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.