July 28, 2014

Transfers,

Changes... Are next week so I´ll fill you all in next Monday if I get to stay in good ol Segovia or if I get to say goodbye! :\ Haha a little nervous but President Jackson and the Lord know what they´re doing! 

This week has been HOT. The heat is really starting here in Segovia and Spain. Other than that this week has been a bummer, great, a little bit of everything. Average week on the mission. Roger, it seems like he´s doing well but from everything I´ve heard I´m scared of what could be happening. Martha his wife hasn't let the Hermanas in to teach her and the family won´t let us in either. It´s really just more sad than anything. I really don´t want to have been tricked or have had anything sneaky happen with them. We´re trying to help them, because they want to go back to Honduras, and we want to make sure that they know what to do so that they don´t repeat their problems over there as well. Ugh.... :)

We´re waiting for the pastor guy to call us. It´s kind of like a game. If we force it on him he won´t accept it but if we let him just think about it and give him time we´re pretty sure that his curiosity will get the better of him. 

Speaking of other churches. One of the members here is from Ecuador. She´s a old little old lady who is pretty crazy. She almost snuck into the temple in Ecuador and she didn't understand why they didn't let her in... Anyways, she usually shares things that are super random. Like one time we were teaching about David and Goliath and she read the introduction to the first chapter of Abraham out loud, and didn't say anything after that. Just left it. So what I´m getting at is that she gave a talk yesterday about Abraham. She went up and just started reading from a pamphlet that I thought I recognized. Kept reading and after her talk she came down and sat down next to me. I asked her for the pamphlet and she gave it to me. It was definitely a Jehovah´s Witness pamphlet. That she just read during Sacrament meeting, and NOBODY said anything. Welcome to Segovia. So I took it and Soledad ripped it up after the meeting. 

We need strong members here. This little branch needs a miracle. 

We´re doing exchanges this week and guess where I´m going! Good ol Villalba. I´m going to hit my year mark in the same district... Haha weird. But I´m pretty excited to go and be with Elder Morgan. He´s an elder from Orem actually. He knows a bunch of Cline´s friends and all of the kids from there that I know too. He´s a sweet spirit that needs a little bit of a push and I´m excited to give that push. :)

The thing about the mission is that you find out what you´re good at and then you´re usually humbled and humbled again so that you forgot what you were even good at. However thanks to humiliation and effort my Spanish has improved significantly and I´ve actually been surprised at how many people compliment me and how I´ve been able to help people with it. Spanish is fascinating and I´m thinking about studying languages when I get back thanks to it. 

However the humiliation is still a key factor in our growth. Maybe not humiliation but more recognizing what you can´t do and how you can fix that or change that. That is something that is probably my favorite part. We find our faults and we work on changing them and in essence ourselves. Sorry I´m preaching but it´s something that´s just become a habit. :)

I love you all and I´m very super grateful for all y´all. Os quiero. :)

Love,

Elder Hawks

July 21, 2014

Hola querida familia!

Time is absolutely crazy out here... Ugh it goes too fast. Anyways my week. To say the least it was interesting. 

Last P-day we went to Avila, a little town close to Segovia, and we did all of the touristy stuff. It´s really famous for having the second (only to China) best preserved wall. It was built by the Romans around 300 AD. Cooool. Then we went and saw the great and abominable church. It was a typical tourist P-day in Spain. :)

This week we´ve been dealing with ward drama. Funny how that always seems to happen. Some of the members here are worried that Roger and Roger got baptized just to get money from the church. It´s really interesting how everybody only seems to look at the bad and accuse people of things that they haven´t really done. So we´ve been investigating, talking to members, Roger, his landlord and just everybody so that we could clear things up. We feel like he isn´t trying to do any damage to the church so we trust him. Then what was perfect was that yesterday during church we all recieved a little revelation. So the EFY for Spain is here in Segovia so this Sunday we all went up to a hotel to have Sacrament Meeting with all of the Counselors. One of the members of the second qoroum of the seventy came and spoke to us. BOOM. Charity. He basically went off on how drama and gossip is the exact OPPISITE of charity. However he did it well and I´m pretty sure that we won´t be hearing any more ward drama for the next little while. :)

Last P-day when we were on our way to go email everybody. This man stopped us and talked to us. He asked us who we are, what we do and what church we were from. Being good missionaries we jumped on this and gave him a Book of Mormon, challenged him to read it, got his number and address and set up and appointment. He´s a cool guy from Spain who said that he´s a strong believer and would like to learn more. So we went and taught him yesterday with Soledad (an awesome member here). It turns out that he´s the Pastor of one of the bigger Evangelist churches around here. He´s a super guy, has a family three little kids and looks like he knows what he´s going to do with his life. We sat down and gave him the first lesson and he said he liked it, he had read in the Book of Mormon before we got over there and every thing. Golden. However, he told us that he believes the exact same thing and doesn´t need anything else. So we went pretty hard and told him about the authority and priesthood and hopefully he understood. He was pretty firm on not changing or doing any of the things we asked him to do as we were leaving. After the lesson Soledad was smiling super wide and we asked her why she was laughing. She said that we should be expecting a call from him soon and that she seriously believes that he will read and will call. Sooooo we´ll see. 

We´ve found a few people to teach and we´ve been trying to fill up our time the smartest ways possible and it´s been working out pretty well. My feelings are good. Nothing too sad, nothing terriblly exciting. Good old missionary work which is awesome in itself. 

I love you all and I´m super happy to have all of the support from you! 

Love,

Elder Hawks

P.s. D&C 121:34-38

July 14, 2014

Woooo weee!

Let´s just say that was a week to put in the books! Ups and downs, upsets, and super awesome experiences. So let´s get started shall we.

Well first off Happy B-Day Michael. You´re starting to get old. Halfway to 50.

So this week started off good. We were having lessons, Roger was progressing super well and everything was going super well. Our District Leader from Villalba came up and gave him the interview for his baptism and he passed with flying colors. Roger was super excited to get batpized and his little boy Roger was too. 

With exchanges we go to Villalba for two mornings. One to start the switch and the other to end the switch. So we were on our way back to Segovia on Thursday morning with the Hermanas who had just had exchanges too, when I got a call from "Roger." It ended up being his wife telling us to come over to their house as soon as we possiblly could. Then she hung up..... Then after that we got a call from a member who said that he was at the Police Station and that we needed to go to Roger´s house as soon as possible. At this point Elder Brewer and I were a little freaked out. So we went to their house and Marta was there alone with the kids just crying and telling us that the Police came and took Roger away. So we said a prayer with her and we had to leave because we can´t be alone with women so we left and came back with some members and the Hermanas.

We didn´t find out what happened that night but on Friday we went to the President of the Branch´s house and he told us we had a big problem with Roger. That he had been involved in something back in Villalba and that he was going to be jail for a while. While we were talking about this we get a call from some members who said that Roger had been let out and that there were no problems. We were soooooo confused. He had the date to get baptized on Saturday but he was in jail on Friday. So we made calls and our leaders said that if he got released from jail and had no debts or anything he could still be baptized on Saturday. It was sad because on Wednesday night he was sooo excited to be baptized and just about life in general. Then on Thursday he was taken away, Friday they let him out and by some miracle everything worked out and he was able to get baptized on Saturday with his son. President Jackson came with his wife and they were super awesome to Roger and his family. President was really excited to see a whole family getting ready to be baptized and progress in the church. Marta has a date for the 2nd of August to be baptized and we want to prepare Roger to do it. Then in a year from then, the temple. I´ll still be here and hopefully, close to Madrid and I can go with them to their sealing. Oh man that would be awesome. 

What was also really cool was that on Friday night when Roger was let out we went over to see how they were and teach them about the baptism and Roger was on the phone with his mom. He had told her about everything that had happened and she was really worried about him. (Figures he´s the baby just like your´s truely) So he passed to phone to us telling us that she wanted to talk to us. I answered and she told me thank you more times than I could count and told us that all of the Mormons she knows are super nice people and she really respects that. 

That moment was one of the most eye opening moments of my life. This work we do really does have an eternal perspective. That we aren´t only helping one person at a time. We´re helping families for eternities. So cool. This week has been full of a little bit of everything for us. 

Thanks for all of the support and don´t worry mom I´m being obedient. I called Elder Dunn because I had a question about missionary couples that he answered for me... :)

Love,

Elder Hawks 

D&C 130:20-21 :)

July 7, 2014

Dios bendiga los estados unidos,

Time is not my friend out here. To say the least. Haha well this week was fun but flew by. How fast time goes here... It´s absolutely insane. We did a lot but there isn´t too much I can remember so I´ll share the important points. :)

Last P-day we tried to go to these Ferries here. They had a bunch of little ferry rides, and hot dog stands, and what you´d imagine a small town ferry to be like, but it opens at 7 o´clock. Right when P-day ends... Oh well. So we just did normal stuff and had a decent P-day. We went and taught Dimas. He´s from Honduras and made us boliadas. There a typical Hondorainian food, tortilla, refried beans, eggs, avacado, and some really good sharp cheese. I´ll make some when I get home. 

Tuesday we contacted quite a bit, taught a few lessons and had Ward Counsel. Which basically consists of which Hymns we´re going to sing on Sunday. It´s pretty cute to see all of these old Spanish men looking very intently for the "right" hymn. After that we went and taught Roger about tithing and fasting. He understood everything and said that once he starts making money he´ll happily pay. That was awesome because we were worried that tithing would be difficult in his situation but he completely accepted it and wants to pay it. Little daily miracles are the things that change your mission.

Wednesday we had District Meeting, which took up pretty much the whole morning just traveling, then we taught a few lessons, and talked to Soledad. She is awesome. We told her our concerns for the branch. That all of the people who could help are too old, don´t have any money or are leaving at the end of this year. So we planned to meet with her Sunday to discuss a strategy to really get the branch going. 

Thursday. Planning and then we had a lesson with Seish. He really wants to know why we are so "convinced" of the Book of Mormon and he wants to know our passion. He´s actually starting to progress. We started from ground zero and taught him about God and the need for Jesus Christ. The need for a redeemer. He understood and said he´d read. Then after that we had a pretty awesome Noche de Hogar (family home evening) as a ward. Since the 4th is Independence Day we shared a story about Captain Moroni and the Standard of Liberty, and we acted it out. Guess who was Moroni? Yes, yours truly... ;) Haha no but it turned out super well and one of the Hermanas here made peach pie so we were all super happy and felt quite American.

Friday morning us and the Hermanas met in the church. We just sat down, threw everything we had on the table and looked at how we could help this branch with what we had. That took most of the morning and we set up a battle plan to start really helping the branch. Then we went to President Galera´s house for lunch. He and his wife, Hermana Loli, are starting to really see the effects of old age. We need to find someone ready to take his place because he won´t be able to run the branch effectively by the end of this year. Roger´s great but he won´t be a leader unless he can find work and really give as much attention possible to helping. However with time or circumstance no one really knows. Fourth of July was any other day out here. Nobody recognized it, nobody brought it up to us and we almost forgot about it. However I did hit my 10 month mark and that felt weird. Time... 

Saturday we organized a little bit of soccer and played with some members and investigators. That turned out well. After that we ate with Raul (theHermana´s recent convert) which was nice. Then we had a pretty long day out in the streets looking and making calls, looking for the Lord´s anointed. 

Sunday was interesting. EFY for Spain this year in in Segovia. So for church we went to this nice hotel here and had sacrament meeting in the ballroom, with about 50 counselors and the 18 of us from the little branch here. I saw Hermano Santana there (my MTC teacher) and some missionaries from Spain who had just finished their missions. After that we had a regular Sunday. We met with Soledad to discuss ways that we could do the work better and have more success and what more we could be doing. She gave us super good advice and I´m excited to put it into practice. Then we met with Seish again and yet another good lesson. He was really concerned that Nephi had to kill Laban. So we explained that to him and helped answer some of his doubts. However he´s reading in Japanese and is understanding all of the Book of Mormon and wants to keep reading. So good progress. 

Today was a fun day. There´s a really cool palace close to here called La Granja. It has fountains, gardens and basically every other cool thing an Art History/Greek Mythology nerd, like I, would like. We spent a long time there and then did the normal things like grocery shopping and writing the family! Funny thing is that once you start buying your own food and making it, you start to pay attention to all of the little things. Let´s just say I´ve never eaten healthier or little food in my life, but I´m happy and I have my chocolate milk. So don´t worry I´m doing fine. 

Feelings time. I´m happy that I get a long with my companion, he kind of stinks (that Spanish deodorant does NOT work), is very plain with investigators and loves deep doctrine. However he´s a really good guy and I´m learning to be more loving, and he´s teaching me to want to learn the little details about the gospel and apply them. So I´m at a point of learning and enduring and I love every second of it. 

Thanks for everything. I hope this email´s detailed enough for you Mama and I´m grateful for what you do for me!

-Elder Hawks

June 30, 2014

Hola Querida Familia,

I love all of you and good ol´ America. Some of the things I learned this week. :) Well I hope you´re enjoying the quiet Mama after many long years of only having rowdy boys for company. Speaking of boys I got a new companion last Monday.

Elder Brewer, from Snowflake Arizona, he´s been on his mission for 7 months, and he served in Gran Canaria (the islands) before he came here. He´s a good elder and we´ve been able to really get some work done here. I´m trying to get him totally preped so that if I go at the end of this transfer he´ll take good care of Segovia. This branch needs it. He played football, he´s a little younger than me, blonde, just shorter than me and now we´re getting even more American comments than before! Haha whenever people see blondes that immediately ask if we´re americans. And I will always say yes. :)

As for Jake I haven´t seen or talked to him for a while. He´s still up north and they hardly ever come down unless they have a leadership position, and even if they did I wouldn´t see him. I´m probs going to call him today and see where he´s at... :)

Roger´s doing well. His family´s progressing really well for their baptism. We changed their date to the 12th of July and I´m not going to change it more if I don´t have to. They´re ready and they want to change and that´s exactly why we´re here. To help them realize that the best way to change is coming unto Christ. Gotta love the atonement. 

Other than them we have some people but they aren´t progressing nearly as well. We´re teaching a muslim man who asks us a bunch of really good questions. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he gave us a Koran. He´s trying to teach us but we cracked down on him yesterday and really slammed him with the spirit. We took a member who had turned his life from alcohol, drugs, and basically everything evil and had come unto Christ. We talked about the miracle that was and testified that God is still a God of miracles and that the day He stops, He stops being God. Mormon 9:15. They believe that miracles stopped with Muhammed so BOOM proof that the Book of Mormon answers all questions! 

We keep teaching him because the church here needs leaders. The president here is 79 years old and needs glasses and a magnifying glass just to read, and there isn´t anybody who really is capable to take his spot when he goes. So that is litterally what President Jackson has said to us. We are here to find the next President and baptize him, so that the branch will survive. PLEASE PRAY FOR US. 

I´m glad that everything is good back home so we can just focus on what we need to do out here. Haha it´s funny to look at how much I´ve changed. I came out here with the, "Well let´s get this over with," attitude, and now it´s the, "What can we be doing right now to help our investigators or ourselves progress?" Funny how a mission gives you the exact push you need to to really appreciate things and start working harder for the things that are more important. 

With that said my emotions are stable. We´re working hard, we get along for the most part and we´re helping the people that need it. I was a little humbled last week during transfer calls. I was really hoping for a leadership position or to be sent to a cool area, but neither happened and I´m super grateful that they didn´t. I get to stay in this area to help all of the people that I can. If it´s my companion with his spanish or Roger and his family with all of their financial problems. 

Funny story before I go. Last night I got up to go to the bathroom and I sat in bed right before I fell alseep and heard Elder Brewer talking in spanish. I smiled to myself and fell back asleep. Then when we got up Elder Brewer said the exact same thing to me. He got up to go to the bathroom and heard me talking in spanish. Cool huh? :) I love Spanish! 

Just like I love all of you! 

Love,

Elder Hawks

P.s. Mama I would like another pair of those pants you sent me for Christmas. I´ve lost weight and the other pants I have don´t fit... :)

 1.  Last Week in Segovia...

 2. The end of a legacy, Batman and Robin

3. Cute Elder Brewer

June 23, 2014

Happy Monday Everybody!

Well as you can see I have a new companion. Elder Brewer. I haven´t met him yet but he´s flying in from the Canary Islands today and I´ll meet him around 6ish then we get to catch a bus up to Segovia. Elder Dyer´s going to the Islands and was really sad to leave Segovia. I really liked Segovia before that but now I really appreciate it even more and I can honestly say that I love it. He´s a good Elder and will kill it out there. 

Elder Brewer´s been out for about 7months and was just in the islands. He started there and this will be his first area in the península. I was really worried about who was going to be my companion up there because it´s a really delicate little branch that needs people who will work. I was stressing out and Elder Dyer told me that President´s fully aware of what it´s like and wouldn't send somebody who couldn't handle everything. Ha-ha that calmed me down. From what I´ve heard he´s a good Elder but other than that I have noooo idea. 

So right now I´m in Madrid with the Elders here until his flight gets here around 6ish. Then we´ll catch a bus and head up to Segovia. 

Segovia is an animal of itself. Yesterday we went around saying goodbye to everybody with Elder Dyer and we passed by the aqueduct and saw one of the strangest things I´ve seen in my life. There were two men doing a sort of magic show right in front of the aqueduct. One of them was in a red robe with a painted white face and the other was dressed up like a waiter. They made crude jokes and then the guy in the robe started to take it (his robe) off. He was in a white spandex suit with weird tubes all around it and a gold shell covering himself. Then he started squirting water (from where water usually comes from). He was spraying everyone in the crowd and more and more water started squirting. Everything he was wearing and was around started squirting water and it was the strangest water show I have ever seen in my life. I´ll send some pictures next week because I don´t have my chord with me. 

 That is the best way to describe Segovia to all of you. 

However missionary work does get done here sometimes. So Roger and his wife and kid have a date for the 5th of July but we´ll probably have to push it back to the 12th. He´s ready but his wife isn't, and they didn't come to church this week. His wife (Marta) suffers from depression, and I don´t blame her at all. They have four kids, three of them under the age of 7, her husband doesn't have a job and all she wants to do is go back to Honduras because they have money and family there. It´s a tough situation and we´re trying to help them the most possible. The Relief Society in Villalba is collecting clothes for them and some of them are looking for jobs for Roger. It´s really hard but I know that if they put God first they will receive blessings. 

Well as for my emotions. I´m doing well. I was nervous on Saturday when we found out about transfers but I´m doing better. Ha-ha we´re running out of food and that might change my attitude for the next week but I´ll try to not let it. I´m excited to meet Elder Brewer and I hope that he´s a hard worker so that we can keep the momentum we have. 

Oh and I´ve forgotten a few very important things. THE WORLD CUP. It was crazy here, and it still kind of is. All of the Spaniards are depressed and have started picking other teams to win like France and Portugal and are now wearing all of their jerseys and paraphernalia... It was funny cause two weeks ago it was all Spain. Spain flags every where, hats, jerseys, t-shirts, and anything and everything you could think of, and now... Nothing. Oh well helps us actually get some missionary work done. 

Now that I´ve said all that I want, I´ll let you be. I love you all and I´m very grateful for the examples you have all been in my life! 

Mom, I want this scripture. Jacob 1:19

Love ya to bits,

Elder Hawks

June 16, 2014

Mi Querdido

Well there goes another transfer. In two more I´m going to hit my year mark. People say that they are the best two years but also the fastest two years and I definitely understand that now. These past six weeks have faster than the last six and I know it´s just going to keep speeding up. 

So that being said we have changes this weekend. I´m pretty sure Elder Dyer´s going to be changed. He´s been here for a long time and I´ve been here long enough to know the area well enough to area train somebody. So we´ll probably going to see some changes in a few days. 

However the work goes on. We had a pretty normal week and in a missionary´s life that´s nice. Roger´s progressing well. We had a really cool moment with him this week. We´d been struggling to get him to pray for a while but when we finished a lesson and we told him we wanted to end with a prayer he told us that he wanted to offer it, and he poured out his heart. He expressed all of his problems, all of the blessings he needs and his goals for his family. It was one of the most spiritual moments I´ve felt in my mission. He´s progressing like a champ and will be ready for his baptism. This is really cool for me too because with all of the other baptisms I had like a big brother there to watch out for me and help me if I said something wrong but now it´s just the two of us. 

We had a miracle in church this week too. Nobody preached false doctrine (thank goodness) and we had 32 people in church this Sunday. We didn't have help from any other ward or the stake or anything. Just investigators and members. :) Our numbers have been low but the church in general is growing.  

Ha-ha something funny. People here are very comfortable with themselves here. We´ve had at least four or five old hairy guys answer the door when we go to knock doors. It´s funny cause Elder Dyer can´t look at them and I just start laughing and try to talk to them. Usually doesn't turn out too well but it lifts our spirits and get´s us going again. 

LIfe in general is good. We´re finally about to get music so that will brighten things up in piso and we´re a little nervous for transfers but if we work super hard this week we know that it doesn´t matter what happens and we´ll receive blessings because of it! 

I love you all so much! I hope you had a super good Father´s Day paps and that you´re birthday was as good or better!

Love,

Elder Hawks 

June 9, 2014

Hi Mama!,

Don´t worry mother I´m doing well with everything. I have plenty of clothes, medicine, deodorant, contacts, and socks! ;) Really the work has gotten a lot better here. We´re happy Elders and working Elders so it´s made everything a ton easier. 

OK to start off I want to tell everybody who is serving in South America, or has served in South America, or is going to serve in South America, that you have some of the craziest coolest and all types of people! Ha-ha I was thinking about that the other day. We were contacting in the street with an open schedule that night when a member stopped us in the street, asked where we were going, why, and if we were hungry. So he took us in, cooked us up a really good Dominican dinner and we shared a really good spiritual message in under and hour. Ha-ha it made the day 10x better. 

Roger´s progressing. We pushed the date back to the 5th of July but he and his wife and I think his two kids are going to be baptized with him so it´s going to be a really big blessing to the branch here. He´s awesome and we´re going to meet with him tonight and talk about the Plan of Salvation! :)

Love you all. Sorry it´s short this week we have had hardly any time to do things today! My feelings are good and God is good too. 

Love,

Elder Hawks

June 2, 2014

Zone Conference. 

The Orange District of Villalba/Segovia

Hola Mama y ¡FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!

Happy Birthday Mama (in 2 days)! I love ya and I´m happy that you´re my Mama and that you keep getting younger everyday! :) Oh and Happy Birthday to Jen today as well. Well Mama I hope that you get spoiled on your birthday and that your new bike gets used! It´s good to hear that everything back home is good so that I can focus out here! Thank you all for being awesome and keeping things calm back home.

Well as for life here. We are starting to be busy. We had a really good Zone Conference on Thursday that helped us be smarter with everything and they told us to put our Hearts into the work and not just our minds and our strength. I´ve had a really motivational week and we´ve been able to really be smart about the work and... It´s been paying off. This week was good to say the least and I will explain as the letter goes on...

Thursday: We had a meeting in Madrid at Temple Square. A Zone Conference that was really good. President and Sister Jackson talked about loving the people we teach, interact with, and all people we ever meet or see. That was really cool because the night before Elder Dyer and I prayed that we would learn what we needed to upgrade ourselves from good missionaries to GREAT missionaries and that was a solid answer to our prayers. Then the AP´s talked to us about "growing where you are" so if you´re in a tough spot learn how to grow anyways. Don´t make excuses, instead of asking why? Ask, why not? That was something that we both needed and we were able to kick it into high gear this weekend and we saw the blessings. Oh and while we were there I went looking (not too hard) for Sister DeWall. I didn't find her but a missionary in our district did and told her good luck from me. 

Friday: One of our investigators, Elvis, his brother and their family moved into the house of some members here..... :) So we naturally went over offered help to move and taught them about Jesus. They loved it and we left. We ran to go catch a bus to a tiny little town about 30 minutes away from Segovia. We got to the Bus Station bought tickets to this town, and started to wait. Then some little old lady came up to us and started talking to us. She was super nice until I heard that she told us that what we´re doing is evil... What the? She went off about how we need to go back to our country and that the Catholic Church is perfect and fun stuff like that.  We missed the bus. However Elvis has a car and he really wanted to drive us to this appointment. So Why not? We went on a little mini road trip out to this person´s house, she wasn't there so we left a Book of Mormon then headed back. We taught a lesson then went to bed.

Saturday: We taught Elvis´ brother, Roger, and that´s about it.

Sunday: Church, medio día, a lesson with somebody then we went to teach Roger. We had a super good lesson with him. He came to church so he had some questions which we answered and it went super well. At the end of the lesson Elder Dyer invited him to be baptized on June 21st... And he accepted!!!!!!!!! Woooah hoooooooooo! Haha he´s a super cool guy and he´s super excited. He loves everything about the church and his kid does too. After the lesson we both looked at eachother and said, "Fasting works!!!" Haha so this week was good super good. 

Feelings. God is a God of Miracles. We´ve known Roger for four days, he´s come to church, we´ve had three lessons with him, one for tonight, and he has a baptismal date and is super excited. :) So I feel pretty good. We´re getting a lot better at this slowly but surely. I´m tired but happy and willing to do some work. I read a talk that was really good. It´s called, "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawerence E. Corbridge. If you could print that or email that to me that would be very much appreciated. You can´t find it on LDS.org so we can´t go looking for it. 

Thank you family for being awesome! Love you Mom and Happy Birthday and to you too Jen! 

Love you all lots.

La Muerte No Tiene Aguijón, Y El Sepulcro No Tiene Victoria 

Elder Hawks

May 12, 2014

There´s a really cool palace with some gardens called "La Granja" here and it was super cool. We went there last P-Day and took some model shots. :)

Hola familia,

Well there isn´t a whole bunch for me to say because we SKYPED yesterday!!! :) Thank you it´s always fun to talk to everybody and see what´s going on in good ´ol Utah. 

The weather is heating up here and it is definitely allergy season here. On Saturday it looked like it was snowing pollen and I have definitely been feeling the effects. The reason I was wearing my glasses is because I have never had allergies this bad before in my life. Saturday was the worst, Sunday was alright and today I sneeze about every 2 minutes or less. I´m going to go buy some allergy medicine today and see if that helps me out. My other glasses are good but the perscription is a little stronger and they hurt my eyes so I´ve just stuck to my good old Grandpa Glasses. 

Other than that life here´s pretty good. Elder Dyer and I are feeling extra motivated so hopefully this fire will last the whole transfer. A lot of our investigators don´t really have potential of moving on so I think we´re going to start dropping pretty soon and really kick up the finding. The work here is really slow and it makes you feel like a crumby missionary, but luckily we laugh through everything and we´re more grateful for the lessons and people we do find. 

OK feelings part. Haha I´m glad to hear that you guys like hearing about my feelings. :) We´re both healthy, happy and me I´m suffering from a severe case of allergies so hopefully this medicine will work and we can really get to work. At times I´m a little discouraged and others I´m super pumped to get to work. The thing is just finding little things to keep me happy. When people are rude to us we just have to laugh about it and then go to the next one. 

Sorry this email´s short but we talked yesterday and I can´t think of anything new to tell you guys.Thanks for all of the support. I love you guys and it´s always good to see that things are semi calm back home! ;)

El secreto para trabajo es a trabajar duro sin temor (The secret to the work is to work without fear)

Love,

Elder Hawks

May 5, 2014

Mama,

Ok to answer the most important questions you have. Heck yes we are going to skype on Mother´s Day. I´m going to call you at 4:30 my time so that should be 8:30 am Utah time. I have as much time as you guys have. An hour would be perfect but it can go a little longer and shorter depending on what you want Mama! :)

Another thing. Yes I got my package! Por fin!!!!!! Thank you soooo much it was perfect. I felt even fatter this week because I got my package Wednesday and I´ve eaten all of the candy that was in it. So this week for me was good! The capilla was packed on Sunday and we had some interesting experiences on Friday and Saturday. You´re right that transfers are pretty soon. We´ll be getting a call on Saturday telling us all of the changes. I´m pretty sure that we´ll both stay but President Jackson is known for changing things up. So I´ll have the news for our Sunday call. 

So something crazy is that I hit my 8th month mark yesterday..... :O Hahaha I´m a third of the way and I already want to ask for more time! Haha but Elder Dyer and I realized that yesterday and it´s a super weird feeling. I still feel like a Greeny sometimes. We came in at the same time so it´s nice cause every time we hit a significant time mark one or the other remembers it. 

Anyways so I said this week was interesting. The most interesting thing was definitely on Friday. Friday was the birthday of one of the Hermanas here so we all went to get chinese food for lunch. On our way this Spanish girl (23ish) stopped us and asked what we do here. We told her and she said that we could talk to her and some of her friends after our lunch. So we did, we went back to the Acueduct were we met her and her and like 9 friends came up to Elder Dyer and I and told us that they were a group of Christians and wanted to know more about what we believe. Hahah JACKPOT. Or so we thought. They asked us questions and we taught them sitting on a big thing of stairs. One of them tried predicting that Elder Dyer was here in Spain to repair his relationship with his father. He asked if his wrist hurt, if his dad was a member and a bunch of stuff like that. None of which was true. They told us that they were doing what the apostles did, go out without anything, money, food, a ticket home, or a place to stay. Apparently healing people on the way and a bunch of other weird stuff. We had to go an hour later and Elder Dyer just looked at me and said, "Sermon on the Mount" I laughed and we decided to pass by them and talk again later. 

So we talked about it then later that night right before the time to go back to piso they gave us a call saying, "We´ve seen a miracle and we want to share it with you." What the heck? So we go and meet up with them. Apparently in the three hours we were gone they had another prediction and went to some bar. They asked for some guy named José, who had a heart problem and his leg hurt, and they found him. He gave them food and asked how they knew his name and a bunch of weird stuff like that, and that his leg felt better after they all prayed for him... We asked and they said that they had the authority to do that and that we restrict God for saying that we need to physically recieve that power. Weird. 

That shook up our faith a little but then we prayed about it and thought about it. They´re crazy and that´s about it. 

In church yesterday we had 32 people. I can´t even tell you how big of a deal that is here in Segovia. We´ve been averaging around 18 to 19 the past few weeks and to jump up to 32 is a big deal, and one of the Hermana´s investigators got up and bore his testimony. We´re growing! :) Our investigators are kind of progressing. We´ve starting teaching the husband of one of the recent converts here. He´s a spanish rancher. Haha so I told him that my cousin is a rancher and uses a lasso and he about cried from excitement. So Scotty you have got to come and teach this man how to rope when we´re all done with our missions. His wife, Soledad, is super strong and if we can get the family baptized that would be one of the strongest families here.

There are a lot of latino baptisms here but I´ve noticed that if you want somebody who will stay strong without a doubt. You need to baptize a Spaniard. They are strong and don´t want to leave. 

Well that about sums it up for this week. I´ve doing well, I saw a family from Villalba and they said I´m losing weight so that´s good and I´m happy! I love you all and I´ll talk to you Sunday!!!!!!!! :)

Love,

Elder Hawks el español

April 28, 2014

Hola familia!!!!!!!!

Holy cow Andrew is now a married man... And there will be two new babies when I get back. Maybe 3! ;) Well I love you guys and I´m sad I wasn't able to be there but that you were all able to be there to support "The Lurp." 

Anyways let´s get back to me... This week there isn't a ton of things to report. I´m feeling a lot better and we were able to get back to work. We taught, contacted, and then Church this week was very interesting. Ha-ha so we´ll start off with that. In consejo this week, (I can´t remember what that´s called in English) President of the branch said that the man who stopped us during the musical number needed to talk. BADDDDD IDEA. He´s a very nice man but we should just never talk about doctrine with him. This is the same man who a few months ago said that the Bible is not true. So honestly yesterday wasn't full of too many surprises. 

Really this week there wasn't too much to report so I´ll talk about our investigators.

Elvis: The King of Rock. He´s super cool. He´s a man from Honduras, has a ton of faith and reads at least like two chapters from the B.O.M. every day. However he isn't married, is living with this woman and has like three kids with her. He´s 50 something and she´s 30ish so she doesn't want to get married and he can´t go live somewhere else because he doesn't have a job. He has a date to get baptized the 10th of May but we´ll see, because there is a bunch he still needs to do and he wants to move to Switzerland.... We´ll see. 

Javier: A younger guy. 30ish has a small family and his kids are the funniest I´ve ever met. He´s from the Dominican Republic and he´s very lazy. He doesn't care too much about the church but his wife does and we´re trying to meet with her more. She likes the Plan of Salvation a lot and wants to keep learning more. They´re pretty funny/gross. During that lesson of the Plan of Salvation I was bearing my testimony and looking at her and she straight up picked her nose, looked at it, then put the booger on the curtains right next to her. Gotta love South Americans. :) I´m excited for them. 

Seish: A Japanese man, 30ish years old, vegan and wants to know our "secrets." Basically we go and answer all of his questions that he has about the church. He asks good things. Like, "Why do you personally think the B.O.M. is true? How has the church helped you in your life? and With a church that large how can it not be corrupt? (he´s not a fan of authority, he thinks that the world would be better without any sort of authority) Pretty much he´s a lot of fun to teach. Because he likes it when we answer his questions with the B.O.M. However we went over on Thursday and found a Pentecostal circle on his floor. The Devil´s Circle, which he likes to meditate on and which he says has "the power to create fear" He might get dropped pretty quick.  

The tough thing about Segovia is that those are all of our even decent investigators. There aren't a ton of people ready to listen to our message out here. This area is a LOT different from Villalba. In Villalba if we didn't have at least 5 progressing investigators we weren't working as hard and we could, and here we don´t have any and we´re working our tails off. I keep thinking of what Dad and Andrew said where I need to work hard and work smart. So don´t worry once I get something amazing the work will really start to get going here! :)

We spend a lot of time in our piso because we have studies every morning, then Medio Día (where literally nobody is outside for three hours, we´re only in for two but everyone here sleeps for three) and then at night to plan. We have a bigger piso than the Villalba one and don´t worry I´ll take some pictures and send them home to you guys. We actually do basically all of our own cooking. There aren't many members and the one´s here are old and don´t have time or don´t want to feed us. So we make spaghetti, grilled cheese, and Elder Dyer´s mom sent him Hamburger Helper so we make that every now and then. I´m actually eating a lot healthier here than I was in Villalba. I buy a bunch of fruit to snack on and try not buying a bunch of snack food. So hopefully I´ll drop a few kilos in my time here! :)

Yes, I called Jake, he´s doing well a little further north, I don´t really see him, but I´ve heard from a bunch of people that he´s a really good missionary so that´s always good. It´s weird cause whenever I talk to him I want to call him Jake not Elder Dunn. Weird. But yeah so its, Elder Dyer and I and two Hermanas here. Hermana Aagard (22, has a few months left, studies at USU and is great wife material for Michael) and Hermana Adair (6´1´´ cool, from Vegas, 19). They do a really good job animating the ward and getting them excited for things. Elders just don´t do that stuff as well as Hermanas. Oh well. 

Okay, time for my feelings. I´m physically doing well, however our numbers up here are a lot lower than they were in Villalba and I´m stressing a little about that. But my comp´s let me know that here we just don´t have as high of numbers as in the other areas but we can still be successful. So I just need to be patient, obedient, and diligent! I´m emotionally great. I´m actually happy that I didn't get my package cause now I get it on Wednesday and it´ll feel like my birthday was spread out! 

Thanks for everything, I hope I answered your questions, Andrew and Kenz congrats and I love you all! 

Love,

Elder Hawks

Semana Santa

 Segovia´s a lot prettier than Villalba

My companion

April 21, 2014

Well,

This week was one to be put in the books. This week was Semana Santa and let´s just say that there are more Catholics here in Segovia than in the Vatican. So due to this week being the Holy of all Holies week. Our numbers, and everything were super low. Dad it sounds like they do the same thing here that they do in South America. The week was calm until Thursday then from  that time on there was always something happening. 

Thursday and Friday they had the big processions. Every catholic church here had a "procession" like a float in a parade or like their own mini parade, and there are over 20 churches here in Segovia so it was a huge parade all of Thursday then again on Friday. On Thursday they all went up to the Cathedral because it´s up on a hill. Then on Friday they all come down from the "cave." We did the same as you did Dad. We really focused on the Resurrection because everyone here acts like all Christ did was die and that was it. When we know he is RISEN and that he LIVES. Anyways I have some good pictures and videos of all of the people who are still in the Great Apostasy so I´ll send those when I figure out what´s wrong with my card reader. 

It didn't help that I´ve had a stomach bug all week and it makes it hard to be too far away from a bathroom for long periods of time. So this week we spent a lot of time going through the Area Book and calling old investigators. 

Sunday was a good day. Easter, my birthday and church (which is always an adventure). We organized a musical number for church yesterday to change things up. We practiced a few times during the week and we got it where we actually sounded pretty good. We had parts, one of the Hermanas played the piano and let´s just say it was well planned out. So on Sunday we go up to sing and we start off strong. But about halfway through the first verse (we sang Abide With Me) the man who usually plays the piano got up and started changing the settings of the electric piano Hermana Aagard was playing. THE SHOW MUST GO ON. So we kept singing. About halfway through the third verse the piano is ready to go and by this time we all forgot our parts, we were laughing, and yet still singing. It ended pretty rough but hey we got it done. It was just a classic Llorente moment. Llorente´s the man who plays piano. He got up after our number and tried explaining why he did that and then tried using a Book of Mormon reference. Interesting. He´s the one who, before the missionaries were brought back here he went up on the stand and talked about how the whole Bible is wrong, and how we´re all saved by grace, and just blasphemies like that. Anyways that was church.

Then after we went to the only active family´s house for cake. She made me an Ice Cream cake!!!!! Yes! It was delicious. We all shared an Easter message then after that we basically did nothing until bed time. Everybody was in Mass until 9:30 and we only have until 10 so we stayed in Piso and called everybody in our Area Book. So my birthday was spent in church, eating ice cream and making calls. The best you could ask for out here! 

Speaking of the best. The video "Because of Him" is amazing. Really one of the best, if not the best videos that the church has made. We were going to use it with the members but a lot of the words were hard to translate... :\ 

Thanks for all of the Birthday Love and know that I love all of you too. But I love my Momma the most. :) 

Love,

Elder Hawks el español

April 14, 2014

So this week was interesting...

Ok to start off I need to describe Segovia. Segovia is a beautiful old Spanish city set right next to mountains. Actually right on the other side of the same mountains I saw in Villalba. Well being an old Spanish city it means that the Catholic Church is unbelievably strong here. Which then means that around 70% of the population here in Segovia is over 80, dying, and no tienen vergüenza. (Sad when I don´t know how to translate that) So contacting them is basically pointless because they just say, "I´m Catholic and I´m not changing any time soon." 

However we saw one man (older) who was staring at us so we stop and talked to us. He told us we looked handsome but wasn't interested at all in what we have to share. We tried leaving and he kinda held Elder Dyer´s hand. Then we finally got away he called after us, "Os quiero." AKA "I love you" either way super creepy and we got away from him as fast as possible. Nice guy he just may have been talking to us for the wrong reasons. 

I went on splits to Villalba on Wednesday. I can´t get away from that place. Love it but I still have a lot of time in the mission and I want to get to know the rest of Spain. 

Church. Well on the ward list there are over 45 people but active that come every Sunday and participate are around 15. With, on a good week, 5 investigators to put on top of that. Yeah I did give a talk and luckily having four missionaries I´ll only have to speak every four weeks. The people in the ward are interesting in them selves. Singing the hymns is quite the adventure. Dad you were right. In a small branch the hymns really are always interesting. The man who plays the piano plays like we´re at a carnival, all of the members sing at the top of their lungs (and let´s just say that some of them like to sing to their own melody) and being the ones who are supposed to set the example we sing extra loud trying to help people match tune... Hahah I like it so far. 

We still haven't finished Conference yet. I´ve only seen the Saturday morning, and all of Sunday. I still need to watch priesthood and Saturday afternoon. A lot of the members (like the people here) are older and either don´t have internet or don´t know how to work it. So we just go to the church and use the computer there. 

More bad news. I´m sick again. This time worse than last time. I have a fever and my stomach has been pretty upset. So if anybody has any good suggestions I´d love to get back to work! I got sick Saturday night and yesterday it was really bad. I feel better today but not 100%. I hate being unproductive. Sitting in our piso is really boring and this branch NEEDS to grow. 

Thank you for all of the support and love and the birthday wishes. So far we don´t have any plans for my birthday cause well, I´m new and the people don´t know me quite as well. Right before I left Villalba though my Ecuadorian family gave me a cake and sang to me for my birthday and that was all I wanted. :) I´ll get my package either in two weeks or three... So thank you for the package and I´ll just let you know when I get it! 

Love you all and stay strong.

The Kingdom of God or Nothing! 

Love,

Elder Hawks

April 7, 2014

Familia,

Holy Cow. This was a crazy week. First off I want to send all of my love to Grandma Hawks and if you can please give her a big hug from me. To be honest that was quite the shock. Grandpa Howdy has always been a model to me of what it is to work HARD and share all that he earned. I´m very grateful for the influence he was and still is in my life. That story about him choosing to serve is really a testimony that it´s the little things that make the big differences. 

Speaking of little things. Sounds like the first nephew finally came! It´s about time. Good to hear that he´s ok, Jen´s ok and that the little girls are as excited as they should be. Hopefully Hawks and Grandpa were able to have a few words before he got here! :)

This week we mainly spent walking around the area, introducing me to all of the members, and our investigators. In Segovia there´s a little Branch of 20 members. Only about 17 come on a regular basis and there are over 30 inactive members that live here. It´s been quite the shock to go from a strong ward of over 160 people to a tiny branch of around 20. Michael told me something about his mission. That it´s always in the little towns where all of the crazies seem to live...

Well he´s not wrong. The people here are all either really old Spanish members or young Latinos. Which sometimes is an interesting mix. The President here is around 84 and when he reads from the scriptures he needs his glasses (which are thicker than my fingers) and a magnifying glass. Let´s just say that this Branch needs some young blood. 

This week was full of the Plan of Salvation and I wondered why until I received the news from President about Grandpa. I´ve been humbled by many things this week. President came up to tell me the news and he did it in a very polite and professional way. He is a man that I would like to be like. He told me and then he said that the best way to honor my grandpa would be to teach as many people about the Plan of Salvation as I possibly can. 

I have been very comforted by this plan and have hopefully comforted others with this plan. It´s something that millions of people have no idea about but they have every right to. I´m very content with this knowledge but I´m not content that not everybody else knows this. I´ve started to receive a hunger this Friday for the need to share and explain and try to help bless the lives of others. I know that this plan is true and from it I have received an immense amount of comfort. Other people NEED this comfort. 

I´m not coming home until I absolutely have to and I´m going to make the best out of every second I´m out here. Thank you all for your support and love it helps motivate me even more. 

This is the Church of Jesus Christ and our only goal in this life is to be a family for eternity and I know that we will be. 

Love,

Elder Hawks

March 31, 2014

Mama,

Well after six months in my "greenie area" I finally got transferred.  I caught a train up here this morning and I am now serving in SEGOVIA!!!. So basically to explain Segovia in a few sentences.

Old, super Spanish (which means super catholic), college town. So. To put things in other words this is going to be a challenge. There aren't nearly as many Latinos and we have a branch of about 15 active members. Who from what I've heard are all super crazy but awesome. I'm happy that I have this challenge though. However what should be interesting is that I'm going to be here during the "Semana Santa" (Holy Week). Right before Easter and here they have a big parade with Christ on the cross and a bunch of interesting traditions. Should be fun... :)

I don't know what it is about missionary work but it's absolutely addicting. All I want to do is help the ward grow and share the good word!

Crap I'm turning into one of those missionaries.... Haha but I really am super excited to be up here. The Elder who's spot I'm taking reopened Segovia and has really helped this ward grow so I have some big shoes to fill but as I said I"m super stoked! 

My companion. His name's Elder Dyer. He's younger than I am and we entered the field at the same time. He's from Arizona and will be fun to work with. I have no idea how he teaches, contacts or does things but we have six weeks at least to figure that out and adapt to work as well as possible together. 

Yeah and for General Conference. Here we're at least trying to set up in the church so that we can watch the Saturday Night session at least and then we're going to call a member and try to watch the rest of the sessions at their house. I'm really excited for this General Conference and to hear all of the talks. Hopefully we'll see all of them buuutttt. Not likely. Thank goodness for the Liahona! 

Leaving Villalba was a little weird to be completely honest. I was ready to leave but it was still weird. I spent a quarter of my mission there and to just leave was really weird. I'm still close though and that too makes it different. I'm going to go there every Wednesday for meetings and at least once every transfer. I made some good friends there and I'm excited to introduce you guys to them when you come to get me! 

Feelings: Happy, sad, uncomfortable, confused, content, disappointment, excited, and TIRED. Welcome to the mission. I'm just excited to start fresh and to get to work more than anything! 

Haha funny story before I log off. Last Friday Elder Hendricks and I went to Las Rozas looking for an address that a member gave us to pass by. We went and then found out that it was in a completely different pueblo called Las Matas which is like 10 minutes away from there. So we got on a bus got off where we thought was right and were even further away. We pulled out our map of Las Rozas, which is easily as big as a blanket for a fat person, and looked for where we were. I was holding one end and Elder Hendricks the other. Then some Spanish guy passed us and asked, "You lost?" in not the most polite manner possible. No bro we're just trying to catch rain! (It was about to start raining) He then told us to catch a bus and it'd take us there. Then he asked us if Adam had a belly button. Where on earth did this come from??? "Umm yeah he was created in the image of God and us too so yeah he should." Then there were a few cuss words in Spanglish and he went on his way... Strange but we for some reason we attract the strange ones. 

The mission's hard, fun and totally awesome. The church is true and I love all of you guys a lot! :) New area means new address so don't be shy to write! 

Elder Stephen Hawks

Calle Sangento Provisional 6 2ºC

Segovia 40005

España

Love,

Elder Hawks

March 24, 2014

Mama,

First off I´m glad you enjoyed the video of me eating snails! Haha it was quite the experience! I promised myself at the beginning of my mission that I would try everything people put in front of me but that I don´t have to like it. The thing is too. Is that it wasn´t too bad! They had some spicy sauce on them and you could feel the eyes as you chewed but other than that they were pretty good! Good enough to try but not good enough for seconds!

That was the British family I told you about a while ago. They´re a half British and a half Spanish family. Hermana Jane is very British and her husband Victor is super Spanish. Funny combination. Every Sunday they give the missionaries Pancakes which are pretty much just covered in chocolate, strawberry syrup, and when ever I make Magleby´s syrup that too. Really healthy I know but I´m probably not going to be here much longer so I´m enjoying them while I can.. :)

Speaking of not having a lot of time left. We find out about transfers this Saturday night, and I´m almost positive I´m out of here. I´ve been here for six months and everybody keeps telling me bye even though I still have a week. So I´ve been with Elder Hendricks for 5 weeks and at the end of this one 6. I´m "Area Training" him then I´m pretty sure I´ll get changed this week. 

This might sound bad too but I´m ready for change. I love Villalba and I love the people here but I feel that after this week I´ll have done all I possibly can. I´m ready for change. What´s been helping me get ready was this past week. 

To put it into one word is... Rough. We planned out a super good week. Full of lessons, activities and good contacting areas and methods. However Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday EVERY single one of our lessons failed, then it started getting cold again here on Friday... We had over 17 lessons fail us, if not more, this past week. So we are praying for a miracle this next week. 

We had splits again this week. This time I went with our District Leader Elder Day. He´s really like the most obedient, honest, and spiritual missionary I´ve met. I´m not disobedient but he just showed me so many more ways where I can do a little more, a little better and be a little more obedient. We got to be pretty close too. I found out that he and my buddy Mason Childs are almost the exact same. So that made me pretty positive that Mason´s working really hard and that he will keep working really hard. We spent a lot of time knocking doors but I learned a lot. 

Today should be pretty fun for us. There is a Monastery close to Villalba called Escorrial. We´re going to catch a train there right after this and go and see the castle and the town that are right below it. I´ll send some pictures next week of our adventures over there!

Ok feelings time. This week was really discouraging. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. However on splits on Saturday I figured out that there will ALWAYS be crappy weeks, but they won´t be the one´s we remember. If we focus on the bad all we´ll see is the bad but if we focus on the good... Well all we´ll see will be good. I´m starting to be smarter with our lessons and do better as a missionary. 

Thanks for all of the support and I love all you guys back home! 

Love,

Élder Hawks

P.s. I would like Conner Sheffield´s emails and Cline´s to his family, and we have a dvd player I can use for P90X. :)