Going Great!

Howell Household,

  

Well, work does seem to be looking up in this area.  I think that getting some fresh missionaries in this area was a good idea.  Unfortunately, missionaries in the past have not had a lot of work in this area, and when I got here it was a little stagnant.  Good thing for us, neither Elder Mitchell nor I believe that an area is "that is just the way it is" and we have high hopes on finding new people to teach.  Just this past week we found 3 news.  Some people can't always meet with us in between work, school, and taking care of kids.  We did get a referral of a lady from Peru that we are really excited to continue teaching.  We taught her the first lesson and she was really interested in reading The Book of Mormon.  I guess missionaries had taught her when she lived in Peru, but never explained Joseph Smith or The Book of Mormon very clearly and she was confused on a lot of things.  We ended up answering a lot of questions and clearing up really what the BOM was.

 

It is true that a lot of people think that the Mayan calender predicts the end of the world, but it actually doesn't.  I'm not saying that something crazy couldn't happen, only that that isn't what the Mayans believe.  A member is Seattle studied Mayan history and ruins and talked with a lot of Mayan people before he moved up the United States.  Apparently, the calender only predicts the destruction of a civilization or a country in 2012, but not the whole world.  The Mayans definitely know some stuff because of what they have predicted in the past -- I guess several huge destructions that came about.  Most likely ties into the Book of Mormon, but it is all in their hieroglyphics.  I had 4 people in my MTC district that got sent right into the heart of Mayan civilization.  I'm sure it will be interesting for them come the end of this year.

  

That is pretty funny that Jaclyn and Zach could move into the homeward of Elder Mitchell.  How did they know that it was his homeward?  By far, out of the companions that I have had the chance to get to know in the field, I work with Elder Mitchell the best.  I really liked Elder Wagner as well, but was only with him 10 days.  We just seem to be on the same page with the work and work effectively together.  I agree that the work is great and most likely won't come home at the end of my mission like McKay.  At times, when you literally have one investigator that can only see you once a week it looks pretty grim (past experiences) and you are wondering what you are going to do, but something turns around and you realize that you love it out here.  Seriously, even finding people to teach can be fun if you let it be!  The work continues, and you learn something daily, and overall this has been a superfanbilantasticify awesome experience.

 

  Well got to go...love ya all! :)

  Elder Howell