Nerf Guns and Meeting Bob

8/17/15

Brothers and Sisters,

A week ago today, I was sitting between a Brother and a Sister on a plane. The Brother apostatized after serving a mission because he felt the members were all too proud and that if he lived a good life he didn't need to go to church. Ironically, he has a strong testimony. The Sister was a recent convert with a strong testimony as well. Anyway, he commended me for serving a mission and for being brave enough to talk to me, but our 2-hour Gospel discussion didn't help too much. Anyways, the tires hit the Tarmac and like any other missionary these thoughts came to my mind, "What on Earth am I doing. I'm in Modesto California and I have no idea what I am doing here." Yep. I had a slight change in my flight plans at the MTC and now I have a six-week layover in Modesto California. My visa had some problems and I am temporarily reassigned. Thank you for all the emails about landing in Taiwan though! I will have to reread them in six weeks! So, it turns out a doctor in the MTC accidentally marked "Tuberculosis Probable" on my visa and now I'm here. Clearly for a purpose. My new mission president gave me a warm welcome and gave my new companion the promise that we would find a non-member who spoke Chinese and that I would be the key. He said that 10 other Taipei missionaries had been reassigned to Modesto but all had come in the day before we were supposed to leave except one--mine.

My companion is Elder Shepard. I don't think I have ever met such an interesting person. He has about 30 Nerf Guns in our apartment, he was going to be in the 2016 Olympics for swimming, he has previously been engaged (he proposed in High School mind you), he tore his hamstring last week and walks with a cane, and his parents own a game store so he used to judge card game tournaments. Oh, and we have already rivaled my record for getting lost. The other day we tried to go to a doctor appointment for his leg and we got one and a half hours lost. Yep. He doesn't have the best sense of direction. Nevertheless, he is awesome. We get along great and he has an amazing testimony.

I have had a ton of amazing experiences in the short week I have been here, but I will only share a few. The first whole day in the mission, we went to downtown Modesto to hand out Book of Mormons: two each. In an hour, my temporary companion and I got two amazing referrals and talked to a ton of people. How easy is the responsibility to share the Gospel that we have been given. 

Two days ago, Elder Shepard and I visited the Jones Family. They are a part member family. We knocked on their door and the father answered. He apologized for the not so warm welcome, as he had been drinking that morning and was still wearing pajamas. He said he had been a member in the 70s and wasn't interested in the Gospel, but that we were welcome to visit his daughters (who have been recently baptized) if we only called about a half hour before to let him know we were coming. We didn't realize it until church the next day, but he never lets people onto his property. Missionaries and Home Teachers alike. One Sister saw us about to knock on his door and almost stopped to warn us not to. The lessons taught to his daughters all had to be at different places. Wow! 

Final story. Today is preparation day, and my companion wanted to stop at Dollar Tree. So we stopped, milled about,  bought a few things, and left. As we were leaving, a man asked me for a few quarters. I told him yes! Of Course! "What's that name tag you are wearing?" "Oh! I'm a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!" Long story made short, he was homeless. He felt he wasn't worthy of church and religion. I gave him two dollars and a Book of Mormon. I told him about Moroni burying the plates, Joseph Smith finding and translating the Book of Mormon, talked with him about Temples and the Church. He said he would love to read it. He thanked me. He said that that night he would sleep in the dirt, hungry and alone, but not really alone because I had reminded him that Christ is always with him. He said I had saved his life. He said it meant more than I could imagine that I would stop what I was doing to sit on a curb and talk to a dirty, grimy, hopeless, homeless stranger. It was an absolutely incredible experience. I hope someday to find him again.

The Gospel is simple, the Gospel is fun, and yet it can change lives more than anything else in this world. It is so clear that it makes me want to scream when people refuse to even open their eyes. We don't have to spend millions of dollars or invest millions of hours to change the world. All we have to do is sit down with a homeless man. Give him a few dollars. Let him know someone in this world cares. My thoughts and prayers go out to you in whatever trials and challenges you face. My hope is that we all can further understand and glorify in the simplicity of this magnificent Gospel.

-Elder Hawkes