Travel Plans To Reynosa 8/31/16

Hello sister Hawley!
I am Elder Berry, assistant to the president Regalado. He asked me to let you know that your son will be arriving to the Reynosa Airport on Monday the 5th of September at 7:00am. He will not be traveling alone, he will be acompanied by 13 other missionaries and they will all arrive at the same time. When Elder Hawley arrives to the mission office, he will have the opportunity to call you and let you know that he arrived safely. In case that your son does not know your phone number, we ask that you send us your number so there wont be any problems calling home. You can be waiting for that call between 9am and 10am. That will be the hour here in Reynosa Mexico.


We will be waiting for your phone number.

10 days till im at the bottom again. 8/25/16

Wow time has flown by. Literally it is so crazy. I love it here so much. The teachers are great and the presidency is so great and we went to the temple this week and wow its been awesome. I have learned so much and I have grown so much. i am basically the most mature person ever. Also the church is true and i cant wait to get to the field to help people with the gosple the way it has helped me. It is the gosple of good news. good scripture i memorized this week, not just because it is short, is philipians 4:13 todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortelece. you can look it up if you dont know spanish. to be honest not much has happened this week becasue we kind of do the same thing over and over but I have learned so much and its great. teaching investigators here is awesome i cant even imagine what its going to be like in the field. so pumped. love you guys and there is no pictures this week because we were super busy today but i still love you all. peace out.

Happenings/Feelings Letter To Elder Hawley 8/24/16

Hi Elder,

I just need to write to you today...it's been a hard week for me and I just want to talk to you, text you, and hug you.  We look forward to hearing from you each week...it cannot come soon enough. I hope we will be able to "chat" like we did last week.  Later is better for me like last week after I've been at work for a while.  Whatever works better for you though...if you can give me a heads up on about what time, I can hopefully be right on.  How has your week been?  What "investigator" experiences or other experiences have you had? Are you still feeling okay?  Are you remembering to wear your retainer and take your vitamins every night?  Do you need or want anything? Keep working hard and accept the challenges, callings, and experiences that come your way.  You will be blessed and grow and learn from them.

This honestly has been a hard week for me.  Starting with attending and helping at Brother Platt's funeral on Saturday.  This was Dad's first experience conducting and talking at a funeral.  He did well even though he was a nervous wreck!  It was very sad but very nice in honor of Brother Platt.  There were a lot of people in attendance and we fed at least 150 family members. We even put 2liters of root beer out on the tables which everyone seemed to enjoy.  Brother Platt is the oldest of 11 children!  Pray for his family especially for Sister Platt and Easton.

Logan had his farewell on Sunday which turned out nice.  He leaves today.  His family members always ask about you as well as others in our ward and anyone I run into that knows you.  You are so loved!

We watched the Life of John Tanner as a family on Sunday.  We enjoyed it.  Thanks for suggesting it to us.  Keep suggesting things like that for us to watch or read. It is good for us.

Bishop Larson and his family moved to Minnesota on Monday.  Bishop Larson and Sister Larson talked on Sunday too which was very emotional for many including them.  It has been hard on all of us especially Malia with Lydia moving. 

Malia is now wearing contacts which are working out well and she likes them.  She looks very grown up now. Megan, Malia, and Miles started back to school today.  This morning went very smoothly considering we are back to having one in high school, junior high, and elementary.  It has been difficult for me this year school shopping without you not being here and thinking back on last year at this time shopping with you and getting you ready for college.  It seems like yesterday...time flies!  It is also sad for me knowing for the first time in 19 years I will not have a child at home with me on my days off.  I've been kind of a sappy mess...pray for me too.  Stages of life and my kids growing up are hard for me.  I want you all to be little and at home still.  However, the journey ahead and all of you growing up and turning out good makes me happy!   I know you are where you need to be right now.  

Exciting news, Dylan comes home today around 1pm.  We will attend his farewell on Sunday.  Cousin Jake gets home on Sept 1.  Already!  That's crazy too!

Sorry for the long letter.  I just need to get things out once in a while as everyone does.

Talk to you tomorrow.

I Love You!

Mom

3 weeks since i´ve played pokemon go 8/18/16

Haha jk i don't miss Pokemon that much. well kind of. this week has been a very interesting week. Honestly there's not a ton to write about because we literally do the same thing every single day but i honestly really like it. It makes me more excited to be in the field. Haha well let me think. First off my espanol is getting a lot better and me and my companion are singing everything in Spanish which is a blessing for my district in and of itself, jk after receiving a flying marker to the head i decided to keep my singing to myself.

everyone was having a hard time with the language this week since we are learning some crazy new stuff and we were going to play some volleyball and we always check the mail and i told everyone that if we all didn't have something for us they could beat me up, haha they took that seriously. but lucky for me we all had something in the mail which was honestly a Milagro. we had a feast of treats that night. 

It is so fun to see the new missionaries coming in and telling them it will be alright, that what the guys did for us and i just want to repay the favor. Also we are the best district in vollebal in our zone. hands down.

I honestly love the gosple so much and i know its true. I cant wait to get to reynosa and to teach and serve the people there. I met an Elder from bolivia today and he was the only member of his family and he told me that his family basically told him not to come home if he went on a mission. He gave up so much to serve. I want to be the best missionary i can and be like alma and ammon and all the other great missionaries. 

Everything is going great, other than the food, oh boy it is so rough, other than that everything is great. talk to you next week!

We watched the life of John tanner and I want to be him. Watch it if you havent already!

Second P Day and Still Going Strong 8-11-16

hello. I am still alive and the food is still good. i hope you all have a good week. talk to you next week. haha jk. so much has happened this week!

Monday was super great! Learning spanish and learning how to teach has been such a great experience. I am so greatful for the chance i have to be serving the lord. (also i only have a spanish keyboard so it has no autocorrect so if there are lots of spelling error its only kind of my fault.)saturday: we started teaching a new investigator in the mtc that turned out to be running a drug cartel, and he is acctepting the gosple well, and has a baptismal date which should be good practice for me in reynosa. i honestly want to get out of the mtc and into the feild so bad.

 monday my teacher is cool, he is like the older brother i never had.hes proposing to his girlfriend next week so that was exciting. Honestly one of the biggest lessons ive learned from him is how important smiling is. he is always so happy and it makes everyone around him happy.

tuesday: we challenged our rival district to a game of volleyball and we totally won. like destroyed them, but they are good missionaries. technically we arent allowed to keep track of score so the game doesnt get too competative but if we were keeping score it wouldve been like 100 to like 5.

Wednesday: was the hardest day of my whole life, a elder in my district told me he was going home, they told me they were going to make me a zone leader which is crazy a lot of work, and we started this new teaching thing where they record us. holy cow. so crazy hard. I was praying the whole day and i wasn't really getting any answers and i was so frustrated. but the lord makes up everything. Wednesday night i was talking with my roommates and we were reading scriptures and while we were reading and just them talking literally answered every single question i had prayed about. It was so amazing.

I just got back from the temple and oh man the Mexico city temple is the greatest thing ever. its like the 4th largest temple i think! it was such a good experience especially since i don't think that i  am going to be able to go to the temple for the rest of the time. oh also i talked to the elder and he decided he is going to stay which is awesome.

  Well basically everything is going great, the food still messes with my body and my companion is still good, and i am just getting more and more excited to get into the field! so yeah I hope you all have a great week! -Elder Hawley

I Hope You Get This 8-11-16

Haha well the first thing has already happened that i cant tell mom and i have to tell someone haha so if mom is reading this stop her or if this is actually mom reading this stop now. Well the other day was literally the hardest day of my mission and I honestly wasn't getting any answers to my prayers. and i wanted to come home so bad and everything was going wrong and i was so stressed and an elder in my district told me he was going home, hes alright now, but that day was the worst. the next day was even worse but then literally every single question or concern i had was answered in like every single way possible. videos in class, my companion, scriptures. then later that night we were all laying in bed and they literally said word for word the answers that i wanted to hear and i never felt so loved or so cared for and I had the strongest desire to ever serve the lord ever. then something crazy scary happened. once again mom don't read on haha. We were laying there and just kept talking about things and we somehow got on to Cain and able and how Cain was a son of perdition. and then i my roommate asked if we felt something evil in the room and I went to respond and i couldnt move and I couldn't breath or respond and i felt literally so sick and scared. my whole body was on fire. my companion across the room stood up and cast the spirit out of the room and the spirit rushed over me immediately after he finished and I felt as if the holy ghost was lying on top of me protecting me. The priesthood power is so infinite that if worthy we can do anything with it. It showed me how badly Satan wants us to stop what were doing and to quit and how much he just wants to ruin the world. I know that that's what im here for. Haha i just had to tell someone that because it was so awesome of an experience. if you get this let me know haha you only check your email once in every two years i might just tell you when i get back.

Mexico MTC 8-4-16

Mitch~
Okay so first of all sorry its been so long! we didnt have any p day to write on the first week and i forgot to tell you guys of course! But my p day is on Thursday.

Wow. this first week has been literally the most crazy hard, best time, most spiritual time and oh boy I would not ever do it again but it wouldnt trade it for anything. The first two days we got here were mostly just orentation meetings and all that kinda boring stuff but now we are into teaching investigators and it is honestly so fun. The gift of tongues is so real and even though spanish is hard i am learning so fast. I actually have moroni 10 :4 and 5 memorized (in spanish) and it has helped me so much.

The food here has been so great on my taste buds but I dont know what my body thinks of it...if you know what i mean haha. I have been eating so much and i am trying to hit 200 pounds. Oh also i am District leader which is super fun and awesome!

 I have about 20 people in my district, we are district 15B and we are definitly the best. I love everything that is happened so far. Honestly i have never felt so much love from my heavenly father, Its honestly the little things that count.

One day I was having a super hard day and I was sick and super tired and my brand new shoes broke(on the third day. what the heck. i fixed them though dont worry.) we were in the process of memorizing our 300th word and oh man it was so hard. The mtc president told me though the first day i got here I finished helping unload all of the sisters luggage and apparently i had a huge smile on my face and he told me that no matter how hard the mission gets never stop being happy and smiling through it. so anyways I was having a hard day and i was just smiling through it and being positive and we were on the way to lunch and guess what we had for lunch. Chicken Bakes. I love chicken bakes. I ate like 4 chicken bakes, and I prayed and thanked my heavenly father for the great meal and i have never felt more peace in my life, just from a way way awesome chicken bake haha.

 I forgot my journal in my room so I dont really have any structure for this email but live and learn right. Our teachers are so awesome and I love them so much. They are so patient and so caring and funny. They dont understand sarcasm though very well so they didnt think my comments were very funny, but after i explained that i didnt actually feel that way they thought it was so funny. I have never felt so great in my life and i honestly just want to go and teach every person in mexico so they can feel the same joy that i have. Oh man. It´s great but hard. Alma 26:12 has helped me so much. Im pretty sure that is right...haha. It is the one about our lord making our weaknesss strengths and letting the lord work through us, with his help we can accomplish anything. I miss you all so much but there are people in mexico that need me right now and I am here for them and I want you all to be here because it is so fun and so great. yay.

The weather has been so crazy every single day it will rain super hard at like 2 pm and then again at like 6. almost every day. And I dont think i have any big pants but ill double check. I love the guys that i have been serving with my companion is awesome. and my roommates are all so awesome. I love everyone, haha literally every person i see they are all just so happy and everything is great.

Sorry this email has been kind of hard to follow but i have so many cosas en me cabeza and it is hard to keep them all straight. I love you guys so much! talk to you in a week!​

So like we already knew i dont know how well letters can get here but there is a cool letter or package thing called missionary package mexico or something like that if you are interested! I love you guys so much and miss you but I hope everything is going great!

Mom~

Wow what a great email and pictures to receive.  I hope you are feeling better.  So sorry about your shoes.  Do you need us to send anything right now?

Read Alma 32:27-43

We love you so much and are praying for you!  Keep up the great work!

Mitch~

No I am super great right now! I am feeling a ton better now! and i fixed my shoes but got super glue all over my hands haha. you could send me some dougnuts from missionary package mexico. unless its expensive, then dont send them, just so you know you can.

Mom~

 Will the time be the same each week you can write on Thursdays?

Mitch~

 yeah probably it is just p day so we kind of can whenever unless we go to the temple.

Mom~

 Okay I will plan on Thursdays around 1pm my time unless you tell me differently.  I sure wish we had rain here!  It is still in the high 90's and no rain.  However, St. George had flash flooding (and in the Narrows) yesterday.  Crazy weather.  The kids are boating today!.  How long do you have to write?  If you get inundated with emails from others, let me know and I can help you respond if you want me to.  Just monitor it so you're not too distracted. 

Mitch~

 I know yeah i got a ton of emails but i have to go now! ill talk to you next week love you, tell the rest of the family i love them too!

Mom~

Okay...talk to you next week.  We love you lots!!!

First Letter Home 7-26-16

Your Missionary's mailing address is:

Elder Hawley

05/09/201 B-15

Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828

Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero

07230 Mexico, Distrito Federal

Mexico

The estimated departure date for your missionary is 05/09/2016. The use of the

above address on all correspondence will greatly facilitate delivery to your missionary

at the MTC. Please don't send packages. 

hey guys, i made it! It has been super fun! I'm doing so good! thanks