2014-10-06 ... since we didn't want to get robbed...

Hey Everyone,

This was a good week.  I really like General Conference.  I didn't remember to get ready to tell you what I liked about conference--some scattered thoughts--I really liked Elder Eyring's talks in both the general session and the priesthood session.  I felt like there was a lot about finding or strengthening your testimony of the church and gospel.  I also liked ElderAndersen's talk about Joseph Smith.  I liked what Brother Godoy said about living to see all the promised blessings of your Patriarchal blessings realized.  I enjoyed President Uchtdorf's "Is it I?" talk.  It was fun to see the Spanish talks being in a Spanish-speaking country.  I enjoyed the last talk by Elder Bednar too.  The service was so bad during L. Tom Perry's talk that we couldn't understand it.

Wilfredo came to 2 sessions of conference.  Luis Miguel and Kevin also attended conference.  The signal was awful in our chapel while we waited for the Priesthood session to start and we didn't want to miss again like we did for Elder Perry's talk.  So we went to the Alamos chapel where the missionaries said the signal was better.  That was fun because I got to see the Alamos people.  I sat with Gerardo, Junior, and the Parras (Edwin and Liam).

Kevin and his family at their home

Kevin's 9-year-old brother, Samuel, really liked church last week and we started teaching him this week.  We actually had a really good lesson with his whole family.  His mom returned to Spain today which is a bummer but she promised to look for the missionaries there.  She's really nice and I do think she'll be baptized before she returns to Bolivia the next time.

Wilfredo is still awesome.  He's read the first 20 chapters of the Book of Mormon (5 chapters between every visit) and marks what he wants to talk to us about.  We've confirmed that he doesn't drink alcohol--he doesn't even drink coffee.  He's excited to be baptized on the 18th.

Hermano Daniel came to conference.  He's doing better with the coca but still not perfect.  I imagine that his baptism will be the end of this month at the earliest or November.

the zone at capture the flag

Roxana didn't come to conference.  We went to visit her and rescheduled her baptismal date for the 25th because we didn't feel she'd be ready for the 11th.  She wants to be baptized but is having a hard time putting in the effort she should to prepare herself.

area where we played capture the flag

Today we took the zone to the mountains to play capture the flag in the morning.  It was the craziest game of capture the flag I've ever played because it was just in a pretty dense forest except for a dry river bed which frequently had 5- to 10-foot drops.  Also it poured heavy rain for about 45 minutes straight.  No one ever got to the other team's flag or even got close. After about an hour and a half, another guy in the forest got robbed at knife point close enough to one of the team's jails that everyone in the jail saw it happen.  That made us a little uneasy and since we didn't want to get robbed we decided to end the game there.

One of the things that I noticed and thought about while we taught Kevin's whole family together is that it felt really good.  I think we may get even more help from the Spirit when we are with an entire family.  Even though Kevin's dad really isn't very interested right now, I think just being with his family and us for that 45 minutes was a very good experience for him.

I hope everyone watched conference and learned something.  I hope you do something different because of what you learned.  If you missed some or all, go online and watch it.  What the Prophet and Apostles say is very important.  What I've heard during General Conference has influenced my life a great deal over the last 8 years. I'm certain that Thomas Monson is the chosen Prophet of God.

Love,

Elder Howlett                              

P.S. D&C 128:18