Weekly Photos From McKay

Sorry, not much time for a weekly letter.  The other elders are rushing me since they don't have anyone they love enough to write.  =D  JK, but here are a few photos from this week's adventures.  I thought of picking up a possum and sending it home for Daniel, but the only ones I can find are dead on the side of the road.  Maybe he would like a possum hide?  =D

 

They are huge on the Confederate States of America down here!  Lol, memorials everywhere.  People still fly the confederate flag along with the Georgia state flag.

I also included a photo of the old city hall and me after a long day of biking.  Thankfully, it was relatively cool that evening with a good breeze coming in.  P.S.  Palm trees are sweet.

MTC Week 4--Elder Ben

Family and Friends,

Well I didn't receive an email from the family this week (besides one from Jac).  I'm sure you are all doing great but it is nice to hear an update.  Reading McKay's letter I heard that Gabe took 2nd in a race!  Way to keep up the family tradition Gabe!  Next stop -- 1st at the 4th of July race and the County Fair race!!!  Keep training over the summer.

We had a district move out of our zone on Monday/Tuesday and head for Chile.  It is really weird to see them go.  Just makes me realize that I really have been in here that long.  A couple of them bore pretty personal and powerful testimonies on Sunday...I think that group was just about as prepared for the field as the MTC could make them.  We then received a new group of Elders yesterday.  I really haven't got to know any of them because they were busy unpacking last night and don't get the first P-day with us today.  There are 12 Elders in this new district and no sisters.  Yeah! my district is no longer the new guys of the zone.

In the gym at the MTC they keep records for exercise things.  The mile is a 4.48 so I was thinking about trying to break it before I leave.  Then I realized that I only have five weeks and one hour a day, 5 times a week to practice, without my running shoes.....ya I don't think it is going to happen.   Speaking of records, I think I set on the other week.  Not what you are thinking though.  It is my PR for how fast I could fall asleep.  Now family you know that that is pretty fast, but this took the cake by a long shot.   We were studying as a district one day in the common area of our building.  I was feeling pretty sleepy throughout all of this and was trying to stay awake.  My companion just explained to me what we would be teaching our investigator for our next lesson and had turned to talk to another companionship in the district.  When he turned back to me (no more then 30 seconds) I was asleep and they had to wake me up.  No kidding!   I'm not even sure how it happened.  I guess I still have my touch of falling asleep anywhere at anytime!

Yesterday while playing volleyball, Elder Jackson (in my district) went up to block a ball and it hit straight on with his finger.  The resulting effect could kind of be explained by an earthquake.  The joints on his index finger kind of acted like the plates of the earth might in an earthquake.  One part of his finger literally went under the other one where his joint is.  He said it didn't hurt too much.  He was taken off campus and a doctor was able to slide it back into place.  Crazy right!  He is fine today...his fingers are all bruised and fat but they are fine.   I'm not sure if anyone is going to be blocking any more spikes in volleyball.

I hope that you received my pictures.  I will take a few more because I heard that the ones that were taken were a little far away.  Not much time for picture taking in the MTC though.  Not too much to report -- we continue on with our studies and learning Spanish.
 

Life is good,

Elder B. Howell

Transfer 2, Week 2 (?) -Elder McKay

Hi Mom!

Thanks for the package!  I really was not expecting that and had a total blast opening it.  The cinnamon rolls were kind of stale, but I still enjoyed a couple of them.  The fruit leather was perfect though!  :)   Lol, we inflated the bouncing party balloons right away and started beating each other.  We must have put too much air into them though because they both popped after a few minutes.  Talk about loud!  My ears were still ringing several minutes later after one of them exploded near my head!  I don't plan on having any pork sandwiches tomorrow, but I did get some baked beans for dinner (yay!).  Unfortunately, we're busy enough that there won't be time to make a cake either, so I had to resort to a Wal Mart clearance rack cake and some ice cream for tomorrow night's after-planning party.  Hehehe...don't spread the word, but we're also planning on a raid on the other Brunswick elders with hundreds of those little party snaps!  War is on!   =D

Hmmm, this has actually been a pretty slow week where nothing really unusual or interesting happened.  Let's see....  Oh, ok, there was one moment that reminded me a little bit of Acts chapter 3.  We were biking along M.L.K. Jr. Boulevard into the ghetto when we hear a, "Hey you!" from a porch and someone waving out the corner of our eyes.  We skid to a stop and go back a few yards to find a middle-age black lady with a beard (no kidding) chilling on her porch with a joint of something that smoked.  "You boys got any money?"  We told her, no, we don't have any money ("Silver and gold, have I none), but we do have the word of God ("such as I have, give I thee").  She looked us up and down for a few seconds and then waved us off with a disgusted look saying, "I've already got all I want of that."  It's kinda sad how sometimes people can't see the need for something when they think they already have it.

We returned to the cochroach fighting ring last night - it was brutal and desperate, but this time the final score was Cochroaches: 1,  Elders: 0

We finally turned out the lights and went to sleep without finishing the hunt.  (sneaky little buggers...)

We have a recent convert in our ward who is from Australia.  Haha, her accent is 100% Aussie!  She calls all of the elders "Lovey".  She also has a monkey and several turtles (tortoises?) that she brought to the states with her.  I've attached a photo with me and Mick, a 52 pound turtle that is only "just a baby".  Apparently, he'll get up to about 200 pounds.  Now that's a turtle!

We also have a lot of trains that come through Brunswick. Some of these cars have some intensive graffiti art and I've attached a photo of one that Daniel might like - I know he's a Garfield fan.  :)

I'm glad to hear the family is doing well though.  It sounds like Lou is loving Phoenix.  Mmmmm, pool hopping.  Lol, we have a pool, but we just can't use it.  =P  Mom, I'll bet you have the pageant memorized more than any of your kids do after going through all of us having parts and quoting them around the house year after year.  "Behold, Zarahemna, we have not come out to battle against you that we might shed your blood for monarchy or power!  But behold, this is the very cause for which ye have come against us!"  Bwahahha, I think I might quote that this evening and Drive Elder Turner crazy tonight!  He gets great joy out of that sort of thing though: I already have to quote The Princess Bride and Incredibles for him almost every day.

Gabe finished 2nd!?  I feel like the odd Howell out...  It sounds like Joe is also turning into a speedster.  Maybe one of the youngest ones will compete for Daniel's running throne someday.  As for me doing P90X, well, let's just say I'm doing a trimmed down version of it.  :)  We don't have a whole lot of equipment or the actual fitness booklet or anything, so one of the Elders is just leading us through as much as he can remember from memory of what he did previously.  We do that about two or three times a week though and I'm enjoying it.

Rollin Nielson is in Florida, huh?  Does that make three or four of us from Manti that are serving in this state?  I guess I'm in Georgia, so I escaped.

Good luck with all the summer weddings. It still seems weird when people like Charles and Martha are getting married - I still think of them as super young, but I guess that just means I'm really old.  =P

Thanks for the prayers, I definitely need them!

Love ya'll,

Elder Mac

Elder Mckay and Mick

Elder Benjamin's Photos

Elder Lanier & Elder Howell (1st mission companion)

Elder Howells' District

Zone: 3 districts all Spanish speaking

All serving in the U.S.A. 

Elder Howell & Hermana (Sister) Hickman will both be serving in the Seattle Washington mission

Serving in South America

Elder Jacksons' suitcase full of Mountain Dew

Week 3 in the MTC for Elder Ben!

Hola to all,

Sounds like the family has been pretty busy this last week.  We have had people moving, getting roasted in 109 degree weather, running in state track, going to Disneyland, running in western regionals, battling crazy insects in Georgia, getting married, and being wicked Lamanites in the pageant....phew...what a week!

We had a companionship leave for the Peru MTC on Wednesday morning.  Elder Richards and Elder Jensen were in the same room as Elder Lanier and I, so now it is just the two of us. 

For all of the people that are just dying for pictures I printed some of them out and will be mailing them today.  With my non-computer ways I can't find a way to email my pictures, or have time to do it. I will be mailing my SD card to Sheena and she will be able to crop them and touch them up (some of them are far away).

Gabe and Joe, keep up the awesome tradition of being wicked Lamanites!  Maybe someday one of you will have to defect and give mom a righteous Nephite that she so deserves.  Although I agree, there isn't much more fun then being in a costume that shows a whole lot of insect food (skin) for the biting, freezing some nights as it rains on you, and getting limited amounts of sleep. Nothing like the experience!

Jacob, I don't like the sound of your job at all.  If I saw that it was 109 degrees outside I don't think I would get any selling done.  Instead I would be inside drinking a glass of ice water.  Keep up the good work though it sounds like you are selling a lot down there.

Daniel, no bueno on getting a cramp on the regional run.  There is always next year I guess. Where are you going to be working at during the summer? Keep me posted.

Jaclyn and Zack + kids how was Disneyland?  Sounds nice to have a little vacation! 

Alecia, you have now graduated and moved!  Hopefully you can find a job soon in AZ.

McKay, love reading your updates.  It's good to hear about missionary work....and your crazy insect stories.  Sounds like everyday is a new experience to write about.  Happy Birthday!

Not to much report with me this week.  I continue to learn in the MTC....but still look forward to getting into the field.  It is weird to think that I haven't been out of a block radius in over 3 weeks!  hahah  That has never happened before.  It is weird to see all the new missionaries coming in...they are so confused as to where to go and what to do.  I hope I wasn't like this.  The MTC is getting so many missionaries.  With school being out everyone put their leave date for around now.  The past 2 weeks the MTC has gotten over 2 thousand missionaries and every place is pretty packed.

Well time is running out for me.  Love you all.

Elder B. Howell

McKay -- Battle of the Cockroaches

Hi Mom!

My legs are definitely getting stronger and my abs are firming up from this P-90X stuff, but I'm still a long way from "Elder Buff"!  Lol, thanks for the confidence though; at least it gives me a goal to work towards!   ;)

Thanks for sending Daniel's email - I'll start including him in these too.  I was bummed to hear that he wasn't feeling too well in his race.  It still sounds super speedy to me, but I guess nationals is more intense than that.  Next year for sure!!  I  laughed pretty hard when you told me about Benji's mail blitz - 32 letters in one day???!!  Yep, I'm pretty sure that beats any other MTC record out there.  Lol, it probably took him three days just to read all of it.  =P    I'm sure he needs it with being in "Spirit Prison" for 8 weeks; I wasn't there long enough to get sick of the walls, so I can't really feel the despair that some of those elders go through.  He's definitely in store for some crazy experiences though. I'm pretty sure those come as part of the mission package. For example...

This week we were visiting a latino guy and came out to find some random stranger sitting on his steps totally drunk.  I don't think I've ever seen a person so drunken and not passed out, but it was really fun to try to talk with him.   He recognized us as missionaries right off and started slurring out something about church, but he was really hard to understand and half of his words were in Spanish, so there wasn't much actual communication happening. We wrote him a note on a pass along card and put it in his pocket for when he's sober.  =D

Our two minister investigators are actually really sweet!  I love 'em both and we have some really top notch discussions when we see them!  Neither one of them is into Bible bashing and they are earnestly seeking God's will in their lives.  It's a big blessing to come across true Christians who "hunger and thirst after righteousness".  We picked up another lady this week who I feel is a lot the same way - just real solid people.  I love em!

Transfer meeting happened this past week.  No surprise, I'm staying in Brunswick, but Elder Mcfarland (one of my trainers) went home.  We lost 8 missionaries - four of them were legendary in this mission. Lol, by popular vote, a bunch of us decided that Elder Pelo will someday be a general authority. 

Hmmm, oh yes, this week I had boiled peanuts for the first time!  If you've never tried them, it's definitely a Southern treat.  People sell them in stores, by the highways, everywhere!  But I'd never tried them until a few days ago.  I nearly went through a whole bag in just a few minutes!

Elder Turner and I swung through an old cemetery the other day that looks mostly overgrown.  It was a really cool thing to find hundreds of veteran soldiers from the "War Between the States" (they don't call it the Civil War down here).  All of those graves had little Confederate flags planted next to them.  The oldest headstone that we could find in the few minutes we were there was from 1840.

There is one benefit from the humidity here - ten minutes outside will remove all wrinkles from your clothing!  There is no need for an iron in this weather and I'm definitely appreciating that.  It sounds like Jacob got the worst end of the deal when he moved to Texas though.  We've been reaching 90s, but nothing over 100 yet.  I think the clouds and the ocean breezes help to moderate that.  Hopefully he doesn't come back all dried up and shriveled out!  =P

Remember those Christian based books you would use for our homeschool studies?  I guess we're so close to their headquarters that they have private schools based around that curriculum.  We bike past the Abeka Academy every couple of days.

Quote of the Week:  "This is the chillest time of our lives - we get to bike around and talk about Jesus all day!"  ~  Elder Turner

Ah, so true.  Responsibilities are very much minimal on a mission.  Which is awesome because it allows for complete focus!

Congrats to Crystal and Brandt!  That's bummer that you didn't get to have a honeymoon right away, but I'm sure you'll enjoy the Caribbean later on!  It sounds like there have been a lot of opportunities for family to get together this summer and I'm glad to hear all is well.  Hopefully Gabe and Joe will have a blast with pageant season this summer!  I always did, so it ought live up to Joe's expectations.  Let me guess, he is going to be a wicked and rebellious Lamanite Warrior just like his elder brethren??!

OK, so to wrap things up, I want to tell a story of epic proportions (dun dun dun).  Late Friday night, Elder Turner and I were getting ready for bed.  He was sitting at his desk peacefully reading, when all of a sudden......(suspense).....something ran across his foot!!!   After jumping a few feet in the air and setting the chair upright again, we began searching for the cause.  Within a few short minutes we were engaged in a desperate battle for our lives with the local ninja cockroach militia!  They pulled out all stops and charged our lines!  We desperately held them back, throwing everything we could into the defenses - pop cans, rubber bands, granola bars, knives, Preach My Gospel...you name it, it became a weapon!  The cockroach militia was well skilled in the stealthy arts of the ninja though and they could strike and then retreat into the shadows where we were hard pressed to hunt them out.  After a fierce skirmish, we began to gain the upper hand and forced them to retreat into the north west corner of the room where we trapped them behind a desk.  After quickly considering our growing arsenal of artillery weapons, we built our courage and went in to finish the job with hand to hand combat!  The swords came out and we let out a fierce rebel yell during the last charge!   ....Thirty minutes after bed time, the battle was over.  Our room was filled with carnage and scattered items, overturned desks, beds, books, and other miscellaneous items, but we were victorious!!!  The feelings of accomplishment ran pretty high until the district leader poked his head into the room and asked why were were making such a ruckus at 11pm and keeping them up.  Hmmm, the homeland does not appreciate the work of a soldier. (Sigh). Surveying the mess, we decided that most of it could wait until morning and turned out the lights.

Well, other than that, it hasn't been a super happening week.  The other Brunswick elders had a baptism yesterday and we sang for that again.  Sunsets here are also awe inspiring (photo attached).  Also, what's with the urban camo/new age boat?

Love ya'll!

Elder 'Buff' McKay Howell

Thanks for letter blitz!

Thanks to everyone who contributed towards the letter blitz for Ben a week ago.  He got 32 letters in one day!  I don't know if that is an MTC record, but it certainly made his day.  Thanks for your help.