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
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