Jared Howell Mission

Hey Everyone, So finally, one day short of my two year mark, I finally got to have the true Maryland Crab experience. Ashley took us out, along with her roommate and her roommate's dad, and we went to a little hole in the wall in Essex to get crabs, and they were amazing. The first one was a little gross because they just give you the whole crab and you have to fish out the meat. But after tasting it, breaking it open and removing the organs was well worth it. I also got to go on two exchanges, both with missionaries who go home next transfer, and both of which I've known since my third and fourth transfer. And one of them was a Spanish exchange, so I only understood about 5-9% of what was being said.  As my mission comes to a close I've been pondering on Paul's final testimony in 2 Timothy 4:6-7: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.&qu

Hey Everyone, By far, the most exciting thing that happened this week was that Elder Parkinson and I did a back to back exchange with the Inner Harbor 2 Elders, Elder Mendez and Elder Rose. My exchange with Elder Mendez was especially fun, not only because we had already been on two exchanges a year ago, so we were able to see how each other has grown, but he is also in the process of setting up an organ concert for the community, under the direction of President Mutombo. When I was with him, we had the opportunity of going to a massive Catholic cathedral in Northern Baltimore. I was a little wary of going, mostly because of a story Elder Moffett told me about when he went into a Catholic church that the Spirit left at the door. So I was a bit nervous as I pulled open the huge metal doors to the cathedral and followed Elder Mendez inside. We walked in and I immediately started looking around at the beautiful architecture and amazing carvings in the limestone. Once I got about halfw

Hey Everyone, This was a relatively uneventful week mainly because of Tuesday. So first Monday, we had walked around a ton that day, and Elder Parkinson had been having problems with his leg already, so needless to say, by Tuesday morning he was in a fair amount of pain, so we had Elder Stubblefield look at it after District Council, and he told us that he has shin splints, which is why it feels like his calf is about to rip in half. So needless to say, we've been resting and he's been putting icy-hot on his leg every couple of hours.  But we've still been able to go out for a few hours every day; on Wednesday we had to go down to the Inner Harbor Building so Elder Parkinson could do a baptismal interview for someone that the Inner Harbor Elders are teaching, and we were able to go to his baptism on Saturday. We needed to be there to fill the font, then members that I knew started coming and we ended up staying for the whole thing. Afterwards, Elder Stubblefield put