Throwing It Down

Hey Family,

It was great talking to you guys yesterday, but now it seems weird that i get to email today, but i´m not complaining.

This week was a pretty normal week for us. We spent most of the week trying to find some new people to teach because the people we had been teaching just seemed to have disappeared. We talked to José yesterday in the street but he seemed a lot different than he normally is, so we´re a little worried about him. But we set an appointment up for Saturday so hopefully we´ll know more about whats going on with him then. The famiyl we taught and had a miralce with(Elena and Zinda) turned out to be somewhat of a bust. We went by and talked to Elena, and she seemed pretty much the same as always. We talked to her for a while but it wasnt long before we realized that she wasn´t an elect. She talked about how she´s a philosophy major and how she has alot of doubts about religion and has few certainties about anything(i hate Philosophy). She also complained about how bad her life is and pretty much blamed God for it all. At this point in my mission i feel i can say i love the people, but when they start saying thinjgs like that i kind of lose my patience. I know that sounds funny because as a kid i whinned, pouted, and pitted myself too(thanks mom, dad and family for YOUR patience), but something about it ticks me off. So when she let me talk i "threw it down" as stated by Elder Smith. I wasnt mean or angry when i spoke, but i tried to get the point across. And i dont remember alot of what i said, but i remember that i just started talking and things started coming to mind. I talked alot about how God is our Heavnly Father and how we dont need to doubt anything, especially his love for us, because he knows us and wants to help us get answers to our questions. I also told her that i´ve had trials in my life, but that i never let those things cause me to question my faith. So i talked about that kind of stuff for a while, and when i was done, she had nothing else to say. So we said a prayer and invited her to church then left. As we were walking away Elder Smith was jumping up and down because he said the spirit was super strong in the lesson, but i was so tired from having to get up at 5:30 in the moring to go to Lisbon and back that i didnt pick up on it. We felt good about what we said but i just hope that something happens that opens her heart up.

But in happier news, our relief Society President didnt go inactive like she said she was going to. When she found out that the Stake president was coming to the branch next month to handle the problems with the crazy guy she decided to stay. She said she was going to leave because he had hinted to an inactive member that he was planning on killing all the members in the church here in Évora. She also was really frustrated because that same guy would scare people away from the church as soon as she would reactivate them. But now things seem to have cooled off. When we ate lunch with her this week she told us that she was really grateful that we called President Torgan and got things moving in the right direction. She told me last week that when i got here she felt that i would help change the branch, and then told me that i had done just that. But really i didnt do anything. I just called president Torgan because the Zone Leaders suggested that i do. But i didnt have the heart to tell her that, plus i dont think she would have accpeted that answer. But to be honest, it felt really good to finally be able to say that i had a large imapact in some way on someones life. Even if it was the Lord that did all the work.

But to the other news...

I got the Email from MIndy, and it looks like you guys got the right picture. But if you guys could develop two copies of it and send it to the following address as soon as possible, that would be great...

Élder Haws

Travessa do Tavolante, 22

7000-636 Évora

Portugal

I also got the info on the stuff Jenny wants me to get so i´ll be looking into that.

And thanks for the Pioneer stuff mom, its perfect!

Well, i think thats it for news. Thanks for all the love and prayers! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

The non-trunkey Élder Haws