Well considering the week Emily has had, she is doing pretty well. We got word to her that one of her best friends is battling cancer and that was really hard for her. Things like that are always hard but even harder when you are so far away from home. She is excited about her upcoming birthday and then to be able to go to the Houston Temple on the 16th. Here is her latest email.

Monday, November 08, 2010

Hi Mom,

Well this is going to be a really good e-mail, hopefully, if I have time to write ya stuff. So last week I couldn't really tell ya about the baptisms. Well Noah and William’s baptisms went through, but the girls’ one didn't which is sad but we are still trying to work with them. We haven’t seen them these last couple of weeks because of the holidays and there grandpa isn’t doing well is in the hospital.

The baptism was amazing! The spirit was there! Yeah, there were a lot of kids there, but it was amazing; the peace and feeling of the Spirit! I'll try to send ya pictures of the baptism if I have time this week.

This last Monday was zone p-day which means the missionaries in my zone got together and played softball and they invited another zone to come play with us! It was so much fun and we had to wear red t-shirts to tell the zones apart. I didn't have one and so I went and bought one. Sister Smith and I bought letters to iron on our shirts. On the back of my shirt says HAWKINS and on the front is says O-ZONE because we are the orange zone. I didn't have enough letters to spell out the word orange. Sister Smith did the same. It was cool and we each got red headbands and had them on our heads and it was great to have the headband because it kept the sweat off from my face. LOL!!! But it was cool because my team, the orange zone, really liked me on their team. They said I was their MVP (Most Valuable Player). How cool it that! I was the pitcher and they liked my batting too because I only batted one handed. So it was fun playing softball last Monday. I was the one driving us to Orange Texas and it was raining and boy the rain was so bad. It was pouring down buckets of rain for real!!! Big Buckets of Rain. It was scary but we got there safely!

Oh so what I am going to do for my birthday is that after church we are going to Crowley. That’s in our area and there is this guy and his name is Coach Pizz, and he invited us for lunch. We are bringing an inactive member with us because we can’t go inside unless there is another lady there. We are having lunch and it's going to be a weird lunch with three meat sausages, onions, peppers and chicken over some noodles. Coach Pizz says the Elders loved it and so it's going to be interesting! But that is all I know about what I'm doing for my birthday.

It's crazy; I'm going to be 22!!!! I can't wait for my package; it's going to be sweet!!!! I love getting packages. I feel bad that you and dad spend so much money on packages. You truly are the best parents ever!!!

So this last Saturday was fun. Why? Because we have been helping in the Primary for the Primary Program that is happening on my birthday. So this last Saturday we had a practice and it was so much fun helping the Primary and singing songs. The kids really don't know the songs and I sit with the kids and Sister Smith leads the music. I keep the kids settled down and tell them to be quite and help them sing. I have been thinking a lot about you. When we are helping the primary, I wish you were here to teach the kids to sing. I know that you miss primary. You never know, you could get called back in there someday. But it's been fun working with the kids and singing primary songs. I can’t believe I missed primary growing up; I was just too scared and afraid. I missed out on the great messages you learn in primary. There is a lot of stuff in life that I missed out on because of my fears. I just hope and pray that I can do this mission and not miss this opportunity to learn and to grow and to change and to not be afraid anymore. But we will see right?

Transfers are on the 22nd of November. We won’t know till the 20th if we get transferred or who gets transferred, so just letting ya know. Sister Smith thinks she is leaving which is really sad and hard because she has helped me so much to give me comfort and to help me out with Danee right now. It was so hard to hear about Danee. I just started to ball and ran into my bedroom, fell to the floor by my bed, and just cried my heart out. I can’t even imagine what she is going through. It breaks my heart so much that I can't be there for her mom. So transfers are going to be interesting. I just still feel like I need Sister Smith.

Oh I know what to tell you about! So the last couple of weeks Sister Smith has been itching her back. It reminded me of a lady in our branch who had shingles. This lady told us that she began to itch and one day she itched and it hurt and looked red so she went it and got it checked and the doctor told her it was shingles. So I told Sister Smith that she might have shingles and to call Sister Moldenhauer and tell her what’s going on. So we told Sister Moldenhauer and she told Sister Smith to go to a clinic. Since Jennings is a small town, we had to go to Lake Charles and she saw a doctor on Friday and they told Sister Smith it is the beginning stages of Shingles!!!!!!! And so she is taking medicine and they told her to buy itching cream to help her not itch. It is not contagious to me because I have already had the chickenpox. So I am okay. But I'm still am worried and wondering if I'm going to get it. She is itchy all the time but I hope the medicine helps her. She says the clothes really irritate her but she is being upbeat about it. I wonder what’s next for poor Sister Smith; she got a chipped tooth (got that fixed in Lake Charles) and now she has shingles. I'm trying to help her out anyway I can.

This is all I can think of to write about today. I'm going to try to send ya'll pictures. I love you guys and I hope things are going good and I hope you have fun decorating for Christmas. I miss the leaves changing colors and seeing snow. The weather here doesn’t change except for cold and hot.

Love ya and I hope to hear from you soon!!

Love Sister Hawkins

Carving Pumpkins at the Touchets

This is the pumpkin Sister Hawkins and Sister Smith

started carving and the Touchets finished

putting on the darling face for them

Louisiana State line

"Yes, the have swamps in Louisiana"

Noah and William's Baptism!

Lake Charles Halloween party

Noah and William's Mom -

Trunk-or-Treat after the Halloween Party

Sister Hawkins and her District at the Trunk-or-Treat

(Sister Smith is taking the picture)

Mr. Piggly Wiggly Store - Jennings, LA

(From the movie - "Win a Date with Tadd Hamilton")

Brother Martin, the gentleman from the Veterans Home

that Emily often writes to us about

Sister Hawkins, the one-handed hitter!

Sister Hawkins - being cool! LOL

Zone P-day "Orange Zone" T-shirts