Elder Howlett’s Birthday Party and FHE

On 12 December 2011 Elder Howlett turned 71 years old. He doesn’t like parties for himself, but this time he wanted to share a dinner and Family Home Evening with some choice families we teach here in Garden City, Kansas.

Elder Howlett at 71 years of age in December 2011

So we invited 8 families and had them bring chips, dip, Cole slaw or just show up. We had a delicious dinner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, homemade potato salad, a scrumptious refried bean dip and chips, Cole slaw, fresh veggie sticks, punch or fruit juice, cake and ice cream. Everyone ate and ate and ate. Some had more food than they have had in a long time. It was so good to see these special friends enjoying themselves so much. We held it in the church by permission of the Bishop where it all worked very well. A special member and her daughter helped us decorate the tables which made it very beautiful and festive. The children were able to use some of the basketballs and enjoy playing with them for a while, which seemed to be a great activity for the evening,.

After the dinner, Elder Howlett showed a short power point presentation of how to hold Family Home Evenings. These are meetings held once a week with our families, usually on Monday nights, where we get everyone in the family involved in helping with the lesson, songs, scriptures, activity or treats. Doing this once week with our families helps keep us closer to each other and provides a chance to do things together.

Elder Howlett giving a Power Point lesson on how to do Family Home Evenings

On Dec. 12, which was a Monday night, it was a good time to show how it’s done by having songs, prayers, a lesson, an activity and then a treat. We shared a lot about our family FHEs and how they were fun, or spiritual or sometimes bombed out. But we kept trying and all our children knew that we would continue to have them. Now as we visit our adult children’s homes, we enjoy being involved in their FHEs or even sometimes asked to give the lesson in one. But it is a thrill to see our own children carrying on the “celestial tradition” of holding weekly Family Home Evenings. This activity of showing our new friends how to do this in their families was a very great experience and fun for all. We hope these good families will try it in their own homes now.