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
Sunday, April 5, 2009
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
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