Dear Family,
So this past week has been lots of fun and kinda crazy. But to start off, confernece was really amazing. It was really great to hear the apostles and the prophet speak.They are such great men and it makes me feel very safe to know that God's servants lead our church. Their counsel and guidence really helps me through everything. It was intersting to see how many talks were dedicated to preparing and overcoming trials and hardships. So buckle-up more is on its way. I am not worried though, just like the apostle Paul said, everything will be for our benefit if we will trust in the Lord. The comfort that the gospel brings is something truly amazing. I really loved Elder Scott's talk about the plan of salvation. He has such great hope and faith and I am striving to be the same way. That no matter what happens, to know that God will provide a way for us to be with our families; all we have to do is follow the gospel plan an it will work out. Elder Holland's talk about the atonement was really amazing also. I am very excited for the ensign next month so that I can read them in english. I watched the conference in Spanish, and it was comforting to realize that I understand a ton more than last conference (almost everything) but some of the stories and jokes still go over my head when they say them in Spanish. But anyways I am excited to read them and study them in english.
As far as the week goes it went well. Elder Rhoton got sick last Friday but it turned out to be a huge blessing. A member of our branch picked me up and worked with me for the day so that Elder Rhoton could sleep.(one of the english elders stayed with him because there are three of them this transfer) Adam (the member, he is from Puerto Rico) was a ton of help and we got lots of work done. We taught lots of lessons and invited everyone we met to conference. He was a huge help and it was awesome to see the branch step up and help us out when we needed them. I really love the people here and I love being in Camden. It really is a great place. It obviously has some major problems but the people are really nice. That is one thing that I notice about white people that is different from everyone else. To me in general white people seem very cold. When we went to the priesthood session all of the white people would just walk by without saying hello to anyone. On the other hang the hispanics and black people would always stop and shake everyone's hand (even if they didn't speak the same language). Maybe I am being too harsh but many times it seems that white people are in a huge hurry to get where they are going. Oh well not that big of a deal.
So last monday was pretty crazy. In total between elder rhoton and I we got three flat tires. Which is too bad but then it was raining outside which made it not as fun to have to patch punctured tubes. The problem is that all of the streets are covered in glass and it is impossible to avoid all of it. We work hard to avoid the big chunks but eventually they get into out tires and make holes. I put a new tube on my back tire that is supposedly 'flat free' so we will see what happens. It is supposed to have this goo in the tube that seals punctures when they happen. I doubt that it will work for long but it is better than what I had before.
Thanks for the email Tal, and thanks for the package Kirsti. I have been cravy some good salty snack food, I just never want to spend the money to buy some so your package was heaven sent.
Mom, I got the check last week. Thanks a bunch for the money I really appreciate it. Next time it would be easier for me if you just put the money into my bank account though. It is kinda hard to cash checks.
Tal you need to sen me a picture of this 'nug' and you. and let me know what you swim time is. Last I heard it was at 5:24 which is way sweet.
So I hope everything is going well on the home front.
Love,
Elder Haslam
PS I am going to send you some pictures of this guy in our branch. His name is Harry Torres and is his crazy. I really like him a lot though. He was less-active but he has been coming to church for the past month and a half which is way cool. He is a schizophrenic which makes life interesting when we go over to his house.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Happy and Sad
Dear Family,
So this past week has been a really good week. It has been kinda rainy on and off and we have had some crazy thunderstorms but everything is going well and we are still moving along. This past Thursday we got soaked to the bone because we were not expecting it to rain so all we were wearing was sweaters. By the time we started riding home I was shivering all over. fortunately neither Elder Rhoton or I got sick so that is something to be grateful for. We have been more careful going outside though.
So two major things that happened this past week. First one happened on sunday. There is this little kid in our branch named Cristofer, and he comes to church with a family in our branch. His family are not members but he always spends time at this members house and she asked us to go over and teach him a little bit. So we have been over there and we have taught him about prayer and we read from the book of Mormon stories book with him. It is a nice book that really makes the scriptures better for children and it has cool pictures so he likes it. Anyways last Saturday we asked him to pray and ask whether the book was true or not. And he did. It was really funny because we were sitting in sacrament meeting with him and he turned to me and said very loudly 'the book is true.' At first I didn't know what he was talking about but the he said 'I prayed in my bathtub last night and God told me that the book is true.' I could not stop smiling and I almost laughed. He prayed and got an answer. How simple is that. The faith of a child is a great thing.
Secondly, we had an exchange with our zone leaders this past Monday. I went to Pleasantville (near Atlantic City) with Elder Ritchie and it was really fun. It was way nice to be able to spend sometime with him and work with him again. He is signing up for classes at BYU for Fall semester. It will be weird when he goes home. He is finishing up his mission and I feel like I am just getting started and figuring things out. He is definitely one of my best friends out here. He only has two transfers left which really fly by on the mission and what is even crazier is that when he goes home I will hit my year mark. It all goes by so fast. Too fast sometimes but I guess that is just the way life is. It just keeps speeding up.
Mom and Tal thanks for the emails. And I would really love it if Tal went to BYU. I think that we would have a ton of fun. That is one thing that I do miss being out here is doing stuff with Tal. We did everything together and it would be way fun to do more stuff, like hike and bike in the mountains, go snowboarding and skiing, and all kinds of other good stuff. OH, and Tal likes the older women I see. I am sure that she is a great girl though. You were never one to put up with any stuff that you didn't like and not say anything about it. And mom, I know that there is some girl out there someone, I have just decided that I am not going to worry about it anymore. Perhaps one day a beautiful woman will fall from heaven, that loves to cook(hispanic food) and dance, but until then I will ignore them. Which is what I am supposed to do which makes it easy.
And kinda of a sad note. I wrote a letter to Dad last week about this girl in our branch that is having some major problems. We saw her last night because her mom asked us to come over. It was really sad. This girl here is really destroying herself and she is now getting medical help and everything but she is still dating this guy that is sucking the life out of her. She seems to have just given up hope. She knows that she should get rid of him but she is so afraid of the consequences that she will not do it. She said that she is finally starting to feel back to normal with the medical help she is getting and that she will go right back to were she was if she dumps. So she says that it is better if she just goes on pretending than if she breaks up with him. It was really a sad conversation. So we told her to do three things: first was morning and nightly prays, second was to actually study the scriptures daily, and the third was that she needs to keep a journal. But with the journal she is not allowed to be negative. She has to write three blessing that she received that day from the Lord. I really hop that that helps her. Other than that we cannot really do anything else. We are not supposed to be counselors so now we will just have to trust in the Lord. I am sure that she we break up with this guy eventually I am just afraid that she is going to screw up really badly before she does.
I read the story of Enoch when he asked the Lord why he was crying. That is how I feel about this whole thing and the worst part of it all is that I cannot do anything else.
But life goes on through sorry and pain to higher points of joy and happiness. We just need to learn how to avoid the sorrow as much as possible because it will come anyway. We do not need to go looking for it.
I really love being a missionary. It puts a smile on my face everyday when I can tell people about the restored gospel of Jesucristo. Thank you all for everything that you do and I hope that everything is going well. Tell Sam that I am thinking about him.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So this past week has been a really good week. It has been kinda rainy on and off and we have had some crazy thunderstorms but everything is going well and we are still moving along. This past Thursday we got soaked to the bone because we were not expecting it to rain so all we were wearing was sweaters. By the time we started riding home I was shivering all over. fortunately neither Elder Rhoton or I got sick so that is something to be grateful for. We have been more careful going outside though.
So two major things that happened this past week. First one happened on sunday. There is this little kid in our branch named Cristofer, and he comes to church with a family in our branch. His family are not members but he always spends time at this members house and she asked us to go over and teach him a little bit. So we have been over there and we have taught him about prayer and we read from the book of Mormon stories book with him. It is a nice book that really makes the scriptures better for children and it has cool pictures so he likes it. Anyways last Saturday we asked him to pray and ask whether the book was true or not. And he did. It was really funny because we were sitting in sacrament meeting with him and he turned to me and said very loudly 'the book is true.' At first I didn't know what he was talking about but the he said 'I prayed in my bathtub last night and God told me that the book is true.' I could not stop smiling and I almost laughed. He prayed and got an answer. How simple is that. The faith of a child is a great thing.
Secondly, we had an exchange with our zone leaders this past Monday. I went to Pleasantville (near Atlantic City) with Elder Ritchie and it was really fun. It was way nice to be able to spend sometime with him and work with him again. He is signing up for classes at BYU for Fall semester. It will be weird when he goes home. He is finishing up his mission and I feel like I am just getting started and figuring things out. He is definitely one of my best friends out here. He only has two transfers left which really fly by on the mission and what is even crazier is that when he goes home I will hit my year mark. It all goes by so fast. Too fast sometimes but I guess that is just the way life is. It just keeps speeding up.
Mom and Tal thanks for the emails. And I would really love it if Tal went to BYU. I think that we would have a ton of fun. That is one thing that I do miss being out here is doing stuff with Tal. We did everything together and it would be way fun to do more stuff, like hike and bike in the mountains, go snowboarding and skiing, and all kinds of other good stuff. OH, and Tal likes the older women I see. I am sure that she is a great girl though. You were never one to put up with any stuff that you didn't like and not say anything about it. And mom, I know that there is some girl out there someone, I have just decided that I am not going to worry about it anymore. Perhaps one day a beautiful woman will fall from heaven, that loves to cook(hispanic food) and dance, but until then I will ignore them. Which is what I am supposed to do which makes it easy.
And kinda of a sad note. I wrote a letter to Dad last week about this girl in our branch that is having some major problems. We saw her last night because her mom asked us to come over. It was really sad. This girl here is really destroying herself and she is now getting medical help and everything but she is still dating this guy that is sucking the life out of her. She seems to have just given up hope. She knows that she should get rid of him but she is so afraid of the consequences that she will not do it. She said that she is finally starting to feel back to normal with the medical help she is getting and that she will go right back to were she was if she dumps. So she says that it is better if she just goes on pretending than if she breaks up with him. It was really a sad conversation. So we told her to do three things: first was morning and nightly prays, second was to actually study the scriptures daily, and the third was that she needs to keep a journal. But with the journal she is not allowed to be negative. She has to write three blessing that she received that day from the Lord. I really hop that that helps her. Other than that we cannot really do anything else. We are not supposed to be counselors so now we will just have to trust in the Lord. I am sure that she we break up with this guy eventually I am just afraid that she is going to screw up really badly before she does.
I read the story of Enoch when he asked the Lord why he was crying. That is how I feel about this whole thing and the worst part of it all is that I cannot do anything else.
But life goes on through sorry and pain to higher points of joy and happiness. We just need to learn how to avoid the sorrow as much as possible because it will come anyway. We do not need to go looking for it.
I really love being a missionary. It puts a smile on my face everyday when I can tell people about the restored gospel of Jesucristo. Thank you all for everything that you do and I hope that everything is going well. Tell Sam that I am thinking about him.
Love,
Elder Haslam
Spring
Dear Family,
So spring has come as far as the calender is concerned, but it is still cold outside. It got warmer over the past weekend for a little bit but that really did not stick around for very long and this past Monday was pretty cold as we went outside on bikes. On the first day of spring we did get free water ice at a called Rita's. Water ice is kinda like a slushy but a little different. There are a ton of places around here that sell it, and it was good stuff. When the weather gets really warm I am sure that is when we will get it more often.
As far as news goes this week not too many things to report. We had interviews with President Winegar and apartment inspections by Sister Winegar. Neither of which were very exciting. My interviews with President are usually very laid back. He is a man of very few words and I usually don't feel a need to bring anything up to him so the interview is usually pretty quick and then we just go out and work again. Also this time Sister Winegar barely check anything in our apartment; which was a let down because I had spent a lot of time cleaning trying to make sure that everything was in order for when they came. She only checks apartments every six months so she usually does a very indepth check but this time she barely looked at anything.
Something that was exciting was that this past monday we got invited to a birthday party of someone in the branch. Nicole Henry turned five so they all went to a place with a ton of those blow up bouncy things. It was fun and Elder Rhoton and I messed around boxing and jousting. It was also a really good way for us to talk to some of the people there that are not members of the church. It was fun but crazy with a ton of little kids running around in every direction. It was pretty funny to see the people that worked there try to give directions to the little kids. It was funny because only about half of the kids there could understand their english well enough to obey the directions and only about half of those tried to obey the directions at all. So it was basically mayhem but no one got hurt and everyone had a good time. Afterward there was pizza and the kids went home. I really love little kids. It is nice in this branch because all of the little kids really like the missionaries. Some of them like us too much and we have to calm them down when they start trying to tackle us and eat us. But either way it is fun to be around all of them.
I must say that I really love being a missionary. Just yesterday we were able to sit down with a little nicacaguan lady and she explained everything to us about her county and all of the great things that they love to eat. It is so great to get to know people and help them. I will be very sad when I have to leave this area. All of the people here are really great and it makes me so happy when I see them do good things and move forward in life. There are hard times also but I try not to let them get to me. Some people will lie to us and other will just not listen to us at all but that is there decision and my happiness is not dependent on another person's actions.
So I don't have much else to say today. I am sorry that it was kind of a boring letter. But I hope that everyone is doing well at home and please keep me updated on swimming and everything else.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So spring has come as far as the calender is concerned, but it is still cold outside. It got warmer over the past weekend for a little bit but that really did not stick around for very long and this past Monday was pretty cold as we went outside on bikes. On the first day of spring we did get free water ice at a called Rita's. Water ice is kinda like a slushy but a little different. There are a ton of places around here that sell it, and it was good stuff. When the weather gets really warm I am sure that is when we will get it more often.
As far as news goes this week not too many things to report. We had interviews with President Winegar and apartment inspections by Sister Winegar. Neither of which were very exciting. My interviews with President are usually very laid back. He is a man of very few words and I usually don't feel a need to bring anything up to him so the interview is usually pretty quick and then we just go out and work again. Also this time Sister Winegar barely check anything in our apartment; which was a let down because I had spent a lot of time cleaning trying to make sure that everything was in order for when they came. She only checks apartments every six months so she usually does a very indepth check but this time she barely looked at anything.
Something that was exciting was that this past monday we got invited to a birthday party of someone in the branch. Nicole Henry turned five so they all went to a place with a ton of those blow up bouncy things. It was fun and Elder Rhoton and I messed around boxing and jousting. It was also a really good way for us to talk to some of the people there that are not members of the church. It was fun but crazy with a ton of little kids running around in every direction. It was pretty funny to see the people that worked there try to give directions to the little kids. It was funny because only about half of the kids there could understand their english well enough to obey the directions and only about half of those tried to obey the directions at all. So it was basically mayhem but no one got hurt and everyone had a good time. Afterward there was pizza and the kids went home. I really love little kids. It is nice in this branch because all of the little kids really like the missionaries. Some of them like us too much and we have to calm them down when they start trying to tackle us and eat us. But either way it is fun to be around all of them.
I must say that I really love being a missionary. Just yesterday we were able to sit down with a little nicacaguan lady and she explained everything to us about her county and all of the great things that they love to eat. It is so great to get to know people and help them. I will be very sad when I have to leave this area. All of the people here are really great and it makes me so happy when I see them do good things and move forward in life. There are hard times also but I try not to let them get to me. Some people will lie to us and other will just not listen to us at all but that is there decision and my happiness is not dependent on another person's actions.
So I don't have much else to say today. I am sorry that it was kind of a boring letter. But I hope that everyone is doing well at home and please keep me updated on swimming and everything else.
Love,
Elder Haslam
Basketball and Bike accidents
Dear Family,
So this past week has been really nice with warmer weather and lots more sun. A ton of more people are outside which makes it easy to talk to a lot of people. It is really funny to see all of the people moving around, there are tons. People riding dirt bikes and quads, playing football and basketball in the streets, and all other kinds of crazy stuff. The other day we played a game of two on two basketball with some kids. We were on their street and both of our appointments had fallen through so we stopped and played with them for about 15 min. It was fun and I am sure it was funny to see two white kids in ties playing basketball with all of the black kids on the street. We got really sweaty though and we grabbed some slurpies before our next appointment.
Things are going well and it is really nice to be able to ride bikes without jackets. There are a lot more people out now though so we have to be more careful. I actually went over the front of my handle bars on monday. I tried to get my front tire over a gap in the sidewalk and I didn't quite make it and the tire hit the edge of the gap and sent me over the front. I wasn't going fast so I was able to catch myself before my face went into the ground but my left thigh hit pretty hard into the edge of the gap. So now I have a bruise about the size of a grapefruit on my leg. Nothing bad though, and it was pretty funny. Elder Rhoton was laughing pretty hard but he did manage to pull the bike off of my back. But I brushed myself off and we kept going.
As far as missionary work goes it is awesome. Since elder Christenson came our branch president has been really pumped up about missionary work. We are going to be having a meeting with him this sunday to see what we can to give the work in the branch a boost. Our branch president was actually bale to come out and teach with us this past week. It went really well. We went and taught a family from Puerto Rico about prayer. Prez Ortiz was really helpful and he was able to help us teach about why we need to pray, how we should pray, and in what way we receive answers. He was able to share with them how pray was a crucial part of him being baptized and it was a really good lesson. We are going back to that family on friday and I am very excited for that lesson. The parents are really nice and they have five kids. The oldest is 15 then it goes, 13, 8, and they have two year old twins. The twins are crazy and we try to switch off distracting them while the other one teaches. It works well we just have to make sure that they do not get anything to hit each other with. Last time one of them grabbed my bike pumped and tried to use it has a hammer on his brother's head. The 13 year old is really cool. His name is Jesus and last time we were there he told us to wait so that he could get pencil and paper. He came back and asked us again what the steps to prayer so that he could write them down. His brother gave him a funny look and Jesus told his brother that he needed to learned how to pray and that he was going to write it down so that he could remember the steps. The are a really great family and I am excited to see them again.
The work is going great and we are getting more support from the members in this area. We are going to be having a new branch mission leader also and I am excited for that. His name is Cristofer Moral and he is about 26. He is really excited and has lots of great ideas. I like him a lot and I hope everything will go well with him.
Also I talked to the mother of Elder Castenellos. I think that is how you spell his name. I know that he was serving in our ward back home when I left on my mission. She was really nice and had called to get the phone number of our branch president. She told me that her son was also a missionary in CA. I asked her where and she said Carlsbad and it just went from there. She told me her son had told her that I was coming out here and she said she was excited to meet me someday. She lives out near Atlantic city so I told her that if I was ever out in that area that I would stop by.
Also, does anyone know if Jaren has been able to put in his papers? And how is Sam doing? I was able to fast this last sunday so I hope that he is doing well. Please let me know.
Okay I am going to finish this up. Keep me updated on the goings on back home. Tal let me know how swimming is going and I want to know more about this girl that you met. Remember about 9 times out of 10 girls are trouble.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So this past week has been really nice with warmer weather and lots more sun. A ton of more people are outside which makes it easy to talk to a lot of people. It is really funny to see all of the people moving around, there are tons. People riding dirt bikes and quads, playing football and basketball in the streets, and all other kinds of crazy stuff. The other day we played a game of two on two basketball with some kids. We were on their street and both of our appointments had fallen through so we stopped and played with them for about 15 min. It was fun and I am sure it was funny to see two white kids in ties playing basketball with all of the black kids on the street. We got really sweaty though and we grabbed some slurpies before our next appointment.
Things are going well and it is really nice to be able to ride bikes without jackets. There are a lot more people out now though so we have to be more careful. I actually went over the front of my handle bars on monday. I tried to get my front tire over a gap in the sidewalk and I didn't quite make it and the tire hit the edge of the gap and sent me over the front. I wasn't going fast so I was able to catch myself before my face went into the ground but my left thigh hit pretty hard into the edge of the gap. So now I have a bruise about the size of a grapefruit on my leg. Nothing bad though, and it was pretty funny. Elder Rhoton was laughing pretty hard but he did manage to pull the bike off of my back. But I brushed myself off and we kept going.
As far as missionary work goes it is awesome. Since elder Christenson came our branch president has been really pumped up about missionary work. We are going to be having a meeting with him this sunday to see what we can to give the work in the branch a boost. Our branch president was actually bale to come out and teach with us this past week. It went really well. We went and taught a family from Puerto Rico about prayer. Prez Ortiz was really helpful and he was able to help us teach about why we need to pray, how we should pray, and in what way we receive answers. He was able to share with them how pray was a crucial part of him being baptized and it was a really good lesson. We are going back to that family on friday and I am very excited for that lesson. The parents are really nice and they have five kids. The oldest is 15 then it goes, 13, 8, and they have two year old twins. The twins are crazy and we try to switch off distracting them while the other one teaches. It works well we just have to make sure that they do not get anything to hit each other with. Last time one of them grabbed my bike pumped and tried to use it has a hammer on his brother's head. The 13 year old is really cool. His name is Jesus and last time we were there he told us to wait so that he could get pencil and paper. He came back and asked us again what the steps to prayer so that he could write them down. His brother gave him a funny look and Jesus told his brother that he needed to learned how to pray and that he was going to write it down so that he could remember the steps. The are a really great family and I am excited to see them again.
The work is going great and we are getting more support from the members in this area. We are going to be having a new branch mission leader also and I am excited for that. His name is Cristofer Moral and he is about 26. He is really excited and has lots of great ideas. I like him a lot and I hope everything will go well with him.
Also I talked to the mother of Elder Castenellos. I think that is how you spell his name. I know that he was serving in our ward back home when I left on my mission. She was really nice and had called to get the phone number of our branch president. She told me that her son was also a missionary in CA. I asked her where and she said Carlsbad and it just went from there. She told me her son had told her that I was coming out here and she said she was excited to meet me someday. She lives out near Atlantic city so I told her that if I was ever out in that area that I would stop by.
Also, does anyone know if Jaren has been able to put in his papers? And how is Sam doing? I was able to fast this last sunday so I hope that he is doing well. Please let me know.
Okay I am going to finish this up. Keep me updated on the goings on back home. Tal let me know how swimming is going and I want to know more about this girl that you met. Remember about 9 times out of 10 girls are trouble.
Love,
Elder Haslam
Food and Missionary Work
Dear Family,
So I am pretty sure that this letter is going to be kinda preachy so for give me for that. But lots of things have been floating around in my head. But to start off on a little note I think I would like to extol the virtues of steaks.
Now in south Jersey and Philly a steak is not what it is back home. There are tons of stores everywhere that say that serve steaks, hoagies, fries, and pizza. But a steak is a sandwich. The most common being a cheese steak but it is basically any combination of chopped up beef with other things served on a sandwich bread. Cheese steaks are amazing. My personal favorite is just a cheese steak with catchup (most people get this) but it is also really good with onions, bacon and pretty much anything else you can think of. There is a cheese steak place called Ruthie's in North Camden (the most dangerous place in the City) that is amazing. Lots of members tell us it is the best place in Jersey. I really love the way we eat. We can have cheese steaks when we want, good pizza every way, good italian food, and of course tons of good hispanic food. I tried some egg plant the other day too. I finished my entire plate of it but it was really not good. We'll see if it is good the next time that I try it.
So anyways on to a more serious note. I have been thinking a ton about the necessity of members in missionary work. This past Tuesday we had a big meeting with our entire zone and it really got me thinking about lots of things. What happened is that Elder Christiansen, the seventy over the mission in the north east, came and talked to our mission president, assistents to the president, and our zone leaders about about the necesity of members in missionary work. He brought lots of cool numbers about the precentage of people that get baptized form member referrals versus missionary finding efforts and the difference is huge. For every 200 member referrals 50 people are baptized and for every 3200 people found by missionaries 50 are baptized. (these numbers are for the north east but I am sure that they are similar back home) He has said that those 200 member referrals come from about 10% of the members. His basic point was that we need to focus on that 90% of the members that do nothing.( that is kinda harsh to say about members but in some cases it is unfortunately true - and I do not think that feeding the missionaries is helping them, I would rather starve and get a ton of referrals than eat all the time but fortunately both can happen) Anyways so we have really tried to change our focus and see what we can do to help that 90%. We as missionaries really need to teach the members how to help us. Most of the time when the members are not helping the missionaries it is the missionaries fault. So basically the entire meeting we had was dedicated to what it is that we can do to help that 90%. Because think of the amazing success that could be had if that huge reserve of members gave the missionaries referrals! Amazing things would happen if the missionaries and the members could work together. Neither should blame the other because that does not help either.
So to continue on with this train of thought, here are some of the things that really struck me as we thought of ideas to push through this wall. First off is that the missionaries need to teach the members how to share the gospel. Often times we forget as missionaries that it is not always easy to bring up religion with people. We think that people just need to do it but we forget that they do not wear a name tag and people do not expect it. Two, the missionaries should live worthy of the sacred trust that a member referral is. Three, the missionaries should report back to the member the progression of the friend; share the success and joy that comes when someone reads the Book of Mormon and prays.
On the member side we really need to give the missionaries people to teach. One thing that Elder Christenson said is that his goal is to have someone new to give to the missionaries every four months. He said that it is a commitment between him and the Lord and he always is able to complete his end because the Lord will always keep His. He said that it is a matter of fasting and pray. And that the importance of setting and end date is invaluable. Without an end date we will never be accountable for that time and it will be wasted. The end date also creates a sense of urgency. He called it the desperation theory. He said that for the first little while he doesn't think about finding anyone but that as the end draws near he gets more and more desperate to find that person who has been prepared. The Lord will put people in our way when He knows that we will regonize them. That is why the date is crucial.
So I don't really want to tell everyone what to do but I think that it is a good idea to set a date and a goal to have someone for the missionaries to teach. We can all do better to not be that 90% and to even get rid of that statistic all together. Work with the missionaries do say that they need to work harder and don't let the missionaries tell you that you need to do a better job at supporting them. (especially if that will not show you how)
So if you want to pick a date, and tell the missionaries that you will have someone by that date for them to teach. And if the missionaries where you are tontos just give them some gentle reminders of what they need to do. They are learning just like everyone else.
anyways that is enough preaching How is everyone back home? mom I got the contacts and gummy bears yersterday thank you. and thank you everyone for the emails. I really appreciate them.
Love, Elder Haslam
So I am pretty sure that this letter is going to be kinda preachy so for give me for that. But lots of things have been floating around in my head. But to start off on a little note I think I would like to extol the virtues of steaks.
Now in south Jersey and Philly a steak is not what it is back home. There are tons of stores everywhere that say that serve steaks, hoagies, fries, and pizza. But a steak is a sandwich. The most common being a cheese steak but it is basically any combination of chopped up beef with other things served on a sandwich bread. Cheese steaks are amazing. My personal favorite is just a cheese steak with catchup (most people get this) but it is also really good with onions, bacon and pretty much anything else you can think of. There is a cheese steak place called Ruthie's in North Camden (the most dangerous place in the City) that is amazing. Lots of members tell us it is the best place in Jersey. I really love the way we eat. We can have cheese steaks when we want, good pizza every way, good italian food, and of course tons of good hispanic food. I tried some egg plant the other day too. I finished my entire plate of it but it was really not good. We'll see if it is good the next time that I try it.
So anyways on to a more serious note. I have been thinking a ton about the necessity of members in missionary work. This past Tuesday we had a big meeting with our entire zone and it really got me thinking about lots of things. What happened is that Elder Christiansen, the seventy over the mission in the north east, came and talked to our mission president, assistents to the president, and our zone leaders about about the necesity of members in missionary work. He brought lots of cool numbers about the precentage of people that get baptized form member referrals versus missionary finding efforts and the difference is huge. For every 200 member referrals 50 people are baptized and for every 3200 people found by missionaries 50 are baptized. (these numbers are for the north east but I am sure that they are similar back home) He has said that those 200 member referrals come from about 10% of the members. His basic point was that we need to focus on that 90% of the members that do nothing.( that is kinda harsh to say about members but in some cases it is unfortunately true - and I do not think that feeding the missionaries is helping them, I would rather starve and get a ton of referrals than eat all the time but fortunately both can happen) Anyways so we have really tried to change our focus and see what we can do to help that 90%. We as missionaries really need to teach the members how to help us. Most of the time when the members are not helping the missionaries it is the missionaries fault. So basically the entire meeting we had was dedicated to what it is that we can do to help that 90%. Because think of the amazing success that could be had if that huge reserve of members gave the missionaries referrals! Amazing things would happen if the missionaries and the members could work together. Neither should blame the other because that does not help either.
So to continue on with this train of thought, here are some of the things that really struck me as we thought of ideas to push through this wall. First off is that the missionaries need to teach the members how to share the gospel. Often times we forget as missionaries that it is not always easy to bring up religion with people. We think that people just need to do it but we forget that they do not wear a name tag and people do not expect it. Two, the missionaries should live worthy of the sacred trust that a member referral is. Three, the missionaries should report back to the member the progression of the friend; share the success and joy that comes when someone reads the Book of Mormon and prays.
On the member side we really need to give the missionaries people to teach. One thing that Elder Christenson said is that his goal is to have someone new to give to the missionaries every four months. He said that it is a commitment between him and the Lord and he always is able to complete his end because the Lord will always keep His. He said that it is a matter of fasting and pray. And that the importance of setting and end date is invaluable. Without an end date we will never be accountable for that time and it will be wasted. The end date also creates a sense of urgency. He called it the desperation theory. He said that for the first little while he doesn't think about finding anyone but that as the end draws near he gets more and more desperate to find that person who has been prepared. The Lord will put people in our way when He knows that we will regonize them. That is why the date is crucial.
So I don't really want to tell everyone what to do but I think that it is a good idea to set a date and a goal to have someone for the missionaries to teach. We can all do better to not be that 90% and to even get rid of that statistic all together. Work with the missionaries do say that they need to work harder and don't let the missionaries tell you that you need to do a better job at supporting them. (especially if that will not show you how)
So if you want to pick a date, and tell the missionaries that you will have someone by that date for them to teach. And if the missionaries where you are tontos just give them some gentle reminders of what they need to do. They are learning just like everyone else.
anyways that is enough preaching How is everyone back home? mom I got the contacts and gummy bears yersterday thank you. and thank you everyone for the emails. I really appreciate them.
Love, Elder Haslam
Mexican Cake Fight
Dear Family,
So it snowed again here, alot. I thought that we had made it out of the worst part of winter but apparently not. There seems to be this unsettling trend were it will get warming for a couple of days, in the 50's, and then get really cold for a couple days. It definitely keeps us on our toes as to what we are going to wear. On the past weekend we got about 6 inches of snow, which is the most in one storm that we have gotten for the entire summer. And when it stopped snowing it got really cold so most of it froze. In Camden they plow the main streets but lots of the small side streets they cannot get into so they just leave it up to the people that live on the streets to take care of it. So about half of the city gets plowed and salted were as the other half grows a layer of ice over everything. So we have been walking a lot because we don't want to fall on our bikes with all of the ice. But it is supposed to get warmer over the weekend so hopefully that will save us.
In other news we had a cake fight with some members in our branch. It was crazy. I will attach some pictures and try to describe it the best that I can. One of the sister missionaries in our branch is going home today so for the past week the members have been doing stuff for her to make her feel loved. She spent half of her entire mission in this branch so she knows the members really well and has really become an honorary member of the branch. (my opinion is that she is nice but I am not a number one fan) Anyways the Cabrera family invited us over for lunch to say goodbye to her. When we got there they had a huge cake. This family is crazy and I have seen pictures of times when missionaries have been at there house with cake. So needless to say I was looking forward to some fun.
So was ate lunch and then cut the cake. And right when the sister was about to start eating her piece one of the sisters in the family smeared the cake all over her face. So cake started going every where and most of everybody ran away except for me Elder Rhoton and Patti Cabrera. She is crazy and started and ended the entire thing. She put cake in my ears and when we though we were done and cleaning up she brought our raw eggs and threw them at me and my companion.
It was really fun and we got some crazy looks riding home to take showers. It was a really fun day.
So how is everything going back home?
Oh, also Elder Rhoton and I are staying together for one more transfer which I am really excited about. This will be transfer number three so I hope is turns out well.
Love,
Elder Haslam
Power of the Priesthood
Dear Family,
So I am sitting here in the library trying to think of what to write to everyone. And I think that this week one story really stands out to me the most. Elder Rhoton and I were able to give a blessing to a really nice lady this week before she went into the hospital for a surgery.
It was very strange how it all happened. It was last wednsday and we were actually out shopping at walmart. Four of us went shopping and I actually stayed in the car with one of the english elders because he is on crutches. (that is another story- basically fell on his bike when he hit some ice and hurt his ankle) So we were just waiting in the car for the other elders to grab some stuff. So as I was sitting in the car someone called us named Freddy. I have never met the guy but apparently he is a member but he lives in Atlantic City area. He called because he knew a lady from his work that was going into the hospital the next day to have a surgery. she lives in Camden so he called us to ask us if we could go over to her house that night and give her a blessing. I told him that we would love to be able to do that and we told him that we would stop by her house around 8 that night.
So we went over there and we were not sure what to expect at all. I had never been to that street before and I had never even talked to the lady. Fortunately we are used to knocking on people's doors and to have no idea what the outcome will be and this time they were actually waiting for us. We went in and introduced ourselves and then explained what a blessing was and what it entailed. We could tell that she was really nervous and so we read here a scripture and told her that it was a really simple thing but that it also depended on her faith. We gave her a blessing, set up a time to come back and then left.
When we came back the next time she was really happy to see us. She told us that when we had come last time that we had made her feel much better. That she felt much calmer and that she stopped worrying about the surgery. She said that everything had turned out well and she was on the mend. It was really cool to see how happy she was and to see that she was doping well. It really made me glad to be a missionary.
Our Heavenly Father is always here to help us. If there is one thing that I have realized is that no matter what we do He will always be there to help us on our way. He can always help us more if we are willing to follow Him and obey His commandments but even the people that have strayed off of the path receive His love. It makes me sad when people are so quick to judge the people around them. It happens a lot here esspecially in Camden. Most of the people that live here have been given up on by others and they have really given up on themselves. Even some missionaries look at the way people live here and say that the people are lazy and really just show lack of love for the people. We are all children of God and even though one person has wasted his life away on drugs, alcohol, gangs and almost every thing you can think of, that does not make that person any less loved than you or me.
So share the gospel! And lend your hand to those who have lost their way.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So I am sitting here in the library trying to think of what to write to everyone. And I think that this week one story really stands out to me the most. Elder Rhoton and I were able to give a blessing to a really nice lady this week before she went into the hospital for a surgery.
It was very strange how it all happened. It was last wednsday and we were actually out shopping at walmart. Four of us went shopping and I actually stayed in the car with one of the english elders because he is on crutches. (that is another story- basically fell on his bike when he hit some ice and hurt his ankle) So we were just waiting in the car for the other elders to grab some stuff. So as I was sitting in the car someone called us named Freddy. I have never met the guy but apparently he is a member but he lives in Atlantic City area. He called because he knew a lady from his work that was going into the hospital the next day to have a surgery. she lives in Camden so he called us to ask us if we could go over to her house that night and give her a blessing. I told him that we would love to be able to do that and we told him that we would stop by her house around 8 that night.
So we went over there and we were not sure what to expect at all. I had never been to that street before and I had never even talked to the lady. Fortunately we are used to knocking on people's doors and to have no idea what the outcome will be and this time they were actually waiting for us. We went in and introduced ourselves and then explained what a blessing was and what it entailed. We could tell that she was really nervous and so we read here a scripture and told her that it was a really simple thing but that it also depended on her faith. We gave her a blessing, set up a time to come back and then left.
When we came back the next time she was really happy to see us. She told us that when we had come last time that we had made her feel much better. That she felt much calmer and that she stopped worrying about the surgery. She said that everything had turned out well and she was on the mend. It was really cool to see how happy she was and to see that she was doping well. It really made me glad to be a missionary.
Our Heavenly Father is always here to help us. If there is one thing that I have realized is that no matter what we do He will always be there to help us on our way. He can always help us more if we are willing to follow Him and obey His commandments but even the people that have strayed off of the path receive His love. It makes me sad when people are so quick to judge the people around them. It happens a lot here esspecially in Camden. Most of the people that live here have been given up on by others and they have really given up on themselves. Even some missionaries look at the way people live here and say that the people are lazy and really just show lack of love for the people. We are all children of God and even though one person has wasted his life away on drugs, alcohol, gangs and almost every thing you can think of, that does not make that person any less loved than you or me.
So share the gospel! And lend your hand to those who have lost their way.
Love,
Elder Haslam
(no subject)
Dear Family,
So the time has really been flying by these past couple of weeks. The days don't seem really short in anyway but the weeks seem to be moving buy much faster. It seems like when ever I go to look into my planner for the transfer I am much farther into it that I think that I should be. It think that it is a good thing that things go by fast. It is frusterating sometimes though when I want more time to do something.
But all in all things are going very well. I was pretty sick for the last part of last week. I have a fever wed through friday and then a really stuffy nose on saturday and sun. We really didn't leave the aprtment very much and I slept a ton. But the good news is that I feel back to normal now and everything is going well. I got a lot of rest and that helped me make it through everything.
So because of that this past week has been really slow. We have been able to get as much work done as we would have liked but things have picked up in the past couple days. I would say the main story from the week is a biulding in our area called Northgate One. It is a huge apartment complex that is about 30 stories high. It is definitely the mose ghetto place in our entire area. We avoid the building as much as possible. But we got a referal from someone who lived in there that wanted a DVD. So we ended up going into that building two times, once on Sunday and the second on Tuesday. We walked into the building and the very first thing that happened is that a huge group of about 7 huge black guys started pointing at us and laughing. They were saying that we were the only white people that they had seen in a long time and were asking us what we were doing in that building. We explained alittle bit and then jumped into the elevator to go to our appointment. When we got off on the florr we needed they were two little girls playing in the hall and they asked us if we were the police. They got really scared for some reason but relaxed when we told them that we were just missionaries and that they don't have to worry about anything. I was really suprised to see them in the hall because it was really dirty and smelled terrible. There was a stray cat roaming the hall and the carpet had huge stains in it. Keep in mind that we saw the stray cat on the twentieth floor of this building, it is a very strange place. And it turned out that our appointment was not there. So we jumped in the elevator with 2 black people and a little Mexican. On the way in the elevator on of the black guys started cussing out the mexican and telling him that he wanted a dollar from him. He said that he hated spanish people because they were coming into there country and taking their jobs and their food. The mexican man just kept looking at the floor which seemed to make the black guy more angry. He told him to look up and look at him when he was being talked to. The elevator finally got stopped and we got off. I don't even think that the mexican man could understand a word that the guy was saying.
Elder Rhoton was not happy about it. He got really mad and when we left vented his anger. We really didn't know what to do. We didn't want to tell off the black guy because we were afraid that something would happen to us. And at the same time I felt really bad because we couldn't do anything to help out the hispanic dude. It really made me upset and Elder Rhoton got really angry. It is just stupid because a lot of the time people get treated poorly by others but instead of realising the problem (here the problem being a racism black man that thinks he is better than some one because he spends his welfare check on a nice suit and cigars) they just treat other people poorly as well. So the cycle continues. The thing that reallt bothered me the most about it is that hispanics always complain about the blacks and the blacks always complain about the whites and the hispanics. And instead of trying to fix the problem they add fuel to the fire. I don't think that is what Martin Luther Kings Jr.'s dream was. People still haven't figured it out and I think it is still goin got take sometime.
But fortunately through all of it there is the gospel. That bright ray of hope that moves us on through the hard days and keeps us learning and growing through it all. There was a really good article in the ensign for this month about self-reliance I think it is by Elder Ballard. I am glad that we have inspired leaders that help us make the right choices and point us ion the right direction.
Things are going well here in New Jersey the work rolls on faster and faster. I hope that everything is going well for everyone back home. Tell me how swim season goes and anyother good news.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So the time has really been flying by these past couple of weeks. The days don't seem really short in anyway but the weeks seem to be moving buy much faster. It seems like when ever I go to look into my planner for the transfer I am much farther into it that I think that I should be. It think that it is a good thing that things go by fast. It is frusterating sometimes though when I want more time to do something.
But all in all things are going very well. I was pretty sick for the last part of last week. I have a fever wed through friday and then a really stuffy nose on saturday and sun. We really didn't leave the aprtment very much and I slept a ton. But the good news is that I feel back to normal now and everything is going well. I got a lot of rest and that helped me make it through everything.
So because of that this past week has been really slow. We have been able to get as much work done as we would have liked but things have picked up in the past couple days. I would say the main story from the week is a biulding in our area called Northgate One. It is a huge apartment complex that is about 30 stories high. It is definitely the mose ghetto place in our entire area. We avoid the building as much as possible. But we got a referal from someone who lived in there that wanted a DVD. So we ended up going into that building two times, once on Sunday and the second on Tuesday. We walked into the building and the very first thing that happened is that a huge group of about 7 huge black guys started pointing at us and laughing. They were saying that we were the only white people that they had seen in a long time and were asking us what we were doing in that building. We explained alittle bit and then jumped into the elevator to go to our appointment. When we got off on the florr we needed they were two little girls playing in the hall and they asked us if we were the police. They got really scared for some reason but relaxed when we told them that we were just missionaries and that they don't have to worry about anything. I was really suprised to see them in the hall because it was really dirty and smelled terrible. There was a stray cat roaming the hall and the carpet had huge stains in it. Keep in mind that we saw the stray cat on the twentieth floor of this building, it is a very strange place. And it turned out that our appointment was not there. So we jumped in the elevator with 2 black people and a little Mexican. On the way in the elevator on of the black guys started cussing out the mexican and telling him that he wanted a dollar from him. He said that he hated spanish people because they were coming into there country and taking their jobs and their food. The mexican man just kept looking at the floor which seemed to make the black guy more angry. He told him to look up and look at him when he was being talked to. The elevator finally got stopped and we got off. I don't even think that the mexican man could understand a word that the guy was saying.
Elder Rhoton was not happy about it. He got really mad and when we left vented his anger. We really didn't know what to do. We didn't want to tell off the black guy because we were afraid that something would happen to us. And at the same time I felt really bad because we couldn't do anything to help out the hispanic dude. It really made me upset and Elder Rhoton got really angry. It is just stupid because a lot of the time people get treated poorly by others but instead of realising the problem (here the problem being a racism black man that thinks he is better than some one because he spends his welfare check on a nice suit and cigars) they just treat other people poorly as well. So the cycle continues. The thing that reallt bothered me the most about it is that hispanics always complain about the blacks and the blacks always complain about the whites and the hispanics. And instead of trying to fix the problem they add fuel to the fire. I don't think that is what Martin Luther Kings Jr.'s dream was. People still haven't figured it out and I think it is still goin got take sometime.
But fortunately through all of it there is the gospel. That bright ray of hope that moves us on through the hard days and keeps us learning and growing through it all. There was a really good article in the ensign for this month about self-reliance I think it is by Elder Ballard. I am glad that we have inspired leaders that help us make the right choices and point us ion the right direction.
Things are going well here in New Jersey the work rolls on faster and faster. I hope that everything is going well for everyone back home. Tell me how swim season goes and anyother good news.
Love,
Elder Haslam
Warmer Weather
Dear Family,
So first off, weather. It has been really nice the past couple of days. We have actually been able to go outside with just sweaters and today it looks like we might be able to go out with just long sleeve shirts. So things are looking up and up.
So as far as the work goes things are going well too. We are working hard and having more success. Our zone leaders have really helped us out. We had an exchange with them this past Wednesday and Elder Marques came here to Camden with me. Elder Marques is a really awesome guy and I really like him. He is actually from southern Brazil a place called Parana. In my opinion he is the best missionary in the mission. He really knows how to talk to people and if I had missionary that I wanted to be like it would be him. He was actually my zone leader when I started my mission out here in New Brunswick. He has really taught me a ton of stuff, especially how to plan well son that we can get a lot of work done. He taught me a ton of stuff that I can do better specifically when it comes to finding. So now we will continue on with all of the new ideas and then keep working. I am really excited for everything.
This past Tuesday we also had a really good district meeting. One of the problems we had been having in our district as a whole is that we just were not finding enough people and we were hanging onto investigators longer than we should have been doing. Early in the week I got a letter from Jameson that talked a lot about that same problem.(thanks for that one it is really helping) Our zone leaders had expressed the same concern that I had and so I used that letter as a starting point and planned a district meeting around it. I tried yo make the theme of the meeting about how we baptize people by dropping investigators that are not progressing, focusing on those that are keep there commitments, and continually finding those that are prepared to listen and act. The meeting went really well. I found a great scripture in Alma about dropping investigators. (Alma 32:4-8) [I always love finding principles of missionary work in the scriptures and in Preach My Gospel. The two always go hand in hand it just sometimes takes more effort to see the connection.] I was able to use that scripture and an analogy about boysenberries to illustrate the principle of focusing on those that the Lord has prepared. We talked about how the berries when that are ready come right off into your hand (baptism) and that we test the ones that are not ready but we do not sit there are watch them ripen. We move on and come back in a couple of days to see which ones are ready then. The meeting turned out really well and my companion Elder Rhoton led a good discussion on what we though some characteristics of a high baptizing missionary\mission should be. Things are going really well.
Elder Rhoton and I are getting along really well too. He is a really funny guy and a blast to be around. We are working hard and still looking for more success but it is coming. He is a great guy and has definitely become my best friend out here in the mission. He only goes home two weeks after me so we will be in the mission for a long time together.
The weather is nice, we are working hard and getting along, life is good.
Love,
Elder Haslam
PS We found this amazing cheese steak place called Ruthy's. It is in one of the worst parts of town but it has really amazing food. I will take you all there one day.
So first off, weather. It has been really nice the past couple of days. We have actually been able to go outside with just sweaters and today it looks like we might be able to go out with just long sleeve shirts. So things are looking up and up.
So as far as the work goes things are going well too. We are working hard and having more success. Our zone leaders have really helped us out. We had an exchange with them this past Wednesday and Elder Marques came here to Camden with me. Elder Marques is a really awesome guy and I really like him. He is actually from southern Brazil a place called Parana. In my opinion he is the best missionary in the mission. He really knows how to talk to people and if I had missionary that I wanted to be like it would be him. He was actually my zone leader when I started my mission out here in New Brunswick. He has really taught me a ton of stuff, especially how to plan well son that we can get a lot of work done. He taught me a ton of stuff that I can do better specifically when it comes to finding. So now we will continue on with all of the new ideas and then keep working. I am really excited for everything.
This past Tuesday we also had a really good district meeting. One of the problems we had been having in our district as a whole is that we just were not finding enough people and we were hanging onto investigators longer than we should have been doing. Early in the week I got a letter from Jameson that talked a lot about that same problem.(thanks for that one it is really helping) Our zone leaders had expressed the same concern that I had and so I used that letter as a starting point and planned a district meeting around it. I tried yo make the theme of the meeting about how we baptize people by dropping investigators that are not progressing, focusing on those that are keep there commitments, and continually finding those that are prepared to listen and act. The meeting went really well. I found a great scripture in Alma about dropping investigators. (Alma 32:4-8) [I always love finding principles of missionary work in the scriptures and in Preach My Gospel. The two always go hand in hand it just sometimes takes more effort to see the connection.] I was able to use that scripture and an analogy about boysenberries to illustrate the principle of focusing on those that the Lord has prepared. We talked about how the berries when that are ready come right off into your hand (baptism) and that we test the ones that are not ready but we do not sit there are watch them ripen. We move on and come back in a couple of days to see which ones are ready then. The meeting turned out really well and my companion Elder Rhoton led a good discussion on what we though some characteristics of a high baptizing missionary\mission should be. Things are going really well.
Elder Rhoton and I are getting along really well too. He is a really funny guy and a blast to be around. We are working hard and still looking for more success but it is coming. He is a great guy and has definitely become my best friend out here in the mission. He only goes home two weeks after me so we will be in the mission for a long time together.
The weather is nice, we are working hard and getting along, life is good.
Love,
Elder Haslam
PS We found this amazing cheese steak place called Ruthy's. It is in one of the worst parts of town but it has really amazing food. I will take you all there one day.
Nj aLL dAy
Dear Family,
So this past week was a really good week. We worked hard and we are having more success. Not a ton or anything incredible but it is success non the less and I am enjoying it. The weather is still very cold but we just push through all of it and get where we need to go. It actually snowed for real yesterday and last night, a good couple inches that covered the roads and everything else. It was pretty fun to ride in the snow last night and even though we got home very wet and cold I still really enjoyed it.
We had zone conference yesterday and it was really good. I really like our assistants to the president and they talked for a good portion of the meeting. It really gave me a lot of good ideas for things that we can do to push the ball forward in Camden. I really like good meetings and we have been having some really good ones lately. They keep everyone pumped up and focused on what they can do to keep the work progressing along.
So I think my story for this week will be about one of our new investigators that we found. He is name is Antonio Morales and he is from Puerto Rico. He actually ordered a video and so we had his information and we had been trying to stop by on him and we were finally able to meet with him this past week. We had a really good talk with him about everything that he has heard about our church and then what he wanted to learn. He then proceeded to tell us his life story; how he has been in and out of prison for about the past 25 years and how he has been trying for the past five years to keep away from everything in his past life. He used to be the head of a gang here in New Jersey and he actually went to prison for 15 years for some incident with drugs. I am not sure exactly what he did but I think that he was dealing drugs in New Brunswick and then got caught. He has tattoos all up and down his arms and looks very worn down from life. He is a really nice guy. It wasn't really shocking when he told us any of this because he lives in the worst part of Camden. I am really excited to teach him we just have to make sure that we avoid his neighborhood at night.
The people that we meet here are pretty interesting and they are really nice people. I just don't think that anyone ever told them that cocaine is bad for you.
Life is good though. I got the tape and I will try to get one back as soon as possible.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So this past week was a really good week. We worked hard and we are having more success. Not a ton or anything incredible but it is success non the less and I am enjoying it. The weather is still very cold but we just push through all of it and get where we need to go. It actually snowed for real yesterday and last night, a good couple inches that covered the roads and everything else. It was pretty fun to ride in the snow last night and even though we got home very wet and cold I still really enjoyed it.
We had zone conference yesterday and it was really good. I really like our assistants to the president and they talked for a good portion of the meeting. It really gave me a lot of good ideas for things that we can do to push the ball forward in Camden. I really like good meetings and we have been having some really good ones lately. They keep everyone pumped up and focused on what they can do to keep the work progressing along.
So I think my story for this week will be about one of our new investigators that we found. He is name is Antonio Morales and he is from Puerto Rico. He actually ordered a video and so we had his information and we had been trying to stop by on him and we were finally able to meet with him this past week. We had a really good talk with him about everything that he has heard about our church and then what he wanted to learn. He then proceeded to tell us his life story; how he has been in and out of prison for about the past 25 years and how he has been trying for the past five years to keep away from everything in his past life. He used to be the head of a gang here in New Jersey and he actually went to prison for 15 years for some incident with drugs. I am not sure exactly what he did but I think that he was dealing drugs in New Brunswick and then got caught. He has tattoos all up and down his arms and looks very worn down from life. He is a really nice guy. It wasn't really shocking when he told us any of this because he lives in the worst part of Camden. I am really excited to teach him we just have to make sure that we avoid his neighborhood at night.
The people that we meet here are pretty interesting and they are really nice people. I just don't think that anyone ever told them that cocaine is bad for you.
Life is good though. I got the tape and I will try to get one back as soon as possible.
Love,
Elder Haslam
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Snow
Dear Family,
So it finally snowed a good amount here. We got a couple inches last night, so when we woke up this morning a blanket of white covered the ground. The snow here is a lot different that the the snow in Utah that I am used to. It is much wetter here and so a majority of the snow just turns into ice in a couple hours of being outside. All of the roads are covered in slush so we will see how that affects our bicycle riding. It should be pretty fun.
Thanks for all of the emails and the large slab of chocolate. It am not sure how long it will take me to get through all of that sugar but I think will the help of my companion and the other elders in our apartment it should be gone in about a week.
This past week has been a really good week. My companion and I have really changed how we are working and we are trying to have the members help us out much more in the missionary work. We want the members to be more involved in finding and teaching people so we have been trying lots of ideas to get them involved in the work. My companion and I actaully taught the lesson in priesthood this past sunday about what the members can do to share the gospel. It was really cool and we tried to change their perception of what is success in missionary work. We talked mainly about how trying to share the gospel and inviting your friends to learn is success and tried to shift away the perception that baptism is the only way to measure success. It went really well. Our high councilman in our branch asked us to do that part of the lesson because he was supposed to teach the entire thing and he barely speaks any Spanish. He is actually from Puerto Rico but he moved here when he was very young and he knows next to no Spanish. We have actually been working with him a lot and he is really happy to be in the branch so that he can improve his Spanish.
The missionary work is coming along well. We have been teaching this lady named Dina Ventura and she is very close to being baptized. She is actually the wife of the second counselor in our branch presidency. She is a really nice Dominican lady and she comes to church every week and all of the branch activities. When ever we try to talk about baptism with her she always just says that she is not ready and that if she is going to be baptized she wants to be sure that this church is true. I am pretty sure that she knows that it is true she is just having trouble connecting all of the pieces in her mind. We have been working really hard for her and this past Monday we had a lesson where we told her that we were going to baptize her on the 8th of Feb. I then asked her if she would prepare herself for that date and she did say that she was not positive but that she would pray about that specific date. We had focused a mjority of that lesson on what it means to have faith and works. We read in the James about how he says that we should demonstrate of faith by our works. We also talked about making decisions and then asking God if our decision is right rather than asking Him to make our decisions for us. It was a really good lesson and then at the end her husband gave a very amazing pray and asked that his wife would be able to be baptized on the 8th. I really love her husband and I can tell that it is really hard for him to hear his wife say that she is not sure about the church. Almost every lesson we have with them he bears his testimony about baptism, the temple. and eternal families. I can see the love that he has for his wife and I can also feel how much he longs to be able to go to the temple with her. i wish I could do more to help them both but at this point it is completely up to her. My companion and I are going to fast this Friday for their family. She will get baptized soon, I am confident.
Missionary work is a really get thing and I really love being our here on my mission. I love being able to serve the people around me and to serve our Lord. We have really been trying to serve the members here more and we actually helped a family here switch out all of their furniture yesterday. It was just three of us ; me, my companion, and Hermano Henry. He is a really big guy for the Dominican Republic. He is about 6'5" and around 300 lbs. He is a really nice guy and a ton of fun to be around. It was pretty funny moving everything around in their house. The funniest part was that they bought a queen size mattress and it would not fit in their stairs to get it to the second floor. We actually had to basically fold the mattress in half and then shove it through the stair opening. It took us about 30 min to get is up the stairs with lots of laughing, sweating and a few cuss words thrown in. The entire time he was impersonating his wife about how she convinced him that they needed a big mattress. It was a bunch of fun and they really needed the help.
I really love Camden and everyone that is here. It is pretty cold and wet but that does that keep us from going outside. Thanks again for everything that you guys do for me. For the letters and for the prayers.
Love,
Elder Haslam
PS another great thing about Dominicans is that they love baseball. It is fun to talk to them about it and I hope that when the season starts up we will be able to go to some games with the members at Campbell's field. We will see what president says.
So it finally snowed a good amount here. We got a couple inches last night, so when we woke up this morning a blanket of white covered the ground. The snow here is a lot different that the the snow in Utah that I am used to. It is much wetter here and so a majority of the snow just turns into ice in a couple hours of being outside. All of the roads are covered in slush so we will see how that affects our bicycle riding. It should be pretty fun.
Thanks for all of the emails and the large slab of chocolate. It am not sure how long it will take me to get through all of that sugar but I think will the help of my companion and the other elders in our apartment it should be gone in about a week.
This past week has been a really good week. My companion and I have really changed how we are working and we are trying to have the members help us out much more in the missionary work. We want the members to be more involved in finding and teaching people so we have been trying lots of ideas to get them involved in the work. My companion and I actaully taught the lesson in priesthood this past sunday about what the members can do to share the gospel. It was really cool and we tried to change their perception of what is success in missionary work. We talked mainly about how trying to share the gospel and inviting your friends to learn is success and tried to shift away the perception that baptism is the only way to measure success. It went really well. Our high councilman in our branch asked us to do that part of the lesson because he was supposed to teach the entire thing and he barely speaks any Spanish. He is actually from Puerto Rico but he moved here when he was very young and he knows next to no Spanish. We have actually been working with him a lot and he is really happy to be in the branch so that he can improve his Spanish.
The missionary work is coming along well. We have been teaching this lady named Dina Ventura and she is very close to being baptized. She is actually the wife of the second counselor in our branch presidency. She is a really nice Dominican lady and she comes to church every week and all of the branch activities. When ever we try to talk about baptism with her she always just says that she is not ready and that if she is going to be baptized she wants to be sure that this church is true. I am pretty sure that she knows that it is true she is just having trouble connecting all of the pieces in her mind. We have been working really hard for her and this past Monday we had a lesson where we told her that we were going to baptize her on the 8th of Feb. I then asked her if she would prepare herself for that date and she did say that she was not positive but that she would pray about that specific date. We had focused a mjority of that lesson on what it means to have faith and works. We read in the James about how he says that we should demonstrate of faith by our works. We also talked about making decisions and then asking God if our decision is right rather than asking Him to make our decisions for us. It was a really good lesson and then at the end her husband gave a very amazing pray and asked that his wife would be able to be baptized on the 8th. I really love her husband and I can tell that it is really hard for him to hear his wife say that she is not sure about the church. Almost every lesson we have with them he bears his testimony about baptism, the temple. and eternal families. I can see the love that he has for his wife and I can also feel how much he longs to be able to go to the temple with her. i wish I could do more to help them both but at this point it is completely up to her. My companion and I are going to fast this Friday for their family. She will get baptized soon, I am confident.
Missionary work is a really get thing and I really love being our here on my mission. I love being able to serve the people around me and to serve our Lord. We have really been trying to serve the members here more and we actually helped a family here switch out all of their furniture yesterday. It was just three of us ; me, my companion, and Hermano Henry. He is a really big guy for the Dominican Republic. He is about 6'5" and around 300 lbs. He is a really nice guy and a ton of fun to be around. It was pretty funny moving everything around in their house. The funniest part was that they bought a queen size mattress and it would not fit in their stairs to get it to the second floor. We actually had to basically fold the mattress in half and then shove it through the stair opening. It took us about 30 min to get is up the stairs with lots of laughing, sweating and a few cuss words thrown in. The entire time he was impersonating his wife about how she convinced him that they needed a big mattress. It was a bunch of fun and they really needed the help.
I really love Camden and everyone that is here. It is pretty cold and wet but that does that keep us from going outside. Thanks again for everything that you guys do for me. For the letters and for the prayers.
Love,
Elder Haslam
PS another great thing about Dominicans is that they love baseball. It is fun to talk to them about it and I hope that when the season starts up we will be able to go to some games with the members at Campbell's field. We will see what president says.
Transfer
Dear Family,
So this transfer has ended and for the first time I will be experiencing no change in my companion. I am really excited to be able to stay with Elder Rhoton for another transfer here in Camden. He is a really great guy and we get along really well so hopefully we will be able to keep it up for this next transfer and have some success.
This past transfer was quite a bit different from the others. I am not really quite sure if it was the cold, Camden, or being senior companion and district leader. I am sure that it was a combination of all of those put together. When the transfer started off I was really excited to be down here in Camden and really nervous to be senior companion. I kinda felt like I was not up to the task that I had been given. It really helped to have Elder Rhoton as a companion especially because he really likes to work and I didn't have to worry about him. It has been pretty overwhelming at points trying to communicate with people esspecially because my Spanish was not at the point I thought it should be to be senior companion. But fortunately through everything I learned fast enough just to keep my head above water. I have definitely learned a lot but I must say that I still don't quite feel I am at where I should be. I have been actually thinking about this a good amount, mainly just what I can do to be a better missionary, and I read a talk that really helped me out. It is in the last conference called "Lift where you stand" given by President Uchtdorf. It was really good about how what we need to do in our callings as church members. It talks about how everything that we are doing will help us become like our God and that our callings are for us. So we should work our hardest in the callings that we have; we should not shirk our responsibilities and not say if we had a 'higher' calling we would be able to do a better job at that. That talk by President Uchtdorf and the another talk by President Eyring (o ye that embark) have really helped me out alot.
All in all this past transfer has been a really good growing experience for me. I don't think that I have master what I need to do but I think that at least now I have a better idea of what needs to be done to be a good missionary and to work hard. So this next transfer should be a really good transfer and even though I am going into it with the same kinds of feelings that I had last transfer I hope that I can do better.
In other news it is cold, windy, and icy. But that is to be expected in New Jersey in the middle of January. I am staying plenty warm though and I don't really need anything else. Thanks to everyone for the letters and Mom, a large box of wheat thins or cheezits or gold fish sounds really good. Other that that I am all set. I feel that I understand how to combat the cold and it really doesn't bother me anymore, but I will be happy when spring rolls around. I will then have to learn how to deal with the hot humid summer so then it will be another adventure.
That is pretty much all of the news from Camden this week. I hope that everyone is doing well and that you are enjoying those harsh Southern Californian winters.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So this transfer has ended and for the first time I will be experiencing no change in my companion. I am really excited to be able to stay with Elder Rhoton for another transfer here in Camden. He is a really great guy and we get along really well so hopefully we will be able to keep it up for this next transfer and have some success.
This past transfer was quite a bit different from the others. I am not really quite sure if it was the cold, Camden, or being senior companion and district leader. I am sure that it was a combination of all of those put together. When the transfer started off I was really excited to be down here in Camden and really nervous to be senior companion. I kinda felt like I was not up to the task that I had been given. It really helped to have Elder Rhoton as a companion especially because he really likes to work and I didn't have to worry about him. It has been pretty overwhelming at points trying to communicate with people esspecially because my Spanish was not at the point I thought it should be to be senior companion. But fortunately through everything I learned fast enough just to keep my head above water. I have definitely learned a lot but I must say that I still don't quite feel I am at where I should be. I have been actually thinking about this a good amount, mainly just what I can do to be a better missionary, and I read a talk that really helped me out. It is in the last conference called "Lift where you stand" given by President Uchtdorf. It was really good about how what we need to do in our callings as church members. It talks about how everything that we are doing will help us become like our God and that our callings are for us. So we should work our hardest in the callings that we have; we should not shirk our responsibilities and not say if we had a 'higher' calling we would be able to do a better job at that. That talk by President Uchtdorf and the another talk by President Eyring (o ye that embark) have really helped me out alot.
All in all this past transfer has been a really good growing experience for me. I don't think that I have master what I need to do but I think that at least now I have a better idea of what needs to be done to be a good missionary and to work hard. So this next transfer should be a really good transfer and even though I am going into it with the same kinds of feelings that I had last transfer I hope that I can do better.
In other news it is cold, windy, and icy. But that is to be expected in New Jersey in the middle of January. I am staying plenty warm though and I don't really need anything else. Thanks to everyone for the letters and Mom, a large box of wheat thins or cheezits or gold fish sounds really good. Other that that I am all set. I feel that I understand how to combat the cold and it really doesn't bother me anymore, but I will be happy when spring rolls around. I will then have to learn how to deal with the hot humid summer so then it will be another adventure.
That is pretty much all of the news from Camden this week. I hope that everyone is doing well and that you are enjoying those harsh Southern Californian winters.
Love,
Elder Haslam
It is Cold!
Dear Family,
So quick recap on the weather: it is really cold. Average for today is 22 with the chill factor at 11(humidity and wind) and tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid teens with a single digit chill factor. But we will just keep keeping on and hopefully people will let us into their house so that we do not turn into ice cubes. There is one sister in me district that I am afraid she might die in the next couple days with the cold. She is from Hawaii and I have never seen her without a huge parka on, even when we are inside she never takes it off because she always says that she is cold. The cold really hasn't bothered me at all but I am a little afraid of what the weather has in store for us for the rest of the week.
So President called us last night to tell us about transfers next week and Elder Rhoton and I will be staying together for another transfer which I am really happy about. He is was fun and I am sure that we have a lot of success in store for us this coming transfer. I was going to be really sad if we got broken up but it looks like we will be able to stay together for at least one transfer more.
I got the tape and the letters from everyone, thanks a bunch. It really picked me up after a pretty hard day. The only thing that is hard about being Elder Rhoton's companion is that he gets a ton of mail. A package a week and at least a letter every other day. It does kinda start to get old, but your letters really helped me out. The only person that writes besides you family is Janelle Cab. so you can always suggest to others my mail address.
But I will stop being pathetic and tel you some of the cool things that happened to us this week. We have tried to find a lot of new people this past week. So we went around to a lot of different houses and to different streets trying to talk to people. One of the funny things that happens when we knock on a door is that people usually ask us if we are afraid to walk around outside on their street. There are some pretty bad places in Camden but I am not afraid to walk anyway during the day with Elder Rhoton; so we usually tell the people we are not afraid and then tell them we are missionaries and the then tell us we are crazy. It always makes me laugh when people tell us how dangerous their street it for two reasons. The first reason is that everyone seems to think that they live on the most dangerous street in Camden and the second reason is that everyone tells we are crazy for walking on their street but they are the ones that live on it. Maybe they just never go outside(which is true for lots of people). I just think that it is funny that people tell us to avoid all of these parts of town but those places turn out to be some of the places where people are most willing to talk to us.
The work is going really well. We have about three people that are really close to baptism and we are hoping that it will happen in the next month. All of them are Dominicans and so we are going to try to have a big Dominican party (family night) where we get all of the Dominicans from the branch together and all of our Dominican investigators with them. We are hoping that will make some strong ties in the branch. I really like all of the dominicans in our branch and I like dominican people in general a whole lot. It is fun to talk to them because they have a really cool accent and they all love baseball. They are really fun people to be with.
Well I have to go becuase we are going to go to the aquarium today and I have to run back to the apartment to grab my camera and my scarf. I hope that everyone is doing really well.
Love,
Elder Haslam
PS Dallin and Tal this is for you. I think that you guys should start preparing for your missions right now and I think that the best way that you can do that is to fulfill all of the priesthood responsibilities that you have right now. (dallin that you will have in just over a month) I really liked Elder Oaks' talk in this past conference about the sacrament. You should both read that talk and then teach the family about what the sacrament means and how you as priesthood holders should look, think, and act so that you can have the privilege of blessing and passing the sacrament. They way that you prepare to administer the sacrament takes all week and is really a daily process versus just waking up in the morning sunday and combing your hair. Your prepare by the way you treat those around you during the week. (do you talk about people behind their back, do you do something kind without being asked and without seeking something in return, does virtue garnish your thoughts). A great man and priesthood holder is able to forget about himself and follow the example of Jesus Christ. And all of that starts by fulfilling the responsibilities that you have been entrusted with. So in other words treat Mom and Kendall with kindness throughout the entire week and work hard with Dad in the yard. You only have a limited amount of time when you can do those kinds of things. And most of all remember to have fun. Life is not supposed to torture you and you have complete control over you happiness.
So quick recap on the weather: it is really cold. Average for today is 22 with the chill factor at 11(humidity and wind) and tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid teens with a single digit chill factor. But we will just keep keeping on and hopefully people will let us into their house so that we do not turn into ice cubes. There is one sister in me district that I am afraid she might die in the next couple days with the cold. She is from Hawaii and I have never seen her without a huge parka on, even when we are inside she never takes it off because she always says that she is cold. The cold really hasn't bothered me at all but I am a little afraid of what the weather has in store for us for the rest of the week.
So President called us last night to tell us about transfers next week and Elder Rhoton and I will be staying together for another transfer which I am really happy about. He is was fun and I am sure that we have a lot of success in store for us this coming transfer. I was going to be really sad if we got broken up but it looks like we will be able to stay together for at least one transfer more.
I got the tape and the letters from everyone, thanks a bunch. It really picked me up after a pretty hard day. The only thing that is hard about being Elder Rhoton's companion is that he gets a ton of mail. A package a week and at least a letter every other day. It does kinda start to get old, but your letters really helped me out. The only person that writes besides you family is Janelle Cab. so you can always suggest to others my mail address.
But I will stop being pathetic and tel you some of the cool things that happened to us this week. We have tried to find a lot of new people this past week. So we went around to a lot of different houses and to different streets trying to talk to people. One of the funny things that happens when we knock on a door is that people usually ask us if we are afraid to walk around outside on their street. There are some pretty bad places in Camden but I am not afraid to walk anyway during the day with Elder Rhoton; so we usually tell the people we are not afraid and then tell them we are missionaries and the then tell us we are crazy. It always makes me laugh when people tell us how dangerous their street it for two reasons. The first reason is that everyone seems to think that they live on the most dangerous street in Camden and the second reason is that everyone tells we are crazy for walking on their street but they are the ones that live on it. Maybe they just never go outside(which is true for lots of people). I just think that it is funny that people tell us to avoid all of these parts of town but those places turn out to be some of the places where people are most willing to talk to us.
The work is going really well. We have about three people that are really close to baptism and we are hoping that it will happen in the next month. All of them are Dominicans and so we are going to try to have a big Dominican party (family night) where we get all of the Dominicans from the branch together and all of our Dominican investigators with them. We are hoping that will make some strong ties in the branch. I really like all of the dominicans in our branch and I like dominican people in general a whole lot. It is fun to talk to them because they have a really cool accent and they all love baseball. They are really fun people to be with.
Well I have to go becuase we are going to go to the aquarium today and I have to run back to the apartment to grab my camera and my scarf. I hope that everyone is doing really well.
Love,
Elder Haslam
PS Dallin and Tal this is for you. I think that you guys should start preparing for your missions right now and I think that the best way that you can do that is to fulfill all of the priesthood responsibilities that you have right now. (dallin that you will have in just over a month) I really liked Elder Oaks' talk in this past conference about the sacrament. You should both read that talk and then teach the family about what the sacrament means and how you as priesthood holders should look, think, and act so that you can have the privilege of blessing and passing the sacrament. They way that you prepare to administer the sacrament takes all week and is really a daily process versus just waking up in the morning sunday and combing your hair. Your prepare by the way you treat those around you during the week. (do you talk about people behind their back, do you do something kind without being asked and without seeking something in return, does virtue garnish your thoughts). A great man and priesthood holder is able to forget about himself and follow the example of Jesus Christ. And all of that starts by fulfilling the responsibilities that you have been entrusted with. So in other words treat Mom and Kendall with kindness throughout the entire week and work hard with Dad in the yard. You only have a limited amount of time when you can do those kinds of things. And most of all remember to have fun. Life is not supposed to torture you and you have complete control over you happiness.
Rain and Bike Problems
Dear Family,
So to start off it is raining. It has been raining consistently for the past 48 hours. It is the kind of cold rain that, in combination from the freezing wind off the river, chills you to the bone no matter what you wear outside. It doesn't really bother me anymore though. I think it is pretty fun to go outside and to see the people that walk around even though it is really wet. You meet the most interesting people that way. The other day on the train we met a man that said he was Muslim and then asked us how many wifes we had. I told him that I only had 4 but I was looking my number five. The guy was taken aback for a second (I don't think he was expecting that answer) and then he asked me if I was being serious. I told him that I was just messing around, and then he laughed and thought that it was pretty funny. He then went into a long story about how there was no may he would be able to handle that many women. He told us that he had enough problems between his wife and his mother trying to control his life. It was a fun train ride. On another train ride we got into a conversation with a guy about being missionaries. He was pretty funny and told us all about how he wasn't afraid to die anymore because he was a true believer. The best part about it was that just before the train stopped his friend asked him to stop talking about Jesus because it made him feel worse about what they were about to do. He then turned to us and said he was going to do something bad and would appreciate it if we could change the subject. Elder Rhoton and I started laughing when we finally got off the train. We figured that they were going to go buy some drugs. (they got off the train and started walking to North Camden - lots of drugs).
So is other news we have been walking because my bike is out of commission. We were riding at night last week and I didn't see a curb until it was right in front of me. I tried to jump over the curb but I ended up hitting me back rim and denting it pretty badly. I was able to ride home that night but we just walked for the rest of the week. Fortunately today is Pday so I will be able to go get my bike fixed. I need to get the wheel trued and hopefully it will not cost me too much money. It is the beginning of the month so I have plenty of money on my card, the only issue is that I am going to have to be really careful about what I buy so that I will have plenty of food at the end of the month. I shouldn't have any problem and the members are good about feeding us here so I am not worried.
So I guess I should tell you about my companion, Elder Rhoton. I can't remember if I have or not but this won't be very long. He is from Mesa, AZ and is a really cool guy. He likes to work hard so we get along really well. He can also enjoy himself and the truth is that most of the weird conversations we have with people are initiated by him. He likes to walk onto the train and pick out the weirdest person and then talk to them. He has a tendency to pick someone that is on drugs and it actually is really fun. I have a lot of funny stories from people we have talked to because of him. One day we talked to a lady who informed us of two very important things in her life. The first was that she had been smoking weed all day long (which was not hard to figure out by the way that her legs were in the air and she seemed to have a different pull of gravity than anyone else on the train). She also informed us that she couldn't read Spanish because she was a Negro and that God must be with us because we haven't been shot yet. It was another fun train trip.
Well, I need to go. I hope that everyone is doing well.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So to start off it is raining. It has been raining consistently for the past 48 hours. It is the kind of cold rain that, in combination from the freezing wind off the river, chills you to the bone no matter what you wear outside. It doesn't really bother me anymore though. I think it is pretty fun to go outside and to see the people that walk around even though it is really wet. You meet the most interesting people that way. The other day on the train we met a man that said he was Muslim and then asked us how many wifes we had. I told him that I only had 4 but I was looking my number five. The guy was taken aback for a second (I don't think he was expecting that answer) and then he asked me if I was being serious. I told him that I was just messing around, and then he laughed and thought that it was pretty funny. He then went into a long story about how there was no may he would be able to handle that many women. He told us that he had enough problems between his wife and his mother trying to control his life. It was a fun train ride. On another train ride we got into a conversation with a guy about being missionaries. He was pretty funny and told us all about how he wasn't afraid to die anymore because he was a true believer. The best part about it was that just before the train stopped his friend asked him to stop talking about Jesus because it made him feel worse about what they were about to do. He then turned to us and said he was going to do something bad and would appreciate it if we could change the subject. Elder Rhoton and I started laughing when we finally got off the train. We figured that they were going to go buy some drugs. (they got off the train and started walking to North Camden - lots of drugs).
So is other news we have been walking because my bike is out of commission. We were riding at night last week and I didn't see a curb until it was right in front of me. I tried to jump over the curb but I ended up hitting me back rim and denting it pretty badly. I was able to ride home that night but we just walked for the rest of the week. Fortunately today is Pday so I will be able to go get my bike fixed. I need to get the wheel trued and hopefully it will not cost me too much money. It is the beginning of the month so I have plenty of money on my card, the only issue is that I am going to have to be really careful about what I buy so that I will have plenty of food at the end of the month. I shouldn't have any problem and the members are good about feeding us here so I am not worried.
So I guess I should tell you about my companion, Elder Rhoton. I can't remember if I have or not but this won't be very long. He is from Mesa, AZ and is a really cool guy. He likes to work hard so we get along really well. He can also enjoy himself and the truth is that most of the weird conversations we have with people are initiated by him. He likes to walk onto the train and pick out the weirdest person and then talk to them. He has a tendency to pick someone that is on drugs and it actually is really fun. I have a lot of funny stories from people we have talked to because of him. One day we talked to a lady who informed us of two very important things in her life. The first was that she had been smoking weed all day long (which was not hard to figure out by the way that her legs were in the air and she seemed to have a different pull of gravity than anyone else on the train). She also informed us that she couldn't read Spanish because she was a Negro and that God must be with us because we haven't been shot yet. It was another fun train trip.
Well, I need to go. I hope that everyone is doing well.
Love,
Elder Haslam
Happy New Years
Dear Family,
So it was really cool to be able to talk to everyone on Christmas; I will give you a quick rundown on how the rest of Christmas went. So I finished talking to all of you and then Elder Rhoton and I went over to a Mexican bakery/grocery store and bought some stuff to make salsa. So we went home and made some salsa before we had to go to a house to eat. We went over to the Familia Campos' house and ate posoles. It was a soup thing made out of corn and it was pretty good. The bowls were huge and they also brought out 10 tostadas to share between me and my companion. It was the most food I have ever eaten in my entire life, especial since they brought us out a second bowl of soup after we finished everything that was in front of us. I felt like I was going to throw up and at that point that brought out dessert for us. By the time we finished dessert neither me or my companion were feeling very good. We thanked them for everything that they had given us and then started our walk home very slowly. About half way home Elder Rhoton looked at me and said that he was going to throw up, so I held his scarf for him and we had a representation of dinner underneath the Ben Franklin Bridge. So we got home around 7 and I went to bed because my stomach really hurt. All in all it was a really fun Christmas and my companion and I had a really good laugh about it the next day.
Other than that things have been really good here. My companion and I are really trying to work hard because we are not having as much success as we would like. There are definitely a lot of people to be taught here the problem has been that many of them have been gone for the holidays or very busy and not willing to listen to us. So hopefully with some more effort and more people being at home after the holidays we will find more success. I am really excited for this fast sunday. We are going to fast with a part-member family in our branch. They are the Venturas and really great people from the DR. The dad is the second counselor in the branch presidency but his wife is not a member. She is really nice lady and goes to church every sunday and goes to all of the branch activities. Her daughter has been baptized and she really needs to be baptized also. The problem is that she keeps saying that she is not sure. So we are all going to fast together this sunday for her to receive an answer. Hopefully everything will go well.
Well I hope that everyone has a great New Years.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So it was really cool to be able to talk to everyone on Christmas; I will give you a quick rundown on how the rest of Christmas went. So I finished talking to all of you and then Elder Rhoton and I went over to a Mexican bakery/grocery store and bought some stuff to make salsa. So we went home and made some salsa before we had to go to a house to eat. We went over to the Familia Campos' house and ate posoles. It was a soup thing made out of corn and it was pretty good. The bowls were huge and they also brought out 10 tostadas to share between me and my companion. It was the most food I have ever eaten in my entire life, especial since they brought us out a second bowl of soup after we finished everything that was in front of us. I felt like I was going to throw up and at that point that brought out dessert for us. By the time we finished dessert neither me or my companion were feeling very good. We thanked them for everything that they had given us and then started our walk home very slowly. About half way home Elder Rhoton looked at me and said that he was going to throw up, so I held his scarf for him and we had a representation of dinner underneath the Ben Franklin Bridge. So we got home around 7 and I went to bed because my stomach really hurt. All in all it was a really fun Christmas and my companion and I had a really good laugh about it the next day.
Other than that things have been really good here. My companion and I are really trying to work hard because we are not having as much success as we would like. There are definitely a lot of people to be taught here the problem has been that many of them have been gone for the holidays or very busy and not willing to listen to us. So hopefully with some more effort and more people being at home after the holidays we will find more success. I am really excited for this fast sunday. We are going to fast with a part-member family in our branch. They are the Venturas and really great people from the DR. The dad is the second counselor in the branch presidency but his wife is not a member. She is really nice lady and goes to church every sunday and goes to all of the branch activities. Her daughter has been baptized and she really needs to be baptized also. The problem is that she keeps saying that she is not sure. So we are all going to fast together this sunday for her to receive an answer. Hopefully everything will go well.
Well I hope that everyone has a great New Years.
Love,
Elder Haslam
Merry Christmas from the Ghetto
Dear Family,
So this email will not be very long because I am going to call you tomorrow, but I am just going to give a quick run down on Camden and send you some pictures.
So I really love Camden and the east coast. This city is amazing. Granted I have never seen as many people that are drunk, homeless, on drugs, and in general shady people; but I love it. There are pretty much no white people here at all. In New Brunswick we would see a white person every once in a while but here we go all day without seeing any white people until we get back in our apartment. The truth is that I really don't know how to associate with people that are not hispanic, black, or missionaries. We went to a Christmas breakfast with the english ward here and I felt really awkward until I found a member who had served his mission spanish speaking and then I could talk to him. White people just talk about different things like the economy, football, or politics. I just think that it is easy to talk about futbol, food, immigration with hispanic people.
The weather here has been pretty cold. It hasn't gotten out of the 30's for the past couple days and is usually in the the low to mid 20's. On monday it dropped into the teens for a good portion or the day. On friday it rained all day (we rode in it for about 4 hours and got very wet), Sat all of that rain froze on the ground and by sunday there was about a half inch of ice covering everything. We rode to church sunday morning (very carefully) to find out they cancelled church because all but one bridge going into Camden had been closed because of accidents or ice. We decided to stay inside our branch building and study until it stopped raining and warmed up. Yesterday wasn't too bad and there wasn't too much ice. I did fall on my bike when I hit a patch of ice though. Nothing happened to me though because I was going pretty slow. The weather doesn't really bother me because I bundle up really well. I wear my thermals, a sweater and my two layered jacket with thick gloves, a beanie and scarf. I have gotten really good and covering every part of my body so that if you look at me you can just barely see my eyes. It is pretty fun.
As far as missionary work goes (the spiritual side at least) it is going great. We are teaching some really great people that want to know what the truth really is and what they can do to find it. We are working really hard with these people to help them realize that they do not need a huge sign to know the church is true. That is one thing in hispanic culture that is very different is that they look for signs that things are true (especially in their dreams). So we try to help the realize that in small and simple ways, great things are brought to pass. I love hispanics because they will always listen to what we have to say. Getting them to keep commitments is a little harder but it is very rare that a hispanic will ridicule us for the truth we know. Like a couple days ago an older man told us we were to young and immature to know anything for certain. We had taken refuge in a dunkin donounts ( they are every where out here) from the cold and he proceeded to tell us that we were fools for believing in "all that malarkey about Joseph Smith." I didn't really get angry at him, probably because I was soaked to the bones and too cold to be. I gave him scriptures to counter all his arguments ( James 2- faith without works is dead; Matt 10- authority to the apostles; Amos 3:7- profetas etc.) but he wasn't really listening to anything that I said. But I did go home that night confident in my own testimony and grateful to know the truth. That man just seemed very confused to me. When we were talking he did not try to explain his own beliefs to me he just tried to tare mine down. I still am not completely sure why people do that because it doesn't ever convince someone to destroy all of their beliefs; you have to give someone something new and meaningful so that the can build and grow upon it.
I really love my companion here Elder Rhoton. He is a really fun kid that really wants to work hard and get stuff done. His spanish is not very good and he is uncomfortable speaking because he says he cannot understand people very well. I just tell him to fake it and talk anyway. In one lesson I wouldn't talk, I would just give him help on the words that he didn't know, I think that will help him the most. His trainer didn't really let him talk or help at all with his spanish but he is working hard and learning fast. He is a really great kid and I love serving with him. Once he gets a couple teaching skills down he will be one of the best missionaries in the mission.
As for my spanish it is coming along. I still lack quite a bit but I am working. It is a lot more work as senior companion and district leader because I have to worry about three other people besides myself and help all of them do well also. I only have two transfers (which one of the sisters in my district likes to remind me of) so I am trying to do the best that I can. We are working hard and I rely on the Lord. If I do my part I know He will bless me.
Ok. As for calling tomorrow in Christmas. I am going to buy a phone card today and we are going to call home from our branch building. I am going to try to call around noon our time so that puts it around 9 am your time. This is the phone number there: 609-541-7539. I hope you have a great Christmas.
Love,
Elder Haslam
Merry Christmas from Camden
Dear Friends and Family,
So that wonderful time of year has come around when the spirit of generosity touches people's heart and they give something to their loved one s that are near and dear to them. So I fell like I should give you all something, and since I am very far from most of you, live off 140 dollars a month, don't know all of your addresses, and since I am a missionary for my Lord, Jesus Christ; I will write this letter and hope that it gets to most of you.
So just a quick update for any of you that do not know where I have been for the past six months. I am living in New Jersey, speaking Spanish, and being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am currently living in Camden, NJ which is right across the rive from Philly. I go all around Camden on my bike and teach the Hispanics about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I live in an apartment with 3 other missionaries: my companion, who I go around with and teach with (he also speaks Spanish), and the two other missionaries work in Camden also but they speak English. Basically what we do is that we talk to everyone and anyone that will listen to us, that speaks Spanish.
My days usually go something like this. I wake up at 6:30 AM, exercise (which usually involves me jumping on the treadmill an running two miles). After that I shower and get ready for the day. By 8:00 AM I am in a white shirt and tie and I study the scriptures for two hours from 8 till 10. Then for an hour after that I study Spanish. Then I eat lunch, confirm plans for the day, and then jump on my bike and teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We come home at night some time around 9:00 PM plan for the next day get ready for bed and go to sleep at 10:30 PM. During the day we knock on doors, talk to people in the street, teach people, visit members of our church, and hope that we don't have any bike problems.
I have been cussed at, spit at, called a liar, had doors slammed in my face, made fun of because of my Spanish, and I have had the best time that I have ever had in my entire life. What I am doing right now tops everything and anything that I have ever done before. I have the amazing opportunity to share something that has changed my life, something that I know will bring unending happiness to those who listen, and I have seen the changes that have happened to people because they chose to listen. I am able to give to other people all day long and not have to worry about my self at all. Everything that I own fits into a large suitcase, a duffel bag, and a small carry bag. I don't watch TV, I don't follow any news, I don't talk to my family except for a weekly letter or email, I don't date, I don't listen to music, I don't swim, and I am the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. Everyday I put on a black name tag that has my name on it and says that I am a servant of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I serve the people around me in every way that I can.
I know that what I am teaching is true. I know that Jesus Christ died for me and you, so that we can repent of our sins, be resurrected, and return to live with our Heavenly Father after this life. I also know that His church has been restored on this earth through the prophet Joseph Smith and the power of God, His holy priesthood exists in the world today. God has not stopped talking to us, His children. He continues to reveal His will to us, so that we can be happy and so that we will know He exists and loves us. The heavens are not shut; they are open and blessing pour out upon us daily if we are willing to except them. I know this because our God has given me the knowledge through the Holy Ghost.
Otra vez, les digo que estas cosas son verdaderas.
I hope that everyone is doing well. Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas.
Love,
Elder Dalton Haslam
PS If you want to write me letters are always appreciated:
Elder Dalton Haslam
505 S Lenola Rd. # 124
Morrestown, NJ 08057
So that wonderful time of year has come around when the spirit of generosity touches people's heart and they give something to their loved one s that are near and dear to them. So I fell like I should give you all something, and since I am very far from most of you, live off 140 dollars a month, don't know all of your addresses, and since I am a missionary for my Lord, Jesus Christ; I will write this letter and hope that it gets to most of you.
So just a quick update for any of you that do not know where I have been for the past six months. I am living in New Jersey, speaking Spanish, and being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am currently living in Camden, NJ which is right across the rive from Philly. I go all around Camden on my bike and teach the Hispanics about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I live in an apartment with 3 other missionaries: my companion, who I go around with and teach with (he also speaks Spanish), and the two other missionaries work in Camden also but they speak English. Basically what we do is that we talk to everyone and anyone that will listen to us, that speaks Spanish.
My days usually go something like this. I wake up at 6:30 AM, exercise (which usually involves me jumping on the treadmill an running two miles). After that I shower and get ready for the day. By 8:00 AM I am in a white shirt and tie and I study the scriptures for two hours from 8 till 10. Then for an hour after that I study Spanish. Then I eat lunch, confirm plans for the day, and then jump on my bike and teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We come home at night some time around 9:00 PM plan for the next day get ready for bed and go to sleep at 10:30 PM. During the day we knock on doors, talk to people in the street, teach people, visit members of our church, and hope that we don't have any bike problems.
I have been cussed at, spit at, called a liar, had doors slammed in my face, made fun of because of my Spanish, and I have had the best time that I have ever had in my entire life. What I am doing right now tops everything and anything that I have ever done before. I have the amazing opportunity to share something that has changed my life, something that I know will bring unending happiness to those who listen, and I have seen the changes that have happened to people because they chose to listen. I am able to give to other people all day long and not have to worry about my self at all. Everything that I own fits into a large suitcase, a duffel bag, and a small carry bag. I don't watch TV, I don't follow any news, I don't talk to my family except for a weekly letter or email, I don't date, I don't listen to music, I don't swim, and I am the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. Everyday I put on a black name tag that has my name on it and says that I am a servant of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I serve the people around me in every way that I can.
I know that what I am teaching is true. I know that Jesus Christ died for me and you, so that we can repent of our sins, be resurrected, and return to live with our Heavenly Father after this life. I also know that His church has been restored on this earth through the prophet Joseph Smith and the power of God, His holy priesthood exists in the world today. God has not stopped talking to us, His children. He continues to reveal His will to us, so that we can be happy and so that we will know He exists and loves us. The heavens are not shut; they are open and blessing pour out upon us daily if we are willing to except them. I know this because our God has given me the knowledge through the Holy Ghost.
Otra vez, les digo que estas cosas son verdaderas.
I hope that everyone is doing well. Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas.
Love,
Elder Dalton Haslam
PS If you want to write me letters are always appreciated:
Elder Dalton Haslam
505 S Lenola Rd. # 124
Morrestown, NJ 08057
Camden
Dear Family,
So I moved into the Camden apartment last night. We took the train down from New Brunswick which was quite an ordeal. We took a train from New Brunswick to Trenton and then we took a train from Trenton to Camden. I didn't have that much stuff to take on the train but one of the english elders from New Brunswick was also coming down to Camden and he had a ot of junk. I am not his biggest fan and this will be transfer three with him in the same apartment so we will see what will happen.
I was sad to leave New Brunswick but Camden is really cool. I am glad to get away from some of the elders that are in New Brunswick though. The one engish elder that was staying has really been wearing on my nerves so I am glad to be starting over new with people that I do not know.
The Camden apartment is in the old RCA building called the Vector. It is a really nice place, definitely the nicest apartment in the mission, and also that most dangerous area in the mission. (don't worry mom I will be fine) Later today we are going to cover my bike in seran wrap and duck tape to make it look like it is not worth anything so that it will not get stolen. I bought an extra lock and my new companion has two locks all ready so I am sure that we will be fine. Elder Rhoton is my new companion and he only has one less transfer than me but for what ever reason they made me senior companion and district leader over him. I am going to have to work really hard to live up to the new resposibilty. He seems like a really nice guy but he does not know any spanish at all and I have heard that his trainer didn't help him out much, so that should be fun. I am really excited to be able to work down here and we will definitely baptism someone this transfer.
Brunswick will have a baptism this coming sunday. A lady named Gabriela is going to get baptized. She actually ordered a finding faith in christ video and that is how we found her. I have been teaching her all along the way and it is cool to see her get baptized. I don't know if I will be able to go to the baptism because I am down here now in Camden but I will ask President Winegar and hopefully he will let me go. I really like president winegar; he has done great things for this mission. I will be alot closer to him now that I am in Camden. Sometimes in New Brunswick you feel isolated from the rest of the mission. I don't really know if that is a good thing or a bad thing but done here in Camden we are really closer to everything that goes on. We also are at the intersection of two train lines that take us anywhere in New Jersey which is pretty cool. The river line goes from here to trenton and the Patco goes from Philly, through Camden to Atlantic City. (There is a great view of philly form the roof of our apartment)
And in the midst of everything that work progresses. It is really amazing how the Lord's hand is in everything that we do. I am just going to leave it at that and then I will write a letter explaining myself because we have to go to transfer meeting.
Love,
Elder Haslam
PS Mom, I am sure it would be fine to forward Mahonri's emails and mine. I really want to hear from him and if you could send me his address I would appreciate it.
#1 Christmas gift: socks "you can never have too many pairs of socks" - Albus Dumbledor
So I moved into the Camden apartment last night. We took the train down from New Brunswick which was quite an ordeal. We took a train from New Brunswick to Trenton and then we took a train from Trenton to Camden. I didn't have that much stuff to take on the train but one of the english elders from New Brunswick was also coming down to Camden and he had a ot of junk. I am not his biggest fan and this will be transfer three with him in the same apartment so we will see what will happen.
I was sad to leave New Brunswick but Camden is really cool. I am glad to get away from some of the elders that are in New Brunswick though. The one engish elder that was staying has really been wearing on my nerves so I am glad to be starting over new with people that I do not know.
The Camden apartment is in the old RCA building called the Vector. It is a really nice place, definitely the nicest apartment in the mission, and also that most dangerous area in the mission. (don't worry mom I will be fine) Later today we are going to cover my bike in seran wrap and duck tape to make it look like it is not worth anything so that it will not get stolen. I bought an extra lock and my new companion has two locks all ready so I am sure that we will be fine. Elder Rhoton is my new companion and he only has one less transfer than me but for what ever reason they made me senior companion and district leader over him. I am going to have to work really hard to live up to the new resposibilty. He seems like a really nice guy but he does not know any spanish at all and I have heard that his trainer didn't help him out much, so that should be fun. I am really excited to be able to work down here and we will definitely baptism someone this transfer.
Brunswick will have a baptism this coming sunday. A lady named Gabriela is going to get baptized. She actually ordered a finding faith in christ video and that is how we found her. I have been teaching her all along the way and it is cool to see her get baptized. I don't know if I will be able to go to the baptism because I am down here now in Camden but I will ask President Winegar and hopefully he will let me go. I really like president winegar; he has done great things for this mission. I will be alot closer to him now that I am in Camden. Sometimes in New Brunswick you feel isolated from the rest of the mission. I don't really know if that is a good thing or a bad thing but done here in Camden we are really closer to everything that goes on. We also are at the intersection of two train lines that take us anywhere in New Jersey which is pretty cool. The river line goes from here to trenton and the Patco goes from Philly, through Camden to Atlantic City. (There is a great view of philly form the roof of our apartment)
And in the midst of everything that work progresses. It is really amazing how the Lord's hand is in everything that we do. I am just going to leave it at that and then I will write a letter explaining myself because we have to go to transfer meeting.
Love,
Elder Haslam
PS Mom, I am sure it would be fine to forward Mahonri's emails and mine. I really want to hear from him and if you could send me his address I would appreciate it.
#1 Christmas gift: socks "you can never have too many pairs of socks" - Albus Dumbledor
Transfers
Dear Family,
So first off I am getting transferred to Camden, NJ. It is the city right across the river from Philly. I am really excited to go there. Everyone that I talked to that has served there says that they loved it. I am going down there with Elder Rhoton, who was a greenie last transfer so I will be senior companion. I was pretty surprised when I found out because I was pretty sure that I was going to be staying in New Brunswick for at least one more transfer with Elder Johnson but I guess not. I am going to moving down there next week Wednesday so I will put my new address at the end of this email so that you guys can just send everything to that apartment down there. I am going to miss New Brunswick because the people here are really great and I love all of the Hondurans that are in our branch here(especially their cooking). This past monday we had baleadas at la casa de la familia Paz, and they were really good. There are kinda like tacos but honduran style. They use flour tortillas and cover them in frijoles and then put in eggs, cheese, and sour cream in them. They were really good, I at five of them. I am not sure how to make them but I am sure if you look up on the internet how to do it you can find the recipe. And you can just buy flour tortillas and make everything else.
I fixed my bike and it is running really well. I went and bought a new chain so everything should be up to working order now. I have been told that I have to make some adjustments to my bike though so that it won't get stolen. I guess the missionaries usually wrap their bikes in trash bags so that the bikes look like they are not worth anything. I am also going to buy a new lock for my bike (probably a U-lock) so that I can lock my bike to the pole and then but the lock I have right now through my tires. It should be really fun so I am way excited to be going down there. Elder Ritchie (my trainer) with be my zone leader down there so it will be really cool to be around him again.
As far as news goes for the work of the Lord, it is amazing. This past week we found a really cool family and they are reading the book of mormon. It is always really cool to teach families because they are few and far between (the ones that are married at least). Usually most people are single and working here to support their families back in their own countries. And more often than not they break lots of commandments because they are lonely. But it is always really amazing to see the changes in people as they realize that the gospel is true and they want to follow it. There is a member in our branch who is from Nicaragua and his wife and daughter just got baptized back in his city there. And it is really incredible to see how excited he is to be able to go to the temple with them. He hasn't seen his family in 3 years and I love to listen to him talk about his wife. He is always really concerned about how they are doing and how he can be a better man to help them out. He says that he is going to go home in another year and that then they will all go through the temple together. His name is Denis, and I am so grateful to have gotten to know him.
That is the best part about being a missionary; seeing the hand of the Lord in other people's lives as they learn and grow in the gospel. Nothing has made me happier, and I am so glad that I have been given this opportunity to be a servant to the hispanics here in New Jersey.
I hope that everyone is doing well. And please spread the word that my address has changed, thankyou
Love,
Elder Haslam
Elder Haslam
One Market St. Apt #439
Camden, NJ 08102
So first off I am getting transferred to Camden, NJ. It is the city right across the river from Philly. I am really excited to go there. Everyone that I talked to that has served there says that they loved it. I am going down there with Elder Rhoton, who was a greenie last transfer so I will be senior companion. I was pretty surprised when I found out because I was pretty sure that I was going to be staying in New Brunswick for at least one more transfer with Elder Johnson but I guess not. I am going to moving down there next week Wednesday so I will put my new address at the end of this email so that you guys can just send everything to that apartment down there. I am going to miss New Brunswick because the people here are really great and I love all of the Hondurans that are in our branch here(especially their cooking). This past monday we had baleadas at la casa de la familia Paz, and they were really good. There are kinda like tacos but honduran style. They use flour tortillas and cover them in frijoles and then put in eggs, cheese, and sour cream in them. They were really good, I at five of them. I am not sure how to make them but I am sure if you look up on the internet how to do it you can find the recipe. And you can just buy flour tortillas and make everything else.
I fixed my bike and it is running really well. I went and bought a new chain so everything should be up to working order now. I have been told that I have to make some adjustments to my bike though so that it won't get stolen. I guess the missionaries usually wrap their bikes in trash bags so that the bikes look like they are not worth anything. I am also going to buy a new lock for my bike (probably a U-lock) so that I can lock my bike to the pole and then but the lock I have right now through my tires. It should be really fun so I am way excited to be going down there. Elder Ritchie (my trainer) with be my zone leader down there so it will be really cool to be around him again.
As far as news goes for the work of the Lord, it is amazing. This past week we found a really cool family and they are reading the book of mormon. It is always really cool to teach families because they are few and far between (the ones that are married at least). Usually most people are single and working here to support their families back in their own countries. And more often than not they break lots of commandments because they are lonely. But it is always really amazing to see the changes in people as they realize that the gospel is true and they want to follow it. There is a member in our branch who is from Nicaragua and his wife and daughter just got baptized back in his city there. And it is really incredible to see how excited he is to be able to go to the temple with them. He hasn't seen his family in 3 years and I love to listen to him talk about his wife. He is always really concerned about how they are doing and how he can be a better man to help them out. He says that he is going to go home in another year and that then they will all go through the temple together. His name is Denis, and I am so grateful to have gotten to know him.
That is the best part about being a missionary; seeing the hand of the Lord in other people's lives as they learn and grow in the gospel. Nothing has made me happier, and I am so glad that I have been given this opportunity to be a servant to the hispanics here in New Jersey.
I hope that everyone is doing well. And please spread the word that my address has changed, thankyou
Love,
Elder Haslam
Elder Haslam
One Market St. Apt #439
Camden, NJ 08102
Thanksgiving is tomorrow...
Dear Family,
So first an update on my foot. I am doing perfectly fine and it is healing up nicely and I took the stitches out this morning. It looks like it will be a pretty good scar. I am being careful on it but I am definitely not letting it slow me down at all.
In other news I have had some bike problems this past week that have left us stranded far from home. The first major problem that I had was that we were biking home form the far side of our area and I stood up to pedal fast through an intersection and as I tried to pedal my chain snapped. I was able to control the bike so that I didn't fall but the pedal did whip around and give me a big bruise on my thigh. So I got out of the road, picked up my chain, and we started walking. We walked for about 45 min before the english elders could bring me the bike tools I needed to fix the chain. I then tried for about a half an hour to fix my chain in the cold. I couldn't really do anything because a couple of the links in the chain had frozen up (the chain has had a lot of abuse) so we called a member to pick us up and our bikes. So by the time we got home about two hours had gone by and I was very cold and dirty. Sergio (the member) was nice enough to take us to the rest of our apointments that night. I came back that night and throughly cleaned my chain and put it back together. Unfortunately it was about 3 links too short so the next day I was limited on the gears I could use. But the bike made it all the way through the day until 7 pm last night. This time I was pedalling up a hill and the chain broke. Fortunately it was right next to our next cita so we just locked up our bikes and went in. So after that we walked home, it only took us about 30 min because parts of it were down hill and I could coast a good part of the way. So today we are going to go to the bike shop and buy a new chain. It was a pretty eventful week.
So this Thanksgiving I am grateful for warm jackets, helmets, and great members that are willing to help out the missionaries.
For dinner tomorrow we are going to a member's house. She is from El Salvador but goes to the english ward so we will see how it goes. We are having a preThanksgiving dinner tonight at a member's house (Hermana Paz) which I am very excited for. She is definitely one of the best cooks in the branch and is a really nice lady. She is always helping us out so last Sat. we went and cleaned out her garage for her. It was a huge mess so we went over in the morning and took everthing out, sweep it, threw lots away and then re-organized it. (Thanks Dad, saturday chores are helping me out) I really had a good time doing it and she made us hot chocolate which was nice especially since it was some in the high 30's outside.
It has definitely cooled off and the humidity will cut right through you if you are not careful. Thank you for the sweater it has really helped. When it is really cold I wear my longjohns, a white shirt, sweater, jacket, gloves, beanie, and scarf. I have gotten really good at wrapping my scarf and I can get it so that only my eyes show when I am riding my bike. I really love it here on the east coast. I have never been happier in my entire life.
We are teaching are really cool lady from Honduras, and she is going to be baptized on the 6th of Dec. It is really cool to she her take the steps to get ready to be baptized and she is really excited. She has a really crazy personailty but is pretty funny when you get talking to her. She told us a story about how a couple years back she got in a fight and broke another girl's nose. She is a live wire but willing to change in anyway so she can go to church and be baptized.
So I think that is the main news from out here in the east. I hope that everthing is going well back hope and that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Love,
Elder Haslam
So first an update on my foot. I am doing perfectly fine and it is healing up nicely and I took the stitches out this morning. It looks like it will be a pretty good scar. I am being careful on it but I am definitely not letting it slow me down at all.
In other news I have had some bike problems this past week that have left us stranded far from home. The first major problem that I had was that we were biking home form the far side of our area and I stood up to pedal fast through an intersection and as I tried to pedal my chain snapped. I was able to control the bike so that I didn't fall but the pedal did whip around and give me a big bruise on my thigh. So I got out of the road, picked up my chain, and we started walking. We walked for about 45 min before the english elders could bring me the bike tools I needed to fix the chain. I then tried for about a half an hour to fix my chain in the cold. I couldn't really do anything because a couple of the links in the chain had frozen up (the chain has had a lot of abuse) so we called a member to pick us up and our bikes. So by the time we got home about two hours had gone by and I was very cold and dirty. Sergio (the member) was nice enough to take us to the rest of our apointments that night. I came back that night and throughly cleaned my chain and put it back together. Unfortunately it was about 3 links too short so the next day I was limited on the gears I could use. But the bike made it all the way through the day until 7 pm last night. This time I was pedalling up a hill and the chain broke. Fortunately it was right next to our next cita so we just locked up our bikes and went in. So after that we walked home, it only took us about 30 min because parts of it were down hill and I could coast a good part of the way. So today we are going to go to the bike shop and buy a new chain. It was a pretty eventful week.
So this Thanksgiving I am grateful for warm jackets, helmets, and great members that are willing to help out the missionaries.
For dinner tomorrow we are going to a member's house. She is from El Salvador but goes to the english ward so we will see how it goes. We are having a preThanksgiving dinner tonight at a member's house (Hermana Paz) which I am very excited for. She is definitely one of the best cooks in the branch and is a really nice lady. She is always helping us out so last Sat. we went and cleaned out her garage for her. It was a huge mess so we went over in the morning and took everthing out, sweep it, threw lots away and then re-organized it. (Thanks Dad, saturday chores are helping me out) I really had a good time doing it and she made us hot chocolate which was nice especially since it was some in the high 30's outside.
It has definitely cooled off and the humidity will cut right through you if you are not careful. Thank you for the sweater it has really helped. When it is really cold I wear my longjohns, a white shirt, sweater, jacket, gloves, beanie, and scarf. I have gotten really good at wrapping my scarf and I can get it so that only my eyes show when I am riding my bike. I really love it here on the east coast. I have never been happier in my entire life.
We are teaching are really cool lady from Honduras, and she is going to be baptized on the 6th of Dec. It is really cool to she her take the steps to get ready to be baptized and she is really excited. She has a really crazy personailty but is pretty funny when you get talking to her. She told us a story about how a couple years back she got in a fight and broke another girl's nose. She is a live wire but willing to change in anyway so she can go to church and be baptized.
So I think that is the main news from out here in the east. I hope that everthing is going well back hope and that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Love,
Elder Haslam
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