Sister Emily Hawkins' Mission: Learning the new area

Monday, August 08, 2011

Hey Mom,

So my first week in Baytown was slow and it was fun at times. Learning a new area is pretty tough and it's hard to find places! When you have been in an area for seven months, like I was in La Porte, you just know all the streets and where to take the short cuts and you just know where you are going, but heck when you get into a new area, oh boy, a whole new story and a whole lot of new experiences!

So I have been driving this last week because I think that really helps me to know the area pretty well, and plus I am really scared of Sister Hatch's driving! Holy Texas! She is a speeder and she just drives crazy! LOL So I have been driving which is a blessing because now we are safe, at least until she gets sick of me driving! But for now I am driving which is fun in a way because I can get to know the area better!

Well here in Baytown they have been teaching a guy named Jessie and he is super cool. I have been teaching him the last few times and he is just really progressing in the gospel and he is just so ready for baptism. It's just super cool! Its fun to teach him because he is just progressing so much and he just loves the gospel and loves reading the Book of Mormon! It's just been cool to meet him and to help him understand the gospel more!

So something cool happened this week! The ward here has like 60% less actives and so we are going to visit some of the people on the ward list. This past week we tried this one home and they are the Walters and they are just super nice. Brother Walter is a member but his wife is not. It was kind of funny at first because when we knocked on the door, she was the one who answered the door and so I asked for Brother Walter. She asked who we were and what we were doing! It was intense at that moment but once you think about it and look back it was funny. But then we hear a guys voice say, “Come on in!” And that was the neat part; we went in and we started to visit with him and we had a great time and she had questions about the church and we answered some and we told her that we come out on missions to help people to learn more about the church. Brother Walters hasn't been to church since he was in his teens and he told us he hasn't seen missionaries or members in a long, long, long time since they have lived here in Baytown! His wife then asked us why we picked their house and why we chose to come see Brother Walters. I told her we had not been told by anyone to come visit them but that we had just looked on the ward list and we picked their name and decided to come see them and to see how things were going. She thought that was pretty cool! We had a good time and we are now going to do a church tour with them and also start teaching her because she wants to learn more about our church. She says she doesn't want to convert over but she would like to learn more so we said, “Okay, we would love to teach you!” So we are going to start teaching the lessons to the Walter Family and see how it goes! So that was really cool to experience that this past week!

So in your last letter you asked if Baytown was like La Porte and yes it is. We have Elders in our ward as well as us Sister Missionaries. They are Elder Hardy from Kimberly Idaho and Elder Marlar from Utah, but I can't remember what part. Elder Marlar came out into the field with me so we will celebrate our one year mark together so that's gonna be cool! But these Elders are funny and they like to have fun. They only go with us to dinner appointments but they don't come with us to other appointments to members or the less actives in the ward like the ones in La Porte did. But it's been fun getting to know them though! They are really silly Elders and unfortunately in some appointments they aren't really reverent but I told them nicely they need to be a little more reverent and to help bring the spirit there and they understood and so they are getting better! But they are hard working Elders and plus they are in a bike area and so they have to ride in the worst heat of the year! Man its super HOT!!! Yesterday after church it was 104 degrees! Plus with some humidity! Yeah super hot! Luckily we have a car! I really think Sister Missionaries are spoiled because we get cars! :) Yeah!

Well guess what is also cool?! We have President Crawford’s first counselor in our ward. His name is President Pomeroy! He is the coolest, most knowledgeable guy that I know! He just knows the Book of Mormon front to back and back to front! And even the Bible! He has been helping us teach Jessie and when I am struggling to find the scripture that I know I want, he asks what it is about and he totally helps me find it for the lesson! We get to have dinner with him tonight so I am excited! We went over there one night when Jessie cancelled on us and we just had a great discussion on the Book of Mormon and shared cool things about the Plan of Salvation and just learned more about the gospel! It's just really cool! Very cool guy! So that's really neat to have him in our ward! I can't wait for you and dad to come back with me to meet all the cool people that I have met, they are just so awesome!

Well we have kind of a weird District that I am in and we just kinda don't talk or get along too well. The other Elders in our District are Elder Porter and Elder Byers and they are very, very hard working Elders but I know from Sister Tanner that Elder Porter isn’t a fan of Sister Missionaries and I don’t' know Elder Byers too well but I'm slowly getting to know them both! Unfortunately when we hang out together like for our Friday meetings and stuff, it's just weird; we don't talk and we just are all quite! But I hope the more I get to know them hopefully they will warm up and be my friend ya know!

So mom do you want to hear something super crazy! Sister Kinikini got transferred back to La Porte! Yeah for reals! How cool is that! So she is now with Sister Henson and I am so glad because Sister Kinikini will be an awesome companion for Sister Henson! She knows the La Porte area and she is a hard worker! We are gonna do exchanges this week so I might get to go back there!

But I'm out of time so I need to run and write to President Crawford! But I love you mom and I will try to write more to you soon! I love you!

Love Sister Hawkins!

Here are several pictures Emily took before leaving La Porte: