June 25, 2018

Hello,

Monday was a super crazy day.... We both got hair cuts from our best friend Sister Leavitt, and played with her beautiful baby Harper while waiting our turn. Then we hurried and emailed and got our shopping done because Sister Thongrit and I planned a surprise party at Brother Moutries house for the five missionaries who are having birthdays this months!! We got pizza, cake and loads of balloons. No one saw it coming and we all had so much fun!! We ended up all playing soccer together and signing each other's transfer journals before the mission splits. After the party was over Sister Thongrit and I needed to go to the zone leadership meeting in Valencia, but we didn't have time to change out of our p-day clothes so we ended up putting our dresses on over our sweats so we wouldn't be late. The elders thought it was hilarious and dared us to wear it like that to our dinner appointment and to our zone leadership meeting in Santa Clarita.... They said they would buy us each three Dr Peppers if we did.... well challenge accepted.... we rolled into dinner and the Longshore bunch loved it so much we got pictures with them!! Then we rushed over to the Santa Clarita meeting and as we pulled in we noticed that the assistants were there..... we hurried and rolled up our sleeves and sweats so they wouldn't notice..... oh man all this for a Dr Pepper. Then we walked into Zone Leadership Conference like champions... and bore our testimony on miracles in our everyday lives. Probably one of my craziest p-days ever, but seriously worth it. 

Tuesday we finished weekly planning, then we stopped by some of our investigators that we haven't been able to get in contact with for a while. Right before knock-out we had exchanges with Sister Keller and Sister Reynolds. I got to take Sister Keller with me to my area. We knocked doors in our Solemint area and found two people!! Whoo! Then we had dinner with Jennifer! She just got a new puppy and had surgery on her tonsils.... we ended up staying with her for the rest of the night to give her comfort and to see if we could help with with anything around the house... and of course we played with the puppy Lu Lu. 

Wednesday was so crazy! We had an early morning pass-off  lesson with the elders and they had us follow them to the appointment.... well they ended up getting lost, so we were 30 minutes late to the lesson which threw off our entire schedule... hahah the lesson was with Ruben and we got him on date to be baptized on the 28th of July!! He will be attending the YSA ward and he came to church this Sunday!! Then we rushed to our lunch appointment with Sister Sheils... she made us an amazing lunch and asked if we could have the bishop give her son a blessing before his surgery this up coming week. She hasn't been to church for a while so we were overjoyed that she still believes in the power of the priesthood. Her son got his blessing and everything is going just fantastic. 

After Lunch we had a lesson with Claudia at the church. We shared our testimonies of the importance of church then addressed one of her past concerns with Ether 12:27. We invited her to come to church and she accepted!! After her lesson we exchanged back to our normal companions so I was back with my Sister Thongrit! We stopped by Christie who we haven't been able to get a hold of in a while and she invited us to come back later in the week to teach her more of the lessons. Then we knocked doors and had dinner at the Kelleys... Brother and Sister Kelley are probably the cutest couple ever... They had us laughing so hard. I love being able to spend time with all of my ward families. 

Thursday was the last temple trip in the California San Fernando mission. It was a bitter sweet moment to be able to do a session one last time with all the missionaries from my mission. I got to say goodbye to my dear Sister Smullin, Sister Trujillo and Sister Pinter because they will be going to the Los Angeles Mission. Ahhhh its so hard, but its also so exciting!! Anyway the temple was gorgeous and we managed to take loads of pictures. We missed traffic and made it home just in time to knock doors. Then we had an appointment with Sister Haubs. We shared the refiners fire video and her husband actually joined us. He hasen't been to church in a while but bore a very strong testimony to us about how Heavenly Father answers prayers and helps us through our trials. We had dinner at the Cawleys and have I ever told you how gorgeous there house is?? They have a beautiful yard with a fountain, pool, splash pad, water slide, basketball court,  hot tub, fire place... basically everything... and Brother Cawley told me that I should have my wedding reception at his house! I am game.. whenever that happens anyway. 

Friday we had an amazing lesson with Christie. Sister Pyne came with us and we talked about spiritual CPR which stands for church~ pray ~read. The three things that keep us spiritually fed. The lesson went well and Christie promised to read the Book of Mormon again and to pray about it. We stopped by the Burgesses and read scriptures with them. Then we started talking about their past... they use to go find beautiful rocks together and polish them! They had this collection of gorgeous stones and gave me one!! We had dinner at the Lamersons and London surprised us by making each of us a gift with pictures she drew of us.... she made sure to draw my picture with my short hair and Aiden made sure I knew that the picture of me looked like a boy, but I don't... so I shouldn't worry. We have been helping them prepare for the temple and Brother Lamerson will be taking the temple prep classes these up coming weeks. 

Saturday we had an enormous miracle. We have been visiting with Sister Zavala who is the only member in her family. For the past few months her son Nicholas finally came down to hear our lesson and we invited him to be baptized and he accepted!! Whoo!! The date is set for August 4! He is excited to learn more and wants to read the Book of Mormon.

Sunday we had an awesome day!! Jennifer and Claudia came to church!!! Claudia even brought her son Joseph! She missed sacrament because she got lost and we had to go find her at a random gas station, but she loved Sunday school and relief society. She is super excited to come back with us this  week!! yaya!! 

Well I love you all and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the church is true!! Have an amazing week and never forget who you are!!

Love, Sister Howard