Hey there! I had a really good week and have been learning a ton from my studies in the morning. I wish I could tell you all what I have been learning recently about the Doctrine of Christ, but it would take all my email time! Spring is officially here and the trees are so pretty here! Unfortunately for me it has been affecting my allergies (my allergy medicine is now working so its all good). Thank you so much to all who wrote me this week! It was a pleasant surprise! I will work on responding to each of you as soon as I can. (Props to my sister Kaitlyn for being the best sister ever by sending me D-Back's updates!)
So last Monday after emailing we had our zone activity which was playing some handball, ultimate frisbee, and football. It was a ton of fun. I even had an awesome diving catch for the frisbee and then ate some turf on the landing. When we were all taking a break and sitting around and playing guitar, this guy out of no where just sits down and just starts talking to us. He started making up a song that went along with one of the Elder's guitar playing and the lyrics were about how kids shouldn't be smoking weed 'cuz they are gonna get caught! Then he pulls out this radio and starts talking some strategy and undercover stuff. At first I thought he was just being weird, but I realized that he was just trying to blend in as an undercover cop as he was following these kids who were smoking weed at the park. He jumps up and starts walking to the kids and his partner popped out and arrested the kids smoking! It was awesome!
We met with a family in the branch and taught them about the Restoration through a game of Jenga! We talked about how Christ's church was established and it was represented by the Jenga tower as it is first set up. Then during the Great Apostasy after Christ was crucified and the apostles were killed, people starting taking out doctrines, or Jenga pieces, and rearranging them. Soon, the whole tower collapses! The church needed to be rebuilt and put back in it's proper form through a Restoration. Cool right? They liked it.
So we have had some interesting run-ins with people out on the street. It is so funny! This is why I love the hipster part of Brooklyn which is my area. Most of the young adults out here know who we are. First off, as we are waiting for a bus, some guys rolls his window down and yells "Go BYU!". Another guy out of his window yelled "Mormons!" and then a guy on a bike yelled some things that I shall not repeat since they were not very nice. It is pretty funny. I just love this area out her, it is so much fun!
So as we were looking up some less active members of our branch, these kids were out talking on the street an saw us and were like, are you Jehovah's Witnesses or federal agents? I said "we are the Mormon missionaries", then the kid responded sarcastically "what?" Then I said we are CIA. He started laughing at that. I have just learned you just can't be super serious here or no one will talk to you. Of course, I still keep the dignity of my calling, but most of the time you need to be yourself and let your personality shine. No one likes a robot.
So during our weekly games in the subway, I had our "Word of Wisdom" dice out and had people give them a roll. There are two dice, one has numbers 1-6 representing amount of days, and the other says things like "No Alcohol" or no coffee for the "x" amount of days you roll. One guys was like "I knew I was going to roll alcohol!" but he actually wanted to take on the challenge. It helped me to open a good conversation and talk about what we do as missionaries, but also how we can help people overcome addictions through the Atonement. People sure did think the dice were interesting.
So my companion had a pretty fun experience Saturday night when a member took us out to eat at a really good barbeque place. While we were there, quite a few people were sneakily taking our picture with their phones (I am sure I was all over Facebook) and lots of stares. Even some lady mumbled something and slapped my name tag as she walked by. The restaurant has many varieties of intoxicating drinks so I think most people there had plenty to drink. The food was absolutely delicious though! We did actually have another lady named Olivia come up to us and started asking questions about our church and I thought she was just trying to be annoying, but she was actually serious! So we were able to get her contact info and share a little bit about what we do.
Another cool experience was when Matt was talking about how before he was a member of the church and really following the Word of Wisdom, he had chronic stomach problems, but now that he is obeying this commandment, he has found "health in his navel". It was really cool to hear that from him!
We are still working on finding people to teach. One of our investigators, however, has really been progressing. He is only 17 and has been coming to church regularly and he says it only gets better and better each week. He is learning a ton and loves the support he is feeling. He is really wishing his dad would start coming with him. He is a really good guy. We showed him the baptismal font and there was a really strong spirit as we showed him. He was really excited and basically asked when he could be baptized. We are going to pick a date on Wednesday! He is really excited and wants to invite his grandparents to come as well.
Our investigators have been doing quite well, but please if you can pray for an investigator of ours named Teresa. She was the one I was talking about having the best Sunday ever with her family. She is having some family struggles and needs some help.
Anyway, things are as good as they always are! I sure do love serving my mission here in NY. Transfers are coming up in about 2 weeks. Hopefully I can continue to stay here in Brooklyn. There is a pretty high chance of me leaving, but I don't want to! I love my area. It is finally getting nice a warm out here, and humid too. There is no other place that I would rather be than right here!
Happy Mother's Day Mom! I will TALK to you soon!!! Ahh! I am going crazy right now just thinking about it. It has been almost 6 months since I have last heard all of your voices. Mom, without your love and support earlier in my life, I would not be the person I am today. I couldn't have done any of this missionary work with you! I love you!
You guys are awesome.
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, April 29, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Week 23 (23 weeks :O)
I can't believe how long I have already been out on my mission! Time sure has flown by. I was just reminiscing on earlier things in life and seeing how I graduated high school a year ago and I am already on a mission- almost 1/4th of the way through. Life goes so fast!
I absolutely love the Bushwick 1st Branch. Never before have I just felt so loved and connected with an LDS congregation. They are all becoming some of my best friends (Mom, I might move out here so I can live in this branch after my mission. Just kidding I wouldn't do that too you). My companion and I had the opportunity to speak in church on Sunday on the Doctrine of Christ. It went really well (If any of you want to read it, I will send a copy of it home so ask my parents to put it on the blog). People really enjoyed our talks and we had a lot of compliments afterwards. I also had two of my investigators come to church for the first time on Sunday! I definitely made my day when I saw both Dez and Edwin there! They both really enjoyed it and it also was a nice touch to have my companion and I speak too. Edwin (17) enjoyed the Aaronic Priesthood class too. Brother Lee, who taught the class, said there was a really strong spirit in the class and they had many good testimonies that were born too. Dez said he really enjoyed just how the gospel was very personal to everyone. He liked that we all shared personal experiences which helped him relate the things that were taught to himself.
The work out in New York is still going very well. We are shifting to a lot of Less-Active work and trying to find those people who haven't been coming to church recently. It has been difficult to find them since everyone is so busy! Edwin and his dad are being taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ now and are both doing really well. Dez is a great guy and is very intelligent and is understanding all of the things we are teaching him. We are on to the commandments with him. I love how all of my investigators are becoming my best friends. I love them all individually and pray for them daily. I learn so much from them as I study and think about them. Being a missionary is just the best experience I could ever have.
We are having a Branch Temple Trip May 2nd! All of the recent converts and the youth are going as well. Since it will be Matt's first time, I get to go with him! I am so excited to go. The temple is the one thing that I miss so much. I miss being able to go whenever I wanted to do or needed to. I miss being inside and pondering and feeling so close to my Heavenly Father. I am very excited to go in two weeks.
We met with a member Mark and his wife early last week and had dinner with them. Mark is a musician and books musicians in gigs and also makes is own music. He showed us one of his songs and it was awesome! It was like indy, classical, and electronic all in one! He made all sounds and sang too. It was super cool. He has all these exotic instruments, one being a finger piano too! I wish I could have stayed there and played with all his instrument and sound equipment all day.
So on Saturday night, I asked my companion if I could see the phone for a second and he said he didn't have it. I didn't have it either so we were both like searching our bags and pockets and found nothing! Then Elder Lewis remembered that some lady bumped into him on the train and he though he pick-pocketed him! We spent the next 24 hours out of touch with our investigators and other missionaries. We went down to the office with a senior couple to get a new phone. This morning we got a text from our District Leader saying the members that we visited that night found our phone. So he didn't actually get pick pocketed! It would have been a cool story if he did :D.
Anyway, I am out of time so I apologize there isn't a lot of stories in this week's letter. We are having a zone activity in a few minutes playing football, volleyball, and handbal so I have to gol!
Thank you for those who sent letters this week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
I absolutely love the Bushwick 1st Branch. Never before have I just felt so loved and connected with an LDS congregation. They are all becoming some of my best friends (Mom, I might move out here so I can live in this branch after my mission. Just kidding I wouldn't do that too you). My companion and I had the opportunity to speak in church on Sunday on the Doctrine of Christ. It went really well (If any of you want to read it, I will send a copy of it home so ask my parents to put it on the blog). People really enjoyed our talks and we had a lot of compliments afterwards. I also had two of my investigators come to church for the first time on Sunday! I definitely made my day when I saw both Dez and Edwin there! They both really enjoyed it and it also was a nice touch to have my companion and I speak too. Edwin (17) enjoyed the Aaronic Priesthood class too. Brother Lee, who taught the class, said there was a really strong spirit in the class and they had many good testimonies that were born too. Dez said he really enjoyed just how the gospel was very personal to everyone. He liked that we all shared personal experiences which helped him relate the things that were taught to himself.
The work out in New York is still going very well. We are shifting to a lot of Less-Active work and trying to find those people who haven't been coming to church recently. It has been difficult to find them since everyone is so busy! Edwin and his dad are being taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ now and are both doing really well. Dez is a great guy and is very intelligent and is understanding all of the things we are teaching him. We are on to the commandments with him. I love how all of my investigators are becoming my best friends. I love them all individually and pray for them daily. I learn so much from them as I study and think about them. Being a missionary is just the best experience I could ever have.
We are having a Branch Temple Trip May 2nd! All of the recent converts and the youth are going as well. Since it will be Matt's first time, I get to go with him! I am so excited to go. The temple is the one thing that I miss so much. I miss being able to go whenever I wanted to do or needed to. I miss being inside and pondering and feeling so close to my Heavenly Father. I am very excited to go in two weeks.
We met with a member Mark and his wife early last week and had dinner with them. Mark is a musician and books musicians in gigs and also makes is own music. He showed us one of his songs and it was awesome! It was like indy, classical, and electronic all in one! He made all sounds and sang too. It was super cool. He has all these exotic instruments, one being a finger piano too! I wish I could have stayed there and played with all his instrument and sound equipment all day.
So on Saturday night, I asked my companion if I could see the phone for a second and he said he didn't have it. I didn't have it either so we were both like searching our bags and pockets and found nothing! Then Elder Lewis remembered that some lady bumped into him on the train and he though he pick-pocketed him! We spent the next 24 hours out of touch with our investigators and other missionaries. We went down to the office with a senior couple to get a new phone. This morning we got a text from our District Leader saying the members that we visited that night found our phone. So he didn't actually get pick pocketed! It would have been a cool story if he did :D.
Anyway, I am out of time so I apologize there isn't a lot of stories in this week's letter. We are having a zone activity in a few minutes playing football, volleyball, and handbal so I have to gol!
Thank you for those who sent letters this week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Week 23 Pics
We have been doing Plan of Salvation street sweeps that have been very effective! We also have been drawing things like this in chalk on the busy sidewalks and subway stops: What is the purpose of life? Mormon.org. It is pretty fun to see all the stare we get.
Monday, April 15, 2013
I love NY!! 5 Months (week 19)
I absolutely love my mission! I really hope that I can just stay this area my whole mission. It is the toughest area in the mission, but I just love it. The Branch here is amazing and the members mean so much to me. I really feel that I am getting closer and closer to each individual member in the branch, especially when a few of them express their love to me. I really appreciate that. The members are like my best friends! Elder Lewis and I had a great week! There is so much to say so I will just go down the days in order and try to get everything! The city is starting to come back a live again. Tons more people are outside and the trees are starting to blossom! It is really nice.
So to start off with a bit of funniness, we were looking up some less actives members and one of them lives in a building right on the edge of the East River and has an awesome Manhattan view! We asked the guy at the front desk how much these apartments cost and he said around $37,500 a month! So as we were walking back from this beautiful building, this (most likely intoxicated) homeless man looked at me and yelled "Mormons Rock!" then I was like "Yea!" and then we fist bumped. Coolest homeless guy ever.
At a recent street sweep, I talked to a man on the street an gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and talked about the Plan of Salvation with him. He said he would like to hear more about this so we have taught him twice now and he is really understanding everything really well. He is very intellectual person so he does a lot of thinking and pondering on what we have been talking about. It will let you all know what happens later in the future and his success. He is a really cool guy.
I had my bimonthly president's interview on Thursday last week. I sure do love President Calderwood. I know he loves and cares about me. He taught me a lot about the Doctrine of Christ and how when someone is being disobedient and not keeping commitments then they don't fully understand the doctrine of Christ. I have been doing a lot of studying lately about the Doctrine of Christ and have been learning so much! I am also speaking on this topic next Sunday in sacrament meeting too.
My joy is just full right now! I had the best Sunday of my life! On Friday, we were walking under the J train on Broadway and we walked past a woman who had a very large cart full of groceries and three 50 gallon plastic tubs that she was trying to load up and take home. I walked past her and then thought I should see if she needs any help. I turned around and asked if we could help her and she most gladly accepted! We talked with her while we walked and when we finally arrived at her house she was just so grateful for our help. Before we left I asked if it would be alright if we could leave a blessing on her home. She gladly accepted that as well. We found out that she just moved out of a shelter and was forced to leave and use her tax return on buying a new apartment within 48 hours. She has no furniture with three kids. I then prayed under the authority of the priesthood and asked the Lord for blessings for her family. She was in tears and just so grateful for our help! She asked us to come back whenever we can. She even came to church on Sunday as well! This is the cool part though. That night while I was praying for her and her family, I had a strong impression that I should ask the branch if they had any furniture that we could possibly round up for her. I asked Brother Barnes and not too long later he responded said that he was able to get a bed. Elder Lewis and I had an old couch in our apartment we never sit on so we loaded these things in Brother Barnes' truck and brought it to her house. The bed was an Ikea bed that I had before so I knew how to set it up and everything.
It was one of the best Sundays of my life. That family was so happy! They all had smiles on their faces and I was just so happy that they were so happy! It is a family of 4 Teresa, 19yr old son Devonte, 16 yr old daughter Grace (who is stoked for coming to church because she fits in so well) and Austin 2 yr old son. I also found out that someone paid Bro Barnes $50 to take the bed off their hands and he had it before I even asked him! It was awesome to see the Lord work through me. Brother Barnes, Elder Lewis, and I got along so well with this family. I love them and sure do hope they will continue to pursue the course of joining the true church of Jesus Christ and ultimately receive the blessings of the temple.
I also had the opportunity to play the organ in sacrament meeting too which was fun. We sang hymns 193, 187, and 291. It was fun. Unfortunately, they just called someone to be the organist so I can't play anymore :(.
A little insight that I have had this week: "Ye are the light of the world...". As a missionary people recognize that I am different than other people. They are watching me and looking to me as an example and judging whether or not I am an effective missionary or not. I have seen this when the lady we helped with her groceries told her story during church how she saw us pass by her then turned around to help her. She noticed our every move even though at first I didn't say anything. Two women apparently saw my companion and I talking to people on the way to church and were talking about it. A member from Utah also stopped and took a picture of us walking on the street. People are always watching. I must always be sure that I being dignified in my calling.
Anyway, I just love my mission. I love serving the Lord. I know that this is the true church. I recently got a new set of scriptures (a condensed quad to be exact) since my others got stolen and I realized how much I treasure the scriptures. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and the heavenly priesthood authority was restored through heavenly messengers. NYNYS!
I hope you all have a great week and hope to hear from you soon!
Love,
Elder Hooper
P.S. Thank you uncle Kirk for the awesome new camera. It is great! Love you!
So to start off with a bit of funniness, we were looking up some less actives members and one of them lives in a building right on the edge of the East River and has an awesome Manhattan view! We asked the guy at the front desk how much these apartments cost and he said around $37,500 a month! So as we were walking back from this beautiful building, this (most likely intoxicated) homeless man looked at me and yelled "Mormons Rock!" then I was like "Yea!" and then we fist bumped. Coolest homeless guy ever.
At a recent street sweep, I talked to a man on the street an gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and talked about the Plan of Salvation with him. He said he would like to hear more about this so we have taught him twice now and he is really understanding everything really well. He is very intellectual person so he does a lot of thinking and pondering on what we have been talking about. It will let you all know what happens later in the future and his success. He is a really cool guy.
I had my bimonthly president's interview on Thursday last week. I sure do love President Calderwood. I know he loves and cares about me. He taught me a lot about the Doctrine of Christ and how when someone is being disobedient and not keeping commitments then they don't fully understand the doctrine of Christ. I have been doing a lot of studying lately about the Doctrine of Christ and have been learning so much! I am also speaking on this topic next Sunday in sacrament meeting too.
My joy is just full right now! I had the best Sunday of my life! On Friday, we were walking under the J train on Broadway and we walked past a woman who had a very large cart full of groceries and three 50 gallon plastic tubs that she was trying to load up and take home. I walked past her and then thought I should see if she needs any help. I turned around and asked if we could help her and she most gladly accepted! We talked with her while we walked and when we finally arrived at her house she was just so grateful for our help. Before we left I asked if it would be alright if we could leave a blessing on her home. She gladly accepted that as well. We found out that she just moved out of a shelter and was forced to leave and use her tax return on buying a new apartment within 48 hours. She has no furniture with three kids. I then prayed under the authority of the priesthood and asked the Lord for blessings for her family. She was in tears and just so grateful for our help! She asked us to come back whenever we can. She even came to church on Sunday as well! This is the cool part though. That night while I was praying for her and her family, I had a strong impression that I should ask the branch if they had any furniture that we could possibly round up for her. I asked Brother Barnes and not too long later he responded said that he was able to get a bed. Elder Lewis and I had an old couch in our apartment we never sit on so we loaded these things in Brother Barnes' truck and brought it to her house. The bed was an Ikea bed that I had before so I knew how to set it up and everything.
It was one of the best Sundays of my life. That family was so happy! They all had smiles on their faces and I was just so happy that they were so happy! It is a family of 4 Teresa, 19yr old son Devonte, 16 yr old daughter Grace (who is stoked for coming to church because she fits in so well) and Austin 2 yr old son. I also found out that someone paid Bro Barnes $50 to take the bed off their hands and he had it before I even asked him! It was awesome to see the Lord work through me. Brother Barnes, Elder Lewis, and I got along so well with this family. I love them and sure do hope they will continue to pursue the course of joining the true church of Jesus Christ and ultimately receive the blessings of the temple.
I also had the opportunity to play the organ in sacrament meeting too which was fun. We sang hymns 193, 187, and 291. It was fun. Unfortunately, they just called someone to be the organist so I can't play anymore :(.
A little insight that I have had this week: "Ye are the light of the world...". As a missionary people recognize that I am different than other people. They are watching me and looking to me as an example and judging whether or not I am an effective missionary or not. I have seen this when the lady we helped with her groceries told her story during church how she saw us pass by her then turned around to help her. She noticed our every move even though at first I didn't say anything. Two women apparently saw my companion and I talking to people on the way to church and were talking about it. A member from Utah also stopped and took a picture of us walking on the street. People are always watching. I must always be sure that I being dignified in my calling.
Anyway, I just love my mission. I love serving the Lord. I know that this is the true church. I recently got a new set of scriptures (a condensed quad to be exact) since my others got stolen and I realized how much I treasure the scriptures. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and the heavenly priesthood authority was restored through heavenly messengers. NYNYS!
I hope you all have a great week and hope to hear from you soon!
Love,
Elder Hooper
P.S. Thank you uncle Kirk for the awesome new camera. It is great! Love you!
Week 19 Pics
These pics are
of my comp and I playing Games in the Bedford L train stop and playing handball
by the church.
Monday, April 8, 2013
5 Months NYNYS (Week 18)
Hey Everybody!
I you enjoyed conference like I did last weekend! I absolutely loved all of Saturday's sessions. I received lots of insights on finding activities to do to help our area find more people to teach.
My new companion is Elder Kade Lewis. He is from Bear Lake, Idaho and has been serving for a year and a half. He has a lot of experience so I am looking forward to working with him. Before conference we have been doing a lot of finding activities such as "prayer tracting" (going around asking people if we could bless their home with a prayer) and street sweeps like a "Questions of the Soul" sweep where we each will have a sign that has a question and with "Ask me about it" underneath. Another idea is an Addiction Recovery street sweep for example we will have signs that say Q: "How can I overcome my __________ addiction? A: Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Ask me how." We also are thinking of doing a Family Proclamation street sweep too. People are actually quite interested in the street sweeps we do and it helps us as individual missionaries be fearless.
So for the Bushwick area, street sweeps seem to be very effective in the area right now so we are starting to incorporate those more often in our everyday finding activities. This is what our week's elliptical activities will look like: Tuesday: Games 3pm-4pm, Wednesday: Service Tracting 1-2p, Greenpoint Ref Church service 4-5pm, Thursday: BoM street sweep 3-4pm, Friday: Games 6-7p, and Saturday: Sports 11am-1pm and a Plan of Salvation street sweep 3-4pm.
On Friday we had a General Conference street sweep where my companion and I made some cards with the church's address and the conference times and went out on the streets under the Mytle-Broadway M/J train stop and told people that we are hearing from a living prophet! No one came unfortunately, but we did get 8 people's information to come and teach them more. We are actually visiting two of those people today!
My General Conference experience was great! I learned so many great things that pertained to the are that I am serving in. I also had lots of finding ideas and many other insights that are helping me become a better missionary. I wish I would have brought my notes to share a few things I learned. I do know that President Monson is a true prophet! I know that he and his counselors and other leaders are called of God. I just had this strong desire to have everyone come and hear General Conference. The people in New York really needed to hear what was shared in conference. I am really looking forward to teach others and help them know that there really is a prophet on the Earth just like Moses who parted the Red Sea and Abraham. After conference is great for missionaries out here in NY because we are now allowed to go out and proselyte without our suit coats!
I apologize that this email is so short! It was a pretty slow week as we simply did lots of finding activities and no teaching. Paula is still doing really well. She is continuing to read the Book of Mormon and loves it.
I love you all very much and look forward to hearing from you all soon!
Love,
Elder Hooper
P.S. April 14th is my 5 month mark! :D
I you enjoyed conference like I did last weekend! I absolutely loved all of Saturday's sessions. I received lots of insights on finding activities to do to help our area find more people to teach.
My new companion is Elder Kade Lewis. He is from Bear Lake, Idaho and has been serving for a year and a half. He has a lot of experience so I am looking forward to working with him. Before conference we have been doing a lot of finding activities such as "prayer tracting" (going around asking people if we could bless their home with a prayer) and street sweeps like a "Questions of the Soul" sweep where we each will have a sign that has a question and with "Ask me about it" underneath. Another idea is an Addiction Recovery street sweep for example we will have signs that say Q: "How can I overcome my __________ addiction? A: Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Ask me how." We also are thinking of doing a Family Proclamation street sweep too. People are actually quite interested in the street sweeps we do and it helps us as individual missionaries be fearless.
So for the Bushwick area, street sweeps seem to be very effective in the area right now so we are starting to incorporate those more often in our everyday finding activities. This is what our week's elliptical activities will look like: Tuesday: Games 3pm-4pm, Wednesday: Service Tracting 1-2p, Greenpoint Ref Church service 4-5pm, Thursday: BoM street sweep 3-4pm, Friday: Games 6-7p, and Saturday: Sports 11am-1pm and a Plan of Salvation street sweep 3-4pm.
On Friday we had a General Conference street sweep where my companion and I made some cards with the church's address and the conference times and went out on the streets under the Mytle-Broadway M/J train stop and told people that we are hearing from a living prophet! No one came unfortunately, but we did get 8 people's information to come and teach them more. We are actually visiting two of those people today!
My General Conference experience was great! I learned so many great things that pertained to the are that I am serving in. I also had lots of finding ideas and many other insights that are helping me become a better missionary. I wish I would have brought my notes to share a few things I learned. I do know that President Monson is a true prophet! I know that he and his counselors and other leaders are called of God. I just had this strong desire to have everyone come and hear General Conference. The people in New York really needed to hear what was shared in conference. I am really looking forward to teach others and help them know that there really is a prophet on the Earth just like Moses who parted the Red Sea and Abraham. After conference is great for missionaries out here in NY because we are now allowed to go out and proselyte without our suit coats!
I apologize that this email is so short! It was a pretty slow week as we simply did lots of finding activities and no teaching. Paula is still doing really well. She is continuing to read the Book of Mormon and loves it.
I love you all very much and look forward to hearing from you all soon!
Love,
Elder Hooper
P.S. April 14th is my 5 month mark! :D
Monday, April 1, 2013
Week 17 NYNYS - Transfer #4
I assume everyone had a great Easter! My Easter was good. I definitely did miss my family's traditions back home, but Easter in NY was fun. We had a baptism in our district as well that Sunday. We also were fed a delicious Bajan (Barbados) dinner last night.
It was definitely a difficult week for me. Lots of little things that added up. One thing in particular was my backpack being stolen! It was kind of my fault, but we were getting Mei Wei (Chinese food) by the church and I left my backpack there for about 20min. I went to go back a get it and it was gone. The workers there had no idea about any of it so it was obviously taken. My scriptures were in there, my camera, and lots of other little things that I used frequently. Thankfully it all can be replaced and nothing too valuable. It was just a disappointing. All these experiences are only for my good! I will be able to laugh at this experience 10 years down the road, and now I have an excuse to buy the 2013 edition to the scriptures in August.
I will begin my fourth transfer tomorrow! Elder McDonald is getting transferred so I will be getting a new companion. Elder McDonald was a great first companion and I am very grateful for all his help and love he showed to me. He helped me to know what being a good companion is all about. I will miss him, but I am really looking forward to a bit of change and new experiences.
I had a cool experience with a man at a park last week. His name is Ariel. I was sitting on a bench reading the Ensign, and I looked over and saw Ariel and had this thought that I needed to go talk to him. Immediately, my mind was saying nah you can just finish this article instead, but I listened to the prompting anyway and went and talked to him. I saw that he was crying and was able to talk to him about what was bothering him. I found out that when I had the prompting to go talk to him, he was praying to God asking for help. It was really cool to see the Lord use me to answer one of his child's prayers. I felt so uplifted after that as I was able to live up to my baptismal covenant, by "mourning with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort".
Paula, and investigator of mine, is doing so well! She is already almost finished with 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon! I am proud of her desire for learning so much so quickly! We did get dropped by another family unfortunately. It has been upsetting to see another family not choose to act on our message, but I am only doing the best I can and doing what the Savior would do. Everyone has their agency and God chooses to honor it as well.
Oh yea, my landlord is the coolest guy ever! He came to our apartment this morning too see some things that he needs to get fixed and he saw that we had junky study chairs so he was like, "I am going to get you guys some matching chairs". Then 20 minutes later he calls us and says he is coming to our apartment in 10 minutes. He came with 2 brand new Staples office chairs that are super nice and comfortable. They are easily over $100 chairs. He is so cool!
I am sorry this is so short, but I am pressed for time this P-Day. It has been really busy since Elder McDonald has been packing and such! I am now going to woop on the other missionaries at ping pong!
Love you all!
Elder Hooper
It was definitely a difficult week for me. Lots of little things that added up. One thing in particular was my backpack being stolen! It was kind of my fault, but we were getting Mei Wei (Chinese food) by the church and I left my backpack there for about 20min. I went to go back a get it and it was gone. The workers there had no idea about any of it so it was obviously taken. My scriptures were in there, my camera, and lots of other little things that I used frequently. Thankfully it all can be replaced and nothing too valuable. It was just a disappointing. All these experiences are only for my good! I will be able to laugh at this experience 10 years down the road, and now I have an excuse to buy the 2013 edition to the scriptures in August.
I will begin my fourth transfer tomorrow! Elder McDonald is getting transferred so I will be getting a new companion. Elder McDonald was a great first companion and I am very grateful for all his help and love he showed to me. He helped me to know what being a good companion is all about. I will miss him, but I am really looking forward to a bit of change and new experiences.
I had a cool experience with a man at a park last week. His name is Ariel. I was sitting on a bench reading the Ensign, and I looked over and saw Ariel and had this thought that I needed to go talk to him. Immediately, my mind was saying nah you can just finish this article instead, but I listened to the prompting anyway and went and talked to him. I saw that he was crying and was able to talk to him about what was bothering him. I found out that when I had the prompting to go talk to him, he was praying to God asking for help. It was really cool to see the Lord use me to answer one of his child's prayers. I felt so uplifted after that as I was able to live up to my baptismal covenant, by "mourning with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort".
Paula, and investigator of mine, is doing so well! She is already almost finished with 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon! I am proud of her desire for learning so much so quickly! We did get dropped by another family unfortunately. It has been upsetting to see another family not choose to act on our message, but I am only doing the best I can and doing what the Savior would do. Everyone has their agency and God chooses to honor it as well.
Oh yea, my landlord is the coolest guy ever! He came to our apartment this morning too see some things that he needs to get fixed and he saw that we had junky study chairs so he was like, "I am going to get you guys some matching chairs". Then 20 minutes later he calls us and says he is coming to our apartment in 10 minutes. He came with 2 brand new Staples office chairs that are super nice and comfortable. They are easily over $100 chairs. He is so cool!
I am sorry this is so short, but I am pressed for time this P-Day. It has been really busy since Elder McDonald has been packing and such! I am now going to woop on the other missionaries at ping pong!
Love you all!
Elder Hooper
Monday, March 25, 2013
Week 16 NYNYS
Hey everyone!
Happy Easter! I am very excited for this Easter week. My studies have been more focused on the ministry of Christ during the last week of His mortal ministry. I sure do love the Savior and all that He has done for all of us. I am also totally pumped for General Conference! Never before have I been more excited to hear from our Prophet. Maybe its because I am missionary, or its just because President Monson is my idol, but either way I am very excited. I am trying to reread all of last General Conference in preparation for the upcoming sessions. We will be watching it in our chapel with the other members of our branch. It will be much later than I am used to though. Priesthood session will be from 8pm to 10pm! Hopefully I can stay awake.
Anyway, it has been a great week! A little disappointing towards the end, but overall pretty good. We taught a lot last week, met with some great people, and also visited members of the branch as well. We have been in contact with some wonderful families that have expressed interest in the church and hearing more from us. I have developed such a strong love for each of these families and individuals. I have been praying and thinking about these people so much! It really hurt when one of them decided not to meet with us anymore. Never before have I felt just so disappointed. I know that what the Lord has to offer these individuals through us is so important and it brings eternal and lasting happiness. I still love them to death so hopefully we can meet up with them again soon. This experience really helped me to understand how the Savior must have felt when he was "despised and rejected of men" that he loved and served with all of His heart. He knew them, and desired so much to help them, and then he took upon Himself all of their sins and pains, then died for them. Many of them still rejected Him. I can't imagine how hard that must have been for Him.
We had a mission conference this week with Brother Drubois, Head of the Missionary Media Department (he supervises over things like mormon.org and Preach My Gospel), and also Brother Watson, Head of the Missionary Proselyting Department in the church. They gave us a lot of great insights in how to improve our proselyting efforts. One thing I especially loved was this statement, which I tweaked a little. "Obedience is power. Obedience is spiritual credibility. Obedience is Repentance". They also hinted to us that our mission is going to be testing the missionary iPads!! It is so cool! They have a really cool weekly planning app that reminds you about lessons and investigators and such. We should be getting those around June. It is going to be awesome.
We had a really cool experience with a member after the conference too. We simply went over to share a quick message with the family and it turned into a really cool experience. We were taught in the conference that we should trying something I now call "prayer tracting" where we simply just ask people if they would like us to bless their home with a prayer. We then ask them what they would like to pray for and then pray, but ask the Lord to bless them under the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood. It has been quite successful and we have only tried it once so far. Anyway, I decided that I would try to apply this to the members we meet as well and with everyone. I asked about some of their concerns they would like me to pray for so that the closing prayer could be more meaningful. They then told me some things they needed help with and I prayed and asked the Lord to bless them and did this by stating my priesthood authority and asked for blessings. It was a really powerful prayer. Then one of the members said she felt prompted to share an experience of hers that when she told it helped her to remember some things that really boosted her spirits. We then gave her a blessing and it is juts so awesome to see the spirit working through me as I use my priesthood. The priesthood has always been important to me, but never has it been such a powerful influence in my life and something that is SO important to me. I love having the opportunity to have this authority that is after the order of the Son of God and that the Lord is willing to work through me to bless the lives of those I come in contact with.
We are doing "Music Tracting" now too! My companion and I have been preparing songs with the guitar and violin and going to houses asking if we can see them a gospel song we have put together. We start by reading a scripture that goes along with the song then see and play! It is really fun. We have only had one chance to use it, but we will keep doing it in the future.
It is going to be super busy here as transfer week begins. I will know on Saturday if I am being transferred or not. There is pretty good chance I will have a new companion since Elder McDonald and I have been together for so long and he has been in this area is whole mission. I am really looking forward to the changes as they only give me more chances to learn and grow!
Happy Easter everyone!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Happy Easter! I am very excited for this Easter week. My studies have been more focused on the ministry of Christ during the last week of His mortal ministry. I sure do love the Savior and all that He has done for all of us. I am also totally pumped for General Conference! Never before have I been more excited to hear from our Prophet. Maybe its because I am missionary, or its just because President Monson is my idol, but either way I am very excited. I am trying to reread all of last General Conference in preparation for the upcoming sessions. We will be watching it in our chapel with the other members of our branch. It will be much later than I am used to though. Priesthood session will be from 8pm to 10pm! Hopefully I can stay awake.
Anyway, it has been a great week! A little disappointing towards the end, but overall pretty good. We taught a lot last week, met with some great people, and also visited members of the branch as well. We have been in contact with some wonderful families that have expressed interest in the church and hearing more from us. I have developed such a strong love for each of these families and individuals. I have been praying and thinking about these people so much! It really hurt when one of them decided not to meet with us anymore. Never before have I felt just so disappointed. I know that what the Lord has to offer these individuals through us is so important and it brings eternal and lasting happiness. I still love them to death so hopefully we can meet up with them again soon. This experience really helped me to understand how the Savior must have felt when he was "despised and rejected of men" that he loved and served with all of His heart. He knew them, and desired so much to help them, and then he took upon Himself all of their sins and pains, then died for them. Many of them still rejected Him. I can't imagine how hard that must have been for Him.
We had a mission conference this week with Brother Drubois, Head of the Missionary Media Department (he supervises over things like mormon.org and Preach My Gospel), and also Brother Watson, Head of the Missionary Proselyting Department in the church. They gave us a lot of great insights in how to improve our proselyting efforts. One thing I especially loved was this statement, which I tweaked a little. "Obedience is power. Obedience is spiritual credibility. Obedience is Repentance". They also hinted to us that our mission is going to be testing the missionary iPads!! It is so cool! They have a really cool weekly planning app that reminds you about lessons and investigators and such. We should be getting those around June. It is going to be awesome.
We had a really cool experience with a member after the conference too. We simply went over to share a quick message with the family and it turned into a really cool experience. We were taught in the conference that we should trying something I now call "prayer tracting" where we simply just ask people if they would like us to bless their home with a prayer. We then ask them what they would like to pray for and then pray, but ask the Lord to bless them under the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood. It has been quite successful and we have only tried it once so far. Anyway, I decided that I would try to apply this to the members we meet as well and with everyone. I asked about some of their concerns they would like me to pray for so that the closing prayer could be more meaningful. They then told me some things they needed help with and I prayed and asked the Lord to bless them and did this by stating my priesthood authority and asked for blessings. It was a really powerful prayer. Then one of the members said she felt prompted to share an experience of hers that when she told it helped her to remember some things that really boosted her spirits. We then gave her a blessing and it is juts so awesome to see the spirit working through me as I use my priesthood. The priesthood has always been important to me, but never has it been such a powerful influence in my life and something that is SO important to me. I love having the opportunity to have this authority that is after the order of the Son of God and that the Lord is willing to work through me to bless the lives of those I come in contact with.
We are doing "Music Tracting" now too! My companion and I have been preparing songs with the guitar and violin and going to houses asking if we can see them a gospel song we have put together. We start by reading a scripture that goes along with the song then see and play! It is really fun. We have only had one chance to use it, but we will keep doing it in the future.
It is going to be super busy here as transfer week begins. I will know on Saturday if I am being transferred or not. There is pretty good chance I will have a new companion since Elder McDonald and I have been together for so long and he has been in this area is whole mission. I am really looking forward to the changes as they only give me more chances to learn and grow!
Happy Easter everyone!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, March 18, 2013
Week 15 NYNYS
Hey everyone! Happy St. Patrick's Day last week.
This past week was a little slow. A lot of our appointments fell through, but this week is going to be very busy! We have a lot of appointments coming up and I see many blessings coming in the near future.
So stories for the week: Last Saturday, we were helping a family move out of the branch and we all got some pizza and ate at a near by park. Elder Finlinson knows a "squirrel call" that attracts the squirrels and it actually works! (He taught me this awhile ago so whenever I see squirrels I call them and they immediately stop in the tracks and look at me. It's so cool!) There were tons of squirrels in this park and we called them all over to us and fed them pizza out of our hands. It was awesome! I also did the rock and sand analogy of putting the Lord first in your life at a members home, but substituted sand for salt since you cant really find sand in the city. I had to adjust a little when the plastic container I had all the salt in broke in my backpack!
A few days before that we were going to visit a member of the branch and we didn't really know how to get their so we hopped on the L-train and went to Broadway Junction to transfer to the A-train. Since the A-train is express, it passed the stop we needed, so we had to walk 1.2 miles to get there. Then we find out that instead of the address being "55", it was actually "555". We then had to walk another 2 miles to get to the house. It was a long night. We did eventually get there and found that there was a train stop on the J-train that would have gotten us there in 5 minutes.
Elder McDonald and I have been very busy lately changing up our area. We do something called the "elliptical" where we work right around the church. We have been talking with the branch president and have decided that we should change the location of the elliptical area. The elliptical area we are in now has been good, but we really aren't seeing much growth there. It is a very difficult area and the people seem to be getting more and more resistant to us. We are shrinking our current elliptical and creating 2 other ellipticals along the J-train. So far from what I have heard from the other Elders in our district is that the new area we are moving to is very nice! People are receptive to us and are actually friendly. They have come in contact with quite a few people in only 2 days. We will have three ellipticals and we are going to do a sort of "crop cycle" so we will be in one elliptical for a while, while the other rests. I am really excited for the change. So instead of focusing on Williamsburg, we will move into Ridgewood.
I just want to give Elder McDonald, my companion, some props! He has been a great companion to me and I am very grateful for the example he has set for me. We have helped each other through our unique challenges and have been a great support for each other. I am disappointed to think that one of us will get transfered in 2 weeks since we have been together for 3 transfers and he was my trainer as well. He has been in Bushwick for 8 months and has not seen another area!
It was a more tough week for me. I was struggling the whole week and wasn't seeing any relief. I felt my testimony was lacking and because of that I was losing that "power" in my words. Thankfully I felt prompted to fast on Sunday. I have never worked harder and put more faith in the Savior than ever before. I simply did everything that I could to be obedient and work extra hard so that the Lord would help me. I am doing so much better! I have a strong testimony of fasting. I have always seen fasting work miracles in my life. It is definitely hard being a missionary, but the Lord is always by your side. I also have been directing my studies more toward the Savior, and my knowledge of Him and His gospel has been growing so much more than simply just studying a principle. The Savior is the key that opens up the door to success in all aspects of our life. If we turn our life towards Him and "learn of him.. we shall find rest unto our souls" Matt 11:28-30.
We are teaching a family of 4, and family of 3, a father and son, and a woman and her 18month old son this week! I sure do love all these people I have been coming in contact with. I feel the love the Savior has for these individuals and hope that I can help them come closer to Him! If you would like to know more about them I would love to write you a letter!
I love you all very much and am grateful for your support. We are having a lot of success here. Hope to get some letters from you throughout the week. Talk to you all next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
This past week was a little slow. A lot of our appointments fell through, but this week is going to be very busy! We have a lot of appointments coming up and I see many blessings coming in the near future.
So stories for the week: Last Saturday, we were helping a family move out of the branch and we all got some pizza and ate at a near by park. Elder Finlinson knows a "squirrel call" that attracts the squirrels and it actually works! (He taught me this awhile ago so whenever I see squirrels I call them and they immediately stop in the tracks and look at me. It's so cool!) There were tons of squirrels in this park and we called them all over to us and fed them pizza out of our hands. It was awesome! I also did the rock and sand analogy of putting the Lord first in your life at a members home, but substituted sand for salt since you cant really find sand in the city. I had to adjust a little when the plastic container I had all the salt in broke in my backpack!
A few days before that we were going to visit a member of the branch and we didn't really know how to get their so we hopped on the L-train and went to Broadway Junction to transfer to the A-train. Since the A-train is express, it passed the stop we needed, so we had to walk 1.2 miles to get there. Then we find out that instead of the address being "55", it was actually "555". We then had to walk another 2 miles to get to the house. It was a long night. We did eventually get there and found that there was a train stop on the J-train that would have gotten us there in 5 minutes.
Elder McDonald and I have been very busy lately changing up our area. We do something called the "elliptical" where we work right around the church. We have been talking with the branch president and have decided that we should change the location of the elliptical area. The elliptical area we are in now has been good, but we really aren't seeing much growth there. It is a very difficult area and the people seem to be getting more and more resistant to us. We are shrinking our current elliptical and creating 2 other ellipticals along the J-train. So far from what I have heard from the other Elders in our district is that the new area we are moving to is very nice! People are receptive to us and are actually friendly. They have come in contact with quite a few people in only 2 days. We will have three ellipticals and we are going to do a sort of "crop cycle" so we will be in one elliptical for a while, while the other rests. I am really excited for the change. So instead of focusing on Williamsburg, we will move into Ridgewood.
I just want to give Elder McDonald, my companion, some props! He has been a great companion to me and I am very grateful for the example he has set for me. We have helped each other through our unique challenges and have been a great support for each other. I am disappointed to think that one of us will get transfered in 2 weeks since we have been together for 3 transfers and he was my trainer as well. He has been in Bushwick for 8 months and has not seen another area!
It was a more tough week for me. I was struggling the whole week and wasn't seeing any relief. I felt my testimony was lacking and because of that I was losing that "power" in my words. Thankfully I felt prompted to fast on Sunday. I have never worked harder and put more faith in the Savior than ever before. I simply did everything that I could to be obedient and work extra hard so that the Lord would help me. I am doing so much better! I have a strong testimony of fasting. I have always seen fasting work miracles in my life. It is definitely hard being a missionary, but the Lord is always by your side. I also have been directing my studies more toward the Savior, and my knowledge of Him and His gospel has been growing so much more than simply just studying a principle. The Savior is the key that opens up the door to success in all aspects of our life. If we turn our life towards Him and "learn of him.. we shall find rest unto our souls" Matt 11:28-30.
We are teaching a family of 4, and family of 3, a father and son, and a woman and her 18month old son this week! I sure do love all these people I have been coming in contact with. I feel the love the Savior has for these individuals and hope that I can help them come closer to Him! If you would like to know more about them I would love to write you a letter!
I love you all very much and am grateful for your support. We are having a lot of success here. Hope to get some letters from you throughout the week. Talk to you all next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, March 11, 2013
Week 14 NYNYS
I will hit my 4 month mark on the 14th! Time sure does fly by.
This week went by really quick! We were very busy with various tasks and such. First off I just want to say how much I dislike Daylight Savings! Being from Arizona I have never experienced this change before. Saturday morning I wake up at the normal 6:30am with the sun nice and bright, then Sunday morning I wake up at 6:30am (which technically was 5:30am that morning) and there was no sun. My mind was so confused and I was like... what just happened!? Then I realized it was daylight savings! I was so thrown off all day. Arizona is so smart not to have adopted this.
So on Tuesday I went on an exchange with another Elder in my district and we went around our church to talk to people and invite them to tour our church building. After so much discouragement and some rude people, I was basically giving up and praying that I am just "done" with this. Then the next person I talk to comes into the church with me! We gave him a Book of Mormon and showed him the baptismal font. Then I go back outside, talked to some more people and no luck. I then got slightly discouraged again, then I talked to a couple and asked them if they would want to come tour our church building. They said they were busy since they were preparing a funeral and such. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to share the Plan of Salvation. It was a great discussion and I felt the spirit very strong and knew they also did. They are a great couple and have young son as well. It was really cool. We will hopefully be able to meet with them this week.
We were also able to meet with Edwin and his son Edwin again last week. It was a great lesson. I really love the two of them. They have very strong faith and they are doing all they can to live in accordance to the gospel of Jesus Christ and have committed to be baptized on March 31st! We also are teaching a nice Portuguese lady named Paula. She also is making progress and it is really cool seeing her faith and desire increase every time we meet with her. She is a wonderful lady and fits in perfectly with many of the other sisters in the branch.
My district is still doing very well and we have 4 baptisms coming up this month, and hopefully a few more commits coming soon. It is great to see so many people being prepared by the Lord to follow Him into the waters of baptism and make a covenant with Him!
So for our Sunday dinner, I really wanted to have a "normal Arizona" dinner, so my companion and I cooked up some pork chops, made some mashed potatoes, and had some seasoned carrots! It was a delicious Sunday feast! Along with an Arizona dinner, we have been having some Arizona like weather! It is so nice. We haven't seen the sun too much lately, but these past few days have been warm and sunny. It is so nice to once again feel the burn of the sun.
Well that is a short summary of my week. I am now off to watch "The Other Side of Heaven" with my Zone for our Zone Activity! I am excited. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Hooper
This week went by really quick! We were very busy with various tasks and such. First off I just want to say how much I dislike Daylight Savings! Being from Arizona I have never experienced this change before. Saturday morning I wake up at the normal 6:30am with the sun nice and bright, then Sunday morning I wake up at 6:30am (which technically was 5:30am that morning) and there was no sun. My mind was so confused and I was like... what just happened!? Then I realized it was daylight savings! I was so thrown off all day. Arizona is so smart not to have adopted this.
So on Tuesday I went on an exchange with another Elder in my district and we went around our church to talk to people and invite them to tour our church building. After so much discouragement and some rude people, I was basically giving up and praying that I am just "done" with this. Then the next person I talk to comes into the church with me! We gave him a Book of Mormon and showed him the baptismal font. Then I go back outside, talked to some more people and no luck. I then got slightly discouraged again, then I talked to a couple and asked them if they would want to come tour our church building. They said they were busy since they were preparing a funeral and such. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to share the Plan of Salvation. It was a great discussion and I felt the spirit very strong and knew they also did. They are a great couple and have young son as well. It was really cool. We will hopefully be able to meet with them this week.
We were also able to meet with Edwin and his son Edwin again last week. It was a great lesson. I really love the two of them. They have very strong faith and they are doing all they can to live in accordance to the gospel of Jesus Christ and have committed to be baptized on March 31st! We also are teaching a nice Portuguese lady named Paula. She also is making progress and it is really cool seeing her faith and desire increase every time we meet with her. She is a wonderful lady and fits in perfectly with many of the other sisters in the branch.
My district is still doing very well and we have 4 baptisms coming up this month, and hopefully a few more commits coming soon. It is great to see so many people being prepared by the Lord to follow Him into the waters of baptism and make a covenant with Him!
So for our Sunday dinner, I really wanted to have a "normal Arizona" dinner, so my companion and I cooked up some pork chops, made some mashed potatoes, and had some seasoned carrots! It was a delicious Sunday feast! Along with an Arizona dinner, we have been having some Arizona like weather! It is so nice. We haven't seen the sun too much lately, but these past few days have been warm and sunny. It is so nice to once again feel the burn of the sun.
Well that is a short summary of my week. I am now off to watch "The Other Side of Heaven" with my Zone for our Zone Activity! I am excited. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, March 4, 2013
Week 13 NYNYS
Hey everybody,
This week has been pretty busy! At the beginning of the week I had a great experience in a lesson. We taught a father and his son, who were taught months previously by missionaries, but they said they couldn't get in contact with them. We found them in our area book and gave them a call. They said they would love to have us over and said they weren't sure where the other missionaries went. The son has even read the Book of Mormon and knows it is true! It was the best lesson I have ever taught. The spirit was so strong! The entire lesson was very inspired, and they both felt the spirit very strong. They both accepted the invitation to be baptized as well. I feel very blessed to have had this experience. I have never met these two men before in my life, but because God knows them and loves them perfectly, He was able to let them feel that through me. I knew what the Lord needed them to hear at that time through the Holy Ghost.
We had an awesome Zone Conference given by President Calderwood and the Assistants. President shared an analogy, about the Plan of Salvation that really got me thinking about our life here on Earth much differently than before. We all lived in heaven with God before we came to this Earth. He is literally our Father and we are His spirit children! We were taught everything that we needed know to reach our full potential and to receive the fullness of joy that God had. This is the analogy that helped me to really understand this. He said it is like you are trying to learn how to play the violin by reading a book. You can have all the knowledge you need to understand how to read the notes and where your fingers go to play them and to understand the music theory, but until you actually pick up the instrument and play it is the only way you will be able to master the art of playing the violin. There is no way that I could learn how to play with all the different bow techniques, vibrato, proper posture, and rhythm without actually practicing! This is exactly how it is for our lives. There is no way that we would have been able to take all the knowledge we gained in heaven and really understood it without a body! It was a really cool insight that I especially loved since I am a violinist. He has been using violin analogies a lot with me, I love it. I have been really studying the Plan of Salvation and it is truly and wonderful plan! It is amazing how much I am learning about it as I have been diving deep into the doctrines behind it.
As of right now, we have 4 investigators we are working with who I love very much! They are all great people and I look forward to seeing them succeed and make the church apart of their lives and seeing them experience the joy that comes from making and keeping covenants!
The rest of the week went a little slow. We spent 4 hours cleaning our church's kitchen! It hasn't had an operating sink for almost 2 months so it was bad news! At our zone conference, President Calderwood, after preparing food in the kitchen, was like you guys need to do a service project in here! Now it is shiny in there.
We have been doing a lot of fearlessing, which is simply approaching people on the streets and talking to people while they walk. We have been doing Book of Mormon street sweeps, game nights in the subway and also on the streets. We also have been trying to do church tours and invite people outside the church to come view the inside. It has definitely gotten the community familiar with us too!
The weather is finally starting to agree with me! It is starting to warm up and not be so freezing. However I believe we are going to be hit with a nice storm this week which I am not looking forward too!
I am still doing very well in New York. I sure do love it here! Hope to hear from you all soon!
Love,
Elder Hooper
This week has been pretty busy! At the beginning of the week I had a great experience in a lesson. We taught a father and his son, who were taught months previously by missionaries, but they said they couldn't get in contact with them. We found them in our area book and gave them a call. They said they would love to have us over and said they weren't sure where the other missionaries went. The son has even read the Book of Mormon and knows it is true! It was the best lesson I have ever taught. The spirit was so strong! The entire lesson was very inspired, and they both felt the spirit very strong. They both accepted the invitation to be baptized as well. I feel very blessed to have had this experience. I have never met these two men before in my life, but because God knows them and loves them perfectly, He was able to let them feel that through me. I knew what the Lord needed them to hear at that time through the Holy Ghost.
We had an awesome Zone Conference given by President Calderwood and the Assistants. President shared an analogy, about the Plan of Salvation that really got me thinking about our life here on Earth much differently than before. We all lived in heaven with God before we came to this Earth. He is literally our Father and we are His spirit children! We were taught everything that we needed know to reach our full potential and to receive the fullness of joy that God had. This is the analogy that helped me to really understand this. He said it is like you are trying to learn how to play the violin by reading a book. You can have all the knowledge you need to understand how to read the notes and where your fingers go to play them and to understand the music theory, but until you actually pick up the instrument and play it is the only way you will be able to master the art of playing the violin. There is no way that I could learn how to play with all the different bow techniques, vibrato, proper posture, and rhythm without actually practicing! This is exactly how it is for our lives. There is no way that we would have been able to take all the knowledge we gained in heaven and really understood it without a body! It was a really cool insight that I especially loved since I am a violinist. He has been using violin analogies a lot with me, I love it. I have been really studying the Plan of Salvation and it is truly and wonderful plan! It is amazing how much I am learning about it as I have been diving deep into the doctrines behind it.
As of right now, we have 4 investigators we are working with who I love very much! They are all great people and I look forward to seeing them succeed and make the church apart of their lives and seeing them experience the joy that comes from making and keeping covenants!
The rest of the week went a little slow. We spent 4 hours cleaning our church's kitchen! It hasn't had an operating sink for almost 2 months so it was bad news! At our zone conference, President Calderwood, after preparing food in the kitchen, was like you guys need to do a service project in here! Now it is shiny in there.
We have been doing a lot of fearlessing, which is simply approaching people on the streets and talking to people while they walk. We have been doing Book of Mormon street sweeps, game nights in the subway and also on the streets. We also have been trying to do church tours and invite people outside the church to come view the inside. It has definitely gotten the community familiar with us too!
The weather is finally starting to agree with me! It is starting to warm up and not be so freezing. However I believe we are going to be hit with a nice storm this week which I am not looking forward too!
I am still doing very well in New York. I sure do love it here! Hope to hear from you all soon!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, February 25, 2013
Week 12 NYNYS
Hey everybody,
This week was great! Our sacrament meeting was great as well yesterday. We were really full and quite a few non-members came too! To help you see how full we were, we had to re-fill the sacrament trays 2 extra times and bless them as well. 95 people came in total, and for our branch that is really good! We now have a new investigator who also came to church with us. She is really friendly and very interested in the gospel as well. She has an 18 month old son who is adorable. The other companionships also had investigators to church too! The work here is really progressing and we are doing very well. We knock on doors endlessly trying to share the Plan of Happiness with little success, but people find us! The Lord is truly blessing us. The branch members are also doing very well. We have seen a very big change in the members over the last 2 months. We are becoming more united, the members are fellow-shipping and being so friendly to everyone around them. There is no other branch/ward that I would rather be serving in!
The concert in Far Rockaway last night was great! I had the wonderful opportunity to play my violin with Elder Wang, a very talented musician from Taiwan. We played "I Need Thee Every Hour". I completely forgot to record it, but it was amazing. People were amazed at how well the violin and his guitar complimented each other. Not trying to boast or anything, but we rocked it! Other than that, the rest of the concert went very well. The spirit was present and people were very touched by the program all about the Restoration which was taught through music. President Calderwood and Elder Olsen, the Area 70, spoke towards the end. A few people were committed to be baptized afterwards and a few Book of Mormons were taken as well! It was a really great concert.
So funny story of the week. On our way back from the the concert, 7 missionaries (there was a trio) were riding back in the van. I was sitting next to a sister missionary and some how our seat like unlocked and when we accelerated, the entire seat fell backwards! The three of us in the seat were screaming and then when the seat flew forward again, my seat belt locked up so tightly that it was choking me and I had to pry myself out. It was pretty funny! You just had to be there to understand what happened.
I had a cool thought while I was at the concert as well. I was just thinking how I wish I could have been here in New York during the hurricane so I could understand and relate to the people in the Rockaways more. As I was thinking about this. One of my favorite scriptures came to mind- Alma 7:11-12. We needed someone that was perfect and someone who could understand us perfectly. The Savior came to Earth so that He could understand us and to take upon Himself all the pains, sicknesses, temptations, and afflictions of every kind. He did this just to how to "succor His people according to their infirmities". Christ knows the way we feel. He loves us and understands us perfectly. He lives!
I am still doing very well out here in Brooklyn. There is no other mission that I would rather be in than right where I am. I love the people I am serving with and the people who we serve. I love my mission president and all the people in the Bushwick 1st Branch. I love my mission and most importantly, my Heavenly Father who loves me and all His children. Talk to you all next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
This week was great! Our sacrament meeting was great as well yesterday. We were really full and quite a few non-members came too! To help you see how full we were, we had to re-fill the sacrament trays 2 extra times and bless them as well. 95 people came in total, and for our branch that is really good! We now have a new investigator who also came to church with us. She is really friendly and very interested in the gospel as well. She has an 18 month old son who is adorable. The other companionships also had investigators to church too! The work here is really progressing and we are doing very well. We knock on doors endlessly trying to share the Plan of Happiness with little success, but people find us! The Lord is truly blessing us. The branch members are also doing very well. We have seen a very big change in the members over the last 2 months. We are becoming more united, the members are fellow-shipping and being so friendly to everyone around them. There is no other branch/ward that I would rather be serving in!
The concert in Far Rockaway last night was great! I had the wonderful opportunity to play my violin with Elder Wang, a very talented musician from Taiwan. We played "I Need Thee Every Hour". I completely forgot to record it, but it was amazing. People were amazed at how well the violin and his guitar complimented each other. Not trying to boast or anything, but we rocked it! Other than that, the rest of the concert went very well. The spirit was present and people were very touched by the program all about the Restoration which was taught through music. President Calderwood and Elder Olsen, the Area 70, spoke towards the end. A few people were committed to be baptized afterwards and a few Book of Mormons were taken as well! It was a really great concert.
So funny story of the week. On our way back from the the concert, 7 missionaries (there was a trio) were riding back in the van. I was sitting next to a sister missionary and some how our seat like unlocked and when we accelerated, the entire seat fell backwards! The three of us in the seat were screaming and then when the seat flew forward again, my seat belt locked up so tightly that it was choking me and I had to pry myself out. It was pretty funny! You just had to be there to understand what happened.
I had a cool thought while I was at the concert as well. I was just thinking how I wish I could have been here in New York during the hurricane so I could understand and relate to the people in the Rockaways more. As I was thinking about this. One of my favorite scriptures came to mind- Alma 7:11-12. We needed someone that was perfect and someone who could understand us perfectly. The Savior came to Earth so that He could understand us and to take upon Himself all the pains, sicknesses, temptations, and afflictions of every kind. He did this just to how to "succor His people according to their infirmities". Christ knows the way we feel. He loves us and understands us perfectly. He lives!
I am still doing very well out here in Brooklyn. There is no other mission that I would rather be in than right where I am. I love the people I am serving with and the people who we serve. I love my mission president and all the people in the Bushwick 1st Branch. I love my mission and most importantly, my Heavenly Father who loves me and all His children. Talk to you all next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Week 11 NYNYS
Transfer number 3!
Sorry it took me so long to write this week. I don't have a lot of time since our schedule got thrown off. The library closes on every holiday and transfers on Tuesday filled up the day. My companion and I are still together and he has been called as the District Leader for our area. He will do a great job. It also kind of fun for me because I get to accompany him to all the meetings they have and mingle with other missionaries throughout the mission.
The weather has actually been fairly nice lately. However, the wind is awful. The air is thick and humid as it is, so when the wind picks up (moderate gale force winds, according to the weather service) it just destroys you! I miss Arizona weather!
Transfer meeting was really fun yesterday. I was able to play my violin with my zone singing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". It sounded really good and we a lot of compliments afterward. People were crying (woohoo! just kidding). 32 new missionaries came in and quite a few were 18 year old Elders and 19 year old Sisters. Next transfer even more new missionaries are coming in and 60% of the mission will be involved in the new 12 Week Training program. Speaking of music, this Sunday I will have an awesome opportunity to play my violin in a concert the mission is having in the Rockaways at the Yacht Club in Broadchannel. We are teaching the first lesson, the Restoration, through music. I will be playing "Nearer My God to Thee" with Elder Wong, an extremely talented guitar player. I am very excited for this. It will be a lot of fun! I am pretty sure President Calderwood is the narrator too.
The work has been a bit challenging lately. People have been a little harsh to us this week during our tracting. Elder McDonald and I are constantly trying to come up with knew ideas for door approaches to keep up with the hipsters here!
I am doing better and better every week. The mission is helping me in so many ways. I love it! I am so sorry this email is super short, but since I am running out of time I will get a better letter out next Monday!
Love you all!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Sorry it took me so long to write this week. I don't have a lot of time since our schedule got thrown off. The library closes on every holiday and transfers on Tuesday filled up the day. My companion and I are still together and he has been called as the District Leader for our area. He will do a great job. It also kind of fun for me because I get to accompany him to all the meetings they have and mingle with other missionaries throughout the mission.
The weather has actually been fairly nice lately. However, the wind is awful. The air is thick and humid as it is, so when the wind picks up (moderate gale force winds, according to the weather service) it just destroys you! I miss Arizona weather!
Transfer meeting was really fun yesterday. I was able to play my violin with my zone singing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". It sounded really good and we a lot of compliments afterward. People were crying (woohoo! just kidding). 32 new missionaries came in and quite a few were 18 year old Elders and 19 year old Sisters. Next transfer even more new missionaries are coming in and 60% of the mission will be involved in the new 12 Week Training program. Speaking of music, this Sunday I will have an awesome opportunity to play my violin in a concert the mission is having in the Rockaways at the Yacht Club in Broadchannel. We are teaching the first lesson, the Restoration, through music. I will be playing "Nearer My God to Thee" with Elder Wong, an extremely talented guitar player. I am very excited for this. It will be a lot of fun! I am pretty sure President Calderwood is the narrator too.
The work has been a bit challenging lately. People have been a little harsh to us this week during our tracting. Elder McDonald and I are constantly trying to come up with knew ideas for door approaches to keep up with the hipsters here!
I am doing better and better every week. The mission is helping me in so many ways. I love it! I am so sorry this email is super short, but since I am running out of time I will get a better letter out next Monday!
Love you all!
Love,
Elder Hooper
(Here is a link to an article about the concert at the Yacht Club in Rockaway http://www.rockawave.com/news/2013-02-15/Community/Latter_Days_Saints_Came_Marching_In.html )
Monday, February 11, 2013
Week 10 NYNYS (3 months)
It sure was a great week! I just want to start by thanking those who wrote and sent packages! It meant a lot to me and loved them all. I will work on writing back to you all soon.
So yesterday was probably one of the best of my life! I had the wonderful opportunity to baptize one of our investigators, Matt on Sunday. It was truly a great experience! The baptismal service went very smoothly and so did the actual baptism. Matt was so excited. Afterwards he just said he felt "so good". He said he has been waiting to feel this way for a long time. I too have never felt so clean in a long time. It felt like I was baptized too! His mom came from California to see the baptism too. She loved church and felt the spirit very strong at the baptism. I think she is very proud of her son for making a huge positive change in his life. I hope one day she will be able to have the gospel in her life and their family will be able to go to the temple one day. Having this experience, and seeing the changes in Matt's life has truly been another witness to me that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church on the Earth today, and it is His church! I also had the chance to give him a priesthood blessing and see the effect it had on his week as he prepared for his baptism. This Sunday he will receive the Holy Ghost and the following weeks he will be ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. Our district is also having another baptism next Sunday for another companionship! Its has been a great week for me. I have felt the spirit testify through me as I've taught and felt it at my side when I needed it most. Our district sure is being blessed.
We had a blizzard in New York a few days ago! It was so cool! I have never seen a storm that cool in Arizona before. There was snow all over the next day so we helped shovel snow and dig out cars as well. There was probably a foot of snow where we were. Of course I made some snowballs and pelted my companion a few times.
President Calderwood has been very pleased with my district and I. My area hasn't seen much growth in the past, but we have been working very hard and have see some very positive results from our efforts. Bushwick is one of the hardest areas in the mission. We don't get the chance to do a lot of teaching. We have been working hard and the Lord is blessing us. I love this area so much and am so blessed to be in Williamsburg. We continue to see real growth here and the members are showing their trust and love for us even more each week. Transfers are coming up next week and there is a pretty good chance my companion will leave this area since he has been here for 7 months. I will most likely stay (I sure hope I stay!). I will have the chance again to play my violin with my district singing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing at transfer meeting.
The gospel is coming to life for me more than it ever has. I am seeing the Atonement's power in my life and most importantly in the lives of those we teach. I know this letter is short this week, but I am running out of time. The library is crazy busy right now since another library recently closed down for renovations. Thank you all so much for your prays and letters. They mean the world to me!
Have a great week and I will talk to you all next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
So yesterday was probably one of the best of my life! I had the wonderful opportunity to baptize one of our investigators, Matt on Sunday. It was truly a great experience! The baptismal service went very smoothly and so did the actual baptism. Matt was so excited. Afterwards he just said he felt "so good". He said he has been waiting to feel this way for a long time. I too have never felt so clean in a long time. It felt like I was baptized too! His mom came from California to see the baptism too. She loved church and felt the spirit very strong at the baptism. I think she is very proud of her son for making a huge positive change in his life. I hope one day she will be able to have the gospel in her life and their family will be able to go to the temple one day. Having this experience, and seeing the changes in Matt's life has truly been another witness to me that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church on the Earth today, and it is His church! I also had the chance to give him a priesthood blessing and see the effect it had on his week as he prepared for his baptism. This Sunday he will receive the Holy Ghost and the following weeks he will be ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. Our district is also having another baptism next Sunday for another companionship! Its has been a great week for me. I have felt the spirit testify through me as I've taught and felt it at my side when I needed it most. Our district sure is being blessed.
We had a blizzard in New York a few days ago! It was so cool! I have never seen a storm that cool in Arizona before. There was snow all over the next day so we helped shovel snow and dig out cars as well. There was probably a foot of snow where we were. Of course I made some snowballs and pelted my companion a few times.
President Calderwood has been very pleased with my district and I. My area hasn't seen much growth in the past, but we have been working very hard and have see some very positive results from our efforts. Bushwick is one of the hardest areas in the mission. We don't get the chance to do a lot of teaching. We have been working hard and the Lord is blessing us. I love this area so much and am so blessed to be in Williamsburg. We continue to see real growth here and the members are showing their trust and love for us even more each week. Transfers are coming up next week and there is a pretty good chance my companion will leave this area since he has been here for 7 months. I will most likely stay (I sure hope I stay!). I will have the chance again to play my violin with my district singing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing at transfer meeting.
The gospel is coming to life for me more than it ever has. I am seeing the Atonement's power in my life and most importantly in the lives of those we teach. I know this letter is short this week, but I am running out of time. The library is crazy busy right now since another library recently closed down for renovations. Thank you all so much for your prays and letters. They mean the world to me!
Have a great week and I will talk to you all next week!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Week 10 Pics
The Blizzard
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| me, Matt, Elder McDonald |
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| Matt's Mom |
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| Elizabeth (introduced Matt to the gospel) |
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| the Zone Leaders |
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Week 9 NYNYS
Hey there,
This week was super busy with the branch party and such. The party was definitely a success. I am very pleased how it all turned out. The missionaries and I were there for about 4 hours before the party continuing the set up. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. The party was centered around the cultures in the branch since many people are from the Caribbean, like Barbados, St. Vincent and so on. There was a ton of delicious ethnical food and many people came as well! The branch was impressed and I felt the branch unity increase as we all got together and simply had fun with each other. It turned out really well. I wish I would have gotten pictures, but I was just too stressed about it all!
One of the best "street-sweeps" we do is the Game Night in the subway at Bedford Ave. We set up tables with some brainteasers, Jenga, and to top it all off, one of the Elders brought his mini-practice-bull roping toy. We were there playing games and roping the bull in the subway! It was a pretty funny sight and it grabbed a lot of people's attention. As we tried to get the community familiar with us and to brighten someone's day, we had a few good conversations with people and gave out a lot of cards. We also posed for a few pictures as well! Game Nights are always successful for us. People are starting to see what we are all about.
We did some service at a church in Greenpoint and helped put away all their food that they didn't use for the soup kitchen that morning. As we were taking each case of 12 canned goods down the long stairs to the basement, I saw this dolly just sitting there. Thanks to my dad's delivery experience, and me helping him often, I grabbed that dolly, loaded it up, and started a human assembly line and got us moving! It was pretty fun. We are starting to develop a really good relationship with the leaders of this church. I had an idea of having a community church night where my companion and I get a few churches involved and have a night where each religion with share a brief testimony of Jesus Christ. It wont be a night about preaching our particular religious beliefs and trying to convert people, instead it will be simply helping people come unto Jesus Christ, and give back to the community. I think this will work out really well and will help the community get to know the missionaries in a place where they are comfortable (at one of their churches). I haven't quite got all the details figured out, but I will let you know what happens with that idea in the future.
So here is the awesome news! My companion and I are having a baptism this Sunday! I won't share specifics without his permission, but he has a very strong testimony and was introduced to the gospel by a co-worker. He is very excited about receiving the priesthood later on as well. We are very excited to have him in our branch. He fits in perfectly. One thing he noticed about the church, is that the members were so loving and actually lived their religion outside of church. Being baptized members, we covenant to serve others and stand as a witness of God in all places. People really see our actions and notice something different about members of the church. We are stoked for the baptism. He is very excited and prepared himself.
Love,
Elder Hooper
This week was super busy with the branch party and such. The party was definitely a success. I am very pleased how it all turned out. The missionaries and I were there for about 4 hours before the party continuing the set up. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. The party was centered around the cultures in the branch since many people are from the Caribbean, like Barbados, St. Vincent and so on. There was a ton of delicious ethnical food and many people came as well! The branch was impressed and I felt the branch unity increase as we all got together and simply had fun with each other. It turned out really well. I wish I would have gotten pictures, but I was just too stressed about it all!
One of the best "street-sweeps" we do is the Game Night in the subway at Bedford Ave. We set up tables with some brainteasers, Jenga, and to top it all off, one of the Elders brought his mini-practice-bull roping toy. We were there playing games and roping the bull in the subway! It was a pretty funny sight and it grabbed a lot of people's attention. As we tried to get the community familiar with us and to brighten someone's day, we had a few good conversations with people and gave out a lot of cards. We also posed for a few pictures as well! Game Nights are always successful for us. People are starting to see what we are all about.
We did some service at a church in Greenpoint and helped put away all their food that they didn't use for the soup kitchen that morning. As we were taking each case of 12 canned goods down the long stairs to the basement, I saw this dolly just sitting there. Thanks to my dad's delivery experience, and me helping him often, I grabbed that dolly, loaded it up, and started a human assembly line and got us moving! It was pretty fun. We are starting to develop a really good relationship with the leaders of this church. I had an idea of having a community church night where my companion and I get a few churches involved and have a night where each religion with share a brief testimony of Jesus Christ. It wont be a night about preaching our particular religious beliefs and trying to convert people, instead it will be simply helping people come unto Jesus Christ, and give back to the community. I think this will work out really well and will help the community get to know the missionaries in a place where they are comfortable (at one of their churches). I haven't quite got all the details figured out, but I will let you know what happens with that idea in the future.
So here is the awesome news! My companion and I are having a baptism this Sunday! I won't share specifics without his permission, but he has a very strong testimony and was introduced to the gospel by a co-worker. He is very excited about receiving the priesthood later on as well. We are very excited to have him in our branch. He fits in perfectly. One thing he noticed about the church, is that the members were so loving and actually lived their religion outside of church. Being baptized members, we covenant to serve others and stand as a witness of God in all places. People really see our actions and notice something different about members of the church. We are stoked for the baptism. He is very excited and prepared himself.
Love,
Elder Hooper
Monday, January 28, 2013
Week 8 NYNYS
Hey there!
This week has been freezing! For the first time, I have experienced a real snow fall. It has been pretty fun tracting in that kind of weather!
First off, I just want to thank all of you that have sent me letters recently. I really needed all that support this week.. It means so much to me to have all of your support back home.
It has been a pretty good week! We have had a lot of success working with members and some less active members who are all great people! We also tracted into a few new people that were so nice. Hopefully we will be able to share a little more with them in the future. We have had some great dinner appointments (not talking about the food here even though it is always nice) where we have been earning the members trust, and also helping them increase their faith in Christ and helping them be more united with their families. I love to work with the members and help renew their testimonies of the restoration! It is hard for me to explain how much working with members is so important for missionaries and how important is it that the members work with the missionaries. Our branch is incredible with this. We work together so well and it is almost as if we are just simply members to. We all work together! It helps both parties!
On Saturday, we had a free hot chocolate street sweep which was pretty successful. Who doesn't want free hot chocolate on a freezing snowy day? Many people were interested in the many DVDs and books we had about the Savior. Another missionary and I even talked with a really cool police officer who also was a youth minister for his church. We talked about why there are so many churches on the Earth today. He said he has seen us missionaries a lot in the neighborhoods and said that now that he knows what we are doing now, he won't ever mess with us! :D
These last few weeks have been a more struggle for me. I have had to rely on the Lord more than I have ever had to in my life. The power of the atonement is real. It isn't just there when we need to repent. We are perfected in Christ through the enabling power of the atonement. My Mission President and I were talking about the atonement and he said that the Lord is more upset with you when you deny the power of His son's atonement, then when you have sinned. This meaning that if you are still hurting yourself for your past mistakes, you are denying the power of the atonement, if you are not allowing the atonement to help you overcome your weaknesses you are denying the power of the atonement. This is something that I am trying to work even harder at so that I can allow the atonement shape me into the missionary the Lord wants me to be. My invitation to you, is always use that atonement in every aspect of your life. I have seen it help me develop Christ-like attributes. I know that I can't develop these traits on my own, but with the Lord's help, I (and you!) am capable of doing it.
Yesterday, my companion and I met a man at our sacrament meeting who was being taught by the New York North missionaries with his co-worker in Harlem. He was going to be baptized, but he needs to get baptized in his area. He lives in Greenpoint, which is my companion and I's area! He is a super cool guy and we are so excited to have him in our branch and soon to become the newest member. He has a very strong testimony of the gospel and will make a great leader and priesthood holder in the future. We will baptize him the 10th! We are excited.
I am so grateful for your support and love all of you very much! Your support and love keeps me going!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Week 8 Photos
It has been very cold and windy here. Utah has been more
cold, but NY's cold cuts you to the bone! It is a humid, windy cold that cuts
through all of your clothes. Even people from Utah say it feels more cold than
Utah does!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Week 7 NYNYS
Hey everybody!
This week has just been crazy. I moved apartments this week. I was living in a four man apartment and now my companion and I were able to get our own apartment since they closed one of the Spanish pools. My new address is 680 Metropolitan Ave. Apt 2R Brooklyn, NY 11211. It has taken a few days to clean out the apartment (the previous Elders were pretty messy) and then a while to move in and unpack. The apartment is much bigger and is convenient for us because it is right in the middle of our area and we are next to two trains that we use frequently.
So I am going to start off with a super funny story! A little embarrassing to. So, in my previous pad we had some issues with a mouse since December and it finally appeared the day before we moved. I walked inside at the end of our day and the other Elders had to oven all out and pulled apart (apparently thats where he has been hiding). We smacked the oven and out comes the mouse (who we called Gadianton) and he ran behind the fridge and I just let out this blood curdling scream because it freaked me out. Then Elder Broadbent scared the mouse out of the back of the fridge and it runs out and I am screaming again and I run into the bathroom and close the door, but then I saw that Gadianton ran in with me so I swing open the door screaming my head off and run in the other room. Then we scared it out of the bathroom again and it starts running towards me again so I am screaming some more and finally he was stopped by Elder Finlinson! Scariest moment of my life by far! Five minutes later, our downstairs neighbor texts us to ask if we are home. We then said yes and that we were having some mouse hunting issues. She was laughing because her and her neighbor thought there was someone dieing upstairs! It was pretty funny I have to admit.
A few of us missionaries spoke in church this Sunday. I spoke on D&C 4:1-2. It went really well and people enjoyed it. It was all about just serving the best we can in all our callings in the church. I also played "O My Father" on my violin with a piano accompanying me. I had a few people in tears afterwards (which is my goal- to have others be uplifted by the spirit as I play). It was a really good sacrament meeting for me personally, and as well as the other members of the branch.
We have met with a few people while tracting this week that we are meeting with soon. We are still struggling to get people to come to church. We will extend a short powerful invitation about how church is such an important part of coming to understand the truths of the gospel for ourselves, but people still aren't coming. We are hoping that we will have an investigator or two come this week.
There have been a few things that have been going on lately and also some things that I felt before I had my mission call helping me to know that this mission and the area I am serving, is exactly where the Lord needs me to be. Being called to New York, in the New York South mission was, without a doubt, an inspired call from God. There are certain people that I feel only I can understand completely and bring them to the true knowledge of their Savior, Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
Last night, we had two convert baptisms in our district. It was so much fun to see the other companionships teach people and lead them to the waters of baptism and help them start their journey on the straight and narrow path towards the temple. I am sure that my companion and I will be able to help someone make this covenant in the near future.
Thank you for all your prayers and support, and letters of course!
Love,
Elder Hooper
This week has just been crazy. I moved apartments this week. I was living in a four man apartment and now my companion and I were able to get our own apartment since they closed one of the Spanish pools. My new address is 680 Metropolitan Ave. Apt 2R Brooklyn, NY 11211. It has taken a few days to clean out the apartment (the previous Elders were pretty messy) and then a while to move in and unpack. The apartment is much bigger and is convenient for us because it is right in the middle of our area and we are next to two trains that we use frequently.
So I am going to start off with a super funny story! A little embarrassing to. So, in my previous pad we had some issues with a mouse since December and it finally appeared the day before we moved. I walked inside at the end of our day and the other Elders had to oven all out and pulled apart (apparently thats where he has been hiding). We smacked the oven and out comes the mouse (who we called Gadianton) and he ran behind the fridge and I just let out this blood curdling scream because it freaked me out. Then Elder Broadbent scared the mouse out of the back of the fridge and it runs out and I am screaming again and I run into the bathroom and close the door, but then I saw that Gadianton ran in with me so I swing open the door screaming my head off and run in the other room. Then we scared it out of the bathroom again and it starts running towards me again so I am screaming some more and finally he was stopped by Elder Finlinson! Scariest moment of my life by far! Five minutes later, our downstairs neighbor texts us to ask if we are home. We then said yes and that we were having some mouse hunting issues. She was laughing because her and her neighbor thought there was someone dieing upstairs! It was pretty funny I have to admit.
A few of us missionaries spoke in church this Sunday. I spoke on D&C 4:1-2. It went really well and people enjoyed it. It was all about just serving the best we can in all our callings in the church. I also played "O My Father" on my violin with a piano accompanying me. I had a few people in tears afterwards (which is my goal- to have others be uplifted by the spirit as I play). It was a really good sacrament meeting for me personally, and as well as the other members of the branch.
We have met with a few people while tracting this week that we are meeting with soon. We are still struggling to get people to come to church. We will extend a short powerful invitation about how church is such an important part of coming to understand the truths of the gospel for ourselves, but people still aren't coming. We are hoping that we will have an investigator or two come this week.
There have been a few things that have been going on lately and also some things that I felt before I had my mission call helping me to know that this mission and the area I am serving, is exactly where the Lord needs me to be. Being called to New York, in the New York South mission was, without a doubt, an inspired call from God. There are certain people that I feel only I can understand completely and bring them to the true knowledge of their Savior, Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
Last night, we had two convert baptisms in our district. It was so much fun to see the other companionships teach people and lead them to the waters of baptism and help them start their journey on the straight and narrow path towards the temple. I am sure that my companion and I will be able to help someone make this covenant in the near future.
Thank you for all your prayers and support, and letters of course!
Love,
Elder Hooper
Week & Photos
This squirrel was
right outside my window!
My new Apartment
White Castle is a
fast food joint that is worse than McDonalds and they are having reservations
lol!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Week 6 NYNYS
My first transfer in
Bushwick just ended today! These six weeks went by incredibly fast! All the
days seem to mush together. Thank you to all that have written to me this week.
I loved all your letters and will plan on writing you all back today.
I am not getting transferred. I will still be here in Bushwick. I am very glad about this because our branch is getting stronger and more unified. With the new branch presidency, the branch is getting more excited about activities and our meetings are very spiritual. They have been better than most meetings I have ever been to! (maybe because I am a missionary?) Next Sunday, we are having a missionary theme in all the meetings. All the missionaries will be speaking during sacrament meeting about how important member missionary work is crucial for building the branch and helping us missionaries teach more lessons. I will also be playing O My Father with my violin and with one of our investigators playing the cello (she is super good!). Then following the meeting, we are having two baptisms still! It is going to be a great Sunday. I really think that with this meeting and with the branch party, we will see more success.
Also this week, we met a family who requested the missionaries over Mormon.org. We were able to meet them and they are really cool! They seemed very interested. We then came back and taught a mini lesson with one member of the family and invited her to church. Hopefully we will be able to teach them again soon. They are a very close family and they love each other very much! I know that the gospel can really help unite their family even more and most importantly, live together forever!
I wish I would have taken pictures of this, but we have been trying to come up with unique finding ideas to help people get familiar with us. We took our table down into the subway and played Jenga and chess with people waiting for the subways to come. A lot of people thought we were crazy, but once one person would finally stop and pull a wood piece out of the Jenga tower, people would stop, chuckle, and even play with us. We had many people take pictures of us and a few discussions were had too. I thought it was pretty successful. It would be even better if we had two game tables set up!
So funny story (well actually kind of an embarrassing story in a way). We were on the G train and we got lost multiple times (I was on exchanges and I was leading the way and we went to an area I have never been to before) and these two people came on the train that were signing to each other. I signed to them and asked if they were deaf. They said they were and then starting signing 100mph at me and I had no idea what they were saying I asked them to slow down so I could understand them, then one of them basically just gave me a "nevermind I am not going to try to talk to you because you dont understand me" sign. It was slightly depressing! But don't worry, I told them what church we were from :).
The members are starting to get more comfortable with us and we are having some dinner appointments too! Last night we even got fed a four course meal of Caribbean food! It was delicious.
Hopefully I will be able to share some of our more spiritual moments with investigators when we have some more lessons scheduled. People are very busy here and aren't able to meet with us consistently. I am still doing well and wish you all the best!
Love,
Elder Hooper
I am not getting transferred. I will still be here in Bushwick. I am very glad about this because our branch is getting stronger and more unified. With the new branch presidency, the branch is getting more excited about activities and our meetings are very spiritual. They have been better than most meetings I have ever been to! (maybe because I am a missionary?) Next Sunday, we are having a missionary theme in all the meetings. All the missionaries will be speaking during sacrament meeting about how important member missionary work is crucial for building the branch and helping us missionaries teach more lessons. I will also be playing O My Father with my violin and with one of our investigators playing the cello (she is super good!). Then following the meeting, we are having two baptisms still! It is going to be a great Sunday. I really think that with this meeting and with the branch party, we will see more success.
Also this week, we met a family who requested the missionaries over Mormon.org. We were able to meet them and they are really cool! They seemed very interested. We then came back and taught a mini lesson with one member of the family and invited her to church. Hopefully we will be able to teach them again soon. They are a very close family and they love each other very much! I know that the gospel can really help unite their family even more and most importantly, live together forever!
I wish I would have taken pictures of this, but we have been trying to come up with unique finding ideas to help people get familiar with us. We took our table down into the subway and played Jenga and chess with people waiting for the subways to come. A lot of people thought we were crazy, but once one person would finally stop and pull a wood piece out of the Jenga tower, people would stop, chuckle, and even play with us. We had many people take pictures of us and a few discussions were had too. I thought it was pretty successful. It would be even better if we had two game tables set up!
So funny story (well actually kind of an embarrassing story in a way). We were on the G train and we got lost multiple times (I was on exchanges and I was leading the way and we went to an area I have never been to before) and these two people came on the train that were signing to each other. I signed to them and asked if they were deaf. They said they were and then starting signing 100mph at me and I had no idea what they were saying I asked them to slow down so I could understand them, then one of them basically just gave me a "nevermind I am not going to try to talk to you because you dont understand me" sign. It was slightly depressing! But don't worry, I told them what church we were from :).
The members are starting to get more comfortable with us and we are having some dinner appointments too! Last night we even got fed a four course meal of Caribbean food! It was delicious.
Hopefully I will be able to share some of our more spiritual moments with investigators when we have some more lessons scheduled. People are very busy here and aren't able to meet with us consistently. I am still doing well and wish you all the best!
Love,
Elder Hooper
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