Fourth Floor, Last Door

Hey All,

SO you remember how I said hopefully I had more to talk about this week? Well when you ask God for rain, it pours, thankfully not literally this week, I'm not sure Ellicott City could take anymore rain.

Tuesday was Zone Conference and the predicted emotional roller coaster flew in with a passion. I learned so much about the temple and our personal ministries. But The real emotional part was during the afternoon, where we not only had to say goodbye to Elder Palmer, who has been an amazing influence in my mission, but also to President and Sister Christiansen. Words cannot adequately describe my feelings for that final exchange I had with them so I won't even attempt it. Suffice it to say that I felt as if I was saying goodbye to my parents all over again. 

The other major event that happened this week was exchanges on Friday. I got the opportunity to go down to the Winter's Run ward with Elder Dixon and spend my first day of my mission on a bike.We biked 12 miles before dinner and I was thought I was tired then, but after dinner we helped a recent convert of theirs move from her second story room, into a U'haul truck, then to her Fourth floor apartment, thus the subject line because she was the fourth floor, last door at the end of the hallway. After 6 or 7 trips up those stairs, my legs were ready to kill me, but by that point we were probably a quarter of the way through the truck. we finished three hours after we started, thankfully the member took us home so we didn't have to bike to the apartment after that. It was only a day exchange because the other elders had a few moves they were helping with the next day so we wouldn't've had time to exchange, and by the time Elder Apgood and I got home, I learned what true exhaustion meant. I quite literally couldn't speak straight I was so tired.

On Saturday, we had a follow-up lesson for someone that Elder Apgood and Elder Mitchell met the day before. She is an old Native American Catholic who requested a Book of Mormon, and when we came back, she had been reading it like crazy and was loving it. It was so awesome seeing the goodness and power that reside within the pages of the Book of Mormon, and how willing God is to show us that power if we will simply read it. 

I love you all,

Elder Howell

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