Carnival

Week 33 (February 27, 2017)

Pierina got baptized!!

Yes, that is a guinea pig! (cuy chactado)

Hey, ya'll hows it goin? This week was pretty exciting.  I'll do my best to tell you a bit about it.

It started off with divisions with our district leaders.  I went with Elder Castaneda from Ecuador.  He is an awesome guy.  He is going home in May so he has a lot of time compared to me, but he is one of my best mission friends.  It was good to work with him a little bit.

We went and taught some of our old investigators that we had to pass on to Elder Castaneda.  I've mentioned them before I think, Grizelda and Jorge.  They are really trying to find a way to be able to attend our ward in Santiago.  Anyways we were there talking about Jorge's baptism and how they got permission to have their baptism done in my church then Jorge turns to me and asks me if I would baptize him....... what the heck, Elder Castaneda was a little bummed. 

Then after I went on divisions with Castaneda, I got to go with Elder Skousen.  Elder Skousen is from draper.  He just so happens to live in my cousin's ward.  Small world.  But we contacted a few people, had really trunky talks and had a lesson.  Well, kind of.  Every single day it rains.  It's horrible but E' Skousen and I were in this lesson and it started to rain.  Little by little, the storm got heavier and heavier.  Within minutes, hail started coming down.  The house we were in had a tin roof so the noise was incredible. Then the hail only got louder and louder and louder.  To the point where we were yelling and we still couldn't hear even ourselves. Peru is cool guys.

This one'll freak mom out, lol. 

We decided one evening to take the bus and drive up to "Alto Cusco".  The part of the city that sits on the hills.  And all the people who live there are all so poor.  We went to visit an old investigator named Moises.  His house is a mud/adobe house.  There is no drywall, paint or furniture.  Just a small room for a kitchen, a bedroom, a big open space in the middle, and chickens running around everywhere.  It was the most humble house I've ever been in.  What was even more humbling was the kindness that Moises had for us.  The first thing he did was make sure we had somewhere to sit down then he fixed us a meal of chicken, rice, and potatoes.  He wasn't at all worried about who we were,  he treated us better than I've ever been treated ever.  

That's where the chickens come in....  Moises dished up our food and we closed our eyes to say the prayer.  About halfway into the prayer, I felt something staring into my soul.  I opened my eyes and slowly looked up. Only to find the biggest rooster I've ever seen staring into my eyes.  After about 5 seconds of eye contact, the flipping rooster started chowing down on my food.   "Oh flip, what do I do."  I sat helplessly and watched this bird with razor sharp claws go ham on my precious meal.  And it only gets worse.... Moises shooed the dang bird away and we all just laughed about it.  But apparently its normal for that to happen.  I expected Moises to take my plate or something but he didn't.  He instead just said "sirvense". (serve yourselves, or, eat)  So, yes, I ate it all.  No, I'm not dead but I'm expecting illness soon.  

Today was Carnaval.  A big water fight.  Everyone was carrying around squirt guns, foam spray cans, and water balloons.  I have never been so terrified in my life to go outside.  These people soaked everything that moved.  We were just giant targets in white shirts.  We were literally chased by a group of young girls armed with buckets of water.  It was horrifying.  I have bruises from water balloons.  

Peru is sweet man.

Anyways, I love you all so much, I'm doing great.  Have an awesome week.

Elder Haws

I Didn't Know It Was Valentine's Day

Week 32  (February 20, 2017)

CCM Friends

Well, it took going on a mission to get away from Valentines Day. Lol.  I had no idea until today.  Woohoo, that's a great thing :)

This week was sweet.  Last Sunday (not yesterday) a guy came to church.  No one had any idea who he was so we talked to him and set an appointment to teach.  To our surprise, his girlfriend was there and she is a less active member.  She told him about the church and he decided to go.  They have a wedding date already set and he is going to get baptized on the very same day.  His name is Jorge Apriza and he was our little miracle this week.  

On Tuesday we had our leadership conference.  All the zone leaders came to Cusco and we helped resolve problems in the mission and we received training from Presidente Herrera and a man from California named Brother Packard.  Brother Packard was a mission president in Chile in the 90's and he is awesome! He got his mission to go from 5-10 baptisms to 60-70 every month and he taught us how to do it.  I won't write it right now, but if you want to know let me know.  He taught the significance of wearing the name of Christ on our chests.  It has impacted me a lot.  When Christ ordained his apostles, he gave them power to cast out devils, to heal the sick and perform miracles. (Luke 9:1-2) But the Book of Mormon helps us understand that they did it in His name.  (3 Nephi 7:19-20)  With just two words and this authority, as missionaries, we can do this.  Use the name of the person who has created us all, and saved us all and do as he did.  The two most powerful words in the universe, we use, wear and represent.  How amazing is that?

My new sector is poor.  This week we visited a family, they had nothing. They didn't even have a floor, it was completely dirt.  Their lights went out two weeks ago and they can't afford to get them back on.  If you guys could see what I have seen..... Idk where I was going with that, but we are so blessed to have what we have.  

Our investigator Pierina is getting baptized.  She passed her interview on Saturday and she is so flipping ready.  Elder Montero told me that she was very difficult when I got here too but now she's getting baptized!!

It still amazes me how every day can be so different.  We live the same schedule and do the same stuff, but we get different results. 

I feel like I write the same stuff every week.  Sorry about that.  I'm running out of material.  Anyways, love you all so much, see ya later!

Elder Haws

D&C 63: 7-10

p.s.  Ya'll know Jake Skousen right?  Well, he's in my zone.  We talked about Ian, Elder Skousen loves him!  But yeah, I'm his zone leader.  He's a good kid.  

(Elder Skousen is from cousin Ian Myers ward in Draper)

Hi, Welcome to Cusco

Week 31 (February 13, 2017)

Well, I'm now in the city of Cusco itself and holy cow it's amazing! I love Cusco so much.  It is absolutely gorgeous.  The view from my house is incredible, even though there is a big building in the way.

This week was a little crazy, we had to go and pick up all the missionaries who had changed to Cusco, or who were just passing through.  So all day on Wednesday and Thursday we were stuck doing that.

My new zone is huge.  There are 20 missionaries in it and the sectors stretch from the center of Cusco to Urubamba, which is about an hour and a half away.  It's big.  My sectors name is "Santiago" and its been a big change from Puno, but it's awesome! and my zone is "Zona Cusco".

My companion, Elder Montero is the freaking best.  I love this guy.  He's not crazy, or prideful, but he is humble, and a very loving person.  I'm so happy to have a good comp.  My new pensionista is Marilena.  She's a spunky grandma.  Quite a change from Hermana Shirley.  But I'll get used to it. 

We've had quite a few experiences this week that have been quite eye opening.  I'll start with Katy.  Katy is an investigator that Elder Monti (Montero's nickname) found a week before I got here.  She is incredibly intelligent, but also incredibly self-contradictory.  In our lesson this week she started by saying she doesn't believe in God.  Great, I'll be honest, I was kind of mad at her.  I wanted to right then and there give her all the reasons why God exists.  All the undeniable facts.  She told us that there was no concrete method to know that he exists and that no one has seen him so why should we believe.  She told us that evolution was the best explanation for life that there is.  At this point, I was just ready to blow up.  She wouldn't listen to us.  But Elder Monti took over, or should I say the spirit took over.  Elder Monti was patient.  All he did was ask her questions.  He made sure that we understood what she felt when all I wanted to do was inflict what we felt and knew upon her.  In the process of this whole conflict, Katy started feeling something.  Her whole demeanor changed and she started to look confused.  She felt the spirit testifying to her that God exists.  But she is stubborn and she tried to deny it.  She tried to repeat what she said at the beginning of the lesson but her words were hollow.  At the end, we finally got her to say, "fine, I'll pray". That was difficult, haha, but I learned a lot about myself in that short moment.

Elder Monti

We have an investigator named Pierina, she is awesome.  She is going to get baptized on February 25th.  She is a very straight forward person.  She says what is on her mind and is not afraid to voice her opinion.  This week someone tried to rob her on the street, but she fought whoever it was, off.  She is the freaking best.  But yeah, that's Pierina.  I've mad a lot of fast friends here, and I know I'm supposed to be here.  

Scriptures of the week

D&C 111:8

Alma 32:21, 27-28

2 Kings 2:23-25

Elder Haws

Welcome to Cusco

Salchipapas (sliced hot dog and french fries)

The streets of Cusco

Transfers!

Week 30 (February 6, 2017)

Well, another week has gone by and it was my last week in Puno! That's right, I'm leaving Puno Central after 6 months and I'm going to Cusco! But, I'm also going to be a zone leader.  Soooo.... that's a new adventure for sure.  I'm really nervous for that, but if it's what the Lord sees as necessary, then sweet. Lol.

Basically, this week my comp went to Cusco to sign his papers to live here and stuff so I was forced to go work in another sector.  This week we got 2 more baptismal dates.  Right now everyone in Puno is participating in a huge party, dancing, cultural, religious thing they call the Candelaria.  It's ridiculous because everyone just drinks and stuff.  So, today we are locked up in the church and we can't leave that's how bad it is.  Woohoo.

The coolest thing happened though this week.  On Monday right after we got off email, I got a call from one of our investigators named Jose.  He told me that he wanted to get baptized this week.  Crazy Cool.  But I was kind of freaking out because he hadn't had all of the lessons to that point.  So the next day we had to teach him all of the commandments and have his baptismal interview.  He passed it all and got baptized Sunday (yesterday).  We had 2 baptisms on Sunday, one was Jose and the other was Jorge, a little boy we have been teaching.  He is crazy and the best.  He looks like he's five but I promise that he's 8.

Basically every day we do the same thing.  Wake up, study, proselytize, have meetings and go to bed.  Then do it all again the next day!  It's awesome, you get people who will listen to you and other people who will slam the door in your face.  It's great.  The most rewarding thing that we do as missionaries is teach and know that we are making a difference in someone else's life.  That were helping them discover who they are as children of God.  What an amazing feeling.  It can be hard, but all the hard is so worth it. 

That's life here! I love you all so much, and I'll talk to you next week! 

Elder Haws

This could be my last week in Puno

Week 29 (January 30, 2017)

Heeey all you party people. How´s it goin???? I really don´t have much to write about this week. Nothing that huge happened. Like I promised I´ll be sending double the pictures this week so get excited. 

Honestly, the week started off normal, we taught lessons, we contacted people, we studied, we had meetings. And it stayed that way for the most part. We got a new investigator this week named Yuri. She is a super nice girl. About my age, and seemed really interested in listening to what we had to say. But when we taught the first lesson to her, she basically paid no attention to us. Hahaha. Good times. 

This week starts the biggest apostasy party in Peru. It's called the virgen de la Candelaria and it's just a giant cultural dance thing. They dress up in really skanky dresses and dance, tourists come from all over the world to see this thing. Like all parties here, the main purpose is to be able to drink. And drink. and drink some more. What fun. :( 

The daily life of a missionary is kind of nuts. We wake up and we study. We go out and talk to people, eat our meals, and take care of our ward. You go home and go to bed and repeat it all over again the next day. It's such a repetitive schedule. Yet somehow every single day is different. The Lord keeps you going. And It's been really interesting to see that every single person has a distinct story. No one ever has the same experiences. You are completely unique. And yet the Lord knows you perfectly. He knows your needs, he knows your pains. And he will do everything he can, to pick up the pieces of ourselves that this world leaves behind. His grace is endless. Our job is to emulate who he is. To reach out to others. As he says in 3 Nephi 27:27. We ought to be as he is. We know we cannot be perfect. But that's what grace is. It carries us to the destination of perfect, even if we are 30 miles short. 

Love you all! hope everything is well! 

Best week in the mission? Maybe...

Week 28 (January 23, 2017)

This week was incredible!!!! I had more success than I`ve had any other week. This has been an awesome week. It started off kind of slow. Monday all of our appointments fell (which is normal for Peru) and we just contacted all day. But it all started on Tuesday. We visited our investigator Enrique, and we taught him about the doctrine of christ. And then we invited him to baptism and he accepted!! Hopefully, he follows through with it!! 

Wednesday we contacted three awesome people who all seemed pretty enthused to learn about the gospel.

Thursday was great. I got to go on splits with my district, and this time I went with my pal Elder Bolduc. We had a successful day. We invited someone to baptism and they accepted. We had a bunch of good contacts and we hiked one of the tallest mountains in Puno. So we were about 16,000 ft in the air. It was a noticeable loss of air. Lol. But on the top, we found a graveyard made by the pueblo that lived there. But the thing about this graveyard was that the only thing covering the bodies were rocks. SUPER CREEPY. 

Friday we finished our divisions and the week was just kind of normal. Had visits, and contacted. And it also rains all the time now since we`re in the rainy season. I never thought I could see so much water coming from the sky. 

The best thing that happened all week happened on Sunday.

Nothing was happening. All of our appointments fell through after church ended and we didn't know what to do. So we just went and knocked doors until our last cita for the day. It was with Enrique, our golden investigator. We got to Enrique`s house and knocked on the door. And you wouldn`t believe what happened. He wasn`t home. Lol. So we sat down on the curb, frustrated as can be and just thought about what we could do. We both felt impressed to go to an old contacts house. His name is Anthony. When we contacted Anthony, he was smoking a cigarette. But politely noticed that we were holding our breath and put out his cigarette. We told him that we were missionaries and that we had a message, he didn`t seem too enthused to be talking to us. But he accepted the offer to have us visit him. That was 2 months ago, and we haven't been able to find him since. We had kind of given up on him. But at the same moment Elder Caal and I said, let's go visit Anthony. So we went.

Anthony opened his door and let us in, he was very nice to us, he got us a drink of chicha morada (a purple corn juice they have here) and we talked for a little while. Then we started teaching him about the restoration. Progressively throughout the lesson, he sank deeper into his chair and he was just kind of dumbfounded. I was nervous to see what his reaction was going to be. But when we finished, he asked ¨When can I be a Mormon?¨ We couldn't believe it and asked him to repeat it. and he said it again, ¨When can I be a Mormon?¨ 

HOLY SMOKES PEOPLE WE`VE HIT GOLD.  He told us that he would read the book of Mormon, and pray. But the most amazing thing about this was that a little over 5 years ago he left his catholic religion because he didn't feel like God existed. He told us all of his story. But in that lesson he told us that he felt God was real. He told right before we left that he knew that it was his time to find the truth. 

Moments like that make the mission all worth it. 

That Sunday night we had a little meeting with the missionaries in my ward and my ward mission leader because we had to plan our missionary night. (a night where people come to the church and learn more about what we believe.) But one of the sisters in my ward is dying this change, and she was really sad about it. So sad in fact that she had gotten sick. So we decided that we would give her a blessing. But none of us had oil, (because I had loaned mine out on an emergency) so we ran to a members house to get it. To be honest, I didn't really want to give the blessing, we were on a tight schedule and I had to be home to take care of some of the leadership responsibilities I have here. But she asked me to do it so I couldn`t say no. So my companion anointed, and I gave the blessing. I started in Spanish, but I clearly heard the spirit tell me, ¨Give her the blessing in english¨ So I switched over to English. What an amazing experience it was to feel the Spirit work through me like that. How do I know it was the spirit? Because I don't remember anything I said after I switched to English. The Spirit of God is so real. I love it. 

Today we went to some Incan ruins called ¨Kutimbo¨. They're basically towers where the Incans used to throw people in so they could die a slow painful death. The skeletons are still in there. Super freaky.  I`ll attach some pics. 

Elder Haws 6 Months Down

Week 27 (January 16, 2017)

Elder Fawcett and I enjoying coke while we burn our ties

Hellllloooo everybody. This week I turned 6 months in the mission. I'm finally a big boy elder. Crazy things have just been happening all week long and it's been hard to keep track so I´ll make a list. 

1.) We found 2 old investigators who I haven´t been able to find for 4 months. That is a miracle because they are now progressing and coming to church. One is Kelly, she wants to be baptized but her parents won't allow it. The other is Grecia, she lives with her cousins. They have no parents and are all working and studying in the university. They are both awesome, and I hope they catch the spirit of the Lord.(: 

2.) We actually got some of the members to come with us to lessons! MIRACLE. 

3.) I have been harassed by more drunks this week than in my whole life. It's always fun to mess with them back though. This one guy stopped us and he was WASTED, absolutely wasted. So he asked us, ¨Do you guys know my mom Candelaria?¨ We said, ¨no... do you?¨ He laughed and said, ¨Youre Mormons right?¨

¨Yes¨ 

You believe in God right?¨ 

¨Yes¨ 

¨You believe in the Virgin of the Candelaria right?¨

¨.... you don't know much about us do you..¨ 

The guy claimed to be a Mormon and told us that he was faithful to the Virgin. Drunk guys rock. 

Our visits are picking up again, and people are starting to listen again now that the holiday season is over. 

I TURNED 6 MONTHS THIS WEEK. HOLY COW.

6 months ago I left everything I knew to serve these people. As hard as it can be sometimes, its the most rewarding thing in the world. 

Cool story,

A few weeks ago we got a call from a recent convert who´s wife was in the hospital, he was frantic and his wife was in bad shape from her pregnancy. ¨Elders get over here! My wife is in bad shape and she needs a blessing.¨  We hurried as fast as we could to the hospital, (these hospitals here are the sketchiest thing in the world.) We met up with them, and he asked us to give a blessing to her. She was in bad shape, she had a very high fever and a lot of pain. So she asked me to give the blessing, and we left. And we didn't see them since them. Last night we went and knocked on their door. He answered and told us to come in. Inside on the couch we talked with the two of them. They told me this, ¨Elder, as soon as you left the hospital my wife started to get better. Thank you for being a priesthood that can worthily use the priesthood.¨ What a cool experience that was! The priesthood is a real thing. We really do have the authority of God on the Earth again. 

Love you all soo much. See you later. 

Me and my friend Elder Bolduc