P-Day= P(arty) Day‏

Hey Family,

Don’t worry. The rain stopped. The 100 degree sun came back. Elder West and I have been burned. We are a “little” burned. Good times.

My birthday day was pretty relaxed. Wednesday we had a branch activity to celebrate all the January birthdays so I got some cake and a little party. Thursday night we got some pizza. Elder West was hoping to make me a real cake, but we were in Videira doing divisions/splits with Elder Pimentel. Elder Pimentel is from the same group as the elder I trained and is now one of the Zone Leaders out here in the west. The kid is POWERFUL. Today we are planning on baking up some cakes and goodies to celebrate my 21 years and Elder West’s one year in the mission.

We have a special responsibility to clean up the house today because we have Zone Conference this week. The mission will be renting a bus to go from Chapeco to Ipomeia and it will pick up our entire zone at our house. This conference is going to be really fun because it will be in the town of Ipomeia. Ipomeia is the birthplace of the church in Brazil. The first chapel in South America was constructed in Joinville, but the first organized meetings were here in Ipomeia. I think the story goes that shortly after the first World War a lot of Germans immigrated to southern Brazil. Among these hordes of Germans was a Mormon family that eventually settled in Ipomeia and opened the doors for the preaching of the gospel in Brazil. Various grand and great-grandchildren of this first family still live in Ipomeia, but I met a lot of others during my time in Navegantes.

Jake is scared of girls? I had never thought that that was his style, but I guess the mission changes people. Greg is going to get his call soon? That would be fun if he opened it Thursday morning. There’s a small chance that you guys could call the President while I’m being interviewed by him. Probably won’t happen. In fact, it would be nearly impossible, but Mom can still believe.

3 more Zone Conferences. Time to buckle down and get the work done. We’re entering the final sprint and I don’t want to get left behind.

The sun is out, the appointments are marked, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.

Repenting and Readjusting to Sunscreen,
Elder Haws(mo)

PS Is Greg Rydalch still involved in BYU sports?