November 15, 2010 - Bom Dia!

Hey Family!

How´s everything going? Sounds like you guys are all doing well. I´m doing good also. Thanks for the pictures. Kate is big! Haha thats so awesome. Hope everything is well with them.

 

Rachel - I forgot to tell you that your hair looks great! Its a lot longer now. And nice job on the pumpkin. If i´m right its the beach. Man you´re good. Are you planning on going to the beach this year or something haha? How is tennis? School? What happened with the callbacks? Hope all is well. How´s those scripture mastery coming? Read the scriptures and pray everyday!

 

Dad - How´s work going? and the ward? What else is new?

 

Mom - How´s the calling? and the stake youth committee? Glad to hear that training was good.

 

Questions:

Tell us how many hours a day you walk and how the weather is.  

     The weather is hot! Its wierd how the weather is hot but Christmas is almost here. It has rained a lilttle bit but not too much. From what I understand it will start raining a lot soon. We walk a ton each day. I´ll have to do an experiment where i time myself walking. Its hard to say.

 

Tell us what your favorite Brazilian snack food is. 

     Hmmm...as far as candy goes they have something called bis, which is similar to a kit-kat that is good. They have these oreo-like cookies but like a key lime flavor that i like haha.

 

Tell us how many investigators do you have.  How many lessons a week do you teach? 

      Right now we´re working a lot with our recent converts just helping them to stay active. We are teaching one woman/girl named Vánia. She is 21 and is really good. She is the niece to another investigator (Gilberto) and lives with him. Gilberto is still working on getting married but still wants to be baptized. Vánia wanted to know more and so we taught her. She will hopefully be baptized this week. We´re working with her on the Word of Wisdom a little bit but she liked church a lot this last week. We are looking for more people who have a strong desire to teach right now. We teach close to 30-40 lessons a week (but a lesson doesn´t necessarily mean one of the lessons from PMG). We have to walk a ton and we are struggling in teaching with members. Not a whole lot of involvement with the members right now.

 

 Do you take turns during the lesson teaching?  

   Yup. We normally each teach half of the lesson.

 

Do the people treat you nice or are they rude to you? 

    Most people are pretty nice. Every once in a while you talk to somebody who is mad at the world and there isn´t too much you can do. But for the most part people are nice.

 

 Do they ever talk so fast that you can't keep up?
     Everyonce in a while i have to ask them to repeat or ask my comp, but for the most part I understand well. Sometimes people don´t understand me very well and I have to try again or my companion takes over for a bit. I think its my accent, which will improve with time.

 As far as the letters go, just keep sending emails. I can print them i found out today. Email is better because its FAST haha. But thanks for the concern and ideas.  2 packages for Christmas?!/!? Man am i lucky haha thanks a ton. I´ll look forward to getting them. There´s going to be a mission conference the week of Christmas where the whole mission will be together in Ribeirão Preto. It should be awesome! We have a zone conference this week also. I´m excited for that.  They are always good. Transfers are next week. I could go or stay and the same with Elder D Souza. We will see. Both ways will be good. Today after emailing we are going to hike this hill that overlooks the whole city with a priest in the branch here. There is a statue of Christ there, typical of almost every hill in Brazil haha. But it should be cool and I promise to take some good pictures.

But im doing good. I´m healthy and im still liking the food. I really like beans and rice. Many times they eat "macarrão" with beans and rice. It is just a word for pasta and spaghetti sauce haha. Its really good all mixed together with a piece of fried chicken. The only thing that i´ve eaten thats wierd was "moella". Its some internal part of the chicken. I dont have my dictionary with me otherwise I would look it up. I knew it was different just by looking at it. It was cut up in a mixture of food. I just ate it. It wasnt too bad but i wouldnt choose it. The member told me that she only made it because her husband likes it and that she doesn't even like it. She told me i didnt have to eat more of it if i didnt want to and was super nice. 

I´m proud to represent the Lord every day. I have things I need to do better, but we all do. The important thing is to look to improve and set goals. This week I learned and will continue to learn about diligence. Diligence truly brings a feeling of satisfaction. Its easy to want to do nothing or less important things. But when we do the hard thing or the thing that needs to be done, we will be more happier. The gospel is the plan for our happiness. Keep doing what you guys need to do to be happy (Mosiah 2:41). 

I love you all so much. Thank you for your love and support. I hope you are happy. I am happy. This is the important stuff, the stuff that matters!

 

Elder Hawkley

November 8, 2010

Hey family,

Well we have another baptism this week and 4 confirmations. It was a good week. We baptized Fúlvia. She is 12 and is the sister of Daniel, who we baptized last week. I baptized the 4 last week and Fúlvia this week. I also confirmed 2 people. One of the kids, Richard (9), was cranky at chruch haha. He didnt want to be confirmed. He didnt want to listen to anyone haha. I was able to confirm him, barely. I didnt have time to give him a blessing, just gave him the holy ghost haha. He was trying to remove my hands from his head. These kids have nothing and no role models. But the holy ghost will help them through their lives. That was our greatest motivation for them. My intent was to attach a picture of the baptism haha, but somewhere I made a mistake. I will attach the pictures of the two. I havent been taking too much pictures, but I probably have more than you think haha. I will try to do better there too. Thanks for the letters and the pictures, and for the package for Christmas!. 

I´m doing well right now. Things are going good.  I´m happy and proud to be a missionary serving the Lord. Things are super good with my comp. He helps me a lot through the hard days. He is a good example to me. We have transfers here in 2 weeks. Time really is flying. The days are long, but the weeks go quick.

As a missionary I´ve learned a lot about how critical the members are in missionary work. We don't have a ton of support from the members here in Leme, but are working hard to help them help us. Missionaries need people to bring investigators to church, to be a friend to investigators, to teach lessons with, and last but NOT least, to feed them haha just kidding. But really please do all you can to support the work. Without the members the work is much more difficult and less effective. Make a goal to give a pass a long card a week or something. Don't be afraid. D&C 68:5-6. The Lord will be with you. The most they can do is say no. Remember that the gospel is a blessing in our lives and that other people need that blessing too. 

I love this gospel, I love being a missionary, and I love you all more than I can write. Stay strong and safe and happy!

 

Elder Hawkley

These pictures were taken of the baptisms last week.  The little girl on the far left in the first picture, I think, is a from a member family.  The other four were their investigators.

 This was from the baptism they just had.  Her name is Fulvia.

November 1, 2010

Hey Family!

Well we had 4 baptisms this week! We baptized Christina (18), Lais (12), Richard (11), and Daniel (11). Christina is a girl I contacted on the sidewalk outisde her house. She already has an 8-month old boy and is not married. She is super awesome and we talked a lot about the temple during teaching and she is super excited to go the temple and wants to marry there someday. Lais and Richard are brother and sister and Daniel is their cousin. They all live together. Their mom´s have been inactive in the church for a long time. Their moms drink "pinga" (alcoholic drink) all day long, and their dad is in jail. Its super sad. The mom of Lais and Richard is 4 months pregnant and just drinks all day long, without eating or drinking water. We´re doing our best to help them, but they have to want to stop. Thats whats hard. The kids are awesome and the church will save them. The baptismal service was good. A little girl in the branch was also baptized. Richard was super scared. The first time his foot came up and he did not want to do it again. Eventually we were able to baptize him haha. It was a little stressful for me haha. We had the baptism immediately after church sunday. The only thing i didnt like was that it felt super rushed. Lunch is the big meal here (not sure why haha they eat the same thing for dinner haha) and you could tell that everyone was ready to leave. But it was good.

 

Questions:

Tell us about the city where you are and what the people do for a living. 

   The city of Leme is a big area for only two elders and so we walk a lot haha. As far as what the people do for a living I don´t really know too much. There´s a pop factory here thats pretty big and some people work there.

What kind of stores are around there? 

    They have all kinds of stores. Lots of little stores with a specific thing. They really like shoes here. The shoe stores are massive haha

 What do you do on pdays? 

     Today we got a haircut and after this we will buy groceries. After that we go home, clean the house, do laundry. I write a letter or two. Then its time to work again haha.

 Any adventures or outings? 

    Not yet. Theres a hill close by with a statue of Christ that we may go hike one pday. 

 

As far as the package goes I´ll let you guys surprise me. Vitamins: so a thing of vitamin c and zinc. Ideas: Laffy taffy, granola bars, honey roasted pnuts, beef jerky, a small thing of twizzlers (my current comp like them. I dont know if we will be together, but you could throw in a little thing of them just in case). I would like a narrow click pen. 

 

Well things are going good. We are working hard. Something funny is that for a meal to be a "meal" in brazil it has to have rice and beans. Anything else: hamburger, pizza, etc is only a snack haha. I love you guys a ton. Thanks for your example and support. Stay strong and live the gospel.

 

Rachel - congrats on the talk. Hows school and tennis? Keep up the good work! I love you

 

Love,  Elder Hawkley 

October 25, 2010

Hey Family!

  Things are going better for now. It definitely was a tough week. But i got the package and i think 6 letters from people! They were sent a while ago haha. Thanks for the package and everything in it. I am enjoying  the snacks! Ideas for the christmas package: krazy glue, toothbrush, pen( narrow with a click top), 1 thing of those zinc tabs (nice for when sick, but im healthy), 1 more thing of vitamins, 1 thing of melatonin, granola bars, uno, the same snacks as last time. mints/gum, and 2 blue refils for my marking pencil. I´ll let you guys decide what you want to send me. I really liked all the snacks you included in this last one! I would send the package 6 weeks before you want me to receive it. You can send it this week or wait a week and i´ll let you know if i think of anything else.

    We´re working hard and we may have some baptisms this week! We are teaching some kids in a less active family and also an 18 year old girl named Cristina. We´re going to work hard to help them get baptized this week.

   Glad to hear the trek went well. Sounds like it was a great experience for all who went. This week we had a random guy give us a ride to one of our appointments. Nice, right. When we got there he told us that the book of mormon wasnt true and that we should go home. I wanted to laugh in his face. I bore my testimony and we left. If anything it strengthened my testimony even more. Satan is working hard against and always will be. It will be hard at times, but this is the work of the Lord and the only true church on the earth in our day. The Church of Jesus Christ! Live it to the fullest and you will be blessed. Happiness lies in living the gospel. I am so blessed to have you guys as my family. I love you so much! Keep me updated. I will write more next week. I promise haha!

 

Elder Hawkley

October 18, 2010

Hey family!

I´ll start with the questions.

 

Questions -

We would like to send your Christmas package in the next couple of weeks.  Anything special you would like? 

       I can´t think of too many things right now. I will think more and let me know before you send it.

Did you get the package?  If not, you might want to ask the Mission Office to call the Post Office and see if it is sitting there waiting to be picked up or something.  Hopefully you won't have to pay a fee to get it.
   Haha no package yet. If I don´t get it this week at district meeting I´ll call the mission office.

How is the teaching going?
    The teaching is going good. We are trying to find good investigators. Many times we find somebody, teach a good lesson, and then the next week they don´t want to be taught anymore (hiding from us haha). But we are just looking and teaching. This week at church we didnt have any investigators so that was a bummer. But we will press on!

Tell us about the branch you are in.
   The branch is good. We are trying to get the members more involved through splits and better branch activities. This last week there was 67 people in attendance, which is pretty average. But there are over 700 people baptized here in Leme haha. The list of less-actives is a BOOK haha.

What do you do on Pdays?  (besides write to us! ha ha)

    Pday we clean the house, do laundry, buy groceries. Not too much. Normally I am trying to organize things or write in the journal. We just rest in our house. Its good though. I always look forward to pday.

 

Well I know it was short, sorry! But I love you all very much and i will write more next week! I´m doing good here in Leme. Hope all is well there!

 

Elder Hawkley

October 11, 2010 - Baratas!

Hey Family!

All is good here in Leme! I was not transferred and neither was Elder D. Souza. Im definitely excited to stay here in Leme and also to have the same companion. A little part of me wanted a new companion, just to be able to learn new things. I have much to learn from Elder D Souza and I´m super grateful for him. Time really is flying. Already one transfer down. I already know that leaving the mission will be hard haha.

Barata is the portuguese word for cochroach. Yup. We came home one day this last week and there were 5 in the bathroom and a couple in the kitchen (which is actually outside, i´ll take a picture). It was disgusting! I hate bugs haha. Elder D Souza killed them and we cleaned a little bit haha. We found one more a day later, but since then its been all good haha.

      

The picture this week has a story. Look closely at my shirt. You will see lots of dirt. We were walking to our last appointment one night this week week and it was raining. Not super hard but the roads were wet. I was closer to the rode with Elder D Souza by my side. A car flew by and muddy water just drenched me haha! At first i couldn´t believe it and was a little mad, but i immediately started laughing and so did Elder D Souza. He only got a little dirty. I learned a good lesson. If we can laugh, we won´t be mad and we will be happier. I could have gotten mad, but because i laughed everything turned out all right. I got some good pictures and a good story haha. We scrubbed the shirt and it actually turned all normal haha. Still white.

 

Questions

We loved the pictures you sent.  Your companion looks awesome!!!  And you are taller than he is.  Are the people shorter than you there?
Not everyone is shorter than me. I would say i´m maybe a little taller than average, but I don´t stick out or anything.

Your poor feet!  Did you take any tinactin with you?  I know that Grandpa found some really good stuff in Chile that they used.  He was going to look it up and see what it was and send you the name of it.  Maybe you can find it there.

Haha I started using tinactin and its helped a little bit. I got an email from gma and gpa and will look for the stuff they recommended. My feet are doing awesome though. It doesn´t hurt to walk anymore. They just look bad haha.

What is the kitchen like in your home?  Do you have an oven, stove, refrigerator?  Send some pictures of your place, inside and out.
We have a fridge, oven w/ stove, blender, and a sandwich maker that i use more than anything. I will send some pictures of the house next week for sure. Its a good place though, I like it a lot.

You mentioned that you were teaching some great families.  Who are they?  Tell us a little bit about them.  How you found them, etc...
We are teaching one family that I made contact with near the beginning of the transfer. We are having a hard time finding them at home right now, but will keep trying. Satan is working hard against us haha. We will teach first lesson and think, they´re going to be baptized! Then the next week they don´t even want to go to church haha. I dont think its something we´re doing wrong, but I don´t know. We can only keep looking for people to teach. The only way to find those who are ready is to talk to and teach everyone and that is what we are doing here in Leme. No baptisms yet, but its been a good lesson for me. If you look in Preach My Gospel Chapter 1 it talks about the characteristics of a successful missionary. Notice that it doesnt talk about baptisms there. Elder D Souza pointed this out to me. Success is not in the numbers. It is definitely harder to maintain desire sometimes without baptisms haha. But this experience will only make the next difficulties easier.

Have you received your package yet?
Nope not yet, but transfers are happening today and I hope to receive it this week at district meeting. I also hope to receive some LETTERS! haha

 

I sent rachel a letter last week. Hope she gets it. In there is a letter for Sra Dillard. I invited her to listen to the missionaries. If she accepts I need your help haha.  What a blessing about Tyson´s teeth. I will keep praying for him. Say hello to Elder Maiers for me. Hope the work is going well there. I can´t believe that Colton is almost there. Thats awesome for him! Thanks for the money for the plaque. I´ll get that ordered here soon. Whats the word with visas for Mexico lately? Hope that all works out.  More possibilities for the christmas package are: gum/mints, 2 more blue refills for marking scriptures, vitamins haha. Let me know before you send it.

 

Rachel - congrats on the tennis! Keep it up. and I´m so proud of you for sharing the gospel. The spirit will be with you to help you. Be bold. The worst thing they can say is no. And unfortunately, they will be worse off because of that "no". But we have to try. How did the other tennis match go??? I love you a ton.

Well I love you guys a ton! Glad to here that all is well. Hope Tyson and Pehrson and Kate are all well! I love you all and your examples to me help a ton. The Church is true and commandments are a blessing. Disobeying them will only hurt us and lesson our joy. Keep them to the fullest!

 

Elder Hawkley

October 4, 2010

Oi Família!

I´m sending more pictures. (They are after his letter)

Questions

What are some things that you learned from conference?  Were you able to understand it?
We were able to watch 4 of the 5 sessions of conference. We are two hours ahead of oklahoma time. We missed the very first session. We watched conference in the city of Pirassununga, a city about 30 minutes away. Priesthood started at 9, but Pres Prieto gave us permission to watch it. We rode home with the branch president here in Leme and got home about 11:30 haha. All of conference was in Portuguese. It was translated live. It was interesting though because some of the speakers had pre-recorded their talks in Portuguese. Elder Andersen, Elder Scott, Elder Jensen, and Elder Mazzagardi all had their talks pre-recorded. Elder Mazzagardi is the area presidency of Brasil. I was actually able to understand conference for the most part. I took notes in english haha. I had to focus a lot in order to understand. Every time i got distracted, i got lost in the talk haha. The spirit is the same way though i think. We have to focus a lot in order to recognize and understand the promptings. I had a harder time understanding Elder Andersen´s recorded talk than the Brazilian translators haha. Conference was good though. My favorite session was Priesthood. I saw Elder Tyler Bean singing in the choir HAHA! It was cool. What an awesome experience for him! I'm sending him a letter today. Hope he gets it. In conference they talked a lot about pride and decisions and agency. I liked Elder Uchtdorf´s talk on pride. He said that pride is humbling others instead of ourselves. We must humble ourselves. I also liked President Monson´s talk on gratitude.

You always say you eat beans and rice and some type of meat.  Do you know what type of meat it is?  Have you had any avocado smoothies?  What has been the best/worst thing you´ve eaten?
Meat is usually some type of beef or chicken. Haven´t had the smoothie yet, but my comp makes them for breakfast. The best thing i've eaten was a key lime pie dessert haha. Hadn't had anything terrible or wierd yet. Always beans and rice. Also they eat spaghetti with spaghetti sauce a lot with the rice and beans haha. Its good.

We are starting to get your Christmas package together.  We need some ideas!!!  What do you need?
I really want an ensign of the conference in english haha. I don´t know if i will get one down here or not, so please send me one! Snacks are always good. Granola bars, mosquito net, and i will think about more stuff and let you know haha.

Are you feeling better?

I am feeling a lot better. Things are still hard at times, but all is good. Looking back on this transfer and my time in the CTM i truly am grateful for the trials and the hard times. Looking back on them I can see how I´ve grown and I find joy in looking back and seeing how I made it through. I think that is what will happen when we meet Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ at the Judgement. We will find joy in looking back at our trials and hardships if we endure well, because we will be able to see how it helped us and the things we learned. Never Give Up, Only Trust in the Lord. I´m still not very good at this haha, but I´m working on it.

It was a good week. We had interviews with President Prieto. I really like him. My interview was quick. He asked about my family, health, companion, and area. It wasnt robotic though. It was good. Pres. Prieto told us something interesting. He said that there are only 35,000 missionaries in the world right now and that Brazil is really lacking. The area presidency has a plan for every stake in brasil to send 5 missionaries by the end of the year. If the stakes cannot meet this goal, 6 missions in Brasil will close! Thats nuts! Im a little confused though because in conference, Elder Nelson said that we have 52,000 missionaries and thats the number we had last conference. Anyway it was interesting. 10 areas in our mission are going to close by the end of the year due to more missionaries leaving than coming in. We need more missionaries i guess! It is an honor and privilege to serve. Everyone should!  

Its been cloudy and rainy for the past week. Today is the first day of sun in a while. I like the sun, but it is hot haha. 

Transfers are this next week. I hope to stay and I hope that Elder D. Souza stays, but all will work out. Elder D Souza taught me this week that we need to be positive. If we go into a transfer thinking it will be good, it will. If we think are companions will be great, they will. We must look for the good in everything. If I am transfered, you probably wont receive an email. I cant believe ive been here for 5 weeks already. Time is flying! 

Well got to go. I love you and thanks for the support. The gospel is true! We are teaching some great families right now! Endure to the End!

Love,

Elder Hawkley

 My companion, Elder D. Souza

This was after a lunch this week. I always eat a ton, but then we had watermelon for dessert. I almost died haha.

 President & Sister Clark (CTM President). They were super nice. Sis Clark is one of the happiest and nicest people ever!

 My right foot. I don´t know how well you can see, but its a combination of the aftermath of lots of blisters and athletes foot. haha and my pinkie toes were destroyed, but are getting better haha.

 Putting the clothes on the clothes line this morning haha.

September 27, 2010

Hey Family!

I´ll start with the questions.

 

Tell us a little more about the language.  Sounds like you are already comfortable with it which is really great.  Do you take turns running the meetings you have with investigators?

     Language is good. I can pretty much understand and speak. I need to build my vocab and the grammar is coming more and more with time. We take turns teaching sections of the lesson. We usually divide the lesson into two parts and we take turns teaching each part.

Give us a little more detail on the food you eat.  Do you have snacks during the day?
    Food is always rice and beans with some kind of meat. Also lots of potatoes. No snacks during the day, so we´re always hungry when we get home at night haha. Usually have a sandwich or something.

Did we ask you if a mosquito net would help you sleep at night?  It's your choice, but if I were you, I would rather have bug spray on than have bites all over.

    I´ve thought about a mosquito net. I may just have you guys send me one in the next package. I´ve been using the fan and it works okay.

 

Do you get to watch conference?  Where?

     We can watch conference. It will be in Pirassununga, a town about 30 min away. We will either catch a bus or caravan with the church members here. I don´t think we´ll get to watch priesthood because they show it at 9 saturday night and 6 the next morning. We´ll see though. From what i understand it will be in Portuguese haha. Saturday is an if, it depends on how the work is going during the week and investigators and stuff. I think Sunday is a for sure though. I´m excited. It´s cool being able to tell people that they get to hear a prophet of God speak to us. It really is a privilege and is important to watch. I think people forget.

So glad that you weren't bitten by a dog.  How is Elder Souza's leg doing?  

    Fine. It really wasn´t too bad.

     Well it was a tough week to be honest. We had two interviews with 2 girls, one 12 and the other 15. They passed but the parents won´t sign. Its frustrating. There are parents here who barely have a mind for where their kids are and what they are doing, but when it comes to baptism and not drinking and living the law of chastity, they say no. Only Satan can do that to people haha. We are working really hard but nothing seems to be coming our way. There were some days that I just wanted to quit. I´m glad for my companion. He said that his first transfer was like ours. I´m doing well now. We just have to keep working with the hope that we can find someone. I really like the parable to the lost sheep. Jesus left the others in search of the one. This is what I am doing right now. Searching for the "one´s" that are ready to hear the gospel. I also like D & C 18 and how it talks about the worth of every soul and our joy with one soul in the kingdom of God. It has been hard but we keep going on. At the beginning of every week we get to start over. A chance to start new and try for a new best. This is exactly like the atonement. Every week we have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament, a chance to repent and do better. No matter what happened last week we can change and learn and do things differently. What a blessing. Right now for the work we need to find new investigators. We need better quality investigators too, those who are really looking. We arent receiving references yet so we find through contacts. 

I have a cold right now that I am fighting. Wish you were here Mom haha. I got a haircut today and it was great. I hadnt had one in a month! It was about time.I love you all so much and thanks for the love and support. Stay strong and close to the Lord through the Spirit. I´m going to try to attach some pictures.

 

Love,

Elder Hawkley

 

This is my district at the CTM. I will forward the pictures from zone conf. 

More pictures next week.

 This was a Zone Conference in Pirassununga, Brazil.  Ryan is in the top row, middle.

September 20, 2010

Hey Family!

Well someone actually was bitten by a dog this week. And fortunately for me it was my companion haha. We were walking down a road the other night and two dogs started chasing us. One was kind of big and the other was kind of small. The big one was after me and the little one my companion. I ran and he didnt haha. He said afterward that usually when you dont run they dont bite, guess not haha. My dislike for dogs is only growing here haha. They´re everywhere. Anyway we went to the doctor today and he only has to get a vaccination if the dog dies in 10 days haha. its more of just a scratch but he says it hurts at times. 

Elder D. Souza is awesome though. He has 1 year and 3 months in the field. He doesnt speak any english, so we speak in portuguese all the time. I like it that way though. He looks like you probably would picture a brazilian. 

I forgot my card reader again today, will try to remember next week. Our home is really good. Its just us there. 

Teaching is going good. There are definitely things to improve on, but its going well. 

Zone Conference was awesome. It was in the city of Pirassununga, about 30 min away. We take a bus there every week for district meeting. I really like Pres Prieto. He spoke a lot about obedience and also said that any elder could go home without questions if they just tell him in the next interview. He wants quality missionaries. I guess this mission has a bad history. Lots of disobedient elders and Pres Viera the last president, never sent anyone home i guess. But all is well. We have interviews next week. 

I did get your letter from mission ties and the pictures. I also got a letter from Elder Hardy this week! (Thanks for the letter brother! sounds like you´re doing awesome! Congrats on the baptism! You´ve got a letter coming! Work Hard!) Thanks for forwarding his email mom. please continue. Oh and i need the address of his mission office please to send him another letter. 

My feet are doing alright. I still have quite a few blisters haha. Im using powder and the shoes are comfortable, we just walk a ton haha. One blister goes away and anoher one comes haha. Im definitely looking forward to the day when i don´t have blisters haha. My clothes are fine and just to clarify (haha) we dont have a washing machine. We have a tanque that spins water around haha. It could be worse though. My clothes are getting cleaned each week. 

The weather here has been hot haha. Its rained once so far. I hear its just going to get hotter, but thats fine haha. I have a billion mosquito bites. They eat me alive at night. Im working on some ideas haha. I havent used the bug spray so i guess i cant complain. Maybe one day ill break down and use it. I dont like the smell or feel haha. 

Yesterday i spoke in sacrament meeting. We got there and the branch mission leader asked us to speak. I spoke about the gospel of jesus christ, basically the third lesson. It actually went well. I was able to say pretty much everything i wanted to. Thankfully sacrament meeting here is the last meeting haha. 

There were 75 people in church this week which was good. The work is going well. We´re having a hard time getting investigators to come to church. We walk to get them, but they give us an excuse. One thing frustrating with the work here is that a commitment doesnt mean much. Many times people arent there when you go to visit them and such. We´re working hard and trying to do our best though. We have a boy that is ready to be baptized and passed an interview but his mom wont sign the form yet. She thinks its too early. We went there last night just to continue to visit and she said her son wasnt there. He walked out a couple minutes later haha. We met his dad last night and he was really receptive though. We´re going to work with him this week. Another man wants to be baptized but needs to be married first. We have one guy that looks really good and we are helping him with the word of wisdom, but he didnt come to church this sunday. This week we´re going to try really hard to find a lot of good new investigators. We are trying to get the members to do divisions with us. 

Please help the missionaries in the ward. Open our home for them to teach. Give them rides and referrals. Go teach with them if you can. If the members can find the missionaries will teach and the work will go forward more effectively. I am enjoying my time here on the mission so far. 

I love you all so much. Thanks for the support. Letters are always awesome and thanks a ton for the package! FEEL FREE TO SEND A PACKAGE ANYONE! haha. Be obedient and stay strong. The commandments truely are a blessing to us. The lord uses commandments to give us blessings and as we keep the commandments, the spirit will be with us to lead and guide us. This last week we taught a guy who told us we were wasting our time and that we should throw the book of mormon in the trash. It only made me want to work harder haha. But i bore my testimony and the spirit was there. He didnt change but someday he will know. Hopefully sooner than later. I love you all!

 

Elder Hawkley

September 13, 2010

Hey family!

Ill start with the questions. My companion is Brazialian. Elder D. Souza ( the D because theres other Elder Souzas haha). He is awesome. We get along and have fun and he is teaching me a lot. He is obedient too. The Lord truly blessed me with him and to be here in Leme. 

We live in a "home", hard to explain i will have to send a picture. But it is nice. I think its great. For laundry we use a "tanque". Its one step below a washing machine haha. We line dry everything. You really dont know how blessed you are until you dont have something. BE GRATEFUL! 

The people here in Brasil are awesome. As far as teaching is going we are teaching a couple families. The hardest thing here is that practically no one is married and they have to be married to be baptized. We have one guy that wants to be baptized and is ready but is waiting to get married. It is expensive here i guess. Some people here have little. Its been very humbling. 

One family we are starting to teach has 3 little kids. One little boy that always makes me smile. He has a couple toys and i saw inside the fridge and there wasnt much. But this little kid is as happy as can be! A good lesson for all of us. Be happy with what you have. Complaining does no good (from the mouth of the worlds biggest complainer haha). 

Hows my friend josh doing? Please forward his emails. We have an hour to emial every week, but we email the president too. 

This week we will have a zone conference. Im excited! This past week was somewhat frustrating with divisions and stuff, but was good. I feel like i grew and learned some things. My confidence grew too. I really have been blessed in the language. I can understand and speak pretty much anything. Sometimes people dont understand me the first time but all is well. I think it means i have something else to learn or struggle with haha. But the Lord truly has blessed me.

For breakfast i normally make a grilled cheese and drink yogurt from a bag ahaha. Lunch is always good and we eat big because we dont eat dinner. We just keep working through "dinner" and then put down a good snack when we get home at night. We have an awesome neighbor that always gives us food. So far weve gotten a cake, freshly made juice, homemade bread, and soup. Im in heaven haha. Were hoping to get some more here pretty soon haha.

ATTENTION ALL PEOPLE WHO LOVE ME: SEND ME PEANUT BUTTER, PEANUT BUTTER CRACKERS, ORANGE HOSTESS CUPCAKES, ANY KIND OF CANDY, PEANUTS ARE GOOD TOO (HONEY ROASTED) haha but seriously these are the things i would ask for in a package. also another stick of deodorant. They dont have any deodorant like old spice down here haha. When sending a package and letters send it to the mission office. If i know that im going to be staying in an area for a while i may give you the address, but for now send it to the mission office. They say to write the value of the package low even if its not, because if its over a certain value, i think $50 dollars i have to pay a ton to get it out of customs (or maybe the price to send the package, either way keep it low). Maybe send 2 separate packages they said if its a lot of stuff. 

Got to go. I love you all a ton. Stay strong. pictures to come next week!

 

Elder Hawkley

September 6, 2010 - First letter from mission field

Hey family,

Well im here haha! Im here in Leme, Brazil. The last week in the Ctm was good but also hard. I love the guys in my district a ton. In our district some went to Maceio, Recife, and Curitiba and then Elder Andersen and I went to Ribeirao.  Those elders going to Ribeirao left the ctm at 4 in the morning!  We flew there and got there around 8 in the morning. Pres Preito, Sis Prieto, and the assistants picked us up. Everyone is super nice. 

Then we went to the mission office and received a little training over finances and stuff. We get 99 reais every 2 weeks. i think it will be plenty, but we´ll see haha. Then we walked to the mission presidents home. We got there and Pres Prieto gave the "novinhos" a "tour" and when we returned to the main room 6 trainers for 6 newbies were there and they were singing called to serve haha. I totally didnt expect it. We sat down and each new elder had an envelope with their area and trainer. I was actually the last one haha. 

Then we ate lunch at the Presidents home.  Elder Andersen and i then had to go to the federal police again and re-register in Ribeirao. Then we returned to the mission office, got our bags and got on a bus to our areas. It was about a 3 hour bus ride to our area Leme. We arrived around 8 pm. A member picked us up, bought us some food and drove us to our house. 

The house we live in is nice. My companion is Elder D. Souza. He´s great! I´m the first missionary that he´s trained. He is obedient and is teaching me how to work. He has 1 year and 2 months so far. We are the only elders in Leme, a city of maybe 50,000 people. 

We walk a ton! Its been hard because I have a lot of blisters. I sat in a classroom for 9 weeks at the CTM and then have to walk everyday. Its been frustrating and difficult because you cant just stop working. Its made me think alot about the pioneers and what they went through. Walking thousands of miles in snow without shoes. What a sacrifice! I think my feet are starting to get better. I guess this is pretty normal though. Im doing good. 

Here in Leme there is a branch. I guess there used to be a ward, but a ton of people have become inactive. Elder D. Souza and I are both new to this area also. We are trying to get to know the members and the area. Elder Souza is a district leader and this next week all the district and zone leaders are going to training for 4 days. I will be here in Leme with another american elder who only has one more transfer in the field than i do and then the other 2 days we will work in his area. It will definitely be interesting haha. 

Things are changing/have changed in the missions. Zone conferences will now only be quarterly along with interviews with the president and i guess district and zone leaders will meet with the president more. I guess this is an international change. 

I still havent been interviewed and I dont know when i will be but thats fine. Im trying to be obedient but i have some questions to ask the president. In brazil, and i talked to my ctm teacher about this too, its super hard not to teach a woman without another male present, because most of the men in families are always working.  We´ve already taught a couple of lessons like this. My comp said its hard to do and my teacher in the ctm said the same thing. When i get a chance i will ask the president. 

Eating with the members has been great so far. We eat with them for lunch. Beans and rice and meat everytime! Haha but i actually really like it so far. Hope it lasts. As far as the water goes, the ctm gave us these special water bottles to drink out of with filters inside. They´re nice, but the water comes out really slow. 

Send letters and packages to this address:

Missão Brazil Ribeirão Preto

Elder Ryan Hawkley

Rua São Sebastião, 1003

Centro, Ribeirão Preto, SP

14015-040

 

This is the address to the mission office. They will forward all things to me through zone leaders and such. Please post on blog. Wait to send package. I´ll tell you what I want next week. I love you so much! Thanks for the love and support. Stay strong and continue helping others

 

Elder Hawkley

August 31, 2010

Ryan left the CTM today.  We got a call Sunday night, August 29, from a sister in his district.  (Not exactly sure who she is.  I couldn't understand her name on the answering machine message.) She said that he is fine and that he would probably not be able to write because p-days in his mission are on Monday.  He wrote a note for her to read and it said:

"I am doing well.  I will talk to you soon.  Please pray for me.  Tell everyone I love them.  Thank you for your support.  Love, Ryan"

We are looking forward to next week when we will find out, hopefully, where he is serving, who is companion is, and what it is like in his mission.  Can't wait!

August 24, 2010

hey family,  

well last pday in the ctm. only one week to go haha. i really do love it here and it will be hard to go. im excited for the field and also nervous haha.

 

as far as the prank goes, my companion hasnt gotten me back. he was fine with it and i dont think he will get me back, but you never know.

  

proselyting actually was awesome. we went to this square in down town with tons of people. i was scared at first, but then i went to work. we gave our 8 books of mormon and 2 pamphlets in a little over 2 hours. the spirit was with us and when it was time to go i didnt want to. it was an awesome experience.

 

my district is awesome. lots of great friendships. i probably have the best relationship with elder eggett. he is from colorado and we laugh a lot but also want to work hard. i can see many of these friendships continuing after the mission.

 

i will leave next tuesday morning. i dont know what time yet but i know that it will be super early in the morning. we will fly there. this will be my last email from the ctm and i probably wont talk to you for two weeks until my first pday in the field. i dont know any more details than that really.

  

hmm package. probably some mints. they dont have mints like icebreaker stuff here or at least not that ive seen. pb crackers. im going to just start naming stuff and you can choose to send my what you will. maybe wait until my first pday in the field and i can tell you what i really need. but cinammon poptarts, laffy taffy, a water bottle (plastic with regular screw on lid, but not just an aquafina plastic). thats what i got right now, but again probably best to wait until im in the field.

 

as far as contacts in the district i dont really remember the competition died down after the first day haha. it was a good idea though and we all did some practicing.

 

i need the address for the tuckers (they sent me a letter) and gmas and gpas address too. youre going to stop mission ties right? thats fine with me. you can continue to do it to the field and letters do go faster than regular mail, but its probably best to stop. you decide but ill be fine with email. i sent letters today to the grasteits, tyson, pehrson, and rachel. hope you get them in about a week.

 

well this is it haha. im going to ribeirao preto. like i said im excited. not too worried about the language. that will come. i feel pretty good about teaching. ill have to work on teaching by the spirit, because the teaching practices here have become so routine haha.

i love being here in the ctm because we learn a lot and the spirit is pretty much always with us. we went to the campinas temple again today. AWESOME. i love the temple. always take advantage of an opportunity to attend the temple and make sure to attend often.

 

i know that this is the lords work and that this is where i need to be. i love the scriptures and the peace that comes from studying them. all of our questions in this life can be answered through reading the book of mormon. we must always be worthy to have the spirit with us. the spirit will guide us through our trials and also any hard thing, be it trial or uncomfortable, becomes easier when the spirit is with us. i have a testimony of this.

 

i love you all so much. thank you for the support and love. next time you hear from me ill be in ribeirao preto preaching the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.       

love elder hawkley

August 17, 2010

hey family, 
carta azul means blue letter. i pulled a prank on my companion and our whole district was in on it. he had a dream that his girlfriend sent him a letter in a blue envelope which means a dear john. i learned this recently. anyway we bought a blue envelope and looked on the back of a picture of his girlfriend to get the handwriting. then elder eggett, district leader, is really good at handwriting so he wrote the stuff on the outside of the envelope. we even put used stamps on the outside and then stuck it in the mailbox. we did it yesterday and it was hilarious. he thought it was real and everything. inside we put a note saying gotcha.

this last week our district also did comb over day, where we all did super combovers. it was fun. i really like my district and i love being here in the ctm.

questions 
1. the open house was good. we sang every night for four days. we sang a really cool song called praise the man. you should look it up. we also sang i know that my redeemer lives, the spirit of god, love is spoken here, and if the savior stood beside me. it was a cool experience. there wasnt a ton of people there but there were people there. its a really nice chapel. i guess theres supposed to be a story in the liahona about it.

2. trc is a teaching practice where they record you and the room is set up like a living room. it went really well. the spirit was super strong with my companion and i.

3 yup ive had to speak twice and we do speak in english.

i didnt know that ray whitmire had died. thats sad. im glad the funeral went well.

i think ive gained about ten in the ctm. i eat a lot haha.
   
today we went to the campinas temple because the sao paulo temple is closed for cleaning. campinas is farther away but definitely worth it. the temple sits on a hill and overlooks a valley. the celestial room is the most beautiful so far. campinas a city north of sao paulo. the campinas temple is the closest temple to my mission but is not in my mission.

happy anniversary tomorrow! i remembered the other day.

another question for pehrson and tyson are ideas for food in the field. haha im thinking ahead.


this last week we started learning the commandments. we learned the law of chastity in portuguese and this is what we had to do. my teacher, irmao brandao, is nuts. he had us teach the law of chastity first time to brazilian sisters. haha i couldnt believe it. it actually went really well though. in the situation we had to postpone a baptism date though because the "investigator" broke the word of wisdom. that was fun. i need to be more bold. i feel really timid sometimes ahah.

this friday we go proselyting again, but this time to a big square in sao paulo. im excited but nervous. in our district this week to prepare for proselyting we are seeing which companionships can do the most contacts in the ctm each day. its pretty fun way of preparing.


i cant believe that i have been here for 7 weeks already. only 2 more to go. that seems so short. im going to miss my district a ton. we laugh a lot. the ctm really is like a little mission. its going to be the same new thing all over again. hard at first, but great once you figure it out.


hows everything at home? when does school start for rachel? how is tysons mouth doing? i love you guys a ton. im so greatful for your support.


one of my brazilian roomates, we got new ones, is a convert and his mom didnt want him to go on a mission. he is an inspiring example to me and im greatful to have great examples and love and support. i know that god hears and answers our prayers, even though it doesnt seem like it sometime. live the gospel to the fullest. we can only receive all of the blessings of the gospel when we do everything we can. i love you so much. keep the letters coming. theyre the best!
elder hawkley

August 10, 2010

tudo bom family, 
tudo bom means "all good".  if you say it like a question you're asking "everything okay"? and you can respond right back with tudo bom.

i leave the mtc aug 31.

we did go proselyting. it was crazy. i was super nervous. i fasted before and then we went. we each had two book of mormons to hand out. elder andersen and i had 40 contacts and handed out 4 books, a pamphlet, and a couple of cards.

the area around the mtc is called casa verde. every friday elders go out and hand out book of mormons, so pretty much everyone has a book of mormon haha. the lady we gave our first book of mormon too was cool. she seemed pretty interested and i felt at peace while i was talking to her. there is a new lds chapel that is having an open house this week. we were able to invite people to that, which was neat. also the mtc choir is going to sing at the open house. it goes for the next four nights. our district all wanted to sing so we are doing choir this week. it should be really cool. the new chapel is really pretty. there were some people that i had no idea what they were saying during proselyting haha. it wasn't too bad with the language though. not bad for 5 1/2 weeks. we go again in a week and a half to a city square in downtown sao paulo.

this week on friday we have our first trc. im kind of nervous. practicing always makes me nervous. i should probably get over that haha. hopefully it will get easier with time.

i'm really enjoying being in the mtc right now. i cannot believe that i've been here for 6 weeks. it's gone by quick. 3 weeks seems super soon to go to the field. im excited but also scared out of my mind haha.

today was a good pday. went to the temple. the sao paulo temple will be closed for the next two weeks, which means today was our last time at the sao paulo temple. it is super beautiful. were hoping that we get to go to campinas next week our in two weeks. it's a little further away though.

for lunch today we went to the juice place and this time got hamburgers too. they were sooo good. we also went to a pastel place. they fry it right in front of you. i got a dulce de leite with bananas pastel covered with cinnamon and sugar. it was delicious.

tonight for devotional the area president is going to speak, pres ullyses soares. should be good.

sunday was really good this week. i had to speak on patience. what happens is we all have to prepare talks on a subject in pmg chapter 6 and then right at the sacrament is done he calls on 4 elders. ive been called on twice now.

we got a new district in our branch. we were alone for a week. this last week about 40 american elders came here. most from provo but some from home. i guess they all got their visas.

anyway sunday was good because they showed the joseph smith movie. i love that movie sooo much. every time i watch it i feel the spirit and my testimony is strengthened. joseph smith was a prophet of god.

i know that the lord is aware of us and that he loves us. thanks for the letters. i love you so much. stay strong and do the things you need to. keep me updated.
elder hawkley

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

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