2014-06-30 I love baptisms.

Hey Everyone,

Happy Birthday Harmon!  Hope you had a great day.

Rodrigo

This was a good week.  Rodrigo got baptized.  The other 3 didn't because they all got really sick.  Their baptism will probably be tomorrow or maybe Thursday.  It was kind of disappointing but it will make this week more enjoyable.

Last p-day we had soccer tournament with all the missionaries in Potosì.  My team was alright but we didn't win.  I am getting a lot better at soccer.

It is freaking cold today.  It's also the second day in a row that it's been so cold that the pipes are frozen and we have no water in the house.

Yesterday there was a normal 8-year-old baptism for Luis.  I sent a photo of me with his brother Sirilo and grandma.  They asked us to be there to be the witnesses.  They heated the water up so much that it burned my hand when I touched it. They didn't realize it though until it was time for him to get in the water.  That caused about a half hour delay while we brought cold water in buckets from the church's well to pour in the font.  The church didn't have any running water to fill the font more normally.  We eventually got it cool enough for him to go in and he got baptized.  Afterward, one of the bishop's counselors was speaking and decided to use it as an example of overcoming adversity but the 8 year old kid kept interrupting to ask why they'd made the water so hot it burned him.

me with Sirilio and his grandmother

Rodrigo's baptism was the same night as the ward talent show.  The talent show was at 6 and his baptism at 8. Well, the talent show didn't start until 8:15 and the baptism started at 8:30.  They asked me to sing Hallelujah from Shrek in Spanish.  I was pretty impressed that they gave me a copy of the music on a usb drive and the lyrics in Spanish and then had everything ready to go for it the night of the talent show. Normally, they do not do a very good job preparing ahead of time here.  I'm dressed in all white because as soon as I finished singing, we started the baptism.

teaching Jhamil

The baptism went very well.  All of Rodrigo's family came.  His mom and sisters are really nice people too. He bore his testimony in the baptism and mentioned that he's going to serve a mission.  I love baptisms. Rodrigo is also one of the most prepared people I've baptized in my mission and has a strong testimony.  At church the next day he was already there when we arrived and he was reading in the index of the Book of Mormon about the Priesthood.  After church he went on his own and talked to the bishop about when he can receive the priesthood and the bishop's going to interview him on Sunday.  He's also planning on going with our ward to the temple next week.  I'm very happy for him.

I haven't met the new mission president yet.  I'd guess that I will during this month.  We´ll probably have a conference with him.

I hit 15 months this past week.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer, don't forget to pray every day.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. 1 Timothy 4:12

2014-06-23 don't just not do it...because you're feeling lazy.

Hey Everyone,

This was another good week here in Satèlite.  My new companion is Elder Asqui.  He's very different from Severiano and I've never really liked meeting new people but things are going fine.  Pamela, Claudia, Kevin, and Rodrigo all came to church on Sunday which is important since they are supposed to be baptized on Saturday.

Pamela and Claudia told us for the first time this week that they'd both decided they want to be baptized. That was exciting.  We went over the interview questions with them and everything seems to be in order. They've been coming to church every week on their own without us having to remind them.

Rodrigo has also decided to be baptized, and during our lesson on Friday told us he had received an answer from God that the church is true.  That made me very happy.  He got to church almost half an hour early this week. The rest of our ward got there about half an hour late.

On Thursday we went to Sucre for our last conference with President Dyer.  He leaves on Friday.  It was pretty good.  That's where they are dressed up like Bolivians.  Hermana Dyer's last talk was about choosing who to marry. They also read a letter from our new mission president.  President Hansen is from San Diego. He was a lawyer who mostly defended Geico insurance.  He's a BYU grad and a big BYU fan.

Sucre had great weather while we were there--overcast and a lot more humid than Potosì and probably about 65 degrees.  I wouldn't mind going there when I leave Potosì.

Manuel went to do visits with us again this week and he did a really good job teaching a part of the Plan of Salvation this time.  He's been to church almost every week for over 2 months now.

I don't remember if I told you about Richard and Rita before, but they finally came to church this week.  I've been teaching them since I got here.  Rita's not a member, her husband Richard is.

Well, don't forget to say your prayers every day.  And also don't just not do it, even though you remember, because you're feeling lazy.  Praying is important.  If you don't, one day you will feel bad about it. 

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Job 19:25-26

2014-06-16 baptisms for 3 people we found and taught together

Hey Everyone,

Well, I'm staying another 8 weeks here in Satèlite.  My companion, Elder Severiano, is going back to Cochabamba.  I'm happy that I get to stay but I'm sad to see Elder Severiano go.  I'll miss him. 

This was a great week.  It went very well with the 3 baptisms--Erik, Jose Maria, and Suzana.  I baptized Jose Maria and Suzana, my companion baptized Erik.  Their families all came and we had over 50 people in attendance.  I'm very excited for them.

Suzana with her mom and brother

We've been teaching Suzana and her family since my first transfer here in Potosì.  She's gone to church almost every week for nearly 4 months.  Her mom had been gone for a long time helping her own parents a long ways out of the city but I think she is finally going to be staying here in Potosì for a while.  I hope that she will also be baptized soon.

We first talked to Jose Maria and Erik during my first transfer here too.  We talked to them in the street though and then couldn't find their house.  A month after first talking to them, we ran into Erik on a trufi and were finally able to find their house.  We've visited them 3 times a week for a month and a half.  

 

helping shovel dirt at Jose Maria and Erik's house

It was a great way to end my time 

with Elder Severiano--baptisms for 3 people we found and taught together. This has probably been my favorite transfer of the mission.  It was short, but everything went very well. We have a lot of good investigators and I'm really enjoying my time here.  It also feels great to have baptisms again. I love the Spirit I feel in baptisms.  It makes me very happy to see people find the gospel and see the difference it makes in their lives.  There's nothing better for someone than the gospel. We finally got some baptisms here in Potosì and we have 4 more that are pretty sure for the 28th of this month.

One of those is Kevin.  Things have been going a lot better this past week with him.  He came for all 3 hours of church on Sunday and to the baptism.  He also has been praying regularly and is a lot more receptive in our lessons.  He told me after the baptisms on Saturday that he's sure he wants to get baptized now.

Rodrigo also came to the baptism on Saturday and we had a couple good lessons with him this week.  He has some problems with the Word of Wisdom but really wants to change and is also excited to be baptized on the 28th.  He's already come to church 4 times.

with Primitiva and Angel (Castro family)

Hermana Carmen is recovering well from her surgery in Sucre and will come back as soon as the blockades are gone so she can travel.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer.  Go to the temple and say a prayer while you're there.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Jeremiah 23:23-24

2014-06-09 The first thing he asked me is what he can do to prepare himself to be baptized.

Hey Everyone,

I'm still having a blast in Potosì but it's really, really cold.  I was going to take a shower this morning but then I didn't since our pipes are frozen and so there is no water in the house.

my area (Satèlite,Potosì)

We had 9 investigators at church which is good.  One of the things I like about how it's going here is that we have presence in the area.  Lots of people seem to know who we are and so we are always talking to people we run into on the street.  I think it helps that my companion and I've been together for 4 months. People have gotten used to seeing us around.

the Quintanilla family--we ate lunch with them on Saturday--they are active members

We went to Bancario again for English classes.  It's also fun that everyone at the school has gotten to know us. I got to play basketball for a couple minutes with a bunch of 15-year-olds for a few minutes between classes.  It's  also going well with one of the guys, Rodrigo, who we met there.  He's come to church the last 3 weeks and is really excited to get baptized.  His date is the 28th of this month.  He was literally the first person at church from our ward.  We got there 10 minutes before it started and he was sitting there waiting. It's really impressive since I truly don't think I've ever seen more than a dozen people there on time.  I sat down with him and the first thing he asked me is what he can do to prepare himself to be baptized.  After church we taught him a lesson and put a baptismal date.

 

 my pensionista, Roselin's, family (minus her oldest daughter)

So Erik and Jose Maria hopefully will get baptized this Saturday.  Its going great with Erik.  He finally told us this week that he thinks God has answered his prayers that the Church is true.  He said it's a sureness he feels in his body (it sounds a lot nicer in Spanish than it did after I translated it to English).  As he told us, I felt the Spirit strongly and I'm sure that he does have a testimony.  He also told us this week that last week he went and bought mate to replace the tea he used to drink.  Jose Maria seems a little bit less sure but still says he wants to be baptized.  We are working hard with him this week to help him be more sure. Their mom is already a member but their dad isn't.  He seems like a nice enough guy and is fine with his family being in the church but just doesn't want to listen to us.  

ajipa--They say it's a fruit but I'm not so sure.  You just eat
it raw.  It basically tastes like a raw potato but sweet,

We also met Jose and Erik's adult sister this week.  We had an appointment with their mom but she wasn't there so we called her and she said that she was at the hospital with her daughter who had just given birth. She also said that they'd be in her daughter's house that afternoon and we could come by later that day.  She told us where her daughter lived and we went.  We taught the mom with her daughter and 4 kids including the 1-day- old baby.  I thought about how mom would have wanted to hold the baby.  Her daughter seems really nice and we taught her twice this week and she says she'll come to church on Sunday.

Cambios are in 1 week and President told us that 1 of us will leave.  My companion has more time in the area and will probably be the one to go but it makes me nervous that President said one of us instead of just that my companion will go.  I sure hope I get to stay.

Suzana will also get baptized this Saturday if her mom gives permission.  She has been going to church every week for over 3 months and has wanted to be baptized for over 2 months.  We've been putting it off because we wanted her family to get baptized together but they aren't progressing at all so we are going to go ahead now and hope the family comes around somewhere down the road.

 

me with Victor

It's going very well with Victor Castro.  He's 15 and this week we had 2 visits with him and he's doing well with praying and reading in his scriptures.  He also went with me on divisions on Saturday night.  While we walked between visits, we talked a little bit about the mission and he told us he plans on serving a mission. He was also very willing to participate in the lessons which the young men are usually a little apprehensive to do the first time or two they go out to visit with us.  He also went to seminary this morning like he'd said he would.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  Be sure and go to the temple this week.  You'll feel great if you do. There is nothing that helps me clear my mind and be content with life like going to the temple does.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S.  D&C 76:19, Enos 1:3-5  Pondering on the gospel seems to invite the presence of the Spirit and enhance our ability to communicate with God. 

2014-06-02 It was generally pretty awful.

Hey Everyone,

This was another good week here in Potosì.  We had 11 investigators in church on Sunday which is the most I've had here in Potosì.  Among those were Jose Maria, Erik, Claudia, and Pamela.  They are all progressing very well.  Jose and Erik will likely be baptized on the 14th.  Their mom is already a member, but very inactive.  We've been having a hard time getting her to come to church.  She's always very friendly when we find her in the house though.

Guinea pigs are called cuyes here.  
They have like 30 but they don't eat them unless the dog kills them.

After church on Sunday, we went to eat lunch with Yolanda and Ivan´s family.  Their family loves us.  After we ate, they took us to their backyard where they have a little zoo thing with guinea pigs, ducks, and chickens.  Then we all went  back inside and had a lesson.  Kevin left partway through.  We are having a harder time with him than the others, he didn't come to church yesterday.  This afternoon we are going to go out to lunch with him and then to play soccer.  We are working with him on some problems he has with some of the commandments and I think he'll feel more motivated to come to church and read the scriptures and do the other things he should once we get those other things worked out.  I really hope that this family can get baptized together.  They are really good people.

Suzana, the 11-year-old, is doing really well.  She's read up to Mosiah in the Book of Mormon and has been to church every week for almost 3 months.  She also goes to absolutely everything there is at the church.  She is there more than any of the members.  Her family isn't progressing at all though. In fact, besides one of her sisters, we haven't been able to teach them for over 2 weeks.  By June 14th, she will have been attending church for over 3 months and we are going to ask her mom permission to baptize her on her own. 

The Floreses called this week. They've moved across the street from where they used to live.

Bancario this week--the white-looking kid in red in the front

 is Rodrigo.  He came to church on Sunday.  They are all 

wearing jackets and stuff because it's freezing in the school.

We went to Bancario school again. It was fun. Three of the students told me they were going to come to church this week. Only one came, Rodrigo.  The other 2 texted to say they wouldn't be there though.  They had to go to military training that's obligatory here. We judged their pronunciation during a spoken presentation.  It was generally pretty awful.  The majority I couldn't follow along with even with a written copy to read. A few speak pretty decent English.

On Sunday at 10:00, when church starts, there were 9 people there including the 4 missionaries and the Bishop. By the end of sacrament meeting there were 150ish.  

We tried a new Italian restaurant in our area this week.  It is quite good and costs 10 to 15 bolivianos (1.50 to 2 dollars).  They also serve focaccia bread with all of their food, which is delicious.  We ate there twice this week.

Pamela, and Claudia's dad, Ivan.  It's a picture from
 while we were teaching because one of their kids
 had my camera and when I was looking through it
this morning I saw they'd taken photos while we taught. 

We found Victor Castro after a long time of not seeing him this week.  We had a really good lesson with him. We found out that one of the main reasons he's not coming to church is that he has classes on Sunday. He promised to be sure to pray every day and tomorrow we have another appointment to visit with him.

How long has it been since you said a good prayer? One where you talked to God about something important and weren't rushing to finish so you could go to sleep.  One of the things that amazes and confuses me when I get to thinking about it is our ability to speak with God.  Whenever and where ever we want to. And he listens to us.  The most powerful and important being in the universe listens to us when we want to talk with Him.  He not only listens, but then responds and blesses us.  And while His answers don't always come in an instant I've never said a sincere prayer and not been blessed in that very moment with the wonderful peace and security that the Holy Ghost provides us.  Say a good prayer, and not just once.  I'm sure that a habit of sincere prayer is one of the strongest protections we have against temptation.

writing in my journal by candlelight-- 

 For whatever reason Potosì, the entire city,

 has been losing its electricity almost 

every other day for the past couple weeks

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S.  D&C 78:17-18

2014-05-26 ...also because I just really like her and her family.

Hey Everyone,

Me and my companion on top of Cerro Rico

Well this was a good week.  I didn't get to write yesterday because we went to hike Cerro Rico in the morning and one of the companionships got lost trying to find their way back down.  It took an extra 3 hours to find them and we didn't have time to write anymore.

Oh, by the way, I put 3 photos of my really nice current apartment on this email.  I wouldn't mind having more hand warmers.

Manuel went with me to do divisions all day onSaturday and we
went to a restaurant to finish theday.  It only cost about 5 dollars
each for a ton of food.  Chicken, steak, salad, rice with cheese,
potatoes, and delicious fresh peach juice.

Last Monday in the afternoon we went to 4060. It's a restaurant and I had a steak cooked in butter, garlic and other spices--definitely the best beef I've eaten in Bolivia.  The restaurant is named for the number of meters above sea level.  They also have delicious fresh juices.  I had pineapple. I love how inexpensive the food is here.  We'll eat there when mom and dad come to Bolivia with me.  As we were leaving, we got 3-scoop ice cream cones for 4 bolivianos (a little over 50 cents.)

Hermana Carmen got out of the hospital yesterday. She is way better now.  Tonight we are going to my favorite pique macho restaurant with her and her family to celebrate because it's Mother's day in Bolivia--also because I just really like her and her family.  Her son is Manuel who is really good about helping us when we have too many appointments and need to do divisions.  He also does a really good job in the lessons.  This Saturday, as we did visits, I felt the Spirit strongly as he bore his testimony, once about the priesthood and then once talking about his own baptism (he was baptized less than 2 years ago).  As I thought about why I'd felt the Spirit strongly, it helped me understand that a testimony doesn't need to be eloquent to be powerful.  His testimony was simple but sincere and it allowed the Holy Ghost to do its job of testifying of the truth.  Also Saturday was awful weather.  It's not as cool in the picture as it was in real life, but the wind started blowing really hard.  It picked up so much dust that it went from being sunny to just being dark in the middle of the afternoon and it was cold.  Everyone gives us mate (beverage) when the weather is like that though which is nice.

For Hermana Carmen, almost dying has actually had a really good effect on the Spiritual side of her life. First of all it made her realize that God does hear and answer her prayers.  I don't believe I have as strong of a testimony of any gospel principle as I do of the power of prayer.  It is important to pray earnestly and I believe it is the most common way for the process of conversion to begin.  That experience also led her to reevaluate the priorities in her life.   She is committed to go to church, she's been reading her Book of Mormon, and she's decided to do something she's put off for far too long as a long-time member of the church... go to the temple.  It's often hard to understand why bad things happen to us but I've learned a principle that calms my mind when I see people passing through hard times. Come what may, God loves us and His work and glory is to bring to pass our immortality and Eternal life. The experiences that He allows us to go through are necessary for our salvation and often for the salvation of someone else as well.

We went to help with 3 English classes at the Bancario school (elementary to high school) again.  It was a ton of fun.  I attract attention there even more than just on the street.  Between classes, everyone comes up to talk to me.  I also found out that Santiago is an inactive member of the church who is moving next week to our area. He's also conveniently moving in just a couple blocks from the church.

We had interviews with President on Friday.  I love his interviews because he always just says really nice things about how great a missionary I am and I leave just feeling great.  One thing interesting he said is that he'd intended to send me or my companion away this transfer but had felt like we should stay a 3rd cambio together.

Me, Elder Severiano, President Dyer, Suzanna, Christian (our investigators).  Why?  Because while my companion was having his interview with President Dyer, Christian and Suzanna walked into the room, saw my companion, and pulled up a chair.  President Dyer talked to them a little and then called me in so we could all take a picture together.

Things are going pretty well with Savino.  He came to church on Sunday.  He's doing pretty well with reading in the Book of Mormon.  He wants to be baptized, we just need permission from his dad.  I think we'll be able to get permission but it will probably take a lot of praying and a little time.  After church, Savino had to go get his hung-over father and take him to their house.

Happy end of the school year everyone.  Now that you don't have school you have way more time to go to the temple.  It is where we can have a fullness of the Holy Ghost (D&C 109:15).  That's a pretty good reason to go there.  There is nowhere that allows me to be more receptive to receiving personal revelation than within the Holy Temple.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S.Alma 7:11-12

2014-05-19 ...in the "how I felt the Spirit today" section.

Hey Everyone,

Yesterday was the cambios call and I'm staying another cambio with Elder Severiano.  After never having a companion for 2 transfers in the first year of my mission, it looks like we'll be together for 3.  I'm pretty excited about that.  We work well together and get along well. 

This was another great week.

We had a great Family Home Evening with the Benavidez family this week.  It was a lot of fun. The grandpa wasn't there though, so we came back on a day when he was, and brought stuff to make coke floats.  They don't ever make floats here which is weird because they have ice cream and they drink a ton of pop.  We had a good chat with him about his childhood in Potosì.  He's warming up to us a lot.  Hopefully we can get him to come with us to church one of these days.

Everything is still going well with Jose Maria and Erik.  Their mom wants them to get baptized and they came to church and to the activity in the stake center this week.  After the activity in the stake center, we went with them to a pizza place and had a delicious bacon and egg pizza.

The activity in the stake center was for all of Potosì.  It was an open house with a 4-stop tour and then refreshments.  Almost all of the missionaries were there to help (20ish).  Elder Severiano and I were in charge of teaching a 10 minute class on indexing, family history, and baptisms for the dead.  We taught nonstop classes for 3 hours which was really tiring.  It wore out my voice too.

This Sunday after the 2nd hour of church, the Bishop told all of the priesthood holders we were leaving early to go help a member who had been hauling 8000 bricks when his truck flipped.  A member went and brought his flatbed truck and 26 of us climbed into the back with another 5 or so in the cab and we drove 20 minutes outside of Potosi to help reload the bricks into the truck and sort out the broken ones. It took 35ish guys 3 hours to do it.  I've never seen so many bricks.  It was pretty cool to see priesthood working like it should.

I can't remember if I've said anything about Mari and Lucas...  We found them last week and it's going very well.  They are very receptive and the husband/dad passed away a couple years ago so they are very interested in temple sealing and eternal family stuff.  Lucas likes basketball and comes at 6:30 on Saturdays to the church to play with us during exercise time--so do some other investigators and members. Lucas came to church on Sunday but his mom didn't because they are still building their house and it doesn't have a door so she says someone always has to be there so they don't get robbed.   This week we are going to go put in a door as a service project.

This week the other Elders told us they were going to visit Manuel's (I don't know if you remember him but he sometimes goes on divisions with me) mom, Carmen, in the hospital. She all of the sudden had trouble breathing and was in a lot of pain and had been there for a few days.  Since she lives in the other Elders' from out ward's area and isn't active, my companion and I hadn't even met her before.  I had a weirdly strong feeling that I should ask the other Elders if we could go with them though.  I wrote about it in my journal in the "how I felt the Spirit today" section--at the time still wondering if it had been the Spirit.  I really had no idea why we needed to go but felt like we should.  We wound up getting there and the other Elders weren't there.  We called and found out they weren't going to be able to come.  We went in an found her getting ready to leave to go have tests done downtown.  The hospital has an ambulance to take people to do tests for really cheap but it was being used and she didn't have the money to pay a taxi to get her there.  I offered to get the taxi and we went with her and Manuel for her tests.  We also had a great lesson about the Atonement with her.  She was very worried that she was going to die and felt terribly guilty about not having been going to church.  Prayer has a powerful ability to calm a person down.  After spending the afternoon with them I realized why I'd been prompted to be there. We had been able to be there and help when she needed it and maybe just as important, was the lesson I learned about the Spirit.

A few side notes.  I write about how I've felt the Spirit at least once every day in my journal.  I found it to be very helpful in learning to recognize the Spirit.  It helps me notice what I may not have during the day as the Spirit and helps me be more aware throughout the day of the impressions that come.

Also, I understand better every day that God knows a whole lot better than I do who needs help and what and when.  At the beginning of my mission I spent too much time trying to match people's problems to a lesson and not enough time asking God what I could share that would touch their heart, help them feel the Spirit, and make them want to change the way they are living.  Trying to figure what God wants me to do and how I should do it allows me to be a much better missionary than I can be in any other way.  That is probably one of the more valuable lessons I've learned and something I'm sure will allow God to make a lot more out of my life in the future than I would be able to in any other way.   It often surprises me the frequency with which God gives me revelation.  It makes me wonder how much of that I missed out on before because I didn't work harder to look for it.

It's almost summer time there.  It is ridiculously cold outside here and every bit as cold inside. I'm literally unable to sleep with my head outside of the blankets.  My companion sleeps in his coat with a beanie on.  I've never liked mornings and that's something the mission doesn't seem to be changing. I think I will always be more of a night person.  I hope you have a great summer, I'll be back for the next one.  If you don't write in a journal, you should.  God gives us experiences that we need.  If we don't write them down, we risk not remembering what we need to in the moment when it will help us.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S.  2 Nephi 4:27-29 I like the part about not letting people make you angry.  Being angry never helped anyone with anything and especially doesn't allow the Spirit to guide you.

look--I caught a chicken