Sister Hawkins' new address!

We received an email from Emily today with her new address.

Sister Emily Mae Hawkins
804 1/2 Granger Street
Jennings, LA 70546

Emily sent a couple of emails today, one to me and one to her older sister Melanie.  I have posted mine and Melanie gave me permission to post some of hers that we thought you might enjoy reading. Thank you again for all your love and support.  The Lord is hearing and answering our prayers.  As you will read in her emails, Emily has been blessed with an awesome companion who is being very patient and understanding.  I think we all knew that this first companion in the mission field could make all the difference for Emily.  How grateful we are for Sister Smith.  Here are the emails:

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Hi Mom!

Well I have lots to tell you but first things first. I didn't sleep at the Mission President's home. I went straight to my area and I am in Jennings Louisiana!!! How crazy uh! I have a really nice companion and she is so nice to me. It's really a blessing to have her as my companion! My new address is

804 1/2 Granger Street
Jennings, LA 70546

So I hope to get letters soon. I will have to pick up the packages at the post office because there isn't a place to deliver packages here but that is okay! I can't wait to hear from you! Send a letter soon. It's been hard not to hear from anyone for a week but it was sure nice to have Melanie's package and your letter when I got here to Texas! I even had a letter from Sister Bolander! Listening to Melanie's tape was so helpful! I couldn't listen to it all at once, only for a bit every morning.

You are probably going to get an e-mail from a guy named Bob. I met him on the plane and he wasn't interested in the Book of Mormon or in anything about the church but he said near the end of the flight that he was always going to wonder how my mission is going for me.  I couldn't remember my blog address and so I gave him your e-mail so you can tell him my blog. He was a nice elderly man and he was just visiting Texas. So I hope that is okay.

So I am in Jennings Louisiana! Me and my new companion, Sister Smith, had to drive 3 hours to get to Jennings from the mission home so last Wednesday was a super long day!!!! For real, I'm still so tired. We didn't get to bed till almost 11 O'clock. It was super crazy Wednesday.

So I have my new bike we ordered from the bike shop here in Texas but they gave me the wrong seat so before we left for Jennings we told the mission office and they took care of it and got me a bigger bike seat. My bike looks so pretty and it's cool that I have a Texas water bottle. But my first area is not a bike area so we have a really cool truck!! No lie!! And it's a 2009 truck that is a four door. I'll have to take a picture and send it to ya!

But I'm getting use to things. It's hard to go tracking because I truly freeze at the door and just don't know what to say and I feel bad that my companion does all the talking but she is so understanding and she keeps telling me that it will come and not to stress so much about it.

I truly miss home! When we got to the apartment late Wednesday night I was truly scared but I did keep cool and just kept telling myself I am going to be okay. And even when we went shopping, because we had no food in the house, we saw people at Wal-Mart here and I really got scared and just almost cried because they looked so scary!! Mama there are some days when I just get scared and just want to freak out. Even in teaching lessons I get scared and just want to cry, but I must admit some lessons are good. Like we had one on Sunday with a lady we call Sister Young and we went to go see her. She is inactive and we went to share some scriptures with her and the Spirit was strong there and it was neat to be able to find scriptures that the Spirit wanted me to share with her. So there have been a couple of good lessons but it's hard to teach them. I know the gospel and kinda know the understanding of things but it's hard to explain it to the people because I just don't want to make a mistake!

Mom I feel so alone at times and feel so out of place and feel like I don't know anything and wonder if I can really teach them the gospel and just wonder how to get through each day. Sister Smith says the first transfers are the hardest ones and even sometimes the second transfers are too. But I guess I'll see what happens.

Well on Wednesday when I was at the mission home, I had a visit with President Moldenhauer so he could get to know me a bit and I did tell him the struggles of my life and of being scared and going through counseling and how I had to try my hardest to get on a mission. He said, “Well Sister Hawkins, let me just take the anxiety you have and we will just put it on the shelf so you can have a fantastic mission.” And when we where having our meetings on Wednesday they kept saying that this mission you’re on is a Miracle Mission! I just think it is cool how you relate to me as a miracle and how Melanie describes me in one word as a Miracle, and then to have them say that this mission is a Miracle Mission! It just blew my mind away!

Well I love you mom and my p-days are Monday so I hope to hear from you soon!!!! Love you Lots!!

Love Sister Hawkins!

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Hi Melanie!

So when I flew into Houston we drove to eat lunch and I really felt homesick and didn't really eat. I went to the bathroom and stood in the stall starting to cry because I just felt so alone and scared and just thinking to myself saying “What did I get myself into!” I felt really bad when my mission president's wife came in to see if I was okay because I think she could tell that I was scared and nervous because I really didn't eat anything. But then we drove to the mission home and we had meetings and pictures taken and I got a chance to meet with President Moldenhauer and I told him how I was scared as a kid and how I went through a lot to get on this mission. He was nice and caring and just said that we will take my anxiety and put it on the self so I can have a fantastic mission!

But after all the meetings we went to the mission office to pick up mail, which was yours and moms and Rachels and Sister Bolanders, and to also meet our new companion. My new companion is Sister Elizabeth Jean Smith and she is truly an angel. She has helped me so much and has been patient with me and told me things will be okay and that the first transfer is the hardest ever and the second is sometimes too but after that she said my mission is just going to fly by. I can tell you that this is so hard and that I feel so inadequate to do these things. So these next two transfers are going to be the hardest ever I think!

So I met Sister Smith and she showed me a big map of our mission. She pointed to where we were at the Mission Home and then drug her finger clear to JENNINGS LOUISIANA!!! So I'm not in Texas.  We had a 3 hour drive ahead of us so we had to hurry and leave with our sack dinners and head out the door! The drive was long but it was good to get to know each other. She is from Utah and she has been on her mission for a year this coming Thursday! So she only has like 4 transfers left! And I got lots left, but she is so nice and caring and really is upbeat and is trying to help me in lots of ways! I'm so grateful my prayers have been answered to have such a wonderful companion as Sister Smith!

Well flying into Houston was hard because all of a sudden it was hot and humid!! For reals! It was hard to breath coming in! I felt like I was going to die of not being able to breath but it got better. Sister Smith says the hot, hot, hot summer is over. She tells me I'm going to have lots of fun next summer! But it's not too bad right now but it is still hot for sure! When we go tracking we carry water and the water here is not good to drink out of the tap so we have to buy big gallons of water to put in our fridge. Once we were tracking and we met this nice elderly lady and she gave us water and I could tell it wasn't filtered. She gave me a full glass and it was not yummy at all. It was hard to drink the full glass of water. But I am feeling fine and hopefully I don't get anything from drinking nasty water!

In our apartment we have air conditioning but we have to keep it at 80 degrees when were gone during the day and when we are home we have to keep it at 75 degrees so we do kinda keep cool. We don't have any fans in our apartment so I am going to look for a mini fan because for some reason I just can't sleep at night at all. I keep waking up and tossing and turning all night. It's super quite and every time I either move or my companion moves I wake up, so for most of the days I am so tired because I didn't get a good night sleep! So maybe the noise of a fan will work!

But thanks for all the advice on the tape it was so much fun listening to you and the girls. It is truly hard to be away from home, no wonder the first two transfers are so hard because you're not use to living this life style but I hope and pray things will get better.

Well my time is up because yesterday we had p-day but it was Labor Day so the library was closed so we had to come today and we just don't have lots of time, but I love you and I hope to hear from you soon! Give the girls a hug and tell them Lou will be sending a tape next week.

Love Sister Hawkins!