Week 7 (11-11-13)

Wow. Just wow wow wow wow wow.

This has been, by far the hardest, most difficult, crazy roller coaster of a week I’ve ever had in my life. I can’t even begin to write a part of what has happened this week. 

Leaving my district 9 was hard Last week. They became my best friends. So I left the CCM with my heart beating rapidly. We got to the airport and soon enough we were flying to Chile. Somehow Elder Duncan got first class in the plane. We were all pretty jealous, good laughs. Soon enough through the flight, the morning broke and I could see the silhouettes of the Andes mountains in a crazy red and green glow. We soon landed in Santiago, and left for Conce. Once we landed, we were greeted by all of the Concepcion mission presidency. I was so worried at first but that made it a little better getting all of the Chilean hugs from everyone. We loaded up into vans and went to the mission house. 

We met together, got orientated, and ate lunch. We had some delicious empanadas. After that, we met with the President and got our pictures taken. President Arrington is such an incredible man. I look up to him a lot. Then all the presidency, gringos, and trainers met in the chapel and us gringos bore our testimonies. Then we all got assigned our areas and trainers

I’ve been assigned to the Andalièn area, serving in the Villa Nonguen sector. My new companion is Elder Froerer. He is one incredible guy. He’s about an inch taller than me at most with brown hair and is freshly 20 years old. Sometimes people even ask if we are brothers. He is an incredible guy and incredible teacher. He can speak Spanish so well, and is a great leader. I learn so much from him every single day. I’m grateful for his example, and I am so grateful to have him as a companion. Together we are having an incredible time spreading the Gospel to all of our sector. He’s from Huntsville Utah.

Where do I even start? We walked out of the mission house and walked down a street and eventually got on a bus. We drove to Nonguen. It’s a really foresty area with a ton of houses in a nook in the mountains. It’s relatively close to conce, so its not entirely poor. We got off the bus and walked to the house. We have a little shack behind a house with two member families living there. Seriously, I opened the gate and there’s a little cabin looking house behind the member’s house. We opened the door and dropped off my stuff. It’s so cool. It’s just a little shack of a place. We’ve got four beds on the main -floor, and a little run down kitchen. Got a bathroom on the other side too. Then we have our upstairs offices with chairs and a table and wire basket things for our clothes.  

Within 10 minutes of me dropping off my things at the casa, we were running, and I mean running, out the door to our first investigator. We run everywhere. You can’t call it walking but it is. We always sprint walk everywhere, good times. 

My first lesson was with A old little lady named Lidia. She is 80 years old, and has been evangelical her whole life. We got in there and taught the first lesson for Elder Froerer´s third time. While I was just sitting there like a bag of sand not knowing what in the world was going on, Elder Froerer nudged me and told me to bear testimony. So I did. After a while through a miracle and Elder Froerer says, she accepted a baptism date. 

We then ran to the other side of the sector and met with a member family. They were celebrating their little girl’s birthday so we had this delicious cake with this Chilean manjar. That stuff is to die for. Then we met with one of our other investigators, Ignacio. He’s just a joven who’s 16 years old. We just talked a bit. Then we grabbed him and a bunch of other teens and went to mutual. Apparently I’m now secretary in the young men’s and Elder Froerer is 2nd counselor. We had a little lesson and then we went home and I unpacked. It was the most shocking and overwhelming day of my life. It felt like I forgot all and I mean ALL of my Spanish. I was humiliated. Its like trying to drink out of a fire hose really, you can never explain the mission field and how crazy being a missionary is until you are one. 

Day 2, Wednesday

We woke up studied and went to a district meeting. Then I had my first Chilean lunch. soup, rice, chicken and jello. 

We went all over the place with my head cut off proselyting and everything. 

I taught a member of the 70 in Spanish. His name is Elder Hernan Ferreira. Super nice family and super kind to the missionaries.

We live with two other Elders in our house. There is Elder Garcia and Elder Schumway. We used to have Elder Allred, but he got sick and transferred out of the area in the same day. Elder Garcia is from Columbia and is super bacan. (Chilean slang for AWESOME). He’s also on the cover of the Liahona this month so we consider him super famous. 

Elder Schumway is from Utah but I’m not sure where. He’s really cool and gives a lot of good laughs to us Elders. We have the coolest casa ever. En serio (seriously).

Day 3, Jueves

Crazy, crazy day. People tell me no ones first 3 days are this crazy. 

Woke up and headed to our farthest sector and taught a woman with crazy problems with her husband. She believed in the church though. 

Headed to the grandparents of Elder Ferrida and they made a delicious Espageti, Lettuce and Avocado dish, and Fruit and cream. 

That morning we got a call that the president wanted to come and teach with us tonight. Elder Froerer was flipping out. 

 We went back and studied at the casa and Elder Froerer started getting really sick. So I was pretty concerned. Then we went out and got some medication for Elder Froerer and went to go contact people until the president came. Soon enough he showed up. We then headed over to Ignacio´s and knocked on his door but he wasn’t there. So we paused and thought for a minute. We went over to the park and saw a little boy, one of Elder Froerer’s converts, Matias. He led us to his family at his house. Turns out, there was a Inactive RM with his non member wife at the house. The grandma there made fun of me cause I cant really speak Spanish very well, nevertheless understand the Chilean accent or how fast they say things. So we started teaching the first lesson and it went as smooth as butter. She then said that she wondered why the missionaries were so young. She knew what they were doing and who they were but she always wanted to be taught by someone older. Then President Arrington spoke up and said something like, At first I didn’t know why I was here. Elder Froerer’s name just popped in my head today and I thought I would join for a few, and know I know why I’m here, and he began to teach about inspiration and bore testimony that God led him to teach her that night. Crazy, crazy stuff.

Then we headed over and taught Ignacio the Law of Chastity. And the lesson went really well. Then we met up with Sean and Nicolas, to boys who E Froerer baptized recently. Then we met with the Ojeda Family. They are inactive but they are so cool. 

Day 4, Viernes

Kind of a slow day but we did a lot. We headed up to the hilly parts of the area and contacted a lot of people there. Elder Froerer was still sick and it was a tough and hard working day. 

Caught my first Pulga (flea), and Elder Froerer added it to his flea collection/flea circus. 

Day 5, Sabado

Most up and down roller coaster of a day I’ve ever had. 

We woke up and studied for a bit and then we headed over to help a member disassemble wood constructions and pull nails out of boards. We pulled a good 500 out of them. After an hour of that we headed to the Reyes, an incredible member family, for COMPLETOS! I was so excited and they are probably my favorite food of all time. So good. Then we went back, studied, and went out again. We were walking up this bustling street, and there were lots of people and dogs everywhere, then it turned into a dead end. And on our way back, the dogs got even more riled up and one attacked us and bit the back of my leg. It wasn’t much but we went to a member’s house and I washed it out real good. After having that adrenaline rush, we went out again. In another street this giant beast of a dog, got out of the fence and stared us down roaring at us. It showed its gnarly crooked yellow fangs, and I felt like I was gonna die right there. I just thought. OH MY FLIPPIN GOODNESS IM DYING RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW. I don’t think I’ve prayed quite that hard in my life. Soon enough the owner ran out and got the beast and we carried on our way. My heart was going a million miles an hour and I was terrified. At that point I felt depression sink in. No one this whole week could understand me and I couldn’t really understand anyone. The Chileans talk so fast, and use so many slang terms that it is nearly impossible to understand. I sunk down and just felt terrible. I felt like ill never ever get Spanish down and I was just useless. I realized I was loosing my smile, and my hope entirely. We visited with a few more members, and eventually met up with Ignacio and headed to a park to teach him. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon with the sun setting perfectly. The spirit rushed in while we taught and I realized that there is no- where that I would rather be than serving my Heavenly Father. I felt his love. Soon enough after our lesson two more teenage guys turned around and came to talk to us. It was crazy seeing them come out of their way just to talk to us missionaries, then we had a teenage girl come up too. We talked and had a good time together. We got to explain who we were and asked if they wanted to learn more about the church. We got directions and left back to our houses. It turned out to be a good day. I Learned a valuable lesson that even though bad, terrifying, and discouraging things can happen, our Father in Heaven is always there to give us comfort through whatever struggles we have. The spirit testified to me that My Heavenly Father lives and that he loves me and that I can do this through my hard work. 

Day 6, Domingo.

Church was really good seeing everyone that I had met in the week all in one building. The church building here is amazing and beautiful. I love it. I got to bless the bread in sacrament, and I was able to introduce myself over the pulpit. We had a good rest of the day relaxing studying and visiting with members. We also visited with Lidia and I’m going to get to baptize her this Sunday. So cool.

Well as I sit in this internet cafe in the middle of Conce, that kind of looks like an arcade. All I can say is I love you. I love all of you. I miss you and I love you. This is such a different place, but I am so honored to be serving my fellow Chileans in Nonguen. I’m beginning to understand, Dad, the love that you developed of the people of Chile. The people are already becoming dear to me. They are so kind. And I am so privileged to serve them. Even though this is almost impossibly difficult, and on top of that, I’m trying to speak a different tongue, I’m loving this so much. It is truly a blessing to carry what I know to so many others. So glad for everything I have. So now this letter has to come to an end. This week I’m going to give it all I’ve got. I’m going out to work with my soul to save others. Thank you for your love and prayers. I love all of you. You’re in my mind always. Until next week, 

Love Elder Ethan Haws