Why I, Jennifer Howell, had to serve a Mission

Hey family & friends!!!

So, I think I'm finally beginning to understand why I had to serve a mission. Okay, we all know that the purpose of missionaries is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."  And I got that clear. There's no doubt that I'm on a mission to teach the people of Chile the gospel of Jesus Christ, the things we need to do to return to our Father in Heaven. But I have been wondering why I, JENNIFER HOWELL, ME, had to serve a mission. But I'm beginning to see why.

Before I explain what I'm talking about, I gotta tell you what happened this week. Well, it all started last week. We went to the Registro Civil to get Hermana Quispe's ID. I sat next to this couple with a little girl. As soon as I saw them, I felt so strong that I needed to talk to them. I was scared...can you believe it...almost a year of knocking on doors and talking to strangers, and I was scared to talk to these people. I think it's because it's a lot easier to knock on a door. They answer ready to hear what you've got to say and don't wanna waste time small talkin' it. But when you're sitting next to them in silence, it's a bit awkward to start off. Can't just turn to them and say "Oh hi, so, I'm a missionary and I wanna teach your family."....and in spanish, I still don't know all the phrases for "small talk." Haha, but that feeling would not go away, so I some how found a way to start talking to them. They're from Concepción, and got here to Iquique on the 10th. After a little getting to know you stuff, I told them who I was and what it is I do. We asked if they'd let us come and teach them. I was praying that they'd live in our sector. And guess what, they do!!! Well, fast forward to our first lesson. The dad was at work, so we taught the wife and their daughter that's 12 years old. It was a super lesson. They're both really receptive and want to know more. On Saturday, we went back, and the husband was there! So we got to share with them, and he's a bit more hesitant to really learn more. Not completely "No, get out of my house" closed, but he'll take more time to get to. They didn't come to church either, but I really feel that they can progress a ton!

Ok, so why did JENNIFER HOWELL have to serve a mission. I don't think there's a straight answer to that one, but just in this last week have I learned SO MANY things! I look back at my life before, and think "Wow, I knew NOTHING. I understood NOTHING. I took advantage of everything."....and although that might be a little exhaggerated, it's true. I understand more about the Restoration, the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the commandments God has given us, and so much more. I've also come to learn so many things about life in general. If you could see me now, I mean, see me during the day, talking and interacting with people, you wouldn't recognize me. I've come to develop that thing called patience. SAY WHAT! Okay, I've got a long way to go still, but I really don't get mad a whole lot anymore, or annoyed. And if I am irritated, I don't act on it. I have developed that self mastery where I think before I act, take a few deep breaths and repeat "Love, patience, love, patience." It works. Hahaha. I've also developed a great, deeper love for my papitos!!! Mommy, Daddy, I love you soooo much, and I miss you like crazy, and when I come home, I promise to do all I can to help around the house, to love and care for everyone, and to listen. Something I didn't see before is how much you loved me, really. I always knew it, that's a no brainer, but that I didn't show you guys enough love, well, I'm gonna make up for it! Don't you doubt it. As well as the love I have for my siblings. YOU'RE NEVER GETTING RID OF ME FOLKS. I love you all...

Y'all might laugh at this, but last night, Hermana Quispe and I were talking...more like she was talking, and I was crying. You know why I was crying? Because I was afraid of dying young. With the anniversary of the deaths of both my grandmas this month, with the passing of Brian, and everyone in this ward who knows someone that has cancer or recently discovered some kind of disease really got me to thinking a lot about death. We're missionaries who hear EVERYTHING about EVERYONE'S problems. They confide in us to help them feel better, and we've heard it all. Last night it just hit me how short life REALLY is, and how it can end in a second. I was scared that I could die. And I think that that scared me, because I had NEVER thought about that or felt that way IN MY LIFE. It was weird and new, and I didn't like it. So I cried. All is well now, but now I really appreciate life more.

I think of these things I've learned so far, and wonder if I would have ever learned them to the same degree had I not served a mission. I think not.

I love you all soooo much. We'll see you in no time :)

Love,

Jen

Happy New Year!............(January '14)

Heyyyyyy!!!!

Well, this week was a bit hard to work, because it was New Years haha, but surprisingly we had a lot of work compared to other holidays, so that was good. For New Years, we just spent it with the family we live with! Not much different than the states. At midnight we saw the fireworks from the house! Happy New Year!!!!

Later that day, we cleaned the chapel. Here in our ward, they don't have like a system or anything so it gets cleaned every week, and since EVERYONE IN THE COUNTRY was sleeping, we, along with the Elders, decided to go clean the chapel. It really felt nice to finally have a clean church. Another thing I didn't realize before the mission. It really is important that the church gets cleaned EVERY week, because if someone who's not a member, or and investigator shows up and sees that we don't care for our church, and can send a really bad message. Besides, the Spirit can't dwell in a dirty place!! So go and clean the church :)

One member in our ward, Hermano Cortes, has a sister who has cancer, and the doctors recently told her that she has about a month left to live. So we went and sang hymns to her last night. It was so sad to see and also hear her story. She's a member, but inactive, and never wanted to go to church. She never did her yearly checkups, and found the cancer too late, right after she had a baby. As soon as they found out she had cancer, her husband left her and still to this day doesn't want anything to do with her. It was so sad. To think that your husband didn't really love you enough to stay with you, to know what you know about the gospel and didn't do anything about it, and to hear you have one month left......really makes you appreciate life a little more. I looked at her and really felt pain for her. You could see it in her eyes that she knew she was going to die within the next few weeks, and she couldn't do anything about it. So sad.

Love you all! Take care!

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Hello!

Well, the weeks go by and the work goes one. Transfers was this weekend, but I'm staying here again with Hermana Quispe. When this transfer ends, I'll have been in Iquique 6 months. That's a loooooong time. And being in one sector for that long (and the same companion for 3 outta 4 transfers) can get pretty discouraging or even boring. But we're hoping to make this transfer a lot better.

So, this week has also been one of a lot of preparation! There have been a lot of earthquakes here in Iquique. (Quick Spanish lesson! A mini earthquake, where it just shakes for a little and not very long is a "temblor"...when it's an earthquake, like, HUGE, where you can't walk and stuff starts to fall, it's a "terremoto"...if it makes it so there's a tsunami, it's a "maremoto"...and if it's really big, so big that there's a new mountain or continent or something, that's a "cataclismo") About every day this past week, there was a few temblores. Nothing big. The biggest one was like 5.8. I was super scared when I was in Copiapò and felt mini temblores, but now, because Chile moves A LOT and I've felt mini earthquakes like every month, I'm not so terrified anymore. The only thing that makes me nervous is that we are 2 blocks away from the sea. So if there's a terremoto (which always, usually happen in the middle of the night), we gotta get dressed and start booking it so if the tsunami comes, we're not in danger. Well, since the temblores have been pretty consistent (still having at least one every day), every night, we've been packing our backpacks with what we're gonna need if we need to run. At first I was really nervous, because terremotos can start off really small, and build up, so everytime it moves a little bit, we wait to see if it gets stronger. It hasn't yet. Everyone says that the northern part of Chile is due for a big maremoto soon (but they've been saying that for the past 30 years). Still, with every day, we're closer to when the next terremoto comes! But I do sleep better at night knowing my backpack is ready to go if there's the need to run. Well, I don't really sleep better because there's always a temblor at night haha, but I do feel more prepared! A member looked up the list for the biggest earthquakes in history, the top ten, and Chile was on that list 3 times. Great. hahaha nah, but don't worry. God protects His servants. But I finally understood that feeling of being prepared. You really are more relaxed and more prone to act rational in a sticky situation if you've prepared. So I was thinking, some of you live pretty close to the Wasatch Fault That Never Moves, don't ya. Okay, not really that close, but hey, we really are in the last days, preparing for the second coming of Jesus Christ. If that baby decides to move one of these days, and I mean MOVE, I'm pretty sure you're still gonna feel it. Maybe you don't have to run in case of a tsunami, but you still gotta be prepared. Especially with water, because that'll be the first thing to go, after the electricity. But I've definitely gained a stronger testimony about food storage, and storage in general. If you haven't started on that, get on it! Because I'm serious, the earth is gonna start moving a lot more than we're used to, because Jesus Christ is coming SOON. And I want my family & friends prepared.

Chile is nice and HOT, like always. So much better that we're right in the middle of the huge hole in the ozone layer....CANCER. I'm bathing in sunblock. Hahaha it's pretty nice though.

We don't really have new investigators  just the same ones we've been working with. Like I said, a lot of them left for vacation, but now they're back and we're hoping to get the ball rolling with them!

Love you all!

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I didn't know why, but this past month or so, Brian (for those in Southern Utah, Brian Scott) had been entering my mind, especially with 2 sisters in our ward that have cancer, and one just passed away. I kept forgetting to ask about him. The last thing I had heard (from Elder Braden Church) was that the cancer had come back, and that if he didn't respond well to the treatments, he would pass away. That was right before I came here to Iquique. Somehow, I knew when he said that, that it was Brian's time. I was hoping you would tell me when it happened.  Thanks mom for letting me know.

I cried. A lot. Maybe we weren't the closest friends in the world, and we had our little "discussions" here and there, but we were friends. And what really made me hurt was to think about his parents. His sweet, loving parents. I loved his parents. They always welcomed me in their home and always treated me with soooo much love. I just hope that they remember their Father in Heaven, and that He has promised us that our families are forever. God never backs out on His promises.

Brian really was a great kid. That's why Heavenly Father needed him now. He needed his great spirit on the other side. This was pretty hard news to take, but it's so true...how great it is to know what we know about the plan of salvation.

And to top it all off, this week was pretty fome (foam-ay...Chilean for lame/stupid/dumb/stuff like that). We haven't had much luck with the investigators...one disappeared...literally.  And it's still summer, so everyone's traveling  again. But the good part is that it has gotten a lot better between me and Hermana Quispe. We figured if we're gonna be together ANOTHER transfer, we gotta get over the little things and enjoy this time we have. So that's good. I've really gotten to know her better now that we talk more. It was really hard for her to leave on a mission. She was engaged. And there were no plans for spliting up. She went to the temple one week to do baptisms for the dead, and suddenly found herself asking "What's better for me right now?"....the lady sitting next to her turned and said "Are you going on a mission?" Hermana Quispe said that with those words, it hit her like a ton of bricks that THAT was what was better for her in this time in her life. Everyone told her not to go, because she already had plans to get married, and that's what the apostles say...get married first. But she couldn't deny what she felt. She said she didn't tell her boyfriend the time she was flying out because if she saw him in the airport, she wasn't sure if she could leave. (Her life is like a movie, seriously.) They were in the car driving to the airport when her boyfriend called her brother's fiancee (hahahahaha get that?) She told him that they were on their way right now. Hermana Quispe was mad at her for telling him, but she didn't think he would make it anyway. She said as she was boarding the plane, she could see his truck in the parking lot. She KNEW it was his truck because of all the times she climbed in and out of it. But she knew she wouldn't see him, because she was already boarding the plane. She turned to wave goodbye to her family one last time, and there he was, waaaaayyyyyy in the back, looking at her with the saddest face. He didn't wave or smile or anything. He just stood there and literally saw her walk away. And that was the last memory she had of him. She asked him not to write so she could focus on her mission. She says it's still hard for her to understand the will of God, and what it was she has to learn. But she's trusting that feeling she recieved in the temple. She's pretty strong.

I hope you all are safe and healthy, and keeping your faith strong. Don't worry about me too much! I'm fine :) I really do love you all.

Hermana Howell

The Adventure continues.....(December '13)

. . . . . .Wow. What a great week! We found a few more people, and they seem really prepared. One girl is named Pamela, and she's awesome!!! We're gonna take her to an FHE tonight at a members house, let's hope it all goes well!

It's getting hotter and hotter here. I've never in my life been so close to the sun. Even though it's actually hotter (degree wise) back home in Utah during the summer, we're right here on the equator (close enough) so you just feel the sun a lot more. It's soooooooooooo strong. I'm wearing sunblock like none other, but it doesn't help when we're walking and walking and walking and I sweat it all off. For some reason, we walked more this week than any other week! And guess what....my shoes have holes in them! HAHAHAHA I'm actually pretty bumbed because it's my Sperry's, but I'm really impressed they've held up for TEN months! The holes are pretty bareable still, but within a month or so....who knows haha. But just goes to show how much walking we do!

Yeah, I watched the Christmas Devotional, but it was in Spanish. Just not the same. When I have time, I'll have to watch it again, but in English. Not that I didn't understand, but it's just not the same to hear a translation!

I'M TURNING 21 THIS WEEK...SAY WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???? And I also turn 10 months in the mission. Time is flying by faster and faster every day! I seriously can't believe it!!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone's well and enjoying that snow!!!!!! That sounds so good right now haha. We have to sleep with the windows open, no blankets, and a fan going.....and I still die and sweat bullets. BUT I STILL LOVE THE HEAT. YOU CAN NEVER CHANGE THE WAY I FEEL ABOUT THAT. Hahaha. 

Me & the daughter of the family we live with.

. . . . .Well this week, nothing super spectucular happened, but we found a few new investigators! So I suppose that is pretty spectucular :) We found this family that lives out on the peninsula of Iquique, a mom and her two kids. She's more or less interested, the son the same, but the daughter, who's 17 years old, she's super interested! She's so nice, and she's not afraid to ask us something if she doesn't understand or something she heard that she wants to know if it's true. She went to church yesterday and there was a Christmas devotional as well. She went to both and loved it! I hope she prays and gets an answer that this is the true church of Christ!! Speaking of the devotional, it was for the whole stake, and they had a choir.  They aren't the most musically gifted people here in Chile, but the choir started off with Heark! The Herald Angels Sing, and it was soooo good! I was really impressed. Made me a little bit sad because I've been in a choir practically my whole life, and this was the first Christmas I wasn't in a choir. Haha, oh well, I still enjoyed it :)

Well, I expected my birthday to really be nothing, being in the mission and all, but Heavenly Father showed me how many people really do care about me!!! The 1st counselor and his wife called me up and sang to me Happy Birthday, then later on we passed by their house and they gave me a little gift. So sweet of them. He kind of reminds me of Papa haha! That day we had lunch with a less active, and when we sat at the table, much to my surprise...you'll never believe it...HOT WINGS. I pretty much died. Okay, they were NOTHING close to how hot wings really should be, but in Chile, it was as close as I was gonna get, and seriously, it made me feel so good that they remembered that that was my FAVORITE FOOD in the whole world, and that they made it for me! Such great people. Then the members we live with gave me a cake and sang to me. It really was a pretty special day :)

Well, that's about it for this week!   Ciao!

My Birthday!

Iquique

¡¡¡Feliz Navidad!!!     ¡Que Dios les bendiga! 

. . . . .The work is going and all is well! Just waiting for the New Year to pass because everyone is on vacation haha, we need them to come back so we can teach them some more!!!

The district (with the ZLs) on Christmas eve (the DLs birthday)

Catching up, part 4...(November '13)

. . . . Well this week really wasn't the best. It was just like what you hear about the mission when you hear the rough parts. We walked and walked and walked and nobody opened the door. All of the baptismal dates we set have now fallen. No one wanted to go to church, or even answer our phone calls. It was a really discouraging week, but I know I can't let it get to me. When there's weeks this bad, there's always something awesome waiting around the corner :)

Oh yeah, guess what?! I got tonsilitis again. Hahahah but it wasn't as bad as the last time I had it. We stopped it before it could get really bad. But don't worry, all better now. I just have a stuffy nose hahaha.

Well, not much else to say this week!!! Let's hope next week is better! 

P-Day

. . . . Well, I think there's something I'm supposed to learn this transfer, because this week was just as bad as last week. Yesterday, we literally had serveral houses yell at us and kick us out/slam the door in our faces. Still no investigators progressing. How much longer is this to go on? President Dalton was in Iquique on Saturday, and he talked about finding new people. Now that Christmas is coming up, we can go caroling. I hope we find some people, because our sector is struggling. But we're still giving it everything we've got. Last night I cried and cried. It's good to cry. Helped my relax a little bit more. I know things will get better eventually.

This morning we hiked another big mountain! Haha, I know I said I'd never do it again, but this was a different one, and it was actually a lot easier. Still unbelievably hard, but not so hard I wanted to chop off my legs like the other mountain. This one was called Cerro Dragón, or Dragon Hill for the gringos ;) It always feels good to come up on top :)

I'm dying in the heat here. And it's not even technically summer yet!!!! Oh boy, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I already have a nice tan going on....I'm sweating bullets here! But it's all part of the missionary experience, no? Haha. But I still love the heat more than the cold!!!! I just can't go swimming...oh well haha. It's not like I have the ocean and pretty beaches to tempt me...haha kidding.

Well, that's about it for this week! Let's pray someone's waiting for their life to be changed forever.

. . . . This week was a little better. We actually recieved quite a few references from members! We taught them the first lesson which is the restoration, and it really helps them feel the Spirit of when they heard it for the first time, and all they wanna do is share!! So that was something good this week :) We're working with this one investigator who is really awesome. She says she's really confused about which church is true (Joseph Smith). She reads the Bible and she notices that people do things differently in the church she goes to (Joseph Smith). She has this huge desire to know the truth and pray to God to get the answer (Joseph Smith). We taught her the Restoration, and she said she believed it. But the only thing she doesn't really grasp is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only church with the authority, or the priesthood. Everytime we go we have to explain a little more. But I sure hope she progresses well! We took the bishop's daughter with us to the last lesson, and it was awesome. We were also able to teach the husband!!! There is hope!

 The sun is so dang strong here. I put sunblock on everyday, and guess what, I'm finally tan the first time in my life. I may have weird tan lines, but I'm tan. It's weird haha. And my hair is getting a lot lighter. GAH I'M CHANGING. I also speak Spanish! You won't be able to recognize me when I get home! hahahah

I miss everybody, take care!  Hermana Howell

Catching up, part 3...(October '13)

. . . . I loved General Conference of course. We had an investigator come. I told you about him last week, his name is Liam, and we're going to challenge him for baptism this week. He's definitely prepared. But even though he's 21, he's a momma's boy, and she doesn't exactly like the Mormon's....so we'll see!

Not much else is going on here in Iquique. Just the normal routine of teaching and finding!!!

. . . . .Wow, Halloween is just getting started here in Chile. They want to copy the United States, so they adopted Halloween and it's only been around for about 6 or 7 years. Not many people are too into it yet. We're planning an activity this Wednesday for the ward for Halloween, but it's hard when no one really knows the point of Halloween or are into it. But I think it'll turn out great if we can get a lot of help from the members. It's also hard to find decorations haha, but we can do it!

Saying goodbye to Hermana Kennedy was hard. Even though we were only together for 6 weeks, we really connected and got along really well. Let's just say there were a lot of tears. But it's okay because we're gonna see each other after the mission back in Utah!!! I hope! haha. Hermana Quispe arrived, and it's definitely going to be different. We're fine and we laugh, and she teaches really well. She knows a lot! She is funny too when she isn't too serious haha. She's from Peru, so my spanish is gonna get better again! It has to after two gringa companions for 4 1/2 months! But she says I speak better than her trainer, who finished her mission already. Wow hahaha, but I still have a lot to learn!

The last few days were horrible! No body wanted to let us in their house. We had 4 lessons TOTAL the past three days. I have no idea why it was so bad. There was a soccer game on Saturday night (and you know, they are CRAZY for soccer here), so that was understandable as to why we couldn't find anyone to teach. But Friday and Sunday, I don't know what it was, but it was really hard to get lessons. Just one of those times in the mission that you hear about. Super rough, walking all day....ah well. That just means a super awesome week is just around the corner! :)

Well, off to another week!! Love you all!

Eating lunch together one last time

Me & Hermana Kennedy

Sunset on the ocean

. . . . .Hermana Quispe is great. We get along relatively well, I mean, her being latina and me a gringa. Let's just say it's even harder to go running in the morning haha, but everything is great.

We had a ward activity for Halloween.....it was bad. We were sitting there for TWO hours and nobody showed up. NOBODY. Finally, someone showed up. The ZL's Garcia and Dixon showed up with the kids of their investigator, how embarrassing. They walked in and Garcia and Dixon were like "Where is everyone?" Eventually more kids showed up, but no more than like 15. Aww man it was bad. Oh!!! Maria Luz showed up (old investigator). SAY WHAT?? And she invited her friends too!!!! We have a cita with the mom today! That was a good surprise.

Familia Fernandez are good! We got a new dog in the house :) One morning right at 7:30 there was this really loud whining and crying right outside our window. It went on for FOREVER and around 8 I finally went out to see what it was. It was the smallest, cutest little puppy ever. Well, Papito..."No podemos dejarlo botado." So they adopted it. It's about 2 and a half months old. white lab I think, so it's gonna be another big dog. But it's a little mujer dog, so they named it Luna. It's so cute, but pees everywhere and always wants to chew on everything, but it's pretty spoiled here haha.

Dalibor has a fecha. He finally came to church yesterday. He's gonna get baptized the 16th, if all goes well. The thing is that he wants to get baptized in some hot water springs like 2 hours aways from Iquique. Crazy guy hahah, but we still gotta teach him the word of wisdom. He smokes. Great. But we have 2 other fechas!!! One, I'm not so sure about, but it's from an antiguo that we decided to stop by. The lesson turned into challenging her to get baptized. She said yeah, but we still got a while to go til she's really prepared. The other fecha we set yesterday. We FINALLY got that reference from Deibi haha. He brought him to church, and we set up an appointment for later on that day. Went over, set the fecha, bam he's gold. We found 8 news this week, and 2 the last. All we're doing here is finding finding finding, and it's actually paying off. We found a family. Mom, Dad, and two kids. One of the kids is only a year and a half, but the daughter is 12. They all came to church yesterday, minus the daughter, she wanted to sleep. But they live right across the street from the chapel. They seem like they could really progress. We wanna put a fecha with them this week!!!

Hard but really rewarding week. Feels good to work :) 

Love Ya!  Hermana Howell