August 1, 2016

Things are going really well here, my foot is getting better now that it has been 2 weeks and in the mornings to work out we usually play some frisbee so I can run a little bit and start to stretch it out and exercise it but not too much to where I will make it worse. 

I just barely got a new companion whose name is Elder Manos and he is seriously like my best friend. I have had a rough time with companions to be honest I love them all but it has been a lot of work to mesh together very well BUT NOW?! Oh my goodness!!! I LOVE ELDER MANOS! And his name is not Spanish actually, it is Greek. It means 'God is with us'. I seriously had so much fun this last week and he is the same as me, we are going to do so much work here. We are in a struggling area hardcore and the last couple transfers we (me and my companion) haven't been unified in our efforts, I wanted to do a lot and now Elder Manos wants to do as much as me and so we are gonna do it! We are going to help the areas progress and see a lot of success... Long story short, I am sooo pumped for the next few weeks!

There is this German Exchange student named Marius here with a family in the ward and he has been coming out with us. Pretty much I've decided that when I get off my mission I'm going to go spend a couple months with him in Germany and it is going to be amazing, I love this kid so much and he is preparing to serve a mission.  So when I go we will definitely go do some missionary work to help prepare him more and help me continue to do it! 

My testimony has grown this last week. That is so cool to say. Every day seeing the progression is amazing. I have further deepened my conviction that I know that God answers prayers, I know that he gives us exactly what we need when we have the courage and faith to ask. Every day I have to be building on that faith and coming closer to him and make sure not to fall away. I look forward to the opportunities to do something hard and see if I trust God enough to do what he asks. 

  

I am super grateful for the emails, letters, cards that I received this last week where many of you mentioned an experience where you followed a prompting and saw a miracle. That was exactly what I needed, and your testimonies helped build my faith.  So thank you!

Elder Howland