Baptism? What?

Hey Family,

We just came off one of the most successful weeks we´ve had here in Évora, even though we spent a lot more time than we wanted in the house. Not only did Elder Fillerup´s feet and hands blow up in blisters, but i also got sick again and was out for a day. But with all that, we taught more lessons than we´ve ever taught and even marker someone for baptism for this Sunday so we cant complain.

So i guess the most important thing that happened this week was marking our investigator, José, for baptism. We only get to talk to him once a week on Sunday´s after church so because of that, we´ve only taught him a few times. But a few weeks ago we made a goal of baptizing him on the 17th of April. We made that goal after we found out that he loved the scriptures that talked about baptism that we left with him from the Book of Mormon. But we had planned on marking him last week, but we went to Lisbon and couldnt, which meant that we were going to have to teach him all the commandments(because we hadnt taught him about them yet) and mark him for the next weekend. Normally i hate doing that because poeple dont normally go along with it when i bring it up, plus its kind of an "ify" process. But when we talked to him last night, the spirit was there and he accepted our invite. We then had to teach him all of the commandments because we can only talk to him for a short period on Saturday before the baptism on Sunday. He seemed to accept everything pretty well, accept for tithing but when the Zone Leaders come and interview him, they´ll help us out. He also has to stop smoking so this week is going to be a battle to get him in the water. But we feel pretty good about it so we´ll see how it goes. But we´re going to need your guys´prayers too because some members here are kind of agianst "Growth" right now because so many members have been driven away. But i´m praying that all goes well, so please pray too!

But in equally great news, the other Dupla in our district marked one of their investigators for baptism yesterday too, and for the same day. So i have to go over there tomorrow and interview their investigator because i´m the only District leader in Alentejo that i know of. Its really funny that our two areas are going to baptize on the same weekend because our two areas are known for being two of the worst areas for baptisms in the mission. And to add to that, Fubecas have been serving in these areas for over 6 months so its a real blessing that the Lord is letting us baptize here.

And i know by now mom is dying to know about my sickness, so i better explain that before she gibbs smacks me all the way from Idaho. So recently i´ve been having problems with my allergies, but i didnt think much of it because thats normal for me. And i when i got sick the other week i just thought it was a bout time i caught something because i had only gotten sick once on my misison. But this week i got sick again, so decided to figure out what it was. I didnt want to got to the Hospital because it wasnt that bad, plus Protuguese doctors scare me. so i found this book in our house that talks about common illnesses, their symtoms, and treatments. After some searching, i figured i had the flu or a cold, but then realized i had almost all the symptoms of Hay Fever, which is caused by what else...Alerigies. That was on Thursday, so we spent the rest of the week taking it a bit easier. Elder Fillerup´s feet were really bad too and he also had blisters on his hands from the crutches that he´s been using to walk so we were a bit limited in the health department. But somehow(i´m not sure how) we taught more lessons in this area than we ever have.

In terms of weather, its hot and will only get hotter. It was in the 80s yesterday and they say this summer its going to get up to 113. But hopefully, i´ll freezing my butt off in Idaho when that gets here.

And just to tease MIkey "a little" more. Tell him to read 1 Nephi 3:7. I´m sure he read a billion times with his investigators on his mission. Also tell him not to kill me when i get home. I´m kidding!

Tell Jenny her kids look great, but completly different than how they looked two years ago. And i dont buy all this stuff about Milo being "sweet". He still looks like he´d got some "terror" left in him.

Well, i think thats it for news for this week. We´re going to need your guys´s prayers this week so dont forget about us! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws