Sister Emily Hawkins' Mission: Reminisced with some dear friends from La Porte. TX

Monday, September 26, 2011

Hey Mom,

Oh my goodness, so much to tell and I just don't know where to begin ya know! Well I will start off with the General Womens’ Conference. I was kinda sad to read in your e-mail that you were too sick to go; the whole time I was thinking you were at the church watching it just like I was. But that is okay; at least you got to watch it later that night on the internet which made it all better. But man those talks were just so amazing and so powerful and I knew they were for me, but like everyone else says that the talks were for them as well! But I just loved all of them! I need you to send me copies of President Uchtdorf's talk and the other talks because they were so good, unless they come out in the Ensign when General Conference comes out! But they were just so powerful I just loved them and they just gave me so much sweet comfort!

Well here they did a dinner before the Womens Conference and it was in Eagle Springs, Texas and I knew some La Porte people were going to be there and yep they were. Mom it was so cool, we came in right before the blessing on the dinner started and after the prayer was over all the La Porte members came right over to me to give me a hug! I got to see Sister Mitchell, Sister Smith, Sister Berges, Sister Taylor, Sister Struthers and Sister Gale and lots more! I got to talk with Sister Mitchell and she is just so awesome and she and I just talked lots and I got to get some advice from her to help me out a bit! And then I got to talk to Sister Smith! Mom I love the Smiths so much! Do you know what she told me? They love me and miss me so much that when I get married they said they are gonna try to come to my wedding! No Jiving! It was so sweet. She told me that she and Brother Smith miss me so much and that they claim me to be one of their daughters. That was just so special and I told her I miss her blueberry pecan pancakes; she makes the best! Yummy! I got to see Sister Gale and she is doing awesome. She wrote me this last week and told me that she got a motorcycle. Man that made me jealous! I really want a motorcycle, they are super cool! Love them, that's my plan to go home and save for a bike! Well that’s all about the General Womens Broadcast! It's was lots of fun and I will always remember it!

Well I never told ya this, but down here in Texas "Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices" were putting on a fireside in Houston. She is a famous singer and she became a member of the church and she has been going around the world to do music and to bear testimony of the Gospel. Well I got the chance to go last night; the only way we got to go was with a non-member or with a very less-active member of the church. Sister Hatch and I got to go with our Ward Missionary Leader’s wife and her friend, Sister Shermann. She is really in-active and is going through a whole lot in her life and so we went with them! And mom it was so cool! I loved the spirit that was there. It wasn't like a normal fireside; it was all music and some people bearing testimony of the Gospel! She told of her conversion story and told how her kids were converted first before she was. It was just the coolest thing to experience on my mission! I can't believe all the experiences I am having on my mission; I got to go to NASA, I got to hear from an Apostle of the Lord, Elder Holland, and I got to go to this fireside. I have had surgery on my mission and been in a car accident … man so many things that I have totally learned so much from and I am truly grateful for all the experiences!

But I can't believe that I have only 20 weeks left! Don't worry mom, I am not counting down; I have a sister who is just excited to see me and tells me how many weeks that I have left! Pretty crazy uh! I just can't believe how time is flying by! Well I have an interview with the Mission President next week so we will see how that goes. He does interviews every couple transfers or so, so he can just have one on ones with the missionaries to make sure things are going okay!

Oh mom guess who got Baptized this last week?! Morris in La Porte! I couldn't go because it was not within a transfer and so the Sisters told me about it. It was this past Tuesday and all day that was all I thought about was Morris and praying that he would have a memorable baptism! I'm so happy that he got baptized and I hope that he will continue to learn and to grow so he can go to the Temple and be sealed to his wife for time and all eternity and do her work for her so she can have the same blessings as well! I remember teaching Morris and seeing how happy he would be to see us and seeing just how much he was growing closer and closer to the Lord each day and every time he went to church! I hope to do exchanges soon so I can go see him and others to see how they are coming along in the Gospel!

So I have been doing lots of studying in the mornings and just have been spiritually fed and it's been so great! I am in 2 Nephi and almost finished and I am just loving it! I am seeing new things and just understanding more of what it is saying! I love the Book of Mormon! I have grown to develop a love for it and I am going to keep that challenge that President Moldenhauer gave me to read the Book of Mormon three times a year! And I am going to do it because it's just a big blessing in my life! I love the words of the Prophets and how they testify of Jesus Christ and how they teach of His teachings and the Doctrine of Christ and how it talks about Him being crucified and doing the Atonement for us! I hope you and dad and the rest of the family are also reading and studying the Book of Mormon because it's really for us in this day to help us draw closer to Him and to understand His plan that He has for us! I know it to be true! I have been really loving reading the Ensign you sent me too! It's so amazing how the entire Ensign is dedicated to the Book of Mormon and how we need to read and apply it to our day and to have it be a comfort and guide to us! Mom I hope you and dad went and bought another Ensign so ya'll can read and study it for yourselves! It's so amazing! I have also been reading and studying the New Testament and wow it is so interesting the things that I am reading and learning about Jesus Christ’s life and all that He did for us and how He was such a great example of Charity and Love and how He just cared for a lot of people! I love the scriptures and the knowledge that I am learning and growing from reading and studying every week! I love the Gospel and I love being a Missionary for the Lord!

Oh before I forget! Karen (the deaf lady) is doing so well. We had to get a hold of the ASL Missionaries and they came to church on Sunday and it was so cool to watch them interpret for Karen and to see how happy she was! That just makes me want to learn Sign Language so bad and to be able to help the deaf people communicate with the world so people can understand them! And well we have a girl named Krystal who is going to help interpret for Karen on Sundays now and I have met her before. She sometimes goes to the Single's Branch and to other wards and she is a teenager, so I don't know how well this is gonna work out! But the ASL Missionaries left Krystal to interpret for Karen during Relief Society because they had to go and Krystal interpreted for like 30 minutes for them and then she had to go because I guess her dad came out of the Hospital so then I had to do the rest! And can I just say it was so hard to interpret because the lesson was on the Priesthoods in the church and to tell her and her friend Susie who came about the roles of the Priesthood, man that was so hard, but hey I did it! And I got to learn more signs that they taught me! But I can't wait to come home and to find schools that have deaf education and to be able to learn sign language and to interpret for the deaf! Super excited! So it's going to be fun to work with Karen and the ASL Missionaries to help her understand more about the gospel because she is a new member of one year so she still has lots to learn!

Well I need to run and write President Crawford and also to Sister Crawford because it's her birthday today! Well I love ya and thanks for all you do! Take care and have a great week and I hope I get to see you at General Conference like I did at the beginning of my mission! That would be pretty sweet if that does happened again so I can end my mission seeing my parents on TV again! :) Well I love ya and have fun in UTAH! And I will write ya'll soon!

Love Sister Hawkins

After reading Emily's letter today, I looked back in past blog postings to see if I could find pictures of the people she mentioned so I could be reminded of who they were. I thought since I wanted to see them again, that maybe some of you would too so I decided to repost some of her pictures of the wonderful people she mentioned in this letter. Enjoy!