Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Week 8

Bula Vinaka na noqu matavuvale!!

Holy cow! I cannot believe I have been here for 8 weeks!! pretty crazy. Everything is still going awesome. This last week was really good. We didnt get our flight plans like we were expecting but we should get them this week for sure. We got to host this last week and that was pretty fun haha getting to see all of the new people come in and think about how much I have already grown up in the short time that I have been here. We get to host again tomorrow so that should be fun. This last week me and Elder Stock got all of our silk ties and went upstairs and traded them all for polyester ones cuz we cant take silk to Fiji cuz it will rot. But I got some pretty sweet ties out of it so it was good haha Oh!!! and last night we decided was fort night so we took all of the mattresses off of the beds and made a sweet fort out of all of the extra blankets that we dont use!! it was definitely the coolest thing ever haha luckily our roommates that are going to Brazil are way cool and loved it too haha everyone kept coming in to look at it and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I took a bunch of pictures of it so I will try to send those next week haha
I also finished D&C and JSH this week which was awesome. I dont know if I have ever read either one of those all the way through but I am glad I did. They are both such great testimonies that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet.
So today is our P-day and like weeks ago we made a poster of the first vision in Fijian to put in our room so that we could memorize it and we have had it as a goal for like every week but we have never done it. so today we decided we would do it and I memorized the whole thing in like an hour!! it was pretty sweet. So I’ll have to recite it for you guys when I get to call you next week. I think we get to the Salt Lake airport at like 2:30 ish and I should be able to call you from there and from our big layover in LA. That will be awesome to be able to talk to you guys.
Both of the devotionals that we had this week were awesome. Last Tuesday was Elder Zivic from the 70 and he talked a lot about just becoming a man and doing your best and stuff. He said a man needs to know 3 things. Where I am, where i'm going, and how I am going to get there. Being on my mission and setting all of these goals all the time has really made me realize how important it really is. I dont think that in our lifes we really step back and evaluate how things are going enough. Or step back and think about where we want to be in our lives and how we are going to do it.
The other devotional was President McIff from the MTC presidency. His was kind of similar to Elder Zivic's. He talked about how "The Lord needs missionaries, not young men and women on missions" and I have always felt that way. If I am going to take this time out to serve the Lord I am going to give it my all and be the best instrument in the Lord's hands that I can be. He also talked about our attitudes which is another thing I have always had a strong testimony of. Before I came to the MTC a lot of people said how they didnt like it or how it sucked but I came in with the attitude that I was going to get the most I could out of it and have fun doing it and that is exactly how it has been. I have not had any days that I looked back on when I was laying in my bed and said today wasnt good. Every night I lay in bed I think about how great it is to have this opportunity and how great doing this work makes us feel. And I know that is mainly because of my attitude about it. He also talked about how Bronco Medenhal wears 3 bracelets one has an A one has a D and one has an E. They stand for Attitude, Discipline, and Effort. He wears them because that is how he lives his life and that is how he wants his football players to live theirs. I know that in anything we do in this life if we have a good attitude about it be disciplined and put in our best effort we will be successful in everything that we do.
It sounds like everything is going great with you guys! keep up the good work. I cant wait to get to Fiji in a week and a half and start really learning the language and teaching the people. AU LOMANI KEMUDOU!! CAKAVA CAKACAKA NA LUVEQU!!

Lomana, Elder Hawk

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Week 7

Bula Vinaka na noqu matavuvale!!! (Hello my famiy)

Wow! I cannot believe I have been here for 7 weeks already! The time has been flying by! I am definitely ready to get to Fiji though and start doing the real work. 2 and a half more weeks!! I am way excited to get to call you guys and talk to you! It will be sweet for you guys to be able to hear me speak some Fijian! Me and Elder Stock have been trying to speak pretty much only in Fijian today if we are talking to each other since it is our P-day. It is pretty cool how much we can actually say already when we have only been here for 7 weeks!
So the Tongan district just left which was pretty awesome. I am so excited for them. I got close to a lot of them so it was kind of hard to see them leave but I am so excited for them to get to out in the field and start working. A couple of us did the Hakka for them when they were leaving. Me and one other white kid were the only ones that knew it haha I have it on video so maybe once I get to Fiji I can send it to you. Tanner Peterson left this week too and so did Devin. I hung out with Peterson a lot but I didnt get to see Devin much.
Lupe sent me a wiffle ball bat and a bunch of other stuff this week and everyone who saw it thought it was the coolest thing ever haha pretty funny what a couple weeks in the MTC will do to you haha It was awesome though. I am excited to take it to Fiji and teach the kids how to play! I am sure I won’t have it for too long because I will give it away to some kids. haha
I got the pictures that Danielle and you guys sent from the wedding! Everything looked awesome!! I am glad that it all went so well. Seeing those pictures of Casey made me miss him!!
We might be getting our travel plans this week so in my next e mail I might be able to tell you the details of when we are leaving and stuff and when I will be able to call you! We also get to host tomorrow so we get to help all the new missionaries that are coming in by taking them to their rooms and their classrooms and stuff. We are pretty excited for it haha
Well everything is still going great here at the good ol’ MTC. I am getting a little antsy to get out of here and get to Fiji but I try not to think about it too much or it will just make the time go slow haha I am so excited to go out and share this great gospel that has brought all of us so much happiness with the people of Fiji. I know that there is nothing else in this life that can bring us as much happiness as this gospel can and especially the happiness that we can receive from sharing it with others. AU LOMANI KEMUDOU!!!
CAKAVA CAKACAKA NA LUVEQU!! (remember C makes a "TH" sound and Q makes a hard "NG" sound haha)

Lomana, Elder Hawk

More Photos from the MTC

Elder Stock, Elder Bete (from Fiji going to Atlanta, Georgia) and Elder Hawk
Elder Yogoh from Kenya and Elder Hawk from Arizona
Elder Hawk on top of Elder Corder's shoulders at the Provo Temple
Hangin' loose in my sulu!
Planking in the MTC stalls

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Week 6

Bula Vinaka everyone!!

Holy cow!! I cannot believe that I have been here for 6 weeks already! pretty crazy! Ill be in Fiji in like 3 and a half weeks!! I am soo excited to get there and start working. This week was pretty eventful so hopefully I can get it all in before my time runs out haha
So we got roomates this week, which totally stinks haha me and Stock have had our own room since O'Connor left 6 days in so now its a huge difference to have four of us all in the same room. They are both going to Brazil. It is Elder Kendrick and Elder Bowerbank. We give them quite a bit of grief but they are always good sports about it haha I short sheeted one of their beds like the second night they were here but he didnt even sleep in the sheets so I was pretty dissapointed haha he was freaking out when he tried to make his bed the next morning though haha O and the coolest thing happened!! the other night they said that I was talking in Fijian in my sleep!!! haha I thought that was the coolest thing ever haha
I did actually get to see Wes a couple times while he was here. I have some pictures of me him and Devin all together that I will send home sometime this week.
Elder Bete our Fijian friend left for Atlanta this morning so that kind of stinks. Me and Stock just hung out with him and the Kenyan Elder in their room until like 11 last night haha They were both some of our favorite people here so it kind of stinks that they are gone. He told us that one of his friends from Fiji is supposed to come in today though so we will have to find him and make friends with him too haha The Tongan district is also leaving this week which will be hard too. They are all way awesome and some of our best friends here.
I'm glad that Danielle's wedding went so good! I hope that she liked my letter that Dad read for me! I wanted to record my voice and send it so that you guys could hear me speak some Fijian! Thats alright though because you will be able to hear me in 3 and a half weeks when I get to call you from the airport on my way to Fiji So this week we got new zone leaders in our zone and all week everyone kept saying that it was going to be me and Elder Stock haha they kept calling us Zone leaders all week and then on Sunday it ended up not being us but the branch President pulled us aside before church started and said that we are some of the best examples in the zone and that it very easily could have been us but that the Lord knew that Elder Duke and Elder Ormsbey from the Samoan district needed it. He said that if they ever needed help for anything though that they would come to us first haha I know that they will be great and it was cool to see how the Lord works through his servants and how the calls we get are truly inspired through Him.
Today we saw Elder Stocks mom and his three little brothers and sisters on the way back from the temple! they were on their way back to Washington from Colorado and his uncle lives right by here so they stayed there for the night and came and saw us today haha he had no idea they were going to be there so it was pretty funny. We only talked to them for like ten minutes but it was cool to meet some of his family. Its great that I have a companion that I know won’t be affected at all by that happening. Me and him are so lucky to have each other as companions here. We have not fought even once since we have been here and it seems like we have known each other forever so it has been awesome.
This week we had a fireside that was about being a "successful" missionary. It was awesome. He talked all about how it has nothing to do with how many baptisms and stuff you have but it has to do with your commitment to the work and if you are giving it your best. Even if we don’t get any baptisms we can still be the most successful missionaries if we always work hard and give ourselves fully to the work. In the end we cannot control the agency of the people we teach, it is there opportunity to choose to accept this great gospel and if they don’t it does not mean at all that we were not successful. One of the things I really liked that he said was "Do everything in my power and expect nothing" I think that is the best way to look at really anything in life. All we can do is work our hardest and give everything our best efforts and we can be satisfied that it was a success. And any rewards you get are just a great bonus on top of that
Alright well this e mail is HUGE so i hope this will get your through another week of Elder Hawk withdrawals! haha Keep working hard and being awesome!! Au lomana kemudou!

Lomana, Elder Hawk

Friday, August 12, 2011

Week 5

Bula Vinaka everyone

I cant believe that I have been here for 5 weeks already!! its going by way fast. I am so happy that it is though because I really want to get to Fiji ASAP haha A bunch of our neighbors in our building left for Italy today and it just got me even more excited to get to Fiji.
So this week was our first fast Sunday here and it was so awesome. Testimony meeting for our branch was amazing! It really just gave me a good boost to finish out the MTC strong. It is awesome how many great missionaries there are here. I kept wanting to get up to bear my testimony but there were so many people sitting up waiting to do it that our Branch pres. got up and told them they could all only talk for one minute haha It was all really awesome though.
Last Tuesday Gerald M. Lund the guy that wrote the work and the glory spoke at our devotional. He talked all about faith and how faith should always lead to action and how if we do that we will always receive a confirmation that it was right. It really made me want to trust in the Lord more and have stronger faith. On Sunday we had mission conference so all the MTC presidency spoke to us for 2 hours. It was really good. One of them talked about the parable of the talents and he talked about how it doesnt matter how many talents you have, what does matter is if you double them or not while you are on your mission. It really just made me think about how blessed I have been in my life and how I really need to work hard to double those talents that I have been given.
I cant believe Danielle is getting married tomorrow!! I know that it will be awesome! I really wish that I could be there but I know that I am in the right place and there is nowhere else that I would rather be right now than here on my mission.
So today I got some of the white iron on patch stuff that was in my sewing kit and I drew the fijian flag and put "Elder Hawk, Fiji Suva, 11'-13'" on it and it looked sooo sweet!!! I was pretty proud of myself haha I am going to put it on the gray MTC sheet Sulu that Elder Inu gave me before they left for Fiji a couple weeks ago. I might pass it down to one of the new Fijian Elders if they get here before we leave. I have some more pictures to send so I will send those this week. I also sent Rand and Parker a letter today that has some awesome stories and quotes that we have gotten from other missionaries here, so it should probabaly be there when you get back to AZ.
Well tell everyone at the wedding Hi for me! I love you guys so much!!

Lomana, Elder Hawk

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Week 4

Bula Vinaka everyone!

I have been here a month already!! It is going by way fast. Devin is coming in tomorrow I think and then Wesley next week so that will be awesome!
So this week a kid from Fiji came in!! His name is Elder Bete! He is so awesome. He even lives in our building so me and Stock went up to meet him one of the first nights he was here and he just started giving us all kinds of stuff!! He gave me a sweet sulu that says "Go Fiji Go!" on it and a sweet fijian tie, and he gave Stock one of the actual dress sulus that we are going to wear while we are there and he gave him a tie too! Thats just how they are in Fiji, they give everything they have, so me and Stock went back downstairs and got a bunch of stuff to give to him. We gave him a couple ties some shirts and a ton of candy that we had and I gave him a sulu that I got from some of the Samoan Elders! So pretty much every night since then we hang out with him haha he teaches us all kinds of funny things to say to our teachers. There is also a Sister that just got here that one of our teachers actually baptized in Fiji so that is pretty sweet! He also has a kid from Kenya that is in his room and he is hillarious haha I told the kid from Kenya to tell the girls "your looking alllll nutritious" and he thought it was the funniest thing every so he says it to us every time we see him haha
There are 7 of us that are going to Fiji. All the ones in the picture I sent you guys of us in front of the Provo temple with my flag. That is all our district is too. And our Zone is the Fijians, Samoans, Tongans, Haitians, and 2 English districts which we go through all the time because they leave so quick haha it is a really fun group though. The food here is actually really good. There are usually a couple different things to choose from at every meal so there is always at least one thing that I will like haha mostly all of it is pretty good though. I havent gained any weight. I have stayed pretty active in gym. We switch around a lot what we do. We play soccer, volleyball, basketball and sometimes just run the track and do workouts. Me and Stock are like best friends already so that has made everything way easy haha and he loves sports and stuff too
The highlight of our week was probably yesterday when me and Stock got to go on a field trip!! He cracked his tooth on a caramel sucker the other day so we got to go on the shuttle van to the dentist office haha it was sweet to get out for a little bit!
The devotional on Sunday this week was about love and charity. The whole time all I was thinking about was how much I already love the Fijian people and I havent even met them yet! I know that I will have no problem at all loving them.
Another highlight of our week was pretty awesome and funny haha Two of our teachers, Brother Matheson and Brother Engel were actually companions in the MTC and it was like the "anniversary" of when they met each other in the MTC on Friday so I bought them an anniversary card in the bookstore and on the front it had a little boy and little girl about to kiss and it said "You two can stop flirting now. We get it. You dig each other." hahaha so we gave them that and then we found a bag of chips that were corn chips but they said hint of lime on them and Stock changed it so that it said hint of love haha so we gave them that and they thought it was pretty funny. I also made a sign that says "Preach like a champion today!!!" like the one Notre Dame has that says play like a champion today and we are going to hang it above our door and hit it every day on the way out haha
Alright well hopefully this is plenty to get you through another week without me! haha I miss you all and love you all so much!! I am having a great time though and I know without a doubt that there is no other place I would rather be right now in my life. I have been so blessed and from your letters I have seen how it has also blessed your lives. Keep Doin work!! Au Lomana Iko!! (I love you)

Lomana, Elder Hawk

Monday, August 1, 2011

Life at the MTC

Mission Logo
Fijian Name Tag
With Elder Samani, who is going to Hawaii---speaking Samoan
Famous Map Picture
The District