Sorry about this! Talk to you tomorrow

Hey!

Devils Peak

Bad news, we have to go to FHE like really soon. Today has been hectic. We woke up at 5:30am and hiked to the top of Devils Peak! As you can see from the pictures, it was cloudy, but it was still okay. We did like 2 service projects, which took up most of our day! So tomorrow I'll send you a proper email...I promise!!

Glad you got the package! Yeah daddy, it took a chunk out of my wells fargo account, look! But the one bracelet that came in the ostridge egg box is it's stand that it sits on! Did you like that chocolate?! The people said it would take 3-4 days. Cost me R640 to send it, plus the cost of all the stuff I bought! I'm just glad it made it safe and sound.

Sorry about this! Talk to you tomorrow.
Love you! 



We made some nice tacos!



Us before we made the hike to Devils Peak... Dusty loves his hiking!



ON TOP... Devils Peak!



another one from the top....



We got a surprise in the mail today.....

The Box, it only took 7 days to get here!!!!  In his e-mail he mentioned he was having a hard time getting things for the package to try and throw us off..... haha.   it worked!!!.

That is an ostrich egg, canvas painting of a township, jewlery, wooden animal carvings, t-shirts, nice bowl, candy bar, the painting on the right was made by a member of his ward (see the 2 missionaries in the front)  very Cooool!!  thanks Elder Haws.

We have to contact 70 people a week!

hi hi hi!

Yessie its been hot over here! Bring it on being a ward misisonary! That will be a breeze! I hope I'm one. Just bear testimony and say a prayer haha. Presidents trend is to keep companions together for 2 transfers, and that means being in an area for 6 months. So who knows what will happen. We're only like halfway through this transfer, so I cant be bothered! Yes we get the Liahona every month. Sure hope that I get to go through the temple one more time in Jo-burg before I come home. With your old old old age daddy (haha) just take it easy and stretch. Dont do anything stipud, cuz surgery would be not so good. heck, go to a doctor or something. Yeah the pic of Logan was nice. I'd seen it before. Sometimes I'd rather no see beautiful Logan so that I can keep my mind focused. How my aggies doing?! Probably not so hot. I'm glad sister Toolson got my postcard. I got a very very nice email from sister Hall today. She's great! Wait a second, a rug for the room with the tv?! what the. hahah just send me a picture when you decide on something. Tell Pam and Randy I say hello and that I miss them.

...and sorry I'm really struggling with getting stuff for the package :)

chillin' in the car!

As for my week of missionary work, it was just okay. Nothing special. 3 words...IT WAS HOT. Thank goodness for A/C in the car. but most none of the houses we teach in have A/C. Sitting with no air flow, in the heat, in a shirt and tie, is not the funnest... but I'm sure it could be worse! I went on exchanges with elder Park. He's pretty sweet. A little different, but we actually had a really powerful day. He is a great teacher, and loves the stars. and man, that guy will talk to everyone! haha, but its good. We all should do that. We have a new thing where we have to contact 70 people a week! thats a lot, but doable.

We are trying to talk to everyone, because that is like the theme of the transfer, finding, through members, through our own efforts, etc. Elder Twitchell is down to talk to people, so we do! We had a cool experience...we normally part in this certain place when we visit this one guy, but this time there was a car there, so we had to drive around the corner and park a little bit further away. So we did. We were getting out of the car, we say a guy and his young kids pushing their car all by themselves! Nice! Of course we went over and gave him a hand. We chatted a bit and he was more than willing to have us come visit him. even though he wasnt there when we went for the appointment, we still can follow up with him. His car wasnt there, so maybe he was having it worked on haha.

This week was interviews with President Wood! It was amazing! I freaking love that man, with all my heart, and I sustain him 100%. We had such a pleasant chat about lots of stuff. I first was just talking to him and wanted to see if he went running that morning haha. we talked about lots of stuff. But what I was most impressed about was what he remembered from the letter I sent to him. Yeah every week each missionary sends him a letter to update him on the area and the work. I always send them. President Probst never mentioned anything from them to me, but President Wood does pretty much every week! Maybe because there is a new system set up now that makes it easy for President Wood to respond, but dang! He has a good memory. Cuz think of it, the guy reads like 120 letters a week, and to remember a little something I mentioned in my letter was pretty neat. He gave me some good advice and I could just feel that he loved and cared about me. I just wish we coulda chatted longer!

Also that day, we had like a little zone training. we had a special guest from Jo-burg there. Elder Taylor Hartman. He's originally from Utah, and he's been assigned as the mental health specialist from some of the missions in Africa! He has a book out - The Color Code. Which I plan to read when I get back! He's a psychologist or something like that. Man, he is amazing! He talked about how everyone is alike, but no one is the same. He showed a clip of 2 people on an escalator in a mall, with no one else around. They're going up, but just then, it stops! They just stand there and start shouting for help!! hahahaha. They look around, and start going crazy because no one is there to help them. They dont simply walk up the escalator. Do you get it?! I thought it was funny. You should look it up. Dont play the victim. Be a hero and take some responsibility.

Anyway, the coolest thing he taught us was the color code. He classified everyone's personality into 4 color categories. Red, Blue, White and Yellow.

RED represents power. these people have the just get it done attitude about things. they work hard and live in the future. They dont believe that winning is everything, its the only thing. They rather be respected than loved.

BLUE represents intamicy. These people wanna connect with people, wanna talk to people. They are caring, and emotional. they would rather coach than play.

WHITE represents peace. These people are independent, timid, cant always express themselves, very observant, dont cause problems, and can be indecisive. They doubt themselves, but overall they are pretty solid.

YELLOW represents fun. These people just wake up happy every day. They are disorganized, uncommitted, hate criticism and are self centered. They pretty much love people, and being around others.

You can look up more of the details, but everyone has a core personality, but you can add gifts to yours. I was trying to figure out which one I am, and I think I'm mostly white. President said I have lots of red traits, and I see myself with a few blue ones, but not much yellow. Which one are you guys?!

Elder Hartman also said how we should be proactive and not reactive, and act, not react. It was a really cool training. Sometimes that kind of stuff makes my head hurt haha

I still prepare and have district meetings every friday morning. they last 1 1/2 hours, and can be a lot of work sometimes. I normally take half of my study on Thursday morning, and all of my study time on Friday morning to prayfully prepare district meeting for the Meadowfish district! (Meadowridge + Fish Hoek)

This week we're planning on setting up a stand near like a mall or something and just talk to everyone! Some other missionaries tried it out, and they had a lot of success! They are going to join us when we do it, and also we;re going to try and get like 2-3 people from the ward to join us! So I'm hoping this goes well and turns out good cuz we could use some more people to teach. I've realized that as missionaries that we need to help our investigators feel the spirit, and that we don't have to just convince them that what we're sharing is true. The Holy Ghost is that converts people, not us. We are just the tools and instruments that the Lord used to, in a sense, bring His children home.

But bad news, my camera doesn't seem to be working very well....

The 2 scriptures are  1 John 4:9-11

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might alive through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he aloved us, and bsent his Son to be the cpropitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Moroni 9:6

And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.

Guess what, you guys are awesome!! I know I tell you every week how much I love you, but I really do mean it. Love requires action. its kinda hard for me to always show it when im 10,000 miles away, but I know, without a doubt, that you can feel my love for you, and also the rich and abundant love from our Heavenly Father. he's always there for us. what a great blessing!  I feel like I've grown a lot closer to Him, and also to His only begotten son in this 16 months I've been at this whole missionary thing. The work I'm doing truly is inspired, and I've seen His hand so much, you wouldn't even believe it! Life is good!

Talk to y'all next week!

LOVE,
Dusty


Looking towards Hout Bay



Overlooking Muizenburg beach. You can kinda see the curve of False Bay

Have like 7 people who I think can progress...

Hey family,

Thanks for the email(s) I got them. no worries about last week. i know you didnt forget about me. and yeah, I check the blog once and a while but I dont need to look there to see how freakin hot it is here. this gosh dang email shop doesnt have any fans or AC, so I am like sweating here in this shirt and tie! Goll its hot. Thank goodness our car has AC! Our boarding has a fan, but that doesnt really cool down our boarding, but I'm not complaining!

Yeah for a CD just put some nice songs on there. I was just thinking for my next package in the future some more vitamins would be nice, and some american stick deorderant would be nice, just like the stuff you sent in the last package! Yupp I'm a healthy boy and have had not too many problems with fleas, the other day there was one crawling on my revelation table (the desk I study on) and I smashed it...referral for the spirit world! haha

I smiled when I heard that grandma went out and met the Twitchell family! I'm sitting right next to him right now and his family told him she visited and contacted him! Thats awesome.

For the week of misisonary work, it was just alright. the assistants to the presidents showed up at our boarding to join us for weekly planning, which was a pleasant surprise! We also had to go the doctors office to get some like chest x-rays for our visa's to Namibia. president just wants everyone to be able to go to namibia, so thats why we went. it took like freakin 3 hours haha.

I went on exchanges with the one and only Elder Staheli! We had a blast, even though all the lessons I scheduled fell through and we drove around a lot.

We didnt have anyone at church this week, which was a bummer. We tried our best to get them there. we even texted them to remind them, but none of them showed up. I have like 7 people who I think can progress...all of which we have appointemts to visit this week. So hopefully they will start progressing and coming to church.

We taught this new guy we met on the street and it was a powerful lesson on the restoration, but then he brought up a concern about not adding to the bible. blah blah. We told him thats fine, but we're gonna come back and resolve that concern.

We also did some service for this old bed ridden lady in our ward. She is very soft spoken, but she really appreciated it and hopefully it brightened her day!

This week we have interviews with President Wood! That should be fun.

Well, time's up!

The scriptures are Mormon 8:22, D&C 62:5 and D&C 45:71

Sorry theres nothing really new or exciting to report on. no news is sometimes good news, right?!
Love you all very much!!

BYE
Elder Haws


On the left is the Indian Ocean, on the right is the Atlantic

 

Elder Twitchell and I

 

The District



He's an Aggie! from LOGAN UTAH!

Hey family!

Well, last week Kelly didn't email me, and now at the moment it looks like you have forsaken me! Having too much fun in SD without me I see! haha. but, since I have no questions to answer or anything, I can get to the good stuff and tell you all about my week here as a missionary in Cape Town South Africa! man, that just never gets old saying. and as a matter of fact today marks 16 months of saying that! click click click! snap your fingers! haha

This week was transfer week! Those are always hectic. Monday we went to that place to buy you guys some stuff, but come to find out that it was a public holiday, and that there was a massive festival going on downtown, where those nice shops were. I guess you could compare it to Marti Gras in New Orleans, minus all the inappropriate stuff that goes on there. This festival was awesome, and the best part was that we didnt plan to be there! It basically was a parade, and all the people dressed up very flamboyantly and danced and sang and partied in the streets of Cape Town! There was a lot of people there. the parking was horrible, but we finally found a spot and walked far to get to the shops, only to see/discover that there were none that day! They are just like portable stands that people put up, and everyone knows about it so they are always up, but that day there were none. So basically we went through all that working for nothing! haha oh well. We still gotta see that cool parade. Man, a LOT of people in Cape Town smoke. Its disgusting. We shoulda had some Word of Wisdom pamphlets to pass out huh?!

That was fun. but we finally found out why Elder Nzuki and a few other missionaries were here...they are training brand new missionaries! I guess they're doing a new training program, and so they all met in Cape Town with their greenies and then flew together to their areas. On Tuesday him and another missionary climbed table mountain in the morning. It was like their only chance they were going to get because both of them are going home pretty soon. Elder Giles and I had the lucky chance to go pick them up from the base of the mountain. We got there a few minutes early and just looked out over the beautiful view, even though it wasnt as good as it was from the top.

UTAH STATE!!

On Tuesday morining, the assistants to the president phoned me and gave us out transfer news! Elder Giles got called to serve in Mdantsane! can you believe it! he's in the 3rd ward..the only ward that I did not serve in. but I kinda know his area, and some people in his new ward. His new companion actually served here in Meadowridge at the beginning of his mission. As a matter of fact, he probably sat on this exact computer! haha anyways, Elder Giles was excited to go to the Eastern Cape and learn some Xhosa! Too bad he doesnt know much and cant even click! haha he'll be okay. My new companion is Elder Twitchell!!!! He also served in the Mdantsane 1st ward for the first 6 months of his mission! I knew him from before. basically, to sum up Elder Twitchell, he is EPIC!!! You wont believe where he is from..zion...LOGAN UTAH! He's an Aggie! He went to Logan High School. oh my goodness, its going to be a fun transfer. Every night that we've been together so far we've slept past 12 cuz we've just been chatting up a storm! Not only about Logan and USU, but also his last area! Its fun to hear how my recent converts are doing and to hear about other people in that ward. I served with Elder McDonald and also Elder Barlow in that ward. Elder Twitchell stays in Cliffside! He knows the Island Market and I even directed him to grandmas's how and also to Aunt Julies & Uncle Shauns and he knew where they stay! ha! He said one of his sisters lives there in River Heights! Small world huh?!

Soo on Wednesday morning we went to the mission home and got a wonderful breakfast! All the time in East London I would hear about these darn breakfasts from the elders that flew in to East London got to eat, and now it was finally my chance to see and know what they were talking about! Nice pancakes and eggs and muffins! yum! but I said goodbye to Giles and also got to see lots of other elders. Elder Twitchell didnt get in until the afternoon, so I just hung out with Elder Wilson and we did some things before he got here. We went back to the mission home and had a nice lunch! It was amazing. I got to see even more elders, and of course President Wood lives at the mission home. It was a fun day!

I've been introducing Elder Twitchell to the members and people here and showing him the area. He was excited to get out of East London/Mdantsane after 6 months. Hold on, wait a second, I was there for 13 freakin' months! Sorry bru, I have no sympathy for you! hahaha he is way pumped to be in Cape Town, and so am I! One thing that is nice is his music. I was getting sick of listening to the same 4 CD over and over and over again, but Elder Twitchell has some nice music, and lots of it! Since we've been together I dont think I've heard the same some twice! We went on a run this morning, and that fetcher beat me! haha. He is athletic and gots long legs. I was so used to having Elder Giles be wayy far behind me. It was nice.

As for the week of missionary work, it was good. some people we were planning on progressing, have not! None of these people ever come to church, gosh dang. Its not that hard haha. Heck, even members are lazy or come up with lame excuses. Shame. Their loss. I guess I love them if I'm caring and sad when they dont come. We're just going to keep being obedient, and work hard and know that the Lord will bless us and with His assistance we can take this area to new heights!

The 2 scriptures are Mormon 7:7 and also 4 Nephi 1:16

Family, you are the greatest! Never forget how much I love you! September will be here soon enough! Thanks for all the prayers. They all get answered, did you know that!? :)

LOVE always,
Elder D. Haws



Elder Opolot..he replaced me in Mdantsane



Some people sometimes have horses. TIA



Elder Twitchell and I

 

The legendary Scheeper Family!



It is Elder Nzuki..from Kenya!

Hello family!

Happy New Year!!!! 2012 is here! Horray! The year I go home. Hope that you all celebrated a lot...everyone here in Cape Town sure did!

Thats exciting to hear about your new Primary class. Yes, that is the 1st Article of Faith! and aww man, you're making me miss the sports right about now. The cricket and rugby are still good. these people here are just missing out on the real sports back in the states! Glad to hear that Ryan is doing well. Hummm, will I look older after 2 years?! Probably! freak, 2 years is a long time haha and that rock you got for the Barkers looks sweet.

Yeahh mommy, sometimes we have bugs, but it doesnt seem to be as bad as he has it. We have the fleas under conrtol, and occasionally we'll have a daddy long leg spider in our boarding, but other than that, no complaints. I really like having a neat and tidy/clean boarding. Cleanliness is a form of Godliness, and the spirit wont be there if it looks like a pigsty! haha

My week was good. We did some service for this old less active lady in the ward. She has a hunch and says she doesn't like food. Anyway, we showed up and started working in her garden and then like after 10 minutes she said "all right, thats enough. stop working." I thought she was joking. We just got there! haha if she only knew some of the service projects that I've done, especially in Mdantsane in the blazing heat for hours and hours! I just thought it was funny. But dang woman, she was persistent. We finished up and just chatted inside for a little while. Sometimes, only people just want someone to talk to. The real funny thing was when she went into her purse and wipped out R100 for each of us. Ummm, are you crazy lady?! haha. She like wouldn't let us leave without taking that money. Obviously we didnt take it. It was just nice to be able to serve her, and maybe brighten her day.

This week wasnt very eventful. I feel like I had more cool experiences and stories when I was serving in a township. Elder Giles and I worked hard. I've discovered that working with part member families is good. and its even better if they're less active, well not better, but you know what I mean. You have a chance to re-activate and to baptize! What a great combo. We're working with 2 such families at the moment. Both of them have come to church once, so that is encouraging. The trick is to get them into the habit of coming every week. I'm excited to work with both of them. Another family that we found like a month ago is getting back from Zimbabwe this week. They went up there for the holidays. We havent taught them much, but there's some potential there. Thats the one thing that has alluded me so far on mission...baptizing a family! especially a father led family, like this one. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but this family seems to have some potential. It's gonna take some work, but good things are gonna happen...hopefully! Theres also a few other people that we need to check up on and follow up with them now that the hectic holiday season is over. It kinda feels like we made it through the storm of the holidays, and now things will begin to settle down a little bit.

This week is transfers...can you believe it! I cant. It seems like they just start going faster and faster the longer I've been out here. Elder Giles and I have been together for 3 months now, and he's been in this area for 6 months now, so he'll probable leave! I kinda hope he does haha because his desire has seemed to have dropped a little bit this last week. I'm not sure if he's just tired of the area or what, but he'll be okay! I have NO simpathy for him because my first area was 6 months, and then I got transfered to like pretty much next door and stayed there for 7 1/2 months...so sorry Elder Giles, I think I had it a little bit worse. haha but I'll admit sometimes I was sick of the area or whatever and wanted to leave, but I hung in there and stuck it out and the Lord has blessed me ever since. The talk from this most recent general conference about waiting in the Lord. Sometimes, you just gotta exercise faith and trust in the Lord and good things will happen.

Elder Nzuki joined us just for today!

A cool thing happened this week. the AP's phoned me up and said that we were going to have a mystery elder join us for a day. Since transfers are coming up, sometimes elders more around early or what what and situations like this happen. They didnt tell us who it was though. but we found out sure enough cuz he slept in our boarding last night! It is Elder Nzuki..from Kenya! Man, what a powerful missionary. He wouldnt say, but Elder Giles and I think that he is the new AP (assistant to President). Sometimes they fly the new AP in early (like they did with Elder Nzuki) just to help with transfers and to make the transition more smooth. I wouldnt be the least bit surprised if he was the new AP. For sure one of the most humble and loving/kind guys that I have ever met. Elder Giles passed out last night, but Elder Nzuki and I chatted until about 1am. He goes home in like March/April. He has such a sweet testimony and love for the Lord. I saw him a little bit over in East London. He'll leave us tonight, but we get to hang out with him for the day today, so that should be fun!

We did stay up for New Years! It was nice to welcome in the new year...but couldn't watch the ball drop because we didnt have a TV but really because it hadn't happened yet! haha. Not many people were at church haha and so we had to bless the sacrament. It was fun! Han't done that in a longg time. Brought back good memories in PQ2.  This week is going to be fun. Transfer week always is! I'll most likely have a new companion on Wednesday! President or the AP's will phone us tomorrow morning and let us know.

I'll look up those scriptures daddy.... but 2 cool ones I found in my study of the scriptures are:

D&C 82:18
And all this for the benefit of the church of the living God, that every man may improve upon his talent, that every man may gain other talents, yea, even an hundred fold, to be cast into the Lord’s storehouse, to become the common property of the whole church—

as well as Isaiah 40:31
But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.

Thanks for all of the love and support you guys give me. You're the best! Hope that this year is prosperous and full of love and joy! September will be here before you know it...so be ready!

LOVE,
Elder Dusty Haws

SACTM Missionary

Just outside our boarding