Our First Email Home! (September 5, 2013)

Hello family!! IT is so good to hear from you guys! and i am so thankful for all of the things you have sent me! they were so nice and thoughtful! But anyways, i love the MTC it is so awesome and i am learning so much while i am here! My cebuano is coming along a lot better than before and i am learning so many new things about the gospel! My companions are awesome and they are so cool! Eler Oakes is from Olympia, Washington and ELder Manley is from Southern California! I have already grown to love both of these elders that i have been serving with! We are already like best friends! The days here are kind of long but the weeks go by so fast! its crazy to think that i have already been here for over a week!! And i love it! My testimony has grown 10 times the amount from when i had first entered! We have had multiple mission confreences while i have been here and a story from one of those the night before the conf. i asked my heavenly father if this is what i am suppose to be doing, and i didn't get my answer right away but i did get it the next day! The conf. was awesome the speakers were the old mission pres. of the MTC in the Philippines and they were saying how awesome it was there and how amazing the people were and right then and there i knew this is where i needed to be. I also have an awesome district, the other two elders in my district are Elder Fox and Elder Smith and they both have MGs who are waiting for them too! But they are so awesome and they are good examples to me! The other night our district had a testimony meeting in our room and it was so amazing and the spirit was so so strong while we were doing this! IT was simply amazing! I had the opportunity to give elder Oakes a blessing because he has been sick and he asked me and my other companion to do it and i was able to seal the anointing and the spirit just flowed out my mouth as i was giving him this blessing! It was such a cool thing too do here and i am so glad i could finally do it! I had no idea what to say before but as i said the blessing the spirit directed me on what so say and what the elder needed specifically.Oh and my branch presidents name is Pres Capik, he is a firm guy with strict rules so he will be one of those tough mission presidents to love, but he is still a nice guy and i and i believe he cares for each of us! But anyways sorry I haven't been able to write or respond my P-day isnt until today! So always remember that i can write you all on thursdays! But thanks so much for all the letters and packages they make me feel so loved! I love you guys so much and think of you all the time! i love this work that i get to participate in and i am so excited to spread the gospel to the people of the Philippines. Hope all is well down south! Love and miss you all!(: 

Ps, tell tanner that the food here was really good the first few days and now its slowly getting gross haha but it is still good and they have a lot of selections! But not as good as mamma's home cookin!!

WIth much love, Elder Howell