Week 65

Hello!!

This week was, once again, super fast!

We had two divisions this week! Elder Morgan went with a zone leader to another city for two days and the first day I was in our area with our district leader, Elder Arf. The second day, I stayed with the other zone leader, Elder Hendrix, here in Bauru until our companions got back. They had a really cool investigator family that we taught and gave blessings to the Mom and daughter so they could stop smoking. The assistants also came to Bauru on Saturday and stopped by our chapel. We were there because WE BAPTIZED JOSE!!

He was baptized on Saturday night, everything went great except that not many members were there...there was going to be a birthday party for a girl turning 5 in the ward but the people were there in the chapel were busy setting that up so we only had like 5 people to watch the baptism. I'll send a picture of it next week.

We have another baptismal date marked with Sidinei, he's a kid we've been talking to for a long time but kind given up trying to teach or baptize him because his mom wouldn't let it happen. But now, his mom has warmed up and we have Tuesday night at 8 marked for his baptism. I think it might have to be like on Friday or something though because the chapel will already be used on Tuesday night. Unfortunately, Jose got sick on Saturday night and had to go to the hospital. He stayed there until probably 3 or 4 in the afternoon and couldn't go to church to be confirmed :( We've been trying a lot harder to leave with the members and actually did better this week! We still have a lot of room to improve though.

Next week will be transfers and we have no idea what will happen! Just reminder: send letter to the mission office in case I get transferred.

Thanks for the love and support!

Elder Haws

Week 64

Alright so this past week.... José was not baptized unfortunately. We do know that the biggest problem he has is his family though. Nobody supports him. He´s 63 and lives with his 90-ish year old mom and brother. They are a really interesting family. Everybody always says that the other ones having a problem in the head, like a mental problem but that they themselves don't; it's pretty funny. He really likes church though and went to all three classes this week. The best thing is that he lives about a block from the church and shows up at about 8:35, which is great! Except that all the members here show up at 8:59.... So he sat there alone for a while when we went to go and get more investigators. We did mark a date with him to be baptized this Saturday, though he´s still a little shaky about it. We had our district leader here to help us Sunday night and that is when we finally set a goal for this Saturday

.

We also have another possible baptism this week. He is a cousin of our ward mission leader that just barely moved to Bauru. He wants to be baptized and so we´ve been talking to him about it and will try and help him be baptized this Sunday!

Dad I heard a funny story about teeth pulling this past week that you could do for Ali. Just tell her that you need to tie a string to it for over night so it stays on tight and ten if its still there in the morning she can pull the string and it will come right out! then, as you are tying the string to her tooth you pull it out right then! and its already done! haha

I truly believe that the prayers helped José this week. Everyday when we talked to him he had a reason to quit and give up on everything, however through all these difficulties he still stopped drinking coffee, hasn't drank more alcohol and still went to church! Its been a miracle! Though the miracle isn't over yet because he still hasn't been baptized.

We have a family that we are teaching that are elites as well. They are Adriana(50-ish) and Antonio(53) and their son Gabriel who is 9. They are reading the Book of Mormon, recognize the spirit and have looked for a very long time for the right church but never feel like they found it. They had basically given up searching and then we showed up! The still hadn't been able to go to church but they told us that they wouldn't be able to for 2 weeks the first day we were there so its okay. This Sunday they will go though; I'm really excited for what will happen with them!

The prayers really did help because we had three investigators at church, which for Elder Morgan and I is the most ever(which is sad, we should have more success that that)!

 

Thank you so much for all you do for me. I know for sure that your prayers helped us a lot this week!

I love you all and want you all to know that I have a testimony of this church and this gospel. That Jesus lives and loves each one of us and always sends help to people who are worthy and in need.

Com amor,

Elder Haws

Week 63

This week was a fast one again! We had a day where all the missionaries in Bauru went to the Bauru ward and helped out the Elders there trying to find new investigators and invite a lot of people to churh. After doing that on Tuesday, it felt like it was already the weekend and now its p-day!

I was with Elder Jewell for teh day where we all worked in the same ward. He's a cool guy. Its been a while wince I had a really fun division with somebody.

I got a Christmas card from the Cooks and one from the First Presidency!!

We got a new person to church this week. His name is Jose and he is 63. He only went to church to get us to leave him alone. He just wanted to stay in the Catholic church where he is a member but never actually goes. However, he really liked the meeting and said that if he feels like God wants him to bebaptized there he would do it. He really liked the meeting though he only stayed for Sacrament Meeting.

The interviews went well! It helped me to feel better about how I'm doing and know that God is happy with us when we give Him 100% effort. He also has a very special love for missionaries and can help us in special ways as we do our best and ask Him for help and guidance.

Also, I wanted to mention that in 3 weeks we will have transfers. So this should be the last week that you send stuff to me directly here in Bauru. After this week it would be safer to send it to the mission office just in case I get transferred. Elder Morgan and I got here at the same time so nobody knows who will leave when!

I love you all and would like to ask for your prayers this week that I can have the Spirit with me and recognize it to know how to help Jose as well as our oher investigators get baptized.

Com Amor,
Elder Haws

Week 62

Hello Family!!

That was a super fast week! We went on splits this psat week. On Thursday, Elder Arf, our district leader, and Elder De Los Santos, one of our Zone leaders came here and worked with us. We did so much that day that the whole rest of the week is just a blur.

Our numbers got a lot better this week! However, the number most important (BAPTISMS) was still a zero :( We got a lot more new investigators which means that our teaching pool is a lot bigger and we can get more people to church. That has been our biggest struggle: getting people to church.
We've been knocking A LOT of doors here unfortunately. It's really not effective. We try an talk to people on the street that are just walking around rather than actually clapping in front of peoples houses ( they all have walls and gates so you have to clap). When you knock on a door I feel like the person already is slightly unhappy to see you because you disturbed them from what they were doing in their house.

We might have found a baptism last night! We were walking past a little garden square thing and a little kid said hi to us. Then he said that his aunt was there and her name was Natalia. We know a Natalia who is a member of the ward here so we asked him about her. She was sitting at the other end of the park and it turns out that she is his aunt! He has already been to church in the past but hasn't been able to go recently. He really likes the church and wants to be baptized but his mom is very super catholic lady and wouldn't let him. However, he doesn't live with his mom. He only lives with his dad! We marked a time to pass by his house this week and talk to him and his dad. We'll see how that goes, if it goes well he could be baptized this week!!

I love you all and thank you for your support!

Elder Haws

Week 61

Hello! Happy New Year's (almost)

This past week we had a family all lined up to go to church but then the mom got called into work and they didn't come to church. The dad had some swelling in his ankles and feet and also arms and hand sand so had to go to the hospital on Sunday to get it under control because it was causing him a lot of pain. We just happened to pass by their house and their kids told us that they were at the hospital. We went to the hospital and spoke to the mom but the dad was still in a line to get examined and we couldn't enter that area to speak with him. It wasn't anything life threatening though.

On a sadder note: we were notified today that Elder Thomas, (I lived in the same house as him when I was in Bela Vista (my first area) and who was my zone leader) who went home 2 transfers ago, got in a car wreck on a highway in Idaho. He and his friend were in a the car and both died instantly. Life changes fast, include his family in your prayers and ask that they can be comforted with this tragedy.

This week we are still trying to get a lot more new investigators. We've been having a hard time finding new people that are interested and so we'll focus on talking to everybody and finding out if they are truly interested.

I wish you all a very happy new year and suggest that you all make some goals for this next year! Make sure you make some that are realistic, worthwhile and mearsurable (that you can track your progress). Also if its a year long goal make sure you have a check-in every month to see where you are and what you need to change to make your goal!!

Com Amor
Elder Haws

Week 59

Hello Loved Ones-

My birthday with our little christmas tree and our
electric christmas tree on the wall!!

My first week as a 21 year old was...very straining! This week was mentally draining though physically very easy because we worked only on a couple of streets and spoke with every single person that lived or walked on the street while we were there. Though we didn't have much success with getting new investigators or people who wanted to go to church, we only had one.

Today we found out that we will have Christmas conference on the 23rd so I don't think I'll be able to email next p-day...

As of now..I believe Elder Morgan and I will stay together this next transfer! Unless its like last transfer where the email didn't work and the zone leaders had to call everybody. However, I don't think that's the case!! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to watch the Christmas devotional yesterday but I'm sure it was good.

Me sitting on some nice bricks
drinking some soda out of a bag!

This past week we had a cool lesson about actions, words and thoughts and about how powerful our thoughts really are. We are going to judged for all three of these things, which means we need to control them all!

Alma 12:14 says: "Porque nossas palvras no condenarao, sim, todas as nossas obras nos condenarao; nao seremos considerados sem mancha e nossos pensamentos tambem nos condenarao; e nesse terrivel estado nao nos atreveremos a olhar para o nosso Dues; e dar-nos-iamos por felizes se pudessemos ordenar as pedras e montanhas que caissem sobre nos, para cesconder-nos de sua presenca. (look it up in English :) )

We'd rather have mountains on top of us that have to be in front of us if only our thoughts are bad, no need to consider our words or actions!


This store is called ´´Your Face´´

We need to control our mind and our thoughts because that is what governs all other things. One interesting analogy is to think of good and bad as light and dark. The only reason things become dark is absence of light. When the light shows up, the darkness can't do anything against the light, it immediately  leaves.

As we read the scriptures each day we fill our mind with light that forces the darkness to leave our mind. We have better and more Godly thoughts and make progress towards our eternal goals.

I wish you happy holiday wishes and thank you for your support!

Elder Haws






Our Day at the Zoo

Weird bird at Zoo

Week 58

Hello!!

It's already week five of the transfer! This transfer will end next Monday so that all the people going home can get there before Christmas and not ON Christmas! It is weird to think I turned 21 yesterday!! I've become a full adult! In the US, I'd be allowed to enter bars and stuff now, but here in Brazil the law is different and I've been able to for 3 years already!! haha

Wow looks like its been freezing there!! It's been really hot here! Normally hitting 35 every day. Even the people who live here are saying that this is waaaay hotter than it normally is.

This past week flew by! Nothing really special happened, unfortunately. We're having a lot of difficulty getting people to church here. We meet great people and have great lessons with them but they aren't going to church. Something always comes up or they just won't answer the door because they are asleep or something in the mornings. It's super frustrating! If they don't go to church we can't baptize them!

We're trying to work with the members a lot too but it's pretty tough to get them to schedule with us. However, the members are really cool here, they always offer us food and water and ask if we need anything! They are just really busy.

Last night, I made myself a cake for my birthday and it was pretty good. I'll have to send a picture next week. I forgot to bring my camera to the LAN house.

Thanks for all the support and love from you guys.
With love and lots of heat from Brazil,

Elder Haws