January 19, 2015

Hola Familia Mía!

Oh os quiero muchísimo y cada semana me hace no querer veros más y más... ;) Es que no me quiero volver...

Family! Oh my goodness this week was full of failed lessons. However we really saw how awesome this area is. There are soo many people here to help and the ward is like 75-80% behind us. Which is ten times better than before. They´re super grateful to have obedient missionaries here in whom they can trust. 

It makes me wonder what kind of missionaries all of my friends are... Hopefully just bomb missionaries. I still talk to Clayton every now and then, Mason, Trey and the SBO´s muy de vez y caundo... If I spent all of PDay on email then I´d talk to more people but... Why do that when I can go play soccer, go climb a mountain or go to a super cool city? Sometimes I´m a little selfish... :)

Oh and as you may have seen we had transfers and I stayed and the other Elder from our area came over and now he´s working with me. We´re the new Zone Leaders... :o.... I don´t know what President was thinking but it should be a hoot. He´s an awesome missionary and we are going to work sooo hard together. That´s the main reason I´m excited for this transfer. Is to have someone who knows spanish and wants to magnify his calling above all other things. He is awesome. 

Oh and last night we had a musical devotional where all of us played instruments and sang. When we practicedSaturday it sounded super good, then we performed last night.... And it didn´t sound the same at all. Actually Elder Stevenson and I sang "Oh My Father" with the guitar then we sang this one song called "In Christ Alone" super good. (the song, our singing kinda ruined it...) One of the members got a video of it and so I´ll try to steal that from her and send it home, but I don´t promise anything. 

Elder Bartholomew went to the islands this transfer and he was sooo excited. He´s going to be with one of my good mission friends and he´s going to be in good hands. Elder Bartholomew went through a change with me that wasn´t easy and he took it like a champ and is totally taking advantage of it and learning as much as possible. He´ll be a good missionary. 

I love you all and I´m super grateful for the freaking awesome family I have and that I don´t have to worry about you going inactive or anything. It´s sooo sad to see people who have left the church. They do NOT have the same amount of blessings that the saints do. Stay true folks. The church is true and God does love you. You´re never alone and Jesus knows everything you´ve been through! So don´t be pouty and keep your chin up. So with that attitude and the famous words of Andrew, "Shut up and try harder" I´ve been able to keep pushing myself. 

Loves,

Elder Hawks

Oh and I don´t know what to do for that leadership program to sign up for it. Sooo. Oh and President gave me permission to work on it. 

P.s. Can you put this email on the email list? montanabrian7@gmail.com

January 12, 2015

hola familia!

First off sorry if there are some errores in this letter the reason´s because i´m writing on a pretty ghetto computer soooo... if there are errores they are the errores of man, not of God. 

Ok so today was fun too but i´m going to talk about the past little bit and then move on. 

So newyear´s eve was a good time. We worked as usual but nobody was out in the street and we had no appointments... So we spent most of the night wandering the streets of madrid looking for somebody to contact. Then after that we had permission from president to have the other elders over and to stay up until12:05 so we could eat the twelve grapes. So the other elders came over with some apple cider and right at twelve we popped the bottle and ate the twelve grapes (spanish tradition 12 grapes for the 12 dongs of the bell). it was some good wholesome fun.

then the rest of the week normal work. however we found this awesome young peruvian couple to teach and they are literally super golden. They´re looking to improve their marrige because they have a kid and they don´t want to seperate. They want to find something or someone to help them out with all of their problems. Their names are Andrea and Israel. Super awesome, and he´s a chef... :) could it get any better?

We´ve been working really hard this past two weeks and it´s really payed off. There are soo many more people here in madrid than there were in Fuerteventura. We contacted for a solid week, filled up our agendas with numbers and now we´ve been teaching new people ever since then. i´m super grateful that elder Bartholomew is willing to work hard and to help this ward out because like i said the missionaries here before all of us weren´t the best. So we need to just keep on working as hard as possible.

last monday was really fun. We all went up to the snow on some of the mountains right next to villalba. one of the sisters here is from argentina and had never seen the snow before so we all went up and had a really good time. the snow wasn´t the greatest, it was really icy and not good to have a snow ball fight, build a snow man or sled. So we went on a hike and slid down the ice on our bellies. the sister from argentina was really timid with the ice and so we all had to be nice and wait.... haha no but she liked it so it turned out well in the end. 

my feelings... are super good. my comp and i really get along and we´re working hard which more than anything is really what´s keeping us sane. There are some pretty brutal spanish people on the streets that like yelling at us but i´m used to it and my comp doesn´t understand it so it´s pretty good. i love this district they´re all really good missionaries and they all work. oh thank goodness!

love you all and know that i´ve felt the extra prayers this week and over the course of my mission. There are times where i can really feel the support from all ya folks at home and it gives me the energy i need to keep on movin on!

love,

élder hawks

p.s. ugh i don´t want to go to uvu, i´m really determined to go to byu but, if money and stuff like that will be an issue sign me up for as many programs to save money as possible!

1.It was cold i promise i´m not that fat...

2.the district in the bus station...

January 5, 2015

Hola querida familia! 

Sorry this week is going to be super dooper short! We went to the mountains to play in the snow and we got back late... :/ So short email as a form to punish myself! I love you all and I´ll send a good long letter next week! Just know that I´m ok, alive and very happy with the new year! 

Love,

Elder Hawks

December 29, 2014

Hola familia guapa!

Well I know that I just talked to you like three days ago but here I am again! Haha you´ll never not hear from me! Well to start off it was super good to see all of your shinning faces and beautiful teeth... You think europeans would´ve figured it out! Haha but thanks for all asking me good questions, it was fun to answer them! So something funny is that most missionaries usually cry when they see their families or talk to them or whatever so some of the members asked if I cried when I saw you guys too and I told them the truth... I almost cried when I saw Lexie... :) I miss my puppy! (and all of you I guess)

Last sunday we had an awesome concert with David Archuleta... Let´s just say we´re best friends now... ;) And then on Monday the 22nd we had a missionary fireside/devotional and he came again and sang to us, President Jackson played the accordian for us and all felt the spirit of christmas! It was really good to feel that then get back to work with "recharged" spiritual batteries. 

These past few days since Chirstmas have been super good and super weird. I´ve started making ambitious goals for the year to come and the sad part is that only like half of next year I´ll be on my mission. I have to start making after mission goals. So dross. However it´s made me super grateful for goals in general and the importance of fufilling or trying to accomplish these goals. One of the hermanas said something that I really liked on Saturday. "An idea is just an idea, a goal is acting upon that idea and making it reality." Cheesy and effective! So make good goals everyone and not only make them but do them! Spiritual, physical, mental, finacial, or anything like that. Make goals, and make them ambitious. I liked Cline´s challenge for the Mattingly´s. I have a challenge that anybody who wants to come and pick me up should try to learn spanish. Refine what you´ve learned or start from zero and work your way up. It´s something that will be a blessing for all of you! ;)

Chirstmas was awesome and it was a good way to spend my last christmas in Spain. With other missionaries, members and investigators! The church is soooooo true and "doubt your doubts before you doubt your fears"

Love,

Elder Hawks

P.s. We received a pamphlet of four of our generations, so if you could send me information on the grandparents, and all of the great grands, like birth and deceased date, hobbies, and where they were born and where they passed away. Gracias! 

Also when you get the 2015 calender I would really love it! :)

Us six missionaries in Barrio 2, Valentin, in the green, and the couple we ate tomales with in the bottom left hand corner. 

December 15, 2014

Hola familia mía!

Hello everybody! Sorry if this letter´s a little skewed but I´m writing on a time frame today. So Madrid is a different animal! I absolutely love it! The ward´s an actual ward of over 100 people and the streets are lined with people to talk to! The works progressing super well here actually. A lot of our investigators are south americans just because they´re a little more open but we still try to talk to everybody. Haha good stories... My companion´s super good too. He´s from American Fork, shorter than I am, wrestled during high shcool, is kind of a farm boy, and wants to just keep improving so he´s open to anything! Super helpful because he and his last companion weren´t the most obedient sooooo time to whip him into shape. ;)

It´s cold and I don´t like and love it at times... I´m a little bipolar. Some days I want it to just be freezing and others I want to scream because it´s so cold. But really it´s not that bad. I´m praying that it will at least snow a little bit before christmas but we´ll see... 

There are a bunch of really good families in the ward and one of my MTC teachers is here and she was super happy to see me and another new elder on sunday. She´s a super nice lady and she said that she was super proud of her two little grown missionaries. So Mom that gives you permission to be a little proud of all of your RM sons... :) 

Speaking of which HAPPY ANNIVERSAY! 35 years of wedded bliss with a stud of a husband! Seriously thanks for the example and the many lessons during my childhood. 1 Corinithians 13:11 I´m very grateful for you guys and all that you´ve done and the awesome children you´ve raised! 

Ok Christmas. I´ll call anywhere between 4-5 o´clock my time so... 7-8 o´clock in the morning Utah time. I´ll just call Dad with my skype because that´s the easiest for me and for you! 

Feelings: I´m happy, I love this district and the missionaries here. They are all awesome and I´ll talk to you all in 9 days... :o

Love,

Dweebs

December 8, 2014

Bueno pues escapé del calor y ahora estoy aguantando el frío de Madrid. 

Soooo I got transfered to Madrid. Like the center of Madrid! My companion´s a new elder, he just finished being trained and he seems like a good elder and I´m excited to work with him. He´s from American Fork and went to American Fork High School, wrestled, sang and other fun stuff... Not sure I´ve only known the kid for like 5 hours... Should be exciting. 

I´m serving in Barrio 2 in Madrid. It´s weird I have the metro in my area. I´ve escaped Madrid my whole mission until now. It should be a good experience! I have noooo idea what it´s going to be like but.... I´m still district leader and the only other pair of elders in the district are the zone leaders soo this will and should be fun. Haha I´m really excited though because all of them are super cool and we´ll be able to have a good time and get down to work while we´re at it. 

I was kinda sad leaving Fuerteventura. Definitely more sad than when I left Villalba or Segovia. I was able to really build up a good relationship with the branch, our investigators and it forced my companions and I to work things out and like eachother! We went and said goodbyes to everybody on Sunday and I was able to get pictures with all of the people I really wanted. Elder McAllister will do a good job and he´s going to send me pictures of Victoria´s baptism and so it´s good to know that I was able to help the ward there. 

Not much else to say besides that I have no idea what´s going on besides that I´m good, the missionaries here are really good and that I have a good feeling about this transfer! My feelings are good, apparently we get fed here pretty well sooo I´m worried about getting fat, and I´m very grateful that I have gloves, a beenie, gloves, and a scarf! OH! Something super cool that´s going on is that DAVID ARCHULETA is going to have a concert for all of the missionaries and their investigators so that should be super awesome. I started to appreciate church music more and more over the mission. Seeing as it´s the only thing we really can or should listen to out here. 

I should be able to visit the Duffin´s now because I´m able to go to the temple and so I´m really excited for that. They went to the islands last Sunday and they missed me by hours because I flew to Gran Canaria, the main island, last night and yesterday morning I want to say. I missed them by seconds. 

SO life´s good, when I know more people, know the district better and the area I´ll give some more details. My new address is...

Calle Miami 7, 3ºC

28027

Madrid

España

I love you all and I´ll be sure to give you more details when I have them! 

Love,

Elder Hawks

P.s. When I know about my package I´ll let you know until then I have no idea. 

For Christmas I know that I´ll call either from 11 o´clock our time to 6:30. Probablly with skype cause that´s the easiest for everyone. 

Then for college. I really really really want to go to BYU and I would like it if maybe you could ask around and see if there´s any way I could get in. I heard that if I get a reference from my mission president it´s a lot easier to get in but we´ll see. If you could try that then if it doesn´t work I´ll figure out exactly what I take and do at UVU for the mean time. 

Thanks and loves! 

December 1, 2014

Hola familia,

Well I´m very grateful that you´re all doing well and that you had a good thanksgiving! Haha our Thanksgiving was... any other day and we enjoyed it for what it was worth and nothing else. Nothing too crazy or anything like that. 

This past week has been pretty good. Last Tuesday I went to Lanzarote to do intercambios with the missionaries there and I was with Elder Peterson. He´s from Sandy, played soccer for Brighton and so let´s just say that we hit it off super well. We spent probablly all of Medio Día (our two hour lunch break) talking about people we know, what they´re doing and how absolutely awesome the mission is. He´s a really good kid and will be a super gooooooood missionary. There´s a lot of potential there and I´m excited to see what he does. 

So after those two days I came back to Fuerteventura with gnarly stomach pain and crazy weather. It´s been on and off raining for the past two weeks and according to locals this only happens like every five years or less so we´re really enjoying the water. However with this weather the wind here is strong enough that it killed like two people on some of the other islands.... I don´t know how wind killed people but... it found a way. So we lost an afternoon due to the weather. We worked inside and made a bunch of calls and set up appointments for later. 

Which it was good that we stayed inside because like I said I had pretty bad stomach pains. I couldn´t sleep, eat (without making a quick trip to the bathroom), or rest without pain shooting through my stomach. So we bought some medicine and made some magic potion that a member suggested and two days later I felt better and today I´m 100%! It was actually though a really good experience for me though. Mind over body kind of thing. My stomach hurt but all the time so we dicided to keep working through the pain and it payed off. We´ve found some other potential investigators that we´re excited to work with. 

Speaking of investigators Victoria´s progressing like a champ. (I think I said that last week...) and she´s now has a baptismal date for the 17th of January. She´s excited and says that she wants us to keep coming over so that she´ll be prepared and she wants us to teach some of her friends so that they can get baptized with her too.... :o Haha she´s crazy but awesome. Her daughters are progressing as well. The fourteen year old you can tell that she knows it´s true even though she doesn´t show it too much and the eight year old is off in her own world, but when we ask her she says she wants to sooooo we´ll see. 

Other than that everything else is good. My toe doesn´t hurt anymore, it looks weird but it doesn´t hurt. Hermana Jackson told me to put hydrogene peroxide on it then a little bit of neosporin then wrap it up tight with two band aids, and I´ve been doing that and it doesn´t hurt anymore but it still looks.... bad to say the least. It´s not messing with my feelings so that´s good.

Feelings. I´m doing really well. I absolutely love the mission and the thought of transfers came up today and I was really sad just thinking about leaving the island... We have transfers next week so next monday they´ll have happened and thinking about that has gotten me stressed that I might be going. So we´ve been working as if I am and going as hard and possible so that I don´t have any regrets when I leave this area. It´s amazing how much love you develope for a place and people in just a few months. 

I love you all and just telling you that the church is still true, just because somebody says something mean or makes a mistake that doesn´t mean that the whole church is wrong. Love the gospel, love our Heavenly Father and love others!

Love,

Elder Hawks

November 24, 2014

¡Hola familia mía!

Chacho! os hecho de menos! pero no os preocupéis estoy trabajando y todavía no quiero regresar a casa

Well sorry about the super short letter last week. After a full day of soccer and traveling we had an hour to write, get showered and ready, and checked in to our hotel at the same time. So apologies but no worries I´ve got a little more time today to explain everything. :)

Zone Conference: Super good as well. Last Tuesday President Jackson and Hermana Jackson talked to us about the importance of listening, that the Lord is with us in this work (they used one of my favorite scriptures DC 84:88), and the importance of understanding and communicating the importance to our investigators of the Great Apostasy. It was really an awesome thing to help us with the goal of the area. So Pres. Teixera of the Seventy set a goal for all of Europe that by the end of 2015 the activity of the church should double..... :o Oh goodness. With that goal in mind Pres. Jackson has been whipping us into even better shape so that we can work with the ward in reactivation and in conversion. It´s one of the most ambitious goals any 70 has made for an area, and especially for Europe. In Spain we have the highest numbers of baptisms and members however we also have the highest number in inactivity. This goal has really got us kicked into hyper mode so that we can contribute to this goal. Please pray and keep supporting the missionaries so that we can reach this goal! 

Other than that it was just really good to be with other missionaries. I´m pretty good friends with all of them, (in other words I´d love to serve with any of them) They´re all super good elders and just really good. I saw Elder Dyer, Hermana Adair, Elder Peterson, Elder Bybee, Elder Mower, and Elder Anderson. Haha just a few people I knew before and it was just nice to see them again and then meet all of the other elders and Hermanas. 

Ok so with that in mind we found a bunch of new investigators this week. Two families from Uruguay, a Nigerian girl and her family and also Victoria wants us to start teaching one of her friends. :) We are so blessed. Victoria is a prime example that the Lord is preparing people. Every time we go to a lesson the member that we bring leaves super excited for her. We´re working to get her baptized before January so that she can start the new year well. She says she wants to get baptized and she wants us to keep teaching her so that she´s ready to take this step.  She was married but then she divorced and came here to get away from everything. Her, her 14 year old daughter and her 8 year old daughter would all get baptized together. We all went up to a members house, Victoria, her daughters, and us, to eat and teach the plan of salvation. Oh my goodness that was such a good lesson. The spirit was super strong. Right as we finished it started raining super hard so we had to stay up in their house for a solid 40 minutes until it stopped.

The weather has been non canarian for the past few days. We´ve had a LOT of rain and a LOT of wind. There was a tropical storm that passed through from Wednesday to Sunday and apparently there´s another one from this Wednesday to next Sunday... Good thing I bought a 2 euro umbrella! (mines in Madrid) However after this storm things will return to normal with just a little drop in the temperature. I´ll start having to wear long sleeved shirts... :( Haha my mission´s soo hard! ;)

MY FEELINGS: They´re pretty good. I have sad feet... First off I have a massive hole. Hole = wet feet. Then I discovered on Tuesday night that I have an ingrown toenail! :) That´s been fun, especially with wet feet. It´s gotten better though. The night I discovered it I called Hermana Jackson and asked her what I needed to do and I´ve followed her instructions to a T, and it has gotten better. Slowly but surely. I ate something weird at Victorias last night and this morning I spent more time than was necessary in the bathroom. Then our relationship´s pretty good. I don´t hate him and I don´t think he hates me... Ha no it´s good. He´s really obedient and I´m super grateful for that. We´ve been working more effectively together than Elder Regehr and I did so that´s been a blessing. We don´t get in fights and we both enjoy chirstmas music. Soooo things are good.

Thanks for all of the love family. I´m super grateful for all of the support and if there´s anybody I need to write specifically to cheer them up I´m happy to do it! We have plenty of experience here! 

Love,

Elder Hawks

the district in Tenerife

2. Elder McAllister and I with our Ward Mission Leader

3. Family Home Evening with one of our favorite families

August 3, 2015

Hola querida familia!

Another week under the belt! This one was one for the books! We had the baptism and we've found a whole family. Grandparents, their kids and all of their grandkids. All in all there are about 15 of them! The fault is that they are Dominicans. Which means they are a little unreliable and inconsistent! 

However I want to talk about the baptism we had first. Raimundo got baptized and so did Amable! It was super awesome and I'm very grateful to have been able to participate in the service! It was really cool because I was the first missionary Amable and Andrea met so they wanted me to baptize them. Also because I look just like Amable's brother who passed away and was always very religious. Then Raimundo was very content to just get baptized and finally receive the priesthood so that he can do what all the other boys are doing in the church. He's a good kid and he has a good spirit. It was very good to help prepare him because it was kind of like preparing me to teach these things to my kids. Very basic and always testifying of the truth. 

Considering everything we had a very good week. We met a lot of new people and we're working well together Elder Castro and I. There are something's that I'm trying to help clarify to him and just work on "living" the gospel and not just only teaching it, but it's going well and we get along. We met this guy the other night from Colombia and it turns out that he's a pretty well known Latino pop singer there in Colombia. His name's Jason and when we found out that he's famous Elder Castro talked him into to letting us take a "selfie" with him. So I'll send that as well. 

Today for pday we're going to Santiago de Compostela to play soccer and see the cathedral. I'm super excited. I'm actually on the bus right now heading over there. #iPads ️ We're going to meet up with all of the missionaries of Galicia, play soccer and go see the cathedral. However I'm still a representative of Jesus Christ so I'm going to talk about him now. 

#2 The Infinite Atonement

 The thing that I have had the most experience with on the mission has been the atone ton of our Savior. It's something that I've seen change people's lives and I've seen it change my own life as well. I've realize how weak we really are as humans and how easy it is for us to fall, over and over again. I have come to see how we can rely on this last and ultimate sacrifice. If we didn't have the atonement and the possibility of forgiveness the plan of salvation would be frustrated and we would never reach our full potential which is to become like God. Develop God like attributes and teach them to our children. 

I love the Savior and I know that this is His work! I love you all and have a good week! 

Love,

Elder Hawks

July 27, 2015

Buenos días por la mañana! 

Hey family and friends! Let's just start off saying that I'm enjoying my mission. 

So this week started off slow, then we hit rock bottom and then miracles... Haha it's been a long yet short week. I'm daily amazing by the Lord's capacity to bless, and humble so effectively in such a short time. 

So the first half of the week was slow. Nobody was talking to us on the streets and literally every person we tried talking to denied us. We've only received three numbers all week... And the Hermanas here have only received two. It's been tough. Then Thursday we went to Vigo and had a really good Zone Meeting. It was nice to just go and expect to be spiritually uplifted instead of worrying about organizing it. President came and interviewed us. He's a really qualified man. There is such a powerful spirit felt whenever he's in a meeting. He renewed my temple recommend so yes you better believe we're going as soon as I get back! That night we had probably the worst night. Then the weekend was stocked full of miracles. 

Friday nothing huge just some good solid lessons topped off with a good Family Home Evening with all of the members of the branch. Saturday we had nothing planned but we were able to meet with some investigators that had escaped. Like Vicky. The one who seemed like gold but then disappeared. We had a really powerful lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her so hopefully she starts to progress. Then also on Sunday we were able to meet a new lady and her son. Cavini and Ivan. Her kid is nuts, three years old and he has the worst mouth I've ever heard in my entire life. I don't know how or why but he knows all of the swears that I know in Spanish and he found new ways to use them that I'd never heard before. Then we met with a recent convert's family who aren't members and watched the Restoration film. That went super well. The wife during the prayer asked God to help their family be together forever and if the Mormon Church was true to let her know that. They have potential and we're really excited for them! 

#3 Revelation: The Power of the Holy Ghost 

Oh man something huge that I've realized on my mission is the importance of the Holy Ghost in missionary work and in the church as a whole. We need it in every aspect of our lives and for every major and minor decision we make in our lives. Joseph Smith said, “Salvation cannot come without revelation; it is in vain for anyone to minister without it” and “This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted--by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed”

So it is very essential to strive to always be worthy of receiving the gift and direction of the Holy Ghost. There are a few things that I've started to do to call down the powers of heaven. 1. Have righteous desires. The importance of true intent. Is it something that the Lord also desires? Is it necessary? 2. Plead to the Lord in sincere prayer. 3. Mental exertion. Focus on what you have pleaded unto the Lord and be constantly thinking about it. Which leads to step number 4. Sustained effort. Keep praying, keep fasting, keep doing everything necessary to receive this inspiration, miracle or this power that is required. 

I love the mission and I cannot thank the Lord enough for everything He has given me and my family and those around me. 

Loves from Spain,

Elder Hawks

Sent from my iPad

July 20, 2015

Ok giddy up! 

Well there goes another week with my Latino buddy, Elder Castro. He is literally the most relaxed missionary ever. So another week of getting to know each other, teaching together and working on improving together. We had a good and bad week. It started off really not well then it went to super awesome miracle and back down to not so great... Let's just say we've discovered how the Lord can always humble us a little bit more. 

So to start off we met this lady from Peru named Vicky. Golden. She was having eye problems so we gave her the eye drops I bought in the spring time and started to teach her. She loved everything, even read the chapter in the Book of Mormon we left her and everything. We met about three times one day after another. Then... We lost contact with her and she hangs up every time we try to call her. Oh well... Then thought the week the Jehova's Witness's have had a lot of meetings and I feel like every other person we contacted was a JW that wanted to Bible Bash... 3 Nephi 11:29. Then like every other old person we talked to was mad at us for telling them to have a good day...    However on Saturdaythe Hermanas had a baptism, and everything got better. Their investigator asked me to baptize her because I was the first missionary she saw and I look just like her uncle that had passed away. It was a really cool service. You could really feel the Spirit and she gave a great testimony at the end of it all, and she's also planning on serving a mission next year! Yahoo! Also other miracle was that a member of the branch came up to us telling us that she had just received permission to baptize her twelve year old son. So we're going to have a baptism in two weeks! 

We're staying excited and going to keep doing all we can to be exactly obedient and receive the promised blessings! 

#4 Charity, the pure love of Christ.

Something that's really stuck out to me is the gratitude that people express when you do some simple act of service for them. Something as small as go to their house, sing a hymn and share a scripture. It leaves a lasting impression and it then leaves them wanting to do the same. This is the church of Christ and we need to love each other for pertaining and not pertaining to it. If we really have taken upon ourselves the name of Christ are we doing everything in our power to share this love with others? Is the way we talk, work, drive and text done in the most Christ-like manner possible. People are more important that rules. I am not perfect and I'm pretty darn sure nobody else is. (No matter how many times Michael might say otherwise) visiting and taking care of the poor is a commandment that has always been in effect. 

I'm very grateful in these two years that I've been able to only think in others and not worry about myself. I know that the mission is inspired in such a way that we get lost in this selfless service and then find the Savior on the other side. I love that Man of men and I hope that everything we do can emulate His love and reflect His example.

Stay strong family. You only have to endure four more weeks without me...  I'm looking forward to start really being appreciative for the things and people I have in my life! Thanks for all your prayers! 

-Elder Hawks

July 13, 2015

Oh man! 

That makes me super happy that you were able to go to Pres. Jackson's homecoming. As you saw they are just super awesome people. Haha and yeah I recognized like all of the ex missionaries in there. I'm really old... 

The area, the companion and the investigators are all going pretty well. My new companion Elder Castro is from Colombia and has lived in Alicante (Souther Spain) for the past 15 years. So he's basically Spanish, but not really. He's a good missionary and I can feel that he's supposed to be here with me right now. He's helping me with his Spanish and I'm helping him with other things...  

Our investigators are doing alright but they could be doing a lot better. There is a lot of work up here in A Coruña but the thing is that the members are all just kind of doing their own thing and don't participate in very much missionary work. However we are working on that and we are slowly gaining the trust of them. The thing is that they just never let us come over to visit them and get to know them. So like I said, little by little. We have a great investigator named Babi (Bobby). SHE's an older Cuban lady and the mother of some awesome members here. She has trouble reading so the ward mission leader helped us get a large Book of Mormon for her to read and she's sooo excited to get started reading. We tried fixing a baptismal date with her for August 1st but... She didn't accept it. She doesn't feel ready and so we're going to talk to her about gaining her own testimony, and then answering her questions. Babi's really good and has a lot of potential. Then there's Antonio. He's a middle aged single Spanish man. He's a really good cook actually and he loves eveything about the church. However he doesn't feel ready to make the commitment to get baptized quite yet. This Sundaythough we had a class on Sacrifice and Josema (our ward mission leader) was really clear about what it means to be a true christian and sacrifice what we have, or like or something small of little importance to God. To be able to come closer unto Him and His son and be purified and perfected by the Attonement. So this week we're going to take advantage of this because both of them are really close to being ready to get baptized. So we're going to talk about sacrifice and see what they're willing to sacrifice to come unto Christ and really pick up his cross and follow him. 

Which leads onto lesson number 5.

#5 The importance of diligence.

Ok diligence. It is very important. A sustained effort in those things that are more important in life.we have received the commandment to pray always and never cease. In my case to preach the gospel where ever we may be. Always be looking for someone else to teach. By doing so we receive blessings and we are able to see miracles. We apply faith when we are diligent. Faith that what we are doing is worth the effort. It's worth taking time from our favorite things to be able to do things that like I said have a little more importance. 

I really like what in says in Preach My Gospel about this.  "A diligent missionary works effectively and efficiently. Diligence in missionary work is an expression of your love for the Lord and His work. When you are diligent, you find joy and satisfaction in your work." It's very true. I've seen this over the course of my mission and like it says there, you are expressing your love to the Lord the more and the harder you work to be diligent. I'm very grateful for the desire I've had on my mission to be diligent. There have been few moments where I haven't wanted to work. Obviously there have been a few but I've been blessed with good companions and a very awesome family to keep me motivated. "I didn't come here to lay up. Just go for it." 

This Church is the only true and living church on the earth today. The Book of Mormon is true and the secret to staying active is being DILIGENT in reading and praying about the truthfulness thereof. 

Thanks for all of the love!

Love,

Elder Hawks

  

June 29, 2015

Hola family, 

Well this week has been a good one. We were able to reach our goal of member with lessons and that was a huge faith builder just to be able to see that we are able to reach it! We did exchanges with the missionaries in Lugo and I went there to be with a missionary from Manchester England so we just talked about "football" the whole time and how they could help the area. He's a fresh missionary named Elder Kirby and super awesome. I almost talked him into to coming to study at Utah and then playing soccer with me for UVU. That was Wednesday to Thursday and as you all hopefully know last Thursday was a holiday that I like to call "Half Christmas" so we celebrated it by singing Christmas songs and by doing a special half Christmas family home evening for the branch. It was so fun.  not just because we planned it or because there were lights and stuff but because people came and participated. 

I was a little worried about the worthiness of my companion but after talking it out things were figured out and we were able to improve the companionship. If you're going to fast for me just fast that I can finish off the mission strong and that we are able to see some miracles here. I'm having a lot of fun and we're doing work it's just been a while since we've seen real success here. Sooooo just keep me motivated!

Ok number 7 

#7 FAITH, trusting in the Lord, yourself and then others.

So one of the huge things that I've learned while on the mission is the principle of faith. Faith is power. I have seen people that straight up say no to the job they've had for over a decade due to their faith in the sabbath day and their trust in the Lord and I've also seen mainly people who shake and lose the faith because they have to work Sundays and they can't go to church. We are who we want to be. 

So we need to have faith in the Lord that he knows what he is doing. Then we need to have faith in ourselves that we are living in accordance with how the Lord would want us to be living. Doing all of the little and big things that he's expecting us to do. Go to church, read the scriptures, pray, go to the temple, and be joyful about it. It is the first principle in the gospel of Jesus Christ because we need to have the feeling that we need to do these things or that we want to do these things and come closer into the Lord. We choose to believe. 

I know that the Savior and Redeemer of the world lives and that he guides his church. We need to trust in him and in ourselves that we are doing what he has told us to do and trust in others and how he has inspired them to help and bless us. It's by taking that step in the dark so that we can see the light. Be bold and trust in the Lord he has trusted us to be his representatives here in the earth. He trust's us immensely. We need to not be scared to open our mouths and say what needs to be said and to act and live our lives in a way that he will be pleased. Think about the way you are living your life and make the changes that need to made. 

I love you all and am very grateful for you examples and for what you've done to help me out here. 

Love,

Elder Hawks

P.s. Mom if you stay updated on Hermana Jackson's Instagram and Facebook she's going to announce when their homecoming is.
 

P.p.s. This is what Pres. Jackson said to me in his last letter. "I am going to miss reading your weekly letters and scriptures at the end. Thank you for your terrific service, example and obedience. I felt I could always count on you to do your best. God bless you going forward. We are friends forever in this work!" 

Sent from my iPad

June 22, 2015

Oh man, this week was a week.

A lot of things learned this week. I don't know what's going on here but we need a miracle. Elder Tree and I have been failed really hard this last week. There's something missing and we need to figure it out and get on it as quickly as possible. One of the things may be patience. I've learned a lot of patience especially for my companion and for those whom we are serving. 

On Tuesday I went to a city right up the coast from us called El Ferrol and I was there with Elder Harrop. He's about 6'6" blonde from Utah and in really good shape. He's finishing up his mission in a few weeks and it was good to work with him because we'd always kinda been friends but we really struck up a good friendship together. He's going to UVU too and he's going to be doing that LEAD program, so I'll be seeing a lot of him after the mission. 

After that like I said a long week. I'm really concerned for my companion but hopefully things will go well. We need to find the Spirit and really strive to have it be our constant companion and we'll be ok. 

Ok number 8 

#8 Responsibility and it's role in progression. 

As the title says one of the biggest lessons I've learned has been responsibility. Reporting to someone every week about how the work's going in your area is something that helps you develop responsibility and accountability. Which work hand in hand. As ordained servants of the Lord we are obligated and under covenant to do certain things in certain ways. Heck being members we are also under these same covenants. So what needs to be done is what the Lord expects from us and what he tells us to do. 

Alma 42:30-31 

"30 O my son, I desire that ye should deny the justice of God no more. Do not endeavor to excuse yourself in the least point because of your sins, by denying the justice of God; but do you let the justice of God, and his mercy, and his long-suffering have full sway in your heart; and let it bring you down to the dust in humility.

31 And now, O my son, ye are called of God to preach the word unto this people. And now, my son, go thy way, declare the word with truth and soberness, that thou mayest bring souls unto repentance, that the great plan of mercy may have claim upon them. And may God grant unto you even according to my words. Amen."

Boom that scripture along with Jacob 1:19 and Alma 4:19 have been a spiritual slap to the face to get me going and to realize that the way I was living my life before the mission and a little bit on the mission wasn't what was needed to be done. We are sons and daughters of the living God. We are capable of great things and we have a divine potential. Do not live short of that potential. By being responsible and working towards a goal we progress and become more like our Savior. I know this is true. 

Sorry for the little venting session right there but it's just something that like Elder Holland said, I'm just not partial about this. This is life and death. 

Thank you so much for all of the support. It's been well used. The letters I've received this week have inspired me to be a better missionary and to finish off strong. It's crazy how fast time goes by but nothing we can do except make the best of our time. 

Love,

Elder Hawks

P.s. Happy Father's Day Dad! A whole month to you doesn't sound like enough of a payment to return all that you've done for us. Oh and speaking of which thanks for the extra $. 

Sent from my iPad

June 15, 2015

Buenos días por la mañana! 

 

Well the iPads are cool I guess. I'm writing this letter from the church on my iPad... This is weird. 

So on the last pday I went down to Madrid to go to the meeting at presidents house and it was such a powerful meeting. We mainly just talked about the Book of Mormon, Preach My Gospel and e personal testimony we should all have of those two tools that we have. They really emphasized that the iPads are only another tool in our hands. The Jacksons gave their going away testimonies and said their final goodbyes to everybody. Like I said. It was powerful. 

So that Tuesday night the other Zone Leader and I we got our iPads and then we started planning the training we were going to give and it was sooo much nicer. Then we caught a "train hotel" back up to Santiago de Compostela. It was a train that had beds like a hotel room and we left at ten o'clock and got there at seven in the morning. Super cool. Oh by the way I had all twenty iPads for our zone in my suitcase so I was a little nervous to say the least. However everything turned out well and as I said here I am writing you on the iPad so all is well. 

Ok lesson number nine.

PATIENCE. THINGS HAPPEN WHEN THE LORD WANTS THEM TO HAPPEN. 

Something that I've luckily learned on my mission and especially here in the north is that things only happen when the Lord wants them to happen. So there's no point in getting frustrated or angry when it doesn't happen immediately. For example. Here in A Coruña the work is slow. However this is a very very large city that has a lot of people and immigrants. So there should be a lot more missionary work going on. There are good members, little towns full of younger families, everything you need to have a least a god strong ward here. However due to the actions of other missionaries and the bad attitude of a lot of people both on the side of the missionaries and that of the members. The work is at a stand still. We need a push and it needs to happen now. Or as I think that it needs to happen now. However the Lord knows what he's doing. I've only been here for a few weeks working my tail off when he's been preparing this area for a good long time. So what needs to be done now is not screaming repentance from the rooftops to the members and the people on the street, but they need love, patience and a good example of selfless diligent work. 

I love the Lord and I'm grateful that I'm more patient now than I was before. I understand that things happen when he wants so if we seek his will. To understand it and follow it then we will be blessed with the knowledge and information needed. We need to especially be patient with other people. We are all imperfect. As Elder Holland said, "God only has imperfect beings to work with. That must terribly frustrating for him but he deals with it." 

I love you all and I'm very excited to enjoy this precious time I have here on the mission. It' s too short and I'm grateful for all of the love I've received from you guys. 

Love,

Elder Hawks

June 1, 2015

Ok well here we go!

So I got to A Coruña late on monday night. Galicia is really well
known for being really rainy and cold. Even during the summer. So I
got off the train in a super green place, really foggy, and went
looking for my companion. It will be one of those moments I´ll never
forget. It was like a Harry Potter movie! Then I saw my cute
companion, Elder Tree, a skinny blonde boy with classes waiting for
me. I gave him a hug then we took my stuff and started heading up to
our piso. On our way out we met up with the hermanas that are in our
area. Hermana Judd who´s from Pepperwood, the wanderwood ward, and
Hermana Braun from California. They´re both super awesome hermanas and
I knew them before I got up here. However the most important is my
companion! :) Elder Tree is from California, however he spent the past
few years in Montana right before the mission. He´s the third out of
seven and he is VERY shy. Like he didn´t have a phone before the
mission... :o... So once I got here and I heard that I told him that I
don´t want to touch the phone and I want him to use it at all times.
President told me that he was a very shy person and that I would need
to be very patient and help him branch out a little more.

It would go a lot smoother if the area wasn´t a mess either. I don´t
know what the missionaries were doing here before but the area is an
absolute mess. The members don´t know us, and the branch president
doesn´t like the missionaries, like at all. :( So time to get things
going! I was sent here for a reason and I feel like that reason is to
kick up the excitement level of this branch and get the work at least
going. We´ve spent the last week out in the street trying to talk to
people and nothing... Things are improving. We´ve gotten to meet a few
members and we´re working on getting to know everybody. It didn´t help
that this week we went to Santiago de Compostela for church because we
had a District Conference for all of Galicia and none of our
investigators could come and half of the branch didn´t come either...
However from who I´ve met so far, and the investigators I´ve seen so
far, there´s work.  There´s a lot to do and I´m excited cause it will
keep me busy until the end.

Oh speaking of that I am in the most beatiful area I´ve been in all of
Spain. A Coruña is absolutely awesome. We went and visited a really
famous light house that they have here today and it was really cool...
:) I took some really good pictures and I¨ll be sure to send them all
to you!

I had the interview for the LEAD program. I feel like it turned out
well but I´m not quite sure. I didn´t say anything about knowing all
of those people because if they take me I want to get in because they
like me for who I am, instead of talking my self up through others.
However I feel like it went really well. So we´ll see.

My feelings. Weird. People keep telling me how little time I have left
and I really don´t like it, but at the same time I don´t feel like I´m
going home soon. We´re still working really hard and we´re still
giving it all we can. So just got to keep going until the end! I´ve
really learned to love my companion this week and I´m going to learn
this lesson in more detail over the course of this transfer. he´s a
sweet guy and he´s out here for the right reasons. All will be well.

I loves you all and be on the look out for my next letter because for
my last 10 weeks in my email I´m going to start writing the top 10
things I´ve learned over the course of the mission. Thanks for the
support!

Love,
Elder Hawks

P.s. Happy Birthday Jen and Mom! You two are freaking awesome and I
hope that the days are full of lots of smoochies, presents and hugs
from the little ones!

P.s.s. I bought a suit because my other one is done... It´s ripped,
has holes, and just.... done I tried saving it but.