Hola Familia y Amigos
Thank you so much mom for your package and the letters from michael and stephen. It's so good to hear from my brothers I miss them a lot but am not jealous of them having to put up the Christmas lights;) Well the question I keep getting asked is how class is especially Spanish. We have two three hour class blocks a day. Yes that's a very very long time to sit in a classroom. It's funny cause in two weeks with the spirit's help I've learned more than I did in two years of high school Spanish. It's coming and I'm able to say some pretty simple sentences in Spanish and the Restoration but it's very slow and choppy.
It's been fun to hear how everyone's thanksgiving was. I was very sad and homesick on Thanksgiving because cafeteria turkey dinner cannot touch grandma Hawks' cooking for the holiday's. When i emailed you last week it was very early and the day got better. We got to hear a message from Elder Russell M. Nelson and it was powerful. He spoke a lot about how we have to be thankful for the things that we have and for our opportunity to be here. He ended the meeting by having us listen to ''alleluia'' by the men of the mormon tabernacle choir. If you can find time listen to it it is one heck of a song. Every general authority that has come to speak to us tells us how thankful they are for our service and sacrifice. It's a strengthening thing to hear.
I have joined the MTC choir and it is so much fun, if for no other reason that I get to get out of class for an hour on sunday and tuesday to practice! We sang come thou fount of every blessing my first tuesday and then sang joseph smith's first prayer this last tuesday. It's fun to get to sing these songs for apostles of God.
On preperation days we get to do our laundry write letters and go to the temple!!!!! It's nice to have a break from the grind of the class work. But, class starts again on thursday nights at 6. We have fun teachers though. Hermano Weist and Hermano Wharburton. They are both freaking hilarious and hermano weist is a little bit loco. It makes it fun and having their experience is good.
Something that I have learned is that the days here are incredibly long. But, the time all seems to blend together which makes the week feel like it goes pretty fast. It's hard work though I will not deny that and every day I'm here I gain more respect for Dad, Kylan, Jason, Jayson, and Michael for all serving missions. It is truly hard work but it's worth it and I have already felt blessed for doing it.
The Elders in my room are Elder Fahina is a Tongan brother from Mesa, Arizona and he's big, loves to eat and is hilarious. Elder Irwin is from Pleasant Grove and is very shy but he's come out of his shell with us. Elders Clarke and Paskett are both from American Fork. Elder Clarke was a student body officer at AF and is a really social kid and is our district leader. He's a good kid and keeps us in line sometimes. Elder Petersen my companion is well...smart. We literally have nothing in common. He is smart and knows his Spanish very well but sometimes it gets frustrating to have him correcting me on every single sentence that I say. But luckily I have been able to use my patience to my advantage and have been trying to learn from it.
The pictures I sent to Kenzie are of my district. The big guy is Elder Hicks, and he's my favorite in the district because he loves the gospel and is excited to be out here but he still loves to joke around and have fun. He and I do choir together because my companion doesn't want to. The others are Elder Clarke, Elder Paskett, Elder Fiaui, Elder Forrester, Elder Petersen, and Elder Fehll. They are all fun and when we're all together in the classroom we have a ton of fun. Elder Fiaui has a really neat story with his mission and he actually is 23 and was engaged but kept having dreams that he needed to come on a mission. He's a strong man and his maturity shines through among us young babies who barely graduated.
Mom it was especially good to hear from you. I miss you dearly!!! But I know this is where I'm supposed to be and that I and our family will be blessed for it. Please feel free to write me anytime because I have the most time to write letters on my P-days but on Sundays and Tuesdays I have plenty of time to write. Plus, receiving letters is like Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas mom you asked what kinds of things would be good. More P-day clothes would be good because since we planned on me only being here in the cold for 3 weeks I only have one sweatshirt. So maybe another sweatshirt would be good! None of the other Elders have anything that can play CD's but if you can find anything that plays cd's but doesn't have a radio I would love it because I miss music so much!! Motab is always good but some christmas music would be so great also. And maybe socks but I can buy any other stuff or toiletries that I need here at the bookstore so I'm ok but thank you:)
Well Spanish could be worse. My buddy Elder Pham who is speaking Vietnamese went and knocked on an investigators door and instead of asking if he could come share a message he asked the man if he could share a shower...Yikes. Haha so at least so far I haven't said anything like that yet.
Well thank you for the prayers and the love it means so much and there are times when I can literally feel prayers through comfort or calming feelings that come. Know that I'm praying for all of you and am so thankful for everyone.
Mucho Amor,
Elder Andrew Hawks
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