Tracting Payoff in Washington

 Hey Mom,

Well, this week  really looked up.  Elder Henderson and I just hit the streets and tracted a bunch.  Some of them were 6 hour tracting days.  By the end of the week we were able to find 8 new investigators, which is pretty good for our area. We had a couple of really great first lessons and contacts with these people and are really excited to see how they will progress.  We hope that we can continue to grow the work in this area because it has been down for a little.  A recent convert also brought his friend to church!  The friend really enjoyed church and said he wanted to come back and that we could come over and start teaching him!  Only problem is his work schedule is totally crazy --  some days he works 6 hours and others he works up to 18, just depending on the work his boss gives him. Hopefully we will be able to find the time to teach him.

Elder Henderson and I decided that we are not going to speak any more English for the rest of the transfer (besides when in special meetings like district meeting where nobody else understands Spanish).  We will see how it goes.  I am sure we won't be able to express ourselves as well as in English, but it should be a great experience.

 It sounds like Manti is having a huge water shortage!  It definitely won't be a good year for the farmers at this rate.  Usually they don't have to turn the water down until the end of July of start of August.  I wish I could send you some of the rain from here.  We actually had several nice days last week and then the rest of the days were downpour all day.  I think half of the Pacific Ocean has already evaporated and rained on us.

I haven't heard of any planned activities for the 4th yet, but I am sure that something will happen.  Even if it isn't a Spanish holiday that isn't going to stop a party from happening.

Love you family, thank you for your prayers.

 

Elder B.

 

Storm Prep in Florida

Hi Mom,

Thanks for the weekly updates.  Do you have any photos of the Sanpete fires?  Those flames sound pretty epic if they were 100 ft high and could be seen from the temple grounds!  Unfortunately, I'm not in charge of the weather, but I would gladly push a little bit of the rain your way.  We have a tropical storm coming up the gulf along the Florida coastline, so we've been getting some steady downpours for the last couple days.  It's actually pretty strange to have these all day downpours -- usually it just rains very hard for 20 minutes and then will be bright and sunny again.   Sister Barry (mission president's wife) just sent us a text this morning warning us of tornadoes and severe storms and requiring us to pick up some water storage and non-perishable foods today, but I really don't expect anything too major.  The word on the street is that the storm is looking to hit up by Pensacola, so we will probably be spared most of the high winds, etc.

This week has been fun.  We had all of the missionaries in our zone do a Red Cross training to be shelter certified, so we're set for lots of possible service opportunities over the summer.  I also got to go on tradeoffs again with another set of spanish elders and had an absolute blast.  We didn't find any spanish people, but we did make a lot of contacts and I got along really well with Elder Jones.  I offered him a position in the inventions department of the future Howell Inc.  =)

We had people coming out of the woodwork over the past few days!  We were able to find 8 new investigators and had 6 investigators in church this week which is something I've never seen. One of them is set for baptism on July 7th which is the same day as a ward social, so we may have a large turn out for the service. We actually had a former investigator come back on with solid desire this week. In the past he had struggled with reading, praying, Word of Wisdom issues, and didn't want to get married so we dropped him.  Apparently last Monday, he sat up in the middle of the night, woke up his girlfriend, and said, "We're getting married and I want to be baptized."  Lol, he was all for just going down to the courthouse and getting married immediately, but she wants to do the usual thing with family and celebrations, so they're planning a wedding right now and we're back on with helping him prepare for baptism.

We had our Elders Quorum President out teaching with us this last week and he had just returned from a trip to Orem where he grew up. He asked if I used to dance with someone named Crystal and I was racking my brain trying to figure out what he meant, when he said he had spoken with the Naylors and they'd told him their granddaughter used to dance with me.  "Oh, hahahah!  You mean Chantel?"  "Yep, that's the one." Chantel's grandparents live in his old home ward in Utah.  Apparently, I made a good impression on them the one time we met, because Brother Williams reports that they hope I resume as her dance partner in the future. Small world, eh?  =P

Well, I've got to go prep some emergency supplies.  Be Prepared!  I didn't become an eagle scout for nothing!  =D

Love ya'll.

Elder M.

Spanish Party Branch

Feliz dia del Padre!!!! Happy Fathers Day!!!!!!!!! and birthday wishes to Jaclyn and Daniel!!!!  I hope everyones week goes great.  It seems like Daniel has the biggest vacation of the family going on for this summer.

This week was pretty slow for the work in Renton.  I arrived here only to find out that we are not actively teaching anyone right now.  We spent the week on the search for people that really wanted to listen to us and checking up on referrals and potentials.  We contacted about 25 referrals from other missionaries and many of our own potentials, but nothing quite panned out.  We will be doing a lot of finding this week as well.  On the up side, our finding during the week lead to us finding two way solid people for the English missionaries in the area to teach. We were able to put them both on date for baptism in the first lesson.  We shared the Book of Mormon with one and she wanted to start reading it right away!
 

When I arrived here in Renton the very first day I had members say that I lost weight.  Over the week even more people said it.  I don't feel like I lost weight, but I guess in the 3 months that I was gone all of that morning basketball in Auburn actually did something. For some reason or another, the members here think I need to gain it all back though and are continuously offering me food:)  Renton is known as the Spanish party branch, and this first week of being back we have already had 2 branch parties.  I love Spanish culture in that everything can be turned into a huge party!!!  Graduating from high school and Father's Day are good reasons to bring the whole branch together :)  Usually we can never stay at these parties more then to eat dinner, but they are great to bring non-members to.

Well not too much to report about this week.

Les Quiero Mucho.

Elder Ben

Florida Report

Hello Pappa! Happy (late) Father's Day!  Lol, I had several people say the same to me, but I don't recall having had any children yet....  =P

As I recall, this is also a birthday week for my big sis Jaclyn and my "little" brother Daniel! Since I'm not in person to sing for you....

Do we have a birthday here? Yes we have a Birthday here! Birthday where? Birthday here! Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh Happy Birthday Happy Happy Birthday Happy Birthday Happy Happy Day! :)

Haha, we're all getting old.  I hope it goes well for ya'll!

So this week I got to go down to the Ocala district and work with our new district leader there. Trouble is, he's a Spanish missionary, so I had absolutely no clue what was going on in any of the lessons that day. (It's times like this that cause me to reflect back on the early experiences of my mission getting the Spanish packet at the MTC and wishing that it had worked out that way.) He did have an investigator for me to interview for baptism and thankfully she had enough broken English that we could work through the questions.  I was able to excel in the English class they had for their Spanish branch that night though!  The next day on the way home to Gainesville, we took a detour and I interviewed another candidate in Chiefland who had finally received parental permission to be baptized after several months of begging and pleading. Hopefully she'll be able to stay active with just the ward support.

This week we found a very interesting new investigator who had visited Salt Lake City about 10 years ago and filled out a self referral card, but nothing ever came of it. As we questioned further, she told us that she is a descendant of Phineas Young (Brigham Young's brother) and had known there was a Mormon history in her family, but she had no idea what that meant and wanted to learn more.  Wahoo!  We can help with that!  =D  She's excited to read the Book of Mormon and come to our Wednesday scripture study class and we hope to see some rapid progress with her.

Other than that, it's been a quiet week.  Lots of heat, lots of sweat, lots of humidity, and endless slapping at the mosquitos.  I think my finger is mostly back to normal now.  There's just minimal stiffness left and it only gives  a twinge of pain if I squeeze or put pressure directly on the joint, so hopefully I'll be back to full use in a few more weeks.

Love ya'll!

Elder M.

Ben Transferred Back to Renton

Family!!!!

Well, transfers were again today.  I was transferred back to Renton (where I just left 3 months ago).  It should be pretty easy to adjust because I already know all the members and the area.  Elder Dickinson (my companion in Auburn) was also moved.  They put the Spanish trainer in Auburn with an English companion.  I really don't know how on earth they are going to do the Spanish and English work down there because the English was just on fire, and we were picking up steam. They were both made zone leaders also. This means that we don't close Spanish area down though, so that is nice. 

So I am in Renton, and my companion is Elder Henderson.  I was companions with him for several weeks in Seattle. The good thing about small numbers of Spanish elders is you already know everyone.  We live in a different place in Renton now, which I am going to miss because we lived with great members last time.  I guess we ended up switching places with the English sisters because someone in the apartments was creeping them out so they had to move...Great thing to hear about your apartment right as you get there.

Last week in Auburn we tracted into a 16 year old kid that really is interested and was progressing great.  When he first saw us he said, "Oh, I have one of those books that you have (Book of Mormon)."  Turns out he has a friend that he goes to high school with, and they had already talked about the church a little. He had also read a little of the Book of Mormon already!  He had never been to church but had participated in a dance festival they had here and said that he feels different (good) around the kids from the church and it is searching for that in his life.  The dance festival is where every ward practices 3  specific dances for about 5 months, and then 6 stakes get together at the end and have a huge dance performance with all of the dances.  It just got done several weeks ago. This kid loves learning about the gospel as well!  He has great questions in every lesson.

70% sunsine in Manti!  I think we have about 10% in Seattle.  Hahah.  I think I have seen the sun about 10 days this year.

Daniel, good luck in Trinidad. That sounds like it is going to be an awesome adventure.  Are you going to have any free time to get around and see some of the country or is it just going to be running?

I don't think that I realized how old Joe, Kaden, and Landen were.  I still picture Kaden as like 4 and Landen not even talking.
 

All is well in Seattle.

Love you all,

Elder B.

Baptism in Gator Country

Hey Mom!

It sounds like the usual summer festivities are keeping Manti alive again this year. Lol, to soothe your concerns, you may recall that after my five years of being a Lamanite warrior, Platform Dancer, and unbeliever, I spent the last few years of my pageant career as one of the 12 Nephite disciples, a handcart pioneer, and one of the people of Ammon who had been converted to the Lord.  =D  It sounds like the boys are having fun though.  I don't know that I would have recognized Joe in the photo you sent; he's getting old!  It's also weird to think of Gabe as a Senior.

Tell Daniel he'd better photo/video document the entire trip.  Perhaps having Michael along will help him to do that.  Haha, it doesn't sound like Michael is too serious himself on getting a job and "growing up" as you put it.  Let the hoorah's continue!  Sorry, Daniel, I won't be skinning any roadkill armadillos for you; the rumor is that they carry leprosy.  Happy Birthday anyway!  ;)

So this week was great!  Chris was baptized on Saturday in-between torrential downpours!  He read the Book of Mormon the first time to "prove it wrong" and ended up being converted and now he's almost through it for the second time.  He's got a strong knowledge of the scriptures and will be an incredible strength to the ward.  We had two elders who had taught him in the past come from various corners of the mission to witness his baptism - Elder Neville found a ride to come all the way from northern Savannah (about 5 hours away) and Elder Graham came from Jacksonville.

Saturday was actually a pretty eventful day. Elder Mecham and I started down to Chiefland first thing in the morning to do a baptismal interview for one of our district leaders, but they called when we were about halfway there and told us the investigator had to rearrange till later.  So at about 2, we drove down again only to find that this investigator had taken an emergency trip with her dad to a different town.  Grrrr.  We drove back to Gainesville with nothing accomplished and 100 miles already used up for the day.  During Chris's baptismal service, we got a text, the gal is ready to be interviewed and they need us down there pronto!  So as soon as the baptism was over, we start driving to Chiefland again, but for some reason the GPS is taking us a completely different route this time through a bunch of back roads.  We were driving through Bronson, about halfway there, going about 50 miles an hour, when we see a member speed past us going in the opposite direction.  We both saw each other at the same time and she hit her brakes and did a U-turn and we met on the side of the road. Turns out, she was bringing this young woman up to Gainesville for the interview and we had been going to Chiefland.  Miracles of Miracles! The Lord must have wanted this young gal baptized because we just happened to both be going along the same route that we never take and happened to see each other speeding past in different directions! If we had missed her we would have ended up in opposite cities 50 miles apart and the interview would not have happened. It was great - Elder Mecham and I were both rejoicing mightily! So I ran through a baptismal interview with this girl right there on the side of the road in Bronson on the steps of a Bail Bonds place!  Jesus just bailed another sinner!  Bahahaha!  It was a testimony builder to me that the Lord does arrange for things to happen when they need to!

Well, I love you all!  I hope all continues to go well.  Good luck, Lou; I'm praying for your job search.

Elder M.

 

 

Down to 7 Spanish Elders in Seattle

Family,

It sounds like you are having good weather in Utah. All of the members here say that summer starts after the 4th of July and we may see some sun then. We will just have to wait and see. We have had several great days of sun in the past but nothing that lasted too long. Definitely sounds like Corey is having a wonderful experience. A 100% different than anything I have ever known.

Jacob, what half marathon are you planning on running? Daniel, an all- expenses paid trip to go run sounds like a great idea. Let me know if you end up going. Gabe, way to go on two wins now...the Howell name continues!!! I remember the first Rat Fink 5k there were a lot of interesting prizes. Haha. I hope it has improved a little. Joe, are you going to be doing cross country in the fall? 7th place is good. Keep on training over the summer. Alecia, did you get a job? How is Logan treating you?

Well, this week was pretty rough for us. Literally everyone just kind of dropped us all of a sudden. Kind of a hard week. A lot of work and family matters just got in the way of anyone progressing. But we are continuing to stay happy and positive. We will be doing a lot of finding over this next week. Elder Mitchell (my old companion) goes home in a week and then we are down to an odd amount of Spanish Elders (7) and so we are not sure what will happen right now. They either have take one of the english elders and put them in the Spanish program of make another trio like they did before, but doing that would close down one of the areas. We get transfer calls on Sunday night and we will see what happens.  We think that a Spanish elder is in the MTC right now but won't be out for a transfer more.

Love ya family. Thank you for your support!

Elder B

McKay's Broken Finger

Hey Momma!

I got a good laugh out of your story of meeting Stephanie who worked for President Barry.  This is such a small world.  My companion lived in Folsom, California and I think we meet someone every week who has passed through or lived there as well. One of our investigators actually became an investigator when they found that commonality.   I'll be sure to pass Stephanie's comments along to President in my weekly email.

Daniel, I look forward to many pictures from a journey to the other side of the world representing our great nation!  Opportunities like that don't come to everyone - don't pass it up!  =D  

Well, I was jogging on the treadmill this week at the gym in our apartment complex and I got distracted and misplaced a step and slipped. I think I may have broken my left middle finger when I landed because it's black and blue around the joint and swollen to twice it's normal size (makes typing a bit difficult), but thankfully it has stopped hurting much.

In other news, yes, we do still have a baptism occurring this week, and, boy, what a baptism!  I think this one alone should count for 5 or 6 - he's been investigating for a long time now and has been through several sets of missionaries over the last year.  He's read the Book of Mormon  twice as well as the Doctrine and Covenants, and most everything else he can get his hands on, but he is very solid and is proceeding with the baptism even though his family is not happy at all with the choice.

We also have a woman from China that we encountered last week who is interested in "becoming a Christian".  She doesn't really understand the differences between all the denominations and just thinks that Christian is Christian, so I'm glad we found her first.  :) She came to church for testimony meeting and a gospel principles discussion on the Holy Ghost and says she was very grateful that she came.  Oriental people are so nice!

I shall end with a joke that I heard recently:

"Why did the chicken cross the road?   To prove to the armadillo that it could be done!"  Lol!

I love you all!  Thank you, both Mom and Grandma, for the packages! I'll open them in a couple of days.

Elder M. Howell