2015-01-12 No one ever knows who he is.

Hey Everyone,

This was another solid week.  Also, I'm 21 now.  

My birthday was fun.  My pensionista and her husband were travelling on my birthday so they made a special birthday lunch on Saturday.  It was pique macho and charque (fried shredded beef ) which was really good.  And it was a ton of food.  I'll put a picture on.

Sunday, my birthday, we were actually really busy.  We were in charge of putting together a fireside and had a lot of appointments.  Gerardo, Junior, and Fernanda came to my chapel to tell me happy birthday.  Gerardo's mom also brought me a cake.  The Valencia family brought me a present too, socks and chocolate.

Junior, Gerardo, and Fernanda

The fireside went well.  We got  Carlos Pedraja to come speak.  He was an area 70  and the first Bolivian to serve as a missionary.  The Valencia family came too so I got to spend a little more time with them for my birthday.

Kevin Laura gave an awesome testimony in church on Sunday.

with Elder Pedraja

Also we found a different Kevin this week.  He's Kevin Rodriguez.  He's 13 but seems really smart.  We started teaching about the Restoration and before we taught about Joseph Smith we asked if he'd ever heard of him.  He said "Yes, he's the prophet who got the church back on Earth."  No one ever knows who he is.  People normally have a hard time answering that question even right after we've explained who it is.  We asked how he knew and he said that the year before there had been a Mormon in his school who'd told him about Joseph Smith.  That was pretty impressive.  Kevin went on to explain that he has gone to a lot of churches but hasn't found one that seems right yet.  That sounds pretty promising.  The only problem is that his dad doesn't want to listen to us.  He only lives with his  dad and his dad doesn't mind that we teach his son but says that he himself doesn't have time.  We'll see how that goes.

Daniel Fernandez's baptism is set for tomorrow.

Selma and Oli

The Valencia family is still doing great.  Hermano Rinaldo missed church though because of his job.  Then he gave us awesome news in the night time at the fireside.  An old boss had called him up and offered him a Monday to Friday only job.  He accepted immediately and starts this week.  I'm super excited for that.  

Alan passed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday.

Samuel (friend of the Valencia family) came to the FHE we had with them this week.  He loves the church and his mom still seems nice even though she is very Catholic.  She is still listening to us.

I hope everyone has an awesome week.  Do good things.  Help someone or somethin'.

my area

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Philippians 4:9

2015-01-05 There is no better place.

Hey Everyone,

We had a really good week.  Especially for finding new investigators.  We have a ton of new investigators from this week.

One is a family in Collapampa that we found knocking doors.  An 11-year-old kid named Vladimir answered and we talked to him for a minute and then asked him to call his mom.  He went and got her.  She came to the door and we explained who we were and what we do and she was really nice.  We asked about a husband and she said she'd go see if he'd come to the door.  That's normally the hardest part.  It's always the dad who doesn't want to talk to us.  But then he came to the door too.  Then they let us in and we talked with them and their 3 kids.  It went great.  They were interested and Vladimir is smart and has an awesome memory.  He could have taught the Restoration lesson after hearing it for the first time.  The parents aren't actually married which is normal here.  They told us that they are planning on getting married but they wanted to choose a church first because they've gone to a lot of churches and don't know which one is the true church.  They seem awesome.  We've already had 2 lessons this past week.  In the 2nd lesson we met 3 of their nephews.  They seem really smart too and interested and they live in that same house.  

Denilson (Kevin's friend who got baptized a couple weeks ago) blessed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday.  He went to do visits with us for 4 hours on Friday the 2nd and did a really good job.  He showed up in a shirt and tie and carrying his Book of Mormon.  He was crazy nervous but he said he liked it and he is going with us again this week.

Alan Valencia took us to visit a family that is friends with the Valencia family.  He did a good job too.  We visited 10-year-old Samuel and his mom, Maria.  They were waiting for us when we got there.  Samuel came with the Valencia family to church last week and he often listened to us when we taught the Valencia family.  He really likes the church.  His mom is super Catholic but really nice and liked talking with us.  I see a lot of potential with them.

Alan is doing really, really well in general.  He got the Priesthood on Sunday and is excited to pass the sacrament.  He is excited about helping teach Samuel and his family too.  When he got to church the first thing he asked me is if Samuel and his mom had come. In the lesson we had with them Alan described how he'd come to know that it's the true church and I realized that he has an exceptionally strong testimony.

Alex Trigori came to church yesterday.  He wants to be baptized.  We took Hermano Ancalle with us to visit him and his family yesterday too and it went well.  

We spent a lot of time in Collapampa this week and had a lot of success.  I really like being there because it is really peaceful.  There are very few cars and there is a lot of greenery.  The temperature is cooler there too.  The people are generally more friendly.

Have a great week going back to school everyone.  Don't forget to go visit the temple.  I always leave the temple feeling awesome.  There is no better place.  

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Doctrine & Covenants 50:24 

2014-12-29 "All that's left is the temple now."

Hey Everyone,

Well this was one of the best weeks of my mission.

The Valencia family marriage, baptism, and reception went off without a problem on Tuesday.

The marriage only took like 20 minutes in an office.  From there we went directly to the church for the baptism.  We got everyone changed, took pictures, and started the baptism quickly.  We had almost 50 members in attendance at the baptism which is a lot, especially for a week day.

me with Rinaldo

I baptized Alan (the oldest son) and Rinaldo.  Elder Delgadillo baptized Selma and Oliver.  Hermano Wilson (who helped us out a lot with the family) baptized Benancia.  (That's who the people are in white in the photo.)  The water was really cold. Benancia took like 5 minutes walking down into the font.

After being baptized, all 5 of them bore their testimonies.  Benancia bore a beautiful testimony about how happy she is to have found the church and that her whole family did too.  I felt the Spirit strongly as she spoke. It is incredible to see the difference the gospel has already made in their family to this point and to also know how much change and happiness is still to come for them.

Immediately following the baptism, we held their wedding reception right there in the church.  We arranged the reception and actually got a lot of help from the ward.  They cooked food for 80, decorated, contracted a hairdresser for Benancia, and got a professional  DJ to do the music.  Our pensionista made a really good wedding cake too.  It was a good way to get the ward to know them.

getting Alan to smile for a picture

As we left the reception and I said goodbye to Rinaldo, he told me, "All that's left is the temple now."  That made me feel good that he understands there's still work to do and that he's excited to be sealed.  His wife is excited to be sealed too.

That same night President called to tell me that Elder Stuesher was going to have his appendix out right away.  The next morning, Christmas Eve, I went to replace his companion and stayed with Stuesher all day in the hospital.  We got to play some chess and watch Mr. Kruger's Christmas.  Hermana Mercedes called to wish me a Merry Christmas Eve and since I was in the hospital, she sent Junior with food.  It was a ton of food and really, really good.  There was chicken cooked in some kind of delicious sauce.

We helped Kevin prepare his first sacrament meeting talk this week. He was supposed to speak on Sunday but then the stake presidency came and released our bishop and called a new one and that took up all of sacrament meeting so I suppose this Sunday Kevin will speak.  The new bishop seems like a cool guy.

On Christmas we ate breakfast with a counselor in the stake presidency.  He made us pancakes.  Then for lunch we went to the Carbalhos'. We ate dinner with our own pensionista. Between the eating and then talking to our families on Skype it didn't leave much time.  We went to visit Jorge's family (see the picture) because he turned 12 on the 24th and wanted us to go to his house for a breakfast but I couldn't because I was in the hospital.  Then our last visit of the night was to the Valencia family.  We taught a lesson about the Holy Ghost since they were going to be confirmed soon.

me and my companion with Diego, Christian, and Jorge

Being with them felt more like Christmas at home than the other stuff we did during the day.  I bought them Christmas presents and took them that night.  After the lesson we opened the presents and they fed us and had lots of coke.  I bought a green laser for Alan and Connect 4 for Oliver and we all played with those a little.  Alan's a pretty smart kid for playing Connect 4 so that was fun.  Benancia told me like 10 times to say hi to my parents.  So "Hi" mom and dad from the Valencia family.

Anyway, I'm very happy about this week.  It was a ton of fun.  I love the Valencia family and I'm excited for them as members of the church now.  I sure am glad that I'm a member of this church.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Don't forget to pray.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Helaman 14:30  

2014-12-22 So, we...dressed him up as a guard and left him...

Hey Everyone,

This week was crazy busy.  Mostly getting ready for the Valencia wedding/baptism.

Last Monday we went to the airport to say goodbye to Jeremy.  He's in our ward and was leaving for a mission in Peru.  I couldn't help but think I'd be leaving from that airport in less than 3 months to go back home.  We spent that same evening going around to the people that Elder Delgadillo wanted to say goodbye to.  That got me thinking even more about how little of my mission is still to come.

It's really incredible how fast it's gone by.  I still have time to do a lot, but I have very little time in comparison to the time I had when I first landed here in Bolivia.  It's made it really easy to make the most of my time.  I think it's like coming to the end of the race and it's easier to just sprint to the finish line.  I naturally just want to do as much as possible every day because I can feel that the end of my mission is getting close.

Tuesday was an incredible day.  I went to downtown Cocha to drop off Elder Delgadillo and pick up my new companion.  At 11 o' clock that morning we were supposed to go with Benancia and Rinaldo and the witnesses to get their marriage papers signed and ready for the 23rd (it was the last day we could do it and still have them married on the 23rd).  At 10 o' clock I was waiting for my new companion to show up and Benancia called to say that she'd gone to try and get a copy of her birth certificate (which is needed to do the marriage paperwork) and they couldn't get her one because of some kind of error in her records.  They told her she had to go to the court in Quillacollo to get the error fixed. I offered to go with her.

My new companion showed up and we dropped his bags off at the house and went to meet up with Benancia.  We found the court and the line was so long to be attended to that we weren't even going to get in that day.  It looked like we weren't going to get it done for a marriage on the 23rd.  We decided to go to a different civil registry to try and get the birth certificate again though.  We found one and in 5 minutes had a birth certificate without any problem.  I don't understand how it happened but it was awesome.  

Juan Carlos as a security guard

However, we presented the papers and on Rinaldo's ID one of the numbers was worn off and they said that wasn't going to work.  They told us that during that day, the place to get a new one was working through lunch and they told us to go there. Hermano Rinaldo was working though and he had to go to get the new ID card made. So we called Hermano Juan Carlos from the ward and dressed him up as a guard and left him in Rinaldo's guard post for a few hours while we got the new card and then went to get the marriage papers signed.  We finally did at 4pm--five hours late and only an hour before the place closed but it worked.  It was amazing how many things worked out for us.

Hermano Rinaldo has to work on Christmas so we aren't going to be able to do the baptisms that day.  Instead we are going to do it directly after the marriage tomorrow.  I'm incredibly excited for that.  The family is super excited too.

We had a great lesson about the sacrament with Humberto and Natali (Carlos' parents) this week.  And then for the first time in the 4 months we've been teaching them, Humberto came to church,  We are hoping to build off of that momentum.

On Saturday one of Kevin's best friends, Denilson, got baptized.  Kevin brought another friend, Diego, to the baptism who lives in our area.  Diego came to church once too.  We got to talk a lot waiting for the baptism to start.  He seems like a really good guy and smart too.  After the baptism he asked me, "How's my baptism going to be?"  That's a good sign.

Kevin bore his testimony as part of the baptismal program.  It was awesome and I think really good for Diego to hear.  He talked about how much his life has changed since his own baptism.  He talked about how it's made everything better in his family as well.  I felt the Spirit strongly as he spoke.  

Daniel Fernandez also passed his interview this week.  He should get baptized on Friday.  I'll explain more next week.

Elder Terceros, my new companion, seems really good so far.  We are getting along really well and he seems very laid back.

I hope everyone has an awesome Christmas.  Be like Christ.

Heis our perfect example.  He was born to Mary in Bethlehem and wasperfectly obedient to our Heavenly Father during his entire life.  Heprepared for us a way back to God's presence.  I know He lives and lovesus.  I love Him.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. Luke 1:38, John 6:38  Mary was a chosen vessel.  When visited by the angel she submitted to her Father's will.  Christ would always do the same.  I do believe that He learned from his Mother's righteous example.

2014-12-15 This was a super very excellent week.

Hey Everyone,

This was a super very excellent week.  

First off,  Hermano Oliver called me to say he and his family were going to get sealed!  The sealing was Wednesday.  It was as punctual as anything else in Bolivia.  They asked us to be there at 2:30 which we were and then we finally went into the temple at 6:00.

Since we were there for a long time just waiting, I started chatting with a group of young men who had come from Beni to do baptisms for the dead (about 1 full day of traveling from Cochabamba).  I met Alejandro who was baptized this year and found out that Ryan Neuhaus had baptized him.  He seemed like a really good kid.  His family got baptized too but they are already inactive and he saved up on his own to come to the temple.  He wanted me to tell Ryan that he's doing everything he taught him to do.  It's nice to meet people like that.

Eventually everyone who was supposed to come arrived and we went in.  First we went to do an endowment session since they weren't endowed yet.  I really like the chapel waiting room in the Cochabamba temple.  It has a giant picture of Jesus praying in Gethsemane.  From the celestial room they took us directly to the sealing room.  It was the first time I'd ever seen a husband-wife sealing or family sealing.  It was really cool.  I'm very happy for them.

Oli Valencia and his balloon animals

Second awesome thing--we went to visit the Valencia family who was supposed to get baptized on January 3rd.  However, they told us that they've decided that they want to get baptized on Christmas Day!  They told us they'd chosen the 23rd to get married  We've got a lot to do to make sure everything is ready for their marriage and baptism but I'm super excited!  The husband is doing great at not drinking or smoking and the wife finally realized that she needs to get married.  The kids are all excited and reading the Book of Mormon every day.  Tomorrow we are going with them and they are going to do the paperwork for the marriage.

We gave a great zone meeting again for this month.  The picture that I forwarded we took right after the meeting.  Seven out of 10 areas in the zone had changes last night.  They closed one area in the zone.  Due to the large number of missionaries who left, they closed 11 areas in the mission.  I stay in my area but my companion is leaving.  My new companion is going to be Elder Terceros from Santa Cruz.  I know who he is but I don't really know him.  He could be my last companion.  I've only got one more chance at being changed but now that I'm here for my second to last transfer I just want to stay until I'm done.

nativity in front of the temple

Things are going very well with Alan and Samuel (Kevin's younger brothers).  Alan finally went to church and finally told us that he believes he's gotten his answer that this is the true church.  I'm very excited that Alan got his answer.  He's been working at it for a long time.  If they keep doing well I do believe that the dad will give permission for them to be baptized.  Alan, especially, has made a lot of improvement in these last couple weeks.  It seems that he's grasping well how incredibly important the gospel is.  He's giving priority to God now and I think that's why his testimony is growing so quickly.

This week we went to a part of our area we'd never been to and that was fun.  There a little river that I didn't know about and it's another place where everyone seems to raise cows.  We met 3 families who we have appointments to visit during this week in the new area.

You should go to the temple, going this week reminded me how awesome it is.  There is a lot to learn there.  

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. 2 Nephi 2:8

2014-12-08 mashed potatoes and gravy with turkey from a can

Hey Everyone,

This was a pretty good week.  It went by really quick.

We kinda celebrated Thanksgiving on Tuesday.  The sister missionaries in our ward made mashed potatoes and gravy with turkey from a can.  

Today we played futsol in the court at the church.  Last p-day we went and ate pique macho with Kevin and Ariel.  Kevin is doing really, really well church-wise.

This week the entire Valencia family came to church together.  The husband worked out an agreement with his company where he works a double shift on Saturday finishing at 7:00 am on Sunday and then doesn't have to work again until Monday. That agreement is sure for the rest of this year and he thinks he will be able to extend it next year too. We are still waiting on them to choose a marriage date but if they can get it done before year's end they are all excited to be baptized on January 3rd.

The Bustamante twins are still coming to church.

Sunday was the "Day of the Pedestrian" which means there were no cars.  That didn't help church attendance.

Gustavo got baptized.  I can't remember if I told you much about him.  He's 15 and was an investigator of the other elders in our ward.  Due to Elder Stuehser getting sick and some other odd circumstances, I've taught him quite a few times and I'd always see him at church.  He's a really nice kid.  His family came to church for all 3 hours yesterday too.  They have a 5-year-old daughter with leukemia so I think the church would be very good for them.

It is only 3 months until you guys come pick me up.  That's pretty crazy.

Yesterday we held a "Work of Salvation" training for the ward. The missionaries and ward mission leader spoke and we showed a few videos in an attempt to teach the ward the importance of all of us working together. We had 50ish people over 12 years old in attendance which was as good as we had hoped for. We made a big effort to try and get it to start on time and it started 35 minutes late which is better than normal but still crazy.  We confirmed with members beforehand if they were going to come and then starting 5 minutes after it was supposed to begin we called everyone who hadn't come yet which was everyone but about 8 people.  It makes it really hard to have activities here.

I'll try to figure when I'm gonna call for Christmas this week to let you know.  They gave us permission to choose Christmas or Christmas Eve this year.  I'm thinkin' that Christmas will probably be easier.

Don't forget to go the temple this week.  It's Christmastime so do something nice for someone.  Also you should do nice things for people during other times of the year.  Also, I'm missing the snow and cold weather, it has been so hot here I can hardly get to sleep.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S.  John 14:26

2014-12-01 ...it was more important to come to church.

Hey Everyone,

Well, this week was a little crazy because Elder Stuesher got sick and wound up in the hospital for a few days.  Since we share a ward, my companion stayed in the hospital a couple of days with him and I went with his companion and we worked in both of our areas.  We kept up pretty well with all of our investigators in both areas but it didn't leave much time to look for new people. I spent a ton of time going back of forth between the hospital picking people up and dropping them off and talking to the doctor to keep Hermana Hansen informed about what was going on with Steusher.  

As a result of the intercambios, I did end up teaching Denilson, Kevin's friend, twice during the week.  He's come to the church the last 2 weeks and he is excited to be baptized on the 13th of this month.  Kevin always goes with us to teach Denilson.  He's great in the lessons.  We taught them a lesson about missionary work, and they got excited to try to bring a mutual friend to church on Sunday.

However, when we visited Kevin again on Friday he told us that he wasn't even going to be able to go to church because his family was going to a lake on Sunday morning.  That was bummer.  But then on Sunday he and Denilson showed up and they brought their friend too.  He told us he'd thought it over and decided that it was more important to come to church.   Kevin is doing great.

We had 2 great lessons with the Valencia family this week. We taught the Law of Tithing and they readily agreed to obey that commandment. Hermano Reinaldo had gone nearly a week without drinking or smoking the last time we talked to him. We also taught the Law of Chastity and discussed marriage with them. They told us they would decide on a day to get married and tell us on Wednesday. The mom told us about how they hadn't gone to any church in the last 4 years but that she had been praying for a long time that they could all go to church as a family. She told us that us showing up at their house one day and her husband's sudden willingness to associate with a non-Catholic church is an answer to her prayers. I think it is too.  I really love that family and it is great to see how the gospel is helping them. We are planning on a January 3rd baptism for the family.

This Sunday there were a bunch of people missing.  I wound up teaching Gospel Principles 2nd hour and Young men's third hour and my companion taught the Sunday School.  It's kind of weird how that happens here.   I'm definitely much better a teaching classes now than I was before I began my mission.

I can't believe it's already December...  my last Christmas in the mission.  It's really hot here.  It's starting to rain a lot and heavily. I love the rain. I hope you are all having a great time getting ready for Christmas.  Don't forget to visit the temple.  I love how great I always feel coming out of the temple.

Love,

Elder Howlett

P.S. D&C 76:22