The most trunkiest time of the year

Week 23 (December 19, 2016)

My CCM group at our Christmas lunch

Hellllooo everybody!! How is life back the USofA??

Well, this week is Christmas. The most trunkiest time of the year. Also the best time of year!! There's no snow here, so it´ll be a green Christmas for me, but the best thing isn't the snow, it isn't the things we get on Christmas. Being here I won´t have any of that. But that's not important to me. What's important is Jesus Christ. What's important is that we remember him. And that we give him our hearts. Being his servant here in Peru, I´ve learned a lot about Him. Who He is. What His role is in our lives. And what He does for us. What's important is not only that we focus on his birth, but that we focus on His life. His purpose was to give us purpose. His life, he gave, so we could be free from sadness and sin and heartbreak. I know He lives. I know he went through more suffering than we can imagine. I love Him. 

This week we had our Christmas lunch with a few zones from our missions! It was so much fun, we all did a skit, a musical number, and we made a video! It's so cool to be here, and to know that I represent Christ along with all these other missionaries! 

This past week has been weird. 

No one has wanted to listen us at all. We maybe had 5 appointments all week long. Not good. But we made up the rough times with some laid back fun. 

For the Christmas lunch, I was put in charge of making the video. So I´ve been spending a lot of time on that. It took me about two days to make it because the computers here are SO AMAZING. Not. But it took me right back to making videos for SilverScreen at good ole Riverton High School. Good times. 

My zone

Everyday there is a pack of dogs that poop in front of our house, and Elder Fawcett and I got really sick of it. So we found water balloons that someone had left in the house and we had the best idea we´ve ever had. We started throwing water balloons at the dang dogs. It's hilarious. There haven't been dogs since, other than dogs who live across the street... hahahaha.

Hopefully next week is better because that's about all I´ve got for ya´ll this week. 

See ya´ll!!! 

My district

I think I should get glasses

I got a custom Twentyone Pilots tie

No more less actives?

Week 22 (December 12, 2016)

Hey everybody hows it going?! Hope its going great for you Riverton people with Silver Rush happening and all. I miss that time of year! 

This week has been a little crazy and full of rejections! But that's kind of just how it goes in the mission! 

Tuesday we had our zone conference. And we had a bombshell dropped on us. The area 70 here doesn't think the members are doing enough. So, there's a huge emphasis being put on home teaching. One of the movements happening is that us as missionaries aren´t going to visiting less actives anymore. Its not a goal for us anymore. When the zone leaders told us this we were kind of shocked, the members have a lot more responsibility now. 

 

So. We lost about half the people we have been teaching. And we went out searching for more investigators. And I can tell now that it has not been easy. A lot doors slammed in our faces, a lot of ¨interested¨ people who give us fake addresses and phone numbers. And we haven't had anyone to talk to.

 

So why am I just giving a really sad email with no success involved? Because that's the truth. Friday we had our multizone conference with all the missionaries from Sicuani (6 hours from Puno), Juliaca (1 hour from Puno), and Bellavista (0 hours from Puno). It was incredible. Elder Godoy, the president of the area 70 came and spoke to us. He's from Brasil. He speaks three languages including English, and he loves cars. Like all the other General authorities of the church we got to shake his hand and tell him where we are from. That's it. But he taught us some cool stuff. But that's not what I'm trying to get to. 

After the conference was over we went into the other side of the chapel and we waited for our dinner to come. While we waited I talked with some of my friends in the mission, when the AP elder came up to me and told me, ¨Hey Elder Haws, Elder Godoy wants to talk with you.¨ 

¨.... What..?¨ That was my response. Why would the President of the area ask for my name specifically out of 100 missionaries there? 

Well, I can tell you right now that God knew I needed that interview. I don´t know how Elder Godoy knew my name, But I know God does, and God knew I needed a little encouragement. 

The reality is that the mission is hard. But every once in a while you´ll see a little miracle. And you´ll just know that you're there for something. 

Rain is Real

Week 21 (December 5, 2016)

Hello everybody how is it going???? This week has honestly been just a big blur, I'm starting to lose track of time which I think is a good thing!! I only have a few experiences this week that were awesome, one kinda funny, and the other really spiritual. It's also been raining every single day this week without fail. Which has been super duper. 

Me and my comp were walking down the street to go to a lesson when this drunk guy came walking up behind us (I have no idea how, because we always walk extremely fast as missionaries.) anyways this guy came up behind me and put his arm on my shoulder, which was funny because I'm about 5 inches taller than the average Peruvian, but his breath as you know was horrible. He had some nasty crap on his face, I couldn't figure out what it was. But it looked like poop. Anyways I start talking to this guy and he tells me, ¨Its a good thing that we have repentance because I need it.¨ (Say that in a drunk voice, its funny) I told him that we were missionaries and our job was to help others repent and come unto to Christ when at that point he stopped walking, and we looked at each other in the eyes for about a good 5 minutes. Super awkward. I then asked him where he lived, and He very cheerfully said ¨The bar¨ and trotted off like nothing ever happened. I love drunk people. 
This was a cool experience, 

When my old comp left, he left me with nobody to teach, so we´ve been going like crazy finding people to teach. This week we knocked the door of an evangelist. But she was actually very willing to listen to us, so we set an appointment to teach for Saturday. Not really knowing where the lesson was going to go we went on Saturday and we taught. We taught with authority. I felt super strongly that I needed to tell her about Joseph Smith. So I started with how Jesus Christ started his church, but it fell away because the people rejected it. And killed Christ and his apostles over time. When I got to where Joseph Smith had the first vision the spirit flooded the room. The lady started to sweat, and she looked really nervous like she had never felt something like this before. We asked her to pray to see if the things we said were true, and she said she would. We hope that she will. Because I know she felt something. And she knows it too. 

We have had a lot of things happen to us this week. From being completely rained out to where no one wanted anything to do with us, to people stopping us on the street asking for blessings, asking to come closer to Christ. And even teaching people who want nothing to do with you, but are too nice to say otherwise. 

It's really cool out here. I miss you all. See you around.

Food Poisoning and Thanksgiving. Then Birthday

Me and my birthday cake

Week 20 (November 28, 2016)

Well hey there all my good pals from home. 

This week has been an interesting one for me.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes this week!! It means so much to me(: Weird... I´m 19....

I GOT MY COMP! His name is Elder Caal, He´s from Guatemala and hes a really really good guy. Im training him and he is 25 years old, so lots of pressure now. He came on Thursday and hes crazy for contacting people. We´ll be rushing to an appointment and he´ll just suddenly stop to talk to someone. What a guy. I have a lot to learn from him! 

Food Poisoning...

On Monday night of this week, our pensionista left our food sitting out for who knows how long. And we all (The Zone Leaders and two other Elders) got food poisoning. What a wonderful disease. Let me tell ya. I think I lost about 4 pounds from it. (Which is good because I'm getting fat.) So from that disease I was down and OUT. In bed for 4 days. My comp came and I had to rest. Whoops. 

Thanksgiving...

Thursday as you all obviously know was Thanksgiving. The best Holiday of the year. There's a family in my ward that lived in Salt Lake City for 8 years, and they love Thanksgiving. So they invited us over to eat! We shared a nice evening with them and talked about our homes, and what we´re all grateful for. I said I was grateful for health, as I was squirming trying to keep my stomach from exploding. (Don't get food poisoning). Thankfully I was able to choke down a piece of Turkey which didn´t taste like it at all. And some rice. (We had rice for thanksgiving. come on Peru.) But it was a good night to remember what I´m really thankful for; family, friends, and the Gospel. And my dog. 

Anyways I love you all so much. 

If Im being honest these have the most testing (almost) 5 months of my life. I never thought that I would actually be doing this, until I was actually doing it. Its hard, but it is so rewarding.! 

Here is my poem for the week:

Puno is wonderful, 

The people are semi-nice.

We are working our tails off.

But people still have agency. 

If there's one thing I´ve learned this week its patience and that happiness is a choice. You can either wake up and say, ¨Yeah today sucks, I don't wanna do anything.¨ Or you can wake up and say, ¨Well, What am I gonna experience today?¨ What am I gonna learn today? How can I grow my testimony today? You guys the most important things in life are the things of God. Not your phone, your possessions, or your money. Sure those are important today to us. And SUPER useful. But God can give and take as he pleases. I´ve seen people here who have nothing, and I´ve seen people who´ve got it all (For someone in Peru). But the only happy people in life are the ones who know who they are and where they come from. So put a smile on that face. And don't ever take it off. 

Love you all! 

My Peruvian family and my birthday

They shoved my face in a cake

Beautiful Puno

Just feeling artistic

We went on a hike this morning to a big condor statue