Monday, September 23, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
Week 44, NYNYS. Staying again in Staten
Well, Elder Tuiaki and I are going to be staying together for one another 6 weeks in Staten Island. This begins transfer number 8. We are excited to work together again. We both get along really well and have such a fun time together.
The seasons are totally changing! It has been in the high 60s here. It is so nice!
It was a pretty discouraging week for us unfortunately. All of our appointments canceled and basically nothing went our way. For some reason, everyone we talked to was slightly hostile. So I don't have any updates on investigators and such this week.
On a bright note, we had an awesome Plan of Salvation concert for the Spanish Ward. The missionaries in the Staten Spanish ward invited a few of the English to give musical numbers in the concert. I played If You Could High to Kolob with Elder McCombs on guitar and Sister Pagan singing. It was really good, and I accompanied two other singers on the piano as well.(video in link below) The Plan of Salvation was taught through music and testimonies and there was a really good spirit there even though I had no idea what was going on since it was all in Spanish. I really felt the spirit confirm to me that President Monson and his counselors are truly prophets, seers, and revelators- I know it! Don't forget General Conference in just 3 weeks. If you read 3 talks a day starting today, you will finish all of last session before this session in October.
We mowed a sister's lawn in our ward and while we were doing that her neighbor approached us to see how much we charge for doing lawns. He really didn't like us saying that we will do it for free, but after some persuasion he said ok and told us to come over and help him with his yard. We moved 1000lbs of sand to one location to the another and man, my back was so sore the next morning. He then handed us $40 and I was like, we don't want to take your money. He then quickly threw it into our pockets and wouldn't take it back haha! I tried to give him a pamphlet and slip the money in, but he caught me. Elder Tuiaki and I will just have to go out for dinner somewhere fancy (then the money disappeared after that thought, so I guess we were just not meant to use that money :P).
Sorry this is short this week. It was a really slow week. Elder McCombs, Sister Pagan, and I are performing the song we sang in the concert at transfer meeting tomorrow and it is going to be sick!
Love,
Elder Hooper
The seasons are totally changing! It has been in the high 60s here. It is so nice!
It was a pretty discouraging week for us unfortunately. All of our appointments canceled and basically nothing went our way. For some reason, everyone we talked to was slightly hostile. So I don't have any updates on investigators and such this week.
On a bright note, we had an awesome Plan of Salvation concert for the Spanish Ward. The missionaries in the Staten Spanish ward invited a few of the English to give musical numbers in the concert. I played If You Could High to Kolob with Elder McCombs on guitar and Sister Pagan singing. It was really good, and I accompanied two other singers on the piano as well.(video in link below) The Plan of Salvation was taught through music and testimonies and there was a really good spirit there even though I had no idea what was going on since it was all in Spanish. I really felt the spirit confirm to me that President Monson and his counselors are truly prophets, seers, and revelators- I know it! Don't forget General Conference in just 3 weeks. If you read 3 talks a day starting today, you will finish all of last session before this session in October.
We mowed a sister's lawn in our ward and while we were doing that her neighbor approached us to see how much we charge for doing lawns. He really didn't like us saying that we will do it for free, but after some persuasion he said ok and told us to come over and help him with his yard. We moved 1000lbs of sand to one location to the another and man, my back was so sore the next morning. He then handed us $40 and I was like, we don't want to take your money. He then quickly threw it into our pockets and wouldn't take it back haha! I tried to give him a pamphlet and slip the money in, but he caught me. Elder Tuiaki and I will just have to go out for dinner somewhere fancy (then the money disappeared after that thought, so I guess we were just not meant to use that money :P).
Sorry this is short this week. It was a really slow week. Elder McCombs, Sister Pagan, and I are performing the song we sang in the concert at transfer meeting tomorrow and it is going to be sick!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, September 9, 2013
Week 43 NYNYS, 10 Months!
Elder Tuiaki and I had a great week! We either hit or
surpassed our goals and have many good things lying store for us this week. We
taught a family of four on Monday who we met playing sports at the park with
kids and they seemed to like what we taught, but I am not so sure if the
husband, Glen, was very interested. They are hard to get in contact with, but
we will keep trying. On my exchange with Elder Eggleston, we found a golden
family! We knocked into her and I basically just said "Satan is attacking
our families and we want to help you overcome this. Will you allow us to show
you how?" And the woman at the door, Elisa, said sure since Satan has been
attacking her family! We talked with her on the porch and gave her some reading
material and wanted us to come back with her husband home. She has two kids.
They would be a golden family if we can get in touch with them again.
On Wednesday we also did an activity at the ferry with our
district giving out free lemonade. It was awesome! Of course everyone loves
free lemonade. We got several phone numbers and we got an investigator from it
too. His name is Frank and he is Seventh Day Adventist. The only issue he said
he has is worshipping the Sabbath on Sunday. He totally believes that God could
call another prophet today. We are meeting with him this week.
We also taught Demetrio and Magdalen twice last week, and
Magdalen and her two kids came to church! We were so excited about that! They
both have been reading some of the Book of Mormon and really enjoy it and
feel the power and strength it gives them.
The members are just awesome out here! We have 6 members
signed up to come teaching with us this week! I love this ward so much. They
have a lot of trust in us in basically everything. Having members of the ward
and the ward council so involved in the work here is fantastic!
We have lots of great things going on in our pool and a
baptism will surely come next transfer.
Oh and we are working with a members who really wants to
come back and receive his endowments and wants our help to get there! Woohoo!
As I am sure most of you have seen the video, I did play my
violin in church last Sunday. It was really good! There was such a strong
spirit that was present during and after the musical number. Everyone loved it.
It also happened to be like the best Sunday ever since Magdalen and her kids
came to church and we had an awesome pot luck lunch right afterwards too with
some awesome food. It was a really good activity.
So Elder Tuiaki and I had a little brain fart after church
too. I was backing him up out of the parking spot and both of us I feel have
been getting pretty lazy/feeling invincible with someone backing us up. Nothin
bad happened, but Elder Tuiaki totally scratched the bottom of the bumber and
backed into a bush. A member saw and was like "Dang, we will wait for you
guys to leave the parking lot so we can leave unharmed. It was kind of funny.
We sang hymns and such again at the ferry and it went well.
So well that a drunk guy came up to us and started to pretened to conduct us.
Most of us had to stop singing as we were cracking up.
The weather is getting so nice! It has been 65 degrees in
the morning and in the high 70s in the afternooon.
This week is the last week of the transfer. I would be very
surprised to get trasnferred, but there is a really good chance Elder Tuiaki
will probably leave since he has been here for 7 months. We will find out on
Saturday!
Well, I love you all very much! Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Hooper
My zone at Coney Island
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Week 42 NYNYS, Just been at Stylin' Staten
So here are a few cool stories:
I don't know if any of you remember this story, but almost 6 months ago, someone stole my backpack with my camera and scriptures and such in it. I got a phone call a few days ago from my old companion saying someone returned my scriptures to him! Some miracle happened and this lady was given my set of scriptures by her next door neighbor with my dad's missionary tag on still on the cover and with a mormon.org pass along card inside with my old cell phone number on it. She called it and returned the scriptures and is now taking the lessons! How cool is that!? Someone is now being taught by my old set of stolen scriptures and my Dad's name tag is still on it! Too cool. My last companion said it was meant to happen. He said he never has felt the spirit so strong in a lesson, and to find an investigator like that is just too cool. My Dad's name tag meant a lot to me and to have it back is awesome! Whenever I was having a difficult day, I would look at my Dad's missionary tag and remember that he served honorably and went through similar experiences that I have gone through, so I can do it too!
So the lady and her brother who hit the Zone Leader's car is now being taught by the Spanish Elders! While we were sitting waiting for the tow truck to come, I ran into the house to get a Spanish Book of Mormon to give to the Zone Leaders to give to her. Along with some apples and chocolate, we gave the the BoM and explained what it is and now they are being taught! Her brother even works for a member in the Spanish Ward.
So we played music at the St. George Ferry again! I played my violin, Elder McCombs played the guitar, and the other 10 Elders and Sisters in Staten Island sang hymns. It was really good! the violin added the nice professional feel to it and the guitar added a fun beat and then the singing brought the spirit with the doctrine. It is so much fun. I am also playing my violin in church on Sunday with Sister Natalie Jangula in the ward I am serving in. She is going to record it before sacrament meeting and will most likely put it on Facebook.
We will be getting iPads and the opportunity to start using Facebook in October! I am so stoked! Facebook is going to be so nice to have here. All our investigators, less-active members, active members and basically everyone uses Facebook! You are much more excited about seeing a Facebook update on your phone then a text, so then we will send messages on Facebook to people and get them :D.
We haven't been in contact with Demetrio and Magdalen for over a week now. We are worried about them. We are still hoping for the 22nd!Staten Island is doing well. The Zone Leaders had a great baptismal service last Sunday and the sisters now have a baptismal date for Jessica finally! She is so ready for baptism. Elder Tuiaki and I are working on being more fearless and are trying to make our door approaches more powerful by incorporating How to Begin Teaching, Our Purpose, and our testimony all in like 15 seconds! It is going to be interesting, but it should help. We also have gotten in contact with some less-active families we are teaching too! There are lots of things coming out of the woodwork and the members are still working really well with us. One of the ward missionaries made us labels with our phone number, church address, etc. so we can put them on Mormon.org cards. They are so convenient!
I forgot my journal so I am having a difficult time remembering the fun things of last week, but I just love serving a mission. I have learned so many things and continue to learn more and more. I have seen promises in my Patriarchal Blessing being fulfilled and have seen how much knowledge I have gained being here.
I have to get going now! Gotta go into Brooklyn and get my scriptures!
Love,
Elder Hooper
So the lady and her brother who hit the Zone Leader's car is now being taught by the Spanish Elders! While we were sitting waiting for the tow truck to come, I ran into the house to get a Spanish Book of Mormon to give to the Zone Leaders to give to her. Along with some apples and chocolate, we gave the the BoM and explained what it is and now they are being taught! Her brother even works for a member in the Spanish Ward.
So we played music at the St. George Ferry again! I played my violin, Elder McCombs played the guitar, and the other 10 Elders and Sisters in Staten Island sang hymns. It was really good! the violin added the nice professional feel to it and the guitar added a fun beat and then the singing brought the spirit with the doctrine. It is so much fun. I am also playing my violin in church on Sunday with Sister Natalie Jangula in the ward I am serving in. She is going to record it before sacrament meeting and will most likely put it on Facebook.
We will be getting iPads and the opportunity to start using Facebook in October! I am so stoked! Facebook is going to be so nice to have here. All our investigators, less-active members, active members and basically everyone uses Facebook! You are much more excited about seeing a Facebook update on your phone then a text, so then we will send messages on Facebook to people and get them :D.
We haven't been in contact with Demetrio and Magdalen for over a week now. We are worried about them. We are still hoping for the 22nd!Staten Island is doing well. The Zone Leaders had a great baptismal service last Sunday and the sisters now have a baptismal date for Jessica finally! She is so ready for baptism. Elder Tuiaki and I are working on being more fearless and are trying to make our door approaches more powerful by incorporating How to Begin Teaching, Our Purpose, and our testimony all in like 15 seconds! It is going to be interesting, but it should help. We also have gotten in contact with some less-active families we are teaching too! There are lots of things coming out of the woodwork and the members are still working really well with us. One of the ward missionaries made us labels with our phone number, church address, etc. so we can put them on Mormon.org cards. They are so convenient!
I forgot my journal so I am having a difficult time remembering the fun things of last week, but I just love serving a mission. I have learned so many things and continue to learn more and more. I have seen promises in my Patriarchal Blessing being fulfilled and have seen how much knowledge I have gained being here.
I have to get going now! Gotta go into Brooklyn and get my scriptures!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, August 26, 2013
Week 41 NYNYS, Two Baptismal Dates! Woohoo!
Hey everybody! Staten Island is good as usual! Our next big activities we are getting together here are a block party on our street (since a lot has been going on with us that has been getting our neighbors attention to us, including the zone leaders car accident which I will explain later), a blood drive at the church, End of Summer Movie night, and a Restoration Concert (like the one we had in Far Rockaway a few months ago). It is going to be fun!
So the beginning of the week was pretty slow for us since we didn't have our car for a few days. The Vehicle Dynamic Control and ABS light were on so we had to get a few things replaced. While this was going on we were taking public transit and begging the Zone Leaders that live below for rides every once and a while and then there car gets totaled! So then we were out of luck there. At around 8:45am while we were studying, I heard this loud crunch sound and my mind immediately goes "that sounds like two cars". I open our window and see that someone just crashed into the Zone Leader's car. I am frantically trying to get my camera to get a picture of this lady's license plate since is looked like she was trying to drive off, but then I saw her steering column snapped in half so she wasn't going anywhere! It definitely put their car out of commission. I will send a picture of their car. They now have a brand new 2013 Toyota Corolla.
Demetrio and Magdalen now have baptismal dates for September 22nd! We are excited for them and are going to do everything we can to help them prepare. They are beginning to see their faith grow and they love what we are sharing. They are currently working on gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. We have watched the Restoration video twice and they like memorized half of the film. They are pure in heart and want to change! They are already calling themselves "Mormon". It is amazing how much the Lord has done for us so we would be able to effectively help them according to their exact needs. Please pray for them that they will be able to find out for themselves what we are sharing is true! This is crucial for them. I wish I could explain how important this will be for them! It is also their son Daniel's 4th birthday today. He is a really cute boy who happens to have Autism. We brought them some cake and ice cream which totally made their day.
I accompanied the Sister Missionaries again on the same song we played a few weeks ago "I Stand All Amazed" in Portuguese in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. It went really well! Everyone was very impressed. I will also be giving another musical number on the violin with Sister Jangula in the ward on the piano. We are playing the Sally DeFord/Eva Hooper arrangement for My Heavenly Father Loves Me. It is going to be nice!
Some cool news: Staten Island is apparently getting the world's largest Ferris Wheel built by the Staten Island Ferry soon. It is a $1 Billion project! Whether that is true or not, ask the old lady that told me about it.
Our ward is looking forward to having 4 baptisms this month. The Zone Leader's are having a baptism this Sunday and then the 15th! We are excited!
Time to go to Coney Island to play some Ultimate Frisbee with my Zone! Love you guys!
Love,
Elder Hooper
So the beginning of the week was pretty slow for us since we didn't have our car for a few days. The Vehicle Dynamic Control and ABS light were on so we had to get a few things replaced. While this was going on we were taking public transit and begging the Zone Leaders that live below for rides every once and a while and then there car gets totaled! So then we were out of luck there. At around 8:45am while we were studying, I heard this loud crunch sound and my mind immediately goes "that sounds like two cars". I open our window and see that someone just crashed into the Zone Leader's car. I am frantically trying to get my camera to get a picture of this lady's license plate since is looked like she was trying to drive off, but then I saw her steering column snapped in half so she wasn't going anywhere! It definitely put their car out of commission. I will send a picture of their car. They now have a brand new 2013 Toyota Corolla.
Demetrio and Magdalen now have baptismal dates for September 22nd! We are excited for them and are going to do everything we can to help them prepare. They are beginning to see their faith grow and they love what we are sharing. They are currently working on gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. We have watched the Restoration video twice and they like memorized half of the film. They are pure in heart and want to change! They are already calling themselves "Mormon". It is amazing how much the Lord has done for us so we would be able to effectively help them according to their exact needs. Please pray for them that they will be able to find out for themselves what we are sharing is true! This is crucial for them. I wish I could explain how important this will be for them! It is also their son Daniel's 4th birthday today. He is a really cute boy who happens to have Autism. We brought them some cake and ice cream which totally made their day.
I accompanied the Sister Missionaries again on the same song we played a few weeks ago "I Stand All Amazed" in Portuguese in Sacrament Meeting yesterday. It went really well! Everyone was very impressed. I will also be giving another musical number on the violin with Sister Jangula in the ward on the piano. We are playing the Sally DeFord/Eva Hooper arrangement for My Heavenly Father Loves Me. It is going to be nice!
Some cool news: Staten Island is apparently getting the world's largest Ferris Wheel built by the Staten Island Ferry soon. It is a $1 Billion project! Whether that is true or not, ask the old lady that told me about it.
Our ward is looking forward to having 4 baptisms this month. The Zone Leader's are having a baptism this Sunday and then the 15th! We are excited!
Time to go to Coney Island to play some Ultimate Frisbee with my Zone! Love you guys!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Week 40 NYNYS, Life on the Little Island
Happy Monday! Everything is great on Staten! Lots of good things happened this week.
After a few weeks of just struggling, I finally felt my Heavenly Father answer my prayers. While sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday morning, I felt the spirit very strongly, and I just felt so at peace with myself and everything. I also learned that I needed to let myself fall into the arms of the Atonement, be humble and trusting toward my Heavenly Father, and show more reverence to Him. So far as I have applied this, the spirit has been much more present with me!
While we were mowing the lawn of one of the members in our ward, we got a phone call from an investigator of ours and he was wondering if we would be able to come and pray with him since he needed some extra help. We gladly accepted the invitation and then he told us why he needed the prayer. He said that he had $77 in his wallet that he was going to use to rent a lawn mower so that he could get the side of his house cleaned up so he wouldn't get in trouble with the state. He is currently unemployed and has 3 kids that he is trying to take care of so $77 so a big deal for him. I told him not to rent a lawn mower and I will give the ward a call to see if we can help. After I hung up, I was just like, well I am mowing a lawn right now and could just bring it over and do his lawn. That is exactly what we did. We emptied out the trunk and loaded up the lawn mower and weedwacker in our small compact Subaru and got his lawn taken care of. It was a joyous experience to be an answer to one of Heavenly Father's children. A funny/sketchy part of this was that the member we were doing yard work for wasn't home so I just made the judgment call and just borrowed the tools. They didn't care that I stole them anyway. There also was a member that was moving out that emptied their entire cabinet of food and gave it too all the missionaries and we got a huge bag full of organic delicious food. We knew that this family needed it more than we did, so we had the sisters take it to them. They were shocked and so thankful. We were so glad we could help them! We also met with them again last night and gave them priesthood blessings which I could definitely tell it brought them peace!
I also have never been so full in my life! We ended up having 4 dinner appointments in one day and I thought I was going to kill over and die! We were fed pizza while we helped a member move out, fed by a family we were teaching (delicious ravioli's), pizza again by another appointment we had, and then to top it off, we had some amazing Sri Lankan food from another member. I thought I was going to explode! I couldn't even walk I was so full. I am pretty sure I gained a few pounds after that too.
On Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the temple with the ward to do baptisms with the youth. It was really fun. I took my first ferry ride from Staten Island too Manhattan. It was so much fun. We all had a really good time! Afterwards, we went with the Spanish district in Staten Island to one of their finding activities in the park. We played Jenga, chalk, chess, checkers, football, soccer, volleyball, frisbee, and Uno with kids at the park! It was so much fun. The kids there all loved it and their parents loved it because their kids were happy. We had several potentials from it that were all solid families too! It is a great finding opportunity for us while we are having fun!
We had a lot of success at the ferry again as we did a Family History street sweep. We had the sisters there with us this time and I think that made all the difference! They are so much easier to talk to then us. To all the women that past by they were like "we like your skirt" or whatever and then they would start talking to us. If I said I like your skirt, they would just think I am a creeper haha! It was fun!
We finally were able to talk to Tsubon and Myunbo's mother! She had some questions regarding the plan of salvation so we talked about that a little bit. I sure do hope we can unite this family together and bring them all to the temple to be sealed! President Calderwood wants us to do this too!
We watched the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with a couple as well. It was really cool. When I bore testimony of Joseph and the Book of Mormon, there was power behind what I said. it was so cool. I saw the change in their eyes when I bore my testimony. I just love Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and know that he was a true prophet!
All is well here in Staten Island! I love it a lot and hope I never have to leave this area. Oh by the way, I went to Costco today and bought lots of muffins! Yum!
Here is link to a video of some missionaries in my mission. Its pretty cool. Sister Bradfield is a good friend of mine too:
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-missionary-life
Love,
Elder Hooper
After a few weeks of just struggling, I finally felt my Heavenly Father answer my prayers. While sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday morning, I felt the spirit very strongly, and I just felt so at peace with myself and everything. I also learned that I needed to let myself fall into the arms of the Atonement, be humble and trusting toward my Heavenly Father, and show more reverence to Him. So far as I have applied this, the spirit has been much more present with me!
While we were mowing the lawn of one of the members in our ward, we got a phone call from an investigator of ours and he was wondering if we would be able to come and pray with him since he needed some extra help. We gladly accepted the invitation and then he told us why he needed the prayer. He said that he had $77 in his wallet that he was going to use to rent a lawn mower so that he could get the side of his house cleaned up so he wouldn't get in trouble with the state. He is currently unemployed and has 3 kids that he is trying to take care of so $77 so a big deal for him. I told him not to rent a lawn mower and I will give the ward a call to see if we can help. After I hung up, I was just like, well I am mowing a lawn right now and could just bring it over and do his lawn. That is exactly what we did. We emptied out the trunk and loaded up the lawn mower and weedwacker in our small compact Subaru and got his lawn taken care of. It was a joyous experience to be an answer to one of Heavenly Father's children. A funny/sketchy part of this was that the member we were doing yard work for wasn't home so I just made the judgment call and just borrowed the tools. They didn't care that I stole them anyway. There also was a member that was moving out that emptied their entire cabinet of food and gave it too all the missionaries and we got a huge bag full of organic delicious food. We knew that this family needed it more than we did, so we had the sisters take it to them. They were shocked and so thankful. We were so glad we could help them! We also met with them again last night and gave them priesthood blessings which I could definitely tell it brought them peace!
I also have never been so full in my life! We ended up having 4 dinner appointments in one day and I thought I was going to kill over and die! We were fed pizza while we helped a member move out, fed by a family we were teaching (delicious ravioli's), pizza again by another appointment we had, and then to top it off, we had some amazing Sri Lankan food from another member. I thought I was going to explode! I couldn't even walk I was so full. I am pretty sure I gained a few pounds after that too.
On Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the temple with the ward to do baptisms with the youth. It was really fun. I took my first ferry ride from Staten Island too Manhattan. It was so much fun. We all had a really good time! Afterwards, we went with the Spanish district in Staten Island to one of their finding activities in the park. We played Jenga, chalk, chess, checkers, football, soccer, volleyball, frisbee, and Uno with kids at the park! It was so much fun. The kids there all loved it and their parents loved it because their kids were happy. We had several potentials from it that were all solid families too! It is a great finding opportunity for us while we are having fun!
We had a lot of success at the ferry again as we did a Family History street sweep. We had the sisters there with us this time and I think that made all the difference! They are so much easier to talk to then us. To all the women that past by they were like "we like your skirt" or whatever and then they would start talking to us. If I said I like your skirt, they would just think I am a creeper haha! It was fun!
We finally were able to talk to Tsubon and Myunbo's mother! She had some questions regarding the plan of salvation so we talked about that a little bit. I sure do hope we can unite this family together and bring them all to the temple to be sealed! President Calderwood wants us to do this too!
We watched the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with a couple as well. It was really cool. When I bore testimony of Joseph and the Book of Mormon, there was power behind what I said. it was so cool. I saw the change in their eyes when I bore my testimony. I just love Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and know that he was a true prophet!
All is well here in Staten Island! I love it a lot and hope I never have to leave this area. Oh by the way, I went to Costco today and bought lots of muffins! Yum!
Here is link to a video of some missionaries in my mission. Its pretty cool. Sister Bradfield is a good friend of mine too:
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-missionary-life
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, August 12, 2013
Week 39 NYNYS, 9 Months in New York City
President Calderwood gave us all some awesome news! Since we, as a mission, are focusing and setting goals for the temple on everyone we are teaching, President announced that we will be able to attend a temple session every 6 months instead of at our year mark and 2 year mark. I am really excited about it, but I am so bummed that he didn't announce this before my 6 month mark! It reminds me when President Monson announced the missionary age change and I already had my mission call and was leaving the next month! I was like "man, why couldn't you have said that last conference!" Its all good though.
Our ward has an awesome system going right now! The ward mission leader created a list for the Elder's Quorum and Relief Society to sign up for one day a month to come out with the missionaries. For this month, we have someone signed up to go out with us everyday so the four of us Elders here see which member would suit best for our investigators or planned activity that day. It is working really well so far and it helps to have different members come to the appointment because it gets everyone familiar with our investigators which then helps increase fellowship when they come to church! The members are also getting excited about it too.
Elder Tuiaki and I have found 2 new investigators, one of which is the girl friend of a Less Active we have been working with and the other was a referral from the Spanish Elders, Stanli, from Poland. Stanli had many questions about the Plan of Salvation and also had many ideas that he had been researching that was completely "on" with our doctrine. He also led us straight into the Restoration too! We have so many people that we are working with, but we are struggling to set firm appointments with them all.
We have been working a lot in the southern part of Staten Island by the church and man, there are some mean people in these upper class neighborhoods! We both have been getting slightly discouraged at their remarks, but we just carry on and find someone else.
On Saturday, we went to a beautiful park called Willowbrook Park with the sisters and sang hymns for people. I accompanied everyone on the violin which was really fun! There was a spiritual wall around us. People couldn't pass by without feeling it. It was such a beautiful place to. We are going to try doing this by the Staten Island ferry this week too.
I had a pretty interesting experience a few days ago too haha! We were driving home from a meeting in Brooklyn, and we passed by this large Catholic church and there was this lady who was literally "prostrated" on the ground like the Bible says! She had her hands up on the large door and was kneeling down praying. I asked Elder Tuiaki to stop the car because I wanted to see if there was anything we could to help her and maybe be the answer to her prayer. She said that she was an RN, but gave up everything for Christ and prays in a unique way to inflict pain to her body to be closer to God. It was kind of sad that she doesn't understand the way the Atonement is supposed to work, I mean I still don't completely either, but there is absolutely no need to put abnormal strain on your body to enhance your spirituality. It was kind of a funny experience though. I wish you could have been there to just see what it looked like.
So the new shoulder bag that I got has Velcro on it and I got the idea from my Zone Leader to buy some Velcro patches to put on it. I got the coolest patches ever that go perfectly for being a missionary! One says "W.W.J.D?" and the other says "WORKING FOR GOD DOESN'T PAY MUCH, BUT HIS RETIREMENT PLAN IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!" It was just too funny not to put on my shoulder bag. So far, everyone else likes it.
Well that is all for this week. My comp and I are going into Brooklyn to play some volleyball!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Our ward has an awesome system going right now! The ward mission leader created a list for the Elder's Quorum and Relief Society to sign up for one day a month to come out with the missionaries. For this month, we have someone signed up to go out with us everyday so the four of us Elders here see which member would suit best for our investigators or planned activity that day. It is working really well so far and it helps to have different members come to the appointment because it gets everyone familiar with our investigators which then helps increase fellowship when they come to church! The members are also getting excited about it too.
Elder Tuiaki and I have found 2 new investigators, one of which is the girl friend of a Less Active we have been working with and the other was a referral from the Spanish Elders, Stanli, from Poland. Stanli had many questions about the Plan of Salvation and also had many ideas that he had been researching that was completely "on" with our doctrine. He also led us straight into the Restoration too! We have so many people that we are working with, but we are struggling to set firm appointments with them all.
We have been working a lot in the southern part of Staten Island by the church and man, there are some mean people in these upper class neighborhoods! We both have been getting slightly discouraged at their remarks, but we just carry on and find someone else.
On Saturday, we went to a beautiful park called Willowbrook Park with the sisters and sang hymns for people. I accompanied everyone on the violin which was really fun! There was a spiritual wall around us. People couldn't pass by without feeling it. It was such a beautiful place to. We are going to try doing this by the Staten Island ferry this week too.
I had a pretty interesting experience a few days ago too haha! We were driving home from a meeting in Brooklyn, and we passed by this large Catholic church and there was this lady who was literally "prostrated" on the ground like the Bible says! She had her hands up on the large door and was kneeling down praying. I asked Elder Tuiaki to stop the car because I wanted to see if there was anything we could to help her and maybe be the answer to her prayer. She said that she was an RN, but gave up everything for Christ and prays in a unique way to inflict pain to her body to be closer to God. It was kind of sad that she doesn't understand the way the Atonement is supposed to work, I mean I still don't completely either, but there is absolutely no need to put abnormal strain on your body to enhance your spirituality. It was kind of a funny experience though. I wish you could have been there to just see what it looked like.
So the new shoulder bag that I got has Velcro on it and I got the idea from my Zone Leader to buy some Velcro patches to put on it. I got the coolest patches ever that go perfectly for being a missionary! One says "W.W.J.D?" and the other says "WORKING FOR GOD DOESN'T PAY MUCH, BUT HIS RETIREMENT PLAN IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!" It was just too funny not to put on my shoulder bag. So far, everyone else likes it.
Well that is all for this week. My comp and I are going into Brooklyn to play some volleyball!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, August 5, 2013
Week 38 NYNYS, Transfer #7 Begins
So right now I am watching my skin just turn darker shades of red. I got fried down in Coney Island today as I was playing rugby on the beach with some other missionaries. Playing with the Tongans and Hawaiians is pretty scary!
It has been a slow week for Elder Tuiaki and I. Lots of our lessons canceled and such. It is finally starting to cool down too! So for some funny stories first:
While on exchanges with my Zone Leader, we saw this homeless guy totally knocked out on a bus bench with his body all sprung out and his mouth wide open. It was the funniest thing ever! I wanted to take a picture, but that would've looked kind of bad.
During that same day, we also ran into several really crazy people. One of them was a 50 year old really tall black man who was trying to explain to us that the Holy Bible means "He Only Loves You, Book of Instruction Before Leaving Earth". He was yelling swinging his finger at us while spit flew from his mouth. We then started to introduce him to the Book of Mormon and he pulled the Revelation card on us so then we said that God wouldn't limit His word, then the guy was like yea I totally agree that God would not limit his word to one book! We were like... exactly. Then another guy came up during that conversation saying how he believed completely in Christ, but denies God. It was just a mess! However, it was hilarious to see all the people that would walk by just staring at these crazy guys.
We have been going down to the ferry and setting up a table and doing different things like, a Family History street sweep, and also a "What Do the Mormon's Believe" street sweep. We also happened to do one street sweep there during the Staten Island carnival. We had lots of people talk to us and we had a good time, until we were told we had to leave, since we didn't pay for a permit.
We helped a lady move out of her house last week, and she just unloaded her pantry into bags and gave everything to us! We have so many cans of food and pasta with tomato sauce. It is insane how much food we have! I didn't even buy anything for this week's groceries. I think we have a year supply so if another hurricane hits we are set!
Yesterday during fast and testimony meeting, all the members seemed to talk about missionary work and how much the missionaries in the ward mean to the members and how they want to share with their friends. It was so great to see how much the ward is ready to do missionary work. I had some inspiration to start planning around the members and stopping by for a few minutes, pray, and doing our work around them.
Right now, the one solid family we are teaching has been having some health problems with one of their mothers in Brooklyn so we haven't been able to meet with them. We are also going to be teaching Brother Pen, Myunbo, and Tsubon's mom in the next few days too! #togetherforever. We also have still been in contact with our Sri Lankan friends and got 6 Sinhalese Book of Mormons for them. We have so many other people we are working with, but we are still trying to find the one who is ready- really ready to take the first step to unlock the full power of the Atonement.
I just want to let you all know how much I love my Heavenly Father. Through these 9 months on my mission. I have been instructed and refined by Him. I have learned lessons that have completely changed who I am (for the better of course). I know the priesthood authority has truly been restored and the true gospel was restored though God's prophet Joseph Smith. I know that Jesus Christ lives and it is only through Him that we can find lasting peace and comfort in this life. Not only does this church make logical sense to me, I just love it. It is awesome!
Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Elder Hooper
P.S. We talked to the crazy dancing lady we saw last week :D
Monday, July 29, 2013
Week 37, Stylin' Staten
Elder Tuiaki and I had a great week! We have found more people to teach and lots of good potentials. So to start off, I want to share a really funny story. you really had to be there, but I will try to tell it anyway. So in the morning when we were heading to an appointment, there was this lady on the side of the road next to her car with all the doors open and she was wearing this tan colored dress and she was just dancing like crazy! It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. This bus driver that was turning in front of us also was laughing at it. So we drove on the same street hours later, and there she is, still dancing! It was over 3 hours later. It was so funny.
Anyway, last Saturday night, we went to go and visit a less-active member, but we didn't have an apartment number so we decided to just knock some doors around the area anyway. The second door we knock on a couple opened the door and immediately let us in. They were saying that right that second they were talking about religion. They have had some difficult circumstances in the past few months and they have a strong desire to change their lives and set a better example for their children. We talked with them about the basics of our doctrine and they fell in love with it. They said this "my new church". They also came to church and loved it as well. They were taking the initiative to get to know the members too! There was a great spirit present as we taught them too. We talked about repentance and prophets and the Plan of Salvation. They loved it.
We had two of our Sri Lankan friends come to church as well. They also enjoyed it and we had a chance to teach them too. We are seeing a lot of success here. I think the next transfer (which ends next week) will have a few baptisms too. Staten Island is great!
We still have been going down to the Staten Island Ferry a lot to go and talk to people. That seems to be working the best for us.
The Lord has been blessing us with many people to teach, which has been a little scary, because that means I need to make sure that I am doing everything I can to have the spirit with me so I can live up to the potential that my Heavenly Father expects of me here in this area.
I am so sorry this is short. I keep forgetting to bring my journal with me. All the days feel like a blur and I forget everything. I absolutely love serving here in Staten Island. I promise I will send a better detailed letter next week I promise!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Anyway, last Saturday night, we went to go and visit a less-active member, but we didn't have an apartment number so we decided to just knock some doors around the area anyway. The second door we knock on a couple opened the door and immediately let us in. They were saying that right that second they were talking about religion. They have had some difficult circumstances in the past few months and they have a strong desire to change their lives and set a better example for their children. We talked with them about the basics of our doctrine and they fell in love with it. They said this "my new church". They also came to church and loved it as well. They were taking the initiative to get to know the members too! There was a great spirit present as we taught them too. We talked about repentance and prophets and the Plan of Salvation. They loved it.
We had two of our Sri Lankan friends come to church as well. They also enjoyed it and we had a chance to teach them too. We are seeing a lot of success here. I think the next transfer (which ends next week) will have a few baptisms too. Staten Island is great!
We still have been going down to the Staten Island Ferry a lot to go and talk to people. That seems to be working the best for us.
The Lord has been blessing us with many people to teach, which has been a little scary, because that means I need to make sure that I am doing everything I can to have the spirit with me so I can live up to the potential that my Heavenly Father expects of me here in this area.
I am so sorry this is short. I keep forgetting to bring my journal with me. All the days feel like a blur and I forget everything. I absolutely love serving here in Staten Island. I promise I will send a better detailed letter next week I promise!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Week 37 Pics
At the Yankees Baseball Game
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| This was taken up in
Queens while I was driving on the BQE to go to the mission office. |
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| HEADQUARTERS TROOP, 51ST CAVALRY BRIGADE ARMORY |
Tsubon and Myunbo's Baptism
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Week 36 NYNYS
We went to a Staten Island Yankee (Minor League Baseball) game in the morning of our P-Day which was a lot of fun. Of course I watched the umpires again and they were pretty good! We almost had a ball hit too us to. We then played some volleyball in Brooklyn with some other missionaries and yes, I dominated.
Anyway, we had a baptism on Sunday! Tsubon and Myunbo were baptized and confirmed members of the church. Their dad baptized them and then I confirmed Tsubon and my companion confirmed Myunbo. It was a great baptismal service. Tsubon played Teach Me to Walk in the Light as the musical number and only played the top hand a nd made a few mistakes, but it was good. I guess he had to redeem himself when he asked to play one more musical number at the end and he played the Fur Elise perfectly!
We also taught a Sri Lankan family that I found by the ferry and they have no Christian background and were Buddhist. We and the sister missionaries have been tag team teaching them since Chooti has his wife and two daughters. It has been going very well. Chooti has been calling us and asking when we can come which has been exciting and it is keeping us on our toes. I think they don't completely understand everything that they are learning, but I can tell they feel the spirit and want to do what we ask them too. I could tell in their eyes that when we taught them to pray and asked them to pray to find out for themselves if God was really there and if Jesus Christ really was the Savior, they felt the spirit telling them that that was something they should do. They are great! Chooti even came to church as well and really enjoyed it!
We also have been in contact with several people from Sri Lanka that are genuinely interested in the gospel. They are even referring their friends to us too! People from Sri Lanka are such warm and kind people.
So as we were driving to the library we got into a small accident. All of the cars stopped suddenly and the guy behind me slammed into the back my companion and I. It was a pretty hard hit and scared me to death! The guy that hit me just drove off and I was like... nope! So I pretended I was in fast a furious and chased him down (it wasn't really that crazy though). The car is totally fine and we are too except I jammed my thumb really bad on the steering wheel and now I can't move it, but I should be alright in a few days. It was an interesting experience that I do not want to have again. I am going to drive even more cautiously to try and prevent that from happening again.
It has been extremely hot over here. It has been in the low 100's and high 90's with insanely high humidity. You walk outside and you are immediately drenched in sweat. It is awful. So humid that we can't even see Manhattan anymore.
So many good things are happening in Staten Island! Elder Tuiaki and I have already hit our transfer and 3 month goal for baptisms and we are hitting almost every goal for lessons and such and there is still so much to do and so many other routes that are open for us to take.
I know that there is not a lot of details of the more important things. I forgot my journal and I have to cram this email in since today is not my P-Day. I will send pics of the baptism next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Anyway, we had a baptism on Sunday! Tsubon and Myunbo were baptized and confirmed members of the church. Their dad baptized them and then I confirmed Tsubon and my companion confirmed Myunbo. It was a great baptismal service. Tsubon played Teach Me to Walk in the Light as the musical number and only played the top hand a nd made a few mistakes, but it was good. I guess he had to redeem himself when he asked to play one more musical number at the end and he played the Fur Elise perfectly!
We also taught a Sri Lankan family that I found by the ferry and they have no Christian background and were Buddhist. We and the sister missionaries have been tag team teaching them since Chooti has his wife and two daughters. It has been going very well. Chooti has been calling us and asking when we can come which has been exciting and it is keeping us on our toes. I think they don't completely understand everything that they are learning, but I can tell they feel the spirit and want to do what we ask them too. I could tell in their eyes that when we taught them to pray and asked them to pray to find out for themselves if God was really there and if Jesus Christ really was the Savior, they felt the spirit telling them that that was something they should do. They are great! Chooti even came to church as well and really enjoyed it!
We also have been in contact with several people from Sri Lanka that are genuinely interested in the gospel. They are even referring their friends to us too! People from Sri Lanka are such warm and kind people.
So as we were driving to the library we got into a small accident. All of the cars stopped suddenly and the guy behind me slammed into the back my companion and I. It was a pretty hard hit and scared me to death! The guy that hit me just drove off and I was like... nope! So I pretended I was in fast a furious and chased him down (it wasn't really that crazy though). The car is totally fine and we are too except I jammed my thumb really bad on the steering wheel and now I can't move it, but I should be alright in a few days. It was an interesting experience that I do not want to have again. I am going to drive even more cautiously to try and prevent that from happening again.
It has been extremely hot over here. It has been in the low 100's and high 90's with insanely high humidity. You walk outside and you are immediately drenched in sweat. It is awful. So humid that we can't even see Manhattan anymore.
So many good things are happening in Staten Island! Elder Tuiaki and I have already hit our transfer and 3 month goal for baptisms and we are hitting almost every goal for lessons and such and there is still so much to do and so many other routes that are open for us to take.
I know that there is not a lot of details of the more important things. I forgot my journal and I have to cram this email in since today is not my P-Day. I will send pics of the baptism next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, July 15, 2013
Week 35 NYNYS, Staten Island- the best area in the mission...
Everything is great in Staten Island. We are seeing such positive results here! It gets better and better every week. The week before was a little difficult, but this week was great!
Our mission loves Elder Tuiaki and I and provided us with an extra A/C so now we can survive in our apartment! It was getting unbearable.
Early in the week, we visited the Fernando family from Sri Lanka. Sister Fernando made Curry Chicken, and oh man, it was the best food I have ever eaten in my life! She also made this awesome noodle dish that was amazing. They are the coolest family ever. We had a great time with them. I am so glad that we had a chance to get to know them, because lately we have been coming in contact with many people from Sri Lanka. One, we are meeting tomorrow with Bro Fernando, and the other is trying to find a new job just so he can meet with us and come to church on Sunday! People from Sri Lanka are so warm and welcoming.
There is this beautiful place by the St. George Staten Island Ferry that has a wonderful view of the water, Brooklyn, Manhattan and New Jersey that many people come and sit while they wait for the ferry. Most people are sitting quietly and thinking and we simply say hi and start a conversation. We have met some great people there that are very interested in what we have and are being prepared to hear as well.
On Saturday we had our ward Cultural Party which was a blast. It went very well and there was tons of food from many different countries (these are my favorite parties, because all the left over food comes to the missionaries, and it is a buffet). There was one kid that could do the Gangnam Style dance perfectly. It was hilarious.
The baptism that we were planning on having yesterday, didn't happen this Sunday. We did not feel quite comfortable having the baptism then because we have a few more things to go over with them and we didn't to rush them. They are really excited and ready for baptism this Sunday. I feel that pushing the baptism back will help them have a much more memorable experience. Yesterday, the other Elders had a baptism too that I filled in for the musical number on the violin and played the piano as well. I played a medley of He Sent His Son, Baptism, and When Jesus Christ Was Baptized. It went well and the baptism was nice.
Following the baptism, we went to the Ferry to go talk to people. We walked down and ran into the Lettoerle family and they asked us if we wanted to go meet their upstairs neighbor they talked to about the gospel and wanted to meet us. I was like of course we do! Him and his daughter are definitely ready for the gospel. We talked about the Restoration and and watched the 30 min movie on it as well and they loved it. They also said they would be willing to be baptized. They have had a very tough life and really want to follow God and keep His commandments.
Staten Island is great! I really love it out here. Everything is going well. Thank you so much for those who wrote me this week. I will work on writing you back today. Time for our zone activity- volleyball (YES!) and ping pong at the chapel in Dyker Heights!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Our mission loves Elder Tuiaki and I and provided us with an extra A/C so now we can survive in our apartment! It was getting unbearable.
Early in the week, we visited the Fernando family from Sri Lanka. Sister Fernando made Curry Chicken, and oh man, it was the best food I have ever eaten in my life! She also made this awesome noodle dish that was amazing. They are the coolest family ever. We had a great time with them. I am so glad that we had a chance to get to know them, because lately we have been coming in contact with many people from Sri Lanka. One, we are meeting tomorrow with Bro Fernando, and the other is trying to find a new job just so he can meet with us and come to church on Sunday! People from Sri Lanka are so warm and welcoming.
There is this beautiful place by the St. George Staten Island Ferry that has a wonderful view of the water, Brooklyn, Manhattan and New Jersey that many people come and sit while they wait for the ferry. Most people are sitting quietly and thinking and we simply say hi and start a conversation. We have met some great people there that are very interested in what we have and are being prepared to hear as well.
On Saturday we had our ward Cultural Party which was a blast. It went very well and there was tons of food from many different countries (these are my favorite parties, because all the left over food comes to the missionaries, and it is a buffet). There was one kid that could do the Gangnam Style dance perfectly. It was hilarious.
The baptism that we were planning on having yesterday, didn't happen this Sunday. We did not feel quite comfortable having the baptism then because we have a few more things to go over with them and we didn't to rush them. They are really excited and ready for baptism this Sunday. I feel that pushing the baptism back will help them have a much more memorable experience. Yesterday, the other Elders had a baptism too that I filled in for the musical number on the violin and played the piano as well. I played a medley of He Sent His Son, Baptism, and When Jesus Christ Was Baptized. It went well and the baptism was nice.
Following the baptism, we went to the Ferry to go talk to people. We walked down and ran into the Lettoerle family and they asked us if we wanted to go meet their upstairs neighbor they talked to about the gospel and wanted to meet us. I was like of course we do! Him and his daughter are definitely ready for the gospel. We talked about the Restoration and and watched the 30 min movie on it as well and they loved it. They also said they would be willing to be baptized. They have had a very tough life and really want to follow God and keep His commandments.
Staten Island is great! I really love it out here. Everything is going well. Thank you so much for those who wrote me this week. I will work on writing you back today. Time for our zone activity- volleyball (YES!) and ping pong at the chapel in Dyker Heights!
Love,
Elder Hooper
p.s. I have been out for 8 months now.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Week 34 NYNYS, Hot, Humid, Rainy, Beautiful Staten Island.
It has been insanely hot this week! Our apartment has also been 86 degrees since we only have one weak A/C unit in a big apartment (I took pictures, but this library's operating system will not allow me to upload pictures!). I went and bought a heavy duty floor fan because I was dying. The only place we can escape the heat is in our car!
It has been an insane week! We have had lots of lessons and reached all of our goals and plus some. Tsubon (13) and Myunbo (11) are being baptized this Sunday by their Dad! We will be teaching them a few more times this week. We taught them a watered-down version of the Plan of Salvation and we realized that they need to be taught more detailed lessons when they started asking questions like: what happens to us after we go to the Celestial kingdom, and what happens to the "Pre-Earth heaven" when we go to the "Celestial Kingdom heaven", etc. The member that was teaching with us was even surprised. They are super smart young men. They are really excited to be baptized as well.
We had a crazy experience last night when we were knocking on doors. We knocked on one door and this older man opens the door and he is wearing a leopard print Speedo (sorry for the mental picture) and says "you have some nerve knocking on my door this early in the morning (by the way it was 6:30pm at this point) get out of here!" and slammed the door. There was some swearing intermixed in there as well. It was pretty humorous at the end of the night. Thought I would share this odd experience with you.
So this week has just been a bit difficult for me, I mean seeing an old man in a Speedo, how could it not have been! Just kidding. There has been a lot of pressure on my shoulders this week. Trying to figure out investigators' needs, understanding their concerns asap to know how I can help them, and trying to help my companion who has a hard time understanding English, etc.
I had an interesting experience as I was praying this morning. As soon as I started to pray, I had this uncomfortable, confusing feeling come over me. My mind was racing trying to understand why I was feeling this way. I remembered past experiences and know this is not how the Lord works. His Spirit speaks joy, peace, love, and godly sorrow/chastisement when we sin, that leads us to repent and this spirit I was feeling was not like any of these I have felt before. I also remembered the scripture in D&C 50:31 “Wherefore, it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus; and if he give not unto you that spirit, then you may know that it is not of God.”. I asked God if this spirit was from him and if it was, to let me feel it again. It left and didn't come back. I knew that the adversary has been playing with all this pressure on me and trying to bring me down. There is so much work to do in this area of my mission!
I have been teaching Elder Tuiaki English in the mornings during our language studies. It is pretty fun. I also have been watching the church videos in ASL so I can understand what it is like teaching yourself a language, I am picking up more ASL and I can help my companion learn English. He is very dedicated and works very hard. He is so funny. He says the funniest things that can be a bit racist sometimes since he doesn't really understand what he is saying! He makes me crack up in the car all the time when he tries to mimic accents!
Well I hope you are all doing well and enjoy your week this week! I love you. Thank you Grandma Hooper, my family and Elder Buckley for your letters! They mean a lot to me!
Love from Staten Island,
Elder Hooper
Monday, July 1, 2013
Week 33 NYNYS - Transfered to Staten Island
Loving the new area!
Hello everybody! It has been a busy and exciting week! I have been transferred to Staten Island! I absolutely love it out here so far. I like it even more than Brooklyn. I didn't have time to take pictures this morning of the apartment and area and such since we helped a family move early this morning. I will send some pictures next week! My companion is Elder Tuiaki from Tonga! He has been out for 1 year and 2 months and is still learning English. There is a slight communication barrier, but I love this guy a lot. He is a very warm and friendly guy.
I get to also drive a car! I am driving a 2011 Subaru Impreza. When I first got here, the previous missionary was trying to change the tire and snapped one of the wheel studs off the tire and stripped the lug nut. Instead of loosening the lug nuts in a star pattern, he just went in a circle and the pressure and weight of the car just snapped it. I had to snap another one off and one of the lug nuts was impossible to remove. The first 2 days here were just spent on getting our car fixed, calling pep boys, calling the dealership, and calling the mission office. He ended up having to get the car towed and had to buy the parts from the dealership! Ahh crazy stuff! Now it’s working, but we still have to get another wheel stud and nut since pep boys had to break another one off. The AC works great though!
I am serving in the Staten Island 1st Ward. It is such a strong ward and functions very well too! The members are very supportive and love the missionaries. Our district is one of the most obedient in the mission. We all work hard and follow the white hand book with exactness. It is so nice when everyone is working hard and being obedient. It makes us all more unified and have the spirit and also it strengthens the trust with the members and with the missionaries. Our apartment is huge! It is twice the size of my last apartment. It is so nice. We live right above the zone leaders. Oh yea, my companion is also the district leader. We have 3 Sisters who are in a trio and just us 4 Elders. We have the best missionaries in the mission here in Staten. I got to make sure I keep up with them haha!
We had a really cool experience last night too! We were looking up some less-active people and we went to go visit Hilda and Larry's family. Hilda was baptized 3 years ago and Larry and the family (Chris 22, Dominik and Helen about 12) are not members. We knocked on the door and they were very warm and welcoming and said we should come back since Larry was still recovering from surgery and Hilda wasn't feeling well. We set a date and time and we left. As I was walking back to the car and about to get in, I had the distinct impression to go back and leave a blessing on their home. I turned to Elder Tuiaki and told him what I felt and we both were kind of like, "that is going to be kind of odd to go back", but we went anyway. They accepted to prayer and really felt the spirit. We ended up talking for 2 hours! They are such a great family and Hilda has many gifts of the spirit as well.
As we were tracting, we met this Byzantine Orthodox that was slightly apostate and was so offended and didn't understand how I could have received a witness about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I was getting so frustrated and I was like "you know, we aren't going to come to any agreement so we have to leave, and I just walked away". He wouldn't let us go, but I was like I am out of here haha!
Everything is great! I absolutely love Staten! I being much more fearless and working harder than I have in a while. I was getting really tired of doing the same things everyday in the same small area for 7 months!
I pray that all of you are doing well! Talk to you guys next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
My New Address:
417 Westervelt Ave Apt 2
Staten Island, NY 10301
Hello everybody! It has been a busy and exciting week! I have been transferred to Staten Island! I absolutely love it out here so far. I like it even more than Brooklyn. I didn't have time to take pictures this morning of the apartment and area and such since we helped a family move early this morning. I will send some pictures next week! My companion is Elder Tuiaki from Tonga! He has been out for 1 year and 2 months and is still learning English. There is a slight communication barrier, but I love this guy a lot. He is a very warm and friendly guy.
I get to also drive a car! I am driving a 2011 Subaru Impreza. When I first got here, the previous missionary was trying to change the tire and snapped one of the wheel studs off the tire and stripped the lug nut. Instead of loosening the lug nuts in a star pattern, he just went in a circle and the pressure and weight of the car just snapped it. I had to snap another one off and one of the lug nuts was impossible to remove. The first 2 days here were just spent on getting our car fixed, calling pep boys, calling the dealership, and calling the mission office. He ended up having to get the car towed and had to buy the parts from the dealership! Ahh crazy stuff! Now it’s working, but we still have to get another wheel stud and nut since pep boys had to break another one off. The AC works great though!
I am serving in the Staten Island 1st Ward. It is such a strong ward and functions very well too! The members are very supportive and love the missionaries. Our district is one of the most obedient in the mission. We all work hard and follow the white hand book with exactness. It is so nice when everyone is working hard and being obedient. It makes us all more unified and have the spirit and also it strengthens the trust with the members and with the missionaries. Our apartment is huge! It is twice the size of my last apartment. It is so nice. We live right above the zone leaders. Oh yea, my companion is also the district leader. We have 3 Sisters who are in a trio and just us 4 Elders. We have the best missionaries in the mission here in Staten. I got to make sure I keep up with them haha!
We had a really cool experience last night too! We were looking up some less-active people and we went to go visit Hilda and Larry's family. Hilda was baptized 3 years ago and Larry and the family (Chris 22, Dominik and Helen about 12) are not members. We knocked on the door and they were very warm and welcoming and said we should come back since Larry was still recovering from surgery and Hilda wasn't feeling well. We set a date and time and we left. As I was walking back to the car and about to get in, I had the distinct impression to go back and leave a blessing on their home. I turned to Elder Tuiaki and told him what I felt and we both were kind of like, "that is going to be kind of odd to go back", but we went anyway. They accepted to prayer and really felt the spirit. We ended up talking for 2 hours! They are such a great family and Hilda has many gifts of the spirit as well.
As we were tracting, we met this Byzantine Orthodox that was slightly apostate and was so offended and didn't understand how I could have received a witness about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I was getting so frustrated and I was like "you know, we aren't going to come to any agreement so we have to leave, and I just walked away". He wouldn't let us go, but I was like I am out of here haha!
Everything is great! I absolutely love Staten! I being much more fearless and working harder than I have in a while. I was getting really tired of doing the same things everyday in the same small area for 7 months!
I pray that all of you are doing well! Talk to you guys next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
My New Address:
417 Westervelt Ave Apt 2
Staten Island, NY 10301
Monday, June 24, 2013
Week 32, NYNYS - TRANSFERS!
Transfer number 6 here I come. I am being transferred! I have no clue where yet, but I will find out who my companion is and where I will be going tomorrow in our big transfer meeting. All the missionaries who are being involved in transfers will gather at the mission office and start listing off new companionships and areas. It is a very intense meeting full of laughter and excitement. It is especially fun to see the reactions of everyone. There are always "ooooohs" and "ohhs"! Its fun. Next Monday I will let you know where I will be.
I was really hard to say goodbyes to so many people I love in the Bushwick 1st Branch. There are so many members that I grew close too. I took lots of pictures, but I forgot my camera cord so I will have to send them next Monday. I also had a really cool opportunity to interpret for a deaf lady that came to our sacrament meeting. She is trying to decide whether or not to go to our branch or the deaf branch due to commute issues. I did an alright job, but she said that I did pretty good job for my first time. I also had the chance to bear my testimony on last time and I even added some sign language in there for her too! The branch had no idea that I knew sign language. They saw me interpreting and came up to me and said "you play the violin, you are awesome, and you know sign language! What else can you do that we don't know about?" I got a kick out of that.
Although I won't be in this area to continue this event, I contacted the New York Blood Center and started a blood drive at the church in our area. I was really excited about doing this! I think it will bring people into the church building that would never have come any other way. People are quite interested in donating blood and the NYBC is so excited to work with us since they have hardly any people to sponsor blood drives in Brooklyn. They also are going to give us two free Mets tickets for everyone that comes to donate blood for a summer 2013 game. Hopefully Elder Lewis will be able to take over this event now that I won't be there for it.
So a few days ago, we helped a family move to Seattle (that is going to be a long drive!). Their daughter was being so funny. She had a squirt gun and was shooting us and then soon the water fight began. Once the daughter got pretty wet, she came out with a cup of water and just threw it and Elder Finlinson and soaked him! It only escalated soon to everyone getting wet except me and Elder Lewis. We hid next to Grandma which was the safe zone, until she launched a cup of water at me which I used my ninja, jedi, matrix skills to dodge and it partially hit the Grandma! It finally came to an end with the daughter completely soaked head to toe and then the daughter with a full cup of water saying "we aren't finished yet, he isn't wet yet" then immediately splashed Elder Kang totally soaking him! It was hilarious!
Ahh! So Crazy-Ann found me the other day. She is a lady that all the missionaries try to avoid because she is a little crazy. I saw her in the bodega and I just dropped my head and walked away, but she chased me down and kissed me on the cheek and tried to make me give her a blessing right there on the street. She scares me man! Don't worry, I survived.
Well I have to get going and start packing and stuff. I love you all so much! If you plan on sending any mail this week just send it to the mission office address and they will get it to me. Thanks for all your support and the package Uncle Kirk!
Love,
Elder Hooper
NYNYS Mission Office
85-69 60th Dr.
Elmhurst, NY 11373
I was really hard to say goodbyes to so many people I love in the Bushwick 1st Branch. There are so many members that I grew close too. I took lots of pictures, but I forgot my camera cord so I will have to send them next Monday. I also had a really cool opportunity to interpret for a deaf lady that came to our sacrament meeting. She is trying to decide whether or not to go to our branch or the deaf branch due to commute issues. I did an alright job, but she said that I did pretty good job for my first time. I also had the chance to bear my testimony on last time and I even added some sign language in there for her too! The branch had no idea that I knew sign language. They saw me interpreting and came up to me and said "you play the violin, you are awesome, and you know sign language! What else can you do that we don't know about?" I got a kick out of that.
Although I won't be in this area to continue this event, I contacted the New York Blood Center and started a blood drive at the church in our area. I was really excited about doing this! I think it will bring people into the church building that would never have come any other way. People are quite interested in donating blood and the NYBC is so excited to work with us since they have hardly any people to sponsor blood drives in Brooklyn. They also are going to give us two free Mets tickets for everyone that comes to donate blood for a summer 2013 game. Hopefully Elder Lewis will be able to take over this event now that I won't be there for it.
So a few days ago, we helped a family move to Seattle (that is going to be a long drive!). Their daughter was being so funny. She had a squirt gun and was shooting us and then soon the water fight began. Once the daughter got pretty wet, she came out with a cup of water and just threw it and Elder Finlinson and soaked him! It only escalated soon to everyone getting wet except me and Elder Lewis. We hid next to Grandma which was the safe zone, until she launched a cup of water at me which I used my ninja, jedi, matrix skills to dodge and it partially hit the Grandma! It finally came to an end with the daughter completely soaked head to toe and then the daughter with a full cup of water saying "we aren't finished yet, he isn't wet yet" then immediately splashed Elder Kang totally soaking him! It was hilarious!
Ahh! So Crazy-Ann found me the other day. She is a lady that all the missionaries try to avoid because she is a little crazy. I saw her in the bodega and I just dropped my head and walked away, but she chased me down and kissed me on the cheek and tried to make me give her a blessing right there on the street. She scares me man! Don't worry, I survived.
Well I have to get going and start packing and stuff. I love you all so much! If you plan on sending any mail this week just send it to the mission office address and they will get it to me. Thanks for all your support and the package Uncle Kirk!
Love,
Elder Hooper
NYNYS Mission Office
85-69 60th Dr.
Elmhurst, NY 11373
Monday, June 17, 2013
Week 31 NYNYS, The end of transfer number 5
Hello from NYC!
It has been a trying week for me! Williamsburg and Greenpoint where I proselyte is probably one of the more difficult areas to work in. Everyone is young and into the ways of the world, fashion, "hipsterism", etc. We have been coming across lots of false doctrine and other things from people that are just confusing my mind! There is however one thing I am sure on, and that is that Joseph Smith really was a true prophet and through him the church, the priesthood keys, and another witness of Jesus Christ was restored. I know that the Savior lives as well. I have felt his redeeming and forgiving power of the Atonement multiple times in my life and I cannot deny it.
Last week, I had an awesome opportunity to go to the family history center in downtown Brooklyn to learn some of the basics of beginning on family history. I learned a lot about how to get started and once you have gotten the basics filled out how to move on after that. I felt really close to my family members as I was doing some research on the Pollmann side of my family. I sure do love family history.
We have had some crazy rain storms out here lately. I bought a decently cheap umbrella and it lasted for a while until a gale force wind inverted it and snapped the metal pieces that hold the fabric together. It was still intact enough that it covered in my head, but than another gale force wind hit us and the umbrella shaft snapped. I just Hulk-smashed it on the ground a few times and tossed it in the garbage and got soaked :D. I went out and bought a fancy umbrella from staples that is made of fiber-glass and has a vented canopy for wind. Bring it on rain!
Elder Lewis and I are pro-status at handball right now. We have played a few nights with some younger guys out at the park and we basically rock. Two guys with shirt, ties, and dress shoes destroying people. It is fun. We are starting to become part of the handball community since we see and play a lot of the same people.
My companion and I taught Gospel Doctrine on Sunday. I think it went really well. People were very appreciative to what we discussed. We created a scenario of a person named "Jerry" who is active in the church, reads, prays, has a good family, etc and just feels like he is lacking spiritually. We discussed as a class what we could do to help Jerry, who is really all members of the church at times. We made this lesson as an opportunity to have the branch members help each other strengthen themselves without them really realizing it! Many people were taking notes and thanked us at the end. I love to teach classes!
This next week is looking pretty promising as we do have appointments with people to teach, which I am very excited for. Not teaching people is pretty disappointing!
Oh yea! We discovered that the roof of our apartment has an awesome view of Manhattan! I tried to take some pictures, but so far none of them turned out right. It has been so nice out at night that we will spend some time on our roof before we go to bed and look up at the 12 stars that we can see (kind of sad right? 12 stars is all I counted).
Transfer calls are this week, so next Monday I will let you all know if I am getting transfered or not.
Happy Fathers Day, Happy Birthday to Kaitlyn and Grandma Hooper, and Happy Birthday to my awesome Mom on the 18th! I love you guys so much!
Love,
Elder Hooper
It has been a trying week for me! Williamsburg and Greenpoint where I proselyte is probably one of the more difficult areas to work in. Everyone is young and into the ways of the world, fashion, "hipsterism", etc. We have been coming across lots of false doctrine and other things from people that are just confusing my mind! There is however one thing I am sure on, and that is that Joseph Smith really was a true prophet and through him the church, the priesthood keys, and another witness of Jesus Christ was restored. I know that the Savior lives as well. I have felt his redeeming and forgiving power of the Atonement multiple times in my life and I cannot deny it.
Last week, I had an awesome opportunity to go to the family history center in downtown Brooklyn to learn some of the basics of beginning on family history. I learned a lot about how to get started and once you have gotten the basics filled out how to move on after that. I felt really close to my family members as I was doing some research on the Pollmann side of my family. I sure do love family history.
We have had some crazy rain storms out here lately. I bought a decently cheap umbrella and it lasted for a while until a gale force wind inverted it and snapped the metal pieces that hold the fabric together. It was still intact enough that it covered in my head, but than another gale force wind hit us and the umbrella shaft snapped. I just Hulk-smashed it on the ground a few times and tossed it in the garbage and got soaked :D. I went out and bought a fancy umbrella from staples that is made of fiber-glass and has a vented canopy for wind. Bring it on rain!
Elder Lewis and I are pro-status at handball right now. We have played a few nights with some younger guys out at the park and we basically rock. Two guys with shirt, ties, and dress shoes destroying people. It is fun. We are starting to become part of the handball community since we see and play a lot of the same people.
My companion and I taught Gospel Doctrine on Sunday. I think it went really well. People were very appreciative to what we discussed. We created a scenario of a person named "Jerry" who is active in the church, reads, prays, has a good family, etc and just feels like he is lacking spiritually. We discussed as a class what we could do to help Jerry, who is really all members of the church at times. We made this lesson as an opportunity to have the branch members help each other strengthen themselves without them really realizing it! Many people were taking notes and thanked us at the end. I love to teach classes!
This next week is looking pretty promising as we do have appointments with people to teach, which I am very excited for. Not teaching people is pretty disappointing!
Oh yea! We discovered that the roof of our apartment has an awesome view of Manhattan! I tried to take some pictures, but so far none of them turned out right. It has been so nice out at night that we will spend some time on our roof before we go to bed and look up at the 12 stars that we can see (kind of sad right? 12 stars is all I counted).
Transfer calls are this week, so next Monday I will let you all know if I am getting transfered or not.
Happy Fathers Day, Happy Birthday to Kaitlyn and Grandma Hooper, and Happy Birthday to my awesome Mom on the 18th! I love you guys so much!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, June 10, 2013
Week 30 NYNYS - 7 Months in good ol' NYC
Hey there everybody! Everything is going very well here in Brooklyn. Some exciting news for the church here in New York this week is that a new branch called the Belle Harbor English Branch has been organized by the First Presidency and President Calderwood. Right now the branch is meeting in a member's home until they get a building worked out. This is right where the Hurricane Sandy efforts were so we are excited to see the Lord's Kingdom progress in that area where our mission's efforts have been so focused.
Due to the Tropical Storm Andrea, we have had lots of rain here and much more to come this week unfortunately! Rain for missionaries is not so fun. I feel bad for the missionaries that have to ride bikes in the rain back home.
I have had a really good week. I have learned a lot, especially on Sunday. I had the chance to go on exchanges with my district leader, Elder Kang, and was able to pick through his dying(going home) 23 month old missionary brain for some tips and ideas for being a good leader and successful missionary. I also received some much needed revelation during our Branch Conference on Sunday. I have been feeling like I haven't been working as hard as I should be. I have been in this area for 7 months and I have been noticing that I am starting to get comfortable here. I was praying for some help to know what I can do to get back going and not be "compelled to obey" and be a "slothful servant". In sacrament prayer it talks about keeping all the commandments which "He has given them". A scripture that I recently memorized in Matthew 28:19-20 says to "observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you". I realized at that moment that the Missionary Handbook and its rules are commandments that I have received at this time, and I have been and will be for the rest of my mission promising every week that I will obey them. I have set a vision, some goals, and made plans to be more obedient than I have been. So far I am doing much better and proud of myself for the changes I am making.
I had another experience testifying to me that I have truly been called of God to serve in New York. It is a personal experience for someone that Elder Lewis and I have been visiting and I feel it would be inappropriate to write in this email, but you can ask my parents and they will tell you at their discretion.
Family History has been a huge tool for Elder Lewis and I! It is very effective in our area and I have drawn out a huge family tree on poster board and printed out my 9 generation fan chart and people are fascinated! Even my next door neighbor was very intrigued since she has been looking for her ancestors and found that we have ancestors that are related and she has been searching for names that are already in the computer! It is such a wonderful thing. I feel especially closer to my relatives that have passed on as I have been studying their history. Elder Lewis and I are going to the family history center in Parkslope to learn how to help people who are just starting on Thursday with our branch's family history consultant.
Thank you to all who have sent letters my way. It is great to hear from you all. I have to get going now, but everything is good in da hood!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Due to the Tropical Storm Andrea, we have had lots of rain here and much more to come this week unfortunately! Rain for missionaries is not so fun. I feel bad for the missionaries that have to ride bikes in the rain back home.
I have had a really good week. I have learned a lot, especially on Sunday. I had the chance to go on exchanges with my district leader, Elder Kang, and was able to pick through his dying(going home) 23 month old missionary brain for some tips and ideas for being a good leader and successful missionary. I also received some much needed revelation during our Branch Conference on Sunday. I have been feeling like I haven't been working as hard as I should be. I have been in this area for 7 months and I have been noticing that I am starting to get comfortable here. I was praying for some help to know what I can do to get back going and not be "compelled to obey" and be a "slothful servant". In sacrament prayer it talks about keeping all the commandments which "He has given them". A scripture that I recently memorized in Matthew 28:19-20 says to "observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you". I realized at that moment that the Missionary Handbook and its rules are commandments that I have received at this time, and I have been and will be for the rest of my mission promising every week that I will obey them. I have set a vision, some goals, and made plans to be more obedient than I have been. So far I am doing much better and proud of myself for the changes I am making.
I had another experience testifying to me that I have truly been called of God to serve in New York. It is a personal experience for someone that Elder Lewis and I have been visiting and I feel it would be inappropriate to write in this email, but you can ask my parents and they will tell you at their discretion.
Family History has been a huge tool for Elder Lewis and I! It is very effective in our area and I have drawn out a huge family tree on poster board and printed out my 9 generation fan chart and people are fascinated! Even my next door neighbor was very intrigued since she has been looking for her ancestors and found that we have ancestors that are related and she has been searching for names that are already in the computer! It is such a wonderful thing. I feel especially closer to my relatives that have passed on as I have been studying their history. Elder Lewis and I are going to the family history center in Parkslope to learn how to help people who are just starting on Thursday with our branch's family history consultant.
Thank you to all who have sent letters my way. It is great to hear from you all. I have to get going now, but everything is good in da hood!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Week 29 NYNYS, Hipsters, weird people, and more!
We had a slower week, but lots of things went down! The Boyd family in our branch has a girl named Ava who turned 8 almost a year ago and due to family circumstances she wasn't able to be baptized right away. Her dad is not a member and they don't have any family here in New York. Just last week they finally had some family in time and they wanted to have Ava be baptized that Saturday. Earlier in the week we had a fun lesson with her and her family about baptism. We used an analogy that Elder Lewis used in the past with water and pepper symbolizing the world and sin, clean water representing baptism and soap representing the Holy Ghost. You dip your finger into the water and pepper and it comes out all covered in pepper, or sin, and then you rinse it all off in the other bowl of water and are cleansed from sin, and then you receive the Holy Ghost and put some soap on your finger and go back into the world and all the sin shoots away from you! They really thought it was cool.
We met with Matt Bronner for dinner as well and went over the basics for performing ordinances like blessings properly and we had him consecrate some oil as well. He is so excited to be able to hold this powerful priesthood!
We also had an interesting lesson with Dez last night. We might wait a little longer for his baptism since I think there was a little bit of misunderstanding about what happens after baptism. He really likes us and appreciates the hard work we put into teaching him and respects the members that have helped us teach him too. He asked if it was ok to be baptized here and then go to the another church that he has been attending. He wanted to be baptized with us because he wants to honor our efforts. We helped him understand that we do not want to him to be baptized for our sake or for the members, but for his Heavenly Father and himself. We talked about the priesthood a bit as well. We still aren't sure what we will share next with him. I will be doing a lot of prayer and thinking on his behalf to know what he needs. We also gave him a blessing to help understand what his Heavenly Father wants him to do. I sure do love Dez with all my heart. He is a dear friend of mine and I only want what is best for him.
Elder Lewis had this awesome idea for a finding activity to brighten up the dreadfully hot day. He wanted to do a scavenger hunt and take picture of people that met certain criteria we set up. I will send pictures of who we talked to. We got 11 out of the 15 categories and we destroyed the other companionships too.
There was also this skanky lady on the bus that was arguing with the bus driver since she couldn't the fare because she didn't have change. She was making thing big commotion and finally the bus driver was like yo, get off my bus. She goes to go through the front door, but he wouldn't open and told her to go out the back. She starting saying something about how the front door must have been broken and what not. We were laughing so hard at all of this. There was a teenager that was laughing about how she came on the bus through the front and now she was saying its broken. You had to be there to understand exactly what happened, but it was so funny. I see so many funny things out here.
We have been playing a lot of handball with the youth out here. At around 5pm they all crowd around in the parks and play handball. It is the funnest sport ever. I wish they had handball courts in Arizona. We always have to go back and change afterwards, because I swear I sweat my entire body's supply of water due to the humidity! It is so hot! McCarren Park is the nicest park in our area and it is really close to our apartment. There are hundreds of people playing baseball, kickball, soccer, handball, running, exercising, playing basketball, and even at the swimming pool. It is really fun to be around there and talking to people around there. They also have a big farmers market every Saturday too. The summers are really fun out here since everyone is outside doing things.
We did a Plan of Salvation/Family History activity out in Williamsburg with all the hipsters. We actually had some really good conversations that lasted for about 20 minutes each. I think we finally found what works well in this neighborhood in our area. There are so many different neighborhoods in our area. People tend to live in small communities and each one has their own personalities.
Everything out here is going well! I sure do love Brooklyn. It is such a fun area. It is however very challenging and discouraging at times. I feel like I am in a foreign country most of the time.
Mom and Dad, thank you so much for the awesome package! I loved it! Grandma Hooper: Happy Retirement! I loved your letters as well.
I have been here for almost 7 months. It is crazy how fast time flies by.
Love you guys,
Elder Hooper
We met with Matt Bronner for dinner as well and went over the basics for performing ordinances like blessings properly and we had him consecrate some oil as well. He is so excited to be able to hold this powerful priesthood!
We also had an interesting lesson with Dez last night. We might wait a little longer for his baptism since I think there was a little bit of misunderstanding about what happens after baptism. He really likes us and appreciates the hard work we put into teaching him and respects the members that have helped us teach him too. He asked if it was ok to be baptized here and then go to the another church that he has been attending. He wanted to be baptized with us because he wants to honor our efforts. We helped him understand that we do not want to him to be baptized for our sake or for the members, but for his Heavenly Father and himself. We talked about the priesthood a bit as well. We still aren't sure what we will share next with him. I will be doing a lot of prayer and thinking on his behalf to know what he needs. We also gave him a blessing to help understand what his Heavenly Father wants him to do. I sure do love Dez with all my heart. He is a dear friend of mine and I only want what is best for him.
Elder Lewis had this awesome idea for a finding activity to brighten up the dreadfully hot day. He wanted to do a scavenger hunt and take picture of people that met certain criteria we set up. I will send pictures of who we talked to. We got 11 out of the 15 categories and we destroyed the other companionships too.
There was also this skanky lady on the bus that was arguing with the bus driver since she couldn't the fare because she didn't have change. She was making thing big commotion and finally the bus driver was like yo, get off my bus. She goes to go through the front door, but he wouldn't open and told her to go out the back. She starting saying something about how the front door must have been broken and what not. We were laughing so hard at all of this. There was a teenager that was laughing about how she came on the bus through the front and now she was saying its broken. You had to be there to understand exactly what happened, but it was so funny. I see so many funny things out here.
We have been playing a lot of handball with the youth out here. At around 5pm they all crowd around in the parks and play handball. It is the funnest sport ever. I wish they had handball courts in Arizona. We always have to go back and change afterwards, because I swear I sweat my entire body's supply of water due to the humidity! It is so hot! McCarren Park is the nicest park in our area and it is really close to our apartment. There are hundreds of people playing baseball, kickball, soccer, handball, running, exercising, playing basketball, and even at the swimming pool. It is really fun to be around there and talking to people around there. They also have a big farmers market every Saturday too. The summers are really fun out here since everyone is outside doing things.
We did a Plan of Salvation/Family History activity out in Williamsburg with all the hipsters. We actually had some really good conversations that lasted for about 20 minutes each. I think we finally found what works well in this neighborhood in our area. There are so many different neighborhoods in our area. People tend to live in small communities and each one has their own personalities.
Everything out here is going well! I sure do love Brooklyn. It is such a fun area. It is however very challenging and discouraging at times. I feel like I am in a foreign country most of the time.
Mom and Dad, thank you so much for the awesome package! I loved it! Grandma Hooper: Happy Retirement! I loved your letters as well.
I have been here for almost 7 months. It is crazy how fast time flies by.
Love you guys,
Elder Hooper
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