A Typical Busy Day

As our time narrows down we find ourselves being very busy, but it is a good feeling to be busy doing the Lord’s work.  We thought it might be interesting to learn a little about a typical day we are involved in here.  We actually experienced the following all in one day a few weeks ago.  (Note:  We didn't have all the right pictures to put in the blog entry, so we just used some we took other times.)

Here is a picture at our last Zone conference.  We don't know all the names, but those seated in chairs from left to right are: Elder Franklin-ZL, Pres. Anderson-mission president, Sister Anderson-mission mother, Sister Howlett, Elder Howlett, and Elder Toolson-ZL.

Our usual time to wake up is about 6:30 –7:00 a.m.  Elder Howlett exercises on the recumbent exercise bicycle that we have in our bedroom for about 15 minutes while Sister Howlett wakes, and gets ready for the day.  Elder Howlett then showers and gets ready for the day.  We pray, have breakfast then spend some time studying or preparing for our lessons of the day. 

Gill and Michelle just after his back surgery

The first appointment of the day is about 11 a.m. with some friends, Gill and Michelle Asebedo, who are recent converts and have recently been married.  They like to have us come and have “Bible study” in the morning with them.  Usually it is reading in the Book of Mormon to help them become familiar with it and understand what it means.

After grabbing a bite to eat, about 1 p.m. we visit an older man, an investigator who is searching more for companionship than information about the Restored Church of Jesus Christ.  We don’t visit him very often, but we stay in contact hoping he will someday recognize the value of what we teach and want to learn more.  He reads with us in the Book of Mormon and says it sounds like the Bible study his Pastor father used to have with his congregation and he says he doesn’t need to join another church or be baptized again!     

The sign on the street lights advertizing the Beef Empire Days in June.  We didn't have time for the rodeo this year.

Next we visit a less-active sister, Katherine, who also enjoys having us read the Book of Mormon with her.  She is a live-in care giver who works mostly 24/7 with the client she takes care of.  But she can sit down with us and read in the Book of Mormon while her client watches television a few feet away.  We get by even though the volume on the TV is very high.  Our member friend has agreed to try to make time to at least come to Sacrament meeting on Sundays.  We hope she can carry through with that commitment.

Seen here is a fun entry in the Beef Empire Days parade.  This man said that this was the only way he could "ride 'em" now.

At about 4 p.m. we visit with another less-active sister, Brandee, to whom we are teaching the missionary lessons again to refresh her memory of things she learned years ago.  When we arrived there we found her boyfriend and another friend who claimed to be an ordained preacher.  He said he also wanted to listen to our lesson, but as soon as we began teaching them about the Plan of Salvation, he interrupted every sentence.  The spirit in the room became very contentious and not from the Lord.  When we tried to answer his questions about why we use the Book of Mormon he refused to let us finish telling him why we have additional scripture.  He continued to interrupt our message until the sister we were teaching and her boyfriend became very offended and told him to leave. 

This is the "tail end" of the Beef Empire Days parade.  We arrived almost too late to see the parade.

After that man left there was a stark difference in the room.  The spirit returned and we completed a very good lesson on the plan our Father in Heaven has for us to return to Him.  The boyfriend did not immediately accept the invitation we extended to be baptized, but they agreed to have us come again the next week and teach them both. It was then that we discovered there was beer spilled on the couch where their minister friend had been sitting.  The couple told us he had been hiding it under a pillow and forgot to take it with him when he left.  We helped them clean it up, and then we got on our way.

At right and in the center is our special friend, Delia Ramos.  Elder and Sister Howlett are on her left and Elder Murphy and Elder Lewis are on her right.  Those two young elders taught and baptized her, and we have enjoyed visiting her most of our mission.  Those elders also were the Zone Leaders when we arrived in Garden City and they helped us learn how to teach the missionary lessons.

In the late afternoon we visited another sweet sister who is a recent convert and has a lot of physical problems.  Delia too has a caregiver come in every day for several hours.  She never had time to go to school because of being a migrant worker most of her early life, but she taught herself to read English.  She speaks fluent Spanish and English.  However, her eyesight is dimming and she has trouble reading the Book of Mormon.  So we got her a large print version and eventually some CDs of the Book of Mormon.  She enjoys having us come and read with her.  Most of the time we all take turns reading and then we explain what she doesn’t understand.  She raised a family of 8 children and worked in laundry, cleaning buildings and nursing homes, working as a cook, etc. for most of her older life.  But after major heart surgery, onset of diabetes and other major health problems, she is struggling to carry on.  We love to visit her for she has so many interesting stories to tell.  One of her caregivers is a member of the church and brings Delia when she can come to church.

Some of the people who have come to our English class are here below: Cristina Aguilar at left, Dinora Becerril with her new baby daughter and Miguel and Bernadina Benitez.  They are all great people.

After having dinner we go to the English class that Elder Howlett teaches in the ward here.  We have several Spanish people who have come or are still coming to the class, some of them are non-members.  So it is a great success for us to keep having it for these good people.  We have made some very special friends from the Spanish people who come.  At this time we are teaching 4 times a week, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, because a couple of the people asked for Saturday afternoon too.  It takes about an hour each time, but is worth it and we see great progress in many of our students.

Sister Howlett is exercising on their recumbent bicycle and reading at the same time to pass the time more quickly.

After returning from our 8 pm English class, we take a few minutes to confer about our appointments the next day and plan what we must say, or study the next morning to prepare for them.  Finally Sister Howlett takes 15 minutes to exercise on the recumbent bike, then shower, prepare for bed, have prayers and join Elder Howlett in bed about 10:30 to 11 p.m. each night.  It has been a long day, but a very good one.  Many times we have a few minutes in the day to lie down and rest a bit so we can keep going.  It is sometimes hard to keep up the pace and when we are ill or have special projects, this schedule is modified to fit the needs.  But this is a sample of much of the work we are doing here. 

Elder Howlett has taken the ward list and prepared a coded area map of the city where he organized the members on that list according to the map codes.  We talked about that in an earlier blog entry.  It is very helpful for us to find and visit many less-active members that way, which we do when we don’t have scheduled appointments. 


So we keep very busy and it’s good to
serve the Lord!