May 12, 2018 The Best Time to Be a Missionary

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May 12, 2018

 Hi everyone! 

In the movie Interstellar one hour on one planet is seven years on Earth. The MTC is a little like that; another planet! I already feel like an MTC veteran and I've only been here 11 days now. I wouldn't speed up a second though, because every day I learn how far I have to go and how much I still need to learn. It's easy to get overwhelmed looking through PMG or while in language class, but in those moments I usually get a gentle reminder that while all this seems like too much to take in, we have access to a Savior with infinite grace. In the words of Brad Wilcox, "Christ doesn't make up the difference, he makes all the difference." Gosh do I need that! My theme for the week was, "baby bites Hermana Hawkes! You'll get there." 

We don't twiddle our thumbs around here. Hermana Hall and I have already had our first contacting activity, and are teaching our "investigator" Veronica on Monday. It was both terrifying and exciting. We went into it so confident, having practiced hard, only to realize how little Spanish we really knew. It was humbling to say the least! Lucky for us, Veronica is a saint and patiently listened to all our clumsy sentences. 

I've finally stopped thinking "Oh, look the missionaries," when i see two Elders coming down the hall. It's still crazy to think that I am one, and I'm still figuring out how to act like one. Trust me, you have no idea how frequently you say "hey guys" until you have to stop! Cutting "Oh my heck" and "what's up buttercup" is going to take some doing too! Luckily there are already amazing Spanish substitutes, such as, "Que te pasa, calabasa?" (What's up, pumpkin) and my personal favorite, "rayos!!" (Which is "thunderbolts!"). Less fun is the fact that the word for sin, "pecado," is surprisingly close to the word for fish, "pescado." That can get confusing fast! 

Our teachers are the best. Hermana Barazotto wears my favorite shade of pink almost every day and reminds me of Thumbelina. She's so kind and free with compliments we leave morning class convinced we're fluent. We arrive at afternoon class only to have Hermano Manwaring laugh at us.  Hermano Manwaring got lonely when we didn't have class Thursday, so he came to our workshop with us. He ended up being more of a distraction than a help, but we took it as a compliment! 

Some of my favorite parts of the week were getting my zone spirit animal ("el tigre" which is a step up from the "bunny rabbit" I usually get), a family of about 12 ducklings wandering around campus, MTC tulips, rain, and a spontaneous ice cream picnic with my district Hermanas. This week I studied the story of the Feeding of the 5000. A mission has already been so humbling, but even my tiny loaves and fishes can be magnified by the Lord. All I need to do is have faith. I hope I can become more like Him. 

Hermana Hall said something yesterday I absolutely loved. We both struggle to remember every tiny rule perfectly, but we both want to be completely obedient. "Sometimes people get so focused on missions and missionary work that they forget the whole thing is about Christ." We can, and should try to keep every white-handbook rule perfectly, but if we ever forget the focus, Christ, it's all for nothing. 

Love you all!
Hermana Hawkes

Great Quotes:
Hermana Hall: "Sometimes I feel like a wizard when I read my scriptures." 
Elder Wyatt: "Faith is a verb not a noun." 
Brother Manwaring: "Entonces, BAM!"
Elder Bednar: "Get yourself out of the way of the work."

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