Hey Family,
I´m glad everyone likes the photos i sent last week. I had some extra time on the computer after i sent the first email because Elder Thomas had to do some more stuff so i figured i´d send a few of the more important ones.
This week was another really good week. No baptisms but that will hopefully change here pretty soon. We taught that progressing couple this week but they still dont have a testimony of Joseph Smith yet. This week they payed tithing and also payed to get the liahona but for some reason still dont feel ready to be baptized. It really doesnt make sense to me to pay tithing to a church you dont think is true or pay to recieve their magizine but we figure that this just means they´re really close. Hopefully we´ll be able to mark them for baptism this week. We also talked ot another man about baptism this week but he told that he doesn´t want to change his life that much. Its another cunfusing story with him too. He says it would be too hard to change his beliefs to be baptized but he´s only been to any other church once. He also says he wont change his life but keeps every commitment we extend to him. He also came to church this week...for the third time, so we´ll see what happens later. But as you can tell, Elder Thomas and I are pretty confused about our investigators.
This week we were also attacked by two dogs and before mom starts to worry i´m ok. Early in the week we were walking around the downtown area thats near the river tracking when we came to an intersection. I cant remember what we were talking about but as we reached the corner all conversation stopped as a huge black Lab jumped out from behind a parked car and started running at us and barking. It didn´t get too close before we brought out our umbrellas and it backed. Luclky we had our umbrellas so we had some protection. I started to back down the street but Elder Thomas wouldn´t move. I kept telling him to back up but he wouldn´t budge. He said later that he didn´t move because he didnt want the dog to keep following us or something. I´m not sure if i buy that explanation though. I keep joking with him that it was because he was too scared to move his legs but who knows. It was a pretty funny experience because just seconds after the dog appeared the owner did too. He kept telling us not to be afraid of the dog, which didnt make sense because it had just tried to attack us. Eventually the dog passed and we went on our way. Afterward we laughed it off and went on our way. Then, last night we were knocking doors in a building and we were talking to this old lady when out of nowhere this dog jumps out the door and starts chasing Elder Thomas. He let out a kind of yell/shriek as he backed into a corner, and when the dog kept coming he just kicked it in the head which knocked it over. It wasn´t a real big dog, probably about the size of Mia when Spencer and Brianna bought her, so after it took that hit it was pretty shooken up and ran back in the apartment. Elder Thomas says the Lady let it out on purpose because she saw it coming. I was standing there the whole time and watched the whole thing happen. Afterward, Elder thomas tried to finish the contact but i started laughing so hard i couldn´t stand up and had to go sit on the stairs. A few seconds later the lady and Elder Thomas started laughing too so the contact didnt go anywhere. But at least we got a funny story out of it.
I also saw my first somoyed here in Portugal. He was all alone on the street and ended up troting in between me and Elder Thomas when he realized i was willing to give him attention. He stopped and i petted him for a minute and then he was on his way again. He was a well kept dog but not as good looking as Brady or Mia.
In other news, you can tell Shannon that her advice really works. She told me to smile a lot and i´ve found that its easier to be a missionary when you smile and people like you more. So if you could, tell her thanks for me.
And tell Spencer congrats on the photo from the Hockey game. I really jealous...lucky punk.
And in piano news, i can play all of "Abide With Me" and i´m starting on another. I still dont use the pedal but Elder Thomas is going to teach me this week hopefully before church.
Well, this week we have interviews and next week is transfers so i might find out if i´m leaving this area or not this week.
And as for the land slide, we heard about that yesterday. It happend out on tha Island of Madeira. Its one of the islands in the Porto mission. There is one missionary from there but i haven´t served with him.
Well, i think thats about it. Thanks for all the news and photos. I love you guys!
Élder Haws
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Light House
Hey Family,
My last email just got deleted so this is take two.
Thanks for all the pictures and emails though i could have done without the picture of the cutlass...(sigh). You can tell Mikey that i´m going to start praying for height instead of the gift of tongues so i can kick his but when i get home!
This week was really good. At Zone Conference President Torgan was intense as always but his trainings were really good. The other leaders trainings were good too but i really liked Torgan´s because he talked about the Prophecies about Portugal. Elder Theodore Tuttle gave a talk about the three light houses of the world. Each light house represents a country that will be an example(light house) for all other countries in progress and growth in the church. The three light houses are Chilie, Brazil, and Portugal. Braziland Chilie have pretty much lived up to the reputation but we are still lagging behind. But now with President Torgan, we are baptizing more than any other mission according to the number of missionaries. We´ve come along way but President Torgan still isn´t satisfied and neither are we.
This week no one was baptized but we had a great meeting yerterday with the leaders of our branch about our invetigators and the goals of baptism we set for February and March. We got a lot of support and a lot of really good ideas from our members and now it feels like everyone´s goal and not just ours.
According to Valentine´s day, Yes, they celebrate it here and i wish they didn´t. All the skimpy underwear stores have huge sells which means...more ads all over town. That spells a whole lot of fun for us.
I did think of some things you guys could put in the box. If it were in anyway possible could you guys send more socks and maybe som new ties that go with a brown or green suit. Everything here is so expensive.
By the way, where is Ethan going on his mission?
Well, i think thats it as far as news goes. Sorry, my last email was bigger but i dont have much time left to rewrite everything. Obrigado por tudo! I love you guys!
Elder Haws
My last email just got deleted so this is take two.
Thanks for all the pictures and emails though i could have done without the picture of the cutlass...(sigh). You can tell Mikey that i´m going to start praying for height instead of the gift of tongues so i can kick his but when i get home!
This week was really good. At Zone Conference President Torgan was intense as always but his trainings were really good. The other leaders trainings were good too but i really liked Torgan´s because he talked about the Prophecies about Portugal. Elder Theodore Tuttle gave a talk about the three light houses of the world. Each light house represents a country that will be an example(light house) for all other countries in progress and growth in the church. The three light houses are Chilie, Brazil, and Portugal. Braziland Chilie have pretty much lived up to the reputation but we are still lagging behind. But now with President Torgan, we are baptizing more than any other mission according to the number of missionaries. We´ve come along way but President Torgan still isn´t satisfied and neither are we.
This week no one was baptized but we had a great meeting yerterday with the leaders of our branch about our invetigators and the goals of baptism we set for February and March. We got a lot of support and a lot of really good ideas from our members and now it feels like everyone´s goal and not just ours.
According to Valentine´s day, Yes, they celebrate it here and i wish they didn´t. All the skimpy underwear stores have huge sells which means...more ads all over town. That spells a whole lot of fun for us.
I did think of some things you guys could put in the box. If it were in anyway possible could you guys send more socks and maybe som new ties that go with a brown or green suit. Everything here is so expensive.
By the way, where is Ethan going on his mission?
Well, i think thats it as far as news goes. Sorry, my last email was bigger but i dont have much time left to rewrite everything. Obrigado por tudo! I love you guys!
Elder Haws
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Champ
Hey Family,
Sounds like a lot happened in just this past week! As you can probably tell,we didn´t have Zone Conference today but we will have it tomorrow so we didn´t escape it altogether. It shouldn´t be too bad but i dont think it will be a whole lot of fun either. We haven´t been baptizing like we should so we´ll see what happens.
This week we talk the same number of lessons and saw some prgress with some of our investigators. In fact, our district´s numbers are the highest in the Algarve! Of course we have the Zone leaders in our district so that helps.The couple that is close to baptism hasn´t moved mush since last week. They still have doubts about a few things but the wife is really close. They just have problems with feeling ready. They´ve recieved more spiritual conformations than any person alive but still wont accept to be baptized.It´s really frustrating because we love them and want them to have the blessings that come from membership but they have a hard time recognizing and accepting spiritual promptings. I just wish they really new what they are missing. We also had Conference this week for the District of the Algarve and we got a new branch president here in Portimão. I´m sad because the last Branch President was really really good. Hopefully this new guy will be good too but only time will tell. The conference was a broadcast from Salt Lake and was just for Spain and Portugal. A few General Authorities spoke and then Elder Neilson spoke in the end. It was good and we had a bunch of investigators there too so it was great.
Also this week, the members have been commenting on those ties you guys sent me form Christmas. Everybody loves them so thanks!
I cant believe that Mikey survived that crash! Thats crazy! He may have lived through that but i´m going to kill him when i get home for wrecking my car!
We had a ping pong tournament this week weith one of our invetigators and a member and i won. I felt bad because i beat the investiagor in the finals.At the end of the game i tried to let him win but by then it was too late.
According to the box i dont really need much of anything. If it would help you guys could go without sending one and save that money for something else. The only thing i need is socks and some study supplies but i can buy those here. I probably will buy those this week or next so please watch my account to see if i go over. I´ve tried not to use any money for a while but now stuff is starting to fall apart. Dont worry, i´ll be thrifty!
Other thank that there isn´t much more to write. I´m feeling more comfortable with the language everyday and i just keep trying to improve.Obrigado por tudo!
Com amor
Élder Haws
Sounds like a lot happened in just this past week! As you can probably tell,we didn´t have Zone Conference today but we will have it tomorrow so we didn´t escape it altogether. It shouldn´t be too bad but i dont think it will be a whole lot of fun either. We haven´t been baptizing like we should so we´ll see what happens.
This week we talk the same number of lessons and saw some prgress with some of our investigators. In fact, our district´s numbers are the highest in the Algarve! Of course we have the Zone leaders in our district so that helps.The couple that is close to baptism hasn´t moved mush since last week. They still have doubts about a few things but the wife is really close. They just have problems with feeling ready. They´ve recieved more spiritual conformations than any person alive but still wont accept to be baptized.It´s really frustrating because we love them and want them to have the blessings that come from membership but they have a hard time recognizing and accepting spiritual promptings. I just wish they really new what they are missing. We also had Conference this week for the District of the Algarve and we got a new branch president here in Portimão. I´m sad because the last Branch President was really really good. Hopefully this new guy will be good too but only time will tell. The conference was a broadcast from Salt Lake and was just for Spain and Portugal. A few General Authorities spoke and then Elder Neilson spoke in the end. It was good and we had a bunch of investigators there too so it was great.
Also this week, the members have been commenting on those ties you guys sent me form Christmas. Everybody loves them so thanks!
I cant believe that Mikey survived that crash! Thats crazy! He may have lived through that but i´m going to kill him when i get home for wrecking my car!
We had a ping pong tournament this week weith one of our invetigators and a member and i won. I felt bad because i beat the investiagor in the finals.At the end of the game i tried to let him win but by then it was too late.
According to the box i dont really need much of anything. If it would help you guys could go without sending one and save that money for something else. The only thing i need is socks and some study supplies but i can buy those here. I probably will buy those this week or next so please watch my account to see if i go over. I´ve tried not to use any money for a while but now stuff is starting to fall apart. Dont worry, i´ll be thrifty!
Other thank that there isn´t much more to write. I´m feeling more comfortable with the language everyday and i just keep trying to improve.Obrigado por tudo!
Com amor
Élder Haws
Monday, February 1, 2010
Fevereiro!
Hey Family,
January is over! that means i´m one more month closer to spring here in Portugal. When i first got here i thought it would be great to see the winter here because it always rans and its cool but now i´m definitly ready for summer!
This week was really good for us here in Portimão. We started the week with a district meeting with our new zone leaders (our district is made up of us and the zone leaders) and it wen t pretty well. One of them has the same amount of time in the mission as me but is from Cabo Verde so he speaks perfectly. We came in at the same time so he always calls me his brother.He´s a six foot six inch black man so it must have looked funny with the two of us walking down the street together last week. And while we were walking down the street he he told me i spoke well and that i´m going to train next transfer but i´m almost certain he was joking because i dont think Heavenly Father would trust me with a "Greenie", at least not yet. It was also a really great week for lessons too. we taught 22, which is more lessons than i have every taught here in Portimão so things are starting to look.
We also found out that one of our investigators recieved a testimony of the church this week so hopefully we´ll have a baptism here soon. We´re all praying for her here because her husband still isn´t ready for baptism. He´s catholic so it´ll be tough but at the same time he´s brazilian so maybe we´ll get lucky. We also found out that next week we weill have zone conference on monday instead of P-day so i dont know when i´ll have time to E-mail next week. I dont imagine that President Torgan would keep us from e-mailing but dont be surprised if you dont get an email till tuesday or wednsday next week.
I also took the opportunity to weigh myself last week and i found out that i lost 10 pounds from the time i left the MTC. I weighed 195 (i was fat) and now i weigh between 180 and 185 (so i´m still fat). The scale also measured my height but i´m not sure how accurate it was because it said i was 5´9".
This week we also had a dinner appointment at a member´s house that was amazing. In fact, it was probably the best dinner appointment i have every had on my mission. The family we visisted is a portuguese family that lived in the U.S. for about ten years so everyone except for the youngest child speaks english. It was almost as if we took a trip to America for an hour and a half. It was great. They were actually baptized a long time ago by a missionary from Idaho and they went to Rick´s college so they know Idaho pretty well. We had a great time with them and shared a really good message and it ended up being one of the highlights of the week. This week we also tried to make those brownies you guys sent me but they didn´t turn out well.Our oven didnt work and we didn´t want to go to the church to use their oven like we normally do because it was Sunday so we decided to try and cook them on the stove. Obviously it didnt work but we enjoy eating the half cooked brownie batter!
By the way, who is Jon Shiply marrying and when did he get back from his mission?
Anyway, thats it for news here. Today we´re going to spend the day with the zone leaders and some other Elders so it should be fun. Thanks for all the emails, love, and support. I love you guys.
Élder Haws
January is over! that means i´m one more month closer to spring here in Portugal. When i first got here i thought it would be great to see the winter here because it always rans and its cool but now i´m definitly ready for summer!
This week was really good for us here in Portimão. We started the week with a district meeting with our new zone leaders (our district is made up of us and the zone leaders) and it wen t pretty well. One of them has the same amount of time in the mission as me but is from Cabo Verde so he speaks perfectly. We came in at the same time so he always calls me his brother.He´s a six foot six inch black man so it must have looked funny with the two of us walking down the street together last week. And while we were walking down the street he he told me i spoke well and that i´m going to train next transfer but i´m almost certain he was joking because i dont think Heavenly Father would trust me with a "Greenie", at least not yet. It was also a really great week for lessons too. we taught 22, which is more lessons than i have every taught here in Portimão so things are starting to look.
We also found out that one of our investigators recieved a testimony of the church this week so hopefully we´ll have a baptism here soon. We´re all praying for her here because her husband still isn´t ready for baptism. He´s catholic so it´ll be tough but at the same time he´s brazilian so maybe we´ll get lucky. We also found out that next week we weill have zone conference on monday instead of P-day so i dont know when i´ll have time to E-mail next week. I dont imagine that President Torgan would keep us from e-mailing but dont be surprised if you dont get an email till tuesday or wednsday next week.
I also took the opportunity to weigh myself last week and i found out that i lost 10 pounds from the time i left the MTC. I weighed 195 (i was fat) and now i weigh between 180 and 185 (so i´m still fat). The scale also measured my height but i´m not sure how accurate it was because it said i was 5´9".
This week we also had a dinner appointment at a member´s house that was amazing. In fact, it was probably the best dinner appointment i have every had on my mission. The family we visisted is a portuguese family that lived in the U.S. for about ten years so everyone except for the youngest child speaks english. It was almost as if we took a trip to America for an hour and a half. It was great. They were actually baptized a long time ago by a missionary from Idaho and they went to Rick´s college so they know Idaho pretty well. We had a great time with them and shared a really good message and it ended up being one of the highlights of the week. This week we also tried to make those brownies you guys sent me but they didn´t turn out well.Our oven didnt work and we didn´t want to go to the church to use their oven like we normally do because it was Sunday so we decided to try and cook them on the stove. Obviously it didnt work but we enjoy eating the half cooked brownie batter!
By the way, who is Jon Shiply marrying and when did he get back from his mission?
Anyway, thats it for news here. Today we´re going to spend the day with the zone leaders and some other Elders so it should be fun. Thanks for all the emails, love, and support. I love you guys.
Élder Haws
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