March 15, 2010

Dear family,
Wow I feel like I haven´t really written to you in like 2 weeks. I´ve been really busy doing other things on Monday with my new responsibilities as District leader. I´m still adjusting to it. Well I´m doing really good. This week was way crazy. We started it off on last monday when we were in the bus terminal for 2 hours waiting for another Elder in our district to show up. We didn´t get home untill like 10 that night. I wasn´t very happy that we were late. During the next few days we did really good but on Thursday one companionship didn´t show up to the District Meeting so I had to go to there house. That took about an hour of our time to stop by there house and put a post-it on their door. Saturday was the craziest day of them all. We started it off with a service project at 8 am. We were filling up bags of dirt and making a wall with it so the members house won´t fall when there is rain. Their house is literally on the side of a hill. The bags of dirt will keep the dirt up higher so the house doesn´t slide. We finished that project at about 2 pm and then we had another service from 4 pm - 6 30 pm. We did service literally the whole day. It was nuts. I´m so tired right now from those services. Tomorrow I get to go to a District leader meeting. All the district leaders are going to Quito and President Sloan will teach us how we can do our assignments better. I´m really excited because President Sloan teaches in a way that really pumps me up for the work. I also learn a ton every time he teaches us. Well I´m doing really good. I finally started leveling off my weight. I weighed 213 lbs. again when I went to Quito. Hermana Rose, the mission nurse, was very happy that I didn´t lose more.
We had something pretty crazy happen last Sunday (8 days ago). We were in a lesson and I got a call and I felt like I should answer it. I did and a member told me that the mom of one of our investigators (a member) had been asaulted and that the other members had already given her a blessing. We finished the lesson and we went to visit them. When we got there it ended up being that our investigator was the one that had been asaulted. I didn´t hear right. We know that he has a problem with drinking so we know what caused it. We talked to him for a bit and talked about prayer and repentance. The spirit was so strong during the lesson. He told us that he wanted to leave the alcohol and everything behind him. We left an Ensign with him and told him to read it. The sad thing is that just 2 days ago we stopped by again and he was drunk laying in his bed. It´s really sad because it could affect his brain if he´s drinking right now. He has a really bad addiction and we´re trying to help him.
Last friday (10 days ago) I did my second baptisimal interview. It was an amazing experience. At the end of it she said that she wanted me to baptize her. I was surprised but I said yes. The next day we had the baptism and it was a really amazing experience. The sisters that taught this investigator were really happy too because one of them finished the mission the next week. It would be way cool to finish the mission with a baptism. I was really happy for her. That´s the 5th person I´ve baptized in my life. Emily Hakes, Miller Mina, Diana Nieto, Carlos Quishpe and Aidil Diaz. That´s pretty crazy that I´ve been able to do that in my life. It´s really a blessing. This week we also gave a ton of priesthood blessings. I would say about 10 of them at least. It´s a blessing that I´m able to use the priesthood almost everyday here in the mission. I love it.
Well family, my time´s almost up. I just feel like I should end this letter with my testimony. I know that I am exactly where I need to be right now. I love sharing the Book of Mormon with the people here. It´s a blessing that I can say, ¨This book was written by your ancestors and they wrote it for you.¨ I love telling the people that because then they get really interested and they listen. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown so much in this short time here in the mission. I also testify of the promise that the Book of Mormon carries. That anyone that reads this book, meditates in its words, and prays to God asking if it is true will know for a surety that this book was written by prophets called by God and that Joseph Smith translated this book. I believe that this challenge can be used by every person everyday, member or non-member. We all must read, meditate and pray about the Book of Mormon everyday so that our testimonies will be strong enough. One of my MTC teachers said, ¨Your testimony today is not strong enough for tomorrow´s challenges.¨ We must strengthen our testimonies everyday and we must know without a doubt in our mind that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, other scriptures written for our day that help and protect us when we choose to use them. My challenge to everyone is that you read the Book of Mormon again. 1 Nephi 1:1 - Moroni 10:34. You will all be strengthened and renewed and will have more success in everything that you do. I love you all and I hope you can all do these things with¨...un corazón quebrantado y espíritu contritu¨(3 nefi 9:20).



Love,
Élder Hakes