Hey Family,
Sounds like everybody is doing well and surviving there in the US. As always, thanks for all the emails! This week for me and Elder Thomas was pretty good but a little stressful...as always!
On Tuesday i had the privilage to wait until about 1:00 p.m. for Elder thomas to show up and as soon as he did we got to work. He spent a little while getting his stuff organized in the house but then after that we got back into the street pretty fast. It was strange because since i´ve been here i´ve just followed Elder Jones around and he pretty much made all the decisions but when Elder Thomas showed up i was the one that had to call the shots. I was a bit nervous at first but the week went well. We actually taught more lessons than i have ever taught here in Portimão so that was awesome.
Elder Thomas is great and may even be my favorite companion that i´ve had on the mission so far. He´s from a town in southern Utah called hurricaine that is supposedly close to Zion´s national park. He has about 12 more weeks than i do which means he left the MTC a few weeks before i got there. Its sctually kind of strange serving with a comapanion who´s portuguese isn´t absolutly perfect all the time. He speaks really well but he just doesn´t have the time that my other companions have had. We´re working really hard and having a lot of fun so life is good.
Yesterday we had a Bar-b-que at a members house and it reminded me a lot of the sunday Bar-b-ques we used to have after church. That may have been one of the toughest times i have had on my mission with being "trunky". We also have a small CD radio in our apartment and some how it got turned on and new Michael Bublé song was playing which also made me super homesick too. Luckly i got over both quickly. And this week i also discovered a song that Mom might like that was written by the mom of a missionary a while back called"Hollow of Thy Hand". I figured Mom might enjoy it.
This week we also had a mini street meeting with just the two of us. Across the street from our chapel is an elementary school so we went there one morning and invited every person that went by to take a tour of our chapel. i stood on one side of the street and Elder Thomas stood on the other and we talked to everybody that went by. I didn´t get anyone´s information but Elder Thomas got a bunch of people to give us their info. His side had a lot more people passing by so after a while we swichted and the first person i talked to wanted to take the tour. It turns out he was the only person who accepted the tour that day. After that we taught him a lesson and are now teaching him and his family. They´re a little strange but i´m just happy we found a new family to teach.
Well, as far as news goes thats about it. Tell everybody Happy Birthday and make sure to tell me how fast Mclaughlin gets engaged after coming home!Thanks for everything! I love you guys!
Élder Haws
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Stuffed!
Hey Family,
This week was a week full of fun and excitement. we did a lot of work and i´m still exhausted and P-days almost over!
This week we focused on a investigator couple who have been close to baptism but never agreed to it. We had made plans to talk about it with them again when the assistants called wanting to know who we were going to baptize that week(Torgan Plan). We told them and they hung up and then President Torgan called wanting to know more specifically what we were going to do to mark them for baptism then frankly said at the end of the call, "Call me when it happens"...talk about pressure. When we got together with them when had dinner and then had a really powerful lesson with them. I talked a lot and bore testimony and then invited them to baptism. They weren´t sure about it so all of us prayed about it individually, one by one and afterward they felt the Spirit really strong. They even said they felt like the Lord was there in the room. Then we gave them both blessings of comfort to help because they still weren´t sure. After that they still felt really good but in the end, the didn´t except to be baptized. Me and Elder Jones felt so good about the lesson and the invite and everyone there felt the Spirit testify but they still didnt want to accept baptism. One of them said that she felt that it wasn´t what the Lord wanted her to do right now, which tome doesn´t make any sense. I was praying the entire time we were teaching them and i was pleading that the Lord would let them except. I felt really comforted all during the lesson and it was almost as if some spoke it my mind saying, "dont worry about it, i got it". After that i didnt worry but they still didn´t except. It was heartbreaking but we still haven´t given up hope. It was tough to get turned down by them because they are the closest to being baptized here in Portimão. It was a tough experience but i learned alot from it. I guess if we keep with the basketball references you could stayed we got "stuffed".
In happier news the language is better. We taught a lesson this week to a different couple and afterward Elder Jones said that he never taught the lesson like i did when he was my age in the mission. It was a good confidence boost but i´m still staying humble. Today i bought two language books with some personal money so those should help a lot too.
Also, today is transfers. Nobody knows whats going to happen here because Elder Jones has been here for 3 transfers and if he stays he´ll probably end his mission here(he has 3 months left a.k. 2 transfers). With all that it is very possible that i could leave too so we never know. Three Elders with the same time in the mission as me are now Zone Leaders but i´m completly fine with that. I say that because the higher up you go the more you have to talk to President Torgan and the more problems you have to deal with. So i´m not in any hurry to move up anytime soon.
In relation to the food we eat. most of the time (almost all of the time) we eat beans and rice. we also eat a lot of really good soups here too. I´m not cooking too much but when i do cook i sook either rice and some kind of meat or spagetti. We eat at the members house once every sunday and every now and then during the week.
Well, we just called President and found out about transfers so i´ll tell you now(i´m too lazy to rewrite that other part agian). Elder Jones is leaving and i will be staying here and getting a new companion named Elder Thomas. He has two more transfers than me so i should be fine.
Well, i think thats it for news today. Thanks for all the love and prayers,especially Ruby! I love you guys!
Élder Haws
This week was a week full of fun and excitement. we did a lot of work and i´m still exhausted and P-days almost over!
This week we focused on a investigator couple who have been close to baptism but never agreed to it. We had made plans to talk about it with them again when the assistants called wanting to know who we were going to baptize that week(Torgan Plan). We told them and they hung up and then President Torgan called wanting to know more specifically what we were going to do to mark them for baptism then frankly said at the end of the call, "Call me when it happens"...talk about pressure. When we got together with them when had dinner and then had a really powerful lesson with them. I talked a lot and bore testimony and then invited them to baptism. They weren´t sure about it so all of us prayed about it individually, one by one and afterward they felt the Spirit really strong. They even said they felt like the Lord was there in the room. Then we gave them both blessings of comfort to help because they still weren´t sure. After that they still felt really good but in the end, the didn´t except to be baptized. Me and Elder Jones felt so good about the lesson and the invite and everyone there felt the Spirit testify but they still didnt want to accept baptism. One of them said that she felt that it wasn´t what the Lord wanted her to do right now, which tome doesn´t make any sense. I was praying the entire time we were teaching them and i was pleading that the Lord would let them except. I felt really comforted all during the lesson and it was almost as if some spoke it my mind saying, "dont worry about it, i got it". After that i didnt worry but they still didn´t except. It was heartbreaking but we still haven´t given up hope. It was tough to get turned down by them because they are the closest to being baptized here in Portimão. It was a tough experience but i learned alot from it. I guess if we keep with the basketball references you could stayed we got "stuffed".
In happier news the language is better. We taught a lesson this week to a different couple and afterward Elder Jones said that he never taught the lesson like i did when he was my age in the mission. It was a good confidence boost but i´m still staying humble. Today i bought two language books with some personal money so those should help a lot too.
Also, today is transfers. Nobody knows whats going to happen here because Elder Jones has been here for 3 transfers and if he stays he´ll probably end his mission here(he has 3 months left a.k. 2 transfers). With all that it is very possible that i could leave too so we never know. Three Elders with the same time in the mission as me are now Zone Leaders but i´m completly fine with that. I say that because the higher up you go the more you have to talk to President Torgan and the more problems you have to deal with. So i´m not in any hurry to move up anytime soon.
In relation to the food we eat. most of the time (almost all of the time) we eat beans and rice. we also eat a lot of really good soups here too. I´m not cooking too much but when i do cook i sook either rice and some kind of meat or spagetti. We eat at the members house once every sunday and every now and then during the week.
Well, we just called President and found out about transfers so i´ll tell you now(i´m too lazy to rewrite that other part agian). Elder Jones is leaving and i will be staying here and getting a new companion named Elder Thomas. He has two more transfers than me so i should be fine.
Well, i think thats it for news today. Thanks for all the love and prayers,especially Ruby! I love you guys!
Élder Haws
Monday, January 11, 2010
Great Expectations
Hey Family,
Thanks for all the emails and of course, i love the photos too! It looks like
Milo has developed Kilie´s "scrunchy face".It sounds like everbody has been
pretty busy there, which is good because we´ve been busy here.
This week was pretty tough. We started out well and had a bunch of lessons
adn found a few new people to teach(which is good because the people we have
right now aren´t progressing much). But after the first few days everything
slowed way down as we went to interviews. At interviews President Torgan
always gives trainings so its like going to another Zone Conference so we´re
always in for a treat. This "Conference" was different however because this
time i realized what i got myself into by being in this Zone. Apparently,
this is one of the most difficult areas to work. The Azores(islands) have
been known to be the hardest to work in because of the strong Catholic
background and history but right now the Algarve´s(southern Portugal) is
having the most problems keeping our numbers up. We lost alot of Elders in
this last transfer but president said that that wasn´t an excuse. He then
read 2 Nephi 1:23 and told us that the Algarve needs to "wake up". He also
said that a lot would be expected and that work woud be really difficult. He
even gave us the opportunity to leave and said that if anyone wasn´t up to
the work he would transfer us somewhere else. But nobody raised their hand.
Then we had our interviews and mine was great. President Torgan said alot of
things in the conference that were really powerful that we need to apply to
the work so things should get better. In my interview he told me alot about
the history of my area and what he expects me and Elder Jones to accomplish.
Needless to say i´ve been really stressed over the last two days and will
probably be for the remainder of my time in the Algarve and probably in
Portugal too. But the future should be better so i´ll be fine.
This week in language news i gave my first blessing in portuguese. I didn´t
have much of a choice in the matter because Elder Jones stole the oil from
me before the blessing so i had to do the blessing. It was good and i really
noticed the difference from giving a blessing in english and portuguese.
I´ve given a few in english but in portuguese you really have to rely on the
spirit to know what to say, especially when your vocabulary is as small as
mine. I´m also teaching a lot more. I´ve found that I take more
opportunities to talk and answer questions now instead of letting my
companion do that.
Feel free to send that copy of the phone call in the next box. I dont think
it should be a problem. This transfer i´ve also payed myself back all the
personal money i spent on transportation last transfer so done worrry about
money. Elder Jones keeps telling me that i should use it to buy a portuguese
suit or ties or something else that i dont need right now but i´ve decided
to save it instead. And it looks like Mikey will have more time to
"namorar"(ask Mikey) now that he´s out of the house.
Well, i dont know what else i can say other than I´m feeling good and i´m
still working. We´ve got big expectations to live up to so we should be
really busy this week. Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers!
Amo-lhes!
Élder Haws
Thanks for all the emails and of course, i love the photos too! It looks like
Milo has developed Kilie´s "scrunchy face".It sounds like everbody has been
pretty busy there, which is good because we´ve been busy here.
This week was pretty tough. We started out well and had a bunch of lessons
adn found a few new people to teach(which is good because the people we have
right now aren´t progressing much). But after the first few days everything
slowed way down as we went to interviews. At interviews President Torgan
always gives trainings so its like going to another Zone Conference so we´re
always in for a treat. This "Conference" was different however because this
time i realized what i got myself into by being in this Zone. Apparently,
this is one of the most difficult areas to work. The Azores(islands) have
been known to be the hardest to work in because of the strong Catholic
background and history but right now the Algarve´s(southern Portugal) is
having the most problems keeping our numbers up. We lost alot of Elders in
this last transfer but president said that that wasn´t an excuse. He then
read 2 Nephi 1:23 and told us that the Algarve needs to "wake up". He also
said that a lot would be expected and that work woud be really difficult. He
even gave us the opportunity to leave and said that if anyone wasn´t up to
the work he would transfer us somewhere else. But nobody raised their hand.
Then we had our interviews and mine was great. President Torgan said alot of
things in the conference that were really powerful that we need to apply to
the work so things should get better. In my interview he told me alot about
the history of my area and what he expects me and Elder Jones to accomplish.
Needless to say i´ve been really stressed over the last two days and will
probably be for the remainder of my time in the Algarve and probably in
Portugal too. But the future should be better so i´ll be fine.
This week in language news i gave my first blessing in portuguese. I didn´t
have much of a choice in the matter because Elder Jones stole the oil from
me before the blessing so i had to do the blessing. It was good and i really
noticed the difference from giving a blessing in english and portuguese.
I´ve given a few in english but in portuguese you really have to rely on the
spirit to know what to say, especially when your vocabulary is as small as
mine. I´m also teaching a lot more. I´ve found that I take more
opportunities to talk and answer questions now instead of letting my
companion do that.
Feel free to send that copy of the phone call in the next box. I dont think
it should be a problem. This transfer i´ve also payed myself back all the
personal money i spent on transportation last transfer so done worrry about
money. Elder Jones keeps telling me that i should use it to buy a portuguese
suit or ties or something else that i dont need right now but i´ve decided
to save it instead. And it looks like Mikey will have more time to
"namorar"(ask Mikey) now that he´s out of the house.
Well, i dont know what else i can say other than I´m feeling good and i´m
still working. We´ve got big expectations to live up to so we should be
really busy this week. Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers!
Amo-lhes!
Élder Haws
Monday, January 4, 2010
And One
Hey Family,
It´s 2010 which means i just started my "Dry Year" as a missionary. We say dry year because every missionary has a full year of being a missionary without seeing family or friends. But if my mission keeps going the way it is, this year will seem more like a month!
Last week was great. We got our investigator baptized and confirmed so that was a big plus. We worried about it all we but finally got it done and she seems to be doing great. She´s pregnant so when we baptized her i told Elder Jones it was kind of like basket ball. Normally we refer to baptism as"dunking" so with her i said we got the basket "And One". We also taught one of our investigators that happens to be a pastor of another church and found out that he beleives in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Needless to say we were really excited and about to mark him for baptism until he said that he didn´t like the fact that our church has to be the ONLY true church on the earth. We were a little disappointed at first but once we can solve that doubt he´ll be ready for baptism. we also taught a brazilian couple that are golden investigators and ran into another doubt there too. They love the Book of Mormon and the church but cant bring themselves to believe that Joseph Smith saw Jesus Chrust and Heavenly Father. They have that belief because of the scripture in exodus that says no man can see God and live.We´ve showed them scriptures that saw other wise and born testimony but they still have a hard time believing. We´re going to keep working with them so it shouldn´t be long before they´re baptized too.
In other news, me and Elder Jones both got sick this week. He got sick early last week and so we spent a lot of time in the house and then i got sick yesterday, for the first time on my mission, so we spent all yesterday in the house. We´re both still a little sick but we´re feeling better so it shouldn´t be long before we´re both at 100%.
This month I also hit seven months which means i need to report on how the language is coming. This week we gave a message in a member´s house and Edlder Jones felt that i should give the message. I shared a scripture and bore testimony and talked a little and it actually went really well.Afterward, one of the memebrs asked me why i dont speak more because i speak almost perfectly. It was a nice confidence booster but my timidness keeps holding me back. I´ll keep working on that too so it shouldn´t be long before i speaking more.
In piano news i´m close to playing the entire tune of "Abide With Me" in a couple of weeks i´ll have it all down and will be able to start putting the pedal in with it. Also this week, we played Ping Pong with some of the members at the News Years Eve party. All the missionaries in the mission got permission to stay out till midnight to attend the church parties so we got to go to party in our branch. I played four games and only lost one. It was pretty fun but in the game i lost Elder Jones was telling me we had to go so i think i can mark that loss up to a distraction. Then a few days later we played Ping pong with a few members and an investigator(Joven) and that time i only lost one game. Afterward i thought that maybe i should´ve let the invetigator win more but i had a reputation to up hold!
Thanks for the Bumble story it was perfect. The hymn book is a great idea too but dont spend too much money because its not a big deal. Also, you guys might want to check what Jenny is feeding Milo cause that kid is getting big! And tell mom to practice wii tenis because when i get back we´re goign to play and i wasn´t bad back in the day...
Well, thats it for news here in Portugal. Thanks for the prayers and support. I love you guys! Fiquem Bem!
Élder Haws
It´s 2010 which means i just started my "Dry Year" as a missionary. We say dry year because every missionary has a full year of being a missionary without seeing family or friends. But if my mission keeps going the way it is, this year will seem more like a month!
Last week was great. We got our investigator baptized and confirmed so that was a big plus. We worried about it all we but finally got it done and she seems to be doing great. She´s pregnant so when we baptized her i told Elder Jones it was kind of like basket ball. Normally we refer to baptism as"dunking" so with her i said we got the basket "And One". We also taught one of our investigators that happens to be a pastor of another church and found out that he beleives in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Needless to say we were really excited and about to mark him for baptism until he said that he didn´t like the fact that our church has to be the ONLY true church on the earth. We were a little disappointed at first but once we can solve that doubt he´ll be ready for baptism. we also taught a brazilian couple that are golden investigators and ran into another doubt there too. They love the Book of Mormon and the church but cant bring themselves to believe that Joseph Smith saw Jesus Chrust and Heavenly Father. They have that belief because of the scripture in exodus that says no man can see God and live.We´ve showed them scriptures that saw other wise and born testimony but they still have a hard time believing. We´re going to keep working with them so it shouldn´t be long before they´re baptized too.
In other news, me and Elder Jones both got sick this week. He got sick early last week and so we spent a lot of time in the house and then i got sick yesterday, for the first time on my mission, so we spent all yesterday in the house. We´re both still a little sick but we´re feeling better so it shouldn´t be long before we´re both at 100%.
This month I also hit seven months which means i need to report on how the language is coming. This week we gave a message in a member´s house and Edlder Jones felt that i should give the message. I shared a scripture and bore testimony and talked a little and it actually went really well.Afterward, one of the memebrs asked me why i dont speak more because i speak almost perfectly. It was a nice confidence booster but my timidness keeps holding me back. I´ll keep working on that too so it shouldn´t be long before i speaking more.
In piano news i´m close to playing the entire tune of "Abide With Me" in a couple of weeks i´ll have it all down and will be able to start putting the pedal in with it. Also this week, we played Ping Pong with some of the members at the News Years Eve party. All the missionaries in the mission got permission to stay out till midnight to attend the church parties so we got to go to party in our branch. I played four games and only lost one. It was pretty fun but in the game i lost Elder Jones was telling me we had to go so i think i can mark that loss up to a distraction. Then a few days later we played Ping pong with a few members and an investigator(Joven) and that time i only lost one game. Afterward i thought that maybe i should´ve let the invetigator win more but i had a reputation to up hold!
Thanks for the Bumble story it was perfect. The hymn book is a great idea too but dont spend too much money because its not a big deal. Also, you guys might want to check what Jenny is feeding Milo cause that kid is getting big! And tell mom to practice wii tenis because when i get back we´re goign to play and i wasn´t bad back in the day...
Well, thats it for news here in Portugal. Thanks for the prayers and support. I love you guys! Fiquem Bem!
Élder Haws
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