HAPPY VALENTINES!!!

Our special Valentines Day photo for you...

Me and T.

Dear Family,

So we are writing at the Lafayette Church building today so we bypassed all of the closed libraries since it is a holiday. It seems like a lot of National Holidays are on Mondays...the same day as P-day. That is okay though, everything works out in the end.

Oh and thank you so much for the Valentines package!!! That was so awesome and Elder Bracken wants me to say thanks for him. And I can also say thanks from me! HAPPY VALENTINES!!!

We had a pretty good week this week. I went on an exchange this week with some Elder's down in New Iberia and man do I have respect for missionaries in a biking area. There area is pretty big and they have no other option than to bike or walk. I knew that I could bike, but I was not ready for biking that much. Missions can really be tiring physically, emotionally and spiritually. But you push through it all because it is something that you really love doing. I was on exchange with Elder Hall and he is a really good missionary. He has just been a devoted member his whole life and the spirit influences every decision and action that he makes. We got talking and we found out that his Dad also went to the Geneva Switzerland mission in around 1989ish. You might have missed each other, but maybe you had the same mission president? For district meeting we made cookies and valentines for the members in our Branch. It was a lot of fun and I think that it really brought us closer together.

We went to a lesson this week and the whole thing was in Spanish...guess what neither of us speak Spanish. But we did have a translator. We were at the Freebairns and Sister Freebairns friends, F. and M.,  came over and we were able to teach them a little spiritual thought. And this last Thursday we had dinner appointment with them and they made us Tamales...they were really good! We began to talk about God and M. told us the story about how she lost faith in God and then had an answer to a prayer and has been faithful ever since. We based our lesson around the love that God has for us and that one way we can know of his love is through the Book of Mormon. Even though we could not understand them completely and we had a translator we could all definitely understand and feel the spirit.

On Saturday we went up to Opelousas and we met with a 12 year old boy named T. Elder Bracken had been meeting with him before and then he moved to Texas so he could have better chances with scholarships. He is really good at basketball and even though he is in 6th grade he plays on the 8th grade team. For a couple of years he has been going to different churches on his own so he can find the right one and Elder Bracken said that when they taught him the Restoration he started crying because he knew that it was true. We were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation and he is very mature for his age. He was asking good questions and was sincerely interested. I will send you a picture.

Well I better get going. Thank you so much for the emails and thank you again for the package I will end with a little excerpt from my presidents letter.


This week I have been studying Christ appearance to the Americas. There is one verse that I really love that I think describes what we are doing as missionaries in this world today. 3 Nephi 16: 20

The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.

The Lords arms are always open and they are always there, but sometimes we don't recognize that they are there. Sometimes we need somebody to help us to see them and how they are influence our lives. That is part of our job as missionaries, we help people to understand that they have a loving Heavenly Father. You said in my interview that the most important thing that we know is that we have a Father in Heaven that loves us, we have the special privilege to give two years of our life to share the most important knowledge that we have. He makes" bare his holy arms" through us, his servants. What an awesome thing to be a part of.

Prayers and thoughts Always

Lub,

Elder Devin Soper