So this week was rainy, but ya it was a good week. On Monday we went to the church with our district and the zone leaders and we made tacos for one of the elder's birthday that was on Tuesday and then we went bowling as well it was fun. We did what is called "skittle bowling" where each color of skittle is a different way you have to bowl so like one leg and like on your stomach and eye closed and ya it was good we did a regular game and I did better score wise in the skittle bowling then regular so that was good, but ya. Ya that night during one of our appts it started to rain it started to let up as we biked to our next one and then right as we were get closer it started to pour and lightning and we had some dang close to us while we were biking, but we got there and got wet, but it was good then it poured super hard during our appt and then stopped as we got out so that was good! And ya the rest of the week highlights we found a new investigator named Grace from Liberia, not 100% sure on her she said she needed to pray about being able to read to the Book of Mormon. We will see. We see her again tonight. But ya other stuff, so Brooklyn Park has a lot of glass on the ground because it isn't nearly the best part of the twin cites and I got a flat tire one day and then went and got a new tube and bought the wrong one and didn't have time to exchange it so we walked everywhere that day til dinner then got a ride and then after dinner got dropped off at the church and the sisters let us borrow their bikes and the one I rode was small and I looked ridiculous I have a pic i will send it looks photo shopped, but it isn't but ya.
Then Thursday I was able to get my new tube and stuff in and then we went to bike to a less active and do some service and it went flat againšso ya, but then we helped him chop wood and I learned how to chop it the best way and it was good and we are going to help him next week as well. But ya. Then we walked aways home and did an accounting call and then we got the sister's bikes again so we could go to an appt we had and ya so i have ridden a sister's bike a lot this transfer but ya. That night we did an exchange with the other elders and I went to their area and we went around with a member and did a lot of stop bys it was a good night.
On Friday morning it was rainy again, but there was a lady in the ward who has a friend who has a plot she rents that is her garden and the member is usually in on it too, but this year she is moving so she can't but the elders and sister always help her so we went and helped her. We biked up there in the rain and it was a good time. While helping her we found a frog colony. We ate some fresh herbs it was good then we biked to the McLafferty house and helped Bro Mclafferty, Donny's dad, move stuff in his garage and then he helped us fix my tire and as we were doing that the people that were moving in with him showed up with their moving truck so we helped move them in and that went well and then he took us to lunch at this Chinese place that was pretty good. So that night we had dinner with a member of the Mission Presidency and his is super rich like really really well off and he gave us a ride in his nice Audi and on the way back we saw the sisters car and I pointed it out and he zoomed across the lanes to get behind it in the turning lane and then got out and went and knocked on their window and he scared them to death it was hilarious he is an awesome guy. A spiritual giant I have leaned a lot from him over my mission. He is awesome but ya it was great.
On Saturday we had a nice afternoon of not much rain and then we were biking up a little farther away and got pretty soaked from the rain but it was good. And then ya that night we were in an apt building and we were walking around and it just didn't feel right so we left and I just waited and listened and then the Mclaffertys came to mind so we went to them and it was good we went to them. Bro Mclafferty had a hard night and ya not a good situation with his ex-wife right now and to spare details she got taken to jail, but ya if was just good that we went and that we listened to the spirit and we were there.
Then Sunday in the morning we were able to help ordain this kid in the ward we are close with so that was good and ya it was a good Sunday. It was good and ya then that day we were biking after church and it was clear day and then it just started to pour so ya we got wet and we went to the church and I was wet and ya so I went in to the bathroom and wrung out my clothes before we went out again and then we biked around the whole night, but ya it was a good week and ya from my studies this week. So in mosiah 8:17 it says:
"17 But a seer can know of things which are past, and also of things
which are to come, and by them shall all things be revealed, or,
rather, shall secret things be made manifest, and hidden things shall
come to light, and things which are not known shall be made known by
them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise
could not be known."
So this scripture really showed me how the book of Mormon teaches about the importance of having a prophet on the earth if we didn't have one we wouldn't have a lot of things. It just makes sense to have a prophet on the earth and to be able to have a knowledge of things that we wouldn't have without it! My testimony of prophets is very strong we have a prophet for a reason and I will do the best I can to always follow what he says! But that is all have a great week.
Love
Elder Howe
So this past week has been a pretty good week! On Monday we went disc golfing and that was a lot of fun there is a course at a park super close and it was super cheap to rent discs so we did it and it was a blast! I am not good at it at all, but it was fun none the less! and we took a sweet District photo on the top of a hill I will send home it is sweet! but ya then Monday night we had a great lesson with Donny we brought the man who is baptizing him and we finished teaching all the lessons and we practiced the baptism it was great he is ready to get baptized it was a good lesson!
On Tuesday we had district meeting and it was a good one I was happy to give a training again I love doing them it is a ton of fun! and I learn a lot! but ya! I also made lunch for everyone I made crock pot mac and cheese for the whole district and the zone leaders who came and afterwards we went on exchange with the zone leaders and I went with one to their area, but first we went to a member's house and practiced the song me and the sister I sang with at Zone Conference that we also were singing in sacrament meeting this week, but it was a great practice we changed things up and it made it a lot better so I have a video from one of our practices this week I am sending home and we sound much better so ya it was good and then we went to the Zone Leaders area and it was a good day at night we went to see someone and they wanted a blessing, but we couldn't go in because we didn't have rule of 3 so we gave it on the back patio in the complex and it was interesting as I was giving the blessing all these people were watching from their apts, but it was good it was a fun day in their area we had this really fancy good cheese at dinner so that was cool! but ya! it was a good day!
On Wednesday we exchanged back in the morning and I did some stuff with other teams as the district leader and then we helped the sister's write out all these sticky notes to put in this kids room who was turning 12. It is a family we are close with and then we blew up a ton of balloons and the sister's went put them in his room because they have a car so it would of been hard for us to, but I have pictures they decked his room out. It was way good! but that day we also helped someone pull a bush out it was hard but fun! and that night we were asked to help with the Stake Priest and Laurel Mission Prep so that was good! Elder Gwynn and I were in charge of the bus contacting station so that was fun it was a fun time seeing them reply and trying to transition to the gospel. Some of them just went for it. It was cool to see! fun night! One of the big items from Thursday was we were able to go to our investigator's Donny's play that he was in at school that night. His school was doing the Lion King kids version so like the Aladdin stuff we did at Twin Peaks and he was Zazu so that was cool. I got some video and pictures of him in it. It was a fun time that night and it meant a lot to him that we were able to come! So I am glad we were able to go and watch it. It was super fun! Then that night on the way back home we had to cross over this part of a sidewalk that was closed and I turned and my bike slid on the loose gravel that was there but because I was biking in the winter I have learned how to ditch my bike mid fall so I did that and the bike was fine. I had a little scratch, but my comp wrecked hard I have a picture the bike was fine but he hit hard and he scratched his knee up and his arm pretty good so that was too bad but he s fine now so it is ok, but he doesn't like going that way anymore. but ya then on Friday we had zone service and we went to a garden park place in Minneapolis and we helped clean it up, raked up dead grass, pulled weeds, and stuff it was fun! Then we had lunch with some people from our zone the Andover elders were some of them and it is fun to be with those elders and talk about Andover! but it was good and then that night we went to a birthday party for the kids whose room we decked out and then our night fell through, but it happens some time so it is not a big deal but it was a good Friday.
Saturday was great we had a meeting with the WML and then got all of our weekly planning done and biked to see a few people but then we had to go and fill the font for the baptism so that was awesome we got there 2 hours early and started it and then just prepped for Donny's baptism and then we had the baptism and it was super good. A miracle happened his kind of ex step mom who lives with them came and that was awesome she definitely felt the Spirit and so it was great because it is kind of a rough situation with her right now and Donny and his dad so it was just amazing! But ya it was an awesome service! Sunday was good in sacrament meeting me and Sister Frank sang our song and it went well, i think. People said it was good so that was good and Donny got confirmed and Elder Gwynn did it and he did a good job he was super nervous at first but he did a good job! That night we had a lesson with out investigator Joseph Hope and he was supposed to get baptized this Saturday, but there were questions as to whether he was married or not to the lady he lives with and we got it nailed down it turns out they aren't married by law, but he has paid a dowry to her parents who live in Philadelphia so culturally they are married, but he knows this needs to happen by law and they are trying, but it turns out he is still married to someone in Africa he is trying to divorce so that have like 30 pages of paperwork to fill out and then they can get married once he is divorced so ya hopefully they can get it all figured out soon so he can get baptized because he really knows he needs to and really wants to, but he just cant right now! So hopefully soon! but ya it was a good week this week and hopefully this week is even better!
But something from my studies this week! so in my Book of Mormon reading this verse stuck out to me in Words of Mormon it is verse 7
7 And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.
This one stuck out to me because it applies so well in our lives! As we go through out our lives we need to be listening for the workings and the whispering of the Spirit even though sometimes we don't know all things. So we don't know why we are being prompted to do something or we don't know why the Lord wants us to make this decision, but we need to always remember that the Lord knows alk things so we just know that the Lord is working through us to accomplish his will so we need to act in faith on the prompting and awnser we get from the Spirit because God knows all things and won't steer us wrong if we are faithful and do all he asks us to do! that is how I plan to live the rest of my life. It was just a good reminder that is how i need to go about the rest of my life!
well that is all till next week
love
Elder Howe
So this week has been a good week. On Monday last week we got together with a few other teams and we played basketball and volleyball at the church but ya highlights from the week this week. On Monday night we had dinner with a member and then he came out with us to see Donny McLafferty who is our 12 year old investigator who gets baptized this week on Saturday but we had a really good lesson about tithing it was really good and then we went over the baptismal interview questions and it went super well he is super ready so that is awesome! Something pretty cool happened on Tuesday. I was on exchanges with a new missionary elder Steven, he is from Tucson this doesn't apply to the miracle we saw but we were talking about Eegees and I had realized how long it had been since I had some, but ya any who the miracle. So we were out with a joint teacher who was driving us around and we went to try and see some less actives and we got this lady's complex and we had to get buzzed in so I hit her button to get buzzed in and she didn't answer so we still wanted to get in so I looked away and pushed a random one and this lady answered I said we are missionaries trying to see our friend Beauty and she said that's not me and I was oh well can you let us in and she did and then we walked upstairs to knock on the less active's door and I am waiting for Elder Steven to finish a text to knock on the door and then the lady across the hall from her opens the door and it turns out it is the lady who buzzed us in she was expecting us to come to her door and so ya crazy she ended up being across the hall. We went in and taught her and her friend and it was a good lesson and we set up another time to come by so it was just a really cool experience but ya it was great!
But ya on Wednesday we went to a members house to practice this musical number that I was singing with one of the sisters in our ward at a zone conference on Friday, but it was good. So another highlight of the week Thursday we had a another lesson with Donny and we also had his real baptismal interview done and he passed so that was awesome! He is super ready and we nailed down most of the details for his baptism it is great. We asked who he wants to confirm him and he looked at Elder Gwynn and said you don't talk you can do it. So that will be good for him it was kind of a funny moment, but it is awesome we are excited for him he has a bright future ahead of him. But ya Friday we had Zone Conference and it was pretty good I did my duet with Sister Frank and I have a video. It was in the relief society room so ya It was OK. I don't think I did super well. I messed up a couple of times, but ya we are also singing it in sacrament meeting this next week so it should be good, but it was a great conference, good stuff and ya so Thursday during Personal study a member of the bishopric texted saying the needed another speaker so i volunteered. So ya I was preparing that the rest of the week and it is the first talk that I have given where I didn't write out word for word what I was going to say I used just a lot of bullet points and scriptures written out and I gave it on Sunday. It went well I had 10 mins I spoke for and I had to cut stuff out so I could talked for probably like 30 mins but ya I like giving talks now I wasn't nervous at all it was good.
But ya Sunday night we had mission president fireside and Donny came and it was a super good one. This guy from our ward spoke and he used to be Buddist and he told his story it was super awesome! It was super powerfully and spiritual. Afterwords in the car we talked to Donny and I asked what he thought and he said it was insightful and I asked why is that and he said "I heard people's testimonies of when they got baptized and how they came to know the church was true and they ended up loving the church. So I am not scared at all for my baptism because I know it is what I need to do". It was a super awesome answer to hear. It really threw his dad for a loop that he said it, but it was awesome! It was just awesome! But ya it was a great week there is just so mush potential teaching to be done here just need find ways to harvest it all! But ya this week spiritually wise it was great. So my studies were all based around my talk I was giving which was on faith in Jesus Christ and in my talk I broke it down to 4 catergories and they are this
* What is faith in jesus christ
* How do we strengthen our faith
* Why do we need to strengthen our faith and how will it help us
* How can we share our faith
And I talked about all of them and I focused on how to strengthen and how to share there is a 6 step process Elder Lawrence taught us when he was here and it is this.
1. Put your faith in a righteous cause that has a gap in it so the lord has to intervene
2. Remove doubt: doubt and faith cannot exsist at the same time
3. Pray always
4. Commit yourself and give it your all
5. Expect trials
6. Expect the lord to preform
As we follow this 6 step process our faith is strengthened and as it is strengthened we gain a desire to share it more! And I invited everyone to find one simple way to share their faith in Jesus Christ because in Alma 37:7 it says by small and simple things the Lord bringeth about the salvation of many souls! So invite all of you to do the same find one way to share your faith it doesn't have to be big just start where you are and with what where you are comfortable, lift where you currently stand!
Well that is all till next week
Love
Elder howe
I am trying to email a big email this week, but some of the really big highlights are that on Sunday we got 3 of our investigators to church and so that was awesome we had our two date set and that was awesome it was great to have them there they are both progressing really well they are both going to hit their dates so that will be awesome and then the sister found this 20 year old guy who is progressing really well who they passed of to us because he is a 20 year old guy. And he has a date of May 28 so that is awesome so we will end up with 3 baptisms in May hopefully. This work is going awesome here it is fantastic! I love it here! So in my studies this week I was reading in Jacob 5
71 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye
shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come.
As I read this verse in Jacob it shows what the work is like if we labor in the vineyard with all our might and then we will have great joy. I don't know why it stood out to me, but it did because it shows that the harder we work the greater our joy will be so it motavaited me to work hard every last day of my mission so that is the plan. I am sprinting to the end as I have said before I am excited to contuiue to do the work in this are and to work hard everyday! Sorry my letter is so short we had a lot going on today but I love you all. Have a good week
Love Elder Howe
So this week was super awesome! Some really awesome highlights. So on Tuesday we had Mission Conference where Elder Lawrence came and it was super awesome. At first Sister Lawrence, his wife, went up and she taught us all about the gathering of Israel and and how the blood of Israel works and how the people who area really prepared are the people who are from the house of Israel because the people form the house of Israel will recognize truth and they are scattered across the whole world. It was super good she blew my mind it was amazing and then Elder Lawrence talked about how we have to focus more on baptism and at MLC they set a goal of getting 100 new date sets every month as a mission so we have set that goal and he talked about how we need to do all we can to hit that goal so we are mentioning it in every thing we say and we did a mission fast for it on Sunday and ya it was amazing and ya so this week we set dates with 3 people on Monday we set one for the 21st with him and he is a 12 year old who's dad is a member and it is going good with him and then on Wednesday we went to our investigator named Friday he is a Liberian man and we set the date with him for May 28th and he has had a couple of dates so hopefully this one will come through but ya. That was great and then on Thursday night we set a date with our investigator Joseph Hope he is from Ghana and it was great he was going to get baptized when he lived in Fargo, but then he got super sick and so we set the date with him for May 28th and that was great and so ya now we have 3 dates set and so that is awesome and the whole rest if the week we taught a total of 19 lessons and ya so that was awesome it was an awesome week we had a lot of success and on Thursday we had a zone p-day where we played games and then we had a mini fireside by a guy who was just released from the mission presidency and it was super awesome and then we set our zone focus and ya it was good and then ya it was a super awesome week and then today I got to go golfing for the first time and now I really want to learn how to golf it was super fun! I have pics and videos. I will send, but something spiritual this week was just the conference we had. I learned so much it is amazing how much the spirit can teach us when we are ready and listening to it because I learned so much from the spirit that day that I needed to learn. Things I need to get better at that I haven't been doing good at, but ya it is great. As we prepare ourselves for instances where the spirit will be to teach that is when we will grow the most! I love it!
Love,
Elder Howe
So this week was a good week. So ya on Monday we had a lot of stuff to do we went and we ate at a place called Opa Opa which is this Greek place and it was pretty good a member was with us and she bought the flaming cheese and they brought it to the table and they lit it on fire it was really cool it was kinda windy and so the fire was blowing everywhere so kinda sketchy but it was good. Ya Tuesday was actually a really good day we didn't have any time for me to pack because we just had a lot of appts. and because of where we lived we couldn't just bike back, but it was a really good day we had like 5 lessons that came through so that was great it was awesome day we had lunch at this burger place called Culvers that is super good, but ya then that night I hadn't started to pack at all so I had to stay up a little late packing, but I got it all done and then on Wednesday morning we had to leave at 7:15am so ya we had all the people that were getting transferred meet at our place and we loaded up the van and headed off to Bloomington when we got their I had been out of the car for 5 minuets and president just says Elder Howe get in the truck with Elder Morrow and go to the airport and I said ok and ya turns out an elder who was going home whosw parents picked him up his luggage got loaded on to the truck going to the airport so we had to go pick it up and I almost had to go around the airport by myself, but the Elders brought out the luaage and then ran to catch thier flight, but ya it was kinda random, but cool. But ya then we got all the stuff moved around I made sure everyone that was going to back to Rochester was good and then took off with Elder Gywnn to our area. So ya elm creek ward is a suburb of Minneapolis. And it is just chalk full of Africans and so I am pumped for that it is going to be awesome. I am super excited, but ya we are a full bike area, but it isn't bad the area we cover is pretty small because we have sisters in our ward as well so they cover half, but ya the rest of the week was getting settled and meeting people and man this area has a ton of potential we have a lot of people .For sure 3 people who I think could be baptized by the end of June if we just get consistent meetings with them so that is the goal right now and we are trying to teach at least one new person each day so that will be awesome. I am super pumped to wowk in this area it is awesome. And the members are really cool too.
Some highlights from the week we did a zone service project on Thursday we went to this park and it was a city cleanup so we got assigned a certain area and we went and cleaned it up it was fun to be with some elders I havent been with in a while. My last comp elder Long is one of my zone leaders so that is cool and ya then we got free Jimmy Johns for dinner. So that was great, but the rest of the week we had a lot of appts fall through, but it was good week. Church on sunday was really good I did a baptism interview for the shingle creek ward elders investigator Pheo pronounce Theo, but that was good. But ya so today isn't a full pday we just have eamiling and shopping today and our full pday is on Thursday we are having a zone pday. But ya tomrrow we have mission conference with elder Lawrence of the seventy who gave the talk in oct conferance "what lack I yet" I am excited to meet him his talk changed my life so I am excited! But ya this week in my stuides this verse from hebrews hit me really hard it is hebrews 6:10
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
So ya this verse hit me because it shows that God will not overlook or forget any work you put forth to further his kingdom on the earth today so there is no effort wasted in this great work by members and by missionaries all we do as we labor in love will be remembered by or Father in Heaven and he will bless it for us so never get discouraged keep trying you will be blessed for it! But i hope you all have a great week!
Till next week,
Love
Elder Howe
These are pictures from our weekly planning session
But ya this week was a an alright week! But ya, I am really going to just go through all the highlights of the week because I don't have a ton of time and that is what is important but on Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Elders who cover the 1st and 5th wards here in Rochester, but it was good I went to their area and we went to teach this media referral they got so he referred himself, but it was a really good lesson! He was reading this romance novel and it was written by an lds author and in the book the main character find solace through the Book of Mormon and so he read that and it caught his interest and so he deiced to investigate and so ya we met with him and that was good and it was a good lesson. He said he would read the Book of Mormon in a month and 3 days and then meet with us again and I believe him he is super sincere and I think he will get his answer. He told us that when his kids turn 18 if they aren't already members he is going to tell them to really look into the church and about serving mission so that was cool. So we will see if he goes anywhere! But ya it was really cool! and then later that evening we were at a member's home in their ward and I don't know if it is true, but I think the whites from our ward back home are in there ward he said there was a family of white's in the ward whose parent's moved to Birmingham so I would assume it is them, but I don't think so, but that was cool!
But ya on Wednesday we went with the 2nd ward elders and we went to bro Chunn's house the Cambodian member and we had a big lunch that was super good as always and then we went outside and helped him and his non member grandson build some garden boxes! but it was s super good time and good relationship builder with his grandson who now lives with him so that was great! on Thursday we had district meeting and that was great! and after we went out with a guy in the ward who had just gotten back from his mission on Tuesday and he drove us around we we went and saw some people. Our appt fell through and so we went to see someone else and they weren't home but this guy who is a LA who lives down the street was outside so we walked over to him and it turns out this RM who was with us used to home teach this guy with his dad so that was really cool he was able to talk to him and invite him to his homecoming at his house but it was super cool experience! and we went out teaching with another member that night and it was just a really good experience I encourage some people to try just go out with the missionaries for like 2 hours if their appt fall though do other things with them stop by other people don't just let them let you go home, but it will help the work big time!
But on Friday it was a full day of stuff we had some calls to be on and we had a zone council meeting with the STLS and that was good it was a good one! But ya then that evening we had to head back down to Austin for a baptismal interview it was also the baptism of the kid I interviewed a week earlier so that was a good trip this Spanish lady who is getting baptized this week is super prepared it is an amazing story how they found her and she was just ready it is amazing! but ya it was good day of a lot of zone leader stuff! But ya on Saturday night we had set up basketball again with our investigators in a park and that went well we had 3 youth there and it was fun and then we were able to teach a lesson after so it was really good! Sunday was ok we had left our bikes at a member's house the day before and so after church he took us to his place and we had to bike in our suits all the way home it was hot! man it was 80 that day so ya, but I was burning up it was bad, but we made it home and then the only other exciting thing that happened that day was my bike chain broke and ya, but it was good day. That night we met with an investigator and we were able to find out what his real hold back is and it is because he hasn't received an answer to anything he has asked lately and it is because he doesn't know how to recognize any answers that he gets so that was great to find out because we can help him with that but it was great! but ya and then today we found out about transfers and I found out I am being released from being a zone leader and I am getting transferred to Elm Creek to be with an elder named Elder Gywnn I know him well. I was his zone leader in Mankato, but I am excited for a new adventure to come it has been good in Rochester but I am excited to be back in the cites for probably the rest of my mission, but I am excited to be going there!
Well that is all this week hope you all have a great day.
love
elder howe
Hello this week was a pretty good week. We had the usual bi polar weather so that was good but it was kinda a cloudy, rainy week, but any who so the highlights from this week. On Monday we got together with all the elders and sisters here in the city and we played volleyball and that was fun and we played a little basketball so that was good also! It was a fun p-day and Tuesday we went that night to see one of our investigators these black kids we teach We teach 4 kids their names are Travell, Silence , McKalya, and Ajiha, but that night only Silence who is 8 and Mckalya who is 14 were there and they had read what we gave them to read. It was just Moroni's promise, but it was a really good lesson we taught them the song Search, Ponder, and Pray and it was good. We went through Moroni's promise with them very simply. They have a lot of potential to progress it is just getting their mom on board as well. That could be the issue, but it was good!
So Wednesday was a great day. In the morning we took off for a town called Kasson where we were going to a District meeting and it was a good meeting and then we ate lunch and we went on exchange with the Austin elders. So i went down to the city of Austin with Elder Johnston, who after his mission will be a kicker on the football team at Utah, but he is a cool guy. Austin this town is named spam town usa because the hormel plant is there and so a ton of spam gets made there and it doesn't smell the best at times it smells like pigs, but ya it is a nice town we went and saw this old guy who is 99! and turns 100 soon but he was the first member in Austin he brought the church to Austin, but we visited with him and it was good! He talked about how there is going to be a 100 years total of missionary work in his family soon he was a nice guy. Crazy how old he is and he didn't look almost 100, but it is really cool like all but 2 or 3 of the members of his family are active in the church so that was awesome to hear. It was a great visit and after that we went and stopped by a family named the Grush family because well sister Grush is Sarah Mitchell's sister. So I went to say hi, but ya that was cool she sent a pic of me to Sarah and then we helped her jump her car and she gave us fresh eggs from her chickens and so that was cool and ya it was just cool and ya, but then we went to the church and I did an interview for there investigator who is getting baptized. His name is Than Za Oo he is Karen, but he is 15 years old it was a good interview he is ready to be baptized, but ya after the interview we went with them to a member's house for dinner and it was good the family is semi active and he took us on a tour of his work facility on the way to his house. He runs this place where they fix farm equipment it was cool but ya it was a good day in Austin. I met Sarah's sister, got some fresh eggs out of it that elder Johnston let me keep and some of the eggs were huge! but ya it was a great day! down in austin!
The rest of the week we had a little success and we had a good lesson with our investigator Danny he loves church he comes every week, but he has a court date that he has to get sorted out and he needs to quit smoking. He is close to baptism but ya he is an awesome guy. I think he will get baptized in May so that will be good for him finally! but ya it was a good week on Saturday we helped a member move a tree in his yard and then we went and had some Cambodian food again it was super good as always and this week we are going to his house for some chicken feet so that should be good! but ya we also set it up to eat with a less active family for Sunday who has a son who just turned 9 who is not baptized and the kid told us "ya I just need to get baptized" so we are really trying to work with them and ya Sunday was good. Church was good, but the highlight of the day was dinner with the Schultz the less active family and it was good we got them all to commit to come to church on the 24 so that will be great. They are less active because they feel not wanted at church, but that was in a different ward so we are going to change that and missionaries have gotten to close to them so we are going to get them member friends that won't leave so that will be good. I am excited to work with them! but ya in my studies this week I read the rest of the book of Mormon I fished for the 3rd time on my mission so that is good, but I really like Moroni 7 especially when it is talking about charity when it says in verse 44
44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.
The last part is what I was really pondering about if he has not charity he is nothing that hit me hard. I mean charity is big if you don't have it you have nothing because you can't have any Christlike attributes it you don't have Charity because it is the pure love of Christ and if you don't have love you can't have faith because if you have faith you will act and if you don't love you won't act, but charity will make your life just better. I have noticed that as I have been praying with all energy of heart for charity it has made me a better person. I enjoy being with everyone and enjoy life all the time. It is great. Charity will open your mind and change your life! I love it just take Moroni's invitation and pray with all energy of heart and you will obtain it!
but oh ya something cool that I forgot is Thursday night we got some youth and an adult member together and played basketball with our black kids that we are teaching and it was one of the kids birthdays it was super awesome it was fun, but this week was a good week. I hope that you all have a great week!
till next week
love
elder howe
So this week has been alright. We had a busy one we had a lot of stuff to get done, but Monday was beautiful weather wise and we got together with some other missionaries and we went to a park and played frisbee and soccer and tossed a football around it was a lot of fun and good to be out doors again playing sports! It was a fun p-day and then that night we went and did some stopbys and we found this YSA girl from South Sudan that we taught and so that was awesome we mainly talked about Church with her, but it was still really good! but ya I am really trying to do all the highlights of my week because I feel like every day could get really boring. If you want every day I will let you read my journal when I get home! But ya highlights this week. So on Tuesday we had a member come out with us for the night and we went and taught the recent rebaptized members Larry and Nancy and that went well they are solid and then we had another appt set up but it fell through so we went to do some stop bys and we went to stop by this lady and she didn't live there any more and we were talking to this guy and we kind of made it so we could stop by again and then Bro Brown, who we were with, before we walked away just started talking and explained what we do and talked about how great the church community is around here and it was just really good he did a great job and made so we or some other missionaries could stop by again sometime I am sure and he would listen ,but it was really cool to be a part of!
So Wednesday morning we had a lesson with a ysa girl that we found named Mimi and her cousin Boffa was there and we had a member with us Bro Tanner and it was just an eh lesson. Boffa kept throwing it off track by asking the most random questions ever it was ridiculous, but they aren't super interested. Boffa said he would call us to meet again but i don't think he is interested as much as he just wants to talk about things that don't matter and probably try and prove us wrong, but it was ok it was fun! Anyway that night we had dinner with a recentish convert family who the mom just became active again, but the daughter and son aren't, but she makes this jolly rancher juice so we bought her some jolly ranchers and she made it for us and man it was some good stuff and we had fried chicken and that was good and then ya it was really good! But that night I had a really awesome spiritual experience we had to do a baptismal interview for some elders investigators and they have the Chinese magnet ward and so she was Chinese. and so she speaks a little English and so we had to have a translator and so it was a good thing that he was there and ya so I was asking the questions and she would answer in Chinese to the translator and I couldn't really understand what she was saying but the spirit was confirming to me that she was ready it was really cool. I could just feel the spirit telling me that she was ready it was super awesome and she gave the closing prayer in Chinese and a long prayer and afterwards the translator said that was a beautiful prayer I wish that you could understand it, but I didn't need to because I could feel the spirit during the prayer super strong as well and man it was really awesome, but I loved it it was great!
But ya the rest of the week was a good week, but ya we had some really good meetings with some people but the interview was the big highlight and oh ya on April 1st we went and we had some window markers and we drew on the sister's car windows on the way home and it was fun. I got some pics from the sister's that they took the next morning the worst part is it snowed that night so part of it got washed off. So ya, but it was fun! but ya then this weekend we had general conference and I loved it it was great! I learned a lot of things this time around. This was my last general conference on my mission, but ya it was a great one. I feel like it was a different general conference then I have ever seen before, but I loved it! Ya I feel like I got a lot of stuff that I learned that I can learn for the rest of my life, but it was really good. The two talks that stuck out most to me was President Nelson's talk from priesthood session it was really good! I learned a lot and Jeffery R Holland's talk was really great. I loved it. It was really great I really needed to hear some of things that he said. It was fantastic! One of the things he said that i really like is " the greatest thing about the gospel is that we get credit for trying even when we dont succeed" I think that is a profound quote because lots of people that think that they aren't doing good things just because they aren't perfect at something they won't get credit and they have to be perfect and it isn't true. I have met missionaries that think if they aren't doing things perfect and aren't having 100% success that they are failures but it is all about how hard we try and if we try as hard as we can it will all be well for us in the end, but I loved his talk alot. It was fantastic and it was great. All of conference was ,but ya I am grateful I had the chance to learn from the Lord's ordained servants who lead and guide the church today! It was great I hope you all were able to receive revelation as you watched and listened as well!
I hope you all have a great week this week!
well that is all till next week
love
elder howe
Well this week was a good week. We had some crazy weather, but ya on Monday we did some stuff and we went to the Goodwill and then we we went to the church and we played some soccer and that was good. It was beautiful weather that day. We were able to bike around without a sweater or anything on, but we had a good night that night we met with this lady we tracted into who turned out to be a child of record so she was blessed so that was cool. We taught her and it was good and we will be seeing her again tonight! But ya then Tuesday we had to move apts and we started cleaning at 9am and then we really deep cleaned the place because the sisters were moving in. So I wanted to make sure it was really clean for them. So we cleaned until like 12:00 and then they showed up with a member and moved all their stuff in and then we went and got all of our stuff into their apt. It isn't a bad apt just not a good neighborhood, but ya it is good it is a kinda a pain to move all of your stuff around, but it was all good. We got in with a part member that night. We were just driving around with a member and we stopped by this family and he was home, the non member, and we talked with him and shared a message and it was really good! and ya the weather was still pretty good that day
So Tuesday night we were told that we were supposed to get 12 inches of snow and then I woke up Wednesday and nothing so I was happy, but then during studies it stated to snow and ya we went on exchange with some elders in the area and I stayed in my area and we were on bikes and it wasn't snowing at first and then as the day progressed it started to hail and snow at the same time... I have never seen such a thing, but let me tell you when you are on bike moving fast hail does not feel good on your face it really felt like little daggers falling from the sky, but it was a good experience. But ya it was a slower night that night, but ya we went to bed and woke up on march 24 my birthday and there was 10 inches of snow. So ya crazy never had that happen on my birthday so that was cool, but ya we had a district meeting and it was all about Charity and love and it was a really good meeting and then ya we had some calls and we went and had some appts and we were biking and we had to bust through all sorts of snow banks and it was crazy and ya it was a lot of biking in snow but it was good my feet got soaked so ya because i didn't have my boots on so ya, but ya it was a good day.
Friday we did all of our planning and then we had lunch at Costco and then the APs came down to blitz our area and i went with one named Elder Morrow and it was good we had some good lessons. We taught a couple pf people and it was a good night we went and saw our investigators who they just had a kid and that was cool he was a tiny baby, but it was cool it was a good night one of the aps served in this ward before so that was cool, not the one i was with, but it must be fun to be able to go back to some of your old areas. I would love to do that! But ya on Saturday we went and we had lunch at bro Chunn the Cambodian member and he fed us a lot again. I got a pic of the best egg rolls in the world and ya it was good it was spicy stuff this time so that was a little bit harder and ya but it was really good though! but ya then the rest of the day we went to a member's house and dyed eggs with them and shared a message and it was good! It was fun and then we went with some other elders to help a lady to move into another ward and then we got there and she wasn't even there and then she showed up like 35 min later but we got her whole garage done so that was good and then we had dinner and stopped by this investigator and were able to teach him and all his brother and sister it was really cool they kept asking a lot of questions about how we know that our family can be together forever and ya it was just really good. I could tell they wanted to have that for there family I think they come from a little bit of a broken family, but it was good and ya one of their kids name is Silence so that is cool, but it was good so ya we will be teaching them hopefully we can get the mom involved and interested as well! but ya and then church was a great. Sacrament meeting was great. It was just a musical thing so that was great it was really cool! but ya my comp was sick and ya a member made us go home from church early and then he rested and then we went out and worked and talked to some people and had dinner with 4 families in the ward for Easter and this lady made a carrot souffle and it was way good it is amazing! but ya it was great and then we had a really good contact with a part member at the end of the night it was good! but ya it was a good week hopefully this week the weather is good and it doesn't snow again! but ya!
So this week in my studies it was actually this morning I got a little bit of extra study time in because my comp was sick so i let him sleep for a while and I was reading in Mormon and this verse really stuck out to me
13 But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin.
14 And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives.
These verses talk about repentance and I was reading about the demise of the Nephites and the laminates this morning. I started in 4th Nephi and it made me sad to see that happen and I got to this verse and it really made me see this because I have seen this kind of attitude on my Mission but the Nephites were sad and Mormon thought they were repenting and then he realized they weren't sad because they wanted to change and be better and cause they knew they were in the wrong, but because they wanted to keep doing wrong and were sad that they couldn't do those things and be happy so they were just mad at God. They didn't have a broken heart and a contrite spirit and I was pondering this had just thinking about true repentance you have to have godly sorrow you have to want to be better and you have to really know that you did something wrong and that because of it you are sorrowful and want to be better and ya I don't know why it hit me today, but it was really good! I really loved it and like I said I have seen people like that on my mission who for the wrong reason are sad and they make some change but then those changes don't last because they didn't do that humbly and for the right reason and the only way to truly repent is if we are humble and come to the Lord ready to take his counsel and use it in our life and do all he asks of us! I love the repentance process it is great! it is there to help us become better and help us to be more humble it is great I love it! but I hope that you all have a great week and find way to let people to see the light we have and help them access that light!
have a great week till next week
love
elder howe
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| The best egg rolls |
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| Birthday Cake |
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| Birthday Snow |
So this week was a good week. On Monday it was eh. We got dropped off at a member's house to do laundry and then we were there forever because the elders went shopping and ya they didn't get back to pick us up till like 4:30 and then we dropped everyone off. Ya then went and had pie at a member's house before dinner because it was pi day so ya that was good and then we went to bishop's house for dinner and that was good and we came up with a way to track the tracting we do. We are literally going to have a running record of every house in the area because our area is small enough we are going to have a filing system for every street using note cards that way when you tract you can mark down not interested and stuff and then people can go back later and just tract all the people who didn't answer or wait a year and then retract the whole street, but it is a good system. i think will really help this area out and ya it will be good and we will also are coming up with a survey with questions that will help prompt people while we are tracting and so that will be good. We have some questions made up and so that should be good!
But then ya I will just try and hit the highlights of the week. we had a lot of stuff we had to get done this week on Tuesday we were ready to go and do service, but then they didn't need us so we went and had lunch at this pizza place and we came up with the survey questions and set in stone the way we are going to tract and ya so we did that over lunch and that was really good and ya we had a really good lesson with our investigator Danny that night it was good! and ya it was great he is super far along just needs a little bit more motivation hopefully his baby that is going to be born this week will do that. Well he was born this morning so that is cool! But ya then Wednesday we went to a city called Winona to exchange with those elders and it is a beautiful place right on the Mississippi and there are these big bluffs and the landscape just doesn't look like the rest of MN it is really cool. But i went with an elder who has only been a member for one and half years now it is awesome and he is a good elder. It was a good exchange. We had some miracles happen of finding some people to teach so that was awesome, but man those elders don't know how to cook so we were trying to teach them how to do some stuff. i don't know how they do it, but man they have like a stove from the 50s it was ridiculous i took a picture of it and will send it, but it was a good day!
Ya then Thursday we had a ton of stuff to get taken care of and then a member's basement flooded so us and the sisters went over to help them move all their stuff upstairs and so that was good ad then we went home and had some calls to do and then an appt with some less actives and service and ya it was a good day full of service, but we had a good lesson that night we took a priest with us to a lesson and it went really well and then Friday was good we had to do a lot of moving some stuff around we were switching some elders and sister around in apts because two sets of sisters were sharing so we moved everyone to their own places and it was good, but ya and then we went and did some weekly planning and that was good. Ya it was good we went and saw the recent baptism in our ward it was good we are teaching about the temple with them and it was a good lesson and it snowed that night like an inch. Crazy it was almost 70 last week and now it snowed like an inch and ya it is crazy. super bipolar weather.
Then Saturday was good we did service at a soup kitchen and it was fun we served people their food and talked with them, but it was fun and then we had a coordination meeting with our ward mission leader and that was good and then we went and tried to see some people and then had dinner with a family and it was good but I found out I do not like blue cheese at all. It is no good. I tried some blue cheese salad dressing and man that was the nastiest salad I have ever eaten. It was hard to eat it, but i did it. But never gain ever will I eat blue cheese man! But ya we went and we taught and old less active guy and it was good he has a small testimony. I don't know why he is active but hopefully we can meet him more!
But ya Sunday was good we had a good day at church all day it was on the atonement and two of our investigators came. Ya it was great and after church we taught our investigator Danny and it went well they are a part member family and their baby was due supposed to be due on the 24 but ended up being born today we got a text about it at 3am. Ya that night there was an Easter Devotional at the stake center and it was all just like music and it was super good and really spiritual the spirit was really strong and Danny was able to come with his super pregnant wife it was good! The closing hymn was "He is Risen" and we all sang and there was a video that was playing and an organist playing background music and he was building up and it was super awesome and powerful closing hymn it was great! but it was a great week and then this morning we get a call from the sisters and last night, so they live at a sketchy apt complex now, they were in their car parked doing miles for the day they saw a cop driving in the parking lot and looking for people and then they saw a guy walking in the bushes in front of them and then the cop left the street and then the guy came back and was knocking on the window to try and get them to open up their door, but obviously they didn't do that and then he went away and was up on the 3rd floor pacing around which is where they live and then they booked to the elders apt that is in the same complex and the elders walked them up top their apt with golf clubs in hand to protect them and ya they called the cops and ya it not good so we called President his morning about it and so we are going to switch apts with the sister because it isn't safe for them to live there so we will switch tomorrow to get them in a better place. But ya this was a good week we are hoping to have a lot of success! and
Ya but i was reading this week in 3rd Nephi chapter 12:14-16
14 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
15 Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house;
16 Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
I read this scripture and then realized it applies in so many ways it applies that it is the best way to be a member missionary be being the example showing your light. Something that I heard in a talk once was always preach the gospel and sometimes use words! We need to always be the example and then we will be able to best preach the gospel and help people come unto Christ. The scripture really hit me hard this time becuase we are focusing a lot on how to change our mission culture and this scripture applies to that. It really applies to me as a leader and how I need to always be the best example possible! Let us all try and let our light show more this week to all we meet! have a great week
till next week!
love
elder howe
