SO this week was pretty crazy. To begin with, it has been raining a ton. The whole area flooded. We were working in knee deep water for two days. And then on top of that, the power in the neighborhood went out for two days as well. It was an adventure. The people said a tornado passed over during one of the nights as well, but to be honest these people aren't trained meteorologists so I don´t know if we can trust their judgment on the validity of a tornado. 

Other than just the craziness of the weather, everything else has been generally okay. I forgot to mention I´m a counselor in the branch again so that's something real fun I get to do. I loved the package I received this week. The Christmas tree is spectactular. I love it so much. No one does Christmas here. It´s pretty sad. But I loved getting the package.

This week in general been pretty normal. Nothing too crazy. But I love it here. It's  very hard, but very fun. 

Merry Christmas

Elder Hoopes

It's Monkeys Down Here!

This week we contacted a house... WE FOUND A MONKEY in the tree. I fed it candy. It was seriously one of the coolest things I have done here. When we contacted the house we heard like a terrible sound (it sounded like something was just on the verge of death) and so I asked the lady,"What is that awful sound?" She said," It's the monkeys."  She looked kinda like a witch or like she was crazy so I thought she was referring to some voodoo slang or something. But then she said, "Look up" and THERE WAS A MONKEY.  Literally one of the most amazing things I have seen here.

We also had two incredible, and humbling, miracles this week. 

One day while we were buying snacks at like a kiosco (little convenience store), these two people approached us and wanted a selfie with us. We said we would take a selfie the next time we visit with them. We took their directions (address) then during the week tried to pass by 3 or 4 times. Well Saturday we had a very hard morning. We got rejected all morning and finally we decided to pray for guidance. We prayed and decided to try the selfie people's house again. They were finally home and  let us in. Well this is where it gets crazy. The mother of the family told us that her father passed away a year ago and since then she has been praying for truth and direction. She said that she wanted to know, or have an answer to her prayers, by her birthday within a year of her father's passing, which is this year to be exact. She then said,"My birthday is tomorrow." (Sunday because this happened on Saturday) She said that she was disappointed all week because it had been a whole year without the response. She said that Saturday morning she was extremely sad until we showed up. We were her answer. We showed up the day before her birthday with the Truth. The Spirit was so strong. She was pleading for an answer and we were sent to her house after praying for direction. It was so crazy!!!

The next miracle was happened while we were walking in the street and felt strongly to walk to a certain house. We explained to he woman in the home that we were here to help bring people to the truth and to Christ. This lady then told us how the night before she had had a dream and saw two paths. One was wide and open and everyone was falling in to that path and that the other was straight and small that very few were entering. A huge chasm separated the two paths with like just filth in between the two. The huge path had no end but the other led to light. She said she had felt super confused over which path to take when two men dressed fully in white appeared and said that they were there to help her. The craziest part is that she told us that the way my companion and I had presented ourselves was exactly what the two men had said in the dream. She then bore testimony as how the Lord provides and prepares for people. We were truly sent a second time as messengers to save and help those who are lost.   

I know this is the work of the Lord. That he has a plan for his children and we are truly his hands in this great work. We were led to help these people and He leads us and guides us to His children. This work is true. I know it is. 

Other then these wonderfully special experiences, the weather is wonderful this week. We didn't do anything fun for thanksgiving, and I stayed in my area and with my comp for this transfer. I love you all and hope you all can feel the love of God in your lives.

Love Elder Hoopes

Sorry I can`t put up my video of the monkey or the other fotos of this week because this stupid computer is terrible.

A Fun Week in Argentina

So this week was really fun. It poured rain so much during the nights and then it wouldn't be so hot during the day. And It would make the whole streets flooded. Like I got some awesome pictures in the puddles. Of course it isn't so comfortable here. For example I burned my hand while trying to pour the boiling water into the shower bucket, but I love it here. 

We had divisions this week. My companion was with the other elders and while they were teaching, he ended up yelling at a Testigo de Jevohah (Jehovah's Witness). The guy was invited by his friend to listen in during the teaching appointment and was intentionally being a jerk. He kept telling my companion in English to "speak Spanish" just to get him riled up. It was so very rude and he was such a complete jerk to my companion who can't even speak Spanish yet. So finally my companion just lost it and blew up on the guy in English until he left. I guess not really the best approach but it was pretty funny. 

On top of that our work has really expanded. We met a guy a few weeks ago as the result of a referral that had a wrong address.  When we followed up on the referral the man who answered at the wrong address turned out to be a relative of one of our families. Later we followed up with an appointment with the man and his family at the relative's house. We showed up kind of early and talked to the man. There he humbly told us that he had been praying for us to come to his house. Because of the mistake in the referral, and because we knew his brother, we were able to meet with him. It was an awesome experience. Truly a miracle. 

While talking about miracles, we fixed a car by miracle. These people were having problems with their car. So we offered our help. Upon further inspection  my companion concluded that the car was way to old and dirty for any repairs we could possibly make.  Well before my companion began working on it, he said a prayer. We did everything we could and then just had faith that it would work. My companion shut the hood of the car, told them to start it...and it worked! It was so crazy. Like literally we couldn't have done anything to fix it but a prayer and the Lord did everything. 

It was such an awesome and special experience. Through faith and prayer many miracles are made. This week has been really fun and I love it here.

Love Elder Hoopes

This week has been very hot. To be completely honest, the computer keyboard is broken and it is very difficult to write. Anyway, this week has been just a typical week here. Very hot, very humid, and very difficult. We got rejected a lot this week. Like it's so sad because they don't know what they are turning away. 

We had an asado this week with some members of the branch which was awesome, and I cut my companion's hair, which was really fun. We are working a lot. Tomorrow is my 5 month mark. So that is super exciting. There just isn't too much for me to say. Our investigators are doing well but there isn't much I feel like I can share about them.

Anyway, I love it here. It has been really really difficult but I feel like I have really grown. Everyday here is an adventure. Argentina is just a crazy crazy place. 

I can't put any fotos on right now. The computer is literally the worst. I love you all. 

Elder Hoopes

(Connor was able to send a few pictures later so here they are)

Members of the branch who had the asado (barbecue)

A Better Week

Well this week was way better than the last. The weather has been, not so hot and it has only drizzled. So that has been a huge relief. I also got to seemy cousin at multizona. It was so much fun! For some odd reason there are just tons of frogs out. They are everywhere. It's like a chorus of croaks. It is just like the jungle out here and I love it. Everyday is like an adventure and we get to do a great work. 

This week one of the families we have been teaching came to church and it was so special. She was like bawling and it was a wonderful expirence. My companion and I are doing good so that is good. And we finally got a photo. 

Honestly nothing super exciting happened. Like we had a dog follow us for the WHOLE day and we found talking-parakets that speak spanish. We are still working very hard. We have been rejected a lot this week. But we will just find those who will want to listen. 

I wish I could tell you all about a great miracle that we have had this week. In reality though, we see small unmistakable miracles everyday that are too many to recount. For this we know that we are watched over and protected. I love it here.

Elder Hoopes

Happy Halloween

So wow this week has been kind of difficult. In the last few pensions I have problems with the water but this time was probably the worst. The shower, the faucets and the bathroom didn't have water. We literally had no water. Luckily we had refrigerated a lot of water bottles and we still had drinking water, but nothing  else, because nothing else worked. (Connor said the water issue has since been fixed).  We also had super super hot and humid days this week and then super crazy storms. It was like 100 plus degrees with like 100 percent humidity with no clouds anywhere, then like the next day we would have to literally walk through shin deep mud in the middle of the roads. And when we would ask if we could enter houses to try to get out of the storrm, people were just like, "¿otra dia?" (Another day?).  It was literally the hardest downpour I have ever expirenced and no one would let us in. Actually it was very frustrating. Aside from that I`m losing weight again and probably weigh ten pounds less then when I entered the mission. So the climate has just been overall frustrating this week.  On the brightside though, I bought a new hat this week.

In respect to the work, it has also been very frustrating. If there is  soccer match, everything stops, no one wants to talk, and everyone is just super drunk. So its just hard. I don`t intend to be a depressing Debbie Downer, but I`m just being honest with what has happened this week. 

Obviously we will have our trials. And truthfully throughout these setbacks, I have felt the hand of God guide us and strengthen us. This week has been a week of strengthening. If it wasn`t for the problems, I would have never seen the parts of my testimonio and of my life that I would need to strengthen. And honestly, these problems have only added a great adventure to the mission. They are just great opportunities I have had to show my faith in God. They are quite fun to encounter. 

I hope that you all are having fun in the States. 

Love 

Elder Hoopes

My Padawan

This past week was kinda frustrating, but in like a fun way. First off, I received an awful haircut which was just....great. It´s not like I´m bald but it is pretty close haha. Anyway, I got my little padawan this week and we left to Clorinda. He doesn´t know Spanish but he just wants to work and that is cool. His name is Elder Willard, de Idaho.

As white washes go, the missionaries in this area before us were responsible for putting the infomation we needed about our area in the area book. Well all the information we desperately need was somehow missplaced. When we arrived at the pension we found it a disaster! So we promptly deep cleaned our pension and tried to locate our area book; which we came to learn wasn´t even in our pension. Regardless, we were determined to go out this week and work whether we had information or not. We have a big map of the area on the wall and it has names of people. So we figured we could visit every name and see what happens. Turns out,the map is 20 years old, the addresses have changed, streets don´t have names and the people don´t know their own address. In a futile attempt to find people we had to ask argentines for direccions and that literally sent us in all the wrong directions. Like for example, we were trying to find this member´s house and ended up almost 2 miles away by the church that is outside my area. On the brighter side, my Spanish directional skills, sense of direction skills,  and walking skills have become much better. I have also become much more fluent with my Spanish because, well... I do all the talking. I love it so much. We have mostly memorized the area but because it is Argentina, no one knows the street names, or they don´t exist, so neither do I.

In terms of the area. It is very hot, humid and sunny. This pension is terrible and I keep having huge spiders on me and I keep getting bitten by them. Other than the frustrating start, the rest has been good here. Like for example, my comapnion found someone who speaks English so he got to give the lesson because my english is terrible now.  We are finding people that haven´t been visted in years and we find people that have been taught years ago. That part is exciting. 

Anyway I love it here. I actually really like the way it started here in Clorinda because it has been a huge adventure. So rock on. Today and yesterday it has been raining so here is my wonderful foto. Live long and prosper.

Elder Hoopes

4 month mark!!

So saturday was my four month mark!!! Its so crazy how fast time has passed.This week was very interesting. We had two service projects in which we trimmed a tree and painted a building. We also had aftershocks of an earthquake which was kinda fun too. We also had some Testigos de Jehova show up in the middle of one of our lessons, so that was challenging. Plus I had a huge spider on my shoulder.... It was sooo scary! Then on top it all of we had Mother's Day. So it has been very interesting. 

These week was transfers. Saturday was the day that the new trainers were to be called and be notified. Our phones have a setting to make it ring on a timer, so it sounds like a real phone call...but it's not. So Elder Mejia thought it was hilarious to set it and watch me panic. Well 15 minutes after the joke, the real assistentes called and now I`m becoming a trainer and I`m going to be white washed into a new area in Clorinda, Formosa Province.  It's right across the river from Asuncion, Paraguay. I'll find out who my companion will be when he arrives in the mission on Wednesday or Thursday.  So I`m really excited. So far in the last three transfers I have had three areas and now 6 companions. That includes my comapnaion in the MTC. So anyway it has been very very fun week.

I know the Lord qualifies whom he calls so I`m just super excited to be a trainer and get transfered again. Everything is good and I`m just having a dandy old time.

Love Elder Hoopes

A Great Adventure

Well this week was difinetly an adventure. Tuesday was super hot and very humid! then Wednesday, like always, we traveled to the city for interviews with president. It was great. So then Thursday. Thursday we traveled to Corzuela like always. Well this time it was heavy overcast and cold so I had my clothes for the cold. We didn`t think it would rain because the weather has been like this lately and it wasn`t like it was going to rain. I still had my umbrella just in case. We`ll we were in the very very outskirts of this town. And a microburst began. We had only one umbrella and no clothes for the rain. So I was literally soaked. Then I fell in the mud too. No one let us in and we were stuck in out in the rain no where near our town. Then when we returned to our town in the night the same storm rained on us again. I was so wet it was as if I had gone swimming in my church clothes. It was so much fun.

On Friday we travel to two towns. Both are very far away. So the Pampa del Infierno is about an hour and a half away and the last bus leaves at 3. but it always passes about 2:45 so we try to be there by 2:30. We`ll the bus was early and we were late. So we missed the last bus from this town. No taxis either. So we decided that sitting around would solve nothing so we began to walk. And walk and walk. We tried to hitch hike but literally no one would stop. Finally after an hour someone picked us up and dropped us off about half way to the next town. After that we continued to walk and walk. Well we then got chased by a pack of dogs. That made it more exciting! my companion almost got mauled but he is okay. Finally another man picked us up and dropped us off in the next town. That helped so much because we then used the train to return. Well when I sat on the train, the only seat available was all gross underneath and well, we didn`t see so, yes, I stepped in that too. So that was just a great time. And as miserable as it sounded it was actually quite fun. Literally an adventure. 

This week I had been "ponderizing" a scripture that says," verily the lord seeth fit to try the patience and faith of his people. So these two expirences were great opportunities to show my faith and patience. And I know that through these experiences I will grow 

But I absolutely love it here. I had cow tongue this last week and have become a marriage counselor haha. Which I don`t think I`m any way suited to be. I lost my USB as well but I just feel like all these expirences are for my gain and that it will all be alright in the end. I`m just dandy. 

Love Elder Hoopes

Interesting Week!

Sorry for last week´s email being so short, I take notes during the week about what I want to mention in my agenda. But a little boy wanted to draw and he had no paper in his house or pen so I gave him my agenda and pan. But beside that, this week was very interesting. This week while in the shower, a huge spider the size of my hand palm crawled over my foot. That was so scary. It was like a baby tarantula but HUGE. And I also found a worm in the filter again. So I´m just thankful we have our filter and it´s working. And our pension is weird because it is clean, but every morning we find new dead bugs on the ground. So I don´t know what is happening there but I´m just glad we are finding them dead for now. And I found literally the most majestic duck of my life this week. It was so cool!!!!!! and I drew another gift for another kid.

This last week has had So much walking. The week before the collectivo (bus) dropped us off 3 miles past our town so but this week the tren didn´t even pick us up so we walked and walked liked always. It was kinda funny because we were so happy we could see the train, then it just passed us and we just continued to walk. Luckily We were being watched over and the whether in 15 minutes went form humid, hot, and sunny to cloudy, windy, and perfect. No cloud in the sky to just a wonderful overcast. So we just walked a lot this week, but really, what´s new about that. 

This week has also been a week of great food. (really just the last three days) We traded some mexican candy to a sister in our district, who is from Mexico, and she made us tortillas. We then made breakfeast burritos. My companero made salsa from Mexico (Elder Mejía is from Tabasco, Mexico) and it was great. It was a little spicy but super delicious. It was ironic because as I was telling my companion  about how the salsa wasn´t spicy, it got in my eye and then got it´s revenge. So that was painful. And  because it was conference weekend, to avoid traveling even more, we just stayed in the city. But it wasn´t just us but other elders too. So in total we had 8 missionaires in one pension. For lunch we made 8 pizzas! it was so much fun! And during this huge sleepover we have had for the last three days. I gave my self a hair cut. I cut my own hair. It was so scary but it actually turned out great! 

This week was Conferencia General. It was great, but the lesson I learned didn´t come during conference but after it was all over. We live in a small town. Our branch building is so small and we couldn´t watch conference there. So instead, we hired a bus to bring our branch members to the stake center to watch. And it went great. We had our members, plus some members who were inactive come and they were able to watch Conference. Then afterward we had to wait for the bus to take them back. Conference ended at 7 and the bus was going to pick them up at 7:30. So like then 7:30 came and passed and no bus. It wasn´t unusual because usually they are late. Well the last bus that goes to our town leaves at 7:45 and we began to consider whether we should just pay for everyone to take that bus. Well we decided to wait because the municpalidad told us that it was coming, so we waited. 8 came and passed and so did 8:30. As we began planning to move all the beds from the pension to the church so they could stay the night, or to hire 4 taxi´s to drive the hour back to our town the thought came to me,

"Why haven´t you prayed for help?"

With this spiritual instruction I told my companion that we must pray. So I somehow corraled our little sheep and my companion, The president of the branch prayed for aid. Somehow after the prayer, I began to lead a testimony meeting. As the time passed, my language and the spirit in the room grew in strength. We began to feel God´s love in the room. I was able to teach with what I felt was power and love. I know that God gave us that opportunity to teach and express His love. It was an incredible experience. I felt as a shepherd boy in the Great Shepherd's work and that I had the privileged opportunity to serve his little lambs with the same love and care he would give them. It was as if I had the wonderful glimpse into the love of God for His children. 

I´m so privileged to be in this branch and serve. Eventually our bus came and our little flock was able to return home. This experience was so special and I know that God lives and loves his children. 

I love and miss you all. 

Love Elder Hoopes

O

A New Week

This week was kinda typical. We traveled and visited members like always so nothing new happening there. We finally got our pump fixed in the pension so now we have running water. Up to this point we have been using the well which also was very very low with water so that´s fixed. We also got the lights fixed in the branch house. Every sunday we have been opening every window for light, but it is fixed now so that is another good thing that happened this week. We also gave back our bikes so I don´t get to ride a bike anymore. Kinda sad about that. But anyway.

We are literally just always traveling and making visits to members. We had divisions this week and also had a meeting for branch presidents for 3 hours but other than that, this its pretty much the same work.

I did get some fun photos this week. The pig was delicious and the dog is timmy. Timmy and I are best buds. She loves to play fetch. So whenever we stop by, we play fetch. And as you can tell by the photo, she is very focused. 

Thanks for all of your support!

Love 

Elder Hoopes

Viajes

So I´m having a great time. We travel a lot! My area isn´t just one town, but multiple. So I want to share how much we travel. On mondays, we travel to the main city, Saenz Peña and return for P-day. The following day we spend in Campo Largo making visits, (on the bikes) then on Wednesday we travel to Corzuela for the whole day. Thursday and Friday is split betweeen the towns of Corzuela and Campo Largo. Then Saturday we travel like crazy. We travel to a Pampo del Infierno and then travel to Avia Terai then Campo Largo. Most of the towns except Saenz Peña are like thatcher. And the longest distance we travel is about two hours. We work in Corzuela a lot because it has the second largest amount of members that we need to visit. As for Avai Terai and Pampa, In total the two towns have 5 members but for the whole day is almost four hours of travel. Sin embargo, I love it here. It is way different than normal mission work. We visit members, take tithings, and do stuff that a typical Branch presidency would do because we are the branch presdency. Nothing really new or wow going on, but it´s just a great place. 

The solo aspect about Campo that is annoying is the dogs. We kinda live in the outskirts of the town, so there are a lot of dogs. Not as many as in Formosa, but the problem is, around 4 in the morning, every morning, without fail, ALL of the dogs just bark for one reason or another. It is literally a choir of dogs. It´s terrible. Other than that, I´m great.

 My companion and I get along well and my spanish is coming a long really well and I am the only gringo in our zone. So that is really fun.

Unlike Formosa where I felt like something crazy always happened during the week, nothing crazy happens here. I mean one of the members we visit has 11 dogs, 5 pigs 4 cats and chickens so it is like a zoo and thats interesting. And we just had elections so the whole town was in a uproar about something or other but that´s literally the craziest thing that has happened this week. And I have an awesome new tan but it isn´t worthy of an awesome story. 

Anyway. I´m doing great.

Love Elder Hoopes

Campo Largo

So I really like it here. Campo largo is just super tranquil. It is just so peaceful and I like it. It is a lot like Mesa. Just more dogs, more dirt roads, and more motorcycles. And it isn´t just Campo Largo that is like this, the other three towns we have are just like it too. The whole area is like a gila valley feel. I love the work we are doing to. In Formosa, we were more of proselyting, teaching, and looking for people. Here in this area, because we are the branch presidency, we visit the members. We still have investigators but we focus on our cute little branch. It´s so much fun too. Our members aren´t solely in Campo Largo but in the other 3 surrounding towns. So we get to travel every other day to another town and go on visits to the members. It´s so much fun. And in campo largo tambien, is to big to walk everywhere so we get bikes! So it´s just fun. My pension isn´t bad. The only problem, like always, is the water.  The pump for the water is broken so we have to use well in our back yard which is nasty. We use it for anything that needs waterm: shower, cooking, bathroom, cleaning, anything that uses water, we have to use the well, and it isn´t fun. But other than that the pension is pretty awesome!!!!

So my latino brothers are awesome. It isnt as difficult as I thought it would be. They are awesome. Elder Munoz is from bolivia and Elder Mejia is from Mexico. We get along great and Elder Mejia is now my companion. We just found out 5 minutes ago that Elder Munoz is being transfered and so now it is just Elder Mejia y yo. Its so much fun. But I love it here.

Nothing much happened this week. If anything happened this week it was my spanish has grown leaps and bounds. I also bought my first futbol jersey. So yeah I´m just doing all dandy down here in the southern hemisphere. 

Love 

Elder Hoopes 

TRANSFERS!

This week has been ridiculous!!!!!!!! So to begin. I ripped three pairs of pants this week in the same spot. I just would sit down on the bus, or at a member´s house, or something of some sort, then when I would stand up, RIP! My pants would rip. SO that was fun. I got them all fixed this week. So all is well. I also got a flare from one of the hermanas in our district for it being my first transfer and that was fun. And this week we had an activity for the stake. We showed the movie, Meet The Mormones. The was interesting. Because we had a almuerzo con the bishop. He wanted to make a video and send it to the ward, so we made a video inviting everyone. Well then the bishop posted it on Facebook and then president saw it. (Curt here...here's the video... Invitation Video) So then president called us and asked us if we had been using Facebook, then he posted it. So the thing was hyping up to be awesome. Well the elders in charge of the activity did not communicate well or have the movie so we had like 200 people or so and we didn´t have the movie. So it looked like it was going to fail, but then we got it and everything was okay. So that was fun. And a bird pooped on me yesterday.

So this week we had a baptism. So that was great. I had the opportunity to baptize these two little grils and my companion baptized our investigator. So that was so much fun. And having chuy this week made things a little more frustrating. but everything turned out well. 

Being in the trio the last two weeks only prepared for this transfer. My problem last week was my spanish and having an extra companion. Well I got moved into a trio/branch presidency and  where my entire zone is latino and I´m the only gringo. So I´m actually super excited. Because i´ll be able to only spak spanish and be able to learn real quickly and technically, I´m the second conselor in a branch prseidency and I have only been here 6 weeks. The president leaves in three weeks and then my companion will be the president so we´ll see what happens. And instead of us having 5 neighborhoods like my last area, we have 4 towns. We have to visit the members in all the towns and they are all like and hour or two apart so we will travel a lot! So I´m super excited for this next area. 

Elder Higuera and I both felt like we were going to be transferred a few weeks ago. But since I´m still technically in training, we would of had to been white washed to a new area. Well the time on friday when they were suppose to call us and tell us that we were going to be white washed came and went. So him and I thought we would stay. We´ll then around 5ish the day before were suppose to transfer they called us. They told not only we would be transfered but that our area was to be closed as well. So we had to quickly finish all of appointments that night and clean and clean and clean. So that was fun.

This week has been Great. So email me if you have any questions. 

Love Elder Hoopes

(Curt here again... Connor's new area is a branch in Campo Largo, Chaco Province. His companions are Elder Mejia and Elder Muñoz)

Fun week in Argentina

So despite it being winter, it´s like 90 and 80-90% humitity. So that is just a blast. But despite the heat, it´s been great. So I´ll talk about the fun stuff first. Since it has been super hot and I haven´t cut my hair since the first week of july, I needed a haircut. So I was like super scared because I couldn´t explain how I wanted my hair and my scherades wasn´t working well. But my hair turned out great! so I´m ready for the onset of summer. Also this week we have had this family we have been visiting with that have 5 dachshunds. It´s so fun. Well 2 of their dogs were pregnant and this week they gave birth. So there were like 15 puppy dachshunds running around with the original 5. It was so cute. It´s funny because people have house dogs, when there are like millions of strays. I can always see at least 10 dogs. They are just everywhere and I love it.  I also ate cow stomach this week.  It was kinda good as weird as that sounds. the kids love my drawings. So i drew a kid a picture of an airplane but made it that when you held it up to the light, you could see through it and see the inside. It was so cool. I´m also in a triplet this week. AND one of the local canchas has been on fire this week so the whole area is just always in smoke. It is just a wonderful adventure. And this week i got to see our mission president so I got a photo with him.

So in a more spiritual side of this week. It has been kinda a rollercoaster. So we had a lot of people loooking into the church. And we could see how it was blessing their lives. So it was good because they were progressing, then one day we lost 4 people for onereason or another. So we were upset because we could feel how much the gospel would of blessed their lives but they just decided to not acccept it. So that was sad. But the same day the last lesson, the boy whom we were teaching got up and walked out, it was weird. But then he walked back in in all white. He wanted to surprise us with him wanting to be baptized. So we will get to baptize him this Saturday. So that is exciting. Other wonderfully spiritual expirences happened this week but would be a little much to share. Spanish is interesting. Like I kinda half think. Half spanish, half Íngles. And it isn´t fun. It is interesting because the more I study spanish, the more I come to realize I´ll never learn it on my own. It is wonderfully terrifying that the way God shows himself in our lives is by sometimes showing how little we can do ourselves and that if we are to ever suceed we must rely on him. I know that we are never alone but he gives us the opportunity to struggle and grow so in our time of need, we can see his hand reaching down to pull us up. Lots of love.

So this week I also gave my first blessing in Spanish. It was weird because I was scared buit instantly she was healed. But Yeah it was great. We also had a family request us to bring them a plant so we found this awesome deathly looking plants with lots of thorns!!! So that was fun! and my companion and I both felt that we were going to be whitewashed to a new area although I´m not done with training. Then yesterday with the mission president, we were talking about anothe Elder who was going to join us becuase his companion finished his mission then he dropped a HUGE hint that we might be leaving. The companion to join us is named Elder Chuy. He was Elder Jones, Alison´s son, companion so that is a cool coincidence. He played professional soccer in Chile so he is cool. But yeah I love it here. I miss home because it´s comfortablñe but its whatever.

Here are some cool photos:)

We had some gelato today it was great! 

Love Elder Hoopes