34th Letter 10-28-13

Photo: Hank wedding before they got baptized.

This week wasn't as good as the past few weeks. We had little success, which made it a slow week. Something exciting is that we got a new Elder with us named Elder Ruiz. He was in Peru learning Spanish and I guess he couldn't handle it so he got transferred here. He is a pretty cool Elder, though.

Monday, we played basketball most of the time. Had dinner with the Phillips and then tried a few people, but no luck. We then taught Sister Kubic. Brother Barlow was with us, he used to work on planes and an engine blew up in his face and now he has bad burn marks all over his face and upper torso. He is a great guy! He gave her a blessing and again the spirit was strong. Out of nowhere I thought of singing "I am a Child of God" with all them. I think it was neat, so hopefully they liked it. I hope she recognizes the spirit.

Tuesday, we had great studies as usual. I love studying! I seriously feel like the knowledge of the gospel I had before my mission was nothing! I love learning this stuff!! We had lunch with Stake President Jones and talked more about the work. He is such a spiritual giant! He gave us some great tips to improve the work here. We then taught Braylan. He is getting ready for the Priesthood now and he is completely ready! Tried a lot of people with not much success. After dinner we saw the Pistoras and watched the Restoration movie with them. They LOVED it!! The grandma was in tears  and they all were fascinated by it all. Karen wants to be baptized by Byran so now we need to get Byran prepared for baptism. He has a lot of great questions! That night we helped the Tyus's move some furniture, which was a good evening workout-haha. When we came home we found out we were getting a new companion. It surprised us both quite a bit!

Wednesday, we went to the food bank and Arc for about 2 hours each. After all that we went to the Hanks' and talked about the Holy Ghost! We picked up Elder Ruiz, had dinner and then had Ward Missionary Correlation meeting. That night we went and talked to Rubi and Beto. They talk a ton, so it is hard to stay on track with the lesson, but we will get it down soon. 

Thursday, we had district meeting and after went to ARC for 4 hours. After that we went to dinner and then taught the Pistoras again. Elder and Sister Pratt came with us and did a great job. Probably one of the better Member Present lessons we have had. They answered the questions we couldn't answer and Byran seemed very satisfied with the overall conclusion to his questions. We shared with them a little of the Plan of Salvation and they seemed very receptive to it! Byran really studies hard and wants to know everything about the church! We then rushed to the Deru's house with Brother Welling and talked about the Atonement with them. They have never really understood the importance of Jesus Christ and specifically the Atonement! That lesson went pretty well. Brother Deru likes to be very confrontational with me... I don't know why. So I stayed more quiet this lesson.

Friday, we had interviews with President Toombs and they went well. He is a great guy! After that we went to the Food Bank and Jeff gave us more protein containers. They can't use them so he just gives them to us. We have like 4 containers in our basement. We then went to Braylan's house and watched The Restoration movie with him. He liked it a lot! Then saw Jennifer and read with her. then saw Rodnet and set up an appointment. That night we taught Laurden a few more of the commandments and it went very well!

Saturday, we helped a less active family move to a new home. We did a lot of the work and they mostly sat around and smoked cigarettes and weed...They did appreciate the help though. My companions kinda bashed heads so we resolved that and then we had weekly planning until dinner. The night then got crazy...So we were on our way to a less active family to try to set up a lesson with them and we got a text from another less active lady that she wanted a blessing. We talked to the first family for awhile. They have been offended many times and they have kinda given up on the church. We talked a lot about what President Uctdorf taught in Conference and I think it really hit home. So after we got out of there we got another text from the other less active lady saying, "My situation just got worse, I have to leave." We rushed over there and gave her a call. She was uncontrollably crying and told us she got in a accident and just found out that the guy she ran into died. We knocked on her door and no answer, the lights were off and we couldn't hear anything. We rushed around the building to see if she was anywhere, but we couldn't find her! All 3 of us were pretty scared. One of my comps thought she may have committed suicide, but I didn't feel like she would do that. We continued to call her but she never answered. Knocked on the neighbors doors and came in contact with a man that told us he saw a lady and her son get in a car and drive away. So we knew she was at least not in the apartment. We called Bishop, but nothing  came through. We drove around for a bit and continued to call her but no luck. We decided to pray and after that we felt a lot more comfort and knew she was okay. Crazy way to end a night.

Sunday, Braylan talked in sacrament meeting so we got to hear him. He is a stud! He gave a perfect talk about spiritual power. We then came to our ward. The whole Pistora family showed up and Elder Rampton got to confirm Brother Hanks and I got to Confirm Sister Hanks. The spirit was so powerful! It was a great sacrament meeting! After church we talked with Dustin about receiving the Priesthood and he really wants it. Then we taught Sister Maximoff more of the Commandments. After that we went and taught the Derus. We talked a lot about what the spirit is and helped them understand the need for the Atonement. Again Brother Deru got confrontational and it kinda irritated me. It's like he wouldn't even listen to what I had to say, he would just assume it was all false...very difficult. They both decided they really didn't wanna know if there is a true church on the Earth or even if there was a prophet. We pretty much dropped them. That night we tried a lot of people and at around 8 we street contacted in Olde Town where a bunch of people were walking around, kinda the middle of town. Talked to some interesting people-haha.

Overall the week was pretty exciting at times, as it usually is.

Mom, sounds like Saint George is doing great! Amy you are turning into the model child! Good job! Good luck with your play performances that are coming up! You will do great! Mom you sound busy! Sounds like you are having a lot of fun, though! Thank you for those pictures of Dad-haha, he is turning into a goof without his main homie with him! I have a few words for him. Also, Sister Larsen told me about this Missionary Mom's thing. I think she sent you the link to join with the Brazilian moms.

Dad, are you okay?  I'm just playin'. Looks and sounds like you are doing great! I think the beard is awesome!  A little pointer on the tie, though. I know you are the one that taught me how to tie a tie, but you need the tip of the tie in a 1 inch distance from your belt buckle at all times. Don't be getting sloppy just cause I'm gone, alright?  Overall you are looking good with the Chips Ahoy cookies.

Cute to hear that Emme still remembers me! : ) I miss her so much!

I love all of you so much! I hope all of you continue to progress in the gospel. Study daily and always pray! We all have work to do in ourselves and with the people around us. Some families in the Arvada 2nd ward are fasting for me to receive my visa this upcoming fast Sunday. They wanted me to invite all of you to fast for my visa as well. A lot of families show a lot of love towards me here...I feel at home. So if you can please fast this next fast Sunday for my visa. 

Love you all,

Elder Hauck

Sorry didn't take any pictures this week. (The photo is from the Hank wedding from last week)

33rd Letter 10-21-13

Picture: Hanks Baptism

ANOTHER amazing week here in Arvada! This work continues to amaze me. I find new miracles every day! This is such a blessing! So this week we started off kinda slow, because everyone was canceling on us, but by the end of the week it all paid off!

Monday, got to play basketball for a long time. Then we met with the Hanks and finished up a few of the commandments! They have changed so much in the past 2-3 weeks.. It is a miracle! Then we got to see the Kubic's again. The spirit has never been this strong while meeting with her before, so it was a very powerful meeting! She opened up to us big time and told us how scared she is about dying because she doesn't know if there is anything after this. I quickly turned into a baby and bore my testimony of the plan and our purpose of being here and returning to live with our loving Heavenly Father. I really hope Sister Kubic receives an answer soon!

Tuesday, while having studies we got a call from a 5th ward member. He told us of a couple moving into our ward and that they want to hear the lessons we have to share. It's always great receiving referrals from members that are potential investigators who sound completely ready! We went to ARC for awhile and then got canceled on a ton.  But that night we were able to teach Laurden a few of the commandments. The night was full of cancels, but we did contact Bryan and Karen and they are awesome! 

Wednesday,  went to the temple today! I love going there so much.. never gets old! Elder Rampton and I save miles up so the temple trip which is about 80 miles round trip doesn't hurt us. That afternoon we taught Braylan and answered a lot of his questions. We then got a ride to Westminister to give Liz, an old investigator, a blessing.  Then we saw the Hanks again and finished the commandments, planned the wedding some more as well as the baptism. They are so excited! Dinner with the Datko's was super good! They took us to Texas Road House! : ) We then taught the Deru's a bit of the Plan of Salvation and read 2nd Nephi: 2 with them. Then visited with Beto and Rubi. Beto is hilarious!

Thursday, taught Alex Lesko more about the Book of Mormon. He is getting a lot closer to baptism. Brother Bowler helps us a lot, because Alex won't open up to us, but he will to Brother Bowler. District meeting was great. We did a role play of the Restoration and First Vision and I did the whole lesson in Portuguese. It was hard, but a good refresher. Then we saw the Hanks again to get their Interviews done and they both went well. That evening we went to Byran and Karen's house and helped them move furniture around.  They also fed us dinner! Karen's mother and daughter were there as well and they all have a Texas accent! It's super cool! They lived by a Mormon family in Texas and became very good friends. The Grandmother loved us. She continued to give us complements on our church and ourselves. They asked a ton of questions about the church and we answered them. By the end we asked if we could share our message with them and they all 4 agreed!

Friday, went to the Food Bank for a long time and then rushed to read Helaman chapter 1 with Jeniffer and then we went to Sister Maximoff's house and talked to her about a few of the Commandments.  Dinner with Brother Tyus was very good and after he came with us to teach Laurden. When we got there Sister Chase, Laurden's mother, said she wasn't there but that we could share a message with her and her son Dillan. It went well, but Sister Chase started to feel like we were harshly preaching to her? It was pretty confusing.  She broke into tears and kinda got mad at us.  I think she may have a drug addiction problem...Idk.  Then her ex-husband showed up with another one of their sons, his name is Derek. Derek was high. He was talking about how we need to be more like Jacob and accept our better alien. He also told us that we are intimidating and he doesn't like it. He said we need to study more and accept that alien. Referred it all to the Mormon rainbow. It was all pretty confusing, but very funny as well.  So we left that place pretty fast. Then that night we saw the Hanks again to finish up some plans with them.

Saturday, we visited Gin and Carl and taught them The Restoration and Carl loved it. Gin seemed a little hesitant. She said, "I feel like the spirit is telling me that this isn't true." Carl quickly said, "And I feel the spirit telling me I have to pee!" -haha. It was pretty funny when he said that, but I really hope Gin doesn't feel that way. We then went to ARC for a while and then prepared for the Hanks wedding. It went so good! They were so happy!  We then taught the Deru's the whole Plan of Salvation. Sister Deru is a big feminist, so we have to be careful with what we say. I shared with her the story of the 2,000 stripling warriors and how important the role of their mothers were to their success. She loved it, because she has 4 boys and she even cried a little. That evening we went and taught Byran and Karen the Restoration. The spirit was so strong there. I know they felt the spirit tell them it was all true. At the end we asked them to be baptized. They didn't really give an answer, but they said they would pray about it. We invited them to church as well.

Sunday, we had ward counsel and then prepared for church. Brother Hartley gave me two talks on faith and that things happen for a reason. Usually to strengthen us. He feels really bad that I haven't received my visa, which is very kind of him. I can really feel the love of the ward for my companion and I. The Hanks showed up and Byran and Karen showed up as well! Karen came up to me and said, "Last night I thought a lot about what you said and I opened up the Book of Mormon to a random page to read one verse and the verse was about being baptized!" I asked her how she felt and if she believes it was in answer. She said, "Yep!" This made me feel like I got hit by a bus of joy and happiness! I couldn't stop smiling!- haha.  After church we went to try a few people. Talked to Rodney and Harley and then went to the baptism of the Hanks. It went o good! Probably one of the best baptisms I have been to! After they were baptized they were both crying and Brother Hanks came and told us he felt warm, not like temperature warm, but like inside warm. After dinner we went to teach Isaiah Lesson 1. It went so good! His sister Amanda was there and she had a lot of interest as well. Again the spirit was very strong in that room! Isaiah recognized that he has been feeling the spirit when ever we come talk with him. We challenged all of them to read and pray. I think they all will. That ended off the week very well! : )

Mom, Elder Rampton is doing well. I am kind of giving him the chance to be Senior companion so he can learn more and get a feel of taking the lead in lessons, planning, and pretty much everything. He is doing very good! It is getting beautiful here. The trees are changing and it snows a little every week. Soon I think it will be snowing a lot! That is awesome to hear you guys are all getting together as a family every week. I miss taking advantage of those great conversations. It is cool to see how well Amy is doing with her busy schedule! The address I am at is 5123 Zinnia St. Arvada, CO, 80004. Transfers are Nov. 10, so I could be moving. Sending mail to the Mission Office gets it to me where ever I am. I got letters from the Diamond's and from the Fords! : ) Tell them I said thank you. Thank you for the updates on the Visa. I feel like it might be too much work and time to get the new retainer here in Colorado.

Dad, thank you for helping me with the whole visa thing. Hopefully they get back to you soon! It's a relief to know that the general authorities get to decide when and if I stay. Sounds like you all had a great week! That's sweet Jeff saw Devin at the gym! I try to keep in touch with him. It's good to hear he is preparing for a mission! Darn Utes... 

I love you all so much and miss you. Heavenly Father is watching over me so don't ever worry about me. I continue to grow my testimony and grow the love I have for these people here. This work truly is an amazing blessing for us all!

Love,

Elder Hauck

32nd Letter 10-14-13

Another awesome week! I hope all of you had a great week like I did! I love staying busy! Time seriously soars by! Found more investigators and have 4 on date for Baptism! The increase of success in the work since I gotten here has improved so much! Okay so here's the highlights of the week.

Monday, again I got to email all the awesome people in my life! Then we ate and shopped before going and playing football at a field. That was fun! The weather here is getting a little cold, so playing football is super fun! We had another great dinner with a member, like we usually do. Then we saw the Kubic family. Sister Kubic is trusting us a lot more and is opening up to us. We think we know what we need to do now to help her feel of the Holy Ghost and believe in God.

Tuesday, this was a busy day! We had some great studies and then taught Braylan about the Priesthood! He is excited to get it some day soon! He continues to be a stud! Went to ARC for awhile and then hustled to see Sister Maximoff. We challenged her to read the BOM and she is doing super good! She updates us on where she is at all the time. She is a sweet older lady. Dinner with the Grays was good! They told us some crazy stories that have happened in their life. We then went and saw Laurden and taught her The Plan of Salvation! She thought it was super cool! She is smart for a 9 year old. We then saw Rubi and Beto and finished the Restoration with them.  She just needs to get her work schedule changed to make it to church!

Wednesday, we saw Braylan again and talked about the Temple. We then went to the Food Bank for service and then had Zone Meeting, which was super good! The Sister Trainer Leaders did a great training on helping ourselves and others become converted. After that we rushed to see the Hanks and talked to Brother Hanks about a few of the Commandments. His faith has grown so much! Dinner with the Petersen's was good, a older couple, but super cool and funny! Had Ward Missionary Correlation and then talked with Rodney. He seems to understand better and we feel like his interest in our church is increasing. Everything he tries to prove wrong in our church doesn't make sense when he tries to prove it wrong. We don't ever argue, we just look at the Bible and break it apart so he can understand it. This actually strengthens my testimony so much. Our church makes so much sense! The doctrine is perfect. Every time I find something that seems off I study it out and I always find the answer. This Doctrine we have in our church is perfect! All these other beliefs don't make sense, because they are missing some vital pieces that we have! 

Thursday, we had great studies and then taught the Biddles. They are a nice older couple that go to a rich community church here in CO. We had a discussion about our beliefs and they don't seem to understand that there is only one true church. And they don't care if there is. I don't understand how you could be fine with not finding out for yourself which church is true. We shared Ephesians with them, where it talks about "One Lord, One Faith, One baptism" .... Seems pretty clear to me. They still were not interested, so we left a BOM along with our testimonies and they said they would call us if they had questions.  After that we went to ARC and dinner with the Johnsons. They told us about how they went on the tour in Guatemala about the BOM and I told them that my Grandpa Hauck is an archaeologist and that he does BOM studies. They put it together and got very excited. They have a book that talks a lot about what Richard Hauck has discovered and his ideas of the whole BOM discovery. That was super cool! We then tried to contact a bunch of people, but no luck.

Friday, we taught Braylan about the Holy Ghost, because his Confirmation is this Sunday. We went to the Food Bank and then had weekly planning. Finally got a hold of Brian. He said, "I don't know if you two are up for this, but I don't wanna just know something. I wanna know everything!" We sat with him for a bit. We then had dinner with the Chase's. It was so good! After we taught Laurden The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The evening is what was crazy. We got a text from Jennifer about how she needed a blessing very bad. We decided to call Brother Johnson, the 2nd counselor of the bishop. That was inspired big time. Jennifer has a strong relationship with Brother Johnson, so it was perfect for her at that time. She was so sad and was talking about how she wanted to give up on life. She was bawling! It was so sad to see someone like this. Brother Johnson said perfect things. The spirit was so strong! By the time we left there she was filled with joy and peace. She knew the steps she needed to make to get back on track! That was a cool opportunity to see someone like that, not that is was good she was going through all that, but that the spirit was so strong that she was willing to change.

Saturday, we got to teach Alex and we found out what his concern is. We resolved it with the help of Brother Bowler. I think Alex will soon be ready for Baptism. We then taught the Derus a little of Lesson 2. They ask some great questions! Then we had the opportunity to see Brother Scudder, one of the investigators who got baptized that Elder Tonga and I taught. He baptize his daughter! We got picked up by them and then got brought back as well. I'll send a cool pic of us in the car. We got home and had dinner with the Rozeskis and went out to eat! Then saw Rubi and Beto again. Beto is such a goof! He is seriously one of the funniest guys I know! 

Sunday, we got to go to the 5th ward sacrament meeting for Braylan's Confirmation. I was able to confirm him and it was so awesome! That feeling I get is something hard to explain.. It's the Spirit though, that's for sure! After that we met with Bishop Haymond. He is a great Bishop. He talked to me about how I'm dealing the whole waiting for my visa thing and he thanked me for serving in his ward. Then he told Elder Rampton he got accepted into BYU. Dad did you get the picture? Sacrament went great and after church we went to the Hank's home. The Relief Society is the best! They have the whole wedding for the Hanks ready! We talked with both of them about the commandments some more and they seem ready! That night we saw Isiah again and talked with him more about our beliefs. Tom, his dad, used to be interested in the LDS church, so he, Isiah and Ann sat down with us. BTW Ann is less active. Isiah decided he does wanna take the lessons now. So this is awesome, maybe Tom will find more interest.

This work continues to blow me away of how fun and amazing it is! I have seen my conversion to this gospel grow so much in the past 7 months. It is truly amazing. This is the happiest time of my life so far!

Dad, it's sad to hear Amy got an infection. That can't be fun! Good to hear Steph got to come home to visit! Tell Steph and Amy I love them! So about my visa... I think you should call and see what is going on, Dad... Maybe it will work! I will be praying that it works out for the good. The sports update is awesome! Utah did work!! I bet they will be ranked soon. Love you Dad, Thanks for all the prayers!

Mom, the work is going great! I feel bad for little Amish with her wisdom teeth gone, but a 25 on the ACT is good! Good job Amy! Mom good job inviting your non-member neighbors to the ward Luau! You are a good missionary! A lot of times when I'm in a lesson I think, "I wish my Mom or Dad were here to help them understand." I think it would be so cool to have one of you as a member present!

I love you all so much. Please pray that my visa comes!

Love, 

Elder Hauck

31st Letter 10-7-13

 

Photos: Giant Pumpkins at the Hanks, Braylan's and Ian's Baptisms

JEFF HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are old..Love you man! Another great week here in Arvada. We didn't have a baptism in our ward, but we still got to do a lot of great things. The weather is getting a lot colder now and I like it a lot! The car makes it nice too.  General Conference was awesome! it was so nice to sit down and listen to these great men and women speak to us! I would say it was the best conference I've listened to! So this week was pretty busy and that is what made it so great!

Monday, P-day was awesome. We played basketball and football. We had dinner with the Hanks and they fed us a ton of rib's potatoes and even more! It was a feast! The Bolock family came with us and they have become good friends with the Hanks. They deserve a lot of blessings for feeding us all that food when they have trouble supporting themselves already.  We shared a message with them before we left and they always enjoy it. We then went over to the Kubic's and planned on showing the "Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration" but she had some great concerns we should of addressed the first time we met with her. She doesn't know if there is a God.  We talked about it the first lesson, but she didn't say anything about not believing in God. So today when we see her again we are going to try and help her know there is a God. Hopefully it goes well...

Tuesday, we met with Braylan and talked to him about the commandments. He is going to start going to the 5th ward, where he is suppose to go. He is so ready for his Baptism! He is a stud. We then went to Arc for a long time and had a good time. We then met with Braylan and his Bishop to figure out the whole baptism. We then went over to the Conley's and talked with them. Brother Conley has a surgery tomorrow, so we got to give him a blessing! He is such a good guy!

Wednesday, we taught Braylan more about missionary work because he wants to start getting ready for that. He then came with us to the food bank to do service. After that we went to Sister Melonie's home and taught her about Baptist and sacrament. We then contacted Melton Johnson and found out he is active and has two homes so he attends the other ward. We then taught the Hanks a little on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and read 3 Nephi: 27 with them. Dinner was pretty unique.. We just had waffles. It was good though! They had giant pumpkins outside their house that the husband grew! Mom did you get the picture?  We then went and talked with the Deru's, they are super nice. They don't have much of a religious background so we talked a lot about questions they had. They seem very interested though! We then went to Rubi's house with Brother Lara and taught lesson one to them. We committed Rubi to be Baptized November 2nd!

Thursday, we had District meeting and went to Arc after for awhile.  Didn't meet with Braylan because he got in a car crash. He said he was pretty sore from it and didn't want us to come by. We then met with Gin and Carl. They are awesome! They are a little older, but are still super funny. We talked about God's love for us and how this gospel can bless their family. They agreed with a lot of our beliefs and are interested in hearing all the lessons. Dinner was great with the Schillings and their son, who is less active. We shared a strong message with them and they gave us a great referral! Then met with the Lauretzen's,  members in our ward.

Friday, we met with Braylan and talked more on his baptism. He is still ready for it more than ever and he said he wants to bear his testimony after he is baptized. We went to the Food Bank again and then had weekly planning after. We showed the Joseph Smith movie with Sister Maximoff and she loved it. She is getting ready to go back to the temple! That night we had dinner with The Chase's and taught Laurden, the 9 year old daughter. She want's to get baptized very bad so we got her a date on the 19th of October! : )

Saturday, we got to teach Alex before conference. Taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think he liked it, but every time we invite him to be baptized he declines. He needs to pray about the Book of Mormon still, but never gets around to it. General Conference was awesome of course! We watched it at the stake center. The Hahn's were driving through so Elder Tonga and his companion as well as us went with them to have lunch in between the sessions. I loved President Uchtdorf's talks! He is such a stud! After the afternoon session we had Braylan's baptism. Elder Rampton baptized him and the whole program went great! He had a lot of non-member family and friends there. The priesthood session was great too! After we went and tried a referral, the Biddles. They were so welcoming and gave us a time to come back! The husband reminds me of Ken Gee, the guy who bought the house on Foremaster.

Sunday was super spiritual! Elder Krogh and I went on exchanges so we could go to Ian's baptism. Watched General Conference and then prepared for the baptism. It was good to see Ian and his family and friends! You could tell he was so excited for this! I had the privileged to baptize him. As we walked to the font he was so happy and pumped for it. After I asked him how he felt and he almost got in tears. He looked so happy after! It was amazing! His friend K.K. talked to us and it was powerful and then I heard I was confirming him as well, here at the same meeting. I didn't know I was confirming him, so I had to brush up on the Confirmation blessing. The spirit was so strong as I gave him the Holy Ghost.. It felt a lot like when I gave Eli the Holy Ghost. The spirit is so powerful! I was so blessed to be able to do this for Ian. He is a good friend! After the afternoon General Conference session we went and taught the Deru's with Brother Phillips. It went good and we challenged them to read and pray about the BOM. That night we had dinner with a super cool family that updated us on the NFL games and then we taught the Hanks Lesson 3. It was probably the best lesson we have had with them so far. They are so sweet!

Mom, Some of the talks that I loved were, Ballards, Nelsen's, Uchtodorf's on how our church isn't perfect, but our doctrine is! I loved the quote "Doubt your Doubts before you Doubt your testimony." I am glad you enjoyed it! I missed some talks because of all the travels we had to make. Your feast and testimony meeting as a family must have been awesome! I wish I could have been there for it! Glad to hear Amy is doing well with the wisdom teeth gone! Sounds like you all are having a blast!! I couldn't see the video of Amy for some reason.

So usually the mission office is told a period of time where I will stay here for good, but they haven't told them anything! President Toombs just told me to keep waiting and he will let me know what's going to happen. So as of now, I still could go to Brazil.

Dad, Thanks again for the sports update and photos! Sad to hear Millie is falling apart. I was thinking about how the Priesthood session was weird without you being there with me.. haha. It is crazy to think in only a little over a year I'll be back home! Time is flying! The sports update aren't distracting, so don't worry about that.

Family, thank you again for all the support! I love you all so much and miss you. Continue to help the missionary work grow! Crazy to think we have 15 million+ members in our church now!

Love you all,

Elder Hauck

30th Letter 9-30-13

Picture: Dustin's Baptism

ANOTHER great week! This week has been a lot harder, but we got a lot done and even got another Baptism! I will be staying in this ward for another transfer, which I'm happy about and plus we got a CAR!! : )

Monday, this P-day was the bomb! We first went and emailed then had lunch and after went bowling! I bowled a 132, which was alright. An elder in our zone can sound a lot like President Toombs so he wanted to pull a prank, so he told me to change his phone number's name to President Toombs on the phone. He called and talked to Elder Rampton and told him he was going to the Fort Collins mission for good because they need help with the flooding damage. The elder called a few other people in the zone the same way. Some of the elders that got the call were mad about it. Pretty much the whole zone was in amazement that people were really getting moved because they thought they could be called next. It was pretty fun! -haha. After dinner we rode around trying to find people to teach, but we had little luck. We did get to teach the Kubic's, though, and it went well! Another nice quiet bike ride home.

Tuesday, we had very little luck.  We did meet a cool older couple and did the prayer approach with them. They go to a popular church around here and they talk on anti-Mormon stuff there. They were pretty nice still and I think we cleared up some lies. We went to ARC for a few hours. Dinner was the highlight of the day. Sister Mooring is from the South and she made some good food! The dessert was very very good! It was banana pudding! :) The rest of the night nothing too exciting happened.

Wednesday,  we served at the Food Bank for a bit and then had lunch at Grith's. We all got the Monster Burger and my stomach killed the rest the day-haha. We taught Dustin a few of the Commandments and got his Interview done.  I heard from some members that they caught some guy in the LA consulate who would find 19-21 year old males from Utah trying to go to Brazil and hold their paper work. I think that is probably what happened to mine...

Thursday, district meeting went good! Our District Leader is a goof! We finished the commandments with Dustin and planned his baptism. He is so ready for this! He is gonna be a strong member of the church! We then taught Braylan who is getting baptized on the 5th. He is a stud! We teach him a lesson and we have him teach us back. He is also preparing for a mission so we got him a Preach My Gospel book.  We then went to ARC and after planned the baptism for Dustin. At 8 or so we went over to meet with Rodney. Immediately he pulled out his Anti stuff and tried to prove us wrong. He was a lot like Eric, if you remember him from my last area, but nowhere as smart. He contradicted himself so many times that he didn't make sense of his belief. We would show him things in the Bible like "faith without works is dead" and he would totally understand it differently. He feels like we don't have to work for our salvation. It was pretty irritating, especially for Elder Rampton, because this is the first time he has run into a guy like this. We rescheduled a time to come back though and I gave him some answers to his Anti-Mormon belief he receives from idiots off the internet. So I'm glad we get to go back, but I don't know if there will be much progress.

Friday, we went to the Food Bank again and had lunch at LnL, a Hawaiian restaurant. It was super good! We had weekly planning and when I went upstairs to give Brother Rankin, the ward mission leader, the program for the baptism Elder Pratt was there with our car. He gave me the keys and I decided I wanted to pull a prank on Rampton...so I just didn't say anything. We got ready to head out and work, so we put our helmets on and grabbed our bikes and walked around to the front, because our bikes are in the backyard. He saw the car and had to take a second look at it to realize it was our car. I pretended I didn't know about it's arrival and started getting "excited" with him. Then I started saying, "But where are the keys?" and then I pulled them out of my pocket with surprise and said, "Oh here they are!" Elder Rampton doesn't like the pranks sometimes-haah. Dinner went well and then we taught the Hank's a lesson. They are having some troubles, but are still having faith in the Baptism!

Saturday, This was the busy day! First we went and watched "Joseph Smith, The Prophet of The Restoration." I think he liked it a lot! We need to get him to church! We are loving the new car! We then went to teach Braylan a few of the commandments. After that we taught Eli and a few of his friends. Then we saw Harley and talked to her. She told us she doesn't want to take the lessons anymore. It was sad and we tried hard to explain to her why this is important, but she decided she doesn't want to see us again. It was pretty sad...but the good thing though, is after that we got to have Dustin's Baptism! It went so awesome! After he was baptized he told me how he felt different, he felt clean! The whole program went perfectly! I could feel the spirit so strong today! It was amazing! I was the one who got to baptize Dustin and I was honored to do so. We then taught Ron David and he actually gave us a time to come back! That night we found out who was being transferred and who stayed.

Sunday, sacrament meeting went great! Dustin was Confirmed by Elder Rampton and the testimonies were awesome! After church we taught Dustin about the First Resurrection and the Priesthood! He wants to get the priesthood so bad! It's so cool to see his true desire in all this. After that we had no luck. No one was home and people kept rejecting us. Dinner was good though and that evening we taught Rubi and Beto. We asked Rubi if she really wanted to be baptized or not. She said she really does. We told her she has to work hard for it and it's not going to be easy. She said she was going to try to get work off so she can make it to church and said she will do what it takes to be Baptized. Beto got a little emotional when she said she wants him to Baptize her. Beto Terrazas is a recent convert and also is a musician that is pretty popular. His music is super cool! I showed him Amanda's CD and he loved it! Amanda, he wants a signed CD from you! So could you send one for him?

The week went well and I continue to strengthen my testimony! I love this work so much! Everyday I get to feel the Holy Spirit stronger and stronger as I learn to recognize it better. I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so much and I know they love me. I also know they love all of you! I'm very excited for General Conference and think they will talk a lot about missionary work! It's gonna be awesome!!

Mom, I don't know exactly how or where we will watch it. I think probably at the stake center. I can't believe Emme can walk! Those videos you sent me are so cute! Gosh, she is so CUTE! I miss her.. Glad to hear you love teaching the lessons on Sunday, Mom! You are awesome! Those paintings from your childhood chapel are beautiful! I will be praying for Amy as she gets her wisdom teeth out. Make sure you film it so I can see how she acts after, haah.  I love you Mom!

Dad, Thank you for the support. You and Mom have always been there for me! Everyone, I have the best parents in the world!! Also, thank you for the sports update! I actually get to use it when I street contact Bronco fans-haha.  You are right about me maybe having a new NFL team. I still like the Jets, though, and enjoy hearing about them. You and Si look like brothers, Dad. You should be on Duck Dynasty! I will try and baptize Payton while I'm here!

Family, I love all of you so much and miss you. Continue to help the missionaries in your area. They need your help!

Love,

Elder Hauck

29th Letter 9-23-13

Photos: Eli's Baptism


What a Week!

Remember how I thought the mission couldn't get any better? I was wrong! This week has been the best week so far! Sunday I got to confirm Eli a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and give him the Holy Ghost! Elder Rampton and I worked super hard this whole week and ended up getting 20 lessons, 4 people on date for baptism, a baptism on Saturday, new investigators, found some less actives, and potential Investigators. We have had to ride our bikes faster than ever before between appointments so we could be on time. So this is how the week went.

Monday was pretty much the same as always. Got to email my awesome family and friends. Also, I got to see a cute video of Emme! We talked to some teenaged kids outside of the library that had questions about our beliefs, so we sat with them for awhile. After that we rode our bikes to the church building and played basketball. Had dinner with a super cool family. They kinda reminded me of Jeff and Cambria, just a little older. The lesson with the Kubic's went well. She is still having a hard time, thinking the cancer may come back... I feel bad for her. The evening rides are super nice because of the cool breeze and silence.

Tuesday, we had an early appointment with Braylan, a 20 year old who is very interested in the church. We taught him lesson one and he loved it. He said he feels like it's true already. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. We prayed with him to decide on the date of Oct. 5th. When we prayed we all felt the spirit so strong. Braylan asked if Oct. 5th was his day to be baptized and after we prayed we asked him how he feels about it. He said it's a yes. He told us he also wants to go on a mission! Such a stud! I studied some Portuguese there in the church and also had lunch. Then we tried a few referrals, but no luck. Dinner with Bishop was awesome. We can tell he really likes us and knows we bring something new to the ward. He is a great bishop. We taught Eli Brackett that night as well as Sister Maximoff. Brother Brady came with us and helped a ton! He is a boss!

Wednesday we got to go to the Temple! It was so awesome! I love the temple. I prayed really hard there, about the people in the area and my visa.  I think it's coming soon! : )  We had Cafe Rio on the way home, which I haven't had it in 7 months. We met with the Hanks and Bishop Haymond. We taught most of The Plan of Salvation and we put them on date for the 12th and 13th of October. To be married and baptized. Sister Hanks prayed for a confirmation on that date. The spirit was so strong as she begun to weep and plead with Heavenly Father for that date to work. This mission is turning me into a wimp -haha. Dinner was with the Conley's and it was good! We then taught Harley The Restoration of this gospel. The spirit was super strong there as well. We know she felt it, but we feel like she is scared to change.

Thursday, we had another earlier lesson, this time with Alex. Taught him Lesson one and he received it very well! He agrees with what we teach and I think he feels the spirit. Invited him to be baptized, but he isn't quite ready yet. District meeting went well and after we went to ARC to do service.  We then met with Dustin. He has had a bad past few weeks. He told us he is sick of being pushed back and he wants to be baptized. We taught him The Gospel of Jesus Christ and also prayed with him to see if the 28th of September would be good. Before the prayer Elder Rampton and I had doubts for some reason. Dustin continued to say the 28th is the day. As we prayed that doubt left both Elder Rampton and I. Prayer is so powerful! We then taught Eli the rest of the commandments. After we taught he told me he wants me to give him the Holy Ghost. I was shocked when he asked me, but felt honored. Dinner with the Agnew's was very good, they remind me of Mom and Dad. They are old, but still super funny ; ).- haha

Friday, we had weekly planning and lunch at the church. Went to ARC for 4 hours after that then had dinner. We tried a few people after dinner, but not much luck. Harley was texting us, having a hard time, and said she didn't want to go through the lessons anymore. We went over and talked to her. We mostly just listened to her the best we could and then answered her questions. She cried a lot. So sad to see someone so scared to change. It's gonna be really hard for her, easier if she trusts in Christ. At one point she opened up and said she wanted to know where God was at her hard times in life. The spirit hit me so hard and love for her filled my heart. We promised her that this gospel would bring happiness and understanding to her. She decided she would finish the lessons with us. That made us super excited!

Saturday, we taught Alex again. This time Lesson 2. We invited him to be baptized again and he said he needed to wait a little longer to not be so busy, so he can really read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. I think he wants to be baptized now! Then we taught Harley The Plan of Salvation. It was a pretty good lesson. Her two sons sat in and had some awesome questions. Then we hustled to the church to teach Braylan the same lesson. His friend Steph came as well. He is getting very excited about his baptism. We then talked with Gin for awhile and she accepted to take the lessons! She is a funny lady! We then hustled to the baptism. It was an awesome baptism. Eli seemed to love it. After the Baptism we had dinner with the Datkos the family we helped move in. They are such a cool family!

Sunday, today was a very spiritual day. We studied until church started and then I got to give Eli the gift of the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting. When I said the words and blessed him after, the spirit hit me stronger than I have ever felt. During the whole meeting my soul was warm and happy! Never felt something that powerful. I really thought about how amazing of a gift the Holy Ghost really is...and I was able to just give it to someone! The rest of the day went super good! Braylan and Dustin came to church and the ward welcomed them perfectly. We watched a movie on John Tanner during Sunday School. That is an awesome movie! After dinner we met with Ron David he was going through a hard time so we shared a few verses with him. I think it cheered him up. We then went to the Lara's home. They are members and they happened to have a non-member visiting from out of town. His name was Oscar. We talked with him and then did the Prayer Approach with them. After that we went to Isiah's house. He doesn't wanna take the lessons, but he does want to study the Bible with us. We taught him about the Atonement and the importance of it. Then we got to finish the day with a nice quiet bike ride home! : )

Mom, that video of Emme is awesome! Good job Shaye! Mom you are right about Colorado being beautiful. All the rain has made it super green! And yes there are a bunch of hills here. Mom, you could pray for Harley. Thank you! I'm glad you are loving church and the opportunity you have to teach others! You are a Super Mom! : ) Thanks for the prayers on my visa. It will come when my work is done here. The pictures and videos of the family and Emme are awesome! Thank you. Dad, haha, of course Utah won! I'm trying to wipe the grin off my face, but it wont. My bad. Thanks again for the sports update! About the bashing, that's how I see it. It's a waste of time and they aren't receptive at all. Also, glad to hear Dixie High won! That is awesome!

Glad to hear this week was good for the family! Tell Ben congratulations on the wedding. I love all of you so much and pray for you! : ) God has blessed me with so much success!

Love,

Elder Hauck 

28th Letter 9-16-13

Another successful week here in the Arvada 2nd ward! This ward is on FIRE! We have people coming to us wanting to be taught! Got 4 new investigators this week and like 4 other potential gators! They soon will need another set of Elders or Sisters in this ward! Also had the Mission tour with Elder Korbridge! Alright, so here is what happened this week.

Monday, I got some amazing emails from awesome family and friends. After emailing we went to a burger place to eat. Then went to King Soopers to get our groceries. The rain made it hard to keep all our gear and food dry because we were in a truck. Dinner was awesome! I even got a glimpse of the Redskins vs. Eagles game! -haha. That night we taught Brother and Sister Kubic. The Lesson went amazing! Elder Rampton invited her to be baptized once she knows that the BOM is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She agreed! We will find out tonight how that went.

Tuesday, we woke up, ate and made a new map of our area. It looks super good! The old map had small print and was old. After studies and lunch we went and helped the Conleys move some stuff and went to ARC for about 3 hours. We get to throw away stuff for them in the big dumpster that has a compacter. Breaking the stuff is pretty fun! I guess while we were working a lady came in and asked if Mormons bought Arc. The lady that works there said, "No they just volunteer here."  Then the lady said, "Well see if I ever shop here again." The worker lady stood up for us though and said, "That's mean ma'am." That was pretty funny to hear. That evening we taught Sister Maximoff. She is an awesome lady and ended up coming to church. Must of been a long time since she last came because people were super surprised to see her. We got super soaked riding our bikes around through all the rain! It was awesome! There is a wise saying that people say in the mission, "Your future wife gets better looking every time you go out in the rain, get yelled at, etc... " Pretty much the harder the mission the better looking my wife will be! -haha.

Wedensday, Woke up early to be taken to the Mission Tour. It was great to see all the Elders and Sisters I hadn't seen in awhile. Found out that 2 of the Elders from my district from the MTC got their visas! I hope that means mine is on the way! The Mission tour was around 7 hours. I learned so much from Elder Korbridge! WOW he is a stud! I feel like my teaching skills were horrible compared to what I know and can do now! He is an amazing teacher and I can tell he has been blessed with knowledge from God. You can see his amazing testimony through his face! He helped us use Syllogism in our teaching. Pretty much what that is is to have a belief, another belief and then come up with a conclusion. Using this in our teaching is more like a Destination, a Route, and then the Conclusion. We learned that every lesson we teach covers those 3 points. That evening we didn't have much luck, but we had ward missionary correlation with Bishop and all the ward missionaries. Elder Rampton and I can tell Bishop really likes us and the dedication we have to this ward.

Thursday, during the morning time I got to really study what I learned at the mission tour!  Was nice to organize all my ideas. Today we had a Zone training and President Jones came to it and trained us some more on how we can improve! His training was awesome as well! After the meeting Brother Bashford picked us up and we went and gave Sister Romans a blessing. She is blind and is going through some hard medical problems. Brother Bashford gave an amazing blessing the spirit was so strong! Rode our bikes around in the rain some more and ran into Chuck. He told us we need to come back and talk to his wife. So we probably will this week. Also, we ran into a young lady named Katie, in the apartments, that seemed very interested! She gave us her number and said to call her sometime. After that we ran into the atheist guy again. Only this time he had his friend with him. They were with Ron, Fabien, and Tarisa who are good Christians. Once he saw us coming he ran to get his anti-Christian crap. He tried bashing on us and I just told him, "Hey we aren't here to bash; we are only here to talk with our friends." Fabien agreed with us and told the atheist guy to cool it and told him he was insane pretty much-haah.  This upset him pretty good, so he didn't really talk after that. We talked to Ron, Fabien, and Tarisa for a bit and another atheist came up and started talking bad on us. It gets hard sometimes to not bash on them and laugh at some of the stuff they say. It kept going so we decided to leave. I went to shake the first Atheist guys hand and he grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go. He said, "Boy you have a brain up there, use it! Read the book called 'The End of Faith' it will be the best book you ever read!" This ticked me off pretty bad! I looked at him in his eyes and wanted to say a few choice words, but smiled and chuckled a bit-haha. Fabien stood up and started yelling at the atheist. It was pretty cool how he stood up for us.

Friday, we gave Sister Gray a blessing and talked with her for awhile. We got a referral from Church Headquarters and set up a appointment with Alex. On the way to his house this lady waved us down and asked us questions about our church. We got her contact information and will see her this week! Alex's lesson went great! We got to know him and his beliefs. We teach him at the Bowlers home, Vance's and Brad's brother's home. After that we went to ARC for 4 hours. After that we tried a few people but no luck. That evening we tried Isiah and he actually sat down with us and we did "How to Begin Teaching" with him. He wants to talk with his parents first and see if they are okay with him taking the lessons because he is only 15.

Saturday, we got to meet with Harley along with her 2 sons. We taught them all part of Lesson 1 and they seemed to enjoy it. Harley really has been prepared and is going to meet with us twice a week!  We went to ARC after that for a bit and then had dinner with the Maxwells. Her husband is atheist so we asked him a few questions. I couldn't imagine being married to an atheist.. That would be so hard! That evening we went to see Rubi and Beto. Talked with them on trials and weaknesses and how we can overcome them with Christ. Beto is a music artist and is a great singer! He goes on tour a ton and is super busy. He sing in Spanish and sounds like he is pretty popular in America. Rode home again in the rain. It is getting pretty fun now! : )

Sunday, ward counsel and the meetings all went great! Eli had his baptismal interview and is ready for this Saturday! He is a cool kid! After church we went to lunch with the Larsons, the people that sent the photo the first day I got here. The lunch was super good and we shared a good message with them. Kevin, their son, is going to Brazil and leaves next Wednesday.  That night we did our studies and worked on Eli's baptism record. Have been studying a lot from Revelations. Wow, that stuff is interesting. It takes like 30 minutes just to go through one chapter because I search the footnotes and find the deep meaning of it all. Very cool stuff!

Mom, the flooding didn't really affect any of the area we are serving in. So it didn't really slow us down or anything. We did hear about it. 4 people died and like 200 people are or were missing? Mom, you are right about our relationship growing in the past year.  Kinda funny to think how selfish and just dumb I was...haha. I'm excited to have those long conversations with people, mostly family, when I get home. I actually know how to listen now! Sorry to hear about Cam's Grandfather. I could tell he was an amazing man just from meeting him a few times. Amy sounds like she is growing up fast! It's crazy! Let Joni know I say hi and that I love her! Good to hear Lauren is doing well! That video of Emme kissing Mandi is so cute!

Dad, not as much service opportunities to help the flooding. Just battling the rain storms. No one really got any water damage in our area. We do ride bikes a lot. Probably close to 20 miles a day. I like it quite a bit. Yes, we do wear helmets, Dad. Emme has 5 teeth!!?  What?? Sounds like the funeral was amazing and you got to hear some good stories about Cam's Grandpa. Once again, thanks for the sweet sports update! The BYU vs. UTAH game is gonna be good! I'm hoping for an amazing sports update from you!

Family and Friends, Thank you all so much for the support you have given me throughout my life and especially right now! I love all of you and miss you.

Love,

Elder Hauck