October 24, 2011

Hola,

This week has been a pretty good week. This coming Sunday we have a baptism. YEAH!! it´s for a woman named Lucia and honestly I don´t feel like I´ve done a whole lot to contribute to this baptism it was pretty much her. She came to church two weeks ago and said that she had talked with some hermanas a few months early and that she now wanted to be baptised. I´ve always thought that having a baptism would feel a little different and that it would be something that I did. I realized yesterday that isn´t important at all. The thing that is important is that the people are coming unto Christ and really I feel so happy thinking about her and other people doing that. I don´t look at this baptism as a baptism that I got but a baptism that the Lord got and that´s really how it should be. I think this baptism goes along perfectly with Alma 29:9, the scripture that I chose for my mission plaque. 

We also had an experience that was exactly the opposite. Hna. Castellón and Hna. Fabrizio had been working with a mother and a daughter for like all of last change. They got the ward really involved and they were progressing. We´ve taught them once a week during this change and last week we had an amazing lesson with them and their family. We went for our lesson this week and they told us that they had made a decision and that they didn´t want to be baptised or take anymore of our time. Honestly the daughter wants to be baptised and I think that when she´s a little older and can do more things for herself she will be. I also am not giving up hope on the mom. She´s really great and if she can find the strength inside of her to keep the commandments she could be baptised as well.

Well changes are next week. This change has gone by so fast. I´m not sure what next change will bring but I´m pretty sure that I´ll still be here in Lo Cañas. This sector´s great and I still hope to get to know the ward and the people better. If I am here next change I hope to work even harder than I did this change. 

I love you all so much and miss you tons.

-Hna. Howe

October 17, 2011

OK so this one is going to be short because I only have 10 minutes.

Hola Everyone, 

This week was the celebration of the 50 year anniversary of the mission in Chile. My mission had the opportunity to go to the stadium and watch the whole thing. It was an awesome celebration and at the end all of the missionaries sang part of "A donde me mandes iré" (I´ll go where you want me to go) It was really fun to get together with the whole mission as well as other missions and just enjoy a fun time as well as seeing the importance of our work here. Unfortunately the prophet didn´t come and neither did any of the apostles. I´m not going to lie I was really hoping they would. But the Area Presidency was there and they spoke again.

We´ve been working really hard in this sector and finding a lot of people. It´s a lot easier to have lessons here than Ñuñoa but I am grateful for Ñuñoa and the time it gave me to learn how to really work hard. I love Lo Cañas and I am really excited that I still have two weeks left in this change and I hope to get to know the people in the ward better especially since I think I´ll be here longer. 

Love you all

-Hna. Howe

October 10, 2011

Hey Everyone!!

I LOVE ENGLISH. Don´t get me wrong I love Spanish too but sometimes there is such a relief that comes from speaking your own language and expressing yourself the way you want to. This week has been pretty great. There have been so ups and downs but the ups in the mission ALWAYS outweigh the downs.

On Saturday there was an area devotional where Elders Kent Richard, Jorge Zeballos, and Lawrence Corbridge spoke. The devotional was to celebrate the 50 years of the Chilean mission and there will be another huge celebration for that this Saturday. The talks were great and talked about the growth of the church here in Chile in just 50 years. It´s amazing there are now over 500,000 members here in Chile and it just continues to grow. Elder Richard announced some pretty amazing news. He announced that the youth here in Chile can now serve missions when the get to the age of 18! that includes the young women too. I think it´s awesome. I think part of the reason they did it is so that the youth won´t get distracted by things of the world and also so that they can go gain the knowledge that the need and come back and be a great strength to the church. The mission is an amazing time to learn SO much.

Lo Cañas is much different than Ñuñoa it is so much easier to have lessons and there definitely isn´t as much rejection. I feel a little at home here with the mountains so close. We´ve been working with quite a few people but no one is really progressing right now. Hopefully that will change. The goal for our mission is to have a "White Christmas" that may not seem like anything different for you who are on the other side of the hemisphere but here that doesn´t really happen. Anyways we are going to have a white Christmas by bringing FAMILIES in their white robes to the waters of baptism. :) Pres. Laycock Loves Christmas and is always talking about it. You can ask him any day during the year how many days are left until Christmas and he can tell you.

I LOVE MY MISSION, But I want you to know that I LOVE YOU TOO!!!! and I MISS YOU A TON!!!

-Hna. Howe

Special Testimony to the Young Women

Katie sent a little message to the young women in our ward last week and with her permission I'm entering it in the blog because we both agree that this really can apply to anyone. I hope you in enjoy this special testimony.

Young Women:

You have no idea how important you are and how much power you have. Through your example you can CHANGE the world. The world is getting worse and worse every day. God sent you here at this time because you are STRONG you have the strength that is needed to fight off Satan and save the children of God. You have the power to set the example that will save the world. Especially as young women from Utah, you were born and raised in the gospel. You KNOW it. You KNOW the church at it´s best. The church is just beginning to grow in different parts of the world and needs the help of those that know how it´s suppose to be. The world needs you, God needs you! God is preparing the world to send his priesthood army. He needs strong mothers to send them to. The mission is the time to learn how to be that strong mother and to grow in the gospel so that you can be strength for the church and raise this priesthood army that God has to send. (there´s a really good quote by pres. Hinckley that goes along with that but unfortunately I don´t have it with me.)

October 3, 2011

Hola,

General Conference was obviously the big thing this week, but hopefully I can get to that at the end.

Last Monday we had an activity for the entire mission. Since my mission is so small it´s not too difficult for all of us to get together. This activity was to celebrate the 18th of Sept. (Chile´s Independence day) even though it was a week later. Each of the zones did a fun little skit that either had to do with the missionary work or Chile. My zone did a funny skit on the reactions we get when we knock. Another zone sang a chilean song in classic chilean costumes. It was really fun. Afterwards we watched a little movie of OUR mission and then had the wonderful opportunity to listen to a devotional by Pres. Laycock. After the devotional we watched A MOVIE!! We watched remember the titans. There is a lot of cultural differences in my mission as there are many gringos and latinos. However we can and should be all united as ONE. We also found out during our activity that all of the missionaries in our mission will be able to go to the stadium in Ñuñoa on the 15 for a big Celebration that the church is having to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the mission in Chile. It´s going to be like a days of celebration type thing and I´m so excited to be a part of one again. :D That also means there will be people here from Salt Lake including the prophet so we have to look our best!

In the beginning of this week I was still having a hard time getting used to having a different companion. It´s not that Hna. Castellón isn´t nice or anything, actually she is so incredible and loving. I just haven´t had a different companion since I´ve been out here in Chile let alone a latin companion. We have adjusted pretty well now, and now we´re good friends and are always joking around. I try to be considerate and always speak spanish also I was taught by Hna. Wojciechowski to speak spanish as frequently as possible. Well Hna. Castellón really wants to learn English, which is great, but now she only wants me to speak English. Oh my being bilingual is difficult sometimes. ha ha. I hope that I can really help her out with her English but I also hope that I can really improve my Spanish. 

Alright Conference!! First off once again I really missed my mom´s delicious homemade cinnamon rolls. It´s alright it´s worth it. There were a lot of talks I loved. I also had the great pleasure of seeing my mom and Emily along with the women of my ward on TV during the end of the Relief Society session. It was a wonderful tender mercy of the Lord! Oh where do I begin...

I loved how much they talked about the use of technology. We really have everything at the touch of our fingertips and we can do so much through technology. Everyone is always so amazed when I show the family names that I have. I know that Family History is so important and the gospel is made more real as we do the work for our own ancestors. The gospel is so amazing and so clear. I love how simple it is and how all of it can boil down to if the Book of Mormon is true or not. If it´s true and I KNOW IT IS. Then everything else that is taught by the leaders of the church is true. I also loved how much they talked about the Holy Ghost and how he can be our constant guide to help us through our lives. 

Well unfortunately I´m out of time. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

-Hna. Howe