Wild Week

Okay, this week has been totally crazy so far. I'll see if I can even remember what happened! It might be shorter than some of my other weeklies, haha. (I bet y'all will be glad for that. XD

1- Busy P-Day

2- Branch FHE

3- Restore

4- Driving to Edmonton

5- Doing nothing. :l

6- Temple trip!

7- Airports and airplanes

8- Seeing family again

9- CHICK-FIL-A! :D

10- Track meet

11- Unpacking and unwinding

12- I can't remember anything about Friday. XDDDD

13- Makady getting bit by a dog. :( 

14- Missionary meeting

15- More unpacking

16- Speaking on Sunday

1- P-Day was pretty hectic for me. I spent most of it packing. After I was done, Sister Jensen and Sister Schnepf finally got to unpack some of their stuff. I didn't talk to family too much, but I was okay with that because I knew I'd be seeing them later that week. :)  We did some shopping and cleaning, and that was about it. An exhausting blur.

2- My last branch FHE! It was pretty bittersweet. :')  Glad to see a bunch of friendly faces again, though. We went to Sister Belcourt's and talked about what a miracle is. I feel like a miracle depends on personal opinion; I experience small daily miracles all the time. Of course there are larger ones, but if we don't look for the small ones, we can miss them.

3- On Tuesday, I don't remember much of what we did aside from visiting the Restore, honestly. Sister Jensen and Sister Schnepf did their safety orientation. I was pretty jittery and nervous because I knew that I'd be leaving in 24 hours. I could barely sit still. :l  When we were leaving, Sister Schnepf found a spider in her shoe! XD It was a little thin-legged wolf/leopard spider. I scooped it up and carried it outside. It may have posed for a picture before scurrying away. :)

4- Honestly don't remember much about Tuesday, like I said. On Wednesday, we got up and did our studies. I finished packing my stuff. I had to unpack and repack multiple times to make sure my bags weren't overweight! Then, we drove to Edmonton. We listened to all of my favorite mission songs on the way there. It was fun; we were belting them out. We drove to the Sherwood Park Stake Center, only to realize that the parking lot was deserted. The APs texted us at maybe 1:20 asking us to come to the mission home (where the Cowleys live) instead. So, we got the address and went there. XD

5- After we got to the Cowleys, we went to get Covid tests at a Shoppers, and of course they put my birthday on there wrong, so I had to get new papers. -_-  But then we got left at the Cowleys for maybe an hour with no instructions. It felt so wrong. :l  Just sitting there, doing nothing. The other departing Sisters were doing stuff on their phones and I mostly wrote in my journal. I think someone took a nap, but I can't remember who at this point. XD

6- That evening, when the Cowleys got back, we had dinner, then went to the temple for endowments. It was awesome! I loved seeing the artwork in the temple, and I was able to learn some new things from the endowment session. :)  Also, the huge chandelier in the celestial room moves ever so slightly. I was told by a branch member that it sways gently with the earth's rotation. So I was sitting there pondering all my 'Kolob theories' and watching the beautiful chandelier twinkle. When we got out, it was late. 9:30ish, I believe. So of course the Cowleys tossed our curfew out the window and went to get us McDonald's soft-serve ice cream. XD  They told us not to tell the Elders. We got back after 10:00 and didn't get to sleep until around 11:00. I was pretty dead. XD

7- We woke up at about 3:00 in the morning. (:  I was fried. Getting ready was stressful. We drove to the airport at 3:45 and got there around 4:30ish, I believe. Going through security was a bear... At least I didn't set off the metal detectors or anything! And none of my suitcases were overweight, so that was a relief. :)  I wrote in my journal some more after we got through customs and stuff. Then, we flew to San Francisco! It was crazy! I was in Canada in the morning, California in the afternoon, and Utah in the evening. 

7- I don't remember a ton about the flights, honestly. Sister Walbeck, Elder Dyches, and I talked about our mission experiences. We shared funny, creepy, and spiritual experiences. That helped to pass the time. Then they both conked out, so I ended up writing more in my journal. On the next flight, I was stuck between two larger guys who were both engrossed in movies. I did my best not to move because it seemed like every time I'd inhale, my elbows would brush one of them. :l 

8- It was so awesome to see my family again! They were waiting at the Salt Lake airport. :)  I came out to see my dad, my mom, Makady, Jack, and Benton there. They'd made me some posters that were adorable. :)  I babbled a bunch and of course they mocked my slight accent. XD  I told my parents something I missed a ton was Chick-fil-A, so we stopped there on the way home.

9- We went inside to eat, which I wasn't expecting. A couple of people came up to me and asked if I was departing or returning. I didn't want to launch into the entire service mission spiel, so I just kept it brief and said I was returning. The food was so good, though! I forgot just how tangy Chick-fil-A lemonade is! I feel so bad for everyone in Canada; they're missing out!

10- I got to go to Larisa's track meet. As soon as we got there, my parents called to her. She came sprinting over to me with cheetah speed and gave me the most crushing hug! I think she was more thrilled to see me than I was to see her! XD It was awesome! She's so tan that we barely look like sisters, though! XD  I got to see her run the hurdles and it was crazy to watch! 

11- When we got home, I spent most of the evening unpacking my suitcases. My room's much more cluttered than Spartan missionary apartments, so I'm going to be working on cleaning it out and rearranging things. At the rate I'm going, it'll take a week at least. XD But I emptied my suitcases, so I feel like I moved in. I drove my parents slightly crazy asking if we had any plans. They kept telling me it was okay to relax. I know I've been craving free time, but it honestly felt so weird not to be doing stuff 24/7!

12- I don't think too much happened on Friday... All I can remember is meeting my Stake President and my Service Mission Leader's wife in the morning to talk about service opportunities. The rest of the day was a blur.

13- On Saturday, things got crazy. :l  Risa's dog, Opa, bit Makady on the face. I panicked and went to get my dad. Apparently I yelled, "Kady bit Opa!" but I attribute that to shock. I drove with Makady and my parents down to my dad's dental office. He numbed her up, cleaned out the punctures, and gave her a single stitch for the deepest one. It was a long, stressful morning, but she's going to be okay. :)

14- I had a missionary meeting Saturday afternoon. It was a bit like District Council. We all gathered together, did some 'get to know you' type stuff, and a spiritual thought was shared. One Elder also made cookies for our snack! It was great to see other missionaries. I think there's thirteen in our District and we're getting some new ones next week. I may have an assigned companion soon! 

15- I've been unpacking, sorting, and basically putting my room back in order. And now that I'm home, my room is once again 'party central'. One of my siblings sneaks or ambles in, and I have ten seconds to close the door or else all of them find their way in somehow. Then they'll just mill around or do things like write or draw. XD  So not a ton of cleaning has been getting done, but I've been able to write with my siblings and see their art and stories.

16- Welp, time snuck away from me. I was asked to speak in church on Sunday and only started working on my talk at about 9:00 last night. XD  To be fair, my laptop has been having some issues with Microsoft word, and my church account was still whack, so I borrowed my parents' laptop. I wrote it up, then decided to sleep early. We got up and made my mom some Mothers' Day breakfast, then I did a last edit and spell check for my talk. I gave it in church and feel like it went well. :)

That's about it! Just hanging out with my family now. I know I said this last week, but I may send my next weekly on Saturday because that's my new P-Day. My missionary account just kicked me out for a little while and I was only able to get back onto it yesterday, haha.

Love you all!

Sister Howard 

The last of my Canada pictures! A couple spider friends I made (the one on the balcony is a little orb weaver and the one on my arm is the wolf/leopard spider that I saved), Noodle the Bohnets' cat, and some apple juice in a can! Never had it before, so I thought I'd commemorate it!