JULY 18, 2011

Dear Family,
This week went by super fast. It was pretty fun too. I was going around to lots of different sectors again trying to help the other missionaries. It made everything go by even faster! I had a really amazing experience with a baptismal interview too. I went to Guaranda (2 hours away) for the interview. The person that I interviewed has had quite a few problems in her life. She has been fighting depression for years and there have been many times when she has been ready to kill herself and she was able to change her mind or someone came and stopped her. It was sad to hear about all that had happened to her in her life. I just told her that she has a lot of people that love her and care about her. I talked especially about how our Heavenly Father loves her. I told her that she should remember what I told her every time that she faces depression. 2 days after the interview I called her to tell her when her other interview with President would be and she thanked me for telling her that Heavenly Father loves her. She said that the day after the interview she had negative thoughts about herself and that when she remembered what I told her she felt better. It was way cool. During the interview she also told me that 3 days in a row she had dreamed with the missionaries that are teaching her and a 3rd really tall person :) She didn´t want "to confess" but she could trust me when we started talking. It was such a cool experience!!!!!
On Tuesday we had a really cool experience. I was with Elder Glassford, our district leader, and we found a ton of new families. We went to visit a cab driver and his family and he wasn´t there yet, but his mom invited us in and then she started inviting all of her family. We taught 10 people at the same time!!!! They were 4 different families that we found at the same time. It was a cool experience, but they were talking a ton!! They are evangelicals (I don´t know if that is spelt right). We tried to talk about the importance of the priesthood in receiving a baptism and they didn´t really understand. After we would talk one of them would talk and confuse everyone else. They all accepted to pray to know. We have to go back this week to see how their prayers went :) On the same day we talked with a family in the street and we walked back to their house with them. They let us in and they accepted a baptismal date for July 30. The only problem is that they went out of town so they weren´t able to go to church. We´ll be getting a hold of them this week too!!!
Well I love you all so much. Thank you for your support and for all that you do for me. I am so grateful for my family, for my brothers, sisters and parents. Also for my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Thank you for all that you do!!!!!



Love,
Élder Hakes