28 Jul 2010 - Brazil MTC (to Mom)

[I see how it is.  : ) you write me last??? then you only have 30 seconds to write???  who or what is the Nazi?] Yeah I did, you were last on the list so the internet clearly wanted to make you last. I had more than 30 seconds I just had 30 seconds when I said I had 30 seconds left. It has a countdown of doom and there is nothing you can do but accept it. The nazi is the countdown timer. [Brazil sounds different, but not bad.] I haven't experienced much of Brasil just a little when I went proselyting. I forgot to tell dad about that I thought I already told you. I went proselyting last friday, just walking around the CTM with my companion trying to hand out 6 book of mormons. It was easier than I thought and I realized I wouldn't mind doing that for the next 2 years. In fact I wish they would have let us pass out more. I talked to a lot of people and most of them had a book, nobody denied taking the book. Everybody is nice and not a mean thing was said, even when they don't want one they say how much they respect you and the church. We did have this one guy that we talked to for like 40 minutes about lessons 1-4 pretty much he just kept asking questions. It was good practice and I am surprised I could speak that much portuguese. Alas he didn't take our Book of Mormon he said he would stop by the CTM to learn more but who knows. I don't think I am learning much faster just normally as anyone here does. I think I am stuck right now, not really growing in the language. My companion understands about 2% of conversation so I have to do most everything which I guess is good to learn faster....What did you share from my emails? Well evan didn't write me so you got plenty of time this P day. It's good here, only 18 more days before I leave to Fortaleza. From what I hear it's the higher baptizing mission in the world, and it's hot, and I will probably stay in Fortaleza city the most. Every time I tell a Brasileiro I am going to Fortaleza they say "quench" or hot.

28 Jul 2010 - Brazil MTC (to Dad)

[Any new arrivals yet or is it still just the two of you soaking up all the knowledge from your teachers? I think the Lord is preparing you as select individuals to be leaders in your mission. Really, as you look back you'll see events and circumstances that happened to prepare you for situations you'll find yourself in. And I think you have the talents and abilities to be a leader.] We got one new arrival today but he was from the other district so I don't know him, figures though. I don't [think] he is preparing [us] for that, we aren't miles ahead of anybody. It will be hard to have a tripanionship (3 elders) especially when we teach but class will be the same. I didn't get picked out of our bustling district to be the DL so who knows ;) [Monday night we had a family home evening with the Hansens. We played a bunch of different games and everyone seemed to have fun. It was funny watching their young ones drawing tiny pictures of unrecognizable things in Pictionary. Sean was on a roll and seemed to guess the right thing even when the pictures weren't ideal.] That sounds fun, sounds like the pictionary we use to play when you drew 3 lines and someone got the answer....basically cheating is the word I would use. [I went home teaching with Michael tonight because his companion is out of town. It was an interesting experience being taught how to do it right. ;-) He opened with a kneeling prayer, made good and meaningful conversation that showed genuine interest in the family, shared the message in a very insightful way, offered specific ways in which we might be of help to the family, etc. Wow. I was impressed. You'd have to be there to understand exactly what I mean, but I could picture clearly how good of a missionary he was. You kids are so much better persons than I've ever been. The Lord was serious when He said He would send the best for the last days.] Who is Michael's companion? Home teaching is different than missionary work you don't have to commit anyone to baptism. I'm sure you had to stop michael a few times when he asked them to commit to going to church. But I guess the rest is the same but I didn't get that far before I said something oh well. It's a lot different than what I thought when I first got to the MTC, it's nothing like the fairy tale missionary stuff I always thought it would be. I bet you were about the same, but you didn't have Preach My Gospel hence you were a pro. Português é muito facíl. As palavras parece a mismo mas eles não falou a mismo. (I have no idea if that is right) é muito facíl para entender quando as pessoas lhe fala. Eu espero que eu possa ser um bom missionário e ensine as pessoas do Brasil. I went to the temple again today and I did initiatories. It was interesting all in portuguese and I didn't understand most of it but I still knew what they were talking about and it still was the same thing even if I was in Brasil.

21 Jul 2010 - Brazil MTC

[So there are just two of you in your district?] Yep just two in the district, it's kind of boring sometimes, well most of the times. It's hard to practice too so we usually just ask other districts to practice our lessons with. [That does sound a bit tough, although I suppose it is good preparation for the next two years.] Yeah I figured that too, I'm not going to have a district on my mission just me and my companion. [Have any more arrived from Provo this past week?] Nope nobody from Provo yet, it doesn't look like it's going to happen, I don't think they will send anyone here after next week. I dont know why, I guess God doesn't want them here :) [How many missionaries are at the MTC?] I'm not sure what the exact number of missionaries is. It's not a lot probably 200 max or 250. [I assume your teacher is a native Brazilian. Does he speak English too?] Yeah he is native all the teachers speak english. One of my teachers lived in the US so he speaks better than most. The other ones speak english well.

[Hey, what do you mean you only called me because Mom didn't answer the phone?! You bum! You scared me because when I heard your voice I immediately thought, "What happened? Did you break your neck?" You don't expect to receive a phone call from a missionary unless something bad has happened. After the shock, I was glad to hear from you, of course.] I was going to call home to tell everyone but nobody answered so yes you were my second choice! Oh yeah I guess I should have said something like that to throw you off. [I'm interested to hear what the good food is at the MTC there. I assume it is something Brazilian as opposed to cafeteria food.] Yeah it's meat and all you can eat beans pretty much. With fruits and nasty assorted salads and questionable things. [It was interesting reading what you wrote in Portuguese. I was kind of surprised that I understood virtually every word, although that probably wouldn't be the case if you actually spoke it. Spanish made hard, is what it looks like.] Portuguese is the same thing, just some of the verb conjugations are different. J makes a juh sound di = gee sound ti=chi te= chi only at the end of a word de= gee at end of word. There you pretty much have it now. [I assume Mom already told you Michael got the job in Dallas he had before his mission. Poor guy has to drive through the nasty traffic in the comfort of a car with no air-conditioning, but that's kind of in keeping with the spirit of Bangkok and Sao Paulo. He's already managed to get lost three times, but I think he's gotten it figured out now.] Well I can't make new paragraphs anymore but mom already told me about michael, you should just give him a bike. Well I have to write more emails and not enough time on this nazi timer. Love you Dad -------Elder Hawkes

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.]