Tuesday, October 28, 2014

2014-10-27 ...because she doesn't know which one is the true church

Hey Everyone,
Well we had a great week this week.

To begin, Hermano Daniel has almost made it 2 weeks without chewing coca.  If he makes it 2 weeks we are going to get him interviewed and he should get baptized this week.  He's also changed his attitude a lot.  He's suddenly much more committed to the church and gospel so I think he'll come through for his baptism.

primary after the primary program
I went on exchanges with Elder Steuhser in my area this week.  He's been in the mission almost a month.  It got me thinking about when I started my mission.  I can't believe how fast time has passed.  Today I've been a missionary for 19 months.

Elder Howlett, Samuel (Kevin's brother), and his friend with
their primary program bow ties
While I was with him we knocked a door where we met someone that said she was busy but that we could come back some other time.  She didn't seem that interested but the next day we went back.  Her older sister answered the door.  The person we'd met wasn't there but we explained who we were to the sister and she let us come in to talk to her family.  We talked to her and her 4 kids.  Her husband was in Santa Cruz. The mom told us that she belonged to another Christian church and so she hasn't had any of her kids baptized Catholic or in any church. She told she hasn't been going to her church for quite some time and that she's been thinking a lot lately that her kids should be baptized and that she should go take them to church every week. She said she'd come on Sunday. And they actually did all show up together on Sunday. And they loved it.  She has a 13-year-old son Alan, a 9-year-old son Oliver, an 8-year-old daughter Selma, and a baby.  I'm very excited for them.  The dad gets back this week and on Saturday we have an appointment to talk to him.  Hopefully he jumps on board with the rest of the family.  At church the mom told us that she'd been stressed and upset for a while but has felt much more at peace since our visit.
 
Wilfredo's baptism
Also we met Adeila and her 2 grandsons Deybi and Kevin.  The kids are very nice and like to sit and listen to us.  The grandma is really great.  The first time she talked to us she told us she always prays but she doesn't go to any church because she doesn't know which one is the true church.  That was before we had even begun teaching anything about the true church.  We ran into them today and they were friendly and excited for our visit tomorrow.  

This morning I went to have breakfast with Jairo Vasquez (convert from Villa Graciela).  He's doing well.  He goes to church and to seminary and today we talked about a mission.  He says he wants to go as soon as he turns 18.  He's 17 right now.  

Today we played soccer with all of our zone and another zone too. It was pretty fun but it was on a hot astroturf field in the sun.  I'm really tired from that now.

We had interviews with President Hansen.  It made me miss President Dyer.  President Dyer was an awesome interviewer.

Cambios are on Sunday.  I suppose that I'll probably stay and get a new companion.

Have an awesome week everyone and don't forget to pray every night.

Love,
Elder Howlett


2014-10-20 ...because he knew not where to find it

Lady Jane and her family on
 the day they completed 1 year
 (except for Yasmira the oldest
 daughter, who completes 1
year in February)



Hey Everyone,
It was another great week here. Wilfredo was baptized on Saturday without any issues.  In his testimony in his baptism he spoke about how he didn't belong to any church even though he'd gone to visit many others.  He talked about how right if felt when he started coming to this church and that he plans on following this path for the rest of his life.  I think he is an excellent example of someone who was kept from the truth simply because he knew not where to find it.  He won't be confirmed until next week because Sunday was a special Stake Conference to reorganize the Stake Presidency. 

zone at Incachaka
Elder Wadell came to the conference to preside and spoke about the temple as did President Jensen (Cocha temple president).  That was perfect for Luis Miguel and Kevin who have their temple recommend interviews tomorrow and who we recently taught about the temple.  I'm excited to go to the temple with them.  I love the temple.

when the fog came in at Inca
Samuel (Kevin's little brother) also came with Kevin to the conference and we went back together afterward.  I asked him how he felt about baptism and he told me he wants to get baptized already.  His date is the 22nd of November.  His brother Alan isn't doing as well though.  He wasn't at our appointment and so we didn't see him this week.  We have a family home evening planned with them for this week to see if we can get the brother and also the dad more interested and (especially for the dad) to get them to like us more.  The dad's always polite with us and supportive of Kevin but it's going nowhere with him still.

We had 3 baptisms in the zone on Saturday which is a considerable improvement on what we've been having.

I don't remember if I told you, but Hermana Viqui (Gerardo's mom) got her endowments.  I saw them when we went to do a baptismal interview in the Alamos chapel.

 Also, we took the zone to Incachaka this morning.  We left at 6am and everyone was there on time which really impressed me.  Incachaka is on the way to but before Chapare.  It was a blast.  It is really dense jungle and smells really good.  There was no fog until about 10 when we watched it come in super fast.  It was really cool looking.  We saw a waterfall and also the devil's throat which is basically a small waterfall inside a stone room type thing but the rock is bright red.  It was cool.  We played capture the flag again in a little field after the hike to see the other cool stuff.  It got so foggy in the field that we couldn't see to the other side which was cool.

I hope you all have an awesome week.  Being a missionary is the best.  I love being here.

Love,
Elder Howlett


P.S.  D&C 123:12