Hey Family,
We lost our Brazilian roomates again. I'm gonna miss those guys. They are going to the Brasilia mission and were excited to "finally" get out of here. They had been here a little over two and a half weeks. Guess how I feel. I loved our first roommates but I am really going to miss these guys. Elder Silva is fluent in English and would just sit and talk to us about anything and everything each night. Elder Camargo knew only about 50 english words. He was SILENT for the first week he was here. Then suddenly, he started talking. But it wasn't solid converstationally stuff. He would sit there and listen, and then throw in the funniest one liners I have ever heard. Last week Elder Bateman and Elder Stosich taught Elder Camargo what a "sugar momma" is, and Elder Camargo left this place with a new "dream".
We went proselyting again last friday. Normally districts go to a park their second time and hand out 5 Books of Mormon and 60 pass-along cards per companionship. Our district was priviliged enough to go BACK to our lovelyBrazilian wallstreet, only to a part of the street where NO ONE wanted to talk to us. My companion, Elder Bateman, tried talking to abot 75 people. Only three stopped to give a response and one of them walked away when they realized he wanted to talk about religion. People both looked away and ran away from me again. People just don't seem to be very fond of 6'6" Americans.
I got letters from Adrienne Love and Britnee Searle this week. It ws great to hear from them. I can't believe Austin's farewell was Sunday. I remember that when I left it seemed like it was going to be an eternity before he left. One Elder mentioned that along with working with the Lord's time, we also get to see time from his perspective. Weeks, days, and classes blur together. Its absurd to think I have been here for a month and a half. But what's more than that, is that we are now some of the oldest missionaries at the CTM, which means the young ones will be expecting us to know something. That puts quite a lot of pressure on us.
Speaking of "the new kids", two guys I knew from BYU joined us this week. ElderMcKell was in my basketball class this last semester. He was a great ball player and seems to be enjoying his time here. Elder Van Tassell is also here. He lived in Q-hall, played basketball against me at the RB a few times and crossed my path everyday on the way to class. It was fun to sit down and actually get to know him.Life is going great. The language is really starting to come now. I'm doing great so stop worrying about me. I love you all!
-Elder Haws(mo)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Halfway...kinda
Hey Family,
Friday was officially the halfway point, of my stay here in the MTC. Its crazy to think that I've been in Brazil for a month already. It's even crazier to think I'll be in the field in another month. I don't see how that can be possible. I should have more time. Fortunately we are immersed in the culture, so unlike Warren and Spencer, I won't have to wait until I'm in the field to realize "I don't know jack".
Today we went to the São Paulo Temple for the first time. The interior of the temple has some of the most amazing woodwork I've ever seen. Every wall is trimmed with wood, a friend of our MTC president from back when he was on a mission hand made most of the furniture, and the entry way has the most amazing stain glass work. It is truly fit to be a house of the Lord. Plus, that temple is only have an hour away, it was nice to get back to the MTC at 11:15. Its looking like it'll be a great day.
Yesterday I got my first piece of mail from someone outside the immediate family. I take that back. Friday everyone from my mission got a letter from the Mission Prez welcoming us to the mission. Well... almost everyone. 5 of us got letters that told us we would be coming down to the mission home with 4 other americans and 7 brazilians. The problem: Elder Brough from Salt Lake seems to have been forgotten. We've had a pretty good laugh about him not getting a letter and being omitted from the statistics. I just hope the President remembers him at some point. I don't know what would happen if we showed up withone more than the number he'd expected. Anyways, I got a letter yesterday from Kari Green. She was in my ward down at BYU. She was in the ward the whole year but I didn't meet her until early March, didn't know she was in my ward until two weeks after that, and had never seen her before mid February. But she still wrote me a letter. It was great to finally have a "real" piece of mail. If its from a relative the district doesn't count it. So far I'm tied for second place.
Another friend of mine from BYU came down last week. Elder Finley is heading to Recife and we got to talk for a while. Its great to have old friends here that I can just shoot the breeze with when we get a break from our constant study. 13 hours a day in a classroom really starts to wear on you. My district keeps getting compliments from the staff here. They keep saying we are learning the language at a startling rate, with little to no accent, and we are told we have the gospel topics learned better than most districts at this point. In a place where we are constantly reminded that we don't know the language (by talking to the native elders), and told that we'll regret every moment we don't take advantage, its nice to be told we're doing well every once in a while.
We've settled into the routine so now we just have to wait for the field to come on its own. Then again, we do have proselyting again this Friday. Pray for us.Our Portugese needs all the help we can get.
I'm doing great so stop worrying about me. I love you all.
Best Wishes from Brazil,
Elder Haws(mo)
Friday was officially the halfway point, of my stay here in the MTC. Its crazy to think that I've been in Brazil for a month already. It's even crazier to think I'll be in the field in another month. I don't see how that can be possible. I should have more time. Fortunately we are immersed in the culture, so unlike Warren and Spencer, I won't have to wait until I'm in the field to realize "I don't know jack".
Today we went to the São Paulo Temple for the first time. The interior of the temple has some of the most amazing woodwork I've ever seen. Every wall is trimmed with wood, a friend of our MTC president from back when he was on a mission hand made most of the furniture, and the entry way has the most amazing stain glass work. It is truly fit to be a house of the Lord. Plus, that temple is only have an hour away, it was nice to get back to the MTC at 11:15. Its looking like it'll be a great day.
Yesterday I got my first piece of mail from someone outside the immediate family. I take that back. Friday everyone from my mission got a letter from the Mission Prez welcoming us to the mission. Well... almost everyone. 5 of us got letters that told us we would be coming down to the mission home with 4 other americans and 7 brazilians. The problem: Elder Brough from Salt Lake seems to have been forgotten. We've had a pretty good laugh about him not getting a letter and being omitted from the statistics. I just hope the President remembers him at some point. I don't know what would happen if we showed up withone more than the number he'd expected. Anyways, I got a letter yesterday from Kari Green. She was in my ward down at BYU. She was in the ward the whole year but I didn't meet her until early March, didn't know she was in my ward until two weeks after that, and had never seen her before mid February. But she still wrote me a letter. It was great to finally have a "real" piece of mail. If its from a relative the district doesn't count it. So far I'm tied for second place.
Another friend of mine from BYU came down last week. Elder Finley is heading to Recife and we got to talk for a while. Its great to have old friends here that I can just shoot the breeze with when we get a break from our constant study. 13 hours a day in a classroom really starts to wear on you. My district keeps getting compliments from the staff here. They keep saying we are learning the language at a startling rate, with little to no accent, and we are told we have the gospel topics learned better than most districts at this point. In a place where we are constantly reminded that we don't know the language (by talking to the native elders), and told that we'll regret every moment we don't take advantage, its nice to be told we're doing well every once in a while.
We've settled into the routine so now we just have to wait for the field to come on its own. Then again, we do have proselyting again this Friday. Pray for us.Our Portugese needs all the help we can get.
I'm doing great so stop worrying about me. I love you all.
Best Wishes from Brazil,
Elder Haws(mo)
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Proselyting and a surprise discussion
Hello Family,
Yes Mom, I have been getting your emails. I just wish I was getting more information from you guys. Today has gone pretty good. We went to the Campinas Temple for the 4th and final time. From here on out we will be at the São PauloTemple on Tuesday mornings. The ride home on the bus nearly got dramatic. The two districts who went with us (who arrived two and three weeks after my batch) would not stop talking. And it wasn't just "talking". They were bashing on each other, on the people, and on just about everything else they'd seen in Brazil. Me and another Elder had to restrain ourselves from "knocking some heads together". It could have gotten ugly and I could be on my way home right now, but all is well.
We went proselyting last friday on the "wall street" of Brazil. Nobody would look at me. At least twice I made eye contact with men about 25 years old and they immediately turned around, and doubled their walking pace as they left in the opposite direction. It was kind of amusing, but I don't really want it to happen again. The sisters in my district managed to had out 6 Book of Mormons (or Books of Mormon) in our three hours there. They also disposed of nearly 10 pass along cards. Between the other 8 of us in the district we passed out 8Books of Mormon and 15 or so pass-along cards. We might not have accounted for as many souls reaching salvation, but at least we didn't have creepy men flirting with us for a few hours.
The real shocker of this past week came Saturday morning. We were sitting in class studying when at 9 AM our teacher walked in and informed us we were going to do the Teaching Resource Center at 11. The TRC is a fun little set-up where members in the area come in and we practice teaching them the 1st lesson. Completely in Portugese. With no translators, teachers, or help of any kind. Normally wouldn't be a problem, but we weren't supposed to participate until the16th. Unfortunately we found out that the extra week of work we would have going into wasn't going to happen. Elder Bateman and I taught 5 boys between the ages of 10 and 18. It was a really good experience, but would have been a lot less humiliating if we spoke Portugese. We tried our best to communicate and answer their questions, but fell a little short. The funny thing is we spent just under half of our lesson time answering questions, when we had been assured we wouldn't be asked any. It was a thoroughly humiliating experience, but we cameout of it ok. I have no idea if they'll put us back on the schedule that we're supposed to be on, but either way, we'll be better prepared next time.
Besides that, life is going as usual. Our Schedule is more or less as follows.
6:30 Wake up
7:00 Personal Study
7:30 Breakfast
8:00 Companionship Study
8:30 Class with Irmã Melo
12:15 Lunch
1:15 Class with Irmã Manuela
4:45 Dinner
5:45 Missionary-Directed Study Time (We do what we think we need to work on)
9:30 Get ready for bed
10:00 In rooms
10:30 In bed
*Irmã= Sister
*Mon, Wed, Fri we have gym from 8-9 pm.
*We have big devotional/fireside meetings Sunday, Tues, and Saturday Evenings.
*Irmã Manuela is pregnant so we usually have a substitute teacher twice a week.
*That schedle works for Monday-Saturday.
Life is going great. I can't wait to know the language. I love you all. Everything is fine so stop worrying about me.
With Love,Elder Haws(mo)
Yes Mom, I have been getting your emails. I just wish I was getting more information from you guys. Today has gone pretty good. We went to the Campinas Temple for the 4th and final time. From here on out we will be at the São PauloTemple on Tuesday mornings. The ride home on the bus nearly got dramatic. The two districts who went with us (who arrived two and three weeks after my batch) would not stop talking. And it wasn't just "talking". They were bashing on each other, on the people, and on just about everything else they'd seen in Brazil. Me and another Elder had to restrain ourselves from "knocking some heads together". It could have gotten ugly and I could be on my way home right now, but all is well.
We went proselyting last friday on the "wall street" of Brazil. Nobody would look at me. At least twice I made eye contact with men about 25 years old and they immediately turned around, and doubled their walking pace as they left in the opposite direction. It was kind of amusing, but I don't really want it to happen again. The sisters in my district managed to had out 6 Book of Mormons (or Books of Mormon) in our three hours there. They also disposed of nearly 10 pass along cards. Between the other 8 of us in the district we passed out 8Books of Mormon and 15 or so pass-along cards. We might not have accounted for as many souls reaching salvation, but at least we didn't have creepy men flirting with us for a few hours.
The real shocker of this past week came Saturday morning. We were sitting in class studying when at 9 AM our teacher walked in and informed us we were going to do the Teaching Resource Center at 11. The TRC is a fun little set-up where members in the area come in and we practice teaching them the 1st lesson. Completely in Portugese. With no translators, teachers, or help of any kind. Normally wouldn't be a problem, but we weren't supposed to participate until the16th. Unfortunately we found out that the extra week of work we would have going into wasn't going to happen. Elder Bateman and I taught 5 boys between the ages of 10 and 18. It was a really good experience, but would have been a lot less humiliating if we spoke Portugese. We tried our best to communicate and answer their questions, but fell a little short. The funny thing is we spent just under half of our lesson time answering questions, when we had been assured we wouldn't be asked any. It was a thoroughly humiliating experience, but we cameout of it ok. I have no idea if they'll put us back on the schedule that we're supposed to be on, but either way, we'll be better prepared next time.
Besides that, life is going as usual. Our Schedule is more or less as follows.
6:30 Wake up
7:00 Personal Study
7:30 Breakfast
8:00 Companionship Study
8:30 Class with Irmã Melo
12:15 Lunch
1:15 Class with Irmã Manuela
4:45 Dinner
5:45 Missionary-Directed Study Time (We do what we think we need to work on)
9:30 Get ready for bed
10:00 In rooms
10:30 In bed
*Irmã= Sister
*Mon, Wed, Fri we have gym from 8-9 pm.
*We have big devotional/fireside meetings Sunday, Tues, and Saturday Evenings.
*Irmã Manuela is pregnant so we usually have a substitute teacher twice a week.
*That schedle works for Monday-Saturday.
Life is going great. I can't wait to know the language. I love you all. Everything is fine so stop worrying about me.
With Love,Elder Haws(mo)
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Bad News
Hey family,
I guess i better start with the bad news. In a rush of taking pictres last week,I dropped my camera. The lens that pops out got bent so it doesn't go in OR take pictures. I got it in the mail today. It is supposed to arrive in 12-17 days. I don't know what kind of warranty we do or do not have, but if you can get it fixed, I'd love to have it back. It's not a real pressing issue right now. My memory card fits in anybodys camera and I can just steal the pictures they take with the usb port anyway. If and/or when you send it back you can send it straight to the mtc in a global priority envelope. I've been told that if you send that way, just to get the big envelopes, they're cheaper than the box and you can fit just as much in if you stretch the envelope a little.
We went to the Campinas Temple again today. That hour and a half is great to sleep. The grounds at Campinas are beautiful. Groomed palm trees, slopinghills... its gorgeous. We will go once more next week and then finish out going to the SÃo Paulo temple.
Our Brazilian roommates left this morning. We should be getting another pair onThursday but we're really going to miss these guys. Its hard to see them go, but we're all excited for them. They're gonna make great missionaries.Our district is getting really close. After every devotional/fireside we each share what we learned and what we really liked about the meeting. Last thursday my remarks got a little off topic after a meeting with the MTC President, and we ended up having an hour long testimony sort of experience. We all shared personal experiences and insights with the gospel. Nearly everyone was in tears at the end of the meeting. We really got to know each other better. It was shocking what some of the missionaries have already gone through in their lives.
The language is coming. Slowly, but surely, its coming. Its crazy to think thatwe're practically a third of the way into the mission field. But as a precaution to make sure it doesn't sneak up on us too quickly, we get to go proselyting this friday. It should be fun. They'll drop us off on a busy street somewhere inSÃo Paulo with a handful of Book of Mormons (or Books of Mormon, if you prefer) and about a dozen pass-along cards each. They will come back after about three hours and pick up the pieces of our shattered pride. They keep assuring us it will be fun.
Elder Martin has been here for a week now. Its been great to talk to him.Talking about how in a week we already know more Portugese than we knew of German after 2 years, how all the IFHS grads of '06 are gonna meet up after the mission and go sky-diving. Fun times. He had 4 shoe polish kits so he gave me one. No need to worry about that. Elder Martin is in my branch and living on my floor so we manage to see each other all the time. Life is good. Everything is fine. Stop worrying about me. I'll be fine. I love you guys,
Elder Haws(mo)
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