Facebook And Food Poisoning

Another long, crazy week that somehow dragged and zoomed by at the same time! I'm going to start my email a little differently this time, though.

Some of my friends have been going through hard times. Friends back home and friends I'm teaching with Sister Christmas.  I'd like to ask you to pray for them, please. I know that prayer is powerful, and that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.

A friend that I've known for a while has questions that are difficult to answer. I'm unable to set up an in-person or video lesson with him, so all I can do is email. I fear that I'm not answering his questions to his satisfaction, or the way that he needs; email is a poor substitute to a conversation. Please pray that he'll be able to find the answers he craves so strongly.

One of the people we're teaching has suffered a recent loss. She doesn't have the strongest faith and doesn't read the Book of Mormon. Please pray that she will be comforted at this time, and that her faith in the scriptures will grow.

One of my missionary friends is on temporary medical leave. Please pray that he will be able to recover quickly so he can serve again.

A family in our ward is really struggling. I don't know all the details, but physical and mental health concerns are part of the struggle. Please pray that they will be able to come closer as a family and that they'll be able to receive the love and help that they need.

Thank you all! I know that as we bless and serve others, God will bless us too. :)

Okay, now my summary of the week:

- Carving pumpkins!  :D

- Ultimate Frisbee (I actually CAUGHT the Frisbee! With my face! XD)

- Waking up early for Zone Conference :l

- 6 Hours of Zone Conference *nervous laughter*

- Mustard Seed

- Lessons falling through :(

- New person! :D

- The pumpkins rotted after three days XD

- Mmmmmm.... sleep issues and interesting 'solution' 

- Long day of planning :/

- Bunch of lessons in a day

- Meeting a cool lady at the mall! 

- New member with an amazing testimony!

- Ward Trunk or Treat! ^v^

- I GOT TO SEE A SHOOTING STAR! :DDDD

- L O T S of Facebook work

- Drank some bad milk and regretted it soon after... :l

Last P-Day, we carved pumpkins as a district! I made a simple Jack Skellington face because that's about all I can do on a pumpkin without without reference. It was fun. The other Elders and Sisters exchanged mission stories with us and carved some fun pumpkins!

After we carved the pumpkins, we played ultimate frisbee. I did get hit in the face once, but it didn't leave a mark. XD  More surprisingly, I actually caught it and passed it successfully to my team a couple of times! Our District Leader, Elder Torres, would get this terrifying look in his eyes when he got the frisbee. It was so fun to run around in a big field with everyone else. I actually got so warm that I took off my jacket and my sweater! It drizzled a bit, but not bad enough for us to stop playing.

Zone Conference happened on Tuesday. We got up earlier than normal and I was rather zombieish that morning. When we left, the moon was still high in the sky. We had to scrape frost off the car; it was below freezing. Luckily, we still made it on time!

So... Zone Conference is normally a few hours. We were there for six and a half hours. XD  It was very valuable and uplifting, but I was also very drained. We sat and watched instructional videos and got some guidance from President Cowley and his wife, then the tech missionaries and the Zone Leaders. We were there for a couple more hours because Sister Christmas had an interview scheduled with President. So did half the Zone, apparently. XD  We waited for so long that the Edmonton North Zone Conference started, and President Cowley had to break off interviews to help run the beginning. I did get to see one of my old trainers, Sister Spackman, though! :D  But I was glad when all the meetings were done and we went home. We kind of didn't get lunch that day because we went straight to the Mustard Seed after Zone Conference... (:  Who needs food anyway?

The Mustard Seed was fun! I helped cook cauliflower, then we packed it up with marinated chicken and golden potatoes. When we went back on Thursday, we boxed the packaged meals, then started cutting up more potatoes and chicken. (Some of the most popular meals the Mustard Seed makes contain chicken and/or potatoes)

We had a TON of lessons fall through this week. It's been kind if discouraging, but most of them were canceled due to people getting sick. A few people did flake on us, though. We called someone, and she was like, "Yeah, you could meet us next week." Then her husband yelled something in the background. She told us, "Um, actually, I'm busy all next week. Bye."  And just hung up on us.

We had the same thing happen with another family. XD  We asked the wife if we could call again. She was like, "Of course! We'd love a message!"  There was a lot of noise and commotion through the phone, then her husband yelled, "NO!" so loud Sister Christmas and I jumped! He was like, "No, no, no message! You have the wrong phone number! Sorry!"  People are so funny sometimes. I just gotta laugh at things like that and see them as humorous instead of disappointing. 

We found four new people this week! All of them want to come to church and I'm SO excited! One of them said she was Catholic when we video called her. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation, because she wanted to know about her purpose in life. We were almost done, then Sister Christmas trailed off mid-sentence. I looked over at her and didn't know what to think. She doesn't do that; she always knows what to say. Then, she took in a deep breath and was like, "Do you want to get baptized by someone holding the proper authority?"

The girl we were teaching was like, "I got baptized by a Priest that lived in a church. Wait... are you asking me to get baptized again?"  We were like, "Yeah?" kinda hesitantly. Then she said, "Okay. I'm not against being baptized again."   *Explosion sounds*  I couldn't believe it! :D 

Our pumpkins didn't last long. The very next day, I died laughing when I saw mine because his smile was caving in and his eyes were all withered. He got worse by the hour. XD  I begged Sister Christmas to keep it for a while, and she relented. I swear, every time I looked at my sad Jack Skellington pumpkin, he'd decomposed a bit more. I had several laughter attacks when I'd forget how rotted he was, then see him out of the corner of my eye. By Thursday afternoon, though, my pumpkin was super rotted. There were dark, squishy spots all over, the smile looked demented, and the top fell in. 

I looked at Sister Christmas's pumpkin. It appeared to be okay, except for some stringy white stuff inside one of the eyes. I was like, "Oh cool, you have a spider friend in your pumpkin!" Then I shined a flashlight in it and amended, "Oh wait... that's mold." It was long, clumpy white strands tipped with black and gray spore clusters. We made the hard decision to throw the pumpkins away after just three days. Turns out mine was full of mold too, when I looked closer. XD  I wish we could have kept them, but breathing in mold spores is extremely unhealthy, and we wanted to get rid of them before the mold released its spores.  

Okay, honestly... I can't remember sleeping worse in my entire life. Not for this long. Since my very first day of home MTC--even before I went to Provo or Canada--I've been having very interrupted sleep. I hit my three-month mark of being a missionary tomorrow, to give you some perspective. Hardly a night goes by when I don't wake up randomly at least once. On really poor nights, I'll wake up half a dozen times or more. Sometimes I'll get lucky and only wake up once or twice. On a handful of nights, I've slept soundly from 10:30-6:30, but those instances are few and far between. But basically, sleeping has been awful for me. 

Sister Cowley told me to keep track of it so I can try to figure out what it might be. I made a chart where I write down the number of times I wake up in a night, the time I woke up at, what I was thinking of when I woke up, why I think I woke up, and what methods I used to sleep that night. Occasionally I'll be woken up by a loud sound, like people randomly partying in the apartment parking lot at 4 in the morning, but often I have no idea why it's happening. I don't jerk awake, I'm not too cold or hot, I'm not hungry... I don't know for sure why.

Sister Cowley texted us the other day and was like, "I want you two to try something. Get up at 6:00 am every day instead of 6:30. Then go for a brisk, half hour walk sometime between 1-4 in the afternoon." My mission president's wife wants me to be so exhausted that I have to sleep through the night, haha. I've been doing this for a few days and I don't know if it's working... It could be too early to tell, but so far I keep waking up for no apparent reason, even with a more exhausting routine. I never thought sleep would be one of the biggest problems on my mission.

OOF, Thursday KILLED me. Weekly planning is always long... ask any missionary. But this Thursday just crept by at a snail's pace. We stayed up until 9:30 planning. RIP to bedtime, haha... But I don't want to complain too much. We got a lot of things done that needed to happen. It just gets pretty draggy after staring at charts and lists on our phone for a few hours. 

On Friday we had seven lessons. It was such a packed day! We drove all over, met tons of people, and had a really good time with some new friends. I'm really excited! One of them has been Sister Christmas's friend for over a year, and she's slowly starting to grow her testimony. I was a little dead after all those lessons, but it was still great.

This Saturday, we went to meet someone at the mall. She reached out to us because she keeps running into missionaries. She told us, "I think God is trying to reach out to me through you."  We had a great lesson with her and gave her a Book of Mormon. She seemed super enthusiastic, and we can't wait to meet her again! She already has so much faith!

Christiana, one of our new members, has a crazy strong testimony. We video called with her--in a parking lot near a casino, haha--and she told us about how she had gone to a different church the other week. She said she went there and felt empty inside. She tried to describe it, and we told her that was likely an absence of the spirit. Christiana testified to us that she knows the church is true and that she can only feel God's love when she's in His church. I loved hearing her say that! A few drunk guys were staggering around the parking lot and made me kind of nervous, though, haha... I have not had much experience with people under the influence. They scare me. :l 

The ward Trunk or Treat was this Saturday! For those of you who don't know, a Trunk or Treat is when everyone gathers in the church parking lot, opens their car trunk, and lets kids trick or treat. Everyone wears costumes and some people decorate their trunks. Sister Christmas and I dressed up as Senior Sisters! We put on our most old ladyesque clothes, attached our glasses to lanyards, pur our hair in buns, and borrowed gray hairspray from a sister in the ward. It was so fun! We helped run a hot chocolate and apple cider line while the kiddos all paraded from car trunk to car trunk, collecting candy.

It was COLD, though! One of the coldest days I've experienced here. It felt okay in the sun, but we were in the shade and it was windy. Neither of us had layered very well because we were told the weather would be mild. Towards the end of the evening, I caved and grabbed a blanket from our car. My hands and toes were frozen. But it was fun to meet the ward, and some nice ward members let Sister Christmas and I meet their dogs. Sister Christmas loves dogs.

Also, I SAW AN ACTUAL SHOOTING STAR!  I've only seen a handful! We heard there have been a bunch of solar flares lately, which sometimes causes the Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights, to appear. We got permission to drive just outside the city with a couple other missionaries to try to see the lights. We didn't get far enough from all the light pollution, unfortunately. I did get to see a lot of stars, though. Not nearly as many as when I'm out at grandma and grandpa Howard's or something, but more than normal in the city. I didn't realize how much I missed them. Then, we saw a shooting star streak right over the big dipper! It was so wonderful! 

We have been doing a ton of Facebook work this week! That's how we met a couple new people and had some new lessons. They all flaked on us about church, but there's always next week. :)  

Part of me still misses Instagram, though. I'll find myself thinking, "I remember when a hundred fellow artists liked my posts. When people actually looked forward to what I was drawing. When they begged me to post more and guessed what I was going to make next." Of course, I drew some very different things not too long ago. If anyone followed my art account, you'll know what I'm talking about. XD  

But my purpose now isn't to entertain people. It's to share the gospel. Even though I post more gospel-related art and I'm not drawing purely for fun anymore, it's still a bit deflating... It's really hard to reach lots of new people on Facebook. I don't care about how many 'likes' I get, but everyone that sees my stuff is family or other missionaries. :l   Don't  get me wrong, y'all are great and I live the support, but I'm supposed to be trying to reach new people that don't have the gospel in their lives. So far, I haven't been able to find anyone that's interested in the gospel, but all of my companions in the field have been able to. I'm praying every time I open Facebook that I'll know who to friend, what to say, what to post, and what to put in my story. I know I will eventually be able to find people that the Lord is placing in my path, I just need patience.

To finish up, I got my first bout of food poisoning on the mission! XD  Sister Christmas had me smell some milk to see if it was bad. (That was mistake number one; my nose doesn't work right. XD)  Then she was like, "Taste it to see if it's bad." I refused at first, then she convinced me to pour out a very small amount. I smelled it and tasted it; it seemed fine. So I poured myself a glass and drank some. Then, I noticed little chunks floating in it. AFTER I'd drank a few good swallows.

Needless to say, my body was not happy with me. I won't go into detail, but I'm glad we didn't have any more in person lessons that night! XD  Indoor plumbing is a mercy! 

I hope everyone is doing well! Remember to pray when you are in need of help and keep your head up! A positive attitude goes a long way to helping you live a happy life.

Love,

Sister Howard 

Have some pictures! Sister Christmas and I as Senior Sisters, my poor pumpkin on day two and three, a sign we found, and the Edmonton skyline at night. :D