2015-02-02 The Aquino family situation complicated itself a little.

Pozo sisters ready to do baptisms at the temple

Hey Everyone,

This week went by quickly.  My new companion is Elder Palma from Lima, Peru.  He seems pretty good so far.  He's probably the biggest Latin missionary in the whole mission.

Thank you Atwoods and Watsons, your packages arrived.

 

combined FHE and birthday for Alan Valencia

We had 2 family home evenings this week with the Valencia family and they invited over a whole bunch of their neighbors for both.  We took the primary president to one and our ward mission leader to the other.  Hermana Benancia said she's going to keep inviting everyone over once a week for family home evenings.

doing visits with Denilson

I had to drop my old companion off early on Tuesday morning and then my new companion's flight didn't get in until the afternoon.  Denilson went with me since I can't be alone.  That was fun to get to know him better.  It was the last week of summer vacations from school there and he told me he wanted to go do visits with us for a whole day before he couldn't anymore.  He actually spent all of Tuesday with us and then all day Wednesday too.  He'll be a great missionary.

We had stake conference on Saturday.  Alex, a fifteen-year-old investigator, went with us.  Gustavo, who was baptized in December, was also there.  I asked him to go make Alex his friend.  He immediately found him and started talking to him. I was impressed.

 

Parra family at Stake Conference

The Aquino family situation complicated itself a little.  The dad, who lives in Argentina, came to visit and was upset that they were listening to us so we didn't get to visit them this week.  We did keep in touch by cell phone and the oldest 2 kids still seem very interested.

Maria, Samuel, and Brenda are still doing ok.  We went and did service helping them dig up and replant plants this week.  They still don't have answers to know if it's the true church.  Hopefully they will soon.  Maria was telling us she's been praying about it this past week.

Sorry I don't have much to say.  On a side note we did visit the Garnica family and they really like us. It's a mom and dad and their adult children.  It was just the second lesson so we'll have to see how it goes.

where we helped smash corn to make some things like tamales

 I know that God loves us and listens to us when we pray.  Everyone should pray more and look for opportunities to serve others and go to the temple more.  Those things made me a much better person.

 

Valencia family at the temple

Have a great week everybody.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Alma Chapter 36 (one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon)

2015-01-26 My last cambio has begun.

Hey Everyone,

Well, this is it.  My last cambio has begun.  I will be staying in Colcapirhua.  My companion won't which is the surprise.  I'm getting a new companion named Elder Palma.  I don't know him but this will be his first cambio as a zone leader and I've heard that he only has a little over a year in the mission.

I'm very happy that I'm sticking it out here in Colcapirhua.  It's been raining a lot here.

 

Valencia kids

This week we went to the temple with a bunch of people from the ward including the Valencia family (minus Rinaldo because he had to work) and Denilson and the Pozo family and Lucia Colque.  The last two are less active members who we work with.  I love the temple!  I really love how it feels to be there.  The Valencias had done a little family history work and Alan got baptized for his grandpa.

Samuel

Denilson has been going with us a lot to do visits.  He went all day long on Friday.  I gave him a copy of Preach My Gospel and he's been reading it.  He's getting less and less nervous and better at expressing himself.  He's a really great kid and it's a lot of fun to go visiting with him.

Samuel and Brenda came to church on Sunday.  Brenda is 24 I think and Samuel just turned 11.  Their mom, Maria, didn't make it to church this week but did last week.  She was there for our Sunday afternoon lesson though.  We teach them outside under a palm leaf roof shelter.  It's really nice.  They have dogs and cats and ducks and turkeys and chickens wandering around.  Maria really likes us but is super Catholic.  She's excited to meet my parents.

 

Alan Valencia

Alan brought his best friend Jerson to church yesterday.  Jerson loved the church and told us he wants to get baptized.  I haven't met his family yet so we'll have to see how they are.

Of the 4 siblings who were listening to us, the oldest 2 are doing far better than the younger two.  The older ones are Manuel and Maria.  They are both reading in the Book of Mormon and we watched the Joseph Smith video with them.  Classes are about to start up again in the university here so I'm worried that it's going to be harder to find them starting this week.

I love being a missionary.  I believe that by the gospel is by far the best way to live this life.  It's worth it to go to the work of changing your life to live the gospel.  I'm certain that anyone who does their best to live the gospel will eventually make it to the Celestial Kingdom.  I love my Savior and know He loves us.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Doctrine & Covenants 81:5-6

2015-01-19 ... if she can win herself a testimony

Hey Everyone,

Well, this week was excellent.

Daniel Fernandez baptism

Daniel Fernandez finally got baptized. The other guy in white on the left is Hermano Ancalle, our ward mission leader.  I think it was very good that Hermano Ancalle got to baptize him.  We had a meeting later that night between the missionaries in our ward and him.  Hermano Ancalle bore a heartfelt testimony and told us that baptizing Daniel had reminded him of his own mission.  Since that time he's been more excited about working with us.

We are actually having a lot of success as far as working with the ward goes.  The ward is much more involved with us than it has been in any of my other areas.  The 3 companionships that are working in our ward right now are actually all very good missionaries which helps a lot.  We have had a lot of good activities with the ward with a lot of attendance.  We get lots of people to do visits with us and the ward is really helpful to our investigators when they come to church.

Kevin and Denilson in Denilson's house

Denilson went with us to do visits again.  He's only been a member about a month but the entire time we were walking around between visits he was asking us things about the mission because he's super excited to go.  He's 17 right now.  He took us to one of his friend's house where we had a great first lesson and his friend, Diego, accepted a baptismal date for the end of February. He bore a great testimony about how he'd come to know that this is the true church and how that had changed his life.

Rinaldo was confirmed and received the priesthood this week so that was pretty exciting.  He's officially started his new job where he gets home at 6 Monday to Friday and only works 'til noon on Saturday and not at all on Sunday.  

teachin' Marcelo

This Saturday we are going to the temple with members of the ward and with a bunch of recent converts for the first time including:  the Valencia family, Kevin Laura, and Denilson.  I'm excited for that.

This Sunday that's coming is the last transfer of my mission.  I had an interview with President this week and he asked if I wanted to stay a fifth transfer or go somewhere else.  I told him I want to stay.  He said that as long as the Lord doesn't need me anywhere else he can do that.  So hopefully the Lord doesn't need me anywhere else. 

The Valencias' next door neighbors, Maria (the mom) and Samuel (the 11-year-old son) came to church on Sunday.  That was awesome because Maria is super Catholic.  She is a really good person and really likes us though.  She would be a faithful convert if she can win herself a testimony.  Samuel loves the church.  He was coming before with the Valencia family.

 

zone in Pairumani

I think I mentioned Maria, Manuel, Adriana, and Daniela last week.  They are between 16 and 21 years old and intelligent.  We taught them a couple times again this week and for the first time Daniela and Maria came to church.  We have a Family Home Evening with them tonight and I'm making root beer floats for the treats because I found root beer cans for 1 boliviano each.  

25 mangos for 4 Bolivianos

Kevin's 2 younger brothers, Alan and Samuel, both came to church too.  They are pretty much ready to be baptized.  We are getting pretty much nowhere with the dad still though.

Alex Trigori was also in the church on Sunday and reads the Book of Mormon and prays every day and is set on getting baptized.  We are progressing a little with his parents though.  

Things are going great here in Colcapirhua.  I like my companion and my area.  It's a pretty area.  It's rained almost nonstop all week long.

I enjoy being a missionary.  It's a lot of fun to just visit people and meet people and talk about the gospel all the time.  I love Bolivia.  I love the gospel.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Helaman 5:6-7

2015-01-12 No one ever knows who he is.

Hey Everyone,

This was another solid week.  Also, I'm 21 now.  

My birthday was fun.  My pensionista and her husband were travelling on my birthday so they made a special birthday lunch on Saturday.  It was pique macho and charque (fried shredded beef ) which was really good.  And it was a ton of food.  I'll put a picture on.

Sunday, my birthday, we were actually really busy.  We were in charge of putting together a fireside and had a lot of appointments.  Gerardo, Junior, and Fernanda came to my chapel to tell me happy birthday.  Gerardo's mom also brought me a cake.  The Valencia family brought me a present too, socks and chocolate.

Junior, Gerardo, and Fernanda

The fireside went well.  We got  Carlos Pedraja to come speak.  He was an area 70  and the first Bolivian to serve as a missionary.  The Valencia family came too so I got to spend a little more time with them for my birthday.

Kevin Laura gave an awesome testimony in church on Sunday.

with Elder Pedraja

Also we found a different Kevin this week.  He's Kevin Rodriguez.  He's 13 but seems really smart.  We started teaching about the Restoration and before we taught about Joseph Smith we asked if he'd ever heard of him.  He said "Yes, he's the prophet who got the church back on Earth."  No one ever knows who he is.  People normally have a hard time answering that question even right after we've explained who it is.  We asked how he knew and he said that the year before there had been a Mormon in his school who'd told him about Joseph Smith.  That was pretty impressive.  Kevin went on to explain that he has gone to a lot of churches but hasn't found one that seems right yet.  That sounds pretty promising.  The only problem is that his dad doesn't want to listen to us.  He only lives with his  dad and his dad doesn't mind that we teach his son but says that he himself doesn't have time.  We'll see how that goes.

Daniel Fernandez's baptism is set for tomorrow.

Selma and Oli

The Valencia family is still doing great.  Hermano Rinaldo missed church though because of his job.  Then he gave us awesome news in the night time at the fireside.  An old boss had called him up and offered him a Monday to Friday only job.  He accepted immediately and starts this week.  I'm super excited for that.  

Alan passed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday.

Samuel (friend of the Valencia family) came to the FHE we had with them this week.  He loves the church and his mom still seems nice even though she is very Catholic.  She is still listening to us.

I hope everyone has an awesome week.  Do good things.  Help someone or somethin'.

my area

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Philippians 4:9

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 

2014-12-29 "All that's left is the temple now."

Hey Everyone,

Well this was one of the best weeks of my mission.

The Valencia family marriage, baptism, and reception went off without a problem on Tuesday.

The marriage only took like 20 minutes in an office.  From there we went directly to the church for the baptism.  We got everyone changed, took pictures, and started the baptism quickly.  We had almost 50 members in attendance at the baptism which is a lot, especially for a week day.

me with Rinaldo

I baptized Alan (the oldest son) and Rinaldo.  Elder Delgadillo baptized Selma and Oliver.  Hermano Wilson (who helped us out a lot with the family) baptized Benancia.  (That's who the people are in white in the photo.)  The water was really cold. Benancia took like 5 minutes walking down into the font.

After being baptized, all 5 of them bore their testimonies.  Benancia bore a beautiful testimony about how happy she is to have found the church and that her whole family did too.  I felt the Spirit strongly as she spoke. It is incredible to see the difference the gospel has already made in their family to this point and to also know how much change and happiness is still to come for them.

Immediately following the baptism, we held their wedding reception right there in the church.  We arranged the reception and actually got a lot of help from the ward.  They cooked food for 80, decorated, contracted a hairdresser for Benancia, and got a professional  DJ to do the music.  Our pensionista made a really good wedding cake too.  It was a good way to get the ward to know them.

getting Alan to smile for a picture

As we left the reception and I said goodbye to Rinaldo, he told me, "All that's left is the temple now."  That made me feel good that he understands there's still work to do and that he's excited to be sealed.  His wife is excited to be sealed too.

That same night President called to tell me that Elder Stuesher was going to have his appendix out right away.  The next morning, Christmas Eve, I went to replace his companion and stayed with Stuesher all day in the hospital.  We got to play some chess and watch Mr. Kruger's Christmas.  Hermana Mercedes called to wish me a Merry Christmas Eve and since I was in the hospital, she sent Junior with food.  It was a ton of food and really, really good.  There was chicken cooked in some kind of delicious sauce.

We helped Kevin prepare his first sacrament meeting talk this week. He was supposed to speak on Sunday but then the stake presidency came and released our bishop and called a new one and that took up all of sacrament meeting so I suppose this Sunday Kevin will speak.  The new bishop seems like a cool guy.

On Christmas we ate breakfast with a counselor in the stake presidency.  He made us pancakes.  Then for lunch we went to the Carbalhos'. We ate dinner with our own pensionista. Between the eating and then talking to our families on Skype it didn't leave much time.  We went to visit Jorge's family (see the picture) because he turned 12 on the 24th and wanted us to go to his house for a breakfast but I couldn't because I was in the hospital.  Then our last visit of the night was to the Valencia family.  We taught a lesson about the Holy Ghost since they were going to be confirmed soon.

me and my companion with Diego, Christian, and Jorge

Being with them felt more like Christmas at home than the other stuff we did during the day.  I bought them Christmas presents and took them that night.  After the lesson we opened the presents and they fed us and had lots of coke.  I bought a green laser for Alan and Connect 4 for Oliver and we all played with those a little.  Alan's a pretty smart kid for playing Connect 4 so that was fun.  Benancia told me like 10 times to say hi to my parents.  So "Hi" mom and dad from the Valencia family.

Anyway, I'm very happy about this week.  It was a ton of fun.  I love the Valencia family and I'm excited for them as members of the church now.  I sure am glad that I'm a member of this church.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Don't forget to pray.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Helaman 14:30  

2014-12-22 So, we...dressed him up as a guard and left him...

Hey Everyone,

This week was crazy busy.  Mostly getting ready for the Valencia wedding/baptism.

Last Monday we went to the airport to say goodbye to Jeremy.  He's in our ward and was leaving for a mission in Peru.  I couldn't help but think I'd be leaving from that airport in less than 3 months to go back home.  We spent that same evening going around to the people that Elder Delgadillo wanted to say goodbye to.  That got me thinking even more about how little of my mission is still to come.

It's really incredible how fast it's gone by.  I still have time to do a lot, but I have very little time in comparison to the time I had when I first landed here in Bolivia.  It's made it really easy to make the most of my time.  I think it's like coming to the end of the race and it's easier to just sprint to the finish line.  I naturally just want to do as much as possible every day because I can feel that the end of my mission is getting close.

Tuesday was an incredible day.  I went to downtown Cocha to drop off Elder Delgadillo and pick up my new companion.  At 11 o' clock that morning we were supposed to go with Benancia and Rinaldo and the witnesses to get their marriage papers signed and ready for the 23rd (it was the last day we could do it and still have them married on the 23rd).  At 10 o' clock I was waiting for my new companion to show up and Benancia called to say that she'd gone to try and get a copy of her birth certificate (which is needed to do the marriage paperwork) and they couldn't get her one because of some kind of error in her records.  They told her she had to go to the court in Quillacollo to get the error fixed. I offered to go with her.

My new companion showed up and we dropped his bags off at the house and went to meet up with Benancia.  We found the court and the line was so long to be attended to that we weren't even going to get in that day.  It looked like we weren't going to get it done for a marriage on the 23rd.  We decided to go to a different civil registry to try and get the birth certificate again though.  We found one and in 5 minutes had a birth certificate without any problem.  I don't understand how it happened but it was awesome.  

Juan Carlos as a security guard

However, we presented the papers and on Rinaldo's ID one of the numbers was worn off and they said that wasn't going to work.  They told us that during that day, the place to get a new one was working through lunch and they told us to go there. Hermano Rinaldo was working though and he had to go to get the new ID card made. So we called Hermano Juan Carlos from the ward and dressed him up as a guard and left him in Rinaldo's guard post for a few hours while we got the new card and then went to get the marriage papers signed.  We finally did at 4pm--five hours late and only an hour before the place closed but it worked.  It was amazing how many things worked out for us.

Hermano Rinaldo has to work on Christmas so we aren't going to be able to do the baptisms that day.  Instead we are going to do it directly after the marriage tomorrow.  I'm incredibly excited for that.  The family is super excited too.

We had a great lesson about the sacrament with Humberto and Natali (Carlos' parents) this week.  And then for the first time in the 4 months we've been teaching them, Humberto came to church,  We are hoping to build off of that momentum.

On Saturday one of Kevin's best friends, Denilson, got baptized.  Kevin brought another friend, Diego, to the baptism who lives in our area.  Diego came to church once too.  We got to talk a lot waiting for the baptism to start.  He seems like a really good guy and smart too.  After the baptism he asked me, "How's my baptism going to be?"  That's a good sign.

Kevin bore his testimony as part of the baptismal program.  It was awesome and I think really good for Diego to hear.  He talked about how much his life has changed since his own baptism.  He talked about how it's made everything better in his family as well.  I felt the Spirit strongly as he spoke.  

Daniel Fernandez also passed his interview this week.  He should get baptized on Friday.  I'll explain more next week.

Elder Terceros, my new companion, seems really good so far.  We are getting along really well and he seems very laid back.

I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas.  Be like Christ.

Heis our perfect example.  He was born to Mary in Bethlehem and wasperfectly obedient to our Heavenly Father during his entire life.  Heprepared for us a way back to God's presence.  I know He lives and lovesus.  I love Him.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Luke 1:38, John 6:38  Mary was a chosen vessel.  When visited by the angel she submitted to her Father's will.  Christ would always do the same.  I do believe that He learned from his Mother's righteous example.