The Week.‏

Afoyo!

Well, this was kind of a slower week. Not sure why, but it just was. Just a couple of funny stories:

On Wednesday, we went on exchanges. I went with Elder Dean, which means I got to be in the truck! The bad news was that we would be doing finding most of the day, so still had to walk a lot. Haha, it's okay though. While we were finding,we came to this one ladies house and the kids were gathered around us while we were talking to her, nothing out of the ordinary. Afterwards though she said that we were the first white people that her kids have ever seen! Pretty crazy. After, we went to the gas station to grab a snack on the way to an appointment. Elder Dean decided to try this random drink. We got in the car and when he opened it he smelled it, and it was not looking good for him. haha. When he tasted it it looked like he was going to puke! It was pretty expensive though so he drank half of it. I even tasted it and it was not good. It only had two ingredients: Water and Sorghum. Horrible. But it was a pretty fun day.

Well, I am sending some pictures. One of the service we usually do, which is carrying some water jugs, or "jerry cans" to people's houses to use for clean drinking water. Well, I hope you all had a great week. I love you and wish you the best.

Mar, Elder Hawk


You know you're in Africa when you get lost in the Jungle.

 Precious little babe

The Classic Missionary Photo

The Rolex....a kind of breakfast burrito but the tortilla is more like unleavened bread and the egg is more like a patty. There is lots of green pepper, tomato and onion and you can't forget all the oil.

Zone Conference

Afoyo!

Well, this was a pretty good week. The best thing that happened was zone conference today! It was super powerful! President Chatfield is the man. He is so inspiring. Let me tell you a little about what he taught.

He talked about Moses and how the first thing the Lord did when he got to the top of the Mountain he told him to take his shoes off. Moses was very smart and learned and was even next in line to be pharaoh. He had just climbed this giant mountain and now he was telling him to take his shoes off? The Lord did this to test him. He wanted to see if he was willing to follow anything he said, even if it didn't make any sense. In our life the Lord sometimes tells us to do things that don't make sense to us. He asks us to "take off our shoes". Just like Moses, he is testing us to see if we have the faith to follow what he asks us to do. What are we willing to do for the Lord when he asks us? What are we willing to give up in our lives to follow Christ? The Lord is waiting to bless us and all we have to do is "take off our shoes."

I hope that made sense. I can't write near as powerful as he can speak. But anyways.. Let me tell you about one of our families right now too. Richard and Beatrice. They are progressing very fast. They have a baptismal date on the 31st of January, and they haven't missed church since we invited them. The only problem is that their landlord doesn't like us to come, and they are super busy. I hope that we will be able to over come these challenges and get them to make a covenant with God.

Well thanks for all you guys do. I hope your week was good and that you plan to make this week better. I love you all.

Mar, Elder Hawk


You know you're in Africa when you get a boil.

 An older couple that got baptized about a year ago

 Godfrey and Martha and their baby (and some random little girl) 

 A stand that we did to get potential investigators

 The Zone with Elder and Sister Taylor and the APs

With President and Sister Chatfield

Oh How the Weeks Fly‏

Afoyo!

Hope everyone had a good week! It went by fast for me. We did a lot of finding this week because we dropped a few families. That means a lot of walking. It's dry season here so the roads are all super dusty. It's also getting pretty hot.

I want to tell you about someone who is very dear to me. Her name is Jannett. She is about 64. We found her and her husband one of the first few weeks I was here. She has been progressing very nicely. Her husband is rarely around and when he is he never really wanted to listen to us. We continued to teach her since she was interested. Since we have invited her she has missed very few weeks of church. She reads the Book of Mormon and she has even accepted to be baptized. However, there is one very big problem. Her husband has turned from not caring to hating us and the church. We try to come and he tells us that we are trespassing. He does not want her to be baptized so we have to put it off until he can soften his heart. She is so strong and her testimony will be rock solid by the end of this journey. Sometimes the Lord lets us go through trials so that we can be strengthened. It's the only way we can be strengthened. While we are going through it we don't always realize it, but the Lord is preparing us for something. I hope we can all try to be a little more like Jannett and smile in the face of adversity, and keep firm in the faith.

I also met an Olympian this week. He is about 73 and he ran in the olympics and traveled the world for athletics. He lives in a clay and grass hut. He still goes on runs and is in very good shape. Someone else I met was a deaf woman who has even showed up to church before. In High school I took 2 years of American Sign Language. I don't remember a whole lot, but I could ask her name and sign a couple other things to her that she understood. It was nice to see a smile on her face when I sign the small things to her! I never thought that ASL would ever come in handy on my mission!

Well I received my package this week so I will be sending pictures today! I love all of you. Thank you for your love and support. Have a great week!

Mar, Elder Hawk


You know you have been in Africa awhile when you get an Acholi name. (Elder Omara)