New Address, New Dreams, and New Fears

Hey Family,

8 weeks down. How crazy is that? It feels like its only been three and a half weeks. It is crazy to be experiencing things on God's time. Hours crawl by, days are running, and weeks never even happened. It is the most peculiar thing I have ever experienced. My journal entries keep getting shorter and shorter because every day is the same thing over and over again. This time next week I will be in Florianopolis. It was easy enough to settle into the routine here. Study, eat, study, eat, study, eat, study, sleep. I like having so much time to study, butit seems so unproductive when we can't apply anything that we spend HOURS on.That will be a nice change once I hit the field, but it will come with a brand new world of fears and challenges.

We went to the São Paulo temple for the last time today. We were overloaded with missionaries on the bus. Rumor has it that in the next month or so the MTC will reach full capacity. When I got here they had only recieved American missionaries 5 of the previous 9 weeks, or something like that. And even then it was usually only one district. Since I've been here we've had at least two districts ever week, with each of the past 3 weeks bringing three districts. There are so many kids running around with dots. It makes my head spin. I can't believe what this place will be like in a month when Elder Huber (my friend fromBYU) shows up. But nevertheless, starting at 9 o'clock this morning: I am the king of the Castle. We are now the oldest district in the building and I have appointed myself king, big dawg, big man on campus, and just about every other title in the book despite disputes and lack of supporting facts.

I won't know if I can email other missionaries until next week, but I get the feeling I will be able to. Either way I would like to get Elder Shipley's email address if at all possible. I've got to find someway to communicate with him and mail across the Atlantic can't be the best way. Speaking of mail: please make sure the address on the blog is changed. Just put the pouch down. The mission home itself can be used for packages, but regular letters should probably come down through the pouch. That would probably make things easier for everybody.

Pray for me. I hit the streets of Santa Catarina within the next week. I'm excited, anxious, and a little worried. Despite what you may think, I'm doing fine, so stop worrying about me.

A week before the field and anxious to get going,
Elder Haws(mo)