Week 40: HAPPY Hallween!

10/31/2022

Happy Halloween everyone!! I Hope all of you have a very special night tonight and you get lots of candy! I hope you all strut those costumes well. I was able to dress up as a partial bat. lol i’ll tell you about that later. This week was about the same as the last few weeks, lots of ups and lots of downs. Most of all a growing testimony on my Savior Jesus Christ.

Baptism! This week I feel that most of our lessons were geared toward the first covenant with God, baptism. I have really changed my perspective about baptism on my mission. It is a very vital step but it is not meant to be a scary step. It is the gateway covenant for a reason. God made it so that even an 8 year old can fully understand it. We taught our friend Jayden and Karastyn about baptism this week. We invited them to pray about being baptized. Both of them have fears about how their family will respond but they both have the faith to press forward. I can’t wait to hear how it goes. We also taught a non-member named Mo about baptism. We asked why she has not decided to be baptized yet. Her response was,” God will let me know when it is right.” “Well Mo have you asked God if it is right? She then said “no”. I know that God is ready and willing to hear our prayers but we must act in faith to ask him. He is right there waiting for us.

Aurora! She has decided to move her baptism to the 23rd. When I heard this I was so bummed but then I heard the reason. Her family will be in town for Thanksgiving…. So if she waits she will be able to be baptized by one of her family members. That will mean so much to her and she will have that much more support. I came up with a cute idea to help her read her scriptures. I asked the young women’s president if she would have all of the youth write down their favorite scripture. I then took those scriptures and put them on slips of paper with their names on it. I folded them and put them in a jar, AURORAS SCRIPTURE JAR. she will pull out a scripture a day. She was so happy when she got the jar. I hope it makes the daunting task easier and more fun for her.

Some highlights!

1st time legit tracting!!!!! On our mission we don’t tract very often because it is not effective and often makes people mad. However, we are allowed to tract if we feel inspired to do so. We went to this brand new neighborhood and noticed that no one was a member. They have all moved in within the last few months so we decided why not? Someone has gotta be looking for a church right. People were very nice and we got a few maybes!

SERVICE! As always haha. I love to get out and serve. My favorite service project this week was helping sister woodard swe things for women in cancer centers. I didnt do to bad :))

Members! Members make or break the day. I have such a special relationship with the members here in star. They really trust me and I trust them. That’s the best part about staying in an area or a bit! Well on Sunday we were in our new ward and ran into special needs kathy. She begged us to come by, so we did! Her mom then told us that she has been praying for sister missionaries every day for like a year. We talked and she just beamed. It was so special for me. We also meet a member who is so christlike. She felt prompted to write her testimony in two books of Mormon for us. How kind, right! She also treated us with a very nice treat.

The best part of my week.. Drumroll please.. EXCHANGES. I stayed here in Star with sister Keller(serves in Emmett). On our exchange we had a blast! We laughed and we worked hard. The best part of the exchange was the ward trunk-or-treats. We somehow had gathered a lot of candy over the last little while and saved it all for them. Sister Woodard made a sign for our car and stole balloons from inside to decorate our car haha. Then another sister brought us headbands to dress up. It was the most fun I have had in a very long time. If you know my family you know they love halloween. It made me feel like a piece of home was with me when I was with these members. Seeing everyones costume was also the BEST. We are known as the cool missionaries and met a lot of non-members doing it. What a great opportunity.

Lastly, I would like to share a powerful experience with all of you. As you all may know this has been a very hard transfer both my comp and I. She asked for a priesthood blessing from my favorite ward mission leader brother Coombs.( He is the best!!) When we got to the church he was very kind and very supportive of her. He then began the blessing. The spirit that was in the room was very powerful. Through that blessing he blessed me too. He said the words that I needed to hear. He talked about our area and companionship. Even though this was not my blessing it was a way for me to feel God’s love. I know that he cares so much about each and every one of us. I know that he carries me when I simply can’t carry myself. When I can’t stand I kneel. Through prayer I know that I am heard and that I am never alone. I’m so grateful for the Atonement because none of us could succeed in life without it. I want to thank all of you again for all of the prayers, love and support you give me. I couldn’t do this without all of you!

Sister Howick

Pictures!