Week of April 5, 2009

hey mama and fam
thank you so much for the email. i really appreciate hearing from all of you. ya i was able to watch all of conference besides the sunday afternoon session. oh and i agree with mom, elder hollands talk was amazing. thee atonement it my favorite doctrine. i loving learning all i can about it. the part when elder holland spoke about christ being ALONE in the cross, without the father, was truely touching. Christ conqured hell so that we can never never never be alone.
so as you all know i am training. holy cow is all i can say. i am the youngest trainer in the mission. i still kinda feel like a greenie myslef, haha. the lord has really helped me with this language. i can already see the gift of tounges stronger and stronger in the last past week. so all my companions that i have had 0n my mission are home. elder rock, elder king, elder gish and elder hansen are all home. its crazy cause i was with old old companions then the lord throws me a greenie, haha. i guess i should just take off my hat, rub my head and say ""alright"" hahaha. my new comp is from riverton utah. he was born in south california then moved to utah when he was 12 or somethin. so kinda like the opposite with me. he was way awesome and his dutch is like as good as mine, no joke haha.
well we were biking the other day and i felt like going to the park so do some finding. to my amazement, i looked as saw kids playing lacrosse. i freaked out and jumped off my bike and started passing with all the kids. it felt so good to get a stick in my hands again. they said that lax is getting bigger and bigger here. theres not to many kids that play but he said that each city in the netherlands has a team. theres not to many kids on each team though but its growing. we got done playing and they asked if i could play for team zwolle haha, i guess i will give pres woodland a call and see haha.
so we have some good and bad news about roda. she called me on friday and told me that her boyfriend is OUT OF THE HOUSE. the bad news is is that the kids are really said. so that means that roda will be baptized pretty soon. were going to try and set a date for dont this sunday but the one after. on the 19th or 26th. i am so excited for her. her testiomny is serioulsy so strong its amazing. the spirit works so strong with her that its so amazing.
thats crazy to hear about ryan in india, they cant proselyte? thats crazy. and with taylor, thats good to hear that my cousin is training to haha. oh and i am so sick of lazy missionaries. theres too many of them haha.
ya fam i love you so much. how grateful we should be to be able to be members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and also to have a testimony of this restored gospel and jesus the christ.
i love you all
elder J Lew Howell