Talents

Hey all,

This week went super fast so hopefully I can remember everything. On Monday we had our interviews with President. Julia also had her baptismal interview, which she passed with flying colors. We are set for this Saturday, the 2nd. It is amazing to me to see the gospel change people so quickly and so completely. it has been a really cool experience for me to see this change in Julia. 

We also had Thanksgiving this week, in case you didn't know. Since it is such a big holiday, we were told not to actively proselyte. We were invited up to the Simpsons place where they were having a large Missionary dinner so it was like being with family. Even though our whole district lives so far away from each other, we all have grown to view each other as family, Elder Funk (our fearless leader) and his companion Elder Shick are the only ones who have passed their year mark so they have deemed themselves the crazy uncles. Being with them for the afternoon and evening was way better than sitting in our apartment. And way better food too.

I wanted to share an pair of experiences that I had back to back on Friday night. The first was talking to a cop who was standing on the street corner. He said hi and we started talking. We talked for a minute about how we view the city and he remarked on how brave we were for going into any neighborhood in the city; I've gotten that a lot because the missionaries go in some really bad parts of town, and then he told us about a pair of missionaries who were key in a case he had about 10 years ago. We ended up telling him a little about what we do and why we're out here, and how a kid from Oregon and a kid from Arizona got stuck alone in the middle of Inner city Baltimore. It really showed me that even if you don't think you do, everyone has an impact. The officer may not have accepted to hear the gospel right away but I know that I've helped that seed that past missionaries planted and maybe someday in the future he'll see a couple of Eiders walking down the road and feel that desire to learn what they know. We also ran into a trio of Baptists, at least I think they were and you'll see why in a second. But we started talking to them and they asked what my favorite hymn was. I told them "Lead Kindly Light", it was the one that was currently stuck in my head and I know that a few religions besides ours sing it. They hadn't heard of it so they asked me to sing it. I tried to remember the note it starts on then just started singing it, right there in the street. Then I told them what it meant, and what it means to me, and they loved it. They compared it to one of their songs, something about the Lord being the light, and they started singing and clapping and it was just a great time all around. We gave them a card and both parties left with positive feelings about the other. It honestly changed the mood for Elder Haslam and I for the rest of the night, not that we were in a bad mood before, we just started singing as we walked around the Harborfront, mostly Christmas songs, because it was after Thanksgiving and we started handing out the Church's Light the World pass-along cards that night.

Love you all,

Elder Howell

2 Chronicles 5:12 (Interesting how the Priesthood holders are specified as the singers)