July 26, 2010

Dear Family,
This week was really weird. My companion and I were sick the whole week. It´s just a cold so it´s annoying us while we work. The only day we didn´t work was on Wednesday because I had a fever. I´m doing a lot better now. I only have a cough now.

Our sector isn´t doing so well now. With all the meetings we´ve had and with being sick, our sector kind of got destroyed. We want to get back to it but this week we have 3 straight days of meetings.

There are changes in all the missions in all the world and we´re going to talk about it starting tomorrow. We don´t know what´s going to change but we´re excited to see what it is.

This Sunday was way sweet. 6 of the people that I baptized and their families came to church yesterday. It was the first time that we had all of them there at the same time because they are all relatives. It was way cool because there were like 20 of them there. Here in South America, a ward with 100 people is pretty good. 1/5 of the ward is this family now. It was way cool. Germán Castellanos, the father of the family of 4, came to church in a white shirt and tie and blessed the sacrament. That was a really cool experience too!!! It is really awesome that I can watch these families progress towards the temple. If all goes well, before I leave there will be 20+ people that go to the temple (including the little kids that will be sealed to their parents). I want to see that. That would be the real blessing for me.

I love this work. It is such a blessing to be here. I have the wonderful opportunity to help so many people everyday. If I were to count up how many contacts I´ve done since I´ve been in the mission it would be over 1,000. It´s amazing that I´ve talked with over 1,000 Ecuadorians and helped them in some way. It is so important that we don´t waste our time. There really isn´t enough of it. We must always be helping people in every single moment or we will be wasting time. I´m not only talking about me as a missionary. I´m talking about people in general. We must always be ready to serve or it´s already too late. I love this work and I know that it is true. The Lord is on my side everyday. He leads me where I need to go. He has molded me into a different, better person. Thank you for all that you guys have done for me. Each and every one of you are a blessing in my life.



Love,
Élder Hakes

July 19, 2010

Dear Family,
This week was pretty sweet. We worked way hard the first half of the week, but the last half we got a little bit sick. Just a cold so nothing to worry about :)

We were going to have a baptism this weekend but it didn´t happen. We showed up at his house about an hour before the baptism but he wasn´t there. We said ok we´ll wait. There were a ton of little kids playing soccer in the street while we waited for 45 minutes. He never showed up. One of the kids came up and told us that he was in his room and that he was hiding from us. We were a little bit frustrated to hear that that was what was happening. We knocked on his door again and we said if you want to talk with us again we´ll be in church tomorrow. He didn´t show up. We´re still going to pass by to see what happened and to see if we can help him.

The family Castellanos is doing really good. Germán (the dad) gave a talk yesterday in church. It was good but he was talking way bad about the Catholic Church. It was kind of funny for me and my companion, but it´s probably not a good thing that he said those things in front of everyone. They are progressing so much. They´re really excited that they can go to the temple. They´re getting prepared for it. They´re also going to go and do baptisms for the dead with the ward too!!! What an awesome family!!!!

This week we had transfers in the mission, but I´m still here in the same sector and I´m still with Élder Archundia. I´m way excited. I didn´t want to go. I can´t wait to see how we do this transfer as a zone. We have done so much better the last 2 months and this month is even better. Well I don´t know what else to say. I love you guys!!!!



Love,
Élder Hakes

July 12, 2010

Dear Family,
This week was absolutely nuts. We just had a ton of meetings. I wasn´t hardly in my own sector. On Tuesday we had our Zone Leader´s Council, on Wednesday we had interviews with President Sloan, on Thursday we had a Mini-Zone Conference, on Friday we had the actual Zone Conference, and on Saturday we had a plaza presentation. It was crazy. I really enjoyed my time but I missed my investigators too!

At the Zone Leader´s Council we ended the night roasting s´mores. They were amazing. It was way fun. They also told us that we can now play soccer so we played soccer today. It was actually way fun. I´m not very good but I enjoyed my time. President Sloan also gave our zone permision to watch Toy Story 3 today. It was hilarious. We were laughing the whole time.

The family Castellanos is doing really good. I had them write in a memory book (a book with letters and pictures from investigators and members) and they wrote some really amazing stuff. They are an awesome family. I can´t wait to hear that they´ve gone to the temple. I´ll still be here when they can go to the temple. I hope they go while I´m here. That would be the true blessing for me.

Well this next weekend there are transfers because new missionaries will be arriving. I think I´m going to be leaving this zone finally. I don´t want to, but I think my times up here. I´ve been here for over 6 months in the same stake. I guess we´ll see what happens next week.

This week at church there was a family from Fresno, California here. The mom in the family is from Quito and they used to live here. They were visiting her parents. It was really weird because they´re a family of 6 kids and there were a ton of them. They all can speak Spanish too. It was way weird. Well family I love you all so much. I love being here on the mission. It gives me the chance to change who I am. I have a lot of corrections to do so I´m happy to be here. I love helping people change their lives. It is such a blessing to represent Jesus Christ in all that I do.



Love,
Élder Hakes

July 5, 2010

Dear Family,
This week was pretty awesome. We had the baptism of the family Castellanos, 4 people. It was so amazing. It was a very spiritual experience. THey had so many trials and temptations this week and it was hard for them. They had a family member tell them that the Mormons have 7 wives and that Joseph Smilth was a drug dealer. The father of the family Castellanos told them that it isn´t like that and he bore his testimony to them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He also gave them a pamphlet about the Law of Chastity that he happened to have with him. They will be really strong members for their entire lives. Their baptism and confirmation went perfectly. The dad even got up and bore his testimony. He was going to give a talk for about 10 minutes but the bishop asked him to do it for next week. It was way cool
This week when we were contacting we saw in someones yard that they had a monkey on a leash in their yard. We started talking with them and they let us in to take pictures. It was way cool!!!! I have some cool videos too but they´re too big to put in an e-mail.



We also had a talent show this week after the baptism. We did some pretty cool stuff. I have some sweet videos of that too. They´re also too big to put in an e-mail. The time here is flying by. I can´t believe I´ve been away from home for 10 months now. I´ve been here in Ecuador for 8 months. The time is flying. Well I love you all so much. Thank you for all that you do. It´s sad to hear that Grandma Dell passed away, but I know that she´s in a better place now. It´s such a blessing that we are able to know where she is and what she´s doing right now. It´s something that only the Restored Gospel can bring to us. Love you all!!!!


Love,
Élder Hakes

June 28, 2010

Dear Family,
This week was pretty weird. I can´t believe I´m 20 years old now. I will never be a teenager again :) I ate about 5 times on my birthday. It was pretty sweet. Right now we have a family of 4 that will be baptized this Saturday. They are such an amazing family. We found them in the streets about 3 weeks ago and they have just made a complete change in their lives. They were looking for the truth. They are feeling that the emptiness in their souls is being filled. It is so amazing. Last night the father told us that he wants to give a talk at his baptism. We were really taken aback and we said yes that´s fine. We´re not sure what he´s going to say but I guess we´ll find out. Today we went to the Basilica again, the big catholic church. It was pretty sweet. I realized that I´m the missionary with the most time in Zone Los Chillos. I´ve been here in this Stake for almost 6 months now. I´ll probably get changed in 3 weeks. Well I´m doing amazing family. I´m so grateful for all of the e-mails that you sent me this week. I can´t tell you all how much I love you!!!!!



Love,
Élder Hakes

June 21, 2010

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for all of the e-mails that you sent me. They make me feel like I´m at home....kind of :) This week was an amazing week for us. We were definitely led by the Spirit to some new families. We were able to find 30 new people just in this week. We were led by the Spirit to a 19 year old kid that 2 days after we met him he went to church and he´s reading the Book of Mormon. He wants to know more and he is very receptive. We also found a couple and their cousins that live in the same house that also said that they want to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. They said that they wanted to learn more first before they get baptized :) About 2 weeks ago, we finished teching a lesson and we were going to take a bus to go to a different place. When we were about to turn on a street to go to the bus stop I had a thought about a person that we were teaching that really wasn´t that intrested. I didn´t know why I thought that. I half-way wanted to just go down to the bus. I said no and we went to this not-so-intrested investigators house. When we got there this time she just told us to go away that she´s not interested (we were visiting her in her store). She was with a customer and the customer said hold on a sec. I want you to talk with me and my family. We were very surprised and we said ok. We went and got to know her husband and 2 children right then and there. This family has been prepared for a long time. They now have a baptisimal date for July 3 and they are changing a lot. They read from the Book of Mormon and from the new Gospel Principles manual that we received this year. I will be eternally grateful that I decided to follow a thought that I thought was a dumb thought becasue 4 of God´s children will be able to return to live with him again.

This week we went to the Equator again. We went to a different spot than last time. This is supposed to be the real Ecuator line. They had some really cool stuff. They had water fall in the North and in the South and on the Ecuator. It was way cool because it went opposite directions and on the Ecuator it went straight down. There´s also less resistance on the Ecuator. He had me put my hands out and he tried pulling my arms down. Away from the Ecuator he couldn´t do it but on the Ecuator he did it pretty easily. It was pretty crazy. We also balanced an egg on a nail. They also had some cool stuff from the Orient, the Amazon Jungle. It was way cool to learn about all this new stuff.

Well I just want to share my testimony with all of you I know that the church is true. The Gospel makes changes in the lives of the people here. I love being a missionary. I can´t believe that I´m going to turn 20 years old this week. Thank you so much for all that all of you have taught me in my life. I´m so grateful for each and every one of you.
I love you all so very much.
Love, Élder Hakes

June 14, 2010

Dear Family,
Wow! What a crazy week. Well as I wrote last week I´m with a new companion now. This week was pretty good. I feel like we could have done more and this week will be a wake up call to him. We had 2 baptisms last weekend. A couple got baptized. It was a really sweet experience. They changed so much just this week so they could be prepared for baptism. They will be an amazing eternal family when they go to the temple. They´re so excited to change their lives now. I love helping people to do that. I do have some bad news too. THis week we laost the family Villamar, the family of 8. Everything was going good and they were preparing for baptism. We had the interviews on thursday and it was a disaster. All of the kids younger than 18 said that they wanted to wait until they turned 18 so they could make a good decision. The oldest, 19 year old, was completly shut and prideful. She didn´t confess her sins. She said that she didn´t want to be baptized and a lot of other things. We talked to them afterwards and told them that they can´t reject the answer that they have received. THey know that the church is true and they are just rejectng it because of their pride. We read some scriptures about how if they have an answer and they reject it it will be bad with them in the last day, but they didn´t care at all. It was really sad to see them like that. They were progressing so well and I felt like everything was going so well. I guess it wasn´t there time. We´ll visit them like 1 or 2 more times to see if they´ll change, but if not we´re going to have to leave them for now.´
Today we went bowling and played pool again at the same place. I ate McDonalds and Taco Bell today. It was pretty amazing. Well I hope you all know that I love this work. I know that there are a lot of ups and downs and that this work is very difficult, but....I LOVE IT!!!!!! It´s so weird to think that I´m going to be 20 years old in a few weeks. It´s kind of funny, I think I´m starting to lose my vision a little bit. I told my companion that my eyes only have a 20 year gaurantee he he he :) :) Well I love you all so much. I´m really excited for our zone and our companionship. We´re going to have a lot of baptisms and that´s always good.



Love,
Élder Hakes