December 17, 2018 to December 30, 2018

Dec 17-23

Monday we had a sister activity. We made crepes, popcorn, and hot chocolate. We watched Mr. Crouger's Christmas! It was so much fun that the elders ended up crashing it and watching the movie with us. Then Sister Parcel and I went to dinner at Brother and Sister Powel's home. After dinner we went and read more of the Book of Mormon with Sean. Then we went to the Johnson's to keep working on the trailer for the family who lost their home in the Paradise fire. The mattresses were bad so we drove out to Sisters Hill's to get a new one. We got home just before bed. We played some super fun cards games with Sister williams and Sister Hart.  

Tuesday was kind of crazy because on Monday Sister Parcel had left different random things at all of our appointments on Monday, so we were going on a scavenger hunt to try and find them. We went out tracting and we found Jean. He is an older gentlemen who invited us to come back. We are excited to see where it will go. Then we did a service project for Sister Powell. We put up tables and chairs for her activity day girls. Then we ended exchanges and all of us sisters had dinner at Subway, Then we had a lesson with Nathan and Sebastian. On Monday changed his baptismal date to Saturday so we are going to be finishing teaching him all of the lessons. Tonight we went over all of the baptismal interview questions and the ten commandments. Holy cow he is so ready and prepared to get baptized! 

Wednesday we drove out to Trona to have a lesson with Jasmine. I just love her and her three little girls so so much. They are adorable and Jasmine just eats up the lessons like they are candy. We were teaching her the plan of salvation and her favorite part is the three degrees of glory. She said that she loves how God is loving enough to give us second chances.  Then we drove home, had dinner, and went caroling with the youth. We got to go on a hay wagon and it was so so much fun. Sister Williams and I were the only ones singing though. After that we met Nathan at the church and he taught us what the gospel of Jesus Christ was. He made little steps out of paper that lead up to a picture of Jesus Christ. Each step had a word written on it, so it went faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. At each step he taught about what it was, then explain why it was important. The spirit was so strong and it was amazing to see how much knowledge and understanding he has. Then we taught him about tithing and how to use a tithing envelope. Juiliet Guzman shared a beautiful story about how she gained a testimony on tithing and again the spirit was very strong.

Thursday we drove up to Kern Valley to see Heather. She is doing amazing and so is her family. After visiting with Heather, we got dinner at Taco Bell then we drove back to Ridgecrest for a lesson with Nathan. On the way up to Ridgrest we got a text from a ward member saying that sisters can now wear pants!! Oh my heavens I was so excited!! I could not stop screaming and shouting for joy!!! whooooooo! Then on the way home our mission president called us and talked to us about it and said we could start wearing pants as of right now!!!!! whoooooooooo!!!!!!! When we got to our lesson with Nathan, Sister Calderon gave us money to buy our very first pair of pants! I don't know if I have ever been more excited in my life! Our last lesson with Nathan went amazing. We taught him about the importance of families and temples and about callings in the church. Nathan asked me to pray at his baptism and for Sister Wiliams and I to sing a musical number.... (yay)

Friday we had district counsel. Elders Hovenden and Riser taught us about how to be a more consecrated missionary. Then we had a role play on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Sister Williams and I got to role play together. She was going to teach the atonement to me first. Then I was going to teach it to her. As she was teaching me about Jesus Christ's love for me I was so overcome with the spirit that I started crying and couldn't stop and ended up running out of the room dramatically because I didn't want to be sobbing in front of my whole zone. Go me.... -_- The best part was when we came back in the room the elders were terrified of me and were giving me the most horrified looks on the planet so that was definitely fun. But honestly the atonement is such beautiful thing. Our big brother suffered in the garden for every single one of my sins and every single one of yours. He even suffered for the people who He knew would never accept Him. That's a whole lot of love. It's amazingly powerful and all you have to do to have that blessing is to come unto Christ. That's it, just come unto Him. It just is so incomprehensible. After district counsel we went over to Sister Shelby's and she gave us cute Christmas fuzzy socks and one of the ornament sleighs we helped her make. Then we went to the church and practiced our musical number before Nathan had his baptismal interview. Elders Riser and Hovendan came over to practice with us because Elder Hovendan can play the piano. Well when they were leaving, after we were done practicing, they stole Sister William's shoes and threw them into the men's bathroom so we had to go in there to get them and some member saw us coming back out.... awkward. Nathan passed his interview with Elder Kay. And he did amazing!! He's just so prepared and so so ready for his baptism! Then for dinner Brother and Sister Gartner bought us and pizza, salad and some mint oreos. Then we stayed in and finally finished our studies and did some more planning. 

Saturday morning was Nathan's baptism! He was so so excited to get  baptized. Sister Calderon talked on baptism and Kayla Calderon talked on the gift of the Holy Ghost. The spirit was so strong and everyone was extremely touched. After the talks Sister Williams and I sang "I Feel my Savior's Love". I sang the first verse, she sang the second verse, and then we sang the third verse together. It was one of the scariest things I have ever done!  I was so nervous and so worried about it. But I started my verse out strong and it was going well when all of a sudden the pianist started playing the wrong notes which threw me off and threw him off... but Sister Williams saved us all by singing so I could find my place again. I honestly almost started laughing because I was so worried I'd mess up, and when it actually happened, it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought. Anyway... so the rest of the song went amazing, and the spirit grew even stronger, and then we got to watch our Nathan get baptized. Wow the pure look of joy on his face was such an amazing sight to see. Wow.... what a blessing to be a part of. After the baptism we went home, made lunch, and then we  helped Sister Calderon and Sister Stahli take out Christmas bouquets to some of the women in our ward. Sister Williams started to feel really sick so we ended up going home and letting her rest. 

Sunday Nathan got the gift of the Holy Ghost and he was so so happy. He felt the spirit so strong and was so happy to finally be a member of the church.

Dec 24-30 

Monday was Christmas Eve and we played basketball and chair football as a zone. Then we went to the Jensen's house to celebrate with them. We played out the nativity and Sister Williams and I got to be wise men. We even had a Samuel the Lamanite proclaim to us about Jesus's birth and shot Nerf gun bullets at him. I had so much fun! We had to be in by 6:00pm so we played card games and unwrapped one present each. 

Tuesday was Christmas morning!  We went to the church and then we all made breakfast together as a zone and unwrapped our presents together. Then we went and Skyped with our families!!! We skyped at the Barro's house with all of their super cute kids. Can I just say that I have the cutest family on the planet and I made history by skyping home in pants! Then we went for dinner at the Sisco's house! After dinner we went around and skyped as a zone. It was so much fun and such a cool opportunity because we got to just have fun together and see who everyone was teaching.

Wednesday we went up to Trona and taught Jasmine the gospel of Jesus Christ. She loved it so much, and is really improving in her knowledge of the gospel. Then we had ward correlation.

Thursday was weekly planning. Then we planned a little of Phyllis's baptism for Saturday Then we went and visited Carmen and helped her set her TV up so that she could hear it a little better. After we left Carmen's house we stopped-by Sister Hannah and her mom. 

Friday we had district counsel. Then we did our studies and I can't really remember what else. 

Saturday was Phyliss's baptism! We got there early and filled up the font and got everything ready. Phyliss was late to the baptism, but when she finally got there we hurried and skyped her elders in and we had a beautiful baptismal service. I was asked to speak on baptism and Sister McDonald spoke on the Holy Ghost. After the baptism we needed to try and find a ride for Jasmine so that she could go to church.... we called almost half the ward before we were able to get a hold of Sister Hannah who was very very willing to go and pick her up!!! Yaya that women is a blessing. 

Sunday we drove out to Trona with Sister Hannah to go pick up Jasmine.  She really loved being at church! She said that she felt like she was finally at a place where no one was judging her. After church Sister Hannah took all of us over to her house and fed us homemade tamales. Then she drove us back to Trona. Phyliss also was able to get the gift of the Holy Ghost today as well. 

Love Sister Howard

December 3, 2018 to December 16, 2018

Hello hello!! I hope everyone has had two wonderful weeks. Things have been so busy and so good here! 

 December 3-9

Monday we emailed and then were going to play basketball with our zone, but Sister Williams was really not feeling good so we went home and I just read my scriptures while she slept. Sister Hobs brought us some amazing chicken noodle soup. 

Tuesday we drove up to Kern Valley and we had a lesson with Jenna and Heather. They are both doing fantastic! Things have just been really really working out for them and they are just so happy. We had dinner at a cool pizza place then grabbed some hot chocolate and headed home. 

Wednesday we had MLC in Tehacapi. We first had breakfast with sisters Hart and Parcel. The meeting was awesome and the spirit was strong. Then we drove up to Trona and had an awesome lesson with Jasmine! Her job is starting to settle down and her testimony has really started to grown. We headed home and Sister Williams still was really really not feeling good so we called the elders over to give her a blessing. Elder Hovendan and Elder Riser. They came and gave her a beautiful blessing. On their way out the door though.. they stole our Christmas wreath!! So naturally I chased after them to get it back and I managed to trip on the sidewalk and really skinned my knee. I didn't even get the wreath back! 

Thursday we had our zone Christmas morningside. Sister Williams and I sang for the special musical number. Then we had a beautiful lesson and the nativity was done by President Layton. We watched It's a Wonderful Life" then played a white elephant game. We all ate lunch together at a place called Kristy's then had our interviews with the mission president. While we were waiting, we all stood by the piano and sang Christmas carols together. My interview with president was awesome. Then we had a planning session with our zone leader Elder Kay and his companion Elder Maxwell. We planned out some of the future district councils. Then we went home and finished doing our weekly planning. 

Friday we had district counsel and I wasn't feeling good either so I really did not get much out of it. We had a lesson with Alisha and she asked us some really good questions but we just aren't sure if she really was interested or not. After I that ended up getting a blessing from Elder Visser and Elder Chandler. It was a great blessing. That night we had our ward Christmas party and it was so much fun. Jasmine came and it was fantastic. She really had a good time. 

Saturday we were going to head up to Kern Valley for the Christmas party there but then some crazy stuff happened so we just ended up staying inside together. 

 Sunday church was awesome and we were able to have Nathan at church. I really love church. It is so nice to be able to just sit and enjoy the spirit. 

December 10-16

Monday we had exchanges with Sister Albertson and Sister Sandall. I got to go with Sister Sandall and it was fantastic. We got to have dinner with Sister Meyer. Then we knocked doors and found a few people to talk to. Then we had a fantastic lesson with Sean. He's doing fantastic and simply loves us coming. Sister Hobbs came with us. Then some crazy stuff happened with the other set of sisters so they ended up calling us in a panic and we thought something really bad had happened because they asked us to pray for the elders because they were in a very dangerous house. So Sister Sandall and I were stressing and pacing around the house and the sisters get home. Apparently there were some drugs at the house while they were teaching the lesson and they didnt feel safe so they hurried and left, which makes perfect sense, but they left their purse in the house so the elders had to go back to the house and get the purse. Well no one was hurt and everything was just fine. Praise the Lord.... I honestly was kinda annoyed because I thought something super bad had happened to the elders... but I panicked for no reason. 

Tuesday morning we ended exchanges and went and had service with Brother and Sister Andrus. We got 10 trash bags of leaves off their lawn then we went inside and decorated for Christmas. It was pretty awesome! Then we had dinner at the Calderons and Sister Calderon asked Brother Martin to come over and give us both blessing because of all the stress that we had currently been having. 

Wednesday we got up at 3:30 am and drove to the temple! Oh my heavens I love the temple. We got to do a couple names for initiatory then we did a session with our cute zone family. The whole session my skinned knee was hurting so so bad. So I honestly was struggling. And I was like are you kidding me? This much pain for a skinned knee? Juliet Guzman drove us to the temple. Then we all went to Cafe Rio for dinner. After the temple we taught the young women how to speak in public and feel confident with themselves. Then we had our ward correlation meeting. 

Thursday we were going to go up to Kern Valley but we had a weird feeling not to go so we cancelled our appointments. Turns out that Elder Riser was in the emergency room because he really wasn't feeling good. They were there for 2 hours and the doctor told him nothing was wrong and gave him a paper about the flu. We took them some saltine crackers and paper towels. Then we were going to our dinner appointment and my knee was hurting super bad so I told Sister Johnson about it. And she gave me some amazing things to put on it because it was swollen, inflamed and very infected. Goodness. Then we ended up telling her about Elder Riser and she was able to get him a doctor's appointment. So he's doing way better now. So apparently I was suppose to be in pain so we could get him a doctor's appointment because now my knee no longer hurts. Sister Johnson also has a trailer that she is refurbishing for a mother and five year old son who lost their house in the Paradise fire. When she was showing it to us we asked if we could bring our zone over to help and with tears in her eyes she said yes. 

Friday we had district counsel and Elder Kay shared a beautiful testimony that made me tear up, then we all went home, got in our service clothes, and went to the Johnsons. They gave the whole zone lunch which was amazing biscuits and gravy then we all got to work on the trailer. Sister Williams and I ended up staying all day. By the end of the night our hands were so sore but I was so happy. It was just so cool to be a part of that. 

Saturday we went over and helped some more with the trailer. Then we went to Sister Shelby's and helped her paint Christmas tree ornaments for her to take around to her friends. Then we had an amazing dinner with Brother and Sister Sisco. After dinner we had a powerful lesson with Nathan Gaceta and his friend Sebastian. We were able to set Nathan on date and get not only a return appointment with him, but also a return appointment with Sebastian. 

 Sunday Nathan Mcarthur, Nathan Gaceta and Sebastian all came to church. It was so awesome to see them all there. After church we were able to have a wonderful lesson with Nathan Mcarthur then we went hiking, made lunch, did some planning, and  then went and helped Sister Shelby finish some more of the ornaments. After that we had a pass-off lesson with Elder kay and Elder Maxwell. We were teaching Tabatha. The lesson was amazing. And we now get to teach Tabitha! 

I love you all so much! Love Sister Howard! 

November 26, 2018

Hello Hello!! This week of course was a serious blast!!! 

Monday, today, we had zone activity! We played kickball, Apples to Apples, 2 truth and a lie and made banana splits! We had dinner with the Barros and then we had a lesson with Sean. Sister Sisco came with us and it was so cool to see how much Sean is progressing!! He has really improved so much!

Tuesday we had exchanges with Sister Parcell and Sister Hart! I got to go with Sister Hart! First we got to do service with all of the sisters at Sister Warkington's house. We moved boxes and cleaned her house to help her get ready for Thanksgiving. Sister Hart is a bran new missionary so it was so cool to be able to watch her learn and grow the whole time of the exchange. We had time to go out tracting and we had picked a couple areas to go knock on, but I just felt like they weren't where we needed to be. I ended up just looking at our map and felt prompted to go knock by one of our converts houses. As I was driving us there I kept doubting myself and almost turned around a few times. Finally we pulled up, parked, and started to go out and work. We knocked on a door and Amanda answered!!! She was so excited to see us and was very prepared to hear our message! We gave her a Book of Mormon and she invited us to come back!!! Then we had dinner at the Sisco's house and we got to eat with all four of the sisters! Brother Sisco told us his amazing conversion story! After dinner we had a lesson with Nathan Mcarthur. Bishop Jenson and his wife came with us. Nathan likes to ask a lot of super deep doctrine questions so it is such a blessing that bishop comes to the lessons with us. 

On Wednesday we ended exchanges and sent the cute Sisters home.  We had dinner with the McDonalds.  They had friends from Arizona visiting, and the lady is getting baptized in December!  It was really cool to be able to talk to her about her experience!  She is so sweet.  We also played a card game with the family after dinner.  

Thursday was Thanksgiving!!!!  Sister Williams and I did weekly planning and had dinner with the Warkington's and the Andrus's family.  They are such sweet families.  Sister Williams and I enjoyed our time with them!  It was a fun day.  

Friday was a wonderful day!  We had one of the most spiritual District Councils I have ever experienced.  Elder Peyson spoke to us about the power and authority of our calling and what makes a successful missionary.  It was amazing.  The Spirit was so strong.  I loved every moment.  

Saturday we were going to head up to Kern Valley but all of our appointments ended up being cancelled, so we spent a good amount of time tracting and we were able to find Don!! We knocked on his door and he listened to what we had to say then asked us to come back and teach his family more!! We were so surprised that we almost didn't realize that he was accepting our message! We gave him a Book of Mormon. Then he invited us to come back. We had dinner at the Jensen's but managed to get lost. We finally found them and had an absolutely amazing dinner with them. 

News with transfers!  Elder Peyson is leaving and is heading to Bakersfield.  So Elder Kay is going to be our new Zone Leader.  We haven't met him yet, but he sounds really nice.  I'm excited to work with him.  Other news, Sister Hales is leaving as well, and she is going to Silver Creek!!! I'm so excited for her to be in Silver Creek with Sister Jordan!  But the biggest news of all is that Sister Williams and I are staying together this transfer!!!  I'm so excited to stay with her and to keep working hard here in Ridgecrest!

I am so thankful to be able to serve the Lord as a missionary.  The #lighttheworld campaign is starting on December 1st and I am so excited for it!  I hope you all take part in it and enjoy serving others!!!

love, Sister Howard