Dear Sister Howell....

"Dear Sister Howell,
You are hereby called to serves as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the California San Diego Mission. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, March 4, 2015. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language.
I am so excited to start this new adventure in my life!! This is where He needs me to be.
And I am so Happy that my Family knows now. 
Love,
Hermana Howell"

I opened my call December 7, 2014. Everything really did go according to my "Master Plan" --- even if it did take an extra 6 or so months to plan. ((See Blog Post from July 28)) We got some epic reactions on camera, so once I compile them all together, I'll upload them to this. Truly, they are epic! Haha, worth every moment.
I never would have guessed California, but now that that is where I am going, it does feel right. I didn't want to go to a big city. I didn't want to go somewhere hot. I'd be content to wear warms sweaters and big fluffy coats my whole mission. I would have loved to go somewhere with lots of snow. Honestly, I was thinking somewhere in Scandinavia...haha...
All of this just goes to show how much my Heavenly Father knows me so much better than I know myself. For starters, I can already see the benefits of California. The sun will be great for my health. I get to have flush-able toilets and still speak a language I love without going foreign. I have access to normal, readable-in-english medicines. (It was kind of an adventure searching for medicine in an Ecuadorian pharmacy when you're already feeling sick and you have no idea what you're looking for...haha...true story!)
So, I get sun, and no snow. I get to be tan, and not pale. I get to be hot, and not cold. I get to see the ocean. I get to speak SPANISH! I really am so excited! And, one of my friends from Ecuador is in the same mission right now! Small world! I am so glad she's there and can give me advice. It will be awesome!
It will be hard, but it will be awesome! This will be a new adventure that can help prepare me for the rest of my life. I think that sometimes Satan gets me to think that I'm going stateside because I am weak and not strong enough for a foreign mission. Those are lies. I know my Heavenly Father well enough and have seen His hand so many times in my life to know that this is part of His plan for me. He needs me in California. He needs my love of the Spanish language. For whatever reason, He needs me, and I will always and forever need him.
So, San Diego California, here I come!
Gracias Padre Eterno.
Con muchas amor,
Hermana Holly Howell

p.s.
Who would have though shopping would be such a daunting task?? More posts to come about my Sister Missionary finds!