Thursday, June 12, 2014

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

No comments:

Post a Comment