Buck's Address-Sucre 220 Oficina 504 Edificio Bulnes Antofagasta Chile

Elder Buck Howard's Address-
Sucre 220 Oficina 504 Edificio Bulnes Antofagasta Chile

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

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

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

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

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

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

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

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