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.