On the Road Again...‏

Hey Family,

Happy Monday! I’m so glad to hear that you guys are having snow-day conditions during spring break. It’s definitely summer weather here, even though winter is supposed to be settling in. Go figure. The only thing that is working out as it should is the fact that I only have 5 more P-days and Portuguese sacrament meetings left. I’m doing everything do give one last, powerful push. 5 weeks is plenty of time to make the difference.

Greg wanted a Portuguese to English translation of Called to Serve.

Somos hoje conclamados a servir e a pregar o rei Jesus,
(Today we are called to serve and preach the King, Jesus)
Dando ao mundo nosso testemunho,
(giving the world our testimony)
Proclamamos sua luz...
(Proclaiming his light)

Juntos todos juntos, marcharemos em união,
(Together, all together, marching in union)
Prontos, sempre prontos, a cumprir fiel missão,
(Ready, always ready, to complete a faithful mission)
Firmes entoamos, este hino triunfal:
(Firmly we sing, this triumph hymn:)
Jovens de Sião, lutemos pela causa celestial.
(Youth of Zion, we fight for the celestial cause)

Somos hoje conclamados às fileiras dos soldados do Senhor,
(Today we are called to the files of the Lord’s soldiers) -note: files as in ranks and files
Vamos pelas sendas e atalhos,
(We will go by the path and shortcuts)
Para demonstrar valor...
(to show valor)

Juntos todos juntos, marcharemos em união,
(Together, all together, marching in union)
Prontos, sempre prontos, a cumprir fiel missão,
(Ready, always ready, to complete a faithful mission)
Firmes entoamos, este hino triunfal:
(Firmly we sing, this triumph hymn:)
Jovens de Sião, lutemos pela causa celestial.
(Youth of Zion, we fight for the celestial cause)

This was another crazy week. We only made about half the visits we normallymake in a week because each and every one of our visits went long. Some families had so many questions, concerns, comments, etc. that we stayed teaching for nearly 2 hours. Just teaching. I love questions, because it shows they want to learn, but sometimes enough is enough. Time and time again my testimony was strengthened that this isn’t my work, it’s theLord’s. Elder Cook told me that there were sometimes that I would read a scripture and answer a question, that he swore it wasn’t me talking. There were a couple times that he jumped out and answered a question that I knew he neither understand, nor had any idea of the vocabulary he as using. The spirit is willing to help us do the work; we just have to let him in to do it. The Lord works in mysterious ways. It was truly God’s hand in the work this week. These visits had to be the visits that everyone opened up with their doubts, concerns, and questions, because these visits were my last in this area.

Last night we got the transfer phone call, it turns out I’ll be spending mylast 5 weeks in a different area, but not an unfamiliar one. Elder Cook willbe staying here and will be receiving our current district leader as his senior companion. Elder Monteiro is currently in Campos Novos (the area thatis about an hour east of Joaçaba) and will just slide on over to Joaçaba.He’ll remain the district leader, in the same district, just in the other half of it. I will be going to Sao Franciso do Sul. It’s a little coast city on an island over by Joinville. It was the third city settled in Brazil. My companion will be Elder Sampaio. I am already including a picture of the two of us together because he was in Camos Novos for the first day of the transfer (when he slept at our house) before getting emergency transferred the next day to Sao Francisco. An interesting fact is that while I was in Joinville (the Itaum ward) my district leader was in São Franciso. However, the districts have been redefined so I won’t necessarily have that much of a chance to wander my old area. The transfer bus will be passing by my house tomorrow night, and I’ll probably get to Sao Francisco Wednesday around 8pm.

Just to answer a couple of Mom’s questions. Jon Shipley left on his mission about a month before me, meaning that he should theoretically be arriving around the 15th of April. How does Kyle feel about the possibility of coming home early? Why would they possibly pick Spencer to be TO’s body double? There had to be SOMEONE more qualified. I love Moose, but there’s no way I would ever pick him to stand in for Terrell Owens. Letters generally take around two weeks to get here, so I’d stop in about 2 weeks. The Zone Leaders called up and said they have a bunch of letters waiting for me. If any aren’t from Dad I’ll have to respond and tell them to terminate communication to the mission address. From here on our it’ll just be homeaddresses.

The bus is coming, my bags are getting packed, and I’m fine so stop worryingabout me.

Getting Used to Packing,
Elder Haws(mo)

PS I'm taking advantage of Elder Cook's camera to send some pictures home.You might recognize one of Greg's favorite movie stars.

No Daughters?‏

Hey Family,

BYU lost in the first round again? I hadn’t even heard they were in the tournament. Oh well. This streak of first round losses will have to come to an end as soon as the student section receives a boost from this giant. After hearing so much about the young players on the team this year I’m getting excited to come back and see a new, powerful team running the floor. Our boys just need to keep improving so that by the time I’m a senior we’re competing for both the BCS Championship and the NCAA Championship. We’ll have to be solid enough to take on anyone who comes our way, but still be able to hold our heads high knowing we play clean, hard, and well. GO COUGARS!

Mission life seems to be following the same old route. I think I need to repent for how annoyed I get at the people sometimes. Members, investigators, companions, contacts in the street, etc. It seems as if I’ve been getting the same reactions, the same complaints, and the same excuses all day everyday for the last two years. I love everyone I serve but sometimes I just want to hit somebody. I’m sure you guys know how I feel.

This week we started teaching a fun little family. They’ve been living in Joaçaba for around a year now, but have lived almost everywhere in this western part of the state. He is a manager for the federal Brazilian bank, Caixa. As such they move around ever couple years. Luckily, before all the moves started they lived in Concordia. In our first visit we just talked about the different parts of town, the characteristics, the geography, the culture, etc. of my first area in the mission. Yesterday we stopped by their house again and I heard the funniest comment I’d ever heard about the bible. At first he said he only believed certain parts of the Bible because the book was written back when everyone thought the world was flat and if you sailed too far from the coast you’d fall off into the abyss. Solely because of that fact he doesn’t think he can trust too much of the bible. Then came the fun part. He mentioned that he’s read the bible from cover to cover and hadn’t found the answer to one of his questions. He said that as he read Genesis he read about Adam and Eve being created by God, and how the rest of mankind came to be because of he. He then mentioned that he only remembered reading that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. He remembered no other children, specifically no daughters, and came to his own personal conclusion that either the bible lacked some information, or the entire thing was a lie because there was no possible way that Cain and Abel could have brought more of God’s children to this earth. I just laughed. He’s right. That is an absurd thought. Plus, there is a lot of information missing from the Bible. I had to bite my tongue and wait for the right opportunity to give him the rest of the truth.

Yesterday was Elder Cook’s birthday so we’ll probably bake a cake or something to celebrate today. Then tonight we’re going to go and visit and English School, to wants to talk to some gringos. Wish us luck!

The church is true, summer is lingering, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.

Taking life on step at a time,
Elder Haws(mo)

PS Transfers are next week. Sunday I will know my fate.

Videira: Rallying the Troops‏

Hey Family,

Long time no see. Have to wish Jonah a happy birthday one more time. I’m glad to hear that he’s already learning to economize his money. Stop spending and start saving. You’ll thank yourself later. I didn’t get to open up the pictures Jenny sent because we’re in Videira today and the lan house is pretty bad. I’m starting to miss Joaçaba already. The lan house we use there is in the mall, and in addition to renting computer time, they also have a couple Playstation 3’s that you can pay to play. Naturally, I can’t (even if the guys who work there offer us free time on the systems) but it’s fun to watch the different people come in and play. These days I normally finish emailing about 15-20 minutes before Elder Cook so that gives me a nice little while to watch some soccer. I’ve seen everyone from 8 year- olds to 45 year-olds come in to play. It’s a twist to the week that you don’t get everywhere.

We gathered the troops for a Super P-Day today. Well. It was going to be. Then the two elders from Caçador decided to stay home. We still had 8 elders and some investigators playing ball together in Ipomeia. When I say “ball” I mean soccer because the basketball that is usually in Videira is currently in Caçador and they didn’t come play. I spent most the morning playing goalie because no Brazilian ever wants to. Brazilians are naturally good at soccer, but also only want to score goals, occasionally pulling out the fun tricks to make fools out of people. For the most part just my companion and I were the two goalies, but we did a pretty solid job of closing the nets. Since we play on a basketball court, the goals are smaller. As such, I take up almost the entire goal. Fortunately no one figured out that the easiest way to score is kicking the ball on the ground since I’m horrible with my feet. They’re all used to kick the ball in the air into the corners of the goal, but never seemed to realize that I am not only enormous, but I have decent hands. As such, I got my own chance to talk a little trash. I realize that’s not a good thing for Elders to do, but sometimes I can’t help myself.

The work is coming along pretty well here. We’ve got a couple families that just need to get married and we’ll be filling up the font. Fortunately, even though the members aren’t giving referrals, these investigator families have begun telling their friends about us. We met these families and decided we would be more than pleased to help them find the truth that they didn’t know they were looking for. To tell you the truth, we have one family in the branch that is preparing 3 other families for us, but we haven’t had much to do their yet. Sure enough they’ll be ready for the water as soon as we get them; we just have to be patient.

Conference was awesome last week. After the trainings, the burnings, and practicing the lessons, I got the chance to just sit and chat with Elder Huber for close to 2 hours. Reliving old times from BYU, swapping mission experiences and him informing me on what the rest of the group is up to. He keeps saying that he’s ready for me to go home, just so that he can be sure he only has 3 more months. I can’t believe it’s already happening.

Life is going good, the sun is REALLY hot, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.

Holding down the fort(goal),
Elder Haws(mo)

March(ing) Again‏

Hey Family,

From here it appears to be the end of the world. Terrell Owens is on the Bills, my nephew is a skater, Jonah (who didn’t talk when I was home) is turning four, and Tavernari is completely inconsistent making Cummard responsible for saving the day…

Life is going pretty good down here. March is the hottest month of the year, and has started to prove it. After 5 minutes in the road Elder Cook already looks like he’s melting. It doesn’t help that we spend all day walking in a straight line. When I say “straight line” I don’t mean:

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I mean:
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/

It doesn’t matter if we’re coming or going, climbing or descending, it’s rough. I’m getting pretty used to it, but Elder Cook is still struggling a little bit. He loves it, but it’s easy to tell that he’s suffering a little bit. Soon enough he’ll have it under control and all will be well in Zion.

It’s crazy to think that the transfer is already half over. Ever since Elder Cook got here I haven’t been answering the questions “How much time left?” or “When do you go home?” I learned very quickly (from others’ experiences) that if you answer this the people just start talking about home, planes, English, dollar, dating, marriage, war in Iraq, etc. I’ve decided that it’s better to avoid the straight answer and just tell them that I’ve still got plenty of time left and that my bags aren’t packed yet. There’s still plenty of work to be done before mid-May.

This week will be Zone Conference again. We’ll wake up early to catch the bus to Ipomeia on Thursday. More trainings from the assistants, doctrine from THE SISTER, burnings from the President, and come practice worth the lessons. Everyone always leaves the conference ready to work and baptize the people. The downside is that here in the west, we get real anxious to teach and baptize, and then spend a few hours on the bus going home. When we get back to the apartment its bedtime, and then we have to fight to get that fire back the next day. It’s tough, but more than worth it once it finally works out.

Tell Greg to get himself ready. He needs to be prepared for the basketball for 3 straight weeks. He might also want to look into training on a FIFA video game because we will have to start the epic showdowns between Brazil and Portugal.

I’m fine, the weather’s heating up, and there’s plenty of time left so stop worrying about me.

Calendar-Free,
Elder Haws(mo)

Old Faces, New Scenery‏

Hey Family,

Is winter really coming to a close up there? Things starting to heat up? I know how you feel. Everyone seems incredibly proud to announce that the hottest month of the year is March. Good times. I'm not too worried. The heat is nearly as bad as the summer rains. Sometimes we have perfectly blue skies all day, and still manage to get two or three big hits of 15 minute rain showers. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but no one else is complaining so I won't.

Carnaval came to a close on Tuesday night so we've been back to the regular work schedule ever since. I can't imagine being in Chad's shoes. 7 pm curfew for any longer than 5 days is ridiculous. I d='t know how things are there, but down here almost all of our investigators get home from work at 6:30 and can't receive visits until around 7. Best of luck to him.

Mom, I would love to send another postcard or two, but I won't be able to this week. You forgot to include any addresses. Just let me know who (WITH THEIR ADDRESS) and I'll find a way to get them mailed off.

This week I had a fun little surprise. As we were walking through the streets Saturday before lunch a lady walked up to us and started a conversation. She mentioned that she wanted us to come by her house because her son got baptized two years ago but has recently fallen away from the church. She said that all she or her husband want is for him to be active in the church because it is the best place for him to be to stay out of the ways of the world. She also mentioned that her daughters read the Book of Mormon and want to be sister missionaries. When I mentioned that we would be more than happy to stop by, she mentioned that the son had been baptized in Xanxere. I quickly asked his name, and upon learning his name was Jackson, immediately remembered him. I went to journal yesterday and found his baptism. On the 27 of September of 2007 Elder Martin (my trainer) interviewed him for baptism. After the interview he went so far as to ask me to baptize him, but due to the incredibly long distance from my area, I couldn't. It truly was the hand of the Lord that brought me to this area so that I could help him and his family. The Lord works in mysterious ways from time to time.

March is upon us, the sun is shining down, and I'm fine so stop worrying about me.

Soaking up the Sunshine,
Elder Haws(mo)