December 21, 2009

Ok I´m sending this one real quick because the power is about to go out and I probably won´t have too much time to send anything. The number is a land line and call here at noon Christmas day. Noon AZ time 3PM for me. The number is 005932759262. I think that is all you have to dial from the phone. We can only talk for 40 minutes maximum. Just say "puedo hablar con Élder Hakes" or you can just say Élder Hakes. It´s a house of a member. I love you all I´m going to start writing another letter


Love,¨
Élder Hakes

Half hour later.....

This might be just a bunch of jiberish but I´ll send it anyways. We had a baptism and I baptized her. Picture next week. We had little smokies with bbq sauce this week Send the family Christmas card please I love you all.

Élder Hakes


A few hours later....

Dear Family,
Well I found some more time. Élder Estrada had to go to Quito today for a District leaders meeting. I´m with some other missionaries for today and tomorrow. Sorry about the other letters. I was really rushed and wanted you to at least have something. This week was really good. I bought a CD player and that´s been really good to have for this week. There´s a big difference in the house when there´s music playing. I haven´t gotten any news on any package for me. I hope you sent it right. I think I fogot to tell you what President Sloan told us. He said send it to the mission office in Quito, it needs a green sticker, and don´t expedite it. If it´s more than 4-5 lbs. it will take a lot longer to get here. It was good to see the picture of the tree. I´m reaaly excited to watah the UofA bowl game, oh wait, they decided to be good when I´m in Ecuador. Oh well, I´m really not all that worried about it. THere´s too much to worry about here. We have a ton of planned baptisms for this next month. The goal is 11 right now. It´s very realistic too. We also have 2-3 this weekend. 1 hasn´t officially decided yet. She will tell us tomorrow or on wednesday.
I got the Ensign from conference and I saw something crazy in the pictures. On page 104 with the picture of the sister missionaries holding up signs look in the backround on the right hand side. Tell me who you think it looks like. This week I showed Élder Estrada li´l smokies and BBQ sauce and he really likes them. It´s really funny. We bought a ton of food for Christmas because we have to be locked in our house for most of the day. I think I´m going to buy a suit next week. It cost $60 for a suit (with pants). THe ones I have right now are to big. I can still wear them but I want another one too. It´ll have something special on it and I´ll send you a picture :) We had another baptism this week to. I baptized a 15 year-old girl. She's the younger sister of one of our other recent converts. It was a really cool experience with her because we found her taught her and baptized her. It was sweet too because she has a powerful testimony.
The ward here had their ward Christmas party on Saturday. THat was interesting. It started off with skits. We had 8 missionaries there and we did 3 skits. THey were all pretty funny. The young men here did a skit very similar to the Birtcher family. A skit where the director doesn't like what there doing and he keeps telling them to do it faster or slower or with more emotion. It was hilarious and I have it all recorded on my camera. After that they had a dance. THat's when we left. First off, we're not allowed to dance as missionaries and secondly, I didn't think the music they were playing was appropriate for a ward activity. It's all good though because we left. I really like the new house we have. A lot cleaner and a lot less bugs. The Spanish is coming easier everyday. I can teach about anything now, I just need to study more. I feel like I don't know the lessons very well. That's what I've been focusing on in my studies this week. Well I'll be waiting for your call on friday. 12 PM (noon) AZ time. I'm about 99% sure that the number is 005932769262. If it doesn't work try 005932759262. If I don't get your call I'll call you and then have you call back. If it ends up being on the 26th I'll call then if I have too (if all else fails). We'll make sure that we talk. Well I love you all. Have a Merry CHRISTmas!!!!

Love,
Élder Hakes