Total App Failure

To preface, my phone has been absolutely bonkers this week. I haven't been able to compose any emails to friends or family, so I'm sorry. I'll work on replies when I can!

1- P-Day and the pain of backing up pictures. XD

2- Video call with our friend

3- Traveling to Edmonton

4- A trio again! :O

5- Packing and unpacking

6- Another video call with our friend. :)

7- Sister McDevitt

8- Last lunch with Lutheran friends. :'(

9- District Council 

10- High guy in the park and Sister Roy. XD (The high dude had the most interesting story about baptism... XD  So hard to keep a straight face!)

11- Dinner with the Hetchlers! :D

12- Branch coordination

13- Sister Ramberg and Sister Price

14- Seeing one of our Lutheran friends on a walk! (Not too much of a coincidence because we chose to walk around CLBI, but still!)

15- Activity Days

16- The Lyons

17- Phone Diagnosis: Total App Failure

18- Pie and Clamato juice at the Ramsays! :l

19- Dinner with the Hampsons

20- Video call with our friend. :)

21- Stomach issues again...

22- Visits from the Ftzners

23- Call from our friend

24- Dinner with Sister Dylke

25- Call from the APs...

26- Resetting my phone. Felt so illegal... :l

27- Book of Mormon read at the church!

28- Creepy rake dude

29- New friend at church! :D

30- Fast Sunday FEAST with the Wolseys

31- Daniel and the Lion's Den with the Halls

32- Dinner with the Gillises

1- P-Day was a bit long. XD  Not bad, I just spent a grueling three hours making sure that everything that I want to keep off my phone is saved onto my SD card instead of the phone itself. I've decided to leave my mission phone at the Mission Office so that someone else can use it if needed. I don't want anyone to have to go through half a transfer without a phone--like me, haha. 

1- So in between cleaning, getting a deep-clean car wash, and talking to family, I tried to save stuff from my phone onto a flashdrive. Turns out the church computer is dumb and doesn't have a USB port for flashdrives. -_- What the wolf spiders?! It was so annoying... But after three hours, as I said in the above paragraph, I figured out how to get all my pictures and missionary music onto the SD card. So I'm all covered!

1- We also went to FHE. It was at the Hills again. :)  Brother Hills let me look through an awesome photography book about Raptors of the West! I was in heaven! I did my best to identify all the birds without looking at the names. I'd say I got about 70% of them, which surprised me! I guessed incorrectly with maybe 20% and then with the last 10% I was like, "Okay, I don't know this bird." So I learned about a couple of new raptors, like the Swainson's hawk! I'd say my owl identification was the best. :)  Barn owls and great grays are pretty distinctive, but I can also tell northern hawk owls, burrowing owls, great horned, short-eared and long-eared owls, (some of my favorites! Such vivid facial markings!) and snowies, of course. The only ones that gave me trouble were the elf owls, spotted owls, and barred owls. Spotted and barred owls look pretty similar to me. Hawks also confused me; I had a tough time telling Coopers from sharp-shinned hawks. But now I can tell merlins from kestrels at least! 

2- Anyway, enough about birds! We had a video call with our friend in 2 Nephi again. Sister Curry and I read 2 Nephi 2 and 3 with her. I felt like most of it went right over her head, honestly. I was feeling a bit out of it, so I didn't go too in-depth with scripture analysis and explanation. Sister Curry did some great testifying though! Our friend is really sad to see Sister Curry and I go, but she does want to keep in contact with us, and hopefully will continue to meet with other missionaries! :)

3- The drive to Edmonton on Tuesday morning was a blur for me... One minute we were leaving the Camrose city limits and the next we were going on the Anthony Henday (big road in Edmonton) and passing distant skyscrapers. I got the biggest sense of deja vu... This is the third time I've send a companion home. :l  Although, since Sister Curry is transferring to a service mission, this is a bit different than Sister Marsmaker and Sister Christmas, because she's still a full-time missionary for nine more months. (Just like me!)

3- We drove to the mission office. Got to say hi to a few other missionaries. My brain was lagging like a Dell laptop; every time someone talked to me I'd give them a blank, confused stare and have to ask them to repeat themselves. I was just so tired and out of it... It felt like a dream. I was able to get an Easter package from my parents, though, so that was nice! Sister Cowley also asked me about my sleep, haha... And now I'm taking two daily half-hour walks in the hope that that will help. It hasn't really so far, but... Sister Cowley knows best.

4- I was expecting a new companion, and instead I got two! :O  I was totally sideswiped. Sister Jensen and Sister Schepf (the P is silent) were both coming from trios. They had tons of stuff. I asked if I could help pack things in the car and President Cowley told me to get a bigger car. XD  The Cowleys eventually jammed everything in the car. Sister Schnepf and I both carried stuff on our laps and had things packed around our feet. The Cowleys warned us not to open the back of the car until we got to the apartment. XD 

5- When we got back to the apartment, it took us about four trips to lug everything up. I thought I'd already packed pretty much everything, but it turns out I was able to pack a lot more. I basically just crammed everything else that I'll need for the week into my closet, and I cleared most of the clutter off my study desk. Once I'd created a bit more room, Sister Schnepf and Jensen unpacked their stuff a bit. Since there are three of us and only two bed frames, I threw my mattress on the floor. XD  I figured I can handle sleeping on the floor for a week, and I wouldn't want to make another Sister do that. My mattress blocks the closet and the bottom drawer of the dresser, so getting to my clothes is a little tricky, haha.

6- We had another call with our friend who's now in 2 Nephi. She liked Sister Jensen and Schnepf, so that was good! :)  We were honestly planning to drop her because she hasn't been keeping commitments, but Sister Jensen and Schnepf are very persuasive! They convinced our friend to meet us and finally get a paper copy of the Book of Mormon. She messaged us later and said, "So I've been drinking." We were like, Oh no! She's drinking! :l That's every missionary's worst nightmare! But then she messaged again and was like, "READING" so we assumed it autocorrected. XDDD We're excited that she's been reading more!

7- We went to visit Sister McDevitt on Wednesday morning. Sister Jensen and Schnepf don't like cats. XD  It was funny for me to watch Dolly, Sister McDevitt's social Siamese, sniff their bags and wind around their ankles. She's seriously such a friendly cat! She has the bluest eyes and is very vocal as well. Sister McDevitt really likes the new Sisters too, so I'm glad! :)

8- We had a last lunch with our Lutheran friends. They asked us to go back to Fika, the little coffee shop. (I don't know if anyone remembers it; it was months ago! XD) My comps actually wanted to eat before that, so they got McDonalds. I got some random story ideas while we were inside McDonalds, so of course I whipped out my idea book and started scribbling away. That sparked a little conversation about my books. Sister Jensen and Sister Schnepf said they'd like to read some--but so do a lot of people. XD  And despite what everyone says, they all eventually get repelled by the length of my stories. But I'm planning some major rewrites for after I get released; hopefully I can split longer stories into two, and shave off a bit of unnecessary filler.

8- Excuse my writing ramble. XD  We went to Fika and I got a very creamy hot chocolate. My comps spent some time asking small-talk type questions and chatting with our Lutheran friends. Sadly, as I mentioned last week, both of them are moving away and won't be able to meet with missionaries all summer. One of them is going to Saskatchewan (another province, not Fort Sask) to run a Bible summer camp. The other is running another Bible camp in Sherwood Park. :(  I'm sad to see them both go. They're leaving a couple of days before me. They both promised to keep in touch, though. Maybe they'll come around one day! :)

9- District Council was pretty good. Elder Olsen asked us his personal 'Big Three' questions. "Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter?" He had us think about those questions as we wrote down things we learned this transfer. I had some rather deep thoughts. Lots of pondering and reminiscing about people I've met here, things I've done, and the potential impact I've made.

9- One thing that I think I've done is forge connections with a lot of member kiddos. :) And if that's the only 'good' I've done in this transfer, then I'm satisfied with that. I love teaching and talking to kids. Their faith is so simple, strong, and sweet. I've been able to learn so much by trying to view the world through the unbiased eyes of children. :)  

9- Also, I'm renowned among the youngsters of Camrose branch because of the Mickey Mouse pop-it my mom sent me at the beginning of my first week in the area. Some of the kids affectionately call me "Sister Pop-it" and it melts my heart! When I opened the Easter package from my parents, I found a bag of mini Easter pop-its. They're shaped like carrots, rabbits, Easter baskets, flowers, eggs, and chicks. I sat there for a while holding it and imagined myself handing them out to all the kids. I counted them and there were enough for all the little ones in the branch that have liked playing with my pop-it. Thanks so much, mom! :D 

10- Anyway, that wasn't all about District Council; me and my tangents. XD  Crazy thing happened later on Wednesday. We went on a walk before visiting Sister Roy. I wanted to show Sister Jensen and Schnepf the art tunnel at Mirror Lake. We didn't quite get there because we ran into a guy and my comps struck up a conversation with him. 

10- He had headphones on, but they talked until he took them off. I was shook. He went over to a park bench, sat, and started talking back to us. Sister Jensen and Schnepf explained about our purpose as missionaries. We asked if he was religious and the guy said he believed in aquaponics. He asked if we 'preached' about aquaponics. (Basically, growing plants with only water. It helps to purify the water because the plant roots clean the water, and it also saves farming space because the plants can be grown in bodies of water as well as fields.) I knew a small bit about aquaponics, so I tried to engage him in that. XD  He started going on and on about how the cattails, reeds, and willows around Mirror Lake were crops that would feed and sustain all of Camrose. XD

10- Sister Jensen tried to share a scripture with him and it went right over his head. He asked me if I thought the relationship between plants and animals was a 'Romeo and Juliet' relationship. 

I was confused, so I hesitantly asked, "Meaning they can't live without each other?" 

"No," the man replied, shaking his head. "Is it a Romeo and Juliet relationship or more of a love/hate relationship?" Then he switched gears again and launched off about Marvel movies. XD

He told us that he knew some 'Jesus tricks'. We asked him to elaborate. He said, "I spell Jesus G-E-S-U-S because 'G' is the last note of a music chord and 'J' is for Juliet and reproduction." 

I was having the hardest time keeping a straight face. XDDD  Also, it started to rain in the middle of the conversation. Not super hard, but it was pretty cold because the temperature was right around freezing. Luckily I'd brought my sweater, though; it had been sunny at the start of our walk and I'd been tempted to leave it in the car. 

Sister Jensen told the guy that we didn't have 'Jesus tricks', but we helped people grow relationships with Him. She brought up baptism. Then the conversation got even stranger! XDD

"Oh, I was baptized once!" the guy told us.

"Was it in a church?" Sister Schnepf asked.

"No," the guy replied. "I was baptized by a tesseract." 

(Hope I'm spelling it right, haha. It's been a while since I've seen a Marvel movie.)

We weren't sure how to respond to that. None of us had ever heard of 'baptism by a tesseract'. XD

"It was a bunch of energy," the guy went on. "Just going through me. Or maybe it was a dream." He was quiet for a moment. "Or a dream inside of a dream, like Inception."

He launched into a spiel about movies and I was rather lost. I haven't seen half the movies he talked about. I don't remember everything that followed that, but here's another funny thing he said. XD  He was telling us that he didn't like referring to God as 'The Lord'. According to him, " 'L' is for Loki, and 'D' is for Democrat, so calling Him Lord is like calling him Democratic Loki." 

The conversation concluded when we asked for his phone number to talk again. He refused and walked away. Sister Jensen, Schnepf, and I shared a laugh, then went to visit Sister Roy. XD  Also, my comps think it's even funnier that I didn't realize the dude was high. After the conversation, they told me that based on his body language, speech, and lack of comprehension of what we said were dead giveaways. :l  I can't tell when people are inebriated; I just thought he was a Marvel fan obsessed with aquaponics. XD

10- Anyway, to finish up this bullet point, we visited Sister Roy after that. Sister Jensen and Sister Schnepf got her talking and we ended up staying too long. Sister Roy thought that Sister Jensen was Sister Curry, though, so that cracked me up. She also thought I left, so apparently seeing me startled her. XD  Poor thing will probably be super confused when I actually leave next week.

11- We had dinner with the Hetchlers Wednesday night. They loved Sister Jensen and Sister Schnepf; all the kiddos were hopping all over and asking questions. We acted out 'Daniel and the Lion's Den' with them. It was so fun! Elsbeth was Daniel, Sister Jensen was King Darius, Sister Schnepf was a guard, Gordon was an evil Prince, Rose was the angel, then Walter and Edward were lions. Edward actually ran and grabbed a lion costume and it was awesome! XD  Afterward we talked about what we learned from it. The kids liked how Daniel was diligent with praying, and how God protected him. They also thought it was hilarious that Darius fed the evil Princes to the lions. XD  Edward and Walter chased Gordon all over the house, haha.

11- To finish up, we invited the kiddos to pray daily like Daniel. Then, I told them I had a surprise. I handed out a pop-it to each of them. They were over the moon! It was so cute. All of them were literally jumping with excitement and dancing around. We got them to briefly hold still so I could get a picture with the family. It was a bit sad to say goodbye, but I assured the kids I'd be at church on Sunday.

12- Branch Coordination was pretty good! I kind of ran it because I know the most about the friends we're meeting with and teaching. Sister Dylke had some good tips for one of our friends. :)

13- On Thursday, we had a video call with Sister Ramberg and went to visit Sister Price. Sister Price got called as a Branch missionary and we're so excited for her! She's looking forward to attending Book of Mormon reads and lessons with our friends. :)

14- We went on a walk after visiting Sister Price and I took my comps around CLBI. (Canadian Lutheran Bible Institute) While we were walking, one of our Lutheran friends pulled up in a car. He hopped out, ran over, and started chatting with us. It was a bit of a surprise to see him again, but to be fair, we were in his 'territory'. XD I said goodbye again and wished him luck at the Bible Camp he's going to be running this summer.

15- We helped out at Activity Days again this week. Sister Bohnet was out of town, so Sister MacLeod and Sister Pickett were running things. They had the kiddos painting flower pots with glue, then rolled them in colored sand to make designs on them. We helped pour dirt into the flower pots and plant the seeds. It was really fun; I love kids! We had to scrub glue off the table and vacuum quite a bit of dirt out of the carpet, though. XD

16- We went to visit the Lyons Jr. on Friday morning. They got a new puppy that's going to be humongous when it grows up! They're raising it to be a sheep dog and guard their new sheep. We had fun with the kiddos; we sang the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" to teach them about prayer. (I'd go more in-depth, but time's zooming by and this email is already long!)

17- So... my phone started sabotaging itself after we visited the Lyons on Friday. Without warning, it started deleting apps left, right, and center. My notes, music, photos, calculator, weather app, and several other things. Maas360, the missionary app, sent me an error message saying my phone was non-compliant. It changed my screen background to this ugly orange. The words on it said (in four languages) that my phone was registered to a departing missionary, and that I could no longer use it.

17- After several frantic phone calls, I got in touch with the social media Elders. They told me that either the mission office here or someone in Salt Lake had goofed up and marked me as departing early. -_-  Elder Cowley (no relation to President Cowley, haha) told me I'd likely have to reset my phone, but to wait for confirmation from the APs. (Assistants to President)

18- We went to visit the Ramsays. Sister Ramsay gave us rhubarb pie. :)  Sister Schnepf talked about how a friend she met was obsessed with this odd stuff called Clamato juice. Clam and tomato juice. :l  Sister Ramsay smiled huge and pulled a bottle of Clamato juice out of her fridge. She poured a bit for Sister Jensen and I to try. XD  I gulped it down as quickly as I could. It kind of burned on the way down; it was sour, bitter, and kind of fishy. Reminded me of cat food. XD  The aftertaste had me gagging and set my eyes watering. Sister Jensen told me that some people who like alcoholic beverages will drink Clamato juice as a replacement because it burns like alcohol. Blech. One more reason never to drink...

19- The Hampsons fed us on Friday night. We almost hit a couple of geese on the way there! :O  They were sitting in the middle of the road and hopped off just when we got close. I scoured the Hampson's yard with Brother Hampson in the hopes of finding snakes. He's told me they get hundreds of garter snakes in the summer. Sadly, it was about 50 Fahrenheit, so still a bit chilly for snakes. :(  But dinner was good! Refried beans and rice in mini taco shells, rather spicy burritos, and lots of cheese. :) Also, homemade yogurt and cherry syrup for dessert, as usual. 

20- We had a video call with one of our friends. He wanted to come to church, but turns out he was moving into the city limits on Sunday, so... That didn't work out. But we taught him a bit more in the Plan of Salvation and he agreed to meet again. We're so excited for him! He's very willing to learn. :)

21- I felt kind of cruddy on Saturday. I marked it off as nerves, but I did feel rather queasy. Sister Jensen and Schnepf took me to Walmart to get some saltine crackers and ginger ale. I sipped the soda, nibbled the crackers, and ate a banana throughout the morning. It did help to settle my stomach eventually, and I didn't throw up this time! :D

22- The Fitzners, our housing coordinators, had called us earlier in the week to tell us that they were coming to drop off a bunk bed. They were slightly horrified to hear that I've been willingly sleeping on the floor. XD  They misunderstood and thought I didn't even have a mattress, haha. But on Saturday, they came to build a bunk bed anyway. They told us that according to the transfer board, there would still be a trio in Camrose after I transfer to my service mission.

22- The Fitzners arrived, and we helped them unload the bunk bed parts. They also brought up an extra study desk and chairs. Elder Fitzner looked at the transfer board and cried, "Those boneheads changed it!" Apparently the APs had changed transfer boards that morning without informing the Fitzners. XD Elder Fitzner was not happy; he and his wife had just driven an hour and a half to set up the bunk bed. So he called the APs for an explanation.

 22- Sister Schnepf and Jensen are staying here in Camrose. The APs said that a new Sister may be coming in mid-transfer, but it's not confirmed yet. Elder Fitzner also learned that they were missing parts for the bunk bed, so he and Sister Fitzner packed everything up and left.

23- A friend that we've been trying so hard to get in touch with called us while the Fitzners were here. We had a hard time hearing him; he was really soft-spoken and mumbled a lot. But we shared a scripture and invited him to church. As the Fitzners were leaving, we realized Sister Fitzner had left her purse. Sister Schnepf snatched it and ran after them. I followed and so did Sister Jensen--because companions have to say within sight and sound of each other. We finally caught up to the Fitzners as they were hopping in their car, haha. Sister Jensen held back and kept talking to our friend. XD  She was awesome!

24- We went over to Sister Dylke's for dinner. :) She made us hotdogs and corn on the cob. I hadn't had corn on the cob for so long I forgot it was a thing! We also had 'Mormon wine': really good non-alcoholic cider. XDD  It was pomegranate flavor, and we had it in actual wine glasses. It was a really good dinner! 

24- Also, there was a cute little spider in Sister Dylke's sink. It's a new species to me (I joined an Alberta Spider Identification page on Facebook and learned about a dozen little arachnids endemic to Alberta) called a thin-legged wolf or leopard spider. They're smaller and darker than typical wolf spiders we get down south. This one was maybe the size of my thumbnail, legspan included. (Also entirely harmless; their fangs can't break human skin when they're that small) They're coal-gray with black stripes on their back, so they look entirely black from a distance. I scooped up my little friend and tried to carry him outside, but he bailed on me. XDD The tiny black spider jumped off my hand and landed somewhere on Sister Dylke's black doormat... RIP. But she said she didn't mind; she found it hilarious that I was willing to pick it up at all. She said it was better on the floor somewhere than in her sink.

25- The APs gave us another call. They asked if we knew why they were calling. I told them I assumed it was because of my Kamikaze phone. They tried to prank us and told us we had to park our car and couldn't drive for the rest of the transfer. -_-  I told them if that was the case, they could have the pleasure of telling fifteen or so member families why I couldn't say goodbye in person. They apologized for their tasteless joke and gave me the okay to reset my phone.

26- I factory reset my phone. It was so nerve-wracking... When I set it up again, it automatically downloaded a bunch of mission-illegal apps. :l  YouTube, TikTok, Netflix, other stuff. I deleted them promptly. XD While my comps did Facebook stuff, I spent a while reorganizing and setting up my phone to be as missionary-compliant as possible without Maas360. 

27- We had another Book of Mormon read with our friend in 3 Nephi. He's so awesome! Brother Ramsay was there and he also bore his testimony. It was pretty neat. We read 3 Nephi 13, which is very similar to Matthew 6. (I think that's the sermon on the mount...) I love the verses that talk about how God cares for birds and flowers (those verses are part of the song 'Consider the Lilies'), so He loves and cares for us too. :)

28- We went on a walk shortly before 9:00. The evening was beautiful! Felt so nice for me! My poor Arizona comps were bundled up in their coats and I was fine in a sweater in roughly 40 Fahrenheit. We saw a dude raking his yard on the way home. Sister Jensen offered to help him. He sounded exactly like Professor Slughorn from Harry Potter! Dude didn't believe that we actually wanted to help him, so we marched over and started cleaning up his leaves. Sister Jensen took the rake, Sister Schnepf took a shovel, and I started scooping stuff up with my hands. The guy was flabbergasted. 

28- He kept asking what the 'catch' was. XD  Something that constantly amuses me is that no one seems to understand the concept of service anymore. Doing good deeds for free, with absolutely no expectations of payment or anything in return. Anyway, I didn't mind helping the guy with his yard, but he started saying things that made us really uncomfortable... He turned out to be the stereotypical 'dirty old man'. -_-  But once his yard was done, he told us he didn't have any money, and we assured him that we didn't expect any. He seemed appreciative, at least. I would be happy if I never met him again, though. The conversation was super awkward... Sister Jensen and Schnepf agreed that they'd rather meet with tesseract baptism dude again than creepy rake guy.

29- Our new friend was able to come to church! Brother Ramsay brought him. :)  It was Fast Sunday, and I felt prompted to go up and bear my testimony. When I did, Sister Jensen and Schnepf came up to speak too. By the time I sat down, our friend was out like a light. I wasn't sure what to do. Wake him up? Leave him be? XD  We decided to just let him sleep.

29- Then, our friend started snoring. It began as a quiet, wheezy rumble, but built up to chainsaw volume. Everyone in the chapel kept glancing around trying to see who was driving a monster truck in their sleep. XD Some kids were standing on chairs to get a look at our snoozing friend. He did wake up towards the end, though, and we were able to teach him a bit about the significance of the sacrament and other things. :)

30- The Wolseys had us over for late lunch. Brother Wolsey totally outdid himself... He made a mountain of pancakes, a heap of eggs, a massive pile of hashbrowns, and stacks of bacon. There were also sliced strawberries and other toppings for the pancakes. I ate too much, of course. XD  Then, when we were about to go, Brother Wolsey was like, "Let's bring on dessert!" :l  It was a tray of cinnamon rolls. Of course I ate one, but my stomach was about to burst. Poor Sister Jensen and Schnepf were dying as well. XD

31- We visited a couple more people, including the Halls out in Daysland. We had the kiddos act out 'Daniel and the Lion's Den' like the Hetchlers. It was so fun! Sister Hall was King Darius, Sister Jensen was one of the evil priests with Dorhian, I was a lion with Gloria, Jillian was a guard, and Natalya was the angel. Brother Hall drew the Daniel card, but he nominated Atlas, the baby, to be Daniel. XD  Everyone was laughing, because when 'Daniel' got put in the Lion's den. he started crawling straight at Gloria. XD I was like, "Angel, come quick! Daniel's heading right for the lion!" 

31- Afterward, we talked about takeaways and what the kids learned. Then, we invited them to be faithful and pray like Daniel. :)  I also gave them some of the pop-its my mom sent me. Everyone was thrilled! They all danced around and thanked me like the Hetchlers. It was super cute. 

32- We drove to the Gillises as well. They fed us dinner and made a feast to rival the Wolseys. XD  Mountains of waffles, a huge dish of eggs, a deep tray of sausage, and tons of smoothie. I ate as much as I could. It was delicious, but I was still so full from lunch!  We shared a video with them, then drove back. All of us were groaning the whole drive home. XD

Anyway, I had a crazy busy week! I bet next week will be just as hectic, haha. I'll continue to write weeklies, but I may be sending them out on Saturday from now on because that's the typical service missionary P-Day.

Love you all!

Sister Howard

Take some pictures!

Finally got to do a photo shoot at the 'Killam' Cemetery! >:D   Also, a few friends I made on walks! (Grasshopper, little wolf/leopard spider, a wooly bear caterpillar, and a spider on the church door that I haven't identified yet...)  Also, some creepy metal hay bale children that we see every time we drive to Edmonton, Dinner at Sister Dylke's, and cattails/bulrushes at the edge of Mirror Lake. :)