Prayers and Repentance

Another great week passed by. First off, teaching visits. We didn't had to much teaching visits, it was slow week as far as teaching goes. It was hard to schedule lessons. Everyone is busy with their work and school. We were unable to teach many of our investigators and less active members but we still had really busy week. We got a transfer call this passed week. Me and elder Mackay are both staying, there is only one sister who is leaving from our district. In our district there are 5 sisters and then me and elder Mackay. So all of us are staying besides the one sister. Her name is sister Ashcroft and she is not very happy about leaving. She was hoping that she would stay little longer in her area.

So do you remember how we used to talk about how some people pray holding hands? So far on this mission I experienced two of those. One was yesterday evening. We went knock on this family and the dad came out and talked to us. We talked to him little bit about what we do as a missionary. We told him how we share a message about Jesus Christ and how we invite people to pray about it to know if it's true. He then asked us if we could pray with his family. We told him we would love to. He then call all his of family out on the porch. We prayed with them on their porch holding hands. When I was at home I thought that is so wired but now I think it's fine. They are really nice family who believe in Jesus Christ. We gave them a restoration pamphlet and they accepted it. We tried to schedule a time to stop by and share a lesson but they told us that they will give us a call. I'm hoping they will soon because they are really nice family.

We also attend the baptism service that the sisters in our district had. It was really good. We were Hoping to take one of our really nice investigator named Vance to baptism. He was unable to come because he had to work, his boss won't allow him to take a day off. I think I have told you little bit about Vance before. We had first lesson with Vance on my first week of being here. Since then we weren't able to have another lesson with him because he is so busy. He has a baptism date on September 13th but we don't think he can be ready by then. We have appointment with him this week and going to talk to him about pushing back his baptismal date. 

I had to give a talk at the sacrament meeting yesterday. I spoke on repentance and atonement of Jesus Christ. I also had to share little bit about my conversion story. After wards people told me that they felt the spirit so that is good. One of the investigator named Kelly showed up to church yesterday. She was being taught by sisters in the Camden ward near Dover because they didn't knew that Kelly is in our ward boundary. They found out that Kelly is in our ward boundary about about 3 weeks ago. Since then the sisters were trying to have her come to our ward but she didn't showed up till yesterday because she really likes the Camden ward. After the church she told us that she really likes our ward now and felt welcomed by everyone. So we are hoping to see her in our ward every Sunday. We have to start teaching her soon now. She is really nice lady. She already has a baptismal date on September the 20th.

 So that is how most of my week went. It looks like you guys had really fun busy week as well. I'm so glad everything is going well for you guys. I'm sure Luke had the best week being spoiled by both grandma's and eating a cake like a champ. I'm also glad that everyone survived the first week of school. I didn't taught Everett would enjoy getting up early in the morning but that is good that he is getting up early happily. That is awesome how Tofik got to be on newspaper twice. He is really talented, he just have to use it wisely. That is fun how Damitu had her first cross country race. How did it went for her? That's too bad Gutama's team last their game, hopefully their coach won't yell at them to much. That is so cray how grandma Haws is really sick. I hope it's nothing to serious. I hope and pray that she will get better soon.

Thank you guys so much for everything. I hope you all will have a great week.

Love Elder Haws.

By Small and Simple Things

Dear Family,

It is so nice to hear that everyone is doing so good. It's not like I'm homesick or anything but I did miss you all a lot. Every time I read your letters I get so excited and happy. I'm glad all the kids are liking their sports. It's so cool how Tofik got moved up to varsity, I'm sure he will enjoy that. Wow Luke is turning to one? That is so exciting, you guys have to wish him happy birthday for me! I remember when we celebrated Everett's one year birthday on the farm. He was really excited when mom brought him the cake. He started to play with it and it was so fun to watch him. I'm sure it does get challenging being a parents sometimes but guys are a great parents.

 

 Being on a mission for this short amount of time made me appreciate all those little things we have done as family. Keep doing those little family activity like family scripture study, family player and family home evening. Those little things really can make a big difference. In Amla 37:6 it says "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Those little things we do as a family can really make us get close to each other and give us unity as family. I don't see to much of that here, I don't see to much of parents teaching their kids. Some people has mindset that their kids need to learn on their own. I think that is really bad idea. I can see a big difference between a family that taught their kids while they are young and the one who didn't. That why I love this church a lot, it teaches us how important a family is and teaches us the ways we can get close to each other us a family. 

 

Delaware is really different from Rexburg ID. It is not as clean as Rexburg. When I got here It was little weird for me seeing black people everywhere but now I'm getting used to it. The people are really different, they are not as friendly as the people in Rexburg. The members are still really nice but the most majority of the people are not members. It is nice though how the church is the same everywhere. In Delaware there is no sale tex so that is really nice. I like that, It save us money on groceries. It is also really green out here, the trees are really tall and beautiful. No mountains here though, people call a little hill a mountain here. 

 

I had really good week. Last Monday we spent most of our p-day with zone leaders and with a member that the missionaries call Pops. Pops is really nice guy who loves the missionaries a lot. All the missionaries like him a lot as well. He took us to a city called Rehoboth which is like two hours away from where we live and showed us around. We went to a lot of different stores. He also bough us really nice lunch. 

 

I'm just really enjoying being on a mission. We got one new investigator and his name his Burton. We found Burton about two weeks ago but we weren't able have lesson with him until this past Wednesday. It was actually kind of a miracle how we found him. That day we I was on exchange with training elders. Our plan was to go to this little town called Cheswold which was about 7 minutes of drive from where we leave. We then decided to not go there because we didn't had to much time. We thought that we won't have too much time finding people there by the time we drive there. So instead we decided to go knock doors close by.

 

The first door we knocked to was Burton's. He came out, talked to us for a little bit and told us that he was busy at a moment. 

We asked him if we could stop by some time and he told us it would be fine. We weren't able to meet with him for long time because he is so busy but we were able finally meet with him on Wednesday. 

 

We had an awesome lesson with him about the Plan of Salvation. We really tried to focus it on him and how God has a plan for each of us. He listened so well and asked good questions. We explained each point and helped him understand the Plan of Salvation. He loved it and really felt the spirit in the lesson, we stopped it a couple times and asked him how he felt and he kept telling us good. He also told us his story about his wife. He said that his wife leaves him, the two little kids they have, go sees another guy and comes back when she feel like it. He said that first day we met him, his wife was gonna, he was really sad and wondering why God did that to him. And then he told us how God sent us to him to show him that God is still there for him. He also said that his wife came back latter that day after we met him. 

 

When we had the lesson with him his wife was gone again but he told us how God sent us to him again after she is gone. Anyways he is really nice guy. We committed him to pray about what we taught him to be true and than we committed him to come to church but he said he wants to go to his church because he now has a lot of questions for his pastor! He did want to meet with us again though so we set up a return appointment. We are excited to meet with him again. 

I hope you guys will have a great week 

 

 Love elder Haws!

I'm learning how to make missionary work fun

Dear Family, 

That is disappointing that Damitu got cut from the soccer team but I'm glad that she is doing cross country. I think she will enjoy it. Wow! Tofik made it to JV? That is so exciting! I thought Gutama was joking when when he was talking about joining the football team. I didn't thought he will leave soccer. That is awesome, I hope he will enjoy it. Yeah I bet you are so busy giving them all rides. I remember when mom used to stay in town pretty much all day waiting until they all get done. How are Everett and Luke doing? I pray and hope that things get better for Kayla. That is really nice of mom staying with Kayla for that long. 

 

My week has been really good, I'm still loving it here. This week we didn't really had any lessons with the investigators. We couldn't really get them in contact with us. We tried to call them all many times and we couldn't get hold of them, no one answers their phone. We then tried to stop by their house. Some of them weren't at home and some told us to comeback another time. It is kind of hard sometimes when that happens but I'm learning how to make missionary work fun. 

We still had really busy week. On Friday we had a a training meeting in Philadelphia, it was all day long. It was good, I learned a lot Part of the training was on how to work better with members and ward mission leader which we don't really have. Our ward mission leader is really nice guy, he just been really busy with a lot of things. He hasn't even been able to come to church, I haven't seen him at church since I got here. So we weren't able to work with him. We've been talking to the bishop about getting us a new ward mission leader and he said that he is working on it. We are hoping he will get us one soon.

We also had opportunity to go do a service project this past week. We have this really nice family in our ward and did service for them. We dugout really big tree from the ground. It took us a while to dig that out and we got couple blisters from it. We also helped them with some other yard works. We helped them plant a couple of trees. So it was really great week. 

I hope you will have a great week.  

 

Elder Haws. 

Dear Dad

Dear Dad, 
Thank you for everything. Thanks for being amazing dad and teaching me everything. I have learned a lot from you, a lot of it was by your example. You are really faithful, I never have seen you doubt your faith even when you went to all that hard times. I know that it's not easy having two brain surgeries, losing half of your vision and suffering headache almost everyday. Even though you went to all that, you still never gave up. You worked hard and raised us all. Adapting five kids is not easy especially when we used to not listen to you guys sometimes. You work hard and taught us how to work hard as well. I didn't really liked working at that grocery store epically at the beginning when we use to get up early in the morning and go load stuffs in the freezer. But now looking back it makes be very grateful for that. Hard work always pays off at one point.

Love,
 Mubarek 

Running Three Miles and Finding

Hi Family,

That is way cool you guys went to Kayla and Keith's for Sunday dinner. Yeah, I remember their backyard. I helped them with leveling the ground this one time. 

Mom, that is so exciting you got the job at BYU-Idaho job. How are you liking it so for? Every Sunday we go to a ward council. Yesterday morning this one guy named John came to the ward council and talked about the BYU-Idaho Pathway program. He talked about what it is and how it works. He said that this program has helped a lot of people get back in the gospel. 

I bet going to Alaska is going to be so much fun for grandma and grandpa Hill. I like how they always going to new places. They are so adventurous! How is Kate doing, is she still dating that guy? Please tell her hi for and that miss her. 

Mom, I actually got your letters, they just came late. I got them both on Friday. Thanks for all that letters. I really like how you always share those scriptures or a talk with me. Thanks a lot for that. When ever I get email or letters from you guys I get so excited and happy. Please say hi to everyone for me. 

I had another great week. We didn't really had that much lessons. We had a lot of lessons set up with less active members and some investigators but Some of them called and canceled it on us.  So we did a lot of finding.  We got one new investigator. Her name is Nancy. She is really nice lady who is looking for new church to go to. She said that she used to go to a Catholic Church and no one really welcomed her. We were able to go over and taught her the the restoration. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. We also tried to commit her to a baptismal date but she wanted to make sure it was true first. She said if she finds out that it is than she will. So that our highlight of our week. 

This morning we went out on a run for my first time since I got here. Smyrna high school is less than half a mile from where we live. They have really nice track there so we were able to run on it. The weather was really nice this morning, it was cloudy and really breathable. I ran for three miles and it was so hard. I'm so out of shape and getting fat.

I hope you all will have a great week. 

Love Elder Haws.

My Prayers Were Answered

Dear Family, 

How are you guys doing? How are things going? How is everyone is doing? Please say "hi" for me to grandma and grandpa Hill and Haws. I haven't heard from them sine I left. I want to write them but I didn't have their email address. If you could send me their email address, it would be so great. Please tell them hi for me! I hope you guys had a great week. I got a picture of Luke standing up from dad. The is so exciting, I was really happy when I saw that. 

I had really amazing week, it was the best week ever! We got four new investigators. Two of them accepted our invitation for baptism on the first lesson. I believe both of those guys have been looking for truth but didn't knew where to find it. On my first week here, in the field, I never thought we would meet people like them.  I really prayed that God will lead us to people like them who is looking for the truth. He did lead us to them. It is so amazing how fast the Lord answers our prayers sometimes. Their names are; Joe, Lou, David and Ernest. Joe and Lou are the one who accepted the baptismal invitation. 

Joe grew up Catholic, but he pretty much just straight up doesn't believe anything they say is true. He's now split between the Baptist church and another church in Betterton, Maryland. He likes the Baptist church but doesn't like how their sermons are starting to be all about money. We were able to teach the Restoration to him and as we talked he really liked and agreed with what was said. He also told us that he is looking for a church that had good morals in a world where we are losing them. He also said that he knows there is something missing in his life and so we were able to testify that this gospel, especially the Book of Mormon can help fill that piece that is missing. We committed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know Joseph Smith is a prophet and also to come to church. His baptismal date is on September 20. He is really awesome guy. 

Lou was raised Roman Catholic. We stopped by him because he was a media referral that wanted a Book of Mormon. We were able to sit down and have a great lesson with him. He agreed with everything we said and taught him. He thought that what we taught him made sense. We were able to teach him the restoration and he loved it. When we asked him questions about how he felt and what he thought of it he would always say, "ya that makes sense." We committed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know its true. We than invited him to be baptized on October 4th and he accepted. He is really nice guy.

Ernest and David are really nice guys as well. Ernest's biggest questions were around Joseph Smith and why we worship on Sunday instead of Saturday. David didn't really had any questions. They both turned down the baptismal invitation because they have already been baptized. We tried to explain the priesthood authority but they didn't understand it very well and we ran out of time as well. So we are going to teach them both about priesthood authority next time.

We also experienced one really sad thing. We were called by this guy named Robert saying he needed us to come right away to Jent General hospital in Dover. His wife had a heart attack and they don't think she is going to make it so he needed us to give her a blessing and to give him one of comfort and strength. We first talked about with him what happens when we pass on from this life and really tried to comfort him. We than gave her a priesthood blessing and gave him one as well.  Elder Mackay gave her one and I was able to give Robert one as well. That was my first time giving people a blessing. I was really nervous at first but it went good at the end. After both of the blessings it seemed to have calmed him down a little bit. We committed him to read his scriptures and continue to pray to find comfort and peace in his life.

I'm really grateful for this gospel, for the happiness and peace it brings to our life. I know that family can be together for ever. I'm really grateful for this opportunity to be on a mission and to serve other. I know this is where I need to be, there is nothing better. Thank you so much for helping me get here. I won't be here with out you guy's help. 

Love, 

Elder Haws