January 6, 2014

Dear Family,

This week has been good! Some tough things happened that we learned about our investigators but I also was strengthened in my testimony that God knows every single one of us. 

The other day we were teaching an investigator named Flor. She has a testimony and knows the church is true. But, she has problems with the law of chastity and we will leave it at that. She wants to repent but I don't think she has courage to stop breaking the law of chastity. Also her daughter named Jorbelin. Also very very good investigator. She knows everything is true but wants to wait until she is 15 to get baptized. She is 13 but acts like shes 20 and looks like it too. I really have never seen a 12 year old that was so prepared. But anyways, this was all one day and I was just dying. It was like what the heck is going? Why don't they want to get baptized or live the commandments when they know they are true? This was how we finished the night. We went home and it was tough. I was dying on the inside. I couldn't help but think why not?  Whats going on, etc... So I went and grabbed my scriptures and said whatever, I'll just read out of Doctrine and Covenants. I went to Chapter 6 and read the scriptures. To be honest right now in these moments I don't remember exactly what it said. But what I do know is it told me everything I needed to hear. It had everything I need to lift myself back up and get  to work. I testify that God knows you he knows me and he wants the best for us. He is with us when we are suffering and when we are happy. Just search and you will find. Be obedient to the commandments and the Lord will bless you spiritually and worldly. That's what I was reminded of this week. 

Something else was today we married a couple and the husband is going to be baptized this Saturday. His name is Luis and truly is a miracle. The Lord touched his heart so that he could finally accept the truth. We are working hard also with a woman named Erlinda. She is an amazing old grandma haha. I've never seen someone so prepared for the gospel. She just reads her bible and was going to whatever church. Then she stopped and just read her bible. Then we found her. She came to church and said, "finally a church that uses their tithing how they should" haha. It's amazing to see someone prepared by the hands of the Lord. 

We are working so that we can Baptize 4 people for the 18th. I think that is going to be my last Saturday here in Carlos a Carrillo  and then I'm leaving. I still don't know, but its very likely that I leave then. But, the work is going very well. We have lots of investigators progressing and preparing to be baptized. 

I love you guys and am always very grateful for all of your support. Always be obedient to the Lord and he will bless you more than you deserve. I have seen that first hand. Take care.

Love,

Elder Hakes

I shared with Brent a part of my lesson on goals in Relief Society on Sunday.  We used recent general conference talks to see what suggestions for us were there.  Number 5 was on missionary work....

Being a missionary, I like the 5th one haha. But really. The responsibility of us as members is to find the people for the missionaries to teach. The responsibility of the members is to teach the people with the holy spirit so that they strengthen their faith, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the holy ghost and endure until the end. The thing that I'm seeing now more than I ever did before is how little we really do as members to help the missionaries. I felt like ya we helped them, but now as a missionary I see that we are alone. For that reason the prophet has declared that now is the time to work as a team. This is a battle against Satan and we are battling for the souls of mankind. When we put it in that perspective it changes our views a little bit. We aren't only in the church for ourselves, but for all others. To be missionaries and invite others to come taste the fruit of the tree of life. Whip that relief society into gear mom;) If you could put up with me for 18 years I think you can deal with them. But also remind them that missionary work literally is Baptism(finding people), Retention of members(visiting teaching), And activation of inactive members. That's the work. Work hard and the Lord will bless us. That's something I heard this week with the stake president. He told us, "The church is work. It's not baptism and coast till the end, its WORK"