August 3, 2010

hey family, 
its been a good week. questions.
 
1. the weather is good here. today its kind of cold. long sleeve weather. a little cloudy. its nice right now, which means it will be hot in the summer haha.

2. the language is coming alright. i need to be more diligent in my free time and work on it more. i need to practice it more. it's really easy to speak english, especially when my companion doesn't understand very much at all.  teaching is going okay. i feel like i'm improving a little bit. i really like my district though.

3. i have run into the temple pres and his wife at the temple. just a quick hello but it was nice to see them.
  
this friday we go proselyting. definitely different than the provo mtc. we go out around the mtc and hand out book of mormons. i'm excited but also nervous.  we go proselyting again, this time at a square downtown, in two weeks.

this last week in class we had a substitute who talked about gifts of the spirit and all the cool things that happened to him on his mission because of the power we have as missionaries.

this sunday was fast sunday. we have what's called a mission conference. all the missionaries meet together and the mtc pres and his wife, pres and sister clark, speak along with some other speakers. its always good. normally we would have another one our last sunday, but august has 5 sundays. that's alright though. sis clark talked about how our attitude will determine how successful our mission and lives are. she also said that the only person we can change is ourselves. we cant change other people.

we also had testimony meeting in our branch. it was great and the spirit was strong. i have a testimony that this is the lords work and that the book of mormon is true. when i'm having a hard time i turn to the book of mormon. reading the book of mormon always brings me peace. i know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for us because he loves us. the atonement is real. d&c 121: 7-9 has become one of my favorite scriptures. trials make us stronger and we will be blessed if we endure.

i love you all so much. thank you all for the letters. keep em coming. live so that the spirit is always there to guide and direct you and i'll do the same.  
elder hawkley