There was much rejoicing!! ...but I am very very sad.

HELLO FROM CAPE TOWN!!!!!

My view of Table Mountain every day..the backside

Daddy, what the heck?! Oh well. but yeah, I am currently sitting at a NEW computer shop emailing you from beautiful, wonderful, amazing Cape Town. Wait a second, I just turned around and looked outside and saw Table Mountain, Yeah, no big deal! haha Its true that we can clearly see table mountain, but its just the back side of it, but hey its still Table Mountain!

Let me respond to your letter, Then I'll tell you all about my epic week! I didnt get my package quite yet, but I'll get it quicker than ever before cuz I'm right near the mission home and mission office where all the post goes! yeah, No I'm not writing your talk daddy haha and yeah we have to be back by 9 pm, but sometimes we dont take an hour for dinner, so we get back by 8 pm and just count that as our dinner time. Theother day we had a lesson at 8:30 so techininally we didnt get any dinner time! and heck, who needs it when you're doing the Lord's work! Okay, enough with that, let me tell you how my week was!

So I kinda knew I was being transfered, and the call came Tuesday morning. Elder Larrabee, the assistant to the president, phoned me and said I was going to Cape Town! At first, I didnt believe him, but he said it was true! FINALLY!! There was much rejoicing!! So that morning I had to start packing cuz the next day I was getting on a plane. So that day we said our goodbyes and still had like 2 good lessons. I am very very sad. Khayakazi and her brother, the 2 people I baptized and loved soo much, were at school till very late, so I was not able to see them on my final day :( I was, and still am sad. like we baked muffins for them, and like I was going to give Khanisani a tie and stuff, and it never worked out. They just sent an SMS (text) and really apologized and said bye. Oh well. maybe I'll see them again, you never know. Other than that, I was able to visit all the people I wanted to say goodbye to. Then, it was time for me to get on a plane! Elder and Sister Fowers who are the senior couple from San Diego who I was telling you about, picked me up late for my plane! My flight was set for 12, and they came at 11. We made it pleanty of time though. It was sad to say goodbye to Elder Wolfgramm, but I'm sure I'll see him again sometime soon. anyway, when the plane took off, it was a weird feeling. no more east london. I spent 13 months of insipred service there. Lots of great people and memories in that city and Mdantsane that I'll remember the rest of my life!

A view of the southern tip of Africa from the plane

The flight was about 2 hours, and it was beautiful to see Africa out of the window of the plane. Anyway, we landed and went stright to the mission home! Hadnt been there for a year! There were SO many elders there! Lots of food :) it was nice to see lots of my friends who I hadnt seen in a long time. There I saw my new companion...ELDER GILES!! He is epic, to say the least. He is in Elder Wolfgramm's transfer, so he just finished being trained, so has been out about 4 months now. He's from Tooele, Utah! He is a farm boy! Literally, he's a pig farmer! I love it! He like country music and played football and wrestled in high school. but good heck, he is powerful for being so new to mission! We teach in unity and get along great! Sometimes, we just talk at night when we sould be sleeping haha. but this morning, we went on a run, and it was pathetic! haha I thought he was kidding. We ran about 300 yards and he was dieing! haha we got some work to do.

So the place in Cape Town where im serving is called Meadowridge! Cape Town has 2 zones, so theres lots of elders here cuzs it covers a big area. Yes, im in a CAR!!! No more walking for me. about 11 months of walking is good enough for me haha. Our area is massive, and very diverse. We have shacks, town, middle class houses, The richest of the richest in all of cape town! Those houses I saw yesterday were HUGE. but the ward is very good. I'll be honest, I've already been fed more than I have my entire time in Mdantsane! hahaha. the ward loves the missionaries. The only thing im going to have to get used to is not speaking Xhosa to every black person I see. There are SO many different types of people here. We're teaching lots of people from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and they speak french! So thats cool. but our area has lots of colored people. They look mexican, but they're mixed. they speak Afrikkans and have a distnict accent. Look it up on youtube! Its sweet. The ward and area has lots of white people. So there's just a little of everything here. Elders say that in Cape Town if theres one place to serve, its Meadowridge!

Ummm, I'm the district leader. but the ward only has 2 elders, so the other elders are working in a place called Fish Hoek!! Yeah, supposed to be like the most beautiful place in all of \Cape Town! Right on the coast! I'll go there on exchanges, so I'll send pictures. The elders there are Elder Speed from Australia and Elder Mofammare from Lesetho. They both are sweet. Elder Mofammare is in my transfer, and Elder Speed has been out about 9 months. The only "bad" thing about all of Cape Town is FLEAS!! All the boardings have 'em. so far, I haven't had any problems with them, but I know they'll come. We have spray that keeps them away, but I'm sure they'll bite me haha.

Yeah, so general conference was amazing! powerful huh?! I loved all of the talks, and loved the prophets talk and all of the apostles, but the one by Ian S. Ardern and J. Devn Cornish were some of my favorites! applied to me as a missionary! Booyahh, the music was outsanding! wow.

On friday we had interviews with President Wood! i love that man! we talked about a lots of things, but then towards the end, we talked about sports! haha serious! He loves the Celtics, and also told me the details about the USU vs BYU game a few weeks back! He is such a cool guy.

We had to drive about 45 minutes to the training/place where the interviews were going to be held, and that drive was right along the coast! it was breathtalking!

Hey, gotta go! today we're going to Fish Hoek and going to a place called Cape Point! I AM SO EXCITED!! I'll for sure take some pictures. Elder Giles said theres penguines there! But guess what we might do next p-day.....yeah, CLIMB the one and only TABLE MOUNTAIN!!! That would be funnnnn. This week I think I'm going to have to do an baptisimal interview, and then this Sunday I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting, so that'll be nice.

Well, I am SO happy to be here in cape town!! I think you could tell from the email. We got lots of appointments this week, I cant wait! gotta teach and testify to the multitudes!

Taddy, you're birthday is coming up soon! Any big plans?!

The scriptures this week D&C 29:6 and 1 Nephi 1:15

Take care! I'll just be over here working hard and having fun this week!!!

LOVE YOU,

-Elder Haws