2 on 2‏

Hey Family,

This week was a great week for us and we´re starting to see some hope here in Setúbal.

We didn´t see a whole lot of success when it came to numbers of lessons and people progressing but what we did see was two people who got marked for baptism! After 9 weeks we finally marked Mario for the 5th of July. We went to his house and had dinner with him and his wife, like we always do, then we taught a lesson to them where we marked him for baptism. For dinner we had rooster livers and chicken neck, which was weird, but i survived. The lesson we had started out strange because he brought up baptism then immediately said he wasn´t sure he wanted to be baptized because he wasn´t sure he wanted to follow the word of wisdom. He said it wsn´t a question of being able to, but more a question of desire. I prayed the whole time that Heavenly Father would inspire me to say the right thing, because at that time, i was clueless. Then, we he let me speak, i read a few scritpures to him that came to my mind and then just started talking. I didn´t really know where i was going with my speech, but it ended with us marking a date with him as a goal for baptism. Afterward i felt like i was on a high. Its still going to be a fight to get him baptized so i´m still a little worried but i know the Lord will help us out. We also went to see that Brazilian girl on Saturday, and the plan was to mark her for the next day, but we just ate dinner and left. We left right after dinner because it was 10:15 and the Mother in law had to go back and close up the building where she worked so i didnt think there was time. But a part of me felt that we should have tried to teach a lesson so afterward i felt pretty down. But the next day after church got out, i stopped the Brazilian girl and her dad and sat them down for a quick talk. I was a little worried because the dad always gives excuses when it comes to marking stuff but me and Elder Dalton were determined to mark his daughter. I started out by asking her if she wanted to be baptized and she quickly said yes, very enthusiastically. Then i asked the dad if he wanted her to be baptized and he reluctantly said yes. Those were the responses i anticipated so i told them that if they want it to happen, that we have to mark a date so we can work for it. The dad wasn´t liking the idea but after a bit of pushing we settled on a date. I got a feeling that this little girl is going to be hard to get in the water too because of the parents but we´re going to do our best to make she it happens.

We also had another lesson this week with our Brazilian family that we are teaching. We talked about baptism with them this week and they kind of freaked out. They started by saying they were already baptized into the catholic church so we had to explain that those baptisms weren´t valid. They really didnt like that so we had to explain just about everythingng we had taught them about the great apostasy again, but they still didnt like it very much. They kept saying the same things and asking the same questions but it never really got anywhere. But the strange thing was i wan´t nervous about teaching htat lesson like i normally am when we talk to people about baptism. I wasnt worried they would reject it or laugh or anything. I just felt calm and cool and confident. And even after the lesson i felt great even thought they didnt accept the invite because i had done everything i could. But i think the key to our success this week had a lot to do with the story Mikey sent me in his email last week. Every time we went into one of those lessons that story came to my mind and motivated me to stop "playing scared". Its funny because i realized that right now, i´m not playing 2 on 2, but more like 2 on 1 1/2 because i have a greenie as a comp. He tries hard and does a great job, but just doesnt have the language skills to help alot. If you guys don't understand what i´m talking about, you can ask Mikey and i´m sure he´ll tell you.

In other news, we had two sleep overs with the other Elders last week and they were pretty fun. On our P-day "division" we went around down town and we all bought "Gypsy Pants" (pictures to follow). They´re huge pants that girls wear here in the simmer time because they breathe really well, but they always have funky colors so missionaries always buy them as a joke. They´re way comfortable and have a super low crotch and look like MC Hammer pants. I also almost bought some jersies but they´re really expensive, so i wanted to ask you guys to check the prices for the red Portugal team jersey on line. If its cheaper to just get it off line at home, i´d rahter do that.

I´ve also goten alot of bug bites latley which is really annoying. Elder Dalton and I dont think they´re actually bug bites because he has been bitten at all so we´re thinking i might have an alergy to our laundry detergent. I know its probably not fleas because i think i had them in Cascais but these are different. I´ll keep you guys posted on the "bite" stautus.

Other than that i dont have much else to say. I got the box and uit was great. And i also got the pictures dad sent of Mikey.

Well, thanks for all the love and support. Eu amo vocês!

Élder Haws