Physically exhausting week and pray for strength it works!

So this week was good week it was a different p-day we had to figure out how to buy for 4 people to eat so that was different, but ya then we ended our p-day early to help a lady move and that was good. We planned the day out so we wouldn't have to bike at all so that was good we didn't have to do that! but we did a good amount of walking and my legs were still tired from Sunday, but ya I was exhausted, so exhausted I didn't even hear the alarm go off in the morning on Tuesday. That is the first time like ever my whole mission, but ya, so I realized I was going to need some help and strength to get through  this week which we will talk about later, but just some awesome things that happend this week we met with a investigator named Chyanne(who is guy...) but it was great he had real intent and a lot of potential to progress he was taught in the cites a couple of years ago so he knows a lot of stuff already. He is reading and it is great! and that was on Thursday and to get to his place we had to bike up this huge hill and it was warmer it was like 30 something and halfway up the hill I had to take my jacket off I was burning up so i was biking in my short sleeved shirt and it felt good, but man I was soaked in sweat. That is the bad thing about biking I sweat so dang much it kinda stinks, but ya.  

Then on Friday we had a great day we went and had a lesson with one of our investigators named Fabrice and we met his friend Clauzele and his dad is in Mobile and he goes down there a lot so I connected with him talking about Alabama and it was good we had a good lesson with them and Fabrice committed himself and his friend to come to church so that was awesome (they ended up not coming but hey whatever) and then our investigator Bernard texted and said hey let's meet tonight and that was awesome because it had been two weeks since we taught him and we went there and he had still been reading the Book of Mormon pretty much everyday those two weeks so that was awesome. We had left him 2nd Nephi 31 which is about the Doctrine of Christ and he said he read it and he realized that he has to be baptized. That it is the next step in his progression as a believer so that was awesome. He is receiving revelation as he reads. It is awesome he is so prepared it is great and that night we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and set a date with him to be baptized on the 27 of February and he was excited it was awesome. He is going to make it! He came to church on Sunday so that was awesome. He stayed for all 3 hours and it was good. He met a lot of people and it was great. He is super solid I am excited for his baptism! but ya. 

On Saturday we played soccer again and it was good we had a decent amount of people so that was great! and ya the rest of that day we biked around and did a lot of stop bys and had dinner and it was good! Sunday was great like I said earlier Bernard came to church and it was just good and it was our last day of biking for the week so that was great as well! Man are my legs tired oh boy, but ya back to praying for the Lord to give me strength. So ya I didn't hear the alarm I realized man I am dead right now. I am not holding anything back. I am putting all my energy into biking, teaching, and tracting. I don't want to hold back, but I want to be able to function and then I realized well ask and ye shall receive. So I need strength and energy so I asked. I prayed for it that morning and then that night we were biking back from institute and we have a decently steep hill to go up on the way home and I have never made it up this hill with out walking. I started up it and half way up I was like man I don't know if I can do this, but then I remembered my prayer and said, "No the Lord will give me strength if I put forth the effort." So I pushed myself and I made it with the help of the Lord and I haven't had to walk up any hills this week. The Lord will bless us with strength when we need it, but we have to be willing to act we can't just pray for the hard things to go away. I could of prayed for another car, but that wouldn't of worked. It is like Nephi in the Book of Mormon when he is bound by his brothers and this is what he says,"But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying:O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound." He prayed for the strength to brake the bands and the Lord did because he was willing to fight through a trial with the Lords help. Not just try and wish it away because the Lord won't just make all of our trials disappear we have to go through them whether we like it or not. That is how we grow and he wont give us something we can't handle without his help. He will help us in all of our trials as long as we have the faith that he will and can help us and we ask for strength to endure them! I am grateful for the Lord blessing me with strength this week! What can the lord help you with this week? 
I love the lord and this gospel and this church. 
till next week 
love 
Elder Howe 

Bi polar weather! and time to become like Alma

So this past week was a good week. Some of the highlights on Monday we had a district p-day the sisters and us went to a member's home and played a super fun Monopoly game called Monopoly Empire it is way fun! Then we watched the Prince of Egypt and helped the sisters make tissue paper flowers for a lady's wedding, but it was fun. It was a good day. That night we had a lesson with a potential we found and we went into his apartment and he has a big rainbow flag on the wall........... so ya, but it went well he choose himself a chapter to read so that was cool he seems to have potential so that is good. It was another new investigator so that was great!

Tuesday we did a lot of prearranging for the new elders that will be coming into Mankato and living with us and ya it was good. Wednesday there was a Worldwide Missionary Training Broadcast so all the missionaries who were awake anywhere in the world were watching it. It was way good. The theme was teach repentance and baptize converts! It was amazing it was lots  of great talks and training from apostles, seventies and Sister Oscarson it was great. Ya and then the new elders got here that night and starting Thursday I went around with one of the new elders to show him the area so that was good. We taught every one he needed to meet and we did stuff to get to know the area better so we did that from Wednesday to Saturday. On Saturday we played soccer and we had 16 people there and 6 were nonmembers so that was good! It was fun. 

Sunday was great President and Sister Forbes came to our ward and they were in Ward Council and they also talked in sacrament meeting and they gave great talks. It was way awesome! They are great I love them both they always give great talks and training they are definitely called by God to b over this mission for a reason! but ya then I was actually with my companion Sunday and we found another new investigator and that was cool! and we are on bikes this week so we were biking around and we went tracting and got into a few apt complexes with some people and this lady had some nuts kids like nuts! but it was  good night and then we were starting to bike to the other side of town when the other elders called us and one of the sister wanted a blessing at the church. So we quickly biked down the hill to meet the other elders and they picked us up and one sister, Sis Scholl fell at soccer and I didn't know then, but she hurt her arm and it might be broken so ya I gave her a blessing and then we went home for the evening, but it was good week! but about becoming like Alma President Forbes has talked about becoming like Alma the younger lately because where ever he went he testified of the gospel of Jesus Christ whether he was with a less active or with active members of the Church of Christ and so that is how we can have success by teaching everyone not just people whose testimony isn't there or are struggling, but teaching active members it was promised by a General Authority that if your family has the Elders over to teach you the discussions that by the second one you will have someone in your mind that you know you can and need to share it with and so that is what we are going to start doing filling our time with active member lessons and getting referrals so that we can teach repentance and baptize converts I am excited to become more like Alma the younger but his example can apply to more than just us full time missionaries it apply to members. We should always be testifying and talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ where ever we go. We can become the Amulek who was just a member in that city. We can help the full time missionaries by also sharing our testimony with those they teach and then as we go through our day not being afraid to talk to people about the gospel of Christ and not be afraid to share  our testimony with them! So I invite you all to share your testimony with one person this week I promise it will make your week a better week and strengthen your testimony. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I know it is true and that we need to to do our best to spread it all the days of our lives how ever we can best do that. I love this work. I love this gospel! Well that is all for this week. 
Have a great week 
love 
Elder Howe

Pic of a sign we found right before we were going to try and see a
potential investigator so we knocked her door fast and then left quickly
no need to get the cops called on us again

Can you spot the wild turkey

Cold stuff and I am staying again

So this week was a good week we had a lot of success. I am just going to do a brief overview of the week this time because I don't have a ton of time to email because of transfer stuff and so on. Monday was good. On Tuesday we found 2 more new investigators they area an African couple and they seem super awesome so that is good. It was a good lesson with them. I love teaching Africans it is super fun! But ya and then that night institute started up again so that was awesome! It was good to be back and this semester they are doing a thing called "Foundations of the Restoration" so it will be a good one to get investigators to so that is great! 

Wednesday we had our District Meeting and afterwards my comp had to go to the doctor so I sat in the urgent care waiting room for 2 hours, but I got some appts set up and that was good! and then not so good we went to the halfway house where our baptism date investigator was staying and went in and it turns out he got moved to Rochester. He left us a note. So that was a bummer, but it's all good. Things like that happen! Thursday was an average Thursday we did work at the Food Shelf and we found another new investigator that day as well so that was awesome! Then Friday we had lunch with our new WML to talk about some things and then we did our planning and that took a while, but it was good because planning is important and then we went to the halfway house again because someone called us and wanted to meet with us and we picked him up as an investigator he is a Somalian so we have to get permission to teach him if he starts to progress towards baptism but it is cool! 

Saturday started the cold weekend again it was no higher then 2 degrees all day! We played soccer in the morning and then after that we got a text that church was cancelled the next day due to cold weather. I have never had church cancelled to my recollection so that was interesting but ya then we went and we tracted for an hour in -2 degrees with our windchill weather and that was cold, but it was good character building ;) and then we were in a small town that had a frozen lake so we walked out on to the lake and walked to the middle and took pictures and video it was fun! I will send then today! and then we had dinner with a less active family we always have dinner with and got a referral from them for one of their friends that the missionaries used to teach and she gave them a call while we were there. It was good! 

Sunday man it was weird not going to church, but we did other stuff and then went out to work and taught some people it was good, but super cold all day it didn't get above probably like -5 degrees so it was a frigid day and then with windchill probably -15 degrees to -20 degrees all day long, fun stuff! But it was a  good week and today we found out about transfers and I am staying in Mankato yay! This is my second transfer area so that is cool! and we are getting another set of elders in our area so that will be fun. The lord has defiantly been preparing this area for a 2nd set it is awesome to see! 
This week I was studying about giving our will over to God and I had a great study today and yesterday on it. I had come to the conclusion that in order to give your will to God you had to have a change of heart so I studied how does that happen and came across two scriptures that answered my question the first one being Ezra 7:10

• 10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of theLord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

So Ezra prepared his heart so that confirmed we need a change of heart and I couldn't find how that happen and then I read Mosiah 5:2

• 2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.

and I realized in order to have a change of heart we just have to let the spirit into our hearts and then it will change us and we won't desire to do evil, but we will desire to do good continually and I replaced the word good with the will of God  and that clicked when we let the spirit in to change us we will have the desire to do the WILL OF GOD continually! So really doing the will of the Lord comes down to us making a choice of letting the spirit into our lives to change us and we have to submit to God and let him change us to who he needs us to be and then through out our whole lives continually let him change us by submitting and doing his will and that is how we will gain eternal life! It is great. So that is my goal to never stop letting the Lord mold me into what he needs me to be by making sure I am always doing his will and letting the spirit into my heart to change me! I love this gospel and I love that I have the chance to stay in Mankato for one more transfer to full fill the will of the Lord! 
Love you all that is all till ext week 
love 
Elder Howe 

My District

Ice fishing hole on the lake

Standing on the frozen lake