December 24, 2012

Alright so to explain these pictures I need to tell a story.... Once upon a p-day Elder King and Elder Howe thought it would be a GRAND idea to buy some Christmas things for members in the ward so they planned and saved and went skipping to the supermarket full of the Christmas spirit. Upon arriving they found some Chocolate Cakes!! Boxes of chocolates and their favorite APPLE CIDER!!! Oh what joy to bring to the members!!! They returned home a wrapped their presents and began with plans to deliver them. They delivered the first one with joy and cheer the brother was so happy grinning from ear to ear, they next stop was their ward mission leader. As they arrived and gave the present to him, he declared "why this contains alcohol... 5 whole Percent!!!"

they quickly ran back hoping not to find the first member "drunk" with delight, luckily he was not, they got their sparking cider and returned it to the store... bought more chocolate cakes with bom sabor.

 

Haha they don’t sell cider here without alcohol...

 

Any who so we took some pictures and took them back.

 

They didn’t even ask for our ID... haha

 

We have not really had a lot of time in our area to work. this week we did 2 divisions I was in the other areas and this whole planning and organizing for the xmas par-tay is been another time load that we are excited to have happen tonight! Then we can relax and maybe get a full night’s sleep.... maybe that would be an awesome present... sleep

 

We have been teaching a boy named Bryan... his parents were inactive for a while (they just moved into our ward) and are coming back their 10 year old son has not been baptized yet so we will have his baptism on Saturday... I have been wondering a lot of this month we did not get the goal of 10 baptisms because of our lack of faith or if we were/ are going through a trail... and this baptism I feel was a response to my many prayers for direction and insight on the matter, I feel that it was a tender mercy from the lord telling us that his will is always made to come forth, and that as long as we are truly magnifying our callings and keeping our covenants all will be from our improvement and development. I found an awesome talk from President Eyring (he is a BOSS) that gave me strength in this time here is the link for anyone who is feeling their calling or responsibilities or life load is too great for their abilities

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=775

 

I hope during this time of Christmas we can all take a min to stop and reflect. Take a moment alone to just meditate on your life. Think of your life as a gift. Christ was born so that our lives could be fuller. More full of love, of peace, and of strength. Are you currently feeling those gifts of his life in yours? If not, why not?

Is your life being lived in a way that if at this time you were to stand before him you would be able to say "Lord I lived in such a way that YOUR SACRIFICE was not wasted on my life.”?

How would you feel to give him a report of your life as a gift?

 

I love this Christmas season, I love it. There is no other time like it. ENJOY IT.

 

Sending you my Christmas love and cheer. Merry Christmas!

 

Love Elder Howe

 

"APPLE CIDER"

Not our dog

 

December 17, 2012

Hello All and Merry Christmas!

Sorry for the weak weekly letter last week... I just realize that we will be talking so soon :) I don’t think Skype will work, maybe but as for a lan house open on Xmas... it’s not looking too bright. But whether by Skype or telephone it will most likely be xmas day... xmas eve is going to be very busy. We are going to have a caroling night for the zone and then a xmas dinner... just that well we´ve got to plan it. HAHAH AWESOME!!! it will be great when we are there and stuff just the whole finding less actives that we can visit near the chapel for 24 missionaries and also finding a way to MAKE a xmas dinner for 24 elders is a bit of a challenge. the lord will provide a way of that I am sure.

This week was really cool Elder Mazzaguardi for the 2nd quorum of the 70 comes to visit our zone. I WAS INTERVIEWED BY HIM!!! haha elder king and I were pretty nervous but he was really chill and cool about it all, we basically just talked and then he asked if I was worthy. then the next day we had a 4 hr. mtg with him. One thing that called my attention he said if you want to be saved you can go home right now... you do not need to do anything to be saved Christ gave us that as a free gift, you were born you will be saved. the he paused and said now if you want to be exalted... that’s a different story. if you want to live with god and your family for ever you have a fight in front of you every day or the rest of your life... and no one else in this world can help you. sure they can give advice and tips but in the end it is up to you. DO you want it or not? this life is just to test our obedience... that is all. it is so short so fast so quick, so what are you going to make of it?

Elder King and I are with some difficulties in finding new families... and it is so frustrating like everyone here in the north east of Brasil is supposed to let you into their house... that’s just normal...but they stopped... and I don’t know why. it’s like we are in Europe or America. so we are going to figure out why, make the necessary changes and then go at it again. haha this work cannot be stopped, and it never will!!!

We have this one family we are teaching Alex and Eudenei, we went and taught them for the 2nd time this week and we took our GIANT BOSS ward mission leader. we taught about the book of Mormon. Elder king found this family 2 weeks ago and the first words Alex said were "you won’t change me from my church." so anyway we begin to teach and the spirit was so strong and the lesson went so well, it was so good I completely forgot about all the troubles of being a missionary. we got near then end of the lesson and asked "why is it important to know this book is true?" and Alex answered... to follow what’s in it. man I was so farting happy at the moment. elder king then went in for the baptismal invite... they accepted to be baptized on the 29th of December!! it was truly and awesome experience. we will sadly have to remake them for a different date because they didn’t go to church this week but still that family will be baptized, a blessing from god.

We met another young man he had been to church once like 3 or 4 weeks ago (before I got here) and we finally found out where he lived but any way... we begin talking to him he is 17 years old but it quickly become apparent that he is not a normal 17 year old... he was like You know elders I find you church very interesting you do not speak about salvation, but it seem that at your church you focus on exaltation... why is this? man we are looking forward to going back there and re teaching this future stake president. haha

well I wish you all a happy and merry week before xmas!! hope you get a moment to watch Elf :) Love you all!!

Elder Howe

December 10, 2012

Elder King Eating his shoe... there was a knot in it haha

Zone São Luis!!!

Me and Elder Ignacio (a district leader that i had the pleasure to do a division with this week)


Oh boy what a week.....

We had our zone meeting it went well; the Elders that wanted to be inspired left inspired.

We had an Elder whose lung collapsed.... WHAT!!!! He was just walking in the street and BAM! I don’t know, he is in the hospital and we should be getting another Elder to fill his spot.

I really don’t have time today, sorry. I was writing the President... I’ll have to figure something out. 

December 3, 2012

1) Our Ghetto shower head... hey we got warm water... just we get shocked sometimes... haha

2) CHRISTMAS!!! THANK YOU FAMILY!!! We also love the Christmas tree.

3) Everyone is curious about the bus we travel in so here is a picture.
4) Our super organized area book. It’s by neighborhoods!!!

5) Elder King, Elder Cooper, and me. All from the same MTC group at the zone leader meeting this past week.

Hello all and happy December or Dezembro if you want to speak Portuguese.

It is still hot here... but the fact that São Luis is an island means that there is always wind and often my tie is blown over my shoulder. So I like it here.

This week we traveled to Teresina to have a new monthly meeting for zone leaders, so the last week of the month I will be traveling!! 

Elder King and I spent the last week organizing some things... like the area book and also setting goals for this month so that we can reach the goal of 10 baptisms that president set for zone leaders this month.... we are going to have to find a lot of people. But the cool part is that when the lord commands he always provides a way... it may not be easy but it is possible. I think of Nephi who was commanded to go get the plates... it only happened BECASUE OF HIS FAITH! The plates did not just fall into his hands he worked. he tried not just once, not just twice but three times after the first time all his brothers were ready to go back empty handed... but he told them that he would not return... not until HIS MISSION WAS ACCOMPLISED. It’s a pretty cool story I invite all to read it, 1Nephi 3-4. http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/3?lang=eng 

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/4?lang=eng

We also in Teresina had the chance to stop by Bom Preço... which is owned by Wal-Mart... YEAH IT WAS GREAT. I am now to proud owner of 12 boxes of mac and cheese, some nutella and JET PUFF MARSHMALLOWS!!!!!!!! It’s pretty awesome

A few fun facts:

- Irene your Northface backpack is holding up well. It is still intact and still being used

- My new area is really awesome, we just got to get to work and find people

- Elder King is AWESOME!!! He was at BYU the same time I was and he also lived in Heritage, we sometimes talk about good old BYU

- We have 22 missionaries in our zone so it’s a bit more than the 4 in Araguaina.

I hope you all have an awesome week and hope you are all feeling to spirit of Christmas!!! 

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!

November 26, 2012

BIG NEWS!!! I HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED !! I am now in São Luis, my new comp is Elder KING!!! My District Leader from the MTC!! Haha

So basically what happened is the President went to a meeting with the Area Presidency and they said that he could not have a zone with less than 8 elders... so my zone was probably the smallest... IN THE WORLD!!! Haha so they reduced the # of zones from 8 to 6 and now I’m in São Luis as a Zone Leader.

I had a good trip in my bus (no it’s not an old school bus, it is really nice with AC, recline chairs, and even TV’s that I can’t watch! haha)  

I got my Christmas package!! WE LOVE THE X-MAS DECORATIONS!!! THANK YO MOM!!!! Also got like a BILLION CARDS 3 months’ worth that was so nice :)

This week I had a cool experience with one of the Elders in my old zone. 6 weeks ago I had worked in such a way that I had zero respect and zero trust from this Elder... basically he hated me. So 6 weeks ago I went about to change this, TO CHANGE THE THINGS THAT I WAS DOING, so that HE could change the way he looked at me. I listened to the talk from last conference...http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/first-observe-then-serve?lang=eng  I went about to observe the things I needed to do to serve him. For 6 weeks I had a conscious goal in mind, I truly felt that I was having success only after 2 weeks but then last night it really showed in our good-bye he came and gave me a huge hug (not normal, he does not even like being touched) and said, "Elder Howe I have waited a while to say this... but you’re a great guy." I learned that the TRUE way to lead is by LOVE, PATIENCE and service.

Thank you all for your love and support!!!

Elder Howe

November 19, 2012

Alright this week we had another baptism in the branch a mother and her 2 kids, her son had been taught in another city and was living all the commandments and everything when the elders found him. So basically his family just followed it was a really good service. 

This week we got on the bus to go to lunch all four of us missionaries... so we are standing and this old man in a black cow boy hat leans over and says in a loud whisper "they are just Mormon’s don’t worry" haha he was just trying to comfort the lady at his side but it was oh so funny to me. As we continued on our journey many more people got on the bus among a few were 2 old men also wearing black cow boy hats. Strange... none of them said anything to one another... so I have 2 theories. 1) There is a new law in Araguaina; on your 65th b-day you must receive a black cow boy hat. Or 2) there is a secret society of old men here in Araguaina... I will have to investigate more. Haha

This week we also were able to teach a new family Aguinaldo and his wife Christina. It was such an awesome experience. We were talking to them and after getting to know them Agnaldo said, "that day in the street you two said something interesting to me you spoke about eternal families. And you know I would really like to eternalize my family. Man the lesson that followed was guided by the spirit and what a joy it is to be an instrument in the hand of the lord, he accepted to be baptized.

So I got to thinking about this a little bit and honestly if anyone has this desire an ETERNAL FAMILY, there is only one place on the face of the earth where it is possible, you will not hear this taught in another place let alone taught how to make this dream a reality. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the ONLY place. Please don’t construct a family here on the earth just to have it "until death do you part" men only have power to bind on earth. BUT GOD can bind on earth AND in heaven. Don’t be so busy with thing that in the next life seem so small. PLAN TODAY FOR YOUR ETERNAL HAPPINESS!!!! Do whatever maybe necessary do whatever possible so that in the next life you don’t utter the words... "If only..." 

I invite all to read the talk from this conference by President Ucthdorf (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/of-regrets-and-resolutions?lang=eng ) and think what you need to do TODAY to secure your ETERNAL happiness. 

I know if we do not, as President Ucthdof states on day we will regret it. I know that Eternal happiness is only found on one path that path is Jesus Christ he is the LIGHT the LIFE and the WAY, choose him and LIVE in eternal happiness, I plead. 

I love you all and thank you for the support!

I know that.

November 12, 2012

This week was a good week we had the baptism of Laodicea, she has a 2 year old son, she is the sister of 2 members, and at one point we had cut her. we went back one day and she had changed... I don’t know what it was she said it was because she missed the missionaries... so we told her about how serious baptism is and that she needed to keep all the challenges we left with her.... and she did 2 weeks later she was baptized.

Sunday in church the 2nd counselor in the presidency said the closing prayer in sacrament... at the end he only said "Amen"... no one moved I peaked and saw him looking at everyone with their heads bowed and eyes closed... he paused for a min, then quickly bowed his and closed his eyes and said "in the name...." with those magic words every one said "amen" in agreement. Haha

We had a cool experience at a less actives house we ate lunch and we just talking with her about her life in the church what calling she used to have and all that stuff we began talking about her baptism... she got teary eyed remembering the sweat feelings of forgiveness that special day... we then invited her to give a prayer at church the next day. She quickly accepted and the next day she was there with her son. I hope we can continue to help her return to full activity in the church.

This week I was listening to pres monsons talk from p-hood sesh I would invite all to listen to that talk again and think about how you can improve. I know that doing this will give all more strength and courage to complete your responsibility as a member of the church in helping your brothers and sisters receive more joy in their lives.

I know Jesus is our savior and that this is his church restored here in these last days... do you want joy? Do you want lasting peace and happiness? Then learn, and follow the teachings of this church because they are the teaching of Christ.

Love you all!!! 

Picture descriptions in backwards order:

11) Sky after rain

10) A church.... it says ITP which stands for Igreja (church) Templo (temple) Profetas (profits)

8+7) our district... and André a soon to be missionary.
6) Baptism of Lãodiceia.

5) The church was locked so my comp had to brake in... Haha

4 Me with Brother Trazibulo a less active.... who has a cool hat

3) A bread store with Marlene’s name!

2) I found a leaf... I can’t remember the of the leaf from littlefoot.

1) Marlene’s bread store!

November 5, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARLENE!!!! Sorry I couldn't be there but you understand :)

So I’ll just say it... I HIT ONE YEAR!!! Haha the sad news is that the last half always seems faster than the first half, I just hope that I continue to learn this last half and prepare a good base for the rest of my life. I have been so amazed at the blessings that I have received. 

I made a cake and also bought pizza to celebrate with the other elders here. It was a good day. 

WE had a huge rain storm this week CRAZY HUGE!!! The other elders room flooded the good news is their beds stayed dry... one of the little mericals haha. So today the elder went o the roof to see why... turns out the drain we clogged.... With CAT POOP!!! BAHAHAHAH. One more reason to not only not have a cat but also not live anywhere nears them. Haha

We working on helping the leadership here and the members gain a vision of the church... like think about it only a few have ever seen a chapel... how do you help them understand the importance of their calling? it’s rough, and right now the branch president he is always working, basically we are in a sticky situation and we need to get out of it... if the sheep are not being fed they will go to another place to eat. 

Well that’s all I got for today... happy voting!!

Elder Howe

October 29, 2012

HURRICANE!!!! OH FREAK!!! Man that’s awesome!! Does that mean that maybe you won’t be able to watch the elections if the power goes out? It’s kind of silly even here in Brazil the news covers the elections. And EVERYONE here talks to me about it haha I always answer “look I don’t have time to read the news or watch it, you know more about it than I do”.

PARABÊNS Erica AND Irene for your new house!! That’s so exciting!!! And wow that happened really fast... like 2 weeks! 

This week was another AWESOME WEEK!!! The other companiship baptized the first family of the branch here in Araguaina! They are a special family. The youngest, Rodgeiro asked me to baptize him. it was quite the experience... the first attempt I thought all had gone well... turns out his feet come up... darn it! So I whispered to him “hey it’s all good just relax and don’t pick up your feet. Remember just like you’re sitting down”. We went for it again... same thing. Then a shout from the crowd "STEP ON HIS FEET" this poor kid was quite shaken, I whispered again “hey this time we got it we will all be good just relax and breath deep”. stood on his feet, he went under but not all the way his head was still above the water, wanting to keep true to my promise of "we got it this time" I took my hand from his back a pushed him under... yes like I was drowning him... but he went under.  Haha

This week I also had the opportunity to give a talk in sacrament, I gave it on Conversion. Basically I took some points from true to the faith. And just did a series of questions to make them think if they were HONSTELY converted to Christ and his gospel. I did a lot of questions and to those who are not doing their maximum it burned. But the thing is I am tired of members NOT MAGNIFYING THEIR CALLINGS! When you say you will do something do it, please. It is not your work, it is not the work of the bishop, no it is the work of the Lord and if you want to call yourself a convert to the gospel of Christ your actions AND priorities need to be in line with those of the savor.

Well I love you and wish you the best with the storm and the elections!!! 

October 22, 2012

OI FAMILIA!!!

Man the weeks fly by...

This week we did a lot of hard working... which we have been learning is a lot more than just running around talking to everyone. We spent a lot of time organizing and planning. We divided the areas because now we only have 4 missionaries (I think I am in the smallest zone in the world) basically we gave Elder Santos and Elder Correia the best part of the city, where the members live and where all the families me and Elder Abreu found, live. Elder Abreu and I will pound out another 6 weeks finding families and creating the base for a future branch where very little work has been done before. WOOO!!!! 

Our focus is to create the base for a future branch in our area, so we have been organizing our area book and planning where we will work, where our centers of strength will be and all that jazz. Haha

Funny story time, last week Monday night we did a division, I went with Elder Santos to family night in a less active part member family’s house, so before p-day was over we baked a cake to take... well the cake finished and we had 5 min to get out the door before 6pm (end of p-day). We don’t have hot pads... so I grabbed the opened cardboard box of Book of Mormons ripped off the flaps grabbed a pan with the cardboard flaps I managed to get the cake in the pot. we left (not to mention we have to hike to the other side of the city for this family night. We start walking and every person on the street is staring at us, Two Tall White Men with a giant pot walking down the main street of the city. EVERY PERSON LOOKED TO SEE WHAT WAS IN THE POT! Haha. Then about half way there we begin to feel rain... ahhh fart! We get to the uphill part and the heavens open (not in the sense of revelation but in the meaning that BUCKETS OF CATS AND DOGS START FALLING FROM THE SKY, I’m not talking your normal Sunday shower...no this is your Brazilian rain forest wet season downpour....luckily I had an umbrella (THANK YOU MOM) sadly I was not thinking right... we covered the cake with the umbrella, and continued walking... we get to the house and to free my hand to clap Elder Santos takes the umbrella and raises it over our heads.... we just looked at each other and laughed... why didn’t we do this earlier the umbrella could of protected the cake AND us. haha oh well it was a great FHE and a funny night. 

Well family I love you!!! Keep the faith!

Love Elder Howe

BTW here are some photos of fruit here there are Mangos and Pique, I forget the other... haha