December 17, 2012

Family!!!!  I miss you all like crazy!!!  It is weird having a Christmas season without you guys.  It hasnt felt like much of a Christmas season yet cuz it is so hot here!  haha I have never sweat so much in my life!  It is crazy humid here too.  But I love being in Brasil!!

So this week on Tuesday, we had our Mission Christmas Conference.  It was in Florianopolis, so we took a bus there with a bunch of missionaries.  It was a lot of fun!  Floripa is so cool!  And it was so good to see all my friends again at the conference.  President gave a couple talks, and we had lunch and then some funny presentations given by some of the districts.  It was a good time!

This week seemed super busy!  Me and Elder Val were in the choir for our Ward Christmas party on Saturday so we had to practice that a lot throughout the week.  I love the ward here.  There are so many cool people in this ward and they go ALL OUT for activities here! haha for the Christmas party, there was a play, and they made this huge nativity set on the stage for the play.  It turned out to be super cool and everyone loved it.  I was happy that I got to participate in the choir, even though I hate singing! haha but it was a really good time.  I have a lot of fun with Elder Val, and also with the members of the ward.

Yesterday, there was a Stake Christmas Devotional.  It was really good.  It was full of music and had pictures of our Savior on a projector.  I felt the Spirit way strong at the Devotional.  It is the first time here that I have felt the Christmas Spirit, cuz it is so different from home! haha.  I never thought I'd say this, but I just want it to snow here! haha I MISS THE SNOW!  Christmas just isnt the same without family, friends, and snow.

This week we taught Marcelo again.  His wife wasnt able to be there for the lesson, so we met with him.  He is doing good!  In January, his working on Sundays will end, so he will be able to start coming to church with his family.  We are planning on meeting again with them this week and teaching his wife the first lesson.  

We didnt have a whole lot of teaching time this week, cuz things fell through and we were busy with Christmas stuff, but this week will be great!  I cant believe that Christmas is a week from tomorrow.  I am sooo excited to call you all and talk to you guys!!!  I love you all and I will email you guys next week and then the next day I'll CALL you guys :)  Love you!!!  Tell Morgan that I love her too!  And you guys have fun at the Howard Christmas party.  Tell everyone that I say hi!

Love,

Elder Howard

December 10, 2012

FAMILY!!!!  I miss you guys like crazy!  I always get so stoked to talk to you all each week!!!

This week went by super fast for some reason!  I really like it here in Itajai.  The members are great!  I have made so many new friends in the ward and they are really good to us!  Also, Elder Val is great!  He is a really good companion and we have a great time together.

So this week we met with Jandira again, and while we were there, her friend Ezekiel decided to stay for our message.  Because he was there, we taught him quickly about the BOM and gave him a BOM to read.  We then taught them about Nephi and how he always did as the Lord commanded him.  It was a really good lesson and I felt the Spirit strong.  I always do when teaching cuz I can feel the things that we are teaching are true.  We invited them both to come to church, and they said they would.  But when Sunday rolled around, they never showed up.  It made me so sad cuz I really felt like they would come and the lesson went well.

We ran into this guy named Fabio the other day.  We had met him one other time before.  He lived in England for a couple years so he speaks really good English. Has a funny accent too! haha.  But we talked with him, and he told us he wanted the church back in his life.  He was a member but has been inactive for quite some time.  We made arrangements to meet him at his restaraunt just before church so that he could come with us.  We got there on Sunday and he never showed up, so we called him and his phone was off.  He never made it to church.  This made me sad too!  Things were going well with him, Jandira and Ezekiel, but when Sunday rolled around they didnt follow through.  It is tough when we work hard and do our part, but the others dont follow through.  But we are working hard and sticking with it!

We met with this guy named Marcelo and his family.  He lives with his girlfriend and their daughter.  They arent married yet, but we are trying to make steps to getting them married.  He is a less-active member, and she isnt a member.  They are a really great family!  We invited them to start to read the BOM each day as a family for just a few minutes.  We will follow-up with them this week on that.  Marcelo works on Sundays, but that ends this month, so he plans to come with his family each week starting in January.  This will be so great for his family!

So we had two days set up to meet with Danubia again, but we went to her house 4 times each of the two days and she was never there.  That kinda sucked, but luckily we ran into her on Sunday on the street.  She gave us her cell phone number and told us that her mom didnt want her to hear from us anymore, but she said she really wants to learn more.  We have plans this week to follow-up with her.  I know it will be tough with her mom, but I do feel like she has a desire to learn more and grow in our church.

This week had its ups and downs with people, but we are working hard and doing our part.  I love you all so much and I am so excited to talk to you all on CHRISTMAS!!!  It is coming up fast!  Tell Morg that I love her and you guys have fun for Laurens birthday tomorrow!

Ill talk to you in a week!

Elder Howard

December 3, 2012

FAMILY!!!!  I miss you guys like crazy!!!!  I am so stoked that Christmas is getting closer and closer so that I will be able to skype you all.  I love you guys!

So this week started off a little rough cuz my health wasnt too great.  My stomach was messin with me and I had body aches.  But I got a blessing the other night from Elder Val and now I am back to 100%!!!  I am so grateful for Priesthood Blessings.  

I had my first baptism this week... Thought you guys might wanna hear that! haha.  It was super random how it happened.  The zone leader was with us, and he had to interview the girl named Veronica before she could be baptized.  Veronica was taught by the sisters in Balneariu, and they said that they didnt have anyone to baptize her.  The zone leader was planning on doing it, but I spoke up and said, "Eu quero batizar ela." meaning "I want to baptize her."  The zone leader, Elder Souza, told me to grab my white clothes and lets go!  We headed to Balneariu, and the whole time I was on the bus I was reciting the baptism prayer.  I was so nervous, especially cuz it is all in Portugues!! haha.  We got there and I met Veronica for the first time.  She is 16 years old and is the only member of her family that is going to be baptized.  The meeting started and it was time for the baptism.  I think I was more nervous than she was.  And then to make my nerves worse, the water was FREEZING! haha and you guys know how much I hate cold water.  It reminded me of my baptism when Bishop Johnson told me he had just gotten done putting ice cubes in the water. hahah.  But anyways, the ordinance went great and was such a cool experience!  I could feel the spirit so strong, and I know that she could too.  I know that it wasnt technically my baptism, cuz the sisters did all the work, but I felt honored and grateful to perform the ordinance.  I am grateful to be a missionary and to help out people in whatever way possible.

We taught Jandira twice this week.  Her situation is very difficult with her addiction to cigarretes.  She is such a great lady though and I think we might be making a little progress.  She loves us and loves seeing us so we definitely have her trust.  We are also wworking a lot with her daughter Jennifer (who is a member) to do all that we can to help Jandira.

We got a new investigator this week.  Her name is Danubia.  We arrived at her house and her mom almost kicked us out.  Her mom is die hard catholic and didnt want us teaching her daughter.  But Danubia begged her mom, and she allowed us to stay.  We taught her the first lesson and it went great.  Then, she accepted baptism on the 22nd of this month.  We meet with her again tomorrow, so hopefully she still has that in her plans.  I know that it will be incredibly difficult with her mom and everything, but if she has the desire, I know that the Lord will provide a way.

I loved all your emails this week.  I miss you guys like crazy!  Im glad that mom got to talk to Elder Vals mom.  I really like Elder Val.  He is a fun and pleasant person to be around and we are enjoying our time here. And by the way, I am eating SOOOO much.  I cant gain weight!!! hahaha hopefully I do soon tho! 

It will be three months on the mission this week!  Pretty crazy.  I love you all and I will write next week!  Tell Morg that I love her a lot as well!!  

Elder Howard

Photos from Brazil - November 26, 2012

Landon uploaded some photos from his mission. You can view them here:

http://s1277.beta.photobucket.com/user/lhow4/library/

Letter - November 26, 2012

FAMILY!!!!  I am so glad its been another week so that I get to talk to you all again.  First off, President said we can email family, so if Uncle Curt or anyone else wants to email me, they can directly.  I miss you all like crazy!  I got your Christmas package ready today!  I will be sending it off tomorrow so be ready for it.  It should be pretty sweet!

So this week was 100x better!!!  I am starting to love it out here.  The week started off normal.  I was still sick so Talvane took me to the doctor.  The doctors office is at the hospital here and is soooo sketchy!  It is on the same floor as the emrgency rooms...  I saw people get rushed in, I saw people covered in blood from head to toe, I saw people go into a room and come out bawling after saying their final goodbyes, and I saw a body bag get wheeled out.  Luckily I didnt see the body.  It was seriously the saddest thing ever.  We didnt get into the doctor, so we went the next day.  They drew my blood and did an xray of my chest cuz I was having pressure from coughing.  Everythhing looked great and they gave me more medication.  This time it is actually helping.  I feel back to 100% now and I love it.

So Talvane got an emergency transfer on Friday to go be a Zone Leader in Lajes.  So I got a new companion on Friday.  His name is Elder Val and is from Layton.  He is a really cool kid!  He played basketball and soccer in high school, so this morning we went and shot around at the church.  It was a lot of fun.  It helps that he knows English too! haha.  But he has really helped me with my Portugues and it is coming along nicely.

On Saturday there was a ward talent show.  They go ALL OUT here! haha it was a lot of fun!  They were bumpin American music like Shania Twain.  We were definitely getting into it.  Then me and three other Elders sang Silent Night or Noite Feliz with an investigator.  It went really well.  I sang really quiet so that they could hear the good singers and not my terrible voice! haha.  But it was a lot of fun!  I love the ward members here.  They are so friendly and so welcoming.  We eat at a members house every single day for lunch, cuz lunch is the biggest meal for them here.  It is great and I love the food here. I am glad that you guys accepted Eddy on Facebook.  We stop by his house almost every night before going home.  They are members and are such a big help to us out here.  I love them a lot.  I will Skype you guys from their house on Christmas :)

Last night, we taught Ajona and Leblum, the two guys from Haiti.  We taught them about the Book Of Mormon.  I could feel the Spirit so strong and I think that they could too.  I love the Spirit that I feel as we teach this true gospel.  I love this gospel and I love the opportunity that I have to share it with others and bring the happiness to their lives.  Both of them committed to reading 3 Nephi 11, and we are going to follow up with them tomorrow about it.  So I will keep you posted :)

Sounds like you guys had a great Thanksgiving!  Mine was pretty lame cuz I spent the day at the doctors and just thought of you guys having fun! haha.  I miss you all like crazy!  I am lovin it out here and I know it will keep getting better and better, especially as I learn this language.  I can feel the Lord helping me every step of the way.  I cant thank you all enough at home for all your prayers.  I have truly felt so much spiritual help out here and it has helped me adjust quicker than I ever though possible.

Love you all and I will talk to you guys in a week :)

Elder Howard

FAMILY!!!!!

Holy Cow I miss you like freakin crazy!!!  So President is crackin down on the rules, so we can only email family.  We cant email friends or even other missionaries.  Pretty lame.  So if people ask, just send them this weekly email.  Also, we arent allowed to chat back and forth either.  Pretty lame as well!

This week had its ups and downs.  It is definitely a rollercoaster out here, but I think that the rollercoaster is going up.  It is just a rough adjustment for me.  I have never prayed so hard in my life.  Or so much.  I feel like I am constantly pleading with my Heavenly Father for help and he sends it.  I love prayer so much.  Through prayer, we are able to talk to our Creator one on one.  WE, insignificant people, get to talk to the most powerful being in the world.  How cool is that?  I feel a lot of help come through prayer.  I am so grateful for prayer.

So this week had some cool experiences!  We taught these two men, one named Lebloom and the other Ajona.  They are from Haiti.  We got to their house, and it was only one room.  There are three beds in there, a tiny TV and a stove.  I just wanted to cry I felt so bad for them.  We are so blessed to have so much.  They live in one room underneath an unfinished building.  This building is where they work everyday.  They are away from their family in Haiti.  Their kids and wives live there.  They told us how so many members of their family have died.  I just wanted to cry again hearing all this.  Super sad to hear how hard their lives are.  But we taught them the first lesson, and I did a lot of the teaching.  Elder Talvane pushes me to teach, and it really helps me use my Portuguese   At the end, we committed Ajona to baptism, and Lebloom is going to pray about our lesson, and if he receives an answer, he will be baptized.  So cool!  We want to have them baptized by the end of this month.  It would be awesome!

We are also teaching another lady named Jindira.  She has been taught for a while now.  She has been a smoker for 40 years now.  But she believes in the things we teach her and she knows the church is true.  She just needs to take that leap of faith and be baptized.  Along with her, we are teaching her cousins.  A wife, husband and young child.  We also invited them to be baptized.  They will pray about it and see if they get an answer.  I hope that they do.

Today we went on a crazy cool hike for PDay!  I took some super cool pictures.  Is there a website that I could upload all my pictures each week so that you guys can see them too?  I want to share all of them with you guys!  And sorry, I dont have my cable to upload photos this week.  On Saturday, we went and toured a Brazilian Navy ship.  It was super cool!!  Also, I teach English class twice a week each week.  I really like it, cuz I get to speak English! haha.  Portugues fries my brain each day, but all the people here say that my Portugues is the best they have heard for a new missionary.  So I just need to be patient with myself.

I love hearing all about your guys week!!  It sounds like you are having so much fun together!  Please please please dont worry about me out here.  Thats the last thing that I want.  I dont want you guys to worry about me.

I love you all and I will talk to you again next week!!!  Try to find a website or something that we can upload photos back and forth to eachother!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Elder Howard

Letter - 11/12/2012

FAMILY!!!!! I miss you all so much!! Like a lot.

My first are is called Itajaí. I love the people here and it is a super cool place. It is up the coast from Floripa. The members here are so welcoming and so nice! They all told me that my Portugues is the best they have ever heard for a greenie (a new missionary).

My companion is named Elder Talvane. He is a Brasilian and only speaks a little bit of English. He is awesome tho!! He is super funny and so nice to me. This week I got sick with a cough, and one night I had a fever, and for a whole hour straight while I slept, he kept a cold rag on my forehead and it got rid of the fever. He is so selfless and so helpful. I am so blessed to have him in my life.

We have done a lot of teaching here too. I love it cuz we get fed by the members every single day for lunch. It is so great! The food here is absolutely fantastic and the members are always so great. I shared the quick little message with them each meal. We have taught a lot of investigators too. Mainly just the first lesson. Talvane does most the teaching, but leaves me the part about the restoration. I teach that whole part. It is great. I always feel the spirit so strong in our lessons. I hope the investigators feel it too. I pray for them every night.

We ran into an Anti Mormon the other day. haha I only understood a little of what he was saying, but he was an idiot! haha he was comparing Joseph Smith to Marilyn Manson and Ozzy Osbourne. But thats alright, cuz when he dies he will see who was right.

I teach English classes two times a week to anyone who wants to come. I have had help from Elder Perren who is an American in the other half of Itajai. It is super cool cuz a lot of them are really good at English so it is nice being able to talk to them. But My Portugues is coming along, and it helps to be out here, cuz this is the best place to learn it. It is coming along, I just need to be more patient cuz I just want to be fluent already!!! haha

Floripa was beautiful!! I got a window seat for the flight in and got some great pictures. We met President and got to go walk around for a little while by the beach. I think me and Talvane might go to the beach today. I dont think we can walk on the beach but we can go close :)

I got the package!! Thank you all so much. And I dont need the driving permit cuz we dont have a car here. 

So last week at the CTM, we were investigators and we used the Whoopie Cushion on some younger missionaries there. It was absolutely hilarious!

I love you all!!! Tell Morg that I love her as well. It helps me when I can talk to you all. I love hearing from you all. And if you send letters, just send them to the mission home address. I only get to pick them up once a month tho at zone conferences. By the way, I went to the city where Uncle Clarks friend lives, its called Balneario Camboriu, and it was for our zone conference. It is like the Las Vegas of Brasil! hahah elders arent allowed to serve there cuz girls wear too little of clothing. Good thing when we went it was raining so everyone was fully clothed! haha Love you all! My camera just died. I will send photos next week :)

Love,

Elder Howard

Julia found a photo of Itajaí so we though we'd include it here.