Not in Kansas Anymore...

August 07, 2017

I'm actually way closer to Kansas than I used to be, but that statement has never felt more true.

I'm getting ahead of myself. It's hard to believe that I was actually in the MTC this week. It feels like an eternity ago. But those last few days in the MTC were some of the most special I've ever had. I miss everyone from my district sooo much! We were able to have a testimony meeting as a district on Tuesday night, and it was so powerful. The spirit was there in a way it hadn't been since the day I arrived, and in retrospect, was definitely something I needed to help get me through this week.

Anyway, at 2:30 in the morning on Wednesday we headed to the travel office and were on our way. There were 27 of us going to Iowa, so we didn't have the chance to talk to non-members on the plane, cause there were so many missionaries we were sitting with. But during our layover in Denver I was able to discuss the Book of Mormon with a non-member, and gave him a copy. Hopefully he'll read it. ;P

We arrived in the mission home at 2ish, and pretty much crashed until 4 when training started. It was a good training, but I was way to tired to absorb most of it. Then we had interviews with the Mission President (Who is absolutely incredible!) and had a testimony meeting. The best part was dinner though. Sister Badger is an AMAZING cook.

Then, on Thursday morning we drove from Des Moines to Iowa City, where transfers are held, and said goodbye to the Elders, and met our trainers. My trainer, Elder McCain, is super awesome! He grew up in Seattle, one of my favorite places, loves backpacking, is an Eagle Scout, and is also like, 6 inches taller than me. We get along pretty well, except the height thing. I'll have to get used to that.

Anyway, we were assigned to the Quincy area, which is actually in Illinois. On our way, we drove through Nauvoo, and that was really something.

On that note, there's really some interesting things from church history in the area. Everyone knows about Nauvoo and Carthage, of course. But the towns of Quincy and Warsaw also have some interesting history. When the saints were driven out of Missouri, the first people to welcome them were the people of Quincy. Gordon B. Hinckley actually said that this town was blessed because of that. They welcomed the church into their homes, fed them, and protected them from mobs until they were able to start settling Nauvoo. There's really a special spirit about this place, and I totally love it.

On the flip side, there's a town called Warsaw, which is where the mob originated that eventually killed Joseph and Hyrum. You can feel something wrong with that town whenever you step foot in it. It's honestly pretty disquieting. Always remember, your actions have an affect on the spirit you have, and how welcome the holy ghost is with you. I'd challenge you all to try to make your homes into places where the Spirit can reside, and I promise you'll be blessed for that effort.

Anyway, we have been working our tails off trying to figure everything out. Usually they'll leave one member of the companionship in an area, so that someone always has experience with the members and the area. But occasionally they'll take both Elders out, and replace them with a fresh companionship. That's called whitewashing. Elder McCain and I get to whitewash.

On top of that, all the investigators the previous Elders had, all dropped the lessons. So we literally had nothing to work with when we got here. It's exciting though, to watch the work happen from the ground up. We've been knocking doors for days, and we have two new investigators, and we really hope they're solid. We'll see what happens this week.

Also, on Saturday we drove up to Cedar Rapids for a baptism. It's a 3 hour drive, but Elder McCain was performing the baptism, and needed to be there. It was a cool experience, and I got to see Elder Alton again, cause that's his area. It was really good to see him. Even though it had only been a couple days, it felt like an eternity since we'd all split up.

Then, after another three hours, we were dropped off in Nauvoo to take down the Pageant. It's was cool, and we got to watch the last hour. But we didn't get home till 2 in the morning. So fast Sunday was brutal. I'm super happy it's p-day, and we'll get to recover a bit.

That's pretty much this week in a nutshell. The people here are great. My district is awesome! Also, we do service at a food pantry every Friday, and they give us all the food we could ever want, so we'll never need to buy groceries wile we're in this area. So that's way cool.

I love you all, keep up the faith! Attached are a few pictures, though I don't have as many as I'd like. Hopefully I'll be better at that.

Godspeed,

Elder Housholder