December 18, 2017

Hey everyone!

What a crazy week! I got my transfer call and will being moving to Studio City, North Hollywood zone! I will be in a trio with Sister Keller and Sister Parker and there will be five girls in our apartment.... ( this will be interesting for sure) I will miss my two wards so much though. Hopefully I will be able to serve in Copper Hills and YSA again sometime. 

This week at district meeting I got the honor to role-play the restoration to President Henrie and Sister Henrie..... Sister Trujillo and I were panicking so hard. But we had a really good role-play and then Sister Henrie took a picture with us. I now feel invincible! 

We got to go to the Los Angeles temple on Friday and it was so beautiful!! Oh my gosh.... the temple is such an amazing place. I encourage all of you to go visit it as much as you can. Even if all you do is walk around the grounds. Temples are one of the best places to get closer to your Heavenly Father. I know  this is true because I had a question and He answered it for me while I was there. Don't be afraid to ask your Heavenly Father questions. 

We taught the Gill family this week and they are coming along and learning so much! I am so sad to have to be leaving them, but I know the new missionaries will be taking great care of them! 

We were knocking doors this week on Tuesday and a huge fire got started on the street over so we had to evacuate the area. We later found out the fire was started by arsonists... but no one was hurt and they got the fire out before it got any houses.... never a dull moment in Cali!!!! 

I love you all! 

Sister Howard 

December 11, 2017

Hello all my dear sweet loved ones!! 

This has been such an amazing week! The Book of Mormon experiment was amazing! Between all of the missionaries participating we were able get in contact with 1,500 people!! The displays were placed at parks, colleges, and busy shopping centers. People would read one page in the Book of Mormon and highlight all the names of Jesus Christ or Heavenly Father that they found on that page. 

I got to participate at the display at the College of the Canyons for three days. It was so weird to be be wearing pants, without a name tag and going by my first name! I will be honest though, I loved every minute of it (well expect when kids wanted me to come hangout with them and I had to explain to them that I actually was a missionary and couldn't.)

We all got clipboards and would walk up to different students and ask them to participate in a social experiment. Most of the kids thought they were reading the bible or would ran away the minute you said religious experiment.  My first day I was standing on a sidewalk trying to get people to talk to me as they walked from class, and it was not working.... I realized I needed to make a new game plan.  I looked around and noticed there were people sitting on the grass by themselves everywhere. So I broke all social norms and started sitting next to these people and starting conversations with them, and thats when I started getting people involved. 

It was so cool to watch people read the Book of Mormon for the first time. Seeing the light come on in their eyes... was stunning. I noticed a girl sitting way down this hill by herself and I felt impressed to go talk to her. I invited her to do the experiment and she accepted. She read the page and started asking me questions about it. I felt impressed to tell her about God's love for her and it lead to this huge conversation about all the struggles she is currently going through. I was able to talk to her about her Savior's love for her and she asked me if it was okay if she got a Book of Mormon!! She told me she had been looking for something like this for a while and had had no success in finding it. The spirit was so strong. When it was time for me to leave she asked me for a hug and she can't wait for the missionaries to come talk to her. Sadly she lives in the Glendale Mission so I can only hope that those missionaries take good care of her because she is so ready for this gospel.  Because there is opposition in all things I ended up getting the other missionaries in trouble because apparently when you do displays at the college you can only stay in a certain area and that means that Sister Howard can't go sit on the grass and talk to people.  Satan will stop at nothing to stop people from hearing the truthfulness of the gospel.  

Monday we were at a Lawersons' house for dinner, and we hear a knock at the door. They answered and our ward missionaries leader, Brother Leavitte, his family, and Sister Roos, and Sister Fletcher's family members started caroling to us, and gave us a beautiful christmas tree!! Then Sister Fletcher gave us a long loving hug from our moms. We may or may not have gotten teary eyed. I have such an amazing ward! 

So you might have heard about all the fires that are going on here right now..... well one of them was pretty close to my apartment and a lot of the ward members from both my wards that we are over were evacuated! Our apartment was super, super, smokey so I made my companion pack a suitcase and we slept out in our living room so we would be ready if we needed to be evacuated. The traffic was crazy because of all the roads that were shut down, but it starting to calm down and we were never evacuated and all my ward members are safely home now! The fire was only 4 blocks away from our apartment. 

So Saturday morning I drove my companion and two other sister missionaries to Chattsworth where we got to go help at Operation Gratitude! Our whole zone went. We got to make care packages for the fire fighters, police officers, and military service men. It was so cool to see all the missionaries and people who showed up to serve. Some things that we put in the bag were toys, wipes, M&M's, energy drinks, hand warmers, etc.  

At zone activity some of the elders brought ropes and were teaching us how to rope chairs! I can proudly announce that I can officially rope chairs!!!! The things you learn on a mission....

Well  love you all and hope you are all doing well!! 

Don't forget to Light the World!!! love, Sister Howard 

December 4, 2017

Hello my dear sweet loved ones! 

 

I hope you are all doing well! I am so excited to announce that I have been asked to be a part of the Book of Mormon experiment! Only three missions in the whole world get to be a part of this!! What it is is that they set up Book of Mormon displays and the missionaries dress in normal clothes (incognito) and we invite people to read a page of the Book of Mormon and highlight all the things that talk about God and Jesus! It is a way to get the Book of Mormon into more peoples' lives! I even have to go by my first name and will not be wearing a name tag! This will be going on all this week! Last night I got to be in a special conference call with the aps the missionaries president and his wife and all of the missionaries who will be involved! we will have special people coming down from Salt Lake to help us with this! I am so excited! wish us luck this week!!

When we were knocking doors we couldn't get anyone to listen to us. Which made us pretty sad, then this really cute cat came over and let us pet it. Then it  followed us around through out the whole neighborhood and let us pet it, as we continued to knock doors. It really made our knock out go so much better! 

Sadly, I need to repent because I forgot to invite you all to do the "Light The World Challenge"! If you haven't already heard about it from all the other missionaries. Its 25 ways to serve people in 25 days! The service ideas are really simple and there is a video for each day! It started December 1, but it is never too late to start. They got all the Elders and sisters together form last year and asked them to share stories  that they had with "Light the World" last christmas. 

One elder told his story about their recent convert.... she was a single mother who was barley making ends meet. She had promised to take her kids to a movie. Well she was sitting in the movie and her tooth started to hurt.  It was bad enough that she had to get up and walk out of the movie. When the movie was finally over she was driving home and realized she needed to fill her tank up with gas... she didn't have the money but you need gas so she went to the gas station any way and filled up her car. A random guy walked up to her swiped his credit card and paid for all of her gas. Then said "Light the World" and walked away... she was shocked. Later that night she gets a text from one of her old high school friends, asking her how she was doing. She told her that she had a really bad toothache and probably needed a root canal but couldn't afford it. Her friend said well my husband is a dentist and he is just getting out of the temple. I'll give you his number and I'm sure he can help you out. The husband texted her and invited her to come down to his office and he would talk care of all her dental needs for free.  He wrote #light the world at the end of the text. Because of these people sharing Light the World with her she was interested in the church and started taking lessons from the missionaries and is now baptized in the true church! I promise you that serving people is one the easiest ways to bring our brothers and sister closer to our savior. If jesus was here he would be serving everyone. 

I would just like to invite you all to serve the people around you this Christmas because I know that there are people that only you can touch! 

I love you all, Sister Howard 

November 27, 2017

Hello loved ones,

Life is amazing here in the Great California San Fernando Valley!!! Everyone has started to put up Christmas lights and it is so beautiful!! This week has been very eventful! We have started teaching the Olsen family. They are all members except they are less active. They asked us to teach their 8 year old son Jefferson the missionary discussions before he gets baptized so he can understand more fully what he is doing.

The Gill family is still interested in taking our discussions, but Kyle's mom Michelle, has decided he will be baptized into the Baptist church in January. We are racing the clock right now with trying to get them to change their mind and have him baptized into our church. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and we know they felt the spirit. They still have struggles with our sacrament but we are getting closer to helping them understand the importance if it. 

I love being a missionary so much! Right now we are just really praying and trying to find more people to teach. We are having our knock out blitz this week and the elders and sisters in our zone are going to knock in our area to try and help us find more people!! 

I love you all so much!! I appreciate all the letters and packages I have gotten! Thank you all so much for the love and support! Have the best week ever! 

Love, Sister Howard

November 20, 2017

Hey everyone,

This week was definitely an interesting one! Sister Trujillo and I are now famous!!! We were knocking doors around one of our ward members' houses and they got a notification from the neighborhood watch on their phone. The notification was a video of Sister Trujillo and I standing on a doorstep and the caption said, "Beware! Two crazy girls with bibles!!!" Needless to say no one opened their doors that night...... but I mean we did look gorgeous in the video!! 

Jesse moved to Castic this week so we taught him our last recent convert lesson with him... It makes me sad, but I know that his new ward will take good care off him. Stephanie also moved this week, so we lost two of our investigators! She moved to Florida, and we are praying that she can find our church there. Our part member family, the Gills family, is doing very well, but they weren't able to make it to church this week.

We had a wonderful Zone Conference this week and I got to see two of my MTC buddies!! In our conference we really focused on how to bring more people to church and what we can do better to explain the importance of sacrament. 

Sunday we were able to go to the "Face to Face" broadcast with Elder Oaks and Elder Ballard. I really loved it!! One of my favorite things they said was that the only label we want to have is that we are Children of God. Always remember that, and let people know who you are! https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/face-to-face/oaks-ballard?lang=eng

We have been trying really hard to find more people to teach. Sister Trujillo and I decided to do a YSA blitz. This is where we get to ask the other missionaries in our zone to knock in certain areas and if they find YSA (young single adults) they give them to us to teach because we are over the YSA. We had a fast as a companionship for inspiration on where to have the missionaries in our zone knock. We were driving home after an appointment and we got a call from our zone leader Elder Kerr and his companion Elder Noble. 

He said, "Sisters what ever you are doing... ( immediately we both started panicking because we thought we were in trouble) keep doing it!! (sigh of relief). "We had an appointment to meet with our investigator at the "Face to Face" but he didn't show." We then decided to stay at the "Face to Face" instead of leaving early like we had originally planned. After the "Face to Face" we were going to bike to our dinner appointment but because we were in our suits, we decided to walk. We took a route that normally we would never have taken on a bike. As we were walking, we saw a young guy sitting on sidewalk and felt impressed to go talk to him. He was going through a divorce and was just kicked out of his house. He is interested in the gospel and wants us to teach him again'!!! The whole day played out perfectly for us to be able to find Matt. We will being handing him over to you shortly so that he can begin receiving the lessons!!!" 

Our fast worked!! The Elders found someone for us!!! I want you to all to know that the Lord's hand is in our lives everyday. He listens to our prayers and helps us accomplish our goals. There is power in fasting!! It will bless your lives and the people you are fasting for lives as well. There is nothing more wonderful then sharing this amazing gospel with our friends and family! Be proud to stand up for what you believe!! 

I love you all!! Sister Howard 

November 13, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

What an amazing week!! We stopped by one of our part-member family's home to share a short inspirational message with them. The father is LDS and the wife and son are Baptist. They go to church together every Sunday.  They like things in the Mormon church and some things in the Baptist church. The Baptist church has more dynamic speakers then the Mormon church but they hate how at the Baptist church they don't dress up nice, and the money goes to the preacher. They want us to help them decide what church to have their son Kyle be baptized in. We taught them the restoration and the spirit filled the room. They then decided to come to church with us on Sunday. Later in the week the bishopric asked me to speak in sacrament, boy was I panicking! I needed to give a really good talk! I prayed a lot and did the best I could do to prepare a great talk. We don't have technology so I had to hand write my talk. We get to sacrament and I was happy to see that the other speakers were really powerful ward members. The meeting ended up being super spiritual and our wonderful investigators invited us to come back this week and continue teaching them the discussions! They also are planning on coming to church with us next week as well!!! We are so excited!! 

My trainer decided that I should learn how to drive in our area so I can understand it better. Well I don't have very much driving experience and we had to go on the freeway. As we were heading to the freeway I reminded her that I had never been on a freeway before.... which I swear I already told her but I guess she didn't hear me sooo..... we were both panicking and praying like we've never prayed before as I got my first freeway driving experience. If that isn't enough I also gave us both a heart attack when I accidentally ran a red light........... I can promise you that Heavenly Father definitely protects his missionaries... and I am so grateful for my amazing companion. Sister Trujillo is one of the most amazing missionaries on the planet. I love you all so much!! Have an amazing week.

 

Love,

 

Sister Howard!!

November 6, 2017

Hi loved ones,

This week we were able to find one new investigator! Her name is Cheyenne. She lives in the Copper Hills Ward! We found her in our area book as a former, so we thought we would just stop by. She was super happy to see us and asked if we would pray with her!

Jesse is going to start doing family history work this week as we continue to teach him his recent convert lessons! His faith is continuing to grow and he's been bringing his friends with him to church!

I got asked to teach a training in district meeting this week and boy was I nervous! I studied the lesson for two days then prayed like crazy! Because of Halloween our ward gave us all of their left over candy so we had loads of chocolate. When I went up to teach the training I told all the missionaries that I was a brand new missionary and the only way that my first training was going to work out was if they participated. Then I announced that anyone who participated would get a candy bar. My Zone leader said I was lying and that I didn't really have chocolates. So I looked him the eye and dumped the chocolate all over the table! My Sister Training Leaders were dying of laughter and I have never seen so many elders participate in district meeting. Chocolate to the rescue!  I got to teach on how to answer peoples' questions with the Book of Mormon. Even with all the laughter, the spirit was in the room as I was training, and I know Heavenly Father helped me say what needed to be said. Even though I had planned a very elaborate lesson, I ended up not even using half of what I planned, and just had the opportunity to let the spirit guide me. Heavenly father will not let you fail if you truly  work hard.   

I had my second round of exchanges and they had me take over my area for the day... It was so weird being the person calling all the shots! I was surprised and excited to see that I actually knew what I was doing! I am finally getting the hang of being a missionary! 

For Halloween we got to watch "Meet the Mormons" with two zones! They also gave us pizza! Sister Pinter, my MTC companion, was there so I got to watch the movie with her! Then we had to be in our apartments by 7:00pm.

Knock out didn't go to well this week because of the world series... but we were able to give out a couple of pamphlets. We are hoping that now that the world series is over more people will be willing to listen to us. 

Love, Sister Howard 

October 30, 2017

Hello loved ones, This week we were able to find three new investigators!! Whoo! Their names are Ashley, Lee and Stephanie. Ashley and Lee are both from the YSA ward and Stephanie is a beautiful mom in the Copper Hills ward. Lee was a referral from the Hawaii temple and he came to church with us on Sunday! He loved sacrament! He seems really solid! We are going to try to get him to come to Family Home Evening with us this week and we have a lesson planned with him. We actually meet Ashley at FHE. Her friend Dan brought her so we could meet her! We became friends fast and we have meet with her twice already. She's having a hard time with God so we are trying to help her build a relationship with Him. Stephanie was taking lessons from the missionaries before and she got dropped. We came back and since the missionaries had first left her, her life had gotten so much worse. She wants to come to church with us and we scheduled a lesson with her this week.

We were knocking doors on Friday and we knocked on this lady's door and when she opened it she made it very clear that she did not like Mormons because they are rude to gays and don't accept everyone. We kept talking to her and I noticed that she had a paper crane tattoo on her arm. I told her I thought it it was really pretty! She gave me a shocked look and said, "But Mormons hate people with tattoos!. We then had the opportunity to explained to her how we didn't hate people with tattoos, and how we do love "gay" people as well. We got talking about the paper cranes and she showed us a beautiful decoration hanging from her ceiling. It was 1 thousand paper cranes tied together. She told us this story about a little girl who was dying of cancer, who believed that if you make 1 thousand papers cranes then your wish would come true. The little girl wished for world peace, then died shortly after she made her paper cranes. This lady also is wishing for world peace with everything that is going on. She dearly loves everyone including her gay daughter. We expressed our love for her and God's love for her. She emotionally hugged us both and gave us each a paper crane. It was so amazing to meet her and to help change her opinion of Mormons. 

We are so excited to have so many people to teach! Jesse is still in the Copper Hills ward so we have been teaching him his recent convert lessons. He is working towards getting the Priesthood now!

So a couple days ago I was having a bad day and just felt so sad and discouraged. I prayed to Heavenly Father and told Him how I was feeling, then did the best I could to stay positive as I was going through the day, The phone rang and it was Jesse. He was calling to check in on me and see how I was doing. He told me I was an amazing missionary and that I'll just keep getting better. Heavenly Father has blessed me so much with sending Jesse in my life. He calls Sister Trujillo and I his LDS family.  My mission is the biggest blessing of my life. I love the two wards I am  in and I am very  grateful to be here! 

Love, Sister Howard 

October 16, 2017

Hello!

This week has been an awesome week! We have been planning Jesse's baptism! It is this Saturday!!! I have never been more excited! He is so ready and prepared to take this step in his life and it has been such an honor to be part of that. After his baptism he will be moving to a new ward, so this Thursday is my last lesson with him. I'll be honest, it makes me sad, but I know his new ward will take good care of him! 

I had my first exchange this week. Which is when you go with one of the sister training leaders for a day and my companion goes with the other sister training leader. The sister training leaders are doing Spanish work.. so I got to go to a Spanish area! We were riding bikes and we were suppose to cross this street.. well somehow I managed to get my sock stuck on the kickstand and I could not pedal my bike!!  I was stuck in the middle of the road with cars coming at me!! I ended up using one of my feet  to move the bike off the road. I look over and Hermana Rodgers had this look of shear terror and shock! I ended up busting up with laughter which in turn got her laughing. The exchange was really good for me because Hermana Rodgers gave me tons of opportunities to get out of my comfort zone and I found out that I can approach people so much easier now!! ( At least the ones who speak English) I also was able to pick up some new spanish words! Sister Trujillo and Hermana Penderna were knocking in the Copper Hills area and they found us a new investigator! His name is Conrado! We get to start teaching him this week! 

Henry is doing well and he came to church yesterday! We get to teach him the Plan of Salvation this week and I am so excited about that! 

We were visiting less active and part-member families when we felt like we should go visit Brother Lopez. He's active, but the rest of his family are not. We showed up at his house and he happily invited us inside. We shared the Principles of Peace video with him and he told us how much he loves the Savior! We read the Book of Mormon with him and challenged him to read it every day! 

For our member inspire we have been teaching the resortation to the members so I  can practice and I just wanted to tell you all how much I love Joseph Smith! He is a true prophet of God and it is so important for us to read the Book of Mormon every day! It will bless you so much! I have personally witnessed how much it helped the ward members lives my investigator's lives and my own!  

I am in a district with the APs, the Zone Leaders, and the Sister Training Leaders! We have a zone activity today.  

I love you all so much! I hope you are doing well! 

Thank you for the prayers! Love, Sister Howard 

October 9, 2017

Hello my dear loved ones! 

I hope you are all doing well! I love it here in California so much!!  Sunday I got to attend both of the wards that I am over. First we went to the Copper Hills Ward for sacrament. Then we went to the YSA ward and stayed the whole three hour block. I love getting to go to both wards and getting to enjoy hearing all of the amazing members' testimonies. I would also like to confess that I love going to YSA and I'm grateful that God finally got me to attend one. 

We went to K.O and the area where we were knocking just didn't feel right, so we ended up moving to a new area, and the very last door we knocked was this elderly lady named Izzy. Her husband has passed away a couple years earlier while she was taking lessons from the missionaries, and she said that her heart has been broken ever since and she felt like she needed to stay with her old faith. She had been having a hard day and she said it was almost like God sent us to her. We told her that God HAD sent us to her and we got the opportunity to talk to her about how much God loves her and that we know she will see her husband again! I felt impressed to give her a hug, and after that she said that we made her bad day into a good one. Moments like that are why I love being a missionary!! 

We were asked to teach a missionary prep class on doing the Lord's work. We started the class by letting the kids ask us questions about what missionary life was like. None of the kids were saying anything until a leader asked us to share our embarrassing stories... lucky for me I had an awkward experience the Saturday before and Sister Trujillo asked me to share it with everyone.... We were doing K.O and we walked up to this door and I was all pumped and ready to go. I knocked on the door and this older man answered the door and I'm like hello how are you doing? and he was like sup! And I was like oh no!! What do you say to sup? and I just went deer in the head lights and didn't say anything and the guy was like oh.. I made you speechless, it must be because I'm so hot! So Sister Trujillo came to the rescue and saved me from the awkwardness, while I just stood in the corner trying not to blush too hard...

Needless to say this story had the kids laughing so hard they opened up to us and we were able to help the kids get excited about missionary work! The Lord works in mysterious ways. Not only did he humble me, but he gave me the perfect story for my missionary prep class! 

I got a new investigator!! His name is Henry. He's from Australia, he's 22, and is a basketball player COC.  Henry was talking lessons from the missionaries with one of his member friends when the missionaries and his friends got too excited and scared him away from the church. Well the old bishop of the YSA ward invite Henry and us over for "dinner" and we asked Henry if we could practice teaching the restoration because I am just a new missionary and I needed the practice. Henry participated in the lesson and even bore his testimony on Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost! He invited us to come back and teach him again so I can continue to practice my lessons. Henry loves to go to church by himself and when his family comes to visit him from Australia he's going to take them to church!! He's so ready for the gospel. He just doesn't know it yet!

Jesse is doing very well! He has his baptismal interview this week!! He reads his scriptures every day and is growing so much! I feel so blessed to be able to be apart of his conversion!! He is still on date to be baptized the 21st of October! 

On p-days we get to go to the mall and they have a pool that is full of baby turtles and fish. You know you are a missionary when your favorite parts of the week are emailing, seeing the turtles, and going to bed!  I love you all so much! Have the best week ever! Sister Howard 

First week in California!

Hello my loved ones,

My last night in the MTC Sister Pinter and I decided that we should have a photo shoot when we should have been packing. I wanted to do one of those pictures where you put your name tag in a cute place and then get a picture of it. Well I picked a flowerbed and set my name tag by a beautiful flower. I took an amazing picture and promptly knocked my name tag down a crack in the sidewalk!!! Sister Pinter and I looked everywhere for a stick to try and get my name tag out, but the MTC lawn is way too well kept. We finally found two small sticks and had to chop stick my name tag out of the crack! We got the attention of some sisters by us and they videod the whole thing!! I am proud to say that I learned my lesson and won't be having any more photo shoots when I should be packing...  

We woke up at 2:00am to get to the travel office by 3:30am and were on a bus to the Salt Lake Airport! We got through security just fine and called our families; then we boarded the plane around 8:amish. I was super nervous because it was my first time getting on an airplane! I looked at my ticket and guess who had a window seat!!! Sister Howard did! Heavenly Father gave me a window seat! I felt so blessed! The plane start moving and I got really excited and start bouncing in my seat and poor Elder Harris sitting next to me was like.. well I guess your first time on a airplane would be exciting... he's such a good sport! Flying was so amazing! The towns looks like little doll houses and tiny toy cars.. It was so beautiful. I loved every minute of it. I also got to eat pretzels in the clouds! We landed in Burbank at the Bob Hope airport. As we walked off the plane we got to walk past the elders and sister that were leaving our mission. It was so inspiring to see the Light of Christ shining from their eyes and hearing the words of encouragement they shouted as we walked past. I knew that they were truly disciples of Christ by the spirit they carried. 

President Henrie and Sister Henrie welcomed us and helped all 18 of us get our luggage. They took us to the Mc Bean church house, feed us waffles and ice cream and we got to leave with our trainers!! Sister Trujillo is my trainer and she is so amazing! I was worried I would get a mean trainer and I was blessed with a compassionate  and patient trainer. We are over two wards: the Santa Clarita YSA Valencia ward, and the Copper Hills Ward. I am pretty sure I am a missionary of a YSA Ward because I avoided the YSA ward at home all summer.... 

We have an investigator named Jesse!! He is fifty, married, and has two kids. He has committed to be baptized!!! He's getting baptized the 21 of October! He is the biggest blessing of my mission. The first lesson that I taught him in, he asked us about Joseph Smith and multiple wives... We didn't have the best answer for him but he said the most amazing thing. I may not understand it, but I have the faith that its no big deal. Jesse is truly one of God's elect. I feel so blessed to be able to teach him. I have never felt the spirit stronger then when I first meet him. I can not wait to watch him be baptized! 

Every Tuesday through Sunday we do something called a K. O. (Knock Out)  is when all the missionaries go knocking from 4-6pm  on doors in their area. Our goal is to share messages of peace, teach by the pamphlets,  and find new investigators. At 3:55pm every missionary in the Santa Clarita Valley and the San Fernando Valley say a prayer. The prayer is that while we are knocking we can find the people that God prepared for us, and that all the missionaries can be safe. Every time we prepare to pray at this time its like a hush goes over the valley and I just imagine all of the misisoanries kneeling and praying. You can feel the power of God all over the valleys. K.O. is one of my favorite things. You never know who will be behind the next door. Some of the people are really nice and some kinda aren't....I have been asked to leave people's properties, I have been bible bashed, and chased by a dog... but the only thing that actually hurt was when a lady yelled at  us and said that Mormons harm people... our hearts were hurt so I said a prayer. A couple doors down a lady ( non-member) said she loved us and prayed that we would be safe while we continued to knock doors. She gave me the courage I needed to keep going and I know she was the answer to my prayer. 

There are a lot of Christian people who treat the LDS missionaries with respect. They give us water bottles, share their favorite things about God and bless us when we leave. The members here are awesome! I have been fed dinner every night and they are all so willing to let us come over for a MI (member inspire). A MI is when the missionaries go to a member family, share a message, and invite the members to join in on the missionary work! I love meeting the new members! For conference I was able to watch the Sunday morning session with Jesse! His favorite part was how they talked about service and the Book of Mormon. Jesse loves to serve people and he set the goal to get his wife more involved with service! Jesse has what he calls his Mormon hot line. Its a group on his phone titled "Mormon" and anyone who's Mormon goes in the group. He makes me laugh. His wife is not a huge fan of him wanting to join the church but that hasn't stopped him. I just love the people here so much! It is just such a blessing to be here. We went heart attacking the in-actives and part-member families last night! Hopefully it will help us build closer relationships with those families and maybe we can get them to come back to church or join the church! The videos that we have been sharing with the members are the Principles of Peace, its on lds.org and if you don't have anything planned for family home evening then watch them and think of someone who you would like to share them with:) 

I love you all so much! Thank you for the prayers! have the best week ever! Love, Sister Howard

Missionary Training Center Week 3

Hey Everyone,

This week was full of so many surprises. Monday I got to teach my investigators Candice and Arielle as a trio with Sister Keller. It was so cool because the lesson went beautifully and we didn't get a chance to go over it together.  

All of us Sisters were getting ready for bed, when all of the sudden the fire alarm went off! I was in the shower and had decided that I was just going to die in the MTC when I hear Sister Pinter and Sister Keller calling my name and telling me to hurry up before we all burn! We ended up sitting on the grass outside with all of the other sisters from our building, when someone starting singing church songs. Pretty soon the whole yard was filled with the sweet sound of sister missionaries singing praises to their Heavenly Father. It was such a beautiful experience. After a little while we found out that it was just an electrical error and we were all permitted to go beck to our rooms. (The Elders were not affected by this at all and slept peacefully).

 Tuesday is devotional day and we got the honor of having Elder Quentin L Cook speak to us!!! All four of us sisters had been going to choir practice so we got to sing at the devotional! The devotional was broadcasted to all of the MTCs around the world! Did you knoow we have 14 MTCs?  The camera was panning over the choir and stopped on us sisters at least five times... I was famous! All four of us sister felt pretty impressed with ourselves for making it in the broadcast until the elders in our district informed us that our faces looked weird...thank you Elders! On a happy note though, Elder Cook gave all of us missionaries a special blessing and shared an amazing testimony on the Savior. 

By Wednesday, we had both of our investigators reading the Book of Mormon and Friday at our last lesson with Arielle, we got her to commit to baptism!! The spirit was so strong! We originally had another lesson planned but the spirit told us to go another direction. Its amazing how the spirit works. God knows each of us so well and he knew what Arielle needed to hear.  

I am flying out to California Tuesday morning!! I'm super excited and honestly nervous. Next time I email you it will be from California! I hope everyone's week is going well! 

I love you all, Sister Howard

Mission Training Center Week 2

Hey loved ones,

Sorry I didn't email last week! The MTC is keeping me on a tight schedule with classes and my new investigators! I love the MTC so much! The spirit is so strong and I am surrounded by amazing Elders and Sisters. My first day at the MTC was crazy. We ended up getting lost and were twenty minutes late to our first class.... We weren't really sure what the Elder and sister rules were so when about 40 Elders tried to get all four of us sisters to squish in an elevator with them, it was a very traumatic moment for all of us. We later found out that the main goal is to cram loads of missionaries in one elevator. I'm not sure why but we have great stairs. I am in district 39a with fourteen Elders and four Sisters. Everyone has amazing testimonies and loves to laugh. We are already like a family. 

Today we got to go to the temple together and take pictures. This week has been wonderful. I got my first two investigators Kaitlyn and Aubree.  I am proud to say that both of them are now reading the book of Mormon! Kaitlyn is on Chapter five! Yesterday during my lesson with Kaitlyn the spirit was so strong and all of a sudden Sister Pinter and I were no longer teaching from our lesson but we were being guided by the spirit with everything we were saying. It was so powerful and my heart with filled with so much Christ like love. Heavenly Father provides a way for us to accomplish his work. Tuesdays we have devotionals and this Tuesday President Kearon of the seventy spoke to us with his wife. Did you know that he's a convert? He was taught by multiple sets of missionaries before he was finally baptized!  After the devotional I had a feeling that we needed to start having a district prayer, I told Sister Pinter and she had the same prompting as well. Then Sister Keller and Sister Pearse came over and said the same thing. We told our wonderful district leader Elder Stuart and I had the honor of giving the first 39a district prayer. 

Wednesday night for our exercise time, we got to play basketball with the Elders in our district. The Elders are only allowed to guard the Elders and the same rules apply with the Sisters. It was really funny because you could just dribble the ball around the Elders and they just had to stand and watch until you missed the basket and they got the rebound or you passed it to them. Sounds complicated but I've never had so much fun playing basketball. 

I share a room with Sister keller, Sister Pinter( my amazing companion) and Sister Pearse. We are all so close and I love them so much. We spend a lot of time laughing and teasing each other. I am convinced I knew them in the pre-earth life. Each floor of our residence hall has vending machines and one of the vending machines  is filled with ice cream. I'll just say I have had my fair share of ice cream the last couple of days. 

My whole district is sick with what we call the MTC Plague. It's basically this horrible flu that is going around, but it has not stopped us from being the best missionaries we can possibly be. Sister Pearse was feeling really homesick the other night so we convinced her to get a blessing. Elder Stuart and Elder Oswald blessed her with one of the most powerful blessings I have ever witnessed in my life. It felt like not only was Sister Pearse getting blessed but everyone who witnessed it was getting blessed as well. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Heavenly Father was speaking through Elder Stuart. I have been humbled in ways I didn't even know was possible. 

I now see life in a new angle and I am so happy to be here at the MTC.  I love getting up in the morning and having the honor of wearing Christ's name on my chest. I wish you all could be here with me to feel this strong spirit and learn more about this wonderful gospel. There is so much to learn and so many chances to serve. I love you all so much! Have the best week ever!

love, Sister Howard 

First MTC email!

Hey Mom,  

I honestly have no clue where to start.. I'm am so busy learning and planning that I never have a second to think. My companion is Sister Pinter (the girl I met on facebook) and we share a room with Sister Kelly and Sister Pearse. They are in my district too. We all get along and they are really good examples to me. I miss you guys so much, but I know for a fact that this is where Heavenly Father wants me to be. I feel at home here, but I just miss you guys so much! 

I am in district 39 and we have ten elders and four sisters. Two of the elders are going to Cali with me and so are all of the sisters. I am dead tired but its a new kind of tired that I have never felt before. We taught our first practice investigator and I'll be honest, it was horrible.. but we've learned from that and our next lesson is well thought out, and I think that its going to turn out so much better. It was honestly humbling to have my first lesson not turn out as planned because I learned so much. 

I love being a missionary. Wearing this tag is such a huge honor to me. We had a meeting with our branch president and in my interview with him he gave me an amazing blessing. I shared my testimony in that meeting with my district and the branch presidency.  

The days here feel like they are so long,  like one day feels like a week. We accomplish so much in a day, but its like not matter how hard we work, we can't ever get it all done. I am having a really hard time falling asleep at night. That's my biggest trial right now. I feel bad that I'm emailing right this second because I'm currently over loaded  with all I still need to do.

I ran into Elena and Michelle, but we didn't have time to take a picture. I have all my classes in the new building and that is where I meet with my district. 

The mission is a lot harder then I thought it would be, but i'm just so happy... it's hard to explain how I am feeling right now. I have  grown so much in these last few days... its just crazy.. even when I'm stressed I feel the spirit... even with all that said I am happy and doing well, but I am still just learning the basics of how to be a good sister missionary and I feel so humbled. 

 l love you Sister Howard

Entering the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT

This is under the new MTC buildings.  There were a lot of young missionaries waving at us as we drove in. A little pink sticker was put on our windshield. The sister's cars went left and the Elder's cars went right.  Each missionary is met with a missionary HOST to help carry their luggage, help them feel welcome, and show them where to go.  This HOST is Sister Larsen from South Jordan.  We later found out that she is the neighbor of Sister Howard's cousins who are already in the MTC.  After a quick goodbye Sister Howard entered the MTC and headed for her first class!

A visit with Great-Grandma Stanley.

We stopped to see Hannah's Great-Grandma Stanley in Orem before we went to the MTC.  Great-Grandma and her husband are the parents of ten children.  There have been many  missionaries in this family.  Great-Grandma Stanley created a map of all the missionaries who have served or are serving missions.  Hannah added her pin to the family missionary map. Here is the four generation photo of M Olive Stanley, M Afton Howard, C Hilmer Howard, and Hannah M Howard.  

This is what Great-Grandma Stanley shared on her Facebook page.

Hello, my name is Mary Olive Stanley and I am 94 years old. It is pleasing to me that my family is supporting the missionary program in a good way. This is what is happening this month and it makes me very happy.

There will be three generations of my family in the Missionary Training Center in Provo Utah at the same time, preparing to serve our Savior Jesus Christ as missionaries. My son Timothy D. Stanley and his wife BK Nix Stanley, two of my granddaughters Elena and Michelle Stanley, and a great granddaughter Hannah Howard.

On September 11th, 2017, my son Timothy Daryl Stanley and his wife BK Nix Stanley will enter the MTC in Provo Utah to prepare for their mission as Military Relations Specialists in the Honolulu, Hawaii Mission. Two of my granddaughters are in the MTC now, Sister Elena May Stanley who is preparing to serve in the Canada Montreal Mission, and her twin, Sister Anna Michelle Stanley who is preparing to serve in Lithuania within the Baltic States mission. A great granddaughter Hannah Howard enters the MTC on September 6th, 2017 to prepare for her missionary service in San Fernando, California.

This is exciting for my family and I thought that we could share the good news. Thank you!

Eating at Molly's.

Grandma and Grandpa Howard took us out to lunch before the MTC.  We went to Molly's.  It was a fun experience and we got to eat outside.  

Leaving her home for 18 months!

After being set apart, a missionary can only listen to uplifting music. For Hannah's mission they can listen to The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, LDS artists singing LDS music, or classical music.  This invites the spirit. On our way to the MTC we listened to the inspiring music of Kory Kunz. It was great to sing along with Hannah.  We had an enjoyable ride together.  Her sister Rachael and her brother Brandon had already said their goodbyes.  

Saying goodbye to Holly.

Hannah got this puppy for Christmas.  She is a german-short hair pointer/yellow lab mix.  Hannah will miss playing with Holly while she serves the people in California.  

Last Skype with Sister in Idaho until Christmas.

Being Set Apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Tonight, Hannah was set-apart in her home to be an official missionary.  President Ricks and President Hall came to our home.  Her father also assisted. Brandon and her mother were there also. 

Attending the Manti, Utah Temple.

Today Hannah went to the temple.  Many people from her family and ward came. Grandma and Grandpa Seely, Grandma and Grandpa Howard, Uncle Matt Howard, Great-Aunt Nancy Miner, Linda and Dave Allphin, Connie Seely, Connie and Troy Miller, Sally Dalton, Connie Keisel, Sharon Coates, Jennifer Seely, Al and Nezla Erekson, and Laurina Wiley, came to enjoy the day with Hannah and her mom, dad and brother Brandon.  One of the temple officiators spoke with Hannah and found out that her mission is the same mission that his grandson is serving in. He asked Hannah to look him up when she gets there!  Mission connections are so fun!

Last Day at Work.

Graduation!

 It is a new tradition at NS High to wear the flag associated with your mission call on graduation night.  There is one other sister who will be getting her call soon who is also in this graduating class.