California Girl - Adventures of Hermana Hawkes

Hello! For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Sarah Hawkes and I returned this week from a full-time mission serving the Spanish-speakers of Southern California in the San Bernardino Mission. It’s hard to put how I feel about my mission into words, but I loved it. It meant everything to me, and it was such a privilege. I learned so much about the love that God has for each of his children. On my mission I served among first- and second-generation immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries, and learned so much from them. I learned the importance of not taking yourself too seriously, loving with your whole heart, hard work, and family, and it doesn’t matter what you wear during the week but the weekend is time for bold eyebrows and bright lipstick. The most incredible part was that each and every person I met had a deep faith and love for God.           Spanish was NOT easy for me, because a "pedacito" is a little piece, a "paracito" is a

Converts: JESSE ESPIRIQUETA principally known as "Old Faithful", "The Jedi Knight" (as he dubbed himself), and "Latino Buddy the Elf" (dubbed by me). Jesse was all energy and fire. He met with missionaries several times over the years, but never paid them much attention until Hermana Miller and Stanfield showed up on his porch. "With them," he said, "I realized they were just sweet girls with something to tell me. My heart started to soften." Jesse was on baptismal date within weeks, and although he battled doubts and opposition from all sides, he never looked back once. A Zapotec Indian, he was fiercely passionate about dance, art, and storytelling, and was constantly sharing his culture with us. He wrote each of his missionaries a detailed "Tenali" which is a sort of horoscope which was terrifyingly accurate. He dubbed me "Yolohuitzi" or "Corazon de Colibri" --Hummingbird Heart. He decided shortly afte

AREAS  I only served in three areas, which is very unusual for a sister missionary, and stayed in each one progressively longer. I taught tons of people, but the Lord seemed to always send me to the ones with big obstacles that needed a lot of love, a lot of time, and a lot of patience. I think he knew I wouldn't just leave them in the dust when the going got rough, or the minute there wasn't a baptism within the next three weeks. FONTANA I remember landing in Redlands CA the first day, and thinking how well the Lord knew me to send me there. The place was hilly and full of citrus fruit and antique houses. It was lovely! The next day, however, I was assigned to my first area, Fontana, and I drove out with my trainer I was struck by how quickly the landscape changed! Fontana was pure concrete, with few trees, and full of litter, pollution, and people fallen on hard times. I never felt unsafe, but it was a dirty, smoky industrial town. Quickly, however, I grew to love it for

COMPANIONS Caroline Stanfield-- Princess Buttercup, and trainer. Long blonde hair, long lashes, square frame glasses. I absolutely loved her. It took us time to warm up to each other-- she isn't initially warm and friendly-- but we quickly hit it off. I loved her for how genuine and self-aware she was. She was never afraid of an adventure, and never made me feel like a "new" or "young" missionary. We'd have long deep talks. We always had something to talk about. She was honest; I knew I could be open with her, and I knew she'd give it to me straight. She hadn't wanted to come on a mission, but trusted the Lord enough to do it, and dedicated herself to it. At the end of our two transfers she told me that during her time with me she learned to love the mission. I think many of the young men we taught were secretly in love with her! Margaret Watkins The Brains. Smart and she knew it. Our brains were wired so differently we struggled to communicat

We couldn't get all our friends in Thermal to church, but Hermano Esteves got the big idea of a movie night in his front yard. He rarely plans activities, so we took the idea and ran with it. He put his heart and soul into it, buying around 40 ears of corn to make elotes (dressed-up corn cobs), powdered cheese, and this cute little black table runner to "make it look fancy." Not too many showed, but those that did loved it--watching "Coco" on a big screen under a big harvest moon and surrounded by fields of corn and palms. We couldn't watch the movie, so Hermana Coenen and I sat behind the screen, bringing everyone drinks and popcorn and pasting countless corn cobs with mayonnaise and cheese. We felt very Mexican.  I probably drive my companion crazy, these last few weeks I've been just a crazy mix of trying to speed up and slow down--cramming too many things into the schedule, desperately trying to see everyone, and then running late to e

I'm taking you up on that no weekly email thing! This is just a note. Things are going really well. The work has slowed down a bit, which is always a bit of a bummer, but also needed! I'm really trying to take your advice and just savor this time I have. I love you both so much and can't wait to see you. That said, I promise I'm not checking out early, nor am I trunky. It was way too short for that!! Wasn't conference just great? Every time something starts to bug me, they fix it! What's next, women as keynote speakers??? I had a little hope they would extend sister missions...but they didn't!  I love you both. Thank you, thank you for making this possible for me. I hope I'm even a little different. I have been so grateful for this. If you could pray for one more thing, please pray that these sweet people will able to get a few things straightened out and will be able to have lessons so we can really figure out where they are at before a new sis