Week 15 - Feeling better and more garlic!

(There was a 6.1 earthquake a few hundred miles from Brad) I did not feel the earthquake this week, the only earthquakes were in my large intestine. I am about three quarters better. This week was just a bunch of breaking garlic by hand, every day we work anywhere from 2-12 hours. My thumbs are ruined. Just trashed.

(I asked Brad if he thinks he got worms from harvesting garlic) I have never seen worms in the garlic fields, just spiders the size of my palm with the blue egg sacs the size of your thumb hanging off of them. I have found two in the chapel (where he lives), I'm sure you can imagine how well I handled that. Lol. I have forged a killing stick for them. I harvest by hand, everyone does. No problems, my hands are the same. They were already pretty leathery when I came out. Nothing has changed. I am convinced I am losing weight. (I asked him if he taught much this week) No, only 3 lessons, and we can't get to half of our area on the other side of the river because it has been raining so much, which also means we can't get to our investigator with the baptismal date, and he can't get to us. I don't know what's going to happen.

(I asked him who the investigator was that was being baptized Saturday) it is Alejandro (He is the 11 year old boy Brad has been teaching for a while), for this saturday. But I will probably be in Cochabamba. The problem is that the river is too deep and fast to cross, even with a horse and he is only 11. 

And a sad story, we have 13 members going to the temple today, some for the first time. And we have this older couple, 50's I would say, and they are members. They attend Church every Sunday, participate, are active, and were baptized. They have the photos. But when President Hansen was interviewing them he couldn't find their records.  When they were baptized in Mendoza, Argentina the people didn't register their baptism. And they had already paid to go to the temple for their first time. But now they have to be re-baptized, and have to wait a year. They were so ready to go, you could see it in their eyes. President Roly, Elder Cortez and I had to tell him this, and it was heartbreaking. One of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

Here are some highlights of my week, we got to Quiriza Tuesday night, broke garlic, Wednesday we broke garlic from 9 to 7, then from about 730 to 9 we proselyted in Quiriza. There is one really bad dog, he wants blood, but I know he isn't rabid, which is good. The rabid dog is dead that we had some encounters with. I have also assisted in a pig slaughter. I don't like it. And you don't want to hear about it. They just aren't terribly humane, hunting is 98 times more humane. They die faster. But it is okay. And then we broke more ajo, harvested tomatoes, and did more ajo, (garlic), the j is pronounced with an h sound. And then this morning we left my area at 3:30 AM to be in Tupiza to email you.

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Howells

Week 14 - Dakar Rally 2016

Hello!

This week was a good week, but very slow. Unfortunately, living in Latin America, specifically in Bolivia can cause some health issues. Wasn't feeling like my usual chipper self this week, visited the doctor, and now have medicine which is helping. Dakar came through my area, if you would like just YouTube Dakar 2016 Villazon - Uyuni you might see me on some tiny mountain road in a black shirt and black hat. I have decided I would be okay with being a Dakar driver someday. But the work was slow, a lot of time at the doctors and getting tests done and things like that, so not a lot to report this week. I love the people and I love Bolivia. It is an excellent place. I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Howells

P.S.

Feel free to send me candy and jerky. I won't say no :)

Week 13 - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  This week was difficult, New Years was hard, for the first time I thought, I would love to be home right now. But now I am just fine.  We walk about 20-25 hours on dirt trails like Chalk Creek (ranch in the Uinta's) each week. So, we walk to a little village, teach whoever answers the door, they always let us in, and usually give us a glass of soda. The frustrating part is that they don't remember to do anything they've committed to do, but we will do anything in our power to help them. I work so hard. I have dumped every ounce of me into the work here, and I can't even remember how Brad is, that has been hard.  I have learned some priceless lessons in my 3 months here that are lessons that will carry me through life. I haven't had any success with our investigators, all we can do is our part, and they aren't willing to partake of the salvation we are offering them, and do their part. I love the people so much, I love Bolivia. But at the same time, I have never been more proud of my country in my whole life.

Love you all and have a great week!

Week 12 - Merry Christmas!

Hello! Merry Christmas and soon to be a Happy New Year! I hope all is well. Everything is good down on my end, Christmas wasn't terribly eventful, but it has been a great week to be a Missionary. I love it. We work hard, especially this time of the year. The opportunity to Skype was just wonderful, and much needed. And once we hit 2016 I know that time is just going to fly, so no worries there. But I hope all is well, not a lot to report on my end. Happy New Years, I will talk to you all Next Year! Oh, and I forgot to say last week, Go UTES!

Brad made bread from a pizza dough recipe laying around.  I think he's quite proud of himself.

Family Picture!
Sanibel, Florida and Tupiza, Bolivia

Week 11 - I'm now officially a Latin Missionary ;)

Hello all!

This week wasn't exactly the best. I was very sick Monday night and Tuesday. Then I had a 17 hour ride to Cochabamba by bus, followed by 7 hours there for immigrations. After that, I went to Burger King, which brought me indescribable joy. We left by plane to Sucre, a 30 minute flight. And I had 8 hours in a bus from Sucre to Tupiza, all on my own. When I arrived at 4 in the morning, we slept for a few hours and went to Quiriza where we harvested 3 garlic fields, weeded in another, and had a wonderful Sacrament meeting the next day. Now, I am in Tupiza, and have officially become a Latin Missionary. If you know what that means, it is probably from experience. I hope you all have an amazing Christmas, and I hope that the Spirit of Christ can be with every single one of you at this time of the year. Merry Christmas!

Elder Howells

Week 10 - Harvesting Garlic and Alejandro!

The work this week was good. We harvested garlic for two days straight. Watch a youtube video on the harvest itself, it is straight miserable. I really love the people in my area, they are just awesome. It is literally like working with the pioneers, they use horses and mules to break up the ground as we start to harvest, we harvest acres by hand, and it is great. I feel like I'm a few centuries earlier, which is a neat feeling. But the highlight of this week was one of our investigators came to sacrament meeting yesterday, he is 11 and his name is Alejandro. He rode his bike 30 minutes to come, and we didn't even get a chance to visit him this week. Before, we have talked to him about baptism and he has always been kind of skeptical about it. But he was sitting next to me and Elder Cortez was talking to somebody else and I started talking to Alejandro. And I shared John 3:5 with him, and he read the part that says, you can not enter into the Kingdom of God with out baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and he just sat there. Then he goes, Cuando suede ser bautizado? When can I be baptized? And I said, as soon as you want. So, we are tlking with his parents about it Wednesday at 10, and I think he will have me do it because he likes me a lot. I am so excited, he is just an awesome, obedient little farm boy. He does his chores, works hard, I love the dude. So excited for him and for this week. The spanish is coming along very well, probably in another month I will be completely fluent.

I love you all, have a great week!

Love, Elder Howells

Week 9 - Teaching

This week has been good and bad. We had the opportunity to teach 12 lessons, some of the best numbers my area has had in years. The work in Quiriza is mostly supposed to be service, harvest garlic and stuff along those lines. I will send you a picture next week of a rough map of our area. But we have at least a two mile walk to any of the other Pueblos in our area, and that's where the bulk of our investigators live. The area we are doing best with one of our investigators is a little place called Espicaya, and her name is Deila. Her husband is inactive but I think with more lessons we can baptize her. Here are the ¨cities¨ in my area - Tittihoyo, Monte, Quiriza, Kataty, Viscachani, Espicaya, Pampa Grande. Haven`t been to pampa grande yet and I think there is one more that I missed but I don`t remember.

It is hard to do Christmas with no snow or family out here, but we are managing. We hung Christmas lights on the Chapel and had a movie night for the kids in Quriza. Had 20 kids come over to watch Big Hero 6 in Spanish. A really cool experience. Elder Cortez and I continue to get along, but there is a clear culture difference between us, but we are making it work just fine. I am happy to be here doing the work that we are doing. Time is starting to move and Christmas and 2016 are rapidly approaching. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Espicaya, Bolivia

Week 8 - Dual Zone Conference in Sucre

Hello,

What a week! We had a Dual zone conference in Sucre which is about a 10ish hour bus ride there, and we spent two days there. Then we had a return bus ride of the same length. What fun. But I got to spend more time in Quiriza, 2 days to be exact. It is a great place, look up pictures if you can. But it is good, I enjoy the field, time is going slow but I know that it will start to pick up. I am bummed that there is no snow here for this Christmas season, but that is okay. I will have plenty of snow in the future. Next week is time to harvest Garlic, so we will be very busy, and busy is good.

I am halfway through this transfer and have not yet spent a full week in my area. And this week we are coming back to Tupiza on Saturday for the Christmas Devotional and don`t leave until next Tuesday. But oh well. I know time will start moving after Christmas. The language is coming along fairly well, I can`t tell but Elder Cortez said so.

I hope you all have a great week.

Love, Elder Howells

**This is a link to the Mission President's Blog when they held a zone conference in Quiriza.  You can see pictures read about Brad's area.

http://3yearsinbolivia.blogspot.com/2015_05_01_archive.html

Week 7 - Planes, Trains and Automobiles!

I´ve literally lived planes, trains, and automobiles. I am a master at charades now, too. A little of what I´d like to call a language barrier. I have an area that is awesome, every single person in the mission wants to go there. It is called Quiriza. About an hours walk from Argentina. It is a service area with no real electricity, internet, or roads. You would think I was in Arizona with the Navajo. Really cool, we wear p-day clothes every day, work in the fields farming, we get to ride horses, go camping on our way to other pueblos, and I get to learn how to speak Quetchwa. It is a neat area, but I have hardly spent any time there becuase we´ve had a lot of conferences in Tuipza, which is about a 5 hour walk or a 1 hour by hitchhiking. It is a great place really great people, but it is like living in the old west. It is the place where Richard G. Scott first started the Church in Bolivia. It has the first chapel, which we live in, and the first member and his wife in Bolivia. They have no teeth, so understanding them was a monumental struggle, but it was a neat experience to meet them. I am glad to be where I am. He had the priesthood ordained to him by Richard G. Scott himself. Pretty cool. My Spanish has improved drastically with Elder Cortez, my non English speaking trainer. He is an excellent guy, I really enjoy working with him. But man, time is crawling at a glacial pace. I know that in about a month I wish it will start slowing down again. But it is good out here.

Another thing I forgot to add about Quiriza. It hasn´t had a new missionary and trainer or anyone less than 1 year experience in 2.5 years. Since before president Hansen was here. And hasn´t had a baptism in that long of time too. The people are all really nice and receptive to the message, but don´t care that much I guess. Hermana Hansen says that president must have a lot of trust in me to send me out there. Hopefully we can get the ball rolling.

Getting from Cochabamba to Quiriza was interesting. It was a 30 minute flight from Cocha to Sucre, then 1 hour in a taxi to a bus stop (busses are called Floatas) and then 8 or 9 hours to Tupiza which is where we slept. Got in at about 5:30 in the morning. Then another 1.5 hours to Quiriza. You would be right at home with the RZR in Quiriza. Literaly everything looks like Moab, just with insanely massive mountains everywhere. The Andes are nuts!

Love you all!

Quiriza, Bolivia

Brad w/ President and Sister Hansen

The Newbies

Week 6 - Cochabamba!

Hello!

Got to Cochabamba at about 7:30 this morning. I don't have a lot of time to email, just to say that I made it. It is so amazing here, the city is so quiet and clean and beautiful. And the mountains are unreal. But I am alive.

I love you, my P-Days are on Monday, so I will shoot you some emails then! Love you!!

*Parent Note (Brad left Lima last night at Midnight and flew to La Paz, Bolivia and then to Cochabamba.  He was able to call us from the Airport in Lima.  It was so good to talk to him.  I (Chris) was at the Utah Basketball Game and talked to him for a few minutes while watching the game.  He sounds so good!  He is so excited to be in the field and leave the monotony of the MTC.  He loved the MTC but was ready to move on.  We are so excited to hear about his trainer and first area on Monday.) 

Week 5 - Devotional w/ a member of the 70

Hello!

Life here is repetitive to say the least. Zone Leader is mentally exhausting, but a rewarding thing to do. We had a live devotional last night with a Member of the 70, it was excellent. Not a whole lot to report on this week. I am leaving for Bolivia on Tuesday, and I am so excited. I will for sure have a lot more to report on at that time. I hope you are all enjoying the snow, and just know that I am seething with jealousy. It is hotter than sin here, but nevertheless I still enjoy it.

That´s all I´ve got for today. Love you all and have a great week!

Week 4 - Splits w/ Elders of the Lima South Mission

Things are going pretty well here. I am now the Zone Leader of the CCM (MTC). Pretty cool. Took away most of the very limited free time I had, but it's just fine.

It is going well, we went door to door in the Lima South Mission on splits with the Elders already out there. Great stuff. And the spanish is coming along, feels like we're coming to a language platuea, however.  I went with one of the Zone leaders from Lima south teaching less active members. You would've thought they were non members, but it went well. Lots and lots and lots of dogs all over the place, kinda crazy. But thankfully I could understand almost all of the lessons and could get points across.

My friend from high school is struggling. Last night I had to give him a blessing. He wants to come home, but he doesn't want to at the same time. 3 Kids from his district already went home. Dropping
like flies.

I love you all and can't wait to talk to you next week. Have a great week!