HALF WAY!!! UN ANO!!!! 7/31/17

I want to share an awesome experience that we had this week! There is a family that got baptised like 5 months ago, everyone except for the dad! Every missionary has been working with them trying to help the dad get baptised, and he just always said that he needed more time to go to church and lots of other things! All of my companions and I have worked with him, and we just could not help him. He understood everything perfectly, just didn’t want to do it. This last Saturday the family were going to invite us to eat dinner because the husband had been thinking a lot, and he had decided that he wanted to get baptised.  At the beginning of the week we had lost our phone and the family didn’t know how they were going to invite us to come and eat and to tell us the good news! Then the husband just told his wife, “Don’t worry the Elders will be getting here soon, I just feel it!” His wife thought he was crazy because he just said that he was sure of it! My companion and I were walking home and we just had the feeling to go to their house and ask for a ride home because it was getting dark and they lived close! We got to their house like 5 minutes after the husband had said that we were going to come. They invited us to eat dinner with them. Then the husband told us that he was ready to get baptised, and he wanted to do it the next day because he didn’t want to wait any longer. He just had realized that he was missing something in his life. Then he realized that he needed to be closer to God and that’s when he realized that getting baptised was the thing he needed to do! It was such a miracle. I was so happy. We were running around like crazy the next day to get it all organized and the baptismal font was broken, so we had to go to another church. It all worked out so perfectly and was such an amazing experience. I know the Lord has his timing for everything. We just need to have faith in him and his timing and everything will work out great!

Also we had a little party because I have ONE year now in the mission. Time is flying and we are loving the experience! Great week to everyone! I love you guys a ton!

 Love,

Elder Hawley

Agency A Letter to Elder Hawley 7/31/17

 

 Hey Elder!

Sounds like things are going good. That was a great story about the family you and your comp found to teach. Keep up the good work. We loved your pictures and can't wait to see a picture of you and your new comp! How is zone leader going? It sounds like you are getting a lot of opportunities and experiences that will come in handy. Learn all you can, the Lord is always preparing us for what lies ahead. Keep a journal.

Dad taught a combined class on Sunday on Agency and the best way to use our agency is when we have the spirit with us. Elder Bednar said, "We have our agency to choose God and His ways. It's not to choose right or wrong, we are free to choose God."  "In the grand division of all of God’s creations, there are “things to act and things to be acted upon” (see 2 Nephi 2:13-14). As children of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity and power of independent action. Endowed with agency, we are agents, and we primarily are to act and not merely be acted upon” (“Watching With All Perseverance,” April 2010 General Conference). Stay worthy of the spirit. Be humble and the Lord will work miracles through you. 

Malia was in a show at Spotlight on Friday and Saturday. It was a Rockin 80's show, a funny spoof on the 80's. It was really good. They sang, acted, and danced to some good 80's music. Malia was quite the star! Megan worked some early mornings, weeding the pumpkin patch at Cross E Ranch.

Guess what! We are heading to Oregon on Tuesday of this week until Sunday. We are taking a road trip with the Williams! Dad was planning on taking the week off to go on the Deacons Camp but there ended up being enough leaders with only the few deacons. So Williams invited us to go and we will be taking the 15 passenger van. They came to the house last night so we could make the final plans. They all said to tell you "Hi" and keep up the good work. You will be missed for sure on the trip, but we will plan something when you get back. The kids are so excited to have kids their age going with them. We are staying all together in a bay side town home. It should be a fun trip! We have named the trip the WillHaws 2017 Family Vacation haha.

We Love You a TON and pray for you always!

Love, 

Your Family

One Year Down! 7/26/17

No Longer Greenie

No Longer Greenie

You were "green." You were new.

A missionary who didn't know what to do.

For a year now you have been growing and changing

In spirit, mind and body, rearranging.

You know what to say now,

how to follow the Spirit's lead.

You've hit the half-way point.

You know how to succeed.

The first year was for you

to learn and grow and reach.

This second year is for others,

Go and do and teach.

Let them feel your testimony.

Bear it without fear.

Be more valiant in your conviction.

Those with ears will hear.

Sound your personal battle cry!

Go forward and boldly fight!

You've only got a year left!

Serve with all your might!

THE CAMEL IS THE SYMBOL OF A SEASONED MISSIONARY

THE CAMEL IS THE SYMBOL OF A SEASONED MISSIONARY

By Cheryl K. Carpenter

As you come to the one-year mark of your mission, a camel is to remind you how far you have come, and where you are going. There are many similar characteristics of a great missionary and a camel.

The first is the "hump". Yes, you have crossed the mark and now are over the hump of the first year. But remember the hump of a camel is used to store food for the long journey. Camels can go for long periods of time without food, but he must store his food in his hump. A Missionary has learned from so many experiences, but a wise Missionary will store the knowledge he has gained, and put it to greater use the second half of his mission.

Another important symbol is what the camel does to be prepared to carry his load for his Master. A camel sometimes protests his heavy load, but he drops to its knees for his Master, and once started, he patiently carries his load. As a missionary sometimes the load seems heavy and difficult to carry. But when you drop to your knees and succumb to the Master's will, he will carefully lead you and you can bear the load patiently, and do your Father in Heaven's work as he would have you do. This is why the camel's knees are heavily padded, as a Missionary; your knees are calloused from the many hours of kneeling in prayer.

The camel has high set eyes that enable him to see long distances. A Missionary has his eyes set on higher things, he follows the Spirit that enables him to see the Children of God, those who are seeking answers, and he teaches them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The camel has broad, two-toed feet that keep it from sinking in desert sand. A missionary has a broad knowledge and a firm testimony of the Gospel. This enables him to teach with boldness and stand firm in his testimony. The people you teach do not yet have the blessing of such a sure-foot, but as you teach with love and the Spirit, you will help them gain their own testimony that will help them walk on firmer ground, one that will lead them back to their Father in Heaven.

So you see, a Missionary has a lot in common with a camel. Dedicate yourself to do as the camel does. Serve your Master well and patiently over the long journey. You have come a long way; there is still much ground to cover. Continue to move forward, serving with love, until your mission is complete and your Father in Heaven will say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

New Companion 7/24/17

 This week I got a new companion!!! His name is Elder Cox and he is from American Fork, Utah!!! He’s super tall (like 6´6) and ginger. We are super good friends and we have like almost the same time here in the mission. I got here like six weeks after him! He is a zone leader too. We have been working super hard, and we are finding some super awesome people! 

Cool experience, yesterday we were working super hard in the afternoon and we weren’t having very much success. We were a little frustrated, really sunburnt, and we didn’t know what to do haha. So we decided to say a specific pray to find a family to start teaching! We asked that we could find a family of 3 or more that are willing to go to church and let us teach them before we went home for the night! We started working super hard, and we worked for like 2 hours straight and didn’t really have any success still. We decided we were going to work till it started to get dark and then go home. It had started to get dark, so we were walking to the main road to go home, but we were really far from home. So as we were walking, we saw this young guy and girl in a car driving by us. They looked at us and then we both at the same time asked them if we could have a ride home. They said sure and we jumped in! We asked them where they were going to see if they could drop us off a little bit closer to the house, but turns out that they were just looking for a license plate that had fallen off their car. They were actually just going to go home (in the other direction) but they saw us and waited for some reason. They were super nice and offered to take us all the way home! It was a brother and sister and they asked us what we do and we told them everything. Then we asked them if we could visit them and they said yes, gave us their direction, phone number, and said we could pass by two days later to teach their whole family, there are eight people. We then asked them if they would be interested in going to church with us. They said that they would love to, because they have always wanted to but have never had a church to go to. They are super awesome and they are the answer to the prayer that we said! 

 

Pictures… selfie with my hat that I bought this week, best purchase I’ve ever made.

 A picture of our house, super cool. 

 The two ladies are like the nicest ladies, they always invite us to eat dinner with them!

                               Bought some new shoes so I can retire my old ones haha.  

                             Last pic with my old companion, new companion pic soon to come!

Love you guys,

Elder Hawley

 

Happy July 24th!!! A Letter to Elder Hawley 7/24/17

 Hey Elder!

How are you? How was your week? Is your weather still super hot? Our's has still been in the 100's. We don't remember it being so hot for so long!

This weekend we were busy with the festivities of the 24th of July in Utah...helping at a booth, after the parade, at the Bountiful City Park in 100 degree weather still! Also hearing fireworks every night for days as surround sound in our neighborhood. Peanut is not fond of the fireworks!!!

Here is Ninja Miles. He loves his Ninja class!!!

 We love you and pray for you and all who are in your mission, and Mexico always.

Love,

Your Family

The Mom was Baptized! 7/17/17

No letter or pictures this week, the computer was having issues. Here is some info from our conversation…

We had a little rain last week.  I feel like the temperature is hotter in Utah but the sun is so weird here.  I feel like it just is so strong haha.  I have an outline from my tie that is burned through my shirt onto my chest.  It is so hot.  I bought a hat this week so I don’t get so burned.  I will send a pic next week.

It was a good week.  We baptized the mom of that family!  She had a ton of fear still of the water but, I just baptized her really fast.  She was super super happy after.  The boy in the pictures last week is the youngest son of that family.  He is super funny, he took like 100 pictures with my camera. 

Elder Hawley

A Letter From Dad to Elder Hawley 7/16/17

Hey Elder,

So how was your week? We had a very busy week. I went to Stake Priest Camp. Layne read your letter to the boys. It was perfect and went right along with the devotional they had that night. You are setting a great example back here about missionary work. It is amazing how much good can come from our actions. The Lord can make so much out of our measly efforts, it is awesome. We studied a lot out of Preach My Gospel at Priest Camp. I really got a lot out of page 121. You are an inspiration to me and I love getting your letters and sharing in your experiences. It makes me want to do better and work harder!

Malia spoke in church about girls camp along with other girls and leaders. Their theme was SHINE...See yourself in the temple, Help others, In everything give thanks, Never give up, and Enjoy being you. She gave a really good talk and spoke about many camp experiences she had. She also referenced three scriptures that she learned. Luke 1:37, 1 Nephi 3:7, and James 1:5-6. Good ones for you to read and ponder this week.

Have a great week! Enjoy this time in your life. It goes by quick and you only get one chance at it. 

We Love you and pray for you always. 

Love, Dad

Para El Hermano Walker 7/10/17

Wow first of off I just want to say that to go on a mission is probably the best decision I have ever made in my life, and I'm not just saying that because everyone says that. I truly am so grateful for the chance that the Lord has given me to be able to dedicate 2 years of my life to the service of his children. The things I have gained from being on a mission is that it has strengthened my testimony so much, made a lot of new friends, helped so many of the Lord's children, had a lot of fun, and developed a resistance to spicy food. The thing that really helped me to decide if I should go on a misison was prayer. I remember I was getting to the point where it was time to put my papers in and I really wanted to know that if the mission was the best thing for me to do. Like I had always wanted to serve a mission, I just wanted to really know because it was going to be a big change in my life. I remember I prayed about it and it didn't come right away. I was sitting in a stake conference and the speaker started to talk about missionary work and I just felt and in that moment knew that I needed to go on a mission. Right now there really isn't anything that I would trade for the time I have had in the mission. If I could give some advice, it would be to learn the scriptures and strengthen your testimony in all parts of the gospel. The stronger you can have your testimony before the mission, the more people you will be able to help! I know that missionary work is the best thing we can do with our lives. If you can dedicate this time to the Lord, he will help you to learn so many things, will bless you so much and so many other people through you. The mission is truly awesome.

Puro Fotos!!!! 7/10/17

This week was a good week! Not a ton new happened, but it was a good, hot, rainy week! A little bit of everything! Here’s some fotos I got! I need to still find the fotos of Thomas and his family’s baptism. I will do that next week! I will be writing a better letter for the next week! 

Love you guys a ton and miss you a lot. I am loving the mission!!!!

Love,

Elder Hawley

 

Ambition A Letter to Elder Hawley 7/10/17

Hey Elder!

How are you doing? How was your week? Any rain? We loved your letter last week and love to hear the great things you are experiencing. Also so glad you didn't have to have a pat down or the car searched. You are definitely being blessed and watched over. Hopefully this week you are able to send the baptism pictures of Thomas and his family and of Elder Hansen.

We had a busy week. Yesterday we hosted the farewell gathering in our back yard for Christian. They sold their house so they are no longer in our ward. His farewell went good. He spoke on ambition and stated how we should all keep our hands in the Lords work. He referenced D&C 50:23-25 and D&C 4:4-7 and spoke about each verse. He leaves tomorrow for the Mexico MTC then to California. He seems really ready and excited to go.

Three sister missionaries in our stake spoke yesterday before Christian did. They all did a great job. One of them referenced Mosiah 4:16 and said that we all go through struggles and trials so that we can help other people who are going through the same thing. One of the sisters is going home this week. She stated how she has loved being a missionary and how it has "converted" her. 

 Malia's Cheer team minus two. She is so excited...it's official now. They just got their uniforms.

Dad is at Priest Camp today and tomorrow. It is a Stake camp with just the Priests. As stated in a previous email to you Layne called to see if you could email a letter for him to read to the Priests. He just wants you to say briefly how you feel being on a mission, what helped you to decide to go, and any advice you can give to them. Maybe any advice you received or wished you received. Also, how you prepared to go and be the best missionary you can be and anything you wished you would have known before you left if anything. Hopefully this makes sense.

Have a great week. Stay "ambitious" and keep your hands in the Lords work!

We Love You!!!

Your Family

WOOOOO HOOOO!!! 7/03/17

First off I want to let you know that Thomas and his family are married and got baptized this last Saturday! Actually him and his 4 daughters did. His wife didn’t because she got super scared of the water...but she will this week I think. It was honestly such an amazing experience. I am so happy for them and they were so happy and excited! I would send a picture but the computer isn’t letting me upload them!

This week I had the chance to go with someone in the high council to open a new missionary area! It was such an amazing experience. It is a little tiny branch that has like 10 people. We were in chairs outside the house of one of the members and I got to help direct the services. It was a super cool place because it was like a little tiny village and the houses were super far apart. But despite all of that, during the services I felt the spirit so strong to hear the testimony of these family’s and was such a strengthening to me. It doesn’t matter where you are, how many people there are, or the circumstances, the Lord is always going to be with us when we come together in his name!

As we were leaving, there were a line of soldiers that were stopping all the cars and checking the people giving them pat downs and checking their bags and everything. They pulled us over and told me to get out of the car. They took my backpack off and opened it and first saw the Bible and Book of Mormon and asked me where I was from. I told him Utah and that we are missionaries. He was shocked or something and apologized and then told us we could go, didn’t check the car or anything. Haha it was super cool and then they joked for a little with us and then we left. So awesome.

A new elder is living in our house. His name is Elder Hansen. He just barely got here, super cool, pics soon to come.

I love you guys!!! Have a super great week!

Elder Hawley

Girls Camp A Letter to Elder Hawley 7/2/17

Hey Elder!   

Sounds like things are going well. It is impressive that you are getting opportunities to teach the local leaders. This is such a great experience for you, and we feel you are growing so much. The Lord is giving you opportunities to grow. Take advantage of them and learn as much as you can, it will benefit you for the rest of your life. 

We had the opportunity to go to stake girls camp this past week. It was held up above Pineview. It was great. Your sisters did a great job on the ropes course. They were so brave. They had alot of fun and spiritual experiences. Malia is growing up a lot. 

Keep up the good work. You are entering the most productive time of your mission. This second year will go by so fast . Stay focused and seek the Lord's help. We hope you are keeping a journal and writing down your experiences. Scripture for this week...James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God."

Have a great week. We love you and pray for you always!

Love, 

Your Family