December 9, 2013

Mirian´s baptism. The member that baptized her is Luffi and Alejandro is the one that baptized Harrison (the big black guy). Playing soccer a few weeks ago...

Mama,

Vale, pues el mas importante parte de este semana. Fue los bautismos de Mirian y un chico se llama Harrison. Mirian estaba muy tranquila y animada para su bautisma. Ella es una de las personas voy a tener falta cuando salio. 

So sounds like there was a baptism in Panama and in Spain this weekend! So yes Mirian is absolutely awesome and was super ready to get baptized. One of the friendshipping members baptized her and another one confirmed her on Sunday. After the baptism Elder Fausett went and got Argentinian pizza with Mirian and her friend and kinda taught her the first lesson. (Mirian had already given her a Book of Mormon) So that went well and for Sunday we gave Mirian a nice triple combination with our testimonies in it as a baptismal gift. She was super grateful and wants us to teach her the after baptism lessons. 

Anyways we have another two investigators who are awesome también. Her name is Aida and her son is Fermin. They have a date set for the 28th of December and Fermin´s already talking about if he´s going to serve a mission or not! 

Now for the Christmas season... Not as big in Spain. Navidad is celebrated here but it isn´t nearly as big as it is in the U.S. However there are lights in the streets and there are going to be in our piso soon so I´m contento. The Holiday that they really celebrate is called La Día de los Reyes. It´s around the 5th of January and it´s the big holiday where everybody really give and receive gifts. Strange but hey I´m not in Kansas any more. 

Next up... I'M GETTING FAT!!! Freaking sucks... It stinks but now I have some inspiration to get up and really work out every morning. All of the members and investigators love giving us food, and it is definitely not healthy. I love Latino food and they love using oil. Soooo not the greatest combination. 

Our Zone didn't change too much besides a few Elders and Hermanas changing. There are only two of us in our piso and that's definitely good because I've heard when there are more it's kinda just a party and they can't get much done. The most like "sightseeing" I do is on intercambios. We go to Sol every now and then and I really like it but other than that not much. When I went to Segovia all we did was contact so we didn't have much time to make the rounds up by the aquaduct or the castle. 

Umm all is well. The work is progressing. I stand next to Elder Dunn in the Christmas Concert so I'll try and grab a picture and send it that night! I got my package and I'm going to be a good boy and wait until Christmas or Christmas Eve before I open any thing! Thank you for everything! I love the support and I hope you guys have a blast in Panama! 

Love,

Elder Hawks el Español

December 16, 2013

Mama!

Pues estoy muy agradecido para toda que ustedes están haciendo para me y todo del amor puedo sentir. ¿Como fue Panama? Yo he oído que el español en Panama is muy diferente por el español de otros naciones. 

Ok well Andrew´s home! It´s about freaking time! Haha just kidding man I've only been here a few months and I don't want to leave! Hey just because you're home doesn't mean you can stop being a missionary! Perseverar hasta el fin! 

Villalba's starting to feel a little more Christmasy. There are some little tiendas open outside where people are selling little jewelry, toys, and clothes. The environment is starting to actually feel like Christmas! Which is in ten days!!! Weird... Also the environment in our piso is starting to feel more like Christmas. We put up our decorations, rearranged the room and took some awesome Christmas pictures! Let's just say that "Companionship Inventory" this week consisted of us putting up all of the decorations and taking some pretty awesome pictures. 

The Concierto de Navidad is today and we were supposed to have all of the songs for it memorized... Well let's hope I recieve strength/knowledge from above! I'm really excited because the Temple is going to have all of the lights on and they have a awesome nativity scene so it'll be good to have a quick lesson with Aida and Fermin. 

Aida and Fermin are both progressing and want to get baptized the 28th before Elder Fausett leaves. The transfer ends around the begining of January and we both have the feeling that he's going to leave. :( Oh well that's part of the mission. 

Christmas morning (for you guys) I'm going to call Mom's phone and talk more about how we're going to do the Skype. We are actually going to skype at the Familia de los Lau's house. Because Monica is going to have all of the other elders and sisters there for skype and it would take forever for six of us to do it there! I'm just going to make my own skype and I'll call you when I'm ready which will be about 7 or 8 in the morning for you guys. Sorry it's early but we need to do it, at a time that's not too late. Be ready for the call with the fudge recipe because the Lau's would like to try it and yeah! If I could catch Scotty that would be awesome but if not I still love that kid! Cline be ready cause I'm going to ask Andrew or somebody to call you and that's about it. Be ready around 7 or 8 in the morning and I'll call Mom right before! 

I love you all and I love all of the support! The church is true, the book is blue, and keep doing what you're doing! 

Love,

Elder Stephen Hawks

December 2, 2013

Madre,

Buenos días madre! Me encanta la oportunidad tengo a servir y predicad sobre las cosas que traen muchas feliz en mi vida. Mirian está preperando para su fecha bautismal el siete de Decíembre. Ella es super gui (slang for cool) y ella está super lista. 

Ok this week was good. Like I´ve said the time really does fly when you´re constantly working and in the service of the Lord! Elder Fausett and Elder Nielsen baptized the two girls from last week and like I've said our ward is awesome because they love converts and always remember them. Elder Fausett and I are together for another transfer but we both have the feeling he's going to get transfered after this next one. So we have six weeks to do as much work together as we can! The transfer started on the 25th and they are six weeks long. If you want I'm going to have 16 transfers on my mission including the CCM so you can do the math and let me know when I'm coming home! ;) The other Elders, Good and Nielsen, both were sent off to different areas and we recieved a new companionship of Elders last Tuesday night. Elder Day and Dampt. Elder Day's from California and he's a super awesome missionary. Elder Dampt is fresh out of the CCM and he's from Arizona but spent 8 years in France for school... Strange to me. But he knows French and is a good Elder as well.  

Yeah I saw Elder Dunn (freaking weird not calling him Jake) last P Day in Madrid. He was grabbing his residency card at the same time we went with Elder Nielsen grabbed his. 

So for this week in Villalba. 

We took over this family from Elder Nielsen and Elder Good who's names are Juan Carlos and Claudia. They are absolutely awesome. However their situation is super sad. They have three kids, a twenty year old boy who's a video gamer, a little four year old girl who loves horses, and a tenish year old girl who has been through a lot. When she was little she had a tumor in her brain and after a few years Juan was able to pay it off but they literally had to start over. She has a big kind of square in her head and she can't think as well as a normal child and her brain capacity will be very limited. What's the hardest part is that the past year the doctors found another tumor in her leg. Juan has been doing all he can to be the best father he can and since he's been doing so much and not working as much as he can he lost his job. Really sad. His wife is making home made Belen's to pay for everything they need. I'm tempted to buy one but they cost over 100 Euros and are really big. We want to do as much as possible. So we fasted with a member and went and gave her a blessing of health and we're all praying that she will get better. And through all of this Juan has been reading the Book of Mormon and has a tremendous amount of faith. We're hoping the best for them and we are going to continue teaching them and visiting them. 

Now for the not as inspirational side of this week. Elder Fausett cut my hair this week. It looks good and hopefully will continue to look good for the next week or two! Thanksgiving was a totally regular day for us. We kind of actually forgot until somebody said, "Happy Thanksgiving," to us. We ate with a member some nummy chicken and rice! 

Five favorites about my district, zone, and companion. Number one I'M GRATEFULL FOR MY COMPANION. He knows the language, isn't a, jerk, geek, or jock and I'm soooo gratefull for that and all that he's teaching me. Second, my DISTRICT AND ZONE LEADERS are good examples and are the coolest kids I've met out here. Elder Smith is my district leader and I always look forward to exchanges because we always get a lot of missionary work done and we always talk about basketball. Then Elder Cloward my zone leader is a chill football kid from Alpine. He's fun, a spiritual powerhouse and a master at the language as well. Basically anybody that can speak fluently to me is somebody worth looking up to... :) Ok and third THE GROWTH of the church in Villalba. In November and December we should have around 10 or 12 new members. They are building a chapel for the ward hopefully soon. Fourth, OTHER ELDERS, the Elders seving in our zone that are in Madrid are super nice and fun to hang out with just in general! Fifth, TEMPLE every month. Got to love the temple. 

Ok I think I've sucked up enough time out of your day! Love you and I'm excited to talk to you on Christmas! Oh sorry about Christmas. One of the ladies in my ward is going to email you. Her name is Monica Gomar and she's going to email you with the details because we're going to be skyping at their house. Don't worry she knows English and will be contacting you in the next few weeks.

Love you. Thank you for the support! Enjoy warm Panama and give Andrew a big kiss right when you see him! ;) 

Love,

Elder Hawks #2

P.. Packages can come to our piso, and if anything that's more reliable. I should get my package on the 9th cause we have to go to Madrid for a choir practice and if not the 16th for the concert! 

P.P.s. I CAN STILL RECEIVE LETTERS. Please don't be shy... :)
Calle Batalla de Bailén

#5, 3º 7 28400

Collado-Villalba,

Spain

November 25, 2013

Mama,

Pues como los otros cartas qiuero empezar en Español. Este semana como el pasado nada significa paso. La investigadora Mirian está progresando como antes y ella es buena! 

Sorry I can´t think of much else to write in Spanish. My mind is really blank today! Well like I said Mirian is progressing and she is freaking awesome. The members we are friendshipping her with wanted to go to the temple Saturday so we asked the ZL´s if we could and they said why not! So we took her to the temple and gave her a tour, told her a little about what we do in there and that she will be able to go through one year from December 7th. We taught her tithing and fasting and she accepted it like usual! So now we only have the Law of Chastity left and we'll see how that goes! 

Ok update on this week then I'll answer your questions Mama. We had a baptism this Friday. Two teenager girls that the Hermanas met at the begining of the transfer met were baptized and they absolutely love everything about the church. We had a little bit of drama with the ward this week. That night the ward mission leader told us that we don't have to hustle all of our investagators to get baptized and that made all of us as missionaries a little mad because the work is progressing and the ward is just having a hard time finding places for all of the new members. In the past two weeks there are 5 new members with 4 investagators with a solid fecha for the next few weeks. I'm crossing my fingers that they'll start the build the capilla they said they would in the near future. 

Ok and I had the opportunity to have intercambios with Elder Smith, our District Leader, this Wednesday. He's a super good missionary. He goes home in April, knows the language better than most Spaniards, and he's Canadian! He's from Vancouver and was happy to hear that my brother almost wishes he was Canadian instead of American. Anyways he's a super kid and we were able to meet with a lot more people than we thought when we were working together. 

Well I have officially been in the field for a full transfer. The time out in the field moves ten times faster than in the CCM and I am super grateful for that. However with the end of the transfer we're losing some elders and a hermana. Hermana Blodgett is heading home to San Fransico tomorrow and Elder Good and Elder Nielsen are switching areas. Elder Good is going further into Madrid and Elder Nielsen is headed to Las Palmas in the Gran Canaries so he's lucky enough to miss winter! That's everything that's happened this week and with the other Elders leaving we'll probably pick up a few of their investagators... Hopefully!

Here ya go Mama. So as for Holidays in Spain. I'm not sure because people are always talking about festivals which I'm pretty sure are holidays and as far as I know I think that it's only Christmas. However our Ward Mission Leader is taking us out to "Brunch" this Saturday for "Thanksgiving" so I'm super excited to try some churros and chocolate. 

So my five favorite things about Spain. This is very teenager of me but the first thing is KEBAB. It's absolutely fattening and delicious. The next would be the ARCHITECTURE (if that isn't spelled right I'd love some help). Some of the old buildings in Sol are way cool and challenge my Art History memory! Third thing is the TRAIN, a.k.a. Renfe. The Renfe just makes me feel like I'm really in Europe and every time we ride one is kind of a treat for me. The fourth is FÚTBOL. I love how absolutely everybody here has a team and is absolutely crazy about them! Oh and by the way, I´m allowed to go to a game so Dad you should look up when Madrid either plays Manchester United or Barcelona or any game you feel would be as awesome, for the coming year. I need to go before Pres. Jackson leaves because who knows if the next President will allow that. Haha and last but defitnitely not least are the LATINOS here. The reason the church is growing in Europe is because of immigrants. 

Next week I´ll do my District and Zone because I´m running out of time! I love all of you and I´m not going to say do things better because we´re all members, and the only "advice" I'm going to give is have a blast in Panama! I'm jealous of Andrew that he's coming home but at the same time I don't want to leave this place either! 

Love,

Elder Hawks

P.s. The season of giving is almost here! All letters and packages boost missionary moral and make the recieving of Spanish Gifts more plausible! 

November 18, 2013

Mama,

Como los otro cartas por me voy a empezar en español. Mirian va a ser bautizada siete de Deciembre y ella está muy listas para su bautismo.  Ella da nos comida este pasado Sábado entonces todos los misioneros encantan ella y la comida de Honduras.

Well this week hasn't been super crazy. We're continuing our progess with Miriam and she is super ready to be baptized on December 7th. This week I had the opportunity to have intercambios con Elder Montague who is one of our Zone Leader's companion. We went to Madrid switched, ate pizza, and headed to Aluche for my Residency Papers. That pretty much took up the whole day. It was too bad because we had to cancel a few of our appointments and we weren't able to get like any missionary work done at all. Elder Montague reminded me of Elder Forsyth, super nice.

Elder Neilsen and Elder Good had a baptism this Saturday and we invited Miriam and another investagator named Yemi (Jamie). They both really liked it and had a couple questions about the process in general. So that was fun and the Hermanas in this area have a baptism this Friday so hopefully we can get all of our other investagators to come to this one and be able to baptize them as well! 

Oh so we have this lady from Mexico in our ward who says she's been baptized. However in our "Principios del Evangelio" class this week she was asking super strange questions. She was wondering why we needed two books to know the fullness of the gospel and that the Bible contained all we need to know to live with Heavenly Father... Elder Fausett and I looked at each other and wondered if she had ever had the lessons or if she just said she was down to get baptized and was baptized then ditched by the Missionaries. Haha we also had a laugh that the reason there's so much success in South America is that they baptize the people and then they begin the lessons. However we're going to a member's house tonight to clear some things up with her. 

Umm there isn't much I'm looking forward to this week besides maybe getting a letter and that there's another baptism on Friday. Oh and it's starting to get real cold here. Since we're about thirty to forty minutes north of Madrid the weather is starting to turn. It snowed on Saturday and our every other weekly soccer was colder than it has been! 

So that sums everthing up! Give Grandpa Hawks a big hug from me, tell Grandpa Cline Happy Birthday even if it is four days late and I'm pretty sure Courtney's is soon or passed so tell her Happy Birthday tambien! Love you all thanks for the support. And remember the best way to spread Christmas cheer is writing letters for missionaries dear.... :)

Elder Hawks #2

November 11, 2013

Mama,

 

Pues la obra misíonal es bien. Nuestros investagadore Miriam tiene un fecha a ser bautizado por 7 de Deciembre. Entonces tenemos muchas cosas a hacer antes eso fecha de bautismo. Lo siento cuando estoy escribiendo mi español es mayor y cuando estoy hablando a investagadores miembros o personas in la calle... es horrible. Élder Fausett dice, estoy apriendo muy rappido pero no se sobre eso...

 

Ok I speak Spanish all freaking day so here´s some good old English for everyone. First off to answer your questions Segovia is a ways North of Villalba but I haven't seen a map for a good long while so I'm not entirely sure. We took three buses to get there and it took around 2 and a half hours if not more. Then the next morning we took a train all the way back and that was a little over an hour but it was by train so ten times cooler and more convienent. And Miriam is absolutely fantastic. She is the nicest lady you have ever met. We were finally able to get her to come to church and when we taught her the Saturday before she brought all of the missionaries food entonces she's now our best friend and she wants to feed us again this Saturday. She's not sure about being dunked right now but we know that by the time December rolls around she will be more than ready! The lessons are going well and she really likes all of the missionaries and a member family who attend lessons with us. Speaking of my ward I definitely have one of the better if not the best ward in Spain. We have a solid congregation of around 140 people every Sunday including members and non members. The members here are mainly South American and our investagators tambien. I feel like I'm in little Europe in South America... Anyways our ward is really great we're getting fed 8 times this week which is more than most areas get in a transfer so I'm EXTREMELY grateful for that. They are also pretty new members so they are all active in missionary work and as long as we call a day or two we can get members to almost all of our lessons. Ok and as for Jason my main advice is to read Chapter 13 in Preach My Gospel, watch the District about working with the Ward Mission Leader, and to just be himself and work hard because the ward will see that and so will the missionaries. My guess for Jen is a BOY there's no way we can go 0-7 so I'm feeling pretty confident about this one! Oh and to everyone who hasn't read Kylan's talk it's really good and I think we can all learn something from it! Myles Collins (Reggie's little bro.) is in the Phillipine's and Will Pham just left to Vietnam.

 

This week has been very routine. We get up at 7, work out (not as much as I want), shower, eat/get ready, then from 8:30 to 9:30 we have personal study. Then from9:30 to 10:30 we have comp. study where we usually go over (in spanish) what our lessons are for the day. Then I have half an hour of Estudio Idioma, an hour of extra greenie study, then we're out in the street contacting. We contact until 2 then we either head to a members for Medio Día or go back to the piso. We don't go out until 4 because nothing opens and nobody is out until around 5ish. I love the people here but they are freaking lazy. Eleven o'clock church is early for them and they come home for three hours to eat and sleep! However I love them and am doing my best! We come back to our piso around 9:30 unless we have a lesson or a dinner appointment then it's 10. Then we plan for the morrow, work out if we didn't in the morning, translate Jesus the Christ a little if we have time then go to sweet bed. Get up and repeat. We have a few weekly activities at the church that all of the missionaries attend. Every Wednesday and Saturday night from 7-8 we have Clases de Ingles where either Elder Good (greenie #2) or I teach a few people basic English and the more advanced go to Hermana Schoen. That class has made me very grateful that English is my first language because learning English would be miserable. Every Thursday from 8-9:30ish we have Noche de Hogar which is family night for the ward and who ever else comes. So usually an investagator or two and then like three ward families.

 

Well as for the important stuff we've found another two families this week to teach and we're super stoked for them. I may have already told you about Aida but she's an older lady from the Dominican Republic and really poor. She has a son named Jose and they are both really open to the church and what we teach them. I hope we can at least help them because they're super nice and she needs a better job and so we're trying to make them happy by being good company and sharing with her the best thing we have, the gospel. Miriam's progressing and I've already given my brief on her.

 

This Wednesday we had the opportunity of going to the temple which was fantastic. I'm learning that it takes the church about three to four months to translate all of their VIDEOS and other things like that. Haha it was fun because all of the other missionaries were seeing it for the first time and I mainly watched them and their reactions throughout our session. Afterwards we had Zone Meeting and practiced for a massive Christmas concert we're doing on Dec. 16. yayy... :( Yes I saw Elder Dunn and gave him the biggest crash hug I've ever given! He's in Barrio 2 and that area with one of my buddies from the CCM with me.

 

I love you all and THE CHURCH IS TRUE. (crap I'm sounding like every other missionary two months out...) Keep doing what you're doing family and I'm excited to hear from you in 7 short days!

 

Mucho amor,

Élder Hawks el Español

 

P.s. Don´t be shy with letters or packages. Anything and everything is appreciated... :)

November 4, 2013

Mama,

 

Este semana fue loco. Nuestros investagadore es yendo ser bautizado a las Deciembre 7. Haha I don't know what else to say in Spanish! OK so I took some notes yesterday so that my letter should make a little more sense and not be as scattered as usual!

OK so last P DAY we went to the Familia de Lau's. Elder Fausett had a banana bread recipe he wanted to try out so we headed over right after email Lunes so sorry Jen that's why I had to get off so quick! We made them cookies and ate those while Hermana Lau and Elder Fausett made the Banana Bread. We had an appointment and the bread takes around two hours so we had to leave before it was done but it was fun and I had them try orange freezes and they loved it!

 

This wednesday I had the opportunity to go to Segovia for exchanges. I was companions with Elder Berthon while his comp. Elder Smith stayed in Villalba with Elder Fausett. I was a little worried because Elder Berthon is from Barcelona so I was worried that the language barrier might impede our work just a little bit. However he was very patient and knows a lot of english. So he told me to speak in spanish and he'd try to talk to me in english. That experience was kinda eye opening and I realized I know a lot more spanish than I thought! I spent the night and then Thursday morning I caught a train back to Villalba for a full day of Halloween here!

 

Halloween here was crazy. There were only like 20 people out in the streets and that's not a lot and only like one third of them were dressed up. I love Spain but they need to realize that dressing up like a super hero and getting free candy is a lot cooler than they think! However for most of the day we were decorating the chapel for the halloween party that night that we were slightly in charge of... The Hermanas took care of most of it but we needed to help set up "La Casa de Terror" that the missionaries were really in charge of. We had a few of our lessons cancel so we decided to go grab a Kebab before the party. We scared the kids and I have some good pictures and videos that I can't wait to show you guys.

 

The rest of the week was very uneventful. On Saturday we had San Cocho which is a Columbian soupish dish. Miriam knows how to make it and one of the Hermanas is obsessed so she made it for us and all of the missionaries here and a member that always comes to our lessons. That went well and after English Classes that night we taught her lesson two. We invited her to be baptized and she said she wasn't sure so we gave her a calender and challenged her to be baptized December 7th. She said she would and then we ended the night.

 

The weeks are starting to fly by. It feels like I just wrote you guys and now I´m here again! Missionary work is definitely work! Please keep Miriam in your prayers because we know she can feel the spirit we just need her to keep her commitments and receive an answer to her prayers! Love you all and I´m very gratefull for all of the love and support you guys are giving me!

 

Love,

Élder Hawks (El Español)

October 28, 2013

Buenos Días madre y amigos!

Cosas aquí en España están diferente. Las personas tienen un problema grande con fumando. Entonces ahora estoy (dealing with the smell).

Well  my spanish is getting slightly better as the time here is passing. Ok so Halloween here is a lot like Halloween back home. Just not quite as big. We were put in charge of an activity for the youth of our ward a.k.a. the JAS  (Jovene actividad something...) So I'm excited! Villalba isn't really party centeral so we shouldn't have any problems that night. We're in charge of a Haunted House that night sooo we'll see how that goes on a really tight budget! 

So this week when we were meeting with the Ward Mission Leader we met him at his house with the other two elders and the hermanas tambien. Halfway through the meeting the doorbell rang and we asked Andres if he was expecting anybody and he said no. He went and answered the door and there were two older women there and asked him if he believed God. They were Testigos (J.W.'s). So he stepped away from the door and Elder Neilson sat up tall so that they could see his name tag. I've never seen anybody walk away that fast before.  That was pretty entertaining and kept us laughing the rest of the meeting. 

I'm eating well, we have a washing machine, and I shouldn't need any medicine for a good long time. We get fed about twice a week and twice more on Sundays. So I really only have the essentials in my piso. Grilled cheese, eggs, milk, and cereal. So a college diet. However every P-Day so far we've gotten these things called Kebabs. They are absolutely a man's dream... It's a pinini (or however you spell it) bun, shredded pork and chicken (shredded into wide thin pieces), lettuce, a tomato and amazing red and white sauce on it. You guys WILL try one if you come and pick me up! Michael won't get one unless he has a fiance or is dating some one seriously at that time. 

Ok now for missionary work the reason I'm out here! Spain... Is dificult. Like Elder Dunn said the Spaniards like their sleep. We left for stake conference around 9 in the morning and the streets were empty. We've been trying to contact mainly Latinos because they are the easiest to talk to but of course we talk to as many people as possible! However we have a few good investagators. Miriam is a 25 year old woman from Hondurous and she is awesome. She doesn't like to party and she is really kind to everyone and most importantly she's asking the right questions and she reads whatever we tell her to read! She's awesome and we're probably going to try and get a baptismal date with her some time this week! 

It finally rained! It rained from Thursday to Saturday morning. It stopped right as we started playing soccer on Saturday and so I've been very happy with the weather! The afternoons are around the 70's farenheit and the nights are a lot colder, so it's been very nice! 

I love you all and am very thankful for your support! Give all of the little girls a big hug from uncle dweebs and I'll hear from you next week!

Love,

Elder Hawks (the Spaniard)

October 21, 2013

Mama,

 

Well week one was definitely a success! So like I said last Monday we met our new companions on Tuesday.  But first we went to the President´s house and he gave us some general rules and fed us and fun stuff like that. I´m really excited because they are an awesome couple and they care more about doing the work and about why we are out here.  They want us to be able to work as hard as we possibly can for the next 23 months! Fun fact, Pres. Jackson, he plays the acordian. Haha pretty awesome. OH and he earned even more points from me.  He suggested to us that we should all try to go to a REAL MADRID game.  He said it´s a once in a life time experience and that as long as we don´t use mission funds or go on a Sunday he says it´s fine to go to one... So I´m pretty excited.

 

Ok so my companion´s name is Elder Fausett. Short bio, he´s from St. George, went to Snow Canyon, we played them during preseason sophmore year, he´s only been out six months and the other elder in our district who´s also a trainer has only been out 12 weeks.  So... I could very well be a trainer after these next two transfers.  Ok and Villalba is a pretty little european town.  Exactly as you´d imagine.  Our area´s really big so we´ve had to take the bus and train to a lot of our appointments.  Villalba´s a little dirty but Spain in general literally smells bad. 

 

We don´t have many investigators so this week we spent a lot of time tracting and looking for new investigators.  We´ve found a few that we´re really excited about.  Funnily enough all of the receptive people here are from South America and when we tract we hardly talk to Spaniards because all they do is wave their finger at us and say stuff like I´m in a hurry or I´m not interested or... f word you. That one´s my least favorite. 

The ward here is freaking awesome.  They are all pretty active and all of them are really willing and excited to come to lessons with us. They all have super strong testimonies and best of all. A lot of them can speak English almost fluently. 

 

I thought I knew Spanish decently well when I left the CCM.  However Elder Fausett has shown me that I definitely do not know Spanish.  Luckily I can understand a lot of what people are saying and he said that I´m further than he was when he got here and so hopefully by around December I´ll be able to share what I want and understand what people are saying to me.  So everyday I try a little bit harder and I learn a little bit more.  I know that there would be no way I´d be able to learn Spanish without the help of the Lord.  Because I´m dreadful at it but every now and then I aquire the gift of tounges and can clearly express myself.  Unfortunately that doesn´t happen as often as I´d like it to.

 

Thank you for everything everybody and thank you for supporting me out here.  Two years seems like a long time but everyone that I´ve talked to that´s going home has said how jeaoulous of me they are soooo I´m excited! I love letters by the way. And I have my address for letters aka my piso.

 

Calle Batalla de Bailén

#5, 3º7 28400

Collado-Villalba, Spain

 

Love,

Elder Stephen Hawks

(I feel like I´m forgetting my first name...)

 

Ps. There is stuff I´d like but I don´t need anything besides perhaps letters from Michael, Cline, the fam in general and anyone else that you think should write me! Letters really help brighten up the day!

October 15, 2013

Dear Parents of Elder Hawks,
> We received your son into our mission this morning. We brought him to the Mission Home and fed him lunch. We gave him an overview of the mission and some of the rules and expectations, and spent most of the day with him. He was excited, and seemed ready to get to work.
>
> Later this afternoon, we had a meeting at the Stake Center in Madrid on Temple Square, and met with his trainer to discuss the new 12 week training program. During this 12 week period, your son will have an extra hour of companion study each day, and will be given specific things that he should report to the Mission President. We know that this is an inspired program, and will help to make missionaries better teachers and better followers of Christ. Please encourage your son in this program. It will help him develop tools that will help him to have a successful mission, and a more successful and fulfilling life after his mission.
>
> Elder Hawks has been assigned to the area of Villalba, in the greater Madrid area. He will serve with Elder Fausett, who is from St. George, UT. Elder Fausett is a happy, obedient missionary, who will be a good first companion for your son.
>
> Our Preparation Day is on Monday. Elder Hawks is instructed to email his immediate family every week.
>
> We look forward to getting to know him and working along side him in this great work here in the Spain, Madrid Mission. We can tell he will be a great missionary. Thank you for sharing him with us! We already love him.
>
> Sincerely,
> President and Sister Jackson
>
> PS It is so fun to have the connection to the Mattingly's - please give them our love. 

October 18, 2013

Fun picture of Stephen with Elder Edwards who is Rob and Wendy Clark's nephew.  He is leaving for the Barcelona Mission, but he and Stephen became fast friends while in the CCM.  

Picture Descriptions from Elder Edwards:
The first picture is of Elder Hawks and I. We eat peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches daily. One night we sat on the same chair and decided that this is what two five year old brothers would do, so we reenacted the situation. The second picture is at the park we go to weekly, just to show how huge it is, this is only the center of the park. It might be close to the size of Disneyland.

Carolyn

October 14, 2013

Elder Forsyth, the CCM, Madrid Spain

 

Hola Familia

 

Ok so they gave us another opportunity for us to write home today soo I am going to take full advantage of this opportunity! I'd like to apologize right now for my English.  Due to my new found talent with the gift of tongues sometimes my tongues get mixed up!  I feel like I'm in the "Best Two Years" because of all of you guys going to Disneyland! "My parents just bought a new boat and are going to Lake Powell this weekend! My life sucks!" Haha but have fun at Disneyland! Being away from the family makes me want to go to the princess lunch because I miss the six girls that will actually wait for me! Give them all a big hug and a kiss from Uncle Dweebs and make sure they have the time of their little lives! :)

 

We got up and actually this morning we watched the Joseph Smith movie and I think just the fact that I'm a missionary I was kinda like a girl during it! I almost started crying and it was crazy watching all of the trials that the early saints had to go through! And now that I'm older I'm starting to realize that there are the same ten people in all of the films that the church has produced!

 

Saturday this week was different.  My companion for the park was... Elder Forsyth!  It made me really sympathetic towards him and it was probably the best thing for our companionship! We were very productive this week in the park! We only had like 5 contacts but we were able to place 2 copies of the Book of Mormon and we recieved our first refferal! His name was David and he lives in Barcelona so hopefully Elder Edwards or one  of the other missionaries going there can convert him! (Oh and Elder Edwards is sending you a picture that we thought was funny of us two)

 

So everyone besides the Elders and Hermanas that are learning Russian are leaving and a new wave of missionaries comes tomorrow in the morning! So I told all of the Italians to look up Anziano Hansen (Hunter) and give him a big hug for me! It's crazy to say that I have good friends who live in France, TaHitti, Italy, Germany and Argentina! Europe is smaller than you'd think but bigger at the same time! I love all of you. I'm meeting my new companion around noonish tomorrow and am being shipped off into my first area! I'm excited and one of my teachers is in Jake's ward and said that they are expecting a new Elder soooo hopefully it's me! Love ya and thanks for the Support!

 

Much Love,

 

Elder Hawks 2

 

ps I'm not getting all of Andrew's letters or all of Scotty's so please forward them! I love reading about other Elders!

October 3, 2013

So there goes another week. It really is just crazy how fast everything is moving here! The first day all I could say was "Hola" and now I can pray in Spanish and understand quite a bit of it! The natives speak very fast but I'm getting better at understanding them and knowing what to say back to them! Haha I'm loving the challenge of learning the language and adjusting to the needs of our "investagators" (sorry if my spelling is bad Spanish is killing my English).  
OK to answer some questions that Mama had, the elders in my room are all going to Madrid except for Elder Roberts, he' going to Barcelona and he is going to be a stud missionary.  We've started to get up a little early and excercise.  Elder Roberts, Elder Cross and I.  I'm getting fat soo I really need it! Elder Edwards, Elder Lower and Elder Johnson are all going to Barcelona and Elder Carter is going to Malaga.  So a lot of people are going to the Barcelona mission.  
Haha and yeah small world Elder Edward is related to the Clark's! I freaking love that kid! He and I get along super well and we love all of the same movies so we just quote "What About Bob" together and then we both end up laughing like crazy! We want to room together at BYU or where ever we go when we get back! He just told me that you and his mom are friends on Facebook now Mama! Great stay connected to her I'd love to look him up after the mission! 
Mama there are too many funny stories so I'll tell one that Jason would appreciate! So like the first few weeks we started a prank war and it was never personal just funny things like going into somebody's room and making a fort out of mattresses and leaving it there for them to clean up and stuff like that! We've been very creative in our pranks! A few weeks ago we took the mattresses out of one room and put them on top of the stalls in the bathroom and took their ladder from their bunk beds and put in on the stall as well so it looked like a bunk bed made out of the stalls in the bathroom! 
So I'm catching myself becoming more and more Eurotrash the more I'm here! I bought myself a man purse and yes... It looks fantastic.  Oh so fun story today.  Today in the temple we were having a regular session then halfway through the witness lady passed out and we were all kind of like what is going on. It was really random they stopped the session then her husband caught her and gently layed her down on the ground.  Luckily Sis. Sullivan, Elder Sullivan's wife (the guy who leads the music) is a Nurse so she stepped up and took great care of that lady! 
What the heck is going on with the nation? I've heard something about the government being all weird or something like that. You don't hear much when you're thousands of miles away.  Speaking of Eurotrash... sorry for getting off topic but we're going to the Prado today and I am sooooooooooo stoked! So some Italians came into the CCM today and they are exactly what I'd imagine them to be like! One of them is very strong and looks like a buff Christiano Ronaldo.  Hahaha and what makes it better is that his name is Elder Puff (Poof) so we just call him strong man and it fits.  
Ok brothers first off HAPPY BIRTHDAY  J-A-S-O-N! Ha you're older.  I'll be sure to grab something for you next time we go out but I probs won't be able to send it very soon! I'll let you know! Oh and Michael one of my buddies here's name is Elder Cross.  His sister is serving in England and she's teaching some famous rugby player. His name's Toa Kohe Love or something like that so let me know who that is and write me while you're at it! Momma my package came this morning and I'm about to go open it soo thank you!!!! 
Ok well I love ya and I'm excited to hear back from you my last P-Day here! 
Love you MAMMA! 
Love,
Elder Hawks 2

September 26, 2013

Padres!
 
Well fam there goes another week! They just seem to fly by! So first off I'm going to answer all of your questions! I'm doing fantastic! I love all of this learning even though it's a ton to take it all in at once.  Spanish is freaking frustrating but it's amazing how much I've learned in the past three weeks! Spain's beautiful and luckily we're able to leave every now and then! There's soo much to tell you it's hard to focus on anything in particular.  Ok so like I said we received two more Elders in our room and from that big group of missionaries that came in a few weeks ago we now have eight missionaries in our district.  So it's Elder Forsyth and I plus Elder Cross and Elder Bennett.  However I haven't told you about the other four quite yet so here we go.  One of the kids is Elder Johnson and i like him he's a good guy! He played soccer for Davis so he's always fun to be paired up to for fútbol! He keeps me on my toes and luckily my touch is starting to come back! His companion's name is Elder Carter he's a super tall skinny kid who swam for West Jordan.  He's a super nice guy and a fantastic example to me! He's struggling pronouncing Spanish words and yet he keeps working at it and it's definitely inspiring! Elder Lower is the next elder.  He's a farm boy from Idaho who's mission is going to be good for him! He's a nice kid but he threatened to punch one of the maestros if they tickled him!  And lastly Elder Edwards.  He's way cool.   He's from Las Vegas and is really fun to talk to and draw pictures on the white board with! So there are six elders including me in our room and eight elders including me in our district.  
 
I've had the opportunity to meet Sis. Jackson but not Pres. Jackson unfortunately! She's very nice and asked all about how the Mattingly's were and that Elder Dunn was soo excited to see me on Saturday and that she's very excited to have all of us in the mission! She mentioned something about Cline's call but she didn't know where he had been called to.  I found out where he was going from him he sent me an email and I immediately responded to him... sorry mama! :)

 

I'm hoping he has the chance to write me a little before he goes and that he learns as much Korean as he can because Spanish is hard enough I can only imagine how hard Korean is going to be! 

 

So like I said the weeks are just flying by! It feels like I just wrote you guys yesterday! Ha-ha crazy how fast life passes by when you're having fun! Ok so today I want to tell you a little bit about my teachers.  So we have three teachers! One for the morning classes, one for afternoon and one for the night classes.  Our morning teacher is Hermana Martinez and she is a sweet heart! She is super nice and super helpful! None of our teacher's English is very good so it's fun to teach them our slang words and funny sayings cause they say them in a Spanish accent! Then our afternoon teacher is Hermana Ganaza and she is four curly feet of Hell.  She has great intentions and I appreciate all that she does she's just crazy! (P.s. Elder Bennett says hi) She's one of our investigators and her character is Muslim so she is impossible to teach first off and then we have to do it in Spanish so it makes it ten times harder! Then our Maestro en El Noche is Hermano Santana and he is crazy! He's the one I told you about that always says "freak" and 'fetch" and he is way funny.  I want to come talk to them when I actually know Spanish! Then there's Hermano Tyndale-Biscoe and he is freaking cool.  He was born in England and came to Spain when he was like nine or ten.  And he is my idol! He has fantastic style, speaks very clear and very good Spanish, and he is way good at fútbol AND he's going to BYU to study music theory and he's going to play for the team so I naturally told him to look up Andrew because they would be best friends! Ha-ha I want them to be friends if you couldn't tell! He starts in January so tell Andrew to look for Jack or Jake Tyndale around campus or on the Soccer team. 

 

Alright well love everybody thanks for the support! 

 

Love,

 

Elder Hawks #2

September 23, 2013

                                      Elder Hawks proselyting in the park with his companion.



                                                Elder Hawks proselyting after singing.

He is a fine missionary.
President Sitterud

September 19, 2013

Elder Forsyth, Madrid CCM,
Ok well I´m starting to get in the groove of things here at the CCM and the days seem way long but I feel like I was just writing to you guys yesterday! Even with the weeks moving by at light speed a lot has happened! First off Congrats BCF ("Best Cousin Forever" Cline Mattingly) that's freaking awesome! One of my friend's big brother is in Korea I'm not sure if he's in Seoul but his name would be Elder Killpack and he's quite the character!  I'm freaking jealous that feeling of opening my call was probably the best feeling I've ever had in the whole world so I'm freaking stoked for you man! Sorry I say freak a lot because one of my Maestros, Hermano Santana says "fetch" and "freak" all of the time and it's funny because he has quite the strong Spanish accent and he doesn't speak very much English in the first place soooo flip! :)
So this past Saturday we had the coolest opportunity especially for missionaries here! Elder Ballard was able to come and talk to all of the missionaries in the area and all of the missionaries in the CCM! Soooo that means that I was able to see Elder Dunn! I freaking love that kid and I'm sooo stoked to be in the same mission as him! And yes mom I took a picture! Technically we're not allowed to take pictures but Pres. Sitterud didn't mind too much because he already knew that Jake and I are really close friends!  I've actually taken quite a few pictures here and I want to show you guys but we can't upload or download anything so i'll send you the memory card when I fill it up with some details on each of the pictures!
This week was sad but good at the same time!  There were some Russian and French missionaries who's two weeks were up and we had to say bye to them on Tuesday! Strangely enough my room gets along better with the foreign missionaries than we do with the American missionaries.  Two of the French missionaries are serving in Lyon so if you see Sis. Lyons tell her that if Jeremy has either Elder Coppenrath or Elder Leterme that they are two of the coolest craziest kids I've ever met! And the day after they left we recieved 11 more missionaries from the Provo MTC and for the most part they're all pretty cool! For some reason I assumed that when people went on missions they grew up... but right now it looks like some of them haven't.  Haha learning to deal with people that aren't just my friends is turning out to be a little harder than I would've thought! But ya know the Lord works in many different ways and one of them is testing my patience with a lot of these other Elders!
Ok so Mama you asked about the food.  Well everybody was right there is A LOT of fish... Which you'll be surprised to hear me say. Isn't that bad! Some of the fish is freaking disgusting but they have a fried fish (not exactly sure what it is) that's probably one of my favorite things here! So every morning we have just cereal and boiled eggs, but every now and then the cooks bake some absolutely delicious creasants (not sure how to spell that... too much Espanol) and then something that's the same but with chocolate in the middle and whenever we have that you know it's going to be a good day! Then we have Comida everyday from 1 to 2.  Since it's the biggest meal of the day we usually have like soup or some sort of chicken or fish.  The soup here honestly tastes like warmed up baby food.  There have only been two good soups since I've been here.  Then for Cena we usually have about the same thing that we do for lunch just not as much! And the tortilla that Jen made has actually been served two or three times and it is freaking good! Then every night around 9ish since we eat cena so early we have a snack time which is heavenly.  Spain's junk food is pretty much chocolate donuts filled with chocolate and fantastically covered in chocolate so yes naturally I have gained around 7 pounds.  Elder Cross and I have decided that we need to start working out more than just playing an hour of futbol every day!
Oh and we recieved another compainionship in our room on wednesday! Their names are Elder Roberts and Elder Beuden! They're way cool.  Elder Roberts is quiet and is just constantly working out and then Elder Beuden is a bigger kid who played baseball in Arizona and is my go to quote guy! I'm starting to lose sleep either due to late night talking or to Elder Bennett (Elder Giddyup as I call him) trying to sneak into our beds and cuddle with us! So yes I'm slightly dilerious due to lack of sleep!
Love you all but I'm running out of time! Thanks for the support and talk to you next week!
Love,
Elder Hawks 2