Ashtabula, Week 13

Hello Family

So this was was kinda normal........ Sike!!!!! it was crazy!

 To start off the week I got a call from the mission president, on Monday evening at like 10:15. He asked me to train a new missionary!!! It go me super nervous and stuff! like I'm way to new to train a new missionary! but I guess not? I just got done being trained myself ha ha. It should be fun and an adventure! I'll have to do a lot more in every aspect so it should be good! can't wait! I will meet him tomorrow, so it will be awesome!

 My companion goes home tomorrow, so I'm sad about that, but he was an awesome missionary and served his two years well! Everyone in the mission talks so highly of him and I got him as a trainer! so that was a huge blessing for me! 

um also this week I got the little card that permits me to drive, so I have been mobbing through the snow in the chevy cruze! so that's fun! also on Sunday church got cancelled  because it was like -28, so we had to stay in the apartment till like 2 because we begged to go out! but other than that everything is going good. We don't have as many solid investigators to teach as I would hope, but we are on the hunt to find some and I know we will!

I love and miss you all i will send some pictures of me and my trainee (apparently you can also call them your kid cause you trained them so i guess I'm having a kid...) love you!

Elder Howard

Ashtabula, week 12

Hello Family!

so, this week was kind of a more chill week. We didn't have as much going on as we did last week, but that doesn't mean it was nap time all day, we still went out and worked hard! 

We are currently teaching Chris' (recent convert) soon to be husband Justin (investigator) he is progressing well its a constant struggle to get him to read the book of mormon, but he is reading a little, so that's good! He has a baptismal date set for the end of this month, but no grantee. It's cool when people see a change in their family members and then want to learn about the gospel! so that's going good there! pray for him please!

 umm we are doing a lot of snow shoveling this week and wow I hate snow haha. It's cool to look at, but it is such a pain! on Saturday we went to a members house and cleared like literally a ton of snow off his roof, it took a solid 4 hours.... haha  

um other than that not to many exciting things happened. I get a new companion in a week and a half! so that should be exciting. I gave a talk in sacrament yesterday, so that was fun. I still suck at giving talks so pray for me to get better... haha other than that all is well and I'm loving it! love & miss you all, be safe.

Elder Howard

      

Astabula, week 11

Hello Family!

So this week has been a big one, sorry for not emailing yesterday, the Library was closed because of the weather. we had a huge storm come in on Sunday! 

Monday was a snow day but other than that all is well and its still freezing.

So now for the big news. This Saturday and Sunday we had 5 people Baptized and Confirmed. Four of them were people my Companion and I were working with. Their names are Shonda (22), Christina (39), Kenneth (21) and Marcus (10). It was so awesome to see them baptized after a while of teaching them. We had a lot of hard things come up, but they over came them, so this could happen. Ah there are so many awesome stories I wanna tell about each of these people, but I don't have anytime! It was is cool because the ward I am in hasn't had a baptism in like year-2 years, and to have 5 in one day was amazing!

I had the privilege of baptizing Shonda, and then I Confirmed Ken and Chris. So yeah this week was a big week for the Ashtabula Ward! so now we have to go find more people to teach and baptize! Our main goal now is to get these people to the temple. We are getting them to do Family history so they can take a name to the temple this March super excited for them for that!

um idk what else happened this week, but I will send pictures of the baptism. 

It was so awesome. The church is true and this Gospel is amazing and the atonement of Christ can truly change people. Man I love being a missionary. 

Love and miss you all take care!

Elder Howard    

 Chris

Shonda

Ken

One Car snowed in and dug out by Elder Howard.

Pic of us and Elder Christoffersons half eaten Birthday cake!

    

Ashtabula, week 10

Hello Family!

This week was NUTZ. So we have like no miles left on our car for the month, so we walked so much this week in the freezing weather! on Tuesday we walked like 6 miles on this super busy road at like 7pm . It was super dark and we made it there to the appointment like 5 minutes before our ride got there.. ha ha but it was alright I guess...

 um on Wednesday the YWs pres asked us to do a little skit thing for the mutual activity, so I have to do acting and stuff it was duuuumb but whatevers ha ha.

 Friday I went on an exchange to the bike area which sucked I suck at biking and i'm biking in the snow so I almost died like 7 times... but then on Saturday... this is where it gets good... we split wood for like 4 hours #service, and then we had stake conference... and guess who came......

  Elder D. Todd Christofferson! it was so awesome! a 12 came to our stake conference! it was so sweet! they changed the Stake Presidency and our bishop got call to be a councilor so he is bishop and stake councilor haha. After the Sunday session Elder Christofferson was like right close to me and I totally could of shaken his had buuuuut I didn't cause I"m a chuck and I regret it super hard, but listening to him was sooooooooo awesome! 

this week should be a real big week for us! might be going to Kirtland! I wanna go so bad! haha but anyways love and miss you all take care and don't have to much fun without me!

Elder Howard

Ashtabula, week 9

Hello Family!

So this week was insane! I'll start it out by saying we only get 1425 miles to use a month and our area is huge! so that's a struggle, and if we don't get rides from ward members then we struggle and we are struggling with miles! ha ha. Wednesday we got a ride to Coneaut and saw people and walked around the town it was like 10 degrees outside and we were outside for like 5 hours cause everyone we went to see didn't let us in or weren't there... so that was terrible! and then for the rest of the week we drove to the towns we needed to go to then rode our bikes around the town all to save miles! even though we had to work super hard during the week and the week was super rough it all paid off yesterday!

 We had 11 non-members from our area at church it was crazy 7 of them were investigators! In the second hour I taught the gospel principles class, the lesson was on honesty. It was the first time I taught the class and I was super scared, but I was fine and totally nailed it! such an awesome Sunday! plus our new investigator Justin who wants to stop drinking and smoking we went with him to the churches ARP meeting and he loved it and is trying super hard to quite, so that's awesome! please pray for him to over come his addictions! 

um other than that nothing much happened this week! ha ha just a thought though in my studies this morning I was reading the books Enos, Jarom & Omni and the running theme you could say that goes through all those books is the promise the Lord makes to the Nephities where he says (not a direct quote buuut) "as long as you keep my commandments you will prosper in the land" and that's so cool cause its true and it applies so much to us in this time as well. If we do the things Heavenly Father has asked us to do then we will be blessed and will prosper in all we do, its as simple as that. Obedience is so important I cant stress that enough! 

I love and miss you all and pray for you everyday!

Elder Howard

Ashtabula, Week 8

Hey Family

So this week was like 7 layers of clothes, it's been super cold! and just so much snow! the county I'm in is super poor, so they suck a clearing the roads! but my comp is good at driving in snow, so we survived! The snow is so cool to look at and play in, but as a missionary its just really annoying cause its cold and just gets in everything! 

So we have a new Elder in the apartment his name is Elder Maxwell. He is from Utah, in a tiny town close to Kanab (cant remember what its called) but he is awesome and he came out with my comp so they will both leave after this transfer! so like 5 weeks. 

um apart from the snow and stuff we made a lot of progress this week! had two investigators at church yesterday and one of them brought her daughter! the gospel principles class we teach (2nd hour) was packed! we had so many people in there, people were standing and sitting on the floor! haha it was super awesome!

On Saturday we had a lesson with Shonda at a members home and after we left she backed into their tree and totally wasted the back of her car! it was nuts! but it wasn't that bad... haha she is progressing real well and is just an awesome person to teach! 

Other than that no real updates other than its still snowing and it's still cold! Oh and I LOVE being a missionary!

Love and miss you all. keep safe!

Elder Howard    

Ashtabula, week 7

Hello Family.

So it finally came, the snow is here, and it sucks so bad! its been like 12 degrees for the past few days... not good.. ha ha.

well I should probably tell you why I'm emailing today and not yesterday. Well its transfers here and they switch the preparation day on this week, so come Wednesday we will have a new elder in the apartment. Elder Boothe our district leader is getting transferred, he is a super cool guy and I'm sad to see him go! but other than that not too much is going on.

This morning I split wood from 8-11 in the snow and 12 degree weather! so that was fun! um the work is coming along slowly. It's such a struggle to meet with these people, its crazy! but we are doing our best!

Last week was rough, it was like the week everybody decided to get sick or cancel on us!! ha ha, driving in this snow is scary. The county here is so poor and they don't take care of the roads, so its pretty much driving on icy slush!

A couple of investigators are pretty close to baptism but I don't wanna say when in case I jinx it or something! but all is good, apart from the freezing weather and snow. 

Love and miss you all!

Elder Howard