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

The best was zebra!

Dear family,

Cool! Yeah I checked my blog up here. Thanks for doing that daddy. It is pretty sweet. I didn't go on a safari quite yet. We for sure will though. Maybe even go on 2 up here. Yes, I get grandmas letters, and you better believe I would be keen to go on a cruise!! Sign me up!

And yeah mommy last email I did send it at night cuz we had just flown up from Cape Town, but normally, like today, we email in the morning after we 're done studying. Ohhh yeah, big Derek is embarking on the greatest adventure of his lifetime. Tell him I say what's up and good luck. I know he's gonna be one heck of a missionary.

So as for the week, it was amazingly fast and fun! I cant believe that last week at this time I was in Cape Town. Its good to be back in Namibia. That made the week go by very fast. The AP’s were here all week and just left yesterday. They just stayed at our boarding cuz it is soo massive and we have tons of matresses for them to sleep on..but bad news cuz we would just stay up late every night talking…and one night wrestling! Man, that was fun. It was nice to have Elder McDonald up here cuz he knows where all the cool places are and showed us around. That guy is soo funny and fun to be around. I love that guy. And Elder Doxy is super sweet as well. Both powerful elders.

JOES BEER HOUSE!!

So we went to the legendary Joe’s Beer House. That place is awesome! Don’t be deceived by the name. the place is legendary. Its like on the top 20 things to do/visit in the country of nam. There was only one thing we got on the menu. Meat!! I ate chicken, kudu, zebra, crocodile, ostrich! Serious! Crocodile tastes like fishy chicken (nice) but the best was zebra!!! Soo delicious. But it did cost N140…so im gonna be eating like bread an peanut butter all week haha. But it was totally worth it. Then , we sock wrestled. It was epic! All you do is try and take off the other persons sock. Simple enough. I wasn’t very good, but I did beat Elder Giles. Haha I was sore and tired the next day. The other guys were too tired to go home, so they just slept over! Haha.

Then, the next day, a member invited us to this place called Capanas. Its like a big braai place! I ate soo much meat. It was delicious. And free for us. Haha.

On the spiritual/missionary side, the real reason I'm here, the work is just rollin’ along. Busy busy days. We have 2 solid people prepared for baptism and will have their interviews this Saturday. They both come to all the activities and institute, read the Book of Mormon, and just know its true and desire to be baptized. So we are excited for them.

Our next 2 days are booked with people to see. I love when missionary work goes like this. I just feel a lot more effective and its just more fun that way! The spirit is pumping in your veins, people are learning and accepting the gospel, and you know the Lord is pleased with your service.

I feel like sometimes don’t include all of my spiritual experiences that I have. If I did, I’d have to be here typing for like 5 hours. We teach so much. We visit so many people. Each day, Elder Morris and I record the various maricles we’ve witnessed and been a part of. And trust me, there are many! Mission is the best. Straight up!

Sorry for no scriptures to feast on last week. Heres some from this week…1 Timothy 4:16 and D&C 123:17

I got a “special” email today. The sisters in the office needed to know my information for my departure..ahhhh!! not good. Haha. That means that soon enough I’ll get what we call our “trunky papers” basically, its our flight plans for when we go home. Nooooo!!  I’ll be home soon enough. Until then, I will labor and work! And just enjoy every second of every day!

Miss you lots! Think of you often!

All the best!  LOVE,

Your missionary son,

ELDER HAWS

Jet ‘aime!! (I love you in French)

Sock Wrestling!!!

Now it’s back to work!

Dear family!!

View from above of Namibia

Thanks for all your help daddy getting my visa so I could experience Nam! I guess you never complained or told me about all that stuff you did..only my mommy! Haha. The chapel is near the map you sent, we work mostly in Khomasdal, look up that haha.  No safari yet mommy. But you better believe we’re going to go on one, or two, or three! Haha I’ll keep grandpa in my prayers, he’s tough as nails!

Cool picture…made me so homesick!! Haha and tell sister Sexton thank you for such a lovely note she wrote to me. Loved it!

Sorry I couldn’t email you on Monday. We were at zone leader council! We flew down Sunday night, and just got back tonight. All the zone leaders from the entire mission came, so there were 18 in total, along with president wood and the assistants. We stayed at the mission home. I love that place. But basically, to be short in writing, we had an epic p-day together, and went on a hike with president, then came back, ate lunch and played sport, ate again, then that night watched some church clips together, and oh yeah ate lots of dessert. The next day, we had an amazing breakfast, and then mainly talked the whole day about cool stuff. President did some training and taught us cool things. The assistants did some training as well. But we also had time to talk like about mission policies and problems and lots of things. I took tons of notes, and now we have to report back to our zones about the things that were spoken about, so that will be fun. Then, last night, we all stayed up late and wrestled! We did it in a room furthest away from president’s room in the mission home so that he wouldn’t hear, but he so did! Haha we put mattresses down and tried to take off the other person’s socks. It was very entertaining! And of course, got fed out of our minds! An amazing lunch, but dinner was the best…stakes!!! Ohhh yeahhh. And dessert was out of this world.  Breakfast this morning was good, and so was lunch before we left. President had some funnyyy moments. I love that man. Basically, as you can tell, zone leader council is pretty much a time to relax a little bit, and is a reward to us for all of the hard work that we’ve done in our mission. Hard work does indeed pay off. I had soooo much fun! Just flying to and from Cape Town was sweet. But now it’s back to work in Zion! 

Our FHE we had

Things here are still powerful! The week was just a blur. I can’t even remember what occurred.  We taught and taught and taught! Days go super fast when you teach and testify the entire time. We had an awesome fellowshipper to help us.

We did some training for the branch missionaries to help them understand their role in the work and how we can help them improve their skills. That was fun. Have I told you that elder Morris is freakin' powerful. Such a master teacher. I've learned a lot from him. He’s good at what he does. Our companionship studies have been amazing sharing insights with one another and learning together and planning how to take this area to new heights.  This Sunday was a good day at church. It was packed! they had to go to other rooms and get more chairs for the chapel cuz it was too full!! you don’t see that every day. Then I had to teach gospel principles class on the gifts of the spirit. It went very well I thought.

Well, I could just go on and on and on about how much I love this, my last area...or how much I freakin' loved zone leader council! I think I might get to go to another one before I leave. That would be sweet. The assistants are up here for a few days, that’s going to be fun. I love those guys.

Man, I am still soo full. I ate a lot of food the past 3 days. I still am at the same weight though..90 Kg's..like 200lbs. I really cannot wait to go home and gym! Really looking forward to that...and going to the temple, but most of all, seeing my mommy and daddy and sister and the rest of my family!!! but until then, gotta work!  Talk to you next week!

LOVE always,

Elder Haws

"You're not much to look at, but you're all the Lord has"  -President Wood

I was cleaning the dishes at the mission home, and president came up and said "If I’m ever poor, I’m going to take you out with me to dinner so you can do the dishes for our meal" haha

'Mormons are full of rumors'

Hike at zone leader council

Back In Cape Town.....Zone Meetings

Sorry, I'm in Cape Town and we're too busy having funnnn to e-mail. I'll e-mail you on Wednesday when I'm back in Namibia!
LOVE YOU!

Elder Haws

Man, can’t get any better!

Family!!!

Yesterday was so great! Skyping wasn’t so bad after all haha. The Smiths did take great care of us. Heck we're using their internet right now...for free!! That’s a blessing cuz I am out of money at the moment. Man, it was so embarrassing today when I was buying groceries...like 3 times in a row it said "Insuffient  funds" awwww!! haha it all worked out though. Things here are more expensive. Mostly cuz they just sent everything up from South Africa, so things cost more. They don’t use Rand, like in SA. They use Namibian dollars. The exchange rate is the same though. Like I told you, that 5K run was fun! Running in the Namibian desert...once and a lifetime experience.

I’m serving in the Katatura Branch. There are 2 branches. The one I’m in and Windhoek (the w makes a v sound) which is the capital city, but super small. It’s a college town, with lots of native Namibians and also Angolans.

Whats up queen size bed!

The branch missionaries are unbelievable! They’re worked soo hard in the absence of missionaries. I am so impressed. The branch has a lot of YSA. And have lots of activities, which are great finding opportunities. We watched the movie Fireproof, which was way good. You should watch it sometime. Some of the branch members just left for Jo-burg to go to the temple. Yeah a 24 hour bus ride! Aren’t we spoiled in San Diego and Utah...

Sitting in church yesterday, I felt like I was really in Africa. Just a small little shed/container that is called the chapel, with fans like right above our head, a little bit unorganized, all black people, etc. It was a cool feeling. What a sweet place to be a missionary. But yeah we plan to do some sweet safaris and get our scriptures covered in some cool skins.

Looking ahead to this week, we're booked! Even teaching people in the morning, and then having a fellowshipper with us the entire day! That is unheard of.

It was funny, before we left Cape Town; President Wood called all 6 of us into his office and just told us about our new assignment. Right before we left, it was weird, he said, Elder Haws, do you have the rope?  I wasn’t sure what rope he was talking about. Then he said the one to tie you down so you don’t get translated! hahaha it was funny.

2 scriptures I liked this week were:

1 Nephi 14:11
And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many ^awaters; and she had dominion over ^ball the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.

Alma 17:11
And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be ^apatient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good ^bexamples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

Well, I just wish we could Skype every Sunday! I have a feeling this last 4 months is going to just FLY by! Eventually I’ve gotta decide what to do with my life once I get home, but I’ll worry about that later. I’ve gotta learn this sweet area and remember who's who.

Elder Sheppard said something profound in district meeting. Out of the 50,000+ missionaries in the world, I am one of the lucky 6 that get to serve in this great country. How blessed and lucky am I!

Next week we're flying to Cape Town for zone leader counsel! We’ll be there for like 3 day! Can’t wait! Man, can’t get any better!

Gotta go to work! Love you guys! Talk to you next week!

LOVE,
ELDER HAWS

This is the place where that picture in the Ensign was taken

Our new boarding. nice!

A Namibian sunset!