Out of town and oh man studying the scriptures can be great!

So this week was a good week in some ways. So Monday we had a pretty good pday during the day we went and helped a guy lay some sod in his backyard and that was really good. It didn't take very long, but ya it was a slow pday. We don't know what to do on pdays sometimes because there isn't a ton to do so we end up just relaxing which isn't bad but we will see! Tuesday was fantastic so every month we have a MLC(mission leadership council)  and so it was on Tuesday and it was good President and Sister Forbes gave some great trainings on planning. It was way good and then this member of our Mission Presidency who i love he is a spiritual giant! He gave a training on how we need to help our investigators understand how to receive their own revelation from scripture and he said we need to study like Nephi and to be able to do that and to understand and receive revelation from scripture we need to have the gift of prophecy. Then he broke that down to 3 little gifts we need to have in order to get that gift! They are 1 the gift of inquiry so we must have a question so we don't just have a pointless study. That is my weakness. Then gift 2 the gift of pondering so we need to be able ponder what we study and think about it and study it out in our minds and then the 3rd gift is the gift of writing so he said most of Nephi is like him quoting Isaiah word for word so it was like his study journal  so when we study we need to have a  journal and we should write down verses word for word and it will help us receive revelation. Studying this way is amazing I have been doing it every morning  since then and it is amazing it helps so much I would encourage everyone to try it out because it is amazing. I love it so much and will continue to do it for the rest of my life. It is great but ya! Then after the meeting we made the trek home and then we went home and we did some stop bys and we ate dinner and then we went  contacting on campus and we had a super good interaction with this girl and got her number and she seem interested so that is great! Then we went to institute and it was good as always this time we talked about the miracles Christ performed and it was way good! 

On Wednesday we had our district meeting in the morning and it was good and then we had lunch and took off to exchange with some elder one hour south of us. We exchanged with them it was good we went and helped teach seminary. She asked us to tell the class how seminary has helped us out in our lives. It made me realize how seminary has helped me out in my life it is good! I am very glad that I went! but it was a good day with those elders! Then the next day we went to those elder's district meeting and on the way to the town it was in we stopped and took a picture in front of this big statue of the Jolly Green Giant so that was cool. Then went to their district meeting and it was good! We planned for some inspired tracting which is where you pray to find a specific person on a specific street so like we prayed to find a young family where the wife has red hair and the husband black hair and two kids one 3ish the other an infant who just went through some health challenge and are prepared to be baptized by the end of the year! We will come back to it later. Oh ya and on Jefferson St in North Mankato. Ya then we had lunch and we exchanged with the other elders in that district  and it was good. The elder I went with took my place in Andover when I left so it was fun to talk to him about how Andover was doing when he left. It was a  good day we saw some cool people and it was good! 

Friday we went to a member house on the way back to our area and helped him split wood and it was good lots of work, but he gave us all this stuff they canned like jelly's and they make their own apple juice and it is way good it is just apples nothing else it is so good. Then we came back into town and we showered and went to dinner and it was good with this older couple who are super awesome. Then we had some calls and we went and saw this less active guy and we aren't sure what to do with him any more, but we will see what's up with him this week. Then Saturday we had breakfast and our coordination with the WML and the ward missionaries  and that was good then our WML inspected our apt and that went fine no big deal then we didn't play soccer because no investigators were there and that is the rule so we didn't play. So that is alright we had some paperwork to do and then we ate lunch and came back to the church for a baptism of an 8 year old in the ward and it was good. I just love  seeing not just the baptism but hearing the sound of them getting baptized it is super awesome it was a good baptism! Then we still had to do our weekly planning so we did that and then ate dinner and then went and saw our investigator Roberto who has been going to the Mayo Clinic and getting tested and he was super tired from that, but we read a chapter with him and it was good. They might be able to help him so it was good news! 

Then we went to our inspired tracting and that was great we prayed and started the street we picked was long and we were tracting and hadn't found our person yet so I was getting a little discouraged, but then like the 4th to last house a lady with red hair answered and said she was putting her two kids to bed and her husband wasn't home, but to come back another time. So that is our person! which is exciting. I can't wait to go back there. Specific prayers bring very specific answers! Ya then we did a few stop bys and went home. 

Sunday was a very successful day we had 3 investigators come to church it was the 3 YSA  Karen girls (Karen is a race btw) and we didn't even get to meet with them this week so it was great they came. Anyways it was awesome! Church was good we had Elder Quorum lesson outside and that was different! but good! Then after church we went and tried to see some people and then we had an appt with this less active lady who we see and it went well. Then we went to dinner with a family, the Andersons, and they are super cool we had s'mores for dessert, but what she did was melt chocolate chips with milk in a cast iron pan and then put marshmallows on top and broiled it and it was way good super good and then we had a really good message with them. Then we went to try and see a less active, but while walking into his apartment we met a guy named Jal and taught him and that was good then saw peter the guy who we found out was a member and helped him with is esl homework and he taught us some things in his language then went went and saw another less active and talked with him it was a really good day and it was a good week we finally have a full week in our area so that is exciting! Hope everyone has a great week. 

Well next week

Love Elder Howe 

The pictures below are from the largest Candy store in Minesota. Look at the Soda flavors.