July 18, 2011 - Letter to Family

Picture of Cáceres

Haha so I had a pretty eventful week this week.

First off a funny story that is pretty cool actually.  So this last Thursday my companion and I decide to make a Spanish meal called tortilla de patata and it requires a lot of oil to cook it all.  So we cook all the onions and potatoes (is that how you spell it? I don´t remember it in English anymore).  So yeah after that we have a whole bunch of hot oil we don´t need; so my companion grabs this big glass pitcher we have.  Puts the oil in the pitcher scalding hot and 20 seconds later as I am standing right next to the pitcher it sounds like a bomb blew up!!! The pitcher blew up and shot shards of glass at high speed everywhere including hot oil.  So you are probably wondering what happened to me because I should have glass shards stuck in my body and my skin should be burnt off.  But no the Lord loves me!!  Nothing happened to me besides a piece of glass shot and hit my ear and cut it and my finger!!  Somehow nothing else happened to me.  I have a picture of our kitchen.  I really felt the spirit not gonna lie I should have gotten hurt I was right in front of the pitcher when it blew up!  By the way that was the worst mess in the world to clean up.  Oil and shards of glass everywhere!  I would rather go back to foothill and clean up poop off the floor.  Good times I miss foothill haha.



The remains of the blown up picture

So also this week our Zone leaders came and visited us and stayed the night with us Tuesday night and we had companion exchanges.  I got to serve with one of the zone leaders all day and lead all the lessons and talk and all that by myself for once!  It was awesome and I did a good job speaking the language and teaching!  It is probably one of the best times I have ever taught in my entire life along with last week in Badajoz with Elder Manning.  I learned a lot with the zone leader and he said I am a good missionary! haha

President Clegg and Elder Shaver

 Next thing that happened this week that was really cool is Friday morning President and Hermana Clegg came to our piso and we taught them a lesson.  The lesson is called lesson 0 and we teach a review of all the lessons we teach as missionaries!  They said we taught the best restoration they have heard in the WHOLE mission!!! So that is the picture of us with President Clegg.  I love them so much they are the best people I have met!  Hermana Clegg treats us like her sons she actually feels like a mom kinda!!  So that was good to hear and they are proud of us and said our piso is super clean.  Oh piso is apartment, and Hermana means sister.

Second thing so this girl of a recent convert said she wants to be baptized before we leave and she is the sweetest girl I have ever met!!  Her name is Sofia and she said we are her missionaries and she wants to be baptized before we leave Cáceres!!!! 

So Liliana couldn´t baptize this week because the lady that was covering for her this Sunday quit!!! But she will have someone cover for her some Sunday this month! She had her interview and everything and they said she is super ready!!  So we are excited; keep praying for her please!!

So the mom and the boys are not progressing.  But the one boy that likes me a lot he is 13 or 14 just showed up to church and he says he reads all the time.  But the mom, we can tell doesn´t really want anything to do with us.  We know that the boys think it´s true but the mom we can´t break her.  We have tried everything we can think of!!

Receiving another box of Books of Mormon

So a couple of things I need mother.  More tooth paste and things to burn my wart off my arm.  It´s getting big and that cream doesn´t do jack crap!  So could you send a mini package to me with that stuff and pictures of me playing soccer and swimming???  Please I love you!!!!!!  Oh a couple of fast breaks wouldn’t hurt and a love note.

So this morning I finished the BOOK OF MORMON holy crap that book is true it’s my favorite!  I love it with a passion I want to read it 5 times on my mission.

So that was my week a lot of stuff I am doing good and the time is flying by!!

Cody

July 11, 2011 - Family Email

Carlos, Elder Shaver, and Me

Hey errrrbody,

So this week was crazy and great! A lot happened and I only have a little time to tell you all!

So first off Badajoz was a freaking blast!!!!! Me and Elder Manning worked so hard together and had a lot of fun. Not only did we work hard and have fun I have never taught with the spirit like that before. We taught two gorgeous girls while I was there. One of them liked me a lot. Her name is Irina and she thinks she has seem me before. She kept saying that a lot. We taught her super good with the spirit it was super cool. She hasn't been coming to church and all that and she has a baptismal date but Elder Manning told me that she went to church yesterday!! So good I am glad I got to help with that a little. I had a lot of fun and Elder Manning is a brother to me for life. The one picture is of me in Badajoz; the others the baptism with Carlos.

Badajoz, Spain

So Liliana is going to be baptized this Sunday! A miracle happened. This lady had to leave for vacation for 15 days so Liliana got to come to the baptism of Carlos and come to church this last Sunday. President Clegg told us just to baptize her. So Sunday we get to dunk her into the water. I am so excited and she is the bomb. We have been teaching her for 10 weeks!! So there will be new photos this next p-day of baptisms again!! We are going to plan her baptism in about 30 minutes haha! So we will see who she wants to baptize her. It will be Elder Shaver I bet, he deserves it! I hope I don´t have to give her the Holy Ghost that is super scary! But Liliana is amazing and I love her!

Carlos and Me (He's originally from Brazil)

 The baptism of Carlos was awesome, none of his family showed up though that was kinda sad. But the ward will be his new family. He is a little dramatic sometimes. He is really mad at us today because we didn´t go eat Burger King with him! haha we have stuff we have to do! He doesn´t realize how busy we are! I am sorry I am having a really hard time typing today a lot. I am sorry I am trying my hardest I feel horrible. I am also out of time almost.

Setting up the baptismal font

So we are probably going to have to drop the two boys and the mom. They aren´t progressing at all. The aren´t coming to church and only the boys will read their scriptures. We are pretty positive the mom wants nothing to do with us anymore. We tried everything with them. This last week we didn´t talk to them for like 5 days and the 14 year old called and asked where we were. Its sad the boy want to progress. We are going to have a talk with them tomorrow. Well I love you all!!!!!!!!

Carlos' Baptism



Carlos' Baptism with the ward family


¡OS QUIERO!
Elder Hafen

July 4, 2011 - Family Email

Hello Family,

How are all of you?  I am doing great!  Anyways so this week was good but, nothing too crazy happened. 

Elders Manning and Peterson

So Carlos is doing really good and he loves everything that we teach him.  He loves the Bible and reads it a lot.  But he believes the Book of Mormon too.  This Saturday he is going to be baptized.  Elder Clegg is going to baptize him.  Elder Clegg is a senior companion and he used to be President of the Lisbon Portugal Mission.  Anyways they visited us last Sunday and got really close with Carlos so he wants Elder Clegg to baptize him.  We have pretty much taught Carlos everything and he is super ready, he´s just a miracle.  He wrote me a big old letter and it was so sweet he loves us so much!!  The mom and the kids are...well they are okay we try everything we can but they just don´t think our message is important or something.   I love those two boys so much it breaks my heart.  Last time we taught them which was Thursday I believe (just the boys) the mom was at work but, I had to tell them if they don´t start progressing and pray and read and find out if this church is true for themselves we can´t teach them anymore and I started crying.  I was crying!! I think they listened though and understood that this message is important and only through this gospel they can live together forever.  I love those kids so much it will kill me if we have to drop them because we can´t waste our time with people that don´t want to listen.  Other than that our other investigators are doing really well.  I think we will baptize Liliana soon even though she works Sundays because she wants to be baptized and she has come to our church a lot before she started working.  But we are going to wait and pray for her job situation to change.

So tomorrow I get the opportunity to go to Badajoz and live with Elder Manning and his companion for 2 days because Elder Shaver has to go to Málaga for district leader training.  I am STOKED I love Elder Manning and I am excited to work with him in the field with his investigators.  I get to do a service project while I am out there too.

So this last week I had to buy a new camera card because the other one is jacked up or something.  Like the pictures are there I just cannot see them or view them.  So I got a new card with 8 GB so this new card is nice and it should work without problems. 

They language gets better every day and I teach a little better every time.  I am tearing apart the Book of Mormon I am in the Book of Mormon and I am almost done with it.

This picture is of our district leader leaving Badajoz, he trained Elder Manning and this is his new companion Elder Barret from Dallas, Texas.  Good guys I love them.

Mom and Dad I LOVE you so much and miss you more than you think.