John A. and Bonita G. Hopkin Family Society

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Update 2-24-2010

The following has been updated on February 24, 2010:

Officers
Board of Directors
Scholarship Recipients

The followhing has been added:

Sub-Committees
Scholarship Recipient: Fredrick
Scholarship Recipient: Melton
Scholarship Recipient: Luis Andres
Scholarship Recipient: Mario & Phoenix

Funding:
Responsible for - Establishing a policy of spending limits. Establishing a budget based on approved policies. Fund raising within the Family Society. Fund raising from outside resources. Monitoring family investments for maximum return within the risk policy set by the board.

Scholarship:
Responsible for - Establishing a written philosophy regarding our purpose for the scholarship program. Recommend pursuing new applicants based on financial capacity of the Society. Review applications and make recommendations to the board regarding acceptance. Assign family members to act as “Champions” for each recipient. Provide regular updates to Society members regarding current recipients.

Communication:
Responsible for - Establishing and maintaining a Society website. Maintain a section of the website dedicated to important family events, with regular email reminders that contain a link to that portion of the website. Maintain a section of the website with up-todate information, including photos, of current scholarship recipients.

Genealogy:
Responsible for - Providing information for a section of the website dedicated to genealogy. Provide a means to share gedcom files of completed research of all genealogy lines associated with the family. Provide access to the Hopkin family histories. Provide access to the poetry written by Bonnie Hopkin so all future generations can enjoy.

Reunions:
Responsible for - Recommending and organizing family reunions. Coordinating regional family reunions as they are held in various sections of the country. Providing information regarding all reunions.

Scholarship Recipient: Fredrick

NAME: Fredrick
STUDYING: International Relations/Economics
WHERE: University of Witwatersrand, Republic of South Africa

Fredrick was introduced to us by Gawain Wells, am emeritus professor of psychology at BYU/Provo and currently serving as a senior missionary in Johannesburg. Fredrick was born in Nairobi, Kenya. When his mother and her children learned about the LDS Church, most of them joined quickly, but Fredrick was at the time involved with a rough crowd of boys and deeply involved in Kenyan athletics, particularly soccer. When he became serious about studying the Church, however, it changed his life from a leader among rowdy adolescents to one who desires to lead others to Christ. He gave up promising opportunities for a career in soccer to serve a full-time mission in the South Africa Johannesburg mission. Following an outstanding mission, he returned to South Africa to court and marry a young woman he met briefly as a missionary. He and his wife, Olga, are raising a daughter from her previous marriage.

Fredrick and Olga live in the township of Tembisa, twenty minutes outside of Johannesburg. Poverty is a given and almost no families eat three meals a day. Recently it was learned they were down to eating bread and herbal tea. Although he has a worker’s permit, Fredrick is still locked out of many jobs because he is Kenyan, not South African. The LDS Perpetual Education Fund has assisted Fredrick with funds to complete several college computer courses, enabling him to work for short periods of time or pick up computer repair jobs.

In many ways, Fredrick is the backbone of the Tembisa ward--a counselor in the bishopric, informal executive secretary, and default ward clerk. He is beloved of the children and youth in the ward, and the bishop, a much more shy man, calls upon Fredrick constantly. He is a natural leader, someone who clearly loves others plus has the personal confidence to ask them to follow him in doing hard tasks. He and Olga are currently both looking for work; yet, in spite of their near desperate economic straits, they are dedicated to Fredrick’s receiving a university education.

Fredrick is a remarkable young man, a person sure to be one of the Black leaders of the Church in the coming years. He is mature beyond his years. He is very bright and capable intellectually. He works hard, and he is accustomed to working long hours. His training thus far is in computer technology, but his desire is to study international relations. His choice is indicative of his desire to be of service in broader arenas than would become available through a computer science career. He is quite willing to use whatever tools might come to hand to support his family, but he is determined to move into greater opportunities to bless others lives.

Scholarship Recipient: Melton

NAME: Melton
STUDYING: Accounting
WHERE: Institut des Hautes
Etudes Commerciales et
Economiques in Port-au-
Prince, Haiti

Melton Derival grew up in Port-au-Prince, Haiti with four other siblings. Melton’s mother died when he was very young, a source of great sadness and hardship to Melton and his siblings. Melton was introduced to the Church when he was 16 years old and was baptized shortly thereafter. His father died two years later. This created almost unbearable hardship for Melton and the
other children who were on their own and were barely able to meet their needs. But, Melton had faith that the Savior would support him if he was faithful. Then, one of his brothers died unexpectedly from a car accident. That not only saddened Melton and his remaining siblings but it
also meant that Melton personally had to work harder to support the rest of the family.

When Melton was 23 years old, he accepted the call to serve a full-time mission in Haiti. Following his mission, Melton attended a trade school to improve his ability to take care of his
siblings. Since then, he has served in various callings in the Church. Currently, he is serving as
a member of the Stake High Council.

Scholarship Recipient: Luis Andres

NAME: Luis Andres
STUDYING: Medicine
WHERE: Tolima University, Ibague,
Colombia

Felipe grew up and still lives in extremely poor circumstances with his invalid mother. Felipe is a survivor of childhood cancer. Primarily as a result of the skillful and loving care he received as a child, it has been Filipe’s life-long dream to grow up and study medicine. After he completes his medical studies and completes his mandatory service in the Colombian army, he hopes to continue his medical training in pediatric oncology so that he can help children who are sick with cancer.

We learned of Filipe through Luis Lopez’s sister who is a friend of Filipe’s mother. Last summer when Jen and Luis were in Colombia, Jen had a wonderful visit with Filipe who expressed heart-felt gratitude for the support he is receiving from the Family Society. Without that support, he doesn’t know how he would be able to continue to pursue his goal of becoming a medical doctor and helping children.

Scholarship Recipient: Mario & Phoenix

Names: Mario and Phoenix
Studying:
Mario - Finance; Phoenix – Vocal Performance
Where: Brigham Young University - Provo

Mario and Phoenix were raised in Curitiba, Brazil. Phoenix first came to the U.S. to participate in a recording project with liahona.net in which she recorded 45 church hymns and several other religious pieces in Portuguese. As a result of this experience, Phoenix was able to audition for the BYU music department and was accepted into the vocal performance program. After two semesters of studying in the ESL program at BYU, Phoenix was able to commence her studies at BYU where she is currently a junior. Follow this link to hear her sing in Portuguese.

Mario Costa was born in May 12, 1985, in the little town of Maringa in Southern Brazil. He is the second of five children, and the first in his family to pursue an international college-education. Mario graduated from LDS Business College with a 3.99 GPA and is now two semesters away from graduating from BYU in Management with emphasis in Finance. They plan to return to Brazil in 2011 following the completion of their education.