New Service!

Hi everyone! I know it's been AGES since I last sent a weekly! I've been sick off and on and I honestly just forget to write about stuff. XD

I'll try to break it down with a summary:

1- Temple

2- Willard Elementary

3- Bear River Bird Refuge

I'll probably ramble about each of these, haha. Lots has happened in the past few weeks. Biggest updates are my new service opportunities, though!

1- I'm still serving at the Brigham City temple! I'm really adjusting to the schedule, even though it's still rough to wake up at 4:30 on temple mornings. I make sure to go to bed early the nights before, and I've been sleeping like a log most of the time. XD  I'm also to the point where I don't often need a nap when I come home. :)  

1- I've been able to read the scriptures a TON in the temple. Found some verses in Moroni that I really like. :)  I'm mostly reading the Book of Mormon in the temple to get more familiar with it, and because with Come, Follow Me, we're studying the Old Testament at home and church. I'm  the Initiatory Coordinator for the last couple of hours on my shift. That's been kind of stressful, but also really cool! I've been able to see so many miracles. Any time someone doesn't show up for an appointment, we seem to get a walk-in who can fill the space. And some of the proxy names that people have brought in have been cool. I keep seeing names from certain characters in a few of my stories, and it makes me feel like Heavenly Father's looking out for me. He certainly knows how to get my attention. :)

2- I've started to serve at Willard Elementary! It's so fun and engaging. I'm helping out in Senora Gonzales's 1st grade dual immersion class. Those kiddos know more Spanish than me! XDD I've actually started up Duolingo again to practice Spanish. The first day I was there, I kind of helped out in the classroom so the kids could get used to me, and after that I've started taking them one by one into the hall to have them count to fifty. By the end of the year, they need to be able to count to 120. Once they all hit fifty, we'll move on to helping them get up to one hundred. :)

2- I've had some funny moments and some sweet moments with the kids already. Some of them really seem to like me. They all love high-fives, of course, and some of them will say hi and wave when they see me. One day when I was helping some kids count, one of the little boys was really hesitant to start. I asked him, "What's something that helps you to count?" He was quiet for a moment, then gave me a very serious look and said, "That's a good question. That's a really good question."  I also had another little girl tell me that her mother is the Queen of England, so she's the Princess of England. XDD

2- I usually go on Mondays and Wednesdays when the school opens, help out in the morning, and come home during lunch time. Most days I'll sit with Benton for a couple of minutes at lunch and he'll tell the other kids about me. XD  The other day, he told them all I was an amazing artist and I probably turned tomato red. He begged me to show his friends pictures of some drawings I've made recently. The kiddos also get multiple recesses or breaks throughout the day, so I get to go out and watch them chase each other on the playgrounds. Hearing and seeing the games they come up with is adorable. XD

3- I've finally been able to go to the Bird Refuge! Can't remember if I was able to go the last time I sent a weekly... It's been awesome, though! The first couple of times, I toured the buildings and drove the Auto Tour--a big, 12-mile loop with hundreds of birds. I got to see pelicans, Canada geese, white-faced ibises, lots of bank and cliff swallows, seagulls, black-necked stilts, pheasants, and even a few Great Blue herons! It was amazing to see so many different birds, especially kinds that I didn't know lived in Utah! The Bear River Bird Refuge is one of the only wetlands in Utah, and even though the canals to hold the water are man-made, the birds don't care. They come in massive flocks.

3- Right now, there are lots of seasonal birds migrating through. The shorebirds like the stilts and ibises are flying south for the winter while ducks are coming in. The hunting season just started, so lots of people have been coming in with hunting questions. Luckily, there are tons of pamphlets with info that I can direct people too, because I'm definitely not a hunter. XDD

3- The past few times I've been to the refuge, I've helped set up for field trips that happen during the week. I also cleaned out some bins of animal pelts and skulls. I got covered in deer, fox, badger, beaver, rabbit, fox, and raccoon fur. XDDD Some of the old pelts shed a lot. I got some cool reference pictures of skulls in case I want to draw some, though! Coyote, fox, badger, raccoon, and even an enormous beaver skull. It was bigger than my two fists put together and the upper incisors were at least three inches long! 

3- Once the cleaning's done, I've been able to set up a display table of different pelts, skulls, and models of animal tracks. Visitors get to guess which animals they belong to. Most of them guess the fox pelt correctly, but you'd be surprised how many people can't tell a skunk from a raccoon! XDDD  We also have some cool models of eagle, owl, heron, and pelican skulls to show the different beaks and eye sockets they have. And the animal track guessing game is fun. Almost everyone gets the raccoon paw because it looks like a hand, but we also have goose and duck prints and eagle and owl talons that look really similar. When it's not busy, I've been reading a lot of mammal and bird field guides to brush up on animal identification and tracks. I've learned about at least a dozen new species of bird since coming to the refuge, and I've also gotten better at identifying them. :)  It's really neat when someone asks me to identify a bird in a picture and I'm able to do so! 

Well, I hope everyone else is doing good! Sorry I've been spotty at emails and keeping in touch with people! Time just keeps slipping away from me! But I still love my mission, love the gospel, and I know that God has a plan for each of us. 

Sincerely,

Sister Howard