Headed Out

7/27/15

Dear Family,

I think I'm all ready to go in the package department. Just excited to get out there! I get my flight plans and Chinese nametag this Friday. Only two weeks left!!! We looked at the temple on the church website on a little google map they had, and it was absolutely crazy that I am going to be there in only two weeks. So apparently there are some traditions I should tell you about once I get there. They have a duck brain and eyeball challenge for dinner, they make us run from the mission home to the Chang Kai Shek Memorial (~1/2 mile), make us hand out 5 Book of Mormon's the first day, and they make us quite literally stand on a box and teach people. Sounds super exciting huh? Apparently there are 7.1 million people in the Taipei Basin alone. Plenty of people to teach huh? Well, I found Elder Bezzant (Kelly Sharp's nephew)! He is pretty awesome. There are so many Chinese elders and sisters here now that it is hard to keep track of him or anyone else here. It's funny because we take up two huge tables in the middle of the MTC Cafeteria. Thanks for all of your awesome letters this week! I loved reading them! I will probably just buy a calling card here so I can call you in the airport. Elder Facer had to go to the dentist last week, so we left the compound!! In a car!! It was weird because I never realized how much we treat missionaries like celebrities in Utah. Everyone was so friendly and I talked to the people in the waiting room for forever! Hope everything is going well back at home! I love you all!!!

-Jordan

Brothers and Sisters,

Two weeks left till I leave Provo and actually get started sharing the Gospel with everyone I meet! I mean, I could share it here too but I don't think it would be as effective. So my companion Elder Facer was just released as District Leader yesterday and my other companion Elder Jensen was called to replace him. Either I need to step up my game or stop falling asleep in Sacrament Meeting... Just kidding. They are awesome and I am glad to have them as my companions. Language is coming alright. Although the other day an elder in my district was in a lesson and accidentally said, "You can know these things are true through the Power of the Pineapple." Shengling and fengli aren't very close to each other, but it still made for a funny story.

Cultural Observations:

-I have only gained 6 lbs here (ignoring the 30 lb swing from muscle to fat)

-There is a mysterious grate under construction in the middle of the sidewalk here that workers keep going into

-Chicken burgers are gross no matter how many times you put it on the menu

-The MTC (Missionary Training Center) choir is about 3 times bigger than the MTC (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) choir

-My shoes smell horrible

I hope you have come to know and love the MTC as you have read my bright opinions of it these past 7 weeks. It really is an awesome place though and it is so amazing that so many people are gathered here to worship there God and to prepare to preach His gospel to the ends of the earth. I do have to tell you one quick story. Most missionaries come home telling these awesome stories right? Well I already have one!!! So during dinner last night I got up to get a refill on my 2% milk, and Elder Darrington asked me to refill his Mountain Berry (Blue) Powerade. I agreed, seeing as it was an easy task and I was going there anyway. So I go to the first drink station, which has two nozzles for Powerade, but it only had Fruit Punch (Red) Powerade! So I walked to the next drink station, which had two Blue nozzles. I filled up my milk, placed his cup under the Blue nozzle, pressed the button, and water came out. It was out of syrup. Next nozzle was too. Well, I decided that I might as well continue my journey seeing as I was at the MTC and was trying to gain the Christlike attribute of Charity, right? So I went to the next drink station, and, only Red Powerade. Next drink station? It had Blue Powerade. I finally filled up his cup with fresh ice and brimming with the treasure of victory and started the trek back to quite literally the other end of the cafeteria, excited to relate my tale. I told him the valiant quest I had undertook, handed the drink to him, and he thanked me. Then, gesturing to a drink station about 20 feet away, "But I thought you were just going to go to that one." It had both milk and Blue Powerade. So what is the point of this story? I would like to take a quick look at the Two Great Commandments. First, 'Love the Lord thy God.' Second, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' Wait, it said neighbor. I think sometimes we forget just how easy that commandment is. God isn't asking us to serve that one person clear over there that has tons of problems and is really out of your way, he is saying that you should serve quite literally your neighbor. Right next to you. If you go help that one guy clear over there and skip thousands of people in the process, you've missed the point. Service is the most humbling way to express our love and gratitude towards and for our Savior Jesus Christ. May we all look a little bit closer to find someone to serve. I love you all!

-Elder Hawkes

Girly Mandarin and Today's Stripling Warriors

7/20/15

Dear Family,

Sorry, no pictures this week, I can send some next week of an amazing sunset if you want, but you probably have seen your fair share with your own eyes. So apparently I am only supposed to write letters on Preparation Day, so it will probably be lest often that I am able to write to letters to all of you... We should get on some sort of schedule too so I'm not receiving letters after I sent a reply if you know what I mean... Anyways, I also forgot all of my extra razors I think... What should I do? Can you even send those in the mail? If I did leave them they would be in the middle drawer in the bathroom... Haha I guess I packed more for a campout than a two year mission. One more business item, what should I do with these extra dress shirts? Send them back or just hang on to them? My bad on the miscommunication... How have things been going? The language is coming steadily, and I'm preparing to get my flight plans a week from this Friday! I'm so excited! I mean, it's going to be harder than ever being in a place where I can only barely communicate with everyone, but I'm excited to leave the compound and actually start sharing the Gospel with people! Today is my first day skyping actual people from Taiwan, so wish me luck. The other day in TRC, we taught one member from Mainland China that was absolutely crazy. She spoke incredibly fast, and had a weird dialect so I barely understood a single word she said. Pretty humbling. Apparently, the Taiwanese accent is pretty feminine, so by Asian standards I will come home speaking girly-Mandarin. Awesome. But I've also heard it isn't hard to switch from that to the Mainland accent. We will see. As of right now, I definitely can't worry about switching between accents. I hope everything is going well at home! Happy 24th of July this Friday!!! Let me know how all those parades, fireworks, etc go! Thanks for sending me all those awesome letters!

-Jordan

Brothers and Sisters,

6 weeks in to my MTC experience! It is so weird seeing so many Viewmont Elders come through and leave while I continue to stay. Finally I got a few foreign language speakers to keep me company like Elder Colton Richman. As it turns out, there are 1,997 missionaries currently at the MTC. We truly are the modern-day stripling warriors (or at least I like to think so). One Elder in my district kind of jokingly said something that I thought was awesome. "Do what makes you happy." While he meant it in the 'eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we die' sort of way (we were talking about which food at the cafeteria was the lesser of two evils), it really struck me. In this life, that's all we are really out to do right? To do what makes us happy. Not in a temporal and temporary sort of way, but in a spiritual and everlasting sort of way. We do things so we can be happy. Going to church, while in the moment seems horrible at times, can in the long-term bless us so much and make us so happy. Nothing makes me more happy then the Gospel, even if it isn't in a 'fun' sort of way. And you can have fun in our Gospel if you really try and remember your purpose here on earth. I took Elder Darrington's advice and got cereal for dinner instead of pink chicken with rotting guacamole slathered on it. Oh and we found a mouse in our residence! It keeps sneaking into our room under the door. Some other Elders found it the other night and chased it around the hallways until it went into an empty room. Maintenance was called and soon oreos and a mouse trap were on their way. Happy 24th of July!!! Our pioneer heritage is something incredible, and I hope that you all will take a moment from the fireworks and read about your pioneer ancestors or even just the history of the church. I have been reading "Our Heritage", and I don't think I ever really realized just how much our church had to struggle through it's early years and just how much Satan was trying to bring it down. Though the trials were hard, those that carried the Gospel in their hearts and Christ in their countenance across the nation to the Salt Lake Valley were extremely blessed and we should all take a moment to remember their sacrifice.

Direct Translation of the First Vision:

I saw a (classifier) light pillar, right at me head top, compared to sun's light still bright, gradually descend down come, until it rested upon me body top. Light stop at me body top at that time, I look and saw two (classifier) personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description. One of them pointing to other towards me speak, calling me name, this is My Beloved Son--Here him speak.

Not exact, and I could break it down even further, but you get the gist of Chinese. Literal translations are pretty funny. Even though the direct translation is pretty funny, this First Vision is one of the crowning events of this dispensation--one of only three times God the Father has spoken to man on Earth in the scriptures. Ya, it's important. I have a strong testimony of Joseph Smith, and I know that he was sent here for a specific purpose: to restore Christ's church here on this Earth in these, the latter days before Christ's Second Coming. I am on a mission, pun-intended, to share that message that the Gospel is restored with everyone I possibly can. It is the one, true path that we may take to return to God. It is the only way to receive true happiness. We all can receive a testimony that this is true by the Power of the Holy Ghost, who I have come to know and love even more than I thought possible here at the MTC. The Holy Ghost is like a drill that can build our testimonies. At first, we have to go to a neighbors house and borrow his drill right? We can use one, but we have to return it. We don't have the right to keep it forever or to use it whenever we want. So, we go and buy ourselves a drill after we are baptized. Now it is ours. We have the right to use it whenever we want and in whatever way we please, and it is ours to keep forever. Quite a gift isn't it? But we have to remember where we put it--we have to remember our covenants and commandments and live worthy of that gift. End of analogy. When we repent, we can be forgiven through the cleansing fire of the Holy Ghost which has been made possible by Christ's Atonement. I taught a lesson about repentance yesterday, and I really love the all-encompassing scope of the Atonement. Not only can our sins be washed away in the eyes of God, but in our own eyes as well. Our guilt, our pain, our sorrow, even the memory can be washed away. Through the Atonement, our weaknesses can become strengths. Even more is possible, but I'll leave that for you to find. I hope we will all remember that we don't need to look back at Sodom and Gommorah. We need not wish we hadn't repented, we need not remember the guilt and pain we felt, we need not remember we failed. We must remember that through Christ we are made perfect, through Christ we can see our sins and guilt washed away, and that if we continue forward, not looking back, we will live again with our Heavenly Father. Thank you for taking the time to make it thus far into my somewhat all-over-the-place letter, and I hope that you have both learned something and made a commitment to change one thing about your life to come closer to God. I love you with all my heart, and you personally are in my thoughts and prayers.

Elder Hawkes

Halfway Point

7/13/15

Family,

Sorry, it's hard to be specific on anything because I have so little time at the emails, but that package was perfect thank you!!! Every time I sit down I could just type for forever because I have so much to say, but all the important things go out the door and my mind just goes blank. It is a weird experience. If you could condense all the emails into one that would be great though, I'm having a hard time keeping track of which emails I've read. Other than pictures, which I assume you have to split up among several emails. It was awesome seeing your float dad!! I didn't know you had one! I got to see the video of Sarah too and that was pretty funny. Hope you had a great birthday Christian!!! I'm grateful for all of your letters, I apologize I don't have time to reply to them right away, I try to write one a night but I am so busy that I hardly have the time to do so. Chinese is coming pretty well, I know how to say quite a bit, and we teach lessons to our investigators (teachers) almost every day in all Mandarin. MTC is pretty boring and monotonous, so not much to report on that front, but it has been exciting seeing so many of my friends come through! 8 of my district is going to Taiwan and 3 are going to Hong Kong. My mission president was only here for a few days, so he is already out there working hard. Biggest surprise was how self-sufficient we really are, there is no one to patrol us. Keep writing letters, gotta go! I love you guys!!!

Brothers and Sisters,

Last Friday marks my halfway point in the MTC. That is so crazy! The Elders and Sisters in one of the districts of our zone that were halfway done with the MTC when we got here are leaving tomorrow morning, and Taiwan is beginning to get real. Kinda. I'm not kidding when I say that the MTC feels like the whole mission though. It feels like in 4 weeks from now I'll hop on a bus and head home. It doesn't feel like I still have 23 months to go, 22 of which will be on the other side of the world. None of this feels real. Hearing Elder Vaughn's story about committing someone to a baptismal date is just so surreal. I can't believe that I will be doing that in a few months. I have officially settled into the MTC routine, and now it's just day after day after day. But hey! I'm learning a ton about myself and the Gospel so no complaints here. We watched Elder Packers funeral on Friday as an MTC, and I would like to share a few things I learned from the talks that were given. While I was listening, I wrote down a lot of attributes that were mentioned about Elder Packer and then thought about how I could apply them into my life. Not to sound morbid, but I asked myself how I could incorporate those principles so that at my future funeral in 80 years, people will say those same things about me. "[Elder Packer] was a master teacher", "he wore out his life in the service of the Lord", "happy to teach this side of the veil or the other", and "taught what he lived". All of those things are attributes that we could better work on. Elder Packer really was a 'Master Teacher', and as they mentioned as well, the majority of his teaching came through his amazing example. We too can teach through our example as we teach what we live and wear out our lives in the service of the Lord.

Cultural Experiences:

-the outside world is a strange place, some sisters had to get medication the other day and they said they saw a DQ on the way there!!!

-don't exercise before bed, sleeping at the MTC is hard enough

-oh and by the way, my companion Elder Facer sleep talks

-the showers are always empty on the third floor

-if you want to shut down an entire building and relocate like 300 sisters, release a bat in the upper floor\

-the Chinese word for hymn book sounds exactly like 'sugar-bun'

Another thing I've noticed about the Gospel is that we are just adding. We really aren't taking away anything from anybody when we teach the Gospel. We aren't saying, "Hey! Give up Catholicism, Buddhism, or Islam and join our church!" Well, we kind of are, but we aren't replacing their religion, just adding to it. Adding more testaments of Christ in the form of the Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants, or the words of our living prophets. We aren't saying, "Give up your God." We are saying, "Here is a better understanding of what God really is and how you can worship Him." We aren't trying to change people's culture, relationships, or way of life unless that change is for the better. I hope this makes sense... One of our investigators (actually our teacher) says she is already happy in life and she doesn't need to be happier. Well, she doesn't understand her potential then, because through this--the only true Gospel--can we live up to the fullest potential God has given us. We can all come towards Christ through whatever religion, philosophy, and science we believe in, but only to an extent. We all be good people without the Gospel, but only to an extent. We can all be happy without keeping God's commandments, but only to an extent. No matter how happy, smart, kind, caring, loving, or anything you are, you are limited. Through the Gospel Christ established on this earth and restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, we can reach beyond those limits and become like God himself and live in His presence for eternity. What a promise. At what cost? Allowing God to add more of His blessings, more of His love, and more of His Gospel to us. I hope we will all allow God to give us more light and knowledge so we can reach further past our limits. I pray that you all have the commitment and dedication to live His standards and have faith in Him. As always, if you have any concern, I would love to talk to you about it. I know this is the strait and narrow path that returns to God. It can be more 'straight' and less 'strait' if we rely on each other and especially the Atonement. May God's light be with you always, Christ's example ever in your goals, and the Holy Ghost consistently your companion and friend.

- Elder Hawkes

Companions

Elder Facer is on the left, Elder Jensen in the middle, and me on the right. 

My name tag until I get one with characters for the field. 

New Suits!

We all got new suits! And the second one is me studying outside. You would be able to see the background better but the flash kinda killed it.

MTC Reunions

Me with Elder Vaughn and Elder Richins

 Elder Bangerter, and Elder Fisher. Elder Fisher was on my soccer team and 

the rest went to Viewmont!

The Compound

7/6/15

Hey Family!,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN!!!!!!!!! I hope you got the card I sent you! It's awesome seeing pictures of you guys doing fun stuff for the 4th of July, we didn't get to do much. We had a big devotional and then everyone in the MTC went out to the parking lot to look at 'fireworks' that you could just glimpse through the trees. Then we went to the edge of the compound, my companionship did, and we got to see the big ones from the stadium of fire in between some more trees. Gotta love the compound. Jenny Oaks Baker did a devotional last night! Mom, I thought you would like that one. You guys aren't sending this first part out to everyone are you? It's only supposed to go to you, the close family. The rest goes to everyone else. Oh and I actually did mean gym shirts..... Haha sorry I guess that was my bad for not being specific enough... If you could just send one more SMALL package with the ping pong, my journal, and a few shirts that would be awesome! No cake though please, there is plenty of food here. I'm not kidding. I still have so many treats I can draw from. Another Elder's mom in my district sent Elder Facer and I packages with candy in them... Kinda weird. Not my other companion Elder Jensen or anyone else in the district got a package from her, including Elder Darrington's companion (Elder Darrington's mom sent the package). Sorry I haven't gotten to the letters lately, I'll be working on sending some this week. This Friday marks 1 month in the MTC and also the halfway point. I can't wait to get over that hump, there is only so much language you can learn in the MTC. I'll be with the same companions. I did get the letter from Grandma! I've seen an Elder from EFY four years ago, he said the only way he recognized me was because I was in the Duty to God book. BTW, I saw Brother and Sister Davis in the Plan of Salvation booklets we use as missionaries all the time. Who are they holding?? They haven't even glanced at our visas. They do it all online as far as I know, and they would have contacted me if they needed anything. I don't get my travel itinerary for four more weeks. When I get it I will let you know. I'm actually eating too much fruit so I've had to vary it up a little bit. They don't have too many food options here. Anyways, I'm getting pretty good at basketball. Never thought I would say that.... Keep up the awesome letters and pictures!!!

Brothers and Sisters,

It has been awesome seeing so many people I know come through the MTC lately! I know there are a lot more coming in the next few weeks, so let me know if you are one of them or know one of them so I can keep an eye out! I got to see a few fireworks for the 4th, so that was pretty awesome. We could just barely see them through a gap in the trees on the edge of the compound. Trust me, it's a compound. But hey, I would definitely rather be in this compound than the one at the Point of the Mountain. The days are beginning to blur together a little bit, especially as we do the same thing day in and day out, but I am growing so much. There is so much to learn in the MTC.

Things I learned from cleaning the Provo Temple today:

-It isn't just superficially clean, we quite literally cleaned every inch. Our bodies represent a temple right? So clean every inch of it. Get down on the floor and scrub the base of the chairs with a toothbrush, wipe it with a rag, and then go over the cracks with a q-tip and a toothpick. Clean even the places no one will ever look. Behind doors, behind picture frames, under benches.

-Go over things twice, with twice the effort. I was cleaning the baseboard by the staircase, and there were tons of black scuff marks. I went over a section of the baseboard once before I found out that if you took a long time to scrub rigorously, the black marks would come out! So I went back and spent around an hour cleaning a 30 ft segment of baseboard. Don't do any job or fulfill any commitment half-spirited. Give it all you got. Put some elbow into it.

-The details are important. What needs just a little bit of dusting in your life? The sisters took every single crystal off of the chandelier in the Celestial Room and dusted them individually (they broke a few but my metaphor ends there).

-Some jobs just need doing. We dusted all the chairs that go in any of the sealing rooms with a bone-dry rag. It pretty much made no difference. Actually, it made no difference. It was completely pointless. But even the pointless things need cleaning every once in a while. Even if it is just to show them they are loved.

I'll share one little epiphany I had last Saturday. There really isn't much to say about the MTC, so I'll have to share a little bit about what is going on in my mind. The MTC changes your perspective on things. I'm not really sure how. The classes are hard and long, many of the missionaries don't take this whole thing seriously, I wake up early every morning, and the food stinks. Ok, not literally, but I can only take so many chicken burgers. So why on Earth do I get anything out of this experience? Honestly, I'm even surprised I'm awake to think about things. But I have a theory. I think that because this compound, this dark and gloomy prison, is set apart from the world. Even though the buildings are dim, the walkways are covered, and there is a fence around the perimeter, it keeps the outside world at bay. We have a place here where everyone has the same purpose, united as one. We all love God. We all have Jesus Christ's name on our chest. And that makes it special. This unique atmosphere really causes you to think about the trajectory of your life. Here people ask me all the time, "what are you doing after your mission? What do you want to be when you grow up?" So I guess that question never goes away and I will never grow up, but it led me to think. Everything I've ever wanted to do after my mission is what society expects. I've always wanted to go to college, graduate with some awesome degree, go get a secure job where I can make a lot of money, get married, buy a house, settle down, and eventually retire. That is the average life. For reasons other than what I can explain, I have never entertained possibilities outside that realm of expectation. I feel like a horse with blinders on! Not only on, but as if they would fall off if my hooves weren't holding them on! I can quite literally do anything, especially in this country of freedom. I can take financial risks. If it goes haywire, I only get more experience. I can move to Africa and live with the poorest of the poor for a year. I can join the Army. I can be a river guide and make no money. That is the coolest thing about life. As long as I continue to live this Gospel, gain knowledge, and follow Christ, I can't go wrong! It's not that I am actually planning on going and doing those things now (don't worry mom), but I have just realized that I can physically devote my life to following the promptings of the Spirit and that having a nice house and a good job aren't necessarily the best way to return to God. I guess I've just realized what's important in life. Take my dad for example. He came out of college and worked at a high-paying law firm where he could get rich. But he didn't like the lifestyle. He wanted a better job where he could have more time with his family and focus on other interests in his life. So he gave up the Lamborghini for a Corolla. Prestige for fish-lawyer. Granted, he is climbing the bars in politics, but that is something he enjoys. It is a job where he can make a difference. I hope we can all take a look at our lives like my dad did and find how we can shift our focus from the natural man to the spiritual man. From mammon, to God. Even though I am starting to learn more things in Chinese, I still always pray for all of you back home. Wo de jia ting he wo de peng you. May you always sail against the wind!

-Elder Hawkes

P.S. Elder Poon and Elder Duffin say Hi