Everything Happens for a Reason

 sister training leaders!

Well Hola familia!! You're all family to me :)

Good news! Our car is back! Hurrah! It was back the beginning of this week and it's so beautiful now. Life and the car.

Other news! No I didn't get my visa... but an elder in my district did and he leaves tomorrow!! Crazy! 2 other visa waiters got their visas in my mission and are leaving tomorrow. I've been out longer than 2 of them but one of them has been out for over a year! SO excited that they're all going! On the case of my visa I have no news. Apparently they are moving faster with the visas, but that's what I heard 3 months ago haha. We'll see! 

Chamblee missionaries (elder saunders in the middle is heading off to brazil!!)

Goodness I just have so much news! More news is that I have a new calling. Sister Vasquez and I just got called to be Sister Training Leaders. For those of you who don't know what that means, basically we're zone leaders for the sisters in my zone. We'll do exchanges with them, give trainings in zone conferences and travel to other areas. I thought that I would be on the down-low for this kind of position since I'm not a permanent Georgia Atlanta missionary but c'est la vie! It's a little, well maybe more than a little bit of pressure so a few extra prayers would be appreciated! :)

So I guess the Lord does have more in store for me here in Atlanta. And apparently He thinks I'm prepared for this calling too so here we go!

Wanna hear a cool little miracle? Eva, our investigator, is really really excited to be baptized soon. She's getting over a few challenges but she should be ready in a few weeks! The other day, Sister Vasquez and I were worried about her and weren't sure how well she was progressing to her baptism. So we went over to have a lesson with her just this past week. As we read from the scriptures and shared the things that we had planned, she stopped us and told us she had something to tell us. Sister Vasquez and I looked at each other and immediately were worried-that's never a promising statement! Eva then pulled out her phone and told us of a friend she had been texting the other day who complimented her on her faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He went on to ask her what church she goes to. Her response was this, "Well I used to go to a Christian church. But now I've found the real church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints."

Doesn't that just make your heart happy? Testimonies are so strong and hearing them from your investigators is probably the best feeling in the world. The beauty of one born testimony simply adds a link to another.

So we're pretty excited about Eva. She'll be baptized and we have the faith for it to be in this next transfer. She's working so hard and desperately wants to be a part of this Gospel. It's been amazing to see her testimony grow and watch it all click for her. Fun fact, she calls us "mis hermanitas misioneras" (my little sister missionaries) and "mis angelitas" (my little angels). She's the sweetest!

I'm a bit short on time today but I'll leave you with a little thought that I have learned this past week. Lately I've been trying to read all of the Book of Mormon in Spanish. But we had exchanges this past week with our Sister Training Leaders and I forgot mine at my apartment. The sisters ended up having a French Book of Mormon so I figured why not?  Incredibly I could understand it well enough even as I read in the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi. As I studied, referencing back and forth between my English and French copies, I discovered something very interesting! I found much more meaning and a better understanding of the verses. Some words translated to different words like "bind" in English turned into "envelop" in French. I felt as though I was really gaining a new understanding of the Book of Mormon. I'm slowly starting to realize one reason why God put me here to learn these languages. I think He knows I need it and finally I'm beginning to catch on. It's helped me understand that learning a language isn't just the ability to speak different or converse with different people. It's not just adding knowledge but a deeper understanding to what you may already know.

Everything happens for a reason. And I'll tell you that even though we don't often know those reasons, God does. And I trust God more than I trust myself... so I'll just go right ahead and stick to His plan.

Thanks for the support, prayers, loves, emails, letters... everything!! Every little thing has helped me in the toughest of times on my mission and I can't thank you enough for all the help! Love you!!

Hermana Hawkins

 Crazy Georgia and the rain. Half the sky was completely sunny and
blue and the other was imminent storm clouds.