7 Transfers, 9 Months, 19 Years

Hey Everyone,

The past few weeks have been a long stretch of days filled with lots of service, as I'm sure you've probably seen on my Dad's Facebook. Quickly about that picture, Elder Miles and I are standing in about 4 inches of water, with another 3 inches of silt underneath. We are helping a member who's husband isn't a member, build up her stream. She needed large rocks for the foundation, and I mean large. We ended up grabbing a pick and a large iron nail in order to move it, rolling it up the stream to where she needed it because it was too heavy to pick up. We also had transfers this past week but Elder Miles and I are both staying in Luray so nothing really changed. I did have the opportunity to do to go to Luray Caverns with the Front Royal Elders before the transfer ended. It was so incredibly beautiful how God influences the earth. I'll put some of the pictures I took down below. I'll also put in a picture of our last District Meeting of the transfer.

It was my birthday this past week, which means I have officially been on this planet for 19 years. It was also my 9 month mark and one day after the start of my 7th transfer, so needless to say, there was a lot to celebrate. Our Branch President brought a cake to our weekly meeting and all the branch members told me Happy Birthday, this branch is so amazing. Even though Elder Miles and I have only been here for a little over a month, we feel like part of the family. We also had a service project with a less active family that we've been trying to get to know better. On Saturday, we had another service project for the member we've been hauling rocks for, but this time it was a little more urgent because she got a load of topsoil in Fridayafternoon and the forecast called for rain on Sunday, so we went out for a few hours to help her get it in place before the rain washed it away. It was also 80+ degrees with no clouds in sight so needless to say my arms and the back of my neck were bright red by the time we got home. It's pretty much tanned by now, but they hurt for a couple days. It did rain yesterday, enough that the county was under a flash flood warning for a few hours, lots of fun to walk in too. It felt like I was back home. Did you all read the article on Islam in the Ensign? It was so cool! 

I love you all,
Elder Howell

The District, a 140 foot rock formation, we nicknamed it the AT-AT, a fully reflective pool, a really shiny rock, and Luray. 

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