Hey Big Bro!
Thank you so much for your email and all of the other letters and emails you have sent me previously. I have been so bad at personally responding to them because of my lack of time but I hope that you will forgive me. As I am sure you can understand, time is a precious thing out here in the mission field. But an excuse is just that and so I apologize again, it's just that I want to send you something from my heart instead of just a quick response so that is why it has taken so long.
The culture here is very different, like you said, especially with the guys. Guys in America more or less have respect for women but it is not that way here. I can't even count the number of times that I have been cat-called, whistled at, spat upon, sweared at, and I even had a guy on a bike ride by and grab my bum...it has been hard for me to understand why there is such a lack of respect here but I have come to accept that is just the way that it is. Other than the young men and their probing eyes, I love the culture here. Everyone is so loving and charitable. Even if people are not Christian, since most people here are Muslim, they still take the time to stop and listen to what we have to say. Street contacting and table finding has become one of my favorite things to do. It has not been successful for finding many investigators or teaching any lessons, but it has been nice to hear others' opinion on religion and what they think about God.
Like you mentioned, I have come to know that it is so important to invite the Spirit into our lessons. When His presence is not there, it is impossible to teach- we may be able to try and speak their language but the Spirit is the only one who is able to speak to them spirit to spirit and witness of the truths that we are teaching. The investigators that we have now are few in numbers, but we are trying hard to find more, even one more would be wonderful! Everyday we set the goal to find one and for a while we have not had any success to find a new one in a couple of weeks.
In regards to my trainer, I am trying my hardest to learn as much as I can from her. As far as training goes, she hasn't actually focused on teaching me anything, she just reads the manual and then moves on. For me, I learn by example and application so it has been hard for me to work on the principles without actually being able to do that. That has been a bit of a struggle, but if nothing else I am learning a lot of patience. Pride is something that I have come to realize I may have a problem with. I never thought it was something I needed to worry about, but the more I have studied about it the more I feel I need to be cautious of it. I try to be a good example all the time and influence others for the better, but it is hard when the other missionaries criticize me for doing the right thing. In my opinion they are the older missionaries so they should be setting the example for me, but again thus is why I think I may have some problems with pride making so many assumptions and rationalizations. Thanks for the suggestion- I will have to give it a read!
Your little sis,
Motra Hawkins
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