Hey Family,
BYU #8? That’s what I love to hear. One of the zone leaders here on the island is a Missouri fan so he’s always talking smack about BYU. Tomorrow I’ll be sure to let him know what the truth is. Before too long we’ll be on top of Missouri fighting our way to the BCS Championship. GO COUGARS!
I can’t believe Jake’s home! That little punk. He better get that letter off to me soon. It’s been around 3 months since I heard from him. Did mom say his hair is short? I’m going to have to see that picture to believe it. I saw that kid every day for 6 years and I can only remember twice that his hair wasn’t hanging down over his ears. Don’t get too excited family. Jake and I graduated together, but we don’t come home together. He went out 7 and a half months before me, so you’ll have to wait 7 and a half months before you see me. Enough of this “finish strong” business. You can’t talk about buzzer beaters when the 4th quarter hasn’t even started yet.
Life here on the island is going good. P-Day is always an excuse to gather the troops, even if we don’t end up doing anything. General Conference this weekend has ruined all our plans. We have an awesome family that came to church by themselves yesterday. Usually they come but we have to go wake them up, pick them up, and sit by them through all the meetings. Yesterday we called to remind them about church and they responded that they were just waiting for the mom to get ready and they’d be on the road. If it weren’t for conference we’d be splashing them on Saturday, so we’ll end up having to wait a week. This transfer seems to be flying by. October 15th will be the next switch. It’s a good thing. Elder Carvalho is ready for a transfer. He’s enjoyed working here on the island but he’s been for almost 5 months. He’s anxious for a change of scenery. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
Rumors are floating around the island that the package arrived in the office so I’ll pick it up after district meeting tomorrow. Thanks to everyone back home for all the love, support, prayers, and letters. I probably need to apologize to some people who haven’t received responses from me. Some letters haven’t received response due to laziness on P-day. That’s the natural man. I’m sorry. However, I can’t take the blame for all the letters. Twice since I came to Brazil the Brazilian Postal Workers have gone on strike, accounting for thousands of letters being burned, and other thousands never being delivered. Anything is possible. I can’t blame everything on others, but I’ll do my best from here on out to promptly respond to letters received, even if I do get invited to play basketball.
Life is good, summer is coming back, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.
Watching Conference… maybe,
Elder Haws(mo)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Back to the Beach!
Hey Family,
Life on the island is going good. Yesterday was ward conference and the chapel was surprisingly full. I still don’t know everyone yet so a majority of the people could have been just stake leaders. The stake president recognized that this ward is the fastest growing ward in the stake. I looked at Elder Carvalho because we both know that this ward has only had 1 baptism in the last six months and around 4 baptisms in the last year. Then the stake president finished his “joke” by having all the pregnant members stand up. He said something like “even when investigators don’t get baptized, the ward can still grow in other ways. I’m not sure if it was a true joke, or if he was trying to drop a hint. Either way, I didn’t laugh.
It was good to hear about another shutout. Everyone had been talking about how our defense would struggle this year, but I haven’t seen any proof of that yet. Good times. I hope we can keep this up so that I can witness the big story next year. 2008: Quest for Perfection. 2009: National Championship! Go Cougars!
Today for P-Day we went to the beach. A bunch of missionaries really had fun, but I didn’t see much of a point to the trip. We traveled to the other side of the island to go to some “amazing beach” and everyone ended up talking for 2 hours. I thought it was good, but I failed to see any reason in traveling so far to sit around talking.
No package yet, but Zone Conference is on Wednesday so there’s still hope to get it this week. We are already getting the announcement that any Christmas packages must be sent directly to the mission office. Letters can go to “Caixa Postal 361”, bur any package needs to go to “Feliciano Nunes Pires 42”. I can’t promise that the second address is correct. You can look up the address in my mission papers, in the emails from last year, or I can send it next week. Either way, don’t send packages to the “Caixa Postal”!
I’m including a couple photos today. We have a family we’re teaching you decide to start living the Word of Wisdom. Since they don’t drink coffee anymore we decided to borrow it and try to brew some at home. It appears that our style was a little wrong and we ended up using all their coffee to make one batch. It didn’t appear to tasty so we ended up throwing it out. Does that make me a bad person?
Life is good, summer is coming and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.
Whipping up the newest coffee,
Elder Haws(mo)
Life on the island is going good. Yesterday was ward conference and the chapel was surprisingly full. I still don’t know everyone yet so a majority of the people could have been just stake leaders. The stake president recognized that this ward is the fastest growing ward in the stake. I looked at Elder Carvalho because we both know that this ward has only had 1 baptism in the last six months and around 4 baptisms in the last year. Then the stake president finished his “joke” by having all the pregnant members stand up. He said something like “even when investigators don’t get baptized, the ward can still grow in other ways. I’m not sure if it was a true joke, or if he was trying to drop a hint. Either way, I didn’t laugh.
It was good to hear about another shutout. Everyone had been talking about how our defense would struggle this year, but I haven’t seen any proof of that yet. Good times. I hope we can keep this up so that I can witness the big story next year. 2008: Quest for Perfection. 2009: National Championship! Go Cougars!
Today for P-Day we went to the beach. A bunch of missionaries really had fun, but I didn’t see much of a point to the trip. We traveled to the other side of the island to go to some “amazing beach” and everyone ended up talking for 2 hours. I thought it was good, but I failed to see any reason in traveling so far to sit around talking.
No package yet, but Zone Conference is on Wednesday so there’s still hope to get it this week. We are already getting the announcement that any Christmas packages must be sent directly to the mission office. Letters can go to “Caixa Postal 361”, bur any package needs to go to “Feliciano Nunes Pires 42”. I can’t promise that the second address is correct. You can look up the address in my mission papers, in the emails from last year, or I can send it next week. Either way, don’t send packages to the “Caixa Postal”!
I’m including a couple photos today. We have a family we’re teaching you decide to start living the Word of Wisdom. Since they don’t drink coffee anymore we decided to borrow it and try to brew some at home. It appears that our style was a little wrong and we ended up using all their coffee to make one batch. It didn’t appear to tasty so we ended up throwing it out. Does that make me a bad person?
Life is good, summer is coming and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.
Whipping up the newest coffee,
Elder Haws(mo)
Monday, September 15, 2008
16
Hey Family,
59-0? That’s what I like to hear. My boys are taking care of the PAC-10. Even better: The Power of the Wasatch (BYU Marching Band) now has a home. I home they warm it up nicely for me. Only another year before I claim my permanent place. But hey, there’s no time to think about that now. It’s time to work, work, work.
P-Day today was enjoyable. We got about 20 Elders together at the mission home to play ball. 2 hours of soccer (when I was playing the Brazilians left me in the goal) and around an hour of basketball. Good times. When we got there the president pulled me aside to talk to me… no … it wasn’t an interview… he just wanted to know if I’d heard about the BYU game. When I told him no, he replied that the game was ugly, really ugly. When I asked who played ugly he smiled and answered “Not BYU”. He remembered it being around 60-0, a number that I enjoyed, and openly laughed at UCLA. I was excited until we started playing soccer. That can kill any great feeling. President played with us and made a couple kids look silly. Rumor has it that when he was a kid he was teammates with a current Brazilian legend. I’ll have to do a little more research before we start spreading the rumor so keep it on the down-low.
Once the Brazilians got a little tired we played a “quick” game of basketball. First to 21 by 1. It was me, Elder Burkhardt (Florianopolis Zone Leader) and 3 others against Elder Huber (plays awesome), Elder Peterson (great post player), 2 random Brazilians, and President Queiroz. The president played surprisingly well, and didn’t seem to get as tired as everybody else. They ended up beating us 22-20. President Queiroz hit a deep jump shot to pull away 21-20, and a quick turnover by our team led to the immediate loss. It appears as if we’ll be able to play every other week for a while. Should be good.
Elder Carvalho (my current companion) is a great kid from Sao Paulo. He’s got 6 months on the mission, is in his second area, and was trained by one of our zone leaders. He turns 21 on the 28th of September, but appears to only be 14 or 15. He plays guitar, is a programmer in training, and is anxious to have a baptism on the mission. So far he’s been dry, but we hope to have him in the water a couple times in the next month or so. Work on the island is incredibly different from what I’ve already experienced, but with help from our awesome new ward mission leader we hope to be finding success relatively soon.
Summer seems to be starting up soon, but we’re ready for it. Last week we had around 4 days of rain.That’s no fun when you walk everywhere. Missionary life is never easy, but there’s no use in complaining because it’s not going to end anytime soon.
The sun is hot, the rain has stopped, and I’m fine to stop worrying about me.
Searching for my groove,
Elder Haws(mo)
Monday, September 8, 2008
Lost in a New City
Hey Family,
BYU is still undefeated. That’s what I love to hear. Even if it was a blocked extra-point at the buzzer. We’re good like that. Though, I must say, I’m a little disappointed at the fact that Harvey fumbled in the end zone. 136 yards on 23 carries is acceptable, but you can’t fumble at the goal line.
Today we spent P-day at one of the most famous beaches in Florianopolis. The Praia Mole. If you translated it, it would be SOFT BEACH. Don’t worry, we got out before noon, which means that we were gone before anyone else showed up, and we stayed a good distance from the beach that is “clothing-optional” (don’t ask). We went with the zone leaders and a few of the sisters in the zone. By the way, I’m currently serving on the island of Florianopolis in the Agronomica Ward. My area is pretty big, it’s full of hills, and the ward has between 70 and 80 at church each week. The ward has been “dry” for a little while, but we’ll see if we can’t fix that a little bit.
It turns out that Elder Huber (from BYU) is serving with Elder Santana (who I trained) in a ward on the other side of the bridge. Today we ran into them at Pizza Hut (yes. Pizza Hut) and we’ve started our official plans to play basketball. It might seem like a conspiracy, but President Queiroz played with them this morning. Elder Huber seemed a little too happy to inform me that the play of the game was when he blocked the President’s hook shot. We’ll see if I don’t have any of my own stories next week.
We are currently teaching William, a 15 year old who is really excited about the church. He’s been to church twice now, we to a ward activity to play soccer last weekend, and just got signed up to go on a stake camping trip. If all goes well he’ll be getting baptized next week, and the rest of his family should follow shortly.
Life is good, the hills were worth the wait, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.
Learning to climb… again,
Elder Haws(mo)
BYU is still undefeated. That’s what I love to hear. Even if it was a blocked extra-point at the buzzer. We’re good like that. Though, I must say, I’m a little disappointed at the fact that Harvey fumbled in the end zone. 136 yards on 23 carries is acceptable, but you can’t fumble at the goal line.
Today we spent P-day at one of the most famous beaches in Florianopolis. The Praia Mole. If you translated it, it would be SOFT BEACH. Don’t worry, we got out before noon, which means that we were gone before anyone else showed up, and we stayed a good distance from the beach that is “clothing-optional” (don’t ask). We went with the zone leaders and a few of the sisters in the zone. By the way, I’m currently serving on the island of Florianopolis in the Agronomica Ward. My area is pretty big, it’s full of hills, and the ward has between 70 and 80 at church each week. The ward has been “dry” for a little while, but we’ll see if we can’t fix that a little bit.
It turns out that Elder Huber (from BYU) is serving with Elder Santana (who I trained) in a ward on the other side of the bridge. Today we ran into them at Pizza Hut (yes. Pizza Hut) and we’ve started our official plans to play basketball. It might seem like a conspiracy, but President Queiroz played with them this morning. Elder Huber seemed a little too happy to inform me that the play of the game was when he blocked the President’s hook shot. We’ll see if I don’t have any of my own stories next week.
We are currently teaching William, a 15 year old who is really excited about the church. He’s been to church twice now, we to a ward activity to play soccer last weekend, and just got signed up to go on a stake camping trip. If all goes well he’ll be getting baptized next week, and the rest of his family should follow shortly.
Life is good, the hills were worth the wait, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.
Learning to climb… again,
Elder Haws(mo)
Monday, September 1, 2008
From the Beach to the Island
*note from Mikey's family - we're confused about his transfer.
I think he put Itajai two times instead of telling us
WHERE he's going. Maybe someone else can figure out where he is. :)
**update** ok - we're gussing he's on Florianopolis
Hey Family, School has already started? BYU already got a win in the books? Utah won at Michigan? That’s really going to help our rankings when we beat them in a third straight Holy War. BCS here we come.
Life here in Navegantes is good but it’s about to come to an end. Yesterday the bishopric announced that I was probably going to get transferred. It seemed as if the world was going to come to an end. A bunch of people started to cry, a few gave me their addresses and informed that if I didn’t keep in touch they would kill me, and others just continued with their lives as usual. It turns out that it times for another change of scenery, so I’m packing my bags.
The baptisms went great last Friday. Deivison is 11 and Gustavo is 8. There parents and older sister were baptized ten years ago, but have been inactive for around years. The family is almost completely active right now, and plans to stay that way now that we splashed the little boys. (Note: I didn’t mean that WE splashed the little boys, it was actually the bishop in the water with them). Gleice is 13 and is the neighbor of a really active family that lives about an hour and a half from our apartment. We are now working on teaching/baptizing her two sisters and her mother. Her mom hasn’t been to church yet, nor has she been present at a full lesson but combing the baptismal experience and our new teaching techniques it shouldn’t be too long before she “joins the club”. We had a little party after the baptism, but I’ll probably wait to send hoe a DVD of photos rather then email all of them.
For P-Day we went to a beach in Itajai with the zone and then had lunch at McDonalds and/or Subway. I’m going to have a Subway In my next area so I went to McDonalds with Elder Stephanou (Currently: Itajai Zone Leader, but on Wednesday he becomes the new Assistant to the President). I got a Big Mac combo with a shake. The burger was a little small; the fries only “looked” exactly like the original, but the shake was delicious. The entire combo cost around $10-12. When I explained to Elder Stephanou that I could have had 3 combos for the same price back home he asked if he could come live with us. Poor guy. It’ll be a good change to get home and pay the real price for fast food. The dollar menu will definitely be a pleasant surprise.
Tomorrow night I’ll be sleeping at Elder Bateman’s house in Itajai before taking the bus to Itajai. Unfortunately we’re getting separated again, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be ending up in the same zone any time soon. My new companion will be… a short Brazilian. Who would have guessed? But seriously, even the other Brazilians call him short. Should be a fun 6 weeks. It turns out that I’ll be going to take Elder Andrews’ (from my group) spot, which is also where Elder Brough (also from my group) started his mission. Good times. Let’s see how it goes.
Life is good, Morgan seems like a boy’s name, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.
Leaving “Heaven,”
Elder Haws(mo)
PS I also tossed in a photo from our last P-day. Maiko, Elder Harmon, Elder Haws, Elder Stephanou, Elder da Rocha
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