Hey Family,
Thanks for all the emails and prayers this week. I can tell you they really helped out. And i also need to say "Desculpa!" if i freaked you guys out with my email last week. I was way stressed out but now i think i´m getting used to it!
This week to be honest, wasn´t a whole lot better but i feel better about how it went.
It started strange because on monday, we spent our P-day with the other Elders of Setúbal so we didn´t get to email till late in the afternoon. Setúbal is full of members of the church so there are two wards and there used to be 3 companionships too. Everything west of the train tracks(if you have a map) is the other Elders area and ward. Everything else is ours. The area is beautiful and even has two castles so P-days will be fun. But anyway, back to the inmportant stuff.
After our P-day we had to go visit a member who is out of his mind crazy. Most Elders say the following to describe him, "There aren´t words to describe this man...enough said!" He used to be a drug addict but some how got baptized and now bugs the Elders constantly. Hes a really nice guy but is really annoying. We have to go visit him every once in a while because we´re the only friends he has and also, if we dont, he comes to our house to talk to US. I was a little worried at first about talking to him but hes a nice guy, just really, really, strange.
Then we spent the rest of the week trying to contact the people the members wanted us to. We did alright but so far we haven´t had much success yet. We´ve also been knocking alot of doors and we found alot of people who seem to have some interest but we haven´t been able to talk to some of these people because they´re never home when they say they will be. But we have found a really nice brazilian lady whos likes talking to us. Shes moving to a different house so we told her we could help her out but at the same time, invited her to talk the missionary lessons. we´ve talk her twice and shes pretty open, like most brazillians here, but there are a few probalems. She works on Sundays and cant swap days with anyone because she has some kind of contract thats supper strict about that. She also cant and wont read the Book of Mormon because she gets sleepy when she reads. And since she doesn´t like feeling sleepy, she wont even open the book. When we found that out i felt kind of crushed because she was the only person we had that MIGHT progress but any hopes of that, at least in the near future, were shot. But i did have a really cool experience in one of the lessons we had with her.
We had already taught her the first lesson about the restoration so we decided we would go and explain a little more about the Book ok Mormon. So we went there and read the introduction with her and talked about it a little and the plan was then to share our favorite scriptures with her. Thats when something interesting happened. Throughout my time here in Setúbal i´ve been really stressed because the other Elders before baptized all their investigators and left us with nothing. i´ve also been praying that the Lord would show us some light or some kind of hope that the future would be better while at the same time wondering why i was here. Me, having been junior companion my entire mission, never having been a great leader in the mission or had one of my baptism stories published throughout the mission, was sent to an area and was now expected to do everything my other companions had done. Needless to say i felt a little beat up(for more info see my last email). But i was also thinking about why we hadn´t seen any success yet. We were doing all we could and working as hard as we could but we couldn´t see anything coming from our work. Then, in this lesson with that woman, i started to talk about how the Book of Mormon not only has the answers to our spiritual problems and questions, but also to our worldy ones too. She has had a lot of questions about the things that have happened in her life and that are happening right now so i thought that would be good. It didnt know where i was going with this thought but i kept going anyway.Then i started to transition to a scripture that i hadn´t planned on sharing, but had suddenly come to mind. It was the one in Mosiah 24 that talks about when the people of Alma were in bondage and how they did everything right, but were stil punished. It also talks about how they prayed for help from the Lord and i related it to how me and Elder Dalton were struglingn with white washing and how we were doing everything right. Then i read the Lords answer to the people´s prayers in verses 13 and 14 and i found the answer that i wanted. After i read the scriptures i stopped for a second. I was trying to help this woman learn about the importance of the Book of Mormon but at the same time, i recieved an answer to the question that i had. I apologized and explained that the scritpure probably meant more to me than to her or my companion. It was amazing that the answer that i needed to hear came from a scritpure that i hadn´t planned on sharing.
The rest of the week past quick, but with alot of knocking doors.
Then on Saturday, I made my cake adn it turned out ok. Everything went great until i realized that we didnt have a can opener, so i couldnt open the can of condensed milk. So being the smart guy i am, i took a pair of large sisscors and started to smack the top of the can with them, hoping to poke a hole in the top. Than plan didnt work. Then i went on the plan B. I some how found a hammer and a bunch of nails in of house so i started to punch hole in the top of the can with the nails but that didnt work either. Then i tried poking smaller holes around the sides of the lid so i could smack the top with the hammer and pop it off but, unfortunalty, that only made a bigger mess. Frustrated, i threw the can away and went to plan C, which consisted of going to the store and buying a easy open can of condensed milk, and canned whipped cream(poor planning on my part didnt leave enough time to make the instant stuff you guys sent). After that it all went great and i took pictures of the finished project. later that day we visited some members, who, when the foudn out, sang happy birthday to me and than gave us cake to eat. Then, yesterday, we went to another members house who gives us cake every sunday so you can imagine i´m all caked out.
The weekend went pretty well and this week looks like it could be a little better so we´ll see how it goes. I´ve also decided on a new song to describe my time her in Setúbal. I´m not sure of the name but it goes a little like this...
"Life´s a dance you learn as you go,
sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow.
Don´t worry bout what you dont know,
Life´s a dance you learn as you go"
In my mind i switch the word "life" with "The Mission".
Well, i´m out of time so i guess i better go. Thanks for everything! Eu amo-os!
Com Amor,
Élder Haws
P.S. Stop worrying about me.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Ups and Downs
Hey Family,
This week may have the toughest week of my mission so far. The new area is good but i´m way stressed out.
On tuesday on got on a train and headed here and got here at about 11 in the morning. After that i spent most of the day with the Elder~s who are serving in the area thats right next to ours. I had to spend most of the day with them because the Elder I´m greenie breaking, Elder Dalton, wasn´t going to get here until about 4 in the afternoon. The day went pretty well but we didn´t do much missionary work on that first day. Our house is pretty bad(i´ll send pictures later) and the Elders before us didnt clean anything before they left. So when me and Elder Dalton got together we went and got some groceries and ate at McDonalds before we tackled our house. We did that for a while and then headed to our chapel to talk to our ward mission leader. He was supposed to fill us in on our area and what had been happening and maybe give us a tour of our area so we were a little excited to see what had been going on here in Setúbal. I say that because this area is known for baptizing alot and also has one of the best wards in the mission. Its actually a ward!(my first one!).
When we got to the church everyõne seemed a little stressed because me and Elder Dalton had no clue what was going on. The first thing we did when we got to the chapel was have a small meeting with ourward mission leader where he told us about the people that the members wanted us to teach. Apparently, they have a ton of people that come to church here but that have never been taught by the missionaries. That didn´t make sense until a little bit later. After that meeting we went home for about an hour and cleaned some more before heading back to the chapel to have a meeting with the bishop and the ward mission leader. That was another really good metting where we learned about the people who had been coming to church. They explained how the members are really good about inviting friends to church but the Elders haven´t been to good at teaching those people. Some people had been taught, others not. The members were confused and told us that they wanted us to contact everyone on the list they gave us before the next week so we could have our own input on these people. Then they told us how they have had a lot of missionaries in this ward who haven´t really helped all that much. They also said very franklytous that they didn´t feel they could trust the last Elders who were here. That confused me a little because those Elders baptized 3 people last transfer. Then they basically said that they were planning on us to be different. We left that meeting really pumped but a little while afterward i realized what i had gotten myself into. I was senior companion, which means that everything good or bad that happens will be a reflextion of me as a misisonary, especially because my compaion is a greenie. I was excited because there are a lot of people that we can teach, but i later re-read a note the other Elders left that saidthe people who had been coming to church just weren´t comfortable enough to talk to the missionaries.
So all at once i was overwhelmed. I was now expected to lead and area that neither me our my companion had ever set foot in, while at the same time doing almost all the talking and taking the greater amount of responsibility. My whole mission i had been junior companion and coasting through my mission, using my older, more experienced companions as crutches. Now, it seemed as though president Torgan had kicked my crutch out of my hands and pushed me down. Needless to say, i felt pretty low and eaten down for a few days.
We spent the first little bit of time here in Setúbal trying to find our way around so we could talk to the people we were supposed to before Sunday, while at the same time trying to contact and knocke doors to find new people to teach as well. I suddenly found myself doing all the contacts and all the talking, instead of my companion. MY workd pretty much fliped upside down and its been really hard for me to ajust over these past few days. I´ve gotten calls form the APs (Elder Wilson) and the Zone Leaders, who have both told me that people are looking to see a "little bit" of change in this area. The Bishop here even talked to the Zone Leaders before transfers and said that he wanted missionaries who were "fire balls". So you can imagine the pressure i feel right now.
We actually managed to talk to quite a few people from the members "to do" list and they actually seemed a little surprised when we told them about what we had accoplished so far. We also had a "MTC" for the members on Firday and President Torgan came and spoke. It was really good and me and Elder Dalton got to do a little workshop for the members so that went well.
Over all, the area has its ups and downs. The members are great and there´s lots of them (120). The bad news is that there are a few crazy people here that scare me to death. Also, we haven´t been able to teach many lessons so far so i´m a little worried. Elder Wilson called to check up on me last night and when i told him our numbers he seemed a little down. He said they knew the numbers would be bad because we are white washing and also because the other Elders didnt leave many investigators behind. Still, i dont think there is any excuse though.
All in all, i´m really worried to see how this transfer goes. I´ve never be so~stressed and overwhelmed in my life while at the same time, having moments where i´ve never been so excited to be a missionary. I have so many mixed feelings about this area. Hopefully i´ll be able to relax a little bit more here soon. Everyone is telling me i´m worring too much, and i know i cant do more than i´m capable, but i want to live up to everyone´s expectations. I´m just praying i can make it through these next few weeks.
Well, on to happier news! Elder Dalton is a pretty good Elder. He speaks pretty well and already understands really well too, so that makes mylife a little easier. If i had to describe his personality, i would say he is a skater. He´s pretty layed back and likes to take charge, which is good because latly i´ve been pretty in decisive. We´ve been working well together, but we´re not anything a like so it´s pretty interesting.
As for the photos, the Elder with red hair is Elder Jones and i only had one transfer with him. The one with brown hair is Elder Thomas, and right now, he is serving with an Elder from Cabo Verde, but still isn´t training. I did get to say good bye to a few people and take some pictures so i´ll try and send those next week.
Thanks for all the advice and especially the prayers. Dont worry too much about me, because thats my job! I´m doing alright and will servive. It´s going to be a tough transfer but i know it will be worth it and i know i´ll learn alot.
Thanks for everything! Eu Amo vocês com todo meu coração!
Com muito amor,
Élder Haws
This week may have the toughest week of my mission so far. The new area is good but i´m way stressed out.
On tuesday on got on a train and headed here and got here at about 11 in the morning. After that i spent most of the day with the Elder~s who are serving in the area thats right next to ours. I had to spend most of the day with them because the Elder I´m greenie breaking, Elder Dalton, wasn´t going to get here until about 4 in the afternoon. The day went pretty well but we didn´t do much missionary work on that first day. Our house is pretty bad(i´ll send pictures later) and the Elders before us didnt clean anything before they left. So when me and Elder Dalton got together we went and got some groceries and ate at McDonalds before we tackled our house. We did that for a while and then headed to our chapel to talk to our ward mission leader. He was supposed to fill us in on our area and what had been happening and maybe give us a tour of our area so we were a little excited to see what had been going on here in Setúbal. I say that because this area is known for baptizing alot and also has one of the best wards in the mission. Its actually a ward!(my first one!).
When we got to the church everyõne seemed a little stressed because me and Elder Dalton had no clue what was going on. The first thing we did when we got to the chapel was have a small meeting with ourward mission leader where he told us about the people that the members wanted us to teach. Apparently, they have a ton of people that come to church here but that have never been taught by the missionaries. That didn´t make sense until a little bit later. After that meeting we went home for about an hour and cleaned some more before heading back to the chapel to have a meeting with the bishop and the ward mission leader. That was another really good metting where we learned about the people who had been coming to church. They explained how the members are really good about inviting friends to church but the Elders haven´t been to good at teaching those people. Some people had been taught, others not. The members were confused and told us that they wanted us to contact everyone on the list they gave us before the next week so we could have our own input on these people. Then they told us how they have had a lot of missionaries in this ward who haven´t really helped all that much. They also said very franklytous that they didn´t feel they could trust the last Elders who were here. That confused me a little because those Elders baptized 3 people last transfer. Then they basically said that they were planning on us to be different. We left that meeting really pumped but a little while afterward i realized what i had gotten myself into. I was senior companion, which means that everything good or bad that happens will be a reflextion of me as a misisonary, especially because my compaion is a greenie. I was excited because there are a lot of people that we can teach, but i later re-read a note the other Elders left that saidthe people who had been coming to church just weren´t comfortable enough to talk to the missionaries.
So all at once i was overwhelmed. I was now expected to lead and area that neither me our my companion had ever set foot in, while at the same time doing almost all the talking and taking the greater amount of responsibility. My whole mission i had been junior companion and coasting through my mission, using my older, more experienced companions as crutches. Now, it seemed as though president Torgan had kicked my crutch out of my hands and pushed me down. Needless to say, i felt pretty low and eaten down for a few days.
We spent the first little bit of time here in Setúbal trying to find our way around so we could talk to the people we were supposed to before Sunday, while at the same time trying to contact and knocke doors to find new people to teach as well. I suddenly found myself doing all the contacts and all the talking, instead of my companion. MY workd pretty much fliped upside down and its been really hard for me to ajust over these past few days. I´ve gotten calls form the APs (Elder Wilson) and the Zone Leaders, who have both told me that people are looking to see a "little bit" of change in this area. The Bishop here even talked to the Zone Leaders before transfers and said that he wanted missionaries who were "fire balls". So you can imagine the pressure i feel right now.
We actually managed to talk to quite a few people from the members "to do" list and they actually seemed a little surprised when we told them about what we had accoplished so far. We also had a "MTC" for the members on Firday and President Torgan came and spoke. It was really good and me and Elder Dalton got to do a little workshop for the members so that went well.
Over all, the area has its ups and downs. The members are great and there´s lots of them (120). The bad news is that there are a few crazy people here that scare me to death. Also, we haven´t been able to teach many lessons so far so i´m a little worried. Elder Wilson called to check up on me last night and when i told him our numbers he seemed a little down. He said they knew the numbers would be bad because we are white washing and also because the other Elders didnt leave many investigators behind. Still, i dont think there is any excuse though.
All in all, i´m really worried to see how this transfer goes. I´ve never be so~stressed and overwhelmed in my life while at the same time, having moments where i´ve never been so excited to be a missionary. I have so many mixed feelings about this area. Hopefully i´ll be able to relax a little bit more here soon. Everyone is telling me i´m worring too much, and i know i cant do more than i´m capable, but i want to live up to everyone´s expectations. I´m just praying i can make it through these next few weeks.
Well, on to happier news! Elder Dalton is a pretty good Elder. He speaks pretty well and already understands really well too, so that makes mylife a little easier. If i had to describe his personality, i would say he is a skater. He´s pretty layed back and likes to take charge, which is good because latly i´ve been pretty in decisive. We´ve been working well together, but we´re not anything a like so it´s pretty interesting.
As for the photos, the Elder with red hair is Elder Jones and i only had one transfer with him. The one with brown hair is Elder Thomas, and right now, he is serving with an Elder from Cabo Verde, but still isn´t training. I did get to say good bye to a few people and take some pictures so i´ll try and send those next week.
Thanks for all the advice and especially the prayers. Dont worry too much about me, because thats my job! I´m doing alright and will servive. It´s going to be a tough transfer but i know it will be worth it and i know i´ll learn alot.
Thanks for everything! Eu Amo vocês com todo meu coração!
Com muito amor,
Élder Haws
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
An Adventure in the Making...
I dont have much time but i figured i´d send you guys an update on transfers...
I will be leaving Portimão...and going to Sétubal. Its a big city just south of Lisbon and it has a ton of members. But theres a little bit of bad news...i´m going to be "white washing" and "greenie-breaking". So right now i´m freaking out.
My new companion only has one transfer in the country so this next transfer will be an adventure...
Pray like you´ve never prayed before!
Com amor...e grande medo,
Élder Haws
I will be leaving Portimão...and going to Sétubal. Its a big city just south of Lisbon and it has a ton of members. But theres a little bit of bad news...i´m going to be "white washing" and "greenie-breaking". So right now i´m freaking out.
My new companion only has one transfer in the country so this next transfer will be an adventure...
Pray like you´ve never prayed before!
Com amor...e grande medo,
Élder Haws
Mais Fotos!
Here are some more photos. Let me know if you didnt get the ones in my first email.
Tchau!
Tchau!
What Makes a Champion?
Hey Famiy,
This was another great week here in Portimão, and it may actually be my last. This week we have trnasfers so i may be leaving. In fact, i may get the call while emailing so you may find out in this email.
Almost everything went according to plan this week with our baptisms. Only one of the guys marked got baptized but we knew he was going to be a long shot anyway. We didn´t talk to him all week because he works alot but we talked to his wife, the lady i baptized, and she said he really didnt have much interest in being baptized right now. She explained that he has been reading in the Book of Mormon and going to church just because she asked him to and not because he had any interest. She also said he doenst like to be pressured to do anything so she asked us kindly to back off for a while. That was kind of a bummer but we felt better after we baptized someone else this week. The other guy was the husband of the lady we baptized at the end of last year. He was fine with everything when it came to baptism except for the fact that he smoked. he had already tried to stop smoking a bunch of times but never could. Then we started teaching him and he started reading in the Book of Mormon and he finally was about to stop smoking. We did the same thing we did with our last investigator who had a problem with smoking and it worked again! He stopped smoking and was baptized yesterday. It was great! The strange thing is though, that i wasn´t nervous about him getting baptized. For some reason i just wasn´t. Maybe that means i´m getting used to this baptism thing!
The baptism was great. When we were planning who was going to speak, i suggested his wife who is a new member and he loved that idea. She didn´t...and so she voted me to pray and then maid mean and threatening faces at me. But she did a great job! A year ago, when the Sister missionaries found her (they do great work), she didn´t believe in God or anything. But yesterday, she bore a powerful testimony of Christ and the importance of being obedient to God´s commandments. It´s amazing to see how far people can come and how much they can change through the gospel.
And as i said, this week is transfers so i may be leaving Portimão. The Zone Leaders have pretty much told me to pack my bags...and so i did! Eventhough President Torgan didn´t tell me anything definte in my interview, i still have a feeling that i´m leaving. One of the Zone Leaders has made some bold predictions about where i´m going but we´ll just have to see. I´m sad that i might be leaving this area but i´m also excited to see where i may go and who i will serve with. I´m also a little nervous that i may have to be senior companion next transfer with someone whos younger than me but i dotn think that will happen just yet. But we´ll see. But one thing i´ve learned here, and something i can bare testmony about, is something one of our investigators(who we baptized) said. "O que faz um campeão, é nunca parar de tentar". You can have Mike translate that. Hopefully it makes sense. But here in Portimão, we´re champs!
As for the language, i´m still learning and making mistakes but where´s the fun in speaking perfectly? I´m not too worried about the language anymore, just about keeping up with President Torgan´s and the Lord´s expectations.
I´ve attached some photos that i copied from Elder Thomas´s camera from the baptism and also some other pictures i thought you guys might enjoy.
Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers. Eu amo vocês!
com amor,
Élder Haws
This was another great week here in Portimão, and it may actually be my last. This week we have trnasfers so i may be leaving. In fact, i may get the call while emailing so you may find out in this email.
Almost everything went according to plan this week with our baptisms. Only one of the guys marked got baptized but we knew he was going to be a long shot anyway. We didn´t talk to him all week because he works alot but we talked to his wife, the lady i baptized, and she said he really didnt have much interest in being baptized right now. She explained that he has been reading in the Book of Mormon and going to church just because she asked him to and not because he had any interest. She also said he doenst like to be pressured to do anything so she asked us kindly to back off for a while. That was kind of a bummer but we felt better after we baptized someone else this week. The other guy was the husband of the lady we baptized at the end of last year. He was fine with everything when it came to baptism except for the fact that he smoked. he had already tried to stop smoking a bunch of times but never could. Then we started teaching him and he started reading in the Book of Mormon and he finally was about to stop smoking. We did the same thing we did with our last investigator who had a problem with smoking and it worked again! He stopped smoking and was baptized yesterday. It was great! The strange thing is though, that i wasn´t nervous about him getting baptized. For some reason i just wasn´t. Maybe that means i´m getting used to this baptism thing!
The baptism was great. When we were planning who was going to speak, i suggested his wife who is a new member and he loved that idea. She didn´t...and so she voted me to pray and then maid mean and threatening faces at me. But she did a great job! A year ago, when the Sister missionaries found her (they do great work), she didn´t believe in God or anything. But yesterday, she bore a powerful testimony of Christ and the importance of being obedient to God´s commandments. It´s amazing to see how far people can come and how much they can change through the gospel.
And as i said, this week is transfers so i may be leaving Portimão. The Zone Leaders have pretty much told me to pack my bags...and so i did! Eventhough President Torgan didn´t tell me anything definte in my interview, i still have a feeling that i´m leaving. One of the Zone Leaders has made some bold predictions about where i´m going but we´ll just have to see. I´m sad that i might be leaving this area but i´m also excited to see where i may go and who i will serve with. I´m also a little nervous that i may have to be senior companion next transfer with someone whos younger than me but i dotn think that will happen just yet. But we´ll see. But one thing i´ve learned here, and something i can bare testmony about, is something one of our investigators(who we baptized) said. "O que faz um campeão, é nunca parar de tentar". You can have Mike translate that. Hopefully it makes sense. But here in Portimão, we´re champs!
As for the language, i´m still learning and making mistakes but where´s the fun in speaking perfectly? I´m not too worried about the language anymore, just about keeping up with President Torgan´s and the Lord´s expectations.
I´ve attached some photos that i copied from Elder Thomas´s camera from the baptism and also some other pictures i thought you guys might enjoy.
Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers. Eu amo vocês!
com amor,
Élder Haws
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Worth the Wait
Hey Family,
First of all, let me apologize for not writing yesterday but let me just say that it wasn´t my fault. President called the ZLs last week and said that he wanted to move our interviews to yesterday instead of this weekend. Hopefully there was no cussing, swearing, or smashing of computer screens yesterday.
This week was one of the greatest weeks of my mission. As i said last week, we had 4 people marked for baptism so you can imagine i was a little stressed. Two were marked for Sunday but one wasn´t looking to me like it was going to happen. Luis was fine with everything and was ready for baptism from the day we met him so we weren´t too worried about him. Silvia on the other hand had me worried. She´s had a doubt about there being a prophet in our day, and when we marked her, we promised her that she would recieve an answer before her baptism. Elder Thomas was sure she would, but i, being me, worried too much. I was worried she wouldn´t pass her interview to be baptized because one of the questions refers whether the person believes we have a prophet today. And, she also had to work the day we marked her for baptism. But, by some miracle, when we talked to her the day before her interview to go over the questions we discovered that she had already recieved an answer to her doubt and felt ready for baptism and early in the week she had called us to tell us she got work off to come to General Conference and be baptized! She said that something one of the members had said helped her alot. The member said that God will always call prophets because he is "the same yesterday, today, and forever". And that just happened to be the first phrase that she learned to read while growing up in Brazil. Then after we reviewed the rest of the questions with her we asked who she wanted to speak at her baptism and who she wanted to baptize her. We thought that the member who helped teach her the most and actually became like her brother would baptize her, but she chose him to speak at the baptism. Then she said she wanted one of the Elders to baptize her because we were the ones who taught her and never gave up on her. She didn´t decided between the two of us so Elder Thomas volunteered me to do it. And so on Sunday i had my first baptism, and it went great, without any problems. I cant believe that everything worked out just right. It really was a miracle and another testimony to me that God really hears and answers prayers! I had taught her for almost 4 months and i got to the point where i thought i would never see her baptism, but i have to say, it was worth the wait!
We also have two more people marked for baptism this week too. One is quiting smoking and the other still isnt sure about baptism so please keep praying for us. We just need a few more miralces.
We also had interviews yesterday, where i thought i might find out if i´m leaving Potimão or not. Unfortunatly, the only answer i got was a very vague group of sentences that didnt tell me anything. Other Elders in the mission got a "either or" answer but all i got was "i dont know" and "someday". I was a little bummed but getting my B-day package cheered me up. I already opened it to get to the syrup, but i also opened my watch because i felt that that was important. I also started playing the CDs in our house but other than that, i didnt open anything else(except Jenny´s pictures, I cracked...). Tell everyone thanks for all the stuff and that i should be good on stuff for the rest of my mission!
General Conference was awesome! The inly thing i didn´t like was that it passed too quickly! I got to watch almost everything in english except for the Saturday afternoon session and i also missed the first part of the last session on Sunday but it was still great!
Well, i think thats about it for this week. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers! You´re always in ours! Eu amo vocês!
Com Amor,
Élder Haws
First of all, let me apologize for not writing yesterday but let me just say that it wasn´t my fault. President called the ZLs last week and said that he wanted to move our interviews to yesterday instead of this weekend. Hopefully there was no cussing, swearing, or smashing of computer screens yesterday.
This week was one of the greatest weeks of my mission. As i said last week, we had 4 people marked for baptism so you can imagine i was a little stressed. Two were marked for Sunday but one wasn´t looking to me like it was going to happen. Luis was fine with everything and was ready for baptism from the day we met him so we weren´t too worried about him. Silvia on the other hand had me worried. She´s had a doubt about there being a prophet in our day, and when we marked her, we promised her that she would recieve an answer before her baptism. Elder Thomas was sure she would, but i, being me, worried too much. I was worried she wouldn´t pass her interview to be baptized because one of the questions refers whether the person believes we have a prophet today. And, she also had to work the day we marked her for baptism. But, by some miracle, when we talked to her the day before her interview to go over the questions we discovered that she had already recieved an answer to her doubt and felt ready for baptism and early in the week she had called us to tell us she got work off to come to General Conference and be baptized! She said that something one of the members had said helped her alot. The member said that God will always call prophets because he is "the same yesterday, today, and forever". And that just happened to be the first phrase that she learned to read while growing up in Brazil. Then after we reviewed the rest of the questions with her we asked who she wanted to speak at her baptism and who she wanted to baptize her. We thought that the member who helped teach her the most and actually became like her brother would baptize her, but she chose him to speak at the baptism. Then she said she wanted one of the Elders to baptize her because we were the ones who taught her and never gave up on her. She didn´t decided between the two of us so Elder Thomas volunteered me to do it. And so on Sunday i had my first baptism, and it went great, without any problems. I cant believe that everything worked out just right. It really was a miracle and another testimony to me that God really hears and answers prayers! I had taught her for almost 4 months and i got to the point where i thought i would never see her baptism, but i have to say, it was worth the wait!
We also have two more people marked for baptism this week too. One is quiting smoking and the other still isnt sure about baptism so please keep praying for us. We just need a few more miralces.
We also had interviews yesterday, where i thought i might find out if i´m leaving Potimão or not. Unfortunatly, the only answer i got was a very vague group of sentences that didnt tell me anything. Other Elders in the mission got a "either or" answer but all i got was "i dont know" and "someday". I was a little bummed but getting my B-day package cheered me up. I already opened it to get to the syrup, but i also opened my watch because i felt that that was important. I also started playing the CDs in our house but other than that, i didnt open anything else(except Jenny´s pictures, I cracked...). Tell everyone thanks for all the stuff and that i should be good on stuff for the rest of my mission!
General Conference was awesome! The inly thing i didn´t like was that it passed too quickly! I got to watch almost everything in english except for the Saturday afternoon session and i also missed the first part of the last session on Sunday but it was still great!
Well, i think thats about it for this week. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers! You´re always in ours! Eu amo vocês!
Com Amor,
Élder Haws
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