April 24, 2017

 Lynn said something to us the other day that she is tired of doing "good" things. She wants to start doing "God guided" things now. Don't we all have millions of good decisions in front of you but where is God guiding you? 

Another story from Lynn to answer the last question. So Lynn loves the Book of Mormon. LOVES it. She is in Alma right now and she only started reading it for the first time a month ago. She feels the Spirit really strong and it provides her with comfort and peace. So last week she started reading the Doctrine and Covenants and in a couple days she got clear to section 52 and the whole Joseph Smith History! She is so great! But on Thursday she was feeling spiritually low- she recognized that she hadn't been reading the Book of Mormon and so she read it that morning. She said that she didn't even read a whole page and she felt the restorative feeling of the Spirit come back into her. I think that that really illustrates what we are all are looking for. And simply I would call it 3 steps. 1 Recognition- self assess and notice something is disharmonious, 2 Humility-be willing to recognize that your way is causing the problem and 3 Repentance- making the changes necessary to bring you back into alignment with the Spirit. 

One other thing that reminds me of is this last General Conference. Wasn't one of the main things President Monson asked us to do was read the Book of Mormon specifically everyday.

I want to share a scripture with you that I memorized. These are actually my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon right now. Mosiah 29:19-20. This is a common theme throughout the Book of Mormon. 3 Nephi 4:33, Mosiah 7:33... There are so many times it talks about the Lord delivering us. That is truly his sole purpose. He is the one that can free us from the bondage we put ourselves in.

19 – And were it not for the interposition of their all-wise Creator, and this because of their sincere repentance, they must unavoidably remain in bondage until now.

20 – But behold, he did deliver them because they did humble themselves before him; and because they cried mightily unto him he did deliver them out of bondage; and thus doth the Lord work with his power in all cases among the children of men, extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him.

The Lord has and continues to deliver me. I know that this work is true. I know that Christ is our redeemer and I know that the Book of Mormon brings me peace and joy and love EVERY TIME I read in it.

Elder Mark Howland

April 17, 2017

Easter was such a great day! Our Mission President's wife volunteered us to sing This is the Christ in Sacrament a few weeks ago and so Easter Sunday was the day that we did it. Elders Hurst, Bischoff, Payne and myself sang while our ward mission leader played the flute and another good friend in the ward played the piano. It was so good and in combination with the talks- it was just a glorious, Spirit filled Sacrament. It was the first time I have performed musically in front of anyone (mostly because I have always been really just a terrible singer!) but I loved it a lot and can't wait to do it again!

We had a Zone Conference this week and it was the weirdest one I have ever been to haha President Welch didn't actually talk all that much, we had more music in it that we have ever seen. It was really nice though. The cool thing was that I received the answers that I needed even though there was much less shared than usual. (The only complaint that I had was that the lunch was awful haha) I came with questions and I left with answers... and more questions haha

Right now I am surrounded by some pretty stellar missionaries and so I feel pretty lucky! One thing that I was pretty sad about a few weeks ago was that I didn't feel very connected to many of the members here in this ward but over the last few weeks that has really changed and probably my favorite  part of missionary work has really come in again. This area is full of some of the best people and I could go on and on! 

I hope you had as great of an Easter as we were able to enjoy!!! :)

Elder Mark Howland :)

 Elder Howland and his companion, Elder Payne, with some other people.

 Elder Howland and his companion, Elder Payne.

Elder Howland with his mission president's wife, Sis. Welch.

April 10, 2017

This week has been Glorious! 

Well it started off pretty bad in that the Sisters that I was in the MTC with went home... But on the bright side at least I can talk to them more now!

The rest of the week was glorious though! We had a social media day Saturday this week where we had the opportunity to teach people all about the Prince of Prince. I love sharing this message. The first thing we did was organize a service project across the street from our apartment this whole last week and so in the morning it was the first thing we did. It was awesome using the neighbors to help us to do a good thing. We took pictures. I'll send them next week. 

Sunday we had a cool experience! We were fasting for a miracle to happen among the Young Single Adults here and then we say a miracle! So We have been teaching this girl Chelsey. She said Saturday night that she was coming. Then Sunday morning she called and said that she was ready. We were going to pick her up with some members because this is her first Sunday coming to church. She called back again and said that she was having an anxiety attack and she couldn't do it. I assured her that it wasn't a big deal, she didn't have to go but I asked if we could still come and introduce the members. She allowed that. So on the way over with the members she called back again and said her anxiety is getting worse and that we shouldn't come... but we were right around the corner from her and so she said it was still cool that we come. So she came out and we talked for like half an hour. And after that she felt better and wanted to come! So we went to church and she loved it and she even bore her testimony! It was really cool and I love that we can add our testimonies to that of Peter when he declared that we have not followed cunningly devised fables but were eyewitnesses to His Majesty! We see miracles daily! God's work is going on and never halting!

Love,

Elder Howland

I'm not sure who the sister is, but this is Elder McKellar with Elder Howland.  

They were previously companions.

April 3, 2017

Of course I'm going to talk about conference! It was so great!!

One that particularly meant a lot to me was by S Mark Palmer. Not just because his name is Mark haha and not just because he had a cool accent also! But I love the story of the rich young ruler and I love how he focused on the Lord's love for him! It seemed like every single talk had a list of 3 things to write down! It is really a great way to plan your talk but when every single person does it it's like cmon!! But I love how several people in conference talked about seeing others through God's eyes and S Mark Palmer was one of them.  The best part of conference was receiving answers. Another great part is receiving chastening. I had the wonderful opportunity to have both haha

I had a problem that I didn't know how to deal with and I won't go into specifics here but I needed some help from above. So going into conference I was determined to seek my answer and the way it happened was interesting. All weekend I was searching and on Sunday morning I woke up in the middle of the night with a phrase in my head so I got up and wrote it down so I wouldn't forget by morning, and it was "if something you want doesn't exist- create it." Now I don't know about you but that was kind of cryptic to me. I didn't know how that applied. But I liked it and I thought I could use it in the future for like my job or something. But during the Sunday afternoon session I realized that the answer to my question was love. And I was chastened for not expressing my love more. So I realized that love was what I wanted and didn't exist. So I need to create that love for all those around me. Everyone deserves to feel loved and I was withholding that from some because I didn't agree with some of the things they did. I don't know if any of this makes sense haha

Moral of the story: The Spirit illuminates our understanding and it also is like fire and chastens and corrects. The Church is truly Heavenly Father's Kingdom here on the Earth. Those that we heard from are His servants and they spoke the words He knew we needed. I know that they set us on a straight and strait course.

I love you.

Elder Mark Howland

March 27, 2017

This week has been glorious! I mentioned Lynn in my email last week well this week she got baptized! I will be sure to include some pictures. Now that the story is over let me share with you it from the beginning from my perspective!

So I came into Cincinnati without much going on... Lots of fun! So after a week we met Lynn! She knew the missionaries through her friend Mitchell and loved the feelings through the Spirit! 

We went to our District meeting that week and the Spirit was so strong. I was listening and was able to receive revelation straight from God. There are times when revelation comes as a generous thought or good feeling or softer inspiration. This time I heard God's voice. He spoke and I won't say the exact words but pretty much he said that there was someone in our area that was ready for the message of the Restored Gospel in their life and that they needed to be baptized while I was here this transfer. It was very specific. I rejected the fear that came from that promise and knew that I had to work my hardest to help bring it to pass. 

Well since we started to teach her she fell in love with the Book of Mormon flying through it spending hours in it each day. She knew it was true through the power of the Holy Ghost. We asked her to be baptized (after calculating the required 3 Sundays attendance) on April 8th.  She had some concerns and asked some questions but was leaning towards doing that without enthusiasm. Now that isn't in this transfer because our transfer ends on April 3rd so I knew that Lynn was awesome but there was still someone out there who was ready for the message of the Restored Gospel and who would be baptized this transfer. Several days later while studying for our next lesson with her I read in Preach My Gospel under How do I Help People Prepare for Baptism and had the thought that we should ask her to be baptized on March 25th. That didn't make sense to me because it didn't fulfill the qualifications for baptism, but I kept thinking about it ALL day. When we got to Lynn's for the lesson I still was thinking about it but I couldn't go through with it... Well about halfway through the lesson she was explaining something and I simply decided to act. I asked her if I could rudely interrupt her haha and said "I don't know if I am even allowed to do this Lynn, but the Spirit has been urging me all day that I should ask if you will be baptized, not on April 8th, but on March 25th?"

To my surprise and everyone else's also there were no questions, no hesitancy. Lynn said that she had been waiting for years for this and yes she would be baptized on March 25th and she was so excited! Well this Saturday Lynn was baptized and it really showed me 2 things. 1. God knows his children. He knew that over the last year Lynn had been praying for a church to start attending and for someone to come to her door to help her come back to him. 2. God's word is sure. When he promises something he WILL make it happen. It reminds me of a scripture "...for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

In Preach My Gospel it says that "You will succeed in your work as you learn to receive and follow personal revelation." The last few weeks of my life have been testimony of the truthfulness of that statement.

Love, 

Elder Mark Howland

March 20, 2017

This week has been awesome! We had exchanges and zone conference and everything... It was just so busy. But we worked hard and it was so fun and the time flew by! Fun fact of this week. I started and finished my week with the same companion! :)

We are teaching a woman named Lynn and her friend Mitchell and his 16 year old son named Timmy. They are the most wonderful people that I have ever met! I have so much love for them I can't even describe! We go and share lessons and we all feel the Spirit so strong and we each learn so much. It is truly the way missionary work is supposed to be! They are progressing towards baptism and they have such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. It really is the key to everything, through that we can learn the truthfulness of the entire gospel.

So the best thing of this week happened on Sunday. I was having a somewhat stressful time right after church and then we started to visit people and find new families to teach and I noticed that right as we started to find and knock doors I just had so much joy come into me! I just know that the Spirit is in the Lord's work and it is such a good life! The funniest thing is that just like 2 weeks ago I was struggling with feeling love for the area and the work and all that... Well the cure for me was the same advice that President Hinkley's father told him... "Forget yourself and go to work." Very wise words.

Man life is great! I keep getting told that I'm very optimistic and I can kinda see that. Life is so great and it is even better when you look at the good so why not!? :)

Much love from Cincinnati!

Elder Mark Howland

March 13, 2017

Alright well hopefully things are calming down here. Things are so good. I have much need to tell you about Lynn and Mitchell and Timmy! I have so much love in my heart for them and I haven't shared it yet! So I can't even describe how great they are. I will just share a quick quote from Lynn- she is reading through the Book of Mormon and she said "I'm just wondering where it has been all my life."

I think that is a beautiful thing. Being able to share this message with people that are literally looking for it but just don't know where to find it. 

Things are so crazy but being a missionary is so great!

Love,

Elder Howland

I don't know who are in these pictures other than that it's a variety of people Elder Howland serves with or serves...