July 25, 2015

Elder Nielson and Elder Hakes

Hey MOM!! 

Good to here Greg, Brittni and Jennie and Joe are all moving along with their houses!! And that everything is good with you guys.

Everything is good up here in the mountains! Sage sent me some cookies and our whole room loved it!! uh... lets see... I forgot to bring my journal today so I'm just trying to remember everything by memory which isn't very easy... hahaha. 

Yesterday was Elder Broman's birthday so we had a quick little party for him. I'll send you the pic :) We just finished teaching Geovani who's a fake investigator and then we started teaching a new guy this week too. Next week we will have 3 investigators. This keyboard sucks... like it is just weird and I cant type fast on it... sorry that was random. You're probably laughing at me right now too hahahha oh well life is good :) 

oh so funny story.... So one of the guys in my district was taking a shower so my companion went and got some ice cold water in a water bottle and threw it at him!! They were flipping out because it was so cold!!! hahaha. then Elder Paxton, the one who got hit with cold water, waited until my companion was taking a shower which was that same night, and he grabbed a chocolate muffin and chucked it at him!!!! hahahha. It was a fun day :) 

We had a MTC wide meeting, so like every MTC was brodcasted our talks and stuff. Our district was on the broadcast singing like 3 times or something like that... hahaha. So everyone could see me singing!! Apparently I smiled when the camera was on me because my district president told me I did... hahaha!! He wasn't mad. I guess there was another guy in our district that saw he was on the camera made a little smile then went serious again.... for like 5 seconds then he had a huge smile on his face haha. good times... devotionals are kinda weird.. like we sing 3 praylood (prelude....hahah)  songs before it even starts... its so weird... Not bad or anything.  just different. 

I think we have the best district here. I love our district. We work hard and have so much fun together.  Its AWESOME. And we all leave the same day!! 

The language is coming pretty well. slow but surely :) I can talk in the lessons and kind of say what I'm thinking in a broken Spanish kind of way hahaha. Its good though :) I'm learning and it's all good in the hood. I don't know why I just said that hahha.

Hey, tell grandma and grandpa that it wasn't just their dear elder that did that thing with the punctuation that one time it was all of them. It seems to be good now though!! 

Did you get my letter? How did David's test go? Is Cody at football camp? Tell Denise thank you for Curt's letter and that I got to read it. It was nice to see what's happening in that hooligans world ;)

I love you guys and hope all is going well!!!

Love,

Elder Hakes

My District

My Companion

The Shuttle ride to the MTC.  The guy to my left is from Thatcher.

July 18, 2015

 Everything is going pretty well so far. I wish I could talk more in Spanish because I understand what everyone is saying, but it's hard to speak back haha. It's okay though! 

My companion is Elder Nielson. He is from Logan Utah and I think he's an awesome companion. He likes mountain biking and dirt biking and sports so we get along really well ;) I don't know what else to say... Our Zone has like 5 districts that all showed up on the same day so we are pretty much all new and we will mostly likely come home all at the same time. Our district has 3 companionships going to Argentina including us and 2 going to California. 

We talked with our first investigator which was really cool but very hard!! It was in Spanish !! I feel like I know so much more now than I did yesterday. I actually couldn't fall asleep last night for like 15 minutes because all I could think about was Spanish words and how to say different sentences!! It wasn't because I was stressed, but because I was just thinking Spanish! It's really weird writing in English and hearing the Spanish words fly through your head... I've almost written in Spanish in this email like 5 times now. I guess I'm just weird. Oh well! 

Glad all is going well with you guys! Sorry Emily's team isn't doing so hot in Volleyball, but hey, you cant win every time right?? Unless your me because I can ;) I am going to try and send the pictures too you but I'm not entirely sure how to do them now.. I will figure it out though!! Oh yea, if you could send me a couple hangers that would be nice. I need 4 or 5 and I need to get soap because they don't have any soap here for me. Thankfully Elder Nielson had some and helped me out.

Our whole room is going to Mendoza and we all leave on the same day!! Exciting stuff huh?? How long until Greg is done with his house? Also, you haven't done anything since I left?? Not even the Shabin??? That's absurd!! haha just kidding. It is like barely hitting me that I'm a missionary and I'm not coming home for 2 years.. you'd think I'd already get that by now but eh, slowly but surely I'll get there I guess. 

We get to go to the temple this afternoon which is exciting!! um... lets see if I can throw the pictures into the message.. who knows!haha. umm... it's not working right now.. I'll have to ask someone who knows how too! hahaha. 

Dear elder does not work very well in Argentina, but it works at the MTC still so if you want to do your letters that way then that works too. I'll just email you on Saturdays a reply :) 

Oh yea, I finally got to go to the gym yesterday which was AMAZING. I'm not sure I have ever wanted to go work out so much in my life.. I love what I'm learning but I just want to get up and move around a bit! I guess yesterday we got up and went outside the building and started talking in Spanish and having some of the lesson out there which was really nice. 

Hmm.. My Branch President is President Swenson. He seems like a good guy. Haven't been able to talk to him really so I don't know him super well but its okay :) 

Well, I love you guys and i miss you tons!! Nos Vemos!!

Love,

Elder Hakes

July 15, 2015

The newest Elder Hakes with his grandparents.

Elder Hakes with Mom and Dad

Elder Hakes with his biggest fans...his siblings.

Hey everybody! I'm leaving to serve my mission for the next 2 years in Mendoza, Argentina!! I just wanted to let everyone know that I appreciate all of that you guys that have done to help me get to where I'm at in my life. I love you guys and I'll see you all in 2!!