Mthatha>Mexico!!

Hola! Muy bien! Como estas!

Ndiphilili enkosi kakhulu. Unjani wena?

 This week has been really good! It was weird to think my fam is in mexico, and friends are now gonna go on mission, and just the little things at home! But, mthatha, Eastern cape, South Africa is the place to be! 

This week was a little slower than usual, so thats lame. We had a great training from President and Sister Merrill Tuesday and Monday i had a great interview with President. My main focus is wanting to become better at following the spirit and not giving rote lessons. We talked a lot about the Spirit and the gift of discernment, and listening. It was awesome. He is such an amazing guy!

We ate A LOT of icecream in queenstown, and the theme for us 4 elders, was, When in Queenstown. Shafted our msf, but worth it. 

Wednesday, i was super sick. It was bad. had to sit in bed all morning, and just felt useless so that was lame. Elder Kyles was a great comp and made me german pancakes! (we had them monday, tuesday wednesday and thursday) Hah. We still had some great lessons with Charles and the Samuel family! We found out charles is a doctor, WHAT? but is sooo smart, and only really knows french. As he has been reading the BOM in english, he is learning so much more than he is in school it is amazing! He bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Bongiswa is still doing amazing! We had a great baptism for her friend Sibusisiwe yesterday! As she has come to church she has found all of her friends that she went to school with, that are now members too! They had no clue, but now love it so much!

We met this amazing guy Leeroy! He came to church, and has read the pamphlets, and we gave him a bom. He stayed at church after for the baptism, and as we were waiting to change, He was just all over his new BOM. It was soo cool!! 

Saturday. It was one of the funnest days Ive had on mission! We got up to play basketball at 7 with some kids at WSU, but then they no showed, so we had fun walking around the campus, got some groceries, and then went to take the car to get new tires. They fix the tires, and then boom. They dont take the fleet card. So, after an hour of figuring things out, and other people coming, they had to take the tires off and put our flat ones on. but now their was a big line of cars. so it would be another hour. Elder Paskett and I decided to go on an adventure. and try to get jikilezas (small taxis usually 10 r) home to get the other car, about 6 miles) too far to run (cuz im fat and out of shape). We got this guy, Ling, or Ding, maybe Ding a ling. HAha this asian guy. NO english. pick us up, but didnt even stop, so we had to just jump into his huge truck! he didnt stop at anything and then we had to jump out at a turn. 1 car. 

Next car, we got this guy in a bakkie to stop for us! it was nice, we hopped in the back, and got a nice bumpy ride up the hill. and finished with a 5 min walk, with NO Money spent! It was awesome! that hsould be our new mode of transportation!! 

So we went out, had some great lessons, and then had a dance that the yw were putting on for the yw and ym! It was SOO fun! The past couple weeks on saturdays we have been teaching them how to dance and stuff, (made sure to teach them my new dance io've patented here in SA). But it went from about 7-9. We had a nice program to begin, snacks, Dance, and some BOMB food! They made an amazing braii for everyone! Great steak and chicken and pork and pap and chakalaka. As missionaries we didn't wanna dance with the yw, that might be weird, so we balled out and danced with the little primary girls which was sooo fun! One of the funnest nights! We had a bunch of investigator ym/yw there who brought their moms our aunts! It was great!

Church was great yesterday! We had a great sunday school with a lot of investigators!! We had a great baptism after of Sibusisiwe in which our investigators stayed too and had a great support from members! She is so powerful and funny!

We are excited to work hard this week and look forward to another great week! Thank you so much for the prayers and love and pictures and support! We need them!

I LOVE YOU!

Ndiyalithanda eli khaya

Te Amo! 

Elder Ivins

Jarod has 5 elders from his MTC group serving in his zone right now. He's so excited! 

This darling girl was baptized on Sunday. She's been attending church for 2 years, and no one knew she wasn't a member!

They had a fun dance in the branch.

Fwd: Lot of Work

Last Monday.... We were at the HOLE, of Mthatha, this deep thing that no one knows much about. It had a sweet river in it, and while we were there, the amazing Heisman QB Elder Ivins, threw the football right into the river, and it floated to the other side. This was quite a problem considering how missionaries are not allowed to swim. 

So we decided to hike up the river to find a place to cross. Which didnt become reliable. As I was standing out on this rock, with a little water running over it, as seen in pic, but I look down stream about 50 ft and I see this green/brownish thing, about a foot out of the water, with a small wake behind it. We weren't quite sure what exactly it was. Got a better view and moved closer, and boom. THIS CROC. So amazing. So beautiful. I peed just a tad, but yho! It was nuts! It was like, real. I didnt think so, but then BANG! It made this idea of crossing the river to get the ball a lot scarier and harder. 

We did get the ball, and it took a solid hour, but.. It was a great accomplishment. 

What a great week it has been! We have been going hard, and finding a lot of amazing people that we are hoping and praying will progress! 

Ive been trying to think about what things to say here, but not much other than it was a great week. The Zone Leaders came up for the first part of the week and had exchanges and a fun p day! Later the week I was able to go with Elder Paskett, our fearless district leader, HAhaha but yeah it was a great exchange. 

I also had to teach district meeting on Friday, which went well! We talked about miracles, and how to get them. As we have Prayerful goals, Constant Finding, and Spiritual Power. It was really nice to dig deep and study more about each of them. But we all realized how we can be better and be more influenced and guided by the spirit. Something I have really been trying hard to work on. 

This week we met with these two kids. Lisakhona (13), and Aviwe (11). They have been coming to church for 2 years, but havnt been baptised!! It was a shocker, everyone thinks they are just these amazing members. We met with them, and man they know SOO much. We had a great lesson with them and they are so ready to be baptised in about 3 weeks! 

We also met with this less active sister yesterday, after she came to church! She brought these 5 kids she nannies, and they are all so powerfull. 2 of them are 7, and the rest are 9,11,and 13. They all love the bom and read hers while she is busy! They also are preparing for a couple weeks! 

The samuel family came to church yesterday and we were so excited! They all loved it, and the young niece, Tyler, loved it most. She is so cute and I love her so much! They all are getting stronger and stronger testimonies each day. I love the power that the Book of Mormon has on people! An amazing Life changer. 

We had a great baptism on staurday of this 14 year old boy named Achumele! His father is a rm and a powerful guy, but there were some complications as his son grew up, but now he was able to be baptised! It was so great as his father was able to baptise him!

I had to give a talk this week in church on honesty. I had completely forgotten about it until president boateng reminded me on saturday. It went well, but while I was sitting on the stand, it was really fun to mess with the little kids with going cross eyed, and facial expressions, and then wigglying my ears, which is a jaw dropper. Ever since that talk Pres Monson gave where he did it, I always laugh at every time i get to try it! 

The people of Mthatha are really amazing. I love them so much! They are so humble and ready to receive the gospel. We have been having really long days from 10 am to 930 every night with no breaks. It is awesome to be dedicating all of my time to God. Thank you all so much for the amazing prayers and support! I love you!!

Elder Ivins

Fwd: Week 2 in Mthatha

Hello! Wow, what a fast, and crazy week. I love it here!

So in Mthatha there is 4 elders, Elder Ivins, Kyles, Paskett, and Zander. We feel that Mthatha hasn't had as much success as it is capable of, and that if we work really hard, and are dedicated, perfectly obedient, and give all of our Faith to the Lord, we can change this place around. That being said, we set the goal to have 100 baptisms for the Mthatha Branch and our district, in these next 12 weeks (2 transfers). We were really thinking how we can change this place and make sure it reaches its full potential! We know we can't reach this goal without the Lord, and without families. So we are praying constantly for families, led by a father who will be a potential priesthood holder. We set the goal on Tuesday. Since then, as a district we have had over 100 new investigators, given about 30 baptismal dates, and are meeting amazing families left and right, that we wouldn't have found without being led by the Spirit. It is awesome. Of course, there will be hard challenges and things, but we believe that we will be able to reach this goal. It is gonna be awesome!!

A couple families that we have found that are powerful, is Bongiswa and her brother (Bunto) and her son (Thando). She has one of the most powerful testimonies ever, and her son loves the BOM! He is 10.... He was teaching all his friends from the pictures in the BOM and how much he loves the Lord. 

Another is the Samuel family. Coraline and her 2 daughters, Stacy and Nicole, and her husband Bruno. When we found her it was about 8:45 at night, and she didn't want us to come then, but the next day, and she was so kind! When we went, she wasn't there, Agh. But we went the following day. She was so excited to see us and was so worried because she got caught up at work the day before, and was worried we wouldn't come back. Persistence is key. But we had a great lesson with her, and she is so ready! She can't wait to be baptized already, and loves the idea that there is a prophet and apostles today! In her prayer she was saying how grateful she is for them! It was amazing!

Each day is really long (which is great!), and we wake up exhausted, also a good thing. It is very tiring, but rewarding. I'm so excited to see what will come. It is really fun to be in a 4 man boarding, cuz we are all really close. We get to see each other a lot and work together. Making waffles in the mornings, to singing songs, and just having fun is great. It helps us all stay obedient and united. We had a great time together putting the fire out. Not bad. Really lit us up and brought us together. ;) (Jarod said in a separate email, that one of the Elders put some oil on to heat up and then they all got distracted and it erupted into flames!)

Last week we went to a place called Coffee Bay. It was sooo beautiful! Unfortunately when we got there, I took a couple pics, and my camera died, and the spare battery I had brought, dead too. So i didn't get that many pics, but it was full of these amazing cliffs, and beaches and we saw octopus, and coral, and amazing fish, and nice soft sand. We also chased down this goat all the way till the edge of the cliff, and it was about to fall, and gave in, so we were able to catch it, yo it was hard but super funny. Ha ha. Today we will be going to a place called Port St. Johns. Apparently it is very beautiful too and I'm super excited, I'll let you know how it is. 

The Lord really has been answering our prayers and providing us with many miracles each day. It is amazing to see how everything happens for a reason, and how it can lead us to finding more and more of God's children, that are ready to hear the Restoration.

Thank you for all of the love and support. We need it and are really excited to have the Lord help us in these next 12 weeks. 

Mthatha is Crazy!

Hello! What a week! It was awesome! Elder Kyles and myself are getting along very well with each other, and meeting so many amazing and great people! Our car has been in the shop the past couple weeks, so it has been a little hard to go and see people in our whole area. But, it is nice to be able to tract and work in one area the whole day, and meet so many great people! We had awesome lessons, and great investigators! 

Saying goodbye to everyone in Motherwell Monday and Tuesday was very sad, but awesome, cuz I knew I was able to make a difference in their lives, and hopefully help them. Those guys are awesome! I was able to fly to East London Wednesday morning, then later that night drove the nice 3 and a half hour drive to Mthatha. We went and taught some nice lessons and then Thursday tracted and had a bomb day. Unfortunately, Elder Paskett's new companion didn't arrive until Friday, so we drove back down, and then back up on Saturday. So a lot of driving, but it was fun.

While driving down to EL (East London) we saw all these little kids, running down these hills and jumping into this river. It was sooo cool. It was very hot, and these little naked African boys just looked like they were having the time of there lives! The pics were sweet! We also were able to tract Nelson Mandela's house, and where he lived, and is now buried. That was pretty cool. He is a legend. What a yomie.

EL on Friday night was very interesting, it was my first time being robbed. Didn't think it would happen, but it did.

A cool thing that happened this week, was Friday and Saturday. Elder Kyles and I were tracting in the other elders area, before leaving to EL, and met this really awesome sister named Yozza, or her nickname was Precious. SO powerful. read the whole pamphlet that day, but we were unable to teach her at the time because we didn't have a male with us. We said we would go back the next day, because she really wanted us to meet her whole family, consisting of like 10 people! 

The next day we called her, to tell her that we would come around 5. A guy answered the phone and was so confused, and had no idea what or who we were talking about. The Elders went to the house, to amazingly meet the whole family there! They taught a very great lesson to all of them, and it is a great family. But, the interesting thing is, the family said that no one by that name lived there, no one knew who that was, or had ever heard of her. It is very strange, but now we are convinced it was an angel to answer the door so we can go meet that family. Super sweet! 

The branch here in Mthatha is awesome. The members are so nice and amazing. There were 90 at church and we meet in a cool pinkish building there! We had a great baptism on Sunday after church, and have some really awesome goals as a district we want to accomplish. We aren't set on what they are, so next week I will let you know exactly. Mthatha is just very hectic in everything. Busy, big, perfect.

Well, not much else to report for, other then how excited I am for Mthatha! I love it! Mission is great, and the Savior is better. Thank you for all the love and support and Letters of love! 

Love, Elder Ivins! 

1. President Boatang's little girls. Adorable.

2. The people who stayed after church for the Baptism.

3. Majezi's little girls

4. Last day in Motherwell (look at that darling Spar)

5. Got a free coke on a hot day! (Jarod's new companion, Elder Kyles)

6. Nelson Mandela's house

7. The little naked African boys jumping into the river. (Zoom in to see how high this kid is!)

8. Nande, mBali, Yanda 

9. The Majezi family. Awesome people

10. Breakfast in East London with the Smiths! (Jarod meet this awesome couple in his first area. They were transferred and he's thrilled to be closer to them! 3 hours away)

Final breakfast with the Watsons and Elder Hawkins in Motherwell.

Mthatha!

Hello!

Well this week was very bitter-sweet. mostly bitter. but sweet. 

I found out that I would be leaving Motherwell this week and going to my new area of Mthatha! a branch, that is in the rural depths of Africa.

But, for my last sunday yesterday, i made the request to have all the sisters in the branch wear there traditional dresses. It was amazing. They all had these beautiful homemade dresses and painted faces and beautiful dueks, and beads. Sacrament attendance was the highest, at 115. with no seats, so people had to sit outside by the door and listen. I was able to bear my testimony, and I finished it in Xhosa, which no other elder has done, so that was really cool to be the first. Hopefully I can learn more, which may happen as Mthatha is deep Xhosa. Hyped.

But it has been really sad to say goodbye to everyone, not knowing when I will come back and see these people i love so much. but, I still have 2 days, so that is good. But tomorrow will be harder. But I am very excited to be going to mthatha. My new comp will be Elder Kyles, who is from Blanding, UT. He is in my transfer and we had a lot of fun in the MTC together, so that will be really exciting! 

Not much else happened this week, other than an elder got stabbed a couple times in Zwide, area next to mine. so that had a lot of hype! We had a lot of great lessons, and a sister who we were teaching a while ago whith Elder McCarroll, randomly came to church yesterday, and is now really interested again! It is so cool, that with the right timing, the Lord will do amazing miracles. 

Im so greatful to my Heavenly Father for the amazing time I have been able to serve here in Motherwell, and with the people I was with. They are truly amazing. I love it. 

Ndiyayazi ukuba le cawa yinyani. ndiyali thanda Motherwell khaya! 

Elder Ivins

Fwd: Ten Baptisms

Here's a little addendum to Jarod's letter this week. This one was written by his companion, a cute and somewhat quiet missionary from England. Jarod is is trainer, and they get along really well. Jarod told me that there are 2 reasons why he loves Elder Hawkins. 1. He told him he is exactly like Michael Scott and 2. He never thought that his mission would be "fun" but Jarod has totally proved him wrong!! He said that Jarod has made missionary work so much fun!!

Hi everyone,

We're having ten baptisms! Prayer works. Trust God and never doubt in Him. I lost count this week as I stressed about the baptisms, just how many times my prayers were answered through the Holy Ghost saying "stop worrying, it'll happen." It's a weakness on my part that I kept asking for that same confirmation over and over again, because once wasn't enough.

Every one of these investigators were interviewed and found worthy for baptism, they came to Church on Sunday and are preparing now to go to the font on Saturday!

Elder Ivins and I have agreed this has been the fastest week ever on our missions. From the moment we looked at each other ten days ago and realised the baptism was in just over two weeks until right now it feels like everything has gone in fast forward.

It was on Thursday night that our faith was tested the most. One investigator, Thuto, has been really behind on the lessons, but she's read the Book of Mormon to 1 Nephi 20 and comes to Church every week since we've met her. She's also made a lot of friends at Church, and she's basically already been completely self-reliant in her testimony since the day we met her, nothing for us to do. The only problem was that we still needed to go over the interview questions for her so she could be baptised, and we needed to do this on Thursday so we could prepare her interview for the weekend. The only problem was, when we arrived for our appointment, she was fast asleep, and when we came back thirty minutes later, she had completely disappeared. Her friend Uvayo (also being baptised) didn't know where she was, and all her family had left. We knew we had to see her that night - within the next three hours to be home on time - so we cancelled all our appointments and just sat outside her house and waited.

After about half an hour, we both felt we needed to go and look for her. Obviously that made no sense, we had no clue where she might be. Maybe we both wanted to be doing something. Either way, we decided to get in the car - I was driving - and before we drove off we started with a prayer that we would find her. We then lined up the songs we had that best bring the spirit to us and I started driving.

We must have driven for about half an hour, but neither of us were phased by that. But by this time I was having a very strong impression that we needed to turn around and go back in the direction of Thuto's home. Elder Ivins knows the area better than me, but I'd stopped asking him for directions, and told him I would take each road only as I felt impressed to. So I turned the car the way that I thought led back to Thuto's house and put on my favourite talk - Safety for the Soul by Jeffrey R. Holland. I can never listen to that talk without feeling the spirit, and I know the talk so well that I became more focused on reciting the talk as he spoke and I completely stopped thinking about which direction we were taking. 

Even later - eight thirty now, only half an hour left where we could possibly see her - I saw a turning which I thought I recognized, and felt prompted to turn left. I didn't recognize the street, but it felt right to go down in. At the end of the road, we slow down at a crossroads, and I'm looking either way for us to turn. Then, Elder Ivins points ahead "I think that's her." We both look ahead, and there's a woman walking towards us and we watch until she comes into sight. It was Thuto.

Thuto had been walking home at exactly that place which we had been led to. We had arrived there at exactly the right moment to see her and invite her to come to Uvayo's house for a lesson before we had to go home. Whatever took us to exactly that point of finding her, it wasn't my personal sense of direction. As we found her. I looked up at Elder Ivins and told him honestly: "I have absolutely no clue where we are." He had to direct me back to her house.

Never doubt whether the Holy Ghost truly has the power to guide you. Next week, Thuto, Uvayo, Aviwe, Avela, Nana, Zandisiwe, Yamkela, Aphelele, Siphosethu and Thandile are all being baptised. We wanted to jump up out of our seats when the last one - Aphelele - walked into Church yesterday, both to celebrate, and to let out all the frustration from her having showed up a whole thirty minutes late.

If you haven't got this yet from my emails, God answers prayers.

All the best,

Elder Hawkins

The Dark Night: I can't grow a beard

Hello! Well, this was definitely the fastest week of mission. It is crazy, but it is true, time flies when you are having fun. Haha

A lot happened this week, but first.... We will be having 10 baptisms on the 18th of Feb! 1 will be a child of record, and the other are our amazing 9 investigators!! Thank you all so much for your prayers, your love, and faith. We have seen such an amazing change in all of them, and to see them come this far and pass all of the interviews, was just such a blessing to Elder Hawkins and Me this week. 

We had a lot. A LOT to do to get them to be ready for their interviews. Well, for some. The majority, were all just awesome and ready for weeks, but there were 2 this week, Thuto, and Aphelele, that gave us a lot of stress. We fasted on Wednesday, and Friday for all of them, and specifically these 2 along with Yamkela. They were set to be interviewed on Sat. But, we hadn't seen Aphelele in over a week and a half, because she moved to the University to go to school. we finally got in contact with her on Wednesday, when we just decided to test our faith and drive to the campus to find her. It was a great lesson and we found out we would see her on Friday night when she got back to Motherwell, to review the questions with her! 

Then Friday comes, and we get a text at 715, 45 min before our appt. that she wouldn't make it and will just come in the morning. AGH, she needs to know the questions. We decide to move our remaining appts and go find her again! She was a little reluctant at first, but we were able to find her and have a great lesson with her! 

Prayer works.

Thuto. She has come to church 4 weeks in a row, but has never held an appt. She has been reading from the BOM constantly, but we never get to teach her. SO there's the dilemma.  On Thursday night, we NEEDED to see her to see if she could even be interviewed, or knows enough. At 6, shes not there. UGH. We go and teach another appt. at 7. not there. There is trouble in her home, and she usually is never there unless to sleep or eat, ahha. But we realize we have to find her. We cancel our 730 appt. and decide, that if we are gonna have her be baptised, we need to see her.  We searched all her friends houses nearby. Nothing. We kinda just sat there, not knowing what to do. So lets drive through all of ikhamvalihle, in the dark to find her. (not why i titled this the dark night, but still) So we get in the car. and say a prayer, telling Heavenly Father what we need to do, and why. Then we start driving. We drive for about an hour. Lost a lot of hope wondering why? We have worked so hard. So many people have been praying, so many members are helping us. Why cant this just work. then BOOM!

We come around the corner, and see her. THUTO! We hurry over and then ask her if it is okay if we meet with her, 830 by this point, and she says yes. Great lesson! And she is totally ready! Without prayer, and faith we could find her, and work to find her, we may have never been able to help her or have this happen.

Prayer works. 

The reason this is the Dark Night: I can't grow a beard, is because the other day, I had to go to the bathroom SOOO bad. (had this spicy chicken thing, no bueno) we go to the Twig's home, and I say to Avela, I need to go to the toilet. He says okay okay, I'll check. he goes and says I can, so when I go in, no toilet paper. I say Avela! No tp! He says I'll get you some don't worry! (remember he is 9).

5 min later he comes back with newspaper. NEWSPAPER. like why. Not gonna finish the rest of this story..... but it was the darkest night of mission......

The other part, I can't grow a beard, comes from a really funny experience on Sat while on exchanges with Elder Kraftner. I was in the mtc with him and he is a great guy. We were just having so fun all day, and then had an appt with a Muslim guy named Ayuub. He isn't really into religion but has read a lot of religion books and knows his stuff. for an hour and a half, he was just grilling us, even saying he is more Christian than all of Christianity for all these reasons. Very entertaining I wont lie. But on one part, he says, "Jesus Christ had a beard. Me, I have a beard. You two. Why don't you have a beard. hmm tell me? you don't follow Christ?" 

To which I respond, "Well, I can't grow a beard.."

He was completely confounded. It was hilarious. 

So i mean not having a lot of facial hair is really paying off on mission!! (I have shaved just a few hairs maybe 7 times?) hahahha 

it really was a great week, and I am so thankful for all of the love. The prayers. The support. Prayer really does work and I know that Heavenly Father is mindful at all times of what we need in our lives. 

Have a great Valentines day and ski hard ;)

Love, Elder Ivins ❤

1. The twigs mama finally is coming around to liking us!

2. Me and Avela, and.. Avela (days before the incident....)

3. Elder Kraftner

4. Okay okay