2014-11-10 ... it will be one of the most memorable moments of my mission...

Hey Everyone,

This was an awesome and fun week.  My companion and I are getting along really well and we are really comfortable with each other which makes everything easier and better.

First of all, my pensionista moved far away from my area which means we needed to switch pensions.  We found someone who is willing to cook for us as a service twice a day and it only took about 1 hour.  You could never do that at home.  Its hermana Joanna Ancalle.  She is a professional pastry chef and cooks delicious food.  I sent you a picture of a dessert in a glass before.  Now she is our pensionista.  She also lives right on the main road so it is a very convenient location too.  My old pensionista was not my favorite so I'm really happy that we got to switch.  Last night she made us enchiladas which were great.  She also made us a delicious apple pie a few nights ago.  When I thanked her and said it's the first time I've eaten pie in Bolivia, she boxed up half the pie and sent it home with me.  Anyway, I'm loving the pension.  It's also good because she had a somewhat active 19-year-old son who should be getting ready for a mission who we eat lunch with every day.  Hopefully we can have a good influence on him.

Last Sunday, Kevin and Samuel showed up just on time for church but it looked like they'd just rolled out of bed.  When we went to visit them during the week, Kevin explained why.  He'd hurt his foot playing soccer on Saturday night and when he woke up it still hurt so he decided to just keep sleeping and not go to church.  He said as he laid in his bed he couldn't sleep and then heard a voice that said translated to English something like, 'Kevin, get to church, you are going to miss out on good things.´  It was 30 minutes 'til church started and he woke up his brother, they threw on clothes and ran to the church.  He still got there before the majority of the members.  Anyway, he's doing great and I think we are going to go to the temple with him in the next 2 weeks.  Samuel is also doing great.  He reads the Book of Mormon every day.  As soon as his dad gives permission, he'll get baptized.

We had monthly leadership council this week.  My companion and I gave a 30-minute class based on how to use the ward council to help more investigators attend church.  It went well. 

On Saturday there was an event to celebrate 50 years of the Church in Bolivia.  It was mostly the members doing the traditional dances.  Each region of Bolivia has its own dance.  The missionaries could go if they took investigators.  We were supposed to go with Benancia's husband and kids but the husband got home late from work so we went with her kids and their grandma who only speaks Quechua.  That was fun Quechua practice.  It was a blast.  Since all of Cochabamba went, I got to see a lot of people I know.  I ran into Maria Terrazas  (who got baptized in Alamos) who I haven't seen in ages.  She'd moved to another ward but she told me she still goes every Sunday.  That made me happy because lots of people go inactive when they move here.  I also got to talk to Sergio Villca on the way out.  He used to accompany me in divisions in Villa Graciela.  He graduates from high school this year and told me he's gonna leave on his mission next year.  On the way back home, we were in a taxi/van thing.  I was sitting next to Oliver and he told me he wants to be baptized.  Now Benancia, Selma, and Oliver all want to be baptized.  

 

Junior, Isabelle, and Raul

We had an awesome lesson with the whole family when we got back.  We talked about the Sabbath day which looks like it will be the biggest change for the family since they don't have much money and both work some Sundays. However, when we taught the commandment we felt the Spirit strongly and they did too. Instead of justifying their working they just told us that they'd look for the way to change and that they know that God will help them.  I love that family and it's awesome to be able to teach a whole family together.

Michel and Katerine, the Bustamante twins, are still excited for their baptism.  The mom is not a member and isn't on board with them getting baptized this week.  The member dad and older sister are very on board. They were supposed to talk to the mom and explain why the twins should be baptized and tonight we are going to talk with the mom and see if they have her convinced so the twins can be baptized.  I really think it will work out.  I just don't know how we can get to the mom.  She is tough.  Every once in a while she listens to us but she just argues with everything we say.  Anyway I'm very excited for the twins and they are both very firm and sure in their decision that they want to be baptized.

Wilfredo got the Priesthood on Sunday and after church went with us to do visits.  He is doing great and loved going out to do visits with us.  He bore his testimony when we taught the Bustamante mom and it was the only time that she let one of us talk without interrupting to argue.

 

area of my mission we hadn't been in before

This was one of my favorite weeks in the mission.  I felt the Spirit a lot.  One of the best moments was the taxi ride home and chatting with Oliver.  I asked him why he wanted to be baptized when he told me he did.  Then I talked a little about how he needs an answer from God that it's the true church.  He asked me how I gotten an answer and I explained.  And as I did I felt the Spirit strongly and it got me thinking about how coming to know of the truthfulness of the gospel changed my life.  There really is nothing better nor more important than the gospel.  I am a happy and blessed person because of it.  Living the gospel is by far the best way to live this life.  And I told Oliver all that too.  I don't know what impact it had on him but it will be one of the most memorable moments of my mission and a moment I can look back on as a source of spiritual strength.  The Spirit confirmed what I already believe and know.

I love and miss you all.  I hope you have an awesome week.  I can't believe how fast time is flying by here in the mission.  Don't forget to make time to go to the temple.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S.  D&C 61:37-39

2014-11-03 I don't know what changed, but fasting must work.

Hey Everyone,

Well this was an excellent week.  Last week I wrote a little about Benancia and her family (the family we found last week and they came to church on Sunday).  This week we met the dad, Reinaldo, who had been out of town.  Normally the father is the hardest person to get to listen to us and the least likely to progress in a family so I was a little worried about meeting him.  Through his wife we'd set up an appointment with him even though she'd warned us that he considers himself Catholic and doesn't really like the hermanos (what they call any non- Catholic Christian).  When we showed up he was waiting for us and smiling and really nice.  We had an awesome lesson and he's an awesome guy.  We taught about the restoration and asked him why it would be important for him to know if what we'd taught was true.  He told us that he's been worried lately about being a better father and husband and that if this is the true church he's sure that is what would make him a better family man.  He is interested and understood well what we taught.  He told us he wasn't going to come to church yesterday because he had a prior commitment to do something with his extended family for the day of the dead.  He promised and assured us that he'll come this Sunday though and that he'll read what we left for him in the Book of Mormon.  His wife and kids did come again to church yesterday.  His wife also told us on Saturday that she'd received her answer that this is the true church.  She loves the church and so do her kids.  Her 13-year-old son, Alan, who was the least interested, enjoyed church so much that he was excited to go with the young men to clean the church on Tuesday and then invited one of his other friends to church too.  I'm very excited about this family because it is hard to find an entire family who are all interested in listening.

Side note about Halloween.  Pretty much doesn't exist here.  However the following 2 days, November 1st and 2nd, are Day of the Saints, and Day of the Dead.  What was explained to me was something like on the first day the heavens open and all of the spirits come back to earth and then the next day they all leave.  They make tables with pictures and names of their dead family members and then cover the table with the dead people's favorite foods.  They do have a similar to Halloween tradition.  The kids (lots but not all) go to houses and do Catholic prayers to win baked goods.  They teach the Catholic prayers in the schools here and then it's a requirement for their grade that they go do this trick-or-treating type deal so lots of the members do it too.

Kevin passed the sacrament for the first time this week.  His younger brother, Samuel, continues to come to church every week and we teach him 3 times per week.  He never misses a day of reading the Book of Mormon.  He wants to be baptized and will be baptized as soon as his dad gives permission.  

I've started teaching English for an hour twice per week to his other brother, Alan.  That's actually working out really well.  He'd only listened to us once before we started with English last week but this past week he sat in on all 3 of our lessons with his brother.  He also told us that he prayed to know if it was the true church for the first time this past week.  I think the English teaching is also helping us win over the dad a little more.  He really wants Alan to learn English and English classes are expensive here so he's happy with the classes.  I don't understand why the dad won't just come to church and pray about it.  He's always polite with us and he'll listen to us every once in a while and he says he'll come to church but he never does.  He just doesn't seem to care much about it.  I really think that he'll get baptized though and I feel like we are progressing with him even if it is ridiculously slow.  I really like his family. They are very nice and one of my favorite families to visit.

 

last day of soccer-- We are quitting our morning soccer playing as of this morning.  These are the people we played with for the last 3 months for  our half hour of exercise in the morning. 

I think I've told you about the Bustamante twins, Katerine and Michel, before.  Their father and sister were baptized almost a year ago and they've been listening to the missionaries and going to church regularly for over a year.  We don't understand why they don't want to get baptized and we've been visiting them regularly since I got here and we were running out of ideas about what to teach them so we decided to fast for them.  So we did this weekend and while we were fasting we went to an appointment with them.  We hadn't decided what to teach when we got there.  We wound up sharing a short lesson about the 10 virgins.  Then we decided to just go for it and invite them to be baptized like we have so many times before. We asked them to prepare themselves for the 22nd of the month.  They looked at each other and then whispered between themselves and then said, ¨We want to be baptized on the 15th.¨  I don't know what changed, but fasting must work.  I was so excited and their dad and sister were too.

I talked with Rodrigo from Potosì.  He's told me he's not going to church because he's in the cuartel, a military boot camp type thing that is semi-required by law for 17 or 18 year olds, and they do things on Sundays.  He did tell me that he's reading his scriptures and praying so that's good.  Hopefully he'll be out of the cuartel soon but I forgot to ask him how much longer he has.

Hermano Daniel used coca again so he didn't get baptized but it was just once and so that's still a lot better than it was before.  He'll get baptized in the coming weeks.

Fabian is a great new investigator that I'm not sure if I wrote you about last week.  This week we taught him about the Plan of Salvation.  He has a 20-year-old brother who passed away a few months ago, Talking about that, we wound up explaining baptisms for the dead a little too.  Fabian told us that he's received his answer that it is the true church.  He wants to be baptized and wants to get his brother baptized too.

Also last night was changes and I didn't have one.  I stay here with Elder Delgadillo.  I'm fine with that.

Anyway, this really was an awesome week and I'm looking forward to this transfer.  I think we can have a lot of success.  I hope you all are having a great time.  I hope you are all going to the temple.  I got to go do a session this week.  My first since January.   I loved it.  I didn't want to leave the Celestial Room because I know it'll be at least 3 months before I get to go back.  I miss being able to go to the temple more.

I love all the people we are teaching here.  It is so great to be a missionary and get to meet all these wonderful people.

Love, 

Elder Howlett

P.S. Mosiah 2:24

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

P.S. Joseph Smith-History 1:25

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 

2014-10-13 ...we sat on their porch under a little tin roof while it rained...

Hey Everyone,

Yesterday was weird because it was election day in Bolivia.  In Bolivia that means that nobody works and nothing is open and it's illegal to have any kind of meeting so there was no church. The mission made some extra rules for us.  We had to stay in our apartments yesterday and they had us buy extra food and water for the house just in case we couldn't leave the house after elections because of political unrest.  It seems like everything is normal today though and they let us go out normally.

The rest of the week generally went well though.  Wilfredo is still one of the best investigators I've ever worked with and he can't wait for his baptism on Saturday.  During our last visit he gave us one of the sweetest watermelons I've ever eaten.

lunch at a member's house--they made a really
good dessert so I took a picture of it and there it is

Also, we had a great lesson with Kevin (who recently was baptized)  and his two younger brothers.  The almost 10-year-old Samuel told us that after reading in the Book of Mormon and praying he received his answer that this is the true church.  He told us that that means he wants to go to church always with Kevin from now on out.  We invited him to be baptized and he readily accepted.  The date is set for the 22nd of November.  Alan (the 12-year-old brother) was excited to talk with us which hasn't normally been the case.  He promised to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it too.  Our goal with him is the 22nd of November too.  Kevin once again bore a powerful testimony, this time about how he's felt since being baptized.  The mom loves the church and is looking into it in Spain.  The dad is polite with us but just doesn't seem interested at all.  He listens to us every once in a while but isn't progressing.  This week we asked his sons, especially Kevin, that they can try and show their dad how important this church is.

I don't remember if I've talked much about Roxana.  She wanted to be baptized but this week she drank a little when she went to visit her family.  She says she still wants to be baptized but it might take a little while longer for her to really get herself ready.  I don't think she has much of a testimony of the gospel either.  I think that's what's keeping her from really working hard for her baptism too.  We are going to start reading the Book of Mormon with her to see if she can develop a stronger testimony.

Collapampa in the rain

We went to Collapampa twice this week.  I was in interchanges with Elder Rosario one of the days that we went and it was raining all day.  Collapampa was a muddy mess.  We bought trash bags to cover our bags so our scriptures wouldn't get wet.  Our best lesson there was with Herminia and her 18-year-old son Israel.  We had visited Herminia several times and last week when we went, her son Israel listened to us for the first time.  He didn't seem that interested last week but when we talked this week he told us that he had prayed about it like we'd asked him and he didn't understand why he hadn't gotten an answer if it was true or not.  We explained a little more about the receiving revelation and then had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation.  Israel told us that he is the only person in his family who hasn't been baptized and that he wants to be baptized but doesn't know in what church.  It was a really fun lesson too because we sat on their porch under a little tin roof while it rained and the mom made us mote with cheese.  Mote is like giant boiled corn.

I've noticed 2 very different attitudes while I've been here in the people I've taught who need to change something to live the gospel.  Of those who have come to know that they need to change, some focus on making that change.  Many other people focus on a generally true principal that changing our lives is a process and distort it until it becomes a major obstacle for them to affect the necessary change.  Those who simply decide that they need to change and that they are going to do it usually make the change even if it does take them a little while to do it.

There are way too many people who say that change only happens over time and use it to justify procrastination in beginning the change or use it to justify a limited effort that they'll put forth.  I believe that change normally takes however long it takes us to decide that we'll change and know that God will support us in our effort.  It does sometimes take some time for a person to build that needed confidence or faith in God but that faith does not arrive until we are willing to give our all to make the change.  A change to live the gospel is repentance and God's will is always that we repent as soon as possible.  He won't hold back his help if we live in such a way that we can receive it.  I don't know how so many people have been confused into thinking that it will take them some incredibly long amount of time to make a change and that that is ok.  It is not ok.  We repent as soon as we know we should.  

I hope everyone has a great week.  I hope you go to the temple because you should.  I love being a missionary!

Love,

Elder Howlett

D&C88:68

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                              

P.S. D&C 128:18

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

P.S. D&C 123:17