Finally! A Family!

Hey Family,

I happy to say that this week was a big improvement from last week. We still had a few trials that came up here and there but over all i´m actually really happy with the work we´ve done this week. Hopefully we can keep it up.

I guess the biggest new this week is that we found a new family to teach. In all we found 4 new investigators, which is a big improvement from 0. But out of all of them i think the family was the real high point of the week. We found them by knocking doors but that doesnt describe the whole story. IN my third or fourth week here in this area we started knocking in a area of the city where the Elders had previously knocked a few transfers back, hoping we would find somebody to teach, because at the time(and presently) our investigator count isnt very good. But we ended up knocking into Fernanda, a non practicing catholic who wanted nothing to do with us but said we could come by the house she was moving to to say a prayer with her family. I didnt think much of it at the time because she didnt seem interested at all. But at the end of the transfer we went by her new apartment and ended up talking with her husband, who seemed more interested than Fernanda. But even so, we still didnt make a big effort to go back. But this Wednesday night, all of our plans had fallen through, so we decided to head over to this family´s house to see if we could set up an appointment to go by another day. But this time, when we knocked on their door, Fernanda´s sister who has already had some contact with the church answered the door. She asked if they could start "the studying" immediately, as in the next day when the whole family would be home. I thought it was kind of strange that she asked us to come back, especially when her sister seemed uninterested, but when went back the next day despite my doubts. But to my surprise the family was there and they were ready to listen. We found out too that they have a mother and sister who are already members of the church and that they went to church a few times back in the 90´s. We ended up talking to them for quite some time then marked an appointment to come back to he next day to teach Vanda´s(Fernanda´s sister) daughter too. When we left their house i was already day dreaming about bringing this family to church and getting them baptized, but the second lesson we had with them humbled me a little bit. I say that because when we invited them to church they gave us the answer that i´ve heard many times on my mission..."We´ll go someday". But some other elders in this mission have come to a conclusion that i completely agree with. It is as follows...There are two things that NEVER happen:1)I will call you & 2) we´ll go to church next Sunday(or another day).

But fell that they also have put a little but more importance on us helping the daughter with her english homework than the gospel. But i´m sure that if we keep praying and stay positive everything will work out.

The other two people we found this week was a single mother with a lot of problems and a crazy guy. I´m more excited about the mother than the crazy dude because the crazy guy didnt really accept what we said and only seems to want to get food or other stuff form the church. He also wouldn´t let us prayer, but made me recite some weird prayer with him instead that kind of sounded like the Lord´s prayer. So i´m not too excited to go back to his house but we´ll see what happens.

I´m glad you guys liked the pictures i sent last week. I know it had been a while since i sent some but lately i´ve only served in areas with really slow computers so its been tough.

And i guess Jenny´s email didnt get through because i didnt get one from her this week. Its not a problem i´m just worried Jenny is going to bust her computer. Thats all.

In other news, the Transfer is half over now. Is kind of hard to believe that because this has been one of the slowest transfers i´ve had in a while. Time just seems to drag by but i guess thats good because it makes my mission seem longer. :)

Well, I cant think of anything else new to tell you guys this week. Thanks for everything! Keep praying for us!

Eu amo Vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws

Surprise!

Hey Family,

Thanks for all the updates on everybody this week. Its nice to know that everybody is doing fine. We´re doing alright here but we just came off a pretty tough week.All in all, things were pretty normal this week. We went about working like we normally do but this week President Torgan gave the mission a few challenges that took a tole on us.

It all started on Tuesday night when we got a phone call from the zone leaders telling us that President Torgan had prayed and felt that he should challenge every area in the mission to find 20 new investigators this week. That wasn´t all that unexpected because we get challenges like that all the time from PT(President Torgan). But later in the week he prayed again and felt that every area in the mission had someone they could baptize before the end of the week. So he then challenged everyone to not only find 20 investigators but also to baptize before Sunday night. The first invite i readily accepted, even though our average new investigator count per week is 2. But i felt that having a bigger vision would push us and help us to improve. The second invite was a bit harder to accept because we have no one that is progressing quickly, if at all, towards baptism. But we accepted the challenge and prayed to see who the Lord wanted us to baptize. Unfortunately, no one came to mind that met all the requirements for baptism so we did our best to work hard and hope the Lord would show us who he wanted us to baptize this week. But, when Sunday came around, nobody had been baptized and we had found 0 new investigators. I took it pretty well at first but after i talked to our District leader i got to feeling pretty down. But i´ve decided i cant focus on it too much. I just have to get back to work and do better this week.

But in happier news we have two investigators that "showed signs of life" this week. One is a teenage kid that said he felt good when he read in the Book of Mormon for the first time and the other is an evangelical guy who got really interested in what we had to say when we started talking about life after death. We didnt have a lot of time to talk to either of them because they were both kind of busy but this week will be able to check up on them a little better. We also didnt get a chance to talk to Ofélia this week but we should hopefully be able to talk to her this week.

I also got a surprise visit yesterday at church from some people i knew. Mario, the guy i almost baptized in Setúbal but got baptized right after i left, showed up at our chapel yesterday because he found out i was serving near by. He and his wife Sandra showed up out of now where because they wanted to surprise me. I couldnt believe it when i saw them there in the chapel but it was great seeing them. They told me they missed me and that they haven´t quite enjoyed the other Elders like they enjoyed me and Elder Dalton. They also made sure to tell the Branch President that i was a great Elder and told them how i helped Mario get baptized. I felt a little embarrassed but i felt good that i had made a difference in somebody´s life. They also gave us a box full of cakes and gave us a ride home from church, which gave us time to talk. They´re doing really well, and Elder Thredgold told me later that he was surprised they are new members because they seemed like they were already really strong. Mario is the Young Mens president and has been helping the Elders. Since i´ve been gone they´ve baptized a bunch of youth so i guess he´s been helping out a bit. But it was strange because when they dropped us off after church i felt great but later i started feeling pretty down because i was home sick for Setúbal and because our week didnt go very well. But seeing and talking to that family really made me feel great. Recently i had been doubting my success and worth as a missionary, but it seems that Heavenly Father knew exactly what to do answer my doubts. Its actually kind of funny because he did the same thing when was doubting myself in Tavira. During that time we had a district conference and i got to see the members i baptized there too. So i guess it seems Heaven Father had been looking out for me all along!

So i see Mike is wearing glasses again. Is that an attempt and being fashionable to get more girls or did just get bored with contacts?

Well, today is Valetine´s day, which means my comp might get depressed.They have decorations and advertisements up of couples so it might make him homesick for his girlfriend. I pray it doenst. So this could be a long day and a long week but i´ll survive.

Well, i think thats it for news this week. Thanks for all the prayers and love. Dont stop praying for us! Eu amo vocês!

Com Amor,

Élder Haws

Big Changes

Hey Family,

The first week February and of this transfer are gone but i shouldn´t say i´m counting. In fact, Elder Torgersen(my old companion) called me this morning and told me we only had 17 weeks left in the mission. It was a strange feeling i got when i heard it because i finally realized my mission is winding down. But those thought s and feelings will disappear quickly as soon as we get back to work here. So you guys dont have to worry about me being trunkey!

But more important news, this week went pretty well for us. It seemed to last for an eternity but thats normal for the first week of a new transfer. We weren´t able to talk to the investigators we wanted to meet with(Ana Paula and Tiago), but we marked an appointment with Tiago´s entire family for tonight. I´m a little nervous for the lesson because i´m still not a hundred percent sure what we are going to say to them and because this lesson could determine if we will be able to baptize Tiago in the near future. But i know the Lord will help us out.

We also had a really neat experience last night that lead to us finding a new investigator. Lately its been tough to find new people to teach so when it comes time to start knocking doors, its hard to stay pumped. But President Torgan has given the mission lots of ideas on finding new people that have helped alot of missionaries out. One of those ideas is to offer prayers on homes and families which has given me alot of success on my mission. So last night we were knocking doors and offering these prayers trying to find someone who would talk to us. No one was really interested in anything we had to say, which is normal, that was until we found Ofélia. We knocked on her door and for some reason she seemed different from the other people we had talked to up to that point. She stood and listened to my entire contact and invitation and didnt interrupt me once!(which happens alot) But she accepted the prayer and told us a little about herself. She said that she was having some problems in her life so in the prayer i tried to follow the spirit and pray for the things she needed most. Then as we ended the prayer, i looked up and she was crying. I´m guessing that the spirit touched her because when we gave her a pamphlet and asked to come back she didnt hesitate in saying yes. And though this may not seem like a huge miracle, to me it was the exact blessing that i needed at that moment. So guess you could call that one of my "Little Wonders".

I also forgot to tell you guys something that we heard in the Zone conference two weeks ago. With such big news wouldn't think i would forget but i did. But as on July 1, 2011 the Portugal Lisbon Mission and the Portugal Porto mission will be combined to form the Portugal Mission. The general authority that announced it was very excited for the change because he said that it means the work in Portugal is improving greatly. President Torgan will be the Mission President of the newly created misison but i wont be here to see. it. Unfortunately i go home 3 weeks before. But at least i can feel satisfied knowing that i helped at least in some small way.

I heard that Jenny had to have surgery? What happened and is she going to be alright? I figured something was up when i didnt get an email form her because she only doesn't write when something disastrous happens(like the breaking of a camera :) ).

Well, i think thats about it for news. Thanks for all the love and support! Keep praying for us! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Élder Haws