Who knew sidewalk art could be so informative??

Daddy-O

In answer to your questions, I love the mission. It is the hardest thing I have ever done but when I take it one day at a time its amazing to see how much Heavenly Father is involved in my life. Sister Harvey and I are getting along really well. We have a lot of differences but she is here to WORK. That in and of itself is the only thing ya need to make a companionship gel. She has such a sincere desire to serve the Lord. She has shared with me her story about how she got here, this sister has been through heck and back to even get this far. She is a wonderful missionary. She is an inspiration to me and I really think she came pre-trained. She is able to bear testimony and plan a day really really well. We are still working on getting familiarized on rules, specific principles in lessons, and other missionary skills but because of her desire to be here, she picks it up really fast. It makes life so much easier. So she has aspergers (I still cant spell that to save my life), she explained it to me like this, "Its like an alien coming to earth and not understanding the body language, tone of voice, whats socially okay and what isn't and having to learn it all manually instead of instinctively." That really helped me understand a lot better. She gets really anxious when we are talking with someone over the phone, she usually won't speak because she can't see the persons face or body language so she can't get the whole picture. She doesn't want to offend someone so she just doesn't like to talk. She said that she doesn't even understand her own body language or tone of voice, she has to pretty much practice if she wants to sound/look happy or sad. Its really really fascinating and she handles it soooo well. We haven't had any slip ups with anyone being offended or whatever, the Lord provides for his missionaries.  

We had a KILLER week. On Wednesday Sister Harvey placed her first book of mormon! We went to contact a potential investigator and Sister Harvey just gave it to her and she thanked us and said she didn't have time to talk right then but that we could come back. I love remembering back to when I did things for the first time, you never forget things like that and being with a new missionary, that just fuels the fire so strongly and is so awesome because it relights your fire! On Thursday we taught the Jungs (Soo, the mother, and Yun, her 15 year old son). We studied that morning all about the plan of salvation. We study for 3 hours now, since Sister Harvey is a new missionary, so we role played and it went really really well. Sister Harvey felt like we should sing I am a Child of God for them. So we went with it, we sang it in the lesson and the spirit was sooooooo strong. Soo cried and we both knew she felt the spirit. At the end, Yun asked us if Heavenly Father felt emotions like happiness, sadness, etc. We were able to explain more about the nature of God. Sister Harvey set Yun and Soo on date for October 11th, just like we practiced that morning. She slipped on the wording a little but it was humbling because when she slipped she looked at me like "I messed up, what do i do?" I just nodded at her like "you're doing great, keep going." and she did, she killed it and they both agreed to be baptized on that day. IT WAS A MIRACLE! We were both sooooooooo happy!!!! We still are!!! 

On Saturday night, we got to go to the ward picnic. The whole Jung family was there and we were able to play Frisbee with them and it was awesome to see them mingle with others in the ward, I think they really feel like a part of the family. On Sunday they all came to church. It was their first fast Sunday in the ward and guess what! YUN GOT UP AND BORE HIS TESTIMONY. HOLY COW. IT WAS SO POWERFUL. He got up and said, "I have been learning from the missionaries and I learned this week that Heavenly Father loves me and has a better life for me. My parents sacrificed for me by letting me come to America to have a better life. My dad has to work a lot to let us stay here. My Heavenly Father feels like that about me. He gave his son so that I could have a better life. So many people are unhappy because the don't take the changes Heavenly Father has given them to have a better life."  This young man is feeling the power of the holy ghost in his life that is testifying to him and teaching him that his Heavenly Father is aware of him and loves him so much and that by taking this path, he is going to have a better life. It was so powerful. We are so elated to see Yun and his mother progress towards the better life Heavenly Father has had in store for them for many many years. 

We also had some fun this week, for a finding idea we decided to draw a simplified version of the plan of salvation on the sidewalk. We also wrote each other funny notes on our enormous mirror and last night we told p-day eve secrets and hid each others snacks so that we could have a healthier week :P (its part of the stress management section for new missionaries....) 

I love being a missionary, I have come to know very deeply that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that because of Him I can overcome my temptations and challenges. I know that Heavenly Father lives, that he is sooooo aware of me and that He loves me perfectly. I know the fullness of the gospel was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and that through the Book of Mormon we can know of the truth of all of these things. I know there is a living prophet on the earth today that guides Christ's church. I know that I will be with you and mom and kenyon, hailey, shelby, and calvin forever. That all families can be together forever through the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I LOVE YOU DAD! XOXO 

<3 SISTER HOOPES