2014-01-27 My shoes get really muddy.

Hey everybody,

It rains a lot here.   And when it rains here the streets turn into streams.  My shoes get really muddy.  I love it though.  

  

We went to the temple on Wednesday and it was the first time I saw the new video.  I liked it.  I love going to the temple.  I miss it a lot.  There is nowhere that I feel the Spirit like I do there.  It is the only place where I can truly forget about everything else and just focus on God.  I hope you are all going to the temple as often as you can.

We found a new investigator during the week named Francisco.  He doesn't speak or understand Spanish super well (primarily speaks Quechua) and I didn't feel like our first lesson was great.  We asked him to ask God in a prayer if the church is true.  I was surprised when during the second lesson I asked him if he'd prayed and he said that he had.  I was even more surprised when I asked if he had received an answer and he went on to tell us that the night he had prayed, he had dreamed of us (the missionaries) reading the Bible with him and knows now that the church is true.   I'm very excited for him.  He was supposed to come to church on Sunday with his wife and 4 kids but his wife got bit by a dog on Saturday night.  It had rained that day and they live on the other side of a river that they have to wade across and couldn't cross (because it was too big) until Sunday morning to get her to a hospital so they didn't make it to church.

I had a good experience this week in recognizing the Spirit. As we were walking, we passed the house of some less active members. Half a block past the house I thought we should stop by, so we went back. It turns out that one of the members of the family hurt her knee and was going in for surgery the next day. Someone from the ward had visited her during the week and told her he´d send the Elders to give her a blessing. Well I guess he forgot because we didn't know; but we showed up at that house and got to give her the blessing she was waiting for anyway. It feels wonderful to follow a prompting and then find out that you fulfilled someone's need. It was also a great reminder that God loves and looks out for all of his children, even that little old lady.

We had an awesome lesson this week with Carmen (mom) and Miguel (son).  They are family of some members in the ward.  The lesson went like I´d always pictured a missionary lesson before coming to the mission.  She told us that she visited the church a lot and likes it but still has her doubts about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  She also says she isn't sure if we even need a certain church to make it to heaven.  When we read James 1:5 with her she told us that she had always prayed and thanked God and asked for blessings but that it had never occurred to her to ask Him about joining a church.  That was without us even explaining the scripture and she told us she was going to pray to find out what to do.  

Being with Elder M--- is still kind of hard but oh well.  We still don't get to work as hard as I'd like but I'm being diligent in trying to make things work out.  I just don't let it bother me and I'm as happy as I've always been here.  I love the mission and I'm always motivated to do as much as I can because I know I won't have this opportunity again.

One of the things I've noticed is that some missionaries are so committed to the gospel and have the Spirit with them so strongly that they are just naturally a good influence on everyone around them.  One of my goals is to become that kind of a person and remain that kind of a person for the rest of my life.

Also, I can't believe I have 10 months in the mission today!  Time continues to fly by.

I hope everyone has a great week.  

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Revelation 12:7-11