September 30, 2008

Ciao, tutti!Come va? Everything's still going well at the MTC. This week is incredibly difficult, though. We're not allowed to speak english anymore!! It's been a very difficult and humbling experience, to say the least.To answer everyone's questions, all my shots are done. I haven't seen Z.O., luckily. For Halloween my companion and I are switching name tags. The food here isn't bad. Not great, but not bad, either. My companion in wonderful! We're together the whole MTC. My official leave date is Nov 4 at 11:40 am. We fly to Chicago, then London, then Roma. We'll get to Rome November 5th at 1:55 pm. It's going to be a long day!Could you tell Allison thank you SO much for the package and letters!!!Did you get my debit card yet? I haven't receieved it.Also, I went 4 days without a letter from anyone. Granted, Sunday wasn't really your fault, since they don't deliver mail on Sundays, but still. With dearelder.com, I should be getting more letters! It gets very lonely when your only means of contact with the outside world is through letters, and then I don't even get any!Thanks for the package with all the candy and scriptures! Funny story- the elders usually help me eat the treats I get, but when I got that package, they were all intrigued with the dog bone. None of them wanted any candy, but they all passed around the dog bone and tasted it. They're so weird!Another funny/embarassing story for the week. We spend about 13 hours a day in the same classroom, so when we get to leave we're full of energy. So Saturday, my companion challenged me to a race down the stairs. We started running down the stairs, and I said "You're going down!" Just as I finished saying that, I went down- literally. I fell right on my backside and slid down a few stairs, and my shoes somehow fell off in the process and went flying down 2 flights of stairs. And to make matters worse, my entire district was right behind me and an entire Spanish district was in front of me, so about 25 elders saw this! I was laughing so hard, I couldn't get up, so they all thought I was hurt and rushed over to help me!This week I got called as our branch's relief society coordinator. All of the sisters in the MTC are in one relief society, so each branch has it's own sister who takes care of the relief society for their branch, and now it's me. I don't really have a whole lot to do for now, except branch council meetings. But in 2 weeks we get a new district, so I'll help give the sisters their orientation.I'm really excited for conference! The elders get to go sing at the priesthood session, which I'm jealous of. My companion and I went to choir practice because we heard the rumor that they were sending an MTC choir to a session of conference. But when we got there, they kindly invited the sisters to leave. Our whole district of elders is singing. We get to watch the relief society broadcast while the elders watch priesthood session.I have so many wonderful experiences to share with you all, but not enough time! When I get back, you won't be able to get me to shut up for months! That is, if I can remember how to speak english again. It gets worse by the day!This week has been very challenging, and I came across a quote by Elder Holland. Even though it's specifically talking about missionary work, I think it applies to anyone. He said,"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occassion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn't it go better? Why can't our success be more rapid? Why aren't there more people joining the Church? It's the truth that we believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don't people flock to the font? Why isn't' the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font? You will have occassion to ask these questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are the Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our great Eternal Head. How could we believe that it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. YOu have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the living Son of the living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions."Life is hard, but it's supposed to be hard, or it wouldn't be a test. Missions especially are hard. But the Lord promised His missionaries, in D&C 88:84 that He will be with us. He will go before us and beside us and His angels will be with us. I have felt those angels lift me up when I felt like I couldn't go any further. I have felt His strength when I have none left. And I know that He will be there for each one of you, regardless of your personal mission.I am so grateful for this wonderful privilege of being a representative of my Savior, Jesus Christ. It's such an honor to wear His name beside mine of my nametag each day. It's a privilege to prepare to stand in His stead to preach His gospel to His children.I love you all so much! My prayers are always with you.Vi voglio bene!Sorella Hawkey