Back and Better than Ever!

Alright, found a new cyber and the connection is great! Shouldn't have any problems this week (knock on wood). It's still Africa, after all. 

This was from the baptism a few weeks ago. The one in the middle is Mama Geebete and I found her with Elder Owusu, but she ended up getting baptized when Elder Seidl got there. However, since I was still part of the process I was honored to be part of the picture! Also, the person on the very right is not a missionary! He's the Branch President of Wuiti wearing Elder Seidl's badge!

Well, just to let everybody know... it's gotten kinda hot once again out here. I didn't realize that it was actually cool until the sun started baking my skin again... in honor the returned heat, this little nugget of a poem came to me the other day.

Africa is really hot
I feel like a frying tater tot.

BOOM! Pretty good huh? I wanted to write more to the poem but my poem engine/english skills are not as up to par as they used to be. However, maybe as my mission goes on, I can continue adding to what I have.

Aside from my poem skills blossoming this week, it's been a pretty good week. I got my new companion finally! His name is Elder Kapuku and he's from Congo (again). As odd as it sounds (because his name is so easy to say) it took me a good two days to actually remember his name... it was really embarrasing introducing him to everyone in the sector because I would be like, "And here's my new companion, who calls himself....errrrr... well... how about I just let him present himself" But it's okay now! I know his name so no worries.

I think that we're going to be able to work well together. He has some good ideas to get the group working better... hopefully we'll actually get to put them into action, but that will take some time first! You should have seen him the first few days in the sector though... it was like one piece of bad news after the next. He only has 3 months left, so I'm pretty sure this mess is not something that he wants to be walking into right now in his mission! Ca va aller, however!

I'm happy to have finally gotten a companion though. It really stunk for a while because I just couldn't do anything to fix my sector since I didn't have a companion, but now that I have Elder Kapuku, we can actually start fixing the sector. We're already seeing the fruits of our labor, I believe. The past few days, our schedules have been filled and we've been finding people to teach too. Of course, as to how they will progress remains to be seen but you figure that the more people we talk to, the more success we will have. Right?

Since I just got the conference issue of the Ensign this past week, I have been reading tons and tons of talks. One talk that really touched me was that of Elder Uchtdorf's on light in our lives. In the talk, he talks about how he has a picture in his office that shows an open door with light coming from it. The thing he likes about it the most is that even the light is coming from the door, it does not illuminate the whole room, just the path the open door creates (cue the fro, maybe she could put the picture into the email so people will know what I'm talking about!)

(From the Fro: This is a great talk! The picture he's talking of is shown early on in the talk.  

And he talks about Africa at the end!)

He compared it to our lives here on Earth. Throughout our lives we are surrounded by darkness and if we are not careful, we might pay too much attention to it and drift from the light. What's really important is that, despite all the darkness that surrounds us, we need to remember the light that we are in and face towards the light. 

It reminded me a lot about what I'm going through right now. A lot of things in this sector could be considered pretty big problems... the group has been a group for two years, no progressing investigators, no members live in our sector, etc, etc. It kinda sucks... but at the same time, that's not what I'm focused on. I'm focused on what can happen here, not what has happened here. I'm focusing on the light that's ahead of me, not the darkness that's behind me and surrounds me right now. Sure it's important to understand how those bad things happen so I can avoid those mistakes, but what's important here is that I have basically a new sector to go off of. Like the Boy Scouts always said, leave your campsite better than you found it!

So, I guess you could say I'm trying my best to be a happy camper!

I also learned something rather interesting about my French skills... it comes and goes. I won't lie... my French is much easier than it used to be but it's still tough at times and it's not always at 100%. I remember one time somebody called us around 6 in the morning and I answered the phone since my comp was in the bathroom. I honestly thought he was speaking another language and I could not undestand him at all! It's those humbling experiences that kind of remind me that it was with the help of Heavenly Father that I have gotten to where I am today. To this day, I still always pray for the gift of tongues and the ability to communicate with these people here. I've noticed that I've never asked to be able to speak perfect French, but I've always tried to ask for the ability to communicate with people here so that they can understand me! And the Lord has blessed me countless times with that, because I can't even count the number of times I stumble over my words and feel like my tongue is tied. But, whatever the case may be, people still seem to understand what I'm trying to say despite my difficulties.

That's my little spiel for today... I think I'll be able to send some good pictures this week to entertain everybody. Thanks again for all the prayers, support, emails, etc. They're really a big help for me out here. Love you all and keep going strong!

With love,

Elder Hawkins

P.S. Shoutout to the Olsen family! The drink powder and the Sour Patch Kids ROCK! But of course, that was nowhere near my favorite part of the package... Zoey's hand drawn picture of my future wife was amazing! You have got to tell her thank you thank you thank you!!!! Absolutely loved it! 

Boss of the mangez-vous as shown by my position at the head of the table!

Mmmmmmm... comb and HOT PIMA SAUCE!!!!!! We had two different kinds (there are a lot of different kinds of PIMA... some much, MUCH hotter than others). It was actually delicious to be honest and if I was fed that more often, I would be a much happier missionary. Remember folks, always feed the missionaries!

Proof of me eating my FISH HEAD! Told you, I'm a rough and grizzled veteran now so this stuff does not scare me anymore! 

This is Elder Haggard in the process of losing his mind... well, actually it was already lost at this point. He was sweating like crazy and making no sense due to the large amount of pima he consumed. Still, I give him props for tying Elder Seidl in eating the most amount of comb with pima. Kudos to you, Hipster Haggard.
(yes, he's a hipster). 

This was the first mangez-vous of the night (a surprise mangez-vous really). I think I talked a little bit about Sr. Nguessa is the sister back in Wuiti who ALWAYS feeds us if we are at her as around dinner time. 

On one of Elder Rama's last nights, we had to take advantage of his CHARWAMA making skills! In all, we each got 6 big charwamas filled with lettuce, mayo, ketchup, ground beef mixed with curry seasoning, french fries... it was delicious! And now, because of Elder Rama, I know how to make charwamas! Needless to say, we ate like KINGS that night! 

Close up of the little guy I ate. I hate to say it but I actually really liked eating it. Sure the fish eyes were a little funky but it was really good still. Oh goodness, what has become of me!?!?! I guess I really have become an African man. 

Unforeseen Circumstances and Looking on the Bright Side

Hey Everybody!

Well, usually when I write these emails it just reminds me of how boring some things are here but this week has been quite the opposite. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, Elder Ngandu got transferred out last week and nobody replaced him. Meaning, I've been working the past week with Elder Rama and Elder Haggard. It's been a pretty crazy week and definitely not what I was expecting but things are moving along as always.


Unfortunately, because of the craziness this week, I haven't been able to do much in my sector this week. We could work in it if we wanted to but there really is just nobody to see in my sector. It's still rather tough, I decided to clear out our area book (where we keep records on everybody we teach) and it hasn't been updated in MONTHS and had stuff in it from over two years ago which is rough, but hopefully my new companion is willing and ready to work so that we can try to get this sector going once more.

One of the nice things that happened this week was that I was able to go up to the Kegue building to attend the other equipe's baptism. I got to see Elder Owusu's last baptism on his mission (it's actually the mother to one of my recent converts and actually someone I started teaching while I was still in Wuiti!). So it was cool to see her get baptized too. After the baptism, we headed over to my old sector for some mangez-vous. First, we met up at Soeur Nguessa (cool Ivorianne) who, even though we didn't plan on eating at her place, she always HAS to feed the missionaries (and there were 9 of us!). So she fed us some rice and pima sauce which was good as always... it was cool to see all her kids again... they were all watching TV when I got in there and I popped my head in to say hi to all of them. They were really surprised to see me! Even the youngest, Koukoo, was like we all really missed you! It made me feel loved! Although, Sr. Helene their maid/servant said she was really mad at me because I never said I was leaving! I could have sworn I did but whoops! It happens though and she did eventually forgive me.

Then we all headed over to the Asima's parcelle for the real mangez-vous. My goodness, that was the king of mangez-vous! Sr. Asima (who is a great cook) made us comb, which is like pate but it takes a little longer to make and is usually wrapped in corn husks. Of course you take those off and then eat it with sauce. She made two different kinds of pima sauce which were both really hot! I really, really liked it! She even fed us all fried/grilled fish (I'm really not sure how they make it). Me, being the rough/seasoned vet that I am, just took the fish and started eating it like an African. It completely grossed out Elder Jenkins and even Elder Seidl was a bit surprised at my African-ness. The fish wasn't half bad... the head was better than the last one I had. Although, I have to say that the eyes are not as good as Elder Owusu said they are (he really likes fish eyes). They're really hard and chewy... not my favorite. Overall though, the meal was great!

One thing that was funny was seeing Elder Haggard champion his way through the meal. He took it like a champ but by the end he was crazy! The pima really got to his head! I tried to send the picture I got of him while he was eating but it's priceless! He wasn't speaking in complete phrases and it seemed like he got really hyper because of it all! It made me laugh.

So that day was pretty awesome. Throughout the day I got to see a lot of old friends, some recent converts of mine... it was really just a great day. It made me really miss Wuiti! Thankfully I'm still in Togo so I can go visit them (Sr. Ngeussa was telling me before I left... alright, when's the next time you're coming to eat!). The problem is that it's kind of expensive to get up there (yes, a two-three dollar taxi drive is expensive on our missionary budgets!).

Down here, things have been going alright. Kodjoviakope is still Kodjoviakope. A lot of people asked me how my 4th of July was and too be honest... kind of lame and didn't really get to celebrate it as I would have liked to but oh well... one more to go and then I'm home back to all the good BBQs, fireworks, etc... still a long ways away but maybe I can have a little more fun next year. I hope you all had a fun time and remember the significance of our country's independence! Even here, people don't celebrate their independence like we do. It was a few months ago and it was probably the lamest thing I have ever seen. Meaning, I saw nothing. It was just like a normal day! Back home, I know that that would not fly! In fact, I think the funeral I talked about a couple of weeks ago was more festive. People here are somewhat patriotic, but that's really only when their national team is playing in a big tournament or something... wow... woooohhhhooooo sooooocccceeeerrrr... I'm sorry, but if you need soccer to get you excited about your country, you got some major problems! (oh how I miss real sports).

I want to send a big shout out thanks to the Fro and Mrs. Hunter though! Thank you very, very much! I got the package today and am super happy! I also went over to Ramco and Citimart today (spent like 40 bucks!). My cupboards are stocked to the brim! I even don't have enough room for everything! It was getting rough there for a few moments, but no need to fear, all is well now that I have my reinforcements! And my new prescription sunglasses. ;)

Not much else to report this week. I'll let you know how my new comp is and hopefully I'll have some good stories and pics for next week. Next week I will definitely be going to a new Cyber so no need to fear if you send me an email next week... I should be able to respond. Well, that is if the cyber is better than the one I am currently at! Here's hoping!

Alright everyone, that's it for this week! Thanks for the love, emails, prayers, and support!

Love,

Elder Hawkins

Note from the Fro: He's really sorry he's been having trouble uploading pictures.  Hopefully next week the cyber cafe they find will be faster!  He admitted in his emails to me today that it was a really, really rough week.  He keeps most of that out of his weekly emails to everyone, which is nice, but sending a few extra prayers his way this week wouldn't be remiss.  I wanted to add a quote from Elder Haggard's blogpost from last week, I like the way he put this: 

There is a heavy weight that falls on the shoulders of the American

missionaries here, and that isn’t to boast or brag about or capacity

or how amazing we are. The truth is that we have been blessed with

living within the states so close to the church and truly seeing how

it is meant to work. The Africans here are floating in the same boat

as many of the recent converts and investigators, they have the

message and a testimony, but the building a church from nothing is a

truly tasking feat. The resources are limited here, and none of them

have seen the most recent General Conference, and that includes the

missionaries. We essentially are sailing at night in a raging tempest.

The hope I have from this mission is like many scout leaders have

taught me with camping, always leave the site better when you leave it

than when you found it. Hard work is what is required. Appreciate

life; you only have one with these trials and difficulties. Yes, enjoy

the challenges that come, they will be worth it.

SO true!  To read more from Elder Haggard check out his blog at: http://haggardreii.blogspot.com/

Since he's in the same apartment as Elder H, it's fun to see another point of view.  Funny, he didn't mention eating fish eyes and spicy pima in HIS letter this week!  :)

Greetings from the Worst Cyber in Lome

The whole zone... we're a pretty cool bunch, huh?

First, I just want to say my apologies to those who haven't been responded to yet! I'm trying my best to get emails out to people but the Cyber that I'm at has an extremely slow connection. I'm thinking about getting AOL Dial-Up now because the connection here is so bad...To make matters worse, some guy decided to be the unofficial Cyber DJ

and has started blasting awful rap music from his phone. Can't really say I'm having the time of my life at this moment.

Rap music aside, things out here in the crazy wild, wild west of Africa are going pretty good. Our sector is just really, really bad still and we taught barely anyone this week due to a lack of investigators, but it's all good. Nothing that a little prayer and fasting can't do to fix that all up!

Oh, forgot to congratulate Sienna on getting called to Brazil! Didn't see that one coming that's for sure! I was pretty nervous and excited the whole week about where she was going to go... I was thinking either Temple Square (well... most Sister missionaries get called there), Canada (since nobody in our family has yet to serve a French speaking mission in Canada!), or Tokyo, Japan (because it would be absolutely hilarious imagining Sienna learning Japanese... "like ombgeebers... are those sounds even supposed to make words?! ohhhh nooooo."). So needless to say... Brazil is a huge disappointment for me after imagining all my Sienna-serving-in-Japan scenarios. I really feel like the First Presidency missed out on a huge opportunity there. ;)

No, but seriously... Brazil is awesome! Bummer that we'll be missing each other by a good six months, but it's all good! We could be serving back to back missions, right? Brazil will be sweet! The Olympics? And the World Cup? Better learn the language of soccer! I think we need to start praying now that she will get her visa work all done before she hits the MTC!

Elder Hawkins, Elder Owusu, Elder Seidl

So the week was pretty boring, but the highlight of my week was that I got to do splits with the Zone Leaders this past Thursday! So, I went back to my birthplace of Tokoin and hung out with all the elders there for a day. Goodness, do I miss it over there! Not their new apartment however... it's even smaller and hotter than I imagined it would be

when I first saw it over a month ago before I got transferred . I didn't get to work in my old sector, but I did see a lot of members from my old branch at the end of the day when we went to the church to do our Coordination meeting. They were all complaining to me about abandoning them!! I was like... whhhattt???! I served there for over 5 months! I think that's plenty of time over there! I am proud of myself though because I was able to fix a mangez-vous with my old second counselor this Wednesday! Since this is Elder Owusu's last week, he and Elder Seidl will be there too (I did tell you that they're comps

now, right? Yeah, crazy that two of my former comps are now comps together!). I'm pretty excited because Soeur Asima makes pretty dang good pat, so it will be a treat! Even more so because I haven't had a mangez-vous in this new sector since I got here three weeks ago...ughh... Nykonakpoe...

One interesting thing that happened last Thursday was that all the BAC-1 exams got released. For those who don't know, the BAC is a huge test that all high school seniors here take to finish up high school. They must have it in order to graduate. It's an extremely hard test...and the worst part about it is that if you fail (which most people do

the first time), you not only have to retake the test, but you have to repeat the whole YEAR of school you just did. In Tokoin, there's a recent convert who I knew pretty well while I was back at Wuiti. She happened to fail the BAC and told me that of the 26 people in her class, only 4 passed not even including the first in the class. There were even a few people in my branch out here that failed the BAC (one for the second time). Apparently, there's a lot of payoffs that happen to teachers so any students with rich parents are able to pay their way out of retaking the BAC.

So that was rather eye-opening for me, in terms of understanding the Togo education system. Glad to see they picked up the same ancient system that France still uses! The way I've been cheering up a lot of people is by telling them hey, when you pass it next year, I'll still be here to congratulate you and party the pass! It's funny because

most people still pity how much time I have left on the mission... :(

Cool hipsta pic of an old McDs toy

Let's see... nothing else really to talk about this week! I'm sending a picture of Elder Owusu, Elder Seidl, and I at a recent zone meeting. Also sending a picture of the whole zone... we're a pretty cool bunch, huh? Also sending a pretty cool hipsta pic of an old McDs toy a member had at her house. And, sending a picture of the lizards one finds out

here in Lome all the time. I always see them on the wall outside our house and I finally got a picture of a good one for you all. As you can tell, they're pretty sweet looking but rather scary when you hear them crawling on top of your investigator's roof that sounds like it's going to break through the rough and land on your head. Do you see those NASTY claws?! They would destroy me!

Guess I should probably get going right about now, I wasted an hour just trying to get online at this fun cyber! Thanks for all the emails, love and support. I'll hopefully find a better cyber and be able to write more to you guys next week!

Much love,

Elder Hawkins

Note from the Fro: Was it just me, or did you notice that he was excited about a  mangez-vous where he'll be fed pat?  Haha!  Thought he'd never be excited about that certain West African dish!  Please join us this week in praying that our Elder will find people to teach in his new sector so he can feel a part of helping that area grow!

Had to add a tidbit from the letter he wrote his dad (because if the sector is as bad as Ross Gload, it can't get much worse!!!):

Mission has been going well. The sector is still about fun as watching
Ross Gload come up and bat... so you know, pretty awful. Speaking of
the Phils, jealous you guys got to go up and see them in LA! Too bad
they lost and blew it but honestly the bullpen woes don't really
surprise me... it's never been solid/consistent since 2008 (though it
was pretty good in 2011 or last year if I remember correctly). Also,
can't believe Keegan got to see Randy Johnson! What a lucky son of a
gun. I'm going to email Elder Poll (he's the AP of the mission and the
one who emailed you a few weeks ago) because he's a huge D-Backs fan!