Well Hello!
I am absolutley loving Bessemer! We are having so many miracles happen right now it is awesome!!! We found a 18 year old boy named Quentarious and he has come to church once knows the Book of Mormon is True and loves it when we come over and talk with him. He says it makes him feel good and he is scheduled to be baptized on the 5th of June! Then we had another miracle contact on a street. We saw this 19 year old boy walking so we stopped knocking on the door that we were at and went and talked to him. We ended up teaching him a first lesson and getting a return appiontment to take him to a bible study that we were holding the next day.His name is Ladarious and he came which was awesome and we set a baptismal date for him for the 5th of June also and he came to church and is right on track for that one as well! Then we were able to have a great lesson with one of our other investigators at a members house and she said that she would get baptized on the 12th of June and then she came to church! and we also have a lady that we are working with that was living with her Ex-boyfriend but they wern't doing anything they were just staying in the same house. well she ended up calling us one random day saying that he had moved out and into his parents house! so we taught her and she asked us what she had to do to be baptized! so we told her and set a date for her to be baptized on the 12th of June aswell! Then today we got a call from a return missionary that is in this ward and we have been teaching his non member girlfriend. Well he called us today to set a another teaching appiontment and said that she was ready to be baptized and that she would probable accept a date in the 2nd or 3rd week in June! We are so EXCITED!!!!!! We also have a ton of people that have a lot of potential. There is a girl named Matilda who lives just up the street from us. One day we stopped by to see her and she was not in a good mood and tried to tell us that it wasn't a good time. Well of course we couldn't let that stop us from teaching her the gospel so we told her our message will probably help her to have a better day which we obviously already knew we just didn't want to let her know that. She said we were probably right and she let us in to teach her. When we got inside we realized that she didn't have any power due to a really bad storm that we had had the past two days. So in our opening prayer we asked that her lights would be cut back on shortly so that her food wouldn't spoil and she could due her daily activites. Then we started to teach her about the restoration of the gospel!!! Well needless to say halfway through our lesson all of a sudden we saw a light!!!! Yes her lights had come back on!!!! She was so excited and it was a testimony to us and to her that God aswers prayers! So we finished teaching her and she said that she was feeling a whole lot better and that she was thankfull that we stopped by and that we made her day better. She also said that she would be baptized when she knew it was true! We found another girl next to one of our Recent Converts named Tawanda. She listened to a lesson one and then we gave her a pamphlet and didn't think to much about it. We did get a return appiontment though. So we went back and she actually remembered alot from the first lesson that most of the people we teach don't remember and she was really cool and interested and she wasn't scared to pray in front of us! She has a date for the 12th of June also! We are just being so blessed and I can tell a huge difference when we are obedient and when we are working hard. We stay out until 9:30 every night and we just go and go and go! which is exactly how it should be! I LOVE PREACHING THE GOSPEL AND SEEING THE FRUIT OF IT!!!!
We had our Zone Conference Yesterday. It was presdedent Tates last one that he would be at before he goes home. He is going to be leaving on the first of July. I am really sad that he is leaving. He has been a great mission president and he is going to be missed greatly. He has helped me out so much but change is always a good thing. He gave me some pretty random advice in out interview though that went along with some things in my patriarchal blessing which i thought was pretty cool. He is a great man! We have an awesome Zone as well. They are all hard workers and are trying to do their best. We are still trying to reach a goal of 50 baptisms in a month before President Tate leaves and i thing that June is going to be the Month for it! Out Districts are all doing their best to help out. We have to missionaries that are leaving at the end of this transfer but they are doing surprisingly well at not getting trunky. I am really excited. Being a Zone Leader is nothing special. Basically all you have to do is be a perfect example so basically you just have to do everything right because everyone is watching. I like it alot more because you feel like someone is always wathing it has really helped me in seeing the importance of being 100% obedient and now it doesn't matter if I am a Zone Leader or not it is totally worth it to be obedient.
Well the mission is really trying to get these 50 baptsims to we are all trying to get asmany contacts and work as hard as possible. So each companionship has to tide their bikes or walk for an hour a day to try to get more contacts. SO we went out with a recent convert who is 13 and he was riding his bike with us. Well I ender up wrecking haha. My first bike wreck on the mission. Well i tried catching myself from falling which didn't really work becuse i still fell. I ended up filping on the ground and the bike fliped on top of me. Elder Shietinger said it was in the top 3 of best wrecks that he has seen so far on his mission!!!! I was okay there was no blood and i just kept riding my bike. well after awhile my wrist started hurting and so we called to see what i should do and the President told me to go to the emergency room. They took X-rays and it ended up being a really bad sprang. so now I have to wear a brace! its been fun but pretty annoying. atleast it was a great story though right? haha.
I'm doing great though and hope that ya'll have a great time at TAPP!!!
Love Elder Haws
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Hi from Bessemer Alabama!
Well hello everyone and anyone that is going to be reading this. I am now in Bessemer and i am loving it! we have had a really good week. I walked into a baptism here. we had it on Saturday and it was in a creek. I guess that before the church was built here they used to meet in a house and they did baptisms in a creek right by the house and some how that land has stayed in possesion of one of the families here and so one of the members were going to be baptizing his twin sons in the river cuz they were Eight so we decided to do our investigator there as well! it was really neat. The work is going awesome here. My companion has been here for 9 months at the end of this transfer and he is so good at working here.
Bessemer reminds me a lot like Tuskegee. It has a lot of Black people and so we are able to have a lot of lessons which is good. the only difference about here and tuskegee is that we can actually get the investigators to church because most of them have cars and can drive themselves and because it is a ward here so the members help out with rides a lot. Most of the members are white and come from the surrounding towns. It is a great ward though and they help us out a lot even though it may mean a 20 minute drive into town and a twenty minute drive back home.
We had a really good sunday! we had 4 investigators at church. Sabrina was one that came on Sunday. I met here on the first day that i got here and we taught here a lesson one and we committed her to be baptized and she said she would. Then she showed up to church with her two sons. she had to leave early because she promised somebody else she would go to their church but she said that she would be back next week. We also taught a really cool kid named Ledarious. He is so cool. We challenged him to be baptized aswell on the 5th of June and he said he would. Then he came to our bible study the next night and was paying close attention. He is 19 and getting ready to go into the job corr then he plans on going into the military.
There is another person that is really close to baptism also! her name is Mekenzie. she is the girlfriend of a return missionary and she knows the church is true she just doesn't know if she should get baptized here or when she goes to college in Auburn. I think we can get her to realize the importance of getting baptized sooner so that she can have the holy ghost to find out what she needs to do in her life. I am really pumped for this area.
That is about it for now. Elder Sheitinger is from Buffalow New York. He is 21 and has a older sister and a mother and a Father. He is tons of fun and i love him!
I love all of you aswell! Have fun at TAPP. be safe and we will talk next week.
P.S. There is a member here who is from Utah and served in this same mission and moved out here and married one of the girls from here. The cool part is that he served the same time as Robert and knows him. His name is Austin Burdick. So you should ask Robert if he remembers him. He should though Bro. Burdick said that they were MTC companions.
Bessemer reminds me a lot like Tuskegee. It has a lot of Black people and so we are able to have a lot of lessons which is good. the only difference about here and tuskegee is that we can actually get the investigators to church because most of them have cars and can drive themselves and because it is a ward here so the members help out with rides a lot. Most of the members are white and come from the surrounding towns. It is a great ward though and they help us out a lot even though it may mean a 20 minute drive into town and a twenty minute drive back home.
We had a really good sunday! we had 4 investigators at church. Sabrina was one that came on Sunday. I met here on the first day that i got here and we taught here a lesson one and we committed her to be baptized and she said she would. Then she showed up to church with her two sons. she had to leave early because she promised somebody else she would go to their church but she said that she would be back next week. We also taught a really cool kid named Ledarious. He is so cool. We challenged him to be baptized aswell on the 5th of June and he said he would. Then he came to our bible study the next night and was paying close attention. He is 19 and getting ready to go into the job corr then he plans on going into the military.
There is another person that is really close to baptism also! her name is Mekenzie. she is the girlfriend of a return missionary and she knows the church is true she just doesn't know if she should get baptized here or when she goes to college in Auburn. I think we can get her to realize the importance of getting baptized sooner so that she can have the holy ghost to find out what she needs to do in her life. I am really pumped for this area.
That is about it for now. Elder Sheitinger is from Buffalow New York. He is 21 and has a older sister and a mother and a Father. He is tons of fun and i love him!
I love all of you aswell! Have fun at TAPP. be safe and we will talk next week.
P.S. There is a member here who is from Utah and served in this same mission and moved out here and married one of the girls from here. The cool part is that he served the same time as Robert and knows him. His name is Austin Burdick. So you should ask Robert if he remembers him. He should though Bro. Burdick said that they were MTC companions.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Hello...Again!! (May 12, 2010)
Family,
Well hello again family! It was great to be able to talk to most of you on Sunday! I’m glad that you all are doing well and managing okay! It was very good to be able to hear from my nieces and nephews and know that they are still their good old selfs. It was way cute how they would say something and then I couldn’t tell if they understood what I was saying or not.
Yesterday was transfer calls, which means that we got a phone call at 7 in the morning telling us who if any body was leaving and it turns out that one of us was. I am getting moved to a new area known as Bessemer. It is just out side of Birmingham and from what people tell me it is going to be like Tuskegee again just now as bad. I’m going to be serving with Elder Shitinger, with a long I after the H for anyone who was wondering, as a Zone Leader. I’m eager to find out what this new adventure is going to bring. So tomorrow I will be transferred to my new area so any mail that you send here fro the next week send to the mission home address which is 3100 E Lorna Rd suite 102 Birmingham Al 35216.
Not to much has changed since I talk to you all on Sunday though. We were able to ask Courtney and Ronnie and Justin why they weren’t at church and they said they were sleeping cuz they had a late night. We made them feel guilty which is good and they said they would be there next week so I hope they will be.
Elder Bishop is the new District leader here in Decatur and he is companions with Elder Putnam.
That’s about all for this week though. I hope you all are doing well and I can’t wait to tell you about my new area and companion next week! LOVE YA”LL
Elder Haws
Well hello again family! It was great to be able to talk to most of you on Sunday! I’m glad that you all are doing well and managing okay! It was very good to be able to hear from my nieces and nephews and know that they are still their good old selfs. It was way cute how they would say something and then I couldn’t tell if they understood what I was saying or not.
Yesterday was transfer calls, which means that we got a phone call at 7 in the morning telling us who if any body was leaving and it turns out that one of us was. I am getting moved to a new area known as Bessemer. It is just out side of Birmingham and from what people tell me it is going to be like Tuskegee again just now as bad. I’m going to be serving with Elder Shitinger, with a long I after the H for anyone who was wondering, as a Zone Leader. I’m eager to find out what this new adventure is going to bring. So tomorrow I will be transferred to my new area so any mail that you send here fro the next week send to the mission home address which is 3100 E Lorna Rd suite 102 Birmingham Al 35216.
Not to much has changed since I talk to you all on Sunday though. We were able to ask Courtney and Ronnie and Justin why they weren’t at church and they said they were sleeping cuz they had a late night. We made them feel guilty which is good and they said they would be there next week so I hope they will be.
Elder Bishop is the new District leader here in Decatur and he is companions with Elder Putnam.
That’s about all for this week though. I hope you all are doing well and I can’t wait to tell you about my new area and companion next week! LOVE YA”LL
Elder Haws
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Tornados In Alabama!
Yes i am still in Decatur and really hoping that i get to stay another Transfer! that would just be the best news ever!!!!!
So on Saturday we went down to a town called Albertville and helped the residents down there due to a tornado that touched down and caused a ton of damage down there. Luckily there was no one killed directly from the Tornado but it was crazy that nobody did. I mean to tell you what. there were whole houses moved off of its foundation and huge huge trees with all there roots pulled up! I got a really cool picture behind one of them that i will attach. there was so much destruction though that i didn't even know was possible from a tornado. It was really fun and good to be able to go and help out though. We helped a lady who was evicted because the house or trailer was no longer safe to live in and she had 1 day to move out. so we helped her pack up all of her stuff and then we went and started clearing away trees that had falled over fences and on sheds and barnes and things. It was really cool. I have always wanted to see a tornado and experience one but now i don't mind if i ever see one. I'll send more pictures as well to let you guys see what else all happened! We are teaching some more people now! We got a media referral for these two people for a finding faith in Christ DVD so we desided to give them a call to set up a time so we could give them the movie and also try to teach them. Well the good news is that we were able to teach them! the better news is that we have already taught them 4 times in the past 6 days and the that they want to come to church and they are reading out of the book of mormon and they want us to teach all of their friends and family but the BEST news is that last night we taught them and extended a Baptismal commitment for the 29th of May and they all Excepted! there are 3 of them their names are Courtney, Ronnie, and Justin. Ronnie and courtney are bf gf and justin is Courtneys uncle. courtney is 20 Ronnie is 21 and Justin is 25 and they are all black! we are so ecited! whats is even crazier is that Justin is Ashley Scruggs our first baptism date's cousin! so we are jsut way excited to see what May is going to bring for us! i hope its nothing but joy and hard work! sorry this one is so short! I hope ya'll have a good week and a great Mothers day for those of you that are mothers and i hope that those of you who aren't mothers make it a good day for those that are! I love yall
Love,
Elder Haws!
p.s. the pictures are me behind a huge tree that was blown over by the tornado and also of me helping clean up the mess of a tree that fell on an old shed and on a fence that we needed to clear as well.
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