December 10, 2018 MisAdventures

Hey all! 

Where to even start with this week. Poor Hna Ciarlante has been sick the past couple of days, but this morning I found her in the kitchen, singing "good tidings of comfort and joy" at the top of her lungs and poking her yam (breakfast??) aggressively with a fork. When I questioned her about it she asked me if I'd like to fight, and then we had a ten minute conversation about whether I'd win with my jug of milk or she would win with her yam. 

She's one of the most positive people I've ever met. We have a game where I come up with the worst case scenario and she puts a positive spin on it. Her counter to, "A tree falls on your house in the middle of the night, " is "Well, I guess you'd have a skylight!" We discovered our back car window shattered this morning, and the first thing out her mouth was, "Well now you can't see all the water stains!" "I complain about my little problems and then the Lord just blesses me with big problems so I don't even notice the little once anymore!" quote unquote. 

She also introduced me to the Oakridge Boys. Life is definitely an adventure with this one. 

We finally had another lesson with Manuel, after weeks of missing him at home. He and Hna told us all about la postadas, or parades they have in Mexico, and the 3 Magos, or 3 kings that come bringing gifts. We taught the Plan of Salvation, but when we hit the Atonement of Christ, we knew we needed to slow down. If anyone needs to understand the power the Atonement of Christ has, it's Manuel. We bore our testimonies about this, and then I invited Manuel to set a date for baptism, as a way to help him move forward with a goal in sights. He really wants to receive the priesthood so he can baptize his son next year. Manuel was much too afraid. The spirit was so strong, but every time we could see him start to give, something in his eyes would shift and he'd start saying something to back up and give himself more time. Something like, "I like it when you all come over, but I'm just not ready. I have too much to leave behind. I'm working on it, little by little. Someday. Someday." If there is one thing I've learned in missionary work, it's that there is no such thing as "someday" when it comes to faith. We only ever have todays! I don't know what got into me, but maybe if there's a spirit of Elijah there's a spirit of Elder Holland?? I've operated based on fear for far too long, and I wasn't about to led Manuel start! I didn't give the guy a break until he had agreed to pray about baptism. As we closed the lesson, I apologized to Manuel; "I know we're a bit persistent, but it's really just because we love you and your family so much, and we want this for you. I know that all the true happiness I've ever found comes from the gospel--comes from the Savior. We KNOW you can do it. The Lord knows you can do it." I definitely cried, I think we all cried...Missionary work is so weird sometimes. You hardly know these people, and yet you find yourself crying at their kitchen table because you just love them so darn much. Thank goodness the Lord makes up the difference for this missionary! 

In other news, we have our very own sister missionary! Her name is Iraiz, and she is a devout member of another faith. She has a daughter just our age, so she adores us and how dedicated we are to our beliefs. We had hoped to teach them, and offered to help them paint some of the rooms in their house. We showed up ready to paint, not realizing in their faith the women don't wear pants! We realized pretty quickly that their family isn't quite ready to be taught, but as we painted we shared some truths anyway, like how much God wants to be a part of our lives, and that we have the Book of Mormon. Iraiz shared some of her beliefs in turn, and then gave us hot champurrado right as we headed out the door. We showed up at our next lesson with burnt tongues and paint all over our clothes, but luckily Hno Ramos just laughed! Iraiz has invited us to at least 3 of her church services now, and we're getting tacos with their congregation tonight, so she's good at her job! They really are the sweetest family, and although we can't teach them we plan to continue as friends so that maybe . . . someday. Their daughter, Genesis, is sweet as can be, and we're really hoping we may be able to teach her. We'll see. 

We had two burrowing owls cross our path driving last night. Cutest things I've ever seen! 

Had an amazing lesson with Tito, who I'd only been able to teach once, this week. He's a senior in high school, and really wants to learn to connect with God. The best moment was when Hna Ciarlante asked him what it would mean to him if the Book of Mormon were true. You could see the wheels turning in his head, and then he said, "Well, I think I'd be a different person. I'd join the church for sure....I think it would change everything."

Before the mission, I definitely took things like the Book of Mormon for granted, and still sometimes do. Tito is right though, if these things are true, they change everything. I want to ask myself more often, "Ok, it's true, but what does that mean for me? Am I a different person because of it?" I think people we're teaching teach me more than the other way around! 

Love you all so much! 

--Hna Hawkes 

So I always forget to title my group emails, but you can just title them however you want then. This week is probably "misadventures"...I'm afraid I put in too much of that sort of stuff and too little of the miracles we see! Then again, you're all saints and don't need me preaching at you every week. Also, I don't actually have much to "preach about" because I still have no idea what I'm doing! Luckily the Lord works with less-than-spiritual-giants too! 

Funniest thing: we got our faucets fixed but now the front door won't close. I think our landlord hates us...

We've just been locking the "confessional door" and calling that good. I've tied the little jinglebells you sent to the top and that's our burglar alarm. If we hear those in the middle of the night we know it's time for Hna Ciarlante to grab her yam!!

Also, receiving reports that an invitation I made it up on Facebook??? That may or may not have also been a Christmas card, so you're all in trouble. My goodness. Also, it literally looks really Catholic and we passed it out to all the people we're teaching. I guess that's marketing? 

If someone could send me the lyrics to "Los pastores de Belen" I can't for the life of me understand it and it's driving me nuts. Something about zapatos but he sings much too fast. 

Mom: could you send me Nora's email? I've love to reach out to her. She's always been one of my favorite people and i'd love to shoot her a quick message. And is Lauren doing well? She has never responded to any of my emails, but I assume she probably just forgets! 

Love you all bunches!