Family and Friends,
Mom first of all it´s obvious that you made dad work way too hard on Saturday the poor guy looks demolished!! Thanks for the update on the house and all the changes that are coming. For mother´s day we´re probably going to call on the sunday of in the afternoon. Hermana Noris offered us her computer and is excited about having us over, I´m not completely clear on what time it´s going to be at but as you know I´ll call you a few days in advance to let you know all the specifics. It will be fun to get to talk to you all and find out more about all the changes that are going on in the Hawks home. Dad it sounds like your change in work will be refreshing and should help you generate some new energy to keep moving forward!
Speaking of change our zone is in need of a little bit of it. In 6 of the 8 companionships we have missionaries that have been here since before Christmas and for some reason or another their desires to work has gone down the drain. We finished April with only 3 baptisms in the whole zone and not going to lie it´s been a HUGE disappointment. I feel like as the Zone Leader I´m responsible but something that I´m learning is that all we can do as leaders is teach correct principles, give the example and then they have to fulfill their parts and assignments. We´re going to have our meeting with all the other Zone leaders in the mission on Wednesday and we should be able to get some new ideas on how to help our zone lift up and have a great month in May.
Things for us are turning around and looking up. Our area is pretty big and a challenge we have is covering the whole area and visiting our investigators consistently which means that they can´t progress the way that they need to. We have the blessing though of having a lot of returned missionaries and future missionaries in our ward so what we´re going to do is work with them and try to do divisions three times a week and work with for of us in the area so that we´re 4 instead of just 2 and that way we can double our efforts and see twice as many people in our area. Also we´ve started english classes and noches de grupo in the ward to get them animated and to generate some references as well. It´s fun to be winding down the mission but frustrating because I feel like I´m finally getting a hold on how to work, teach, and do this thing and my times ticking away. I know that all I can do is make these last 6 months the most effective and successful months of my mission.
Our ward is amazing and is helping us out a lot right now. I´ve found that the people here want to work the key is just simply asking for their help. A lot of times we put excuses for them and just assume that they won´t be able to leave and do visits with us when in reality if we just ask they´re more than happy to and actually waiting for us to ask for their help. Yesterday we did divisions with 2 of the returned missionaries in our ward and it went really well we were able to contact a few references, visit our investigators and then invite more people to be baptized and church. When the members of the church leave the compromise instead of us it´s a lot more powerful and the investigators feel more committed to actually follow through with them.
Things here are going really well and I´m being blessed by the Lord I can see it every single day. I love being here and love having the chance to be a part of this grand work that God is doing and couldn´t feel more privelaged than to be here in Panama. There´s nowhere I´d rather be!! I love all of you and am looking forward to getting to skype with you on Mother´s day. After that phone call the next time I talk to everyone will be when I get home how crazy is that?! Have a great week and Courtney I´ll be sure to pray for you these next few weeeks as you get ready to bring little Ruby in to the world!
Mucho Amor,
Elder Andrew Hawks
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