I don't think anyone's going to hack your email to steal a bunch of Arabic notes." "That's what the hackers want you to think!" - Elder Hawkes and Elder Belnap

From January 5, 2016

I'm going to switch up the format just for this week, I think. Variety

is the spice of life, after all.

Happy New Year everyone. On behalf of the El Cajon Hillsdale Arabic

North area I want to personally welcome you all to 2016, albeit a few

days late. You made it everyone! And what an exciting year 2016 is

going to be, filled with baptisms and some of my friends leaving their

missions and Elder Hawkes bawling his eyes out at the end of the year

as he himself prepares to leave. But that's not for another 12 months

or so, so I don't have to even worry about that at all. Nor do I

intend to dwell on it; I love being here and I love being in Arabic

work. Every morning I wake up and it hits me once more that I'm

actually 1) On a mission 2) Speaking a language I never thought I'd

ever use again. Words alone cannot describe just how awesome this is.

I wish every one of you could experience just how great it is to be an

Arabic-speaking missionary in El Cajon (four of you have and are

nodding your heads in agreement right about now).

On to the weekly email!

This week saw a few personal milestones:

1. I finished the Book of Mormon in Arabic at 8:13 A.M., January 1st,

2016. I was really happy I did it. In the back of my Book of Mormon I

wrote down the time I finished it and intend to repeat the process in

the future. I spent most of the week working on finishing it and at

about 10:00 on Dec. 31st I finished up the Book of Ether. I proceeded

to do my best to read Moroni as fast as I could, but I got hung up on

Moroni 8 and decided sleep was more important to me. Didn't finish it

before 2016 like I had hoped, but the important thing is that I

finished it. As a result, my reading and speaking skills have improved

a lot. Take note, all you language learners: The best way to learn the

language is 1) Pray for the gift of tongues, 2) Read the Book of

Mormon out loud and get every word correct, no matter how slow you

have to go, and 3) Constantly be on the lookout for unfamiliar words

or phrases and write them down.

2. I started reading the New Testament in Arabic. I'm on Matthew 6.

Ideally I'd like to finish the Standard Works in Arabic by the end of

my mission. I don't know how long the Bible and D&C would take,

though. I'm going to finish the New Testament and see where that

leaves me.

3. I broke my Nazarite vow this week. Yep, for the first time in my

life I actually had to shave. With any luck, I won't need to to that

for another year or so. I could have probably dragged it out for

another few months if I wanted to, but it's better to do it when it's

just starting to get noticeable than to have President Schmitt call

you out in a few months I say. :)

Also, one ward member died. Sister Storrs, the lady we did service for

by bagging her food in her house for fumigation. She had been going

through a lot of pain and a lot of health problems in the past few

years and so it wasn't a matter of if she would pass but when she

would. The family members at the funeral were all talking about how

they were really grateful they got a few more years than expected with

her. She was a really sweet lady. She gave us socks as a Christmas

gift this year. She absolutely adored the missionaries and was really

grateful for our service. It was kind of a shock to me, but at the

same time it wasn't unexpected. If you all could keep the Storrs

family in your prayers that'd be great.

Also, a lady in the Grossmont ward in Santee got murdered by her

inactive husband. I don't know the details for that so don't ask me,

all I know is that they talked about it in PEC on Sunday and announced

that she had passed away over the pulpit. I think she lived in

Hillsdale a few years ago.

Lastly, we have a new Arabic speaker moving into the ward. Bro.

Garvin. He's really cool. He went to Russia on his mission and had an

investigator from Jordan named Muhammad who was golden but couldn't

get baptized because he was Muslim and going back. He got the

prompting to start learning Arabic, which was really weird to him but

he went for it. Majored in Middle Eastern Studies and Arabic, went to

Jordan in 2012... He found work down here recently and is moving from

Seattle. Bro. Seba talked with him and shared his opinion that there

are no coincidences, especially in the work of the Lord. Honestly, how

random is that? A guy goes on his mission to Russia and learns Arabic

when he gets home just out-of-the-blue and then just happens to have

family in San Diego and just happens to find work in San Diego and

just happens to move into 1) San Diego, 2) El Cajon, and 3) the

Hillsdale ward, where there just so happen to be Arabic-speaking

missionaries... It gives me the chills just thinking about it. The

Lord's preparing some big stuff to happen here.

Not a whole ton to report this week, honestly. We worked really hard

this week to find new investigators and we didn't get any. The

important thing is that I prayed at the end of each night and felt

that the Lord was pleased with our efforts and our desires. We set

some goals this week of passing out more copies of the Book of Mormon.

In one day we had passed out 3 Arabic copies and 2 English copies,

which was monumental for us (just passing out 1 or 2 Arabic copies is

remarkable). The next day we passed out another two. We're really

working to emphasize the Book of Mormon more in our teaching and in

our finding.

The only investigator we were able to visit this week (Basim didn't

answer, and Basaam said try another week) was Morad. I should really

stop thinking about dropping him because every time that I even make

the attempt something stops me. He's got a lot of desire and he's

willing to listen at least. We're working with him on doing the right

things for the right reasons (coming to church because the Lord wants

him to, not because the missionaries tell him to; quitting smoking

because that's what the Lord wants; etc.). Last night to help him

understand the scriptures a little more we gave him a copy of Book of

Mormon Stories in Arabic. Initially he was a little hesitant, but once

he opened it up and looked through it he fell in love with it. We

shared the story of the Tree of Life and talked about it, and he told

us, "I really like this book. The stories and information stick in my

head a lot better!" Elder Belnap had felt impressed earlier in the

week to give a copy to him, and it's going to help him a lot I think.

That's actually it for this week, everyone. Thanks for your emails and

support. Thank you to all those who are participating in the Book of

Mormon reading challenge with me. I'd love to hear your insights and

thoughts as you read, so feel free to email them to me as you do so.

If you came up with a question before you started reading, great! If

not, you can still come up with one and highlight and mark verses and

words that stick out to you to help answer your question. Have a great

week!

-- Elder Hawkes

"What's your secret to longevity?" "Chocolate." - Elder Jensen and a 90-year-old woman in the ward

Can't argue with that.

This week, we...
- Get preached to... sort of
- Thin an apple tree
- Have an awesome lesson with Morad!
- Help our member family with plumbing problems
- Call a Detroit branch president about Arabic work
- Get a baptismal date for Habeeb and Shaima! :D
- Have a not-so-great lesson with Morad
- Add a former named Lewis
- Have a family home evening with Suhaila
- Wind up giving blessings to some potentials

So first off, Tuesday ended on a weird note. We moved a marble table for some members (which was really uneventful) and then we went proselyting. We wound up in a complex that had one of the weirdest organizational patterns possible when it came to apartment numbers. So we got lost in it, and after a half hour of wandering we finally found the apartment. The residents let us inside. I'm pretty sure they were in their 80's at least. Anyway... we told them we wanted to share a message about Jesus with them and I kind of lost track of the conversation (or lack thereof) after that but suddenly the older man was showing us his Chaldean Bible and playing Syriac tape recordings (yes, tape recordings) of the Old Testament. So that was kind of weird. Needless to say, we thanked them for their time and left.

On Wednesday we helped Sis. Sorenson (the 90-year-old mentioned in the email title) thin her apple tree. It was a lot of fun helping to pick apples and she let us take one or two. Afterward, she fed us ice cream. Lots of ice cream. That's when Elder Jensen asked her about how she's lived so long and so well. She said that whenever she got money
she'd take some of it and go down to the store and buy a chocolate bar. So now I know the secret to longevity.

Also on Wednesday we had a lesson with Morad that started out a little blunt. But we talked to him about his reading and his lack of progression, and he said that he's been reading from the Book of Mormon every day and is cutting back on smoking. We talked about how to get more out of the scriptures and then asked if he'd prayed about baptism. He said he wants to get baptized, but he wants to do it when his brothers return from Michigan. He's almost there!

Friday was an interesting day. It started off with our shower and toilet not working, so we had to go to our Zone Leader's apartment to shower. We told the Dreesen's and they said they'd look into it. We wound up going to Zone Meeting, coming back and helping them out, going to teach عدل (Adil) English, coming back and helping them, and then finally finishing up studies for the day at 8:00 P.M. It took a lot longer to fix it than anyone was expecting or wanting, and it was
slightly frustrating for all parties involved. On an unrelated note, there's this yogurt drink (in Arabic it's شراب لبن, which literally means "yogurt drink") that we had at Adil's house. It isn't like a drink made from American yogurt, which is sweet. This is just plain yogurt, salt, and water mixed together. It's interesting because when you think "yogurt" you probably think that American Dannon or Yoplait sugary "yogurt", but it's actually kind of savory almost. It's pretty good.

Oh, I added a bit about calling a Detroit branch president. Frankly, it's rather anticlimactic; the mission office called us and told us that this branch president wanted to know more about how to teach in Arabic. We called him and he basically just asked 1) How to teach Muslims and 2) What dialect we spoke. I was expecting it to be a little more like "How can the missionaries learn Arabic?", but it wasn't. Oh well, someday they'll have Arabic missionaries in Detroit! (For reference, we are the only Arabic missionaries in the U.S. There are some in Toronto, and some in Uganda, and that's it.)

Saturday was a jam-packed day full of greatness. To start off, we taught Habeeb and Shaima. They told us a little more of their story. To make it short, Habeeb was driving and noticed a guy in a wheelchair that needed some help. As he was helping him, he was handed an Arabic Book of Mormon by the guy and it had Arabic North's phone number in
it. He called them and asked if they could come teach him about the book. Shaima converted to Christianity from Islam when she was young. She met with missionaries in Ramona a few years ago and has kept the Book of Mormon they gave her ever since. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and the importance of being baptized. We asked them,
"When you know that this is true, will you be baptized?" and they said "Yes, of course!" We offered them a date of November 14th and they accepted! :D They're solid!

Later that evening we wanted to invite Morad to a baptismal service, so we stopped by his house. He was having a really bad day and proceeded to curse God, his parents, his neighbors, the police, the Muslims, the Chaldeans, Detroit, and just about everything. We left after letting him rant for a little bit and I went ahead and dropped him in Area Book Planner. Elder Greer had other opinions and so we agreed to just leave it alone for a little bit and come back to it when cooler heads prevailed. As we knelt in prayer as a companionship at the end of the night, I got one of the most clear impressions I had ever received that we needed to keep Morad as an investigator. I shared that impression with my companions and they both said they felt the exact same way while we were praying. So he's still an investigator, and we'll see what the Lord has in store for him and for us.

On Sunday Morad came to church and apologized for the day before. He said we could keep coming and sharing our messages with him, which made me really grateful I had followed that prompting. Habeeb and Shaima also came to church, although they only came for the first hour. That afternoon we went out proselyting and Elder Greer felt that
we should stop by a member's house to see if she knew anyone we could visit. When we got there, it turns out she was having some health problems and needed a blessing. She said that that morning she had been praying for someone to come give her a blessing. We were able to give her a blessing. Because we had been willing to change our plans
we wound up being an answer to someone's prayer. That really strengthened my testimony.

Later that evening we wound up going to visit a former investigator named Lewis. We invited him to church and he asked, "What time?" He proceeded to put it on his calendar so he wouldn't forget. We had a lesson on the Book of Mormon and he loved it! He said we could come back anytime, and since we taught him a few weeks ago Area Book Planner counted it as an added investigator. He's cool!

Yesterday was hot and humid. I only say that because we were walking around in it all afternoon. Not the most fun thing in the world but you do what you need to. We had a family home evening lesson with Suhaila last night. We shared the talk "God is at the Helm" by M. Russell Ballard from Conference and bore testimony of living prophets. She's got a lot of faith, she's just a little unsure about things. We also went to go visit some potentials and it turns out they had moved.
But in a sudden turn of events the current residents said they had some health problems and Elder Greer, after sharing James 5:15 with them, asked if they would like a blessing. So we wound up giving a blessing to some potential investigators. I had دليل المبشر (the Missionary Handbook) in front of me as I anointed. It was kind of weird doing it in Arabic. I'll get used to it, probably.

That's it for this week! Shoutout to my sister Megan who turns 18 on Saturday! Thanks everyone for your support and prayers on my behalf. And don't hesitate to write!

-- إلدر هاكْس
--
Elder Christian Hawkes
California San Diego Mission
7404 Armstrong Place
San Diego, CA 92111-4912

"Of all the things I've taught you, this is what I'm most proud of." - Bro. Seba, about chasing after ice cream trucks

From 9-1-15

Not a whole ton happened this week, but you still get a novel of an
email! Hahahahaha!
This week, we...
- Drop Wisam, the guy who said he wanted to get baptized
- Teach English
- Go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders
- Convince an ice cream man (through no fault of our own) that we're Iraqi
- Add a man!
- Teach a man who doesn't see a need to change
- Have a sort-of surprise party for Elder Greer

On Wednesday we drove out to National City and taught English to عدل (Adil), the Muslim man I mentioned last email. It was a great lesson that involved a lot of practicing of basic phrases. His vocabulary is great, it's just a matter of placing that vocabulary in sentences. I also learned just how difficult teaching English is. English grammar is really weird and puts a lot of "filler" words in that other languages don't have.

Also on Wednesday Wisam texted us and said he didn't want to meet with us anymore and that he changed his mind about baptism. Which was sad. We'll follow-up in a few months.

On Thursday we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Elder Egnew (the new Zone Leader) came with me to Arabic work and Elder Greer went with Elder Harris. We wound up dropping بالقوش (Balcosh; I don't know if the Arabic spelling is correct) because she's pretty busy right now. Another one to follow-up with in a few months. We spent most of the day walking around finding potentials. We got a bunch of referrals for other companionships, which was a big plus! Also, Elder Egnew is into Pokemon, Doctor Who, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, so we had a lot to talk about. :)

Friday consisted of district meeting, weekly planning, dinner, more weekly planning, and finding, so let's skip over to Saturday. On Saturday we started off the day with language study at Bro. Seba's like we normally do. We helped him clean up around the house because he wasn't feeling too well. Right as we were finishing that up, an ice cream truck started driving by. Bro. Seba heard it, turned to Elder Jackson, and just said, "Go get him!" Right on cue, Elders Jackson and Jensen jumped up and ran out the door yelling at him to stop. Fortunately he did. He opened up the door and, recognizing that he was Iraqi, we started talking to him in Arabic. Bro. Seba joined us shortly thereafter and we all had a nice conversation in Arabic about how we know Arabic. The ice cream man was convinced we were from بغداد (Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq), and despite our assurances that we weren't he would not be convinced otherwise. So we bought our ice cream and went back inside. Elder Jensen commented that he had never actually bought ice cream from an ice cream truck before, to which Bro. Seba replied that he really missed out on a piece of childhood/life and gave us this week's email title.

On Sunday nothing drastic happened. A member of the mission presidency spoke and that was probably the most exciting thing. So skipping over to yesterday...

We actually had things happen yesterday! :D We taught a man named نائل (Na'il), whom we'd been trying to get in the door with for a few weeks now. He said that he's pretty busy but that we're welcome to come by and teach him. When we followed up on what he remembered from the Restoration his belief was essentially one of "Why not?" He doesn't know it's true yet, but he doesn't see why it wouldn't be, so we've definitely got something to work with. We also taught a man last night who had great questions that highlighted some truths taught in the Restoration. Unfortunately he told us after we taught him that he might come to church sometime but that he wasn't really interested in changing or doing anything. In that lesson I experienced how to be bold without overbearing; it has to be done out of love and by the Spirit, otherwise it doesn't work.

Lastly, yesterday was Elder Greer's 22nd birthday. Elder Jensen informed me that Sis. Dreesen wanted us to come home a little early to have cheesecake and sing "Happy Birthday". I can't keep a straight face to save my life, so rather than trying to tell Elder Greer a lie and have him see right through me, I told him a half-truth. He asked me what was going on after I got off the phone with Elder Jensen and I told him, "North was wanting to sing to you at 8:30." And then the "no-straight-face" portion of me kicked in and he saw through that one. I kept insisting it, though, and the smile of "I know something you don't" was enough to keep him second-guessing me the entire time. At about 8:30, I turned to Elder Greer and told him, "We've got to go." He expressed his disapproval but went with it. When we got inside, we were welcomed with the sight of North and the Dreesen's.


After singing "Happy Birthday," we cut the cake up and Elder Greer promptly forgave me for the fact that we came back a little early. Because cheesecake makes everything better!

That's it for this week! Thank you all for your letters and emails! I love hearing from people, so don't be afraid to write/email me! Love you all!

-- Elder Hawkes

"You just went from 'I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus' to 'Let it Snow'." - Elder Hawkes

From 8-18-2015

Elder Greer whistles a lot, but sometimes he gets just a few measures of a song stuck in his head and sometimes he accidentally blends two together (as mentioned).

This week, we...
- Help move the world's heaviest china cabinet
- Meet a man who's read the Book of Mormon!
- Visit إخلاص (Ikhlas) again
- Go on exchanges and get lost going to the San Diego Institute building
- Teach Morad and Miller
- Have an Iraqi breakfast with our ward mission leader
- Try to visit potentials on the Virgin Mary's feast day (that should
tell you how it went)
- Dress up to teach a Primary class about miracles
- Drop سيف (Saif)
- Drop ولسن (Wilson)
- Sort-of kind-of teach Nishwan the Pancake

First off, we have a family in our ward, the Wurtz family, who is planning on going on a mission this year. They needed some help on Wednesday putting stuff in their garage and a storage unit in preparation for their departure. As missionaries, we get really excited whenever someone needs furniture moved from Point A to Point B, so we eagerly accepted the opportunity to serve. The first little bits were easy; they needed some help bringing a heavy glass table to
their storage unit and then wanted us to help them move their couch down to their garage. After that, though, was when Challenge Mode started. They had a china cabinet that they were giving to their neighbor and needed some help putting it in her garage. The cabinet came in two pieces. The bottom half was pretty easy to take down because it was just like moving a bulky dresser. The top half (where the china would be stored) was a monstrosity. I knew I would need help
at some point but wanted to go as far as I could before calling on Bro. Wurtz so there would be less work for him.

"As far as I could" was about 20 feet.

I was lifting it and doing my best to carry it while keeping it steady, but as it started to

tilt left my back tilted left with it and
pulled a muscle. Bro. Wurtz asked if I needed help and I immediately said "Yes!" With some repositioning and careful lifting and moving down the stairs and out to the garage, we finally made it. We celebrated our victory with the Wurtz family by having a spaghetti lunch partially in honor of Elder Greer's upcoming birthday (August 31st). Sleeping was rather uncomfortable that night. My back's fine now, don't worry (still a little sore but not bad). But I've officially ruled out "professional mover" as a future career.

Later that day we were going to teach a young man who said we could come back another day. We got in the door and his father accepted our visit but didn't seem interested. Then he asked us, "You're Mormons, right?" We responded truthfully in the affirmative. He mentioned that he'd read the Book of Mormon but that there wasn't really a difference
between us and the Catholics because "We all teach about Jesus." Since we felt he was essentially handing us a teaching opportunity on a silver platter (most people we meet have never heard of the Book of Mormon or Mormons, and most don't even read the Bible, so this guy was a miracle in our eyes), we opened up the Book of Mormon and started to
discuss its role. And he had definitely read it before! But at the end of it all he restated that he didn't want to change because "There's no difference" and so we thanked him for the opportunity to talk with him and went on our way.

On Thursday we added a lady named بالقوش (Balcosh/Balqosh) whom we had met and taught before. She's shown a little bit of desire but we've definitely got our work cut out for us. She loves Jesus and has a lot of traditions that we're going to have to work on. She said she was going to come to church, though. Skipping ahead a little bit, we stopped by on Sunday with Bro. Seba to pick her up for church and she wasn't home. So she didn't come to church.

We also taught إخلاص (Ikhlas) again. Her life's a little crazy still. Her husband is doing better. She wants the church to give her a loan so she can buy a burial plot. We told her that we don't do that. She's nice, and she likes having us over, but she isn't really interested right now in progressing.

On Friday I went up to Arabic North on exchanges with Elder Jackson. They had a Muslim potential who said they were going to meet at the LDS Institute after mosque to talk about our message. It turns out, though, that when we loaded up directions we typed in the wrong road. The LDS Institute is located on Montezuma Ct. in San Diego, but we typed in Montezuma Rd., which is an entirely different road (if there's one thing I'm learning to like on my mission, it's Utah's grid
system). So we wound up going to the wrong place and calling the APs (who cover that area) to figure out where in the world we were going. All the while the potential was texting us telling us that he was almost there and wondering if we were coming. Then we turned right instead of left on the road that would take us to the institute building and wound up in Lemon Grove. As we were driving the right way to the institute the potential texted and said that he had to go and maybe we could try another day. It was admittedly very frustrating.

That day we also taught Morad and Miller. Miller is going to Michigan again because "There's tons of work there!" Morad... let's just say he's going through a rough patch right now and is losing faith. We taught about prayer and the Holy Ghost and Morad was really not having any of it. :( At the end he prayed though, and he said we could come back, so we'll see what happens.

Saturday, August 15, was the Feast of Assumption for the Virgin Mary (the day that the Catholics celebrate Mary's supposed ascension into heaven). We learned that as we talked with people all day and got a lot of "Today's Mary's day. Do you love Mary?" responses. "We love Mary, and we respect and revere her, but we don't pray to her," was the usual response we gave. We didn't get a lot of teaching in that day (we did teach one person which was a miracle for us in that she let us in to teach her on Mary's feast day). But one awesome thing that did happen was that we got to eat an Iraqi "poor man's" breakfast with our ward mission leader after our Saturday language study with him.

And oh my goodness where has this been my entire life?

The breakfast consists of Arabic bread (kind of a cross between pita and tanour bread if you know what the latter is), tahini (sesame paste), cream, apricot jam (in place of dried apricots), and date molasses. We warmed up pieces of bread on his gas stove, split it in half so it made a kind of pocket, spread the cream (which had the consistency of butter) on the inside, then put apricot jam and date molasses in it and ate it. Remind me when I get back to make this for you all because it is amazing. Another thing that he did was mix some date molasses with tahini to make a sort of spread similar in consistency and taste to peanut butter.

I feel like a part of me is now filled that I didn't know was missing.

On Sunday we helped teach Primary about miracles of Jesus. The Primary Presidency had a bag of Middle Eastern clothing and headscarves that they gave us. So Elder Greer put on a ثوب ("Thob", a Middle Eastern robe) and a headscarf and I put on a headscarf (we did get a picture taken). As we were waiting to go in, Sis. Cody walked by and spotted us. She died laughing. It was a great lesson, too.

We also dropped سيف (Saif) because we haven't been able to see him. Hopefully we will be able to see him again soon.

Yesterday we dropped ولسن (Wilson). We had a lesson with him where he spent half the time sharing his belief out of the Bible. We finished up the lesson on good terms, though. We'll go back in a few months and see if he's willing to change. We also ran into Nishwan again (you may remember him as the pancake I mentioned a few emails ago). He spent a portion of the time trying to bash with us and told us to not use the Book of Mormon. He wants us to come on Thursday at 8 with Bro. Seba to talk about his belief. We'll see how things go.

That's it for this week! Thanks everyone for your letters and your emails! Happy 20th Anniversary (this past Sunday) to my parents!

-- Elder Hawkes