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