El Rescate de Oberá‏

¡Hola!

It has been so awesome to hear everyone´s experiences about the temple open house. I am so proud of all of you for being good examples to people and helping them to have a good experience with all of that. It really is way awesome and I am mad I am missing it! haha But for now I am going to work hard so one day Oberá has a temple. haha

It has been a pretty great week! Marcelo and Lily are getting married this week so they can get baptized this next week! We have been working with them and talking with them and they prayed about it and today we have been running around to do all the paper work and such and they are way excited and way happy! They are going to be awesome members of the ward and I am especially happy for their kids who will be able to grow up with the gospel. She is way pregnant and should have the baby like the week after the baptism so this will be a crazy but amazing month for them!

On Tuesday Elder Muñoz and I were wondering if we should try to go to an area that we haven't really worked in a lot, called San Miguel. It is kind of far and pretty poor and we have heard it was kind of dangerous so we weren´t sure, but we prayed and thought and decided we would test it out the next morning. And when we got there the first like 5 people we tried to talk to said we were spies from the U.S. or had bad things to say about the church or just wouldn´t even listen, which is pretty rare for here in Oberá. At this point I was about to just abandon this area and go somewhere else, but we kept walking and went down this dirt street. We saw an old man working on the side of the rode and he smiled at us and we shook his hand and invited to sit down in the shade with him. As we were walking over he said "es un milagro que usted están" or "its a miracle that you are here." I asked him why and he began to tell us his story. His name is José and he is like 70 years old and was baptized in the church 38 years ago. He has a super powerful testimony of the church and was super involved in missionary work in his area a long time ago. They even had little meetings at his house about 18 years ago where more than 20 active members of the church would meet. But he told us that about a year ago the missionaries stopped working in that area and none of the members had visited anyone in San Miguel since then (there are no active members in San Miguel right now but a bunch of inactive members). The night before he prayed that God would send his messengers to him and the very next morning we showed up. He told us he knew it was a miracle and I know it was a miracle as well. He is sick and so we gave him a blessing and set an appointment to return. It was so incredible and I am so grateful we followed the Spirit in order to arrive to help this man of faith.

But this story doesn´t end there. About a week ago I was weighed down with a lot of the problems that the branch was having and prayed that the Lord could send someone to help fix things. As I prayed this the thought came into my mind "I sent you." We talked to José Benitez again on Saturday and he told us the history of the branch of Oberá from his very enlightening perspective of 38 years. The branch was created 40 years ago but still only has about 70 really active members. There have been lots of baptisms but few retentions. From hearing his story I know what we need to do in order to help this branch grow. Because the Lord will not trust this area with more baptisms if we are not caring for those who have already been baptizing. So Elder Muñoz and I are beginning the rescue of San Miguel and as well as all of the other less active members who really just need to be shown that they are needed and to feel the love of the branch. I truly feel this is why I was sent here and I am excited to do all I can to help build the church here in Oberá.

Anyways, sorry that this letter got really long. But I love you all and am so grateful for your love and support!

Con amor, Elder Hawk

Cuando sale el sol‏

HOLA!

Well this has been a great week. We worked like crazy and found a lot of knew possible investigators and have been helping a lot of people progress and improve.

But first of all, I love Oberá! The attached pictures are a sample of some of the amazing sunsets we have had here. They are even better than in Arizona! The people here are all so humble and friendly and they believe in God and try o live good lives based on the knowledge they have. This place really has become my home and I love it so much. I have met so many amazing people and I am changing for the better every day. I hope I get the chance to stay a bit longer but we will see what the Lord has planned for me.

This week we had a lesson with Marcelo and Lily and Hermano Rivero came along with us. We were talking and then they told us about a miracle that they experienced together a long time ago. Marcelo was super sick and couldn´t even hardly walk or do anything. He really was close to death, but he prayed for help and then Hermana Rivero should up and offered a prayer with him and he stood up and she took him to the church nearby the house that she was a member of. Now, years later she was with us outside his house to help him yet again have the faith to be healed and baptized to follow Christ. It was a very powerful experience and he told us that he believed in the Book of Mormon and everything and is just waiting and praying for his wife to gain the same answer to her prayers. They will be baptized one day. Maybe not by me, but the Lord used me to play a part in this experience and that is the real success.

I have also been struck this week by how the Lord sends us to people when they are in a position to accept the gospel. It just seemed like every person we talked to this week had something that was going on in their lives or that recently happened such as a death in the family, separation from a spouse, moving to a new area, having a baby, etc. We were able to talk about these experiences and promise them blessings if they would act in faith on the message we have to share. When we are doing what it right, the Lord provides. He provides these people with an opportunity to find the peace that is so difficult to find in life.

We might not have the outward success with the numbers, but I know the Lord is pleased with our efforts and we are fulling our purpose to invite others to come unto Christ. More than anything, we are being changed and becoming better by the service that we have the opportunity to give. It has been amazing to see the changes in Elder Muñoz especially. I am so proud of him and am excited to see all the great things he will do on the mission and in life. We are constantly and continually blessed here in Oberá.

I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers and support. I know that your faith is helping to guide us to those prepared for the gospel and helping us to teach by the Spirit so we can help these people change their lives. I love being a missionary!

Con amor, Elder Hawk

 Beautiful Sunsets in Obera

Exitó Verdadero‏

Hola!

Well it has been a pretty interesting week this week, but I am learning a lot about myself and how I need to improve. We are being blessed every day, but we had some trials this week as well.

About two weeks ago I traveled to Posadas and then Corrientes to get my visa stuff finished but when we got there, there was not enough time to finish. So this Wednesday we left for Posadas at about 7 in the evening and slept in the apartment of the Elders in Posadas. At 3 in the morning we woke up and started the drive to Corrientes. After a bit less than 4 hours we arrived and went into the place to do our papers. We waited forever and the power was going on and off. They finished with Elder Litchfield's papers and then there was this huge bang and I saw a flash of orange light and I looked over and the fuse box was smoking a little bit and the side of the wall was all black. It was pretty intense! haha So they couldn´t finish my papers. So we traveled back to Posadas and spent the night with the assistants and again at about 3 we woke up and left. I tried to sleep in the truck but it was pretty difficult. At this point I was only half conscious because I was so tired, but finally we finished and headed back to Posadas. Then we luckily caught the last bus to Oberá and arrived at like 12:30 at night. So after over two days of travel we finally made it back. But we had not had much contact with our investigators so I was a bit worried.

But Saturday was an awesome day and we had really good lessons and I was pumped for church cause I was sure that we were going to have a lot of people there. I had prayed hard for a good day and we got it and I was really excited... And then no one came to church. I was pretty sad and a bit frustrated. So we went out and visited our investigators. We had found an awesome lady this week and had a super powerful lesson. I know she felt the Spirit so strong and was way excited to come to church. She said she couldn´t talk to us any more cause her mom didn´t want her to. We worked hard to try and get her to change her mind but she wouldn´t. It was pretty sad to see someone who had received a witness of the truth and just didn´t have faith to follow it. I hope that one day she is able to build the faith to change. But I know she knows it is all true.

Our last lesson of the day we taught a family about the Plan of Salvation and I talked about Jace and how I am on a mission to help others to have an eternal family. It was super powerful and I felt the Spirit way strong. After I talked with Elder Muñoz of my frustrations and then this morning I was praying and I realized that my frustrations our due to my pride and that I want the outward success. But the truth is that the true success is when we are teaching people by the Spirit and doing all we can to help them truly change their lives. And I am doing that. So I just need to change my perception of what success is and not worry about my own feelings of what makes me successful. It isn´t about the numbers or the baptisms. It is about doing all you can to help others come to Christ. I just need to humble myself and remember that.

I am really starting to see my weaknesses better and am grateful the Lord is putting me in the situations that I need to learn and to be humbled. But I know that through Him weak things will be made strong. Not only for me, but for the people I have the opportunity to teach. And at the end of the day, every success is the Lord´s and we are just humble tools in his hands.

¡Los quiero mucho!

Con amor, Elder Hawk

Conocer Las Personas Realmente‏

Hola!

Well it has been one of the best weeks in the mission so far! It has been a big learning process to be a trainer and to just have to rely totally on the Spirit to know what to do, but our hard work is starting to pay off!

The coolest part of this week was just listening to people´s life stories. We have an investigator named Ricard who had an abusive father who left him and his alcoholic mother when he was 9 years old. His mom didn´t work so he had to work from the age of nine in order to provide for himself and his mom. He told us that he suffered a lot and at times would go days without food. Then he met a guy who gave him a house to live in and helped him find a job and it totally saved him from this situation. Now he has a pretty nice house and land and is able to provide for his family. He also told us that he totally has forgiven his dad and his mom which I found incredible! He said that sometimes he just thinks of all the things that happened in his life and just feels horrible so he smokes sometimes. We taught him about the Atonement and that he could be healed from these things if he was willing to put his faith in the Lord. It was pretty incredible to hear all that and to see that he actually turned out alright despite all the opposition in his life. It made me very grateful for all the blessings I have had in my life. I was born in basically the perfect situation so I definitely need to be out here helping others!

This week we found the Amarilla Family and they are way awesome! They are super humble and live in this tiny house and right now the power and water is cut off and they have three little kids. They came to church this Sunday and it was awesome to see the branch rally around them. Everyone was helping out with their kids and being very welcoming and it just made me feel so good to see so many people helping out this family who really needs it. Yesterday after church we met with them and they loved the meeting and we talked to them about baptism and they accepted a baptismal date and are way excited to keep preparing. He even destroyed all the cigarettes he had with him and committed to quit so he can receive the blessings of baptism. I am so excited for them!

I guess the best thing I learned this week was to teach more by the Spirit. All of our good experiences this week came from when I just totally tried to focus on the person and what they were saying and then responded with the Spirit and answered their question or talked about something that was bothering them. Without divine guidance we can´t truly help these people. Because God knows what they need and if we listen carefully he will tell us so that we can help these people truly change their lives. It is pretty amazing that I can help these people change their lives truly and permanently. I love being a missionary so much! I am blessed every single day and I love these people more than I am capable on my own. It is a great blessing!

Thank you all for your support and prayers and love! I love you!

Con amor, Elder Hawk

Hola hola!

I have started saying things twice is Spanish in a row this week for some reason. Like bueno bueno so I am trying to break the habit.

This was a pretty crazy week. We had transfers and Elder Muñoz and I are staying here in Oberá! But Elder Tetedoux is going to be a district leader and Hermana Houtz is going to be a sister training leader and Oberá is now a zone and we are living with the zone leaders. There are a lot of young missionaries in leadership positions and all of the sisters from my district in the MTC are training now which is pretty cool. After two more transfers they are pretty sure there will be more sisters than elders! The mission is growing a lot and there are a lot of young missionaries out and it is way awesome. Pretty exciting stuff.

This week was exciting because we finally were able to really teach the family Vasquez. A few weeks ago I couldn´t sleep and I was thinking about this family and I just all of a sudden had a lesson plan come to my mind and so I wrote it down on a paper and then I went straight to sleep. But we still hadn´t been able to talk with them until this week. We called our appointments on Monday and they said that Tuesday would be better so we didn´t know what we were going to do. So we decided to pass by the Family Vasquez. When we got there we followed the lesson plan and it was way powerful! We talked about the blessings of having parents who are good examples and how the parents can change the lives of the children and their responsibility. We shared the story of Enos and a few others and we felt the Spirit so strong. And they came to church Sunday! And they really enjoyed it and our excited to keep coming. It was way cool!

Also, we had interviews with President LaPierre. We talked for like 45 minutes again. haha I could probably keep him talking for 2 hours if I wanted to. But it really is awesome that he takes his time with everyone individually like that and he gave me a lot of really good advice. He is the man! And I got to talk to Sister LaPierre and she told me her conversion story and it was way cool! It´s also funny how direct she is with the missionaries sometimes. One of the Elder´s had a really tattered shirt and she told him off and said he needed to throw it in the garbage. haha It was pretty funny.

Also, this week we went to Corrientes to do visa papers and I got McDonald's which was pretty exciting. And thank you all for the package! It was way awesome and delicious and the kids will love those toys! Thanks for everyone who sent letters as well! I love you all and am grateful for your support!

Con amor, Elder Hawk

Missionaries in front of a huge Catholic Cathedral

"Sunsets here in Argentina are even better than in Arizona"

McDonald's in Argentina is delicious!

Hola!

It was way good to talk to everyone on skype on Christmas and I am glad you all look healthy and happy and are doing good things in your lives! I am blessed to be a member of our family!

This week on Christmas eve we had a meeting in Posadas with 3 other zones and each zone did a musical number and Presidente LaPierre gave a talk and so did the assistants and sister LaPierre. It was way good! One of the zones were singing a song super serious and normal and then one of the Elders pulled out a harmonica and they changed it up a bit and it was way sweet! Also, one of the Elders played guitar and a member played the violin and it was so awesome! It was way awesome to experience! And good to talk to a lot of my friends from the MTC and other areas.

This week there was a lot of people at church which was way awesome and we had a meeting with all the adults in the last hour and the branch president talked about the goals for the branch and what he wanted to accomplish this year and one of them is better home teaching. I shared an experience about how we visited a man from a different church who left his church a year ago and told us, close to crying, that not one person from his church had visited him, but that God sent us to help him. It was way cool and I thought about how there are people in our church who go inactive and nobody even notices and how sad that is. So I just bore my testimony on the importance of home teaching, because I actually hadn´t thought about it like that before.

We had four investigators at church Sunday but Ramona was not one of them. We visited her and she actually has some really serious heart issues that prevented her from coming. We gave her a blessing and it was very powerful to be a part of that. She has so much faith! It has been really cool to bless people who are sick on the mission. I have had lots of opportunities and it really is amazing and entirely based on the faith of the person.

Well, i am way excited for this next 6 weeks (or more) in Oberá! The work is not only here but in the whole mission. We actually are creating 4 new zones this transfer and are going to open a lot of areas cause we have so many missions. A lot of young missionaries are being called to do hard things but we are learning so much and the blessings are real! Les quiero!

Con amor, Elder Hawk

PS I sent pictures this week! The one with the hill in the background is the hill I have nick-named "cerro del diablo" hahaha  (hill of the devil)

This picture was on Hermana Crump's blog: They were all in the MTC together

Feliz Navidad!

Feliz Navidad!

This was probably one of the best weeks of my mission so far. We have really been working really hard and searching for the people prepared and trying to get the members and leadership in the church involved and we were very blessed this week.

Ramona came to church this Sunday with the Familia Rivero and we were kind of nervous because she had basically said that if she felt good at the church, she was going to continue and get baptized. So I was nervous but I had no control cause she was sitting away from us (which was actually better) but I prayed she would have a good experience. Today was the week of missionary work in Sacrament meeting so I gave a talk. I talked about the pure love of Christ and how as missionaries we always tell people we have a message of love and that I say it all the time, but when you really think about it everything in this gospel is about love. So I talked about that and the atonement and then read the scripture that says "as I have loved you love one another" and challenged them to show their love for someone in someway before Christmas. And I stressed about forgiving people who have offended you and asking for forgiveness because a problem we have here is that the members can at times be offended pretty easily and can also offend. I was basically finished with the content of my talk that I had planned when I just looked out at the people and felt the strongest love for all of them. I told them that I loved them and that this love comes from Jesus Christ and that I truly want to help them and that the Lord has blessed me with the ability to love. It was pretty powerful and I came pretty close to crying. Afterwards, some people told me that they had cried or were close to crying so I hope they felt the spirit strong enough to where they will act and change for the better.

But back to Ramona. We have an awesome gospel doctrine teacher who is super animated and exciting so I wasn´t worried about that class. But then she went to relief society and we went to priesthood and our meeting went long so we didn´t have a chance to talk with her after. But we talked to some of the members and one lady said that Ramona gave the closing prayer! And we talked to her afterward and she told us she just felt total peace and tranquility and the love of God the whole time. We are so pumped for her! And we are hoping to get the rest of her family to come this next week. We had a good lesson with her and her husband and  he told us as well that if he had a good feeling at the church that he would be baptized. Pretty amazing!

The Lord really is blessing us so much. Today me and Elder Muñoz listed the blessings we have received these last 5 weeks and then I made a little sign that says "Las Bendiciones Son Reales" and we are going to hit it with our hand every time we leave our apartment. The greatest blessing of all is that we are becoming more like Christ and helping others do the same. It is really amazing to see these blessings and to see that if we exercise our faith, through actions that the Lord will bless us EVERY time. I love you all! Merry Christmas!

Con amor, Elder Hawk