"I believe in Christ so come what may"

This past week was a good week! Monday wasn't a full pday,  but we did shopping and then we went to this thing called Family Home Afternoon that is for the elderly people in the Ward we got invited to. It was good someone just read the book the best matriarchs pageant ever and it was good. It was good interactions! Then we went and we taught a less active and we went to the Bairs for dinner and that was good. Then on Tuesday we had really good lessons with some of our investigators/ We taught our YSA Fabrice and it went really well he has come into a lot of anti, but he is doesn't listen to what his friends say because he says he feels good when he meets with us so that is good. He is slowly progressing he is just hard to get a hold of because his phone is down, but we are trying and then we met with our two investigators in a halfway house and it was a good lesson we taught most of the Plan of Salvation and that was good! Then that night we had a good lesson with some one we found the week before, Dustin, and it was a good lesson with him he really opened up and we taught the restoration it went really well! 

Wednesday was alright nothing to exciting, but Christmas Eve we did our weekly planning and we went out and tried to see some people before we went to the Craguns in the ward for dinner and we were there from 6 to 9. We ate dinner it was beef wellington and it was way good super good and then we had a Christmas program and they had everyone do a part and there were two less active boys who are in the ward there so that was good and so we shared our part about the Spirit of Christmas and service. It went well and then we played this dice game where you have dice that spell out Christmas and you roll until you spell it out and then you get a gift if you win and you can steal other people's gifts it was fun! Then Christmas day we Skyped with everyone and then we went to our apartment and played some card games because it was pday and then at 3 went to the Svensons in the ward for dinner and we ate dinner and then we helped them put this 3D dog puzzle together and then we played a few games one being Settlers of Catan which is fun and then we played Ticket to Ride it was my first time playing that one, but I really liked that one it was alot of fun. I like that one alot! Then at 8 we went and we visited a man who didn't have any family around so that was good. It was good to visit him! 

Saturday we woke up and it had snowed 3 to 4 inches so that was cool, I guess, and the temp dropped a little bit not too bad yet. We had a good lesson with Dustin that night again and then we also went and tried to visit people with our WML. Sunday the temp dropped it was 5 degrees when we got to church. Our WML got released so we just got a new WML. I will miss having the one we had because he was awesome, but I knew it was coming soon! So ya, but ya it didn't get much warmer the high was probably like 15 maybe! We went tracting and we taught our investigator Bernard and he had read what we left him and he read it like 2 or 3 times so he could actually understand it. So that was awesome! and we taught him the Plan of Salvation and it went super well. he said the the whole time that this was answering questions he has had for a while so it was a great lesson, super spiritual. While we were teaching the Atonement we were reading Alma 7:11-13 and while I was reading I could really feel the Spirit working through me to testify to him, it was great!  

It was a good week and today isn't p day again because of New Year's day. So pday is on Friday. About my subject for this week it is the some lyrics form the hymn "I Believe in Christ" and i love that hymn. We snag it in sacrament meeting and it is by far my favorite hymn, but this time these words stuck out to me as i sang them "I believe in Christ so come what may". I was like man because I believe in Christ I don't have to worry about alot of things. I dont have to worry about all the bad that happens in the world because I know what will happen in the end as long as  I keep my convents and stay faithful and along the way help others do the same. In relation to my mission whatever is coming let it come I will go where the Lord wants me to go and do what he wants me to do and say what he wants me to say. It brought back to me the words of Elder Wirthlin "come what may and love it". Let us all strive to have that attitude! We believe in Christ so come what may. With him anything is possible! 
I hope you all have a great week.
love,
Elder Howe 

Sugar cookies I made

pour you out a blessing,that there shall not be room enough to receive it... barley enough room to recive it

This past week was a dang good week we had a ton of success. Ya! on Monday we had dinner at the Bair's house like we usually do and then we went and saw a less active. Tuesday was a great day we taught 5 lessons on Tuesday. It was great! We saw a less active lady and then we had an appt with a new investigator named David Packer we picked up last week and he brought one of his friends so that was awesome to see! So we taught both of them and picked up his friend as an investigator! So that was great then we had dinner and that was good and then we went and stopped by out investigator Fabrice and we taught him and then we went to a town called St Peter to try and contact a referral and we did and taught him and picked him up and then we stopped by a less active and taught him and that was great. So it was a great day! 

Wednesday we had our district meeting and then we taught a less active lady with the sisters and then went out and we tried the person who had told us to come back before and we taught her husband and picked them up as new investigators so that was cool! Then we did some more stuff and taught another less active and then we taught a less active and went tracting and we showed the video to some more people and then we went and played basketball! On Thursday we went to exchange with some elders and that went well we were in a town called Fairbault pronounced Fairbough, but it was good we did alot of good work and I interviewed their investigator for baptism so that was great! It was super cool! and ya it was great. 

Then Friday we went to their District meeting and then we came home and had weekly planning time. Then we went to see a less active and had dinner with them it was good and then our appts fell through so we were doing some finding and stopbys and we were trying to see this former investigator and we showed it to this kid named Wren, a 16 year old foster kid who is kinda bouncing around from home to home, and we taught him and picked him up to teach. He used to date a member of the church so he knows a little, but I feel like he has alot of potential! Saturday was good we taught 3 more lessons so that was great! and we did some finding, but it was good

Sunday was a great day it was the Christmas program and so all sorts of musical numbers while someone was kinda reading the Christmas story and I was in 3 musical numbers one with all the men and then 2 with the ward choir. It was good it is great to get really involved with the ward you are in. I feel like I have done that here! It was good. After church we did some tracting and it was a cold street none one really interested, but it was good and then we went and we saw this family where the dad is a Prospective Elder and it was good. After that we had an appt set up with a guy we met on Wednesday that week named Bernard and we showed up and he was there and ready. We taught the Restoration and he loved it all. He said he has felt like there has been holes in church his whole life and he was really open to the truth and said it is super possible we have the truth so that is awesome. He is super prepared and he is from Ghana and I love teaching Africans they are super prepared people and they seem to progress fast, but he seems super legit! He was great it was a great lesson and we got a return appt on Christmas at 8 o clock at night, but we had a great week. I haven't had a week that good in a while it was awesome our teaching pool is growing the work is progressing it is great and i have been learning so much in my studies lately. I read this scripture today that i really liked! 
in Mosiah 8:18,

 18 Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings.

God is making it possible so we can do miracles all of us we just have to have the faith and it will happen I love this I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas. I hope that we slow it down and focus on why we celebrate Christmas and take a little time on Christmas day to ponder and reflect why we need our Savior and what he has done for us because he does so much and we need to thank him. So after you ponder what he has done pray and thank him for all he and our father have done. For you prayers of thanks are very powerful. I have done it a number of times and it has been great. I try to do it at least once a week! 
Merry Christmas everybody 
God bless 
love ,
Elder Howe

Tracting in the snow

A note left on the door of our apartment

Week full of meeting and Christmas season success

This week was a good week. It was busy that is for sure! On Monday it was my comps last day in the area and so we did some normal stuff and ya he finished getting everything together and we put as much in the car as we could so we wouldn't have to the next morning and we went to the Bair's house and we had dinner and a lesson and we played this super awesome version of Monopoly called Monopoly Empire, so that was awesome it is a fun version! Then we went home and we had to leave at like 6:15 in the morning the next morning for the cites because we were meeting some other missionaries in Minneapolis for breakfast at this place where you get a good breakfast for $3.17 total so that was good and then i dropped Elder Hurst off at the mission home and I went with some Elders who are in Minneapolis for the day and it was good. I have never really been in the actual cities in the heart of it at least. So it was cool. It is so different then Mankato, but it was fun we saw a crazy black lady at the hospital and ya that was cool, but it was a fun day in Minneapolis

On Wednesday we had transfer meeting where I got my new comp Elder Zerkle. Then we went and we blitzed an area in our zone for the day because we had another meeting in Bloomington the next day and we didn't want to go all the way back again so ya it was good. We showed the Christmas video to this lady who is pregnant and she started crying and it turned out to be a great lesson we taught her and her husband the first lesson and got a return appt so it was great! but ya then we had to Skype in to our Stake Meeting and that went OK our Internet signal wasn't the greatest, but it worked out we got our report in so that was good! 

Then Thursday we had MLC in Bloomington and that was good as usual. MLC is great there is always great training and things talked about it was awesome. Then we went back to our area we didn't get back until like 5:30, but ya then my comp unpacked a little and we ate dinner and then we went to a couples house and she helped me go through my musical number it was good. It really helped me out alot and then we went home because Elder Zerkel wasn't feeling super good and then Friday we went back up to Bloomington for our Christmas Conference we went to Bloomington alot this week, but it was good I sang my number and I think it went well at least I hope it did! Ya we did a alot of singing and President and Sister Forbes did a cool thing they read though something all about Christ and it was good! Then we had lunch and did some other stuff and we watched the "Sound of Music" and that was cool. Movies to missionaries are  alot funnier then they really are, I think. I don't think I have ever heard so much laughter while watching the Sound of Music than I did that day, but it was good! Then we went back to our area and we had our Ward Christmas Party and it was good. There is a brother in the ward who smokes meat really well and he did all the hams and man it was way good! Ya the Primary did a little program and it was cool but it was a good day.  

Saturday we did a lot of planning and calls and stuff and that night we went tracting and we showed the video to 4 ppl and had some really awesome contact with people it was awesome. It was super good this video really helps with the work alot! Then Sunday was good we didn't have anyone to church, but it was a busy day we had appts the whole night. We met with a guy in a halfway house who used to investigate in Rochester and he was about to get baptized then he took off a day before his baptism and ya he says he wants to get baptized so that is cool. Hopefully he can continue to progress and make it to that point. He already has a testimony of it all so we will see how it all goes! It is a cool miracle! but ya this week I was ponderizing Jarom 1:12 and I received some super awesome revelation from it Jarom 1:12 is,

 12 And it came to pass that by so doing they kept them from being destroyed upon the face of the land; for they did prick their hearts with the word, continually stirring them up unto repentance.

As I was reading this and I followed the foot note for prick and it lead me to Alma 31:5 which says,

 5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

It hit me, the word of God, the scriptures, are more powerful than anything else in this world like it says in the verse. Nothing else had a greater effect on the people then the word of God nothing else mattered so it really helped me realize I need to use the scriptures more in my teaching and treasure them more. It grew my love for the scriptures even more then it was before. With the scriptures we can do anything. We can find the courage to do the hard things in life and we can find the answer to any of our questions. the scriptures are  amazing don't take them for granted! They will lead us home again! 
well that is all from this week have a great week 
love 
Elder Howe

Christmas lights

Gift from the Forbes

Gift from the Forbes

Jarom 1:12 and slow, but good week

So the scripture in the subject is my ponderize scripture for the week just thought I would put it up there. This week was a little slow, but good. It was my companions last week as a missionary so at times it was hard to motivate him to work, but not too bad. He wasn't too trunky all the time! Monday I didn't mention this last week, but we went to the cites because on your last Pday in the field President Forbes will let you go to the Mall of America so we went up to the Mall of America and because it was my comp and one of the sisters last pday we got a ride with a member and it was good! but ya the Mall of America is crazy huge, there is an amusement  park. We saw there is an aquarium we didn't go to it, but ya and a super big Lego store that is sweet. I got pictures of, but that is what it is a big mall it was fun. One thing to check off my list so that was cool it was a fun day! Now I don't have to go at the end of my mission so that is nice! 

Ya so on Tuesday we had a really good Institute it was good. It was the last one of the semester so Sister Picha, the teacher, just had all kinds of pictures from Christ's life and then a scripture for each picture and we went around and read the scriptures as she put the pictures up and it was really spiritual and just super good! Ya on Wednesday we had our District Meeting and that was good. Last one of the transfer and it was good afterwords we went to a Mongolian grill for lunch that was really good it is super cool how they cook the food there, but it was good! So we told the youth the first 3 to share the A Savior is Born video with two friends got their favorite candy so on Monday we had one youth text us and tell us they had done it so that was fast. Then we showed up the the church like 40 mins until the end of mutual and so people could tell us and then the YWs President saw us and was like oh some young women finished and we said "well we have 2 spots open so first ones to get to us get it" and she went and told the YW and then we went a hid in the kitchen and like 10 mins latter two young women come booking it down the hall. I tried to hide, but I couldn't hit the ground fast enough. They got to us so it was cool. A good amount of them shared the video so that was awesome that they did it. It was cool to see! and then we played basketball that night! 

Nothing happened the rest of the week until Sunday. It was a good day at church and there were some super good classes, but ya after church we had choir practice and that was good! Then we had an appt with an older lady in the ward and then we had an early dinner with a family out in a town called Ampleton and this guy always feeds us a ton and ya they just had all kinds of leftovers and they are super good cooks. All kinds of traditional Minnesota dishes and we ate a ton. Then we had homemade cheesecake and that was good! He made us each eat half a fried baloney and cheese egg sandwich because we had never had one before and then each of us half of a grilled cheese sandwich he makes because he makes it different, but ya I was full! Then we took the sacrament to someone with this couple in the ward. It was to a family that had just had a baby on Friday so ya! Then we went to watch the devotional at the couple's house and it was really good super awesome talks last night. If you haven't watched it do it! After that we made gingerbread houses and well I have a picture. Mine is at least standing, but it was fun. The couple totally zonked out during it and I got a picture of that. They are awesome though. It is crazy, when I go to byu-i the will be returning to school there the same time as me so that is cool!

Ya those are the highlights of the week! This week I have been really thinking about the conversion process and about how it is all just one big circle consistently throughout your whole life. I was reading in the end of 2nd Nephi 30 to 33 and then all of Jacob and i love Jacob it is my favorite book! I learned so much from Jacob 5 this week. It was amazing. I really enjoyed reading that chapter which was a first for me, but it made me realize reading all those chapters that throughout our lives we are consistently  going through the conversion process which I broke down into a few steps: 

1. We sin 
2. We have a desire to change 
3. We get nourished by the good word of God 
4. We repent and become better and progress 

This will continue throughout our whole life and it is a great thing. It is the beauty of the gospel! I love it so much repenting is one of the greatest gifts God has given us! It is great! I love it! 

2nd Nephi 33:6 
 6 I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus,for he hath 
redeemed my soul from hell.

Well that is all this week till next week keep repenting and keep sharing the gospel
love,
Elder Howe 

The Holidays are coming and I love the work

Well this week was a good week. On Monday it wasn't Pday because our Pday was switched to Thanksgiving, but President Forbes still gave us time to send emails and to shop so we did that and then we had some more stuff to do and then we did some work and had our FHE we always have and it was good! But ya Tuesday we had another full day to work in our area and it was good! Always good to be able to have full days of work so
we did some work we went around and tried to see some less actives and had some success. We found some addresses we couldn't find before and then we went and we met with Roberto and that was good. He really is a good guy his illness of muscular dystrophy makes it hard for him, but he tries and they always give us food everytime we go there and they don't have very much so ya it is awesome he is a great guy. We got in with a new less active part member who said he wasn't interested, but he was super nice and willing to let us come by and talk whenever so we are going to take advantage of that maybe it will go somewhere! We had our district meeting and I was doing this one we talked all about the Book of Mormon and I think it went well. all focusing on getting down to the basics. And it was an alright day. We visited a widow with the sisters and it was good we did service and it was good and then we played basketball that night.

On Thursday it was Thanksgiving and it was good we went to the turkey bowl and it was snowing as I said in my video, but only 5 people showed up, but we still played and it was good! People wimped out and didn't come because of the snow, but it was fun and
then someone signed up to feed us and the sisters so we got permission from President because they were low on miles to just carpool down to this house and it was good we had ham and that was good and we made a pie for it and we both had never made a pie and it went ok the bottom wasn't cooked all the way through so next time will be better.
And ya it was good then the rest of the day we walked around the mall during crazy black Friday hour at 6 and it was nuts people are crazy, but then we went to a family, the Svensons, and we ate pie and then did family scripture reading with them and then family prayer and went home, but it was a good day! So ya the rest if the week was good we
helped some people move and did alot of paper work and on Sunday during 3rd hour we lead the 5th Sunday lesson. We did it on the new Christmas video an Savior is born and it was really good. It is a great video we taught the youth and we said the first 3 people to share the video and watch it in person with two of their friends we will give them
their favorite candy bar so it motivated them. And ya it was a great way to share the gospel. If you haven't seen it yet watch it. A Savior is Born it is a good way to help share the gospel and help people realize we are Christians too. It is only 2 mins long and it is great so I encourage you all to share it! And ya it was good! Well it was good
week. 

I was reading in the Book of Mormon today and ya i was reading in 2nd Nephi 26 a chapter I have read many times and I learned more from it this time then last time. It is just amazing how much you can gain from the scriptures no matter how many times you read it you can always get some new revaluation and you can grow that is the beauty of the gospel we can always keep growing we are never done growing we can always be better then we were currently are so it is amazing. So we will never be idle because being idle is not good so be engaged in a good cause it is amazing what we can do with the gospel. I hope that everyone can share the gospel this week with all the tools we have been given like the new video it isn't hard to share the gospel and as we try the Holy Ghost will help us know what to say when the time comes! Well that is all till next week.
Love
Elder Howe