Facebook Pictures-Zone Christmas Gathering 12/26/17

December Pictures 12/18/17

Rat Hunter Video 12/18/17

Apply the Atonement in Your Life A Letter to Elder Hawley 12/18/17

Hi Elder,

Sounds like you are getting more snow than we are. We have about one inch that's it. They say it might snow this week, but we will have to see. It has been really cold and inverted. No sunshine is awful. We are, however, doing great. We can't believe that Christmas is next week and we get to talk to you! This year has gone by so fast, it is unbelievable. 

It is so good to hear things are going well for you. We love reading about your experiences and the people you are teaching. We had a very good sacrament meeting today with some great talks about Christmas and what is really important. One of our stake high councilmen spoke. He reflected back to when he was on his mission and he and his companions with others decided to go caroling at Christmas time. They sang "Joy to the World and "Hark the Harold Angels Sing". They were invited in and were able to teach to some who really felt the spirit of those two songs. He also said, "During this Christmas season and always, apply the atonement in your life." He gave a really good talk. There are so many great things about this time of year. It is just too bad that all the good seems to get overshadowed by all the busy craziness of this time of year. We are donating to a Sub for Santa as a family this year and donating to the homeless.

Megan is feeling a lot better. She is busy trying to catch up in school which is overwhelming to her. She has also been super busy with her Madrigal performances (gigs as they call them) which she really enjoys. She also attended the Madrigal Christmas party and had fun at that. Malia had her orchestra Christmas Concert last week which was good. She is getting really good at playing the Viola. Miles went with dad to the new Star Wars movie that was part of Symphony's Homes Christmas party (it was during school, so Miles got out early to attend the movie with dad). When Miles got home mom asked him how he liked the movie and if he understood it. He said, "Yes I liked it and it was in English so I understood it." Hahahahaha

We miss you a ton and hope you have a very Merry Christmas. We are looking forward to next Christmas when we can all be together again. We know you are doing the Lord's work and we are so proud of you. What a great way to celebrate Christmas by serving and doing the Lord's work. You will be blessed for the rest of your life for your service. 

A couple of Christmas scriptures for you to ponder this week. Luke 2:8-14 and Luke 2:6-7.  Keep up the good work, we pray for you each day.

 

We Love You,

Your Family

Rat Hunter 2017 12/11/17

This week we had a visitor Friday morning. To start off, it was so cold this day. It was so cold it snowed!!! I felt like I was at home! I went to my closet to my drawer that had all of my winter clothes and as I was pulling them out...what runs up my arm...a rat? What? That sounds awesome? Jaja I don’t know why but it scared me so bad. Jaja then for the next 30 minutes we were chasing it all over the place and finally I grabbed a cardboard box and went to catch it and I accidentally killed it....poor guy. We took some funny videos but I’m not sure if I can send them! I will try.

So this day it snowed in the morning and we were just walking around wet and cold knocking on doors and nobody wanted to come out. Then just as we were about to give up and go buy some hot chocolate, we saw this girl walk out of her house and go around back and we decide...well if she can just walk out she can listen to us too! So we knocked on the door and her sister and brother answered, they immediately accept us in, and we taught them. They are super cool and really want to go to church and learn more! So that really was a miracle!

Also we are teaching this really cool gentleman (is that the right word??) named Ricardo who is like 60 and is blind! He is a friend of a member that lives really far and they gave us his direction and told us to visit him. We went to go visit him and he immediately accepted to come to church and to prepare to be baptized! He is really cool! He is teaching us to read Braille....so that is pretty cool too.

When it snowed (my comps first snow experience) we made a little snowman and it turned out pretty ugly. It was so cold the snow...it was more like an ugly slush man haha but it’s okay, it was fun.

This was a great week! I hope you guys are enjoying the cold! Have a great week!

Love you guys a ton!

Elder Hawley

Reach Out in Compassion & Mercy A Letter to Elder Hawley 12/11/17 12/11/17

Hey Elder,

It is always great to hear from you, even better to hear of your success and your love for the work and for the people. The pictures are great, we love to see the people you are teaching.

We can't believe it is almost Christmas. Time is going by so fast here at home. We haven't really had any snow yet this year. Last year by now we already had a ton. We are praying for a white Christmas.

Megan is feeling a lot better and went back to a full day of school last Friday. She also went on a date on Saturday night and had a lot of fun. We hope she continues to improve and can catch up on all her school work. Thank you for your prayers. We felt them. Megan is busy now with Madrigal performances in December. The Madrigals did the whole program in our ward Sacrament Meeting. Megan and Jonah spoke then the group sang the remaining part of the program. Megan spoke on Having Charity and referenced Moroni 7:44-47. They all did a great job. Malia is busy trying to keep up with her school work, early morning cheer practices, and the many activities she is involved in. Miles is doing well and was so excited he got 100% on his spelling test on Friday. Woo Hoo!!!

After our ward Sacrament Meeting we went to Jacinda's Homecoming. It was really nice. It was so fun to see all the swim friends there and catch up with them...Thomas, Dylan, Kelly, Daniel/Becca, Gabbey/Chipper, Kase, and Jake. Jake is applying for Med School, he wanted me to tell you. He wants to go into Auto Immune Disorder Research. He should know by March where he will be going. All four of the Hodgson kids are going to the U and are doing well. Kyler has a serious girlfriend and will have his Masters this Spring. Daniel and Becca will be finished this Spring too. 

Something to contemplate this month: From Elder Eieter F Uchtdorf: "During this beloved Christmas season, it is fitting that we take delight in the lights, music, gifts, and glitter. This is all part of why we love this time of year so much. But let us never forget that we are disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. To truly honor His coming into the world, we must do as He did and reach out in compassion and mercy to those who suffer. This we can do daily, by word and deed. Let this become our Christmas tradition, no matter where we are-to be a little kinder, more forgiving, less judging, more grateful, and more generous in sharing our abundance with those in need. My wife, Harriet joins me in sending you our love, best wishes, and greetings for a very Merry Christmas. May the contemplation of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem inspire us to be like Him. May Christ's mission and example cause our hearts to swell with divine love for God and deep compassion for our fellowmen. And may we ever scatter our crumbs with greater generosity and unceasing love."  

Keep up the good work and stay focused. The best is yet to come. This last part of the mission will be the best.

We love you tons,

Your Family

It's December Already!!! 12/04/17

Wow. I cannot believe how fast time is going by!!! This week was super awesome! 

 

First of all I don’t know if I have talked about the family Perez, but they are awesome! It is a less active family that we found that hadn’t been going to church for years! They have a 10 year old daughter that hadn’t been baptized. We found them and started teaching them again. The little girl’s name is Iran. We had been teaching them for like three weeks and they have been going to church again. This Sunday Iran got baptized! It was such an awesome experience to see their whole family in the church again! We were all super happy!

 Second, we had been teaching this guy named Marcos who is really cool, but to be honest he just wasn’t progressing. He was really busy going to work and with lots of stuff and we were going to have to stop visiting him. One day we decided to go to his house...normally we had always taught him and seen him at his work, but we went to his house and met his daughters! Turns out that they use to go to church with their grandma who is a member and they were super excited when we asked them if they wanted to come again! They came to church and they are super excited to keep coming with us! 

Third, we are teaching a 17 year old named Marcelino, he is super cool! We found him this last week and he came to church with us on Sunday and wants to keep coming. We talked to him about how him coming to church is one of the ways that he can show God that he loves him and has faith in him. He told us, “I think the best way I can show God that I love him is bringing my brothers and sisters here to the church too.” I died when he said that. So awesome.

 

In the picture with the graffiti, it’s some cool graffiti that says “For you”. It was for his love for you. John 3:16. That is the scriputre that says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

 I love you guys a ton, and I am loving it here! Have a great week everyone!

Elder Hawley

Testimony/Conversion A Letter to Elder Hawley 12/04/2017

Hey Elder,

It's great to hear things are going good. We hope you had a great week! It has been a challenging week for us as Megan has been super sick, missing school, and was diagnosed with Mono on Wednesday. We are worried about her and trying all we can to help her. Things are crazy busy with us between school, work, and church duties. Just trying to plug along and do our best with our crazy life. 

We had our ward Christmas party Friday night. It went very well. There were a lot in attendance.

Sister Cleverly passed away this week. She was in her 90's. We don't know if you remember her or not. Her funeral will be tomorrow (Monday).

Thought for this week, "TESTIMONY is to know and to feel, CONVERSION is to do and become-Elder Dallin H. Oaks

Your conversion is worth more than "100 Grand" (candy bar) and is the "pieces" (Reese's Pieces) of your life's experiences.

Have a great week! We Love and miss you a ton!

Your Family

Rattlesnake Attack y the Boys Are Back 11/27/17

Hahahaha I didn’t know what to title my email. So this week was super great! We had some cool lessons and experiences this week, but not everyone was able to come to church. For the next week we should have everyone there!

 

My Thanksgiving was really good, we got invited to eat with a family, turkey. It was actually really good. I think because I hadn’t had it in so long, or I haven’t had mashed potatoes in a long time. I miss Thanksgiving with everyone but, I just passed the last one.

This week we had a really cool experience about prayer. We have a cool guy investigator named Alejandro that is going to get baptized and this last week he started a new job. We didn't get to see him at all, his phone broke, and every time we went to his house he wasn't home. We were scared that we were never going to be able to find him. We decided on Saturday that we were going to pass by all day at different hours to try to find him because he works at night so we were bound to find him one of the times. We had passed by like five times and nothing. We were going to pass by one more time to see if he was home. We said a prayer asking that we could find him and see if he was okay and teach him more so he could be ready for his bautism. We said in the prayer we were going to pass by at a certain time and that we could find him in his house. We got to his house later at the time we had said and we knocked and nobody came out. I was kind of let down a little bit but, literally as we were just about to turn around and walk away he just walked up out of nowhere with his family and super excited to see us. It was so awesome to have our prayer answered. He is really excited, even though he is working, to keep going to church! Just some other normal things happened, but this was the best part!

 We did some service this week and helped a lady move some rocks and dirt. As we were finishing we found a rattlesnake that had been right where we were walking and working and wow it didn’t even do anything to us. So awesome. It was small and I took a picture of his little rattle tail. Also some pics from the roof party last week!

 Love you guys and have a great week!!!!

Elder Hawley

Having the Gospel is a Privilege A Letter to Elder Hawley 11/27/17

Hey Elder,

How are things going for you? We hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was good. There were 31 of us at Grandma and Grandpa's this year. There is a family from Venezuela who are living next door to Aunt Ginger's. Grandma invited them to eat with us. It made us feel close to you hearing the dad and cute kids speaking Spanish. We wished you could have been there to help translate. Dad didn't feel well the entire day. By nighttime he became progressively worse. He ended up receiving 3 bags of IV fluid in the ER that night, for severe dehydration. He had some kind of bacterial infection and colitis. He is doing better. Illnesses are definitely going around. It's that time of year, unfortunately. Nothing much different happened in our week.

Here are some thoughts and scriptures for your week:

"We all need to remember, men are that they might have joy-not guilt trips."

 (Elder Russell M. Nelson)

"Never postpone a prompting". (President Thomas S Monson)

Let the spirit be your constant companion. "The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever." (D & C 121:46)

"Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:18-19)

The Samaritan showed the wounded man kindness and mercy. He treated him like a neighbor. Jesus wants us to treat others as the good Samaritan did. (Luke 10:25-37)

Keep up the great work, great attitude, and continue to "Be All In".

We Love and Miss you a ton!!!

Your Family

Another Week Bites The Dust! 11/20/17

Wow. This week went by so so fast. Some super awesome highlights were...

First. Encontramos (we found) some super awesome families this week! One of them is a family menos active (less active) and they are all baptised aparte de su hija menor (apart from the youngest daughter). She is 10, but we are teaching the whole family and they are all super excited and coming to church again!

 

Second is a really cool guy we are teaching named Edgar. He is so awesome. After church yesterday, he started to ask about bautism. We took him to the font and taught him about baptism standing in the bautismal font (it was empty of course) and he told us he wants to be bautized as soon as he can!

Third is we found another really cool family. They have a really weird last name, so I will let you know that next week, but they came to church and are super cool! I am excited to visit them this week!

 Fourth! One family that we baptized in the area of Camargo went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead this last week! So awesome! I was so happy for them, they loved it! (The temple is at least five hours away from where I am in Matamoros now).

Last thing that was fun was we had a little party on our roof haha. The four of us pitched in money and we roasted some awesome hot dog sausage things! So fun.

I love you guys so much, and am really thankful for all that you all have done to help me!

Elder Hawley

Thankful for the Plan of Salvation A Letter to Elder Hawley 11/20/17

Hey Elder,

How are you? How was your week? It's good to hear things are going well. As always, we enjoy hearing from you and seeing your great pictures. 

Things are good and busy at home like they always are. Dad and Megan flew to Dallas, TX early Friday then picked up a used ambulance and drove it back home for Symphony on Friday and Saturday. It was exhausting Dad says...long road trip. They are finding that used ambulances are cheaper than box-type trucks to buy. You know Jon and his "deals". They stopped at the four corners and while there they saw a lot of wild horses. Megan was thrilled! 

Marissa got home last week from her three-month mission. She gave her Homecoming talk Sunday. She did a great job and talked on Thankfulness for the Plan of Salvation. She made an interesting comment that really stuck. She said, "God leaves nothing to chance and we cannot fail unless we do not try." He honors our agency but leaves nothing to chance. God is definitely always with us and always there for us. It gave us comfort to hear that. She also talked about an investigator she was part of the entire three months whose heart became softened when the Plan of Salvation lesson was given. She was baptized within three weeks of finishing reading the Book of Mormon. Marissa's companion ask the investigator if she liked cake when she started reading the B of M, she said yes, then her companion said reading the Book of Mormon is like eating cake, you want more after eating one slice. In the follow up lessons after the investigator was baptized she said to Marissa and her comp, "The Lord was beside me before baptism, once I was baptized, the Lord was inside me." At the end of her talk, Marissa said she knows she was lead to going on a short mission. She loved it and learned so much in just three months. She wishes every woman could serve at least a three-month mission. She was going through a lot of dark times before she left and was confused of where her life needed to go. When she returned and went to update the journal that she left at home, her last entry said, "Lord show me what to do." How cool is that...she was lead to go on a mission to Logan, UT.

We hope you have a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving! We are so Thankful for you and the time you are taking to serve the Lord. Keep up the great work you are doing.

We Love you,

Your Family 

 

Service is the Key A Letter To Elder Hawley 11/13/17

Elder Hawley,

From Dad:

How is it going? It is great to hear you are having success and working hard.

I prepared a lesson for a combined 5th Sunday and wanted to share something with you. I learned when Lehi had his vision of the Tree of Life he mentions tasting the fruit and then searching out his family so they could also partake of the fruit. We don't learn about the great and spacious building until Nephi has his vision. Lehi never mentions it. I believe Lehi was so busy wanting to share the gospel that he never even noticed the great and spacious building (the world). He was never distracted or lost his way. This is such a great lesson for us. If we can focus on sharing the gospel, we will never fall away or be distracted by the cares of the world. Service is the key to remaining faithful. It blesses us and those we serve in so many ways.

The Savior is the best example of service. Even though He came to earth as the Son of God, He humbly served all those around Him. He declared, “I am among you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:27).

“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40).

Opportunities for service to others are limitless. Kind words and deeds can lift burdens and gladden hearts. Sharing the gospel is a great service with eternal consequences. One true key to happiness is to labor for the happiness of others.

We are super proud of you. Keep up the good work!

We love you!!! 

Your Family

AMAZING WEEK 11/13/17

WOW this was a great week. We had like three families in the church and they are all progressing great! I will send pics of them next week! One of the families invited us to eat dinner with them on Tuesday and have a Family Home Evening. That’s the family Heña Posa! They are super cool. The other family are two little kids whose parents are inactive members that are starting to go again! The other is a single dad named Alejandro and his daughter! They are really all so awesome and I am loving the work. 

 The only thing I’m not loving is the freezing cold water to shower with. If you don’t believe me look at the face of one of my companions as he started to shower hahahahah. 

Oh man we are working hard and finding some awesome people. It’s just hard because we have one of the biggest zones and there are some really hard areas here...so it looks like we should be baptizing more, but these areas don’t baptize a lot, so we are trying to help them a ton.

Scripture thought: Mosiah 17:8, 9 never doubt our testimony and always do what we know is right and good no matter the circumstances!

  

 Some pictures…the baptisms of Juan Antonio y (and) su hermano (his brother) Carlos Edgar.

They are so great. They participated in the primary program this last week too, and Edgar is going to get the sacerdocio (priesthood) soon! 

  Me with the Elders in the zone, and the two pictures are me with the AP’s that are leaving. I am going to miss them a lot, but I’ll see them when I’m home.

 I miss you guys all a ton and the work is going great here!

Elder Hawley

Letter to Thomas from His Buddy 11/06/17

Dear Thomas Ross Dress For Less Sheridactly,

Dude, you’re a Senior! That is so weird to think that college is almost over just like that! I wish that I could be there with you and enjoy it with you and all the crew, but I am just so glad that I had the chance of one year with you up there in Idaho! Dude, this is the highlight of all of our swimming, training, and career and I’m so excited for you. From what I’ve heard and you’ve told me is that you are killin it so far, and I am so pumped for you. Just keep training at 100% and you know what to do....just be So Swoll!

Dude I love you a ton. You have always basically been my number one man. I say that in the least weird way possible haha. I miss you a ton and going for drives and hanging out and playing Smash, hittin up the town. I am really glad that I have had you in my life. Haha I just remember all the times we went on trips together and we were always killin it in Cali and Washington. Ha, where didn’t we kill it? Am I right haha? Keep up the great work dude, in school, in the pool, with the ladies haha, and always remember that I got your back here in Mexico…if you need anything!

Sincerely your main man,

Elder Hawley

Haha I Truly Don't Know What to Call This Email 11/06/17

This week was a great week! We have been working super hard and we get to the house super tired, but I am loving the work. Sometimes when we are so tired it’s okay because I just feel happy talking to the people and helping them out!  I like my new companion, Elder Bruno, a lot. He is awesome. He is actually from my same generation, we got here together!

This week we helped out a really cool family move to a new house. We did a lot of service actually this week and everyone on Sunday talked about service too! Just remember that we always need to be paying lots of attention to the people around us and how we can help, even if it just a little thing!

I am super good, super happy, and working hard! I hope you guys are doing great too!

Love you all!

Elder Hawley

Press Forward A Letter To Elder Hawley 11/6/17

Hey Elder,

Wow, a trip to the breach. The pictures look pretty awesome. That is great that you are teaching the Gospel Principles class. Sounds like you are having some challenges getting into a groove. It seems every time things are going good for you, something changes. Hang in there, it can be frustrating at times, but the Lord is in charge. He knows what he is doing, soon enough it will make sense to you.

It was sad to hear Elder Cisneros got changed already. How did transfers go last week? How are things going with your new companion and the other new elder in your house?

Keep up the good work and stay focused. You have all the tools and are well seasoned in the work. The Lord has prepared you to be a great tool for him. Keep staying focused and you will enjoy more success than you can imagine. 

A thought and scripture for this week..."I Can Always Choose to Feel My Savior's Love. Talk to Him (daily prayer). Learn from Him (daily scriptures). Follow Him (daily service)."

2 Nephi 31:20 "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

We had another crazy busy week with work, school, Malia's performances, and Halloween. Hopefully you can see the pictures we emailed to you. We hope you received your Halloween package too.

We love and pray for you always!

Your Family

Serve With All Your Might A Letter To Elder Hawley 10/30/17

It is great to hear from you. Way to go on your talk...that is awesome. Sounds like things are going well and you are having great success in your new area. Keep a positive attitude. Stay focused on the work. Serve with all your might and the blessings will just keep pouring in. It is amazing how many blessings we can receive each day from our Heavenly Father. There is no limit or end to his blessings. It is amazing.

Things are going well at home. We had a busy week. We attended pack meeting with Miles. He already earned his Bobcat. He is so excited to be in Cub Scouts. He thought at first and asked Dad how it was going to work for him to pass the sacrament. Haha, he thought he started doing that at Age 8. So dad had to explain to him the difference of being in cubs and scouts.

Yesterday was the primary program in Sacrament Meeting. It went very well. Miles did good on his two parts he had and sang really well too...he loves to sing!  Malia had her Fall Orchestra Concert and did very well. Megan went on a couple of dates and went to the day activity at the ranch for the upcoming Sadies Dance.

We survived the end of the term week. The kids are out of school today for a teacher prep day. Megan wants to carve pumpkins with Malia and Miles. We also had the family Halloween party on Saturday. It was fun but we sure miss you not being there. Grandma made her beef stew and cheese sandwiches which are always good.

A thought and scriptures for this week..."We are HIS HANDS, as we emulate His perfect example, our hands can become His hands; our eyes, His eyes; our heart, His heart."-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

D & C 4:2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.

D & C 59:5  Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him.

We are so happy for you and the opportunities you are having. Keep it up and "Be All In".

We love you a ton!

Your Family