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