Week 90

I am good, the area is great and we've had better numbers in these last two weeks than the area has had in months, which makes me happy. The baptism didn't come through, so we rescheduled it for this week, and we should have one more too, so two in total. In my last area two of the three happened last week, so I am thrilled about that! :) I am doing really great, happy, I am good with the altitude now, have been for a couple of days, haven't been stomach sick at all, I am doing great!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Howells

Week 89 - Life at 13,400 Feet

How are you? :) Not a lot of air out here, my goodness. My comp (Elder Gill) is awesome, he has been out 4 months and lives by the Seare's (Katherine's Sister in Gilbert, AZ) kind of.  It does get real cold at night, I put on my thermals and I have a double blanket, so I'm pretty good. Being up here has already caused me to start losing weight #thankgoodness. The area is big, but still half the size of my last one. The ward is big too, it's a ward of a 1000 members, but about 100 attend... sad. So, I don't have to iron my shirts anymore because I always wear a little sweater dealio, hahaha.

(I told Brad about our Father's Day activities) Haha, I wish I could've watched Poppy play ball! HAPPY FATHERS DAY to everyone!!! My area is big, but the other senior comps who were there before worked stupid while trying to work smart. So we've tracted a bit and are just trying to help everyone here. We have one guy that should get baptized this week. He didn't want to, but we had two chats, and now he's ready, I'm happy for him, his name is Juan Pablo Rios. And in my last area, I don't know what happened, but no one got baptized (He had 2-3 people ready for baptism when he left on Tuesday), which stinks, but there must be a reason...
Well, I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Howells

Week 88 - Transfers

I had a great week, and the baptism on Saturday was wonderful! I am going to go to Potosi, Centro 1 (area), with Elder Gill from Arizona as Senior Comp.  I'm excited, Potosi is at like 13,400 ft. normally, so not bad! Yeah, it's winter so there should be pretty good weather (He's hoping for a little snow), supposed to be cold there, I don't know!  I passed through Potosi when I was in a bus coming to Cochabamba or Sucre for immigrations. Just google it, and you'll get the jist of it from the first picture. The big hill is called Cerro Rico, or rich hill. Got a crazy story about the gold and silver, supposed to be a pretty haunted city, a lot of devil worshiping and crap. Don't like that at all, lol.  

I miss Dave Alcorn (Dave is a family friend who just passed away), he was one of the greatest in the Kingdom, that I know. 

Today we went to a barbecue, I made bratts, then lunch, and now we're here emailing! Tonight we have just a few appointments, then getting my bags ready. My flight leaves tomorrow (Tuesday 6/13) at 7 in the morning, only a half hour flight!

I love you all!  Have a great week.

Week 87

My week was good, we were busy, had things happen that weren't expected, but all in all, a great week! My companion is great, we are getting along just fine! And yes, he (President Hansen) is wrapping things up, he leaves here on the 31st of this month :( I promised them Texas Roadhouse when I get home, and they laughed and said it would be great. :) I love him!

(The unexpected things that happened?) Just some investigators who have cancer out of nowwhere, one who got raped (She is just 13), just sad stuff. But they are getting better! :) I feel great! And just preparing two people to get baptized this week! We have made great progress with them!!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,  Elder Howells

Week 86

I am doing pretty great, just chugging along. Elder Gumucio and I are happy, working hard, no complaints. We have 6 ready for baptism, 3 on the 10th and 3 on the 17th :) We played basketball and soccer today.

(Brad shared two conversion stories that stand out to him)

I don't know.... There is one named John Lennon, and his brother is named Kevin. The mom is a convert for a year now, no dad in the picture. John, when we met him, was atheist, but when we taught him why repentance was necesary, and we had him read Alma 39, he started to cry and wanted more than anything to change. He was baptized with his brother in February, and he is the most repented, humble and God seeking person I know. I love that guy. Every time he sees me (he is about 6' 6") he hugs me and says "hola house, como estas?" (no one can pronounce my last name). I love that guy.

Norma was receiving the chats for a couple of months, but she wasn't sure and was scared of messing up after her baptism. She came to General Conference, and the message by the Argentinan 70 changed her mind, and she and her daughter got baptized together, I baptized her and Elder Larrea baptized her daughter, Lindaly!!

When the members bring people, they are all referrals. In this area, knocking on doors yields very few results, the members bring us people and we teach them and try to baptize them, and we usually suceed! :)

I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Howells

Week 85

My week ended a lot better than it started, but I miss Elder Larrea like crazy, I love that guy! I will get a new Bolivian ID, Hermana Hansen said the mission would cover it, thank goodness! And my new Comp is Elder Gumuccio, from Santa Cruz! He is a good guy, I've known him for a long time! We were friends before, but this transfer is only for 3 weeks, so we're gonna have to work like dogs to get everything taught to him! No, President hasn't told me anything, but based on how the transfers line up, I'll be having to leave this area at the end of the 3 weeks. I am happy though, because I feel like I've left the area better than when I found it! :)

Today was a good day too, we went to burger king and played basketball! :)  My favorite scripture of the week is Mosiah 3:19!

I hope you all have a great week!  Love, Elder Howells

Week 84 - Mothers Day & I got robbed

Hey pops, somebody robbed me and my whole wallet, so can you hurry and cancel my credit card so that they can't take any money out! I love you, talk to you later!  (That was the email Brad sent first thing Monday morning, I had to wait until later to find out if he was okay)

I'm good, just upset! ;) They only took 80 b's (Boliviano's; local currency), but I lost my Bolivian ID (200 b's to get replaced), my church insurance card, church and home credit cards, Temple Recommend, notes from you and mom, and my Sportsman's Warehouse frequent customer card (real upset about that one), and my pride, but that's okay!

We have a lot of appointments this week, so Elder Larrea will go home with a bang! :) The baptism was great, Javier is a special needs youth, mentally, and he was scared of the water, so the fifth time baptizing him was the charm.

We were able to Skype w/ Brad on Mothers Day.  It was so good to see and talk to him.  He is doing really well (other than getting robbed on Monday morning).  

Week 83

How are you?? :) This week was a hard week, a lot of doors and very very few answers, but we saw little miracles and tender mercies each day, which makes it all worth it. Today we played indoor volley ball, called wally, and then we went and ate, changed, and now we're here emailings. As far as calling on Mother's Day we haven't even found a computer to use yet, but we will email you during the week to let you know. It will probably be in the afternoon, I think!

Elder Larrea is pretty worn out (He has 2 weeks left), but giving it his all, which is admirable. And transfers are the Sunday after Mother's day, I don't know what day that would be!

I love you guys!  Talk to you on Sunday!

Week 82

My day has been good, I went and bought some souvenirs... It's weird that I'm to that point to buying stuff to take home. Then we went home, my comp took a shower and I accidentally fell asleep for two hours, and now we're here! ;) Elder Larrea is doing good, finishing strong! If these three planned baptisms for next Saturday happen, we will break records of baptisms together in two transfers for his whole mission!

That went on National news (The video below) and the newspaper. It was a holiday activity, and the stake president wasn't there for an interview, so, seeing as I'm ZL1, they made me do it, and then the clown wanted the one in charge, and the missionaries decided to shout my name, and there I was...


I hope you all have a great week.

Love, Elder Howells

Week 81

My day was good, we took a nap, got our hair cut, and now we're here! This last week was great, and this next week should be too. We've been trying to find more people to teach, and so far I'm happy with the people we've found.  2 of the new ones have a baptismal date for the 13th, and one other older investigator has a date for the 13th too! I am feeling pretty good, no complaints!

And this week is going to be pretty standard issue! And the only difference here in the fall is that the mornings are a little bit nippy, but really, not bad at all! It still can get hotter than sin and you can get burned in literally 5 minutes if you don't stick to the shade. For the high altitude the sun has a stronger effect.  And Pres. is great, I saw him yesterday in a stake/mission president meeting with the zone leaders. It was cool, he drove us home! I think he might be a little trunky, but he really doesn't show it at all!

Well, I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Howells

Week 80 - Baptisms

I am doing great. Better than a pig in a puddle. The baptisms went great this weekend, in fact, it was the first that actually started within 15 minutes of when it should. Usually everything in this country starts about an hour or 1.5 hours after it was supposed to start. That means everything, general conference, church, whatever. Hahaha. 

Today we went and played soccer, I'm still no good, and this week looks to be a pretty laid back week as far as administrative stuff is concerned. Elder Larrea and I have a pretty great rythim, our area is buzzing and we've got the zone firing on all cylinders. We're excited.

Week 79

Well... I didn't have a transfer, Ì'm going to be killing Elder Larrea (Sending him home), and then stay for the next transfer of 3 weeks, which I'm happy about! The baptisms were rescheduled for this week, and it's pretty sure that they're going to happen! We had a good week. A lot of lessons, new people, we are happy with how it went!! :) And this week is just a normal week of teaching with a regular district and zone meeting on Friday! :) This assignment (area, comp, etc.) it's my favorite assignment so far!! :)

I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Howells