Catching up, part 2...(September '13)

. . . .We were going to have a baptism last Saturday, but the grandma called us and said that the little girl's father wants to see it, but he lives in Santiago, and can't come up till this weekend. We're hoping it's true. It's taking everything we have and more to get this little girl baptized. I have no idea how many missionaries have been working with this family. I don't think I told you last week...we were visiting them and asked us if we could help them paint a room in their house. We told them sure, why not! Well we went, and it ended up being two rooms and the outside of the house. Took all day! Man....so. much. paint. But it paid off, because the mom FINALLY signed the form giving permission to baptize her daughter!!! We're really hoping everything goes smoothly.

We went contacting in one of the street malls on Saturday, and I got fried. Oh boy, my neck and arms are so unbelievably red, it's actually pretty hilarious. But it's just starting to be summer here, so I was used to not having to wear sunscreen all day during the winter...but the sun is coming out more and more...gah, I can't imagine what it's going to be like in December, the middle of summer! I'm going to melt. But I love it. I love the heat!!!! I will just have to make sure I wear a TON of sunscreen. It actually doesn't get that hot here, so I hear...the highest it gets is like 80 degrees, but because of the climate, it feels a lot more hotter. I couldn't tell you if it's a dry climate or humid because we really are in the desert, and it feels kind of dry, but I remember first arriving here and thinking about how humid it is. We have to be careful in our apartment with everything because everything molds if it sits for too long....so I'm guessing it's humid here...hahahah maybe I've just gotten used to it because I don't feel like it's that humid. Oh well. I'm loving the climate. The dead of winter here was like 40 degrees. It was nice :)

We went paintballing again this morning! I got some nice welts on my thigh. But it was way fun!

Everything for Paulina and Edgar's wedding is going great! I am so excited! But with stake conference this weekend, Paulina is going to wait to be baptized next weekend, and I really hope I am here to see it! We have transfers this Saturday! I have no idea what to think. I've been here in the same sector for 3 cambios, so what is that...about 4 and a half months. But I wanna stay at least one more! I guess you'll know next Monday!

. . . . . What a crazy week! You ready for this loaded email? Friday was the craziest day ever. I don't even know where to start. In the morning, we helped Paulina and Edgar decorate the church for their wedding later that night. They had around 400 balloons for us to blow up. That took up a lot of the morning. But once everything was set up and ready, it looked really great. Their wedding started at 7:00 and it was just beautiful! I loved it! But this is where it gets crazy. Maria Jesus, one of our investigators, was also getting baptized after stake conference...which also started at 7:00. So immediately after they got hitched, we literally booked it down the street. And I mean seriously, we ran down the highway until we could find a taxi to take us to the stake center all the way on the other side of Arica. But we made it in time to see Maria Jesus get baptized and congratulate her and take pictures. Then Edgar had called us telling us they were waiting for us to cut the cake. So we ran again until we found a taxi and booked it to the church where they finally cut the cake and everything. Then we had to run home to get home by ten. But Maria Jesus got baptized and Paulina and Edgar are married!!!! Yay!!!!

Saturday President called us and told us that two Hermanas from Iquique were having visa problems and needed to stay in our pension for the weekend. We already have four sisters staying there, so let's just say it was a fun-packed weekened. And later that night we found out cambios. Hermana LeFevre and I didn't wanna leave or get separated because we both wanted to see Maria Jesus get confirmed and Paulina get baptized (side note: it was stake conference this weekend so Maria Jesus couldn't get confirmed). But Hermana LeFevre is actually staying in the same pension, but working in a different sector, the other ward across the highway. I found out that I'm going to Iquique (ee-kee-kay) and working with Hermana Kennedy, and that they're putting Elders in Costanera A. I hope they send me lots of pictures of Paulina's baptism!!!

But now I'm here in Iquique with Hermana Kennedy, and I can tell I'm going to love it. We live with members, and they already seem great! Our sector is pure hills, we're right on the side of the mountain, but I'm excited! Change is good!!! Let's do this!

. . . . .We had a conference with President Dalton this last Wednesday. We just talked about goals for the mission and how he expects us to accomplish them. Wasn't much more than that. One of the goals is to have a temple at least announced for northern Chile....it's definitely a high goal, seeing as how it's hard for people to attend church, let alone the one temple they have in Santiago. But that's how we accomplish that...getting people to church!!! Oh, but I heard that Paulina got baptized on Saturday and Edgar got an advancement in the priesthood the Sunday before. Yay!!! That was good news :)

We had this Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) for the ward on Friday....this ward doesn't really do activities, so not much people showed up, because I think they just aren't used to that kind of thing. But of the people that did come, two were investigators! One came on his own and the other, a member brought. So something did come out of it. And the members that came really liked it. So let's hope the habit of having ward activities picks up.

Saturday, we cleaned the church. Just me, Kennedy, and the two Elders in our ward. I don't think our chapel has been cleaned since like....ever. It was so dirty, but it really felt nice to clean up as much as we could. We focused on cleaning the sacrament room. The bishop commented on it too. I hope the members also realize the importance of a clean church, because really, I feel like church was so different yesterday....

This morning, we hiked up the side of a mountain of sand. It was the hardest thing, but man, it felt sooooooo good to finally reach the top. You could easily gospel relate it too. And being missionaries, that's what we did. Life (or the mission) is a huge mountain. And it really bites the big one to climb and climb and feel like you're never gonna reach the top. You wind and zig-zag and just go straight up to find what works, but it's still hard no matter what. But if you walk in the footsteps of the person in front of you that knows the way (that being Christ) it really does make it easier. Sometimes you have to get on your hands and knees to reach the top, but when you get there and look back on what you climbed, this joy just fills you up because then you see everything so clearly. Man, it was definitely a one-in-a-lifetime thing (because I definitely never wanna do it again)...but it was awesome that's for sure.

Love ya!  Hermana Howell

Catching up! ...(September '13)

Hi all,

I know it's been awhile, sorry, but missionary works keeps me busy.  Since I last posted Hermana Lefevre was my comp & I was in Arica, since then . . . . . 

. . . . we went to the mummy museum with the oldest mummies in the world. It was pretty sweet, but also kind of a one time thing. All the mummies are liked wrapped in this cloth so you just see this blanket figure. Some of them have hands sticking out, and you can see the nails and everything, but yeah, not much else haha. Still cool though!

Normal teaching and whatnot. There are a lot of changes to the mission with President Dalton, but they're pretty much just like the way we report numbers and stuff like that. Nothing huge.

Today we all went to the beach and played around. We have the coolest missionaries here in Arica. Loving life and the mish. Hope all is well at home! 

**Pic's from the Mummy Museum

. . . . Remember Paulina and Edgar?! They're getting married the Friday before transfers, 6th of September! I am so excited! They are willing to take this step in life without their families being present to be obedient to the commandments of God and also so she can get baptized. They are so wonderful!

This Friday, Elder Viñas of the Sevently will be here and we are having a conference. Should be good!!!

Sorry this email is so short, but it gets hard to write about things when we do the same thing everyday. But don't worry, I tell you all the cool stuff. We went to a horse jumping competition...whatever it's called in English, and it was pretty cool. 

. . . . We had a conference on Friday with Elder Viñas, area 70. Of course, we were asked to do the musical number. It turned out really really good. It was a nice conference. I love conferences! I learn so much.

**Conference with Elder Viñas

¡Les amo mucho!

Hermana Howell

I'll let the pictures do the talking

July 29,2013

Well, mostly the pictures say it all, but Wilson didn't get baptized last Saturday, or Franco. Just Kayla! Which is still awesome! That little girl is so cute. But Wilson had the baptismal interview, and things came up that he needs to work out before he gets baptized. Pray for him!

But not much else happened! We had a ward activity oh yeah...did I tell you it was cambio time again? Both me and Hermana LeFevre are staying in Arica! I'm so happy. I love my comp and this sector :) But I'll let the pictures do the talking :)   Enjoy!

Love ya!

Hermana Howell

P-Day at Playa Corazones, Hearts Beach

CHUNGARA!!!!!!!!!!! Coolest place ever...literally it was freezing!

 And that armadillo was in the little restaurant we ate in Putre, the little town down the road :)

The cutest puppy in the world :)

A bike with my home town on it! haha

Awesome week! Except for......

July 22, 2013

Wow! What a week! Last Monday, we went to Playas Corazones, and it was the coolest, prettiest thing ever! I will send pictures next week because this computer does not have somewhere to download them, and I do not have much time. But anyway, the waves were HUGE and there were all these caves and really cool places to go exploring! I wish you all could have seen it. So sweet!

So guess what. You know a few weeks back how I told you I have had problems with bed bugs? Turns out that was not the problem. I had lice. LICE. I cannot believe I went for 11 WEEKS and did not know! We were visiting an investigator, and they were talking about lice, I do not remember why, but I mentioned that my head had itched a lot these past couple months. She went and got this really fine-toothed comb and went through my hair...and sure enough! Lice. Ew I could not believe it. I wanted to cry. She combed all she could out of my hair and killed them, and without even telling me, put this cream in my hair that smelled like a mix between sun screen and limes. It was weird. She told me I had to sleep with it in and wash it out in the morning, and they should all be dead. How embarrassing. We had intercambios that night with the sister leader trainers, and Hermana Osorio was pro at lice treatments. She sat there and picked out hair by hair all the eggs. Okay, not all of them because that is impossible, but she got SO many out! Do not worry, I bought some shampoo, and slowly but surely, I am being cured. Gahhh I still cannot believe it. But it all comes with the mission I guess! Hahaha, I will look back on this later and laugh...I hope.

So I guess while I was Hermana Osorio for the intercambio, Wilson (our investigator that was to be baptized last Saturday), called Hermana LeFevre and said he needed to talk to us. Great. He told her that he had been studying all that we gave him, and he really realized what kind of committment baptism is, and it is not something to be treated lightly. He decided he was not ready to be baptized last Saturday, but he will be ready this Saturday! We are also working with his friend, Franco, to be baptized this Saturday. Also, did I ever tell you about Kayla? She is an investigator we have been working with FOREVER, and she is 12 years old. Last Saturday, her mom FINALLY gave permission for her to be baptized! So she is this Saturday too! And today, our zone leaders told us that the Elders Quorum President's son still has not been batpized, so we are going to get him baptized this Saturday. Sooooo you know what that means? If all goes well, we will have 4 baptisms this Saturday! And Hermana Garcia and Miner have a baptism as well, so our ward should be getting 5 batpisms this Saturday. That is so nuts! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!

(And I have no idea why it changed to italics. Oh well.)

Hahahahahaha funnniest thing. We got permission and went to the pharmacy on Friday to buy my shampoo. We walked in, and the security guard comes up to us and tries to practice his English with us. First he says, "What is your problem?" So I tell him "Piojos" which is lice. He tells me where I have to go and everything is normal...then he keeps trying to practice.

"You can go to cine? Movies?"

"No, somos misioneras. Estamos aquí para predicar el evangelio." (We are missionaries. We are here to preach the gospel.)

"You are pretty. Very nice. Very beautiful."

"O...k....thanks."

"You living...live...life in Chile?"

"Um....what?"

"Vivir conmigo." (Live with me.)

"Oh. No."

After that my number had been called and I went and bought my shampoo.While we were waiting to pay, he comes up and says "I like you." and walks away. Hermana LeFevre and I were dying of laughter. He told us his name is Ignacio and he is 23 years old. Oh buddy. Thanks but no thanks. As we were walking out, we gave him a pass-along card. He immediately puts it in his pocket without looking and this is what happened:

"Your number?"

"Sí, puede llamar el numero atrás y recibir un vídeo sobre como hallar la fe en Jesucristo." (You can call the number on the back and recieve a video about finding faith in Jesus Christ.)

"I like you."

"Ok. Chau." (I have no idea how to spell that. Chao. Chau. Chow? hahaha)

That was so funny. Great times on the mission, let me tell you.

Oh Saturday, all of our appointments fell through, and we were trying to figure out who to visit. Hermana LeFevre said that Hermana Carranza (the sister she worked with during the intercambio) gave her some addresses for less-actives. We tried all of them and no one answered the door. Then the very last one, Carolina, let us in. It was the perfect timing. She told us how she had been feeling she needed to go back to church, but she felt really alone. We are going to visit her so much now! What a miracle it is to be a missionary.

Today was the coolest ever. We went to Chungara this huge volcano, it was awesome!!! We had a guide who is a member I guess, I did not feel sick or anything. It is about 15,000 feet above sea level, so not much oxygen. People vomit, pass out, and everything. So I was really nervous for that, but nothing happened! I didn't feel a thing. I have no idea why. I mean, I felt a lot more tired and had to walk a lot slower, but I did not feel nausea or dizzyness or anything. Like I said, I will send pics next week! 

Well, that was an awesome week! I hope it will be just as awesome this week! 

Love you!

Hermana Howell

HIS will

July 15, 2013

Hey there!

Oh boy, what a week. I don't remember if I told you, but we had a FHE at the bishop's home last Monday with Paulina and Edgar. It went super well. You could tell the bishop and his wife were really following the Spirit, because they told them that Paulina couldn't progress until they got married, and the time they're using to wait is just wasted time. It was really direct, but done with love and the Spirit that it went really well. We went to visit Paulina and Edgar on Wednesday, and I gotta tell you, they're the best! We were telling them that transfers are in 2 weeks, and it's possible that we could be leaving and different missionaries will be coming. They were sad and said they hope we don't change, but then Edgar said "But if you do get transferred, you don't have to worry about us, because we're always going to remember the Hermana's that found us and brought us back to our Father in Heaven. We'll never ever forget you. You saved us." It was really Spiritual. We just feel so connected to them. They seem so much older than they really are. They're both 23, but they just act so mature. Paulina is ready to be baptized, but they aren't getting married until December because they want all their family to be there...so that's a bummer. But we've pushed and pushed and they know what they have to do now. We're just praying for a miracle that maybe somehow it'll work out that they can get married and have her baptized before we get changed. Hermana LeFevre and I emailed President Dalton saying that if it be God's will, we'd like to stay another cambio...he said that's probably okay! :) Yay!!!

So the two baptisms we have this Saturday...one of them, Franco, isn't gonna happen. I don't think he realized that it's not just something the cool kids do...it's a covenant with God. So he isn't going to be baptized this Saturday. But his friend Wilson...oh he's golden! Last night we watched the Joseph Smith movie with him, and after it ended he said "That's a really good movie. What's it called? I'm going to buy it!" It was funny because you don't just hear investigators say that about the Joseph Smith movie. But he said that since he's been taking the discussions, he's a completely different person. He's happier and wants to help his family and he just sees the difference in his life already. It's so great to see the change in him. At first he was just like any other 18 year old kid, and now, he's ready to change his life. So this Saturday is the day! I'm so excited and happy for him.

Well, that's it for this week! 

Hermana Howell

Random picture having a breakfast burrito, which never happens!