Noticias from Elder Rand Thomas Hawk: Marcos Bautizado

¡hola!

Sounds like everyone is doing really good at home. I am glad to hear that all went well with dad becoming bishop and everything. We all will receive so much blessings for his service and he will do an awesome job. That is also way cool about Tanner being involved in that girl meeting with the missionaries and everything. Tanner´s the man, still being a missionary.

The week started out with more traveling. We actually hardly had any time in our area to proselyte this week because we had to sign a contract in El Dorado on Monday and travel to Posadas on Tuesday and Elder Peña got sick and there was a crazy storm, but we were still able to get a lot of work done. The meeting in Posadas was with 3 zones and it was so awesome. We have amazing leaders in this mission. President LaPierre is the man and Sister LaPierre (who speaks only a tiny bit of Spanish) bore a powerful testimony of Christ with the Spanish that she had. Other highlights were practicing to use the Book of Mormon more with the idea that the Book of Mormon answers the questions of the soul. It was way good because at times we just give people the Book of Mormon and explain what it is but we don´t always focus enough on how it can specifically help people with their lives. It was an awesome meeting and I got to see a lot of my district from the MTC which was way sweet.

Best part of the week though was that Marcos was baptized! He has been working so hard to get ready and we really have seen amazing changes in him. He was way quite and just serious at first but now he is always smiling and laughing and he is growing so much. He quit smoking to be baptized as well and it was so amazing to get to see the Atonement work in his life. Definitely the best part of missionary work: to see the amazing changes in people. And I had the opportunity to baptize him which was an amazing experience. But his confirmation was even better cause a member gave him a white shirt and dress pants and he was confirmed by a former less-active member who we have been working with. I really just felt the full joy of missionary work and it was amazing!

Other highlights of week were a crazy storm in Posadas that flooded a lot of streets. We also were in it but Elder Peña was sick so we were inside when it hit super hard. It was one of the hardest storms I have ever seen but the members say it was weak compared to a lot in the past. Also, we found a giant frog in the street. I ate pig intestines (very difficult to chew) and today we had a district activity with like 4 kilos of chorizo which was delicious! We also watched the Emma Hale movie and played ping pong. I am actually getting pretty good. We have cambios (changes or transfers) tonight so we will see what happens. Kind of anxious to figure it all out.

I´m loving life, working hard, and enjoying the journey. I really have been so blessed. Thank you all for your support, love and prayers.

Con amor, Elder Hawk