It has come to a satisfying conclusion...

Good Morning,

There aren't enough computers for everyone, so I am going to keep this pretty short because I can tell you about my week in just a few days! I think that will be even better. 

Yeah today is going to be pretty busy, but it wont be too bad, I am just really looking forward to the few days ahead. We have a fun P-day planned and I think a bunch of us are going to go to this cool southern restaurant for lunch. That will be a good last hooraw! 

Things have been pretty good though and it has come to a satisfying conclusion. For awhile I had wondered if I did everything that I could or I used my mission to its fullest. And I definitely haven't been perfect, but I do feel like all of the experiences, good and bad, were pretty perfect for me. I am really happy with what has happened and more than anything I am grateful for the gospel foundation that it has strengthened and fortified. It is kind of true what they say that this isn't the end, but it is preparation for the next phase of life. I never was expected to be perfect after my mission, but I was expected to improve and I think that I was able to do that, even if it was just a little bit. I feel really grateful for all my experiences, all the friendships I have made, the many challenges that have happened, the things I have learned, the weaknesses I found out about, the strengths that I received help to develop and also a deeper understanding of how the gospel applies to my life. The coolest thing is that all this was part of Heavenly Fathers plan and the way that all of this was learned was through other people and the Spirit, I guess that is how all things are learned. So its all about Him. I am excited to tell you about all the people I have met and really everything else. 

Thank you for all the prayers, the support, the letters, the jokes etc. etc.

See you soon!

Love,

Elder Soper

Oh yeah this last week too we got put in a trio with Elder Sato and that has been awesome. He has taught me a lot already and I am sad that we only got to be companions for a week. He is a great missionary.

Things are definitely winding down...

Good Morning!

Things are definitely winding down. The Semester here at LSU finishes up this week and you can kinda feel the stress that the students have and the excitement of the prospect of finishing so soon. I think I am feeling those same feelings. It still hasn't hit me though and I am not just saying that. I just can't wrap my head around that fact that I will see yall next week. I am excited to see Quinn too! I am just so excited to see yall. The work hasn't been too bad though. The whole time I have been here it has been kind of slow and we just never were able to create anything too solid. But at the same time it has been really steady with what we do have and that is a blessing. We have been trying some new ideas, but I think the thing that has worked the best lately has just been being open and talking to people. I have a couple stories that I can share about that! It has been awesome to be district leader too and you are totally right that I am continuing to be humbled. I definitely feel more comfortable doing it and sharing ideas than I used to be, but it is still very humbling. 

Well I definitely have felt everybody's prayers all throughout my mission and I am extremely grateful for them all! So I have to get off pretty soon, gotta run some errands but I will share a few stories.

I have been trying to be better at just talking to people. And so we were on the bus and this guy was holding a green smoothie so I said, "Hey that is a green smoothie." Haha probably not the most creative of approaches, but we ended up talking to him for the whole bus ride and even though we didn't teach him anything we have a new familiar face. Next story. So the whole time I have been here I have seen this one guy on campus and we have become friends without ever talking to each other, we always just say hi when we see each other, I didn't even know his name haha. Well the other day we were sitting in the Student Union and randomly he came up to us. His name is A. and he just expressed to us how grateful he was for how we are kind, welcoming and how we try to live a Christlike lives. We ended up talking for about and hour and a half about how similar are beliefs are on how we should live our lives and that means we talked about following the example of our Savior. It just made me realize that our influence can be seen by others, A. and our lives have both been improved because we are trying to live the best we can. You really can share the gospel by example!

I better get going, but I love you guys so much and I will talk to you soon.

Prayers and Thoughts always!

Elder Devin Soper

This has been a fun week...

Dear Family,

This has been a fun week though. You were right that because of thanksgiving it would be a little tricky in terms of the work, but we did the best we could. The start of the week was pretty good because school was still in. And then on Thursday we had an awesome Thanksgiving! We had a Zone Turkey Bowl and so our whole morning was taken up with football and hanging out with Missionaries. After that we got to go the mission home and for the next couple hours we played a bunch of different games until the meal. There were about 16 missionaries there and it ended up being a blast. It really felt like we were at home and that is something that means a lot to a missionary during holidays like that. I realized too how many friends that I have made out here. I feel so comfortable around all the missionaries here and they really do feel like family. I love all of them a lot.  There are definitely guys out here that I will stay friends with and I almost feel like we are brothers. It sounds so cheesy haha but oh well. We are blessed to have an awesome mission. 

On Saturday we were able to have a Zone Service project and we just did a lot of yardwork. It is always nice to get out missionary clothes and do some work outside. We got to use machetes to take down some brush and vines in the backyard and the 8 year old Devin loves to do that kind of stuff! We were really blessed to because they gave us all of the left over food after it was done. We have been blessed with food lately and I couldn't be more grateful. That day too we decided to hit the bikes and trek over to one of our less-active members houses. We had a lesson with him and were able to get to know him better. I will send a picture that I took with him. His name is N. That day was awesome because I felt productive with our time, I like that feeling!  

I don't have too much to report on this week I guess. But I am happy and things are going well. Looking forward to seeing you guys soon! I love you!

Prayers and Thoughts always,

Elder Soper