"Bye, Weak!" ~ By Week

Hey!  How are you?  Thanks for reading my email and for thoughts you have and would like to share in response.  I miss you, and hope to hear how your life is going.  I have a lot to report from this week. 

Skim this or read the full email on your own time and discretion, if you are busy.  I have many wonderful things to report, and simple can't shortchange this email for brief notes of the best week of my mission yet:

Isles of Smiles
Miles of Isles: Fiji!
Personal Progress: I can honestly say that this week of my mission was the hardest by a bit, and best by far. Because I gave it my all, and learned how to give it my all for the rest of my mission.

I see clearly and specifically that I have grown in real and measurable ways in each aspect of who I am and what God can do through me.  In the past year(this being my Year mark), I have made a full transformation.  I have kept all the good and gained more than I dreamed or wished.  I have lost all the bad, and learned how to make my weaknesses completely eliminated.

I have taken this year by weeks.  And because I had a specific goal for each week in how I would improve myself and lift others and stretch and grow in measurable, noticeable ways, now I am reaching any goal I ever set, and smashing it! 

My job is to be a prototype of the heavenly home from which I came.  A living picture of it.  For I am a child of God--so I choose nothing less.  We are born to be lights; so don't dim just because the rest of the world is dark.

God called me in my weakness, but He qualified me by my trials.  So bring on the joyful opposition because I desire to be purified even as He is pure.  I will deliberately and willingly go through whatever that entails I endure. 

If you lack motivation to do it, then that's the perfect reason to do it, because that's how the motivation will come! (;
My new theme is "Now rather than later."

The Tongue is evidence that God wants us to enjoy life, every aspect of the moment.  He could have made us so that we could just insert food into our stomachs and move on--but He designed the tongue.  All the flavors and the textures and the beauty of it.  Let that be evidence to you to slow down inside and just be happy, just be chill, and enjoy the now. 

Defined who I am:  I am defined by my Covenants with God.  This is who I am.  I am a covenant keeper.  And everything that makes up me is just shaped by that.  Anything that doesn't fit into that framework, I will reject from my life; and anything that fits into that framework, I will make a part of me.  This is who me is.  And now I know it and am fixed to it.  Jesus Christ does in real ways lead every aspect of my being.  This is who I am.  It is who I have chosen to be.






District Progress: Speaking of which, our District is thriving phenomenally.  We have such an incredible bond between one another.  We are truly there for each other in all things. We face hard times, but we use it to make us rise higher rather than drown.  I am so impressed with the members of this district.  I am proud of them. 

In District Meeting last week, in the District Meeting, we each held one another accountable to high and reachable personal, companion, and district goals based on what the Spirit told us while we had listened to General Conference the week previous. 

The Theme for District Meeting was "Making Vision Happen." 
We did things such as put these goals in each day slot of our planners and learned beautiful techniques of how to accomplish and plan ahead so we will reach our goals.   Because of this affective District Meeting, we as a District will now have around 250 lessons and 10 Saints by the end of next week. 

Each companionship really gave it their all this week.  We were happy and spent by the end(: This District delivers!  This District "earns their pillows" every day!  This District is a Consecrated District.  This District is a unified one.  This District is a Happy one.

I have really learned how to make myself absolutely anything I want to become, and reach any goal.  I know of almost no more useful thing one could gain, especially when applied to eternal things and acting on vision given directly to me by Heavenly Father.  This mission is everything.  And so that is what I'm trying to instill in each member of the District.  By the end of our time in this District, we will be lifelong friends (we all already are such,) and will know how to accomplish any goal we will ever set in our lives in and after the mission.

One thing I committed to the District that I would do every day this week and then give an accounting for in our next District Meeting, was that I would..

I write down "DMdo" in small letters at the end slot of my daily schedule in my planner, to remind me after planning and Area Booking, to do what I said I'll do from our district meeting commitments  (This way I never forget, and I'm daily accountable to it.  Then I do it--and it is this):

I have been taking extra careful and sacred time at the end of each day to ask Heavenly Father how I can improve or what is stopping me from progressing the next step I need to take.  And then I listen for the answers I don't want to hear--anything  He would like to say whether comfortable to me or not.  I open my heart all the way and let anything He wants to tell me in, no matter how against my own views it could be.  And every single night, He has spoken loud and clear in dramatically helpful ways.  I get the answer, and then write it down in my to do slot for the next day and then spend the day making it a realized reality.

Companionship Progress: One example was, when I felt like our good companionship relationship was struggling and stagnant on some levels and could be great and even best, I sought Heavenly Father at the end of the day and He told me, "Tomorrow, ask your companion to give you a priesthood blessing."  I told Him that I would do that, then I turned the page of my planner and wrote it in the "To Do" slot specifically as Heavenly Father had said it to me.

The next day, I acted on it.  It was a big problem that I had done everything I possibly could think of or gain from anyone's suggestions or counsel, and Heavenly Father's 2 second simple solution more than perfectly fixed everything.  After Elder Luatua gave me that blessing, we were again so tight--I mean, all our differences and road blocks and walls and problems of any kind all just melted away and haven't returned even to this moment days after that blessing.  Our companionship relationship is fully back to great and best, instead of "good" and "let's just get the job done."  Now we are back to thriving! 

Why?  Because of a simple daily habit that started in a District Meeting where the Spirit spoke something personal to me, which I could put into real-life action every day over a one-week period.

Learning this above mentioned principle is the key to mastering life at its highest level.  Using the power of the week, to transform the weak in you, to raise you up to the highest mountain peak, the next step and the missing piece you seek.

Now it has become something I will likely do for the entire remainder of my life, every day until I meet Heavenly Father face to face in our home again. 

Exchange Report: Elder Kanongata'a (one of my best Tongan friends who came to the MTC and then after to Fiji at the same intake as me) and I had a great exchange this past week.  It happened to accidentally fall almost directly on our Year-Mark day!  And I can honestly say that it was one of the very best exchanges of my mission so far. 

We set realistic and measurable goals for the remainder of our missions, which we will hold each other accountable for.  We talked, and as a result of our talking and training, both of our areas and personal progress improved dramatically. I learned who I am and why I do things the way I do.  I now understand myself fully and to the deepest levels.  It is so freeing!  I know who I am and I understand myself!  Just because me and this dear friend of mine had a conversation that was entirely led by Heavenly Father's direction.

 It was one of those exchanges that just changes my mission and which I will never forget.  We both walked away from it inspired and fired up. 



Our Investigators' Progress:  This aspect, I could spend days writing about!  I'll have to keep it painfully brief:  We have 14 people who are set on Baptism Dates and are progressing.  We have floods of work pouring in every week. This isn't to our credit, it is the grace of Heavenly Father as we simply follow His directions one moment at a time. We love this area.  The members have strong relationships with us.  They are doing the work for us almost.  We have learned how to do it, and now we are maintaining it every week--and learning how to juggle the responsibilities of DL on top of all we need to accomplish.  We have dozens of miraculously prepared people pouring in--all of which are potential Baptismal Dates.  The work here couldn't be going faster.  It is healthier than I could wish.  All is challenging, but we love the challenge, so all is wonderful.  We really do love to live President Layton's 4 Principles of Success. 

Ask any specifics about any of these color-categorized sections of my email you'd like to.  Thank you for taking the time to read my Report.

I love you and hope I am doing all I can to sustain you from the distance at which I now reside.  One more year, and you will be able to see me face to face, eh?  Let's lift each other up each day till then so when it comes, we don't recognize each other one bit because of how dramatically and positively we have transformed to our Heavenly Father's likeness and full perfection.

We can do it!  One week at a time, weekly work: bye weak by week(;

Closing Thoughts: Our progress in the mission really comes from just always making sure we're taking the next step forward, upward and outward.

It has come by a little term I now use; Get rid of Weaknesses, Gain all Strengths bye weak by week. 

Weaks become strengths by using one week at a time.

If you take a time period of a week, and assign a theme to it, and then daily goals that contribute to that goal, you can master all the good you could want to reach by the end of that week, and drop all the weak, say "bye" to it.  You find yourself deliberately accomplishing more in a week than you used to in 2 months! And with that kind of added propulsion to your progress and growth, you watch yourself become anything you'd like to become--more importantly, you have nothing at all stopping you from becoming anything Heavenly Father tells you that you could highest become.

Everyone in this District is becoming limitless.  There aren't boundaries to our ability to achieve a vision.  I have learned how to harness the full power of the weekly District Meeting.  The Spirit is the Key,  and my Love gets them Motivated.  I know my sheep.

We are yielding to Heavenly Father in everything, so that He can fully and unrestrainedly wield us at our maximum.  This District is becoming prepared for Exaltation and taking the world with them to it.  That is our vision.  We are enjoying every day together and making remarkable progress in every aspect of the work.

This has been the best week of my mission yet. 
I mean it.

With all my love and uplifted hand of sustaining and gratitude to you in whatever you are presently facing in life and family, I pray may the Lord bless you with every blessing which you may stand in need of.  In the name of Jesus Christ, I say all these things, amen.
Sincerely,
Elder Howard
District L-ongsufferer and love-r,
Suva Hindi

Time's Inborn Yearnings ---1Yr!

CELEBRATE!!!!! 1 YEAR! 

It's been an exact year now.  This week is my exact year mark.  I have one year remaining.  

For the 12 Disciples, it was an impossible task to feed the 5,000 in Christ's time, and for the 12 sets of missionaries in Suva, it is an impossible job to feed the 5,000+ in all of Suva--but Christ makes our efforts reach all.  He it is that only requests our best and then steps in with us to magnify our crust of faith to 10,000 loaves.  

Over the past year, I have gained enough first hand experience to say for certain Christ will reach you to your impossible dreams and visions if you'll set your eyes one Him and consistently keep them there as you go about DOing the impossible challenges He invites you to face with Him daily--He'll magnify you more than you imagined.


On top of being expected to find, minister to, save and exalt every individual and family in the largest City in this Nation, we also are commanded to go out and bring back the 2,581 Members of the Church who have been caught away by the trends of the world and left the fold.  Jesus Christ sent one of His personal representatives to us 2 weeks ago, Elder Johannson, a General Authority--who blessed us powerfully.  He gave us the power to go out and find all of these people and heal them and save them.  


​Do we really believe the impossible things we face, are possible?  

I have learned, indeed they are. :)

Here in this work, there certainly isn't any vacation at all.  We are devoted to this work, 24/7.  For a full year now, every moment has been wholly and entirely consumed in nothing but constantly working to exalt and transform and save families and individuals--children of God.  I have done the same what natural people may call "grueling" routines for 362 days now--nonstop.  

Missions are not easy.  

Missions are eternally rewarding.

Missions are impossible.

Missions transform you.

Missions change innumerable eternal lives in real, unfathomable ways.

Missions ARE the BEST!

I have truly now reached all I ever dreamed of and more.  This is the ideal.  I am completely outside of myself and all the weak, old, former parts of my natural man have been torn of and wrenched from my very being by the sheer stress and demanding labor of my service here in the field every waking minute.  This is how we become like our Heavenly Father and like the Savior Jesus Christ, as they have invited us to.  By losing our lives all the way to Their will.  And as all we once were is shredded off from us and ripped relentlessly away, we discover the 'Self' we always had an inborn yearning to become.  We become more than we could have ever wished.

That is what has happened to me.

This is what I have gained in one year of non-stop service as a soldier in the Lord's work, and in the intense warfare of these last days: (not all listed necessarily in any priority order or rhyme or reason to chronological listings)

I have grown in depth of soul, relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ, capability, ability, love, exact obedience, patience, ruling my circumstances rather than being acted upon by them, compassion, being fully teachable, mental strength, consistent health habits, determination, direction, understanding, work ethic, self-mastery, budgeting, communication, public speaking, gaining the strengths of all people around me, relationship principles, cleanliness, vocal skills and motivating techniques, companionship, adaptability, influence, hard work, leadership, initiative, planning, time-management, testimony, humor, sensitivity, bravery, power, meekness, wisdom, financial governance, all the small things, full independence, happiness no matter what can or ever could come, loyalty, security, conviction, self-motivation, problem solving, family raising techniques and skills, prioritizing, listening skills, faith, scriptural knowledgeability, driving skills, languages, linguistic and cultural adaptability, emotional maturity, physical strength, all my talents have more than doubled and blossomed, career and future vision is solid and clear now, ready to be an eternal father and fully, purely, relentlessly and passionately faithful husband, focused on magnifying my Priesthood callings from God, developed daily study habits, seeing clearly how Heavenly Father views me and my grand destiny and potential, setting realistic goals and reaching them consistently, becoming like my Savior Jesus Christ in real ways I never imagined or fully comprehended He could make of me, humble, unstoppable, non-stop progressing, long-suffering, adventurous, childlike, joyful. 

This is a small list of just a few of the real things that missions visibly make of people.  What mine has made of me in a year.

All these and more, are what the Lord can and will make of us as we give ourselves unreservedly and consistently to Him.

Knowing I have one year, presses me more to give more.  It doesn't feel too different though, because I have lived my mission since day one with this mindset: "Live every day as if it is in the last week of my mission."  For I will not wait until the future to live fully and give my best and all I have.  I am living my dreams and feeling closer to the Savior Jesus Christ.

We have another year's worth of a joyful journey to go together.

I must give you personal and direct credit and acknowledgement for all you have done to be with me through all of this.  You have plaid a role in who I now am.  You have been with me throughout this year.  From my heart, thank you!

From my soul, thank you, and I love you!

You individually have made a difference to me and this nation of Fiji.  Let's take on an even better YEAR NOW!

:)

We are working harder than ever. 

We have 6 amazing individuals who are preparing themselves for Baptism in the coming next week.  

One of our dearest friends, and one of the most inspiring, pure, angelic people I've perhaps ever met, passed away this week.  Pritika Prasad.  It was a powerful moment, and soul stirring, filled with the peace and attendance of Heavenly Father and His angels, as we sung the lines of her favorite songs as she passed on into the eternal mansions of her anxiously waiting Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ.  3 of us Missionaries sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" as she walked from this foreign world, to her true home.  Her gentle, final breath on this side of the veil happened right as we sang her most beloved line of the song, "Oh Sweet, the Joy this sentence gives; 'I know that my Redeemer Lives'..." 

One of her last goals left on her list of things to do for eternity, was to see the Savior's face.  She did.  She does, and met His real, loving, divine embrace.  

In our District Meeting this past week, we got 2 papers that the Spirit had told me could change all of our lives if we allowed them to.  On one paper we each wrote things we admire about each of the individuals individually in the room.  Then we wrote down all the things Heavenly Father had to say to us personally.  He spoke to each of us about His vision for us, and we wrote it down privately.  We let Him redefine us and recreate us by His view of us and what we can be.  Then, we got another paper and wrote all the things we would give up for Him.  We wrote all and then tore that paper up and cast it away. 

These 2 papers changed our lives.

Keep the L in it. 

_Elder Howard

*****************************************


There is a new Elder in my mission who also is named "Elder Howard"!  

He arrived and is learning Fijian, and I am Hindi.  We swapped name tags.  We are twins, eh?  We became very close friends on sight.  We immediately clicked and just pray and pray we'll be called to be companions, along with another friend of ours named "Elder Halbert."  If we could be trio of Elders and go around introducing ourselves as "Hello, I'm Elder Howard, Elder Howard, Elder Halbert... we have a unique message.." it would certainly catch people's attention.(:  

I have developed the ability to just sing on the spot about anything, and it comes out really profound and deep.  I really like missionary work.  There is nothing like it.  You give all your whole soul to this work, thinking your giving pieces of yourself away... but each piece you give turns out to come back to you full force in blessing and positively transforming you.  It is just fun seeing that all you thought you were giving up, is just magnificently given to you after all.  God's way leads to all good things.  Just keep walking forward, upward and outward.  Keep walking where Christ directs you to walk, and all good things are bound to you, bound to follow you, better than you thought your way could perfectly do, His way will always be in your favor.  

I just watched General Conference yesterday and the day before!!  It reaches the Pacific late.  Wow!!! What an unfathomable blessing to have living Prophets who speak the mind and will of God directly to us every 6 months. 

>>> lds.org <<<

Lastly, remember, keep humor in it!  Life is fun!  Live light!  Live as a light!  Enjoy to the End.

​
Until next week, and on to the whole year ahead--

Sincerely, love,
Elder Howard
Suva Fiji
Hindi Speaking

Mailing Address:

Elder Brandon Howard
Fiji Suva Mission Office
GPO Box 215
Suva, Fiji

"Keep the 'L' in it!"

Hey! 

Thanks for everything.  How are you?  

Was it a good week?  A lot of miracles?  A lot of struggles?  That was my week.  

How crazy how fast time is going, eh?  

Amazing week! Here's the miraculous things that are happening in the land of miracles; Fiji:

​District back in Lautoka (some members of it)

​District here in Suva (all members of it)

In our District, we have a saying... a motto, or our "thing". It came from my first Training.  Heavenly Father really tells what those District Trainings are supposed to be about.  This formula came directly from Heavenly Father as I conversed with Him about what specifically He wants of His District here in Suva.  I'll explain it; under the direction of Jesus Christ I gave a training on 2 words:

Comp... 
and
Comp...

In the district, and zone, and mission, everything depends on the companionship.  The basic unit of the mission.  You have been given your companion as someone God wants to be your very best friend.  You have the potential to make or break it.  It is all up to the unity in a companionship. It starts with Comp's.  

What comes next is what makes all the difference in everything.  There are two words, with only a one letter difference.  And that one letter changes everything.   The two words are 

Compete
and 
Complete

In our missions, coworker relations, marriage, family, all relationships in life, it is up to us whether we will keep the "L" in it.  If learned and lived, this will change our lives and relationships for the rest of our lives. This is an inspired thing to remember in all relations.

The L, is 2 words that transform and determine our companionship and unity at every level.  These two words or their absence have all the power:  

Love
and 
Long-suffering
(then we all read the definition of the word Long-suffering)


Compete with each other, 
         or
              Complete each other.  

Both take as equal work, but both don't bring froth the same results.


And so we all are so excited to "Keep the 'L' in it!" 

When we do anything, like present our goals in Zone Training Meeting with 30 other missionaries and leaders, after presenting it, I call out "Keep the L in it!" and then our whole district raises one hand in the shape of an L and does a cool whistle tune we came up with, stand for a second and then sit down as a District.

We have probably seen more miracles this week than any other week of our missions yet.  This week has been one of the weeks to remember forever, and which will very literally change forever...

_________________________________________________________________________________



I have a Question: do you know of any good group games?  Ones that don't require anything... maybe just something simple like paper and pen or coins?  I reallllly beg you--if you have aaany good ones, I will use them in a lesson here in Fiji with the natives, and in playing the game, I will give your name credit in front of them :)  i want to spice up the way we do things.  I want to use more interactive games of any good kind you can offer.  Just any game ideas you have, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease tell me :)  

What are your favorite games like that?  Just let me know. 
[bhoward@myldsmail.net]

This week, Shaun and Rachel were baptized!!  They have taken an amazing step of faith, and they are so exemplary to all of us!  They have transformed their lives.  I wish so desperately that you could meet them.  They are going to be such a big impact on the world.  They are preparing to go to the Temple when it opens, and open the way for their loved one's who have passed on, to receive the fullness of the blessings of the eternal, beautiful and Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have found that if I couple my agency with God's power, I can do and overcome anything. 
To me, struggle is joy.  

All we have to do is keep moving deliberately forward and upward and outward.  That is all our mission is in life.  Those 3 directions go toward Christ.  Their opposites go toward every sad and bad and discouraged thing.  

I have suffered more on the mission than I have in my life ever before, but in different ways.  All of these pains, which I perhaps cannot even explain in words, have grown out to be my greatest joys and blessings and assets.  The mission is where you belong.  Either a full time mission, or the other kind of a full time mission which God has called you to in your current stage.  We should always live as if we were on a full time mission.  Live consecrated to the Lord, and this level of growth and miracles will be an inseparable component.  Choose this path in every way you can, now. 

We can define who we become in 20 years by what we become in the 2 years of our mission.  These 2 years that are currently in YOUR hands, determine the next 20 :)  Hand them over to the Lord, all the way.  That requires everything, not some things.  He can make us adequate to give it.   I have learned that if I am not graceful at rising to what is expected or possible of me, and if I gracelessly handle some things, it's okay; Heavenly Father's grace is enough.  I just have to keep myself connected to Him and do anything and everything He directs of me.  This is a daily and a weekly thing that is transforming every eternal thing: See things He sees I can change and improve that I don't want to see... be willing to do things I don't hardly believe are possible.  For it is in the realm of the impossible that our destinies are met and attained unto fully.  If you are living in a different realm, I invite you back to the zone of Children of God, that of the impossible.

Now for  the miracles:

We have 3 investigators who were personally visited by Jesus Christ or directed by Him in their dreams after first being taught by us and were told by Him that this path and message is true and is His.  It is powerful to listen to them describe it.  It is 3 households that have absolutely no connection to each other and are one different sides of Suva, and yet their visitations and dreams are all like this.  The Lord really is at the head, and everywhere in this, His true and restored church--His glorious work.  I know this is true. I know it is meant for you.  I know that the Lord lives, truly as surely as if I walked personally with Him daily.  I testify of Him boldly, and live for nothing else.  

One of the dearest families I have ever had the privilege of serving--the Bibi family--has had more miracles than I can believe.  This week, they have inspired me and surprised me every day.  Asmin and her son and daughter, Junior and Nafisha.  They live in a wonderful little humble home, and have faced immense trials and struggles in their life.  But, one day, Heavenly Father just put us in the right time at the right place and we met them and our lives and their lives have been forever changed because of it.  They used to be Muslim's.  But, since the first day they heard the message of the Restoration, from the living Savior Jesus Christ through His authorized representatives, they have dropped EVERYTHING to follow Jesus Christ.  They have made bigger and more dramatic changes than I've ever personally seen anyone do.  Heavenly Father spoke to their hearts on the first day He put us in their life, and they knew it was true.  They have given up all ties to their old lives.  Their example has helped me personally rise to a level above who I was before.  

We went over to their house to do service for this family that has become like our own family, and just cleaned up their compound all day.  Dear sister Bibi has a hard time walking, and has never been able to clean up parts of her compound.  Heavenly Father knew her heart and needs and we were blessed to be there and enjoy serving at their home.  After we cleaned up and planted and worked half the day, we later came back... she told us that after we did that service with them, she wept in uncontrollable tears of joy and gratitude to the Lord as she thanked and thanked Him.  They hadn't known that their compound was so big and beautiful.  We went home with warmth and joy in our hearts, at a level out of this world.  There's no feeling more fullfilling and satisfying than to know, Heavenly Father worked through you to meet a need you didn't know about, for the heart of one you love with all your heart. 


Junior had been holding back for weeks, and then, to our surprise, the whole family came out and told us that everything has changed and they know it is true.  The are all committed to be Baptized as a family on Oct 31.  Every impossible and impassible roadblock that was in their way from powers in and out of this world, have been miraculously removed.  We are speechless and now all of us are also doubtless.  Jesus Christ has a way over all our barriers, all we have to do is only follow Him, and that fully, now.

 This is a dog that this family has named after me.  It's name is "Coco Howard"
Haha(:

More to say, but more next week.

Look forward to hearing from you.  Let me know what I can do for you.

Love,
Elder Howard
Suva Fiji Hindi

This is a scripture case a friend of mine made for me. It's me on my unicycle with a helmet and twirling fire torch. 

Center . on (*) the . Savior = JOY

Hey! It's Elder होवार्ड. How was your week?  
I really hope it was great.  I wanted to see how you're doing, and to let you know what I've been up to.  Aaaaand, Can you share with me one meaningful insight that you feel God wanted you to learn from this past week?  Could you share that with me? I would love to hear about that, and it's good to think about.  Weeks can pass by so fast without a deliberate meaning, can't they?  I notice that on the mission here in Fiji.  I love learning from insights like that; because I want to live a life of deliberate and flourishing progress one week at a time. :)  

Let's both do it!

  It's been a year now(if you're counting months,) and you'd better not forget about me!! Hahah.  Time flies and so soon it will be another week.  Let's put our heads together and see what insights we can use to make this week EVERY HAPPY THING it can be.  

We just barely had the opportunity to hear from the living Prophets who communicate with the living Savior, Jesus Christ.  Did you like what they said?? Frankly, I haven't actually heard it yet, because Fiji is a little behind.  Maybe you heard it already.  I'm looking forward to it!  

Here's the juice of my weekly report:

This week has been quite an adjustment for me.  I love it!  The work is really challenging and demands every minute of my every hour, and is literally non-stop.  We are truly looking to the Savior as He personally is raising His expectations of us and we are rising up to the offer He extends to us to rise to higher levels than before; hastening the Lord's work.  

He is opening the way for us to open the doors to Exaltation and Joy and the best that this life has to offer for others.  It takes a lot of work.. but, it is Heavenly Father's will and we give ourselves non-stop fully to it, because it matters more to us than anything else--anything else. 

Challenges never stop.  And so we aught to realize that because of that, we might as well make all of our challenges joy and growth and fun, because in the end when we face and transform our burdens is the only time they can then fulfill their purpose: to positively transform us. 


We were created to have joy!  Not despite, but because of all the opposition.  We must deliberately live our lives and grow and shift and mold to grandeurity God designed of us.  Now.  Simply by looking away from all the dark, and looking to Christ the light--and keeping our eyes there on Him. 

 Here is my new Daily Planner I designed after saying a prayer and going to work.  It is like our life... we are given a white sheet, and all we are expected to do is say a prayer and go to work, and He'll provide the outcome grandly if we Center on the Savior.  We just have to make sure we are good now and getting better.  That is all we have to try to do in the moment we are in, day to day.  

Let's live our lives deliberately, serving for Him... and without even realizing it, becoming like Him.

Life is Good! 

a bit more coming.......

I just typed up a really long and eloquent email, and then it deleted itself.. and now I have no more time to email. Haha, so sorry.  Gotta go 

Write Away!

Elda Howard's sister here with something you all WANT very much...

His Mailing address!  

Elder Brandon Howard
Fiji Suva Mission Office
GPO Box 215
Suva, Fiji

Fiji

Really, Write away!  You'll make his day and he will spread MORE joy than he already does because of YOU!  Then you'll be blessed for it... then you'll just HAVE to tell him all about it, then the cycle continues, right?  :)