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| Picture of Elder Bird and Elder Haws taken at the interviews with President Arrington |
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| Zone Conference Zona Chillan from a few weeks ago |
Another Monday morning in the cyber here, in downtown
Chillán.
Every single Monday it feels like this day comes
sooner, and the week gets shorter.
Anyway, this week we felt like there was a bit of progression.
Missionaries in general have been going through a drought like Elder Bird and I
have. We aren't sure what is going on in Coyquen, but as we are looking for
answers we are slowly finding clues. It’s like a big treasure hunt!
We had some great things happen this week. Behind the great
things, it was pretty general. I’ll tell some of the highlights
1. Mitzi
First off, on Tuesday Elder Bird were returning from
district class and decided to try our luck and swing by Mitzi's. As we
approached we noticed someone standing on the corner……. It was her. HOORAY!
We went up and talked and visited with her for just a bit. She
had been in Talcahuano for 4 weeks, visiting various family members, friends,
and was even in a hospital for a few days. The strange thing was that she
seemed 100x better than she was before. She seemed more alive, less dramatic,
and less distant. It was strange how different she is!
She has now almost given up smoking! She is down to 2-3
cigarettes. She used to be smoking 2 packets daily! It is a huge improvement!
We are preparing her to be baptized in 2 more weeks!
2. Silvana w/ Jose Arias.
We have not been progressing with Silvana lately. She has major
doubts and won’t really look past the things she already knows. We took in the
big guns this week……
There is an awesome returned missionary in the ward named Jose
Arias. He served in Argentina about 2 years ago and was an excellent and a very
successful missionary. We have had some amazing conversations about the gospel
with him. He has taught me TONS!! This week we got him to go with us to visit
Silvana. It was a good lesson where we pulled out her main doubts
(Saturday as the Sabbath day and Spirits are dormant and unliving). We
didn't accomplish much on the side of teaching (She didn’t listen much) but we
did firmly invite her to read the book of Mormon and pray. We´ll see how it all
goes. We are most likely going to drop her. It all depends on if she will
listen and keep her commitments.
3. THE HEAT
Oh boy.... Chillán is heating up. We are nearing the summertime.
I’ve heard during my entire mission that Chillán is the hottest
place in the entire mission.
It is...
And we are only getting started!
We have broken out the fans, sunscreen, and the short sleeved
shirts, but we are still getting scorched by the furnace that Chillán is! It is
hard getting contacts now because no one dares to be in the street during the
day. We are having to think of new strategies!
There was one visit that I thought was cool. We went to see this
one old Catholic lady. It was in the early afternoon and we entered her house
and began to get to know her. I had visited with her previously when I found
her on a mini cambio that I had with my district leader a while back.
While visiting, there was a knock on the door and two men showed
up. They were catholic priests! It was show-time. They came in and started to
bash with us instantly. It was time to stand up and defend the faith. They began
shouting and saying things like ''You worship Joseph Smith, your church is
based on men and ours was founded by Christ.'' We quickly began testifying and
sharing the message of the Restoration. It became powerful as the spirit filled
us and we began to share. In the end they were too hardened to listen to us but
we defended our belief. It felt really good to share my testimony in the face
of such opposition.
In general the week was just trying to find out how to get
things moving again and get the members excited to work with us. We got a lot
of references this week. We are very content with that. Elder Bird and I are
trying to figure out how to be better at all that we are doing. We realize that
there is a lot that we can be doing better so we are focusing on just building
up with the basics.
It’s Halloween this week! I hope you guys have fun. I have no
idea what will happen, but I imagine that the only people that will be out on
Halloween night will be the usual drunks that roam the streets in the evenings.
Sorry for a shorter letter, but we are just dealing with the
basics here. We are so glad we found Mitzi again and that she is still excited
to be baptized. We are seeing small and significant blessings. I am grateful
for all those blessings that do come.
I want to share with you guys and awesome video that I found
this week that really touched me and that I have been sharing with people
during the week.
I want to invite you to watch that and reflect on what the
sacrament means for each one of us. I have a deep testimony of the great
atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to participate
in such a holy ordinance every week to help me remember him and remember his
sacrifice. What will we do to remember Him?
Thank you all so much for all your messages and all your
inspiration. It is so wonderful to hear from all of you. I love you all so
much! Until Next week!
Elder Ethan Haws
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| More zone conference pictures; Elder Haws waiting for food |
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| More zone conference pictures |
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