2015-01-05 There is no better place.

Hey Everyone,

We had a really good week.  Especially for finding new investigators.  We have a ton of new investigators from this week.

One is a family in Collapampa that we found knocking doors.  An 11-year-old kid named Vladimir answered and we talked to him for a minute and then asked him to call his mom.  He went and got her.  She came to the door and we explained who we were and what we do and she was really nice.  We asked about a husband and she said she'd go see if he'd come to the door.  That's normally the hardest part.  It's always the dad who doesn't want to talk to us.  But then he came to the door too.  Then they let us in and we talked with them and their 3 kids.  It went great.  They were interested and Vladimir is smart and has an awesome memory.  He could have taught the Restoration lesson after hearing it for the first time.  The parents aren't actually married which is normal here.  They told us that they are planning on getting married but they wanted to choose a church first because they've gone to a lot of churches and don't know which one is the true church.  They seem awesome.  We've already had 2 lessons this past week.  In the 2nd lesson we met 3 of their nephews.  They seem really smart too and interested and they live in that same house.  

Denilson (Kevin's friend who got baptized a couple weeks ago) blessed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday.  He went to do visits with us for 4 hours on Friday the 2nd and did a really good job.  He showed up in a shirt and tie and carrying his Book of Mormon.  He was crazy nervous but he said he liked it and he is going with us again this week.

Alan Valencia took us to visit a family that is friends with the Valencia family.  He did a good job too.  We visited 10-year-old Samuel and his mom, Maria.  They were waiting for us when we got there.  Samuel came with the Valencia family to church last week and he often listened to us when we taught the Valencia family.  He really likes the church.  His mom is super Catholic but really nice and liked talking with us.  I see a lot of potential with them.

Alan is doing really, really well in general.  He got the Priesthood on Sunday and is excited to pass the sacrament.  He is excited about helping teach Samuel and his family too.  When he got to church the first thing he asked me is if Samuel and his mom had come. In the lesson we had with them Alan described how he'd come to know that it's the true church and I realized that he has an exceptionally strong testimony.

Alex Trigori came to church yesterday.  He wants to be baptized.  We took Hermano Ancalle with us to visit him and his family yesterday too and it went well.  

We spent a lot of time in Collapampa this week and had a lot of success.  I really like being there because it is really peaceful.  There are very few cars and there is a lot of greenery.  The temperature is cooler there too.  The people are generally more friendly.

Have a great week going back to school everyone.  Don't forget to go visit the temple.  I always leave the temple feeling awesome.  There is no better place.  

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Doctrine & Covenants 50:24