I think I will always remember that example of love.

FAMILY!

First off, I need to apologize to my daddy! Daddy, last week I was soo rushed I totally forgot to wish you a happy father’s day last week! I realized it like 10 minutes after I finished emailing. you know I was thinking about you all that day and how many thousands of sacrificed, seen and unseen that you've done for me, and will continue to do for me, throughout my 21 years on this earth. You better have kept that list of fun things we're going to do! Plan it out for when I get home. If you fail to plan, plan to fail hahah. Sorry about not wishing you a happy father’s day last week. You’re still the world’s greatest daddy!!!!

By the way, if my memory serves me right, that scripture is Mosiah 28:3. Am I right?! I love that scripture, that’s why. Yeah I wanna do some yoga when I go home. Yoga and lots of other things! And I’m not too sure about thanksgiving quite yet, but you know me, I’m not fussy.  That’s funny you saw a drunk guy passed out on the street...sadly I see that quite often. Either passed out or wandering/staggering in and out of the street. sooo dangerous.

Lots of things to report on this week! We played basketball at the Windhoek chapel last week, which was fun. We did service again at the library, but this time the librarian had us sort through German newspaper. I guess the Germans first settled this area back in the day. One of our investigators who is famous got married. He’s like a singer and a performer. I love that guy. We were too busy so we didn’t get a chance to attend.

Sister Smith made a wonderful lunch of meatloaf! It was good. The Smiths are the best. My old bishop from Mowbray came up. He works for the church as the seminary and institute coordinator, so it was good to see him.

Driving our fellowshippers around

I interviewed a nice somewhat quite girl for baptism, and she passed with flying colors, but then it was funny, later that night I saw her at her branch talent show and she was up there singing her heart out and dancing like Beyoncé and the small audience went wild ha-ha it was funny.  We’re working a lot with this family that is preparing to go to the temple! It’s been sweet to see their progress and growth!

The branch watched the movie Saints and Soldiers, nice movie! I think I’ve seen it before. We finished going through the branch list, and it's finally complete. We went through each person and now it’s more accurate and up to date.

Guess what, I finished reading Jesus the Christ, yeah all 800 pages! I knew, but now I really know, that Jesus is the Christ, the immortal son of God that reins from all eternity to all eternity.

I saw a great example of true love this week. A mother was baptized in February and her year old daughter went into the hospital all last week because she was sick. And this dear mother stayed with her the entire week in that small room, in an unreal African hospital without a bed for the first few days and chose to sleep in the tiny crib with her child. Eventually she got a small blanket to "sleep" on but she said she didn't sleep much because she was too busy just staring at her baby and making sure she was okay. It was nice to see her Book of Mormon there as well. When we visited her, she looked exhausted, but still was so caring for her baby. I think I will always remember that example of love. And plus, her baby is the cutest little thing on the planet! I’m taking her back with me on the plane. I’ll send a picture home of her soon.

This upcoming week is going to be epic! The assistants are coming up tomorrow to go on exchanges, then later in the week President and Sister Wood are coming up for zone conference and interviews! It’s going to be great. Round 2 of sock wrestling! Ha-ha we'll even invite President ha-ha. I told President I need to renew my temple recommend. Nice!

Alma 13:24, 27-29

That’s all for today! Lots of love from here in Namibia!
Love,
Elder Haws

yeah we had some extra matresses....

Old picture, but we were bored on the plane

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven

YO family!

Normally we email from the smiths home, for free, but yesterday they drove out to Swokomound and now they're somewhere in the north, so we're at an email shop. I have like 20 minutes left, so let’s see what i can pound out in that time. That sand dune is too far for us to go, but not super far from here in Windhoek. and so far on mission I’ve only gotten food stuck like 2 or 3 times, and I deserved it cuz I was super-duper hungry, and didn’t chew enough, So no problems there. And those darn people in Texas, they just wish they had as many animals as here in Africa. Or maybe sweet 'ole grandpa heard wrong ha-ha. A famous Namibian is Sam Nojouma or something like that. And no this place was too fancy for rice and black beans ha-ha nahh I’m sure they had it there, but I didn’t order that.   Gosh dang it Padres! Come on!!! And I’ll send like a postcard home when I get around to it. And since when do you have a stamp collection?! ha-ha and yeah not in cape town so much, but in Durban there are lots of people from India and yeah I did hear that they did have slave colonies there back in the day. And I guess that's why Durban is known for its good curries!!!

Guess what, my week was awesome as usual! Any surprise there?! Ha-ha brother Shegena, the same guy who took us to that Portuguese restaurant, took us to Joe's beer house and he got the kabob with all the cool meats on it, but Elder Morris and I got the zebra stake!! ahhhh soooo gooood!! yummmm. It was so nice of him to do that. He’s going to the celestial kingdom!

A family in Windhoek from Angola

We also did some sweet service/volunteer work at the National Library of Namibia!! Basically we just sorted newspaper for 2 1/2 hours! Man, it was hard work and labor. And I pretty much know all the top headlines of Namibia and the world since January. I think we were inspired to go there cuz they desperately needed someone to do what we did. Their poor cabinets were overflowing! They were soo appreciative for what we did. We plan to go back sometime. I love to serve!

The baptism of Monika

We taught lots of people this week. Had some powerful lessons. We also have 2 more baptisms coming up. President Wood will be here to witness them, so that will be sweet. Each companionship will have some; it’s going to be a nice day.

Tell Alex I say hi when you see him. Most weeks we email back and forth. Sometimes I’ve been slow though. I love that guy!  I guess I’ll be home for conference in October. How about you score some tickets?!  That would be sweet.

Look up Mosiah 23:21 and D&C 76: 22-24 there was a lesson on sacrifice in church yesterday. They pointed out how big a sacrifice it is to go on a mission for 2 years. I’ve never really thought about it like that before. I’m just having the time of my life over here; I don’t see it as much of a sacrifice! I’ve learned more this side of the world that I ever could have in the USA! I guess it's true though, sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. The more we sacrifice, the more He'll bless us! Nice!

Days are just flying by over here! Loving it!! Miss you all very much.
LOVE,
Elder Dusty Haws

Windhoek area.

Missionary Plaque

Yeah, I ate many of them worms!

Family -

Yeah, I ate many of them worms!  Mommy, we need your famous chicken enchilada recipe!!! Sister Smith is gonna make it for us! Send it please.  Daddy, I was thinking about Brother Platte this morning. Tell him I say hi, and I love him and loved seminary sophomore year.  Thanks for the email. I’m glad Elder Smith sent those pictures to you guys! Aren’t the Smiths great! I love them, they feed us lots.

We didn’t drive around in a truck on the safari. Maybe the other game park will be like that.   Hero's Acre is just where they bury famous people I guess haha.

So things here are great! A sweet member who served in this mission 2 years ago took us out to a nice lunch!! We ate at this fancy Portuguese restaurant! It was delicious.

The orphanage we went to.

We kept ourselves pretty busy this week, teaching lots and lots. We went fellowshipping with the branch missionaries. It was relaxing, and I guess a preview for when I go home and go out with the elders. Sure I’ll read a scripture or pray or share my testimony! ha-ha It'll be fun to do missionary work back in San Diego.

It’s getting a little bit chilly here...just in the morning and in the night. Maybe its cuz our boarding is all tile, and shaded by a tree. It is still amazing that there are never any clouds here. haha.

Yesterday at church they had to go and get more chairs cuz there were too many people there! In total, both of the branches combined had 23 investigators at sacrament meeting! That’s unheard of!

A  highlight was the baptism of Monika!! It was sweet!! She chose me to baptize her, and I was soo honored to be able to do so. Everything went just dandy! It was perfect. She was, and is soo happy! She even fasted and paid her tithing before she was a member, and then the Lord blessed her with a job here in Windhoek that she was hoping to get. Nice!

In my Book of Mormon study, I’m in Mosiah! It just keeps getting better and better!

Big Daddy sand dune

Another sweet thing that happened this week was when I clicked 21 months as a missionary!! There’s no way that I only have 3 months left. Ahhhhh.   FYI Namibia has the world's biggest sand dune, called Big Daddy or Dune 7!

2 scruptures = 2 Nephi 25:23,26 and 1 Cor 9:10

That’s all for this week! Things are just fun fun fun here! The work is rolling along!

LOVE,

Elder Haws

Running again in Namibia...

Another beautiful Namibian sunset

I feel so blessed to have been able to serve in such cool of places

Heyyy family!

Sorry, this letter is going to be super short. We've been too busy today taking pictures of giraffes and wildebeest and springbok and baboons, etc. We went to a mini game park...it was just a warm up though. We've got plans to hit up a sweet one up north. Sorry I can’t send any pictures at the moment. FHE starts really soon. Basically, today was sweet!

Mapani worms

The week was also a very busy one. Lots of teaching and testifying. We've got a baptism coming up this Saturday. Some people called us false prophets in the prayer at the end of the lesson. I ate these things called mapani worms. They’re like caterpillars. Yum.  One of the coolest things that happened this past week was when we got to go to an orphanage and teach some of the kids there about Jesus Christ. It was an incredible experience. I'll send a sweet picture home next week.

Namibia Hero's Acre

At sacrament meeting, we had 2 of our investigators bear their testimony. It was powerful!  One weird thing I've realized recently is that Namibia never has any clouds, especially at night. It’s not super-hot though. perfect weather.

I normally write down all the things I wanna say to you guys, but I don't have that paper. I'm trying to remember what I wrote, but I'm failing.

I feel so blessed to have been able to serve in such cool of places, and experience the things that I have. Namibia is the promised land.

Just know that I'm having a blast as a missionary, especially here in Nam.
ALL IS WELL!
Love,
Elder Haws

PaVILLion

Safari Lunch, with the Smith's

See ya