2015-02-18 ... he'd felt a peace like he'd never felt before.

Hey Everyone,

This week was great.  We had a lot of exchanges, 3 this week, and they all went well.

Tuesday was Gerardo´s birthday so we went and ate salteñas on Monday.  He's doing well with church stuff.

Monday and Tuesday was Carnaval here.  Since I'm quite a ways outside of the city it wasn't as crazy as it was in Potosì.  We weren't allowed to go out and work during those 2 days but President gave us permission to go to the ward activities.  In the morning on Tuesday the High Priests had a soccer activity at the church and invited us.  That was fun.  The main activity was that afternoon for the whole ward and they played water games and had food.  Besides that we were just in our house and the pension.  I taught everyone how to play spoons while we were waiting for the food to be ready in the pension and that was fun too.

 

ward Carnaval activity

Last Monday I made funeral potatoes in the pension.  They turned out alright.  Maria Aquino came over with another friend and we ate them after we had a family home evening.

 

making funeral potatoes at the pension

Denilson called us on Wednesday and told us that he'd set up an appointment for us to go visit one of his friends, Cristian, on Friday.  He was supposed to go with us but called on Friday and said he wasn't going to be able to go.  I thought that it probably wasn't going to go very well because I'd met Cristian once before when I went to his house looking for his less-active older brother.  His brother wasn't there so I tried talking with him and he just told us "no" because he's Catholic.

Anyway, we knocked and he came out and we started talking.  He told us that Denilson´s been talking to him a lot about the church in their high school and that it sparked his interest.  We taught the Restoration and it was an awesome lesson.  He said he wanted to come to church and we went by to pick him up on Sunday morning.  He was ready and waiting.  On the way to the church I asked him if he'd prayed to know if what we'd taught was true.  He said he read the pamphlet several times and prayed and that he'd felt a peace like he'd never felt before.  I asked him if he thought that was God answering him and he said yes. I asked him how sure he was that this is the true church then and he says he's completely sure.  He'd never felt like he did that day when we'd first taught him and he had prayed and he says that everything we teach and that he reads just makes sense and feels right.  He is excited to be baptized on the 14th of March.

 

by my house

He came to the ward Carnaval activity yesterday and we got to talk a lot there.  He's 16 and a nice kid.  He wants to get his family to church and he said he'll work on convincing them this week.  I'm very excited for him.

Time is flying by.  I love being a missionary.  I love the gospel and am sure that living the gospel is the best way to live this life.

Have a great week everyone.
Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. 1 Cor. 3:16

2015-02-09 It's really peaceful there.

2015-02-09 It's really peaceful there.

Hey Everyone,

This week flew by-we had a bunch of weird stuff to do like baptismal interviews and visa paperwork and council of leaders and zone meeting.  It made the week go by way too fast.

missionaries of Coolcapirhua

I'm running out of time today so my letter is going to be a little short.

 

rainbow from my balcony

Gustavo's parents got baptized.  That was really awesome.  I got to do the dad's interview and he is very ready to be a member of the church.  I love doing the baptismal interviews and meeting all the awesome people who want to get baptized.

The Valencia family brought another neighbor to church this Sunday--Alexis.

We had a lesson with Samuel and Maria this week.  I like teaching at their house because we teach in their lawn and it's just out in the middle of giant corn fields.  It's really peaceful there.  I think Maria came to understand much better than she had before why it's important to find the true church.  I'm excited for them.

 

Book of Mormon in Quechua

Hector just got a back from a mission in Peru 3 weeks ago and he went out with us to do visits.  We actually met a less active member and it turned out that she and Hector had been good friends several years ago and she came to church for the first time in over a year with him on Sunday.  That was convenient.

Diego (Denilson's friend) came to church on Sunday and later that same day we went and taught him in his house.  It was one of the best lessons I've had in a while.  I felt the Spirit strongly especially as we discussed baptism.  He had already accepted a date for the 28th of this month, but in this lesson he told us that he's decided to do it now.  His mom is very supportive of him coming to church even though she says she doesn't have time to talk to us.  I'm very excited to be working with him.  The plan is have 3 visits per week up until his baptism.  Kevin is also his friend and is going to go with us for our next visit with Diego.

 

restaurant where I ate

I talked to Rodrigo (from Potosì) this week and he told me that he's doing well and going to church.

I hope you all have an awesome week.  You should go to the temple if you haven't been recently.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. 1 Nephi 1:1 

P.P.S. Monday is Carnaval here and we can't leave our houses.  I'll write you guys on  Wednesday of next week.