August 27, 2012

HEY HEY HEY!!!

Some photos of me and Elder Borges (Elder Wanderson)

I’ve just been trying to relax a little bit and focus more on helping people... like really helping people. Elder Bourges is awesome but the thing is he has yet to pass in the MTC so it’s a bit different training than I’m used to. But none the less he is an Elder Howe certified BOSS. Haha.

We found this awesome family this week, Maludicer and his wife Oslana. We talked with them Saturday night... they had gotten married last week and are currently going to another church and have 8 months there but are super open and the very next day were at church... MIRACLE!!!

We are preparing for zone conference this week. The Mission President will come here Saturday and we will have a meeting that I’m in charge of and I will give training and that’s pretty much a zone conference. But I need to prepare the chapel and get food etc. He will meet with all the men in the branch and will stay here over night until Sunday (maybe in our house... haha I doubt it). On Sunday we will have a branch conference like stake conference but.... smaller... way way smaller. haha so I’m excited for that.

Our investigator, Leila prayed about the restoration... and then she had a dream! IT WAS SO COOL. In the dream she went to a church that taught the same doctrine as ours and her mom was inside crying... she went to her mom and prayed with her then her mom turned happy and was smiling, then she went to the front and a choir was singing she joined in the choir then after the song they all put their hands out and said GOD GIVE US YOUR BLESSING.... the room was filled with a bright bluish light... and then she woke up... I was amazed. That lesson we taught her about the Book of Mormon... in the pamphlet we read with her the first sentence says "God knowing the confusion that would be on the earth brought forth a LIGHT.... aka the BOOK OF MORMON! AND IT’S EVEN BLUE!!! haha she loved it... we also told her that the doctrine she was learning would bring happiness to her parents and to her future family, that’s was why her mother turned happy. Quite a cool experience, full of the spirit. MAN A MISSION IS GREAT! I KNOW THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE AND TEACHES WITH THE BIBLE the correctness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well I love you all and miss you!!!

LOVE Elder Howe

P.S. Pray Andrea will not have a desire to smoke and that I can gain the trust of the branch and work better with them. Thank you and love you!!

 

August 20, 2012

OPA TODO MUNDO!!!!

This week was sad Elder Yorgason left so now I don’t have my comp... the Assistants called and said my comp for the next 2 weeks is going to be a 20 year old from the branch here... These next 2 weeks are going to be a great learning experience!!! hahah

This week we did some fun things to celebrate the mission of Elder Yorgason; we had a camp out (see photo) we went on an adventure looking for a family that wanted us to visit them... (see picture of us walking in the middle of the desert) and we created some good memories. Elder Yorgason was a great example to me and it is sad to see him go.

Wanderson will be my comp for the next 2 weeks he is preparing to do his full time mission by the end of the year. He was baptized 4 years ago after reading the Book of Mormon in one week, he knew baptism was the right thing (man I love that book) he was baptized in São Paulo and returned here last week. There was no reason for the visit... just to see his Grandma but now he knows it was to help him prepare for his full time mission. I will begin training him tomorrow and I think he may very well be the first non-full-time Zone leader. haha 

We had a baptism this week!!! Wítallo!!! (Wheat-a-low) He is awesome and a total boss!! haha love that word. His sister was baptized last month and his other sister will be baptized as soon as the papers for her marriage are finalized. Then we will work on baptizing her husband. 

We were at an FHE last week on a member’s front patio and this motorcycle came through our FHE… hahah oh Brazil. It was quite funny and the next day we were getting ready to teach a lesson and 2 drunks came up and proceeded to sit down and started mumbling things from the Bible... it was unexpected... it’s so sad to see people’s lives ruined because they can’t control their desires and wants.

Well I miss you guys and hope all is well back home! Sorry about last week it looks like the email didn’t send... so thank you Erica for telling me... I would not have known. Just inform me if you don’t get a group message.

August 13, 2012

HEY FAMILY!!!

Another awesome week, OF COURSE! hahah. Elder Yorgason is getting ready to leave next week so I might be put into a another companionship until the end of the transfer... I’m hoping that doesn’t happen but it is the most likely thing as we are 18 hours away and leaving in the middle of the transfer (he is going back to start school) I don’t think I’ll get a new comp until the beginning of September... hahaha but we shall see.

This morning we went to a waterfall with one of the members it was really cool. Since its Monday morning there was no one there... it would have been nice to go swimming! As we were getting ready to leave, Elder Yorgason swung on a vine... he must of disturbed a nest or something because these black bugs came out of nowhere and were swarming us... I don’t even know what they were, looked like a little black bee... luckily they didn’t sting or anything just like got in our hair; we started running and pulling them out of our hair… we left shortly after. 

We had an investigator pass his interview Saturday so he will be baptized this coming Saturday, he is 21 and of course he´s a boss. Sunday he woke up his member friend to go to church on time. He will be a great addition to the church here.

August 6, 2012

OPA!!!

Another good week!!! haha (they are all good)

The new focus we got last week in the meeting is on families!!! The president told us we are not in a rush to baptize and that we should only baptize after the people we are teaching are truly converted... IT IS TOTALY DIFFERENT THEN WHAT PRESIDENT DIAS HAD US DOING!!! With him it was baptize every week we were in a rush to baptize. haha but the only thing is that now we need to completely change the way we work and the whole mission is feeling the strain of changing... it’s going to take a while but it is also completely possible, now our goal is to baptize one family per month before it was a baptism one a week.

I returned safely form my 18 hour car ride took some photos(see attached) just a lot of open land at some points it reminded me of the good old middle of the U.S. of A. then other times we would pass though towns where there was not a single brick in the whole neighborhood...

A little bit more about this area; the whole zone is in this one city which has one branch... there are 6 missionaries for one branch (yes this zone is actually smaller then my last district haha) and we all live in one house so I don’t have to travel to visit the missionaries in this zone. The population of the city is 150,000. This week we had 75 people in church!!!  The missionaries have been here working for 10 months so it’s brand new and no one has seen missionaries before... it’s basically paradise!! haha The church is small but the members are super awesome and willing to work we just get to help them :)

I will only travel that 18 hour ride for the monthly leadership meetings but other than that I’m here in the middle of the jungle with just 6 missionaries and go to work... our goal is to divide the branch by the end of the year, we just wrote the plan to make that happen... it’s going to be sick.

We went to the mall here today.... it made me miss Tysons Corner... haha Elder Yorgason said "I at least thought the mall would have shops." haha made me laugh.

I haven’t seen the Olympics... but someone did tell me the other day that I looked like Michael Phelps, Yeah I still got it. haha.

Last night we had a training for the Branch and it was the best attended training I have done here, there were 40 people there... I was shocked! Also at sacrament we had 72 people... that’s as many people as my last ward had my last week there (that ward has 500+ members) so it’s really good here.

Oh so that picture of the elevator is crazy... it was Sunday and we were going to go to lunch, when all of a sudden we hear this big BANG!!!............. CRASH!!!................ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was like what the fart!?!?! We ran over to see this lady on the ground hollering and hooting, her husband had sunk though the wheelchair. The elevator cable had broken (Mom’s worst nightmare) and they had fallen a whole floor to the ground!!!!!  The ambulance came and we got the man to sit in a regular chair, turns out the woman broke her ankle and the man was fine, just ripped his wheelchair... haha just another day here in Brazil.

Well love you all!!!!!!!!!!

Death trap

Only caption I was thinking of is the one with me in the field saying "the feild is white and ready to harvest"... yeah that will be good.