14 July 2010: Brazil MTC, first email

I finally remembered by dumb email info. They expect me to remember, but I havent used this account for like 7 months. Im not going to use any apostrophes because this portuguese keyboard doesnt have any. The Dear Elder letters are printed out and then they mail them to the MTC. I get them as you write them. The district leader checked the mailbox in Provo but here its just me and Elder Olson and that is our whole district. Just us two, its suuuuuper boring. Class....eat...class....eat sleep. I wish my other district was here. I dont think any more are coming today. So just us two for another week. My Pday is wednesday and that is when the new elders come too.

Consultation with an oral surgeon for what? I have no idea what you are talking about.

Oops forgot camera and I dont want to go across the street to the 7th floor to get it. I left from Atlanta. I was going to leave from Dallas but they wanted us to meet other elders in Atlanta. The flight from SLC to Atlanta was so boring. Even though it was 3 hours 40 minutes. The flight to São Paulo was much nicer, it was 10 hours. I probably told you some of this stuff in my other letter. Everyone was watching movies though so I just sat there and tried to sleep.

I gave you my address and they should tell you how to send packages or whatever. They take awhile though and letters take 12 days to get here 8 days to get to the US.

I only called Dad because you didnt answer the home phone! I thought about leaving message but I never leave messages. How did I scare him? because I said I was leaving?

Brasil is ok, its super dirty here in São Paulo. There is a lot of smog and the outdoor basketball court is so nasty black and your hands get black from the dirt in the air. There are like 20 million people here, its intense. I didnt get to see out of the plane because it was dark outside. They have weird grafitti here too, brasileiros dont know how to write I guess. They have some pretty cool pictures though and people paint their buildings for advertisement. The food here is so much better than the Provo garbage food. I went to the temple today and it was nice. The temple is actually pretty big and it takes up a lot of space. I heard that brasil lost before I got here and Spain won. ummmmmmm thats all I guess. I have nothing to tell you really...just the pound my head against the wall boredom of classes and eating all day. Its kind of weird in class because its only us to two so when we translate something our teacher just stares at us for an hour in silence but whatever I have a nice body to stare at.

Eu sei que Deus nos ama! Eu sei que José Smith é um profeta verdadeiro e ele traduziu o livro de mórmon por o poder do espírito santo. Então Thomas S. Monson é um profeta também e ele vive hoje. Eu agradeco por este evangelho e amo a igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimas Dias. Minha misão vai abencoar minha vida! There is part of my testimony in português. It probably has some mistakes but oh well I have been here for only 4 weeks. I wont try to explain how to pronounce stuff.

umm I missed the spiritual experience for july 11th but we watched a talk by Jeffrey R Holland. He gave a devotional in the MTC awhile back and only the MTCs have access to it but it was the best talk I have ever heard. Jeffrey R Holland has such a powerful testimony and he just made me want to stand up and run to Brasil and drop kick the catholic priests and convert people. He talked about how his mission changed his whole life and was related to anything good in his life. He looked the audience straight in the eye and practically yelled Dont you dare go home, dont you dare think this is too hard. We expect a lot from you but we have done everything spiritually possible to prepare you. You dont have the right to let down my grandchildren who love missionaries. You dont have the right to tarnish the rich history of Mission work. It was really powerful, I wish you could watch them. They just testified to me the importance of missionary work and that I need to realize now that this is the most important thing in my life. I would tell any young men that there should be no thought about serving a mission. Go. Drop everything and GO. 3 weeks in Provo beat anything I would be doing for 2 years back at home. The Lord invests so much in us missionaries. This isnt a tourist trip, its not a choice. He send us to the temple for petes sake. The greatest promises we can receive so we can be ready to preach the gospel.

Im done

Love Elder Hawkes

7 July 2010: First letter from Brazil MTC

Family,

I made it to the MTC ok. The flight was long, 9 hours 40 minutes, but it wasn't bad. Took 3 seconds to get passport stamped and to get through customs. I flew with 4 other elders and 1 sister. We met up with more elders in São Paulo. My retard voice comes in handy because that's the sound you make when you say -ão. Well, ya just nasalize it but I use the retard voice. I knew being a retard would come in handy. Anyways, on the way to the MTC the car broke down so we chilled on the side of the road for an hour. The motorcyclists are wishing death upon themselves the way they drive. When you block the road people try to drive as close to you as they can to show how mad they are. The MTC here is ok, the Provo one is better so far. The kids here are scrubs. They act like 5 year olds, chumps. I guess that us what happens when you don't have to follow strict rules. It's not so bad, hopefully I last the 6 weeks and leave to see the people I am familiar with. Anyways this place is huge. 20 million people, the shacks and skyscrapers go on for miles. Looks like a typical South American city. Put new address on Facebook and ask Sister Ross to tell Scott my new address or/and my mission home address.

P.S. Fortaleza Mission is apparently the poorest/one of the poorest in Brazil, Mom :)

2 July 2010: Provo MTC

Dad & Mom,

So I tried to email but I use my LDS account and I have no idea what that is so I can't email because I can't get the info. I haven't used that in 7 months. I kind of remembered your email address but I didn't want to guess. It's pretty hard to stay awake when you sit for 4 hours straight learning.

I heard Boston lost, and I heard today that Brazil lost to the Netherlands. Right before I was about to get there too.... Mom said Michael was bored, but he only has a few months before he can do something.

Spanish is ok, I actually talk to the Spanish elders when they contact us outside. Portuguese is pretty easy and I can understand it. When we went to the TRC I could understand whatever the guy said.

I might have seen Amanda but I'm not sure. I'm in the same building as the Filipinos just a different floor.

Mom, I'm, used to it here. I'm going to have to change and pack and I'll be with people that were together for 3 weeks. [Referring to his upcoming transfer July 6th to the Sao Paulo MTC.] You don't have to travel with an elder, But I will be with everyone else in the MTC who got their visa to Brazil since they leave on Tuesday. We have the biggest zone in the MTC with 117 missionaries and 4 zone leaders all waiting to go to Brazil. You should probably use sunscreen next time. [Mom got a bit too much sun at an activity.] That's good that it's raining since it's hot there it will be a good tornado season.

Elder Hawkes

Phone call

[Dad received an unexpected phone call at work from Elder Hawkes. My first thought was, "uh-oh, what happened?", but Jeffrey was just calling to let us know his visa had come through and he would be leaving for the Sao Paul MTC on July 6th. I asked him if he was excited, and his reply was basically a not really. While he had been disappointed previously that he had been sent to the Provo MTC instead of his original assignment of the Sao Paulo MTC due to visa issues, after two weeks in Provo he had got to know his district and enjoyed being with them, and having to start all over again didn't seem too appealing. He did comment that he'd had the opportunity to listen to several visiting General Authorities and that had been a spiritual experience, so there were some positives in his outlook too. We were only able to talk for a few minutes before the automated operator warned us his time was up, but it felt good to hear Jeffrey's voice and tell him again how much I love him.]

26 June 2010: Provo MTC

[Jeffrey likes to write responses to letters without including context, so don't know exactly what some of the following is talking about.] Nobody cried, Evan lied. I forgot to call you and tell you but I guess you called him anyways. [Jeffrey's roommate from BYU-I picked him up at the Salt Lake airport and took him to the MTC.] I don't miss home at all, so I don't expect you to miss me. That would be nice if the people of Brazil are like that. I'm not an avid picture taker so my pictures will probably be just the same. I'll try to think of some spiritual experience I guess, it won't be glorious though. I will be able to sleep the same amount in Brasil. Besides, they are 14 days, not 10.

I didn't include my email because I don't have one yet. It's easier to just write letters since I only have 30 min to email. I'll set it up one of these days. I'll send you the paper and it has the fax number on it so I have some legit proof, not just random dates. [Referring to hepatitis A immunizations, presumably.] Utah Momrons are still crazy, they talk about random stuff I don't even know about. His name is Elder Henrie. [Elder from Preston, Idaho.] He said he knows uncle Carl, but he said Carl was his principal. That's good, now Michael can get off her back. [Who knows?] I think oil hauling is a side job and he turns it into a clean diesel. [Referring to a potential temporary job Michael was considering.] Michael is a bum, tell him that.

This week a bunch of mission presidents are being released so the general authorities are here for a few days. We had a special devotional yesterday and Dallin H. Oaks spoke. We sat in the 8th row, that was kind of nice.

I saw Tyler Haws (plays basketball for BYU) and I saw Elder Poulsen a few times. My roommate played WR for Utah so I hear a lot about them. Apparently they moved to the Pac-12 and the Texas teams stayed in the Big-12. I heard Brazil won too against Ivory Coast.

P.S. My neck is being rubbed raw so I win. [Apparently a debate with Mom about who was right about which shirts were better.] Now it's all calloused, so it's ok, but I warned you. It's going to be a long 2 years. I also got to go on a road trip because my roommate chipped his tooth. So we got to go outside of the compound and see the real world.

June 2010: First letter

Mom & Dad & family,

So I don't know your email address so I guess I will just write ya a letter. It's going pretty good so far. Portuguese is not an easy language. I swear they are so lazy. They just add random sounds and change letters into other sounds. Spanish kind of hurts me because I usually pronounce it in Spanish because it looks exactly the same.

My companion is Elder Bryant from some place in Utah that I can't spell. All the elders in my district of 12 but 3 are from Utah. They are all youngins too. They have crazy Utah Mormon lingo and words. There is one from Preston who knows the Swainstons.

It's all good, the days go on forever so far. But my roommates, Elder Anderson, Elder Fralick, and Elder Bryant, are great. We laugh every single day so it's fun. My district is awesome. Except for the sisters, always trying to be the mother. ;-) There isn't much to write about.

Elder Hawkes

P.S. Mom, I need hepatitis A records sent to me because my card only shows Hep B so whatever...