Learning to Recognize the Warnings

Off to the mission wide conference with Quentin L Cook. IT WAS SO INCREDIBLY AWESOME!!!

Well. This week started off with a bang... or a burn?

 

Tuesday morning, Sister Pribyl and I decided it would be a great day for some banana bread in honor of our rotten bananas in the kitchen. First we had to eat breakfast though and things were normal just like every other morning. As I peaceably cooked my bacon and eggs, Sister Pribyl swept in and said, "I want that too OMGosh" She slaps two pieces next to mine and proceeds to perform a marvelous work and a wonder by doing the dishes all by herself. It was quite the peak in our companionship actually. What an act of love! Until she turned the kitchen into a swimming pool and burned her bacon. How you burn bacon in a swimming pool is beyond me. In her mad chaos she endeavored to flip her burning egg so artistically that half of it poured on to the burner...

 

Even throughout the mess, the temptation of delightful birthday cake banana bread was still strong. I began to put together the mix and smash the bananas. Then it just got awkward. The bananas wouldn't mash, the egg was neon green and the space was limited by the two previous happenings. But cake baking went forth and I impatiently waited. All was calm. The aroma of vanilla/banana cake finally overpowered all burned scents and it was done. I pulled out the perfectly browned cake setting it to cool on the stovetop.

 

Well. It didn't cool. In fact, I left the kitchen for 5 minutes and returned to a smoking cake and an even worse burnt smell. SOMEONE (....cough cough Sister Pribyl cough coughjkfdsa;) had one more ace up her sleeve....she left the burner on!! I swear this girl is bound and determined to burn the house down. Man I don't know what it is about me having all these experiences with burning food but I promise it doesn't always happen... it wasn't nearly as bad as the seminary-burnt-microwave-bacon-wafting-through-the-entire-church smell. The sad thing was the top of the cake couldn't even be saved because it had a touch of burnt flavor. So the whole cake was rendered inedible.. unless you have a taste for charcoal.. "yumm wood-fire grilled banana cake! Sounds so tasty!" Needless to say the expected delightful experience became one of much distress. It was then that we banned ourselves from the kitchen for the rest of the day.

 

Cake anyone?

Sure you don't want any?

This experience really does relate to so many things that happen in life... whether it's missionary-related or not. We face things that we don't expect almost every single day! Sometimes, not always, but sometimes your day just so happens to begin with a tiny Poltergeist-like thing where all your efforts are plagued by the adversary. But you know, God never hesitates to give you some red flags. We're just not always good at seeing them! We probably should have and absolutely could have taken the warnings that this morning was not a baking day. In doing so, there would've been a  possibility of preventing a perfectly good cake from being murdered.

 

I've noticed recently though from this experience and many others, that you can't neglect the little things. Often times the little things build up until you feel overwhelmed or even like you've failed. Really, the only thing we fail is recognizing all the warnings that God places in our lives to keep us from winding up in the deep end of the pool (haha literally our kitchen). It could have been so simple to double check the burners or be more cautious! And it's just as important to see the small things for what they are and embrace them! Small warnings are much easier to manage than big trials. Who knows, had we continued to explore the kitchen, maybe the kitchen could have caught fire...maybe even the whole apartment complex! Good thing we finally got the hint, got out of the kitchen and took a burned cake over a burned apartment!

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we can't do this work or go through life without trusting the Lord. He doesn't always wave huge flags in your face to let you know what you're doing isn't His will...but He WILL tell you!! I like what Nephi says about trusting the Lord right after his father dies and he goes to confide in the Lord. He says " Oh Lord I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man (or bacon..) or maketh flesh his arm" I love that. That is my testimony and hope that I can put my trust and faith in Christ as much as Nephi has and demonstrated so beautifully!

 

Thank you all for your love and support! :)

 

Love Sister Hawkins

Car Selfies!

PS: I love Sister Pribyl with all my heart... She's awesome and she has "endorsed and approved" of this message.

 

PPS: Does anyone know if this pan is still usable?

Err...the perfect circle of a burner left on.  Hmmm.

Since it was fat tuesday we decided to celebrate. We knew we had till tuesday to get fat... so we bought a king cake....

 ....and the biggest chick fil a sandwich.....

....and "borrowed" a bowl of candy from our investigator and stuffed it in Pribby's purse hahaha!
Sorry it's blurry.  I was laughing!

Here's a pic of me, my trainer, and my trainer's trainer haha. I call my trainers trainer my grandma..
oh missionary terms.

Sis P and I with our old District Leader.
Mission conferences are awesome because you can reunite with
other missionaries that were transferred. It's sad to say goodbye to missionaries!!!