2014-08-11 It's not a good sign when he doesn't even remember the name of the church.

Hey Everyone,

Well, cambios came last night.  I'm going back to Cochabamba tomorrow.I'm going as zone leader to my last zone, Alamos.  I'm going to the Colcapirhua ward which is 2 wards over from where I was before.  I'm pretty excited about that.  My companion is Elder Delgadillo from Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  I'm very ready for a new companion.

It actually kind of freaked me out how I found out.  I guess the new mission president wanted to tell the new zone leaders personally their transfer.  He sent a text at 7 asking me to call him.  That kind of made me nervous since old president never did that.  He just gave me the new assignment is all though.

I'm sad to be leaving but really excited about where I'm going.

This week we knocked a door and a man answered, was very friendly, and invited us in to sit down before we even explained who we were. It turned out he'd visited the church several times over 10 years ago. We taught the first lesson and invited him to be baptized. He had 2 concerns about accepting a baptismal date which I think show that he'll be a good investigator. One was that he hadn't yet prayed to know if it's true and second if he's going to be baptized he wants to do it with his wife and children. After explaining a little more, we set a baptismal date for September when he'll get baptized if he receives an answer that it's the true church.

We knocked another door where we met 21 year old Richard.  I introduced us as missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and asked if he'd ever heard of that church.  He said no.  I asked if he belonged to any church and he said yes.  I asked which and he said the Mormon one.  Turns out he was baptized about 8 years ago and stopped attending shortly after.  It's not a good sign when he doesn't even remember the name of the church but he did let us visit him twice this past week and he says he'll come to church on Sunday.

This week in a lesson with Claudia (who got baptized a month ago) I asked how she likes being Mormon and she said it has changed her life--that the kinds of things she does now are completely different from how she used to spend her time.  That made me very happy to hear. She´s almost finished Jacob in the Book of Mormon now.

We had another great first lesson this week with 3 siblings who are 20, 14, and 9.  Their parents weren't home but they let us come in and teach the first lesson and were very interested.  They were also very well mannered and attentive and I think they understood it well.

Well now that you guys are on the downhill side of summer, I'm headed back to a hot place that will be heading back into summer soon. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.  I was reading an old talk from Elder Holland and liked what he said about what we should pray for--not for situations that we can handle with our abilities but for the abilities and support we need to make the best of our situations.  We surely can do whatever the Lord requires of us.

Love,
Elder Howlett

P.S. Doctrine & Covenants 46: 8-9