Brady's getting married?!  Wow, that did kind of catch me off guard.
Lol, I suppose I've been out of the loop for quite some time
though....

Daniel, like Benji said:  you're a stud.  A second and a half away
from the record.  You're the man!

Well, we had a funeral this weekend for Justin.  Chris was completely
unharmed and doesn't have so much as a scratch from the whole incident
even though they were walking right next to each other.  I think I
have been to more funerals and hospitals in the last 12 months than I
ever bargained for.  It's almost like death and injury are a natural
part of life....  =P

On the bright side, we had an amazing baptism out on Parris Island
yesterday!  Cheyanne (can't use last names) was baptized right after
Sunday School while the rest of the platoon waited outside with the
drill instructors yelling at them.  She was super happy though and
graduates from boot camp this Friday.

We had another recruit that had a very tragic injury this week. She
had 16 hours left in the Crucible, which is the last/worst part of
boot camp here at Parris Is, and she broke her arm. Under military
policy, they can't go home unless they finish boot camp or quit, so if
she wants to be a Marine she has to stay in boot camp for another 3
months while her arm heals before she can finish and graduate.  Yikes!
Hopefully there is a reason for it though - she was the one who
brought Cheyanne to church with her a few weeks ago and now we see the
results of that.

This week, Elder Cancel and I had a miracle experience that definitely
made it to our journals.  We were out knocking doors and decided at
the end of the night to drop by the home of Sister Washington, an
inactive member that we'd never met before. We knock on her door and
her jaw just drops in surprise when she sees us.  It turns out, she
had been praying for guidance that evening and had just finished her
prayer when here we are at the doorstep. We pulled up some chairs and
started talking with her and the Spirit came down very strongly on all
of us. By the time we left, she was crying and said "I know this is
what God wants for me".  It turns out she has been with the Jehovah's
Witnesses for 20+ years and had only had a short stint of a few weeks
with the LDS church years ago, before returning to the JW. However,
she's not satisfied or fulfilled with anything they are doing anymore
and that's why she was praying for guidance. We directed her to the
Book of Mormon and we're confident the Spirit will teach her the rest
- like He always does.  However, my faith was built that the Lord does
use us and that He does place the people in our paths that we're meant
to see.

I hope ya'll are doing well.  Much love!
--
Elder M. Howell
http://mormon.org/me/4DS5/
www.facebook.com/elderhowell