July 25, 2011

Dear Family,
Things are going good! We got some roommates that are living with us for a while waiting for their Visa's to go to Angola Africa. They are both from Salt Lake and are really excited to be here in Alabama and to be on Missions. I remember being so new to the missionary life and just thinking that everyone in the whole world wanted to hear and was going to except the message of the Restored gospel. I wish that i was still that way. It has helped having them living with us. It makes me more positive.
We had some things happen this past week that weren't so good. Luis was found drinking on saturday night and he didn't come to church on Sunday because he said he had to work. So that was a bummer. We are going to be seeing him tonight so hopefully we can help encourage him to try again and to do better.
We also weren't able to see Araceli and her kids at church because she had to work and so non of them were able to come. I hope that one day they will all be able to come as a family. The children really want to and Araceli really likes the church. Hopefully next week.
We did have an investigator at church though. Her name is Saira. She is from the Dominican Republic. Her brother is a member and she just came randomly. We have been working with her for a few weeks but she wasn't really reading or anything so we stopped going over there just to see what would happen and sure enough she came to church. We were pretty excited. So now we will she why she came and what here plans are.
We found some really neat peopel this week that I am excited to start teaching. i hope that they will understand and that they will do their part to know that it is true.
So far this transfer which is half way over we have ridden our bikes 270 miles! It is awesome. We ride everywhere. Everyone sees us and we get honked at probably 5-10 times a day from people that are nice. I love it. Ridding bikes is so much fun.
Elder Davis ( one of the elders waiting for his Visa) and I were riding our bikes to a trailer park that is about 8 miles away and when we were about 7 miles out. So almost there he got a flat tire! flat flat flat. So we ended up walking the las mile and we were able to see some people but we had no idea how we were going to get home. We tried calling members and no one was answering. Finally we got ahold of a member and he gave a ride home. I found out from that experience that I hate walking. I would rather ride m bike over walking any day.
While we were out there though we met a man that was from Arizona. He had on a Diamond backs hat and he actually came to us and wanted to know how he could cme to church and who he needed to talk to to find out more. It was really neat! I love moments like that when you conect with a person and they want to learn the Gosple. If the tire wouldn't have ever popped we never would have met him.
That is about it for this week! I am glad that everyone is doing well. I hope you keep doing all you are doing and that you show everyone that you love them. Don't assume that they know tell them.
I love ya'll. So stinking much.
Love Elder Haws

Elder Haws ate this Burger in under 12 minutes, including the fries!!

July 18, 2011

Dear Family,
Things are going really good here! We are having lots of really good success lately! We have had some pretty good lessons and are constantly finding new people to teach. Luis came to church again which was really good. He should be baptized on the 30th of July! He is such a different man than when I knew him from my last visit here.
I have really enjoyed being back to Montgomery. I just love the people down here and I hope that I will be able to be a help to them this time around.
We went to a District meeting on Wednesday and learned about revelation through prayer! It was a really good experience. afterwards though we were getting ready to leave and some elders were trying to get me to ride down the stairs on my bike and i k now that I wouldn't be able to do it, so I told them no. They kept trying and I kept telling them no. Finally I gave into their peer pressure and tried it. Well it definalty did not work just like I knew it wouldn't. I ended up flipping over my handle bars, getting a good scrape on my elbow and a huge bruise on my hip from hitting the cement. I will send a picture of it next week. It is a pretty good bruise. So I learned a really good lesson last week. Don't ever give in to peer pressure. If you are sure that it isn't good for you or it is against your standards don't do it. I knew that I would get hurt trying to ride down the stairs but I still tried it and all that happened was I got hurt pretty bad.
Since I have been here in Montgomery we have ridden about 200 miles on our bikes! We ride our bikes everywhere. We don't really have a car. It is so crazy! It has been raining like every day and it is hot when it isn't raining but it has been lots of fun! I love riding my bike. It is a really good bike. we have been through a lot of miles together. I have been trying to find out how much it will cost to send it hope and as of right now it will be anywhere from 50 to a hundred $. I still Have $40 so I might need a little more but when I find out I will let you know.
Sorry this one is short. i will do better next week.
I love you all!
Love Elder Haws

July 11, 2011

Well Hello dearest family of mine!
Things are going so good! I don't think that there would be any other thing or way I would want to do besides end my mission in this way! I ended up getting trasfered out of Tuscaloosa but i don't really mind due to the fact of where I was put in. I am back in Montgomery! I am so excited! There is so much potential here right now that I just can't even hold in my excitment. We have 3 baptismal dates and we have a family that we are working with. She is someone that I wasn't working with when I was here before but that was just barely found. She has 5 kids and a boyfriend that she doesn't live with which is so so so surprising with hispanics! She was at church this past sunday for her first time with her boyfriend who is Ruben. Her kids were in Texas so they didn't come.
Another man that we are working with is named Luis. He lives with one of our Recent Converts named Jose. Jose is the one with the son that we worked alot with when I was here last time. Luis was a man that I invited to church probably about every week I was here but he never came because he was drinking! but now he has given that up! he hasn't drank in about 2 months and he has come to church twice and has a baptismal date and loves it! He is reading the Book of Mormon, saying his prayers! All of it! He is a completely different man. I love the things that the gospel does to change peoples lives.
O man! Sorry MaryAnn I lied to you there has been a crazy adventure. When I got here I found out that we aren't living with the Jacksons any more but that we are staying in a place that we call "The Mansion" because it is so huge! it is a four bedroom, living room,dining room, kitchen. one and a half bath, with a laundry room house! It is huge and it is owned by a member. When I get here we get straight to work and we don't have a car. It is a biking area all day basically. So we are biking and I am sweating like crazy because it is so hot and humid here. So we come in for the night and I go to take a shower right cuz I am sweaty and gross. Well I pull back the shower curtain and all I see is MOLD!!!! So so so much mold all over the shower/tub. I was so grossed out. So I showed in it that night and the next morning and when I went to do it the second night i just couldn't handle it anymore so I got out and grabbed a brush and just stared scrubbing! I think I was in the shower for about 15 min just scrubbing the whole time getting rid of all of the mold. It was so gross. But now it is clean and I can shower in peace. I should have taken a picture but there just wasn't time. It had to get scrubbed. haha
Things are doing really good though. I am sad that I don't get to go on anymore teamups with spencer. I am really glad for the many different ways that he helped us out. Thankyou so much Spencer.
I love you all and can't wait to see you in a few weeks!
Love Elder Haws

June 27, 2011

Dear Family!
Hello everyone! Hope all is well where everyone is that reads this. Things here are going really well. It has been hot the past few weeks but it is only going to get hotter so there is no room for complaing! you just have to get out and do it! We have had a few really good things go on this week that I am looking forward to!
We had a family come to church this week! Their names are Lalo and Mary and they came with their 2 daughters! It is so good to see them come! Lalos dad is a member of about 2 years and his dad has been trying so hard to have someone in his family come to church with him, so it is really exciting to see it happening now! They really enjoy it also. It has been hard to get their girls to go to primary because they are still learning english and one of them doesn't even really speak it at all, but they will go with time and when they go I think their parents will enjoy it alot more!
Our other investigator named shiqiao (pronounced shichow) is going back to China on wednesday due to his dad not wanting him to get baptized so his dad said he had to go back to China. It is really sad because he really really wanted to get baptized. Hopefully soon China will be open to missionaries and they will find him and baptize him. He is living all the commandments.
We have a few meeting with president that we have to go to this week. One is for Zone Leader Council and the other is to talk about our area and how we can be most effective here with 4 or 6 or 8 missionaires. It should be a good meeting.
We are reading the gospel of Mark right now as a mission. We read one chapter a day. Today we read Mark chapter 7 so if you want to you can read with us. We will read Mark 8 tommorrow. It has been really neat to read this time becuase as I read I am trying to apply it in a missionary view and see how Jesus responded with certain things. It has been neat. Today I read when Jesus was on his way to heal the damsel of a master who was sick. He was on his way and the lady that had the bleeding problem touched him and he stopped to talk to her. Well when he did that the damsel died. What I learned was that Jesus knew that he had the power to raise the damsel from the dead, so he was able to take the time to help this lady first. So in missionary work we need to look at our options and do that which will be of the most benefit and do it so that everyone can have the gospel in their lives. The gospels are so amazing. I love that we have the bible to help learn of the life of Jesus Christ. President Holzapfel knows so much about the bible and the context and how it all blends together it is so amazing sitting down in a meeting and just listening tohim talk about a chapter in the bible because he knows so much about it!
That is about it for today though! It has been a great week! I hope that you all have a good week and that you are safe!
Love ya
Love Elder haws

July 5, 2011

Dear Family,
Well we have had yet again another really good and interesting week! We have had a lot of success in the past few days with the members giving us people to teach! Both with the hispanics and with the english members. We went on an exchange with some missionaries in a town called columbiana. Baurer served there once upon a time. It was really good and fun. We also had a zone leader council meeting the day before the exchange on tuesday and that was really good. We learned a lot of things that would help us and we also thought of new things that we could improve on it was a good meeting.
President came down on Friday to talk with us about the area to see how the spanish and english work was going to know where he needed to put the missionaries that he has since transfer is this week. He took us out to this place to eat called Archilbalds BBQ. It was pretty good. It is just a hole in the wall restaurant that I would never go unless someone took me to show me what it was like. It was good though! I was surprised.
We had a good lesson over at the Bakers house on saturday. We had Luis Fernando and German over there. Luis is a new member and german is his friend. We had dinner of hambergers and hotdogs, with potato salad, chips, watermelon, kool-aid and million dollar dessert! It was really good. Then after we ate we had a lesson and we invited german to be baptized and he said yes! So now he has a date for the 30th of July! I am really excited! Then the next day he came to church. He had already been a few time but it is just good to see people changing thier lives to become better.
We got transfer calls yesterday and we found out that both Elder Chow and I are getting Transfered. It was quite a surprise because of all the good work that we have been having lately especially with the spanish people. It has been rough but I am sure that the Lord knows what he is doing. Something I have realized on my mission is that the Lord wants everyone to go to heaven and he wants to do what is best for them. So us getting transfered isn't cuz the president has something up his sleeve or doesn't like us or doesn't know what was going on in the area. It is becuase that is what the lord knows needs to happen to grow the kingdom of God. So I am excited to see what happens. I will let you know next week!
Everything is going reall good though! I love you all and hope that you are all safe! Hope to hear from you soon.
Congratulations Buddy and Sara on the blessing of Beau! He looks like a great kid!
Love ya!
Love Elder Haws.

PIctures from Transfers!

Preston was just transferred this last week. Looks like he is going to be a zone leader!!

June 20, 2011

Dear Family,
Well it has once again been a really good week. I love hearing how everyone is doing and getting updates on the new stuff! Things are going really well here! Thank you everyone for the birthday gifts. They are very nice and appreciated.
We have had a really good week! We went out with Spencer on tuesday and we had a lesson with Lalo. It went really well. He understood alot of what we were saying about baptism and the authority. We asked him to prepare for baptism on the 16th of July and he said he would. He also said that he wants to quit smoking and drinking and gambling. It is so amazing to me how people know that that stuff is bad yet they all accept it at one point. The light of Christ that we all have is such a great gift! They didn't come to church this week though. They were tired or something. When we went by to see them they were excited to see us and they want us to come back and said that they would be there the next week.
Good news! San came to church! We had to give her a ride but she still came and really enjoyed it! She is such a good example to the rest of her family. I hope that she will continue to come and that she will continue to prepare for her day for baptism. richard did not come to church however. He changed his mid about an hour before it was going to start. I gave him a tie and everything. I think he is just scared that he doesn't know anyone so we are going to go over with a member on thursday! I think that will help us alot.
The sisters that were serving here got transfered out due to one of them getting released for medical purposes so my companion and I have to take over doing the english work aswell. It has been pretty crazy but we are getting it under control. The members are helping us out a lot.
Thanks for all your prayers and support. Tell Elder Baker I said Happy Birthday!
Love you all
Elder Haws
ShiQiao is doing really well also. His dad wasn't to happy with his wanting to get baptized and told him he has to go back to china but he is still really from the Book of Mormon and coming to church. He prayed the other day that his dad would let him get baptized. The kid had a lot of faith and I hope that one day he will be able to be baptized and enjoy the blessing of the gospel.
I hope that we will be able to baptized a few more hispanics so that they can form their own branch. The mission is so low on missionaries right now that president isn't sure what he is going to do with this are as far as if he wants spanish missionaries or now so we will see but I really hope spanish stays we have a lot going right now.

June 13, 2011

Dear Family,
Well I am very gratefull that all is well with everything that has been happening with the fire and all. I am gratefull that the evacuation is lifted and that hopefully it is getting put out. Thank you everyone for the hugs and the loves and the gifts that weren't sent to me in various ways! Aunt Dorie just wanted to let you know that I got your hug from Spencer. Thank you for that.
We had a really good Zone Conference this last friday where we were trained on Baptism and how it all works. We learned how to invite someone to be baptised and how to resolve their concernces then we learned how to do the actuall ordinance. Elder Chow and I and Elder Harrison (my MTC companion who is now an assistant) demonstrated how to baptised. It was actually kind of fun being baptized again aside from saying the prayer of course. Then we talked about how we can help keep the new members strong in the gosple. It was a really good Zone Conference.
Then we had an AMAZING sunday!! We have been working with this part member family for so long. The dad is a member and he lives with his wife, his son and his daughter-in-law with their two kids, his daughter and son-in-law with their son, who is 13, then he has two more sons. Huge family. Missionaries have been trying to teach them for over a year. Well Elder Chow and I finally realized that all his kids had no idea why we kept going over there. They all thought it was to see their dad. Which is true but not really. So we started teaching his son, Lalo and his wife, Mary. They have been doing really good. They love it when we come over. We have only been teaching them for a week and they came to church this week! I was so excited! They really enjoyed it as well. They also wanted us to come back and they want to keep coming to church! I love it. They gospel is just so great especially when people get it. We are still finding alot of people to teach. We haven't had a time so far this transfer where we haven't had a full day planned. We have been so busy that we haven't had time to tract which is awesome.
I am doing really well. I haven't been sick or gotten hurt or anything. I am getting a little on the chubby side. I will try to fix that though.
Thanks for all your support. I love you all
Love Elder Haws.

June 6, 2011

Dear Family!
This was a really good week! We had a ton of really good things happen! This was the first week on my mission that we had more member present lessons than regular lessons. A member present lesson is better because the investigator has someone normal that they know and will recognize and stuff like that so it is better than if just my companion and I are teaching them! We had 13 lessons with a member and 12 others! It was really neat. It has helped us and our investigatores alot.
I was able to see Aunt DeAnn and Uncle Artie on sunday! It was really neat to be able to see them and talk with them for a little bit. It was a very good baby blessing. It was really neat to be able to participate in that special moment for Spencer and Gretta. I am glad that they are here to be able to see and to talk to.
We are teaching a lot of people. San is doing really well. She didn't come to chruch but she has continued to read and to pray and wants to be baptized in July! We are also teaching shi qioa. He is asian and kind of believes in God. It has been fun teaching him because my companion is part asian aswell. Things have been going really well. Sorry this one is short I was talking with the family about the fire and school so I wasn't able to write much. We have a lot of good things going and I am really excited for what could come out of it. I love you all!
Love Elder Haws.

May 31, 2011

Dear Family
We had a good week this week, We had transfers and my old companion went home so I naturally got a new companion. His name is Elder Chow. He is half taiwaines. He doesn't speak chinese. He is really fun and a super good missionary. We have been working really hard and I am super excited to see what comes from it.
We finally found Maria and Martin! They were a couple that we were working with a lot that we lost when the tornado ruined their apartments. The other day though we saw some hispanics leaving a duplex that we had never knocked on before so when we went back Maria answered and I was so so happy! We had a pretty good lesson with them. It was so comforting knowing that they were ok.
We had a good memorial day weekend. Since memorial day is on a monday none of the hispanics worked so we were able to play soccer with them! normally we can't play because we can only play on mondays and they are always working, but this time it worked out. We set up a good game of soccer with some of our investigatores and ward members. We played a game of soccer to 5. 6 on 6 and then we ate some food afterwards. It was very positive and very fun. Everyone wants to do it more and it is a great way to get investigatores to meet members. I hope we can continue to do it. I loved playing soccer so much. It was super hot but way fun. Spencer came along with a few other american members. It was a really nice time.
We are teaching a girl named San. She is english work but is doing really well. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and by the time we went back she had read 14 chapters in it. She is 21 and wants to go to the military and is wanting to fix her life a lot. She has already started before we even found her with a few things.
I love seeing people change for the better. I have learned one thing on my mission for sure and it is that the end of the story isn't written yet. That what is in the past is done but what is in the future is to be decided. We finish the book how we want to. I know that we can always be better and that is why we are here on this earth. We are here to improve. To better ourselves and those around us. I love seeing these people doing that. I love doing that myself.
I love the mission! I love my family. I love every single one of you. really it is true.
Love ELder Haws.

May 23, 2011

Hey ya'll.... I mean Dear Family,
Well It has been another really good week for us here in Tuscaloosa! Things are starting to look a lot better. They have been clearing all the roads now with all of the fallen trees and debree that has been set out for the trucks to come pick up, Who knows where they are going to put it all. I think that between all of us missionaries here in Tuscaloosa we put in over 50 hours of service for the week. It is really neat to be a part of it. People are so much more open to us now than they have been before or would have been before I should say. I love being able to help those that need it and lighten a little bit of thier load.
We had trasfer calls today and I am staying here because my companion is leaving. However everyone else in our district except for a sister missionary is getting transfered so I am going to have to get to know a lot of new people. It is going to be good for the are though. It has been difficult to do stuff with all the damage and because a lot of the investtigatores for both areas were living in the affected areas.
Maria and Silvino came to church on sunday! they only stayed for sacrament meeting but they really enjoyed it. When we asked them to come Maria wouldn't tell us yes because she didn't want to commit and then have Silvino say he wasn't going to come. So he said they would be there and so when they showed up it meant that it was because he wanted to come which means a lot. He hasn't ever wanted to go to a church so she is just wanting to do whatever he will do. They have been moving forward a lot. Thanks to the help of Spencer they have really good fellowship. They came to a little fiesta that was thrown for Elder Lindemann since he is going home and so they met a lot of the other members and it was a really good experience. We should be able to set a baptism date with them here shortly.
That is about it for the update. I don't have much time today either. I promise i'll have a better letter next week. I Love you all. Congrats Buddy and Sara on the baby. The Bakers told me that you had a boy! that is so exciting. 3 new nephews to meet when I get back!
Tyson and Kim I hope that everything goes well for you tommorrow and that you have a healthy son! such an exciting time to see more of our spirit brothers and sister coming to the earth.
I love you all.
Love Elder Haws.

May 16, 2011

Dear Family,
Things are going really good here in Tuscaloosa! We are still doing a lot of clean up but we are having a lot of really cool experiences from it. The other day Elder Lindemann and I were just walking down the street trying to find some service to do and we saw a lady out side picking up sticks and racking up leaves. She didn't look like she needed any help. All the tress were already cut up and stacked in her yard waiting to be picked up. Her house wasn't damaged. Everything looked ok, but we still went and asked if she needed help and sure enough she did. When they were cleaning up a HUGE tree that had falled down in her back yard they piled everything next to her yard by the road. They happened to put it all at the entrance way to her driveway so she couldn't park there. So we were able to help her move everything out of her driveway so she could park there. Spencer came down with his chainsaw and helped us because there were some really big logs there. It made me feel really good.
We have hooked up with a couple of organizations to do service such as directing traffic or sorting clothes, delivering food, Whatever they need us to do. It is really fun helping out. I am reall glad that I get to help out. There are a lot of people right now that are just trying to get their houses in order again and clean up their yards and stuff like that. Those are the people that we are looking for. We can't do anything big right now. We mainly just have to wait for the bul dozers to come and tear everything down and start building everything back up. We were able to help another older couple who had a fence that got blown down and needed it moved over to the road, so we got an axe, chopped it up, and moved it to the road for them. It sure has been a blessing that I know how to use and axe dad. You have no idea. I have notice that not that many people out here do. Almost none of the missionaries can. I really like swinging one and being able to do the same stuff as a chainsaw.
We ended up winning our soccer game! They ended up coming to church and I think they liked it! We are hoping that they will keep coming back and that they can join their dad and grandpa in the church. They are to really good boys. Lalo the grandson of the member is really tight. He wants to start coming to mutual activities and things like that. We get a long really well.
Maria and Silvino didn't come to church and we haven't been able to see them for about a week due to thier work schedules./ hopefully tommorrow we will be able to teach them.
That is about it though. I got my school schedule and it all looks good. It should be a smooth transition. Thanks for getting everything set up for me.
Love ya'll
Elder Haws.

May 9, 2011

Dear family,
It was great being able to talk to most of you last night! sorry the skype didn't work out as well. Atleast we were able to see each other for just a little bit right! You all are still looking great! I didn't ever get a good look at MaryAnn but thats ok! Sorry I wasn't able to call and talk to everyone. Hopefully mom and dad can tell you all the highlights of the conversation.
Everything is still good though. We are still cleaning up from the tornado and probably will be for the next while. It is now to the point where they just need the big equipment to come in and pile it up and haul it all off. So there isn't that much that we can do right now. If I am lucky I will be able to come back with a pretty nice tan though! haha.
My companion and I challenged one of our members son and grandson, who aren't members, to a soccer game today at 5. If we win they have to come to church if we lose we have to buy them icecream! so we are hoping that we win so that we don't have to buy them icecream. It should be a pretty good game. I'll let you know how it turned out next week.
Thats all I have this week. sorry it is so short.
Love ya'll
Elder haws

May 3, 2011

Dear Family,
Well another week has gone by but this one was just a little bit different from the last 80 or so that I have had. On Wednesday we had a torndao hit our town of tuscaloosa. We were okay and were able to find all of our members and investigatores as well which we were very gratefull for. This past week has mainly just been cleaning up and helping people get tarps on there roofs and get things ready before the rain which is falling right now.
I just want to share a few stories with yall real fast on how great this week has been for me.

After the Tornado Elder Lindemann and I were with the two bishops of our two wards looking for members who were in the path of the tornado. We were able to find and make contact with almost all of them which was good. While we were looking for them we we saw an apartment complex where a couple Martin and Maria lived. There apartment was completly distroyed. I was super worried for them because they didn't have Tv and they didnt' speak english. We tried to find them but had no luck. Then yesterday monday May 2, We went to a Catholic church to help translate becuase they have made that the place for all the hispanics to go. While we were there we found them! They were ok! Maria was there alone with her to sons and Martin was at work. She said that she heard it coming and the whole building started to shake so she threw herself on top of her sons next to a couch and the roof blew along with all the walls and everything else but they were ok. I was so relieved to see them and know they were ok.

Another story. We were driving around trying to help people get trees off of their houses so they could get them tarped before the rain. Well we were driving and driving and then all of a sudden we saw a house with a tree on it and no body was working on it. That was one thing that was tough for us was people were either waiting for the insurance to look at it or somebody was already doing it but not at this house. So we stopped and as soon as we stopped a couple came out and said we could help him. As we helped we started talking to the guy and he told us " you have no idea how much this means to me. I was just looking at this tree and I was overwhelmed at how I was going to get it off of my house by myself and still have time to tarp it but that is when ya'll showed up and I feel like 1000 lbs has been lifted of my shoulders."

That is just a few of the many stories I have of helping people. Many more will be on the way. I am thankful that we were all okay and that all of the missionaries were safe. I am gratefull for all your prayers and all you are doing to help. I'll talk to ya'll on sunday hopefully.
Love Elder Haws.

April 25, 2011

Dear family,
Well sorry to dissappiont but I don't have any crazy weather stories for this week nor do I have any cool bicycle wrecks to update you on, but that doesn't mean that nothing good or cool happened this week.
So we are working with a young couple that was found a little over a year ago by Elder Lindemann and one of his companions. Thier names are Marie and Silvino. Well Maria is catholic because it was the church that she was raised in and it is what she knows. She has told us that she goes catholic because it is her church but she doesn't necessarily believe all of the catholic beliefs. Silvino on the other hand didn't grow up with church and never showed interest so when Elder Lindemann realized that they weren't going anywhere he moved on to find more people to teach. Well a member that worked with them alot felt that we needed to go back and try to teach them again before I got here and they had started to see them but it was still awkward and nothing was happening. I to though felt like we needed to keep seeing them.
Well.... We started talking more with Silvino and we have been going over there with Spencer also. We have seen a huge change in Silvino in the past 2 weeks. This is a guy that has never read out of the scriptures and has only said one outloud prayer and just is not learned nor has disire to learn about the gospel. Well we somehow helped him realize that all he has to do is read the bible to get the knowledge to where he can be like his wife. When we told him that it clicked and he got it. When we went back the next time we gave him his own bible to read and his face just was so grateful. He told us "I have never had my own bible before. Thank you so much." that next week he read Luke 2-6 and loved it. We went back with Spencer and taught him that we only have scripture because of prophets and we taught him what prophets do. He got the need for a prophet. Then He and his wife and their two sons came to church! They came becuase Silvino wanted to! Meanwhille Maria is just so happy that her husband is taking interest in gospel things she is just so happy. I love seeing the happiness that comes from doing what is right!
They could only come for one hour but They said that they would be back the next week and they would stay for all three hours. The reason that they couldn't come to all three this time was because he plays soccer and had a game at 8 so he came right after the game still wearing his jersey!
We had a really good Easter. President Holzapfel gave us a packet to study from during the whole passover weekend and it was really fun to learn and to see a deeper side of the atonement and ressurection than before. Our President is so smart when it comes to that kind of stuff!
Well I hope all is well! I am doing great! I am super excited for the work that is going down here in Tuscaloosa. I love hearing from all of you!
Love Elder Haws.

April 18, 2011

Hey Family!
Well it was quite an exciting week this week as far as the weather, work and everything else goes. I'm sure you are all wondering if I am being serious with the title of this e-mail or not so I will explain it. The weather has been crazy this week. It all started on Monday when Elder Lindemann and I were at a teaching appointment and all of a sudden we started to hear the sirens go off to warn the people that there is a tornado warning. Well we hear these all the time and didnt' think anything of it. We finished our appointment and start to ride to our next one when a police drives up and tells us that we neet to get somewhere safe. So we start to ride home and we noticed that the clouds were super dark and a greenish color. Well we were at a stop light and the wind got super strong the sirens were blowing and it was starting to rain. Needles to say I thought I was going to experience my first tornado on a bike! We ended up making it home safe and all that happened was we got a lot of rain. The areas more north of us had more serious storms but we were find. Then on Friday we had another storm come through. The same one that went through Arkansas and killed I think 8 people. Well Elder Lindemann and I were just planning in our apartment and we have no way of knowing how the weather is. We got a call from the other missionaries and they told us that there was a tornado on the ground and it was headed straight for us! YIKES! So we went downs stairs and got by the bathroom and waited. Then the lights went out and it got really really windy. but nothing ever happend. Come to find out the Tornado pasted 2 tenths of a mile away from us and caused quite a bit of damage to some houses and cars due to falling trees. We were out of power for about 2 hours and others were out of power for 2 days! It was super crazy. So we got to do some service helping people clean up falled trees and things like that. It was really enjoyable.
We had a good experince with our New member that is just a power house of a member. This last saturday he came with us to teach one of his friends who is saying he is interested. So we taught a really good lesson and then we dropped our member off at his house and went home to plan for the next day and do our normal stuff. Well he wasn't at church the next day and we weren't sure why. Turns out after we dropped him off he ended up having one beer and one cigarette. He didn't feel worthy or good enought to come to church. Well we went over to see him and ended up talking about the atonement adn why we have it. We talked about Why Jesus Christ had to suffer for us. It was really good for him to hear but for me aswell. I am so thankful that we have the atonement to help us feel better when we do wrong things. I was glad that he was able to see that and know that he can do better.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is AMAZING!!!! don't ever forget it.

April 11, 2011

Dear Family!
Man I can't believe that another week has passed by. It is sure crazy how fast time is going by. We had a good week. It was started out rough for us. On preparation day we were playing us some intense Disc Golf and I hurt spranged my ankle pretty good so I had to take it easy Tuesday but we worked through it and all is well. Just a little bit of RICE ( rest, ice, compression, elevation) and I was set to go.
The Spencer and his family came to a birthday party of my companions that was put on by some of the members on tuesday and it was a lot of fun. We were able to share a good lesson there with on of thier friends who isn't a member. Hey mom before I forget. How do you make Frito pie? I have been wanting to eat it for a long time but can't remember how to make it. Anyway so at the party we set up a lesson with spencer to come out with us on friday and it went really well. They are a young couple that have kids in the same age area and everything. Spencer and them got a long really well. We are hoping to go back soon and then try to get them to go to their house for a lesson so that they can meet Gretta. They ( the investigatores) are doing really well to. They have kept their past few reading assignments and are really liking what they are reading. I really hope that they can continue to progress. I know it will bless them so much in their lives.
We found out that Elder Lindemann and I will be staying together for his last transfer here in Tuscaloosa! I am really excited. We get a long really well and we both have the some work ethics and everything. It is going to be a great transfer. I just hope that we will be able to do all that we can so that he can go home with a baptism. We have gotten a few referrals from the members that we have been able to teach and they are doing really well to. One of the referrals is from a small town called Demopolis which is in south alabama but on the western side and they are from Casa Grande! We go down every sunday with the branch president and teach them so hopefully they will accpt the invitation to be baptised soon aswell.
Things are going really well though. It was really good to hear from all of you this week. I really love getting all the little updates and all the helpfull advice aswell. I will get the stuff done with college as soon as I can so that it will be there before the 15th but I can't promise anything. My address here though if you need it again is 1433 Hargrove rd E apt 11 Tuscaloosa Al 35045
Hope you all have a great Week!
Love Elder Haws

April 4, 2011

Man I didn't even think that I still knew words that big!
Dear Family,
Conference was so good. It is always so nice to sit at the feet of Prophets and Apostles and hear the words of God being spoken to us. I love the fact that we have these blessings so readily available to us these days.
As far as what I learned and got out of it goes, there was quite a bit to be learned. I will just start by saying I need the entire help of the family on something. I've decided that if I am going to follow the words of the prophets I need to get married after my mission. and the way they were making it sound the sooner the better. So I need all of you to start looking and I need each of you to have your pick at the airport so that I can say hi get to know them and get started on following the prophet!
We had a really good week. Spencer and Gretta are here and we have been able to go out with Spencer twice already. He was willing to help us this week before he started work so we used him. Him and his family are going to be such a good addition here in the Northport ward. Spencer came out with us right before the priesthood session of conference and so he had to give us a ride home aswell. We were able to stop by and pick up some Ice cream to keep the family tradition going. It has been really neat to do missionary work with him.
We have a lot going right now. We have alot of investigatores that we feel are really good. All we have to do is continue to pray and seek the spirit to know what they need and how to help them feel what they need to feel so that they will become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
As I was watching Conference during the first session during the rest hymn I had a really cool experience. The camera was showing all the memberst that were in the conference center and we were all singing and standing. Well and the camera was scanning over everybody I was hit with goosebumps all over and then the spirt manifested the truthfulness of the chruch to my heart. All of a sudden I once again knew that the chruch was the same chruch that was organized by Jesus Christ himself. Then I knew that just about everyone that was in that conference center knew the same thing and that they were all there for the same reason.
I have been working on following the spirit more in my teaching so that those that we are teaching will really understand what they need to. I have realized if all I am trying to do is convince the person across the room from me that they chruch is true or the Book of Mormon is scripture than it isn't going to stick and they wont get it as easy if I allow the spirit to bear the testimony to them. All I have to do is get out of the way and let the spirit do the work.
I am doing really good though. We have transfers coming up in a week so we will see what happens. I will let you know in my next e-mail. Oh mom can you send me the recipe for frito pie? I have been craving it for the past few weeks. Also, How is that you were able to meet Jenna? Of all the people that you could have possible met there has to be a good story at how you ran into her!
I love you all! Hope you are all doing well. I know I am!
Love Elder Haws.

March 28, 2011

I am sorry that this is coming a little late today. We had a lot to do today and not very much time to do it in. We got our shopping done, and our haircut before noon. At noon a member came and piced us up to go to his house for lunch. We were there for quite a while playing football and eating and I got to chop a little bit of wood, which made me very excited. I miss doing that phyiscal labor stuff. I hope there is some wood ready for me when I get home dad. If not pln on getting some when I get back. We got permission while we were there from President to watch a tv show called coming home. It is on Life Time and is about the soilders that come home from the war. Well there was a soilder that was from Haileyville Al, which is right next to Hamilton Al, which was my first area, and he was killed in combat about 4 months ago. His brother lives in our ward and this show, Life time did a story about this soilder. It played last sunday. The soilders name was Mark Forster. It was a really good show I was glad that I was able to watch it. If you are able to find it some how I would suggest watching it. The whole show looked really good to. I think it comes on every sunday at 7.
The Bakers have landed in Tuscaloosa although I have not yet seen them. This last sunday I went to a branch in Demopolis because there is a spanish family there that have a bunch of other family that wants to be taught, so I went down with the branch president who lives here in Tuscaloosa, brother of earlier discussed soilder. So they were at church and talked with my companion but I wasn't there. This family in Demopolis used to live in Casa Grande and is super strong in the gospel. They have been to the Mesa temple and have wonderful kids. I hope that we will continue to be able to go down to Demopolis with the President of the Branch.
We still haven't been able to have anybody come to church but we are hoping that some will come to conference this weekend. We had an exchange with the Zone Leaders and are having one with the Assistants tommorrow. I love going on Exchanges because you are able to see a different way of how to teach and you can learn from your new temporary companion. We found a good family from Chiapas,they are going to be eally fought to teach thougt because they can't read in spanish very well. I love sharing the gospel with them though. I have learned though that you just have to keep in very simple. We will see how they go and progress.
Our recent convert just barely had to move to a new house because his uncle moved to Kentucky in persuits of an ex girlfriend to Luis moved cause he couldn't pay the rent. Just so happens that he moved into the house of one of our progressing investigatores!! how lucky is that!! I am hoping that this will help Geronimo (yes that is his real name) come to church and study the scriptures. Luis is one of those recent converts that just gets the gospel and how it works. So i am really excited to see how this works out.
MaryAnn I don't know why you never recieve my messages about your packages but yes I did get your tuperware with the treats and they were really good! I managed to make them last about 4 days is all.... my companions helped a little in the consumption process, so it wasn't just me.
That is a crazy story about the wreck that you and dad encountered mom. How did it all end up? Do you know?
I don't have much time, we have an appiontment that we have to get going to right now so I have to go teach but I will be back next week! I love you all! Thanks for all of your letters and updates on the families. All of the names of my future nieces and/or nephews sound great! I approve of all of them.
Love Elder Haws.

March 21, 2011

Dear Family,
Well things have been going pretty good as always! We have been able to find more people to teach and the area is really starting to pick up! We have been able to spend more time in our area which has helped us alot.
We started to have an English class here and it has been really fun! we have only had it twice and both times the only people that showed up were our members but it is good that they are coming because when our investigatores start coming they will know members right away that will be fellowshippers for them if they say that we can share our message with them! I love teaching english! I don't know why! I think it might have something to do with the fact that I am helping them do something that I know will give them a great benefit in the future. I think that is why I like to share the gospel so much aswell, because it gives people the same benefit. I just love seeing people happy and learning english definatley makes the hispanics happy.
The members here are so great. Bro. Martinez has been a memeber for about 5 years i think and he is the second counselor in the bishopric. It is great because he can't speak english at all but he is such a help for all the other hispanic members that come. He lives with two other members Ricardo who has been a member for about two years and is going to go to the temple this week for his endownments and Jose Luis who has been a memeber for a year at the end of this month. They are mostly willing to help us out when we need it. They are out little amigos! sometimes all 5 of us will pile into one of the cars and just go from house to house person to person sharing the gospel and all of them have very strong testimonies and aren't afraid to share it and tell the people this is the true church and you need to know that it is true.
We have a few people that are progressing as of right now. We had a pretty cool experience the other day with one of them. Their names are Jesus and Perla. They are a young couple and are trying to do what is right. I might have told you about them in my last letter but we went to see them with Bro. Martinez and Jose Luis. When we got to their house they told us that they found out his aunt has cancer in Mexico and they didn't have enough money for an operation and the insurance wasn't going to help pay for it and it was a huge mess and so they wanted to say a prayer for her. Well in the hispanic culture they always feel that they aren't worthy to pray and that our prayer because we are missionaries can go farther than theirs will. Well we knew that the best situation would be to have Jesus pray being the patriarch of the home and also since it was his aunt. We also knew that it would help his faith grow in the power of prayer. Well he did it! it was tough for him but he did it and of course it was a great prayer. When we went back yesterday we found out that right after we left they got a call from his mom in Mexico saying that the doctors decided to do the operation and the insurace said that they would pay for it! Now Jesus has a testimony of prayer and he knows that God is always listening to him! It was really cool!
As far as me goes I am doing really well! I am enjoying the great weather that we have been having and have been enjoying the opportunity to ride my bike!
I love you all and hope you all are doing well!
Love ya! Love Elder Haws.