One More Miracle

Hey, Family,

I dont have a whole lot of time but i figured i´d send you guys a quick email to update you on how things are going here.

Yesterday we went to church so i had the oppurtunity to meet alot of the members of the branch here. I was actually really empressed with the members from what i saw yesterday. I say that because i had talked to an elder that served here and he wasn´t too impressed with the branch so i kind of had low expectations. But it turns out that the branch is alot better than i expected. I could really feel the difference between here and Tavira. DOnt get me wrong, i love and miss Tavira, but the spirit was felt strongly yesterday throughout the meetings, something that wasn´t always common in the small branchof Tavira. But going to church yesterday gave me some added hope for this area because now i know that when i bring investigators to church, we´ll have alot of addition help in making sure they feel welcome. I was also asked to bare my testimony in church yesterday so that i could intorduce myself to the branch. I took the liberty to make a few jokes about how the chapel looked like it was really full because i was used to seeing 12 people at church every week. Everybody laughed a little and seemed to enjoy the meetings yesterday, and afterward, we had a lot of the members setting up meals for us in the up coming weeks. Elder Threadgold told me that its not normal for the members to feed us that often, but it seemed like everybody wanted to feed us yesterday. Elder Threadgold suggested jokingly that they must really like me but for whatever reason it is, i´m just happy we have the members on our side.

Yesterday we also had a really good experience in using the area book. We had planned on staying and working in Moita(city where the church is) because it costs quite a bit to get there from our house and i still dont have a bus pass. So when we went to church we took our area book and a list of inactive members to pass by so that we could have something to do while we were there all day. So after church we sat down and picked some investigators to go by and in turned out the the first door we knocked turned into a lesson and a new investigator. We had planned on just setting up an appointment to come back but the man quickly invited us in so we were able to teach a lesson. Then after the quick, impromptu lesson, he told us we could come back anytime. It was a small but really important miracle we had yesterday because it gave me and Elder Threadgold some hope that better things are going to come in the future. I´m also really excited to keep working with the area book because its filled with people just like this.

Well, today we have to go do some shopping so we can survive the rest of the week. We´re a really low on money so i might have to pull out money to make it through the week. Sorry but i´ll try my best to go without taking out money.

Other than that, theres not much to tell. Sorry for the short email but these past few days have been pretty boring. It was great talking to you guys on Saturday so thanks for the phone call! Keep praying for us! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

Leaving It Better Than You found It - Dec. 20, 2010

Hey Family,

I cant believe its Christmas time again. I´m starting to feel like an old timer in in the mission because this will be the second to last phone call i will make before going home. I even had some random lady last night tell me i was pretty much ending my mission already. She was just some lady who has been contacted by the Elders alot so she knows a little about what we do, so she was curious to know how much time i had left. When she found out i had 6 months left she responded with, "well you´re pretty much done aren´t you." Little did she know 6 months is plenty of time to work. But enough with trunkey talk. Lets move on to more important things.

First of all, transfers. Last night after we did our planning i was in the shower when we got our phone call from the mission office. That was strange for a few reasons: 1) I never get called by anyone about transfers let alone by the office Elders. 2) we normally dont get calls till Monday afternoon 3) The office Elders insisted on talking to me, which meant that Elder Christiansen(who was overly excited in handing me the phone) busted in on me while i was naked in the shower i tried to hand me the phone. (go ahead Mindy, have fun with that one on your blog!) But any ways, i found out that i´m being transferred to Vasco do Gama, an Area just on the other side of the river from Lisbon. I dont think there is a city called Vasco do Gama, so if you look it up on line you´ll just get a bunch of pictures of the bridge the area was named after. Its a pretty big area but from what i´ve heard from an Elder in my district(who just served there a few months ago) its like Tavira, but with more members. I´m pretty excited to see what its like but i wont get work there until Wednsday, because we´re having a special Christmas Zone Conference in Lisbon tomorrow. Hopefully i´ll be able to have as much success there as i did here in Tavira, but only time will tell.

And i know by now that Mom is dying for the details on the phone call and i glad to report that i can give you guys that information right now. I knew you guys might worry so i got the phone number and times set up right away so nobody would worry(well, not too much anyway)

So the number is 918 101 318

I talked to my new companion, Elder Threadgold, about when he was going to have his parents call, but he said he´s having his parents call the phone in the chapel there so it doesnt matter when you guys call. Though he´s planning on having his parents call at 11:00 a.m. your time so i think it would be best if you called at 12:00 a.m. just to be safe. But if that doesnt work you guys can call whenever.

But on terms of missionary work, things were good and bad this week. When the week started, it didnt seem like it was going to be a great week, but it ended really well. The days just seemed to crawl by because we didnt teach all that many lessons. But we went by alot of people that we had talked to and dropped alot of people so in that aspect it was really good. But part way through the week we got a call from the Zone Leaders telling us that we needed to focus on baptizing someone before the end of the year because President Torgan wants every dupla to baptize before December was over. The then informed me that my district needed to baptize because our two companionships were 2 of only five that hadn´t baptized this month already in this zone. So after that i felt pretty low, but then i found out that the other elders in my district got the same phone call form the Zone Leaders, plus a phone call from President Torgan giving them faca for having low numbers. So after all of that i felt pretty bad because my district was struggling, but we had an experience yesterday that really cheered us up.

So i told you guys last week about Nela, the Lady we found by using the area book. Well, we can only teach her once a week on Sundays, so we had a lesson with her yesterday that turned out to be one of the highlights of my time here in Tavira. We had talked to her last week and had committed her to coming to church, but we found out on Saturday that she wouldd´t be able to make it. But we were still able to go by and talk to her in the afternoon so we weren´t too worried. But when we went there we had the goal of marking her for baptism, something i dont like doing with an investigator before they go to church. But we went there any way and taught her about eternal families and the plan of Salvation and at the end of the lesson invited her to be baptized. I expected her to use some sort of excuse to get out of it like most people do, or i thought maybe her husband who was sleeping in the same room where we were teaching her would rose a complaint. But what i didnt expect was what happened next. With out any hesitation, an doubt, she asked the invite and even prayed with us to confirm the date. I´ve never marked anyone for baptism so easily on my mission as i marked her. It was a powerful witness to me that the Lord had led us to her and that she had been prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel long before we ever knocked on her door. I cant imagine a better way of leaving an area than this. Its a great feeling leaving a baptism for the next Elder to have because thats the feeling of leaving an area better than when you found it.

We also had a few people call us this week out of nowhere telling us that they wanted to come to church this Sunday but wanted to know where and when it was. Unfortunately neither came because one works on Sunday mornings and the other was out of town but we got the contact information for both of them so the Elders will be able to "Tract" them down.

Well, here in a little bit i´ll be heading up to Lisbon so i better get going. Thanks for all the love and prayers! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

P.S. Sorry for getting you in trouble Jenny.

P.S.S. Next time you send pictures of cute Cheerleaders, please send their addresses as well ;)

Snakes, Snails, and Area Books

Hey Family,

I really enjoyed the emails this week, especially the parts where BYU and Detroit won, but dont think i didnt enjoy the other stuff too. But unfortunatly this week was really slow, but fortunately we have this week to make up for it so i guess its ok.

To be completely honest, nothing special really happened this week. We worked really hard but we just havent seen the fruits of that labor yet i guess. We´ve been working with a few new people recently that have shown some potential, but have yet to do much of anything but we´re going to see if we can change that this week. One of the people we are focusing on is an old investigator that we found in our area book that had been taught by the Elders a long time ago, but had never gotten baptized. She had been taught alot by the missionaries but for some reason the Elders had stopped going by her so we decided to pay her a visit. When we passed by she seemed really happy to see and she said that she was really curious as to why the Elders never came back to her house. She really likes talking to us and is always happy to see us(something we´re not used to) which makes me wonder why she never got baptized. Her teaching Record says she was dropped a few times but the most recent excuse for dropping her is illegible so we dont not what it was. But we´ve talked to her a few times already but she still hasn´t come to church so we´re going to try to push her a little bit more this week. The plan is to invite her to be baptized because she says she believes everything the Elders have taught her, but we still dont know how that will go so pray for us.

Then the other person we´ve been working with is an African woman that we found by using the Area book again. We had found the previous woman, Elsa, by using the Area book so we figured we´d keep giving that a try. So we went back to the list of people the Elders had already taught and gotten to go to church and we found a person who had already gone to church more than 5 times and was almost baptized. We decided to pass by that reference a little bit later but we found to our dismay that the person no longer lived there. So, not knowing what else to do, i contacted the person who answered the door to see if maybe they had interest in talking to us. Luckily, Nela(the woman´s name), accepted our invite to hear our message and marked an appointment for the next day. She is a very quiet and humble woman from Cabo Verde who has proven to be another "Little Miracle" for us here in Tavira. We´ve only talked to her twice but every time we have taught her the room is always filled with the spirit. So far she has willing excepted everything but still hasn´t come to church, but then again we didnt just find her last Sunday so i guess i cant complain. We can only teach her once a week(on Sunday) so getting her to church with so little contact will be a challenge. But we have very high hopes for her as well so maybe we´ll mark her for baptism this week too. So keep your fingers crossed.

In other news, not much has happened. We had a guy from England in church this week which was a nice surprise. There are two Enlgish people that come to church when they´re here, an older man named Derek Smith, and a younger guy named Richmond. This week Richmond came to church, which was a nice change for us because we got to speak English with someone who's not a missionary. He really has no connections with Portugal that we know of so we´re not really sure why he comes. He used to be dating the girl in the ward that all the missionaries call, "The Snake of Tavira", but she moved to America a few weeks ago after they broke up so i dont know why he came. We actually moved the girls information last week to somewhere in Oklahoma (sp?) but surprisingly, she showed up at church this week too asking to have us recall her records to this branch again. So this week was a little hectic at church, because i also had to give an impromptu talk, but it worked out ok.

I also got and opened my package this week and it was great. I also sent some packages of my own home. Well, there more like envelopes but the mail system here in Portugal is weird so thats the best i could do for the price. The one that says "Não Abrem até Natal" is for Mom and Dad for Christmas, and the other one is to opened at any time because it has my old camera card and a USB drive with more pictures on it too. It also has an additional present for mom too, or for anyone else who wants it.

Thats pretty weird that Elder Davis called you guys. He was pretty much my trainer because i served with him and Elder Wilson at the same time in Cascais. So i guess you could say they both trained me. He still keeps in touch with everyone there so i guess they must have told him i was there. But i´ve been able to keep in contact with him by email so i hear from him once in a while. I dont know how he got your number but dont annoy him to much.

Well, i think thats about it for news. Next week should have transfer news for you guys and Christmas call information. But right now i better get back to work. Thanks for everything! Eu amo vocês!

Com Amor

Élder Haws

P.S. Tell Jenny to be careful when sending pictures of cute cheerleaders, its way trunkey!

The Trunkiest Week Ever

Hey Family,

I´m pretty worn out after a long week of travel and of being in Lisbon. But today´s P-day so i´ve had the chance to recuperate after visa week.

The week went pretty well, even though i spent most of it our of my area. I went up to Lisbon Monday night and stayed in the office Elder´s apartment for two nights. It was pretty fun being in a house with 6 elders (4 office Elders, Elder McLean, and me) but it wasnt fun in the fact that i had to sleep on a cold, hard matress without a pillow or blankets for one of those nights. But the Leadership meeting went well on Tuesday but i was a little disapointed to find out that i had to do a division with the Assistants afterward. The division went well but i just felt like i was being judged the whole time, but i feel that way on every division so i guess thats nothing new.

But the next day was better because i got to spend the day as "The Assistant to the Finacial Secrataries", or at least thats what i called myself. The office hadn´t planned on where me and Elder McLean would be going so they just decided to put Elder McLean with the Assistants and i got put with the Finacials. I was actually pretty excited to work with the Secrataries because they were both in my MTC group. But i guess i shouldn´t say we worked, at at least did missionary work, because secrataries have to spend more timie dealing with other peoples problems instead. So we ended up going to a Zone meeting that day, then we had to go to Mafra, and area north of Lisbon to do a Baptismal interview for some other Elders. That ended up taking most of the day so afterward we only really had time to go to a member meal and then one lesson after that. But we had a lot of fun that day because we spent most of our time with other elders. Then, on Thursday, we started doing our Visas, which we all thought would take a long time but only ened up talking an hour. So afterward, i had planned on staying with Elder Nixon and Elder Rich(Finacial Secs) again but i got an offer from Elder Torgersen to stay with him in Cascais, my first area. So obiviously, i chose Cascais.

We ended up getting there around the time they were suppose to meet a member to do a division so we ended up spliting up for the day. The member turned out to be a Joven that i used to work with all the time in Cascais so he was pretty excited and surprised to see me. But soon after getting there we seperated and i took Elder Thaut, an Elder who was staying in Cascais for the same reasons as me(visas), and we went out to try and knock doors. But soon after leaving the house i decided to call an old member that i used to teach (I also baptized his sister) to see if he had time to talk. At first he didnt remember me, but after a few seconds he realized who was talking to him and told us to come over. So we got to his house and started talking to him and it was great. He was impressed with how well i spoke because the last time i was there i didnt speak very well at all. But during the visit i found out that this member was planning on getting his Patriatical blessing and going on a mission, when just a year ago we were just getting him to come back to church. It was amazing to see the changes he has made in his life and to see how church oruiented he has made his life. its almost like he´s a completly different person. It was also great to finally be able to comunicate with him too because when i was in Casais a year ago i didnt speak too well. But a sad thinhg that i learned form the visit was that his sister who i baptized is in active right now. I was kind of bumbed about that but the Elders and her brother will work with her and get her back some day so i´m not too worried. I also saw the first alsy i baptized there too. We were just walking on the street and we saw her and talked to her. She seemed really happy to see me and said that i had grown but i´m not sure she remembered who i was. And then later that night i got to see another Joven that i used to work with alot too. He also is inactive so i gave him some faca for not going to church so hopefully that changes soon. It was great going back to Cascais and remembering all the stories and memories that i made there but it was also really starnge going back and working in my old area.

Then, on Friday we finished up our visas and we all went to Chilie´s in Lisbon. We had a ton of fun telling stories and laughing but i´m sure the people who work there hate the Elders by now. Then, after having our fun, me and Elder McLean hopped on a bus back to the Algarve. So after a long week of travel , with no problems might i add :), i´m back here in Tavira. It was really strange being away from "home" for so long but its nioce to be back. Its also taken me some time to get back into doing missionary work and getting my focus back but now i´m doing all right. But this week was probably the most "trunkey" week of my mission.

But in terms of only having 3 days of work in Tavira we did pretty well. We founf 3 new investigators and taught a few lessons so things are still going well. While i was gone Elder Christiansen stayed with some elders from the Zone and was able to work a little bit here in Tavira so that helped a little.

In other news, i´ll try to send some stuff home with my camera card so be looking for that.

Well, i better get going. Thanks for all the love and prayers! Keep praying for us! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

Tis´ the Season for Little Wonders

Hey Family,

We made it through Thanksgiving week here in Tavira and are about to go into another week full of excitement and travel. So things should be pretty interesting this week.

Last week seemed to go by really fast but wans´t all that eventful. We spent most of our time trying to find people to teach, but couldn´t find anyone over the first couple of days. Then, on Tuesday, we were sitting on a bench near our branch president´s house praying about what we should do and where we should go to find someone to teach when we had another "Little Wonder" happen. We had initially stopped to pray quickly about what we should do next but we ended up sitting there thinking and praying for about half an hour. Then, we got up and started heading down the street without any location in mind when we ran into our branch President on his way home. He seemed a little different than usual, but i didnt think much of it at first because he´s kind of a weird guy, but then he started talking about an inactive member that he had just gotten off the phone with. He told that this member had been baptized a long time ago in Lagos (other side of the Algarve) and had then moved to a city thats just across the border in Spain. He had always kept the books and manuals he had gotten form the church and would read them form time to time, but had recently decided he wanted to return to church. He also said that his girlfriend, who he is currently living with and will soon marry, was willing to take the missionary lessons from us. Our Branch President was really excited about this couple but for some reason, me and Elder Christiansen didnt make too big of a deal out of it and just went on our way. We were excited that someone wanted to come back to church but we weren´t 10 percent sure that it was going to happen. But then the next day, we found ourselves talking to our branch President again and he asked us to come to the chapel early the next morning so that we could teach this part member family. I was a little bit worried about how the lesson would go but it actually went reallly well. They´re both great and it looks like we might be able to baptize the girlfriend in a couple of weeks when they get married. She seems really open and willing to learn but i think its going to be a question whether she has a desire to know if the church is true or not. I just hope shes not doing this to make her boyfriend happy. But i´m sure everything will work out in the end. They didnt come to church this week but our branch president talked to them and he said he knows why they didnt come. He didnt tell us the reason but we´ll find out this Thursday when we talk to them again.

In other work news, we found 4 more new investigators this week which is pretty good for Tavira. Each time we find a new investigator its like find another "Little Wonder" in our Area.

Also, last week i found out that i´ll be spending all this week in Lisbon for meetings and to renew my visa. I had known for a few weeks that i would be going up but it wasnt confirmed that i´d be staying all week until last week. I have to go up to Lisbon today because tomorrow we have a leadership meeting and then on Friday i will renew my visa with all the Elders from my MTC group. Its kind of strange that i have to spend all week out of my area just because of two days that are so far apart but when bus tickets to Lisbon cost €20 its better to spend some extra time there than burn through all my money.

And speaking of money i pulled out some personal money this week because we ran out of mission money. We had to buy some stuff and i also had to make sure i had enough money to get me to Lisbon. We should get more mission money on Wednesday or Thursday but that may mean i might have to pull out 20 more euros before then. Sorry, but this should be that last withdrawal i make for a while.

This week i also might get my package that you guys sent me so if theres anything that you wanted me to open before Christmas let me know.

Thats a bummer about the BYU-Utah game because i know i´m going to hear about it for the other Elders at the Leadership conference tomorrow, but it´ll be a nice humbling experience for me.

Also, tell Jenny "thanks" for the pictures. I thought the one with Milo and the chicken was pretty funny.

Well, I think that it for news this week. Thanks for all the emails, prayers, and love. Keep praying for us! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

Familiar Faces

Hey Family,

We just made it through a tough week jam packed with interviews, conferences, and flaky investigators but we survived so we have got nothing to complain about.

Going into this week me and Elder Christiansen had "Great Expectations" for the things we could accomplish in our area, but unfortunately we didnt see alot of those expectations filled. We started out the week trying to get a hold of one of our new investigators that we found last week that seemed like a golden investigator. We passed by a few times but never were able to catch her at home so we ended up leaving a bunch of notes on her door saying we would come by later. We expected to run into her eventually but instead, she sent us a text message saying she would be home for a while but that we could come by after the 22nd. We were pretty surprised, to say the least, when we got her message because our members and actual investigators rarely call our send messages let alone someone we just met. But I wont complain. I´m actually pretty excited to talk to her this week because the first time we taught her she had all the right questions. We had found her knocking doors, and had told us to come back the next day because she didnt have time then. We had done what we call "the prayer contact" that president Torgan used on his mission in Brazil where we offer to say a prayer to bless the persons home instead on going right into a contact. So far on my mission, this contact has help me find the majority of my investigators. But anyway, Ana Bela (investigator) didnt end up being home the next day so we left her a note and came back the day after that. Luckily, we caught her at home and she let us in to say the prayer with her. As she let us in she made sure to explain that she never lets strangers into her house but for us she was making an exception. We then said a prayer with her and blessed her house and then began talking with her to get to know her a little more. But before we had much time to talk to her she started asking a lot of questions about us and the church. The questions she asked were almost strange because they were all questions that could be answered by the message of the Restoration. She first asked about the Book of Mormon, then asked why there are so many churches while at the same time explaining her belief that she thinks there should only be one true church. Then, before i could respond to that question she told us how she had already asked God many times which church was true. At that point in the lesson i had to try and not look too excited because she was asking all and i mean ALL the right questions. So we ended up teaching her about the Restoration, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon, then left her a copy to read and pray about. That lesson was one of the best lessons i had taught in a long time and really left both me and Elder Christiansen on a high. But ever since we taught that lesson we have lost contact with her but tomorrow we should be able to talk to her. So please pray for us so i dont mess this up!

We also tried to get in contact with the guy who found one of our pamphlets but he turned his phone off so we couldn´t get a hold of him. The other people we found last week have all turned out to be busts so far but we haven't given up on them yet.

But in happier news, we had interviews this week and Disrtict conference which means i saw alot of president Torgan this weekend. My interview with him went well but put a little more pressure on me. I saw that because he had explained "the process of Conversion" that we have to follow as missionaries in order to become instruments in the hand of the Lord. I think he said he got it from a member of the seventy, but he said we have to follow this process to become truly converted, so we can help others become converted as well. But in my interview, President Torgan brought up the fact that we baptized last we in an area that hadn´t baptized in 3 or 4 months, and then said that i had already been following that cycle before he had explained it. He then told me that he knows i´m a hard worker and that i always try my best. He also said that i´m not a missionary that makes excuses when i fail but rather repents and works harder to improve. He then told me that he and the Lord have great confidence and love for me. So with all that, you´d think i´d being feeling pretty good about myself, but instead i feel more pressure than ever. So now, whether not those things he said about me are true, those things will now be expected of me. But i´m not too worried because this will only push me to work harder and be better than i was before.

And since this week was District Conference, i also got see some familiar faces from Portimão. The Portimão branch is in the Algarve district so i go to see alot of members that i met there, along with some recent converts. It was a lot of fun to see all the familiar faces and also to see the members crack a big smile when the remembered who i was. But i think the best part was hearing the announcement that two people i taught in Portimão are now going to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. One of those men is also already making plans to go to the temple to be sealed to his wife(who i also baptized) and their children this spring. It was an incredible experience to see these families that i had taught for so long as investigators as strong members of the church. It was an experience that i wont soon forget

We still have a month before Christmas but it seems to be getting alot closer every day. Its strange because i dont know where i´ll be on Christmas day because transfer day is four days before that. So who knows where i´ll be.

Well, i think thats it for news this week. Be sure to tell Warren for the advice and email he sent! Keep praying for us! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

Finally!

Hey Family,

When this week started i thought it was going to be the transfer of my mission, but by the end of this week, things had really turned around. I just figured that i had already tried everything to help this area but had seen no results, that is until this week.

So the first thing i should probably tell you guys is that Abela finally got baptized. And no i´m not kidding, it really happened. We had planned on the baptism being this week, but we had said that many times before so you can imagine that there was a little bit of unbelief on my part throughout the week. But strangely, everything seemed to run smoothly all the way up to the day of the baptism. Throughout the week i had called her a few times and she seemed fine, but i also got the feeling that she might try to run from us again because she said that she couldn´t talk to us because she "didnt have time". I thought she was using that as an excuse, like many people do, to not talk to us so i tried to talk her into a short lesson in the chapel on Wednesday. We really had nothing that we needed to talk to her about but i felt it was best we talk to her about something so we could get an idea about how she was feeling about the baptism. So we ended up talking about the baptismal program for about 3 minutes and then we let her go back to her busy life. But we were glad to have the lesson with her because we found out that she was really busy but at the same time, was still very determined to be baptized that week. But on that Friday, the day before the baptism, i called her again to make sure the plans we had made for the baptismal speakers was going work. I was really nervous about that phone call because i knew it would give her the opportunity to make an excuse to not be baptized that week, like she had done many times before. So when i called her i didnt know exactly what i was going but i had faith that it would turn out ok. But when i started talking to her she said a phrase that from this day forward will strike me with fear..."...Elders, i need to tell you something". At that point in the phone call i figured she was going to try to cancel the baptism, but instead told me that the person she wanted to speak at her baptism wouldnt be there so i would have to speak. At that point i was instantly felt relieved and quickly ended the phone call by confirming the rest of the plans of the baptism before she could have a chance to have second thoughts. So after that phone call i felt pretty relieved, that is until later that night as we were walking home. For some unknown reason i began feeling like the baptism wasn´t going to work out, which feeling stayed until after the baptism was over the next day. So over a period of 24 hours i worried constantly about this baptism until we showed up at the chapel in Faro the next day to see her there waiting for us. I had at first been worried that she wouldnt show up, or that she would call at the last minute and say no, but thankfully, that didnt happen. So we got everything set up for the program and started filling up the baptismal font when the last great obstacle we had to face appeared. To this point, we had over come, or better, the Lord had helped us over come Abela´s fear ofd water, her lazy brother, and our branch president, only to be opposed by a broken water heater. We discovered this problem after the font was halfway full and as we were about to start to program which thankfully gave us some time to fix the problem. When Abela found out the water would be cold she told us there would be NO baptism if the water was cold. So me and the Zone Leaders, who were thankfully present, got to work to try and solve the problem. The Zone leaders immediately called the member who´s in charge of the up keep of the chapel to see what the problem was and how we could fix. He regretfully replied that nothing could be done to fix the problem that day, which left me thinking that Abela has to be the next Primary President of the church or something like that because Satan obviously didnt want her to get baptized. So after that, me and the Zone leader started brain storming to see if we could come up with any ideas. I told them that i would heat water up on the stove and then trow that water into the font if i had to, in order to make the baptism happen. So, after a few more phone calls, thats exactly what we did. We filled all the pots we could find in kitchen of the Faro chapel with water and started heating them up on the stove. We even went as far as put pots in the oven to heat, but that didnt go as well. So after we started heating the water, we started the baptismal program, that was very short because we didnt want the water to get any colder in the font while we waited. Ablea was also in a hurry to get home because she had a very important appointment to be at back home so we were all in a big hurry to get the baptism done. So we sang two verses of "I am a child of God" then had an opening prayer that was followed by a short testimony on baptism(given by yours truly), and then we had the baptism. Luckily the water had heated by the time we were done so we were able to get the hot water in the font before Abela got in. So at that moment in time, we felt pretty good about our selves, that is until we found out that the hot after we had thrown in had only heated the surface of the water, and not the whole font. But by the time Abela had gotten in the font and yelled, " its colder than a frozen fish!" it was too late. By that time her brother was in the font and was ready to say the baptismal prayer while every missionary in the room(4) was praying that it would go well. I was standing at the back of the room because i wanted our picky branch president to be the second witness to the baptism so that we were sure it was valid. So right before she went under the water i prayed at least twice that things would go well and they did. She went under the water and a second late the branch President gave Abela´s brother the thumbs up meaning he could bring her up again. Moments after she hit the surface i tackled the Zone leader in front of me with joy while Abela gasped for air. So everything went well with the baptism even though Abela kicked and flayed, her whole body stayed under the water. So after that, the rest of the weekend ran smoothly and she was confirmed yesterday in church. But i have to say its a great feeling having that weight off my back. After all that time we finally got her baptized and it feels great!

Wow, that was a mouthful. But on to other things.

This week also turned into a week of miracles because we found 4 new investigators and got two great references from the mission office. The first is from a member in Lisbon who has a brother who lives outside of Tavira and already likes the Elders, and the other is a man who found a pamphlet and called the mission office asking for more information. So with all this miracles happening at once me and Elder Chrsitiansen are excited to see whats going to happen throughout the rest of this transfer.

In health news, I was kicking a soccer ball around a few weeks ago that left my left leg(which i didnt use) sore which resulted later in me losing the feeling in the top part of my left foot. Its not quite as numb anymore but if anyone has any ideas as of what to do i would appreciate the info.

Also, this week we are having district conference here in the Algarve and we are having interviews with president Torgan so this weekend is going to be packed with travel. Fun fun. But at least i´ll get to see some people that i know from Portimão so that should be good.

Well, i´m about out of time so i better get going. Thanks for all the love and prayers on my behalf! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

Here We go Again

Hey Family,

We made it through another week here in Tavira and we actually had some success so it actually turned out to be a pretty good week.

But, first things first, transfers. I got the call just a few minutes ago form the secretaries but i dont know how i should take it. Me and Elder Christiansen are staying together for one more transfer here in Tavira. When i first got the call i honestly couldn´t think of what to say. And over the phone i heard all the Elders in the office laughing as they told me what was going to happen in my district. At first i was really upset because i have been so frustrated here that i knew it was time for me to leave. I figured that if i was going to stay i was going to kill someone. But now that the annoucnment has sunk in, i think it´ll be ok. I´m still wondering why i´m supposed to stay, but then i realize that the Lord does everything with a purpose. I feel like i´ve learned alot here through all of my trials but i guess the Lord wants me to learn a little bit more.

But on to happier news. We talked to Abela this week and we marked her for baptism, again. But this time we really think she´s going to go through with it. We went there on Wendsday with our Branch President to talk to her and teach a kind of farewell lesson because everyone figured i was going to leave. But everything in the lesson went well and we marked her for the 13th of this month, which happens to be this weekend. So after the lesson we were all feeling really good but then something happened on Saturday that put a chink in things because on that Saturday we had our meeting with the branch President. In that meeting we always talk about our invetigators and so ofcourse, Abela came up. So when we started talking to her our branch president pulled out one of the church manuals and starts reading form one fo the sections that talks about baptism. I didnt think anything of it until he got to the part about if the investigator wants to be baptized by someone from another branch, which is whats happening with Abela. He then read about how that person has to show him(the president of the branch that the investigator will attend) a temple reccomend or another type of reccomned that says they are worthy to do the baptism. At that point a fight broke out between me and the branch president because i felt that he had gone looking for an excuse to stop the baptism from happening. He was never 100% behind us on the baptism adn wouldnt even consent to annoucing it in church so they members would know. I could believe that after all we´ve been through with this lady, our branch president would be the one to stop our baptism. I what i didnt understand was the fact that that part of the manual almost unknown to everyone so its never enforced. We argued for a while but didnt solve anything so we left the meeting with a bad taste in our mouths. But the next day we resolved everything and we are back on good terms but it was shaky for a while. But now, everything should run smoothy this week. So i guess one plus of me staying is that i might get to see this lady get baptized. But if she doesn´t get baptized this weekend, i´m considering dropping her.

And by the way, tell Jenny thanks for the pictures! It always nice to get those from her every P-day.

Well, I´ve got mixed feeling about this next transfer but we´ll see how it goes. Keep praying for me and i know i´ll make it through ok! Thanks again for al the love and prayers! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

There´s Aways Something‏

Hey Family,

We just finished another really tough week here in Tavira but we´re still breathing so i´ve got nothing to complain about. And sorry about the late email. Yesterday was a holiday which means all of Portugal shut down. But hopefully nobody got too worried.

This week we had some ups and downs but we seem to have made it through alright. This week we tried to baptize Abela(again), but unfortunately, it didn't work out. We had a really great plan going into the lesson we had with her but things didn't turn out the way we wanted. We had planned on going there with one of the Zone Leaders so that he could do the baptismal interview so that the only other thing she had to do to be baptized was get in the water. But when we got there and brought up the topic of baptism she started making excuses, like always. She had at first told us that she wanted to be baptized in October, but she said that that no longer worked. Her excuse was that she had gotten sick and didn't feel well enough to get baptized, but after asking a few questions it wasn't long before we found out that she didn't want to get baptized because she is still afraid of water.But luckily, i had my trusty MTC companion with me, Elder McClean, who jumped in and helped out a lot. He shared the story from the Bible where Christ atones for the sins of the world. He explained how Christ too was scared to do what he knew he had to do, but did it anyway because he knew it was the right thing. Then after he made the decision to obey, Heavenly Father sent an angel to comfort him. He then applied that story to her, by saying that she too is scared to do what she knows is right. We then tried to get her to accept to be baptized that weekend but she didn't go for it. I thought it would be easy after that but her brother(who's a member and who will do the baptism) and his wife(also a member) weren´t helping much. So we ended up settling for a baptismal interview to end the lesson. So Elder McClean and Abela went in another room to do the interview. He also took that opportunity to talk to Abela one-on-one about the baptismal date for last weekend, and after confirming with her brother to make sure he could be there to do the baptism, they agreed on the date. But unfortunately, we called the brother to make sure he could still do the baptism that weekend, he said he couldn´t. We had figured he would say that because he wasn't never really supporting of the date in the first place, and because he said that his work might complicate things. So all in all, we worked hard this week with Abela but nothing came from it. But it was interesting because in the interview Elder McClean told her that she was very prepared for baptism to which she agreed and then said that she had put her baptism off long enough and wanted to be baptized. after the the lesson and on our way home, Elder McClean told me about the interview and who she was so ready to be baptized but just wouldn't get in the water. At one point he even said, "Man! That lady is such a headache!" to which i responded, "Yep, Try dealing with that for 10 weeks!" Unfortunately, something always comes up when we mark her for baptism. But surprisingly, this time it was her brother. But this week we´re goping to go there to see if we cant mark her one last time before the transfer ends.

It was a really interesting and humbling experience working with Elder McClean again. Before i went into that lesson i was pretty confident that i knew how to be a missionary, but after seeing how Elder McClean taught, i realized i still have alot to learn. He is probably one of the best missionaries i have had the privilege of serving around and i hope that one day, i can be half the missionary he is.

And in terms of member meals this week, we got fed not once this week, but twice! We got feed randomly by the Branch President and his wife and another family this week. The Branch President called us out of now where and wanted to feed us roasted chicken on Friday, then on Sunday, one member randomly asked if we would like to eat with his family. Both meals were great, but what made them better was the fact that Missionaries don't normally get fed in this area...ever! And so far this transfer we´ve been fed 3 times so i´ll count that as a success. It may not be baptisms but i´ll take what i can get.

So now we have 6 more days left until transfers, which means that these 6 days could be my last in Tavira. Its kind of a sad thought but at the same time i think its time for a change. I really love Tavira and i love the members, even though some of them are really weird and ware scary wigs. But i´ve really noticed that this area has taught me alot about being a missionary and working in the church. This learning experience has been really humbling but i´ve found alot of joy along with all the frustrations.

Well, i better get back to work. Next week is transfers so i should know what will being happening to me before i email you guys.
Thanks for all the prayers and love. Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

An Excuse a Day, Keeps the Elders Away

Hey Family,

I cant believe its Monday again. This week past so fast that i dint even realize that the days were going by so quickly. But unfortunately, i don't have a lot of news to report.

Our number one goal that we had for the week was to get Abela interviewed and ready for baptism so that she could get baptized this month but it didn't work out. We called her last Tuesday because the Zone Leaders wanted to do the interview that day and we also felt that it would be best to get it over with sooner rather than later. But when we called she said that she was sick in bed and couldn´t talk to us. Then we called her on Thursday to see if we could go and give her a blessing of health, which she consented to,. but when we called to confirm our appointment the next day, she canceled. I was confused at why she couldn´t let us come over for a few minutes to give her a blessing but then she said she was leaving town with her husband to see her family. At that note i became a little confused because she had said she was too sick to talk to us one day, then the next day she´s skipping town. So right now i don't know whats going on with her because she didn´t answer her phone yesterday when i tried to call her. I hope she not trying to avoid us but something´s telling me she is. But it doesn't make sense because she always talks about how she wants to get baptized but then doesn't do anything to make it happen. I don't think i´ve ever been more frustrated with someone or something in my entire life. Its one thing to have an investigator who doesn't want to get baptized, but its another thing to have one who does want to get baptized but doesn't take action. We also talked to the Zone Leaders about her last week too and they think that since we have already done everything we possible can think of for her, it might be good if we stop focusing so much on her right now. They said we should focus on anyone else we have or on finding and let the Lord work on her. And i would love to do that right now but she is the only really person we know right now that has any potential. But we´re going to push to see if we cant get her baptized this week, and if not then we will move our focus. I´m just worried she wont get baptized before her surgery next month, because if she doesn't, it could be a long time before she gets baptized. But we´re going to keep praying and trusting in the Lord so things will work out.

But in happier news, we´ve found a few people that let us talk to them, which gives a little joy. Unfortunately,most of the people we do find here don't believe in organized religion or Churches so that makes our job a little more awkward sometimes. The good thing is they are really nice and respectful, but its a shame that they´re not really open to believe that there is a true church. But Miracles happen so we haven´t given up hope yet.

I also started to realize that my time her in Tavira may be coming to an end. I noticed it because i did a division with another Elder in my district who has been out 2 more transfers than me. Because of that fact, we got talking about all the companions we had and areas we had served in (which was nice because both our companions right now are greenies and still don't know anyone or any funny stories). Then we got talking about transfers and i realized that i´m at the end of my 2 transfer her in Tavira and its starting to wear on me. And recently, most Elders stay her for 2 transfers, unless you´re district leader, then you sometimes stay for 4. I still love the area but its getting harder and harder to not get frustrated with everything. But this last week helped me alot because we found some good potential investigators so things are looking up.

Other than that, life is going good. We´re still working hard and find joy in the journey. We always seem to find ways of laughing at weird experiences that we have. Like for example, the last two Sundays we have spent our nights knocking doors, but for some reason, at 8:30 both nights, we have had an old man throw his hands up in the air and yell at us, almost chasing us out of the buildings while threatening to call the police. And strangely, instead of scaring us and keeping us from knocking more doors, we laughed it off and had a stronger desire to keep going. Then today while riding the train we saw a flock of pink flamingos in a pond and then seconds later, a dead horse. The things you see in Portugal!

Well, I better get back to life. Thanks again for sending me so many emails and especially for all your prayers. I feel like every single one of them is being answered, so thanks! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

Primary´s Ok with Me

Hey Family,

Thanks for all the emails, prayers, and support. They´re greatly appreciated!

This seemed just like another normal week here in Tavira but a few good things happened this week that gave us so good hopes for the future. We had a few lessons with Abela this week and they went pretty well. The first time we talked to her the lesson didnt quite go as planned. We we marked the lesson with her i had the intention of talking to her about why she couldn´t get baptized last weekend, but the lesson went a little differently. It started poorly because i asked the wrong question to begin with. She had said that she couldn´t get baptized because of family problems so i mistakenly asked, "whats going on with your family?" instead of "why are these problems getting in the way of you getting baptized?" So instead of getting an explanation of why she felt she couldn´t get baptized i got to here all the of the problems this woman has been having in her life. So by the time she finished her story i couldn´t think of what i could say to this woman to help her. I shared a scripture that talked about how we need to follow the commandments to be blessed, then explained that she really needed blessings form God right now in her life. She agreed and explained how she has already been blessed financially throughout these times of trials when she normally has problems with money. Then I reminded her that baptism is a commandment and that she can receive even more blessings by being baptized. She recognized that but didnt want to mark another baptismal date because she wants that day to be a special day for her, in which she wont have to worry about these problems anymore. So when we left that lesson i was feeling a little a down and a little weired out by what i heard about her life. But a few days later, we had another lesson with her that went a lot smoother. The second time we decided to focus on the blessings of having the gift of the Holy Ghost and explained to her that if she gets baptized and confirmed, she will have the comfort and guidance of the spirit to help her through these trials. We then explained that she shouldn´t wait for the perfect day to come to be baptized because Satan will always work hard to make sure that day will never come. She then told us that she had already decided to get baptized this month, but now she doesn´t want to choose a date because she wants to "surprise" Satan. She said that she will call us during the week in one of these next two weeks to tell us when she will be baptized so that Satan has less time to get in the way. I´m not sure if that will work but its the only thing she would agree too. I´m still wondering in this will all work out but she seems more determined to get baptized before the end of the month. She says it has to be this month because shes is having a surgery next month, which shes really worried about, so she wants to be baptized and get more blessings before that day. Still excited for her because she is the most golden investigator that i have taught in a long time. Throughout that last lesson we had with her, she kept talking about how she has been so blessed lately that even her husband who hates religion and threatened to keep us from coming over, has completely changed his feelings toward us. He even let her talk to us instead of making dinner on time so i count that as an improvement. We kept telling her that the Lord has been blessing her to show her this is the right way to which she replied, "I know, theres no way that i could deny that this is the true church!". Could she be more golden?

This week we also got about 20 pound of fish from an inactive member that we visit, which would be good news if i loved fish. And its not that i dont like fish, its just that i dont like 20 pounds of it. He gave us about 2 and a half dozen sardines and 6 medium sized fishes that filled up our kitchen sink. We didnt know how to cook them so Elder Christiansen just made so weird fish past thing from the sardines with bones and all that we tried to eat. I couldn´t eat more that a fork full but he was able to make a few lunches out of it but i think we´re just going to end up giving it to the stray cats outside our house.

Also, yesterday at church, i had to preside and conduct Sacrament meeting because our branch president had to leave early to go to a meeting in Lisbon. It was really weird but it went alright and we got out early so i´ll count it a success. But i better be careful next time and make sure we get out on time or people may ask to have me put in as branch President instead.

So, by the end of this week i felt like a bishop after having listened to someone tell about all their problems and then have to direct church meetings. So now i can safely say that i never want to be a Bishop our branch President. Being a Primary our Sunday School teacher is fine with me.

And you can tell dad that at 10:00 to 10:30 i was studying but the extra prayers and thoughts were appreciated. Thanks!

And be sure to thank the ward members for their prayers for Abela. I really think the Lord has been answering those prayers because i think she´s getting closer to baptism now. So thanks again!

And tell Mom i dont have a preference when it comes to candy. Anything American is amazing!

Well, i had better get going. Thanks for all the love and support! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

Back to the Basics

Hey Family,

This week turned out to be an exciting and stress filled week but we survived it adn get to do it again this week.

So last monday i had to head up to Lisbon right after P-day for the leadership conference that the mission was having. At first i thought it was a President Torgan thing but while i was there i got a letter from Ethan Williams that said that his mission did it too so i guess every mission in the world is doing it. We had it because the church wants all missionaries to be focused on the fundamental principles of Preach My Gospel. The church wants all the missionaries in the world trained on this stuff before the new year so we had to have a special conference to fit it all in. I was worried that it would be a long three days full of boring meetings, but it actully turned out to be one of the best conferences i have ever been too. I learned a ton and realized theres still alot of things i can improve on. The whole focus was on the basics of missionary work. Everyday we had trainings given by the Zone Leaders and Assistants about a specific part of Preach My Gospel or missionary work in general like how to invite someone to be baptized or how to start a lesson. Then, at the end of every training, we had two companionships practice the pricinciple we had just learned. I normally hate doing practices like that in front of everyone but it actually helped alot. But President Torgan also took time everyday to remind us that we were learning all that stuff so that we could better reach our goals and baptize more people. IN fact, thats how he started the conference. The very first day we were there he started to talk about the temple and how we were blessed to be here right now to witness that blessing. He told us that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Prophet of God were looking at this mission with specila eyes, and that they blessed us with a temple. So he asked us how we wanted to repay them for that wonderful blessing, and ofcourse, we all said by baptizing. So thats what we did this week. We all made baptismal goals for the week and then everyday we called our districts and Zones to give direction and guidance so we could all make our goals. Every area had a goal of how many baptisms they were going to have that week, but for the Elders from the far reaches of the mission had more difficutly in reaching those goals because they weren´t able to work in their own areas. I was one of the elders but Since Elder Christiansen stayed with the other elders from my district, he was able to work a little in our area, which was good because we had a goal of onew baptism...Abela. I was worried that she wouldnt get baptized this week because i wasnt going to be there to help mark her but the other elders and the branch president went to her house in the middle of the week and by some miralce, marked her for baptism. It didnt end up going through because she has some serious, and i mean serious, family problems right now so she opted to not get baptized. I was really bumbed and i have to admit, i almost cried when i found out because she was really close this time but i guess this week might not have been her week after all. I feel like i could have done so much more but i didnt. She even came to church on Sunday but i didnt push her as hard as i should of. When she got there we had to teach Gospel Principles to here and her daughter but afterward she talked to us and explained everything. I was so taken bak by her reasons that i didnt know what to do or say so i kind of let it go. Then during sacrament meeting, i thought of some things i could say to her to help but she left early so i couldn´t talk to her. I felt terrible because i knew i could have done more but i didnt, but i guess i have to take this as a learning experience, repent, and move on. So now i´m feeling a little better and I´m a little unsure about what to do now but i know the

Lord will help us out.

And as to answers Moms questions...

1)Yes i´m district Leader but i really dont feel all that different than a normal missionary.

2)I traveled alone to Lisbon and i miraculously didnt get lost!

3)We talked a little about the temple, but mostly about how we have a lot more work to do before it gets here.

4)We dont do much to preapre the members for the temple(except teach less actives), at least i dont think we do. But maybe things will change when the building starts.

5)We didnt get to see more conference but we got to watch Short clips of missionaries teaching everyonce in a while which was entertaining.

6)And no, i never get sick of questions.

I cant believe BYU finally won! It feels like its been forever. But it sure cheers me up to know that they won another game.

Well, i think thats it for news. Here in a few weeks i´ll be sending my memory card from my camera to you guys with some other stuff too. And dont forget to tell mom Happy Birthday for me. Thanks for everything! Eu amo vocês!

Com Amor,

Élder Haws

A Temple in Portugal

Hey Family,

The first thing i want to say is..WE´RE GETTING A TEMPLE!!!!!! Finally! Unfortunatly i didnt get to see the annoucement but one of the Elders in my district let me in later that night. That was pretty much the biggest highlight of the week but fortunalty theres still more to talk about.

Elder Torgersen left on tuesday at 10:12 to go to his new area, which was convineit because my new companion, Elder Christiansen, gotr here at 10:14 to take his place. Every since then things have been goinig pretty well. Life´s been pretty normal but some things in the area have changed. For one, almost all the branch members seem a little happier for some reason and the recent converts we teach haven´t acted as annoying or immature latly. All of that is great news, but theres more. This week our branch president bought us dinner, which is really surprising because the elders haven´t had anyone give them food here for over 7 months. It was actually kind of strange but i wasn´t going to complain. He bought us each a rack of ribs and two big bags of fires and then tried to make us eat all of our food then the leaft overs of his food that he couldn´t finish. We made a good atempt but unfortunalty didnt succede.

Then this weekend we had general conference, which was great eventhough we only got to see a few sessions. On Saturday we had to go to an internet café to watch the Saturday morning session. We thought it was going to be just fine watching it there but unfortunatly the sound from the english transmission wasn´t working so we didnt hear what temples were annouced and we tried to go back and watch after the sessions but it didnt work. But later we found out we´re getting a temple so we´re been really excited all weekend. It will probably be built just outside Lisbon near my first area, which will actually be near the place where President Monson deicated the country for the preaching of the gospel. Then, on Sunday morning things didnt work out as planned. We were going to catch a train and go to Faro because we got permission to watch the rest of the transmissions there but the train schedule was different because it was sunday so we had to take a different train and got there late. We still got to see a little bit of the preisthood session but we missed most of it. Then, we were fasting for our investigator, Abela, so we ended up missing more talks throughout the day because we were trying to cook food in a crowded chapel so we wouldn´t starve. So, from what i saw of conference it was good, but i missed alot. But i guess i cant complain because i didnt even think we would see any of it anyway.

But the week has gone well. Elder Christiansen is still pretty green but he´s a funny kid and always seems to stay positive. Thats a trait that i´ve been trying to develope in this area but have yet to master. We did some good work this week and he´s learning fast and we´re getting along so this transfer shouldn´t be too tough.

This next week is going to be different because we have a big mission leadership metting in Lisbon for all the District leaders and Zone leaders that will last 3 days so i wont see much of my area this week. i go to lisbon later today and i´ll be there till tursday night so it should be an interesting experience. I dont know what President Torgan has to say that will last 3 days but i´m sure it will be good.

I also found out this week that Elder Mclean, my old MYC companion, is my new Zone leader. He´s called me everyday so i feel like i´m living with him all over again. We got to talk a little at conference which was fun because we hadn´t seen each other since Christmas.

Well, i better get going. I found a slush puppie machine here in a neigboring town so i´m going to go grab one before i head to Lisbon. Thanks for all the love and prayers. Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

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

Ups and Downs

Hey Family,

Sorry for writing a day late but with the way things went yesterday i didn't have a chance to email. We went and spent our p-day in another city with the other Elders from our district but the library there wouldn´t let me use the computers. I didn't have a copy of my passport or my driver´s licence on me so i couldn´t fill out the form to use the Internet so i had to wait to email you guys until today. So sorry.

But this week was a week of ups and downs. At zone conference last week we made goals of who we were going to baptize(like always) but this time something happened that normally doesn´t, things worked out! We made plans to talk to two of our investigators(our only two) about being baptized at the end of the month. One was already marked but hadn´t talked to us since we marked her, and the other was the mother of a recent convert that we had barley started teaching. But we prayed and felt like those two should be baptized this week. So, last Wednesday we talked to the mother of the recent convert about baptism. I wasn´t sure about how it was going to go but for some strange reason i felt really comfortable and actually a little excited, which i don't normally feel when we try and mark people. But we taught her about the plan of salvation and she loved it. She told us she feels like shes drinking in what were teaching like it was water. She also said she felt like she was prepared by Heavenly Father to hear the missionaries lessons. Then, after the lesson we marked her for this weekend and she seemed pretty excited. She said shes afraid of water and when we talked to her the other day she said she wasn´t sure if she was still going to be baptized this weekend because of it, but we think she be fine and get baptized anyway. But after that lesson we were jumping up and down and celebrating because we had finally marked someone for baptism that actually showed interest in what we had to teach. So after that lesson we were kind of on a high. But the next night things changed because we went to go talk to Tania, the other girl who we had marked at the beginning of this transfer. To sum things up, it didn't go as we would have liked. When we showed up at her house she was leaving and told us to wait, so we waited and talked to her sister who is a member. We ended up talking to her 12 year old sister for about 30 minutes about why she shouldn't leave the church because she was threatening to never go back(for a stupid reason that i will have to explain later because now i don't have time). Then, when Tania got back home she ran in the house without saying anything and told her sisters she didn't want to talk to us. Needless to say, in that moment, she became "unmarked". We were a little bummed because we sound out she was lying to us when she said she wanted to come back to church. But we still felt good that we had marked someone else who wants to become a member of the church. So right now wer´re pretty excited but we praying that everything goes well this week. We got a call from a member in the Porto Mission for some random reason and Elder Torgersen ended talking to him for a few minutes on the phone. He asked about how the work was going and when he found out that we had someone marked for baptism he sounded really surprised. He told us that 1 baptism in Tariva is like 10 baptisms anywhere else. So i´m feeling pretty blessed that the Lord has answered our prayers and blessed us with this huge miracle.

So the week up until that point was good, but church this Sunday didn't go very well. It started out with me getting frustrated with the branch president because he got mad at me for practicing the hymns for sacrament meeting before church started. Later we both apologized but it didn't start out the day well. Then, i found out i had to give a last minute talk, which didn't go very well at all, and on top of that i wasn´t feeling well. With all that put together, i was feeling pretty down but i got over it and i´m doing fine now. Especially now that we´re planning for a baptism.

I cant believe BYU keeps losing. And what makes it worse is that my companion is a die hard Utes fan so he gives me a hard time on P-days when BYU loses. I normally handle it pretty well but i gets really annoying sometimes. But at least IF beat Skyline so i can at least take pride in that.

Tell Mindy congrats on the new title as the "all knowing head of the English teaching people". But don't let anyone know she cant spell, or she might lose her job.

Thanks for the Info on the Robinson family too. I was wondering what happened to Joey but i´m glad he finally went on his mission. But if he´s in Rio his mission president´s son might be in my mission.

As for a Christmas box, i have now idea what you guys could send me. My shoes are doing OK for now, but if i need new ones there are a few places here where i can get some that might be cheaper, but we´ll see what happens. I also found out that i might have lost some more weight. I´m down to the last belt buckle on my larger belt that i used when i first came out. My shirts are also starting to feel a little big too but as far as the condition of my clothes, everything is doing fine.

Well, i think that's it for news this week. I better get back to work. Thanks for everything! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

Deep Water

Hey Family,

Sorry that i didnt send an email yesterday but changes in the schedule of the mission made it tough. Instead of having zone conference on Saturday liked we were told at the beginning of the transfer, it got moved to yesterday. Meetings get changed to p-day pretty frequently here in the Algarve so i wasn´t surprised but its kind of annoying when you dont get a p-day to relax from all the stress. But all in all, we´re doing fine.

This week was another really good week for us. And just like last week, it was full of "little wonders". The highlight of the week was that we found 7 new investigators, which hasn´t happened in this area for a long time. I probably shouldn´t be too excited because alot of times we talk to people and mark them as a new investigator then they disappear, but i´m pretty happy with the results of our hard work last week. But now we just have to keep it up. But what was really great, was that among those 7 new people were 2 families, which really gave us some hope. I´m just praying that we can make something happen with these people.

We also had a great experience with a lady we taught a few weeks ago near Spain. I dont know if you guys remember but a few weeks ago we taught a lady who lives in Spain and does business with an inactive member of ours. Then that day after, we saw her 3 or 4 times throughout the day. Then, last Thursday when we went to got talk to our inactive member without telling him, and we ended up talking to this woman. We normally teach this inactive in his warehouse/workplace, and last Thursday we had some extra time so we decided to pass by and see he was there. To our surprise, he was there with this lady Adan they were talking about us. We walked in in the middle of the conversation, just as she had asked for our phone number. We ended up talking for a few minutes, in which time we discovered that she wanted our number so that she could find our when and where we have church. Up until that point the day hadn´t been all that great but knowing that we might have a new person in church on Sunday made the day seem like a success. We we´re a hundred percent sure if she was actually going to come but she did! She showed up and actually already knew the Branch President and his wife. She ended up leaving early without talking to us, but she seemed like she enjoyed church. We dont have her number to call her and set up an appointment so we´ll have to call our inactive member friend to see if he cant set something up for us.

So by my count, we´ve had quite a few miracles happen this week that have really helped stay positive. and actually, we had another miracle just happen. We do Internet here at the city library so there are always alot of people here. And in order to us the computer you have to fill out a little form so you can get a little card with your name on it. You then show that card to someone who works here so you can use the Internet. But when i came for the first time to fill out that paper to get my card, i had to talk to one of the employees here about some of the questions of the form. Alot of the questions dealt with profession and education, so i had to explain that i was a missionary and that i was a volunteer for my church. Suddenly the guy started asking me a whole bunch of questions about what we do and why we´re here, but i didnt think much about that conversation because i never saw that guy again. But today is Tuesday, a day we normally dont do Internet on, which also happens to be the day i filled out the form, and the day this guys works here. Coincidence, i think not. As soon as i walked up to the counter the guy recognized me, even though i´m in P-day clothes and have had a hair cut) and asked jokingly if it was my day of. Then he again starting asking me all kinds of questions about the church but was interrupted because he had to help someone. He told me he´d talk to me later about his questions so he seems really interested. I just thought it was funny because i was teaching him about prayer and the restoration while at the same time whispering so as to not disturb anyone. It was kind of weird but also kind of cool teaching someone unexpectedly.

Everything else here is going well. The weather is still really hot and humid but here pretty quick it will be getting really cold and rainy so i better enjoy the warmth while i can. But things are going well here in Tavira. We have plenty of reasons to complain and whine but most of the time i cant find a reason to dislike this area. It reminds me of a Scripture i read this week while studying in the book, Teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith that is found somewhere in the D&C but i cant remember which section. I think it in the 120s, vs 2, but its when Joseph is talking about tall his trials and he says something like, "as to the trials i am called to pass through, i think it a small thing...deep water is what i am wont to swim in". So i guess these days i´m finding it easier to find joy in "tribulation".

Zone Conference was good but nothing really notable happened. We´re still the #1 baptizing mission in Europe, which is the only highlight that i can recall right now.

Well, i better get back to work. Thanks for all the love and prayers! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

"Little Wonders"

Hey Family,

We just finished a great week here in Tavira and things are still looking up. I thought i had spoken too soon about how things were improving so much here but this week was another testimony to me that the Lord answers prayers!

We started out the week like normal, which includes knocking doors and getting rejected repeatedly. But near the middle of the week things started turning around. On Thursday we went to Vila Real de Santo Antonio(place near Spain) to talk to some people, but as always, things didn´t go quite as planned. We found out when we got to the train station that we had left our ward list at the house but that wasn´t too big of a problem because Elder Torgersen knows where everybody lives there. The real problem was the recent converts that we taught that night. They are two young girls who were baptized by previous Elders a few months ago and have never come to church while i´ve been here. They always make excuses about why they dont come but i think that sometimes they just want to annoy us. Normally, from what Elder Torgersen says, they can be a handful because they are super dramatic and they only liked the Elder previous to me because he would put up with the things they do. I came to find that that statement was 100% true because i have never talked to anyway who frustrated me quite like them. Let me explain. When we got to their house we sat down in the alleyway outside their house and started to talk to them a little until one question we asked set them off. We hadn´t even said a prayer or anything but for some reason when we asked if they had been reading in the Book of Mormon they kind of freaked out. We had just asked about their reading as a way of keeping the conversation going but i turned out to something worse. They started throwing out excuses like it was going out of style while me and Elder Torgersen shot down every single one with a reference to the scriptures or from one of the apostles. We did it in the nicest way possible but they refused to acknowledge that they were capable of reading the scriptures everyday. But fortunately, after about 20 minutes, something positive happened. The ex-investigator sister of these girls walked up and asked if she could go back to going to church again. She had been an investigator last year but stopped going because she didnt want to obey some of the commandments or something. But when she told us she wanted to come back, Me and Elder Torgersen looked at each other in a confused manner. Then he quickly took out the phone while she was explaining how she had visited other churches but didnt feel good in those places so she wanted to come back. As i was listening to her story, Elder Torgersen showed me why he took out the phone, and asked me what i thought about the date on the phone calender he had picked out. I assumed he wanted to mark her for baptism, which i thought was a little hasty, but i gave him an "ok" shrug. I didnt think she´d go for it, but when Elder Torgersen invited her to make a goal for baptism with us she accepted. She still seemed a little unsure but after we explained that the date could be moved she felt a little better. So just like that, we had someone marked for baptism and she became our first "little Wonder" of the week. But the problem was the other two girls told us that they wanted to stop going to church all together. One of them said that she wanted God to answer one of her prayers and bless her family with a new house before she would come back to church and the other younger girl just seemed to follow the older one. We explained that that isn´t how things work but they wouldn't budge. So the lesson with them was bitter sweet but something good came from it so i´m happy. Although the girl we marked didnt come to church this week but i´m not too worried yet. It´ll be tough to get her baptized but we have faith that the Lord will help us. We´ll work more with them and get them to church but it´ll take some time.

This week we also marked with the mother of a recent convert from a neighboring branch to teach so that should be good. In the past the Elders had taught her in the other branch and at that time she wanted to be baptized, but couldn´t because of some work problems. But she recently moved to our area so we believe the Lord has blessed us with another "Little Wonder". So things are starting to look up here in Tavira and its really strenghtened my faith that the Lord answers prayers. From about the time i entered this area i´ve been praying that we could find the miracle or spark that this area needs and ever since i´ve started doing that, Heavenly Father has kept blessing us with small miracles that i have decided to call "Little Wonders" because i heard that song a few times last transfer from our "apostate" ipod. I remembered that song from Rob Thomas and at times it still gets stuck in my head so the name just stuck. So i´m going to keep praying that we can keep seeing "...these little wonders".

And speaking of music, we had a Zone meeting(not Zone conference) this week, which was great because i got the package and mail you guys sent me. It was also good because we learned new things but the mail was still the big highlight. First of all i have to say the airheads were a great choice, so THANKS. Also, Mindy´s blog posts made me laugh really hard out loud that earned me sudden, confused looks from my companion. Especially like the parable of the Sunbeams. Good work Mindy. I´ll add to my collection of things i show my companions. Mindy´s phone call posts are already gained favor among my companions so i imagine the new posts will catch on too. Also tell Mindy "thanks" and "you rock" because the CD she sent me is awesome. All the songs are great and she even sent one of my favorites "i never stand alone". But i have to say "one of the 99" is probably my favorite now. It gives me chills every time i listen to it. But the Josh Groban and Allen Jackson were a nice touch too. so you can tell Mindy she is currently in the lead as "most loved sibling". And speaking of music, tell Mindy to look up a band called the Alaskan shenanigans(bad spelling). They sing alot of missionary songs and in think the RMs in our family would enjoy them, especially the dear John one and the one about inactives. So look them up if you have time.

In other news, Moms stories of church in winters gave me an idea and now, i´m the wards new pianist. I mostly just play one handed, simplified hymns but it gets the job so i dont think anyone+s complained yet. The simplified hymn book you guys sent is kind of hard, but i found an easier one so now i´m slowly moving my way up. Hopefully by the end of my time here in Tavira i´ll be able to play a little out of Grandma´s book.

And in other church news, we had fewer people in church than i have every seen on my mission, which wasn´t good, especially because it was testimony meeting. We had a grand total of 8 people, and i was the last one to bare testimony so that was interesting. I was trying to wait a while before going up but the branch president gave me weird looks so i got up sooner that i wanted. We ended up getting out earlier than usual but nobody seemed to mind. I wonder why?

Also, i wanted to ask if you guys had any ideas of an activity we could do here in our branch. We´re planning an activity for next Thursday, but its hard to plan something thats fun for everybody when you have really old people and really young people. So if anyone has ideas, they´d be appreciated.

In unrelated yet important news to the Worrying Mother, I´ve felt a little sick this week, which wasn't good because i tried to fast. Obviously it was a good idea but we were fasting together as a mission for certain things so i didnt want to be left out. I survived but its taken its toll. But dont worry mom, because i´ve been eating eucalyptus/menthol cough drops all week which have helped and i´ve been sleeping through parts of of meals to try and rest up so i´m doing better. So mom, you can stop worrying now(although maybe thats not possible).

Well, i think thats it for news. I dont think i´ve forgotten anything. We´re still working hard but i think we could work a little bit harder at times but we´ll work on that. Keep praying for us. Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws.

P.S. GO COUGARS!