Well this past week was a good week on Monday we had our district pday with the sisters and we went bowling and had dinner and we played pool at the pool table in the game room of our apt building it was a fun day we had lots of fun!
Then Tuesday we watched elder wilkinson pack for a while and then we went and tried to contact on campus but it wasn't to successful, but then Elder Wilkinson had more stuff he had to pack and stuff he needed to send off so we did all of that. Then we went to dinner with these members and it was a good dinner. We eat with them once a week so it was good as it always is. They are super awesome they help us out a ton. Then we went to institute that night and it was good. The sister who teaches institute here does a great job they are always good lessons! The next morning at 9 the member who was taking Elder wilkinson to transfers for us so we could save miles. He picked him up and then me and elder hurst did some rearranging of the apt and cleaned up so because we were originally supposed to have 4 elders in the apt we had 4 twin beds, but now because there are two of us we have 2 twins each so basically we each have a king bed and it is fantastic to have. I will attach a picture, but I love it it is so comfortable! Then we took off to another area in our zone because we had to go trian this elder on how to be a district leader. We went out to lunch with them at a mexican place and it was good. Then we exchanged and I went with the elder who just became a district leader and it was good we talked and then we went out and worked for a bit and taught some people
so that was good! And then we headed back about 4:45 and got back at like 5:45 and then we got a call from a less active member who need help moving something so we went and did that and that took up our dinner time, but we had another appt at 7 and so we went to that and then we had basketball at 8 so we skipped dinner that day but basketball was great. More nonmembers are coming so that has been good to see we get good interaction with them and it is just good! It was a good day! And then a glorious sleep in a king size bed!
On thursday in the morning we had a bunch of calls to do. We have a mission conference this week and so we had to call all of our teams and we had to tell them all kinds of stuff about the conference.. Elder Martino of the 70 is coming so it should be a good one! Then we had more calls about stuff and we went to try some stop bys and a member brought us dinner and it was super good but they brought us a ton of food because they thought there was still 3 of us so we had a lot of food! Then we went to teach a guy who contacted us while we were in walmart one day named peter he is sundanese and it was a good lesson he doesn't understand english the greatest, but he commited to read so that was good and we got another appt with him for Sunday! (We will come back to him later), but the rest of that night we had another appt with a less active and he is just crazy he is bipolar so every time we go over it is a different story sometimes he is on with the church others not so much, but ya it is always an interesting visit. But yep it was a good day!
Friday was also a good day in the morning we had guess what? calls! As always and
then we went to help a member move and it was just us and him and his wife but it wasn't too bad they are a super cool family and then they fed us lunch it was good. It was raining so that made it a little rough, but it all worked out! Then we had to do weekly planning and it was alot of planning because we had to plan out the transfer of activities and stuff
so that was good then we had dinner with a family and they are a family who we are trying to help get to the temple. So they have cats and I look over at the kitchen and the cat is on the counter licking the ham we are about to eat so that was a little gross, but I think he cut that part out of it, but ya it was a good dinner none the less and then we had an appt with our investigator Roberto who has muscular dystrophy and he was in the hospital for two days he had a pretty bad health scare, but he made it through. It was a good lesson we read alma 34 with him and it went well he is going to be going down to rochester to get help from the doctors at the big mayo hospital there so that should be good because it is world renowned so that should be good for him! That ended our night!
Saturday was good too we had our usual breakfast and coordination meeting in the morning and it was sausage, gravy, and biscuits so that was really good! And then we went and played soccer like usual and it was good! Then we went home and showered and went to do serivce out in a town about 15 miles out for a less active family and it was good we unloaded a truck full of wood and moved shelves and stuff it was good then we came back and changed and went and tried to see some people and then had dinner with this single guy in the ward it was good he is a cool guy then we went to give a less active we are working with a blessing because he wasn't feeling well and that went well we visited with him for an hour and that was good.
Sunday was a good day it was a good day at church we didn't have anyone come, but it was still good. Then after Church we had more paperwork to do and we did all that and then had dinner at a member's house and it was good it was our first time over there, but it was good! Then we went to see Peter, the guy we taught earlier in the week, with our
ward mission leader and we were teaching the Restoration and it was going super well and right near the end of the lesson we asked him to go and get his Book of Mormon so we could mark something in it and he walks back out and he has a scripture case in his hand like a nice one and I thought man I hope he actually has a Book of Mormon in there and then he plops it on the ground and opens it and he has a Quad! What the heck and his name was engraved on it and so we asked him, "Peter, are you a member?" and he was like, "ya, I am a member" like it was no big deal and then he pulled out his old stake missionary name badge and that just confirmed it for us. It is crazy he didn't tell us he was member so it was crazy to find out, but the Lord led him to us for a reason so we
are requesting his records now. Then we went and tried to see some more people and got yelled at by a drunk old guy so ya. Then more stop bys and we then went to the church to collect every one's numbers and stuff. So ya we did that and then went home. It was a good week and it should be a good week this week with mission conference. So ya still loving it here hope all is well with everyone. Well till next week.
Love elder howe
So this past week was a good week on Monday we went to the Renaissance Festival and ya it was ok, cool set up they had, but let's just say satan was definitely there that is for sure that is all I will say about it in this email! Ya it was fun anyways! So ya, but on Tuesday we hit the road again and went down to a city called Fairmont and dropped the other zone leader to exchange with them that was about an hour drive and then me and my other comp continued down the road to a city called Albert Lea and that was another hour and so lots of driving so ya we did that and I exchanged with the missionary there who is in his first transfer so that was good! He really impressed me. He was doing a super good job at leading out in his area and it was super cool to see that happen and ya we had alot of good success so that was awesome and the other elder there served in Andover after me so we talked alot about all of the people I love in that area! Ya it was a good successful day in Albert Lea!
On Wednesday we had that district's district meeting that we went to and so we did that and it was good. I was asked to give a training on the Spirit so that went well! Ya it was good then we started the trek home about an hour drive and we had some planning we had to do and then we went to dinner with Brother Jensen's sister the Craguns and that was good again they are super nice. Then we helped her set up stuff for their relief society meeting at the church that evening then we went and saw a less active in the ward who is blind. He is super nice I really like visiting him it is super fun and it was a good visit we talked all about the Sabbath day and it went really well! Then we went to play basketball with some members and non members at the church and that was good as always it was super fun I just love when I am able to play out here!
On Thursday we had our district meeting and it was my turn to run it so I gave the training and it went well. I think that is was a good one! Then after that this member who was working at the family history center provide all of us lunch so that was good. It was lasagna and so that made it super good because I love lasagna so ya it was good! Then we went home and we got on our bike and biked all around town and stopped by a ton of people and then we had dinner over by the church which is up a huge hill so we did that. Man it is a big hill but we made it and it was a good dinner and after dinner the member we were with went on splits with us. So one of my comps just went with him and saw some people and we went to another appt and it was good bc we got a ton of stuff done that night because we could cover so much ground! it was a great and super successful night! Then Friday we had our calls with our district leaders and then we ate lunch and we did our usual weekly planning and that went well and then we had an appt with this ysa girl who moved into the ward we were teaching her friend in the library on campus so that went well we have picked up teaching her now so that is great! She seems pretty solid! So that was good then we had dinner with a family and I like eating with them, they are super cool it was a good dinner! Then we had some stop bys to do and we went to the student union on campus and went bowling with one our of investigators who goes to school there so that was a good interaction with him and it was fun!
On saturday we had our coordination meeting and this ward missionary always gets onto me for not carry a knife around I don't know why. I dont like carrying pocket knives around but he gave me one so now I have to make sure I have it on me when I know I am going to see him so he is happy, but ya it was weird but it was a good meeting then we went and had soccer at the church as usual and there were a few non members there so that was good I am getting better at soccer now so that is good! After that a member took us to 5 guys for lunch and it was good I hadn't had 5 guys since I left so that was really good! Then we showered and we did some stuff and had our dinner appt with an older couple in the ward who are from the south and she bought us a ton of KFC. So much chicken and mashed potatoes and man I ate a ton because she just kept giving it and asking us to eat it and ya it was good though, but i was full! Then we went to a member's house who was driving us out to what we call a cottage meeting which is just a little social get together for people to invite people to. This one was way out in a town in our area and it was good. The lady in charge was a less active coming back to activity so that was good for her it was fun! Then we headed home after that. It was a 45 minute drive out there so ya!
Then sunday was good we had a good church meeting. Alot of good talks about missionary work and it was really good. No one came, but that is ok next week we will get them! So ya but then that afternoon we had choir practice so that was good it is fun to sing in the choir again! Then we had lunch and we did service we helped the couple that fed us the night before. We just helped them set up a bed rail for Brother Taylor, the husband. Then we had dinner with a super cool family the Svensons it was cool they know the Tautkus from when they lived in Connecticut so that was super cool! Then we had an appt with our investigator Roberto and it went good. It ended on a really good note. We are just trying to get his whole family involved in the lesson which is proving to be a difficult task so we will see. Then we did splits again with a member because we had two appt at 8 so we did that and I went and taught a less active member's brother for the first time and it went really well. He is really looking for something right now and so I think he will be really solid to begin teaching. Hopefully we will get him going! That ended the night and the week. We helped someone move this morning and then we did a outwork for the day in the morning because we switched our pday to the evening to do a district pday with the sisters so that should be fun. We also found out about transfers and they are making us just a set of two elders and I am staying here so that is good. I like this area there is so much potential work to be done so it is time to get to work and get this place rolling like it used to be! So they have to put another set of missionary here again! but it should be a good week hope all is well back home
love you all keep being missionaries at home get those elders people to teach!
love
elder howe
So this week was an ok week. Monday was just a usual pday we went shopping and emailed and then we went home and my other two companions played a board game while I did some other stuff. I took a nap. Kind of just a slow day but it was good. Then we went to campus and we walked around contacting people for a good hour that was the first time we had done that so it was good. We had a little success so it was good hopefully we can get there more because that isn't a place where this area has had a ton of success in the past so I want to get over there more than we do currently!
Then Tuesday we had our district meeting and it was a good one and then we went to Arby's for district lunch and because we have 3 elders we are able to drive the sisters places so we drove them, but I forgot my wallet so we went back home so I could grab
it and I left my ipad in the car when we went to do that. The sisters got my ipad and took pictures and a video I will send them, but I learned my lesson not to leave my ipad lying around when they are around. Ya then we did some stop bys and a member took us out to dinner and then we had institute and it was way good there was an older couple who were subbing for the day and the lesson was all on the premortal Christ and preearth life and it was super good. I learned a ton of stuff. Man it was great, mind blowing!
Then we get to Wednesday where our 2 day trip around a part of the zone starts, but ya so that morning we went and we were going to another district's district meeting on the way we picked up one of their teams who doesn't have a car and took them. Then we went to the meeting and it was a good. One of the district leaders there is brand new so it was a good meeting for him and it is a missionary I know very well so it was good to be at his meeting. Then we went on an exchange with some elders and I went with the one who is brand new this transfer. they are spanish missionaries, but we went and we did alot of stop bys and had a dinner with their members which was good this lady was a convert of 6 months and was made the relief society president so that was cool to hear. Then we did some tracting and had a good interview together it was a good time I love doing exchanges.
Then in the morning we played basketball with them and that was fun and then we went to go to another area we were exchanging with, but on the way we stopped at these
outlets because there is a CLEARANCE Nike store so there is all kinds of nike shoes and stuff all at marked down prices. My comp got a pair of shoes and a pack of socks for a total of $34 so that is a great store. Then we went to the other elders area and started our exchange and it was good I had a good exchange with the Elder i went with. We did
alot of stop bys and it was a good exchanging I had never really met him before so it was good to get to know him, but it was a good day. We were out of the area for two days!
So finally Friday morning we get back to our area and we have some calls we had to do and some other paperwork to fill out and finish up. And then we went to help a member
move a freezer and moving the freezer was easy, but he was trying to back into his driveway in his van and there was too much weight in the back so he hit his exhaust pipe on the driveway and bent it into the tire. He was able to get into his driveway so we got the freezer out no problem, but then spent the next 2 hours eating lunch and fixing his car. We ended up tieing a rope around his pipe and we all 3 just pulled it straight and got it all fixed so that was good! Then we went home
and showered and got ready to go out again and we did some more paperwork and then went to dinner with a widow in the ward and she was super nice she was actually baptized in St. David, Arizona so that was cool, but we helped her clean up and do her dishes because she wasn't feeling super great so we did that and then we went and met with a less active who is coming back and it was a good visit. While we were there he invited his brother to take the lessons and he accepted so that is great we will start to teach him now and that is good! So it was a good day.
Then saturday we went to our coordination meeting and breakfast and it was good I have a funny video of our wml to send home, but then we went and played soccer like we always do and it was fun we have had more people lately it is a good fellowshipping for all the people that come! Then we went to help a lady move and aw man it was a tough move we moved all her stuff out of a storage unit outside of
town into a trailer, some trucks, our car, and another car then we drove into town and moved all her stuff into her apartment and it was a hot humid day so I was sweating a ton it was about total a 4 hour move so that was fun. It was good though and then we had dinner and we had a lesson with our investigator Roberto and it was a great lesson he told us he had a dream and God told him he has no more excuses not to come to church and that he needs to love his "wife" more. Hopefuly that will lead him to actually marry her so he can get baptized eventually! It was a great lesson, fantastic. Then we went and stopped by a less active lady and got in with her and had a great lesson with her as well it was a good night!
Then sunday was a good day we went to church and Roberto and his wife came so that was great it was awesome to see him and his wife there! It was great! Then we had good classes and after church we had a break the fast with the YSA and we shared a message with them and that went well and then we had more calls to make and stuff and then dinner and then we went out and saw a less active lady we see every Sunday and had a good visit with her and saw an older couple who come when they can because of his health issues, but they were super nice and it was a good visit! Then we did some more
stop bys and there was a sweet lightning storm going on west of us we could see. So I got a video of that and then we had to go to the church to collect all the numbers for the week from all the districts so ya it was a good week this week. Today we are going to the
Renaissance Festival not sure what it will be like, but both of my companions wanted to
go so I have to go. We will see I just still am grateful to be out here and love doing what I am doing hope all is well have a great week.
Till next time
Love
Elder Howe
Hello everybody!
This past week was a good week. So I talked a little about this last Monday, but we had zone pday and it was at our building it was the last one with the whole Stake together because now we are split into the two zones, but it was fun. We did a bunch of minute to win it games. President Forbes was here and he did some of them too. Our team was not very good we pretty much lost every single game, but that didn't matter in the end when it came to the kool aid challenge. So the kool aid challenge is where you have to drink 15 of the 12 ounce bottles of kool aid, like the ones where you twist the top off of it, and you have to do it in 15 minutes without throwing up. So I did that one it sounds super easy, but it was a little hard. I did like 7 in 5 minutes and then slowed down and just drank the rest slowly. The second to last one was rough man. I thought I was out, but I downed it and then just drank the last one super fast and I didn't throw up. I was the only one who finished who never threw up so I won then right after I played some basketball so it wasn't too bad. It gives me confidence I can do some more food challenges, but it was a lot of fun. I should get a video this week of everyone doing the kool aid challenge and I will send it home next week! It was a super fun day then that night we had to do a ton of planning for the zone so that was good!
On Tuesday we had to do a bunch of organizing and cleaning because we had just moved two apartments into one two bedroom one so we had just a ton of stuff laying around that we had to figure out and organize and do stuff like that! Then we got a call to give this lady a blessing who is in the ward. She has been living in a hotel because she can't find a place to live or a job so we gave her a blessing. I did the blessing. Then we had dinner with Brother Jensen's sister that evening it was good. We got to shuck corn I have some pictures of that I will send. Corn is big here it is grown everywhere. Everyone grows it! Ya it was a good dinner and then we had an appt with a less active who made this weird Book of Mormon video I have a picture of one of the pictures he put in it you will see why it is a little weird but ya then we went to Institute on campus that night and it was really good. It is fun to go to institute the teacher is a super good teacher! but it was a good day. There was a big party going on at campus but ya it was a fun day!
Then Wednesday we still had more organizing and stuff to do we had a ton of extra stuff. We had 2 or 3 of the same thing so we put all of that away so we could send it back to the mission office! That evening we went to a less actives house and we did service we helped get all of their potatoes out of their garden so that was fun and then we had dinner there and they are interesting we just go and do service every week and try and help them out as we can! That night at 8 we played basketball with some members and a non members at the church it was a lot of fun. It had been awhile since I had played some legit games so it was great to be able to do it again!
Thursday we had our district meeting. I am still in charge of it because I am the district leader and the zone leader so ya. Elder Hurst and I split the district leader responsibility up so it isn't too bad it was a good meeting though. Then we went and had lunch at this sandwich place it was pretty good! Then we went and walked around and tried to see people and tried to get some stuff done. We were walking around in the rain so that was fun kinda. I don't have a rain jacket so I just used an umbrella it wasn't too bad! Then we had a dinner with an older couple in the ward and they are super awesome there name is the Osborns. It was lots of fun and she made really good bread so that was really good! Then that evening we had a lesson with our investigator Roberto who has something similar to ALS it was an alright lesson. We are just trying to get him to come to church right now continuously. So hopefully we can achieve that!
Then Friday we had to do a bunch of zone leader calls and talk to all of our district leaders and then we went to help a less active move houses and so that was good! It was a little sketchy because he had a super old wooden trailer that sounded like it was going to fall apart as we were driving from his house to his new one every trip. It held up so that was good. Then we went and had a dinner at a member's house and it was good. Then we had people from the mission office come and pick up all of our extra stuff from the old apartment. So we did that and that ended the night!
On Saturday in the morning we went and played basketball with the members again and that was fun! Then we had our coordination meeting and breakfast with the wml and other people it was good then we played soccer with some less actives and investigators for a few hours. We then ate lunch and we were going to blitz one of the areas in our zone because the missionary is a brand new district leader so we went to train him. I went around with his comp and one of my comps and we did some work in their area. Then we met back up for an fhe with a family in their ward and one of their investigators it was really good then we made the hour trek home!
Sunday is where the miracles happen so there is a new YSA girl in the ward and she brought her friend to church and then another lady brought two of her friends to church and we got some appts with all of them. So it was super awesome to see people just bring their friends to church with us inviting them to do so. It was super awesome hopefully we can start teaching all of them! It was a super good Sunday lots of good classes then after church we helped someone finish moving and then we had dinner at this member's house who lives a little bit in the country they have 11 acres it is a sweet house. They are converts of 5 years, but after dinner we went on a walk with them around part of their property it was super fun. They are a super awesome family! For one of our pdays they are going to let us hike around their property and have a bonfire with them so that will be a blast can't wait for that! Then we went to see a less active and he showed us these sweet swords that he has. Like real swords it was pretty sweet! Well this week was a good week it was slow, but busy at the same time. This coming week we will be going out of town for 2 straight days doing exchanges and stuff so it should be interesting! We ll I am still loving it it out here hope everyone is having a great time and doing lots of good missionary work back home. Have a great week.
till next week
love
elder howe
So this week was good, but it was a crazy one. So Monday we took time and I wrote a letter to all of my converts so that is great! On Tuesday we had a zone Conference and it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get there so we had to leave here at 6:30 so we did that and it was a great zone conference lots of training on how to be more effective planners and how to have more faith in finding! So ya it was good, but the downside of the whole tring was the fact that we got tiwi in our cars now so we get tracted on everything just like the missionaries have back home in their cars, but I am not the driver right now so it is all good! It was a super good conference we didn't get back till 7:30 and then we went to institute and it was a super good lesson all about Joseph Smith's last day and weeks it was super spiritual great lesson! Then one of the members at institute had a bull whip he wanted to show everyone so we were doing that and then the neighbor next to the church got all mad and stormed on to our property it was a scene, but nothing bad happened the guy was angry for no reason at all, but ya it was an exciting moment!
On Wednesday we had to get the oil changed in the car so we did that and then tried to go and check out the campus but there is no parking for visitors it was ridiculous so we ended up just driving around campus and then going home, but then I had to do a bunch of calls to the teams in my district and then we went out and walked around trying to set up appts with people and so that was good. We got a few appts set up and then we took off to see a less active and eat dinner with them. They live in a super dirty trailer so it is a little iffy at times eating there, but we do it anyways so ya it isn't too bad! We had dinner and taught them about the Book of Mormon and ya it was an ok lesson they are interesting people she is very demanding. She gets mad if we don't show up in service clothes, but we are trying to help them out as much as we can! Then we had another appt with a less active, Brother Strand, and he is interesting as well. I dont know what he was talking about most of the time, but he was talking about the Davinci Code and how it shook his testimony. I was trying hard to just testify of the power of prayer and that God loves him, but ya it didn't go to well he wants to talk with bishop about that so we will let him do that! That ended that night!
Thursday in the morning we were suppose to help someone move, but we showed up with a crew of people and she had nothing packed and no truck to load it in so we told her to call us when she was ready because we couldn't really help her out too much at this point so ya that was too bad. Then we had to pack up our apartment because we are moving in with the other elders so ya that was fun. Packing up missionary apts is a pain sometimes because elders just leave a ton of crap in every area that go to so there is just a bunch of random stuff and closets full of it! but it is necessary so we did it! Then we went to applebee's for dinner with the other elders because a member gave us a $50 gift card so that was super nice of them. It was good kind of celebrated my year mark by going there crazy I have been out a year. I hope time will just slow down a bit so i dont finish too fast!
Man Friday is where the crazy begins. So we do weekly planning like normal and then eat lunch and I have a call with the zone leaders and we knew something was going to happen because one of the elders in our area can't bike and it is a 1/2 bike area, but while I am on the phone with the zls president calls them and tells them that the one elder is getting transferred and we will be in a trio with the other one and that it had to happen that night so that was a very fast and quick change! But you just roll with it. Then we went to do some serice for a member we had to dig out some mattresses from her storage unit and man they were buried back there deep it was bad they were pretty deep in there, but we did it so that was good! Then we ate dinner and went to an appt but they forgot so we just ended up sharing a short message with them and then the switch off happened we got our 3 elders and the zone leaders picked up the other one so ya then we helped a guy move an entertainment center and we taught a guy while just walking around downtown so that was cool it is always good we you can do that! That concluded the first crazy day!
Saturday man Saturday. So first we had a hard workout of running theses huge stairs and man it was hard and then we had our meeting with our bishop and ward mission leader that was good and then a scout was having a blood drive as his eagle project so we donated blood. It was my first time so I drank a ton of water beforehand. So it went well it didn't hurt, I didn't get dizzy, and I got my unit out in about 5 and half minutes apparently that is good for your first time so that was cool something new I had never done. So ya then we went and finished packing the apartment up so ya we got most of the way done before we had to go to help paint a less actives house so we did that it was a blast then in the middle of it we get a text from president saying call me when you can. That is never a good thing because when he says that something is going down. So ya we called him after and he just talks small talk at first and then he says they are reopening the old zone our area used to be in and that me and Elder Hurst, the other elders we just picked up to be a trio with, are going to be the zone leaders so now I am a zone leader and we are opening a new zone mid transfer so ya it is lots of fun. It kinda surprised me, but ya it is happening so I will do what the lord asks me to do. I know I can do it if he has asked it of me! Then we finished off the night by packing the apt once more! There is so much stuff in that apartment.
Sunday was a great day at church lots of good talks and lessons and we had a linger longer potluck after so that was good. They always are. Then we had an appt with a less active and it went well. Then we had to finish the whole apartment up. We ate dinner went to campus for a few minutes then the rest of the night we finished the apartment so ya lot of packing this week. Today was zone pday and it was at our building it was a blast I will tell you about it next week because I am out of time, but it was a blast I did the kool aid challenge and completed it. You will have to look up what that is, but I will explain it next week! I love the Lord and love this gospel. I can't wait to fulfill this new role he has asked me to fulfill while I am on his mission!
well that is all till next week
love
elder howe
