May 19, 2018 SUPERAR!

May 19, 2018

Hi all!

Holy Cow, so much respect for missionaries this week. Missions are hard! We've started into teaching now, and have four practice investigators and will contact more this week. My brain is so gone by the end of the day I can't even speak English, let alone understandable Spanish. The miracle is that somehow every morning I'm ready to do it all again! I have to remind myself to enjoy this journey for all that it is, and to turn to the Lord in all things; I sure couldn't do this without Him. 

Hermana Hall and I have a companionship theme for when we get burnt out during the day. It's one of my favorite new Spanish words, superar, which means "overcome!" In other words, "keep going Hermana, we got this!" 

Some highlights: Hermana Hall is teaching several of the Elders ballet. Not kidding. They approached her one day with, "Hey, you're the ballerina right? Can you help us get buff calves?" She was thrilled! My favorite comment from their second lesson was, "Hey, this sort of reminds me of football in a way." I found out this week that most of my zone thought I was Mexican, and someone else asked if I was Canadian. When I said I wasn't, he replied, "Are you sure?" I'm pretty sure! Another Elder read my tag (which is in Spanish), then said excitedly, "Oh wow, you're an ASL missionary?" We all laughed pretty hard. A sister in my zone couldn't remember my name so described me as "the little jumping bean." Not sure how I feel about that one, sure hope it doesn't stick. 

Hermana Hall has been really missing her family and boyfriend this week, so we figured out a way to keep her mind off home. If she tells me a code-word, I have to tell her an "embarrassing moment." It has turned out to be an imperfect solution, however, as she has a bad habit of revisiting them and bursting into giggles at bad moments...like right after 10:30 curfew. Of course that sets me off too, so we both end up dying of laughter when we're supposed to be quiet. She especially can't handle that I broke my arm because I got too excited over a piece of chocolate. Little does she know that's only the beginning! 

My companion and I were struggling to get on the same page when getting ready for a lesson, and finally had a bit of a breakthrough. We realized that as missionaries, it's more important that we prepare for a lesson than to plan a lesson, because we aren't in charge anyway. We're learning to trust that if we've prepared, the Spirit will guide the lesson the way it needs to go. 

It's really easy to get down on yourself when you're surrounded by amazing missionaries and constantly learning about Christ. I've got such a long way to go! Something I was reminded of this week, however, is that to doubt Heavenly Father can work through me, imperfect though I am, is to lack faith. We're never without help here either. When the language gets discouraging, or it's hard to be unified as a companionship, or I get a little lonely for home, I just say a quick prayer, "Lord, this is heavy. Can you carry it?" He does. Every time. Grateful for that. 

Love you all! 

Hermana Hawkes

Great Quotes:

"I just really needed a hug from this tree."  --Hermana Walker

"Dora didn't teach me that yet." --Hermana Walker

"Thought of a song that wasn't a hymn today...should I repent?" (everyone) 

"This laundry bag makes me feel like Santa. I love it." 

"I feel like we just teach lessons all the time." --Hermana Hall 

"Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less." --C.S. Lewis

Photos: 

--Hermana Walker with "Ben Franklin" hair (it was better in real life, I laughed so hard) 

-- We got to leave the MTC campus to go to the BYU Health Clinic. We were very excited...until we realized it was literally across the street. Documented our "adventure" regardless

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