First Mission Pics :D

This week has been so crazy! It zoomed by!

Here's the summary:

-I FINALLY GOT PICTURES WORKING! :D

- Tireless Tuesday :l

- The floor is surprisingly comfy in the morning when I'm sleepy...

- Sister Wong wanted to talk to me

- Got my phone working! :D

- Finished my drawing! :D

- Yay, new mask laws and regulations -_-

- Answer about animal resurrection :')

- Neat service project with a bunch of birds! (Ducks, geese, chickens, peacocks, a turkey, guinea fowl, and quail!) :0

- AMAZING baptism! :D

- Accidentally locked myself and my companions outside the church on a cold night. *facepalm*

- The talks in church were TOTALLY for me! :O

Long version for people with more time:

The car is a blessing that I definitely take for granted every day except for Tuesday, haha. The one day a week that we walk always helps me to appreciate distances. I know that some missions don't get cars, and I'm very grateful that we have one.

I maybe fell asleep in the middle of our apartment's living room one morning. Or maybe two. XD I was so proud of myself for waking up to the alarm, then I just laid down to stretch, and suddenly an hour was gone. I'm NOT a morning person.

Sister Cowley, the mission president's wife, texted us one day saying that Sister Wong wanted to talk to me. I was confused and nervous, but I accepted. She sent me a Zoom link. I was scared I'd done something wrong to attract the attention of a Seventy's wife, but she just wanted to talk to a new missionary. No one newer than me in Edmonton right now, haha. So she just asked me a few questions about how the mission was going and how I was doing. She was super friendly and easy to talk to. :)

MY PHONE IS FINALLY WORKING! I'm so excited! I mean, yeah, it's Samsung, so it's kinda sad compared to my old phone, haha. But still, I can take pictures! I also have access to the entirety of gospel library, mwuahahahaha! >:D  It makes finding Scriptures so much easier! My companion Sister LaFrance has the sim card, so I can't call or text, but I don't need to. I'm just glad I can finally take notes and pictures. :D

I finished the drawing that I was working on last week! I can't remember how much I said about it in my last email. Basically it's a picture of the Savior--facing away from the viewer because I'm not good at drawing humans. He's sitting on a hill with some pets and meaningfulanimals that I've lost. I posted it on Facebook if anyone would like to see. I'll attach it to this email too, if I can get pictures working. I also found scriptural evidence of animal resurrection at last. I looked it up in gospel library and found a section in the Guide to the Scriptures that talks about spirits. It was such a neat answer to my prayers. 

There are lots of new regulations about masks and stuff. I'm finding it a bit difficult to keep a positive attitude, but my companions are endlessly cheerful and inspirational patient. We're not able to go anywhere indoors without masks, we need to keep member lessons to 15 minutes or less if possible, and we're no longer doing in-person district counsel. :(  Also, we can still gather outside, but I don't know how much longer we'll be able to feasibly because it's already cold enough to see my breath in the morning. Not sure how cold it is in Farenheiht, but there was frost on our car this morning... :l

We got to do a super cool service project for two ladies that live out in the country. They had a TON of birds! Peacocks, chickens, ducks, a turkey, geese, guinea fowl, and adorable little quail. We were putting up roof-thingies over the bird pens and dragged some heavy tarps over the top so the birds won't get snowed on this winter. The ladies could see how much I loved the birds, so they let me go into a couple of the paddocks.

I was honestly a bit scars of the geese, haha. They were honking and hissing so loud I'm pretty sure I'm half-deaf! They also stretched out their necks and flapped their wings, so they looked kind of freaky. The ducks were skittish, but the peacocks were absolutely gorgeous, and the turkey was cute but shy. One of the ladies brought out a little fancy quail for us to pet. It flew our of her hands and I had to catch it. It was really cute and fluffy!

Saturday was super busy, but we had another baptism! It was such an amazing service. I ended up crying because the spirit was unimaginably strong. The new member bore her testimony and it was so heart-warming. Her daughter also gave one of the talks and it was amazing! 

Right after the baptism, we walked out of the church and realized we didn't have our keys. :l  That was totally my bad. I borrowed the keys to get into the clerk's office, then left them inside the church when we walked out. We waited in the cold for  good ten minutes or so before a nice member that we called came to unlock the church. It was super windy and I didn't bring a jacket, so I only had this little shrimp blanket that was small and thin. My companions and I were SO grateful when we got the keys and were able to drive home in a warm car. :)

I've been having a bit of a personal struggle with some trials and questions lately, especially this week. I decided to take notes during church and SALT AND SEAWEED, IT WAS SO GOOD! A mix of a spiritual slap in the face and advice that I felt the Lord was trying to tell me. It was honestly one of the most meaningful sacrament meetings I could remember attending. 

Because of Covid stuff, the ward is having to split. Half of them attend physical church one week and the others attend the next week. They alternate with Zoom church. As missionaries,  my companions and I are able to go every week, as long as we follow all the rules. I'm glad we're still able to see everyone.

Well, that's about it! Things are going pretty good. It's not unbearably cold yet. I've been enjoying the wildlife. I've seen a lot of cool birds and some fun spiders because we did weeding for a service project. Food here is expensive, but we're not starving. Sleep had been a bit rough, but I'm mostly getting enough of it, haha. 

I hope everyone else is doing well! Keep reading your scriptures and pray daily! The Lord loves each of you and He wants you to be happy by following His commandments.

Love,

Sister Howard

Pictures:

1: A notebook we found in the store that looks eerily like a bad scripture... "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die" (2 Nephi 28:7)

2: When I got us locked out of the church... :l

3: Haha, bread is 'pain' in French. XD

4: Cool scenery from a drive!

5: During district sports, one of the Elders got a ball stuck between the hoop and the backboard. XD

6: Picture of the Savior, some pets of mine, and my favorite bird from SeaQuest. :')

7-9: A compilation of tag pics! The dragonfly was at the MTC, but the daddy long-legs and grass spider were someone's yard when we pulled weeds for service.