Happy Birthday & Prayer A Letter To Elder Hawley 1/29/17

Hi Elder,

"Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday Elder Hawley

Happy Birthday To You"! 

We hope you had a great day today. We had spaghetti with meatballs and chocolate cake tonight in honor of your 20th birthday. We also sang "Happy Birthday"  to you really loud as a family. Hopefully you heard it in Mexico haha. 

We hope all is well and that you have good news about your wallet and the dad that went missing. We are anxious to hear. We have been praying about that all week. 

We had a super busy week. The weeks seem to be going by so fast. We are tired of Winter. We have heard that this has been the snowiest Winter in more than 10 years.

Dad had the chance to go to a training meeting with Elder Bednar. It was awesome.The spirit was so strong as he talked about the priesthood and sharing the gospel. He taught that the pattern in the church of learn, follow, then serve. Dad had never thought of it that way before. "Come follow me, then comes "Take my yoke upon you". It was awesome. Blessings come from service. He also taught us to pray as agents not as objects. It's hard to explain in a letter, but basically if you pray for people to come to church you are praying as an object. If you pray for help to know how you can help people come to church you are praying as an agent.

Mitch, we are so proud of you.  We can see the growth in you and how the Lord is preparing you.

Scriptures for this week, Alma 37:37 "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." 

Also, D&C 19:28 "And again, I command thee that thou shalt pray vocally as well as in thy heart; yea, before the world as well as in secret, in public as well as in private."

Keep up the great work you are doing. 

We Love you and pray for you constantly.

Much Love, 

Your Family

I Don't Feel That Old 1/30/17

Well I’m twenty years old (one of the kids in the family we are teaching told me that I look like I am 50 years old) and I already have been out 6 months. I can’t believe that time is passing by so fast. How’s it going there for you all??? I’ve heard that it is so cold, haha I’m jealous that I’m missing the snow!

This week has been something of a miracle. I have learned so much. The missing dad showed up, drunk and passed out. My wallet is still missing though. I honestly have learned that the power of prayer is 100% real. We have found some great, amazing, wonderful, funny people this week. I want to tell you guys a story about a lady we found named Yesid. We were out contacting trying to find people in a new area that we had never been in. We started walking and then my companion said… let’s say a prayer. Okay thats a good idea. We said a prayer and went to work. I turned and saw a little dirt road, super muddy, with a little house at the end of the street. I had a super strong feeling to go there. We started to walk toward the house. We got there and Yesid was outside with her little daughter hanging up clothes. Turns out that her sister passed away not more than 6 months ago and she was having a really hard time. We taught her the plan of salvation, she loved it and accepted it immediately. The next day we taught her about the Book of Mormon and she loved it too. She read the part we left for her and loved it. When she prays with us she calls us her new friends haha. I honestly don’t think there is anything that brings more joy than to see someone change there life and start to receive the blessings for it.

This week was super awesome. We are going to pass through trials in this life and God isn’t going to take them away, but he will give us the strength to push through them.

 Thanks for all the birthday wishes, love you a ton! So grateful for the friends I have here in the mission that threw me a surprise party, (there’s a tradition here that they get to push your face into the cake haha).

Also we have some kids that are our friends that give us rides in there golf cart sometimes haha. They’re so awesome.

Love, Elder Hawley

Trials and Blessings 1/23/17

I lost my wallet. Found an amazing family. A baptism fell through. The members are helping us so much. I am getting fat. The food is so delicious. Haha I could go on but I don’t have lots of time. All I know is that when we pass through trials, if we can learn from them we will receive so many blessings. We are all going to pass through trials but the Lord will not leave us alone in our afflictions. He hears our prayers. If we ask in faith and it is a worthy request he will help us.

I had an awesome experience with prayer. It was super late and all the buses had passed, we didn’t have enough money for a taxi and we were in a more or less dangerous part of the highway, probably like an hour away from the house walking. I honestly had no idea what to do. I just felt a comforting feeling come over me to say a prayer. I asked if there was a way we could get home. I explained the situation and ended the prayer. Like 5 seconds later a guy pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride. He used to be a member of our church and saw us there and pulled over. I love the church and I love to know that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us and will do anything to help us learn and grow.

We have a super cool family named Vincente and they are super awesome. My district is doing great! Everyone is baptizing.

Love you guys a ton! Have a great week.

Elder Hawley

Lesson In Trials A Letter to Elder Hawley 1/22/17

Hi Elder. 

How goes the work? We are praying you can find your wallet. Miles informed us that his is lost too and he wants for us to pray for him too. We hope things are going well. We pray for your success. The Lord gives us experiences to prepare us for what lies ahead of us. It is important that we ask the Lord to show us the lesson in the trials we are going through. You are called to share the gospel as a missionary but there are lessons the Lord will teach you to prepare you for the future. Don't get frustrated through these trials, look for the lesson. Pray for strength to learn and overcome. Most of all learn to love everyone. 

Mitch, learn to be a leader. Lead by example with love and patience. People will do anything for someone who loves them. Continue to work hard.

Scripture for this week 2 Nephi 2:2 "Thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain.

We love you!

Love, 

Your Family

Milagros (miracles) 1/16/17

This week has been crazy and stressful with a ton of new things I have been learning, but I honestly don’t remember a ton. We had a really cool experience with an investigator. We had been teaching two little kids in a super cool family. One of the kids told us that he didn’t want to be baptised, so his mom told us that her kids weren’t going to be baptised because she didn’t want to force them, and then she just went inside before we could say anything. I was honestly devastated. I said a prayer asking to help these kids be baptized, and then the little brother named Ventura came running out of the house and said, “I’m going to get baptized. I don’t care what anyone says.” With some convincing of the mom he was able to get baptized and the mom is actually interested in our church now. We baptised his brothers the last week now we are hoping to baptise the one brother and the mom. The mom wasn’t mad, she just wanted to baptise him in her church but she doesn’t even go to church. I know that our prayers are answered. I love the church and the miracles we can see in it.

I had to plan my training for today and I had some serious revelation. I had no idea what I was going to talk about for an hour and a half and then all of the sudden I just knew, and planned it all and it turned out super good. I felt the spirit a ton helping me. It really has been cool.

The weather is super hot one day then cold. I got soaked the other day from rain then sunburned in the afternoon.

 In the pictures is my new companion. He is from Tabasco and is super great! We are working together great!

 

Love you all I hope everything is going super good!

Elder Hawley

Pictures 1/16/17

Faith & Hope A Letter to Elder Hawley 1/15/17

Hey There Elder,

How was your week? Hopefully you got your "son" and you are getting along. Are you in a new area? How many are in your district? How close to the mission home are you now? We feel like we lost track of what is going on. It feels like things have been a little crazy these last few weeks. We hope things have settled down and you are in a good grove working hard and enjoying your mission.

It was Mayor's Cup this week. Dad was able to take some time off work and officiate. Everyone says hi and they all were asking how you are doing. Most of them get your emails. It is good for you to know you are still being a good influence on those kids that have looked up to you for so long. So while you are sharing the gospel in Mexico, you are also having an influence on the future missionaries from here at home. It is a miracle how the Lord can magnify the good we do and touch so many people.

Dad has been preparing for ward conference. He is studying faith and hope, trying to decide what to give his talk on. We've been watching college football. There has been a lot of forth quarter come backs. Faith is like the play that is called. It is an action word, you run the play it is something you do. Hope is the attitude you run the play with. Hope that it is the right play, hope that everyone else does their job, and hope that you will be victorious.  Faith proceeds the miracle. So keep working hard, focus on a good attitude and let the Lord magnify your works.

Scripture for this week...Moroni 7:41-43

Mitch, we are so proud of you. We are being blessed here at home because of your service. We love you, miss you, and pray for you each day. 

Have a great week!

Love, Your Family

Rosca de Reyes 1/09/17

Hey my week has been so so good! This week has been really interesting because I haven’t had a companion so I have been working in trio with several different elders. First of all it has been so so cold. Haha I was dying. It got below 0 degrees here in celcius which I know is not that cold in comparision to there but I am so use to the constant heat. It was freezing.

This week was a holiday in Mexico of the Rosca de Reyes (Spanish and Spanish American king's cake pastry traditionally eaten to celebrate Epiphany). They just make these super good giant ring doughnut things. I went with two of the elders to help this lady who owns a bakery and we made a ton of them, through this service project. She wants to listen to the missionary discussion and also her family and friends! Service always softens the hearts of people, enough so that they want to listen! Also tomorrow I am going to get my first "son" on the mission. I am going to get him tomorrow to start his training, I am so excited! I love you all so much! I hope you guys are doing good! I will write more next week!

Love, Elder Hawley

Frozen Rain & Updates A Letter To Elder Hawley 1/08/17

Hey Elder,  

How was your week?

Ours has been busy and SUPER cold. Tonight there is supposed to be frozen rain storms. We have so much snow and ice everywhere. It makes things difficult to get around. The Davis schools had a two-hour delay of school starting one day last week. Where Aunt Sherri lives has been -26 degrees and they cancelled school twice last week in the Logan area. 

Janet Hunsaker passed away last week. It was sudden and very sad, but she passed away peacefully in her sleep. She has had bad health for quite a while. Please pray for her family.

Dad bumped into coach Steve. He said to tell you hi. He says he enjoys reading your letters and it sounds like you are a great missionary. He said he knew you would be.

Dad thought it would be important to let you know you are having a super positive impact on everybody here at home that get your letters. He constantly gets comments from people about how much they enjoy your letters and what a great example you are to them.  The Lord blesses us and those we care about in so many ways when we serve him the way you are. We are super proud of you and we have been blessed because of you. Thankyou. 

We have a new sister missionary in our stake. She is from McAllen, Texas. She says she lives 20 minutes from Reynosa. What a small world. She has four months left on her mission here.

It sounds like things are going well for you and you are getting some big responsibilities.  Stay humble. Seek the Lord's help in all that you do. He can magnify you and make you more than you can imagine if you will let him. 

Things are going good here at home we are trying to read the Book of Mormon each day as a family. One week into the New Year and we are doing good. Megan says Hi, Malia wants to tell you that she stayed up for the first time until Midnight on New Years Eve, and Miles says to keep having fun on your mission. 

Scripture for this week, Moroni 10:20 "Wherefore, there must be faith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity".

We look forward to your pictures and hear about your experiences. Our prayers are with you always.

We Love You, 

Your Family

NEW YEAR!!!! 2017!!! 1/2/2017

Haha I never know what to title my emails.

First things first. I want to thank you guys for everything you have done for me. I am so grateful to have so many great people in my life. I have been able to reflect back on this year and wow I am so so blessed. I have grown and learned so much.

New news for this transfer, I am going to be training a new missionary and also going to be district leader! I am super excited and a little bit nervous but it will be a good opportunity for me to learn and grow!

Something that I learned that is really important is how much of an impact we can have on others just by the way we live. Often we don’t even need to say anything, just by our example, we can help so many people. This week a lady stopped us and asked us why we always pass by her house smiling. We had tried to talk to this lady like 100 times and she never wanted to but we always said hi and have a nice day. This time she asked us what I was doing here in Mexico because I stick out a little bit. I told her that we are missionaries and she said she wanted to find out more about the church that makes people so happy. Just always remember that we can lift others up with just being kind and saying hi.

The past month has been so great with Christmas and with New Years. We were able to work super hard and find a lot of great people. I am loving the area I am in right now! 

 

 For some fun stuff, we had an activity with the mission and all the missionaries came and we went to a zoo, which was super fun! This week I have lots of fotos!! 

             Yes I did do the Lady and the Tramp with a carrot and a camel. Don’t judge me J.

                                                  Also a baby pig that was super cool.

 

   We stayed in the house after like 9 because lots of people were super drunk and just shot guns off.

 

Alarm clock…I didn’t actually stay up till midnight for New Year’s we just changed the time to make it look cool. 

 

                                In the one picture I am making tamales with a family that we found. 

Love you guys all!

Elder Hawley

Happy New Year Joy A Letter To Elder Hawley 1/2/17

Hi Elder,

You are doing great. Keep up the good work and hang in there.

Remember this scripture for the new year. John 15:10-11 "If you keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 

We are excited to see what the new year brings especially for you and your success. 

We love you, pray for you, your companions, those you serve with, and the people of Mexico. 

Love, 

Your Family