Olivia turns 22 One month ago today !

Baby girl is 22! We celebrated by going on a hike to Garwood Dam. Then we met up with the Smiths (complete with Calvin, Preston and Cody who were in for Christmas), and Nana and Papa at La Hueradura. It's a yummy Mexican restaurant that managed to remember 16 orders but not yet birthday girls... Then later I went to Costco to pick up the cake I ordered and Costco lost it 🤦‍♀️ They did give me another cake for free. I did not want Olivia to know this so I bought some icing and Bella decorated it. She and Sam made her a yummy homemade dinner. 

Olivia is one semester away from graduating with 2 degrees and 4 majors! She already has a job lined up and will be working as soon as she graduates. She will find out the location in May. Good thing she is so adaptable and jumps right in to new situations. Her internship in Jersey loved her and her new place will too!  Olivia works so hard but her value isn't in her many many accomplishments. She has innate value because she is a daughter of Heavenly Parents. I think she must have been a pretty incredible being before earth because she is so incredible here. I can't wait to have a front row seat to her future because it is so bright 💖 She is hilarious, smart and very spiritually minded. She knows her value and worth. That's a woman I want to have in my corner.

Parkin's surprise talk!!

Parkin was the surprise youth speaker for Holman's homecoming talk. He was asked and didn't say anything we found out when we saw his name in the program. What a trickster, he did a fantastic job 💕

January 19th, 2025

Good Afternoon Sisters and brothers! 

Two weeks ago during sacrament meeting, I was thinking It’s been a while since I last spoke it’s kinda strange. And then two days later a number not saved in my phone texted me asking me to prepare a talk, so God answers our prays even when we didn’t know we’ve said them. 

I was asked to speak about how the living gospel blesses families. Besides the bountiful amount of baked goods that comes with being a member of this church, the gospel has provided so much for my family. 

The gospel has a very strong foundation based off of the family. We are taught from a young age that families can be together forever through the sealing power of the priesthood in temples. We have the power to be with our families for the rest of everything! This power that God lets us use makes us think  about long term about inner relationships. We need to treat each other right and to be able to get along with each other because forever starts to sound like a punishment when your with people you hate. 

In seminary, we are always focused on keeping an eternal perspective on all things. This includes our family relationships. my youngest sister Adrian and I rival each other in the fact that we are always fighting, but if you asked us if we were friends the answer is always yes. We fight a lot, but we both know that in a minute we will still be siblings, in a day we will still be siblings, in a year we will still be siblings, and in forever, we will still be siblings. So we know to forgive each other even when we don’t know if we are sorry. this perspective is key to cooperative families, and the gospel taught us this. This perspective also helped our family when my brother left on his mission. He was gone for so long, and he was so far away, it felt like I was never going to see him again. But because we are sealed in the temple, no matter how long he was gone for, no matter how far away he was, someday, some where, we would be together again, be it now or in forever. 

The gospel blesses families in more ways than just sealing. The principles taught by Christ shapes how we function. I know many people whose families are very broken. Their brothers never talk to them, their parents aren’t on speaking terms, they’ve never met their grandparents, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Christ has taught us of forgiveness and that the one of the two greatest commandments of all is to love thy neighbor. Commandments are not conditional, and neither should the love of a family be. I am very privileged to have very loving parents and siblings, that no matter how bad I’ve messed up they have loved me anyway. The unconditional love of the gospel Keeps our family “family” no matter what. In Luke chapter  15 we are told the story of the prodigal son. A man’s son had gone and wasted his inheritance on meaningless things and became unable to support himself any more. He ran back to his father and begged to become a servant to earn back his father’s love, but instead of putting him to work to earn his place in the family back, the father instead embraced him and rejoiced that his son had returned to him. When we apply this way of acting to our own families, we don’t have falling outs that last lifetimes, we don’t hold grudges the cripple our children and we don’t let what someone has said or done get in the way of loving them. God loves us all, so we all are lovable. 

Christ has taught us love, and it’s love that strengthens us. 

Besides emotionally, the gospel and the church blesses families with help on living on earth as well. The doctrine of the word of wisdom and the church’s position on family financials have major impacts on our families. The word of wisdom helps keeps all members of a family of sound body and mind, so that we do not do or say anything that can rip each other apart, like how alcoholism can lead to abuse. The church also provides guidance for our finances, like in the chruch’s published “life help” collection in the gospel library app. “The First Presidency has taught: “We encourage you wherever you may live in the world to prepare for adversity by looking to the condition of your finances. We urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt. … If you have paid your debts and have a financial reserve, even though it be small, you and your family will feel more secure and enjoy greater peace in your hearts”” the church teaches us to say away from gambling, debt, and splurging. The church goes way more in-depth, but in general, when families follow the church’s advice on finances, there is increased security, and the family can function without having to strain over not having enough for everyone. 

The gospel keeps kids excel! In the for the strength of youth pamphlet, kids can find how to deal with choices throughout their lives. It teaches us things we can do to be safe from all sorts of plagues that face the children of today, from bulling to addiction. And it teaches us to keeping the sabbath day holy. My sister Olivia is the smartest person I know, whenever I don’t know something, and ChatGPT can tell me either, I know that I can ask her and she can give me the answer. She has put in so much work to be as smart as she is, but she has never done her homework on a Sunday. Her commitment to living the gospel of not working in the Sabbath has helped her achieve her academic success. Primary class teaches kids these strong moral values, like integrity, compassion, forgiveness, and respect. The gospel helps children learn of the love of Christ and how to be compassionate members of a family, and high functioning people of society. 

Living the gospel values helps people find the right partners. My mom and dad are very In love with one another, and they found each other because of their strong faith in the gospel. That strong faith that also allowed them to raise some pretty great kids. The gospel is the reason my sister Bella met my brother in law Sam. Their belief in the gospel brought them to church where they got to know each other and now they are the perfect role model for what to look for in a relationship. All because they are living the gospel. 

(Try to start crying) I love my family very very much. I have so much love for everyone individual person. We are the family we are because of the gospel of Christ, and I wouldn’t give that away for anything. I have a very strong testimony of the powers that the family holds, and how God designed them because of the eternal joy it would make his children feel. I am so glad that families are forever, and I am grateful every day that God let me be part of such an amazing one. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Shadow Nativity

 This year our ward youth did a shadow nativity. They did such an awesome job! There was some funny mishaps but it was perfectly imperfect. The primary children normally do the nativity but this year they rang bells to a couple of songs. It was a truly beautiful night with many people's talents on display.

 

Potato miracle

 We have the absolute best ministering brother. Brother Griggs looks after our family and occasionally makes us delicious brisket. I woke up this morning and got ready for church and surveyed the cabinets for dinner ideas. Since it's the Sabbath and we don't shop on Sunday, what we have is what we are going to eat. I saw a recipe for miniature potatoes to make a potato salad and I thought to myself, man I don't have enough miniature potatoes to make this dish tonight. Then we went to church and brother Griggs said hey I have something for you. We were excited cuz we thought it's got to be some yummy brisket but this time he threw in two cups of miniature potatoes between his gift and my small supply thing I had at home it was enough to make the dish all while keeping the Sabbath! What a miracle! We just ate dinner and let me tell you that potato salad was delicious and of course so what's the meat!! In young women's today we talked about how we feel the light of Christ and it's these little small things that make me think that there is a God who is aware of me personally. 

Holman turns 20!!

 Elder Howe turns 20 in Thailand! Olivia and I talked about making his favorite dessert tonight but it just feels kind of sad eating it without him. I hope he has something good to eat to celebrate. If 5 year old Holman would have known that when he was 20 he would be living in Thailand, feeding monkeys, riding elephants and putting tiny straw hats on water buffalo, he would have been so excited and probably would have read less about the Coliseum and more about Bangkok. We have missed Elder Howe so vey much. Missions are no joke. They are extremely trying, exhausting and ultimately I hope it expands his compacity for compassion of his fellow men and women. Not many people choose to pause their own ambitions for 2 years to serve others. We are so grateful Holman was born. He is hilarious, irreverent, thoughtful and courageous. Just a couple of weeks till he returns and then we will eat cake!

Benjamin's annual Mans trip

Benjamin and his buddies went on their annual UofA football trip. This time they went to Dallas. He road a mechanical bull, introduced the guys to Buckees, went to the Dallas temple and ate yummy BBQ. These guys have been going for 15 years, Loyd, Anthony, Chance and Daryl. What. Fun tradition. Maybe the Wildcats could actually win one 😅

Letter #1 Elder Howe (4/2/23)

 Monday: Started the day off by doing  some studies then taking  a nap. Then we went out for breakfast and went to the church to call our families. After that we went to lunch, then went to check out this cool temple. When we were walking  around, we saw a monk sweeping a walkway, so we asked if we could  help, and he gave us his brooms and we went to work. Once we finished we talked about the church with him and gave him a book of mormon. We said hi to all the other monks before leaving. The monks are really respected in Thailand, and what's cool is they really respect us. They treat us like other monks, and are super nice. When we were heading  out a lady came up to us and thanked us for helping to sweep the walkway. We talked about the church with her and free english class and gave her a card and a book of mormon too. 2 book of mormons during pday! After that we went home and took a nap before sports night, then did some online appointments. 

Tuesday: We did our studies, got lunch, then biked super far to another town were we taught some lessons and had to drop a few investigators which was sad. We then biked all the way home. It was like a 12 mile round trip and 107 so it was pretty rough. We then taught english class. We had a super full class at the beginning, but a group of 8 kids took off as soon as we started teaching, so it ended up being a small class of only 6 or 7 people. 

Wednesday: We did some finding with a senior missionary couple that were visiting  our area. It was super nice talking  to more than one person in english, and because they had a car we were able to go to some pretty far away areas and meet with inactive  members and pepple we found. It was super fun.

Thursday: We had a ton of lessons all over our area so we were biking like crazy. Elder Sanchez's bike broke again so we had to get that fixed, and i decided to pony up the cash and buy the tool that fixed it so we didn't  have to waist so much time walking our bukes to the shop. That meant i had pretty low funds for the last couple days but it was worth not having to waist so much time on bike repairs. Then we did some unsuccessful  english class advertising  at a fair. We gave out a couple of cards but not a ton. We wanted to finish the day with a few more lessons so we biked a bunch more, and ended up having dinner at 9:40 right before bed.

Friday: we taught some lessons, then did some more finding with the senior missionary couple. After that we had english class. We only had five kids show up, and one of them brought their dog. The dog was patiently waiting outside for the kid to finish, so i decided to move class outside. We brought the whiteboard outside and did class in the church yard. It was a little hot but being outside got the kids a lot more engaged, and then the dog didn't have to be alone. We played with the dog and learned about times of day and how to read clocks. It was super fun. Then we taught some lessons before finishing for the day.

Saturday: Saturday was super busy. We had to teach online english class, then did our studies, then did a ton of lessons. The day was super bisy so it went by super fast.

Sunday: It was my first fast sunday in Thailand and i qas a little worried about  not being able to drink water while biking super far in the crazy heat. Luckily i found  out the mission president  doesn't  want biking missionaries  to fast water, so it was just a food fast. At church i bore my short, poorly pronounced testimony of the gospel in thai. All the old ladies gave me thumbs up though so that was nice haha. After church the ladies brought in a ton of food for ward lunch. I was super confused cause it was fast sunday. Turns out thai people fast saturday dinner and sunday breakfast. That way they can sleep for most of the fast. Seem a like a little bit luke cheating  but oh well haha. They offer us food but we told them we were fasting so they packaged up some food and a town of brownies  to have for dinner after we broke our fast.  We went ho.e and did our studies. After that i had to teach my first full lesson in thai. My trainer made me do the whole thing, which was a little scary but i got it done haha. I taught the third lesson, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the guy i taught speaks pretty good english, bit my trainer explained to him that i was practicing and asked him not to speak any english with me haha. After that we did some finding  in this really cool village on the bank of a lake. We talked with some fisherman on there fishing rigg for awhile which was cool, and they let us pull the nets up a couple times.

Craziest Experience: Thursday night we were at a members house in the middle of farmland. We had one more lesson to go to, and so i looked on google maps and found a shortcut through the jungle. I convinced my comp to let us take it. The trail was super loose dirt, and a very thin trail with lots of bumps. While we were biki through the jungle, my bike lights died and his got super dim because of low battery. All of a suddea pack of 8 rabid dogs started chasing us. These dogs were so rabid and mangie, they looked like zombies. We sped up and were going as fast as we could trying to get away but thes e ju gle dogs were fast. I started kicking my legs behind me while biking trying to knock them out. Luckily we popped out of the jungle onto a main road where other people were, and they yelled at the dogs with us and the dogs ran back into the jungle. Fighting off a pack of dogs, in the dark jungle, it was wild.

Spiritual Thought: As missionaries we have been commanded that “Every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power” (Doctrine and Covenants 90:11). To help us teach people in their own language, we are able to receive the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues. Gods work will not be interrupted so he can give missionaries the words that need to be said even if the missionaries don't  know those words. I know that as far as i have come in the language (which is not very far haha) is all from divine help. After my TBI i don't  learn as fast as i used to, and to make as much progress as i have is nothing short of a miracle. When i went in to that lesson i had to teach, i barely knew the words i had to say, yet i qas able to teach the whole lesson, and understan the responses to the questions i asked. If you asked me to recite that lesson again i wouldn't  be able to do it. I recieved gods help so that that person could be taught divine truths. I am grateful for a loving god that wants each person to learn in their own language, so that they can have a personalized experience  with the gospel.  I am also grateful for a loving god that speaks through  my mouth in a language I do not know. I felt so much love for the person that i was teaching, and somehow that is only a fraction  of the love Heavenly  father feels for each one of us. Mind-blowing. 

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