Beware of Spiritual Ruts‏

Afoyo!

Well I feel like every time I get on I never have anything to tell you because all the days feel the same, but I'll try my best. So this week was pretty good. The Assistants came on Tuesday and went on splits with us. Elder Burdett came with me and Elder Majawa. He is the man. Every lesson we had that day was super powerful. I found myself in a rut, teaching the same way every single time which makes it hard sometimes to feel the Spirit. When he was here, I realized that I needed to convey the same special message but in a different way every time to fit the needs of my investigator.

As I put this into practice I have felt a great change. This can even apply to you guys. Sometimes we just do things in the church because we are supposed to, like reading the scriptures or praying, and we fall into a spiritual rut. As we change how we do things constantly and try to get as much out of it as we can we will be able to feel the Spirit stronger. Don't just read the scriptures, study them, ponder on them, ask questions, and write down your thoughts as you read. When you pray, don't just recite a prayer. You can actually communicate with our Father in Heaven and it's one of the greatest gifts He has given to us! Tell Him how your day went, tell Him what you are concerned about, what you are excited about, because like your father here on earth, He to is interested in what is happening in your life. I know that as you put this into practice you will learn more, feel the spirit more, and get so many more blessings then you could have ever imagined.

Today we got to go to a school that one of the guys in our compound works at. He is from the US. They just finished an indoor basketball stadium and he asked if we wanted to come and play and it was so fun! The stadium was way awesome too!

Well thank you so much for supporting me. I love you all and hope all is going well. Keep doing what Our Father in Heaven wants you to do.

Love, Elder Hawk

You know when you are in Africa when you eat bugs.

Note: I asked Elder Hawk to tell me more about the culture and the people, so this is an insert from my email:

Most of the people here are very hospitable. Almost every house we stop at tells us to come inside, or they always bring a seat to us. Most even give up their own seat. The guest is always a guest of honor. Most places we teach offer us food. I am learning to love African food. I really like casava. I think that Tanner talked about it while he was in Fiji. The people usually only eat one meal a day. I actually didn't even know that until today. It usually is around 5 or 6 at night. There are very little homes that have running water so they have to carry big 3 gallon jugs from a well or from a spic-kit somewhere. We carry jarry cans (the 3 gallon jugs) for service almost every week. I'm not sure what else to say, but I will keep thinking. It's not as different here as you would think.