Hola!

Well it was a crazy and unexpected week. I am staying here in this area for my 4th change and Elder Rusque, a Chilean, is my new companion. He dies at the end of this change so I will be here most likely for these next two changes. Almost everyone I see in the street I have taught before. haha But I am way excited to work with him and he has a lot of experience and we get along really well and teach great together. I am excited for this change. We also joined together two zones and so now my zone is WAY bigger, so it is cool to have a different challenge with the larger zone and be able to work with more missionaries. The Lord is helping me to learn a lot about leading and helping others to reach their potential.

Also, we received a new missionary from Idaho... whose name is Elder Preece. The son of Dad´s companion in the mission like 25 years ago!! I recognized the name and then I asked him if his dad served a mission and he said East Lansing Michigan and it was way crazy. Attached is a poorly taken photo of us. haha

Also, we had a sweet zone activity today where we played Volleyball and then ate pizza. It was way fun and everyone enjoyed it a lot. It was nice to get to know the other missionaries a little better and build our unity.

This week we were teaching Teresa who had told us that she wasn´t going to come to church because her daughter wanted to go to the other church, but we read her a scripture in D & C 31:2 and talked about how she could have more family unity. then she said she was reading in the gospel principles manual and was learning so much more in depth about principles of the gospel and asked us about fasting. We taught her more about it and invited her to fast for her family so that they all can receive the gospel and also to attend the testimony meeting. She accepted and did it all and church was way good this Sunday with a lot of powerful testimonies. She and José her son loved it! It was cool to see how the elect keep the commandments in the moment that they know about them. Even before we met her she always closed her little store on Sundays and she said that the Book of Mormon and everything we teach is opening her eyes even more. We are excited for her and her family.

On Sunday evening we were in divisions and I went to a part-member family and the dad was outside and we sat down and started talking to him for a bit. At first he wouldn´t even talk to us or shake our hands (which is super rare for a Paraguayan) and later we had really only been able to talk a little bit about his work but he always went inside and left us with the others in the family. But today we were sitting and I asked if he knew Ricki who was the member with me and he said that he went to the same catholic church before. Then I asked if he knew the story of Ricki and he said no, so we said a prayer and Ricki shared the story of how he quit drugs and later joined the church. Then, I told my conversion story of reading the Book of Mormon and asking if it was true and I asked his son Renson to share the same. At the end we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it. I was way pumped afterwards and the Spirit was way strong. Right after, we went and visited the aunt of the family and we told her what happened and she burst into tears and said that in the 22 years of being married to her sister, Gernardo had never sat down and listened to the missionaries. It was really a miracle and we were led by the Lord.

This week we also had a hilarious experience when a woman was telling us about how she was healed after praying and she was being super dramatic about it and also talking in Guarani so we didn´t understand it too much, but we have made a game out of guessing what they are saying and she was putting her hands on her stomach and I said " El Señor puso las manos en su pancho" but what I wanted to say was "El Señor puso las manos en su panza." We laughed for literally like 5 minutes and couldn´t stop. The lady was also laughing with us so it wasn´t bad. Elder Rusque couldn´t even stop after we had left the house. I wanted to say that the Lord put his hands on your stomach, but what I really said was that the Lord put his hands on your hot dog... hahaha Probably the funniest moment of my mission.

I love you all and am so grateful for your examples and all that you do!

Con amor, Elder Hawk

 Pizza with the Zone

 With Elder Preece

 Classic Elder Hawk

With My New Companion---Elder Rusque