So we went to a Mets game last week! It was soooo fun! Man I forgot how much I miss being an umpire. I took so many pictures of the umpires. Everyone that went thought I was joking that all I have been doing is watching the umpires, but I was totally serious. It was fun and the weather was great. The Mets lost, but its ok because they aren't the D-Backs (even though I am pretty sure they lost to the Rockies that day). I got a free shirt and an $18 dollar cheeseburger meal (definitely not worth it. That could have payed for my tip at Peter Luger's Steak House).
It was raining a ton early in the week which made it really difficult to proselyte. When it rains here it pours and the rain drops aren't like the small Arizona drops, they are the size of quarters! If you stand outside for 2 seconds you are instantly soaked. It always seems to rain unexpectedly when your umbrella is tucked away in your backpack. Mother nature I guess just feels likes its hilarious to say, "Oh look, Elder Hooper and his companion look a little hot, I will just pour out everything I got on them, hahaha!". It makes the day fun though!
Dez now has a baptismal date for June 8th! We are super excited for him! He prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true and he said that he received an answer that it was! We discussed with him what that answer means and he asked us what the next step for him was so we talked about baptism. He looked at me with a smirk on his face and said most enthusiastically, "Lets do it!". I wanted to jump out of my chair and start jumping for joy when he said that. I was just like oh my goodness. We set a date with him and he is still really enjoying church and meeting with us. He is such a good person. He is super smart too. He isn't just someone that I have been teaching, but he is my friend. I am grateful for the priesthood that allows us to preform these ordinances under the proper authority. Through the priesthood and modern revelation, we truly have the keys to unlock the Atonement's full power- the power it was always meant to have.
Sunday was insane. Two hours before church started. The branch presidency calls us and asks if we were called to give talks during sacrament meeting. I responded no, but we would be willing to speak if they needed us. Apparently we were supposed to have been asked, but weren't and they needed us to speak. So we prepared talks and a musical number in an hour! On top of that I was asked to play the organ since the organist was out of town, and I was also going to be teaching sharing time in primary for the kids too! I was going crazy during church, but it was a lot of fun. My talk and musical number went well. I spoke about how much power us Latter-Day Saints have as we are worthy covenant keepers and shouldn't be afraid of challenges or sharing the gospel, because we have the promise that the spirit will always be with us as we obey and for those that have made temple covenants have been endowed with power from on high and for those that hold the priesthood have a form of godliness within them. It was really good. Elder Kang (piano) and I (violin) played We Thank Thee O' God For a Prophet. It went well! Sharing time was about prophets and I tied in my big 6 foot print of Goliath and we threw things at him (the kids loved it!). I was also asked by Matt, the first person I baptized, to confer upon him the Melchizedek Priesthood and ordain him an Elder during our priesthood meeting. The stake representatives were there and I had the wonderful privilege to ordain him! HE was my first baptism and now first priesthood ordination. It was a cool experience for me. I feel very blessed to have that opportunity since most missionaries don't get the opportunity to do that.
I am running out of time today. I have to head to my district meeting now. Everything is going well and I am continuing to work hard and find other people to teach. I hope you are all doing well. Love you guys!
Love,
Elder Hooper
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