2014-01-13 ...because that's just what they do here

Hey Everyone,

I had a great week and a great birthday.  First off, yesterday was cambios and I'm staying in Alamos for a 4th transfer with Elder Melgar who's been my companion since last week.  I'm still district leader and there was not a single change in my district.  I'm happy to be able to stay here in Alamos.  I don't not like changing areas.

My Birthday was awesome.  That afternoon we had a breakthrough with a less active member.  He's going to get things turned around and come back to church. That night my penisonista invited Gerardo and the Hermana missionaries to her house to have dinner all together. We had a ton of really good pique macho.  After that they smashed eggs on my head and covered me in flour because that's just what they do here.  It was a fun evening.

The next day for we had lunch with Gerardo's family and Hermana Viqui (his mom) bought me a cake.  It was actually really nice because I know they don't have much money.  The cake said "Congrats ELMER" which is kinda funny because my name is not Elmer.  The cake was really really good.  It was moist and berry flavored.   Gerardo and his mom had a present for me too.  It's a bag made out of Bolivian fabric... aguayo (or something like that).  We had a really good lesson after lunch about prayer with them and it was a great afternoon.

We ate chicken heart kabobs for lunch on Tuesday. They are a lot better than what they have at Tucanos.

I always feel the Spirit strongly when I give blessings.  I'm amazed at how much easier it has become for me to recognize what it is that I need to say as I give blessings.  Before, I was always worried that I would say something I shouldn't have--but now I always feel good finishing a blessing.  Normally when we teach about priesthood I ask how long it's been since they've received a blessing. The vast majority of members here have never received a priesthood blessing.  It's sad and helps me understand how important the priesthood is.    

I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Matthew 26:41

2014-01-06 ...I guess that means it rains inside a little too.

Hey Everyone,

This week was pretty crazy.  My companion is gone.  He left to his house on New Year's Eve for health issues. They called us at 4:30 to tell us we needed to be in the airport at 6:30 for his 7pm flight. We ran home and packed up and away he went.  That left me without a companion.  I spent that night with one companionship and the next day with another companionship in my zone.  Since I wasn't getting anything done in my area, I asked permission to work with Junior and he was my companion all day Thursday.  Thursday at 8:30, I went to pick up my new companion in downtown Cochabamba.  His name is Elder Melgar--he's from Beni here in Bolivia.  

I miss Elder Contreras.  We got along really well. Things are going ok with Melgar though.  

Cambios are on Sunday and I don't want to leave here.

We have a new family we are teaching that is very open and interested--the mom and 14-year-old son especially.  We had helped her carry her big cholita bag of bottles several weeks ago but were just able to contact her for a lesson this week.  She also came to a baptism when we invited her on Saturday.  It's great to see God's hand in what we do.  I remember seeing her and thinking we should help and now I know why I had that impression.  She is very grateful that we are visiting her and her family.

We taught a lot of lessons to less-active members this week.  I really like working with them.  I think it's because they are a lot more like me than investigators are.  I always had the gospel, I just didn't always grasp its importance.  

Thank you for the packages, Grandma Marie and Papa Dave & Atwood Family.  Yours hasn't made it mom.  I'm only about a week away from needing the new journal you sent me, grandma, and bubbles don't exist here, so whoever thought of putting that in the Atwoods' package is a genius.  The kids here love them.

Today we went to Pairumani in the morning.  That's the green pictures and waterfalls.  It was fun. We had a water fight with our zone.

 

I spent New Year's Eve with Mercedes and Junior's family.   We had permission to be out until 10:30 for that night.  Back in the apartment, the fireworks woke me up at midnight though, and it was a ton of fireworks that I could see very well from the balcony.  

It's been raining like crazy every day for weeks now.  One night it rained really really hard and here in Bolivia, I guess that means it rains inside a little too.  My desk was very wet the next morning.  I do like it a lot better than the sun.

I'm very pleased with how everything is going right now with the people we are working with.  Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S.  Isaiah 41: 9-13

2013-12-30 I love that family to death

Hey Everyone,

I had an awesome Christmas this week.   On Christmas Eve the Flores family made ph´am paku and brought it over for dinner.  I pushed the desks and our one table together to make our dinner table.  We had tumbo, peach, and guayaba juices with dinner which were all very good.  I love that family to death and was very happy to be able to spend Christmas Eve with them.  The parents bought me ties, Arthur bought me a wallet and belt.  The girls made me the big sign you can see in the picture.  They told me about 50 times that they don't have money so they couldn't buy me anything.

 

On Christmas we had baptisms in the zone at 4:00 which we went to and later that night we went to hermana Mercedes' (our pensionista) for a couple hours.  We played with my laser a lot.  I'm really loving that family a lot too.  One day after lunch when my companion was sick, Junior told me all about their life before they were baptized 6 months ago.  They've made massive changes and continue changing and it's great to see.

My companion has not been doing well at all this week which means I've had a ton of time to study and think.

The mission is incredible.  It allows you to think about religion all of the time.  I feel the Spirit all of the time.  I'm able to learn unbelievably quickly.  My mind has never been so clear and sharp.  I want to and am able to make changes to live more in harmony with the gospel as I learn more.  One of the things I've been working on lately is doing good things because it's what God wants.  

I also realize more and more everyday what a huge blessing it is to have the gospel.  People without the gospel not only lack happiness and purpose but they don't even know how to find it.  There is a marked difference between those who have a knowledge of God´s plan--especially an understanding of the Atonement--and those who don't.

Well, I'm out of time but I hope you all have an awesome New Years!  2014 would be a good year to start writing about your important experiences in a journal.  If you have meaningful experiences it would be a waste to forget them.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S.  Mosiah 27:14

 

2013-12-23 I'm sure Jesus would like that.

Hey everybody,
This has been a good week despite the fact that I'm missing Christmas at home.

We had an awesome conference with president on Tuesday for Christmas.  I felt the Spirit strongly and it got me really excited.  I've been enjoying working and extra happy ever since.  

Three missionaries who I've gotten to know, Elders Walker, Tanner, and Eyre are gone now but were at our Christmas conference to give their farewell testimonies.  They were all with their parents and Eyre was with his entire family.  That got me really missing you guys.  The conference ended with a dinner and I chatted with Elder Eyre's 14 year old brother a little and that got me missing you guys even more.  

 

Javier has disappeared off the face of the earth.  We can't find that guy.

My companion got sick one day and fell asleep at the pensionista's house so I got to help decorate the Christmas tree.  That was fun (for me, not for my companion).

On Monday we went bowling, then we went to lunch with Junior and Gerardo and ate a giant pique macho. Then we went to the Flores' and they were putting up their tree too.

Sorry the internet is the worst it's been in months and my letter's going to be short.

I'm pretty much the happiest I've ever been.  I love being here, I love serving a mission.  I feel the Spirit all of the time.  Probably one of the best feelings is to be impressed by the Spirit to do or say something, to act, and later find out that it really helped someone out.  

We aren't having great luck with investigators but it's going really well with less active members. Victor has been coming to church for 2 months now and was ordained a teacher yesterday.  It was a good feeling to finally see that. 

Gerardo and Junior really impressed us.  Without us saying anything, they got together and went and invited Brandon (the kid who can talk well) to the ward Christmas dinner.  They got him and his whole family to come.

Anyway, I love Christmas and I love the mission so I'm having an awesome time.  Family, I love you and can't wait to talk to you on Christmas.

Since it's Christmastime, you all should be extra nice and do good things for people.  I'm sure Jesus would like that.

I hope you all have a wonderful MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christ was born in Bethlehem, gave his life for us, and lives again.  And it's all for our benefit.  Take advantage of his Atonement, help others do the same.  It's the best way to feel of the Christmas spirit.

I love you all.

Love, 

Elder Howlett

P.S.  Your scripture for the week is to open your bible and read your favorite version of the story of Christ´s birth.  Elder Howlett's mom's favorite is Luke 2 in the New Testament of the Bible.

2013-12-16 I was wrong when I said it just rains a little bit...

dinner was cake, a donut, and a cheese-filled croissant
with a banana milk shake to drink

Hey Everybody,
No packages or letters have arrived in the zone for 2 weeks.
 

Being district leader is good, this week I taught about how to work with your ward.  

Celeste is doing a lot better than before.  I'm going to go visit them today and she'll be there so I'll know more next week.

They were supposed to get sealed this coming week but not anymore. Hopefully it will happen in January. The stake president didn't give Marco the Melchizedek Priesthood because he hadn't read the Book of Mormon all the way through.  I was pretty upset about that actually.  Anyway he's reading now and has another interview at the end of the month.

My shoes are doing alright.  They are getting well worn though.  I think I'll probably need to buy another pair before the end of the mission.

Yep, I got my skype info.  I'm planning on trying to talk to you in the morningish (11 or 12 my time) but I'm not sure yet.  I'll let you know next week.

This was a good week.  

Last Monday transportation was on strike and there were blockades so I just stayed in my own area. We went with Gerardo to a restaurant and ate a huge Pique Macho.  I forgot my camera so I didn't take a picture though.

Today I think we are going to go there again with him and Junior and then later I'm going to visit the Floreses. 

Tuesday there still wasn't transportation.  Also the rainy season really has started.  It rained for like 16 hours straight that day.  It was also the day of our district meeting.  We walked 7 kilometers (I think that's over 4 miles) to the meeting in the pouring rain.  Their roads aren't made well so when it rains they turn into small rivers.  It rains a lot here now.  I was wrong when I said it just rains a little bit like it did in Florida.  It's pretty much rained nonstop all week long.  We left a door open by accident a couple days ago and when we got back for the night we had a small pond in our apartment. oops.

We finally got Santiago and his mom together to talk to them and they both have baptismal dates for the 11th of January (Elder Howlett's birthday).  Santiago says he already has his answer that the church is true but his mom doesn't.  She said even if she doesn't get baptized on the 11th she'll let him and support him in going to church every week.  I'm really excited about that.  They are both really nice people and I really think his mom can be ready for the 11th too.

Next week is our ward mission activity.  Everyone in the ward is going to go out and knock doors for a few hours after church to find us more people to teach.  I hope it works out as well as we'd like.

I did an interview for someone who only speaks Quechua this week.  I had a translator.  The translator and the lady getting baptized are both kind of older and they kept getting distracted and just started chatting in Quechua during the interview.  It was different.

Javier didn't get baptized... we aren't really sure what happened.  We had a normal appointment the day before his interview that went well but he didn't show up to his interview the next day.  He won't answer his phone and he didn't come to church yesterday.  Hopefully we get in touch with him this week and get things worked out.

Things are going really well in my area.  I haven't been as excited about how it's going since I got to Alamos.

We visited Jeampier and when we finished our lesson we asked him to pray like we always do.  He always tells us no but that day he told us yes.  He bowed his head like he was going to start and we waited for like 5 minutes and nothing.  He changed his mind and told us no.  O well, I'm not sure why he changed his mind but it still feels like progress.

Ana is still progressing well.  We had a long visit with her this week because it started pouring rain and we were waiting for it to stop a little.

Hope everything is going well back home.  (hey, I'd like to have pictures of the house decorated for Christmas and also the Flores family really wants to see pictures of how our house is.  At first I thought they were just kind of joking but they ask me every week if you've sent any pictures of our house yet.  If you could just send some pictures of the rooms of the house that would be good.  They want one of my room too.)

I'm looking forward to talking to you on Christmas.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S.  Luke 2:52

2013-12-09 I felt the Spirit a ton this week…

Elder Howlett with one of the "very baby cats"

Hey Everyone,
My companion is doing great now.

District Leader doesn’t mean too much more to do. The district is 10 people.  I give a 1 hour class every Tuesday in our district meeting.  I get the district’s numbers every Sunday to give to the zone leaders.  I go on intercambios with the other elders in my district.  I do the baptismal interviews for everyone who gets baptized in the district.  It doesn’t really take any more of my time.

This week was probably one of my favorite weeks in the mission.  It was great.  We worked hard and had success.  My companion didn’t have any health issues and we get along great.  

We started teaching Gabriela (23) this week and put a baptismal date for Jan 4th.  She’s friends with a member in the other ward that shares our church and already came to church once.  She is very interested in finding out if the church is true and our first lesson with her went really well and we all felt the Spirit strongly.  

We put a baptismal date for Jan 2nd with Ana this week.  Her daughter is a member in the ward and they are helping us and she already believes that it’s true so I think her baptismal date is pretty sure.

We had a great lesson with Javier this week and sured up his baptismal for this Saturday. He has a problem with his foot and we gave him a health blessing which brought the Spirit strongly.  

I felt the Spirit a ton this week and that’s one of the things that made it so great.  My companion is still learning how to teach and I’m still learning Spanish so our lessons aren’t exactly smooth but the Spirit helps and it always turns out well.  I feel the Spirit more being with Elder Contreras than I have with any of my other companions.  It’s incredible the way the Spirit always guides the lesson to something that the person we are teaching needs to hear.

Can you guess what this is?

Rodrigo (17) came to the baptism that the other ward had on Saturday.  Afterward we talked and I asked him if he’d felt the Spirit during the baptism.  He said, “no,” but that made him wonder how all of these people have their answers that the church is true but he still doesn’t have his answer.  I feel kind of bad for him.  He’s had all of the lessons at least 3 times and has been investigating the church for almost a year. We had a really good talk with him after the baptism though, and for the first time he chose a date to work for--my birthday, Jan 11.  I really hope it works out.  He already spends more time at the church than the members do.

We finally got to talk to Santiago (13).  He and his mom talked to the missionaries for 6 months about a year ago. They’ve had all the lessons and he knows it all really well.  He wants to be baptized.  We made an appointment to talk with him and his mom together so we could get her permission but no one was home when we went.  I hope she gives permission and that she’ll get baptized too.  From talking with her son, it seems like she really likes the church except for the fact that we don’t drink coffee.

We taught the Parra family about temples this week and are planning on going with them to do baptisms before Christmas.  I’m excited for that.

I love being here a lot.  I love so many people I’ve met here.  It’s crazy how fast I grow to care for them.

Christmas time doesn’t feel the same here.  It’s too hot and also no one cares that it’s Christmas time.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Jeremiah 23:23-24

2013-12-2 a country made for short people

Hey Everyone,

Well, we had our cambio call yesterday and I finally get to stay with a companion.  I’m staying in Los Alamos to finish training Elder Contreras, the only change is that I’m the new district leader. I’m very content with that.  I didn’t want to leave Cochabamba before Christmas.

Picture--the Flores family has very baby cats. 

Today at 3 we are going to the Flores´ because Saturday was Anghy’s birthday and they are going to make anticucho.  That will be fun.  

Thinking about Christmas usually makes me sad.  I’ll probably spend time with the Flores´and Gerardo´s family (they both already invited us). The Flores family said they’ll come to my area if we aren’t allowed to leave our area on Christmas.  We were by the temple and they have a nativity set up and a big Christmas tree but it’s weird because it’s so sunny and hot and it just doesn’t feel the same.

This week we started teaching a recent convert’s mom.  We gave her a blessing a couple of weeks ago because she had some kind of surgery and she healed really well and quickly so that was a good way to start things off.  I think she´ll get baptized in the next month or two.  She already says she believes what we taught about Joseph Smith is true.

Hermana Mercedes made us some delicious fried balls that I think you would love, mom.  They are called fritos and are flour, egg, and cheese and very crispy.

I love studying my patriarchal blessing.  

The Flores family tells me every single week to tell you guys hi and that they love you but I usually forget.

We are doing really well working with less active families.  We mainly find families that have young men because the young men are the only people in the ward who go out and visit with us.  Right now we have 3 who have come back with their families for 3 weeks in a row.

We talked to Jeampierre this week and he actually talked to us.  Wed had several visits where he’d hardly said a word.  He still doesn’t want to pray, we still can’t figure out why.

Javier has made it to the attendance requirement for baptism and believes it’s true.  He’ll be baptized on the 14th unless he decides to wait for his wife to decide to be baptized too.  I don’t remember if I told you how we found him but it’s pretty cool.  Several weeks ago, as sacrament meeting was starting, a member told us a woman was looking for us outside the church.  We went out to find her but there wasn’t anyone in the street except Javier. We asked if he’d seen where the woman went but he hadn’t.  He pulled an English Book of Mormon out of his bag though, and told me I looked like the person who gave it to him years ago.  I told him that I was a missionary too and that our church was starting and he agreed to come in.  Since then he’s just come on his own and loves it. His wife is Catholic though and isn’t too interested.

We are going to do a training for the 3rd hour of church next week about how missionaries and members can work together.  I’m excited for that.

Bolivians are very short.  I hit my head on something every day because it’s a country made for short people.

I was chosen to sing in the missionary choir for the Christmas conference and we are singing “What Child is This” arranged by Lindy Kerby.

I ate cow hoof gelatin and actually thought it was pretty good.

Our zone will be the youngest zone in the mission this cambio.  There are 10 companionships and they are all training except for the zone leaders.  

I love being in the mission a lot.  I can’t believe that I hit 8 months this week.  Time is flying.  

Love,

Elder Howlett
                                                                  

P.S.  Doctrine & Covenants 130:18-19