The Change Begins

Hey Everyone,

It's transfer week, and I'm staying in Susquehanna for the next 7 weeks, not what I was expecting but I do love thus area. I'm also getting a new companion because Elder Apgood is leaving to go train a new elder. My new companion, Elder Lape, is coming down from the Lancaster area after being companions with Elder Moffett, my MTC Companion. The funny thing is that we got word that Elder Apgood is leaving around 10:10, after several hours of stressing out. Then we got a call from Elder Palmer at 10:28 that he is training, apparently they forgot to call him hours earlier.

We had two exchanges this past week and I got to stay in the area both times. We got yelled at by a lady on Tuesday that we aren't allowed to solicit in that neighborhood. Side note, missionary work is not Solicitation. Soliciting requires that we are asking for money in return for a product, which we don't do at all. What we do it legally called proselytizing. I mainly put that in because Elder Apgood got the cops called on him that same day in another ward, and the cops gave them a ban notice, so now Salt Lake has to get involved and fix it all. But we've been having a great lesson on sociology and law this week because of all of that. Elder Scorse and I had a really cool experience on top of getting yelled at. We decided to stop by one more person before dinner and we picked out the name of a referral from 3 years ago that was on the way home. When we drove by, there was a man sitting on the steps, so we parked and went over to him. His name is Jesse, and he wasn't the guy we were looking for, but he is the guy we went there for. He has so many questions that line up great with the Plan of Salvation, which Elder Apgood and I had a great lesson with him about that last Thursday. The other exchange was surprisingly uneventful, but equally fun. 

On Saturday, Elder Apgood and I both had the most spiritual meeting we'd had all week. We stopped to see Brother Halsey, an older member in our ward who has lived alone ever since his wife died 5 years ago. He was also the bishop, stake president, and the patriarch. He was so sweet, he must've thanked us ten times for coming to visit him, and apologized 3 times for talking so much, even though Elder Apgood and I were hanging on every word because everything out of his mouth was gold. He is probably one of the most spiritually in-tune people that I've ever had the opportunity to sit down and really talk to. There were a couple of times that he said that he had a piece of advice for us that he said was totally random, but he addressed things that both of us have been struggling with, without us having to tell him. He taught us so much about the importance of Patriarchal Blessings and how to be close to the spirit in such a short amount of time, it was incredible. 

Sunday was mostly taken by the stress of whether or not we were staying or leaving and today was exhausting because we agreed to help Bishop Bullock with Mulching his yard, all 12 cubic yards of mulch. We got up at 5 am because we needed gas for the 35 minute drive out there so we could be there at 6 to help him. We finished at 10:30am, right before the heat really took off. We got home and we were so exhausted that we didn't really do anything until we started emailing. But I'l be honest, it felt so good to get my hands dirty and just work, I ended up with dirt up to my elbows and my jeans were all dirty, it was glorious.

Love you all,

Elder Howell

Bishop's backyard and Havre de Grace

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