July 27, 2010

Hello family, 
how's it going? its been a good week. i'll start with the questions.

1. things with the companion have been good this last week. we've been laughing a lot and getting along. he doesnt know the language very well and needs some work in the gospel. that's alright though, we've been working on the gospel during companion study. sometimes it doesn't seem like he's interested, but even that has improved this last week. i have learned a lot of patience and am working on loving him and everyone. he is from washington. not sure what else to say haha.

2. i did get the pizza party. your the BEST! thank you. last week another elder (elder paskett) in our branch got a pizza party and i got a piece of his pizza. i was going to suggest it to you, but you were one step ahead of the game haha.

3. teaching is going alright. we are now doing everything in portuguese, or at least trying haha. my companion doesn't talk much because of the lack of language. i just feel so helpless and unsuccessful during and after sometimes haha. i talked to one of my teachers and he basically said to trust in the lord and i agree. my hope is that if i do my best, stay humble, and trust in the lord, He will not let me fail. i struggle with knowing what the spirit is telling me to do. i guess it doesn't matter if i know if it's the spirit or not as long as i do it haha. in situations it always seems like we miss the need of the investigator.

4. they do have some fruits and veggies. i get some fruit. they have really good fruit salad every couple of days. every wednesday night they have homemade pizza. its good, but not pizza hut good haha. they have this dessert pizza with chocolate and bananas that is fantastic. they always have deserts, which are hit and miss. vegetables aren't ever that good, but i usually get my fruit in.

5 we exercise 5 days a week for 50 min. lately weve been playing basketball.
  
i can't believe i've been here for a month already. its really starting to fly now. the food is getting old now haha thats alright though.
  
so every sunday we sing the brazilian national anthem along with called to serve in portuguese. look up the brazilian national anthem. its nuts and super fast haha.

my brazilian roommates left today and so did the other district (american) in our branch. the roommates and the other district were way sweet. i hope we get some more brazilians.
  
the language is coming. i love practicing speaking, especially with the brazilians. it really is a blessing to be in brazil learning the language.

the movie this last sunday was the mountain of the lord. it was good.

so today for pday we got these smoothies that they make with fresh fruit right in front of you. i got an acai smoothie. it was sooo good.

so thats the week. for the devotional last week elder prieto spoke. it was okay. his brother is my mission president. i didn't talk to him though. tonight for devotional we're watching a dvd of elder oaks. should be sweet.

i'm coming to find that we can find the good in anything. and we have to if we want to be happy. i truly have grown a lot in the few weeks that i have been here.

i love you so much. thank you for your support and love. keep writing. stay strong. i'm glad to hear that all is well at home.
Elder Hawkley

July 20, 2010

hey family, 
everythings going pretty good right now. ok questions. 
(we had asked him these questions)


1. (Which one is your companion in the district temple picture?) my companion in the temple picture is to my left if i remember right.

2. (How many Brazilian roommates and how long will they be there?) i have 3 brazilian roommates. they are super nice and i try to practice the language with them as much as possible. they leave in a week. brazilians are only here for 3 weeks.

3. we did go to the federal police. it was fine. we waited for about 2 hours. all they did was take our fingerprints and a picture and register us. nothing too crazy.


4. tuesday devotionals are sweet. the past two weeks the speaker has cancelled, but we watched recordings of recent talks in the provo mtc. one was elder hales and the other was elder holland. elder hollands was amazing. he talked about how preach my gospel converts the missionary and then lets the missionary figure out how to convert others. he said that we as missionaries need to be our best convert. he also talked about how we dont have the right to walk away or become inactive after our missions, and how that mocks the investigators we taught and the commitments we helped them make. it was really good. tonight an area seventy is going to speak. im not sure who, but ill let you know how it goes next week.

5. when we leave the mtc we go walk around. they have boundaries that we have to stay inside. for lunch today we went to mr. cheneys and had a chicken wrap that all the missionaries said was good. it was. after email, were going to try and find a grocery store to get some snacks and then go to the paper store to get some supplies.  
well thats the questions. keep them coming.

the food is still good. i think im gaining a little weight. ill have to weigh myself tonight. they have a scale. im not sick of the rice and beans yet, but close. its always meat with rice and beans. is that healthy?????

my teachers are super awesome. my morning teacher is irmao (brother) brendao. he is from ribeirao preto and served in maceio. he is funny, but he has a strong testimony and really cares for us. he told us a story about he went into an area near the end of his mission where they hadn't had a baptism for 7 months. he got there around 11 in the morning and baptized 3 by 7 that night! hahah he told us it was because he was bold with inviting people to be baptized.

my afternoon teacher is irma (sister) cardoso. she is super nice. she is from brazil but served her mission in washington dc. her english is very good. irmao brendaos english is pretty good, but sometimes choppy. doesn't matter though, because theyre only supposed to talk to us in portuguese now. haha.

i got a haircut yesterday. i had talked to some other elders and they said that the barber cuts your hair in like 3 minutes and always misses a bunch. one elder in my branch said he came back with a bullcut (bowl cut) pretty much haha. it turned out fine though. good enough.

i still haven't taken a picture here yet. were only allowed to on pday. we have a great view of sao paulo outside our window though. on the horizon you can see skyscrapers as far as you can see haha. nuts.

this last sunday we watched the testaments in portuguese with english subtitles. that's what they were showing. it was good. i understood some words, but it was pretty fast.

the language is coming. practicing speaking helps a ton. having a head start also helps. the first week we were here we had service and the lady telling us what to do only spoke portuguese. i was the only one able to understand her haha.

the lord blessed me with the best family in the world. stay strong and do your best. the only way to happiness is the lords way. spend time together as a family. i love you. thanks for your support.


Elder Hawkley

July 13, 2010

hey everyone, 

so the enter button doesn't ever work and the shift button is hard to use haha. well things are going good.  thanks for your letters. i got dads letter and letter 1 so far. we dont get mail here on saturday or sunday and friday was a holiday.

the language is coming. thanks so much for rosetta stone. it really has given me a big head start. so far we've learned how to pray and bear testimony and are working on parts of the first language. in class we learn about how to teach and the language. we dont teach lessons, we teach people. its been a hard concept for me. when we practice, we do scenarios, not a lesson. as i understand it we wont ever practice teaching a lesson. we are supposed to teach according to the needs of the investigator, which we find out through asking good questions. we will do a practice where we are recorded only twice in the last week, unlike provo. but we can sign up to practice teaching. the plan is to do one each week.

  

so for our first week it was just my companion and i in our room. each room has six beds. this week we got some brazilian roommates. they are very nice and its cool to work on the language with them.

today is pday. this morning we went to the temple. we ride one of those nice tour buses. last week it was full and i had to sit on this little seat next to the driver. it was pretty crazy, but a cool experience. we turned right across three lanes in a huge tour bus in traffic haha. so far we've done laundry, shined the shoes, and after this we will go outside the mtc. we went out last week too. it was cool. there isn't a store in the mtc or anything, you have to go out and buy it.

it rained for the first time today. we didnt go to the federal police last week. it was canceled. were going tomorrow, but in the afternoon thankfully. i have a fun district. we laugh a lot.

the food is still good. lots of heavy food.  on sunday they showed the joseph smith movie. it was often (I think he means "awesome"). they show a different movie every week. next week is the testaments in portuguese with english subtitles. i plan on going to see that one. joseph smith movie was in english.

i heard a funny joke for dad. a funny term for a bald man is 'chrome dome' haha. i love you, miss you, and look up to you so much dad. thanks for all you have sacrificed for me. i love my family. you guys are the best. i could not ask for anything more. i know this gospel is true and that our prayers are heard and answered.

i love you.
elder hawkley

July 6, 2010 - First Letter

Dear family,

Well i made it.  Today is pday and we went to the temple. It was awesome. and Oklahoma is the BEST place to live. my eyes were opened because of the poverty here. not everywhere, but i saw some people living in shacks. im so grateful for the house i have and to live in the united states.   


i like being in class a lot and doing personal study. I love learning about the gospel and how to teach the gospel and even learning the language. 
   
my companion is elder anderson from washington. 


we have a devotional on tuesdays and a fireside on sundays. i saw a district leave for their missions this morning and it has made me excited to get out  haha. 


the food is good. beans and rice every lunch and dinner haha. breakfast is wierd. they have rolls, ham, and cheese. sometimes cereal haha. 


tomorrow we have to wake up at 4 am to go to the federal police to get registered. they only serve 100 people a day and we have to get in line. it doesnt open until 730.

i love this gospel. i pray for you guys every day. stay strong in the gospel and spend time with each other. i will write more details about the mtc next week for sure. 


i love you                                              
Elder Hawkley

July 6, 2010 - MTC District

Here is a picture of Ryan's MTC District in front of the Sao Paulo Temple.

Do not know which one is his companion.

June 30, 2010 - Brazil MTC

We received a letter from the MTC Mission President and his wife, the Clark's. They said that Ryan had arrived safely.  He has a companion and is getting settled into his room.  They also said that the cafeteria food is abundant and very good.   (Ryan will be so happy about that.)  The best part was that a picture was attached.  Not sure who the other missionary is, but assuming that he is the one on the flight from Atlanta with Ryan.

 He will be able to e-mail home on his pday after a morning at the Temple.  It will be either Tuesday or Wednesday.  Can't wait to hear from him!

June 29, 2010 - Ryan leaves for Brazil

The day started off with a call from Missionary Travel in Salt Lake City saying that they had accidentally refunded Ryan's ticket.  They rebooked him on a flight to Atlanta, instead of Dallas, that left an hour earlier.  Then he was going to take a later flight to Sao Paulo.  Luckily we were pretty much packed and had everything together.

These are a couple of quick pictures we took before we left for the airport.  This is the Brazil flag.

 This one is really light, but I had to take it quickly and didn't get a chance for another take.  It seems like we packed a lot more stuff for Pehrson and Tyson when they left.  Hope we didn't forget anything.

We get to the airport and Joel and Ryan go inside to get him checked in while Rachel and I go park the car.  Joel isn't scowling.  I just caught him by surprise.

Waiting in the airport to say goodbye.  

Time to say goodbye.

He got to Atlanta as scheduled and gave us a call.  There was another missionary and  the Temple President and his wife from the Sao Paulo Brazil Temple on his flight to Brazil.

He called a little while later to say that the flight to Sao Paulo was delayed.  Come to find out, they ended up delaying the flight until 8:00 am Wednesday, June 30. The airlines did give them a voucher for a hotel, but it was so late at night and since they would have to be back early in the morning, they all decided to just stay at the airport for the night.

He called in the morning saying that he didn't get much sleep but finally were boarding  the plane.  It left around 8:20 am, Wednesday morning.  

What a day!!!!

June 28, 2010 - Ryan becomes a missionary

Monday, June 28, 2010, Ryan was set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by our Stake President, Gordon Bean.  The blessing he gave Ryan truly came from the Lord.  It was such a wonderful evening.

June 23, 2010 - VISA!!!!!!

We have been waiting to hear whether or not Ryan would get his Visa or if he would have to go to Provo, Utah MTC until his Visa came through.  Well, the call came from Salt Lake saying that his Visa was in and that they would overnight it to us.

The next day, June 23rd, it came!!!  Yeah!!!  Now he can go as scheduled.

The coolest thing that came with the Visa is his missionary name tag!!!  He was so excited to get it.

June 20, 2010 - Ryan's Sacrament Talk

On Father's Day, June 20, 2010, Ryan gave his "farewell" talk in Sacrament meeting.  He spoke about "Putting on the Whole Armor of God".  He did a wonderful job. The Spirit was so strong while he spoke.  Kelli and the kids were able to fly in on the Friday before.  Grandma and Grandpa Allen were finally able to fly in on Saturday night.  They tried Friday afternoon and evening, but were not able to get on a flight.  Luckily they were able to come in on Saturday.  Sunday night, Steve flew in.  It was so nice to have family here with us.

Pehrson and Kate weren't able to be there.  Tyson couldn't be there either, but he was able to fly in the week before and spend a few days at home with us.

March 18, 2010 - Draper Temple

On Thursday, March 18, 2010, Ryan went through the Draper, Utah Temple.  He was so excited to be able to go.  Mom, Dad, and Rachel came to Utah for Spring Break.  We had visited with Kenneth and Edee for a little bit and were now at Grandma and Grandpa Allen's home.  Pehrson and Kate drove the night before and were able to be there with all of us.

Ryan and Dad went to the temple early to get everything done before the rest of us came.

Those who were able to be there were Mom, Dad, Pehrson, Kate, Tyson, Grandpa and Grandma Allen, Edee Raines, Lauren and Jake Roundy, Lisa and Phil Davis, Pyper and David Monte, and Joe Anderson.  It was so nice to have so much of our family there.  It was a very special evening.

March 3, 2010 - Ryan got his call!!

On Wednesday, March 3, 2010, Ryan received his white envelope in the mail.  He held on to until that evening.  He went to Grandma and Grandpa Allen's house to open it.  

Kenneth, Edee, Lauren, Jake, Scott, Caroline and Margaret were there.  Tyson and his roommate, Joe, were there.  Ryan's roommate, Josh, and Elina, Annie LeSueur and Jason Kimball were there, too.  It was a big assembly!  haha  We set up the webcam with Pehrson and Kate in California and Mom and Dad and Rachel in Oklahoma so that we could all see and be there with everyone.

Ryan opened his envelope and he is called to the Brazil Ribeirao Preto Mission.  He reports to the Brazil MTC (or CTM) on June 30, 2010.  He will be speaking the Portuguese language.