67th Letter 6-30-14

Photo: Maria's Baptism

Dear Awesome Family,

This week went by very fast and man were we busy! I had a little cold throughout the week, but this work is more important than me having a little cold. This, in its self was a miracle. I would wake up feeling like dirt, but after telling myself “If you will get up and work your hardest the Lord will support you through this day,” this happened everyday this week and the Lord blessed me everyday with energy and health to do the work. What a blessing! It is getting pretty cold here and is raining all the time. Really helps me appreciate the sun! Ha-ha. I guess reporters have been saying the river Uraguai will be almost 17 meters higher this year. This means our apartments will be under water. Ha-ha, we will see what happens. Many of the Itaquniense (ha-ha) are talking and worrying about it. Oh, and we had a BAPTISM!!!! I will explain how it all came through in the email. But, wow this week was rough work!

This whole week we had lessons with Maria. She was doing very good all week, reading the BOM and praying. We taught her everything and she is keeping all the commandments. Towards the end of the week, closer to her baptism, she was getting very nervous and confused. Friday we went there with a member and resolved some concerns and everything was ready to go for the baptism. Saturday, the day of the baptism, she called us and had a bunch of excuses, like how her son was sick and what not. She wanted to know if we could move the baptism to another week. We rushed to her home to talk with her. She was very scared and confused. We tried to remind her of all the answers God has given her and talked about how she is ready for baptism, passing the interview and everything, but she was still confused! We told her boldly, with faith and love, “Maria, you already know that this is your day to enter the waters of baptism; you are only lacking a bit of courage. Can you pray and ask Heavenly Father to give you the courage to be baptized today?” We entered the kitchen where it was more quite and away from the T.V. that had the World Cup game (Brazil vs. Chile?). We kneeled down and she started to pray silently. Elder Cotrim and I started to pray silently like crazy that she would receive the courage and some sort of answer that she needs to be baptized today! We stayed there kneeling for about 10 minutes on the Moutaines’ dirt floor. As our knees were aching, we stayed there waiting for her answer to come. When she stood-up she was a different person. She said, “I don’t know which one of you will baptism me, but I had a vision of us 3 in white at the church. Both of you were facing the other way, but I saw a light there and felt the spirit very strong.”  She tried to say the vision was telling her to be baptized next week, but we cleared up that doubt real fast and helped her realize today is the day! Maria decided on me to baptize her and the whole baptism went very, very well! We had a good turn out with members and everything! What if we wouldn´t have rushed to her house hours before baptism and asked her to pray? I have no doubt that if we hadn´t been obedient to those promptings she wouldn´t have been baptized.

Now the sad story that happened...So we were walking to Ari´s house to teach the whole family, but when we arrived Ari and Natanael were waiting for us in the front yard. Ari told us that many problems have arisen there in the home and that they need to be done meeting with us. We tried to explain that we could help, but Ari indirectly said that because of his wife, Silvia, we are not welcome there anymore. This was very sad to hear, but we can’t force them to receive us. We invited them to read the BOM and pray everyday and that they are welcome in our church always. Ari almost started to cry when he told us goodbye and rushed in the home. The kids all gave us hugs as they were crying. I was a little confused and sad, but this was the first real rejection Elder Cotrim had to face and it was very hard for him. As we walked away from the home he began to weep. I put my arm around him as we walked and tried my best to explain that these things happen, but we can´t do anything about it. I told him, “We can’t force righteousness. We did our best and we can’t keep feeling down because the Lord has more work for us to do.” This was a very humbling experience for me...Elder Cotrim has a lot of love for these people. 

This week was hard work, but I know that the Lord is blessing us every step of the way! I am so grateful for these challenges, it wouldn´t be a Mission without them!

Mom, it sounds like it was an awesome week there in the US! I am excited for Dresden to leave on the mission!  He will do great things! Mom, I am very impressed with your desire to be better in all aspects of life! God will bless you with these righteous desires! I love the picture of Emme! She is so cute! :)

Dad, the World Cup is slowing down some of the work, but not nearly as much as I thought it would. We are still finding a lot of success! Awesome to hear about Chris getting his call and all the other missionaries leaving! Dresden is looking like a stud in the photo!

I love all of you so very much! :) Have a great week!

Elder Hauck

66th Letter 6-23-14

 Pictures: 1-Dinner & World Cup celebration at Crisiani’s. 

2-After cutting some wood logs Elder Cotrim and I had a fight. I won!

Dear Family,

All right, so I don’t have too much time, but this week went very good and was very crazy as well. We have seen some great miracles together. Elder Cotrim and I are doing great together and are working super hard. We had a ton of lessons this week, more than usual, and 7 investigators visited church with us! They are all progressing very well and we continue to find people wanting to be baptized. The work is going so well that the time is flying by! Thank goodness I have my journal up to date so I can remember all of these amazing experiences. I wish I could share everything with you guys, but there is no way I have enough time to write everything I want to.

First thing that happen, which was super cool was at lunch Tuesday we ate with Lisandra and her Mom and Grandpa. The lunch went super good! So a little about Lisandra, she is super strong in the church and has a baby daughter only a few months old and a son, who is a handful for her, who is 6 years old. Her husband cheated on her and left her about 4 months ago leaving her and the family alone. During all of this she stayed strong in the church and could hardly tell she was sad. After lunch she opened up to my companion and me and she cried a lot. It was so sad...I couldn’t imagine being in her position. Her family is beautiful. How could this guy do this to her? She told us that he has been returning everyday asking for forgiveness and permission to return. Lisandra has stayed strong during all of this and said at times he sits on the couch and just cries and she leaves to another room. She has been reading the book "Miracle of Forgiveness."  She said she has forgiven him and doesn´t know exactly what to do. She wanted help from us. We, teenage kids, being a little shocked with all this, tried helping her the best we could and told her she needed to receive counsel from President Alisson. She agreed and wants to talk with him. This was a great testimony builder and really touched me of how strong of a woman she is. She told us of her testimony and I know it is because of this testimony she is so strong! What great faith she has to forgive her husband for doing this to her...I can´t imagine what I would do if my wife did this to me. I was also touched by the confidence she had in us 2 missionaries. She was so grateful for our help and told us of the different spirit she feels around us. She told us that we are different from other missionaries. This also shocked me a bit.

During the whole week we had experiences where many members, less actives, and investigators open their hearts to us and tell us that they feel very comfortable with us and trust us. 

This week wasn´t exhausting physical it was exhausting spiritual! I don’t think I have cried more in one week than during this week. We had moments where the spirit was so strong. This Spirit has helped so many people resolve problems, doubts, and concerns. I am so grateful for the spirit that is with Elder Cotrim and me.

Another experience that wasn´t the best was when we visited the big family. So their baptism was scheduled for the 28th of this month, but now things are difficult. So we arrived there and talked about the baptism and everything was cute and ready to go. We talked about the interview and the 4 kids said they were ready. We talked about the papers that needed to be signed for their baptism and everything was calm until Silvia returned to the room and said, “NO, I will not sign it!” When she said this the spirit left and the look in her eyes was evil. I don’t know what is happening with the parents, but they are seeking bad spirits...They wont even pray with us anymore. They were so elect 2 weeks ago, had an answer that this church was true and everything, but now they rejected the answers Heavenly Father gave to them. Ari said, "If she won’t sign it, I won’t either!"  Elder Cotrim and I kept calm and explained the importance of their authority in their baptism. We explained again that this baptism is valid here on earth and in heaven, and that no other church had the authority to baptize. This is when Ari went crazy. He started yelling to us that we are lying and that God would never only have one church with the priesthood authority and that we can´t say this to them. I explained to him that this is what we believe; we have received answers from God that these things are true and we are not lying. He stayed very prideful and was very difficult after this. We shared our testimonies and left them. I had a bad feeling in my stomach after this, felt like throwing up...How can someone receive the truth and then reject it like this? The 4 kids were super sad during all of this and they all were crying. They want to be baptized, but they think it is too early and they need to wait longer. 

We are praying a ton for them and will return there and see if they will humble themselves and receive the promptings of the spirit.

Sunday the 3 kids visited church as well as Thalini, with a date of baptism, and Maria, who will be baptized the 28th. Church went very well and I had the chance to give a talk on members and missionaries! I felt really good about it and hope the members will be better member missionaries!

This work is tough, but elder Cotrim and I keep smiling all day long! I am so grateful for this mission I get to be part of. This church is true and the work of the Lord is progressing! 

Mom, I know you love me and I LOVE you! :) Awesome to hear about the family. I miss those lunches with the Jones family. Ha-ha! Mom the one thing I have learned above everything is how to Love. I know now that Love is the greatest commandment and I have seen this Love grow in me a lot in the past year and months.  I really feel like the Lord has been shaping me into the man I need to be. I feel like He trusts me to follow those promptings of the spirit always. I believe through this is how I have been so blessed in this work. Really anyone can be a missionary, just requires obedience to God and Love for others. If someone doesn´t has the opportunity to serve a mission you can very well find these talents there in home. These talents can be found in all places and all moments. I love you so much Mom! I can´t wait to have more time with you to share my experiences.

Dad, the World Cup is crazy here. During the games we can´t teach...it is impossible! President Parrela counseled that during the games we return home and study. Surprisingly the work isn´t being affected too much! I love the pictures you sent, ha-ha! I love you Dad! I have so many things to share with you!

I love you FAMILY!!

Elder Hauck

65th Letter 6-16-14

Picture: Us teaching the lost sheep.

Família,

HAPPY FATHERS DAY OR FELIZ DIA DOS PAIS!

Another pretty good week here in Itaqui! Some good things happened, as well as some bad things. Like in every week. But every day is a blessing! 

Monday we had a great P-day. The Elders and I are building a strong relationship! We really are so close to a lot of success! This night we met a new family. Crisiani is a member but her husband isn't. They are both super nice and the husband speaks fluent English. He was practicing with me for a long time and it was pretty rough speaking English for me, ha-ha. But this family is super cool and they have potential to be baptized. We will return tonight and teach them the restoration of the gospel. We also had a family night with a few less-active families here. It went super well and the spirit was strong. They fed us dinner as well, which always is awesome! The members here are starting to really like my companion and I!

Tuesday we had district meeting and it went super well! The elders here are awesome! We then had a great lunch with a member who has been a member for 5 years and only him and his daughters are active out of the whole family he has. His wife is a little tough to communicate with. Don’t know why yet. Later in the day we taught Ari, Silvia and family about the plan of salvation! They loved it! A few months ago I made a little cut out of the POS in Portuguese and I should it to them and the whole family was in Awe! Ha-ha! Very clear that they believed in the Plan and want to follow it.  The whole family was very excited for baptism the 28th of this month and we left shooting a few rocks with their sling shots! :) We then had a family night with Paulo, Isabel, Sandro, and a few other members as well as Isabel’s sister and boyfriend who aren't members. We shared the "Mormon Message" about the better women in our lives or something like that in English. It went super good! The spirit was very strong and the members bore strong testimonies! This family night helped Isabel, Paulo and her sister’s boyfriend realize the importance of women and the importance of marriage. 

Wednesday, today we taught some great lessons. Of course the lesson with Ari and family went very well, had a great lesson with Maria and had a family night with the family of Cesar and a few members. Maria was very confused about which path to follow. She has been visiting another church almost every day and I believed this is what was confusing her. Like always, the spirit is very strong when we taught her. I wanted to invite her to stop going to this other church, but I was a little afraid it would be too bold. I prayed more about it during the lesson and I asked her if she believed her home is a special place where she can receive revelation and feel the presence of the Holy Ghost and I invited her to stop going to the other church and stay in home reading the BOM and praying for answers! Surprisingly she said yes, like it was a relief to her. Elder Cotrim and I were very happy that she accepted the invitation!

Thursday, today we had an amazing lesson with Paula, a less-active member that is having some difficulties. Her mom was there with us and we shared a message. The spirit hit very strong and we all felt it in that home. Paula usually is very closed-off, but she opened up to us. Our words that we said were not our words! The spirit was firmly with us and we were inspired to say, ask, and do what was needed to help her resolve problems and concerns! Many tears were cried, but in the end Paula was a lot more happy. She has depression and said that the depression was starting to hit before we got there, but when we got there it started to go away and by the end of the lesson she was full of joy and the depression stopped! This was a real testimony builder! I love the Spirit that we receive when we are righteous!

Friday we had exchanges. Elder Rodrigous and I were comps. and my son (Elder Cotrim), and Elder Saregent worked in the Golden Area (My area). Ha-ha. I had many plans of how I could help Elder Rodrigous and their area and I think I was able to fulfill those plans. We talked a lot about where they are using their efforts and how we can be better. The whole day went very well and we found some good success. The Elders here are awesome! I hope you all have good missionaries in your wards and stakes there.

Saturday, we taught Maria and Nina, a new investigator from a part member family. Maria was in a motorcycle accident not too long ago and broke 8 ribs. We gave her a blessing last Sunday and she said it helped! We shared a lesson with her and as well as her friends and it went very good! We then arrived at Ari´s home and the whole family was sad...I was scared that something very bad happened and they wouldn't want to follow Jesus Christ in the True Church. Ari was fast to say, “My children will follow your church, but my wife and I will not. We will follow the church that our parents followed.” This made no sense too us because the past 2 weeks they have been agreeing with everything we say and they also said they will stay together as a family and follow Christ in His church (our church). We tried hard to resolve the problem, but Ari and Silvia were blinded by pride. The kids all have a strong desire to follow Christ still and actually as we spoke with the parents and expressed our love for them, it strengthened the children’s desire to be baptized. We will see what will happen. I believe they will all be baptized in the true Church, maybe not all of them right now, but soon, yes.

Church went super good and we had 7 investigators there, including the 4 kids of Ari and Silvia! :) Irmão Joâo, our ward mission leader is improving a ton with new great ideas! When I first got here he was a little lazy, but now he is super excited to work!

Mom, the investigators we are working with are progressing mainly through their efforts to reading the Book of Mormon. The ones that don’t read the BOM and pray (Ari and Silvia) are the ones that don’t progress! A BOY!!!!!!!!! No way! I am so excited for Amanda and Shaye! I love them soo much! Maybe their family will be Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl like our family! Sounds like Amy´s talk about Dad was awesome! I am glad you liked my letter from last week! Cool that the whole family was together for a bit Sunday!

Dad, YOU ARE A STUD! I hope you have a great week! Remember that you are an awesome Dad and I have always looked up to you! You helped me change to be the man I am today. I love you so much, Dad! Thank you so much for your letter, Dad! The mission really is an amazing time of life. I don’t know when I will renew my visa. I heard that I only can renew it once it expires. You are right about the weather being more cold and humid here. I like it a lot more compared to the sweat dripping in my food weather I had before. Dad, I hope you had a great Fathers Day! :) Love you and sweet pictures man!

I love you ALL! 

Elder Brad Hauck

64th Letter 6-9-14

Picture: The Dream Family!

WOW...All right, so many amazing things happened this week so I will get right to it!

Monday P-day went AWESOME!

Tuesday, the starting day of miracle happenings this week! All right, so today was amazing. We had a lesson with Maria today. From the beginning of the day I was receiving feelings that Maria needs a date of baptism! I didn't say anything to Elder Cotrim though. We just planned a lesson and made invitations to read more of the BOM, because she has some things to organize still before we thought we could mark a date. When we arrived in her home and taught her more about the Gospel of Christ the spirit was very strong. She and her daughter are having a hard time without a father figure in their lives and I was praying to know what Maria needed to progress. I received the answer or prompting again that we need to make a date for her baptism. I thought of a date and explained to her again the importance of Baptism in her life and of the blessings that come from being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost. We invited her to be baptized on the 28th of this month. When I invited her I saw Elder Cotrim in the corner of my eye light up with a smile. The Spirit was very strong during this moment and I received feelings of peace and happiness! A prompting of what I followed, which was the prompting of the spirit, was correct and I couldn't stop myself from smiling! Maria accepted the date and was very happy as well and I know she felt the spirit very strong! After the lesson Elder Contrim said to me, "Did you see what I wrote on my planner and was trying to show you?" I said no. He then showed me what he wrote and was trying to show me during the lessons and it said, "What do you think about marking a date for baptism?" I said, no I didn't see this, but I was praying to know if a baptism date was right. He said, “I was pretty sure you didn't see what I wrote as well, but I was praying you would invite her to be baptized!”  We were pretty excited about this prompting of the spirit (revelation) that we both received and the amazing miracle we saw and felt there. It is amazing how united we are when we teach! When Cotrim is teaching I pray for him and when I am teaching he prays for me. Elder Cotrim and I are very close to a lot of success! Shorty after this we contacted a referral that a member gave to us. It was a family with 9 kids! We arrived there and we said nothing about our church. I said, "Good afternoon, we have a message about Jesus Christ. Can we share it with your family?" Ari welcomed us in and they all listened to our message about what we do and whom we represent. The 14 year old son asked the Golden Question, "How can I know which church is true?" We answered this question and asked if we could return. We entered their home to offer a kneeling prayer and before I started the prayer I looked at the beautiful family kneeling there reverently and the spirit hit me! This family will be eternal! We then visited Luandra and Elisandra. Taught them the rest of the Plan of Salvation and it went super well! They both feel like it is time for their baptism. They need to get married first, but we said we would do everything to help! Their husbands are a little more difficult to teach, but we will get them too! Then during the nighttime we visited a less active family with another member. This less active family recently had a daughter die from cancer. They were very sad and knew they needed to return to church to receive the comfort of the Holy Ghost. We shared a message about how weakness can be strengthen through Christ and also gave them blessings. It is amazing how our trials in our lives really humble us and can increase our faith (Ether 12:27). We then rushed home and prepared for our trip to Santa Angelo for the mission tour.

Wednesday we had the mission tour and it went super good! Elder and Sister Soares gave some great trainings of how we can improve the work and shared some amazing experiences. Sister Soares is a great example of a female leader in the Church! She is super bold and very intelligent. She invited us to write to our family why I am on a mission. So I will do just that! :)

I am on a mission to help others follow Jesus Christ through His gospel, to help others have a relationship with Heavenly Father and to grow my relationship as well. I want people to feel the Love that God has for them. I want to help others use the Atonement to be sealed from sin and I want them to understand that Christ lives! I want others to find direction in life so they can be happy and have an eternal family, which comes through the gospel! "We leave our families for two years to bring families together for eternity!" I want to help those with weak testimonies or doubts to find answers and grow! I want everyone to find their purpose! For myself I want these things as well! I want to have my vision clear of what is truly important in life. I want to be worthy always and endure to the end! I want to learn and understand more of the gospel and always be a witness that Jesus is the Christ! I want to develop Christ-like attributes! I want to be prepared to guide my eternal family to the Celestial Kingdom. I want to learn how to be successful in life! 

These are a few of the reasons of why I am on a mission family! 

Friday, we taught the Restoration to the family with 9 kids today and it went great! The spirit was so strong! We invited them to read and pray and that we would return tomorrow to follow-up on their answers! :) We had a family night with Irmã Mari and Maria. It went super good! We resolved many doubts that Maria had about the church.

Saturday, alright, alright. Today may have been the best day on my mission so far! We taught a very humble family today and they received us very well! Josil is the name of the father and he has muito faith and a ton of respect for us. We shared a little with them and they want us to come back. This family is elect and very humble.. They barely have a home. Josil is using the tiny weekly income he received to buy brick and mortar to build his home. The brick walls are only about 3 feet high...I don’t know how long it has taken them to get this far, but from the look of the bricks, it looks like a long time. They have a little wooden shed where they live. This was very sad to see. I hope we can bless them with this gospel! We then visited Luandra and all the family for her Birthday. She invited us to share a message at her birthday party. We shared a Mormon Message and it went super well! The family likes us a lot! :) We then visited another investigating family for the daughters 7th birthday. The little girls there were very excited that we were there! It was super cute! Haha. We then visited the big family and followed-up on their reading and prayers. The 14-year-old son, Nathaniel, received an answer and said he want so follow Jesus Christ. The whole family said they received an answer and wants to be baptized! The spirit at this moment was so strong! As we bore our testimonies to the great family sitting in front of us of the truthfulness of their answers I couldn’t help myself from crying...Elder Contrim as well and some of the kids in the family began to cry. I have never felt the spirit so strong during a lesson. We invited them to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized and they all said yes. We made a goal of the 28th of June for their baptism. They all agreed and also said they want to be baptized in the river like Jesus was. This was a little shocking, but we said we would see what we could do. As we continued to talk about baptism the 11-year-old son began to cry. The mother, Silvia, and I thought something was hurting him and she asked, "Ismael what is hurting, are you okay?" Ismael replied, "Mommy, nothing is wrong, I am happy because I never thought I would be baptized.” This blew the fuse and the spirit hit me again! And I began to cry...We testified of the truthfulness of the gospel and ended with a kneeling prayer. Ismeal wanted to say the prayer so I helped him and he repeated my words. This experience I had strengthened my testimony a ton! As I was teary eyed I looked at this family and was confirmed with surety that this is the Church of Jesus Christ!

Sunday was awesome and we had 9 investigators visit church with us! The work here in Itaqui is cooking! We are so close to many baptisms! I have never been so grateful in my life. Throughout this week Elder Cotrim and I had a prayer of gratitude in our hearts. Personally I couldn't stop thinking of all that happened this week and caught my self in "AH" all the time! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

I love all of you so much and miss you all! I desire that all of you receive experiences that will strengthen your testimony in the Church! 

Mom, sounds like the trip has come to a end and sounds like it went great! : ) Great to hear that the church is strong in London! I love all the pictures! I hope you all had a great time! Those places you visited are beautiful!

Dad, so President Parrela responded about you guys picking me up on the mission. He worte this--YES, YOUR PARENTS MAY COME AND PICK YOU UP. THEY HAVE TO INFORM THEIR INTENTIONS TO THE MISSIONARY DEPT. SO THEY CAN BUY TKTS AT THE SAME FLIGHTS AND THE CHURCH WILL REFUND THEM FOR YOUR PART OF THE FARES.

How awesome is this!?

I Love You,

Elder Hauck

63rd Letter 6-2-14

 

Querida Família,

So first the bad news. Cesar drank coffee and wasn't able to be baptized this week. Was pretty sad, but we are working things out and he will be baptized soon. But other than that, as you all know! Another GREAT week!  I hope life is like this after the mission too! Every week gets better and better! Haha. Elder Cotrim and I are working great together. We are finding a lot of success and have tons of fun! He is a super cool guy and is a great missionary! We are learning a lot from one another. Here in Brazil it is staying pretty cold! It rained a ton this week and a ton of people are getting sick. I was battling a sore throat all week which made it difficult to talk Portuguese with an accent. I am feeling much better now and am excited for this week! We have the Mission Tour this week and Elder Mozart B. Soares from the 70 will talk with us. Time is flying by here on the mission and it is making me sick!  Months are passing like weeks! 

Monday we had a great p-day. During the night we had another family night and we invited 3 families, but because of the cold and other problems they didn´t make it to the family night. We had a great family night planned too. But things like this happen all the time. Just need to keep our head up and keep running!

Tuesday, had district meeting today and it went great. We have some great ideas of how to work more with the members and strengthen the branch here. Also, had our first lesson with Vannessa and her aunt. The lesson went well besides the part where they talked a ton and wouldn't let us talk. We taught them a little and bore a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and invited them to read and pray. They understood well that if the BOM is true The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is True! We had another lesson with Maria and her family. Irmã Mari came and taught with us.  Maria didn't read so we read 2 Nephi 31 and the spirit was super strong. We talked a lot about baptism and the Holy Ghost. Maria knows that our message is true! She is a little confused though. She already received many answers from her feelings, but she wants to have a dream and receive another answer this way. We are trying to help her realize that she could have a dream and receive another answer, but she needs to focus on the answer she already received.

Wednesday, taught a lot of people today and that means it was a great day! :) Talked with Cesar about baptism and he really wants to wait to be baptized on his wife’s Birthday. So we marked July 18 for his baptism. We also made some other goals to stop drinking coffee. Today we had a few lessons with members and asked them questions like, "How can we help this branch grow?" and other questions like that. Many of the members helped out with some good ideas. Met a part member family today and the first person we talked to was the 99 year old grandpa. He hates missionaries and when we arrived there he stood at the doorway and waved his finger side to side and said words I couldn't understand. It was a little funny, but scary at the same time. I didn't want him to have a stroke only because we showed up. Haha. Tonight we had a lesson with Paulo and Isabel. Taught about the Restoration and it went super well! They have plans to be married soon! Paulo, the Non-member said he likes it when I talk because I have a cool accent. I was glad to hear he could understand me, but I need to work on my accent.

Thursday, another good day! This is when my voice was pretty much gone because of my sore throat. Taught Maria again and talked more about her answer she received as well as how the Holy Ghost "speaks" with us. We then taught a new family, Rosamar, Paulo and their daughter Latisia. We taught them about 2 weeks ago about the Restoration, but we decided to watch The Restoration Movie with them. It went super good! The daughter likes us a ton!! Haha. When we invited them to church the daughter was super excited to say yes, but the Mom replied quicker and said no, not yet. 

Friday, my voice was still gone and it was super cold today! We did have a great lesson with Mary Jane and Jackson. They are both very interested that we have a prophet here on the Earth today and they want to hear him. They need to get married still, but I think they will progress and grow a testimony of this gospel. 

Saturday, had a meeting President Allison about our ideas. We are making a list of how to be a better member of the church with 8 points that every member needs to do. We will organize the list and make it all official and see if it will help the leaders and members here. Taught a lot of people today but nothing was too exciting. Invited a ton of people to church as well! 

Sunday, church was slam packed!!!! We were so happy to see the chapel full of members, investigators, and less-active members! This was a great blessing and a sign of the fruits of our labors! Fast and testimony meeting went great and the spirit was very strong. Maybe one of my best fast and testimony meetings on the mission! 

I am excited for this week and the success that Heavenly Father has in store for us! This work is awesome! I hope you all are seeing the work of the Lord progress there in the US as well! :)

Mom, I hope you guys are doing great in the UK! :) I laughed a little when you asked if we meet members on vacation to our areas. I don’t think many Americans would want to have vacation here in São Borja or Itaqui. Haha. So I haven´t seen any yet. We used the pass along cards in the US, but for some reason they don’t have them here yet. I loved using those Mormon.org pass along cards with bright colors! I pray that you guys will stay safe during your travels! :) I love you so much!

Dad, sounds like the trip is awesome! I am proud of you guys giving the pass along card to your taxi driver! :) Thank you for the awesome pictures! :) Love you!

I love you Family!

Elder Hauck

62nd Letter 5-26-14

 Pictures: Cotrim and I in Itaqui in front of a Catholic church.

Familia,

Things are going very well here in Itaqui! I am loving the members, my comp. The work and the weather! This week the weather took a big change! Now it is cold. I think my body is kind of confused with the weather pattern I have been receiving. Because I missed most of winter there in Colorado, I lasted through 2 summers, one in the USA and the other here, and now winter is here and I am cold! We have a lot of humidity here as well so this makes the cold a lot more powerful. My Comp. and I are working well together and are finding great success!

Monday, after all the beautiful emails, buying food, and doing all the stuff we have to do on P-day we got to work at 6 o´clock and visited Jorge, an investigator. We invited him to read and pray the week before, but he won't pray. We had a sad lesson with him and had to tell him if he won't read and pray we can´t return. Explained to him that these invitations are important and will help him to prepare and make covenants with Heavenly Father. We will see what will happen with him. We then had a great family night with some members and less active families. It went very good! Talked about the scriptures and how we must study them to receive direction.

Tuesday, had some troubles with the planned divisions with the Zone Leaders and they missed their bus to Itaqui. We woke up super early too...haha. District meeting went super good today! We had a great discussion on asking inspired questions. We had some great practices that I made up that really helped us understand the importance of asking inspired questions. I hope the other elders liked it. Lunch was super good today and after we left to the other side of the city. We returned to Maria´s house, but she wasn’t there. Only her son Jonathan was there, he is 15. We asked if we could share our message with him and he accepted. We shared the Restoration of the Gospel with him and invited him to read and pray. He was excited after and seemed very receptive. We then met Ini, a referral from a member. Ini is super lively and loves to talk! Haha. We tried to teach her one whole lesson, but ended up only teaching the first two points. Haha. She is super nice though and we will return. During the night we visited a member and she had 4 friends there that are all non-members! Well, what a coincidence (Mom, you will need to spell check this word. Sorry.) So we shared a little of the restoration with all of them as we sat in a little room. The message went very well and I found out I tend to speak better in groups of people. Don’t know why. We then had a great lesson on Prayer with Jusalino. He is so faithful, but has so many unorganized things in his family. The Lord will bless him though.

Wednesday, this is when the real cold hit! We bundled up in our sweaters and hit the streets. We have a lot of wind here so that makes the cold weather even worse, but I like the cold weather! I can walk faster and not sweat! I have developed a talent for walking faster now! :) Haha. Today we taught Luandra with a member present. The lesson went very good and she understands well! We then visited a referral named Mata. Sat down with the whole family and started to teach them. They have a lot of family members that are members but they don’t want to follow Christ...I was a little frustrated at the end of the lesson. I don’t understand how someone could live their life blindly, believing nothing and hoping for nothing. It is very sad! They are so lost, but they don’t even know it. And we have the answers, and the path, but they don’t want to follow. I don’t want them to live their lives like this. After this things cheered up! We visited César and talked a little about the Plan of Salvation and Baptism. The spirit was so strong there again. We explained again of the feelings he received after the blessing that these feelings were from God and that this is an answer that he is ready for baptism. We marked May 31st for him to be baptized! :)

Thursday, had awesome studies and then got to work. Lunch is always good here so I won't spend too much time talking about lunch or food. But trust me the food is super good here! We then visited a less active family. The wife and kids were there and she opened up to us and said she is having some marriage problems and that she wants to have a husband that will be home more, because her husband travels for long periods of time. It is difficult when people want advice for things like this, because to be honest we don’t know. We only invited her to read the scriptures and pray every day and counsel with the Bishop. Tonight we had our English class and it went super good! I had 3 non-members there and I think they enjoyed it a lot!

Friday, today we taught Maria again and the lesson went very good! We talked more about The Book of Mormon and the Restoration and she understands super well! She said she would pray to receive and answer! Found out some news that could slow down her progression to be baptized. She had a boyfriend that left her and the family 30 days ago and she wants him to return. So we want to mark a date for her baptism, but if the BF will return she will have to get married and don’t know how that will work out. So it´s...well, complicated. We will figure it out through time and prayer. Tonight we had the ward mission activity. Us 4 missionaries planned a night of desserts and jeopardy. It started out well, but by the end the two teams almost killed each other! Haha. We had about 50 people there and had questions about sports, The church, the BOM and Bible, and Movies. It was so funny how serious the members got. Thank goodness no investigators came...haha! We 4 missionaries left in shock after, because of how crazy the members got.

Saturday, taught Luandra and her Mom again. Tried to teach the Plan of Salvation to them, but they have so many questions about things we aren't talking about and it makes it impossible to teach. We told them to make a list of question and we will answer 3 every time we come back. Haha. They both like the church a ton but need to marry. Tonight we met with President Alisson and shared the Scripture Alma 13: 3-4 and talked about his calling as president. We then gave him a blessing of comfort. Spirit was very strong and I felt like after he had a lot more confidence in us. We then asked him to teach with us. With President we visited Paulo and Isabel and taught part of The Restoration of the Gospel. The lesson went very well and president helped Paulo with his doubt of being Catholic and changing religions. We then had an AMAZING lesson with Cesar and Family. WOW! It was revelation that we decided to have President come with us. Cesar had a problem with why members talk bad about one another and why they don’t all follow the commandments. With President being there the question was perfect for him to answer. I will never forget the spirit that we felt there that night. Cesar feels a lot more comfortable with being baptized with the doubt resolved. Crazy how this single doubt has been keeping him from making the commitment to be baptized for almost 4 years.

Sunday, I forgot to say this, but this whole week we were having a zone fast, where every day we have a companionship fasting. We were chosen to fast on Sunday and I was happy to! Might sound weird, Mom and Dad, but I like fasting. Haha. After church we taught Maria again and talked mainly about the Book of Mormon. She received an answer and wants to know the church a little more now! She believes that we carry the word of God! :) It was super cool when she told this to us. Made me feel special! We then talked with a lot of people in the street and tried to contact a few people, but they told us to return another day. We then had our weekly meeting with Irmão João that is getting better every week!

Mom, I am excited for you, Dad, and Amy for getting to go to the UK! I am glad you liked the letter last week! Elder Cotrim and I are having a lot of fun together and, yes, he is engaged. Haha! He stays focused on the work though! It is pretty impressive. Sounds like the past week was pretty exciting and that things will be getting even more excited this week! Awesome you guys were able to meet David. Keep safe in the UK Mommy! :)

Amy, Congrats on graduation and your speech! I heard it was super good! You are awesome! Keep up the good work! :)

Dad, sounds like all is organized for the last trip with the children to other countries! I am sure everything will go great with you all there in the UK! Dad, you are right about how cool it is that people from all over the world have testimonies like us. The Church is TRUE!! I am feeling more and more comfortable with the work here everyday. The Lord truly is blessing me!

I love all of you so much! Amo vocês!!!

Elder Hauck