Week 19: A Baptism

We did get baptisms yesterday!!!
Filipe and Luciano! I attached a photo of us. I baptized Filpe on the left and Elder Phillipy baptized Luciano who looks a lot like Will Smith when he was on the Fresh Prince of Belair (Belaire? (I dunno how to spell that word) It was a crazzzzzy Sunday!! They went from being firmes to calling and saying they couldn't come to church and haing their crazy uncle lie to us that they weren't home and their really old Evangelic Grandma screaming they lieing was bad and that they were there and all sorts of crazy stuff!! I don't have close to enough time to write it all so that will be a story you can ready from my journal here in 20ish months or so!

I miss all of you so much. Elder Phillipy also left this morning to go to Londrina cause he is done with his mission!! That seems so crazy and so far away for me and he thought the same thing and can't believe he is going home. I don't know who is coming here yet or if I'm going somewhere. I imagine I'll stay here because that's how it usually works so there is someboyd who already knows the area. I can't believe that I'm starting my third transfer already! I'm officially done training and going to be a junior companion probably. Though...people have trained on only their third transfer...it's not common though. I really hope I don't because my Portuguese isn't that good yet. I want a Brazilian companion next though. That will help my Portuguese a lot! Elder Phillipy and I almost always spoke English, we shouldn't have but he needed practice before he went home :)

I'm supposeldy suppose to get an email about my transfer and so i'm waiting for it right now..I hope I get it so I can tell you what's happening!

So..this past week was super fast! IT hsan't been raiing as much as it should and it's super hot. Hotter than it's been the whole time. I've gotten some gross looking sun spots on my hand even though I'm putting lots of sunscreen on. The tan line on my neck is awesome too. It goes from super tan to super white about midway up, it looks good.

My companion will be Elder Nubie. I'm not sure if it's spelled correctly or not because I was only told by the Zone leader and don't think I'll get an email. He's an American, so that's too bad. Oh well, we've got quite a few potential baptisms here so that'll be our focus here for the next transfer. I also want to try and teach a few of Luciano and Felipes friends cause it's a lot easier that way than finding people on the street.

Take care! Tchau,
Elder Haws

Week 18: Finally?

Last week we found these awesome kids named Felipe(18), Luciano(15) and Mateus(12). They are super accepting of the lessons and just want to do what is right in the eyes of God. Its crazy how their outlook is so.. right, realizing that what God wants for us is far more important than anything else. They are al set to be baptized this Saturday! they are living the commandments, even the law of chastity which is super rare in Brazil, and they really really liked church in Sunday. Its was a bit wierd cause they came in simming suits (everybody wears them like regular shorts around here because they see Americans wearing them and dont realize its only becuase they are going to go swimming soon) and soccer jerseys. Not everybody wears shirts and ties to church anyways so they didnt stand out too much.

Its cool to see how the Lord guides the work. We looked and looked for new people, clapped at i dont even know how many doors trying to find people to baptize and got nowhere and then last thursday or friday we met this kid Luciano at Paulos house casue they are firends and then went to his house the next day and met all his brothers too. We cant do anything unless its what the Lord wants.

Elder Phillipy will be heading home to washignton here this next monday, so i dont know how that will work with the end of the transfer and getting a new campanion and all but thats knind fo how it works as a missionary. whenever they say something we instantly obey and do whatever it is they asked of us.

Hope you all have a great week!!

 

P.S. It would be super cool to get letters from some/any/all of you. or your friends. Or their friends.

 

Elder Haws

Week 16 +17

Week 16

Woah emails were crazy this week! I got scary stories thrown my way but everything ended up ok, so that makes them bareable! Just goes to show that we never know what will happen and we need to be living the right way, the way we know we should, ALL THE TIME!
Paulo didn't end up getting baptized. he passed the interterview though. He is so ready to be baptized. he understands everything so well and is obeying all the commandments. He's just afraid of smoething and we aren't sure what. At first, he said he was afraid to ask his dad but then he asked him and then he said his mom mightn ot let him and we talked to her and she's okay with it and is actually a bit interested in the church. So now he just says he wants to think about it more and decide. I feel like he's telling the truth. The big thing is that he has prayed and gotten an answer and knows that he needs to be baptized, that is the right thing to do. We are working with him and going to help him get baptized the second he finally decides about it. Which could be sometime this week.
I found a new guy names Anderson who seems to have a lot of potential to be baptized. He has a way good base of doctrine and knows a lot about prayers and hot they are answered. Elder Pearcy and I found him on Tuesday when doing a division. Other than that, not a lot happened this week. It's been super hot and hasn't rainied except once this week. It was at night so we luckily didn't have to be out in it. But it was so hard that there was a foot of water on some of the roads and some rads basically got closed because they got so much dit piled up on them that cars can't get past. But the city doesn't do much about it so they weren't actually closed off...people just put broken trees in from of them and piles of trash so that people don't go that way. Maybe this next week they will get all cleaned off.
I also tried making cookies which worked decent enough. I miexed the sugar and butter and was going to cream it like the reciped said until I realized I don't even know what that means, or how to do it. Is it even possible with just a fork? Cause that's all we have to mix stuff with. Anyways, the cookies turned out ginda grainy or gritty but compared to Brazilian cookies they were really good and the people loved them. One of the members, Vanessa, says that I have a face of a cook. I'm not sure what it means but it's better than having an "angry face" like she says Elder Phillipy has.
Last pday I bought a ping pong paddle because the ones that came with thte table here are just thing planks fo wood and that's it Every capela has a ping pong table so I figured I would be playing enough to make it work the 30 reais. whihc is only like 15 bucks.
I'm loving the work and trying reallly hard. A mission is by far the hardest thing I've ever done but I'm about as happy as I've ever been also.
These past two days have been asesome also because they went back an hour because it is becoming fall and so it feels like I'm getting to sleep in a little bit every day. Remember to say your prayers in the morning!
Elder Haws

Week 17

Eu estou ficando gordo (I'm getting fat!), it's only 4 or 5 kg, but it's also only been four months. Speaking of wihch, I've bene in Brazil for four months alreay!
It feels like it's gone by really fast...kind of. Time is different on the mission. The only day of the week that has any sort of change is P-day and so the rest of the days are pretty blended together. Although, I heard Mumford and Sons playing the other day and it was so awesome! It was the song Wait for You, if that's what it is called. I miss music a lot more thatI thought I would. I've grown to like MoTab a lot more though. Plus, MoTab invites the Spirit, which Mumford and Sons doesn't-which is super improtant. Without the Spirit, we would be wasting our time here! It's only the Spirit that converts the people, we just help them to realize what it is that they are feeling.
We have a couple new investigators that we are really excited about except that his paretns are super Catholic and don't want us to go back to their house ever again. His name is Fernando and he is 27, I think. We also started teaching a family with a whole bunch of sons. The lessons are going reallly well but they didn't come to church yesterday, so if the oldest son still wants to be baptized, he would have to wait another week.
They have to go to church at least twice before they get baptized.
Well..that's all I've got to say this week!
Hope you're all doing great.
Com Amor
Elder Haws

Week 15

Oi!

This week has been Carnival here. It started on Thursday night and lasts until Tuesday night. Honestly, we aren't in the part of the city that has all the crazy stuff going on. We ahve seen some really crazy costumes and some floats and stuff but nothing too crazy! The real day of Carnival is tomorrow though, the rest are just kind of carnival-ie.

We have decided to cut some of our investigators after they, once again, didn't come to church. It's pretty hard, cause i know that they are just lazy and not bad people. Oh well. Maybe we planted a seed for future missionaries in the area.

On the other hand, Paulo (14) has agreed to get baptized this weekend!! It's planned for Saturday right now! I really really am excited for him! His sister, Suzana (17), is pretty interested in the messages too but hasn't come to church yet. We had a Noite Familiar last week again that they both came to, as well as their dad, also named Paulo. They really really liked it. We also found out he already knows one of the members of the ward who is a soccer coach and so we are trying to find a time he can go talk to the family with us.

It's weird how much has changed in the last two months in the field. The fist days felt soo long and I thought we were getting so much done. Then it felt like they were so short and we were getting so little done. Now it's switched yet again! The days are so long and we work and talk to so many people but we are still not getting enough done! There's so much to do and we can only work for so long each day. We study doctrine and how to teach and Portuguese until lunch, usually at a member's house, and then we teach until we go home again to plan for the next day and then are in bed by 10:30. The days are super long and I'm always so happy to be able to sleep, but at the same time I wish we could do more every day..I guess that's the life of a missionary though. We only get two years to do this!

I hope ya'll are doing great!

Elder Haws

Week 14: The Transfer Revealed

Oi Familia!

Out chapel just got a ping pong table so I'm super excited for that!! We are going to go play for a little bit today with some other elders since it's p-day. We also are going to take some snacks from teh assai store near by and have a grand ole time. I had a schawarma for lunch today, its kind of like a pita sandwich thing but arabian. Its really good stuff! My first transfer ends today!! For my second I will be...in the city of...Bauru! with Elder...Phillipy again!! Only two people in the city changed for this transfer. This one will probably end weird for me because Elder Phillipy goes home in only 5 weeks. Which means I'll probably go with him to Londrina at the end for a day or two to switch companions. There's also the chance I will stay here in a threesome for a couple days too. Nobody will know until the day bdfore probably!

Also, I found out that I'm not supposed to email people as much as I have been so if you guys want to send out the emails I send to people that would be cool and helpful.

And one last thing, I forgot that hte mission headquarters says to have packages sent to the missionaries houses and not HQ.

None of our investigators are progessing these days. We might cut all of them and go try to work in a different part of our area. They are all great people htough. Paulo wants to be baptized but he is only 14 and his dad says that he should wait a while. Maria Eduarda is still kinda afraid of being baptized and likes to go to other churches with her friends so there's not much we can do for her. Her mom had a great week though. We were talking to her and she bore such a strong testimonry that she wants to be a better example to her kids and go to church every single week, rain or shine.

Brazilians have this thing when it rains, they stop everything. Nobody goes to church or leaves the house or anything. So this Sunday was a great test for her! Elder Phillipy and I left the house at 7 to catch the bus and it was really dark, darker than usual but we didn't think much about it. While we were at the bus stop it started raining like crazy and we wished we woulda thought to take a rain coat or umbrella or something.But we didn't and we just tried to stay under the bus stop covering. We rode the bus to the members house, Fabio, who was going to help us pick people up and then went and got Vanessa (mother of Maria Eduarda, Vitor and Andre Luis). The kids didn't come because it was raining but she did! it was fast and testimony meeting and she bore such a great testimony. It wsa so powerful! And with 15 minutes to go, EVERYBODY had born their testimonies. So the bistop started staring at Elder Phillipy. He went up and tried to take up a lot of time but only took up like 6 or 7 minutes. Then everybody stared at me. Not just hte ishop and his couselors but all the members too! It was so awkward! So I went up and bore my testimony too, or at least tried to mumble anything in Portuguese that i could, and then sacrament was over. Because of the rain there was probably less than 40 people but it was still kinda weird to have all of them staring at me! I'm really happy Vanessa is doing this for her kids, she will be such a good example.

We also got this guy William to become active in church again, he was working like three jobs and he finally quite one so that he can have Sunday morning open for church! HE's going to be great to have in the ward and will be able to help us teach investigators too!!

We organized a noite familiar last Thursday night and go two families to go to it. They all had a good time but we had to leave after giving a quick message and teaching them how to play a game so we could get home on time.

Paula and her kids, Igor, Josi and Rafael, and his Fiance, Ana, are a way fun family but aren't reading the Book of Mormon. they keep promising they will. Paula found out that I had my birthday her ein Brazil and never had a cake so they made me one and sang me Happy Birthday and stuff! It was super good coconut cake. I just feel bad because right before they gave us cake we gave them a kinda intense lessonabout how we are here to help them follow Christ and be baptized and they can know that everything we say is true if they would just read the book and kind of guilt tripped them for not having read it yet. But the cake certainly lightened the mood afterwards!

That's how mu week went! I'm always busy and always tired but somhow keep going! I don't even want to know how I'll feel after two years of this!

Love you all!
Elder Haws

Week 13: End of Transfer 1..Again

Well this transfer will be 7 weeks long instead of just 6. It stared a week early because of Christmas. So next Monday we all find out about transfers and then do whatever we need to on Tuesday for it. Elder Phillipy only has five 6 weeks left including this one that just started, so I'll probably be getting a different companion bu nobody knows for sure. It is whatever the Mission president feels inspired to do!

Not a lot happened this week. Jennifer cut us, she doesn't want to only pray to God, she likes praying to Mary also. None of our investigators are progressing because they won't read the Book of Mormon, but we planned this week really well and think we can get them to make specific goals instead of just accepting the invite to read. It did rain on three days that we thought it wouldn't and so didn't take rain jackets or an umbrella. Speaking of which, the mission president and his wife were in Bauru last week and she stole my my umbrella. (yes stole, took without asking :O) and I have no idea where it ended up so I, once again, don't have an umbrella. So those three days I got soaked. When we were coming home on Thursday, it started to rain and within 10 seconds was the hardest rain I've seen in my life. The drops were huge! We ran the last couple blocks to the bust stop which was partially covered but then it stated to be windy too and it didn't help much. Next the gutter got full and the whole road was covered with water and looked like a river but then it decided the road was too small for it and stared taking over the sidewalk too! Waterproof shoes only work if the water can't go over the top. Once that happens, it would be better if they weren't water proof because all they do is keep all the water in and make your shoes weigh a ton!

I hope this next week goes better, we just need to find new people to teach. We can easily keep all the ones we teach right now and add probably 20 more if it ever stops raining so we have a  chance to meet them.

My Portuguese is definitely improving! I can almost always understand people but still have a hard time getting my point across, its much harder to speak than understand! For me at least. I'm out of time. Hope you all are doing well!

Tchau,
Elder Haws

Week 12: End of Tranfser 1

Tyler with his Stake President,
Pres. Maughan, after being
set apart as a missionary!

It's already the last week of the transfer! Wow that went by fast! We didn't have a baptism this past week but kinda did: she wanted Elder Phillipy to baptize her for some reason even though he only did the baptismal interview with her. So we did have one but not really. We did get close though! Maria Eduarda, the 9 year old, who just turned 10 on Saturday, had an interview and passed but was scared and so didn't get baptized. She probably will this Sunday though!! Also we have been teaching Paulo for a while now and he FINALLY went to church with us! He has had all the lessons and wants to get baptized next week too! In D&C 18 it says how great will be your job in the kingdom of my father, talking about if we bring save it be one soul unto him (I don't have my scriptures so I hope those quotes are right)! When Paulo said he wanted to be baptized I felt that joy! It's different than any other happiness or joy I have ever felt! Way more than just a happy or excited feeling. It starts in your soul and then finds its way to your heart and spreads out from there. I don't even know how to describe it. The Lord keeps His promises to us and I can testify to the validity of that one. And he hasn't even been baptized yet!! We also found another girl who wants to be baptized but can only teach her on Sunday nights so it's difficult, she's 18, I think, and has the most awesome family! They live in the nice area of the city, not out in pq. Jarugua where we usually work. They even fed us dinner after our lesson with them! They are a very very Catholic family and the kids seem more receptive than the parents but we shall just wait and see what happens! I'm out of time!! I wish you each the best upcoming week!

Tchau
Elder Haws