August 25, 2014

HELLO FAMILY!!!!!!

 Everything is going rather swell over here! My companion just got here fresh off the plane from the MTC of Mexico. His name is Elder Lumbreras. Is a little chubby but that's just moire to love! haha. He's from Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. Born in Mexico City and recently moved to Iguala. He is a very good missionary honestly! He surprised me a lot. He knows very well why he is here and works hard to fulfill his purpose as a missionary. I've learned a lot from him so far. It's good to see a new missionary, they honestly have more faith than the normal missionary. They get here and know everything is true and believe that everyone else is going to believe them. And it honestly happens. I've enjoyed seeing it happen this week.

Elder Lumbreras and his smashed banana.

We also had some amazing experiences with prayer. We were working and it started raining rather strongly. We prayed and asked the Lord to make it stop. We waited a few more minutes my companion cleaned his backpack cause he smashed a banana that he had inside haha. And after he finished cleaning the rain stopped and we kept working. It was a cool experience that he reminded me the power of prayer and that if we have the faith the Lord will give us. Also as a new missionary we stay in the house an hour later than the normal missionary and we study and practice. So we have a lot more to do and to learn. It was good to remind me of the basics because those are the most important. And when we do the basics right everything else becomes easy!

 I know that theses things are true. I know that the Lord loves each and everyone of us and because of that he will answer our prayers. It wont always be in the time we want or the way we want, but he will answer us. Also our president of the mission reminded us of the importance of reading the Book of Mormon daily. So we have been focusing a little bit more in studying that. It's been very fun. I've seen lots of scriptures that I need to hear and what my investigators need. I love the Book of Mormon. READ IT DAILY! I don't care how many years you have in the church or how many times you've read it, I promise you will learn more every single time you read. We aren't perfect. We are like the dishes. There's a plate that we get dirty. So we put it in the sink. Sometimes we wash it immediately other times no. And if not, we just keep getting more and more dishes. But every time we have to go back and clean them. Our life are the dishes we have problems, doubts, anger, frustration, etc. But when we wash our dishes with the Scriptures and the Atonement we can be clean once again. I know this is true. The Lord wants us to get better so we have to read the scriptures and understand his will. And only more with the world we live in! Stay strong and do it.

Love,

Elder Hakes

August 18, 2014

Hey family! 

Everything went great this week! We had another baptism! His name is Mauricio. He lives in a part member family and was very prepared to be baptized. All went well! Also this week we received transfers. My companion is going to my first area Carlos A Carrillo! He is gonna be the district leader there. Super excited for the man he's gonna do great over there and is gonna love it. I told him all about it! Also I received news that I will be staying and I will be training!!!! So I'm gonna get a new missionary straight from the MTC. Should be fun.  I'm sure I will learn a lot and I'm gonna enjoy it! 

We are working hard to find people that can be baptized in the coming weeks also. And everything is great. We didn't really have time to write because of the stuff my companion had to do to get ready, but just know I'm doing great! I love you guys. And I know that the work of salvation is the most important thing that we can take part in. I invite you to do it! Be simple talk with people about the gospel and when they ask questions respond saying, "Why don't we ask the missionaries!". Then, you invite them and have a family night to learn more. I know that if you only do this simple thing that the Lord will bless you and put people in your path so that you can share the gospel. 

Love,

Elder Hakes

August 11, 2014

My District

 

Alright ....this week was rather interesting!!!!! My companion had to get his wisdom teeth taken out on Tuesday. So we had to stay in the house the whole day for almost all week. I did divisions with young men in the ward too so that I could work a little bit. My companion is now feeling better and we are gonna work. 

Also this week was the first time I've gone to the  hospital in the mission......I went to go give a blessing haha! There was a member sick and we went and gave him a blessing yesterday. Haven't heard anything yet, but we are hoping he gets better quickly. 

 

Today we went to a Brazilian grill!!!! It was super good! Our Bishop was very kind and paid for us! It was so good though! I haven't had so much meat in a long time and how good it was:) 

 

 Also always the favorite of Grilled Pineapple and here they put cinnamon on it which just makes it even better!!! I love the whole thing! Also I bought a new suit that cost $90 super sweet and cheap! 

This week we are going to have another baptism! His name is Mauricio. He lives in a part member family. His brother is in the mission right now and he just started going to church like a month ago. He's liked everything and is changing and will be baptized this week! Also something pretty cool that I have learned this week is the power of making covenants with the Lord. Our zone leader taught us about daily covenants that we can make. So I decided to make one. I didn't really even know if I was going to leave to work that day cause my companion was still out of it. But I felt I should make a covenant. I Promised that I would have a certain number of lessons and contacts and a couple other things and I asked that if I did that if the Lord would help me find 2 new people to teach. SO the day went on and I had nobody to go with me. I felt kinda bummed out cause I wasn't going to be able to work. But I kept looking for someone that could go with me to visit. Finally I found someone at about 6 PM that could help. So by then I only had 3 hours to do all that I had planned. SO, we went and worked as hard as we could to complete. We fell short BUT the Lord saw the efforts we were making and blessed us with half of what we asked. Even though I didn't hold up my end, the Lord blessed me with 1 new person. He gave me half of what I wanted. 

I Know that the Lord loves us. He will complete all of his promises no matter how big or small but we also must be willingly to hold up our end of the deal. Look for the way to apply this in your life. You could say I'm gonna share my testimony twice a day for a week and if I do it, I ask that you bless me with one person to go to church with us. Try the Lord see if he hold is promises. I know he does and always will. 

Love,

Elder Hakes

August 4, 2014

This week we had 2 baptisms!!!!! Teresa y Carlos got baptized! It was such an awesome experience! I got to baptize Teresa and my companion baptized Carlos. I felt the spirit very strongly and also the happiness that the gospel gives to everyone of us. After I baptized Teresa we got out of the font and turned to watch her son Carlos be baptized. Watching Teresa watch her son be baptized and start to cry touched my heart. I saw the love that she has for her son and how happy she was to see him change. I just about teared up too! But I honestly was able to feel the love in that room has they were baptized. Also the love that we have for them too but seeing the happiness that it brought to Teresa is what truly touched me. I know that the gospel changes lives. They became converted and eventually baptized because of the faith that they have. That they were willing to read the Book of Mormon and ask God if what we taught was true. That's what they did and the Lord completed has he has and will always do. He touched their hearts and they received a testimony and were baptized. I also learned in teaching them that the Book of Mormon is the key to everything about our church. If you read and ask God if it's true he will answer you and you will know it is true for yourself. I know that that is true and invite all of you to try it also. 

Besides that, something interesting happened in the church this week. A man arrived that had one crutch and looked like he was almost homeless. His leg was hanging limply and was curved. Slightly gross but he can't do anything to change that. We talked to the man and his name is Jorge. His leg is missing about 6inches of bone from an accident he had. He had come to look for work in my area and was listening to the missionaries in a different city. He was going to be baptized this last week in Tehuacan Mexico. Not sure where it is but its a different state and mission. He gave us the number of the other missionaries and so we called them up. They said that they had been teaching him and weren't very sure about what happened  to him because he wasn't in his house. But that he already has been to church a lot and was going to be baptized. SO basically we are gonna work with him and help him to be baptized probably for this week! We just have to go see what happens with him. 

Also today we went on a hike! Its called Goat Hill! Not sure why because there wasn't a single goat there but it was cool. The majority of the pictures I sent are from that hill. It was pretty tiring but we had a good time doing it!

Love ,

Elder Hakes

I'm not a fan of doctors in Mexico.....they told me my appointment was to take the cyst out.  I got there and they just looked at it again! And said its a cyst that they were gonna see when I could come to get it taken out......rather annoying but oh well! can't do anything about it..... just wait! Still don't know when i go get it out....

My companion, Elder Martinez

The caterpillar from last week....

...What the caterpillar did to me.

Goat Hill