This week was a wet one. It has rained everyday for about 10 days straight.There is no one in the street to talk to, and nearly impossible to dryclothes. Life keeps going, because there's no other option at this point.Today is looking to be a bright, sunny day. I just hope this sort of weatherwill endure a couple more days.
This past week we started a REAL service project. A member of our ward has ahouse. This house has an unfinished room on the back that lacks walls, andis just being used to dry clothes. We are now working with the Bishop,almost every morning after study, to build some walls. All we have to workwith is used materials, so I spent about an hour the first day bending usedrebar(?) of various shapes and sizes until it was straight and unbent again.That was not fun. Some pieces appeared to be 100% rust, other pieces didn'twant to bend at all, etc. We only got to actually work two days, because therain puts a stop to everything. It turns out that this member knows JennyCrandall. They were in the same ward in Tubarao and claim to be goodfriends. I'm supposed to pass on word to Jenny that they miss her and wishher the best. Selma has twin sons who will turn 3 this week. These kids areterrors with a capital T. Selma's husband is from Chile, and occasionallyspeaks Spanish to the boys, which means that they try speaking Spanugueuseor Portunish or some other combination to me. It's fun, but definately astruggle, to communicate with them.
Yesterday after church we went to the Bishop's house for lunch, as usual.The change of pace, is that Selma was there with the twins and their 7 year old big brother. Selma decided to help the Bishop's wife and made acasserole of rice, mashed potatoes, and shrimp. She made it for us one day last week and I nearly ate the entire pan. Selma remembered this, and madetwo pans. We got to talking about eating, and Elder C. Silva mentioned how his family always eats once. No one goes back for seconds. You fill your plate, you eat it, and you're done. The topic then switched to me. We all decided that I wouldn't fit in with Elder C. Silva's family, seeing as how I always eat 2, 3, 4, or 5 plates worth of food. Selma was kind enough to take my plate and serve it herself. She filled it to overflowing the first time in an attempt to hold me to only serving once. After finishing the plate,without breaking a sweat, she grabbed my plate and filled it again. A second time I ate without a problem. At this point she started giving ice cream tothe kids and adults, and then loaded a third mountain onto my plate. Selma then offered a challenge to me. She said that there was NO possible way thatI could eat the third plate of "casserole" and then still have room for icecream. I calmly replied that I would not only have room for a cup of icecream, but for an entire tub (400 grams~almost a pound). She then got a defiant look on her face, put a little more casserole on my plate, and thechallenge began. Needless to say, I won without trouble. I had to make sureto represent the Haws family well. When all was said and done, Selma informed me that I ate around 2 kilograms (4.5 lbs) of casserole. For those of you keeping score at home, that comes out to about 5.5 lbs of food and lunch yesterday, and I was still hungry. I might not be baptizing everyweek, but this ward will still remember Elder Haws.
How is life at home? Is BYU really charging me $2700 for being in Brazil? I hope not. Any more mission calls? Any word on Greg's college plans? University? Major? How about Spencer and Brianna?
Life is good, the beach is beautiful, the sun is high in the sky, and I'm fine so stop worrying about me.
Honoring the Family Name,
Elder Haws(mo)
birthday
Silva and Hawsmo on the beach
service
Selma
Gabriel and Pedro
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