Sister Emily Hawkins' Mission: P-day at the beach!

More pictures and another fun email from Emily. She had some trials this past week but keeps pushing forward. I am so proud of her ... she is determined to serve the Lord and do her very best! She is still having problems with her stomach so please remember her in your prayers.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Hey Mom,

Wow what a long week! Lots to tell ya about and not much time to do it in because I sent ya so many pictures and I am hoping that you will get all of them because they are really cool pictures that I took this past week!

Well as you can see by my pictures, Monday we got to go to the beach and that was really fun but boy the bottom of my skirt got wet and I really need to wash it today because the water left a white line from all the salt in the water! It was fun to walk on the beach and to read letters and to just let the wind blow in my hair! It was cool to reflect on the growth I have gone through. When I was looking at the water and the waves I was thinking that they are just like our trials in life and we just have to surf over them and get through them with the Lord. As you can see by one of the pictures I sent, I was also trying to do the “footprints in the sand.” It was neat to look back and think of how much the Savior has helped me to change and grow in this life! It's a wonderful experience to look back and to see how much I have grown and to see how much more I have to grow in this life to prepare myself to meet God again! Lots to do! But I know I can accomplish that with the Lord to become more like Him!

Monday night we had fun at the Prigmores. No racquetball though as they were too busy which is okay; life gets really tough and busy, so it's all good! But we had a very good dinner! Amy and Jay Prigmore know how to cook and we had RIBS!!! Boy, you get so spoiled as missionaries! So it was a good p-day to relax and to realize just how far I have come in this life of mine!

Tuesday was a very busy day! We taught a lot of lessons to member and to less actives. We really don't have a lot of investigators right now and then this week we dropped some. On Tuesday we dropped a person because she just wasn’t progressing and she isn’t ready for the gospel in her life. But it was also a good day on Tuesday as we met this lady while tracting and she wants us to come back when her husband is home to teach the family. She said they are looking for a church for the kids to have the Lord in their life. So we are excited and Katharine is her name. So good hopes there!

Wednesday wasn't my favorite day because we did lots of finding/tracting and just knocking on doors to see if anyone wanted to learn about the gospel. I was thinking on Wednesday when we were knocking on doors about my missionary prep class with Brother Shumway. One day in class he asked me what my favorite part of my mission would be and I remember telling him tracting! Boy was I wrong! It is not my favorite thing but that's what we have to do as missionaries to find those people who are searching for the gospel! And it's tough! Just imagine going up to a door where you have no idea who these people are or what they look like and you knock and no answer. Then you ring the door bell and BAM!!! They open the door and you basically have 30 seconds to grab their attention and have them want to listen to what you are out there to do and it's really hard to come up with something to say! But who knows, by the end of my mission it could be my favorite thing to do as a missionary. But right now I'm still working on trying to love it!

Thursdays are tough days because we have to do a whole bunch of planning for the next week which is good but tough at the same time because you can get tired really easy … well for me I do! But something that what was cool about this past Thursday was that I fixed Sister Singleton’s bike!!! I wish I had taken a picture but I didn't … shame on me. Sister Singleton bought a bigger bike seat and I put it on. My hands were all greasy and just yucky but it felt good to kinda know what I was doing and hey, I got the seat on correctly and she is one happy camper on her bike and that's the important thing because now we can go bike riding more in our area. We are really trying to ride bikes a lot more because we have limited miles per month and we see the price of gas!!! WOW!!! It's really high here, like $3.49 a gallon! Yeah pretty expensive!!! It was funny on Thursday when we were riding around because Sister Singleton has Sister Smith's bike which is pretty old and the brakes keep messing up and breaking. But what's funny is she tries to fix them and she doesn't know what to do and then I take a look and something tells me to do this or to try that. And BAM!!! I fix her brakes. It's pretty funny. My district always calls me “Mom” because I always have snacks in my bag and I can fix things and I am a caring person! So it's pretty funny. I’m gonna be a great mother someday I guess!!! LOL!

Well here comes the tough day Mom! Friday was district meeting and it started out good but then near the end of the meeting Elder Hunt and I had to do some role playing. We had to teach the first lesson and Sister Singleton was to be the “member” present at the lesson and we had to teach our district leader who is Elder Fife. Well let me just tell ya … it was horrible! Elder Hunt is a new missionary and he was all over the place and he's not afraid to talk to anyone and he was just all over the place with the lesson and I was trying to do "How to Begin Teaching" and trying to teach by the spirit. We didn't use Sister Singleton as the member and I was just so upset and I just didn't know what to do. After our role play we were evaluated and Elder Fife drew a circle on the board and then he drew a line that was going everywhere. I was starting to cry. I felt so dumb and so stupid like I couldn't do this anymore and it felt like no matter how much I tried that it wasn't enough. Elder Fife saw me of course because he is in front of the room and I bet he felt bad but it wasn't his fault. I was so low and just wanted to quit. I really did. I just wanted to throw my hands up in the air and just walk out of the classroom and head home. It was that bad and so embarrassing. Later in the car Sister Singleton asked if I was okay and I told her NO and she said it was okay, everyone does that. I was like, “No, if you or some other people did that role play it wouldn't end up so bad and you wouldn’t have the district kinda lecturing you to do this or to work on that.” He was nice about it, don't get me wrong, but to have four people know how to teach and not afraid to teach and to have two who are still new and are still trying to figure out how to teach, it was just bad!! So that was really tough but I felt better as the day went on. I just had to rely on the Lord that day … I really did! I said so many small prayers that day to help me keep my head up and to help me keep going. But by the end of the night it was better because I made a new friend and I get along with him so well. That new friend is Elder Johnson. He is going home the same time I am so it's pretty cool of how I got to know him better. Elder Johnson was on exchanges with Elder Walker and that night we all went to a wedding of some members in the ward and that is where I got to know Elder Johnson better. It wasn't a temple marriage but I don't know the couple very well but I think they are working towards a temple marriage. The wedding and reception was so much fun!! Sister Singleton, I, and Jazzmin (as you see in the picture) were all trying to catch the flowers. It was pretty funny and it was even funnier because Sister Singleton got the flowers in the end! So that was pretty cool!

Well I sent you pictures of me kicking stuff and punching stuff. It was at Shaun Baun’s place (I don't know how to spell it) and he is a professional boxer and this morning we got to go to his gym and we had fun punching stuff and kicking and learning new stuff so it was pretty cool. Right now I am smelly and stinky. The gym was so far away from our apartment but close to the Elders’ apartment so when the Elders are done getting ready (which should be pretty soon), they are gonna come e-mail while Sister Singleton and I go get ready for the day at their place. But it was fun to learn some cool moves and learn how to punch and kick!!!

Well my time is almost up and I have to wrap it up. So about my stomach … I went to a members house, Sister Schaffer, and something prompted me to tell her about my stomach pains so I did. She has gotten her gall bladder out before and I told her of that bad pain I had one night and she said I might have gall stones and one was trying to pass through and that is why I had that bad pain that one night. And then she told me all the little pains could be because my gall bladder is having problems with the food like fried fatty foods and chocolate and spicy food. She told me to go to the doctor because she says it might not seem bad now but it will get super worse. And it was funny because she said if I didn’t' go that she would take me to the doctor. So I called Sister Moldenhauer and she is getting me set up to see a doctor. I have been cutting out the foods Sister Schaffer had told me to cut out and it's making a small difference. She said if it's my gall bladder then my eating habits are gonna be different for the rest of my life. So this trial that I am going through right know is a mystery solving one but the Lord is gonna help me out.

I got to go get ready for the day and to get going but I love you and I hope that you have a good day and I get to hear from ya'll soon. Things are good just still trying to figure out things with my stomach but hopefully by next week I’ll have some answers. Love ya'll and miss ya tons. Hope to hear from ya soon!

Love Sister Hawkins