Good monday morning! The sun is shining, clouds are on the horizon and rain is in the forecast. Our happy Panamanian summer is going to be ending in the next few months and we`re going to start moving into the rainy season which is great and all but I would much rather sweat under the sun then get soaking wet under a torrential rain! It`s ok though the best is that it`s just part of the experience and it`s something that you have to love and enjoy. Thank you everyone for the emails and love it was awesome to hear from Stephen about his date to prom and how "well" it ended. He`s such a stud I love that kid to death, and also congratulations on starting with your papers that`s so exciting that you`re going to get going on them and at least give yourself the opportunity to go a little bit earlier! Dad sounds like you`re on the road all the time these days but I must say I agree with you in the sense that meeting with people face to face is more effective than just phone calls and that way you can build better relationships with the people with whom you work. I still haven`t gotten an email from mom but I`m sure it will come in the next few hours but mom thanks for rushing and sending that little package down to Panama with Blanch Linton it was so fun to get something that had been put together that very week!!
This week was a lot of fun and had a lot of things happen. Yesterday alone was crazy enough to write a whole email about but I`ll give you the low down on the whole week. Elder Smith and I are working really hard at getting out of the office at 3 so that we can have as much time as possible in our area and to tell you the truth the results have been wonderful and almost therapeutic. We`ve been able to get out contact, teach and be normal missionaries which has really felt nice. We have a few good investigators that I want to tell you about...
Arturo: He`s the husband of an awesome woman in our ward. She is the primary president and these two have been married for over 5 years. He`s not a member and has gone so far as to tell his wife that he "will never be mormon". Recently he`s started to have a change of heart and all of a sudden he has a burning desire to be baptized and to ultimately get sealed in the temple with his wife. It`s been crazy to watch him turn around and from the nothing decide that the church is what he needs in his life and that it`s what their family needs for the rest of eternity. He will be getting baptized next week on the 10th so I`ll be sure to send pictures so that you can all see next week!!
Alexandra: She is the girlfriend of one of the members here in the ward and isn`t a member. She`s come to church a few times and has obviously really liked it but last week in church we went up to her and asked if she would like to meet with us. She was happy and excited and told us absolutely. On Saturday when we went to the appointment that we put with her and we talked a lot about baptism and why it`s necessary to be baptized in the true church by someone who holds the priesthood authority of God. She gave us the classic Panamanian answer that she had already been baptized once by the Catholic church but that she didn`t remember it and that she would love to baptized again as her own decision. We put a fecha with her for the 16th of March and she accepted. The only thing that could be a challenge for us is her mom. Her family is split between hardcore atheists and then hardcore Catholics, I know weird combo but we`ll see how it turns out and hopefully we can help her to get baptized.
Yesterday was wild and there`s a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words so I think I`ll just send you a few words to let you know how it was...Haha I love you all, I love the Lord, and I love my mission. It`s amazing to watch the Lord`s hand in my life as a missionary and how much he works in the lives of others to prepare them for this Gospel. I`ve come to know better and better as time moves on that this isn`t my mission it`s His. Without God none of this would be possible and thankfully it truly is his work and with his help we can become so much more that what we would be otherwise.
Andrew Russell Hawks
P.S.
We got some pictures from Andrew of an iguana. They are attached. This is how he responded when we asked him for more details. Enjoy :)
Yes I did get the picture of Stephen and then Kenzie sent me a few pictures of Kylee set apart and ready to go...That`s all so exciting!! Thank you for what you do for me mom and I`ll tell you now about the iguana.
Love, Andrew
We were at the church on Sunday and we walked outside and saw it run into the rain gutter. When we lifted the cover off of the gutter we saw that it was stuck inside so my comp was a champ and started trying to save it. As we were pulling it out the tail fell off and it climbed back into the gutter and got stuck again! We had to save it so we pulled it out again and this time we got it all the way out and my comp threw it cause it started thrashing all over the place. When it hit the ground it ran like crazy and wore itself out. While it was tired we took advantage and took a bunch of pictures of it and then we left it alone! It was crazy and I was so happy to see an Iguana for the first time:)
Love, Andrew
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