July 9th, 2018 The Continuing Adventures of Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly

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Hey all! 

First things first: Happy birthday (the 6th) to the one and only Christian James!!! I love you more than anything bud. My birthday wish for you is lots of cake, lots of home-runs, and that Maisy will stop chasing you around the house. Recuerda me!

I think a mission was designed for people like me. I'm not very good at first-impressions, and it takes me a long-while before I'm able to be myself around people. Good news about a mission? My companion is stuck with me until they like me! I've really loved the opportunity a mission provides to really get to know someone well in just a few short weeks, and I'm so grateful for Hermana Stanfield! Learning so much from her. 

One thing I'm less grateful for; she has taken to calling me "mi pepita," which sounds super cute but actually translates to "my little nugget." 

Ups and downs this week, but one of the best moments was that Elsie is now on date to be baptized at the end of July! We were sitting around her kitchen table, the T.V. was blaring in the other room, little Bella was running around, and I was just praying so hard in my heart she'd say yes. Despite the chaos, we had felt strongly we needed to ask her, so we went for it. To our surprise, Elsie didn't even blink. "Yes, I want to." She has such amazing faith--simple and powerful--and I'm so excited for her. As a busy, working mom, however, she finds it hard to find time for the little things like scripture study or church, so pray for her. 

We met and started teaching Jesus this week, and he is AMAZING (He's Jesus the 3rd during my time in Fontana if you've been keeping track). We had stopped by to see Lupe, and her boyfriend Cesar and his brothers had just arrived back from work with their big electrical truck. It had a missing part, and Hermana Stanfield said, only half kidding, "We could always pray to find it? Works for me!" We didn't end up praying, but it opened up a conversation with Cesar's brother Jesus. The most amazing story unfolded. Jesus's mother is a strong LDS member, but he and his brothers were raised Catholic like their father. Pretty quickly, however, Jesus started having questions no one could fully answer. "By eight, I started asking myself who I was, and what my purpose was. I struggled with those that talked about fire and torment for sinners--about a God who was out to punish us. That didn't feel like God to me." When Jesus became a teenager, he began "his search." Over more than a decade, Jesus read the Qua'ran (I know I misspelled that and I can't use Google and I'm not as smart as Jesus), made a serious study of the Bible, read the Torah, studied Buddhist theology... close to everything. He even read most of the Pearl of Great Price, but admitted that by the time he reached Mormon theology, he was worn out. When we gave him an overview of the Plan of Salvation, and told him we believed God wasn't out to punish us either, he was intrigued. We've had two lessons so far, and he is both the most exciting (and scariest) person to teach. Exciting because he is so engaged, and asks the best questions. Scary because he'll bring up obscure scriptural references and people I know hardly anything about. Personal study takes on a whole new urgency when we have a lesson with Jesus! He didn't make it to church on Sunday, which was a bummer, but we hope he'll keep moving forward! 

One highlight of the week was our video chat with Angel. Being eleven, the guy could not focus for a lot of the lesson. He also gets a big anxious about praying out loud because he wants to get "all the steps right." I finally bribed him into saying the closing prayer by promising him we'd sing the Baby Shark song afterwards (you either know what song I'm talking about, or you don't need to). Angel about died laughing, and said the best little prayer. Moral of the story, inspiration strikes in mysterious ways! 

Hermana Stanfield and I decided we wanted to become better at following promptings, so we followed absolutely everything we thought might be one. Several times, this meant we met someone at just the right moment, or shared just the right scripture. Other times, it made a little less sense. One of these times was with Lily. Lily desperately wants to be baptized, but needs to quit her smoking habit of 40 years first. She has a tree in her yard with lots of tiny pink flowers; the fluffy ones that look like tiny trafula (?) trees that drop and bury her yard. She had complained about the mess, and since she's a bit older we had the thought to sneakily clean them up the next day. Armed with a plastic kitchen broom and a few garbage bags, we got to it. After about 40 minutes, we were nearly done when we heard a loud, "HERMANAS!!" We both jumped out of our skins I swear. It was Lily, and she wasn't feeling warm and mushy about our service. She marched us both into the house, and started speaking in the fastest Spanish I've ever heard in my life, the gist of which was "are you kidding me." All I really understood was the smattering of English she threw in, which included, "it's too HOT!" and "I could spank you!" and "Ay, Hermanas. No, no, Hermanas." Turns out the gardener comes, and he has a leaf-blower. We stood there stunned. Leaf-blowers?? Lily had us both drink a full glass of water and she shook her head at us some more. Then she sent us on our way, after making us swear on all we held dear we wouldn't clean up any more. We found the courage to laugh about our "service" much later on, but I doubt either of us laughed harder than I'm sure Lily did the minute we were out her door. 

Side note: I woke up Hermana Stanfield last night by laughing to myself and muttering "Chistoso..." Guess that means at least one word in Spanish has stuck! 

Scripture Note: I've been reading the beginning of 3rd Nephi, and it takes the Nephites all of 2 years to forget all the miracles and prophets and protection. I was starting to get a little bugged. "Seriously Nephites, God sent about 4 angels and crumbled a prison in the last chapter, and you're already forgotten." Then I read the most amazing Holland quote, the gist of which was that slow and steady conversion, by the quiet workings of the spirit, has a more enduring effect than even the most fantastic of miracles. We like the big flashy moments, but without a foundation of faith their brilliance fades almost immediately. That hit me. It all ties back to the fact that, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Really gaining a testimony of that with those we teach. If they aren't doing the little tiny things to invite the spirit into their daily lives, the biggest miracle can't do a thing. 

This is the hardest and best thing I've ever done. To wake up each morning and share something as great as the gospel is amazing. To meet someone for the first time and instantly feel so much love and concern for their life is amazing. To be let down by someone over and over again and still find yourself knocking on their door with hope in your heart...it's every bit a miracle. 

Love you all so much! 
--Hermana Hawkes

Great Quotes:
"You know I love you, but not like I love Nutella, ok?" --Hna Stanfield
"You guys kind of look like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly." --The man I call the "old professor" from George White. I think we probably looked more like lunch-ladies in our plastic aprons and hairnets, but we were both super thrilled nonetheless
"Parece como un zanahoria." --Hmno Mondragon to Elder Montoya
"C'mon, annnybody got a blue chevy cruise??"--A lady in our complex. She was not happy. 




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