Tuesday May 29

Hey Family,

Sorry about the short message last week. Our bus was an hour and a half late getting back from the Campinas Temple, so we were kind of rushed for time. I am loving the CTM so far. Elder Hunter is here and he gets to remove his dork dot tomorrow. Kyle Martin is on his way down right now, so I'll get to make fun of his blue dot for a week. Its good.

Mindy's letter got here last Thursday, and its actually in my bag which they recommend I don't remove from the CTM so I don't have it, but I'll still try to answer the questions I remember. I am living on the fourth floor with my companion who is going toFlorianopolis, a guy from Wisconsin going to Cuiba, and a guy from South Jordan and two Brazilians who are all going to Rio de Janerio North. My companion is Elder Bateman. He is from Provo. His family lives across the street from the Provo Temple and his grandpa is President Bateman, formerly of BYU. We talk a good bit about the cougars.

The flight from Atlanta to SaoPaulo was one of the most wretched experiences of my life. ZERO leg room,and I could only sleep for about 20 minutes at a time because either someone would trip over my feet (which i HAD to extend into the aisle) or a flight attendant would tell me to move my feet so that the cart wouldn't run themover. Twice I actually had people trip on fall on me. That was no fun. The best food so far would probably have to be the baked potatoes we had thefirst friday. I missed spuds SO MUCH.

Elder (Jordan) Richardson is here so we always end up talking about the good old days or cougar football. I have gym Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. Last night was a "fun experience". There was an extra district inthe gym during our time so we played a game of three-on-three. Me, ElderBateman and Elder Faught (a 4 week elder who was a star Las Vegas basketballplayer... as a sophomore) played against another district and we were easilybeating them, even though we weren't keeping score. The kid guarding me wasonly six feet tall so it wasn't too hard to score on him. After I scored onhim about 5 times in a row, the Elder guarding Elder Bateman decided he wasgoing to guard me. This kid is 5'8", but he was fairly confident so after hehad two quick HARD fouls on me I scored 5 quick lay-ups on him. He gotfrustrated and started guarding Elder Bateman again. He did a jab step withan extended elbow that nearly got my companion in the face, so we made sure he didn't have another shot hit the rim. He nearly started a fight he wouldn't have walked away from.

I think thats all for now. I'm doing great, so stop worrying about me.
I love you all!

Elder Haws(mo)

(Snail Mail Received May 26, 2007)

Dear Mom and Dad,

I arrived safely. Besides having NO leg room for any of the three flights, it was a pretty enjoyable trip. Sister Williams and I met up with about 4 missionaries going to England and around 10 elders coming to Brazil. When we arrived in Atlanta a flight attendant who knew one of elders showed us to Chili’s and paid for our meal. We all felt bad about it, but she insisted and we enjoyed the meal. We ended up with 2 sisters and 16 elders for the flight out of Atlanta. They forgot to lean the plane so the flight was delayed for an hour. It all ended up ok though. We got through customs and immigration without incident before loading the bus to come to the CTM.

Sao Paulo is insane! We keep hearing about how somewhere between 20 and 32 million people live here. The buildings contain just about every style of architecture, with colors ranging from earth tones to hot pink. There are buildings on level ground, nearly vertically sloping streets and everything in between. One of our teachers took us on a tour of the area around the CTM. There are dry cleaners, diners, cookie stores, tie stores, supermarkets, and internet sources with 3 minutes walking distance on all sides. Next week when they assign us a P-Day they will let us go out at our own free will and they’ll give us 60 real to spend for the coming month. The cafeteria is great, the food tastes wonderful, and they have Guarania on tap. It is a truly beautiful thing. Things are going great, there is no need to worry about me. My companion is Elder Bateman from Provo. I’ll tell you more about the missionaries next week. Have fun, I love you, and follow the shipping rules on this paper.
Love ya tons,
Elder Haws(mo)

Hey

Hey Family,
It's me. I'm here in Brazil and I'm safe. My companion is Elder Bateman from Provo Utah and we share a room with Elder Stosich from South Jordan and Elder Pierringer from Wisconsin. Its been fun so far. We went to the Campinas Templetoday, it was fun (even if it was a 90 minute ride in the bus). Today is P-Day so hopefully I will be able to email every Tuesday. I hope you get the thing from Mission Ties. If you guys don't like the idea, then ok. The language is a challenge, but my district is working together and we've come along way so far. After 3 days of lessons we could pray and bear our testimonies, and could also understand 90% of all the prayers we heard from guys who had been here 5 and 6weeks were saying. I've run into both Elder Higham from Shelley and ElderRichardson from the BYU football who I played ball and had swimming lessons with. I'm doing great and loving life. I love you Mom, you can stop worrying about me ; ). Have a great day!
-Elder Haws(mo)

Mike waves goodbye

Here is Mike waving goodbye at the Idaho Falls airport.

Saying Goodbye

Elder Haws
Elder Haws and Bishop Haws
Elder Haws with Bentley and Maxwell
waving to Jonah

Ruby and Elder Haws

Safe Arrival

Dear Parents,

Your son or daughter arrived here safely at the Brazil MTC this morning. They were greeted, and are now moving in and resting, and then they will have lunch. This afternoon they will attend an orientation meeting and meet with the doctor about immunizations, etc. Then they will go for a short walk around the neighborhood with a teacher. Tomorrow they will learn how to pray in Portuguese.

The food here is very good. There are always two kinds of meat or chicken,a hot vegetable, beans and rice, fresh salad vegetables, a variety of fruit, a dessert, a popsicle, and lots of Brazilian juices and other drinks. They can eat all they want. We are so happy to have them here ready to serve and help the people ofBrazil.

They will be able to e-mail you on either Tuesday or Wednesday which ever day is their P-day. They go to the temple that morning and e-mail you during theafternoon.

Thank you for sharing them for this time. May you be blessed in their absence.

(from the wife of the MTC President)

Hawsmo Himself

Hi everybody. This is the first, and very likely, only post that I will be doing on this blog. The blog was not my idea, but my sister wanted it done so I am entrusting her to keep it running smoothly. It is my understanding that my sister Jenny, and my parents will post my letters, e-mails, and pictures online for everyone to see.
As for me, I am currently enjoying my last day as a simple guy. At 8 o'clock tonight I will be set apart as a missionary and then all the fun starts. I will be arriving at the Idaho Falls Airport at 6 AM. After a flight to Salt Lake, and then to Atlanta, and with layover times equaling 5 hours 30 minutes, my plane will leave from Atlanta at 7:35 PM and I will arrive in Sao Paulo at 6:05 AM May 16th.
I love you all!
Don't Forget to Write.
-Elder Haws(mo)