Rocky & Adrian Letter 4-25-16

Rocky and Adrian,

Hi world. So this is a happy week and a weird one, because I´m turning 20 on Wednesday… like, what!? I´m pretty sure I stopped maturing after 6 so that can´t be right but according to all legal and official documents I will no longer be in my teens. I´m actually half devastated by it but I´ll probably be over it in a week or so.

Aaaand a huuuuge SHOUT OUT to my favorite Papa in the world!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!! I love you so much. We´ll have an extra big party next year to celebrate. :)

Also this week I turned 10 months old in the mission... WHAAAT!?  I´m not sure which is weirder turning 20 years old or 10 months on my mission. They´re both equally weird, I guess. I will celebrate here with my Latinas eating loootttts of tacos :D

Anywho, this week has been pretty loco with training and opening area. Hna Balboa and I have gotten lost quite a few time but we´re starting to get it down. And we´re starting from scratch with investigators. It´s all very adventurous really. 

Our area is called Villa De Seris (thats ¨bee-ya deh seh-rees to you Americans) and it is really big. Actually it is supposed to be a biking area, but hermanas can´t ride bikes in Hermosillo so we´re on foot. And Hermosillo is hot, maybe around 90´s right now at noon, but we have much more heat awaiting us. GETTING PUMPED!!! I´m actually really happy to be back here in Hermosillo, with the sizzling sun, the mosquitos and all.

Hna Balboa is so cute by the way. We get along really well and we´re already great friends. Pretty much we were made for each other (ie Rocky and Adrian reference). We have a good time teaching together and joking around in our spare time. And it’s amazing because she speaks English and Spanish fluently! (I was slightly scared to train an American thinking I´d have to teach her Spanish).

That´s about it for this week. Thanks for the birthday email, I can´t wait to read them!

Con amor,

Hermana Hauck

Mi Hijita :) Letter 4-19-16

My Guaymas Hermanas

My Apartment

Kisses Goodbye

Mi Hijita :)

Apologies for being so late. I have just experienced one of the craziest weekends of my mission.

So it all started Friday. One of the converts of Hna Mendoza was going to do baptisms in the temple for the first time and invited us. We got permission from President to go with her the following day. After watching her convert do baptisms for her grandparents, we got to enter a session. Then afterwards we left and we found some of the Elders that work in the mission offices and persuaded them to spill the beans on our transfers. The news came that Hna Mendoza would stay in Guaymas and I would be coming to Hermosillo again to open area and.... TO TRAIN!!! 

I was immediately excited because we haven´t had hardly any new hermanas coming to the mission so I was thinking I might never train. I found out that there were only two new coming hermanas and the other missionary that would be training was going to be my MTC comp, Hna Ylst! It was crazy packing because our neighborhood didn´t have water the whole weekend so I couldn´t wash my clothes but with the help from some members I managed to get everything done in time.

It was pretty sad to say goodbye to the people of Guaymas, especially Miriam, Alicia and Mario. But I´ve been super excited to come back to Hermosillo and to welcome a new missionary!!

I got to the mission offices Monday morning and Hna Ylst and one of the greenies were there (Hna Ruiz from Ecuador). We had a small training meeting then President assigned Hns Ylst to the hermana that was already there and told me that my companion, Hna Balboa, was coming from the Provo MTC and we would pick her up later that day. 

We went to welcome her at the airport, but she didn´t arrive after waiting for an hour. President then found out that the offices had received an email telling us that her flight ticket was cancelled and she was still in LA. So I ended up staying with another companionship here in Hermosillo for the night and this morning. I basically had to live off of what I had because my suitcase and ALL OF MY BELONGINGS were in the offices. President took me to the airport again today where we welcomed one of his daughters and her family (who have come to visit) and my new companion. We´re in our new area now and we´re going to have to work really hard to get things going here quickly. But I´m really excited for this transfer!

My companion is DARLING!! Her name is Hna Balboa (but sadly her first name´s not Rocky) and she´s from Hawaii. Well, her Dad is in the military so they´ve lived all over really but right now they live in Hawaii. Her dad is from Mexico and her mom from Venezuela so she already speaks Spanish:) AND GUESS WHAT?!?!? Her sister is a missionary in St. George! You HAVE to find her. She´s in the temple right now and her name is Sister Balboa too. Say hi from us and that I´m going to do my best to take care of her little sister. I am really excited to have this time with her and I just hope that it will be a good experience for the both of us. 

One thing that was really cool is that Hna Robinson told me while they were assigning the companions yesterday; they were about to put me with the other sister. But then they said a prayer and read the description of Hna Balboa and the Spirit was ¨ strong and very clear¨ in telling them that she and I should be companions. And so that´s what they chose.

Did I already tell you that I´m excited for this transfer?!

Okay that´s about all I´ve got time for. I love you all so much!

Con amor,

Hermana Hauck

Ready to Harvest-Letter 4-11-16

Sonora Senorita

Guaymas Ocean

Hi, Hello!

I´m so glad to see that Dresden is well and in good old St. George! Looks like his homecoming was really exciting, yet peaceful and happy. 

A HUGE SHOUTOUT to Mandi for successfully defending her dissertation and becoming a doctor and a babe. Ha-ha! She already was a babe. 

This week had a bit of a let down. Miriam was going to be baptized this last Saturday, but she didn´t have the permission of her dad so we had a little meeting with him and we explained baptism and why we needed his signature and everything. He agreed and we went forward with all our plans and everything. Then on Thursday Miriam told us that her mom wouldn´t support her baptism and that she (Miriam) had decided she doesn´t want to be baptized because she´ll be moving back with her mom in two months and all of her family is Catholic and most likely won´t support her going to our church. We´ve tried sharing a few different scriptures and messages with her, but without success.  I understand why it would be hard because she´s so young and she´s investigating alone. I just hope that some of the seeds my companions and I have planted here in Guaymas will take root as she grows in years and maturity. I´m also going to do all that I can to learn her address in Michoacan (her home state) to send missionaries there.

In spite of that let down, we started teaching a really special family. I can´t remember their last name, but their names are Jorge, Norma and Manuel and they are super upbeat and happy and friendly. When we taught them they really loved and agreed with the message we brought. They immediately accepted to come to church with us, and even better THEY ACTUALLY CAME!! Now let me take a moment to explain how hard it is to get the people here to come to church. It´s like getting Mom to surrender her Dreyer´s chocolate ice cream or cutting Brad or Jeff´s hair when they were 13 or putting Millie in a doggie bath or trying to get Shaye to play Apples to Apples. The point I´m illustrating is it´s HARD to get the people here to church. But this beautifully joyous family came. It was fast and testimony meeting and they loved it. They told the bishop afterwards how much they liked his testimony. Then later in the evening we passed by their house and they were all working on fixing up their truck so they could drive to church the following Sunday, as they told us. That is what we call wheat white and ready to harvest! And I love teaching families because the Gospel is for families.

Well, that´s about it from this week. Transfers are this next Monday, and I have three transfers here in Guaymas so most likely I´ll be heading out. It makes me really sad because I love it here, but it´ll also be good to meet knew people in a new area. We went to the beach today so I could say goodbye to the ocean for possibly the rest of my mission. 

Until next week when the adventure continues with Hermana Hauck!

Con amor,

Hermana Hauck

OH WE´RE HALF WAY THE-ERE -Letter 4-4-16

OH-HH LIVIN´ ON A PRAYER!!

Sorry, just had the re-realization that I passed my 9 months a week ago and it´s still weird but awesome and scary.

HOW GREAT WAS CONFERENCE???!!! 

I´ll tell you right here right now that it was AWESOME!!! I loved the talks so much and will need to listen to and read them all again. I particularly liked the talks given by President Monson, Pres. Uchtdorf, Dallin H. Oaks and Jeffrey R. Holland. They were all so good!! I can´t wait to download them so I can listen again and again! 

So this week has been pretty great though we´re having some last minute difficulty with Miriam´s dad now. Her baptism should be this Saturday and now he´s starting to tell her he´s not sure he likes the idea of her being baptized. NOW?! Grrrr. I´m really praying that this is just a trial (like the opposition that Elder Oaks talked about) to help Miriam´s and our testimonies be strengthened. But I´ll let you know what the outcome is. Please offer extra prayers for her and her family this week that they can find peace in unity in making the best decision for Miriam. Also please pray for my companion and I that we can be tools in the hands of the Lord to help her be able to make this covenant with Heavenly Father.

I was really glad to be able to watch the news on Dres to see how he´s doing. I can´t help but smile and almost laugh to see how calm and positive he´s been about everything. Like the “fair to awesome comment.” Ha, Dres would say that after being involved in something so scary. But one thing I can tell you, as little as I know about the attack and Dres´s experience, I do know that he was protected. That I know because as a missionary I have witnessed first hand protection that can only come from angels. Missionaries are blessed with angels that are practiced in the arts of Kung Fu, Karate, Feng Shui and all of the above (He-he yes I know what Feng shui is). But all joking aside I have really seen protection from angels provided for my as a missionary and I know that Dresden, his companion and the other missionaries were also protected. 

Well, that´s about all the news, testimony and cleverness I´ve got for ya today. 

Tune in next time with your main girl, Hermana Hauck! 

Con amor,

Hermana Hauck