you back
home. Here in Limoges the work in exploding! Last week we taught 16
lessons and that was without seeing everyone we wanted to! What a
blessing! Also we met and american named Annete who is what we call in this
industry a "Golden Amie!" She is so incredible and i will tell you later
about her. I love the work right now down here in Limoges. Elder Awerkamp
is so amazingly cool! I love him to death and with him here great things
are happening! That is what happens when you put 2 Arizonans together! We
tear it up! Heavenly father is really helping us! It seems like in every
instance we are doing something missionary related! Our Ami pool right now
is so full and about to be overflowing! I just love it! I am trying to not
be prideful at all but i am really happy with what is going on here in
Limoges. Lucas is the man too! He actually just taught two lessons with us
before we came to do emails. He has found 5 new people for us to teach!
Honestly the guy is incredible. He said something that really explains alot
and made me feel like i was a good missionary. He said "since you have
gotten here i have had a bigger drive to be a member missionary because i
can trust you with people that i talk to and find. The past two
missionaries, i couldn't do that with them." That made me feel so good!
Not putting down the other missionaries but they didn't do much and when
they taught it was ever really a lesson. So yeah that really touched me and
felt really good. By the way Rachel is doing good. She thinks that she
broke her toe but Lucas gave her a blessing and after there were no signs of
anything except a little bruising. So yeah she is doing really well. I
wanted to give you guys a better insight on our amis and so i made a list of
them and their discriptions.
- Frederic= French vietnamise. Super Funny. Scytsophrenic (if that is
how you spell it). ((Not severe))
- Constantin= Togolise. Super tight. really committed to our
engagements and plays basketball with us
- Konaté= Loves the booK of Mormon. from Mali, atheist converted
believing because he saw a bird save another bird and her chicks lives.
- Valère= Loves Everyone so much! From Congo
- Dieu-Merci-Michel= Jar jar binks. From congo. Love him to death and
provides for comic relief but i would never go to war with him at my
side.......
- Patrick and Andrè=Sweetest couple ever. Patrick from Cameroon and Andrè
Madagascar. Patrick plays professional Rugby and is the largest human being
i have ever had the pleasure of meeting. he is enormous! He told me that i
should play Rugby because HE thought I was BUFF!!!! WOO HOO!!!!
- Marine= 14 and well 14 years old. Tough but whatever
- Pascal= Depressive possibly gay but really nice and cool not going to
lie!
- Jeff= incredibly nice and works for the Red Cross.
- Jean-Charles= Really nice frenchman who has the adorable baby daughter!
JW before now
- ANNETTE!!!!!= Elite and Prepared! (see bottom)
- Joelle= Friend of Annette who was raised as a Maryist. Really looking
for the truth
- Allen= From congo taught him a couple times and he is super invited
really nice
- Jessica and Sylvère= Biggest Nerds on the planet. Super open and warm
to the missionaries. Just had a baby!
So yes that is all of them. I hope you have a little feel of the people we
are teaching here. Now about Annette. Annette was raised Baptist but this
really strict General Association of reformed Baptist church. It was tough
for her. From what she has told us it was more strict than any other
religion next to Omish. She was raised in Africa, then moved to France,
married in the states and lived in Chicago for 19 years and then Mexico for
two and now France again. she actually just got back and in between all of
these stops she would live all around the world being a missionary. She is
Technically american but is really a third culture Kid. Craziness. So Yeah
life was super strict and imposing for her so she kinda rebelled from a lot
of the standards and fell into a state of "Anti-Religion. Pro-Christ" So
she is searching. Oh i didn't mention she taught at the Univeristy of
Chicago for 15 years and was a professor of Religions and their
Connections. So cool! so we found her this last sunday the 7th i believe
and How she was found was cool. the Elders of Poitiers were here for Stake
conference and so we did a mini exchange. Elders Barker and Awerkamp left
early to help our amis get to church and i left later with Elder Darguence
to help get some other amis to church. Well By happenstance One of the Amis
didn't show up for the other two elders so they waited at a stop and then
that bus left and a lady walked up and asked if the bus had already passed.
They Said yes (mind you all in french) and then continued talking in
english. she then goes are you American and then they said are you american
and then that is when things started happening!!!! She talked about her
life and talked to them a little longer before we walked up because we had
missed our bus!!! Just all things worked out to meet with her! So then we
had rendez-vous with her last week. We explained to here all About our
church and our beliefs and such. We explained about the book of Mormon and
its importance and she wants to read it so badly! She goes yeah that doesn't
surprise me at all that people were crossing the ocean befor Colombus. She
then proceeded to explain all the evidence of the Book of Mormons Validity
without having read it. She goes on to say things like its interesting that
the DNA in descendants of South America are from a middle eastern discent!
Also she told us about how their civilizations are the only ones to have had
no rally beginning. Always they start with nothing and work up but in this
case they already had technology and such. Then we explained the line of
Decent of Lehi how he was from the tribe of Manessa. She goes "no way.....
That is where Phonecia used to be and the Phonecians were expert ship
builders." SOOOOO COOOOL!!!! so that is Annette! Pray for her because i
think she is our next baptism. I love this work down here right now.
Well that is all for now. I am so glad to hear that you finally got the
package. Sorry everything smelt a little because well Cherbourg is just
like Washington and i was literally wet all the time. HAHAHA also i cant
remember everything i put in there. Also the Sea Shells were all found on
the beach. Authentic! sorry no pics this week. We really didnt have
chances to take them! I love you all so much and i miss you so much! Talk
to you when i am
20!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lucas and
Rachel are having us for dinner and they are inviting potential
investigators! best present ever LOL!!!!! I love you all!
Elder Hoopes

End of the Transfer Start of the New one Email!

Well hey!  So right now it is easter monday and everything is closed here the only place that is open is this creepy dungeons and dragons gamer cybercafe where we can do our emails!  I am surrounded by fat, smelly, 40 year old men playing world of war craft.  Sad life.  Anyway this here are going great.  I dont know why you guys haven't gotten my package yet.  Aftie just got some Chocolates that i sent so maybe it is just delayed.  the French Post isn't what we'd call state of the Art but it works.  honestly i think what the problem is is that it has gotten held up at customs in the states.  I sent it and on the customs declaration i didn't write with a ball point pen in some parts. it was just on the important parts you know like a return address and what was inside where i wrote in ink instead of the Ball point pen. so yeah i hope it gets there.  The post in Cherbourg stamped it so i know they cleared it but who knows.  I hope you get it soon.  I am so happy to hear how busy Dad is and i am so happy to hear about all the fun emotions at the Easter Pageant.  

Those missionaries there don't know how blessed they are to have an easter pageant!  I don't think they realize the blessing it is to be state size.  Europe is a tough place for so many different reasons.  Absolutely worth it but so difficult at the same time.  When people fall out of the church here it is not an easy fall.  They just try to take everyone down with them! Honestly the Church here in Europe is so fragile and it is in large part because people here are so sceptecal (i dont know how you spell that) of religion thanks to a church "who cannot be named."  However the Lord wants this place to be strong and so we will keep working as hard as we can.  This transfer we finished with a big 53 lessons!  I am so happy with that!  We taught only 3 in week one and know this week and last we taught 14 and 13!  How cool!?  I won't attempt to compare our numbers with those of South America and The U.S But for us in our situation we are doing really well.  We lead our district in numbers and that is so cool.  We are really just working the best we can and letting God take care of the miracles.  Sorry that was me going on a tangent.  Sorry.

But this week like i said was so great.  We found out that Elder Silvester will now be moving to Troyes the furthest East in our mission until July!  He is going with a swiss missionary!  That is something he really needed because his french needs work and he will excel so much faster with a francophone companion.  Me i am going Senior Comp on Elder Awerkamp who is actually from Arizona too!  One of 6 in the Mission and 2 of them are in Limoges WOO HOO!!!!  He is from Gilbert and graduated from Mesquite.  Maybe i played him in Baseball!?  He knows the members of a band i played a concert with.  Pawn takes King!?  Does that ring a bell?  It was one of the only shows where we played on a stage in a backyard!?  any way he knows them!  so i am stoked!  I am so ready for a change.  It has been a tiring transfer.  So yeah he leaves Wednesday.  Also this week we taught 13 lessons and also had one of the best sacrament lessons i have ever attended.  I dont know why but it was so spiritually nourishing.  I loved it and felt so good inside after.  Sacrament meetings like that are so good.  Also at Sacrament was one of our Amis Ahmada.  Let me tell you about ahmada.

Ahmada has an amzing spirit.  Ahmada came here from the Comoro Islands.  he came here in search of a better life but didn't do all the research neccesary.  He got here and couldn't do anything.  He had no legality at all.  He has no where to live or to eat.  He however continues to search where to eat and to sleep.  Luckily for him He has a good base of Native Commorians who are here also but they are all muslim.  We contacted Ahmada and mentioned a living prophet and immediately he was hooked.  He has been searching for the truth and until then didn't know where to find it.  This has been such a blessing for him but the thing is, is that, that is creating tension between him and all of his muslim friends.  He has now been kicked out of two homes because they dont like him and his new found belief.  Understand that Ahmada is the nicest guy and wouldn't hurt a fly.  He was kicked out of the one house because he asked the people if they could be quiter because it was really loud for him at 3 in the morning.  They Kicked him out.  Next home he asked the same question to some visitors in the apartment.  They kicked him out.  Then Saturday night he recieved a call that his grandson had died.  Ahmada can't catch a break but still is trying all that he can to retain the teachings and become a member.  Never take for granted the blessing of the church in our lives.  We live such an easy life compared to some and even though some people just have different struggles we must always be grateful.  If my mission has taught me anything so far, it has taught me that this is Gods true church on the Earth and that i can never ever again take it for granted.  Love the gospel and give all that you can to be a missionary.  Give those who don't have the Gospel the only chance they may ever get by sharing it with them.  I love you all and am so thankful for your prayers.  I can feel your love always.  Even though i am far away i feel very close in love and spirit.  Happy Easter!  Take maybe a little time if you haven't already on what the Lord sacrificed for you.  Think of all you can be because of him!  I like that thought!  Lol!  I love you and pray for you daily!

TTYL

Elder Hoopes

Bonjour Bonjour!

Wow so things this week were incredible!  We got so much done and this week we had so many blessings poured out on us!  Oh it was so good!  As far as unusual things like getting my thumb sucked by a gold fish or hit on by a crazy new caledonia chick, this week was pretty boring but as far as blessings it was so good.

This week in our district we decided that in order to reach our goal we had set for a district we needed to get to work and each equipe teach 14 lessons.  We thought it wouldn't be possible but we took courage and hope and decided to make it happen.  Elder Silvester and I both took our goal to the Lord and asked for his help to accomplish this challenge.  We knew that we could only achieve this goal with the Lord's help.  So we went to work!  We called every potential investigator all of our other amis and all of our current amis and took also every oppurtunity on the bus and at bus stops to talk to people and now.....we HIT OUR GOAL!!!!!  We had set our numbers previous to Elder Darguence's challenge so we surpassed them pretty largely but this next week we are really hoping for the same results.  Nothing feels better than put all the effort you can to do the Lord's work.....even if it gets tiring.  

I am doing much better myself.  I have refound my testimony and i have found a strong drive to work hard but also relax.  I've taken time to let my mind slow down instead of constantly thinking thinking thinking! Walking by the river here and also having rendez-vous outside is really helping.  Also something i have started doing is just being open and honest with my feelings.  If something is bothering me i say it and if i feel like i am starting to get angry or frusturated i just take things a little slower.  Also something that is helping is not always punishing myself if i feel like i am not doing what's right.  I have really stopped being so annalytical and that is actually helping me grow and have more room for spiritual revelation.  I feel much more guided right now.  

Well yeah that is me right now!  It is the last week of the transfer so i will have news for you on saturday!  I think elder Silvester is outta here but we'll see.  Anyway for the moment i think that is all!  Thank you for your prayers and support!  I got the post card from bellingham today and that was so good thank you so much!  I love you all!  a bientot!

Elder Hoopes