Charity, Serve, Faith A Letter To Elder Hawley 3/19/17

Hey Elder!

How are you doing? How was your week? We are doing well and our week has been pretty normal like every other week. Mom and dad have both had bad colds with the cough that never ends. Hopefully we are getting better. The kids are down to their last week of third term this week. The school year seems to be flying by. Miles wants to tell you that he had his first swim lesson in level 4 and he really had fun and liked his new teacher. The weather here has been in the 70's, but this week it is supposed to rain and get cool again. How has your weather been?

The sister missionaries spoke in our ward sacrament meeting today. One is from Tahiti and the other is from McAllen, Texas. Sister Chandler from McAllen has two months left. They both gave really good talks. Sister Chandler is a really good speaker--she said her mission has helped her enjoy speaking. She has served in many different areas in her mission. Some things that really stood out that she said in different parts of her talk were,  "We can be changed at any moment, Christ will do anything to help us."    "Our hearts will be softened, we will serve and love all because of Christ."    "Heavenly Father feels hopeless at times and needs our help to serve and help others."

Some thoughts for this week:

"The Lord will make much more out of your life than you can by yourself."

- Neil L Anderson

"Truly, no unhallowed hand can stop the sacred work of proclaiming life and salvation to all nations and peoples, but this work will not continue without challenges and risks.
The work of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in all the world will require knowledge, faith, sacrifice,and the best efforts of every member of the Church."
-M. Russell Ballard

Also a song for this week which is really good that mom sang in Relief Society is,"Faith in Every Footstep". Hopefully you can listen to it somehow especially by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is a great pioneer song, but the words apply to missionaries too.

We love you. We think of you and pray for you always. We hope you have a great week!

Love, 

Your Family

We Got New Wheels 3/13/17

This week was super fun. I first want to explain the title. We were walking down the street and this super cool car pulls up (the one you can see in the fotos) he asks if we wanted to drive. At the time we were super busy so we said no, other than it is against the rules haha...we might of had to make an exception though. Like 3 days later we were walking through a neighborhood and we found the car parked outside. We knocked on his fence and he came out and we taught him a lesson. Then he asked us if we wanted to sit in his car, because he could obviously tell that we liked it. So we did.

The photo with the turtle was with the family that got baptized. They are super cool and their kids are super funny. They told me after we took the photos that we were going to eat it, haha he’s still there. The family always invites us to eat with them.

Other pics are from the rain storm. Other good news, a super good taco stand opened up right next to our house...bad news is I don’t know if my pants are going to fit me for much longer.

This week we found a family of 9 people and we are teaching them. They are super super cool. I hope that they can come to church this week. Really nothing too crazy happened this week other than this week was actually super dangerous in Reynosa.

There were a ton of things called stars that the bad guys threw in the roads. They are like spike bomb things. They throw them to punch tires in the holes of the marines and just make trouble I think and well because the marines are trying to stop them.

Also a guy asked me this week if I wanted some weed, haha he just laughed when I said no.

We talked in church this week about the family. I love my family and am so grateful that I could be a part of the family that I have. That is something I love teaching is that the family can be eternal, not just for this life. It is something that I have seen bring lots of happiness to the lives of lots of families.

I miss you guys a ton. I hope you are all doing super great!

Elder Hawley

Pictures 3/13/17

Care, Love, Serve A Letter to Elder Hawley 3/12/17

Hey Elder!  

Well one more week has flown by. Time seems to just go faster and faster. It is getting warmer now and the snow and mud are all gone. So dad is getting very busy at work and is way behind. That's how life seems to go for him and work.

Miles got really sick really fast last Wednesday with a super high fever (103-104). He also had a stomach ache, breathing issues, and alot of sinus congestion. Mom and dad ended up taking him to Primary Children's Hospital at 10:00 p.m. Due to the high fever and his vitals being super high, we were put in a room right away and the Sepsis Trauma Team greeted us in the room. They thought he was septic. He was given medicine, Gatorade, and observed for two hours. As fast as he got sick, he perked up really fast too after the medicine kicked in. It ended up being a really bad virus. We didn't get home until 1 in the morning. He has been doing okay ever since thank goodness. So scary when kids are sick.

Megan missed Thursday and Friday at school and went to the FFA convention in Cedar City. She had a great time and learned alot. Emily Fujikawa got married on Friday. Mom and dad went to the wedding dinner Thursday night and mom went to the wedding at the Draper Temple Friday morning. We all went to the reception Friday night. It ended up being a perfect day for Emily and great weather. She married a guy she met from Draper.

We love hearing about your days and hearing about the people you are teaching. This time of your life you will always look back on with fond memories, make the most of it. It sounds like you are becoming a Mexican. This is the key to success, love the people first, then it will be easy for them to listen to what you have to say. 

We had stake conference this week. In the priesthood leadership meeting a guy said, "Nobody cares what you have to say until they know you care!" Sounds like good advice. Another man gave some advice his son learned in pilot's school. The first rule of flying is to fly the plane. Sounds obvious. He explained that while flying a plane a lot of things can go wrong. You can be distracted by all the instruments, warnings or other things, but you can never let these distractions keep you from your purpose in flying the plane. Sure, there are a lot of distractions in the mission-companions, letters, programs, training, etc... just never let it get in the way of the reason you are there-to share the good news of the gospel to those who are prepared to hear it!!!! 

Remember... By love serve one another Galatians 5:13

Take Care. Have a great week. Love you tons!

Your Family

Almost Legal 3/06/17

Haha I am now on my way to being back to legal. I had the opportunity of spending my pday in immigration renewing my lost green card. Woo hoo! This week was an interesting one. First off, we had a baptism this week of an older senor we have been teaching. He is so so awesome. He has a lot of health problems so when he comes to church it is super hard for him, but he always makes it there bright and early.

There was a family that got baptized this week of elders from my other district. They are super super cool. They asked me to take a picture with them and I was so happy.

This week it rained super super hard and it was crazy. We found a super cool lady and we stayed in her house because it was raining so hard. Later we couldn’t walk in the streets because of the giant puddles and the mud was super deep. We just asked the lady for some plastic bags to put around our books. It was super fun.

I have learned so many things. Something that helped me a ton this week was the scripture that talked about how so many people are called, but so few are actually chosen. It really put into perspective how every single choice, doesn’t matter how big or small, we make in this life is either moving us one step closer to the celestial kingdom or we are moving back. When we think about how every choice only has two paths, one that helps us progress or one that is holding us back.

I love the church and I know that it is true. When we pray we can get to the point where we are almost talking with our Heavenly Father. Do your family home teaching please, you never know when there is somebody that might need your help.

Love you all, take care.

Elder Hawley

Pictures 3/06/17

Sacrifice A Letter To Elder Hawley 3/05/17

Hey Elder!

How are you doing? How was your week? This was the big swim week. C of I did pretty good at Nationals. Boys placed 15th. Girls placed 7th. Thomas made it back to the A finals in both the 200 IM and the 400 IM. He re-broke his record from last year in the 200 IM by a little bit. He didn't do so well in the 200 Back. We think Thomas had a rough year without you, Tyler, or Jake there to push him.  He always has had a hard time motivating himself. Sheridan's said they really missed all of us there this year. Maddy did really well and received the All America Award. The Gassaways swam at the PAC 12 Championships. It looks like they dropped quite a bit of time. Marah swam also. We are not sure about Drew or Adam.

In other even stranger news Steve resigned from Tsunami and Woods Cross. So they are without a head coach. Crazy swim news . Maybe you already have heard about most of it. 

Other news, all else is going well at home. Miles is excited to tell you that he is moving up to Level 4 in swim lessons. He is so excited. Malia had another gymnastics meet and did well, not quite as well as she did the last meet though. She was a little disappointed. She placed 3rd in the vault. Megan is excited to be going to Convention for FFA this upcoming week. 

Time is going by super fast for us as well. We are so proud of you and grateful for the good example you are setting for everyone. We really enjoyed receiving all the pictures last week. It is so comforting for us seeing you looking happy and healthy. What a great sacrifice you are making by being on your mission at this time. Mom had a lesson on Christ and what he sacrificed for us in Relief Society today. A really good scripture was referenced...Alma 7:11-13.

You are making a difference in Mexico, here at home, and for your family and friends. It is amazing how the Lord can magnify our efforts. Keep working hard, being positive, having patience and love, and keep smiling.

 

Have a great week. We Love and Miss ya tons! We look forward to our chat, your letter and pictures each week. 

Love, 

Your Family