June 18, 2012

Dear Family,

Ok well I´m writing a little bit later today because our pday went longer than we planned!  Ok so to answer the questions I´m living with Elder Martinez, Ortiz and my companion is named Elder Samayoa.  In order they are from El Salvador, Nicarauga, and Guatemala.  It´s honestly pretty fun living in the house with the four and I´m being forced to learn a whole lot of Spanish!  Haha but it´s sweet and luckily we all get a long.  It sounds like the family is doing really well and staying busy and putting my room to good use for the little girls;)  I sent Stephen a letter this week and hope he gets it.  Have him let me know when or if it comes! 

Ok so as for me here in the land of Panamá...This week was interesting because from tuesday to thursday we were at about 4 lessons and everything was just moving so slow.  Something that I´m learning is that we all have our agency and as hard as we try and push we can´t make people do things that they don´t want to do.  It´s been tough and I´m learning to be more and more patient and loving every day.  This is gonna be good for me when I´m married with a family right?:)  The honest truth is that as slow as the work is and the low number of lessons I´m still keeping a positive and looking for the positives in everything that we do and trying to learn whatever lesson the Lord has for me here with this companion at this time. 

Ok so on Friday I had my best day of the whole change!  I have been talking to my Zone Leaders a little bit about my situation and they were so awesome and came to do divisions with me this day.  I got to go with an Elder Beisenger from Riverton Utah who has about 20 months in the mission.  He taught so well and in one day I learned so much.  In that one day we pumped out 5 lessons and talked to everyone about baptism.  It was amazing to see the difference between a missionary who really is focused and who really wants to do the work as compared to someone who doesn´t.  It was a good lesson to learn and will be something that will help me down the road. 

As a companionship right now are working on marrying a few couples so that we can have them baptized.  I pray that we will be able to do it so that they can be baptized.  One of the couples consists of a 17 year old son of one of the members in the ward who got his girlfriend, of 19, pregnant.  He is honestly doing so well though and it´s been cool to see how he has matured and really stepped up to the plate to take responsibility for the action that he made.  He´s looking for work to provide for the family and they have been coming to church every single week because he always tells me he needs to get closer to God.  His name is Johnny so make sure to put him in your prayers that he will be able to continue with his desires to know the church and to eventually make the decision to get married so that he and his girlfriend can get married and she can be baptized (he was baptized when he was 8). 

To be honest I´m doing well and am healthy and smiling.  It´s good to be here in the mission and there are an infinite number of lessons for all of us to learn.  I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers and support.  Have a wonderful week and we´ll talk to you next monday:)

Elder Hawks

Jun 11, 2012

Hello to everyone in the land of Utah!!

Mom thanks for sending me the pictures of the wedding! It´s so fun to hear about all of that and I´m so happy for Macy!! I still honestly can´t believe that she is married! Haha so funny story on Friday night our ZL´s came over and dropped a bunch of stuff off at our house and included was the invitation to the wedding. I don´t think it´s any coincidence it came the day of the wedding! Crazy huh??

 Ok so thank you for the pictures I´m going to take them and print them off so that I have them for myself. 

I would like to make a quick request. Anytime that packages are sent could you send me pictures I love them so much!!! 

Ok so for the week here in Cabuya. Everything is going well and to be honest I´m already pretty comfortable here. My comp is from Guatemala and has 16 months in the mission. He is interesting and actually doesnt like to teach or contact or anything like that because it´s boring according to him. Needless to say in the past two weeks I have learned how to teach more effectively because I have to do everything myself!:) It´s ok though just weird to be honest and I literally ask him every single day what he´s doing here. haha it´s ok though don´t worry I love the kid and am trying to do anything that I can to help him out. Everyone tells me that he used to be a great missionary and that at some point he just lost the love for the work. I´m trying to be open and to be more creative in the way that we work so that we don´t fall into a "routine" of doing the same thing every day. Hopefully this will help him to get excited about it. The biggest trial is going to be just this because he wont be able to take away the excitement that I have for the work. 

I´m working with my Zone leaders who have been awesome and told me if I need anything to call them at any time. They are both two Gringos from Utah and are cool guys. It´s fun here and the members are really awesome. It´s been a change moving into the house where we are because I live with three other Latinos. The house is so dirty mom. ¨You would be sickened! Haha but it´s ok I´m doing some cleaning every day:) 

The work is chugging a long just a tich but unfortuantely I´m not able to report about many investigators. We have a few recent converts that we´re working with and it´s cool to see how their love for the gospel is so fresh and new and their desires to learn are endless. It always makes me think because at times I think I know a lot but really I´m the same as them and have some much to learn in the Gospel. 

Hmm it´s tough to know what more to tell you because the week was slow with my comp being "sick". I´m working though and happy and excited to be here in Tocumen! Ok so on Friday with the ZL´s felt like Christmas because I had like 8 letters and a package! Yeah I was pretty stoked about that! Sounds like everything is going well for all of you there in Utah. Know that I love you all so much and am always praying for you!


Have a great week!

Elder Andrew Hawks

June 3, 2012

Hello Mom and happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much for all writing me before monday this week it is making my computer time a little bit less stressfull! haha Sounds like everyone is doing really well and what the heck Spencer is famous and winning all kinds of stuff! that´s super cool! I´m glad to hear that the family is doing well and the Macy is getting ready to go into the temple. The temple is such a blessing that we have and every single day here makes me more excited to come home and to enjoy the blessing of having temples in every direction and so close! Be sure to always take advantage of that blessing!

Ok well changes came and I am now in a new area with a new companion. I´m in the city of Tocumen in the area of Cubuya. My companion is Elder Samoyoa and the only thing anyone has told me is that I need to help the kid find some enthusiasm in the missionary work. It´s been tough so far not going to lie because he doesn´t like to do the missionary things anymore. He has about 16 months in the mission and doesn´t even talk about the church when he contacts. He really likes to just chat with the people and spend a lot of time in members houses. I´m not complaining here just telling the truth haha the first day he actually didn´t get out of bed until about 11:30 and has been feeling "sick" the whole time. But it´s ok we´re going to work and we´re going to help this ward. The ward is new and yesterday we had 62 members in the sacrament meeting. Everyone was excited about this number as well but I wasn´t. I know that the ward can have a ton more and my goal is to get us up to about 80.

The area is a "trunky" area because we live literally right next to the airport and all day every day planes are flying out of Panamá headed to who knows where. I always tell myself that all of them are going to Colombia so I´m not too worried about it. So far I really do like the area and am enjoying getting to know the members and work with them. However I also am excited about finding new people to start to teach and to be honest I have a really good feeling about contacting this change. I´m overall really excited and pray that I will be able to bless the people here in any way that I can!

Sorry there really isn´t a ton more to tell you because we have only visited 1 investigator and I don´t remember his name but in the next week I will be sure to send you more of a detailed email with more about how i´m doing and how the people are progressing. I know that my patience and longsuffering are going to be tested in the next 5 weeks but what would the mission be if we never had trials and never had to learn to grow and be leaders. I love it here already and seriously have the strongest desires to just help every single person that I see. I guess I´m turning into a missionary finally haha.

I love you all so much and will be excited to tell you about the fun adventures that I will have in the next little while! Until next week:)

Elder Hawks

May 28, 2012

 one of the worst meals so far in the mission...the dark meat is chicken liver yum.

 best meal of the mission in hard rock cafe

Paintball was tight

 

Hello dead family,

 

Ok so I just barely got your email and am in a rush to respond to all of your questions...

 

1. Dri lux are the best garments because you´re going to sweat no matter what you use but the dri lux absorb a lot which helps to sustain your clothes in good shape other wise you´re going to be walking around after two weeks with yellow pits in your shirts. Mesh are nice every once in a while because they are more breathable but to be honest I prefer the dri lux because they are more comfortable. More than anything is to go through the temple early and figure out what you like the best and she´s lucky cause she´s in summer there right now and can test them out.

 

2. Backpacks are interesting and to be honest I ended up buying a normal black jansport and love it but if you want something different there are tons of options in the hiking stores. Also they are not as strict as we thought with backpacks and so as long as you´re not rocking something too bright that the people would want to steal you´re ok. Also when she gets here she´s going to buy a genuine panamá shoulder bag that just swings over one shoulder and then from there it comes down to preference once again.  

3. I´m not sure I have never been in a zone with sister missionaries but I would imagine that Callie Clark would know. What I have seen is that they wear sandal type shoes and sometimes without socks. But once again I´m not 100 percent sure sorry....

4. The ipod with the little speakers is something i wish I would have brought for music. It´s not allowed in the MTC but once you´re here in the field it´s recommended. It would have been awesome because you don´t have to carry around big speakers or cd´s with your music.

 

Ok I hope that helped a little bit and any other questions that they have I would be happy to let them know to the best of my ability! Hey please make sure to give Korban a huge hug for me and to let him know how much I love him. He´s such an example to me for being courageous enough to follow the spirit and to make the decision that he did. I know that he is an excellent missionary and that when he has the chance to leave again that he will be able to continue to serve the Lord in such an amazing way. The Atonement is real and I have been a first hand witness of that in my own life and also in the lives of others. I will be sure to be praying for him extra hard in the next few weeks and mom I want you to be sure to go and give him a big hug.

 

Ah I´m sorry I don´t have a ton of time to write I didn´t get your email until the end of my time on the computer I´m so thankful for all of you and what the mission has brought into my life. I hope that you all are well and will be able to always follow the spirit and make him a part of your lives. I love you all and will be excited to talk to you next week and let you know about the changes!

 

Elder Andrew Hawks

Love you all have a wonderful week!  

May 21, 2012

Ok well today is monday and technically it´s not my pday but nonetheless I´m here doing the weekly emailing. The reason that we don´t have pday today is because we planned a big nice fun pday and next week we´re going paintballing in the jungles of panama. I know super cool. And don´t worry we have permission from the president:)

Wow thank you everyone for your emails. Michael it´s good to finally hear from you and best of luck to you with your tryouts that would be such a cool thing if you were able to make it. Don´t you worry I have been blessed to have two obedient companions and to be honest it´s super easy to see the difference in the happiness, success, and lifestyle of these missionaries. 

Well sounds like everyone is holding down the fort at home and everyone is doing well...that´s what I like to hear:)  Tell all the pepole in the ward hello for me! I would love to hear from anyone who has the desire to write me!

Ok so for me and the life of a missionary...This week was literally insane. We didn´t have our best week number wise because we spent a lot of time practicing for a noche de talentos that we helped out with for one of the wards in our zone. Our feature number was a white/latino/samoan version of the Haka and then a cute little rendition of a music video by Shakira called the Waka Waka. (look it up on youtube and it will give you a quick idea of how foolish we looked in our shirts and ties doing this) haha. The point of the activity was to show the investigators/members that we´re more than lifeless gospel robots and that we also like to have fun. It was soooooo dang fun and super funny all the people absolutely loved it! I´ll send some pictures with the email today. 

Our investigators have fallen off of the face of the earth. One is working with a member in the ward and was so busy the whole week that we were unable to visit him at all and our other positive has been staying in the hospital all week with his dad. The boy who has been staying in the hospital, has a dad who is dying of prostate cancer and it has been so hard on him. It´s amazing, however, to see the faith that he demonstrates every time that he talks to us. Whenever we ask how his dad is he tells us "honestly really bad, but I know that he´s in the hands of God and now we´re just asking for a miracle. But I know that if he dies it´s what God wants and I´m willing to accept the will of God if that´s what it comes down to." It´s made me think a lot about how I would react if my dad or anyone else that I loved was in the same position. Would I be able to submit to the will of God and let them go or would I fight it the whole way. Something that has been impressed on my mind in the past few weeks is that we must be willing to search out what our Heavenly Father wants of us and then have the faith to act on that impression. A lot of times we ask, and ask,and ask for him to change things for us when maybe we need to ask what we´re supposed to be learning from the experiences that we are having. 

Another investigator named Katrina is doing well and almost progressing but has hit a road block. She has a friend who is a member of the church who lives in a city away from our zone and she said that this family always tells her kind of crazy things. Moral of the story is always be careful when you´re talking to people who are not of our faith to only speak "doctrine". A lot of times people use their own opinion and interpretation of the scriptures as "doctrine". It´s kind of funny and kind of bad and I´m sure that my brothers who have served missions know that at times in sacrament meeting we sit with our investigators praying that the speakers won´t preach too much false doctrine and confuse the people we´re teaching haha. But it´s always so awesome how strong the spirit is in the sacrament meeting and how even though the people leave confused in their heads they leave feeling something different in their hearts. 

Ah wow this week was too fast and it´s nuts to think that the next wednesday (the 30th) are changes already. After 3 changes here in my initial area that means more than likely I´ll be leaving. It´s been neat and tough at the same time to look back at all the people I´ve met and taught and really come to love so much. It´s almost like I´m leaving my house again (except this time Ï don´t have to leave my girlfriend of 2 years). I´ve honestly learned so much from the people here and have grown so much as a person. The thing most important that I´ve learned is that the gospel is for every type of person. Fat, skinny, tall, short, smart, not so smart, homeless, rich, black, white, brown etc. It doesn´t matter where you come from or who you are the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses the lives of EVERY single person. I love it and am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the service of the Lord. I pray for all of you every single night and love you so much!! Have a great week ya hasta la proxima lunes!!

Elder Hawks

 Valle Anton

 The Zone

Elder Moreno and I at the noche de talentos

May 14, 2012

Hello Everyone!
 
I just had a smile on my face all day after SKYPING with Andrew yesterday.  Technology is amazing as we had Andrew in Panama, Jennifer in California, Julianne in Idaho and the rest of the family in Utah all talking to one another at the same time!!
 
Andrew looked fantastic and seemed really happy.  He and his companion were at the Iglasias Family's home to make their Mother's Day calls.  It was so fun to see his companion and this cute family who are so good to the missionaries in their area.  Andrew eats at their home several times a week!  He told us lots of fun stories and he bore his testimony to us in Spanish.  It was very long and it sounded great!  He is happy, healthy and very grateful for the love and support of all of you!
 
His advice to those who are thinking about serving a mission or preparing to leave:  Read the Book of Mormon, fulfill your Priesthood callings and choose your friends wisely!  
 
Thanks for your positive impact in his life.
 
Love,
 
Carolyn

Family,

 

Well let me tell you how wonderful it was to have the chance to SKPE with all of you!  It was so much fun to see all of you and hear your voices after 6 months.  Thank you so much for all of your support and love it means so much to me.  Well now that you all know everything about Panama it´s hard to think of what to tell you. 

 

The answer is that yes the rain let up and so we were able to leave and get back to our house safely.  I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to talk to you all and it was perfect I didn´t get truncky, or homesick one bit which is also a blessing.  A fun story that happened last night is that when we were leaving the house the grandma who lives with the family iglesias is like 99 years old, no joke, and a lot of times the things that she says don't make a ton of sense.  When we were telling her goodbye last night she told us that there were the two of us and that also there was an angel that was guarding us.  It was interesting because she said it and just had the biggest smile on her face.  I loved it and it made me feel so good to know that I´m being watched out for.

 

I know that you are all being blessed and the sacrifices that all of you make to pay for me to be here and be away from you is worth it.   I know that the mission is such a wonderful way that we can serve the Lord.  People say two years at the age of 19 is a "tithing to the lord" when we can pay him back for all of the blessings he gives us.  That´s not true because in the two years that are dedicated in his service, the blessings that we personally receive are endless.  I love to be out here and even when it´s hot, i´m sweaty and tired I still find myself smiling and thankful to be able to work for the Lord.  The best boss in the whole world!  Thank you everyone for all you do for me.  I´m so blessed by all of you at home and love you all so much!

 

Elder Hawks

           

May 7, 2012

Hello family,

Well I never thought that I would ever say this to you but as I sit at
the computer this afternoon I am shivering and soaking wet. Today for
our pday we did the most awesome thing in the whole world. We went to
a place called valle antton, it´s super cool because it is in the
interior with all kinds of sweet stuff and long story short we had to
climb down a mountain in an aguacerro.

Well I´m glad to hear from you all this week and it´s always nice to
hear that everything is going well, people are happy, healthy, and
blessed. Kade is off to the South in Alabama. Kenzie´s dad served in
the Alabama mission a few years back and I´m sure would be excited to
talk to him if he would like. 

Ok so this week with the work was about the same as usual but we were
able to have 10 lessons with members which is always a HUGE bonus for
us here. Also we are planning a huge activity and so me, being so
smart, decided to go into the relief society and elders quroum and
talk to all of them about it. We as missionaries are going to pass
around a paper so that the members can sign up to have us over so that
we can teach them a quick spiritual message and then help them know
how to invite their friends to the activity. They were all really
excited and so on Sunday when we talk I can explain a little more
about that and how the whole things going to work.

Hermano Martinez is an absolute stud and was confirmed yesterday and
ordained to the aaronic priesthood. I´m so dang proud of him and all
of the great choices he has made in these past few months to make this
decision. It makes me so happy to see the joy the gospel of Jesus
Christ brings into the lives of the people that we teach. I know that
as a missionary I have the privelage to bless their lives a lot but
sometimes I don´t think they understand the blessing that they are all
to me. I have learned soooooo much from the people here already it is
crazy but also exciting to know that there is still so much to learn
and so much room to grow everyday.

I´m really excited to talk to all of you and due to the fact that I
get to on Sunday I´ll leave this one a little bit short to build up
the suspense;) Love you all and hope that you have a great week!
 
Love,
 
Elder Hawks