California Girl - Adventures of Hermana Hawkes

Hi all!  I really love Yucca valley because don't know where I else I could run into Hippies, Hassidic Jews, and Buddhist monks in one Walmart shopping trip! The desert is definitely not dry on personality. They say you always hit a frontier of faith before hitting a miracle, and that has been us. Nearly everyone we're teaching has been sick, out of town, or impossible to contact. It's just in the moments where I begin to doubt whether we're doing this whole thing right that the Lord sends a miracle, big or small, to remind me not to doubt! This week, that miracle was three people; Ana, Javier, and Enrique.  Ana and Javier are the sweetest old couple who just wandered into the Desert Hot Springs ward last week. Best referral ever. I knew I'd like them when I noticed they were wearing matching Mickey Mouse shirts. Javier was very worried about my cough, and recommended either a little lemon and honey, or a shot of Tequila. Yep, I love him already. ...

Hi all! It was rain, rain, rain all last week and I think Hna Ciarlante and I were the only two people in Desert Hot Springs who loved it. The water doesn't run off the streets very well, which makes for great puddles!  It was crazy how the desert drank it all up, and everything suddenly turned so green. I hope that's how the message of the gospel feels to people when we first teach it; I hope it feels like a big drink of water after a long, long time.  One of the best moments of this week was teaching Diana, Juana's granddaughter. We've been trying to have a lesson with her forever, but she's been reluctant and I never felt that she was very interested. We didn't give up, though, and boy am I glad. Diana is a single mom no older than I am, and she works full time. Her little boy isn't quite a year yet, and likes to screech and smile really wide and break china. He looks just exactly like the baby from Ice Age. We are good friends.  W...

Hi all!  We serve meals for two hours each week at a little neighborhood Soup Kitchen called "God's Kitchen." It's run by a handful of the cutest, and spunkiest, old women and their husbands, and is the meeting place for all sorts of characters. The food, and the people, are both a little rough around the edges, but there's a lot of gems there. It was slow this week, so we sat behind the table in our plastic gloves with more chili-mac than we knew what to do with, talking to Dee about her new onesie (I bet it's zebra print) and getting to know the new volunteer Lowanda.  Lowanda is a big woman with an even bigger smile. She loves the Lord, and she loves life. She just lost her job, but in her words, "I'm just so blessed. Now I have time to write praise poems and be with my family. I know the Lord did it. I'm excited. He closed that door, which means He has something exciting in store for me!" She told us all about her fiance. He...

Hi all! Short one this week, I don't have much time or much energy, but I have good news! Hna Ciarlante and I will be together for another transfer. I feel really blessed. She's an eternal optimist, and I have a lot to learn from her still. We have so much going on in this area, I feel it's really a tender mercy we get more time!  We had exchanges this week, and boy was it a day! I was with an English sister who is serving up at the base at 29 Palms. I asked someone why they chose Yucca Valley for a marine base, and was told it's because the terrain looks like the Middle East, where they'll be stationed after training. I guess that means that basically we're serving in the Middle East?? We had a miracle of four lessons in the plans, one by one of which fell through. Our zone had a goal of finding 13 new people this week, and we were determined to help it happen. All the people we tried to contact from our records had moved, and then at the end of ...

Hello all!  If you thought our apartment adventures were over, you'd be wrong. About two days after getting the faucets fixed the door mysteriously stopped fitting in it's frame and we can't close it far enough to lock it...we've just been locking the metal screen door instead. The trouble is, there's a whole lot of wind out here, and it has been blowing open nonstop! We finally resorted to pushing our armchair in front of it, the only thing heavy enough, leaving us with no open outside of climbing out the window...so that's what we've been doing. Don't worry, the neighbors still have no idea. Don't worry, we've called Kent Dewey. His voice on the phone just sounded so tired.  In other news, sisters can now wear pants! Crazy! I can't wait to wear my new pair and see how many people tell me "I'm an abomination!"  More than anything in this letter, I just want to express gratitude. I find when I get bogged d...