61st Letter 5-19-14

 Pictures: 1-Elder Cotrim and I

2-My name tag in Santa Maria

Família Maravilhosa,

Hello Family. This week went by very fast, but was very good! With all the love I received from you guys on Mothers Day I was happy all week! My new companion is very cool. His name is Elder Cotrim. He's from São Paulo and is 18 years old. His family is all members; he has a fiancé and has some great ideas to help out in the work! The week went by very smoothly and we had a lot of success!

Monday, we emailed our awesome families and after had to do a lot of things to prepare for transfers. I was still in the trio so we taught a few lessons in each area. Had an awesome lesson with Jackson and Maryjane. They are super nice and understand very well! They have a daughter named Anadele who is the cutest thing every! She loves to sing songs in English! Ha-ha.

Tuesday I woke up at 3:30AM and got ready to catch the bus to Santa Maria. The trip was about 6 hours and I was alone!! It is a little scary to be alone for that long. I was sitting next to a girl too, which made it more scary. Ha-ha! But I arrived in Santa Maria and one of my friends there, Elder Santana and I visited some of his investigators he used to have there in Santa Maria. We visited 3 families and one family fed us Pizza! :)  I was super glad we got to visit them, because a lot of the other missionaries had to stay in the bus station for 4 hours contacting people in the streets and what not. Ha-ha! That night we passed by McDonalds!! :)

Wednesday, we had a great breakfast at the Hotel Appel and then had our meeting with President and all the other trainers (10). The meeting went very good! We then received our new companions and the Assistant told me that our bus would leave at 11:50AM!! The meetings ended at 11:20 and President made us eat. My comp and I ate super fast and rushed to the bus station! We were running to catch the bus and missed it by 1 minute! Ha-ha... I then had to call the assistants to tell them that we missed our bus. The secretaries came and picked us up and took us to the mission home. We stayed there all day and talked with people in the street and visited some families with Elders Lapray and Sol. 

Thursday we caught our bus to Itaqui and arrived here at about 6 o´clock. We then had our learning English class, which went super well!

Friday, Finally got to work! We visited a part member family to meet the husband Paulo, but he wasn't there. We shared a lesson with the inactive wife and the lesson went very well. We talked a lot about baptism and the temple marriage they can receive. It went very well! Elder Cotrim teaches very well. We then passed by a member’s house to give her granddaughter a blessing of health. We then found Jorge and his family all sitting together and taught them The Restoration! This lesson went super good and Elder Cotrim and I are teaching well together already! We then taught Universina a little about baptism and the plan of salvation. This was very spiritual. We had this lesson in the Chapel, and we could just feel the spirit stronger there. I know Universina felt it to!

Saturday, lunch was a party with a lot of members, which kind of took some of our working time away. We got to work, though, and found some great success! We visited the branch mission leader, Irmão João and shared a message about the Priesthood and our callings in the church. We then gave him a blessing to help him in his calling to be more effective and have the energy to work hard. Irmão João was a little shocked when I asked if we could give him a blessing, but it was a look of a happy shock. Like he was wanting a blessing for a long time, but no one offered. The spirit was very strong during this blessing! We then tried to contact some referrals and then taught Cesar and his family about baptism! He is completely ready to be baptized but is scared that Satan will work more on him after his baptism and he thinks he won't be able to handle it. We then offered to give him a blessing and he accepted! When I gave him this blessing I honestly do not know what I said. I was saying words in Portuguese that I don’t know yet. The spirit was so strong. Cesar and his family were all in tears by the end, because of the strong presence of the spirit. We invited them to ponder and pray about the baptism of Cesar. Finished the night with an awesome family night with an investigator and a few less-actives.

Sunday, Had our meeting with President. Alisson is a great president! We then had a lunch which was another Chorrasco!! :) I love Chorrascos! We then got to work and taught Jorge. The lesson went very well and I think he understands our message better. We invited him to pray for an answer and said we will return the next day, which is today! We then contacted two referrals. One wasn't interested, but the second was very! We taught her the Restoration and invited her to pray and find an answer and after be baptized. Maria has a lot of faith! We then got lost in the streets, but found our way to Irmão Joãs house and had our meeting with him.

This past week went very well and I know this week will be even better! We have a lot of plans and our vision of success will be realized! I love the work and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a servant of the Lord. I love all of you and miss you guys a ton!

Mom, I was on I high as well because of our Skype on Mother’s Day! I am so glad everything is well there! Sounds like Amy is doing great and as excited as ever to graduate and go on her special trip! I am so glad you take everything you can out of the Gospel Doctrine lessons you teach on Sunday, Mom! Very awesome! I love you so much Mom and miss you tons!!

Dad, I love what you said about experiences we have in this life I want to have it here in the email for all to see!  "I think that was the greatest lesson that I learned from my mission, that we learn from or own experiences. What wonderful proving ground mortality is! We come to this Earth as eager spirits ready and willing to learn, but then life sets in and twists us this way and that. We are formed by our individual experiences. These experiences, both good and the bad, when combined with the knowledge that the gospel brings, can shape us into marvelous creatures. Combine all of that with the atonement of Christ and our potential is limitless. We are pretty awesome, even though we usually don't realize it." (The Famous Jason Hauck aka Brad´s Dad) You are exactly right Jason! :) I love you Dad, and as always, thank you for your powerful words of advice!

Love,

Elder Hauck

60th Letter 5-12-14

Photos 1: In the Ward missionary leader´s home with his son, Pedro.
2: Chorrasco a few weeks ago 

 Familiares,

Happy Mothers Day to all the great Mom´s I know! I LOVE MY MOM!! It was so awesome to be able to Skype you Mom and the rest of the family! You all look beautiful and happy! The Skype session helped a lot and encouraged me to work harder and harder until the end of the mission! Thank you all for your words of encouragement and love!

This week went by super fast! We had some slow downs with investigators, but also found somethings out that will help them progress better. It is amazing to see the Lords hand in this work!

Monday, had an awesome P-day and barely got all the things done that we needed to.  Had a lesson with Delisiani, who had a baptismal date. The lesson went great and her desire was there, but her daughter was starting to get sick. We also saw Jusalino, a strong investigator who is waiting for his divorce papers to come through so he can get remarried and baptized. His testimony is very powerful!

Tuesday, had zone conference today and it went awesome! Spent a good 10 hours of the day in a van traveling to São Gabriel and back here to Itaqui. The trainings went awesome and it was great to see the other missionaries in the other zones. President Parrela gave a great training about how science and religion go together, that science is the power of God! Every thing needs a force/energy to be moved or changed! This energy or force is of course God! He also gave trainings on how important studies are in our lives, during the mission and after. Learned a lot of good stuff that I will use not only in the work, but also in my life!

Wednesday, we saw a lot of people today and helped a lot of people! Lunch had an inactive member of the church. We talked to him a lot about why he left and why he doesn´t want to return. His excuse was very weak. Saw Delisiani today and her daughter was very sick now. We gave her a blessing and taught them a lesson. We talked to Delisiani before this week and told her that this week would be very hard and it was. She gave up on her date to be baptized and now she is slowing down a lot in her conversion. We will continue to help her, though. Tonight we had a great family night with a lot of people. I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and they were a HIT! All the sisters in the branch want your recipe now Mom! : ) Ha-ha

Thursday, another great day with success. Met a new investigator and got to know the mother and daughter. They are very intelligent and understand our message well. They both need to get married still, so this could take sometime. Also met another family that is very prepared, but have the same problem. They need to get MARRIED! We had a great meeting with the President of the Branch and the newly called ward missionaries!! This will be awesome to have ward missionaries! The meeting went very good and we were able to give training on teaching lesson 5 of Preach My Gospel.

Friday, today was pretty rough. We didn´t catch to many people in their homes. We walked a lot and it was a little hotter today, than the other days. Had an activity in the chapel for Mothers Day. It went super good! Had a lot of cake there and we were able to serve all the mothers there. Also, had a few investigators there as well!

Saturday, talked with Delisiani more and she had slowed down quite a bit. Her daughter has a serious health problem and they need to go to Porta Alegra. She doesn´t want to make any plans right now with us until her daughter is healthy, which is understandable. We will continue to visit her and see what will happen next. Taught the mom and daughter who both need to marry again. They love our message and have so many questions to the point where it is pretty hard to continue teaching the lesson.

SUNDAY, what a great day this was! We had a great meeting with the President of the branch and then had our church meetings! Lunch was a chorrasco, (but not the one in the picture) and was super good! We meet a less-active family and taught them. We then rushed to Skype our awesome Moms! Of course this went awesome! I was able to see my beautiful Mom and the rest of the family! I am so grateful for my Mom and for all that she does for me! : )

I hope you all have a great week this week and learn a lot of new things! I will be training a new missionary this next transfer and continue being district leader, that means I will need a lot of prayers my way! Ha-ha! I love you ALL!! : )

Love, Elder Hauck

59th Letter 5-5-14

 Picture: Baptism! :)

Algumas Mudanças,

WOW... All right, so this week was a huge surprise and some big things happened! I am so happy I was able to work this week and see some great success! This Mission is awesome!

All right, so if you remember anything from last week you know that it wasn't too great. Well, Monday and Tuesday passed the same way. I talked a lot with President Parrela to arrange everything for my companion to be transferred back to his home. He left Wednesday morning and I got to stay with Elder Sargent and Rodrigues dos Santos.

Wednesday, with the dead weight gone, we got to work and immediately found miracles! We three started working and found new people that have interest in the Church, taught a few lessons and have a family to help get ready to be Baptized at the end of this week! With the experience I have of being in trios in Colorado I was used to the teaching style we had to move to, but the other two elders had a little harder time adjusting, but sure enough after the first few lessons we were teaching well. I was able to give the baptism interviews to Leda, Andrially, and Allyson. It was so cool to ask them these questions, feel the spirit with them, and hear their testimonies of the gospel! 

Thursday, another awesome day. We had lunch with two non-members and shared a great message with them of why we have commandments and why we must follow them. We also taught Augosto, an old man who lives alone and cant walk to well, but has a family member that helps him around the house at times. We arrived there and he was mad at us. We asked him why he was mad and he said, “You guys said you would pray for me and I would improve my life to be better, but I still can’t walk!” It was cool to see the faith he has, but we had to explain to him that the knowledge of the Gospel would improve his life and bring blessings in his life. The whole visit with him was a little funny because he was mad that we hadn't healed him yet. This night we talked with a part member family. The father isn't a member, but has visited church for the past 3+ years. We talked with him of why he wasn't baptized yet. He said he wanted to wait until his wife´s birthday. We explained to him that Heavenly Father doesn't want to wait to give him the blessings we receive at baptism and confirmation. We are working with him to be baptized this month!

Friday, Another great day with many lessons! We did some great work and marked Delisiani with a baptismal date of May 10th! We then marked an investigator of the other comps for the same day! We were so happy working together and finding this success together! This whole day we were super happy! We worked a lot with the family that was baptized this past week. We had a family night with this family and the Mom asked me to baptize her. I was very shocked, but very honored! 

Saturday, Day of Baptism!!!!

Had lunch and then went to the chapel to fill up the baptismal font. It took almost 3 hours to fill and heat up. Ha-ha! The baptism went perfect! It was so cool to do this in Portuguese! The spirit there this night was so powerful! Elder Sargent, Rodrigues and I all felt the spirit strong and were super happy! This family lost their Dad 6 months ago, but have found the Plan of Salvation and that they can be an eternal family one day! This family is awesome! :)

Sunday, didn't have a great turnout in sacrament meeting because of the rainstorm and the bus broke down... It was still an awesome meeting and I got to be in the circle for the Confirmation of Andrially. We had some great success today as well! Amazing how the gospel truly brings the happiness of eternity that has no end. Through the gospel is how we can find this true happiness!

This week was crazy, but was super spiritual and a blessing to the members here in Itaqui and to us full-time missionaries. I hope your week went well!

Mom, I am so excited to Skype with you guys Sunday!!! :) I think it is a 3-hour difference so I will be calling between 5-7 o´clock, which is like 2-5 there, I think. I hope this will work out! Mom, things are much better here. I love the members and the people here in Brazil. They are very humble and kind! One thing I like a lot about the missionary work here in Brazil is that we get to teach simple. I am excited for your trip in 3 weeks! I want many pictures of you, dad and Amy! :) I love you Mom and can´t wait to see your beautiful face on Mothers Day!!

Dad, that is awesome about the 12 year old bearing his testimony in Star Wars terms! Ha-ha! Elder Assis doesn't have support back home, no girlfriends and is the only member.  I remember our trip to Europe; it was so cool! I want to go back!:) Ha-ha, Amy will love her trip!

Family, I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Hauck