The Secret Life of Elder Haws (July 27, 2016)

Week 2

WAAZZUP.

We wake up at 6:30, we sit in classes all day. We eat immense amounts of food, and we laugh all day long about the dumbest things. Life is fantastic. We literally do the same thing everyday. So I'm just gonna tell stories in this edition of “The Secret Life of Elder Haws”.

We teach the latinos how to say phrases in English. This week we taught one of them, Elder Sanchez, how to say “I am going to sleep!” Latinos can’t exactly say their “s”, and they just don’t know English. So literally every night at 10:29 he walks over to our room and yells this, “Gringos!! I am goto leep!!” So now we all just yell at each other, “I am goto leep!!” It’s a wonderful life here in the CCM.

The running joke is to make fun of Elder Bever, my companion, so anytime something bad happens we just blame it on Elder Bever. It’s great. Every SINGLE DAY we play futbol. And we play against the Latinos. We call it gringos vs. latino time. Funny thing is we win everyday. It’s hilarious because the natives think they're so good at it. But they just…. Suck….. lol. They’re so Bever.

I’m actually like 75% certain that 100% of Latinos are racists. Every day this past week we’ve noticed something irritating. Every day for lunch we are mixed with the native missionaries, and we all come in as groups. We’ve noticed that all the natives get cake, and for some reason we don’t. So we’ve been experimenting. We let a district of Latinos go in front of us at dinner, and they got the cake. So we all start going. But…. No cake… they “ran out”. We all sit down, and the next group of Latinos come in. And the cake comes back out. This continued for several days. And we didn’t know what to do. So one day I decided enough was enough, and I walked up there and grabbed a piece of cake. Little did I know that our entire zone of gringos was watching me, and as soon as I grabbed the plate, the cafeteria erupted into cheers. It was hilarious because the Food ladies looked so guilty. I love myself.

One night this week, I was listening to my Christian rock and my latino friend Elder Sanchez walks in. Takes my speaker and plugs his music in. It wasn’t good. Lol. Little by little latinos filed into our room to listen to this crappy music. Idk why. But it was quite the spectacle to see a bunch of tone deaf latinos listening to crappy music.

Now for the spiritual part of my email.

We listened to a talk by Elder Bednar on Sunday, called “be good boys, and good girls.” The first thing he talked about was “how can I know when it’s the spirit talking to me, and not just myself?” His answer is fantastic.

QUIT WORRYING ABOUT IT. When have you ever known in the moment of a feeling that it was actually a spiritual prompting? When you really think about it, you never really know. When we sit down and wait for promptings to come, is when we stop progressing. Get on your feet, walk and the spirit will guide your steps. The spirit won’t move an unwilling object. When Joseph Smith walked into the forest to ask a simple question, did he know that he was going to talk with God and Jesus Christ? No of course not. Get up, walk, have faith, and be guided.

Love you all immensely. Get up and have faith.

Elder Haws

Police Sirens, Interpol, and Intestinal Problems (July 20, 2016)

Week 1

HOLA TODOS. This has been the week that felt like a year. No joke. I don't know how else to sum it up. We arrived in Lima at 12:30 a.m. on the 13th and didn’t get to the CCM until about 3:00. Woot. We had a few days where we were trying to just get things figured out. Down here in Peru there isn’t any English so it's difficult sometimes. Good thing I took 3 years of Spanish class right?? LOL. We do the same thing everyday and it’s very routine. I’m not going to write it about because that’s really boring.

Here at the CCM, nosotros hablamos solamente espanol, (We only speak Spanish) most of us speak absolutely no Spanish, others are very advanced, so we who are advanced help the less experienced by only speaking Spanish. The only time we all speak English is at before bed, on Sunday, and on P-Day. IT’S GREAT.

Every day we eat chicken and rice for every meal. Except in the mornings, we eat eggs and weird cereal then. My intestinal system has felt a shock if you know what I mean. lol whoops.

I have a great companion and great roommates, Elder Bever is my companion, and there are 6 more of us that are going to Cusco. Elders; Austin, Hatfield, Walker, Coil, Rueckert, and Fawcitt. All of them are great guys and I am so blessed to have them as roomates and friends. I’m here with two friends from Herriman, Elder Tillman, and Elder Fife. I love them so much.

We play futbol literally every single day. The latinos get so into it, it's hilarious. The other day we had a gringo vs. latinos game and it was probably the funniest thing ever. The gringos won with a score of 8 to 5. I’m an athlete and scored 2 of those goals.

In Lima there are three things, well four that you can be absolutely sure of. Chicken, rice, police sirens, and constipation. At night the sirens are just. wow. sometimes we'll hear gunshots. so that’s cool. Sorry mom, but not really, because missionaries are seriously protected so don't worry. But I really do love it here:). Monday night while we were sitting in our classroom we felt a very small earthquake and people started freaking out and I laughed because I was in an 8.4 earthquake. It was LIT. We got to get out of the CCM a little bit yesterday and.... GO TO INTERPOL yay. Lima traffic is the scariest thing I have ever experienced. There are no rules on the road here. It's insane. But super fun:)

As a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints there is never a time that I don't feel the spirit. We spend the majority of our time practicing Spanish and studying the Book of Mormon. This week I was reading in 2nd Nephi 31. I can’t quote it exactly because I don’t have my scriptures with me. But the message inside is profound and real and is something we ought to keep with us at all times. The doctrines of Jesus Christ are simple. They are so plain.

"For my soul delighteth in plainness."

Follow the Savior, Repent, Be baptized, Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, Live as Christ would live, and last but certainly not least, Endure to the end. If there is anything that I've learned here this first week, it's that the best thing we can is that last thing, Endure to the end. Endure to the end of whatever it is you’re enduring. Endure to the end of your week. Endure to the end of a very frustrating Spanish meeting because you can't understand it. Endure until you can’t endure anymore, and with your faith the Savior will come and he will pick you up, dust you off, and tell you "There is work to do. You can do it." I know this is true. If any of you think you can't go anymore. Just remember this. And even if you turn your back on Him, Jesus Christ is still waiting with open arms for you.

It's crazy to be here and be a missionary. I wouldn't trade it though. I love it so much!! Love you all!! See you soon.

Proverbs 10:12

Arrival (July 13, 2016)

HI FAM. So I am here in the CCM and its weird. We got here about 3 o´clock this morning and we didn´t get to sleep until 4:30. They only extended our wake-up call to 8:30 but the other elders in the building woke us up 15 minutes early. What a fun day. It´s been shocking, to say the least. But despite the nerves and fears, I am happy!! God is good!! I can't stay on for very much longer actually this is the only email I can send. Love you guys a lot!! I´ll be on again next week...! I think...! They´re pretty strict about stuff. So I'm lost but it´s fine. I mean its fun. lol. BYE LOVE YOU.

Departure (July 12, 2016)

IT BEGINS!!

Chandler departed for Peru this morning at 8:46 am.  It was really hard to say goodbye, but we know that he is ready to serve the people of Peru as a missionary.  Our prayers are with him as he travels today.

Love,

The Haws Family

Set apart (July 11, 2016)

On July 11, 2016 Chandler was set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by his Stake President, Brian Curtis.  What a wonderful experience!

The Farewell (June 19, 2016)

On June 19, 2016 Chandler spoke in church and delivered his farewell address.  It was a wonderful day, and such a blessing being surrounded by so many family and friends.

The Call (March 31, 2016)

On March 31, 2016 Chandler received his mission call to the Peru Cusco Mission! 

He opened the call with a group of family and friends on April 2, 2016.  We are so thankful for all of the love and support so many of you have shown him.

Chandler reading his call

Family and Friends