Surprise!

Hey Family,

Thanks for all the updates on everybody this week. Its nice to know that everybody is doing fine. We´re doing alright here but we just came off a pretty tough week.All in all, things were pretty normal this week. We went about working like we normally do but this week President Torgan gave the mission a few challenges that took a tole on us.

It all started on Tuesday night when we got a phone call from the zone leaders telling us that President Torgan had prayed and felt that he should challenge every area in the mission to find 20 new investigators this week. That wasn´t all that unexpected because we get challenges like that all the time from PT(President Torgan). But later in the week he prayed again and felt that every area in the mission had someone they could baptize before the end of the week. So he then challenged everyone to not only find 20 investigators but also to baptize before Sunday night. The first invite i readily accepted, even though our average new investigator count per week is 2. But i felt that having a bigger vision would push us and help us to improve. The second invite was a bit harder to accept because we have no one that is progressing quickly, if at all, towards baptism. But we accepted the challenge and prayed to see who the Lord wanted us to baptize. Unfortunately, no one came to mind that met all the requirements for baptism so we did our best to work hard and hope the Lord would show us who he wanted us to baptize this week. But, when Sunday came around, nobody had been baptized and we had found 0 new investigators. I took it pretty well at first but after i talked to our District leader i got to feeling pretty down. But i´ve decided i cant focus on it too much. I just have to get back to work and do better this week.

But in happier news we have two investigators that "showed signs of life" this week. One is a teenage kid that said he felt good when he read in the Book of Mormon for the first time and the other is an evangelical guy who got really interested in what we had to say when we started talking about life after death. We didnt have a lot of time to talk to either of them because they were both kind of busy but this week will be able to check up on them a little better. We also didnt get a chance to talk to Ofélia this week but we should hopefully be able to talk to her this week.

I also got a surprise visit yesterday at church from some people i knew. Mario, the guy i almost baptized in Setúbal but got baptized right after i left, showed up at our chapel yesterday because he found out i was serving near by. He and his wife Sandra showed up out of now where because they wanted to surprise me. I couldnt believe it when i saw them there in the chapel but it was great seeing them. They told me they missed me and that they haven´t quite enjoyed the other Elders like they enjoyed me and Elder Dalton. They also made sure to tell the Branch President that i was a great Elder and told them how i helped Mario get baptized. I felt a little embarrassed but i felt good that i had made a difference in somebody´s life. They also gave us a box full of cakes and gave us a ride home from church, which gave us time to talk. They´re doing really well, and Elder Thredgold told me later that he was surprised they are new members because they seemed like they were already really strong. Mario is the Young Mens president and has been helping the Elders. Since i´ve been gone they´ve baptized a bunch of youth so i guess he´s been helping out a bit. But it was strange because when they dropped us off after church i felt great but later i started feeling pretty down because i was home sick for Setúbal and because our week didnt go very well. But seeing and talking to that family really made me feel great. Recently i had been doubting my success and worth as a missionary, but it seems that Heavenly Father knew exactly what to do answer my doubts. Its actually kind of funny because he did the same thing when was doubting myself in Tavira. During that time we had a district conference and i got to see the members i baptized there too. So i guess it seems Heaven Father had been looking out for me all along!

So i see Mike is wearing glasses again. Is that an attempt and being fashionable to get more girls or did just get bored with contacts?

Well, today is Valetine´s day, which means my comp might get depressed.They have decorations and advertisements up of couples so it might make him homesick for his girlfriend. I pray it doenst. So this could be a long day and a long week but i´ll survive.

Well, i think thats it for news this week. Thanks for all the prayers and love. Dont stop praying for us! Eu amo vocês!

Com Amor,

Élder Haws