No Pressure

Hey Family,

We just made it through week five here in Vasco which means that this is the last week of this transfer. The week went pretty well although nothing all that interesting happened but i wont complain.

We started off the week as normal, by going to district meeting on Tuesday and then heading back to work right after that. We had to ride on a bus for 45 minutes to get to the meeting, which takes alot of time out of our day, but in Portimão we had to take an hour and a half train ride so i´ll take what i can get. The meeting was pretty interesting, mainly because our district leader is really "Intense" and also because the Zone leaders showed up unannounced. The meeting was a little unorganized but we got to hear some great experiences the other Elders had in their areas over the past week. It was also great listening to over District Leader tell stories about how he resolved some of his investigators doubts. Like i said hes very "intense" and has no fear of saying or doing anything. Even the Zone leaders were impressed with how he worked. It was a great example to me because i know i need to be more like that.

But after the meeting on Tuesday, the rest of the week went by like normal. We tried to talk to Tiago but he was never home, even after we set up 2 or 3 appointments with his mom. Then on Saturday he mom told us he was going to be out of town until Wednesday so that put a kink in our plans for last week. Then, the other lady that we are teaching, Ana Paula, was out of town as well on the one we can talk to her. We had planned on Marking her because the last time we talked to her she was talking and asking questions about baptism. Shes the best friend of a member and has been taught by the elders for 4 months but has yet to go to sacrament meeting. Shes using the excuse that her husband is super atheist(I hear that alot) and always has plans on Sundays for them to be with friends. But that doesnt make sense because shes already been to Stake Conference and General Conference, both of which take more travel time. And this week our member that we teach her with is out of town so we cant talk to her(because we have to teach her in the members house). So we already have run into some road blocks this week but i´m not too worried. I´m sure that things are going to work out for us.

I´ve seen alot of changes in myself over these past few weeks. I´ve made a lot of little changes in the way i work and i think that they´ll bring some better results. For example, the Mission, and the church, have set a new standard in teaching that states that we should be inviting people to be baptized in the first lesson that we have with them. The mission has been pushing this for a while now but i´ve been slow to adapt. But this week i made plans to do this more and i actually did it once this week. The person didnt accept, but it helped us find out what their doubts were so now we can solve them.

In more random news, we were visiting a less active member last night who as health problems when i discovered something about my own health. This member has to take his own blood pressure multiple times a day because has heart problems so he has his own blood pressure,watch thing. As kind of a joke he put it on us to see how healthy we were and it turns out that my blood pressure is excellent. So i guess the stress of the mission hasn´t worn on me too much!

I also need to tell you guys that i need to pull out 40 euros for this week, but i promise that this will be the last time i pull out money. I´ve already made plans to not use any more money from my personal account so you can rest at ease. I´m sorry if this causes any problems.

Next week is transfers so i´ll probably be able to tell you guys whats happening when i email next Monday.

And be sure to tell Dad thanks for All-star email. It just may be the best email i´ve ever gotten. So thanks a ton Dad, you´re awesome!

Well, i think thats it for news. Sorry i dont have more to say but thats life here in Vasco da Gama. Thanks for all the love and prayers. Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws