Jared Howell Mission

Hey all, So big news for this week, Elder Graff and I are getting doubled out of West York. He is getting transferred elsewhere in the stake but I am getting transferred down to the Baltimore Young Single Adult Ward. So I'm going back to Baltimore!! Of course I am sad to leave West York, the members here are incredible. And I'm going to be leaving a baptism for them  on Saturday , Roberta passed her baptismal interview last week so she'll be getting baptized  on Saturday .  We had District meeting with the Zone Leaders, a lot of it was about Technology and how to use it responsibly. We also got a new booklet that is designed to be a how-to guide on using technology. After that we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for Lunch with a set of the Spanish Elders, it was buy one, get one free day.  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  both were really warm, in the high 60s and 70s so we just wore short-sleeved shirts again. The rest of the week was mostly spent walking....

Hey all, I'm going to start with the crazy stuff this week and it'll progressively get more spiritual.  On tuesday  we had an awesome District Meeting  on Tuesday  and a wonderful dinner with the Bishop and his family. It was Spanish's day to have the car so the Bishop's son, who is preparing his mission papers, dropped us off on the East side of the city. We tried to visit a few people around there then decided to try down Market St, at the center of the city, so that Spanish could pick us up without wasting too many miles. We stopped at McDonald's, one of two public bathrooms in the city, and a guys started talking to us there. He did the normal spiel about needing money and we gave our normal answer of we don't have anything, which usually gets people to go away. But not this guy, he just kept talking and getting more and more insulting until he finally called me racist because I didn't have any cash on me... that makes total sense, right? When we fin...

Hey all, Last week's Preparation Day was filled with Basketball, as normal, and as all of you know, I am still terrible. Elder Graff got sick in the afternoon so we went home and had a nap before heading out for the night. On Tuesday  we had District Meeting and did a practice teaching scenario, we call them realplays, called the Gauntlet. How it works is you all sit in an oval, with one investigator and a member sitting across from the two missionaries, and a missionary sitting at each end. Throughout the lesson, missionaries can switch with the missionaries or member at anytime, according to the Spirit. That's really the point of the exercise, to learn how to more effectively listen to the Spirit, as well as listen to the investigator because Elder Barlow can switch us as well. It was such an amazing experience. I've done the gauntlet a couple other times on my mission but this week it seemed so much more meaningful than before. Elder Graff got really sick  Tuesda...

Hey all, This was a pretty packed week so hopefully I remember everything. On Monday  we played basketball all afternoon, including one shooting game that lasted about 2 and a half hours. We were all exhausted afterwards but it was so much fun.  We had Zone Conference  on Tuesday . It's always great to see President and Sister Christiansen. They talked a lot about Faith, and not only faith, but faith spurring us on to action. We also got a lot of training on how to use the Technology we'll receive next month. On Wednesday  we had Exchanges with the Special Assignment Elders. It was awesome. I got to go out with Elder Bowcutt, who I served around my first transfer, and we hit the suburbs of our area hard. He taught me more about finding where you are, not just going to the house you planned on going by. He also learned that the more you keep people talking, the more willing they are to listen. We found a lot of really great people.  Thursday ...

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...