Zone Leader

Santa Vaca!!!! Holy cow, we just had the greatest worst most beautiful sad nerve racking week in the world!  In all honestly I don't know where to start. Well, I send off my tiny Christmas package off to you all this week! I could only send one package because its outrageously expensive however I hope that you all like it and are content. So during this whole entire week we were preparing our 2 baptism dates for Saturday..Jonathan and Karen. So they were our  focus here in the last week of our transfer. So we get everything ready to go, we schedule the baptism interview for Friday and all is set.. We go to Karen's house, and she was more than ready and passes. Then we go to Jonathan's house to do the interview. We get to the house of his best friend (where we teach him) and I walk into the house, reaching to shake his hand with a huge smile on my face saying to him" ah, we are soooo excited for your baptism for tomorrow Jonathan" and he replies... " Oh, I'm NOT going to get baptized tomorrow"!!! Are you kidding me!?!?!? So he tries to explain himself and says that he was offered a brand new job  just that very day about 1 hour from his house that pays really well and if he takes the job he says he wont be able to be baptized until February because he wont be here Sundays to go to church. So we begged, pleaded, prayed and exerted our strengths to help him realize the importance of making this decision... And he told us he predetermined this choice and he said that he needed the job over his baptism. Well shoot. Poor Jonny boy...

But lets look at the bright side.. We did have the baptism of Karen but the voice recording will have to do it much more justice than this letter. I just have to say that the Baptism of Karen Moro was perhaps one of the best moments of my mission so far! When her and Claudio(her husband) were standing there in the water together, I made me think of just an absolute fairytale after everything that they have gone through and overcome. When he baptized her... he did it so CUTE!! hehehe Its weird to say but really it was the most sincere "way to baptized" that I have ever seen. It brought tears to my eyes... and right after they just gave each other the biggest hug and kiss. Then in the 2nd part of the baptism, during the testimony from Claudio, he began to thank Elder Packard and I for the huge impact that we have had on their family and much more. It was the most rewarding moment! And I know that this is the true work of the Lord... and in  the work of the Lord, one can see the fruits from the labor!

And the crazy part of this whole thing... I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED!!! I have been here in Antofagasta with Elder Packard for 2 transfers and turns out that we both are leaving this sector and Elders crossman and Olivia are staying just not as companions. Elder Packard is going to Iquique as Sr. comp like he should be.. he is young and has a lot more to learn (Spanish) but is one of the best missionaries that I know. And surprise to me the 2 weeks before my year mark, Christmas and after only being a district leader for 1 transfer I will be transferred to Copiapo as a new zone leader with Elder Solice as my companion. What the heck in the world¿ We were not expecting this to happen. But Elder Solice is the best missionary in the mission.. he was an assistant for 6 months until 2 transfers ago and has had a mountain of success here. (wow Ive been blessed with such incredible companions) he is from LA Cali. Well once again the Lord is so merciful with me and blesses me with so many great things that maybe I am not worthy to have. However, I must forever be grateful for the love that he offers me! Please pray for me this week... as I need more help now, than in any other time in my whole mission. 

I love you all with my heart!

Elder Howard

Blessingcitas

Hey I have like no time to write today... super lame email coming you way just as a heads up. Ive been stressing over all this Christmas stuff for Y'all this year.. I'm trying to get you guys a package ready to ship out here now. Its a risky one, I'm about 50% that it will even get there but I figure that this will probably be the only thing I will send my whole mission, and its going to be tiny small too. So wish me luck with that and I hope that it gets there even if it doesn't by Christmas.

So Jonathan, our what we thought baptism date last week, decided to go to darn Peru for the week without telling anyone! So, after that we didn't know what in the world was going to happen with him, luckily enough he got back Saturday in the night and we were able to talk with him and figure out everything that was going on and replace his new baptism date for this next Saturday.. December 1st. He is sooo funny. This week in church he came in his huge dark Harley Davidson sunglasses and kept them on during the entire time. Gotta love weird things that people do:) Also, and very happily I am proud to announce that KAREN ROJAS is also getting baptized this next Saturday... and her husband Claudio(who just got the Aaronic Priesthood last week) will be baptizing her! I'M SOO EXCITED for them! This is the young couple that we have been working with for quite some time.. They were at the point of divorce and separation but now though the infinite power of the atonement of Christ we have been able to find mediums where as this family has been able to forgive one another. And now, they are on the path to an eternal marriage. I guess that's just a little tiny itty bitty reason why I'm so thrilled. So please keep them all in your prayers this week!! We need all the extra blessingcitas that we can get!

Love Elder Howard

PS. So we are going into week 6 of the transfer and so the next Monday I will know what my future will look like. I Really want to stay here in this same ward with Elder Packard for the 3rd time but I think our time is up together.. I know president normally keeps companions together if they have problems left to solve. So I think I might email president right now and tell him I'm at the point of killing Elder Packard just so he keeps just together!!! I'm still a believer in miracles!

Work Hard-Play Hard

Halloween BBQ

4 Amigos 

Salvation & Family

Talk about an eventful week! This week we had tons of things go on... 1st we were blessed to be able to put a baptism date with our investigator Jonathan for the 24th of this month. Its cool because we have been working with him for a while because he is a friend of Diego - a missionary that is preparing to go on his mission here in the next few months. So we have been helping both of these young men to start this new spiritual adventure. We´re stoked for the both of them!

One of the references that we received this last week as turned out to be such a cool challenge for us! Her name is Yesi, she is recently married to a less active member of the church (ovalo) and they live together with his mom (margarita). And just right off the bat I can already say I love this family! They are great! Anywho, in our 1st lesson we just started as usual and very quickly we came to the understanding that Yesi does not believe in God. "oh, elder Packard and I thought"... so we changed our plan on a dime and we just talked about God. After asking some good questions to her she came to the decision that "ya it would be nice to really know that God exists." So now we got her on the track of reading the Book of Mormon and just last night started to pray.. oh and they came to church as well. Shoot, I might be getting ahead of myself right now but I cant help but to feel that this family will be getting sealed in the temple in a year from now! Every time I'm with them I just have this vision of them dressed in white ready to go.. Lets just hope. Oh and that reminds me of a quote I heard in church today.. A very common phrase down here is "Salvation is personal" and there is a lot of truth to that.. but I have come to know that "Salvation is NOT just personal, it comes only through the family." 

So Im going to be using that one a lot! hehe.

Love Elder Howard

Ps. Do you guys remember SEBASTIAN (the 20 year old in Alto Hospicio that we baptized)???I heard just this week that HE HAS ALREADY STARTED HIS MISSION PAPERS!! WHOOOT WHOOOT!

P-Day Fun

Bowling adventure

Pull-ups with Elder Packard

Great references

Hey my beloveds... Happy Halloween! We had a great week here from the north of Chile.. starting with Vianka our newest reference from a sweet girl in our ward (Nayabet) has been progressing sooo well. She was invited to the young men and young womens ward activity in which they all went to some sweet beach (and no, we weren't invited) and all the kids that were there help make this girl feel like she was queen of the world! They all talked to her about baptism and how she should continue to prepare for her own baptism. I LOVE it when the real ward members do missionary work for us! It makes the whole process so much easier and effective! I absolutely love this great ward. The members here really do so much for us missionaries.. and now imagine it, we are in the biggest ward of the whole mission and the people would just do anything for us. They often times offer us rides, loads of sweets, and treat us missionaries as little American princes. and actually the 4 missionaries here in our ward have developed quite the reputation here in the ward. They call us the crazy happy fun spiritual elders. hehehe I love it!!

My favorite part of the week just has to be president Bruce´s talk in our stake conference yesterday! he said "if you have to ask members for references that means that they don't trust in you" hehehe I loved it. And this week we received 8 great references ;) hahah the work of the lord is moving forward!!

Love Elder Howard

Ice skating in the desert

Living out loud

Hey hey hey everyone.. its the great Buck Howard reporting. So this week was another one for the books. We started our week with a fun P day activity (people have now placed this choice over my head, like what we want do for Pday) that I never thought was possible to do here in the middle of the desert! We went ice skating on the most sketch rink in the world.. but we still did in without too many injuries. We had a nice time there but that was nothing in compared to one of the coolest experiences that I had this last week.( I will send you a Picture of the setting of this experience.) So we had transfers this last week and so that means chaos in our mission for the start of the week so as a result our zone leaders said that they wanted to cancel our District meeting in the morning. So I was like okay darn that was my 1st one ever but that's all beside the point. I was talking with Elder Packard and I was like we have 2 extra hours and this last week was a doosy for us... lets go take a little chill pill to get our heads back on straight. So we walked to an isolated part of the beach in our sector... we separated by about 200 yards and set up camp. I pulled out my journal and just started to write everything that had been on my mind.. I was able to kneel down in the sand and offer my own personal prayers in a loud voice. and it was one of the coolest things... here in the mission you don't have the privacy to do that, meaning praying out loud. I was kneeling in the dirt and then a real life angel appeared to me... Not really just making sure you're actually reading the letter ;) but really it was one of the most peaceful moments of my life. Just literally took a view of everything that's going on in my life, who I was, am, and going to be. It was a rad experience. So I challenge you all to do it... Go to a cool place alone ( sorry I know that I am spoiled and can go to the beach, unlike you all) but just go and let everything go for awhile... maybe take your journal or a photo album or something that helps you just lax out. Go and pray to your Heavenly Father in sincere out loud prayer, take your problems, goals, strengths and weaknesses and whatever else it may be and just receive the personal revelation that will blow your mind..  Sorry for the long rant but in really just was such a cool thing for me I want you all to enjoy in as much as I did.

We were also blessed with the Baptism of the Valentia this last weekend.. She is the sister of Marcelo and the daughter of Mitchell... that one guy who has been having miracles going on in his life. (more to come next week with him) such a great change in this wonderful family. ahhhh it just makes me soooo happy.

As of right now we don't have any Baptism dates but we have our sights aimed high and our president has put some crazy pressure on us for the end of the year to reach our baptism goal.. We are going to do it! I love you all and you will hear from me next week.

Elder Howard

Don't be judgin...

Hey family hope all is going well... Its been a great week and here are a few great things that happened in the work of the lord this last week.

We were bless with the baptism of Marcos.. We over came and worked through with all of his problems and everything is good. So we were able to go through with his baptism. He was super stoked about it and the service went very very well.. in fact right after his baptism he came up to right before we started the second part and asked if he could give his testimony. He is a stud!

We have 2 more baptism dates for the coming weeks. their names are Javier and Valentina... great people as well. As a matter of fact we have to go there right now because we have appointments with them both tonight so I have no time to continue to write. Im stoked for the new assignment to be a D leader and hope that I can to a good job.

SO much more has gone on this week but all in all everything is good!

Love elder Howard

ps. He is wearing my pants! so dont be a judgin´

Give it your all...no matter what!

Well another great week coming from the 2nd region here in Chile. I hope you all received my voice messages from the last week! But wow we had a great week and we truly received some miracles from the hand of the lord!! If you remember Marco, the Jehovah's witness investigator that we have been working with lately that we found though one of his friends (who is an awesome member, Hernesto his name) We had a few lessons with him this last week having him be our central focus.. and we he said the thing that EVERY missionary wants to hear! "So yeah elders... Ive been thinkin about it lately. And I want to get baptised... but I know I been be ready if you give me just another week and a half. So yeah lets plan on the 18th Elders"!!! WHAT A BLESSING RIGHT!!! He is a stud... he came to conference this last weekend. When I saw him there I we came running up to me gave me a huge hug and says.. "Elder Howard, I want you to baptise me" heheh it was a great feeling to have and a great way to start off conference!

I as a missionary and as a person who totally dig the word of the prophets could speak for every about the great experiences that I have and and the great things that I have learned. But In this little letter I want to share one of the personal revelations that I received that I think will change who I am and help me be a better missionary. Because really that's what its all about, ADAPTING what we have learned into our own lives. yeah so, it was during the talk of Henry B. Eyring during the priesthood session and the basis of his talk (my interpretation) was how to help other receive their true potential. And he starting to talk to some of the leaders about helping their youth to reach their full potential.. and from then on in made me start to think of all of my priesthood leaders, family, friends, and many other examples in which I have had in my life. And it just hit me how great of help all of these other people have offered unto me over my years and that NOW and forever forward that's my new job to help and be one of these examples for other people. Then I continued to think and long story short I came to a huge conclusion and perhaps a new why of thought. My "little revelation" was that now I NEED TO BE FIRM IN MY FAITH, I NEED TO LOSE THE FEAR OF GIVING EFFORTS WITHOUT GETTING THE END RESULTS INTENDED. If you even understand great, if not, not really important. this had been something that I need to learn. I get scared of giving everything if I don't know how the results will be. I have been and always will be willing to give it all, but for fear of failure I sometimes don't. So that was the major conference highlight for elder Howard.. Now its time for me to "go feed the sheep" :)

I love you all

Elder Howard

Happy Camper

Hey everyone... this week has just been a straight up riot!! This weeks email once again is going to be really sucky because we have run into some problems. (note how late it is that I am writing). I will explain later but I am totally okay.

Well I got the new transfer call last Saturday night and they told me I am leaving Calama only after one transfer. Which is not a normal thing by the way.. and I am now called to serve in the BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD!! LAS ROCAS in ANTOFAGASTA!!!! I am now the new missionary in the biggest ward in the whole mission. I am the Step dad to a new missionary from Cali named Elder Packer.. 100% stud. for example last night, we were just talking for like 3 hours.. finally decided to go to bed (12:30) We slept for like an hour... we both got woken up by a car alarm and from there we just talked and were making jokes for another 3 hours! I love this kid! We are going to do some super good work this transfer.. he still has the MTC energy in him! I'm living on cloud 9 right now. Our pension is super super nice. we have all that you could wish for. Well please keep an Elder Crossman in your prayers please... Once again I will explain later. I love you all and hope you all know that THIS GUY (me) is one super happy Camper :)

Elder Howard

Called & Serving

hello, greetings from Calama, Chile. Well it was a great week here for elder Howard. (sorry no voice thing this week, you just have to read my typing). Well I received my mission call this week one year ago.. I will never forget the feeling that I had when I opened that packet and read "you are called to serve in the Antofagasta, Chile Mission". The impression that moment made on my soul is unforgettable. and 1 year from that moment, I have come to see really how inspired of a mission call that was for me. Without any doubt I know that this is the mission for me. They people that I teach, have been waiting for me since the beginning and how stellar is it to be able to bring them this message. 

This is the last week of the transfer and so next Monday I will be able to tell you guys the fate of elder Howard. This transfer flew by.. even though it was very difficult. I have worked harder and harder than ever.. and do to a companion I have been through a lot of rough experiences in just a few weeks. But I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from the weaknesses of others ( A man that can learn from the mistakes of others is a true success). 

We went to the house of our investigators (Claudio, Kati, and Claudio) for lunch to make empañadas! Oh how glorious they are!! I have the recipe and instrucions to make them. So I will perfect they art here and bring it back to the states. We made like 40 of them!! 

Well we were blessed again this last week to see 5 more investigators in Church with us Sunday. As we continue to give our all to the Lord. Well That's all from here this week. Keep up the smiles and all the good things you do at home. I love you all.. 

Elder Howard

My world turned upside down

Transfer day

Ooops

hey hey hey yall. We are coming off a much better week here in Calama! The work is still progressing slow.. but it is progressing which is really good! We found 3 new really good investigators this week named Claudio Claudio and kati. they are legit just great people and I hope that we can continue being blessed with the opportunity to teach them. When we 1st met them they asked us if we wanted to drink so tea, so I quickly responded with a "yeah do you  have Herbal?" haha which translates to mean Do you have marijuana.. What a great way to start off our relationship. But we all laughed our heads off when they explained to me what I really said to them. We ended up not having any investigators in church Sunday so we took the sacrament and left to go work. And the blessings sure came into our lives. We reached above and way beyond our weekly goals and found some great people. Were starting to get the hang out things here in this sector after a rough start. Well really we don't have time right now... we have to get to work. but take care everyone and I love you all

Welcome to the desert

Where are your parents when you need to pack your bags?? It was transfer week and finally it was my turn to leave from Alto Hospicio!! It was sad and quite hard to say goodbye to all those people that I have loved for the past 6 months of my life! but that's part of the mission I guess. So here I am 1 week later ALIVE in the city of Calama! Its pure crazy here.. Super hot in the day.. Super cold in the night. I sleep with 9 layers of blankets and clothes. (i have plenty of warm stuff). We are in the middle of the desert.. all the people work in the mine and I mean EVERYBODY! The climate is so crazy that your skin instantly dries up, the wind blows so hard that the skin inside your dries up and bleeds. (sorry, gross mental picture) Thank goodness for blankets, chap stick, lotion and sunglasses! My companion is Elder Garcia from Peru. He is 25 years old and is a pretty good guy. He is really extremely quiet and doesn't really talk to people, but that's perfect for me. I'm just going to get that much better at speaking Spanish that much faster!! haha But I'm glad that he is a chill guy. We are excited to be here together and work hard. The sector that we are in is a WRECK! We have so much work to do its not even funny. We only have 70 people coming to church on Sundays. and that's not okay for how many people are here in this ward! The dog of our mamita broke into our house, ate our food and peed all over the place. we spent all day cleaning that up. Well the members here have really accepted me with open arms. I already feel that I have won their confidence and their love. I have met some great people this week and am super optimistic for this sector. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary here in Calama, the conditions are miserable, perhaps the work here isn't classified as Ideal. But I am happy, I love what I'm doing and I'm going to give it all that I have. I love you all so much.. Have a great week and ill talk to you next week. 

Elder Howard

New members

Shiny and new

Transfer

Yep miracles can happen.. wanna know how I know? Because I am a WITNESS of them. It was such an incredible week here in Alto Hospicio!! Soo I don't know If you guys remember Jorge Diaz, one of the most incredible people in the world that I know.. We have been working with him for a while. His wife, Jessica, was a less active and their daughter, Kata, is a strong youth in the branch. Jorge works in the mine and is there 10 days on 10 days off. So its super hard for us to teach him. Earlier this month we tried having his baptismal service the 21 of July.. but he didn't feel like he had received a true answer but that he needed to REALLY JUST FEEL IT. So he got back this week and we went to visit with him and we had a really strong lesson with him and left him with the commitment to read 3 nefi 11 again and to pray to see if he gets his answer.. we came back the next day. And what happened in this next lesson changed my life. Really, to make a really long story short... He read, he prayed, we talked, we taught, we challenged and the result was that he said he knows he has to do it. He received his answer and that he wants to get baptized Saturday and we set the goal right then and there in one year from Saturday to be their temple marriage date! Really just listen to the voice recording because this letter doesn't do justice. Everything went incredible this week and both Luis Borquez and Jorge Diaz both got baptized. It was the high note of my mission and now I am going to be leaving this sector. We received the transfer calls this week and after 6 months here in Alto Hospicio I will be going to CALAMA BABY!! I'm so excited Calama is one of the best cities in the mission. More on Calama next week when I know what its really like. I leave tonight at 11:30... and its about a 7 1/2 hour bus ride. I'M SO HAPPY but I'm sure going to miss my home town here in Alto Hospicio!!

I LOVE YOU ALL and have a great week.

Elder Howard

Shake it up baby 5.0

Hey yall! We had two 5.0 earthquakes this week.. pretty crazy if you ask me. The people here are also waiting for the big one. Our friend Luis gave us a coconut to eat this week.. WOW real coconut juice is fantastic! We also made some delicious cheesecake.. I know you're all jealous. We saw these 2 women get in a full out brawl in the street the other day.. It scared the poop outta me! I had to clue what to do because we were like 5 feet away when the 1st punch was thrown! My 1st instinct was to intervene, but then thank goodness I thought, and decided to run away. hehe. Also, some drunk guy wanted us to let him sleep in our apartment with him.. we said no we cant do that.. he replied saying "don't you guys teach that you give people shelter"  okay maybe he had a point, but I don't think President Bruce with be so happy to hear that we have been letting drunk people sleeping with us in our pension.

 

 Here in the mission you see so many great things.. So many great people and have the opportunity to be a witness of many miracles. This week we were able to have interviews with president Bruce once again. He is too good at what he does.. whatever he does do... he does it perfect. We are the luckiest missionaries in the world to be able to have him as our president. We also have the best members in our little branch.. So many humble and caring people that are willing to do whatsoever thing for us. One of the most poor members of our branch was walking down the street yesterday and she yells out to us, we talk to her for a few minutes and then when we leave she shakes my hand with $2.00 inside. I was so happy.. because that money is a lot for her and her family but she was sooo willing to give to us. Also, there is another lady in our branch who we are building another ¨shed¨ for her and her son to live it. Literally a small room without electricity is what she is going to live it. So humble but even while we were building this house for her she went to a little store and bought us a few pieces of bread to eat after. Its incredibly how blessed I am to help and share my life with these top quality type of people.

We had an incredible lesson with one of our investigators named Jairo Gallardo this week. He is your typical 19 year old kid of the world. He has lots of problems. But when I look at him, he reminds me of someone close to me back home. Really, I think he looks like him too. But anyways, we were teaching him and we started talking about his mother that died a few years back.. and that he can have the chance to live with her once again. and that all he needs to do is follow Gods Commandments. and he, on the verge of tears says "okay, I need to change, I want to change. I will do whatever I need to do." Wow, The spirit testifies to us when we need to make changes in our lives. We can overcome those BIG and small challenges that hold us back from becoming Gods chosen sons and daughters. I know that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, its possible. He has been through it all. He is there, just waiting for us to open the door that he is already knocking on. 

 

Love, Elder Buck William Howard

Commitment

Hello everyone.. Well what a week of pure miracles here in Chile. Ive had some great changes happen in my mission! I'm progressing and making myself a better missionary.. I always tell the people here " If you`re not getting better you`re getting worse." I'm super happy and trying to become all that my Heavenly Father wants me to be. We had a conference with president Bruce this week in Iquique. The vison for this month is to be like Captain Moroni! and we are focusing on how to bring people to Church. in our mission we average 120 investigators in church and baptise 90 to 100 per month. But the other missions in South America are bringing 200 plus investigators to church and baptising like 90 to 100. And so President Bruce gave us a little School and Drill this week on how to do so! And wow I learned so much!! he said to us " the commitment to go to Church is more important than a commitment to be baptised" why? 2 reasons, 1st, if they don't go to church they are not able to take the step of baptism in their lives. 2nd their commitment in their lives to go to church is far more meaningful for them than how well you teach the baptismal covenant. So elder Autelli and I did just that. We focused ourselves on how to bring people to church.. and the Lord sure blessed us with that. We were blessed with 8 investigator in Church this week. We were astounded with the fruits of our labor! " you can push someone to heaven, or love them to hell" I'm a missionary and I'm in the business of saving souls.. I'm so grateful for this blessing that I have been given to serve my savior and to take upon myself his name.

Sebastian (Our convert from 3 weeks ago) told us Sunday during church that he wants to go on a mission and that he is going to start preparing himself so he can leave in 1 year! The spirit filled my heart when we told me that.. their is nothing more satisfying that to hear these desires coming from those who you love sooooo dang much!! That is the way it should be. I love you all and am grateful for all your love and support. You stay classy Salt Lake City...

 

Elder Buck William Howard

What ...no 4th of July?

Hey y'all! How is everything going??? Yeah we had a great 4th of July here in Chile.. believe it or not they don't celebrate the 4th of July... haha I mean what holiday is more important than the Independence day of The United States of America?? It was a good one though, we had a zone wide fast because we are trying to reach the goal of 17 baptisms this month. That would be a record if we reach it. So were all really excited for this! We made some Delicious cookies for the 4th of July and ate them on the 5th. the life of a missionary. It was fun, we did anther zone attack on the 4th, and so all of the gringos were singing all the American pride songs in the streets of Chile. There is nothing better than spreading the American spirit! We are teaching 2 investigator named Jorge Diaz.. they have NO relation at all but are absolutely fantastic! One of them has read more than half the book of mormon in the past month. and the other said to us the other day that he will do whatever it takes for him to be able to take his family to the temple and get sealed to his family. When Elder Autelli and I heard this we kinda freaked out a little bit because we were so excited for him. I have seen some terrible husbands here in my mission, some who would rather have their booze than provide food for his family, some who treat their wife's like the dirt of the earth. But then you see these type of people who put their wife's, family's and their eternity before the things of this world and there is no greater worth than these things. I don't know, Just a thought, I'm determined not to be a tool of a husband that's for sure. Well I hope you all have a good week and are all enjoying your summer! Love you.

 

Elder Howard

Blessed

Hey Everyone... How are you doing?  Well it was a sweet week here from Alto Hospicio! We worked our little butts off this week, And we almost made it to the level of Celestial Missionary.. We missed it but 1 more investigator in church this Sunday. SOOO CLOSE!! but we still were happy with how we ended up. Its incredible how much you can accomplish when you plan well and add the extra hard work to go along with it! Its sooo nice to have a companion that likes to work hard.. even if he enjoys to sleep a lot too. haha I guess you cant be perfect.

We had the baptism of Sebastian Caballero this week! it was awesome, He was really one of the easiest people to teach. He had a testimony before we even started teaching him. But everything went really well. We actually did the baptism together with elder Keele.. We both had our 1 baptisms together as trainers. Elder Keele is such a good guy.. Like really he is my best friend in the mission. 

Yeah so crazy the experience doing contacts this week. So we knocked on this door in an apartment complex, and this lady opened the door. We do the classic contact and she doesn't give in..But after a little talking she decided to let us in. She told us that her husband was sick and that we could come say a prayer to help him out.. We walk into the room where her husband is.. and laying in a hospital bed we see this man. He is literally skin and bone. He was involved in an accident 1 year and a half ago. And he has been getting worse and worse ever since. He is brain dead and can work properly. This family has 3 little kids too. So we were standing by the bed of this man that was in the worse shape that I have ever seen in my entire life talking to his wife. We tell this lady that we can give blessing to help people recover. And she said sure please do it. So I put my hands on the head of this guy to give him a blessing, I start and the spirit overcame be.. I remember saying things that I don't even know why I said them but I continued to give this blessing to this poor guy. As I Finished I slowly took my hands of his head, and looked into his eyes. He was looking right at me and he had a single tear streaming down his face. And I just lost it right there.. The spirit was too powerful in this moment for any other type of emotion. I love this guy so much and I am glad to know the plan that our heavenly father has for him. I'm so grateful for the power of the priesthood that I have been entrusted with, that I can use this responsibility the way that I am expected to and to be worthy of it. I am so grateful for the blessings in my life and in the life of my family that we can be strong. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to be the wife of this man. If I learned only one thing from this experience it is that I have an innumerable amount of blessings in my life. I love you all and hope we all can stay worthy to receive all of the blessings that our heavenly father has in store for each and everyone of us!

Love Elder Buck Howard

Lucky

Hey fam! Well if anyone wants to know the mission is the best thing in the world. Hahah this week I went to pick up my new companion from Antofagasta. We headed to pick our children late Monday night. We arrived to Antofagasta and had a couple of hours of "training the trainers" haha much needed for me. It was good, then we went to the room where all of the new missionaries were just to talk to them and get to know them for about an hour (without knowing who is our companion). It was funny, I determined before hand that I would be super happy with any of the missionaries except for this one in particular just because he seemed too good for the world.. but Yeah 20 min later this"one in particular" opened an envelope saying your 1st companion would be Elder Howard. haha I laughed inside. My luck right! haha well in the past week I have come to realize that it really was "my luck" and that this kid is a great companion! His name is Elder Autelli and is from Conception, Chile. He is definitely one of the most trunkie(trunkie means thinks about home) missionaries that Ive met and it doesn't help that I'm his companion, who is trunkie enough ;)... He left his love at home waiting for him. So I'm doing my best to keep that focus in the right place.

But as far as the work.. everything  is great! We put another Baptism date with our investigator Sebastion Araya for this next Saturday! and we have found some really good future baptisms, I know. Its funny because he doesn't know how to do the things of the mission, and Its so much fun to teach him. It brings a whole new meaning to the term  like father like son. I'm going to love the little guy. Yesterday was his birthday, so I made him some pretty Delicious Brownies. That was a success. I love you all, Thanks for your support.

 

Elder Howard

Trainer

WOW the world of Elder Howard just got flipped upside down! I will start with last Wednesday, I was able to burn my 6 month tie! But what??? where in the world did that time go? I feel like Ive been in the mission for like a few weeks. So that was a fun experience, Elder Keele and I have been together since the mtc and so we were able to engulf our ugly ties in flames! It was a special moment that's for sure, at least until we had to take of running because someone said were calling to police. hehe. Nah but everything worked out just fine. But that was the start of the wild week. My companion Elder Carlos Garrido from Constitution, Chile finished his mission and left yesterday. And I'm going to be honest, in the beginning of our companionship, I was hoping and praying for a new companion. I had such a hard time with him the 1st 2 weeks... I legit hated to be around him. He was lazy, didn't like to work, was fairly disobedient, left every responsibility on my shoulders and was just a tool. But then something changed. I stopped praying for a new companion, I stopped stressing about the stupid little things that bugged me, And I told myself I just need to love the guy, nothing more. And little by little things started to change. I don't really know what really changed, he still had the same faults, he didn't change himself, But this last week I came to realize that he really has been one of my best friends and I ended up being one of his best friends too. We got along incredibly well, we didn't have another confrontation for the last 4 weeks. And yesterday it was really difficult to say goodbye. To me, I was a miracle. I found a best friend out of an enemy.. thanks to the act of prayer and love.
And the reason my life got flipped upside down... Obviously I'm going to have a new companion right.. its transfer week and all. Well I get the phone call Saturday night from the Assistants.. they said " Elder Howard... are you ready?.. this next transfer President Bruce has received the inspiration for you to be TRAINER'' and I thought oh fetch.. what I'm I getting myself into? Well i guess I am pregnant, I will be having my 1st child in the mission this transfer.. I have to travel 7 hours to Antofagasta to pick him up, then return to Alto Hospicio. it will be cool to be a 'papito' but its going to really difficult because the responsibility is all up to me. If this new missionary starts off with bad habits, they will only pile up over time in his mission. and this isn't it.. They closed the other sector that we were working with. So Elder Zangara and Ruiz are leaving.. that means we have the whole workload of the 2 sectors on our shoulders. Which is a lot. I know I'm going to be overwhelmed in the beginning, but I'm preparing myself right now. With the strength I receive from my Heavenly Father... I will be able to fulfill his will.. and do it with successfully! I'm grateful for your support and love.. I'm gonna need it right?? But really, you have the happiest Elder in the world sitting right here in the great county of Chile. Elder Buck Howard. 

Love Elder Buck Howard

Best Mamita

What a great week coming from the great north of Chile!! Its been another good week that's for sure! A quick review of our week.. So we have these mamitas that cook lunch for us Mondays through Fridays, anyways, the mamita that we had was... lets just say ... NOTHING CLOSE to the great cooks in my family :)... so we all decided to "dump" the mamita and find a new one. HOLY CRAP it was sooo awkward..we went to talk to her face to face, and I just didn't know what to say.. it was far more awkward than dumping any girlfriend or anything like that. But there is always a happy ending to the story.. she is happy and needed a break, and we found the BEST MAMITA IN THE WORLD! her name is hermana Norma, literally an angel here on the earth! and the food is comparable to the sweet cooking of grandma Howard!! were eating well!!

Oh yeah, remember the family that we built the house for, yeah the whole family got baptized this last week! It was so cool! The opportunities of sharing the gospel sometimes are only available through the acts of service that we do.

haha We were walking in the streets with our zone after finishing our zone conference and there was this group of drunks sitting on the curb of the street. One of the guys stood up and walked towards us.. I went to shake the guys hand (I love talking to the drunks too, maybe because they are the only native people that I speak better Spanish than) and he straight up just punched me.. hahah It wasn't too hard so I just walked away laughing.. the whole zone was laughing so hard too.

Elder Garrido and I were walking down the street and we saw some punk running with a car stereo in his hands, oh yeah that was obvious what he was up too.. we didn't think much of it, until 2 minutes later came some 25 year old kid with fury in his eyes running with a FULL SIZED AXE in is hands chasing the kid! Yeah, I don't know what happened in the end, but I'm pretty confident the kid got away, I would imagine it to be pretty hard to run very fast with an axe. hehe.

I was taking a nice shower this morning and I slipped and fell on my face.. I got a hair cut.. (I wish I wouldn't have gotten a haircut from this place) where is my sister when I need her??

Chile won their soccer friendly so everyone was in a good mood. That's always a plus. Contacts are a lot easier when the team wins.. and right now Chile is in 1st place in all of south America for the world cup standings. I've come to catch to soccer bug down here. I love it!

Well this is the last week of the transfer.. so I will have a new companion by the next e mail.. I'm praying for a good one!! This is the last week in the mission for my companion Elder Garrido! 

Well Know that I love you all and I'm always thinking and praying for each and everyone of you! love you

Elder Howard

Loving Chile

Wow It was a great week here in the country of Chile! We had the baptism of Marlene and Carlos! It was incredible! They are this young couple that have just been waiting for the Gospel in their lives! Its crazy how prepared they were to receive this great step in their lives! They are some of my best friends here in Chile too! They I uploaded photos to my thumb drive and it took forever so I will send those when I have time next week. We have so many things going on here right now! We are crazy busy but all is great!! I'm incredibly happy right now! thanks for your support! haha I love you all and hope you all have a superb week!

Love Elder Howard

More than just a number

Hey Yall!!  You all get another kinda sucky letter this week because I am very limited on time right now! So I was kinda bummed this week because we didn't reach our goal of being Celestial Missionaries this week.. However, we worked veryyy hard and we gave it our all! I learned tons of lessons this week. Like, when you only focus on getting a certain amount of numbers, that's all you will find yourself with in the end. We had really good numbers this week as far as lessons, contacts and new investigators. But the results in church this Sunday was kinda crappy.. it was because I put a number on the people. When I looked at a person walking in the street, I thought to myself, oh I need to talk to this person so I can get the number. Yeah, That's not how missionary work should be done. Unfortunately right now, we are cleaning up the mess on this type of missionary work. 90% of the members here are inactive.. because they missionaries were after their numbers and not their salvation. So I'm going to treat every person that I teach, contact, or work with this next week like a member on my family. 

I also had the great opportunity to work with Elder Keele this week!! haha he was like my best friend the in MTC! So that was fun to do, we had so much fun together! 2 gringos Walking down the streets of Chile doing what we do best. But The good thing about us working together was we got a lot of people stoked about our English class that we are teaching! haha I have the Chileans try to say "literature" all the time, but they cant do it to save their lives!! hahah!!The missionaries here are great guys, it is so much fun with all of them! But better yet, its even more fun building the relationship that I have with my Heavenly Father. I have to confide in him, I need his inspired direction with everything that I do. I'm so grateful for his hand in my life and in the life of my family. I love you all with everything that I am. 

Elder Howard

Celestial Missionaries

Hey Yall.. holy cow I want to skype you all right now!! haha soooo much
better than emails.. but still this is fun too! This week was a rough one
that's for sure. My new companion has been in the office for the past 8
months so he is not used to the regular life of a missionary. They have
different schedules, eat different food, and things like that. So he was
out for 2 days straight, I guess I worked him into the ground the 1st week.
Its been a rough week because of that.. But this week were going all out.
We have a program called Celestial Missionaries, it is when you reach a
certain point of STATS in a week. IE. lessons, contacts, new
investigators... and its pretty hard to be a celestial missionary for the
week. But I felt so crappy for the last week, that I decided We will not
sleep until we reach the goal to be a celestial missionary. To be so, We
have to be EXACTLY obedient this week, to the T, and I have the faith that
if we do all that we can this week, we will reach our high goal!

I love you all.. Elder Howard****

Bullseye

Wow what a great experience! I don´t think I realized how much a love my family until being here on my mission! Talking to all of you was the best thing in the world! I would do anything to be there with you guys.. I have all the love in the world for each and everyone of you! You all look beautiful and it seems to me y'all have changed a bit. I love my family soo much, I cant even describe how much  you mean to me. Stay strong in all that you do and know that were fine here in Chile!

Well this is a quick summary of my week.. we were playing darts with a family in our ward, and the father threw a dart and it nailed me in the hand. It stuck. I bled. then I laughed.

We were playing soccer with our ward and one of the less active members that was playing with us had a heart attack! We rushed him to the hospital as soon as we could.. He received a blessing before he went into surgery and all ended up okay. He is fine now, he just has to take it easy! 

I got woken up at 3 in the morning by another Earthquake, it really is such a cool feeling!

I finished my goal of reading the Book of Mormon this month... And it has changed my life. The Book of Mormon is truly the word of God! When we take the time to open it up, study, ponder, and apply the messages that we learn to our lives, we become more like our Savior Jesus Christ, We are better people, more happy and most importantly we can have the spirit with us. I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and the Book of Mormon is the key to receiving that testimony. I challenge you all to read the Book of Mormon everyday, even if just a little. The difference in your life with be oh so worth it, I promise you!

I love you all sooo Much! I hope you had as good of a time as I did on Sunday! take care

Love Elder Buck William Howard

The Light of Christ

Hey everyone! Its been another great week in northern Chile! The experiences that I've had this week were incredible.

I had my 1st interview with president Bruce on Tuesday. ohhh it is truly incredible how inspiring that man is!! I want to be as he is! It was only 15 minutes long and We just talked about normal stuff, it wasn't anything special at all but I felt as if I had just been translated haha. After the interview I was talking with my buddy Elder Pulsipher about my experience and he told my that President talked to the missionaries about this one time in a zone conference. President said "I have more light than you guys, that's why when you come into my presence you feel different. You missionaries that have a desire to be better will feel peaceful in my presence because you seek my light.. but the people that come into my presence that are dark, that don't have a desire to be better will feel uncomfortable and hate to be around me". It´s the light that we have, and the light that we show that inspires people to be better. We should always seek the light and put all our darkness's behind us. You can´t see your shadow when you are looking at the sun.. 

Another experience that I had was at the Baptism of Elders Pulsipher and Ruiz (the other elders in our sector). They had been teaching this sweet sister named Ruth. She is 65 and doesn't have an ounce of evil in her. They set her baptism Saturday at 7. Elder Deck and I decided to go to support her with her baptism. It was sad because they was only 7 people there.. the 7 people whom had a part in the service. (especially because she came to the baptism the last week and saw that there was 40 some odd people there supporting the others) (that was another lesson that I learned, that we need to support everyone, not pick and choose) but as it was getting dark outside, the power went out. So we decided to continue on with the baptism. It was close the pitch black, we had to use cell phones to light up the baptismal fount  so we could see if it was done properly. We finished the service and it was very spiritual. But after in was over we walked over to sister Ruth and asked her how she felt.. she replied " My baptism may have been in the dark, But now I have the light of my heavenly father". This sweet woman brought tears to my eyes.

Last Thursday we had an emergency service project.. There were some Elders in our Zone that found a young family that was living in a farm house with pigs. (I don't really understand but all I know is it was completely nasty. there were pigs and rats roaming their house.) But the government had told them that they met the missionaries that they are going to take away their 3 month old baby in 2 days if they don't have a different house to live. They didn't know what to do, they didn't have money, or any resources. Then the missionaries walked into their lives. We rallied together with our whole zone and a couple members of the ward and found a place to build. (there are many places in Chile where you  can just build for free on government owned property) we gathered materials together and build a house for this family... It was so sad to see them. terribly poor, but so humble and grateful for what we were doing. We ended up throwing up a 1 room house probably 10 feet by 14 feet. But it was enough for a woman to keep her child. It was incredible to see the joy in the life of her mother!

Well this is elder decks last week in is mission.. Also I end training next week. Its likely I will stay in Alto Hospicio for at least one more transfer. So I'm going to have a new companion by the next email.. ohh I'm going to miss my boy!

Love Elder Howard

A Good Egg

Thank you soooooo Much for all the prayers sent my way when I was sick.. Not only did I feel the strength from the prayers ya'll offered on my behalf, I was blessed with a quick recovery. But I was blessed with even more than just health.. I for some odd reason received the biggest surge of Spiritual Motivation! I got up and going, and I got going HARD! I'm studying better than ever.. (I'm even reading faster) I don't have the urge to sleep, I want to work more, better, stronger.(kinda like that kanye west song... harder better faster stronger) And I hope and pray to continue to keep the ball rolling! It just makes sense to me.. I'm not coming home anytime before the end of these 2 years, so why not learn, work, play, and take advantage of EVERY SECOND that I am given.

HAPPY EASTER!!! Wow, I wish all of you could be able to focus on the savior as much as I am allowed to. Especially in a time like Easter when we are to remember  the Redeemer of the world, the life that he lived and that he continues to live today! That is my testimony, that Christ lives today. That through him, we are able to find happiness is this live, and in the life to come.

Easter was weird without my family that's for sure.. It was the 1st Easter Egg hunt I've ever missed I'm almost sure of it. I was thinking about our Easter traditions and how great they are. I remember helping grandma Howard fill the Eggs one year when I was probably like 10 years old. I was sure to put all the money in certain eggs that I wouldn't forget... Lets just say that was a successful year for Little Buck Howard! Sorry Cousins! But I sure thought about all of you a lot.. I know you had a good time with the family and enjoy the time together. Easter here was just a normal Sunday as far as the work goes, but there is just a special energy about it. a focus. Its too bad much of the world will only have the focus on the savior a few times a year like with Easter. When in reality you can live your everyday life with Christ as your focal point.. every decision you make, every work that you do, all that you live for can be Christlike. 

We are working hard for the 2 new baptism dates that we have for the 21st of April. I'm super excited and I have already seen an immense amount of change in these two individuals lives. They are building faith in Christ, and applying it into their lives!  

Love Elder Howard

I guess there was some confusion with my address.. It will always be the same for packages and letters.. send them to the office, and they make sure to send them to us where ever we may live. (if it is necessary the shipping code is 1240000 and the phone number of the office is 56992204269)

Safety in Chirst

What a week it has been.. I will be honest, I am wicked sick right now so sorry for another bummer letter but I barely had the energy to walk to the computer place. After conference last night, we came home and goodbye to the health of Elder Howard! I was up all night puking my guts out and some other crazy things. I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning from the lunch that we ate( the lady that cooked it is from Cusco, Peru... have fun Samo) So I have little energy right now. However, I still had an interesting week!

Well Elder Deck and I saw one of the most Sketch things Saturday night.. So it is 4:30 Am and we are dead asleep. Then we hear this loud screaming.. at first I thought it was these preachers that come in front of the apartments and yell their words to the building. but Elder Deck hopped out of bed and dragged me out of bed too.. then I listened to what they were saying "voy a matarle"! What the crap! That means I'm going to Kill you.. then we look right outside our window and laying on the ground its this man surrounded by like 10 of his hommies.. they help the guy up (this is no more than 20 feet of our window) he stumbles across the small street. They help him down against a wall.. then we see him holding his left side of his body, there was something sticking out, the guy got stabbed! So we keep watching for like 5 min, during this time he is doing the head bob thing, like he doesn't have any control of his body. 30 seconds before the ambulance gets there, he stops moving. The Ambulance gets there and the paramedics jump out, they pull out the stretcher and literally throw his body on it. He arms are flailing off  the sides and isn't moving. The ambulance takes off.. Elder Deck and I Fetching watched a guy die!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD??? it just so happened that the cops didn't even show up.. but whatever. So I crawled back in to bed, said a little prayer and went back to bed. I just felt sick ya know.. eww. But honestly I feel safe here. That part doesn't worry me, but that type of stuff actually happens and I witnessed it. Crazy!

On a brighter note... Conference was one of a kind for me.. its funny how much your prospective of conference changes when you are a missionary. If I have learned 1 thing on my mission, Its the significance of a true and living prophet and the organization of the church. Well, there are a few  gringos in my zone that don't speak Spanish very well, so we were hoping to watch it in English. We had a conference in the same building a few weeks ago where we got to watch the program in English, so we knew it was possible! but we go to the church and what do you know, Spanish... Fetch! So Elder Rivas and I book it to the closest Internet cafe to watch it over the web.. thank goodness we did that, because the other elders that stayed said they didn't understand a thing! To be honest, during Elder Hollands talk, I was sitting in a little tiny cubicle crying my little butt off! It is never too late to accept Christ into your life, He is always there helping you along, but it takes some effort. He wants you to be happy, God wants you to be happy.. and I can testify there is no true happiness without your family, and without the knowledge we have of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love Elder Howard..

ps. I am finally sending out my letters!! I'm so sorry everyone I didn't get them out sooner! I honestly feel bad.. Ive been crazy busy with everything but all is good now!

First Baptism

Well this last Saturday was the coolest day everrrrr! We have been working with our investigator Alejandra very hard, and finally we got her into the waters of Baptism! I was lucky enough to be able to perform the baptism! haha I was pretty nervous needless to say, but oh wow how cool it was! It was a feeling I cant really describe but I know it was right! I am so happy right now.. well I am so sorry for the weak letter but I wanted to send some pictures because I thought that would be a nice change. it took a while to upload them but they are fun. if you have any questions about them ask me.. haha I love you all..

Feeling Great!!!

Alright I'm just gonna start this email off with how I'm feeling. I'M FETCHING FEELING GREAT!!! hahah this has been one of the most fun weeks I have had in a long time! I don't know what it is but I'm constantly in a good mood! I walk down the street singing songs and have a little hop in my step. Ive learned it does no good complaining about my problems and difficulties.. let alone think about the hard stuff. So I just take it as it is.. the hard stuff isn't hard when your happy. I honestly don't know why.. but this week I've had a permanent smile on my face. (thanks for all the prayers)!

So this week I hit my 1 month mark in Chile and wow how quick it went. This next week is transfer week and I'm hoping and praying none of us get transferred!

So I was talking with an Elder this last week that has been hospitalized for migraines among other stuff.. but as we were talking I asked him how he is feeling about his Spanish (he has been here for 4 months) and he said terrible. It scared me. We kept on talking about the language in our native language and came to the conclusion together that most missionaries have the misconception that once you put the 6 months or what ever the "predicted" amount of time to learn the language is.. That you fall asleep the 5 month 30 day not speaking Spanish and wake up the next day (6 months) and are completely fluent in the language. But that's not the case.. its a battle everyday to get a little bit better. Kinda like everything else in life, it takes effort and time.. (except prison, time is the only factor there).

Well Wednesday night at 4 A.M. someone was tried to break into our apartment. He was trying to pick the lock, one of our neighbors was leaving for work and caught him. they yelled and the man booked it.. we live on the 3 floor of these apartments and no joke the guy jumped off the bridge all the way to the ground. 30 feet and got away. So a little bit more time passed by and apparently he walked to the other side where the balconies are. and he was trying to climb up the windows  to get to our apartment. CRAZY LOCO! this man is determined! The thing is, I have nothing of worth to a Chilean thief.. unless he wants to steal 100 phamplets about the Restoration and a few copies of the book of Mormon. In that case be my guest strange determined man.

right now for service we are building a house of a less active member. its actually pretty fun! its deff one of the most sketch buildings but its a blast. Oh and I don't think its really smart having missionaries building this house.( I should have taken that home building class with Elder Matt Driggs) We have no clue what we are doing!

Well the Last 2 meals combined I have eaten..... 40 Inches of completo! It is incredibly unhealthily but oh so heavenly! I will upload a picture of one of them... but I ate 3 others. One of the other elders did the same, pulsipher, and his body crashed! he had to stay home and rest because his stomach was going through inferno!

OH way cool thing! there was a new paper writer that came to church with us last Sunday and actually is a member of the church.. he took pictures of us and everything so us 4 elders in the branch were all in the news paper. pretty cool stuff if you ask me. Oh they had a little mess up.. the name of the church is "La Iglesia de Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias" but in the paper they put " La Iglesia MORMONICA de los...." We all laughed so hard! haha no where does it say that. sad thing is he is a member haha.

So I read this really cool story. Its about a mom who had a wonderful family. She had a loving husband and a young daughter. one day she found out that her husband had been sneaking behind her back for the past few years. she was heartbroken! she didn't know what to do! she was lost.. she carried guilt, anger, sadness and all types of emotion. after a while it was really getting to her. she needed a release. but one day with her daughter, after just finishing up shopping at the grocery store they were bringing the things from the car to the house. the daughter was carrying some bread and was doing just fine. Then the daughter decided to grab the gallon of Milk. she lifted it.. then quickly fell. She tried again and again.. but the little girl just didn't have the strength to lift the heavy milk. so the mother offered to help, and the daughter snapped! stubbornly she said she could do it on her own! the girls started to cry. She felt like a failure. all she wanted to do was help her mom carry a carton of milk. as the mom was watching the girl struggle, she started to cry too. She looked at her hopeless daughter as herself. overcome with difficulties, challenges, wanting to be able to do conquer them on her own.. but the mom knew that she herself couldn't overcome the  problems she had alone.She knew she needed help. only help from the lord would suffice with the problems that she had. Then it become even more profound and meaningful when the daughter asked "mom will you carry me while I carry the milk". This is how the Lord helps us with our problems. Sometimes (most of the time) he doesn't take away our problems.. but if we are humble enough, trust in the Lord.. and SINCERELY ASK him. He will pick US up, he will pick OUR problems up and he will carry us through the hard time! I have a testimony of this. God loves his children.. he wants us to be happy. he will bless our lives and does oh so much more than we truly realize! I'm grateful to be able to bring this message to the people of Chile.

I love you all.. Elder Buck William Howard

ps. my full address is

Elder Buck Howard

Sucre 220 Oficina 504 Casilla de correo 70

Antofagasta, 2 Region

Chile

124000

my Email is

Buck.Howard@myldsmail.net

Shake, Rattle, & Roll

   So this week in the mission, we had the rookie reunion! All of the new missionaries and our trainers from the past 2 months were all sent to Antofagasta to have a reunion with President Bruce. So last Monday night we got all of our stuff ready to make the trek to Antofagasta. Its was about 12 45 am which is scary enough walking outside with sketch people giving you the stare down. We had to find and take a taxi into Iquique which is aways away. Finally we find one, but we didn't just find one, we probably found the craziest taxi driver in the world. We were cruzin! I'm pretty sure there is not a speed limit here. We were practically drifting around corners and crazy stuff like that. We were like 30 seconds away from the bus terminal and we have one more turn to go, he takes this one sharp and quick, out of nowhere a hooker(I am about 50% sure it was a man) jumps right in front of the taxi, we scream, the taxi driver swerves just enough to miss it.. and male female or whatever it was let out this horrible noise, pointed and winked at me in the front seat. EVERYONE is the taxi started laughing sooo hard, the taxi driver even was peeing his pants! (keep in mind this happened at 1 am and were normally aren't awake this late so everything is funny). Then we made it onto the bus.. its is a 6 1/2 hour bus ride from Iquique to Antofa. Half way into the ride, 4 am ish we got pulled over. they made everyone on the bus take all our stuff out and had to line up to be searched for drugs.. that's always fun :) long story short.. one missionary got caught and... nah kidding. We made it to Antofa and met with President Bruce. Man he is a Champ! I wanna be like him someday. He just inspires you. He told us his vision for the missionary work and where he wants it to go. its incredible how inspired that man is! I'm so lucky to be able to be one of his missionaries. We were there for like 6 hours and were sent back home. well worth the time though! I learned a lot in those few hours. and also it was nice to see the other Elders from the MTC. And to know that it wasn't only me that struggled the 1st little bit. That's just part of the mission. You just had to stuck it up and deal with it.. work hard and your problems fade away!

I was standing in our apartment the other day getting ready to leave, and we had an earthquake that shook me off my feet. It was pretty cool.. its the 1st one I've ever been in in my life. and then 3 days later we had another good little tremor. If we had a big earthquake here, this place would get wrecked like the movie 2012( oh no, I will be here for 2012) hehe.

Its pretty loco how the lord sometimes works. like the other day Elder Deck and I were visiting a less active member living it this apartment complex. as we were walking we saw a 14 year old kid in our branch and said to us to go visit his family.. he said they lived in block 6 apartment 11. So continue on our way, we knock on the door of the less active member (living in block 5 apartment 22) they dont answer. We walk down the stairs and see apartment 11.. so Elder deck knocks on the door. I look at him with big eyes and say "this is block 5.. the kid said they lived in block 6" ooops. but right then a 16 year old kid answers the door, we are completely awkward and dont know what to say because we were caught off guard.. but after about 10 good long awkward seconds we turn it around like a normal contact. We ended up getting invited into the house to give a pray on behalf of the people. They felt incredible.. they said they wanted us to come back for more. I dont know about you, but I think that is the Lord working through strange ways. It was a mistake on our part.. we were supposed to go to a completely different building but accidentally knocked on the wrong door and we ended up finding 3 more people waiting/wanting to hear the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So we have been teaching this young couple that we found knocking doors, their names are Obaldo and Juana. They are probably 22 years old not a day more. They have a baby on the way (like 8 months along) and they have no money. They live in a tiny house. They only own 2 chairs so we teach them while we stand. His job is picking lettuce. They dont have the confidence to look you in the eyes ever. okay so that is this family... so the other day we went to visit them. We knocked on the door and Obaldo answered. He said Juana was sick and she was sleeping so they couldn't visit. but then we said just let us come in and say a prayer even just with him. He accepted. We started talking with Obaldo and we knew something was wrong.. we started to ask questions about what was up and he started telling us all the problems that he has going on. I.E. having no money and a baby within the next month (if that alone isn't more than enough of a tough time). then he said his dad was really really sick, living in Bolivia and he can do anything about it because of his wife's condition with the baby. So his dad is dying, he has no money, family difficulties and that's just a few. So after pouring out his sole of all his life's problems to us ( He wasn't complaining, just telling us as friends whats going on) Then we decided to have him say a prayer to his Heavenly Father. We taught him about the love that God has for him.. and that God wants to talk to him. God wants to bless his life and only through prayer can he do that. So he began to pray. Never in my life have I heard such a sincere prayer. Tears started shedding, his voice was cracking because he felt that love that God has for him. He knew God was listening and that he is there for him! The spirit overcame me and I shed a few tears of happiness for myself. It is so flippin awesome to know that at anytime at any place I can talk with my Father in Heaven who loves me unconditionally. who will bless me with my needs. I can testify that the power of prayer is real. That we have a father in heaven that is eager to talk to us, just as our parents on the earth feel towards us. This simple knowledge has eternal consequences, consequences for the better. For people like Obaldo, they just need to feel the love of God in their lives and we all can through sincere prayer to him.

Love Elder Buck William Howard