Sea una luz‏

Hola,

Well it was kind of a rough week saying goodbye to everyone in Ita Paso. I hate goodbyes. But it was great to see how much the people have grown and I really feel like ti was true growth and it will keep going. Mariola was baptized on Saturday! Elder Blanco sent me the pictures that I forwarded to dad. I am way happy for them. Even though I wasn´t at the baptism I still got to see a lot of her conversion so that was the important part.

I forgot how difficult it was to do a white wash. We were pretty lost there for the first few days. But we went and bought a pretty sweet map and we are marking all the members and such so that is helping us a lot. It is way weird to be in Argentina again. Everyone has a way different accent and a bunch of the words and phrases that they use in Paraguay they don´t use here. But there are a lot of Paraguayans so I am still able to use a little bit of Guarani which is fun. I am in a ward for the first time in my mission but it is a very small ward and they are struggling a bit. We had like 60 in attendance on Sunday which is very little. The branch that is in our same building even had more than us.. but we are way excited to work.

This week I have just decided that the best way to improve things and help people is to just be a light at all times. So we have just tried our hardest to be excited and to get to know everyone and make sure that they feel the spirit with us and are excited for the work. I have decided to be happy no matter what happens and to just work as hard as I can. With this attitude we have had some very positive things happen.

Our new mission leader recently was reactivated but he is way excited to work with us. Also, we were talking to the young men's president and he was kind of down telling us that only like  young men go and so we told him that on Saturday we would do divisions with him to visit the young men. He accepted and we went out and it got him a lot more excited. We are planning on doing this with all of the organizations.

Also we had a very spiritual lesson with a family when we sang the song hark all ye nations. We sang the whole thing and then we talked about how lucky we are to live in a time when we have the gospel. I shared a story about how when I was in the temple and I saw a painting of Joseph Smith receiving the priesthood and thought about how that must have been a very celebrated day in heaven and the beginning of many amazing blessings that we receive because of the priesthood.Then we talked about how when we have problems the best thing we can do is serve others. Their family is passing through a lot of difficulties so it helped them out a lot. Michelle sent me quote that also talks about that.

“The best antidote I know for worry is work.
The best medicine for despair is service.
The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired.”
-Gordon B. Hinckley

Also, in sacrament meeting I was taking the sacrament and I just felt the confirmation from the spirit that I am where I need to be. I had the chance to bear my testimony and I shared that with everyone and said that I do not know all that God wants me to do here but that I am going to work as hard as I can because I know that I am in His service and have been given his power and that He has sent me here for a purpose. Then I said that every one of them is also here for a purpose and that there are many people who they can help. I felt the Spirit a lot.

We have a lot of work to do, but I know that the Lord will bless us and help us. My companion is awesome and very excited to learn. He is a great missionary and is going to be a powerful leader.

I love you all so much. Be a light!

Con amor, Elder Hawk