No comp...? No prob.

Elder Haws, Elder Wimmer (ZL), y Elder Bolduc (amigo)

Week 19 (November 21, 2016)

Well HELLLLOOOO. This week was a little weird. my trainer, Elder Diaz, left for Cusco to serve! In the same day my companion was supposed to come. But he never showed up.. So we called the mission office and they told us that basically my companion didn´t exist. Woot. So this whole week I´ve been serving with my Zone Leaders, Elder Wimmer and Elder Melo! It´s been sick. 

This week we were walking around at like 7:30 at night one night, and we were just knocking doors having a good time! When these three little kids came running up to us and started talking to us. As missionaries its always kinda sketchy to just talk with kids because people will come up with any excuse to get you in trouble. lol. So kind of freaking out we talked with these kids. But from the house right in front of us came the grumpiest lady I´ve ever met. 

¨VAYANSE. SOMOS ADVENTISTAS. NO QUEREMOS MORMONES ACA. VAYANSE.¨

¨GET OUT OF HERE. WE´RE 7th DAY ADVENTISTS. WE DONT WANT MORMONS HERE. GET OUT OF HERE¨ 

I love that lady. 

Any ways my week has been quite boring. 

I´ve been able to study a lot though. I´ve been studying the Attributes of Christ. And it´s been incredible! What I´ve done is I´ve chosen one attribute that I want to develop. And I´ve prayed to get it. I´ve studied it. And I´ve tried to do it.

 

I TOTALLY RECOMMEND THIS. Not only am I coming to know my Savior! Im coming to love him even more each day. 

Mosiah 3:19 says that the natural man is an enemy to God. I´ve thought a lot about this. How can I get rid of that natural man inside of me? How can I be more like Christ? All you need to do is remember where you come from. Who were you before this life? I know you can´t remember that far back. But you can always have an expectation of who you want to be. I would encourage all of you, that that future is a future of hope. A future with the Gospel in your life and in your soul. Remember your Savior. And strive to be like him! 

Love you all BUNCHES. Keep your heads up and remember. I'm always watching. 

jk. See ya. 

Elder Haws y Elder Melo (otro ZL)

Yo

Gatito y yo

Hello from the other side

Week 18 (November 14, 2016)

Hi everyone whats crackalackin?! 

This week has been super boring. Nothing happened at all. 

Actually this happened. On Friday night we had a little mission night where the members could bring non member friends to get to know us. But our ward mission leader wanted some people from the ward to sing ¨A Child´s Prayer.¨ So being the only musically educated one in the ward I had to organize and teach it to them. (This is all in spanish btw.) I will tell you right now, that was one of the hardest things I´ve ever had to do. To get them to sing both of the parts at the same time was impossible. It was like teaching a bunch of lost puppies how to sing. It just doesn´t work. But. We pulled it off! And the night was a big success! 

Sunday we contacted people the entire day to reach a goal our president set. We were going all day long and we tripled what were initially supposed to do! It was great! We went back to our house at 9 to count up our weeks work. But then our Zone Leaders called, and told us that we were still short of the goal. So we went back out. Tired as can be. 

We saw one man walking towards us and I clearly heard the spirit tell me to contact him. I started the awkward salutation as always, but we quickly became comfortable talking to each other. He told me his name was Jorge. He then told me that he was a member of the church, but he had stopped attending in 2009 due to his job. And he never returned. He had been waiting for a way to find a way back because he didn´t know where to start. 

The spirit is so real.! We are going to be teaching Jorge this week! 

Today we had changes! My comp is leaving to serve in Cusco! And Im staying in Puno! But Im going to be training! yay. And im also the new district leader. Yay. 

#TheLordDoesntCallTheQualified,HeQualifiesTheCalled

Love you all so much! Hope all is well in the U.S. with Donald Trump. Let me know if he builds the wall. 

Hey EVereeeerrryyyybody. I've been here 17 weeks (November 7, 2016)

McDonalds in Cusco

Week 17

Hey everyone how´s is hanging?? 

This week was... weird! I got to travel back to Lima this week! It was great! 

Wednesday: We drove from Puno to Cusco which is 8 hours by bus. I met up with my friends from the CCM and we went and got McDonalds. Oh it was incredible. 

Thursday: We flew to Lima, got our Peruvian I.D´s, waited in the airport for 4 hours, ate Papa Johns, and Flew back to Cusco. We got to sleep extra because we were dead tired. 

Friday: Drove back to Puno. 

Yeah that was my little vacation this week! Sweet right? 

Anyways there isn´t a lot to talk about this week because not a lot happened. Like at all....

But I do wanna share something that happened during my personal study one day this week. I was listening to General Conference again and there was a talk by I think K. Brett Nattriss. That is an incredible talk. If you ever feel useless or worthless. Listen to this talk. 

He was telling a story about his childhood and how he was the bad child in the family. One morning, as always, his mom was reading to him parts of the Book of Mormon while he was eating. But as always, he wasn´t paying attention.

He had had enough, and burst out, ¨Why are you doing this to us?! Why do you read to us the Book of Mormon every morning.¨ And after this he uttered a phrase he was embarrassed to admit. ¨Mom. Im not listening.¨ 

His mom then responded, ¨Son, I was promised that if I read the Book of Mormon to my kids every morning. And if I would teach them the principles of the gospel. That they would grow up strong, and that I would not lose them. AND I WILL NOT LOSE YOU.¨ 

This phrase, ¨I will not lose you¨, hit my heart so hard. I not only could hear the voice of a servant of God saying this. But I felt God himself saying it. It hit me so hard that I started to cry. 

Heavenly Father´s goal is not for us to get lost, and for us to suffer and to bleed. Is that part of His plan? Yes! But His ultimate goal is for us to get back to His presence. 

HE WILL NOT LOSE YOU. 

I love you all so much and hope all is well back in the USA (: 

Bye!!

A week of ... I don't even know

Week 16 (October 31, 2016)

Wykees ("brother" in Quechua)

So this week was INTERESTING. 

First off I want to testify of Priesthood power and the reality of it. This week we´ve had some pretty interesting things happening at our house. One night while Elder Fawcett(one of the missionaries I live with) was showering and he thought he heard someone calling his name. So when he got out he asked me if I was doing it, but it wasn´t me or his companion or anyone in the house. None of us heard it. The next night I was sleeping and for some reason I woke up in the middle of the night. But I heard one of our windows opening and shutting, so I went to check it out. To my surprise I walked out to a window opening and shutting by itself. The next night us Elders decided to talk to the lady we lived with about it. And we found out that she is in possession of a whuigi board (or however you spell it.) So in a panic Elder Fawcitt and I offered a Priesthood blessing on the house. We have not had a problem since then. The Priesthood is very real. 

Apart from that this week has been really calm. Nothing big has happened other than President is raising our standard of missionary work a ton. We have a lot of work to do here. 

One thing I was studying a lot this week was this past general conference! What an amazing conference. One talk that really stands out to me is President Uchtdorf in his Saturday morning talk. He talks about the sweet message of the Gospel. And how some may have started to take it for granted. Do we take this message for granted? Do we truly show gratitude every week by taking the sacrement worthily? And truly trying to move forward and progress? Listen to the talk! Its amazing. 

Another talk I loved was Neil L. Anderson´s talk. He talked about missionary work. And how it is no longer only on our (the missionaries) shoulders. It is everyone´s responsiblity now. One thing thats different here than back at home is the member´s invovlement with the missionaries. Oh how I wish it was like that at home. The people here live what they belive. They make every effort to go with the missionaries, to share the gospel, to be an example of the believers. 

If you are a part of this gospel, share it. If not, I challenge you to listen to those who carry it in the lives. Read the Book of Mormon! 

You are all amazing!! I love you all. 

We got to go to the floating islands of Puno today! (Los Uros) I´ll be sending some pictures! 

I bought a Five Guy's hat

Four gringos in a mirror

I'm the captain now

Los Uros (well...one island)

Spirit animals

Jump around

Baptism, President Came, and Friends From CCM

 Week 15 (October 24,2016)
 

Our Baptisms

Well.. This week was the most interesting week yet of the mission!! A lot happened so I´ll do my best to tell you all what happened! 

Elder Haws with Sister and Presidente Herrera

This week our mission president, President Herrera came to Puno!! He spoke to all of the zones of the Puno regions. We had interviews and he is probably one of the best people I have ever met! He is the best! 

Elders Fawcett, Haws, Hatfield, and Coil!

I got to see Elders Hatfield, and Coil this week! They were in my group from the MTC and we´re all such good friends! It was super sweet!! 

This week we had baptisms. Not just one but 5. It was incredible experience to see 5 of Heavenly Father´s children come to know him and enter the waters of baptism. I got to baptize and confirm our 11 year old investigator, Sandro! He and I are the best of buddies and before our Zone leaders could ask him who he wanted to baptize him, He asked for me to baptize him! It was the best. But yeah, 5 baptisms! What a day it was! I´ll send pictures of these wonderful people later(: 

Anyways, on Saturday (the day of the baptism) we couldn´t figure out how to work the baptismal font pump. We probably spent 4 hours figuring it out. But we finally got it right hahaha. This week I have a lot of pictures and not much to say.. Weird haha... I´ll send those here in a sec.

Love you all! Have a GREAT week!!!!! 

Me and my pensionista's husband

I got bored while my companion was interviewing.

One of the dance festivals they do every weekend here

What's up party people

Week 14

Hola que tal todos!? 

(Hey everyone hows it goin?)

Well thats another week in the books. 

This week I am having my first two baptisms!! If you remember me talking about the Alferez family a few weeks ago, they have committed to follow Christ and enter the waters of baptism! I`ll have pictures next week!! Im STOKED. 

Our mission President announced he`s coming to Puno last week, but we`re not sure when. So in a panic we cleaned our entire house out in fear of him coming and seeing our house. Woooo good times.

So lately I`ve been really into collecting Peru coins. Like the USA quarters, there are special coins you can find. So Elder Fawcett (The other white guy I live with) and I have been going crazy. We`ve been asking people to trade coins on the street, and then start a contact, we ask our investigators to see their coins, (Probably not the best idea, but its ok because everyone leaves happy after the coin swap) we also ask our ward members. It`s intense. Elder Fawcett and I are having a race. I`m losing right now. But I`ll catch up. 

The weather is nuts. One day it rains like nothing else on this planet and the next day its blazing hot. I dont get it. 

We play futbol every Pday and Im getting gooooood. Today my team went undefeated. Whats up. 

My fam sent me a package and I got american candy. Hehehe. Yay. 

In all honesty this week was kinda slow. Im praying for an exciting one Next week! 

The Lord`s hand is very clear here. We can see it everyday. I love this gopsel and Im so happy to be a representative of the one who gave it to us. Jesus Christ lives. He is very much alive and guides his church today, not only the leaders but everyone in it. Especially the wonderful people here in Peru.

I love you all so much!! You are my strength when I need it! Keep being coooool. 

Con todo el amor del mundo,

It's really really rainy

Week 13

Howdy ya´ll I hope everything is crackalackin like never before in the states with Hilarry and Donald. People are obssessed with them here and I can´t understand why. I´ve had people try and lecture me about my own country. 

So it´s been raining quite a bit. Last night we had quite the storm while my comp and I were walking to an appointment we had on the other side of our sector. We´re walking and it started to sprinkle, and then in started to drizzle, and then... It was like heaven was taking a shower. Holy crap. Within minutes the streets flooded, my shoes were flooded, and I was sopping wet. It was amazing. I love the rain. Lightning is also a very prominent thing here. And the thunder is very loud. Very loud...

List of weird things I ate this week:

- Chicken feet (again)

- Tongue

- A deep fried fish. (head and all) 

As many of you know, I am a drummer, and since being gone, I haven´t been able to play the drums for about 3 months now. Well this week the drought ended and I found a drum kit to play. And oh my goodness how I have missed it. 

This week was an interesting one that´s for sure, but what week isn´t interesting here? The people we teach are humble, some houses we enter are basically mud, with not a lot inside. Others are just humble, and the families are too. People are nice, people are rude, people accept our message and a lot of the time they don´t. If I could sum up this mission so far, it´s learning. Not a day goes by where I´m not challenged in some way. And not a day goes by without some kind of experience.  I´ve seen so many amazing things here.  One of the amazing things I´ve seen, though, is how people change. People have changed their lives to follow Jesus Christ here. Not because of me. Not because Im white. Not because they don´t have anything better to do. Because they love the Savior. Because they have realized he´s been there all along.   If you haven´t realized this yet, please do. Please just take the time to look around and see Him. He´s in every thing you do. He loves you. And he´s waiting to embrace you with open arms and welcome hands. 

I love you all and I pray for you. Keep living and breathing and loving(: