Helllooooo family, good friends from Riverton, friends from all
around, and all others who may possibly and eventually read this message. It is
great to be writing you all.
The week was a VERY interesting one and at the end of all of it
I feel a lot better. We saw some good changes and my prayers have been
answered.
So to start off we had a really average week. We contacted a lot
of people, tried to visit with families and we ran around in the blazing summer
heat looking for anyone who would listen to us. Even at this very moment I’m
sweating to death. It has gotten very very hot. Its feels like the middle of
July here and it is very humid. So… Being accustomed to the dry desert heat is
a lot different than being here. Oh humidity… how I dislike you.
And speaking of summer it seems that everyone during the day is
either sleeping or has run off to the beach. Everyone is on summer vacations
now so it’s like working in a ghost town most of the time.
So we worked and worked and eventually we got to Thursday. Thursday for
me was a big day. First off we had a zone class (woo hoo). Even president
showed up for this one (whoa) and I even got to play the opening hymn (it was
awesome…). So this was a bigger deal. We started talking about working with
members and really combining our efforts together as the church. And to our surprise
there has been a change.
So as missionaries we have key indicators right? Well if you
don’t know we focus on getting lessons to investigators with a member present,
Lessons to converts and less actives, references, baptisms, and a whole bunch
of other stuff where we have to call in a bunch of numbers and stuff. It really
tracks our progress. It can be a really good thing for us. But it is also
stressful. In the class our leaders announced that the area has made a change
and now all of the indicators we count are:
- Baptisms
- With
baptismal date
- Total
church attendance
- Other
information (like who wasn’t at church, investigators and their needs and our
plans, and other stuff)
- Contacts
- If we
get 1 lesson with member, 1 lesson to convert or less active, and 1 lesson to a
member all in the same day we win a point (a point towards what I have no idea,
but it is to track that aspect of the work).
And that’s about it.
All of us were shocked and confused at first. That leaves
it very open to make necessary changes in our wards and work harder than ever
with the members to build the kingdom. And to get the total attendance up,
there is no other way to work with the members. It is a brilliant move.
Since I was made senior companion back in last June. I have been
really stressed about getting good numbers and working as good as I can. But
most of the time the numbers haven’t reflected the good work that I have been
trying to do. Most of the places that I have been in I have felt that I wanted
to make plans to change the ward or branch by helping the members. But that
would never show in the numbers. So I never could work that hard. I am
grateful that now I can push harder than ever and be free to do the things I
feel like I am inspired to do. I have been praying a lot for this. It is
awesome.
So after that, we kind of went wild. We have been working hard
getting to know the members. My last comp never wanted to stop by many members
and was very selective about the ones we did stop by so it left me not knowing
anyone when Elder Flores got here. So now we are getting to know the ward. We
already feel greater confidence in all of it.
I am getting along better with the 3 Latinos I live with. Man,
they are about the craziest 3 guys I’ve ever known. They were pretty harsh on
me to start off with, but now I am good at standing up and fighting back with
their jokes and being me. So it has been a lot of fun being with them during
the week. I do like never speaking English. It is really fun to immerse myself
in the language and I am learning a lot more Spanish. I’m polishing it up real
nice.
I’m getting better at fighting off raging and savage dogs. We
were on this run down street and were looking for a reference. And as we passed
we saw this big pregnant dog on the side of the road just staring at us. we
passed by the dog and suddenly a huge German Shepard came roaring out of the
fence with green stuff oozing out of its mouth and in an instant adrenaline
rush we secured our ground and got ready to fight. I started looking for rocks
but they were all small pebbles. As we stepped back, I found some rocks and
chucked them just as soon as elder Flores was ready to kick the dog in the
face. I nailed the thing and it went back whining. Phew…. I’m getting to love
those surprise moments.
We made good progress with Estefano this week but he didn’t come
to church. We don’t know why so we will just have to see. His Fiancé announced
that at first she didn’t want to listen to us and didn’t want to join us for
the first couple lessons, but as she listened during one of the lessons this
week her mind changed and now she is interested as well. They asked us if we
could get together for some kind of bigger visit (basically describing what a
FHE is) and then we explained what a FHE is in the church. So they basically
set up their own FHE and we plan to do it next week. They also want us to go
and help them with a service project at Estefano’s parent’s house. We are excited
for all the opportunities we have with them.
Alright that is about it for now. I love you all so very much
and I do feel all of your love and your prayers. Thank you sooooo much for all
you do for me. I hope that you all have a great week. Until the next one,
Elder Ethan Haws
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