I have a testimony that the work I'm doing here is true!

Elder Chiromo and Me

Hey! Thanks for the email. normally on P day after we email we go shopping and then just hang out in the afternoon and play soccer or write letters. That's good to hear you guys are pulling the weeds and keeping the car clean. Dad, keep my baby nice for me! haha. Yes, I got my license and credit card. Dang, that picture on my license sucks!! Like a mug shot. I waited 4 hours for that?! All our mail goes to Cape Town and then they send it to the senior couple in the area, and then the senior couple gives it to us every Friday. I haven't gotten any letters from people in our ward yet. It takes like 3 weeks to get mail? I don't know. We stay in Baysville, close to Southernwood. Look up that. We stay right under the bishop, he's really cool. You can see the ocean from the road where we live. its only like 2 miles or so away from the water.

Our laundry machine isn't very nice. So last week I decided to wash my clothes by hand. and we just hang up our clothes to dry.

Soo last week seemed to go by super fast. On Tuesday an RM from the ward came out with us to our appointments. He served in Kenya. we taught a lot of lessons with him. then the next day it was raining. (I got a sweet rain coat from an elder in the MTC who brought too much stuff, so he just gave it to me) soo in the morning it wasn't that bad, but then we decided to walk to this one investigator that we really needed to see. Cuz it wasn't raining that bad. It took like 30 minutes to walk there, and during that time the heavens decided to open and we got DRENCHED. My poor companion, he didn't have a rain coat. He has holes in his shoes. We kinda got lost too. I had one of those missionary moments while I was walking. I thought to myself "I'm cold, wet, hungry, tired, my comp is annoying me, I'm thousands of miles away from all my family and friends...but this is what it's all about! Serving a mission!" After we taught the lesson, we had to walk back in the dark while it still was raining and even though I had a jacket, I still got soaked.

The next day we had Zone Conference. It happens once a transfer. President Probst travels to each of the 8 zones in the mission and gives us instruction. President goes from Namibia to Cape Town, to Port Elizabeth, and here. That's a lot of travel! President Probst is amazing! Everyone says he's gonna be a General Authority soon! He knows EVERYTHING! I cant even describe it. He's the man. We got trained for most of the day then went to some appointments that night. The rest of the week went pretty well. On Saturday Zinzi (15 years old) and Khayakazi (19 years old) passed their baptismal interviews!!

We got exchanges coming up this week! tomorrow with the other elders in our district, then the next day with the Zone leaders. I'm excited. alright, so Elder Aires is starting to be a little annoying sometimes! haha. We still get along fine, but like some of the things he does bother me. haha. nahh, he's a hard worker and we are good friends and are always joking around and have fun together.

Last night we ate dinner with a Afrikaans family! crazy language. Those Afrikaners talk fast and it sounds like dutch or something. They don't really pronounce the A in hAws. It sounds like HOOZ. haha. They said Haas in Afrikaans means rabbit.

Check it out, guess what I did this morning....went to the Mercedes Benz factory! WOW! What an experience. I wish we could of taken cameras. That place is unbelievable. Soo many robots and other coool things! It was where they make the C-Class, and they ship them to places all over the world. I never knew how much detail and technology goes into making a car. They make about 275 cars a day, and put about 6,000 onto a big boat and ship them off. You have to see this factory to believe it. The assembly line and all the tests they did were awesome. Super cool.

Tracting is hard and scary for me. If we get in to a house, we first BRT (build relationship of trust) for the first few minutes then we open with a prayer and start teaching the Doctrine of Christ. We first introduce the Book of Mormon and read from the Intro and stuff. We flip to 2 Nephi 31, which talks about the Doctrine of Christ. We read verses 4&5, then 7 answers the question why Christ was baptized, then we read verse 10&11 and then invite them to be baptized, right then and there! In the first lesson! Its incredible how many people say yes. Most times the people that say yes don't keep commitments and say they're busy when we come for our appointments...but President Probst said a few months ago in our zone when we weren't using the Doctrine of Christ we had 8 baptismal dates, now we have 24! So it works.

Well, I have a testimony that the work I'm doing here is true. I wouldn't be out here if I didn't believe it. I get to bear my testimony many times every day. I love it! There are so many people here who need the gospel in their life. I feel soo blessed and lucky to have had the gospel in my life and be raised in a loving family where I have SOO many things to be grateful for.

I miss you guys!!

LOVE, Elder Haws

Here are some pictures from the MTC. I haven't taken any yet here in East London...but I will!! (click on picture for larger view)