Happy 21st Birthday A Letter to Elder Hawley 1/29/18

Hi Elder,

Happy, Happy Birthday!!! We hope you enjoy your birthday package!

We can't believe how fast the time is going. We loved seeing the pictures you sent. It sounds like you are super busy. That will be a great way to finish out your mission. These last months are the most important. The Lord has prepared you and given you so many experiences now he can develop your talents. You can share what you have learned and pass it down to the younger missionaries and help them progress. Your success is directly related to other's success. The better they do the better you do. It is the best part of the church. Lifting up others is so much better than the way the world does it...stepping on others to lift yourself.

Scripture for the week Mosiah 4:9.

We hope you have a great Happy Birthday day and week. We are constantly praying for you, all missionaries, and the people in Mexico. 

We Love You,

Your Family

Mission FB Pics January 2018 1/29/18

Pics for the Last Weeks 1/22/18

No time for a letter but here are some answers from questions in our chat…

I am doing super great. We just haven’t had a lot of time to write. There are lots of people in the offices, and it’s hard to write good.

 

Being in the office is really different, but I like it. We meet a lot of people and teach them or just contact them, but then we just have to pass the reference on to other missionaries because we don’t really have time. I’m not such a huge fan for that part, but we do a lot of things that help the mission. I live with like 10 others. There are 4 AP’s,  4 secretaries, and 2 other missionaries. The mission home is where we live in Reynosa. It’s really big. We work with the mission president the first half of the week then we leave and work like half the week with different zones. This week we left for like the whole week to work.

Hope everyone is doing great!

 

Hope Cometh of Faith A Letter to Elder Hawley 1/22/18

Hello Elder,

How was your week? How do you like your new calling and being in the office? We hope you are adjusting well. We had a busy week like usual. We had Ward Conference this week. It kept us very busy. Dad spoke about Love, Faith, Hope, and Charity. President Hill talked about being kind. Both talks were very good. We can share Gods love by being kind. The YM & YW performed a song, some played stringed instruments (including Malia who played the viola) and others sang. 

Megan received her patriarchal blessing on Sunday. It went very well and was a very spiritual occasion. It reminded mom & dad of when you had yours. It made us want to read ours again. You ought to think about reading yours again if you haven't recently.

Ether 12:4 "Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

We Love you, have Faith in you and know you are being Kind and serving with Charity. We Hope you have a great week. Make sure you get enough rest, eat well, and take time for personal prayer & study whenever you can.

Love,

 

Your Family

Lead by Example & Love A Letter to Elder Hawley 1/15/18

Hi Elder!

Thank you for the great pictures and update. We were so very excited to hear of your new opportunity. Congrats!!! So how is it being an AP?  How many are there? Do you all live together? Do you have an area that you work in? Or do you spend all of your time working with other elders in their areas?  Do you have to do a lot of training? Lots of questions.

We hope and pray for your success as you set an example. Remember to lead as the Savior would, by example. Treat each elder with love. Find their talents and help them develop them. It is a great opportunity to develop your talents as a leader. People will do anything for someone they love. That being said, read 1 John 4:18. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." That is the secret.

We are all doing well. We had a busy week with the kids...being the end of the term and end of first semester. The school year is already half way over! The kids are out of school today for the Martin Luther King holiday and tomorrow for teacher prep day. Malia had a cheer performance on Thursday. Dad had an all day training and planning with the youth on Saturday that went well. 

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

xoxoxoxoxo

Your Family

Surprises & Visit to the USA 1/8/18

This week was super awesome! Well it turns out for right now I will not be going to General Bravo, they tricked me, but will be in the offices working ! It was a big surprise. I got to the offices last Tuesday and the mission president starts giving us a meeting about the “new branch” we were going to be starting (I was so excited) and he made us a “binder”. As we were going through it we flipped to one of the pages and it says, “Welcome to the offices new Assistant Hawley.” So yeah me and Elder Cox are the new APs. I am super excited for the opportunity that I will have to travel and help the other missionaries in the mission. It will be a great experience!

 Today we got to go to the USA...I kissed the sweet Texas ground hahaha. We went to go pick up some packages and help the mission president with some things! We got to go to a sweet buffet and ate a ton of food and lots of crawfish…pictures with Elder Miramontes.  Other pictures for this week...playing soccer early in the morning which was so cold, and saying goodbye to a really awesome family in Matamoros, the family Barrios Naredo. They are great.

We don’t have a lot of time, but I will be in contact hopefully better next week! Love you guys so much!

Elder Hawley

 

Promised Inspiration A Letter to Elder Hawley 1/8/18

Hey Elder,

We are so excited to hear about your new assignment. Starting up a new branch seems like such a great opportunity. Who is the branch president? Are there members in the new branch? Did you have to find a place to live, and a place to hold church? We are excited to hear about the challenges and successes.

Nothing much is new here. We are just getting back to the routine of life after all the time off from the holidays. We are so proud of you and love you so much. Hang in there and keep up the good work! 

God loves you and all His children. He is anxious to support you in your practical and specific challenges. You have been promised inspiration to know what to do and have been given the power to do it (see D&C 43:15–16). He will help you as you try to recognize and understand the Spirit through diligent scripture study. He will guide you to people who will receive the message of the Restoration. He will give you power to deliver the message and to testify of Christ and His gospel. He will shower His blessings upon you through the gift of the Holy Ghost. He asks that you remain worthy of this gift and that you ask, seek, and knock (see D&C 4:7; Matthew 7:7–8).

-Preach My Gospel-

We are so proud of you and love you so much. Hang in there and keep up the good work! 

Love,

Your Family

Christmas was Awesome! Hello General Bravo! 1/1/18

 

So two weeks have passed since I wrote, but that’s okay because they have been some great weeks! So...today I ate cow stomach, so nasty. Ugh, I was so full and it was so hard to finish, but that’s okay because the sister that gave it to us is so amazing.

Also I have transfers this week. I’m going to open a new branch with Elder Cox, the companion I was with before! We will be going to a new city. We will be in Nuevo Laredo! The place is called General Bravo to open a new branch super far away! I will be leaving Tuesday and we have to find a house and a place for the church! It will be a super exciting experience!

 

Christmas Eve we passed all the time with a really cool family, and then we got to call the fam. I love my fam. The family we were with had all there family over and did a gift exchange. They bought us gifts! Haha a cool body wash deodorant pack that smells super good, one for me and also for my comp. Haha I don’t know what they were trying to tell us.

 Christmas Day was also awesome! We made a deal with a family of converts that if they read the Book of Mormon in three months we would come and visit them on Christmas and they did it!!! So awesome. So we got permission and went and stayed the day with them and it was so fun! I love them so much they are going so strong in the church and ah man. So great.

 These last couple of days have been really great too! We had an awesome baptism on Saturday of a really cool guy we have been teaching! His name is Marcial! We had been teaching his whole family and we actually baptised them. He couldn’t because he had some problems he had to fix first! We started teaching him again and he had already read the Book of Mormon almost two times! He still had the problems and couldn’t get them all fixed! One day we went with him to put a goal for his baptism and to see how to help him fix the things. It didn’t really go too well....he really wanted to be baptised but could not get over the trials he was having! So we decided to leave him again. Two weeks passed by and he calls us and tells us that the whole too weeks he stopped his problems and wanted to be baptized and wanted us to come over to teach him again! We get to his house that night to find that he had completley changed, new hair cut, new clothes, no problems and ready for baptism. He was so happy and excited that he finally could do it. He told us it was the strength and comfort that prayer and the Book of Mormon brought. So cool! He was so happy on Saturday and he will be getting the priesthood next week! 

I love you guys so much and I hope you are having a great new year!

Elder Hawley

Ringing in the New Year A Letter to Elder Hawley 1/1/18

Hey Elder,

Happy New Year, it's 2018 already! Did you get to ring in the New Year? We spent it at grandma and grandpa's with the family... Mike & Chefi, Ginger & Curtis, Tad & Robyn and everyone's kids. We actually made it to midnight. That's a first for us in quite some time. We had fun eating, playing games, and bringing in the new year with sparklers, fireworks, and silly string. It's been a crazy but good holiday season with so much going on. It will be nice to get back to a schedule.

 It was great to talk to you on Christmas Eve. We had a lot of fun. You looked good and happy. We are looking forward to a great year in 2018. There will be a lot going on. 

We are praying for your success and happiness. Work hard, do your best, and keep being All In. Let the Lord take care of the rest. He loves you and wants what is best for you.

Remember that faith in Jesus Christ gives us strength to leave the past behind and look ahead to a brighter future. As He has said, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).

We love you tons and tons,

Your Family