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

Thanksgiving week has already been pretty good so far!

Morning!

Thanksgiving week has already been pretty good so far! On Saturday our ward held a pre-thanksgiving potluck and food drive. We had a really good turn out and there were quite a few non-members there as well. It felt really good to be with everyone and it was just a successful event. The food was actually really good. One person smoked a turkey and it ended up being super moist and flavorful (that's when you know you lucked out on turkey...when it is not dry.) and then we had most or not one of all kinds of novembery foods. But sadly we didn't have any cement potatoes. Maybe those students liked them so much that they didn't have time to say anything haha. Then for Thanksgiving the Hansens invited all the missionaries to come over if they wanted to or didn't have a family to eat with. So that should be a lot of fun! You are right though, the work might be a little tricky, but I think the zone has a couple service projects lined up and so hopefully we can be or at least feel productive. 

With Elder Bracken at the football game a few weeks ago

Elder Smiley and I at the lake

Mom, I think you have turned into a a true gospel teacher. Not only in Sunday school, but just all the time. You are so concerned about the students in your class and the people around you that you that your motivation is purely for them to grow and progress. That is very humble and it shows because you live what you teach. One time in the MTC I was talking about how I am nervous to talk to people and to teach others. And our Branch President said, "Elder, it is good to be nervous sometimes, it means that you care about it." Not saying that if you aren't nervous that you don't care, that is definitely not true, but when you do get nervous  that is probably a good indication that  you are thoughtful about the situation and the people involved. 

Hey I was thinking too when I was reading these letters just how awesome of parents your are. You guys talk a ton about us and the things that are going on in our lives. (Meaning your children) It shows that we are a part of your life, that you are so invested in our well being and what we love to do that our life is part of yours. We are a family and everything that we do, we are all part of it. I think that is awesome and it makes me really happy. You guys are really the best parents and the best of siblings (To Haley, Taylor, Emma and Jordan.)

Well I wanted to share one cool experience that happened this week. We had a lot, but this one stuck out to me. So on thursday things were a little slow, two of our appointments fell through and so we had a couple free hours. We were able to fill our time in, but it was still a little slow. We were walking to the bus stop and for some reason I just felt that we needed to talk to somebody, we just didn't know who it was yet. So I told that to Elder Smiley and we started to keep are eyes peeled...just a little more. We got on the bus and we were sitting next to a cute Asian family, so we started a conversation but started and ended with small talk. As we were sitting there B. got on the bus. We have seen B. around quite a bit and we have become friends. We started to talk to him on the bus and then he got off with us because he lives in the same complex as us. We ended up talking with him for about an hour about life and plans. We invited him to the potluck too and he came! It is cool to see friendships like that grow and he added me on Facebook as well so we can stay in contact. Pretty cool I think.

I love you guys so much and I hope that you have an awesome week!