Hey

Hola familia y amigos,
Well, it was another rough week. We only had one investigator at church yesterday and it was the12-year-old granddaughter of a member even though a lot more people said they would come. We've been doing a lot of studying on subjet of keeping the Sabbath Day holy so that we can help people understand how important it is.
We're teaching a family named Judi and Angel. The first lesson with them was good. We watched the Restoration video and they said it was beautiful. Then in the second visit we found out that they both drink and smoke and have a lot of problems in their relationship (they're not married either) so we've been trying to help them overcome their addictions. We brought them pictures of Jesus to put in their house to remind them of their decision to change and also little boxes of gum with empowering phrases and scriptures on them so that any time they have the desire to drink or smoke, they can chew gum instead. We passed by their house a couple times this week and caught Judi smoking and the other time, we caught her drinking. That second time, she came to the door and we disappointedly told her the drinking is not the solution to her problems. She started crying and said, "I know. I just want to die." It broke my heart. It was sooooo sad to see someone with such little hope for a better life. We tried to encourage her and testified that through Christ we can overcome our weaknesses and we can be forgiven of all our sins. She said that we were angels sent to help her. We asked her if we could do anything to help her like clean her house our wash dishes and she said no. But then said, "There is one thing... You can give me a hug" and started bawling as we embraced her. It made me cry. In my mind I was thinking, "We HAVE to help this woman. I'm not giving up on her." We told her we'd be praying for her and then left. She said she would try to come to church on Sunday and we passed by in the morning before sacrament meeting, but no one was home. We still aren't having success, although we're doing everything we can think of and are trusting in the promises of the mission president and our other leaders. But we've also come to realize that we have some things we need to change. It was a very humbling week and one that involved repentanve. My comp and I have had to work out some misunderstandings, but now we are growing in unity and improving. I'm discovering a lot of my weakenesses, but I always keep in mind Ether 12:27 and look forward with the hope that in Christ, they can become strengths.
More and more lately, we're having really great first lessons with people, but we visit them a second time and they're completely different people and don't want to listen. It's discouraging. But, we know that this is a trial of our patience and faith and that there's something God wants us to learn.
I ate cow liver yesterday and it was disgusting. The only reason I even finished it was because I didn't know it was cow liver until afterwards. I had just thought it was bad-tasting beef. Yuck.
I had to create a new dropbox because my other one was full and I sent a bunch of pictures. As you can tell, my comp loves animals. I bought a painting of a parrot for $4 from a old investigator in our area who is a painter.
Well, I'm completely out of time, so more to come next week. I love you all!! Thanks for the letter! Find a way to serve someone this week.
Love, Hermana Hawkins