Hey Family, A new week has already come and gone, and the Cougars are back on a winning streak. That’s what I like to see. Last P-day we were in Irani (one of the 3 other cities in our proselyting area) to spend P-Day with the Sisters for Elder Martin last P-day out here. We had a member who lives there take us down a forest trail down the side of a mountain to a neat waterfall. It was fun. I am including of few of the pictures. Our group had a little bit of trouble winding our way through the trees and the vines in the pouring rain. Everybody slipped at least once, nearly losing their life. There was one treacherous decline that we had to traverse that caused me a little trouble. I was leading with my right foot going down when I tried to secure my weight on stone that ending up being loose. As my right foot was already on its way down I dropped to a baseball slide and rode out the last ten feet. At the bottom I hopped right to my feet, the only harm being the mud all over my jeans. After that we got to climb back out of the gorge and up to the member’s house for the lunch. Shortly thereafter I grabbed a couple quick photos of the surrounding country side. Then it was back to Concordia so Elder Martin could say some teary-eyed good-byes. We went to Chapeco Tuesday so that Elder Martin could catch the bus to Florianopolis with Elder Burke. Elder Burke had been serving in Chapeco for 6 months, since he entered the field. On my few trips to Chapeco we got to do some talking and got to be good friends. Naturally, he got transferred away so I snapped a photo with him. It was right in the middle of the airport so it technically might have been against the rules. If it was, I’ll probably repent later. I’m not sure if I already explained Zone Conference to you so I will now. We have three Zone Conferences. One Conference for the Zones Florianopolis, Sao Jose, Sao Jose North (right across the bridge from Floripa) and Tubarao (down south) that takes place in Florianopolis. Another for the Northern Zones: Itajai (where Elder Martin is now and my new companion was before) Joinville North and Joinville. The last is in Lages for Lages, Ipomeia, and Chapeco. Right now Elder Bateman and I are in the Western portion but the other 4 Elders from our MTC district, Elder Pereira (my Brazilian brother) and now Elder Burke will all attend the Florianopolis Zone Conference. That’s not fair at all. After a day of proselyting in Chapeco, in the mud, with an Elder who only has one transfer in the field, Elder Wright arrived at 2AM. We caught a 10 AM bus and were back in Concordia by 1 in the afternoon on Thursday. These first few days have been raining so no one has been in the streets, and a holiday on Friday created a “travel-worthy” 3-day weekend so no one was in their houses. Be that as it may, we persevered and met 8 of the nine mission goals. The only thing we didn’t have was sufficient investigators at Church, which was understandable. Yesterday was District Conference in Chapeco. We had a bus that left the church at 7 AM to take everyone there. The problem: Day Light Savings time started so it turned out to be 6AM. All is well though. Elder Wright is from Salt Lake City, specifically: Holiday. He has 11 months in the mission, 8 and a half in the field. He has spent time one the island in Florianopolis and then went to a little city named Picarras where he stayed for three transferred, and trained last transfer. He speaks the language really well, is a fairly tall guy (6’1”) and is a lot of fun to be around. The problem is that people don’t like giving there addresses to 2 tall Americans. The Lord placed us here, the Lord is going to prepare way though. It looks like we could be having a couple more baptisms this transfer. Wish us luck. Thanks for all the letters and the packages. I just want to make sure that I will be getting a football (American football) for Christmas. Please. Anytime someone wants to send me a jar of Peanut Butter they are more than welcome to. The only recipe I thought of this last week that I would want is a simple recipe for pancakes. We have a bunch of flour and eggs are cheap. I love you all, the work is coming along, the rain is always falling, and I’m fine so stop worrying about. Terrorizing Western Santa Catarina with another white boy at my side,Elder Haws(mo)
Hey Family,Hawsmo here with the information on the new transfers. Elder Martin and I had decided that I was going to get transfered to somewhere really far from Concordia and that He would remain to baptize all of our current investigators. We got a call last night and found out we were wrong. Elder Martin is going to a city in Zone Itajai and I am staying put in Concordia for at least one more transfer but I hope for at least two more. For the time being I Will be walking the streets with Elder Wright. All I know about him is that he arrived in the mission field in January. I’ll be learning more this week. Tomorrwow I head to Chapeco with Elder Martin. I Will stay there with the Zone Leaders for two days while Elder Martin goes to Floripa to switch spots with Elder Wright. They really are Just trading spots in the mission. Its a little odd.Baptism with Orlando went great Saturday. All is friends from the branch are in two different families, both of which went traveling during conference so we didn’t have many at the baptism, but the important one was there. I got to do the official splashing again. Good times. Orlando is now commited to going teaching with us two times a week, which should help him to remain firm in the church. Besides him, we have around 20 investigators between the ages of 11 and 17 who could be baptized before the end of next transfer... if their parents and grandparents will let them. Its going to be a struggle, but that’s what its all about. I figure that if we can get some English Classes going we’ll find evn more kids, and they should be able to support each other in the gospel. Right? What kind of stuff did Spencer teach in his English class? Did Warren teach one in Monterrey?When the Zone Leaders came to do the baptism interview Friday night they had to stay overnight because the bus times can be a joke around here. All was well. We ordered in Pizza, and bought our own chocolate pizza to bake for dessert. It was when we pulled out the chocolate pizza that the Zone Leaders learned my true talent. With a fork and a steak knife I cut the pizza into perfect 8ths. Perfect 8ths. They just sat there and watched in wonder. After proving to everyone that along with cutting a perfect pizza and can eat more pizza than anybody else, we snapped a couple photos before bed. The first one is of Me and Elder Martin with Elder Bench and Elder da Silva. I love those guys. I refer to Elder da Silva as “cheerco nano” everytime I see him. He hates it but loves me. I look forward to the possibility of him being my companion for splits the next two days when the transfers take place. The other picture was taken at 6 AM Saturday morning. Standing on the chair he is barely taller than me. Honestly I want to stay in Concordia until January becuase da Silva will be the Zone Leader here until then, when he goes home. I look forward to having some fun times with the Zone Leaders.Life is going good here. I’m kind of anxious to here how the New Mexico game turned out. Thanks for all the letters and the packages. Elder da Silva keeps telling me he is going to hurt his back carrying my letters to me. Elder Bench can’t believe how many I get. Thanks everyone. you’re making me a legend. At Zone Conference 2 weeks ago I got 20 letters and a package. Last week when the Zone Leaders came back from Floripa they had 23 more letters and 2 packages for me. I love you guys. THE POUCH SERVICE IS GOING TO STOP WORKING TO BRAZIL NOVEMBER 1ST. SEND ANY AND ALL LETTERS TO ME TO THE MISSON HOME/OFFICE ADDRESS.The work is great, it will change with the new companion, and I’m fine so stop worrying about me.Splashing, Dashing, and taking Brazil by storm,Elder Haws(mo)P.S. I’m keeping a picture history of total letters recieved, updated every transfer
Hey Family, Snow? Mom wrote me to tell me about snow? Do you WANT me to get homesick? I’m burning alive in Brazil in a shirt and tie and Greg is probably sitting outside in basketball shorts making snow angels! Life is good here in Concordia. Next Wednesday is transfers (I will have had two full transfers in Concordia).Based on recent history with Elders in Concordia Elder Martin would be getting transferred next week since he will have had 3 transfers there. The catch: we are currently trying to move to a new location in town. We haven’t officially terminated our current contract or really looked at a new one so he will probably stay to fix the situation. It’s not too likely that they would bring in someone new to learn the situation and then resolve it, so if anyone gets the boot it will likely be me. I don’t want the boot. I like Concordia. Even with all its hills. Marcelo Santian (da Silva) is the Branch President down here. (Everyone has the last name of Silva, da Silva, Santos, dos Santos, or Oliveira so most people just go by the middle name as a last name.) He works in a bank and dreams of moving his family to the States, but because of the difficulty in getting a visa he will likely move to Italy next summer. His English is great; I even gave him the address of the blog so he can practice reading informal English. That picture you got from him is actually photographic evidence of me breaking the rules. As missionaries we’re not supposed to hold kids, and the only contact with girls should be handshakes. The fact that I’m holding a baby girl is probably a bad thing. The fact of the matter is that all the kids here in Concordia love me. They reach out for me to take them from their parents and then cry when I don’t. That picture was from our branch’s Night of Banana activity. Marcelo’s wife handed Anna Laura to me, took a picture, and took her back from me in about 5 seconds. I’m a sinner. Because Anna Laura always reaches for me when her Dad is holding her I make a habit of informing Presidente Santian that his daughter is my girlfriend. He always threatens to send me home, but nothing has happened so far. Today we are in Xanxere with the sisters for P-Day. We will do email and stuff here, head to another city named Irani where there are more outdoorsy things to do and then back here for district meeting. Saturday is guaranteed Baptism. I will be doing the actually splashing for the second time. This kid is awesome. He even went with us to the house of a couple girls from his school to do some teaching. He’s thirteen, he carried Elder Martin’s bag and wore my nametag. He got prayers assigned, got the girls to read a random scripture he opened to and then explained it for them. He can give you the basic history of the Book of Mormon just by seeing the pictures in the book. 2 of Nephi, Alma in the Waters of Mormon, Samuel the Lamanite, 3 Nephi 11, and Moroni with the plates. This young man is ready for his own mission. Nick is flying solo in the MTC? Wow. He probably doesn’t need a companion. He could go solo in the field as a greenie and have more success that this entire mission. Wish him luck (even though he doesn’t need it) and send him a dozen doughnuts for me. Joey is still in the band? And in a skirt! That kid has always been a stud. I can’t find Jake’s address anywhere. Can you send it to me again? And make sure Greg keeps dating. He doesn’t have to wait for a dance to ask a girl out either. With how much we travel to Xanxere to do baptism interviews for the sisters (just about once a week), I have use my Wells Fargo card often between opportunities to have travel funds reimbursed. If you ever want to drop $15 or $20 into my account the exchange rate will keep me going for weeks. I love you all, life is good, the work is coming along, and I’ll let you know about the transfer situation next week. I’m fine so stop worrying about me. Preaching the word, Praising the Lord, and Praying for my Cougars, Elder Haws(mo)
