Hey Family,
Thanks for all the emails and info you sent. I´m not sure if i was supposed to get an email from Jenny this week because i didnt get one. Tell her i´ll pray this week that her email gets through because i really miss getting pictures of the nephews! But anyway, on to business...
This may have been one of the worst weeks i´ve had on my mission statistically, because our numbers were awful. But it made me feel better that we had two great excuses as to why we sucked so bad this week. The first reason is interviews. We got a call for the zone Leaders last Monday night saying that we were going to have interviews on Thursday, which meant that we would be in Setúbal all day. The second reason our numbers were bad was because we got a call on Friday from the other elders in our district saying that they needed us to bring the projector from our chapel to theirs. They were having a big activity with a bunch of investigators and members but had trouble getting a hold of a projector so they could show the movie they wanted. So we had to someone of the branch presidency to give us permission to take it to the other elders. They gave us permission but only on the condition that we had to bring it right back. So we had to stay for the entire activity and ended up getting home at 10:30. But according to President Torgan, "There are no pretty excuses, only repentance". So this week i´m determined to improve our numbers, but also the amount of time we dedicate to the work. Hopefully things turn out better.
But the work we DID do this week had good results. We only taught a few lessons but we got a chance to talk to that family and had a great lesson. We had planned on teaching the third lesson, about the gospel of Jesus Christ, which includes baptism. I had known we were going to have to teach this lesson since last week and i knew we had to invite them in some way to be baptized. I was really worried about how we were going to do it, but then i remembered something that a lot of Elders have used and also that is taught in Preach My Gospel. Its something i call "The Soft Invite" or in Portuguese, "O Convite Fofo" (that actually doesnt make much sense in Portuguese). It were we invite the investigators to be baptized when they receive a testimony of what we have taught. Its nothing new to missionary work, but i just barely discovered it and thought it would be good to use on this family. So going into that lesson i was extremely nervous, even to the point to where i prayed about half a dosent times asking for help and comfort. And not surprisingly, all those prayers were answered. When we went into the lesson i made sure to reexplain the Great Apostasy and the need for the restoration of the priesthood, because that always seems to be everyone´s doubt about our message. So after explaining that, i explained about Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. They accepted everything we said so at the end i left the invite with them to be baptized when they know these things are true. They all paused for a second...then said yes! I dont think i´ve ever felt so much relief from anxiety in my life than i did in that moment. And i know its not a sure thing, but at least now they know why we´re here. So now i´m praying everything works out with this family.
The day after that lesson, we had interviews with President Torgan. I didnt think my interview was going to be anything special, but this time it was. When he sat me down he started talking about how i was ending my mission and how he remembered me when i was a new missionary. I almost wanted to stop him because he was reminding me of how trunkey i COULD be, but i let him go. He then told me that i need to trust more in the Lord. But he didnt spend much time on what i needed to work on because he had some other things he wanted me to know. He said that he knows i´m a good missionary and that i deserve to see alot of baptisms and miracles from here until the end of my mission. He also explained to me that i´m serving where i am because i need to prepare my companion to be a leader. President Torgan said he needs to learn how to be a missionary and be a leader so the Lord put me with him so i could help him out. During the interview he almost started crying when he talked about my mission. He told me he really wanted me to finish my mission strong, with alot of baptisms and i think that one of the reasons he got all teary eyed is because he wants that to happen so bad. It was a great interview and it left me feeling great, but it was hard to keep those good feelings up after a tough week.
If i understand correctly, Mom is going to so some kind of rap this week. My only request is that a recording is made so that i can see it when i get home.
Well, I think thats it for news. Thanks for all the love and prayers! Eu amo vocês!
Com Amor,
Élder Haws
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