Elder McKay

Hey Mom!

WHAT???  Are you serious?!  Jaclyn bought a new laptop over a virus????!   Grrrrr.   What kind of a worthless techie did she go to?!  I'm sure the hardware was just fine; even assuming that the virus infection was REALLY BAD all it would have taken was a simple reload of the operating system.  Lol, sorry, I just got really worked up over that.  Hopefully she didn't drop too much on the new computer....

Whoa, that's kinda weird to think of John and Peter being home.  Just in time for Paul's wedding too!  I'll bet he planned for that. That was kind of odd to hear how tough Brazil was.  I'd always thought of those S. American countries as being very high baptizing.  I look forward to swapping stories someday. Those boys are great - I would challenge them to another game of Settlers of Catan if I were present!  I still remember John and Peter playing Settlers of Catan with Terry and I the weekend before they left -  and I  won!  Bwahahahha, yeah, it was a special moment to beat those two SoC masters!  =D  You hear that, Fife brothers? I want a rematch!

I love miracle shares!   Hearing John's story about the scraggly man and how God was working on both of them to bring them together was pretty cool. And now he's a bishop!  Lol, perhaps the speed of giving people callings like that is slightly higher there than in the U.S..... Reminds me of one that just happened a couple hours ago:  Elder Jensen and I had just finished up with our weekly shopping when we got an emergency call to be down at the hospital to give Brother Beach a blessing.  That all worked out fine, and we were on our way down the hall to the elevators when this older Thai lady walking in the other direction stops and gets all excited asking if we were "God people".  We told her yes, and she got all excited and shared this story with us of how her daughter had been hospitalized a couple of years ago with a brain tumor or aneurism (?) or something.  The doctors in the emergency room gave her a 2% chance of living through the next couple hours. They had just moved to the U.S. from Thailand and had been Bhuddhist all their lives, but she said she knew at that moment that she couldn't pray to Bhuddha because they didn't believe in miracles. Good time to change religions, I guess, because she suddenly began to call on God. The doctors told her that a miracle happened right there where the bleeding stopped and they were able to do whatever they needed to do.  So now she's a firm believer in God and wants to meet with us and serve a mission!  Lol.  We told her we'd love to stop by her place in the next couple of days.  =D  Her daughter was right there with her mom at the time and also wants to "give it back to Jesus" and be a missionary.  At the end of our 20 minute conversation in the hallway, Elder Jensen and I put out our hands to give a shake goodbye but I guess we came off as more friendly than that because this gal practically jumped into our arms and gave us both hugs.  Wow, that was awkward!  Lol, I now know exactly what it feels like to be an RM around girls.  Elder Jensen and I both felt weirded out and super stiff as we said goodbye and repented all the way out the door.

Anyway, hearing about the Fifes reminded me that I got Paul's wedding anouncement in the mail the same day as Tati's.  Jessica Halling's came 2 days later.  Lol, and now you said Collin has one?  Wowzer....what a summer.  I don't think there has been a summer this active for weddings for my circle of friends since 2010 when 12 of them got married.  =)   Well, congrats to all around.  If you see any of them, be sure to pass my well wishes on to them.

Have fun with your new bike, Joe!  Just don't wreck on anymore cars and knock out your teeth.  =P   ....I've barely avoided that myself a few times.  How do you feel about having 6 Eagle Scouts in the family, Mom?  Lol, I think it was more work on your part than it ever was for us.

Ok, so get this:  I am brilliant!   Lol, I know, I know, I shouldn't blow my own horn, but seriously, sometimes I amaze myself.  Here's what happened.  This past Saturday, we were supposed to have dinner with the entire extended Richardson family about 15 miles west of Brunswick in the country.  We got out there and they had hamburgers, hot dogs, etc.  Thankfully, they had a covered pavillion because a hard thunderstorm came in pretty quick and lightning was flashing all around, but we had a good time.  Anyway, I had thought that was dinner, but apparently, it was only round 1.  Here in the South they have what is known as "low country boil" where they have these HUGE pots that they fill with everything imaginable (shrimp, eggs, potatoes, corn, crabs, sausage, onions, little bunnies, the neighbors dog, etc) and then boil it for several hours till it's all done and tasty.  Then they drain the water and upend the pot all over the table to make a kind of scrambled buffet where you grab what you want and toss it on your plate.  Anyway, so I've been worried that these Southerners are going to make me eat some weird meats ever since I got here and today was a testing day. Apparently they had planned a big treat for us and had dozens of live crabs that they tossed into the water along with everything else. They learned that Jensen and I had never eaten crabs and got really excited for this "opportunity" to show us what eating crabs is really like.  By the time it was all done and poured out on the table, I was staring at this crab with its boiled eyes and face and legs sticking out with the shell still on and decided that there was no way I would ever be chewing it down.  I quickly whipped out my planner - "Elder Jensen!  We're nearly late for our appointment with Mr. Wilcox!  We gotta go!"  "What? Can we stay for another 30 minutes?"  "Nah, we gotta take off quick here if we're going to make it back in time."  (grumble grumble)  In the end we convinced them to send us home with a platter of stuff including 6 or 7 crabs after they showed Elder Jensen (in great detail) how to break off the legs, crack open the shell, and suck out the innards, yada yada. (queasy)  Needless to say, Elder Jensen is eating those things alone!!!

Haha!  So yeah, now anytime I face anything that messed up in the future, I'll just have a backup appointment in mind that we can escape to!  Pretty genius, huh?  =D

I just realized the other day that I've been in Brunswick longer than any of the other missionaries here by half a transfer...  It's odd how well you can get to know a town in such a short time when you bike all the back alleys and streets every day.  I'm almost starting to feel at home, but I know that as soon as I do that I'll get transferred again.

Well, proselyting was hot and slow this week.  A couple of small successes that made us happy, but nothing really worth writing about.  My mission journal has slowly been dwindling - Elder Jensen tells me that someday my posterity will appreciate it and I just told him that I plan on burning all my journals before I get to that point anyway.  =P  I've adjusted to the heat and humidity though.  It's up over 100 every day now, but I've just gotten to the mental state of accepting the abuse and working through it anyway.  Thank goodness for ice and refrigerated water when we return home at night though!

Happy Pioneer Day yesterday!

Love y'all,

Elder M.

Elder Ben

Well this week has been pretty tough.  Everyday we had most of the day planned out with lessons to teach and investigators to see....and then nobody was home.  Seriously, every appointment on Friday and Saturday fell through, even our backup plans didn't work.  I guess God was just trying to get our attention or something that we weren't focused on the right people. These days all of a sudden became wide open for tracting! :)  We ended up knocking on alot of doors for those two days (crazy to see Spanish elders on foot).  It is really great to see the wide variety of people we run into. Some are interested, some say come back later, some talk with us for a couple of minutes (but you can tell they don't care), and some just open the door see us and then close the door.  We had some pretty different people to talk with though.  We met this Italian guy who had been a marine for 8 years. This man was smart, in that I think he has studied every religion possible (Including LDS).  He wasn't interested but he said he gave us 110% thumbs up for what we were doing at our age.  He said he liked that some one still talked about Jesus and bore testimony.  Cool guy! 

We also had a short meeting with a guy that LOVED his bible.  We talked for a bit about the bible and shared a couple of scriptures from it.  We then tried to share the message of the restoration and show him the Book of Mormon. Bad idea on our part. He got pretty angry and said something about us worshiping Joseph Smith (I guess he had heard some stuff previous), and how all he needed was his bible. We tried telling him we didn't worship Joseph Smith and  that we weren't trying to replace his bible.  Still was pretty angry so we left after that. 

 Don't worry the whole week wasn't like that though. We met some people that seemed very interested, and we ended up placing about 20 or so copies of the Book of Mormon. Hopefully some of them are home for return visits this week :)

Elder Wilkins and I wrote up a Branch mission statement this week.  It includes something that everyone in the branch can do to better improve in their individual, family, and church lives.  At the branch correlation meeting everyone seemed to like it.  So it will be presented to the whole branch in two weeks in sacrament meeting.  Right now we are just praying for a something to happen in this branch so people become unified.

There has actually been 2 days this past week with not even a cloud in the sky! Crazy but it is true. Perfect weather for a couple of days.....and then today it is raining again.  hahah

 

 

I wish that I had more time to write, but I don't. There are so many things that could be written.  I guess more will have to be written next week.

   Elder Howell

Elder McKay

Hi Mom!

 

It sounds like you have had a very busy week - that's a lot of traveling for sure.  It feels good to come home aftering living out of a suitcase for so long.  Sounds like Jake is going through a lot of the same sort of stuff this summer with his selling.

Hahahaha, I know exactly where I picked up my photo phobia!  Hearing about Dad dodging photos at the funeral reminds me of me trying to do the same thing at Jaclyn's wedding until Aneladee Milne picked me up and dragged me into them.  I'll probably try to dodge the photos on my own wedding day as well...

 

Hmmm, which reminds me, no, I have not received anything from either Paul or Tati!  I know I'm far away, but hopefully they haven't entirely forgotten who I am.  =P  I presume both of their weddings are this summer as well?  Guess who else is getting married - Jessica Halling!  Lol, all of my friends will be long gone by the time I return.  I'll have to entirely recreate my friendship base - except for Terry, I'm sure.  (Terry, if you read this, then "Long live Kartarkle".  Also, what do you think of Mr. Purple Inc as a name for a business selling pencils?  =P )

 

Time flies.  5 years of school and Joe will be gone and you can "retire" for good and have this cake making expedition in full swing!  We have one of our recent converts out here who is a professional chef/baker and he is doing quite well, so I have no doubts that it can be done.

 

Well, we haven't had too many unusual experiences this week.  We did hear a few gunshots down the street during a contact in the ghetto and a cop came by to ask us questions to see if we knew anything.  Umm, it has also rained a LOT!  It's no wonder the missionaries here all have t-shirts that say "Servin' in the Swamp"  - we have had standing water all around the yard at our apartments for the past few days.  I like running around barefoot in it.  =) 

 

Elder Holland will be coming to the Kingsland Stake Conference in a couple of weeks, and then we'll be having a mission conference with him there as well, so August 13 and 14 is going to be really fun.  All of the missionaries here LOVE Holland!  Mostly because he is very bold and "dominates their faces off" (as mission lingo goes) in his talks to missionaries.  I'm convinced that I could become a mega millionaire by developing a small device that I would call "The Pocket Holland" which would have 3D videos of some of his speeches that missionaries could whip out during District Meetings or teaching appointments with investigators.  =D

 

I just have one thing to say: member dinners are ridiculous.  Ok, so on Friday, Elder Jensen and I finish our weekly planning, and eat a quick bite to eat before heading out. I had a potato and a PB&J  (I know, I know, it's a weird combo).  5 minutes before we leave the house, we get a call from an older sister who had planned to feed us later that night, "can you come over now?  I moved the time from 5 to 1pm"  Urgh...,"Sure thing, sister Floyd!"   It is no joke when I tell you that she made a MOUNTAIN OF FOOD for the four of us missionaries in Brunswick.  To start off with, she gave each of us a ginormous steak (16-17 ounces easy), baked potato, and bowl of salad.  It was impossible to say no, or take a smaller size so we dug in.  Then came the rolls, and corn...  Then the cobbler, then the ice cream....  I can honestly say I have never felt so FULL in my entire life!  The steak alone would have been more than enough for a small guy like me (e.g. Remember my first ever steak, Chantel?), but all of this on top of the lunch I'd already eaten probably made me gain 10 pounds!  I weighed in at the disgustingly high weight of 140 lbs - a new record high! Lol,  I didn't eat again for about a day and  half. 

 

Well, the work goes on!  It's a lot of fun and by far the best experience I've ever had in my life.  It's impossible to be down or unhappy when you talk about Jesus all day long with everyone you see. The only sad part is seeing how little most people care about spiritual matters.  It is an absolute wrestle getting the majority of our investigators to pray daily (even if it's not about the Book of Mormon) which is really odd considering everyone here in the South considers themselves to be Christian.  Good luck, Benji!  I know you'll do awesome!

 

Sorry, no photos this week.  I pulled the camera out of my backpack early on and it just sat on my desk all week, so nothing new to show.

 

I love you!

 

Elder M

Hola de Seattle

Familia y Amigos,

Well I take back what I said in my last letter.  My p-days are really on Monday.  Just as a heads up from now on.

Well the first week is now coming to an end.  This week is historically one of the longest for greeny missionaries just because they are trying to adjust to everything...but for me it flew by! :)  We were constantly doing something and staying busy (Jacob you are right, there is never a down time). 
The branch here has really been having some internal conflict and for the last couple months has really been digressing in almost every area.  So this week we have been trying to visit alot of RCLA's (recent convert, less active) and just seeing if we can get people out to church again.  This is hard because everyone seems to have a grudge against someone else in the Branch and so refuses to come to church.  We have seen success with some of our investigators though this week. We ended up putting on on date for August 20th!!!  This next week we are going to try and find more new investigator family's to teach.  There is only one problem with teaching Spanish family's in Washington, they are only here for one reason....work.  They dedicate all their time to work and providing for their family that is is hard to even get in contact with them.  We have a couple of potential areas though to tract so we will see what happens.  My area is actually alot bigger then I first realized.  We cover a 15 mile wide strip of land starting from way up in north Seattle down into the Des Moines area.  Ya, no way we can cover all of this because the Spanish population is so spread out and with our limited car miles we really cant reach our whole area.

I haven't met and member or investigator yet that can say my name!  They always ask me how to say it.  Since in Spanish there is no "H" sound they really have a hard time with it and it usually just sounds like "owl".  So I am Elder Owl and have just started to introduce myself like that :) 

I had the opportunity to introduce my self during sacrament meeting yesterday and share my testimony.  I thought it went ok.  I think every  one could at least understand what I has trying to say even if my Spanish was not perfect.

There is no cure for maintaining your same weight here. Its great!!! Everyone is constantly asking if you want food, and even if you say "no, thank you" you will still be eating.  I have already tried some pretty good dishes in my first week.  My companion says that there is always time after the mission to loss the weight you gain :)  haha love the optimism on it.  One Elder here that is going home in 5 weeks gained 85 pounds on his mission!!!  Ya, you wont be recognizing me soon.

Yesterday Elder Wilkins and I were tracting when we tracted into an apartment that was having a beer party.  About 6 people totally drunk.  They recognized us as "The Mormons" though and they started arguing amongst one another on if they should let us in or not (it was a pretty heated argument for a minute and I thought a fist fight might occur).  Elder Wilkins and I quickly excused ourselves and said we would drop by another day.  One of them followed us and said he wanted to talk to us.  He ended up saying that he was in a bad situation with his life (obviously) and that he did not have a very good relationship with his family.  He said he wanted to change and respected us for what we did.  We said we would return latter and talk to him about how he can change.  I guess we will see how this next week goes for him.  Of course I only understood part of this conversation, Elder Wilkins translated it for me after.  I can kind of understand Spanish, but drunk Spanish is alot more slurred so I definitely needed a translator.

 

  The work continues

   Con amor,

    Elder Owl 

 

Ok so my mail should all be sent to the mission office in Bellevue and then they will just forward it on to me from there.  So my address is now:

Elder Benjamin Howell

Washington Seattle Mission

10675 NE 20th Street

Bellevue WA 98004

Greetings from Seattle

Well family and friends I have finally arrived in Seattle!!!  It is so beautiful here, where ever I look there is an evergreen tree.  Someone was joking that it reminded them of the Twilight movie (and seriously it does). The back yard of the mission home just is so dense of forest I think you could walk back and get lost in it. The first day we meet our mission president at the airport and went to the mission home to have lunch and the first interviews with him.   Lets just say the food was amazing!!!!  There were 21 other Elders/Sisters in my travel group, President Larkin said it was the largest group of missionaries to ever come into the mission at one time.  During the afternoon we had our orientation meeting, were told about mission car safety, and met our trainers.  My trainer is Elder Wilkins from Provo (I think that about 3/4 of the missionaries here are from Utah).  He has been in the mission field 9 months so far and so he was surprised when they made him a trainer.  He actually went home for 3 months (to get healed) after only being in the field a week....I guess something about him playing rugby with some Samoans...ya still haven't heard the whole story on that one.  He is a hard worker though, and that I like.   My first area is in Burien(?) which is the southern part of Seattle.  I actually live just a stones through away from the airport so there is always airplanes coming in to land. 

 Last night we went out and visited some investigators, no surprise I only understood about 35% of the conversation, but I was able to speak what Spanish I could with them.  Hopefully my vocabulary will continue to expand so I can speak more. 

Today we had a 4 hour zone meeting so we have yet to get out and do some teaching.  Tonight we have a couple of appointments though and an area to start tracting in, so I am looking forward to that.

My hopes were not answered though with getting a bike area though.  Come to find out Spanish elders always get a car so no biking for me.  I guess someday I will look back and be grateful for this, but I has hoping to bike off some of the weight I gained in the MTC.  Not that I'm really worried about my weight out here, just would be nice to fit into the same suit pants for all 2 years. :)

Well I have to go. I believe that our p-days will be on a Tuesday here but I could be wrong....I will write then.

 

Elder Howell

Elder McKay

Hello Family,

 

Thanks for the update on Grandpa Howell;  I'm glad to know he passed quietly.  Will the rest of the family be going to his funeral, or just you and Dad?

 

How has your summer vacation in Worland gone?  Is Grandma Kimzey (the great) still up and around? We only got to see her briefly in Phoenix, but I think Jacob and I did get a photo with her while we were there. Lol, I guess she likes us though.  I'm sorry I didn't get to go to Worland with the other brothers and Kristen though - I don't really remember the town very much.  I think I was like 4 or 5 the last time I went through there.  The only memories I have of Wyoming are 1) really really cold, 2) of catching snakes, and 3) Benji being born.

 

Huzzah for Benji!!!  Haha, I'm glad that he is finally escaping the MTC campus for real work.  I was ready after 3, so I can only imagine how much he is itching to be free.  =)  Then again, I didn't have to pick up another language while I was there...

 

The Howell tradition of dominating races continues!  Maybe it's a good thing that we live in the small town of Manti though so that there isn't too much serious competition.  =P  (Only kidding, I have complete confidence that the Howells would come out on top no matter where we live - we're just that awesome!)  Congratulations to all three of you though!  Someday I may attempt to run a race again....

 

Joe, make sure you get a good bike!  Mine lasted a long long time.  I forgot to take it home, so it's probably still in Logan somewhere, but I really liked Raleigh and Schwinn bicycles.  Mom, as I recall, the experience with getting my bike back in '98 was because of your youngest child....  Just saying.  Lol, hopefully nothing tragic will happen this time around.

 

Paul and Tati both getting married....  Hmmm, I won't lie, that's a weird thought.  Tati is one of the friend pillars of my life - I have memories of growing up with her and Jake clear back to day zero and maybe even before that!  Ah well, I guess life moves on.  Or does it? I mean, the Howell brothers seem to have the skills necessary to remain bachelors for the foreseeable future.  Lou, though, might be a different story.  Hey sis, I'm sending Elder Turner's new address in a separate email so you can keep writing him if you want.  =P

 

So, I finally got a letter from Aunt Kristy that has been at the mission office for the past several weeks. It was good to hear about all of the happenings with the cousins and everyone else in Phoenix. It sounds like she is getting anxious to witness a temple marriage of one of her own kids sometime soon though...  =D

 

Ok, so my new companion is Elder Jensen from Roosevelt, UT.  He's only been out one transfer so we're both still new.  They also downsized Brunswick from 7 elders to 4. We lost 16 missionaries during transfer meeting and only gained 3, so they closed down 8 areas in the mission.  Elder Jensen definitely has a very bold approach to missionary work.  He also talks a lot, but I'm learning to work with it and am trying to help him be more concise in lessons so that people don't start losing the train of thought and twiddling their fingers and texting.  =P  We have fun though.  He seems to have more energy in the heat and humidity than I do though. That must be the real reason why they send missionaries out at 19 instead of 23!  He always wants to race me everywhere when we're on the bikes.  Oh, and good news - since they downsized Brunswick, it means that we have a car now!  Exciting!  We have very limited miles, though, so we'll probably still end up biking every other day.

 

So here's a cool experience for you.  You know how missionaries always mention that "golden" person that they found.  Well, I think I may have found mine.  Elder Turner and I tracted into this older guy (60s?) on May 31st, shared a quick message about the Restoration with him, and left him with a Book of Mormon.  We tried to visit him several times since then, but he was recovering from a heart surgery and/or at work and we never did get to talk to him again.  Last Friday night, Elder Jensen and I were on our way home and I said, "we still have a few minutes; let's go see Rocky." We pulled into his driveway at about 8:50. We knocked on his door and he came out to chat with us.

"So, Rocky, how has your reading been going?"

"It's been going really good so far."

"Yeah? That's great.  How far have you gotten?"

"I'm about three quarters of the way through it.  Well, actually, I only have 2 more chapters left before I finish."

(excitedly) "Wow, that is amazing!  Did you pray about it while you were reading?"

"Yep"

"And how do you feel?"

"I know it's true.  Joseph Smith was definitely inspired of God."

(stunned silence for a few seconds before Elder Jensen jumps in to rescue me from my shocked look)

"Well, Rocky, now that you know it's true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?"

"Yes."

 

Wow!  Usually it is a struggle to get people to read the Book of Mormon consistently let alone pray about it!  This man had read the entire thing after a 10 minute doorstep message about the Restoration and had gained a witness of it!  So cool!  I was about ready to shout praises and do a little victory dance on his front porch, but we quickly reviewed the fourth lesson on the commandments. Second miracle, he didn't have a problem with any of them - not even the Word of Wisdom, which is really rare here in Georgia. So yeah, now we have a new bap date set with him for a couple weeks out so that he can come to church a few times to check it out, etc.

 

That was definitely the highlight of the week.  Transfer and Zone meetings took up a lot of time on Tuesday and Wednesday, Turner had been saying goodbye to a bunch of people on Monday the 4th, and I was helping Elder Jensen get oriented here for the past few days, but I have a good feeling about this transfer.  Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to meet with Marie's dad (the 17 year old girl) to try and soften his heart to allow her to be baptized. James is still looking into it, but he likes what we've shared with him so far, so we have good hopes with him.

 

P.S.  Why are James, Billy, and John such popular names in Georgia?  About half of our male investigators share those three names.  It's kinda confusing during daily planning, "let's see James at 3." "James on First St or on Ellis Avenue?"  "No, the one in Roberts Court."  =P

 

Anyway, gotta run.  Love you all.  Thanks for staying in touch!

 

 

Elder M

 

 

 

                                      

 

    

 

                                                                   Elder Jensen and I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The churches here have some really funny messages on their signs sometimes.  This is one of my favorites.  =D

Sorry Everyone!

Hello Everybody,
Please note that there is a new post for both McKay and Benji. I was out of town earlier this week and was unable to post McKay's email! Finally got both of them up though:)

-Jaclyn

Ultimos semana en la CCM!

Hola Familia y amigos,

Yo recibi me plan de viajar!  Yep that's right I got my flight itinerary last Friday.  After 9 weeks, 14 pounds heavier (ya don't laugh), and learning a little Spanish I am on my way out of the MTC.  I will leave the MTC grounds on Tuesday at 5 am.  My flight leaves Salt Lake at 8:30 am.  Mom I will try to call as soon as I get through security because I think time will be a bit tight for me to talk.

It is a bit or mixed feelings leaving the MTC. I have grown to enjoy this place and the people in it.  So many good times in here.  I think I have had some of my highest points and also lowest points of my life in the MTC.  This place is such a learning experience. You truly have to put everything you have in the Lord.  Just being with an investigator and not understanding half of what they are saying and praying for el don de leguas (gift of tongues) so that you can say what they need to hear at that moment in time is a very crazy experience.  I feel like my very soul has been on its knees in prayer at some points in here.  There have been some great experiences as well.  I have seen investigators come to realize the importance of Jesucristo in their lives. One great experience happened just last night.  Elder Lanier and I were teaching our progressing investigator about the atonement.  For someone who started out not even believing in God at all he has progressed very far.  As we bore testimony of the need and reality of the atonement the spirit swept into the room so strong.  It was an experience I will never forget, looking into this mans eyes and knowing that he felt the same thing.

Last week on the 2nd we had a devotional to celebrate the 4th.  It was totally fantastic!  There were talks and a short video showing all of the 340 different missions in the world.  Then a group played the bagpipes while a representative of every country represented in the MTC brought out their flag.  It was pretty impressive!  Because the MTC is probably one of the most diverse blocks in the world for different nationalities we celebrated it more on the fact that we had a free nation for the church to be restored in.  Don't get me wrong we sang a lot of patriotic songs also.  After the devotional we got special permission from President Brown to stay out after curfew and watch the fireworks from The Stadium of Fire.  It was great to watch! Maybe just a bit spectacular then Manti's fireworks :)

Gabe what is this talk about you taking 2nd at a race!  Hahaha Jk.  I guess that 72 and 3 (or something like that) isn't to bad over an 11 year span.  Keep up the great running, it sounds like you almost had it toward the end.

Sounds like rockets were still pretty successful for how rainy it sounded like it was.  Hope everyone enjoyed the 4th.

This week is pretty busy we have an all day long devotional for all of the departing Elders. And everyone is packing up.  The four Elders in my district going to Villahermosa, Mexico will leave on Monday, then Elder Lanier, Hermana Hickman, and I will leave Tuesday, with Hermana Osborn leaving on Wednesday.  Soon we will all be spread out.

Well not much more time on the computer left....to have fun.  Talk to you on Tuesday morning.

Con amor,

Elder Howell

P.s Alecia I know i was going to send you a gift. Unfortunately with thousands of missionaries and only one book store the thing I was going to buy ran out.  Maybe later you will get a gift.  Lo siento.

Say hi to grandma and grandpa for me

Home Report

Hola Family,

 

Happy Independence Day!  I'll bet all of you are tired out from an intensive 5K and are working hard at the park with the usual rocket festival.  I bet the kids will still have fun with it whether it is windy or not.  :)

 

Don't worry about me, the back is fine. I was only layed up for a day and then back to work.  A much faster recovery than last fall's experience.  The experience with our bikes was short lived - I bought a new tube the next day and we were on our way again with the usual 20-30 miles a day.  By the way, what is the population of Brunswick?  I don't even know and I've been here for 8 weeks...  Seems like the largest town I've ever lived in though.

 

Sad day though....Elder Turner is getting transferred tomorrow.  We're not sure where he is going yet, but we're both pretty bummed about that since we have been working really hard and are finally beginning to see some fruits and have a rather large teaching pool. He has been very insistent that I forward any letters that Alecia sends him that may come to our address here in Brunswick when he leaves.  =D  Lol, Mom, you had better warn Lou about RMs with their "missionary goggles" still on.

 

I'm really sad to hear that about Grandpa. I guess I never got to know him very well, but I will definitely join in prayer to help ease his passing.

 

Lightning struck the house?!  That's intense!  I'll bet the boom shook the windows with that one. Go ahead and use my wireless router if the old one got blown up.  Mine is in a box upstairs somewhere.  I don't think mine has the DSL modem built in, but you are welcome to pull it out and see.

 

Well, this week has been one of a couple disappointments, but also some really good times.  The gal that was supposed to be baptized, we found out that she is only 17 and does not have her parental approval. She was trying to sneak it in without her parents knowing since it sounds like they are kinda anti-any-other-church-but-Pentecostal.  We will be meeting with her parents this week to speak with them and see if they will allow it.

 

We do have a really awesome new investigator named James.  He is looking to get back with God and started attending his wife's church about a month ago, but he really is getting into the things that we share with him.  We left him with a Book of Mormon and he says he is going to read it in a week!  He also has a 7 year old daughter that turns 8 at the end of this month...(hehehe)

 

We were on the very southern tip of Brunswick last night and were biking home, but decided to swing by the river pier to catch the sunset.  It was very peaceful and a good way to end the night.  They also had a really old ship that had been restored docked there!  Very fun.  I didn't see any manatees or otters though like I was hoping.  :(  I also included our "companionship photo" that we took during weekly planning when we were getting distracted.  :)

 

Love ya'll!

 

Elder Mac