Ups and Downs

So this past week started off slow. Monday we had to get the flu shots and I wore a long sleeved shirt so I basically had to take my whole shirt off that was just a super awkward experience. Then we had a good night that night. The next morning I woke up not feeling good at all. The member who lives on the first floor of our apartment brought me a thermometer and I had a fever so I had the flu. We had district meeting we had to go to so I went, but i was so exhausted. After the meeting we went home and I took like a 2 hour nap so that i could make it through the rest of the day and it helped. That night was good to we had a member take us to an appt and he just set our investigator straight on what his priorities should be and why he was having such a hard time quitting smoking. While he was doing that we were messing around with his kids and I have some funny pictures of that. I have learned how powerful having a member with you can be it is amazing the difference a member can make. Whenever you get the chance go out with the missionaries because you can make a huge difference!! 

Wednesday was great we had this thing called "New Missionary Training" up in Bloomington, which is where the mission home is, and it was fantastic I learned so much that is going to help me become a better missionary. It was great. That night we did exchanges with the elder who are in the area next to us because me and the elder who I was with are both new I  got to drive!!! It was so great to drive again. 

We just got a new Ward Mission Leader and he is going to be fantastic. Wednesday we did a teaching evaluation with him and he told us his conversion story and it was so amazing! I am excited to work with him he has a lot of great ideas. 

Thursday I am in an appt and the phone goes off and it is a text from a member that just says "Elder Howe?" and that was all. I texted back yes and apparently there is someone in the Crystal Ward that Amy knows and she knows the member in my ward.  She told me that Amy says hi so that was cool . We have keeping our bikes in our garage. When we went to ride on Thursday we found that our bikes have been stolen, that sucked. Sorry that it was just such a waste of money because it was stolen. I don't even know how but they are gone. I don't know what we are going to do about it.

On Saturday we didn't have a dinner planned but then the member we had at a lesson of ours took us out to eat at a place called Baker's Square and it was amazing I had a crazy good omelet and then one of the best pieces of pie I have ever eaten it was so good!!!

Sunday Harry came to church and he loved it so that was great.  Then today we had district P day and we went to this place called Grand Slam. We did mini golf and played laser tag it was tons of fun. I have some pictures I will send of it. Then I had some amazing Mac and Cheese at Noodles and Company it was almost as good as Panera but not quite. I loved it. I am still doing great and I am loving it out here still. Till next week.

love,
Seth

flying horse at Grand Slam 

Ward Activity - Racing with a pumpkin between my legs

Ward Activity - Racing with a pumpkin between my legs

Super Spiritual Experiences and Fun Ones too

This week was good. On Tuesday I went on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders so I took over the area for the day and I think I did OK. It was a good experience because it let me see that there are so many different ways to do things. I can just be myself with my personality and not try to be someone who I am not. It also showed me somethings that I needed to work on that I hadn't thought of before. He told me that I was a good teacher and that I just need to slow down a little when I talk. That made me feel good because I didn't know whether or not I was teaching well so when he said that it made me feel super good. 


We had one of the most awesome lessons on Thursday with the Lattus family. They have been investigating for like a year. We showed up at 8 and Brother Lattus wasn't there so we could not go inside. We talked to his daughter outside until he showed up at 8:30. After he showed up the Bishop and Stake President showed up as well. He has a good relationship with them and they joint taught with us. President just took over and helped him realize how stupid it was to let smoking keep him from baptism. Then Brother Lattus said he wanted to be a part of the church so that his two sons could go on missions because of the example we set for them. That hit me hard I did not realize how big of an example we were setting for him and his kids. At the end of the lesson he decided with President that he would move his baptism up from Oct 18th to Oct 5th. So he had to stop smoking yesterday for good. Right before we left I felt a prompting to give him a blessing for strength to resist the temptation to smoke. I was able to participate in my first Priesthood Blessing. The Bishop gave the blessing, but it was a super cool experience. I know he will be baptized on the 5th. 

The next day we went and saw our old Liberian investigator Harry. He knows the Book of Mormon is true and has a solid testimony of Joseph Smith being a prophet. He wants to be baptized, but is concerned about his health. At the end of the lesson we gave him a blessing. I gave the blessing. It was cool I was super nervous I wouldn't know what to say, but when i started talking the words just came to me it was amazing and super spiritual for him and me.

On Saturday I got to watch half of the BYU football game because we had an investigator watching it with the Elder's Quorum. We called out Mission President and he said  we could watch the first half of it. It was super awesome and fun. 

On Sunday I was feeling down in the morning because we did a lot of service Saturday and my back was hurting. We had an early meeting at the church. I wasn't able to eat breakfast. We also went to get some investigators so they could come to church, but they did not answer their door. I was feeling down,  but then after Sacrament meeting as when we are out in the foyer we see Ron standing in the Chapel looking for us. I did a double take because it surprised me.It made me happy that he could make it. He was only able to stay for 2nd hour because he had to work, but he had a great time in Gospel Principles. I think he will be more inclined to come back now which is fantastic. He has been being taught for 6 months and that was his first time at church so that was awesome.

There was Fireside Sunday night that is put on once a month by the Mission and it is where recent converts tell there conversion stories.  You only get to go if you have an investigator. We had a ride for us and our investigator all lined up, but then the ride fell though. We were not able to get another one. I felt that the Lord needed us in our area not up in Bloomington that night. We went and saw an Samuel instead and it turns out his mom had just passed away that morning. It was a good thing we stopped by so he had someone to talk to that wasn't just family and people saying sorry. He is super family centered and he committed to coming to church this week so hopefully he comes. 

Oh yeah, on Friday we had a Ward party which was super fun. I got chosen to do this pumpkin relay thing. If I ever get pictures I will send them because it will be some really funny pictures. It was super fun and it helped us get closer to the ward.

It was a good week this week. Till next week.

Love you all

Seth 

Week 2 in Andover

This past week has been good. We had an investigator drop us, but that is OK. We had an FHE with a family who has been investigating for a year now and it went great it was so much fun. We met with that same family on Thursday and committed them to work towards a baptismal date of Oct 18th. The dad has had a couple baptism dates in the past and hasn't made them, but we are sure he will make this one. We are doing all we can to help him stop some bad habits so he can make it and be baptized with his whole family. He really wants to be baptized because his wife died a year ago and he wants to be able to have his daughter do her baptism in the temple. So we are doing everything to get him to that point. I am sure he is going to make it this time.

So Ron and Heather didn't show up to church again it is frustrating because they sound so committed to coming in our lessons, but then they don't show up hopefully we can get them there at least once soon. That will help them progress so much more then they are right now.

The Liberian food at Harry's wasn't too bad he toned it down from super spicy to just a little spicy but he gave us so much to eat. I would finish and then he would say, "more, eat more". I had so much rice and soup that night it was crazy. We had a dinner appointment at a member's right after that. We had roast beef, mashed potatoes, and pie we were so full!!! I thought I could eat a lot, but oh my gosh that was too much food! 

Harry is coming along so well. We had only read the introduction and all the testimonies in the front of the Book of Mormon and he already said he knows it is all true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It is all so crazy amazing. He said he would get baptized but he is old and is super concerned about if he is healthy enough to get baptized. We think he is, but we will see. Hopefully he realizes it is better done sooner rather than later. 

I had a pretty cool experience on Saturday night we were seeing where we should go tracting and we hadn't been having much success tracting this week. We choose a place and prayed about it and then each of us opened to a random scripture mine was Alma 26:22 which reads;

"Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance."

After that we knew we were suppose to go to that place to tract. While we were tracting there yesterday we found a couple potential investigators and one new investigator who we taught the Restoration to on the door step. We got a return appt and she has a young family which is like the type of people we really want to teach. 

All in all this week has been pretty good. I do love it out here. The members in the Ward are really nice and the bishop said they are going to be revamping the Ward missionary work so that the members will be asking us to go with them to appts and for us to get more referrals.

Love,

Seth 

P.S. The picture is the view from my apartment  

Andover Area Minnesota

So far the mission field is fantastic. I am in the Andover Area and my companion is Elder Boekweg from Mt. Pleasant, Utah we get along really well.  It is super great we live in an apartment. It took the first couple appointments we had to get used to being the missionary. It just felt weird but now I am a lot more comfortable I am still trying to get used to talking to everybody that I see that is one of the hard things for me, but I am coming along in that area I think. We have a couple of cool investigators my favorite

is a 60 year old man from Liberia named Harry. Our last apportionment he said he knows that the Book of Mormon is true and he is willing to get baptized. He is just worried about his health. He should be coming to Church next week, we hope. Another is a couple named Ron and Heather they want something better but they are so hard to get to keep their commitment. Heather promised she would come to church this week so I really hope she does. 

So we had a really cool experience we were tracting and we knocked on a door and started teaching this guy "The Restoration" out of the pamphlet it got to the First Vision and I was reciting it and as soon i said "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head" his super bright porch light turned on right then it was so crazy awesome I cant believe it actually happened. 

So when you teach the Restoration you are supposed to invite people to be baptized in that lesson right there and I have invited 3 people to be baptized so far. It was weird at first but now it is a lot more natural. I hope we can get all of our investigators to church this week. 

We do get fed often. Last night we had dinner with a family in the ward and it was so great we had German pancakes and it just made me feel like i was at home it was great. On Wednesday we have a dinner set up at Harry's house and we are trying Liberian food I am super nervous because it is supposed to be like super spicy. Hopefully I can handle it. 

Elder Boekweg says we are doing good work so far. I hope we can keep it up and get some more investigators. We have an FHE setup tonight with a family in the ward and then a family of investigators. It should be an amazing experience the Dad just has to overcome a smoking addiction and some law of chastity problems and he can be baptized. I hope we can help him get over all of that. Everything is going super great so far. I love it here the people are super nice and the Ward is pretty good too. 

Love Seth

P.S. Ask the people in the Ward if they know anyone from the Andover Area.

New MMM Missionaries and Mission Pres and Wife

Such an Amazing Week!

The MTC is so great I am learning and growing so much. The classes are so amazing our two devotionals have been amazing but the most amazing was on Sunday we got to watch an old devotional by Elder Bednar called "Character of Christ" it was a life changing talk. It was so amazing. I have a link of one he gave like it at BYU-Idaho to send you guys. Listen to it because it is amazing. The Lord is blessing me so much. Our first investigator, who is just one of our teachers acting, is going great we have committed him to baptism witch is good. Our last lesson with our second one is tonight and those lessons have been so amazing. We have gone in with a lesson plan twice now and then not used them and the lesson focused on something else. We just taught by the Spirit. It is an amazing experience. I am told that I am good at knowing when to push commitments with our investigators so that is good. This whole time has just been so amazing, but I can't wait to get in to the field and teach real people. I  am learning and growing so much. 

I love you  all.

Seth

Link to "Character of Christ" Talk by Elder Bednar

http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/ReligionSymposium/2003_01_25_Bednar.htm

MTC District

MTC

So far the MTC is going great! All is going well. My companions name is Elder Torrie from Canada and we get along well. I wont tell you much about the first day because I am sending a letter I wrote today. I would have sent it yesterday but I had no time. The days here are very full, at most we have like 30 mins a day not including meals where we are not in a class or a meeting. Yesterday felt like it was 3 days long, but  it was good. All of the classes we have had so far are great I am learning a lot of things. The spirit  here is strong and I love it here. I feel like the 12 days or so that I am here are going to pass quickly. On Monday we have our first lesson with an assigned investigator. I hope it goes well my p-days here are on Friday so I will email again next Friday ,as well, just a couple days before I leave for the mission field I hope everybody is doing well.

Love Seth 

P.S. The food is also pretty good.

Elder Torrie and Elder Howe