Recuerde‏

Hola familia!

It has been another awesome week at the MTC. I am learning Spanish and the gospel quickly, I am happy, and I am so grateful for all of you, your letters, your advice and your support. Thank you!

So this week I have learned a lot about the word remember. It started when I was walking to lunch and some missionaries were doing something stupid and I just had the thought come to my mind that missionaries don't want to be disobedient or less than they have the potential to be, they just forget. I wrote this down and then that night I just started writing with the subject of: the greatest threat to a missionary is that he forgets. And that really is the greatest threat to all of us who are members of the church. It isn't usually that we want to sin or be unkind to someone or do less than our best. It's that we forget. A missionary forgets that he has been called by God; he is a representative of Jesus Christ and is expected to act as such. He forgets that he has made sacred covenants that he needs to keep. He forgets that he holds the priesthood of God. That God has trusted him with the same power He used to shape the universe. He forgets the people he has been called to serve; that they are alone, and unhappy, and in danger spiritually. That it is his job to find those people and help save them! He forgets all the sacrifices made before him by saints and missionaries and martyrs. Worst of all, a missionary (and all of us) forget about Jesus Christ. He has done so much for us and redeemed us and yet we do not always follow him. We don't remember that we can become perfect through Him and that he wants so badly for us and others to be with Him forever. It really is pretty sad that we forget.

But the only way we can fix this is to remember. To remember all of those things and to act better because we remember them. Last night, I watched a talk Elder Holland gave at the MTC. He talks about how incredibly lucky we are, because never has there been more opportunities and ability to do good and better health technology,etc. on the earth than there is today. And every prophet before our time has had to deal with the reality that eventually he would fail, that the gospel would be taken away from the earth; they were all destined to ultimately fail. But not us! I am part of an army that was called to succeed. The gospel will never again be taken from this earth! "Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly,  and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear,  till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say 'the work is done.' What a blessing it is to know that! But it is one thing to know something and an entire other thing to remember it.

So, my new goal is to remember. To remember all who have gone before me. To remember my family and all who have done so much to give me the truth. To remember I was called to succeed. To remember that a boy truly did see God and Jesus Christ in a grove of trees almost 200 years ago. To remember Jace. To remember the people of Argentina and Paraguay who need the Gospel so desperately. To remember my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. And to remember that the message I am going to share is true. I know it is true! And I will boldly proclaim it to everyone I see. If I truly remember all of these things and try harder and do better because of them, then I will be the missionary I want to be. And I promise to everyone reading this right now that if you will only remember then you will have the strength and diligence to continue on and to improve every day. 

Well, that turned out longer than I thought. But I hope you all truly consider it, no matter who you are. I know it will bless your life. I love you all! I am so excited to be able to dedicate the next 23 months to helping other people and building God's kingdom on the earth. How lucky am I!? The most lucky.

RECUERDEN

Love, Elder Hawk