Week 102 - Last week in Bolivia

This last week was awesome, we worked hard, had some success, but nobody is gonna get baptized this week. We had like 7 new investigators, with a baptismal date, and only 2 came to church this week which stinks, but they just need to follow through with commitments and then they're going to be baptized. It still doesn't feel real that my mission is over, I kinda don't believe it, but at the same time, I know that I've done my best and I'm grateful to have had the opportunities I had to have loved people, companions and other missionaries like Christ would've done it. I love Him, and I am grateful for Him. I hope I made Him proud with this little tithe of my life.

This week we have some appointments, and on Friday morning I should be going to Cochabamba for my last interview with Pres., then on Saturday morning we'll go to the temple, in the afternoon we'll have a self sufficiency capacatation, Sunday is a free day to visit people, and then Monday we have a Family Home Afternoon in Pres.'s house, last dinner there, then we'll go to the airport and head to Santa Cruz! Tuesday morning, I fly out of Santa Cruz and Wednesday morning I'm home!

I love you all, thank you for the love and support you've given me throughout my mission!  See you all soon.

Love,

Elder Howells

Brad will land in SLC Wednesday morning the 27th. 

We will be having a homecoming party on Friday the 29th from 6:30 - 8:30 at our home (2421 Brook Lane in Sandy). 

Brad will give his talk in Sacrament Meeting on October 15th at 9:00 AM at our chapel on 11570 S. Wasatch BLVD.

Week 98

This last week was cool, we went to Cochabamba on Wednesday, I got to go with Elder Gumucio (former companion) to Colcapirhua (his last area) and visits all of our converts there on Wednesday night, and on Thursday we went to get our new comps, flew to Sucre, and got a ride back to Potosí. My new companion is Elder Machaca, from Buenos Aires Argentina.  He is a great guy and tries hard, I'm proud of him for these last few days. We have one person on track for baptism on the 16th of September, Fernando Rios is his name, he is a great guy, and we're going to work more with his brother Juan Pablo Rios to help him towards that goal too!

I hope you all have a great week.  I love you all.

Elder Howells

Week 96

I'm doing good, tired, but really good! :)  Right now we are in Uyuni (World's largest Salt Flat) as a zone, we had to leave Potosi at 4:30 am to get here, and we will get back at about 11 tonight, (4 hours of travel), so this is the only email I can send, I'm so sorry! But we still can write 6 more times in the future ;)

We are only going to have one baptism of Benita this week, but that's okay, she is really prepared and a sweetheart! With transfers coming up this weekend, I think Elder Gill will leave, he's been here 6 months now with three comps, so he should go, and I have no idea who will kill me.  I think my legs are fine, they just hurt when I step wrong, so yeah, new shoes are in order, lol. But don't worry about it, I'm fine :) Elder Gill decided he wants to be a pirate some day, #I'm a sailor, I sail LOLLOLOL. (Inside family joke)

I'll talk to you next week! Be safe, I love you!

Week 95

I had a good week, we worked hard, and we even put another person on date for the 12th, and this newest one, named Benita, I think she is the surest of the three. :) This week should be a farely normal week, we want to find about 7 new, real investigators this week, that's our goal! And just in case you were wondering... we are only going to write 7 more times, then on the eighth my flight leaves Cocha for Santa Cruz. Not bad, time is flying by, my goodness. I am excited to get home too, but am sad to leave here. I'm glad we'll all be able to come back soon in a couple of years, I will miss Cocha a lot!

I love you all!  Have a great week!

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 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.