September 24- The Conquering of the MTC
Hola familia y amigos!
I conquered the first week at the MTC and let
me tell you, it has been GREAT! Overwhelming, but great! From the moment I
walked into the MTC they have been keeping us busy, so there has not really
been time to be homesick. I seriously love it here! I love my companions, my
district, my teachers, my branch, my branch presidency, everthying! The only
thing I maybe don't love is the fact that we study for 12 hours everyday. I
don't think I've ever studied for 12 hours in my entire life combined! Haha!
I'm only sorta kidding... you know how everyone says you'll be tired from Day 1
on your mission for the rest of you mission? It's because you study SO MUCH!!
And then you only get 8 hours of sleep, if that. My lovely roommates (not my
comps) like to wake up at like 5:30 every
morning and end up waking us up. They are really sweet roommates, except when
they get up that early... Anywhoooo it's still wonderful here! Let me tell you
about my comps:
Hermana Brooke Hussey is from SLC. She went to
U of U before her mission (19 years old). She has 4 siblings and she is right
in the middle. She will also be going to Nicaragua with me. She likes to
laugh and she likes to be involved. She is also super happy! She reminds me a
little bit of Karly Hardy actually.
My other companion got placed with us here at Provo because her visa
didn't come so she couldn't go the the Mexico MTC. Her name is Hermana Savannah
Tobey. And guess what!? We totally know each other from BYU-Hawaii. She lived
on the same floor as me, was in my Relief Society, I was her RA, etc. So it was
super exciting to have a friend here.We never actually hung out in Hawaii, but I don't know
why not because she is awesome. She is from Camas, Washington and has three siblings. She is
second oldest and first to serve a mission. She is going to Pachuca, Mexico.
She also loves to laugh, and she is an avid Sasquatch explorer. My companions
are thebomb.com!
We have so much fun together!
I have a great district! It's us three and 8
elders. 5 elders are also going to Nicaragua,
1 to El Salvador, 1 to Chicago, and 1 to Mexico. They are super fun but also
a little crazy. They love pulling pranks on each other and us, and joking
around. So we laugh a lot! Probably more than we should, but I think it has
helped us get over the stressful first week.
I love having gym time here! We have it 1st
thing and we usually play volleyball or knockout. It's super fun. And I may
have one a game of 3 point knockout against our entire district! The food here
is actually pretty good too. I haven't complained. It's WAY better than the
cafeteria food in Hawaii.
My favorite is the curly fries and the strawberries they serve!
My favorite thing to do here is meet new
people and see where everyone is going. I am trying to be more friendly and
outgoing so I seriously try and talk to everyone. My comps say they think I do
a really good job at talking to people. We've made friends with some Elders
going to Sweden
that we usually sit by at meals. I have also seen a lot of people I know:
Sharly Lichtenberg (HCP), Bryce Lamarr (from the stake), some people from BYUH,
and three other people from the YSA ward.
Classes and spanish are going well. We have
already taught 6 lessons in spanish to two investigators. It's been going okay.
One, Travis, has committed to baptism and read the Book of Mormon. The other,
Hely, has committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We
actually had one lesson with Hely where we felt the Spirit super strong! It was
AWESOME!
I am also in the MTC choir and the choir
director is super awesome! We sang at a devotional here called MTC and the
Spoken word where Lloyd Newell came and spoke to us. It was super cool!
The Spirit is SO STRONG here! I feel the
truthfullness of the GOspel of Jesus Christ everyday. One thing I really liked
that another sister said was, "I believed because I wanted to. Now I know
because I believed." This is exactly what I believe and it goes along with
my favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon, Alma 32:27. Because I deisred to
believe, I now know without a doubt in my mind that Jesus Christ is my Savior
and if we come unto Him, we will have everlasting happiness. I also know that
the Book of Mormon is true and we can learn how to come to Him through the Book
of Mormon. I love the Gospel so much and I can't wait to share it with EVERYONE
on EARTH!! I love the MTC as well! I love you all! I love receiving emails and
especially DearElders (dearelder.com - write me an email and they print it
out and give it to me the same day) so please write! I want to hear from
EVERYONE!!!
The book is blue, the Gospel is true!
Love, Hermana Hawkins
October 1 - What are the Odds
Hola! How is everybody!
This week has been going great! So my letters
are not going to be as long as the last one (it could be) but I don't want to
bore you! Haha. I will just write the best parts! Last Prep Day we got to go to
the temple in Provo
with my district and it was awesome. The Provo
temple is beautiful! I don't know why people thing it's so old! I loved it!
Alright, so something funny that happened this
week: My district LOVES to play this game called "What are the Odds,"
which is a lot like truth or dare but only dare. You ask someone what the odds
are of doing something and they say something like "1 in 15" and then
you both yell a number between 1 and 15 and if it's the same, that person has
to do whatever it is you said. So this elder in my district, Elder Black HATES
hair. He loathes it! Like the stray hair, not the ones on your head. Well we
kept messing with him this week by putting hair on his desk and everything.
Haha. Well his companion, Elder Isham, loves to do that to him. So we keep
finding these balls of hair on the floor and Elder Isham picks one up and
starts taunting Elder Black and Elder Black is freaking out. He wanted to throw
up! So then I turned to Elder Isham and was like, "What are the odds that
you would eat that hair?" (I thought he might say like 1 in a million).
Well, him trying to be all macho, he says 1 in 15. So we both yell out a number
and it was the same!!! He starts yelling, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and then
all of a sudden he just throws that hair ball in his mouth!!!!!! Then we all
start freaking out and tell him not to actually eat it!!! He swallowed! And
then spit it out. Phew! Haha. It was hilarious! I don't think I have ever
laughed this hard in my life than I have here at the MTC. Wanna know why I
think it is? Because I don't have technology to distract me and I can actually
devote my attention to people. It's so great to laugh! And it helps that my
district is hilarious!
On Monday, we got to watch Richard G. Scott's
funeral. That was a really neat experience, I had never been able to see a
funeral of an apostle before. It was so powerful to hear the testimonies of
other apostles and the prophet sharing the testimony of Richard G. Scott. It is
making me super excited for General Conference! If you didn't watch it, my
favorite part was that President Nelson shared how him and Elder Scott went to NICARAGUA to
dedicate it for missionary work! They mentioned my mission! How cool! And I
loved how his son said that Richard G. Scott had an apostolic witness of Jesus
Christ and his Gospel. He emphasized that point. How cool is that!?
We had two awesome devotionals as well this
week that made me think a lot about the missionary I want to become. One quote
(of the many) that I really liked that actually came from one of those old
church commercials that a speaker shared was, "It's often Life's small
moments that bring the greatest memories. Don't let their magic pass you
by." There are so many wonderful opportunities we have in life to smile,
be happy, and make a difference in another person's life. It's not easy here at
the MTC, but I try to be optimistic and loving of others to that I make
actually turn into that kind of person. I have my fair share of difficulties
but I know that with God's help, we can get through everything! I love you all!
Look for opportunities to serve others! And God speed!
Love, Hna. Hawkins!
October 8 - General Conference Weekend!
Hola everyone!!
Wasn't hearing from our living prophet this
weekend awesome!? I love general conference and I loved the words that were
spoken that I am definitely trying to apply to my own life. My favorite talk
was by Elder Lawrence when he asked the question, "What lack I yet?"
This week was the hardest week I've had at the MTC. They have the saying,
"two's company and three's a crowd," well, I definitely felt that
more this week than ever before with my companions. Not only because they are
so much more alike than me, but also because they are at the same levels as
Spanish and I am a little above, so I felt like they and the teachers thought I
was a know-it-all. I think I was being a little selfish and so when I heard
that talk, I felt like it was speaking directly to me. What lack I yet? I know
there are many ways that I can improve in my life and come closer to Christ but
the main ways I thought of were being more humble and learning to love others
more. I am more of an independent type of person so the mission is definitely a
challenge when it comes to working and loving others.
One other talk i really liked was the one
about ponderizing a scripture! I just love that idea and I know that if we
choose a verse from the Bible or Book of Mormon each week to ponder, reflect,
and (20%) memorize, it will change our lives and bring us closer to Christ. So
each week in my letter I am going to tell you what verse I am ponderizing and I
would love to hear all of yours! This week I chose Helaman 12:1 from the Book
of Mormon: And thus we can see
behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of
men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless
and prosper those who put their trust in him. I
love that in a world of changing values, if we rely on an unchanging Lord and
put our trust in him, then he will bless us. And from studying this verse, I
have found so many other wonderful verses. I love the scriptures! Please share
what verse you are ponderizing this week.
This week was also filled with some of the
most spiritually profound experiences I've had here. Besides all the wonderful
talks at General Conference, we also got to hear from the General Relief
Society President, Sister Burton. We sang an arrangement of the song Sweet Hour
of Prayer and the Spirit of Christ just filled the room. Afterwards, I went up
and gave her a hug and reminded her (I met her once before) and told her that
my sister was Alayna Hawkins (who served in her mission) and she was like,
"I thought I remembered that smile." So, Alayna, she still thinks
very highly of you :) Afterwards, we had a meeting with the Branch President
where we discussed her talk. Afterwards, he said he had a surprise for us and
that we would each get the opportunity to speak to the Prophet himself. Our
mouths dropped and the Spirit filled the room again. He gave us a few minutes
so we could think of what we wanted to say, everyone was praying silently, and
then we went around and recorded a message one by one and said something to the
Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. He knows him and his daughter really well so they
are going to send that to him. After, someone asked why he chose us to do this
(President Shallenberger said how we were the only ones who would be doing this
so it needs to remain a secret between our district) and he said that he just
felt prompted by the Spirit! How cool is that!? I don't know why but I know
that we were meant to speak and give encouraging words to our living prophet
for some reason. I would also encourage everyone to pray for the Prophet, after
having that scare at General Conference. Sister Burton said that maybe that was
a wake up call from God saying, "Don't take advantage of the living
prophet that you have." I am truly grateful to have a prophet to lead and
guide our church.
Other cool things that happened this week: I
was made Sister Training Leader with my companions and we have had a lot of fun
welcoming new districts! Also, our "investigator" Travis (who is
actually our teacher) committed to baptism! He may not really be investigating
the church but when he said he wanted to be baptized because he felt what we
are teaching the room, the Spirit filled the room again!! The Holy Ghost is
EVERYWHERE if we just take the time to pause from the real world and listen to
what he is telling us and how God has a hand in our lives.
Well, I've probably bored you all with this
long letter so I will just end it here. I know more than ever that the Book of
Mormon is true. I know that God has a plan for all of us so that we can return
to live with him, our Savior Jesus Christ, and our families for eternity. I
know that he speaks to each one of us and that we can receive answers to our
prayers if we truly believe. And I know that because of the Atonement of Jesus
Christ, we can do all things we set our minds too. I love you all!
Les quiero!
Hna. Hawkins
October 15 - The Tender Mercies of Life
Life is beautiful, is it not? I feel like every day, I see
God's hand in my life. Life here is great. It's not easy, and I am learning a
lot, but the growth that I am experiencing is good and it helping me become
more like Jesus Christ as I try and bring others unto Jesus Christ.
So some things worth mentioning:
Cool story first: the other day I was in the
cafeteria and I saw this other sister missionary and she looked SO familiar. I
thought I knew where I had seen her from (EFY) but it was 5 years ago and she
didn't have a facebook so we didn't stay in contact. We were good friends at
EFY and I knew that she also lived in Colorado,
but yeah, we never talked or saw each other after EFY. Well later that night I
saw her again and I just had to ask her. Being unintentionally creepy, I was
like, "Sister, are you from Colorado?"
"Yeah..." "From Littleton?"
"Yeah....." "Is your first name Sydney?" "Yeah...." And I was
like, "I totally know you! You were in my EFY group!!" She says she
thought I looke familiar but didn't know why. So that was a fun little sory.
So earlier this week we were talking about how
we can touch the hearts of our investigators by bearing our testimonies with
conviction. We need to remember experiences in our life when we said, "Of
course the Gospel is true, I know it so strongly." Our teacher asked us to
write down those experiences and they will help us remember what exactly our
conviction us. So I wrote down a couple and I encourage all of you to as well.
What is your conviction? Do you believe this gospel is true? I do! I LOVE LOVE
LOVE LOVE!! the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
On Sunday, our Branch president told us
that he was going to be released. So sad because he was the best branch
president ever. Before he left, he gave us a few tips. One being that we always
need to be happy. One thing we should always be saying when anything comes our
way, even when it's something bad, is, "WHAT A BLESSING!" By saying
this and actually recognizing what the blessing is in this trial, we learn that
everything that happens to us is for our growth. He also told us how important
it is to know how to escape duct tape and rope if we were ever abducted. He
then proceeded to show us exactly how to do that. He had a missionary duct tape
his hands and then within a minute, he was out. How cool is he!? He's awesome.
So our teacher also told us this awesome story
this week: A boy came up to Aristotle and said, "Tell me all the things
you know so I can be as wise as you." Or something like that. Aristotle
proceeds to take this boy down to the ocean, they go in, and Aristotle dunks
the boys head underwater and holds it there. The boy, not being able to breath,
starts flapping and kicking doing everything he can to get air. But Aristotle
remains holding it underwater. After a while, the boy stops kicking so much and
becomes weaker. Aristotle seeing this, lets the boy up. The boy then says,
"Why did you do that to me!? You almost killed me!!!" To which
Aristotle replies, "When you want to learn and change as much as you just
wanted air, then come and find me." This was such an amazing story because
it showed me that we can't just ask God to bless us with answers or to give us
traits we need, we need to be actively trying to learn how we can do it
ourselves, and show him that we truly care, and then God will help us.
So this letter is getting long so I will end
it with this: L. Whitney Clayton came and spoke to us on Tuesday and showed just how strong and fast
the church is growing. In my lifetime, I remember when there were 10 million
members of the church and now there are 15 million within the past decade. It
just shows how true this Gospel really is. It wouldn't be growing this fast if
it wasn't true. It is true and God is hastening the work through us
missionaries. I know this Gospel is true and I am so grateful for it. I guess
the verse that I am ponderizing this week is Joseph Smith History 1:25. What a
great verse! Do you know that this Gospel is true? What is your conviction!
Les quiero! Con amor,
Hermana Hawkins
