Raindrops and Heartbreaks

Hey Family,

This week was really tough on us here in Tavira but we made it through alright. Things didnt go like we hoped they would but we survived so i cant complain.

This week we were really focusing on that lady, Abela, that we marked for baptism. We went there Wednesday night to teach her the rest of the commandments and to make sure everything was still good for the baptism, but it didnt go as well as we planned. We when we taught the commandments she had a few doubts about them, but luckily her brother(who is a member) brought his wife and the ward mission leader from his branch to help out so we were able to explain everything really well. Then, after that, we felt she understood and was willing to keep those commandments so we felt we should remind her about her baptismal date. Thats when things went really bad. She told us that she wasnt ready and that she was too scared to get baptized and that she wasn´t prepared to be baptized this week. We then tried to explain to her that we had prayed and that we felt really strongly that this week was her baptism but she still wouldn´t accept it. This was all really confusing and frustrating because we didnt think her fear of water was that big of a deal. We were wrong. She told us that she is so afraid of water that she has a hard time leaving the house when it rains! And when we started talking about baptism with her, the more we talked, the more she starting freaking out. And it even got to the point where she was about to hyperventilate and pass out so we had to end the lesson. Afterward, we felt really down and we didnt know what we should do even after calling the zone leaders. So on Saturday we called president Torgan and he basically told us to pray about what we should do and then give her a blessing of comfort. So later that day we called her up and asked if we could talk to her at church the next day about some things. We wanted to take that opportunity to give her the blessing because we felt that she really needed to be baptized yesterday. But unfortunately, she didnt come to church yesterday and hasn´t answered her phone so we dont know what really happened. We talked to someone in her family and they said that she went a funeral instead so thats why she didnt come. So yesterday me and Elder Torgersen were feeling kind of bumbed out but we´re feeling a little better. We not really worried that this lady will never get baptized, but i´m worried about how we´re going to help her now. We´ve done almost everything we can but we´ll keep praying to see what else we can do.

In other news, this week is transfer week so that means i know whats happening with me and my companion, Elder Torgersen. I'm staying another transfer here in Tavira but i´m going to be serving with an Elder who was trained by an Elder from my MTC district. His name´s Elder Christianson and he´ll be in his second transfer which means i´m greenie breaking again. I dont know how i feel about it right now because i´m really nervous about whats going to happen next transfer. It was nice serving with an older companion here because the work is tough and it can be really frustrating but now i´m going to have to shoulder most of it by myself. I´m sure it´ll end up being ok and i´ll learn alot but i´m a little worried because i have no idea what to do with this area. But i´ll keep praying and i know the Lord will bless us and help us out.

This week is also General Conference week, which would be great if i was somewhere i could watch it. The Elders in Tavira dont get permission to leave our area and go to another chapel to see the transmission so that means i probably wont see much of conference this weekend. I get to see it or read it sooner or later so i cant complain but thats just one more thing that makes this area frustrating.

In happier news, today we played basketball with the other Elders form our district and it was pretty fun. I played pretty well and had a lot of fun without getting mad or over competitive so i think it went pretty well.

Today i also pulled out some money but i just found out that i still had some money on my mission money account so sorry. I´ll be sure to check next time before i take out more personal money.

Well, i think thats it for news this week. I´m a little nervous abou the future but i know things wil turn out for the best so keep praying for me! Eu amo vôces!

Com amor,

Élder Haws