Wednesday, October 8, 2014

2014-10-06 ... since we didn't want to get robbed...

Hey Everyone,

This was a good week.  I really like General Conference.  I didn't remember to get ready to tell you what I liked about conference--some scattered thoughts--I really liked Elder Eyring's talks in both the general session and the priesthood session.  I felt like there was a lot about finding or strengthening your testimony of the church and gospel.  I also liked ElderAndersen's talk about Joseph Smith.  I liked what Brother Godoy said about living to see all the promised blessings of your Patriarchal blessings realized.  I enjoyed President Uchtdorf's "Is it I?" talk.  It was fun to see the Spanish talks being in a Spanish-speaking country.  I enjoyed the last talk by Elder Bednar too.  The service was so bad during L. Tom Perry's talk that we couldn't understand it.

Wilfredo came to 2 sessions of conference.  Luis Miguel and Kevin also attended conference.  The signal was awful in our chapel while we waited for the Priesthood session to start and we didn't want to miss again like we did for Elder Perry's talk.  So we went to the Alamos chapel where the missionaries said the signal was better.  That was fun because I got to see the Alamos people.  I sat with Gerardo, Junior, and the Parras (Edwin and Liam).

Kevin and his family at their home

Kevin's 9-year-old brother, Samuel, really liked church last week and we started teaching him this week.  We actually had a really good lesson with his whole family.  His mom returned to Spain today which is a bummer but she promised to look for the missionaries there.  She's really nice and I do think she'll be baptized before she returns to Bolivia the next time.

Wilfredo is still awesome.  He's read the first 20 chapters of the Book of Mormon (5 chapters between every visit) and marks what he wants to talk to us about.  We've confirmed that he doesn't drink alcohol--he doesn't even drink coffee.  He's excited to be baptized on the 18th.

Hermano Daniel came to conference.  He's doing better with the coca but still not perfect.  I imagine that his baptism will be the end of this month at the earliest or November.
the zone at capture the flag
Roxana didn't come to conference.  We went to visit her and rescheduled her baptismal date for the 25th because we didn't feel she'd be ready for the 11th.  She wants to be baptized but is having a hard time putting in the effort she should to prepare herself.

area where we played capture the flag
Today we took the zone to the mountains to play capture the flag in the morning.  It was the craziest game of capture the flag I've ever played because it was just in a pretty dense forest except for a dry river bed which frequently had 5- to 10-foot drops.  Also it poured heavy rain for about 45 minutes straight.  No one ever got to the other team's flag or even got close. After about an hour and a half, another guy in the forest got robbed at knife point close enough to one of the team's jails that everyone in the jail saw it happen.  That made us a little uneasy and since we didn't want to get robbed we decided to end the game there.

One of the things that I noticed and thought about while we taught Kevin's whole family together is that it felt really good.  I think we may get even more help from the Spirit when we are with an entire family.  Even though Kevin's dad really isn't very interested right now, I think just being with his family and us for that 45 minutes was a very good experience for him.

I hope everyone watched conference and learned something.  I hope you do something different because of what you learned.  If you missed some or all, go online and watch it.  What the Prophet and Apostles say is very important.  What I've heard during General Conference has influenced my life a great deal over the last 8 years. I'm certain that Thomas Monson is the chosen Prophet of God.

Love,
Elder Howlett                              


Sunday, October 5, 2014

2014-09-29 "Of course, I want to hear the prophet's voice."

Hey Everyone,
This week went great!  Kevin got baptized and it was a great baptism--well attended and spiritual.  His entire family came too.



He's probably one of the most prepared investigators I've ever baptized.  He bore an awesome testimony in his baptism too.  He talked about how sure he is that this is the true church.

His mom and brother came to church the next day too.   They liked it and asked us to visit them on Tuesday.  I hope they get baptized too.  The problem is that the mom is probably going back to Spain in a couple weeks.

Wilfredo is the friend of Luis who was baptized last week.  He came to church again this Sunday and is the best investigator ever.  The first time we went to visit him he had already read the first pamphlet and starting with the introduction had read up to chapter 3 of First Nephi in the Book of Mormon.  We talked about President Monson on Saturday and when we asked if he'd go to General Conference, he told us, "Of course, I want to hear the prophet's voice."  On Sunday, he told us that God had responded to his prayers and he knows he needs to be baptized.  His baptismal date is for the 18th of October. 

Luis Miguel was ordained a teacher on Sunday and is excited to pass the sacrament.  He showed up early for his interview on Tuesday and is doing great.  Also his mom sat in on a lesson again this week and told us that she likes how we pray.  Hopefully she bends one of these days and joins the church too.

Susana´s (from Potosì) older sister, Fabiola, was baptized on Saturday and their mom has gone to church a couple times and hopefully will be baptized in the coming weeks.

The Parra family finished the temple prep. classes on Sunday and is going to choose their sealing date now.

On Wednesday we had to take Elder Callahua to pick up the new missionary that he was going to train.  They had a short training up by the Jesus statue so we got to go up there on Wednesday morning and it was really cool.  It was early so it was a great temperature and president gave a good little talk.  He talked about the prepared people who aren't members of this church only because they haven't had the chance.  I think Wilfredo is one of those people.

It turns out that the father of the Fernandez family doesn't have records in the church so he needs to be baptized.  He wants to be baptized but he chews coca so we are working on that right now and once he leaves his coca he can get baptized.

I love being a missionary!  It's so awesome.  This is the true church, there is no other and I'm sure of that.  Have an awesome week.  Help your friends be strong in the gospel.

Love,
Elder Howlett