Week 54 - Deotero

Hey pops, how are you? :) I have had an awesome week, full of good things. We also had some great lessons yesterday. Here's a sad story - during the first session on Sunday Morning, a gal in our ward came to us and told her that her brother was in the hospital and that he was dying, so she asked us to give him a blessing. We went, Elder Coronado annointed, I sealed and blessed, and I felt no reason, no prompting to say, be healed, I just felt that he needed peace as he painfully was slipping into the Spirit World. So, that is what I blessed him with. Yesterday, the same Sister came to us, and asked us to visit her brother again. We went, and he was in a bad way. His son, my age, was worried to death, trying everything to keep his Dad awake, gentely carresing his face and fanning him to keep him cool, without tiring. The dad asked us what he needed to do to be okay. We taught him about repentance. He thought about it while suffering failing lungs and heart and the associated side effects, and we helped him find peace with his questions. That was the worst, but at the same time the best experience of my mission. To see someone, someone who was haunted by his past, about to enter the next life, scared to death. To see the sweet fruits of the repentance that he was attempting, helping him understand that the Grace of Christ will cover him, after all that he could first do. Then, to leave, knowing that I won't see him alive again, was hard, but at the same time rewarding. He was trembling with pain, his body was spasming due to the organ failure, and his family emotionally heartbroken. However, that one visit taught me more life lessons that I could've hoped for. We have to live our lives in a way so as to be at peace in these moments of trial. Stand in holy places, choose the right, be just and fair to all, loving others, sharing testimonies, and doing all that is praiseworthy and of good report. If done, we will be able to slip into an eternal rest with faith and with hope, knowing that we've done our best, repenting when needed, helping always, and having lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That visit, I have no doubt, was a blessing that the Lord had in store for me. The man's name was Deotero.

I planted 10 pumpkin plants in my front yard about a month ago, and they should grow pumpkins in the next month, so that's exciting. 

I love you all!  Have a great week.

Elder Howells

This family are members of the Colon Ward in Cochabamba

Brad and his companion

Brad's Pumpkin Patch!