Jared Howell Mission

Hey all, This week seems to have flown by, last Monday was the first time I've really played basketball on my mission, outside the MTC. I also had a great experience  on Tuesday . We were meeting with one of our investigators and she told us she looked up a scripture we talked about in a previous meeting and it said nothing about what we talked about. She even looked it up for us and showed us and we immediately realized why. She had been using a New International Version, as opposed to the King James Version. It was very interesting seeing how different two people see the Bible and drove home to me the importance of the Book of Mormon. There's a metaphor that I've liked using on my mission to illustrate why we need the Book of Mormon. If the Bible represents a dot in space, how many lines can be drawn through that dot? An infinite amount. But if you add a second dot, the Book of Mormon, then you can only draw one line through it.  We also stopped by a less active...

Hey all, This week went by pretty quick.  On Tuesday  we had a return appointment with one of the ladies we met last week and her son was there too. We didn't know he'd be there so we had a member of the ward with us. Her son was in a different room for about the first half, he has been doing a bit of Reno work, but he came in and started asking questions. It was then that I realized the he was the first man that I've taught, maybe even the first person I've taught that was  within 10 years  of my own age. it's much different than teaching older people, who naturally talk a bit quieter. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out that he wasn't arguing with us, that was just how he talked. After that I was able to change my own perspective and start seeing the answers to his questions and how perfectly they line up to the gospel. Talking with them both will definitely stretch me in new ways because they both know a lot more than me, but with Christ by my si...

Hey all, I'm not even sure where to start this week. Elder Graff and I walked on a frozen lake  on Wednesday , simply because we could. That was also the coldest day of the week, in the low 20s. After that it got really warm,  Thursday  was in the 60s so we all broke out the short-sleeve shirts again. But it was 18 again this morning so the sweaters and hats are back on.  We had an absolutely amazing lesson  on Wednesday  evening. We were able to get in contact with a Bible referral and she asked us to come over immediately. So we delayed Dinner and went over to meet with her. We sat down and started talking with her. She has had a pretty rough life and we talked a lot about God's love for us and especially about the Atonement. She started crying and told us that she knew this was from God. She was sobbing, Elder Graff was crying, I was almost crying, there was fun had by all. We gave her a Book of Mormon, asked her to read Christ's Ministry and lef...

Hey all, This has been a really interesting week. The Young Men's President in our ward asked us to help with the combined activity for the youth. He gave us a slot to talk about planning. We have a few older priests who are preparing to leave missions this year. It was a really neat experience. Thursday  brought even more snow and the worst part, wind. Thankfully we had weekly planning for a large chunk of the day so we didn't really have to worry about it until the evening. The Spanish Elders needed the car, I don't know if I've mentioned that we share the car with them, so we had our Elders Quorum President drive us to the lesson with our investigator. He came with us but she wasn't there. We called her and she said she went to Walmart to prepare for the bigger storm that was supposed to hit later last week. After that we got a text from the assistants that Sister Christiansen grounded all missionaries that don't have a car. So we had to go home early...

Hey all, With the close of 2017 this past  Sunday , it has caused a lot of reflection on my part. I've thought a lot about how much I've changed in the past year. I've gone from a High School senior in Oregon to a Missionary in Pennsylvania. Not at all what I imagined but I wouldn't have it any other way.  This was a very interesting week. Elder Graff has been sick since Wednesday. We've been able to go out most of the days but there were a few days where he was down. I'm beginning to think I may have a curse, Elder Moffett is my only companion who hasn't gotten sick. It snowed  on Saturday  so dredging through that has been a magical experience.  On Saturday  we walked around a neighborhood and shoveled snow out of driveways. We met some very nice people, not really anyone who was interested but they were very grateful for our service.  Elder Graff and I were asked to help teach Sharing time in Primary this week. It was about the blessings...