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