April 20, 2015

Baptism of Raquel

Baptism of Raquel

Guanabana Fruit

My Area

SMILE...you're in Orizaba

Dear Family!!!!

This week flew right on by!!! I feel like I just barely wrote last week....anyways.....this week was a pretty good one. The zone didn't do quite as well as I hoped for, but they still did a good job. As for my companion.....he will be going home next Tuesday! SO crazy! haha. But it pretty interesting but as for the week!! Well we found some good people but they kinda disappointed us! Their names are Angelica and Fabiola. It's a mom and daughter! The daughter is 13 years old but looks like she is 15 and understood everything we told her! The mom is a little bit slower and didn't understand as well but that's ok! Anyways... they accepted pretty much everything and we invited them to church. They said yes. We also invited them to a baptismal date and they accepted. BUT then Sunday came around and they never showed up!!!! Who knows what happened there....we haven't seen them yet. But we will see what happens! Also this week there is something called children Day. It's a day to celebrate for their children but anyways the church is gonna do an activity for it and they asked us to participate. SO this Thursday we are gonna do a show for the kids haha. My companion and I are gonna dress up as alligators and we are gonna do some Fable. Should be pretty fun haha!!! And there should be some pretty good pictures next week!!! 

Also we have our stake conference this week! The 70 that is assigned is Elder Netzahuacoyotl Salinas....heck of a name right? So we are gonna have the meetings Saturday and Sunday! Should be fun and an awesome experience to learn from! Also we had some other really cool news!!!! In July Elder Holland will be coming to the Mexico Veracruz Mission!!!! BUT I won't be here.........;( but it will be an awesome experience for the other missionaries to learn. Wish I could stay a little longer but I think if I stayed any longer the hair of my Mission President would just fall out haha. So sadly I won't be there to meet Elder Holland. 

As for this week I have been thinking back a lot on my mission! All that I have learned and the experiences I've had.....I've come to a conclusion that all of this is just the beginning and all of it will serve for a good purpose in my future life. The principles that I have learned in the mission will shape me into the future father, husband, friend, etc that the Lord wants me to be. The mission is preparation for the rest of our lives. ALL YOUNG MEN MUST SERVE A MISSION!!! But make sure you are ready when you leave....don't just go at 18 cause all your buddies are doing it....do it when the Lord wants you to! I would even say that ALL YOUNG WOMEN SHOULD SERVE A MISSION AS WELL!!! Personally that is my opinion but if you are going to serve do it as if the Lord himself would do it. That is what the Lord needs missionaries that are humble and willing to learn and do the work in the Lord's way. If we do it our way then it will be meaningless but as we do it in the way of Lord it will be meaningful! This applies as well to our normal callings, our work, our life, our marriage, etc. "Whatever thou art do well thy part". And as we do this I know that the Lord will open the heavens and pour his blessings out upon us and we will be perfected in his Atonement, which will give us the strength we need in the hard moments of how our lives. The only question is am I doing the sufficient in my responsibilities so that the Lord might lift and strengthen me? If not what must I change so that I might receive the Lord's help and fulfill my calling in the Lord's way? 

Secret of success in life= Living and Doing as the Lord himself would Live and Do (Following the spirit)

I testify of all this and I do so in the name of Jesus Christ my Savior and Redeemer Amen.

Elder Hakes    

April 13, 2015

Dear Family, 

This week has been one full of work!!! We are looking to find new people just like always haha. Our zone did a great job this week. In almost every way we got better!!! Super excited for that reason. As for me, I'm doing well....feeling weird with the time running down every day more! I am grateful for this time the Lord is giving me to do his work. My companion is going home in 2 weeks....

This week we had a baptism of Raquel. Her husband was baptized like 4 weeks ago and now she got baptized. It was a pretty long process.....they both had to make lots of changes with living the gospel and the commandments! But hey they did it!!! haha. I'm so happy for them....it is always a sacred experience and a true honor to be a part of a baptism. Now we are gonna focus on getting them to the temple! I would love to come back in a year to come see them all. I'll be sending some pictures tonight because we have district class so I'll have internet in the church. 

Also this week I was blessed with an answer to my prayers....It's sooo amazing to see the way that the Lord answers us in what we ask if it is a righteous desire. Prayers are heard and answered. The Lord loves us so very much. Like I said last week, we just have to put him as the center piece in our lives and he will bless us. Say your prayers, read the scriptures, have family night, go to church etc and then the Lord will be willing to bless you always! But if we don't do these things, the Lord will definitely have a hard time blessing us.......everything is based on our obedience to our Father in Heaven. Hope you are all doing well! 

I love you all sooo very much!!!!!!

Elder Hakes 

April 6, 2015

Dearest Family!!!!

First matter of business.....I hope you all LOVED the general conference! It is always a great opportunity to learn how to guide your life in whatever case it might be. Married, single, missionary, returned missionary, student, grandparents, etc. If we listen to our prophets they will helps us to avoid Satan's grasp and move forward with success in our lives. 

Yesterday I was meditating on what I should do different in my life starting today....just as Elder Nelson invited us to do. As I began to thought I decided to go and read my scriptures. I took out my Book of Mormon and began to read in 1 Nephi 17. In this part Nefi is teaching his brothers and refers to the story of the Children of Israel and their journey through the wilderness. I remember learning  this story in seminary and I remembered that the staff with the snake hanging from it was representing Jesus Christ and his Atonement. But what I began to think about is, "What would the fiery flying serpents represent then?" 

I kept studying and checked the many cross references and checked the many scriptures. They took me to other stories like when the Lord sent them Manna to eat with honey and I realized that the Lord always required simple things of his people. He told them look to the staff with the hanging snake and you will be healed and when they asked for food he gave them the manna as long as they would be obedient. Many said how is looking at a serpent on a staff gonna heal me? They left without looking  suffered and eventually died. With the manna (if i remember correctly...I didn't study too much about it) there were people that complained because it wasn't very good tasting and so the Lord sent a plague of locust to eat it all and many more died. But what did they really have to do? Look at a staff with a serpent which was representing looking unto the Lord in all things. In the case of the Manna, they only had to be patient and grateful for what the Lord had given them. The manna also represented the Lord being the Bread of Life. 

·         John 6:35

35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 

·         They simply had to focus their lives on the Lord. As for the flying snakes my personal feeling is that they represent the trials that we have in our lives. For these people it was pride, worshiping idols, etc. For us what might it be???? Overcoming sins? Remembering to study scriptures? Obeying the commandments how the Lord has commanded(Keep the Sabbath Day Holy)? Process of repentance? Losing a child to sin or to death? ETC....Etc.... there are many we could name off. But instead of thinking like the average person "why does the Lord do this too me?" think about what you can learn from these experiences.  

Why do you think the Lord made his people go through the difficulties and suffer these things based on what I have explained?  

It's simple to see that the trials in our lives which include sin, pride, or losing loved ones are so that we may trust in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his Atonement. That is why there are hard times and that is why we came here.....to learn how to trust in the Lord and do his will. If we humble ourselves before the Lord and trust in him we will overcome these trials and in doing so we will overcome Satan and will be made strong enough to help others do the same(Ether 12). 

So I ask again what might the flying snakes be in your life? And what might you do to overcome them? 

President Eyring told us in the priesthood session,"We hold the power and authority of God but we cannot use it properly until we receive inspiration." This applies to all church leaders in their callings because they work under the Priesthood guidance of the Bishop. But I'd like to change that to a more open statement, "We are light unto the world but in order to overcome are trials and let our light so shine first we must receive inspiration or personal revelation and then we will be able to lift all others." 

I invite you to look in your lives and turn unto the Lord so that he may guide thee in your lives. If you do so, I know that you will begin to find a different light in your lives, even a happiness which you had not know before. Jesus is the living Christ and as we strive to follow him and center our lives around him we will overcome our trials and we will be found worthy to enter into the kingdom of our Father in Heaven because we will have understood the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I testify in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

March 30, 2015

Dear family, 

Well... do you believe it.... the General Conference is already here again!!! 6 months flies by fast right? Also this will be last general conference in my mission...... and to get everybody excited and to remember Jesus Christ.... there's another new video!!!! You can find it on  helives.mormon.org It is amazing!!! Mom please post it on my facebook and invite everyone else to do the same thing! Its a beautiful video that truly makes you feel the spirit. 

Well this week we did alright....there wasn't a whole lot of time we had some different meetings this week that we had to go to....so there wasn't as much time as normal. The good news is we have a baptism planned for next week!!! Her name is Susana. She's 40 years old. We found her because she lives in the house of some members. The first day we met her she was very open with us and she told us all about her life and many problems. The biggest problem there was she was living with a drunk man that doesn't do anything except make her feel bad. SO we spoke to her about the Law of Chastity. We explained that all that she was suffering in that moment was because she was being disobedient to the Lord. We cant ask God to help us if we don't do what he asks.....She understood that very well and from that day on she decided to make some changes. TO be honest this is a pretty normal case in Mexico.....many people live together but are not married. But normally the people are more rebellious and don't want to change....but she was different!!!! She changed from that day one haha. It was so awesome!!! And obviously since she left her boyfriend she has now sold more in her work and feels a lot better. (She walks the streets every day selling candy....next time you think your jobs a pain in the but just be grateful you have it and it pays you good enough) She probably makes like 20 bucks a day if that! But anyways that's changing to!!! She started going to the Self Sufficiency program of the church and is learning how to do things better and shes starting work with some members in making other things to sell! SO shes doing great!  Also fun fact for you... if I haven't mentioned any of this before.....here in Mexico a person can start any food business they want or sell things in the street and there aren't any cops or health rules. Well there are rules....but the government never checks so it ends up being the same thing. 

The Zone has gotten a lot better but we need to change some little things. The first would be the way we teach. I am not the best teacher but I have seen many other great missionaries that know how to teach including my companion right now. And great teaching comes from great questions! We all know how things work or we all know the basics but the way that you present it and the questions you ask is what changes everything. So I'm gonna be focusing my studies on that this week. What kinds of questions can I make to help the people understand what I teach and make them apply it to themselves? We will see how it goes!!!! 

Honestly, I'm loving the videos of the church!!!!!! Please share with all people! You never know when it can make a difference in someones life!!! 

Love y'all

Elder Hakes