General Conference

Hey all,

This has been a week filled with stuff and yet I feel like I don't have hardly anything to write about. We went up to Winchester for District Meeting on Tuesday because President came to do interviews, so that happened as well. There was kind of a funny moment around that, we were talking about the change in transfers and he said he didn't know how long I would be here, then I mentioned how much I liked it here and he laughed and said good because I may be here for a while, which was exciting to hear. He also said he wouldn't be surprised if I ended up back in Baltimore too, so needless to say, I felt properly energized after talking with him. Then we got Five Guys; we don't have one anywhere near Luray or Front Royal. 

On Wednesday we did Weekly planning because had our weekly service with Sister Matthews changed from Friday to Thursday. Our service for her this week consisted of continual moving of rocks to build the stream, but this week we were sent to find rocks for the main wall, so instead of rocks I could pick up with one hand, we were hauling rocks I had to lift with my legs and then some. Thankfully she only needed 7 and then we went back to normal sized rocks. Her husband also made us sandwiches and it was incredible. I later found out from one of the elders that used to serve here that his sandwiches are famous among missionaries. 

Friday to Saturday morning, I went on exchanges up to Front Royal with Elder Livermore. I learned a few interesting things, one, he definitely fits the driving type of his home, which I'll explain in a minute. Two, you know you're in backcountry when you can say that you knocked a whole town in a few hours. And three, we've crossed paths before. Elder Livermore is not only from Oregon, but from the general Portland area, and he was in the choir that took 5th in state my senior year. That's what we mostly talked about while we were driving, he drives exactly like people do in Oregon, slow turns and all, unlike Elder Harvey, who drives like it's the Indi 500, 3 guesses where he's from. We had a meeting with a member, not sure if returning less active or not, who had back surgery a couple of weeks ago. He wears a brace that reminded me of Hank's in Inner Harbor.

We exchanged back Saturday Morning so we could watch Conference in our own areas. We watched it at the church with a couple of members, we were supposed to have 2 non-members there too, but they couldn't make it. Conference was amazing, it was so exciting every time President Nelson got up, because that meant things were about to get interesting. His announcements about the changes to Priesthood Quorums and Home/Visiting Teaching were incredible and a real testimony to me that the Lord truly is actively running His church, He is not a passive being, content for us to rule ourselves according to our own interpretations, He is active and wants to be involved in our life if we will simply ask him to be. Also, the announcement of 7 new temples, the first in both India and Russia, as well as the first here in Virginia, are glorious reasons to celebrate. It reminded me of a conversation Elder Haslam and I had back in November of last year, about how cool it would be to have a temple in Russia, we also brought up the idea of a temple in India, but we didn't expect it so soon. The Lord is truly hastening his work, on both sides of the veil.

Love you all,
Elder Howell

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