Elder Hopkins in San Jose: The first transfer comes to a close

Well this week has been really good, we reached almost all of our goals and we got higher than some of them. I went on exchanges again this week with the other zone leader, Elder Maxwell. The exchange was really good I learned alot and we got more lessons than I have ever got in a single day. I was nervous about the exchange though because instead we stayed in my area, which meant that I was in charge of the area, I had to make the plans and choose who and what we would teach. In the end it all went off without a hitch, it was really good.

It is weird to me that this transfer is just about over already, it went by pretty fast. I think back to my first day here and I feel like I did not know anything and now I am much more comfortable with the work.

One thing this week the sisters in our area set us up for a 3 hour service where we had to babysit an old man with dementia. It was the pretty bad, he was really paranoid and he kept forgetting that he was in his own house and he kept trying to leave. I won't go to far into detail about the experience, but needless to say he and has wife have a really hard time.

Also fun fact, I keep forgetting to email, there are a few ASL (American Sign Language)

missionaries in the zone. So I decided I wanted to learn, for the past few weeks I have been learning bits and pieces of ASL from different missionaries. I can only piece together a few sentences like "My name is Elder Hopkins I am a missionary from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", "That picture is beautiful." "Where is the kitchen?", "Lets make peanut butter chocolate cookies." Just a few sentences like that. It is really fun though. Elder Maxwell learned sign language while he was out here and he ended up spending a couple transfers in the deaf branch so you never know.

Also, Brandon, a young kid who is preparing for baptism on the 18th, has a little sister named Crystal, who recently agreed to be baptized on the same day, we still need to talk to the parents again, but it would be so cool if that brother and sister were baptized on the same day.

I'll leave you with a couple of quotes that I really like.

"Pray like everything depends on the Lord, Work like everything depends on you." -Thomas S. Monson

"Faith is knowing when you step out into darkness that one of two things will happen, you will step onto solid ground, or God will teach you how to fly."

I love it here, I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and I love seeing what it can do for people and their families. Thanks for everyone's love, support, and prayers!

I sent just a few pictures. A few of Elder Maxwell from exchanges, one of Elder Harper from District meeting, he plays his guitar a lot, and a picture we took of the cars odometer when it reached exactly 30,000.