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