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Hey Family,

I love to hear about my COUGARS! That’s how we do it! Last second drives to send the Utes home crying, beating #6 ranked Louisville and battling #1 UNC to the death. YES! I only wish that I could have contributed to the week by adding a baptism, but that one will be waiting a little while. My bad. So within the next month I will have officially missed half the Cougar Football I’m going to miss. After Christmas there will just be one more Football Season and two more basketball seasons until it’s over. Elder Wright will hit one year in the mission this week. He keeps talking about how it flies by. These 6 months have been pretty quick for me but the 18 months in front of me still looks pretty imposing.

The work is coming along here in Concordia. We had 7 investigators at church yesterday, which is really good. The problem is that the 4 investigators most likely to be baptized within the next two weeks weren’t there. We have marriage, divorce, alcohol, and coffee problems to work out before we can start doing some real splashing. The dam will probably break and bury the city of Concordia in the waters of baptism my first week in another area. Oh well, that’s what missionary work is all about, right? By the way, does anybody know some fairly successful tactics for quitting alcohol and coffee that we could try? New ideas could never hurt.

Being in the farthest west portion of a mission in Southern Brazil is hard when the new church magazines are coming out. The members got the November Liahona with the October Conference this week. We will probably get Conference in Portuguese next week at Interviews and English at Transfers after New Years. However, in the October Ensign (it might have been a different one) a buddy of mine was talked about. In the back they showed a little article about a press conference at the MTC where Elder Ballard talked with a few missionaries and he picked Brandon Soelburg to give a little quote. It was just a little line in the back of an Ensign but I was excited for him. He is among a host of young Elders (including McKay Jacobson) serving in Japan. It’s crazy to sit back and think about where all my friends are serving.

Thanks for sending pictures and stuff in your emails. I think I get them all and I am able to open well over 70% of them. As such, I will now be sending a couple photos home of the old apartment. It was a bigger apartment (which just means it was more work to clean). There haven’t been too many opportunities for picture taking but when I take some more I will be sure to send them.

The hills are steep, the sun is hot, the work is going, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.

Spending P-Day Celebrating my Cougars,
Elder Haws(mo)

Firmly Rooted in Concordia‏

Hey Family,

I’m still sitting tight down here in Concórdia. The phone call we received from the Zone Leaders last night revealed that there are no changes being made in Concordia. I will hit 7.5 months in the mission with only one area. I have no idea what will happen in January, but there have been times that President Dansie left Elders in their first area for their first 7 months in the field. If that is the case with me I’ll be here in Concordia until late February-early March and EVERYONE in town will know me. Oh well, at least we’ll have a few baptisms coming up.

I turned 6 months last Friday but wasn’t able to burn a tie…yet. We should have an opportunity to do some burning near the end of this week. I should have some pictures of the inferno to send to you guys in a couple weeks. Dad will probably be upset but I think I’ll be burning one of the ties we bought at Ferrell’s. Sorry. You can send me another one if you want.

Last night I also found out that Elder Bateman got transferred. I will get an email next week telling me where everyone in the mission is. I wish we would have gotten it today. It’s no fun to be in the dark with regards to what is going on in the mission. Not to mention in the dark with regards to Cougar Sports. Usually the Chapeco Zone has interviews the second Monday of the transfer (which would be next Monday, the 26) but we won’t have them until December 4. That is a LONG time until mail. It’s probably a good thing though. Now I can really sit down and focus on the work. We’re going to have to do some good-hard working to get the 8 baptisms we want this transfer. Yes, I know that that is an absurd number. That is the goal we set, and if nothing else, we will get at least one.

As far as interesting stories go, we had a level F-1 tornado in Concordia last week. When we went to bed there was just a light rain, we never saw it coming. At about 3 in the morning Elder Wright woke up to the howl of the wind. When he realized what was going on he ran to the balcony, where he had clothes drying, pulled them inside, and just sat and watched the happenings. It turns out that the winds were up around 140 kph. Elder Wright yelled at me to wake me up. He asked if I could hear the howling wind from my bed. I replied: “Yup, it’s pretty cool.” He was up for the rest of the night because the pounding rain and screaming wind was too loud for him to sleep. As soon as I finished my short reply I was asleep again. As Elder Wright was telling everyone about this throughout the past week no one believed that I could sleep through a tornado. I simply replied that the howl of the tornado was nothing compared to the sound of a Haws boy snoring. Elder Wright confirmed this fact, and I guarantee that Elder Bateman would agree after our 2 months in the MTC. I woke up to Elder Bateman hitting me in the face with a pillow on more than one occasion.

Concordia is hot, the hills are steep, and the work is continuing. I’m doing fine so stop worrying about me.

Only remembering Thanksgiving because the Holy War is coming up,
Elder Haws(mo)

Sitting Eagerly-(Waiting Patiently) by the Mailbox‏

Hey Family,

You guys are probably all going to go outside and play in the snow today. That is not fair. Southern Brazil is no where near as hot as up North, but I’m still baking like a spud climbing these mountains. I’m scared to ask someone what the temperature is because the translation to Fahrenheit would give be numbers I’ve never seen before. I could be losing a lot of weight right now, but that process is slowed down a little by how much I eat at lunch appointments. The members always say they want us to eat all the food, so I do. Oh well. Now that I’ve finally got a little bit of a tan the members of the branch presidency (who all returned from missions in the past 5 years and are whiter than Jonah) have started telling me that I’m turning black. Its hard work climbing mountains in the Brazilian sun but it’s what I’m here to do.

We had 2 baptisms practically guaranteed for this weekend, until their family went on a trip to Chapeco for the week end. It was going to a brother-sister combination that are 10 and 11 years old, respectively. I have been teaching them since my second or third week here, so I was getting hopeful that I would still be here for their baptism. If they come to church Sunday (the 18th) they can be baptized the next Saturday (the 24th) the problem is that transfers are the Wednesday between (the 21st). Now I REALLY want to stick around for another 6 weeks. This would be a great branch to spend Christmas with, and it looks like 6 people could be ready for the water next transfer. It is highly unlikely all 6 will get splashed, but I still like dreaming a little bit.

Not getting mail last week kind of put me to shame. Normally us “Western Missionaries” get mail every three weeks: once at interviews and once at Zone Conference. The Dansies didn’t bring any mail to interviews since they just did them after our District Conference (like Stake Conference, but we have a District, not a stake). For the week leading up to Zone Conference Elder Wright and I talked a little about the letters I was expecting. People had told him I normally get a stack of letters and Zone Conference, and I was telling him that since we didn’t get anything at Interviews I’d be getting even more. Right now I haven’t seen a letter in 6 weeks, and he keeps reminding me how wrong I was. It’s a real shot to the pride (which is probably a good thing) but I hope to have even more to rub in his face the next time we get mail (I have my fingers crossed that I’ll get something before Christmas).

Greg is applying to BYU? When did that happen? Is he going to try for the marching band? He definitely should. He’ll get in NO PROBLEM. I made my audition tape when I had bronchitis and couldn’t breathe and they let me in. He will get in with no sweat and have the time of his life with “The Power of the Wasatch”. Greg: Don’t worry. The BYU Marching Band is a lot more relaxed than the IF Band. Everyone learns their music, everyone learns their spots, and the marching technique is a lot less strict. It really is a LOT of fun. Not to mention you’d be joining the Bone Brethren and the Bone Babes. I don’t want to pressure or guilt you into doing anything, just know that you can do it and it would be a lot of fun for you. Plus you would get back from your mission in France or Korea just in time to for my senior year in the band. THAT will be fun!

Next week I should have some real information. Assuming I’m transferred I will tell you about my new area, companion, and the travel. If I don’t get transferred, my email might be even more boring. Sorry. Keep me posted on life, sports, and my Cougars.

The work is great (we’re finding a lot of new people), the weather is fine (whenever my the sidewalk isn’t boiling its raining “cats and dogs”), and I’m doing good so stop worrying about me.

Always on the Search,
Elder Haws(mo)

Sons of Concordia‏

Hey Family,

John Beck is starting Sunday? BABY! Make sure to record that game and set it aside for me. I want to see it in around 18 months. The IF Tigers are going to the State Championship? What the heck? I remember getting letters a couple months back that said we were horrible and didn't have a chance at winning any game. We beat Highland in the Minidome? Was dad smoking something when he wrote me that email yesterday? How did you guys manage to buy a car? I appreciate the comment about the Vanity Plates and me driving it to BYU, but how did we buy a car?

Just to clear up the deal about mailing addresses:

Packages from now until February MUST be sent to:

Elder Michael Kent Haws
Rua Feliciano Nunes Pires, 42 Centro
CEP 88015-220
Florianópolis- SC Brasil

Because the Pouch to Brazil died last week, ALL LETTERS MUST BE SENT TO the address with "Caixa ###" in it. I think its Caixa 391 but I can't remember off the top of my head and I don't have it with me. After the Christmas rush (meaning once March comes around) Packages can be sent to either address. Just don’t ever put anything in the pouch again if you want it to get to me.

Life is crazy. I cannot believe this transfer is nearly over. It seems like we're only two weeks into it, but we'll be finding out about transfers in a little over a week and a half. I hope to stay in Concordia over Christmas and get transferred the 3rd of January. The problem is that I am with an American companion right now. It seems unlikely that we would stay together for multiple transfers; especially considering Elder Bateman up in Pato Branco also got an American senior companion this transfer. Right now there are only 4 Brazilians in our Zone with 10 Americans (2 Americans are couple missionaries serving in Chapeco). As far as Christmas is concerned, they want us to start figuring out how we are going to do the call. We can't make a phone call home the week before to confirm plans so we have to start early. The problem is that I don't know where I will be for Christmas, but I will in 2 weeks. At that time I will be able to figure out when and where to have the call. As for right now we just need to decide who is calling who. If I call you guys I will have to buy a card here. President Dansie said that in the past parents tried to mail phone cards to the missionaries here, but American cards won't work here. What ever you guys decide will work out for me. The rule is the same: 30-40 minutes for the phone call.

Yesterday was a wretched day. I love traveling to and from Zone Conference, in the sense that it is the only real opportunity the Western Missionaries get to see anyone. Elder Wright tells me that the missionaries back in Florianopolis get together on P-Days and sometimes they will bring 2 or three zones together for P-day, since everyone is within an hour of each other. My Zone Leaders are in another city two and a half hours away by bus. The rest of our district (the Sisters in Xanxere) is also two and a half hours away. As such, we only see one another quickly at interviews with the President, and Zone Conference, and briefly for Baptismal Interviews. I loved getting to see by western buddies and even got a picture taken with the last 3 junior companions that served in Concordia. They were all trained here too. Two of them are currently training and the other trained around the time I got to the field. Elder Wright was jealous so we let him into the 2nd picture. But anyway, the day was horrible because I was on a bus for a total of 16 hours yesterday. Midnight to 8AM. 4PM to Midnight. The idea of a bus had to of come from a short person. There is no way for me to get comfortable on a bus. Usually the trip home is great because I get a stack of letters to read but this time the Dansie's left the letters for the Chapeco Zone in Floripa. I guess I'll just get an enormous stack and a package the next time I see the President.

As always, there are a couple things that crossed my mind that could be sent to me: Peanut Butter, Body Wash of any brand (they don't appear to sell it in Brazil), a little comb (we tried to but one before I left but all we could find was big ones. It seems that if I want to by a comb here I have to buy a big pack of assorted combs), Ties are always welcome (I might be burning one next week to celebrate 6 months---May 16 - November 16)

The sun is hot, the hills are steep, the search continues, and I'm doing fine so stop worrying about me.

Dreaming of a White Christmas,

Elder Haws(mo)