Week 23

Well, I actually have big news for a change. I’m now far far away from my first sector, Nonguen. On Thursday morning Elder Layton received a call from the Presidents assistants. I received news that I would have to be transferred to a tiny tiny town named Retiro at the top of the mission boundaries. I had to pack immediately to depart the next morning.

This week has been a really strange week going through the emergency transfer. I don’t know why I was sent here to Retiro, but it is what it is.

I’ll give a brief summary of what happened this week.

Monday

We had a normal day. I got a haircut, bought a charango, and had a relaxing p-day. We had some visits with the members of our ward and were able to visit a few less actives. But the main visit was with Reynato and Patricia. They have been investigating the church and visiting with the missionaries for some time now. We hadn’t been able to visit them for a while because they had been gone for most of the summer break. We had a great visit and re-committed them to keep praying to know if Joseph Smith is a true prophet and if the church is true. We ended the lesson, and continued on. While we walked to our next visit, we asked ourselves, ''Why aren’t they members already?''

Tuesday

Elder Layton woke up and had more excitement than I’ve ever seen him have. He said something like, ''I still feel absolutely terrible, but I’m not going to care about it anymore, I’m just going to enjoy what I’m doing regardless.'' It was a huge example to me to not complain or feel down because every minute that passes is a chance we have to smile and laugh; to enjoy the time. We had an amazing zone class that morning. We focused on how the atonement helps us as missionaries and how we can apply it into the work we do. It was very spiritual. We were all very inspired. We had a good afternoon. We started off our day of work and visited the Burgos Flores family. After, we visited the Campos family and contacted a ton of people. We had a correlation as missionaries at the capilla that night and practiced our performance for the talent show on Friday. We made an arrangement of Nearer my God to thee, for the Charango, Ukelele, the Zampoña, and us singing. It went really well.

Wednesday

We had to go to the office for part of the morning because Elder Layton and one of the office Elders, Elder Gillespie, are practicing a musical number for a conference we will have this coming week. So for the morning we were there. We finished and headed back to the house and studied. Since the hermana couldn’t host us for lunch, she dropped it off at our house and we were able to stay inside and relax a bit. It was nice, I love having lunches in the house. For the afternoon we started off by visiting Joanni, a 13 year old recent convert. He’s a cool kid and we just verified how he has been doing in church things. For the majority of the day we visited people all over the giant hill of Buena Vista. We visited a new family of investigators; Nora, Omar, and their family. They are really cool people, and I hope they are still progressing. We taught them about the Restoration and committed them to read, pray, go to church and to be baptized. They didn’t accept a baptismal date yet but they want to think about it. We visited a few more people including Javiera and her family and Patricio Maldonado, a member of our Elders quorum.

Thursday.

Like I said, I got the shocking news that I was going to be transferred to Retiro. I couldn’t believe that it was time to go. I had to get right to it. I started throwing all my things together. We had a little service project to do right before lunch so we headed to do that. We helped Nancy Campos cut down some trees on her giant hillside of a backyard. We finished and headed to my last lunch in Nonguen with the Ruminot family. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end off. We had a delicious potato casserole thing and dropped my clothes off to be washed before I left.

Throughout the day we were scrambling around Nonguen saying my goodbyes. We tried to go to as many as possible. I stopped by the Neiras, Cabezas Aburtos, Ignacio, and Miriam and Lidia. It was really hard to say goodbye. When we knocked on Ignacios door and when he came out he knew something was up. I broke the news that I was leaving. He was just as sad or sadder than I was. We became teary eyed and recalled our experiences together. A few moments later his mom, Ivonne came walking up and told us that she had had a long stressful day of work and she couldn’t visit right now. I told her the news and she stopped right in her tracks. To my surprise she began to cry. I began to cry too. She has noticed the change that took place in Ignacio from the gospel. And secretly she has been really grateful to us. She thanked me and we said our goodbyes. My last goodbye was to Miriam and Lidia. We visited them for a bit and recalled our experiences. It was my first house I ever entered in Chile. I learned to love that place. My first lesson was teaching Lidia and through a miracle she accepted to be baptized. It was a day I’ll never forget. I offered one last prayer. By the end we were all crying. We shook hands, cried, and said goodbye. It was so hard.

The elders of Nonguen and Collao

Elders Montana, Duncan, Layton, Sanchez, Haws (left to right)

Friday.

Woke up early in the morning and finished getting my stuff together, and waited for the assistants. We all took pictures, swapped some ties, and wrote some notes. Elder Layton and I played a last couple songs together on our instruments. Soon enough the assistants arrived. I said goodbye to my good friends Elder Layton, Sanchez, Duncan, and Montaña. I became really close to all those guys. We drove to the bus terminal and they dropped me off. I had to board the bus and ride for 4 hours to Parral. Then meet up with the Zone leaders and meet my new companion Elder Price and head to Retiro. The bus ride was long, but I mostly just napped and read the scriptures.

I’m running out of time to write so I’m going to break this down to the basics.

I got to the terminal in Parral and met the zone leaders along with my new comp Elder Price. We found a bus and headed off to Retiro. We talked and got to know each other. We got to our house and I dropped my bags off. We then walked across a big field to get lunch. The rest of the day we spent it trying to visit members but none really answered. We walked around nearly all our sector because it is tiny compared to Nonguen.

Retiro is a very very small country town. It’s just in the middle of a bunch of country and fields. It’s VERY different than Nonguen. Worlds apart. It’s very relaxed here. There is a lot more space, the houses are nicer, the people as a majority are nicer, there are less dogs, it’s prettier, and I feel very SECLUDED out here. In the distance when there aren’t too many clouds I can see the Andes Mountain range. The mountains are HUGE even seeing them from miles away.

Streets in Retiro

Retiro

Retiro is just a sleepy town. It reminds me something like Kamas, UT. I’m going to like it here. We don’t have a ward here, we have a branch. On Sunday we had 22 people in church. IT IS TINY. We don’t have too much to work with, but I feel like I have the chance to rebuild the kingdom here in Retiro. We are starting over. I am going to light the flames of the gospel here. I am so excited to start working hard and inspiring all the members who have fallen away and bringing them back to the gospel. Also, to find the people who are waiting to receive the gospel in their lives. It’s going to be a fun time here in good ole’ Retiro.

I am so excited for my second sector to start. I’m giving it all I’ve got to give Retiro a new start. I am so grateful to all of you. I love you all so much. Thank you so much for your support and your inspiring letters and messages to me. I can’t thank you enough! I love you guys! Until next week!

Elder Ethan Haws