Companion

Querido Madre,
That will be sweet to see the Gila Valley Temple pics. When is it supposed to be dedicated? Yes, I did get more letters. Thank you. Just make sure to bug Ryan because I haven't gotten one from him yet. A cheese stuffed, bacon wrapped, deep fried hot dog sounds really good. The food here is good, but it's still cafeteria food. My companions name is Preston Michael James Vogl. He's lived in about four states since he was 11 including California, Colorado, Utah and Washington. He's really funny. The schedule is about six hours of classroom time with teacher, one hour of gym, 3 hours of personal, companion, language study and meals three times a day. Pretty repetitive though. It's different on Sundays and P-days. We get to go to firesides on Tuesday nights too. I did get to talk to Alli and Susan. I love you. Haz lo justo.
Love,
Elder Hakes

NOTE: Our priest quorum created the deep fried hot dogs and we told him about them. Alli is a cousin and Susan an aunt that live in Utah.

Teaching

Querido familia,
Well this week was the best so far. We had Elder Holland come on last tuesday and I got an investigator in the RC on Saturday. I was on my last call before I had to leave and it was the first person to answer that day. I started talking to him and it ended up that I taught him the whole first lesson and that I commited him to pray about it. I also set up an appointment for the next day. I called him again on Sunday and taught him the whole second lesson. He accepted everything I taught him. He is a golden investigator. He already has a testimony about the Atonement and is accepting all of the commitments I've been giving him. I am going to call him again tomorrow and try to get him to talk to the missionaries. I don't think it will be hard to tell him at all, but prayers couldn't hurt :) Well I love it here. It is amazing to feel the Spirit all of the time. I guess you haven't gotten my letters about my companion yet. His name is Elder Preston Vogl. He's lived in California, Washington, Idaho, Colorado and Utah over the last 8 years. He love hockey and he's really funny. My ankle is doing fine now. I can do whatever I want now :) Also, I will be speaking spanish from now on. I'm excited!!! I probably won't be speaking as much now ha ha. I love spanish and it is coming so easy now. I've been blessed with the gift of tounges. It's no where near being good but I am learning very quickly and it's easy for me to understand. Well I love you guys. I hope all is well.

Love,
Élder David Hakes

P.S.
I'm out of chips and salsa!!!!

Referral Center

Apparently David sent 4 envelopes to us. Two arrived on Friday, one on Saturday and one on Monday....all postmarked the same day!!

Querido Familia,
Well you didn't get an email because it cut me off when it hit 30 minutes. So this week you just get letters. Well this week has been amazing. It's going by so much faster now. We've done so many new things too. We went to the referral center for the first time. When some one calls the number on a pass along card, it is directed to the referral center. It's so awesome to be actually testifying to real people that need it. I've been able to send missionaries to 4 houses. Of the 4 houses, 2 wanted Bibles and 2 wanted Book of Mormons. I love going to the referral center. We also went to the TE for the first time. In the TE we go and teach a teacher and then they evaluate how we did afterward. It has helped a lot in our teaching. We loved it so much we went another three times after that. I sprained my ankle this last Thursday. Don't worry thought, I'm doing fine and I was able to run yesterday. Our district is really close. We have 11 people in there. 3 hermanas y 8 Elders. I can't wait to get into the field. I've been here for 2 weeks and I feel like I've been here for a lot longer. There was another group of new missionaries that came in today and I started hugging random ones. It was pretty funny. Last night Elder Jeffry R. Holland came to our devotional. It was the best devotional I have ever heard. The spirit was so strong. He was extremely BOLD and excited with every single thing he said. It was almost like he was frustrated with the missionaries that don't finish missions, but he wasn't in the least bit angry. We also had Elder Richard G. Hinckley also came last week. His talk was pretty amazing too. I love it here. Tell everyone that they need to go on missions. I love letters and packages during the week. DearElder is the fastest. I love you guys!

Love,
Elder David Hakes

Bits and Pieces

This week David sent his letter through the mail. We FINALLY received it on Friday. He had taken all the letters that had been written through DearElder and tried to answer them. I will not put all of it here, but check your personal emails for his update....

Here are a few blurbs he shared:
I LOVE Teaching
Weeks are fast and days are slow
Make the temple a goal in your life
I haven't gained any weight yet
Sprained my ankle last week
My companion snorted green jello :)
Tell Keaton about questions and purpose
I have no idea what is going on in the real world, but I don't care.
The spirit is so strong here

Family

We received the following letter in the mail on Friday...

Familia!
This last week had probably been the best in my life! My companion, roommates and I have become like best friends. Every single day I feel the Spirit so strongly. I love it! I'm FINALLY where I need to be. ON Saturday night a ton of Spanish just came back to me. I can't speak fluently or be even close to that yet. I can pray and bear testimony in espanol though. :) My teachers are awesome. Right now our main focus is on learning the basic doctrine in English. We'll still be using Spanish, but it's all doctrine right now. I can't believe that my only letter was from Dad and that I got a package from Deanna Butler, who I don't even know. She even sent me chips and salsa. :) I hope all at home is going well. All I do is study, eat and learn Spanish. I love each and every one of you and I expect at least 1 note from DearElder.com from each of you!

Love su hijo y hermano,
Elder David Hakes

P.S.
DearElder sends your notes in letter from to me that day. I like chips and salsa :) (or any food. dinner is at 4:30pm)
I heard that BYU beat Oklahoma and I'm wondering how the U of A did. :)


JUST A NOTE: Deanna Butler was one of my counselors in YW when we lived in Tucson. She also served in the Ecuador, Quito mission as was thrilled to hear about David. She called before David's farewell and wanted to make sure he was the first in his district to receive a package. :)

DearElder.com

I would suggest that you send your notes to David at dearelder.com while he is at the MTC. If sent before noon, they will print them and put it in his mailbox the day they are sent. Then, he can read your notes during the week and spend his 30 minutes of computer time responding to the emails. You need to know his Mailbox number (107), his mission (ECU QUI) and departure date (11/2/09) Thanks!!

First Email

We got a quick note from David today updating his addresses. He apparently sent two emails, but we only received one. I will post it when we finally receive it.

The following is his second email:

Hey guys!!,
I actually sent a letter about 15 minutes ago so most of what I wanted to
say is in that. I just thought I'd send you a couple of pictures, but this
computer is being dumb so I can't. My e-mail address is obviously davidhakes64@
myldsmail .net I have 30 minutes of e-mail time every p-day, which is Wednesday.
I've had an awesome time so far. I'm having a great time with my companion and
my district. The Spirit has been so strong. If you send me a letter through
dearelder.com then I will receive it later that day in the form of a letter. It
would be really nice to hear from someone everyday and that is the easiest way
for me to get it. We were able to have Elder Richard G. Hinckley speak in a
fireside last night and it was amazing. He taught so much and I had about 1 and
a half pages of notes. Yes i take notes about everything now ha ha. I also have
every single minute of everyday planned out the night before. Weird huh :) I was
also able to go to the temple today and that was really cool. I did sealings and
acted for a child. There's no other place where I want to get married than in
the temple. I love all of you guys. Tell the extended family that I'm having the
time of my life here and they all need to experience a mission. I'm only allowed
to write letters on p-day so don't get too mad when I don't write back. Tell
everyone I love them and that I love getting letters and packages with food!!! I
love you Mom, Dad, Jennie, Brent, Ryan, Cody, and Emily. I hope all is well.
Please keep me updated about everything.

Love,
Élder David Hakes

He's Off!

It was a busy day yesterday. We traveled down to Tucson to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Hanna. We had a great visit. We used to visit them all the time when we lived in Tucson. It was great to see them again. We hurried back to Mesa so we could go to Brent's football game. They finally decided to score in the 4th quarter and win the game. It was great to visit with family at the game and some phone calls that night too. This morning we got up early and headed for the airport.

David was soooooo excited to leave he did not want to visit any more at security. He headed out ASAP. Emily was not ready to let loose of her big brother. She cried and cried. We went to the top of the parking garage and watched a plane take off before she would let us leave the airport. She loves her "Davy."