Week 11 (12-9-13)

Again, another week has gone by so quick. Thank you for all your letters, encouragement and love. This week has been another roller-coaster. We had good times and we had the bad. But what else can you expect from the mission. I am so grateful for all of you. You all mean so much to me. 

This is how the week went down. 

Monday was really regular but it ended up being terrible.

We had a nice P day at the casa. We didn’t do much but lounge around and relax. E Froerer and I went out and worked in area D for the rest of the day. We had planned to visit one of Froerer`s old converts named Jessica. Elder Hutchins, (Elder Froerer`s first son) and Elder Froerer found her and worked really hard to convert her. She eventually married her husband and was baptized. She has three little kids and a husband that’s crazy. He’s bi polar and has the shortest patience span anyone could ever have. She has been coming less and less to church. For the past 3 weeks she hasn’t even shown up. So we went to visit her. She opened the door and the house was kind of chaotic. She yelled back to ask if it was ok for the missionaries to visit, and her husband, Miguel, yelled back ``no I’m studying`` and so on. We talked with her for a bit, and Elder Froerer reached to the point where he asked if she wanted us to come back anymore, or if she had any interest in the church anymore. She said no. She never wants us to come back, go to church or have anything to do with it. It shattered Elder Froerer. After the bad week, he was at his wits end. He worked so hard with her. And it all came down to that. It was a hard day.

Tuesday

Regular day, but we ended up being excited because after a week and a half of not finding anyone, we found 2 possibilities with investigators. We were excited. It was a regular day.

Wednesday

Exciting and new cause I had a mini cambio(exchange) with Elder Noe from my zone. Elder Froerer had to do an interview with his comp so we switched and Elder Noe came here. He is a massive guy cause he’s on the BYU football team as a cornerback. Everyone we talked to just stood there for a second and was kind of startled because he’s tall and muscular. Good teaching tool at times. But it was fun. We had a service project at la familia Ruminot`s house. We trimmed grass and rose bushes that had grown into trees. So while we worked we got to know each other. We talked about our interests, dreams, life, and the mission. He is a great guy. We soon enough finished up and went inside to find that la hermana had made these insanely good fruit smoothies. After that we bought some empanadas cause our lunch fell through with one of the members. Those empanadas were really good. We worked out in area E and D. We met with people like Ignacio, la familia Ciudad, and Tulio. We found a lot of new possibilities and worked really hard. Something funny and strange happened while we were contacting. We stopped at a house, and a white guy with a shaggy brown beard walked out and we started talking Spanish. He responded saying, ``sorry mates, I don’t speak Spanish`` This guy was from Australia. He is here visiting his family in Chile, and riding his motorbike around South America. What are the odds of that? Since Elder Noe can’t really preach in English I gave it a shot. He had the beliefs in like an inner spiritual self, like finding yourself kind of deal or church in your heart. It was so weird and funny. It’s so strange; my mouth wasn’t really working in English. It was such a weird feeling being more accustomed to Spanish than English. After, Noe was freaking out because the guys name was Michael. He told me he would always practice his Australian accent with his friend and pretend to be Michael. He was stoked that he got to meet an actual Michael from Australia! I was too. We had a good lesson with Tulio and finished out the day. I learned a lot. I learned that it’s good sometimes just to go out and simply be relaxed and enjoy the work. Work hard of course but just be happy while we’re doing, even add some humor into the work to lighten things up. I learned a lot from his example.

Thursday was really normal again.

Friday was different though. 

We had a normal morning with studying and planning. We had planning por la Iglesia to get people to church and after picked up lunch from the wife of our ward mission leader. It was just simple spaghetti. We were eating lunch inside the house when we heard some commotion outside. Elder Shumway and Garcia were out there with Gringo, and the other dog, Cubilio. We stepped out the door, and there was blood everywhere. Gringo had gotten so desperate to get to Elder Shumway that when it tried to hop the fence with razor points on it, its paw got stabbed and caught on it, it was stuck screaming and hanging from the fence. They had to run over and lift him off and then blood just came flooding out. Blood was everywhere, and it wouldn’t stop flowing out. We tried making a makeshift tourniquet but it didn’t do much. There wasn’t a veterinarian around so we called the supposed owners. They lazily showed up a good 30 minutes later and realized that it was a serious problem and that Gringo was nearing death. So since they didn’t own a car, they forced Gringo to try and walk over a mile to Collao. They dragged him along, and now there are bloody tracks running through Nonguen and Collao. Crazy moments. 

Later that day Elder Shumway and Froerer had mini cambios with the Assistants; which left me and Elder Garcia on another mini cambio. While we were working, I just made a decision to visit someone I had planned for out of the blue. I don’t know why, but we just started walking there, I didn’t think twice about it. We visited with Tomas for a good 30 minutes, and all he wanted was to be baptized. Elder Froerer had met with him once or twice but nothing really happened. This time we met with him and he was prepared. We set a fecha(baptismal date) with him and I hoped Elder Froerer and one of the Assistants were setting another fecha(baptismal date)  with another of our investigators. We worked in Collao for most of the day and it was a good cambio. We headed back to the house and visited with the assistants for a bit. Elder Froerer had been able to find a lady that was a golden investigator. She accepted a fecha(baptismal date) within 15 minutes. We were so excited. Unfortunately though, They had a disastrous lesson with Tulio. They met with him and he was drunk. He kept on saying no to everything and that he was strictly catholic. They said they got really bold and promised him blessings from completing things and trials for not. So Tulio was left hanging from a thread as an investigator.

Saturday was normal. 

Translation for the "let us save the estuary" mural:
"The mapuche is the defender of the land, water, and nature. Like in the estuary, Mapuche blood flows in our veins, to protect the nature that God has given us.  Take care of it!

Sunday was normal too. 

We had a good church meeting. And visited with a few people. The sad thing was we didn’t get a single investigator to church. We were really disappointed for this. Our hopes for our investigators fell a little bit. But we’re going to work hard this week to get things back up again. It ended up being a so so week. Better than the last. But still kind of feeling slow

I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve. I’m grateful for Gods hand in the work. Every week I see his hand in my life, and in the life of so many others. I have a strong testimony that he loves us, and knows every one of us so personally and so much deeper than we can possibly know. I’m grateful for the opportunity to see so many miracles and see his hand in my life and others. I’m grateful for my Heavenly Father, and my Savior. Through Christ’s Atonement the labors and stresses from life of a mission are lightened. He knows my sorrows and worries perfectly. I am so grateful to know I am never alone. My testimony grows every second. I am so excited to work and experience so many new things. I will continue forward with faith and my smile this coming week. Thank you so much for all your love, care, and messages. I love every one of you so much. Until next week. 

Elder Ethan Haws