Thursday, December 13, 2012

AGAIN?? TRANSFERS....ON TO OPEN A NEW AREA....

I just recieved this picture from a member of the Cassville Ward that Mitchell was just transfered from. Sister Knittle said that these to young men were a wonderful help to her and the area....Elder Sudbury is the elder Mitchell is training. They were both sad to leave Cassville. makes me a happy momma when you hear kind things about these awesome missionaries. so on to open a new area again.... Mitchell is getting really good at this
 
Elder Houston's email
December 11, 2012
 
hey family!!!!
 so ya haha well Pres always seems to throw me for a loop ha. i thought for sure we were not going to get a call for transfers because we just got here and training elder sudbury. well.... he didnt want to split us up in the training, so he sent us both out haha. so me and elder sudbury are just traveling down to our new area together. i feel like a senior couple haha... its weird but im super  excited and sad to go.
last night we had a lesson with our investigator kathryn. she finally received the answer that she needed to hear and committed to be baptized haha. i still tell elder sudbury that its a curse i have, as soon as some one commits to baptism i get transferred out haha. i think its God way of saying work faster! haha its been so fun the past few transfers starting from scratch and finding people and teaching and commiting them to be baptized and seeing them grow so much. it is hard each time to leave, but i know it is for a reason. haha i pray the Lord will allow me to see one before i leave though, so maybe in this new area.
so we are getting transferred on thursday to nevada missouri haha weird missouri and its names. haha its right next to Pittsburgh Kansas though haha. it will be super fun.
     so this week we finally got to work on the farm!!!! the dairy farm, it was so awesome!!! we didnt get to milk a cow though haha. we just got all this humming bird nectar and put it in this big tub to give to the cows. its a cheaper way for energy for the cows. he gets it for free ha. and this season because of the drought, corn and good feed is super pricie. but! i got to ride a huge tractor, like a firefighter ha and walk around in cow poo!!!! it was awesome! haha. and im so sorry i didnt get any pictures because i forgot my camera and i thought for sure we would be back!:( so i will just have to take pictures with the family and the cows and remember the memories. and i figure i will be back sometime :) ha
  this week was super fun though, a great last week in cassville mo. we will hopefully be able to make a smooth transition with the new senior couples that will be coming into the area. so NO ONE is left behind or slips in the cracks.
    well i dont have much more time to talk. sorry, its another short email this week. we have a ton to do. but fun stuff is coming up! Christmas is going to be great !! we are going to have a big zone christtmas party with games and learning its going to be awesome im super excited!! im ready to take on this new area and do all that i can to keep up with elder sudbury and finding and teaching and going about doing good. ha being a do gooder.
 i love this time of season!!! and cant wait to SEE you all!! ha hopefully we will find a member in this area to let us skype! i will let you know oh! and my address, sorry forgot to tell ya it is 
1204 W. Cherry APT 4
Nevada, MO 64772
so dont send no letters to the other address and if you already did, i will tell the couple to send it our way, but no promises it will get there, so if i dont write you back try again haha sorry:/
love you all and cant wait to hear from you!! :)!!! love you all!!!
love elder houston
    oh! there is a sweet thing that the church is putting on its on mormon.org/christmas please check it out its got some sweet stuff.
 

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

SKYPE....HERE WE COME....

Elder Houston's Email
December 3, 2012
hey!!!!!! guess what!!!! so we just got an email from out pres about the holidays! lots of changes!! ok so first we totally got permission to listen to christmas music! woo hooo not just mo tab haha pres shumways family loves christmas soooo much. we also got permission to watch g rated disney movies for christmas day and eve!! haha awesomenesss!!!!... now i just need to find out where to get some haha and what is g rated now a days. oh and ok here is the big news and best news. we get to skype now!!!!!! WOOOOOOO I GET TO SEEE YOU !!!  WOOO HOOO hahah so fun i cant wait. ok thats all the news i had for today haha.
    so this week was the bomb!!!! i loved it so much. we had a ton of new people we met to go teach. most of them less active, but some part member families. we are getting REALLY busy. its good though, i really like it alot. just stressfull with training and all that went on this week.
   so tuesday we had our first exchanges. elder sudbury was pretty nervous ha. but he loved it! then on wednesday, we had our first normal zone conference with the shumways. it was the greatest zone conference in a long.... time. i loved it so much!!! it was all about christmas spirit and we got a told a bunch of stories and learned sooo much. it was super social with pres and sis shumway. it was different then the nomal zone conference, but oh man it was awesome! i love the shumways to death, even more now then ever! haha he read us a story from like a book like we were all is family and ha kinda like we were little kids ha it was awesome. i forgot what it was called but it was a tradition of his families. haha and pres is a big baby like houstons haha... he crys at the same part every year no matter how many times he has read it haha. he is also afraid of heights like me and pops too ha. i love that man and it made me miss my dearest family so much.
    i cant wait to skype! ha.
    so ya zone conference was the bomb. then after we went on another exchange. i got to hang out with elder garner for a little!!! it was fun. i was with the zone leaders, but they were with them too.
   oh man i am out of time!!! ahh sorry i will have to cut it short this time. sorry i blabbing on again.
    but i am so excited for this wonderful season to rejoice in remembrance of our Lords birth.
    oh how i love Him and pray that the spirit of His life will always be with us all, especially this time of year :)
   i love Christmas!!! i hope to bring out the spanish meaning of that word and have " more of Christ"  in my life! :)
love yall!!! talk to you next week !  i will figure out the skype stuff and let you know when we will be calling k! love you all!!!
love elder houston
oh!! so crazy about drake coming home!!!! wow so weird! and tori bridal shower!! man oh man !!
ps..oh so i was wanting to tell you not to give me anything for christmas but then i got rebuked by pres uctdorf ha... so instead to keep the spirit of giving for christmas, could you send me all my ties i have there. im going trade some and get new ties that way. and i would love all the letters from the family like last year that was awesome! i love you all cant wait to talk to you all!!!

HAPPY "18" MONTH MARK

Elder Houston's email:
November 26, 2012

haha hey family !! happy turkey left overs for a week day!!! haha we ate soooo much !!! it was awesome!!! im suppose to be trying to loose weight before i get home. the six months to sexy hahah. and i think i am just gaining from being in a car and eating all the holiday food! oh well im fat and happy:) haha.

sister crouch the lady i was telling you about that eats gluten free made this chocolate pie, oh my wow! it was so goooood! i told her she has got to leave me that recipe! haha.
   so the other night we just got in and finished planing for our day tomorrow and we got a text from the assistance's that said "18". i was like huh?? super confused. one of the elders that is AP came out with me so we have been out the same time was like, "happy 18 month mark!" haha i started tripping out! i had totally forgot about it coming up!!! the 25th! i have officially been out for 18months !! if i were a sister i would be going home!!! which i am so glad im not! haha im so not ready! i still have so much to do and im just learning so much again. being a trainer is tough stuff but i totally agree with you tori i have been learning sooo much from it in my testimony in really life and with the gospel doctrine. its like when i first came out all over again! i love it!
     we have been slowly building our teaching pool and elder sudbury has learned so much. he is a awesome teacher. he still has a ton to learn, but so do i, but if he keeps with it and stays humble and learning he is going to be a 10x better missionary then i was ha. and its awesome!! it builds my testimony on the age change. the youth are learning so early and so much now they are ready to be servants of the Lord! so exciting! i love the organization of the church and all the great callings there are and how the all work together to keep the system perfect. i have been reading a lot in the 84th section of the Doc and Cov  lately mostly about the holy order of the priesthood and boy do i love it haha.... the priesthood has so much history. you just have to dig a little and be looking for it throughout all the scriptures. i have a new love for the aaronic priesthood and how important it is in preparing the way for the gospel. like how john the baptist prepared the way for the Lord to come to the earth and minister. he was the last prophet of the old testament and the first in the new. he was the perfect example of an Aaronic priesthood holder and the Lord loved him so much and spoke very highly of him.
    in verse 109 and 110 it talks about how all works together. haha i feel like capt'n jack sparrow in the pirates movies and how he is always looking for a way to keep living and not die haha. i have been thinking of ways to not die out, in being a missionary! so that after the mission or as the mission lingo goes after i die. i can keep on living!! haha and keep living as a missionary so that it never has to end. and as i been thinking of this, i just am lead to my callings that the Lord has in store for me. im not sure what they all are. i know only one as of now and that is to become a father. i am not sure im ready for that yet ha. but i can still have other callings and im so excited to keep my self alive in the work and service of our Lord.
  i pray i will always be willing to serve Him when and whatever that calling is so i can do my part in keeping His system and be edified together.
  so this week was a really good one we are getting more and more busy with things to do. there is this sister that we have been teaching and it is so awesome how prepared she was for the message. she already knew it was all true she just needed to hear it and be reminded. she has had a lot of thing testing her and she feels that she knows its all true but is scared and not so sure about what will happen. the next step she has to make is all her. the Lord have done all, He can do and now needs her to exercise her faith and agency to choose what to do next. and it is such a weird feeling, but i just KNOW she is going to make the right choice. it is so weird. i think its a little sample of the way the Heavenly Father knows us and how He can know things before it is going to happen. because He really does know us so perfectly. He knows our hearts. it has been so amazing being able to teach her she is so in tune and things like this happen a lot ha, but being able to feel this feeling and seeing how some what how our Father in Heaven is with us and his awareness of us, helps me feel so much more at ease :) knowing that He loves us so much that He will not let us make a wrong choice that will lead us away from him if we are living and doing the things that we should be doing. it also helps me know that when trails come for no reason it is for our good and a way for Him to teach us and help is grow and be that we might have joy!. :) 
    i know that what it says in Romans 8: 37-39, that NOTHING shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. i love the Lord! and i am soooooo excited for this sister to begin her wonderful journey to baptism and all the others of our brothers and sisters that we are helping come unto the Lord and the Fold of Zion :) I LOVE THE LORD. ha
   i hope all is going well at home and the busyness does not kill yall haha wedding, holidays woo man crazy, but so exciting!! its a wonderful time of year and time to stop and remember the amazing blessing that we so fortunately have and to enjoy it together as a family. how awesome is that and now the family is just getting bigger to spread more joy together !! :) 
    i love you all sooooo much and thank you for being the greatest family EVER! i love ever week begin able to email ya and cant wait to talk to you!!!! woooooo!!!  talk to you next week !! have a great one!!!
love elder houston
ps
OH and stanley still not baptized he has a chewing habit that we didnt know about so he working on geting that over come

Saturday, November 24, 2012

AWESOME WEEK

hello everyone... I am back....sorry about not blogging lately...My computer crashed... urg!!!!
Mitchell has had quite the busy 6 weeks.. he was in Rogers only 6 weeks and then was transfered to Cassville to train and start up a new area... so busy as a bee... and he has had some really awesome stories and experiences. hope you enjoy and get caught up on his missionary life.
i am still begging for pictures too...soon i hope.....
Be sure to write to Mitchell at his new address... he would love some letters for the Christmas Season....
Elder Houston's email:
November 19, 2012
 :) . soooo this week was awesome!! so much good stuff... this area has so much happening. its just a matter of time and hard work to make it happen! but before i go on! 
   well this week was full of many things and one of the main ones was the spirit!!! it was so strong with us this week, it was so great! we were guided to two new families that are ready to hear the message of the gospel.
on wednesday we had interviews with pres shumway and training too and wow it was so awesome! pres Shumway is surely called of God. he is so amazing. he loves the Gospel soooo much and it just makes me want to love it even more! ha
oh hey ! you remember how i was telling you our ward mission leader is a dairy farmer! he hooking me up with fresh straight from the utter milk!! its awesome!! there are sooooo many cows out here. it is oldly beautiful. i want to take papa out here soon. he would just love it and my ward mission leader his name is bro pointer.
oh this week i got sick somthing that has just been going around and i ask my comp for a blessing and i totally forgot it was his first one! the spirit was so strong as he gave it to me. alot of the time was just silence, but so powerful non the less. he is so awesome. and it was so cool because right after i felt a burden being lifted from my shoulders. im not sure what the burden was, but i just felt like flying and was so happy and at peace, it was way cool.
sunday was probably the best of all the week  of course haha. there was a member of the stake pres that came to speak to us in third hour and guess where he was from!!!!!..... Scotland!!! holy cow! so cool! his mum and dat where here from Scotland too. they were visiting him for the holidays. but he talked to us about some deep stuff ! and he was soo funny too. it just got me so pumped to learn! ha i have no idea why it was just awesome and wow the spirit of elijah was tugging on my heart. i want to find more about our name ! and family! haha after i listen to him talk i really wanted to listen to my braveheart music too haha. i love me some bagpipes.
so along with a scottish brother we also met a guy in our ward from england super awesome brother. and a family from the Virgin islands! he sounds like the guys on the pirates of the Caribbean haha. we had dinner at there house and taught there kids they just adopted.
then the end of our sunday oh wow sooo amazing!!! so we went over to one of the girls that we are teaching and she has really been progressing and coming to church. she is sooo strong in her faith and loves the Lord sooo much. we had been going over a few times just answering her question and helping her understand the book of mormon more. but this particular time when we got there i just could not think, the spirit was so powerful and in my heart saying stop what you are doing now and teaching her the Restoration. which we had done before or the other missionaries have i mean. so i thought hmmm well better do it. so we did and as we did the lesson seemed to be going well until we got to the part about the proper priesthood authority and the great apostasy... she was so over whelmed with emotion. she began to put things together and the spirit taught her at that moment what she needed to hear. she ask that is what was needed, the priesthood, then my baptism was not right? we explained to her a little more and she just broke out in tears, she was so sad. she felt offended and MANY other feelings and thoughts. we talked to her a little more to help her understand. it was such a powerful time with the spirit baring such a witness. she finally said i dont know why im so sad, but i know that it  must be because its true. i am hurt but that is because i know what you are telling is true. i know that if we would have gave that lesson any other time, when she would have heard that message she would have been so offended and probably stopped meeting with us. but our Heavenly Father knew what we didnt know. He knew we would need the spirit so strong because with the spirit she knew and felt that is was true, so she could get hurt and maybe a little offended but she knew the truth and was left to make her choice and exercise her agency. this life is a test and there are a few things that are needed to make up a test and choice is one of them. im so excited for her and her next steps that are coming. she is ready and we left her with those things to pray about and she loves the Lord so much i know she will make the right choice, she is prepared.
 what a great week it was and im ready to keep it going! :) woo hooo!! im so thankful for sooo many things but i want you all to know how much i love you all i have the best family the best friends  i love you and hope you have a great thanksgiving feast !! talk to you next week.  the gospel is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
love elder houston

FUN LITTLE FARM TOWNS

Elder Houston's email
November 12, 2012
 
hey family!!!!!
   so this week has been a pretty good one. we have been meeting a ton of the people here in this itty bitty town. we cover almost all of the small towns in berry county. cassvile is the biggest one at 2000 people haha.  and get this, we cover the town of WHEATON. like a ton of wheat!! haha i know im a dork!!!! its a sweet little town of like 700. then we cover purty and seligma. we have not made it to those two yet, not enough miles. we also have gotten to know more of this awesome branch!!! we didnt have anything in the appartment when we came in because we shotgunned and so this family the Crouches, he gave us 100 bucks to get food! ahah and i told him no, but he wouldnt take no for an answer. sister crouch also eats gluten free, just for her stomach and she totally bought me like four loafs of GF bread!!!! which is a ton!  they are so awesome !!! this branch is just full of so many wonderful people! all different in there own little ways. our ward mission leader is totally a dairy farmer too!! we get to go to his house alot and they going to hook me up with fresh straight from the utter milk! haha and i think i get to milk it haha.. im not sure if he was serious bout that part though. haha we also live at this like mini farm town home place its sweet. there is a bunch of pigs. which i am totally going to get a pet pig! haha and they have a cow that grew up with goats. so it thought it was a goat for all its life. now all it hangs with is pigs so now it thinks its a pig!! haha its so funny.. she has never seen another cow before and is going to meet some this winter haha poor thing. its going to freak out. 
ahhh dang i have to go. this old man wants the computer now. so i will have to share more stories next week
i love you all.... trainning has been good i am learning alot. i love you all so much and will write you soon !
love elder houston

TRAINING IN A NEW AREA

Elder Houston's email:
November 5, 2012
 
hey so today is going to be a short one.. sorry... but all went well in the switch ahah... thank goodness that i inherited my dads great driving and sense of direction haha.. because we were driving to our area off of terrible directions and no phone haha. but we made it safe and sound.
    and man it is a way small town again. really strong and just a wonderful branch! i love them already! its still in the same stake, so i will still get to see people i know from time to time.
    so my new comp, he is greener then green haha,, i think he was very shelterd haha,, but such a awesome elder and is ready to work. he is really good with teaching, just not the greatest at watching what he is saying. he is from utah, heriman i think is what its called. he likes to make a bunch of weird noices too! like me! :) haha.
training is going to be tough, but i know the Lord needs me to do it and trust me, so i will do all i can to help him get ready to understand the mission. its been a good week tho we found a couple new investigators to teach. i did the misstake of praying for patients haha and now im gettting an answer ha. oh i forgot to tell you his  name its elder sudbury. but ya its going to be a fun 12 weeks serving with him and stregnthening my patience.
oh and before i forget i have my address but im not sure it is 100% right ahah but im sending my camera card soon so if this doesnt work you will get it when you get the card ha but it is
 
#2 hill top apartments
cassville mo 65625
 
hope to see your letters soon !! :) ha i will try to do the same. uhm well im at a loss of words now ha sorry hope all is going great at home shalyse emailed me and sent pitcures with it and was awesome!! hahah i loved the homeless picture with kael ! hahaha oh man that is a keeper for sure. well im off i love you all and thanks so much for the love and support !! talk to you next week love you!!
D&C 15:6
love elder houston

SAD TIMES....TRANSFERED AGAIN

Elder Houston's email:
October 28, 2012
 
haha sooooo i didnt tell you last week that it was the end of the transfer because i didnt think that anything was going to change..... wellll i was wrong again haha. we got transfer calls on saturday night. and guess what.. ya im leaving hahha!!! ahhhh!!!!
i was sooooo close to seeing a baptism again!!!! sooo close i thought for sure that i would this time, since i JUST got there and we just started teaching sooo many people, we got our teaching pool from 0 to 13 and counting new investigators!! and stanley was about to be baptized!!! he is so awesome !
 aaahh man haha.... its all good though, i have gotten kinda use too it now. haha. we were joking around saying all i have to do now is just set dates like crazy and i will have to move every transfer hahaha
 
but any who.... so ya that has been the high light of this week and stanley has a date for november 17th. and my new area is in cassville, missouri, haha yep back to missouri i go, but its only like 45 minutes away and i we will have a car so im going to ask if i will be able to come back and see his baptism. we will see what pres thinks. oh and my companion... i dont know who it is because im having a boy!!!! haha im going to be a father! haha which is missionary for im going to be training!
     we are going to shotgun cassville. we are opening the area back up starting from scratch again ha. i think the senior couple missionaries in our zone have been covering it a little and have stuff going on. so i think it is not totally from scratch so thats good. im really excited. i hope i can do good. this area was just totally prepared and the ward was super strong, so it was nice!!
 this new area is a little branch that has to have members from rogers go there to keep it up so we will pray for LOTS of help haha. and have to Lord guide our EVERY move. should be awesome! its crazy to think i will prob die in this next area because i have to be with this elder for two transfers because thats how long training is and then new elders usually dont stay in there first area after their training so i will be there for another transfer after that and by then, well we will see. im  not to worried just really weird to think.
      OH so another awesome thing that happend this week. i wrote about it in my letter to you mom, but just have not sent it yet haah sorry... i was waiting for my letter this week but it never came?? it prob got sent back because it was too heavy huh ;) haha anyway, so there is this awesome crazy family in our ward here, the finkbiners. i think is how its spelt ha. but they are so awesome. they have a pet pig!!! haha its so funny hahah. i like to chase it around and try and pick it up and pet it but it doesnt really like that haha. it runs around and weee weee haha or what ever pigs say ha. dad would totally want to shoot it haha. when it eats it smacks its lips sooo loud hahahaha it so funny. and shoot he eats better then most people i know. all organic people food. the family is like all natural. she is some artist and has made paintings in like france and he is like this bmx-er, skater dude. OH ya ha thats what i was going to tell you. so we were talking to him and he is moving his shop to another location. he owns a skate shop out here. anyway, he was moving locations to this warehouse place and is turning it into a skate park/ shop! its sooo sweet  and we got to help him build some of it. like i think we going to go down there today and build it some more. its been a sweet! OTM helper too.... we talked to three people just the other day from tracting that were like some bmxer and skater dudes. one was from cali.
    
 man im almost out of time again ha... so much went on this week too much to tell in one email. it was a perfect last week here in rogers i love this area sooo much probably more then chesterfield which is saying alot! ha because i LOVED chesterfield. but im glad the Lord needs me else where, that i can learn and grow some more.
we had a powerful lesson with some investigators and brother waddoups this week too... i love that guy! he is super smart and way smart in the gospel. he blew away mine and my comps mind and he was not even teaching us haha. he was teaching an investigator. it was awesome.... you could feel the spirit soo strong. they are really wanting to get baptized but still having trouble with their testimonies of the book of mormon. but i know it will come just in time. scott, it the name of the investigator, he knows the church so well, he basically is a member already. like he watches conference talks and has read the book of mormon front to back its crazy! him and his wife know half the ward! ha if they were a recipe they would have all the ingredients just a matter of time cooking ha.
      so much fun!! i have had a great time here with my companion, he is the elder! and the ward and the people we have been meeting with its all been so awesome!! is super sad to go and so fast but i know the Lord knows best and he is directing pres shumway.
so i will be heading out on thursday. so dont send mail to rogers this week ha i will get you my address asap. and i will take pictures and send them too haha sorry still working on that. i keep forgetting. glad everything is going well back at home
 i love you all sooo much and i pray each day that all those who i have ever offended or disrespected or hurt in any way would please forgive me. i plead with every fiber of my being every bit of my heart that i may find a way to take back what i have done and show my untiring love for each person. i truly know now that what i have done onto any of our Father in Heavens children i have done it unto my Lord. i pray he may forgive me and that they may also.
i love you all soooo much and love you all with all my heart and pray the Lord may bless you abundantly!!! i love this service and work i now that all the sacrifices that each of us make for the Lord never go unnoticed." verily i say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits are contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice- yea, every sacrifice which i, the Lord, shall commond- they are accepted of me". i know these things are ture and the blessing you recive will be far greater then anything you have to give up. love ya talk to you next week
love elder houston
 

GOLDEN

Elder Mitchell Houston's email:
October 20, 2012
 
hey family !!
whats up ! hey so i got the package thanks sooooo much for the treats and boo berry cereal!! woot woot haha my poo had been blue all week ! hahaha.. sorry mom ha you can take that out when you forward haha. the cold is all gone now. its back in nice weather but it will be back and now im prepared so thanks for the winter stuff. so this week was full of awesome miracles!!! all over the place.. it was awesome! ha so where to start.....
   so we got this referral from a member from another ward who was one of his patients. and i guess his missionaries didnt go over for some reason. so he got mad and came to us and he is in our area anyway so i dont know why he didnt come to us in the first place but thats beside the point. so this guys is awesome!! so golden and prepared to hear the gospel. i told hunter a little about him in my letter to him. but ya so this guys name is stan. so we went over when we got the referral and talked to him a little outside and he was really nice, but wanted us to come back later. so we set up a day that i ended up going on exchanges with the spanish missionaries, which was cool cuz i got to see a different side of the work. Rogers is like mesa, there are a TON of mexicans. and these islanders called mashallese. but ya so i missed the first lesson with him and his family. and when i got back they said it went really well. he really liked the restoration and joseph smith. he took a book of mormon and said give me a couple of weeks so i can read it haha. which we are like uhh, but let it go. he seemed pretty sincere. he had been offended by his church because of what people say and how they act during the week and when sunday came around they put on there "christian " ha is what he called it. they would be non christians during the week though. he felt that was not right. so the week went on and we gave him some time to read. we finally were able to set up a time to go stop by this week. we found out that our bishop here knew the family so we got him to come with us this time. little did we know what was going to happen.... i still get so giddy when i think about it haha. so we come in and he sat us down and started to tell us... man i had such a crazy week guys. at first we were very scepitical thinking the worst. he then began to tell us how much he appreciated us coming and teaching him and how much he saw christ in us and bro proata his referral and also bishop. he said that we were christians all the time or tried to be. and that was what made him want to learn more and read the book of mormon. he had a lot of things he was worried about the church that he had heard. but he thought ....man he only knew five members of the church and all five of them lived there lives right so that was enough for him. he then started telling us how this was what had been missing from his life. he knew it was true he recived an answer to his prayers. and we where like awesome!!!!! thinking that was all haha NOPE! it wasnt. he then became teary eyed and you felt a rush of the spirit come in to the room and he began to tell us of his powerful experience of the Holy Ghost baring the most powerful witness that i have ever heard of before on my mission.
like in the conference session right before i came out, elder betnar gave a talk about the spirit of revelation and the different kinds of ways to gain a witness. one being like a sunrise and how slowly the light becomes visible and one how some people kind of rare, is like the turning on a light in a dark room . with the light instantly flooding the room. this is what happen to stan. he told us that it had been a couple nights in, in his reading the book of mormon and until one night only 20 pages in!! he was reading and after chapter 10, i think the most over whelming feeling over came him he couldnt describe the joy and happiness he said he felt, like a giddy little boy haha. was like he could describe it he couldnt speak and tingles from head to toes. haha and he said that he was a pretty tough guy and didnt cry like EVER and he cryed like a baby... but because of the great happiness he felt haha he was like, i just cant explain it brothers. haha it was so awesome!!!! but we all knew what it was without even talking to each other. he knew what he had just felt and he knew it with all his heart to be true and that is was the Holy Ghost. he said guys im ready. i will give up everything. i wont drink soda any more. tell me what i need to do.... what is the next step..
haha im sure you can picture the ear to ear smile i had by then haha. we committed him to baptism and he said yes lets do it this sunday! haha . we told him there were some things he still needed to do and we need to teach him and that its ok to drink soda if he wants ha. This was the coolest  i have ever got to feel and see on my mission by far. im so excited for him and his family which are now following his foot steps to find out for them selves. he was so prepared by angels of the Lord. and found the gospel all because a member opened his mouth. he just asked him.
OTM is stands for oklahoma tulsa mission, only true mission, haha, and open thy mouth, to proclaim His word.
i have been so blessed to see this wonderful coversion story and to witnes the true devine POWER of the book of mormon and the promise of moroni. and how important it is to open are mouths. just ask," hey are you mormon?.... they say no, " why not??" haha best otm it works an general athority said so haha and i know it is true. because it worked for stan. that is how we find the elect.
im out of time... but other awesome stuff happend this week to, again bare powerfull witness that the book of mormon is so powerful. it brings the spirit to those who know not the truth just because they know not where to find it. we have found it. its so important. i love the book of mormon with every bit of my heart more so now then ever.
we tracted this week and on just the second house we found another prepare brother and as we placed a book of mormon into his hand you could see the the light that came into his face ha like he was given a map to buried treasure. which in some way he did the greatest of all treasures :)
i love this gospel so much and love the eternal truths that come from it so grateful to see the changes it can bring in the lives of others... i love yall so much and pray you are keeping up with the reading of the book of mormon! haha when i get back i have to keep that habit, so we will be reading alot, so good to start now haha:). talk to you next week !!
so much love from your son elder houston.
 
ps hey mom you totally should right me big letter i have not had one in while haha i got glasses and love them sorry was so much :/ i went to the dentist too and i asked if i could just wait till i get home and he said ya wont hurt just might need to when we can when i get home. also super funny elder garners mom sent him a package and she is really heathy and he told her he was eating gluten free hah she got all happy and sent him a bunch of gf stuff haha he is letting me eat it ahah but he actually likes it. well man i thought there was someting else i needed to tell you but i forgot i will tell you later if i remember. love ya!! oh ya and crazy pictures!!!!!!!!!!! the kids have changed soooooo much!! so crazy!!!! loved the pictures oh and i sending mine now today.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

I LOVE CONFERENCE!!!

Elder Houston's email:
October 8, 2012
 
wow so what a week!!!!! and to go off with a bang at conference!!! i love it so much !! i wish we could have it evey month! ha i cant wait to get it in the ensign when the mission gets them ! missionaries going out at 18 and 19! now for sisters! thats so crazy there are going to be a huge increase in sister missionaries now ! and i hope elders as well. now they dont have to worry about school or anything, just go from high school to mission so cool! the youth of the church are getting stronger then ever!!! and also another temple in Tucson !!  man next thing you know there going to be an mtc in mesa! haha. the church is undoubtedly growing and quickly, but this is not a surprise because it is true !! you cant hide the truth! NO unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Joseph Smith was right about that ha. he really did see and do all the things he did. i know with every fiber of my being he was a prophet of God and he did restore all the rights blessing and keys to the gospel.
   conference talked all about the three things that were restored to him. like when Moses came to him and restored the power and keys of the gathering of the tribes of Israel, or missionary work. Elijah restored the keys to do the work for our dead, the saving ordinances of the gospel. then Elias restored the power and keys to the perfecting of the saints, us:). 
   Elder Bowen talked this conference, the saturday morning. he was the elder that came to our stake here like two weeks ago. i got to talk to him and shake his hand. it was awesome to see him again. in conference he talked about how he lost his baby. it was soo personal and powerful, one of my favorites. then after him Elder Nelson gave the best talk on missionary work! "ask the missionaries"! haha was so awesome!!! we were watching that with some members and after he was done they were like, wow you two have got quite the plate to handle. its awesome tho. i think we will get a bunch of trust from members from that and lots of referrals. his story about jerry, that Protestant preacher from mesa, was wonderful my favorite part of that talk. i loved how he said that after all was said and done, that Jerry,  already with a strong faith in God, had even a stronger testimony and faith in Him. we are all here with the same goal and we all have some truth our message. its not to take away from what they have, but to give more ! with the priesthood we have truths and powers reveled. the beautiful mural of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was put back together iits perfect original picture with every piece. 
    oh holy cow and Elder Ballard's talk! it was so much like the vision i had on the lawn mower haha! that one i emailed you a few weeks ago! i was wigging out when he started to talk about the bees and how his message, though way better then mine, was so similar! we received it from the same Holy Spirit who brought the message from the same Father in Heaven. it gave me the strong feel that our Father is not just some made up person, but is a really living perfect being that is the same yesterday, today, and always ! He knows all and can do all. He allowed me to get a feeling of and see how real His communication is with His apostles! i know with out a doubt what i learned that day was not from me! such a blessing!! i am and always will be so eternally grateful for... and i love "honey" :) so much and it really is the way of sustaining life and we all need to be as the honey bees and pollonate the world with the love of Christ through small and simple means.
     im running out of time and there where so many awesome talks. i could talk about them all day ha which i probably will. like Elder Andersons talk about the Doctrine of the church. Elder Uchtdorfs talk  about how this life is short and that we will all enviably die at some time and how we should not have regrets. Pres Eyring is my favorite!! he just so funny and awesome his priesthood session talk about the spiritual gifts he found for his kids. way awesome!! highly recommend reading when comes out in ensign. (you would really like it mom. im sure dad told you about it. he probably loved it too ha:). i also loved his talk sunday morning about the pavilion! man he is the man! 
  oh wow and Elder Hollands beautiful rebuke of love haha.. you could feel the echoing spirit through the screen. he is such a powerful speaker. you know everyone was zoned in to him on that talk you could feel it ! not even i could fall asleep through that talk haha. i pray and hope that i might never let that message die in me and if or when the Lord asked me, elder houston do you love me?? that went i got home. i will not pick up my "nets", par say. and say, well that was a great two years and rejoice in it, and then go back to my old "fishing" habits. i want to be a sheep feeder!! haha. 
   ahh shoot im out of time. but i love so much to hear from our true and living prophet of God! i love Thomas S. Monson! so much and know with all my heart he lives to be on the Lords errand at all times and gave his life to help others. i love the Gospel so much and know it is the path to true lasting happiness!   I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! and hope you all were able to watch conference and recived answers to your prayers and questions ! talk to you next week !
love elder houston
 

Sunday, October 7, 2012

"I LOVE MY LIFE"

Elder Houston's email:
October 1, 2012
 
wow so what a week !!
 
     so i love rogers arkansas!!! i love my comp!!! i love the members!!!!
so much awesome stuff happen this week!!!. at first we were really worried about what we were going to do. the ward lost so much trust in the elders that were here before us. not much was going on here before so we just started from nothing. so we had a lot of work ahead of us. little did we know the Lord had prepared this area to explode. just needed some one to work it his stead.
   so elder garner and me just started meeting with the members to get to know them as fast as possible. we share messages with them and also showed our Lord that we were willing to work by tracting, which im not the biggest fan of haha, but ! i learned fast that it might not be the most effective way of work here in the oklahoma tulsa mission. but, it showed the Savior that we are willing to work and do what is necessary to be OUT and he would put the elect in our path. and He did just that.
   the morning that we tracted those days where the most amazing days. we got 7 referrals this week and 5! of them became new investigators!!! :) two of them the couldnt have been any more prepared or they would be members!! haha this one lady nina had been through sooo much.  she is going through so much with her family and it was so crazy, because everything she was looking to find was somthing we wanted to share with her that the gospel can offer her!! and i later found out talking to my comp that he himself was going through the same thing! only through that will there be a special bond that will really help her and he knows how the gospel can help her. it was so divine HE know all along.
   another, was this man that had just been offended by his church, and again all he was looking for is what we talked about and that the spirit teaches!! the Lord is one eternal round he knows all things thru out the Father. it is like he see in 3D ha and all we see is 2D. like if we drew ourselfs on a board and drew a box around us to us it looks like there is now way out. we see one side. but our Father sees all the sides he see 3 dimensional and sees that there is only a line infront of us. he sees that all we need to do is walk around it.
 i was looking to strengthen my faith and He did more then just answer my prayer. i love the Lord. i love My wonderful Father in Heaven. i love you all!
   sounds like you all had a blast camping. i am excited to be able to join in on that fun tradition. but i can wait ahaha i love it here. i have learned so much. i wish i could remember it all. but thats a joy that i get to feel time and time again, to remember what i already know so much to be true. Heavenly Father has so much to teach me and i pray that i can always continue to learn and get better. and i love being blessed so much to be able to play a part in His wonderful work and glory, to bring to pass the blessing of the gospel.
 
well i have talked enough ha i say the same thing every week, i feel. but its so great here!! and i love you all but i dont want to come to the end of my mission. but i know that the work is never over until the He says the work is done. so thats awesome ha. my calling just changes.
   elder Bednar is a former stake pres here and he said the work of the Lord is like putting up a tent, you have to put the stakes on the out side firm, in the ground as the work progress, we lift the middle up to put the tent up.
got to go... love you all so much... talk to you next week !!
love elder houston

Monday, September 24, 2012

FIRST WEEK IN ROGERS ARKANSAS

Elder Houston's email
September 24, 2012
 
haha hey family!!
     wow so this week was a crazy one!!!! so as you know i got transfered on thursday. i am now in the rogers 1st ward in rogers arkansas. our last days in springfield were wonderful!!! i got some more pictures. not as much as i hoped for because i was not planning on getting shipped out so soon. ha but im so happy i did. my new area is so awesome!!! im so excited to get to work here.
   so, me and my comp were shotgunned in here, meaning that we are both new to the area haha. so we are starting from complete scratch! so if that was not over whelming enough there were a couple other things that added to the crazyness haha.
   so on thursday, i got asked to drive the loop again. so i got to drive into arkansas. it was fun!! got to see some old friends i had not seen in forever.  since i first came out.
   oh and my comp. he is the MAN!!! we like hit off way good ! we bffs already ahaha. we both have been out for the same amount of time. like i came out three transfers before him or two maybe anyway. so we both are at the same point in our missions so we know what we are doing and he is so funny. haha.... like with in the first few seconds we were together, i had already cried  from laughing. hahaha.... there was a huge spider in our apartment and we both were like... dude.... i hate spiders kill it!! haha it was awesome.... to funny.!!!! he is from cedar city utah, which is alot like arizona. one of his best friends is on a mission from back  home and they own a trucking company like us so he worked with them a lot. but we just are doing great!!! im sooo pumped to get to work together. we are going to do soooo much work and have already got the ball rolling! even with all the crazyness thats going on ha.
    so like the very first dinner we had was awesome! the ward was told ahead of time by someone that i was gluten free. the whole relief society knows already! its sweet!! but that night my eye just went crazy and it got so big! haha i got a sty.... i have no idea how to spell it... which  then caused an infection.... ya it was no good. and so i had to take my contacts out and i had just lost my glasses a couple weeks before.... so i was now blind ha...... oh! and before that we just had got done unpacking. we were eating some choclate popcorn for lunch because there was no food in our apartment haha... but my tooth  broke!! haha... i was in missouri for too long ! my teeth are starting to fall out hahah ! im starting to really look like the natives haha.
so i had a big fat eye and a half a tooth on my first day in arkansas hahah... too awesome!!!
 
    but the week went on. oh so friday our bike were not working. so we went to the bike shop and found out that there was a big prob with my bike and this is a full bike area, so that is not a good thing haha. but the owner is a member and he helped us with what he could. i then got a call after i just spent 40 bucks fixing the bike so i can ride it, that i have to give it back to the elder that let me borrow it. and the mission office doesnt have anymore bikes! haha so thats a working progress. ill let you know more on that subject later. the bishop is looking for a member to lend me one for the time being. i think im going to be here for a while so that with help a ton.
   so we had stake conference this week. so saturday we went to the meeting and this guy came up to us and shook our hand and said "hey elder houston nice to meet ya im elder bowen.". and i was like elder?? with no tag? he was another 70! ha i forgot what area he is over but it was awesome!! i told him to say hey to elder choi for me. he was the 70 that did our mission tour just a couple weeks ago.
    stake conference was so awesome!! he did an open question session at night and there was sooooo much stuff said that i will never forget. It was sooooo cool. the spirit was so strong too! i loved ever second of it.
 
so even tho all this craziness was going on. it was all so wonderful and an awesome way to start my journey  here in rogers. the members are soo amazing! we have already gotten sooo many referrals to go see and people to visit. there is so much to be done here and im so blessed to be a part of it ! im running out of time. i was wanting to share some of the stuff i learned from stake conference but i will have to do it another time sorry.
 tell hunter i didnt forget him. i just late as usual ha... ive got him a letter coming today. i love him and hope he had an awesome 19th birthday!! i cant beleive i been out for two of his b days. it kinda scares me, because that means im coming to an end in my mission service.:/  but i am so excited to see hunter and all of you again!
    life is so great!!! even with all the troubles that can come, there is always things in the gospel and families that turn that frown upside down! ha just a matter of turning it around ourselves and doing our part.
 
 i love you all and know that all is going perfectly here and im doing great! love you all soo much and will talk to you next week !
love elder houston

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

IT WOULDN'T BE A TRANSFER WITHOUT..........

Looks like Mitchell is on to another area....He should get to Rogers, Arkansas on Thurs Sept 20th... I hope to hear from him soon to get the new address... watch for it!!!

Elder Houston's email:
September 17, 2012

transfers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
haha
    hey family so whats up??? as you can tell, yes.. we had the calls and man i thought for sure i knew what was going to happen, but i guess it wouldnt be transfer calls if i knew what was going to happen haha.
        so what i thought would happen since i just got here was that elder taggart was going to be leaving and since we had just taken over chesterfield, i thought that he would go there, because he now knew the people we were teaching. and i thought they would open it back up. And i would stay in southernhills and get a new guy and taggart would go to chesterfield and get a new guy. well that didnt happen not even close haha..... i should probably just stop guessing. we both got transferred out!! so now two new elders are coming into the area!
     it is really exercising my faith in the Lord that no one will slip through the cracks. i am really sad too because i finally thought for sure i would see a baptism finally! this girl we were teaching, ronnie, is getting baptized on the weekend after conference!! and she was wanting me to perform the ordinace! i was sooo excited!! we got to be really close with her family too and were getting them to become more active again. we also had a few more people that were getting ready too!. i was really upset at first, but the Lord reminded me that it does not matter what we get to see, just that we keep the work going. im doing alot better now and am happy to go and start my new journey in ...
........Rogers Arkansas! i will now have served in all four states haha woo hoo. that was were elder treasure got sent to after we were split. im in first ward tho. i dont know my address yet, but i will let you know asap. cuz i might need my winter gear sent back to me soon ha... its been in the 60s all this week. its been awesome!! but im scared its going to get cold real fast. who knows with these places ha. well that is what has been going on here. 
 now just saying bye and get everything ready for the new elders.
    
so now for my spiritual part of my letter. it is kinda random, but its something that played a huge part this week. so we had a zone training this week and i was ask to give the spiritual thought for it.
   **so this week i had a pretty neat experience that i feel was revelation from the Spirit and feel compelled to share it with you. i got to share it in this weeks zone training meeting and i was able to bare truthful witness to the other elders and sisters. so the zone leaders called me on thursday to give a spiritual thought in the meeting. as i studied that morning, i prayed and asked that the Lord would use me as a tool to portray the message He would have me give, that would best help the elders and sisters in our zone. i received an answer to my prayer that i would receive an answer but not yet.!!!! as the day went on i started to become worried on what it is that i should share to help. when the answer finally came as i was sitting on a lawn mower haha. we were doing some service for an investigator. i was just sitting there and felt, ok now i need to pray and ask again. almost right after i began to, i became very observant to the bees that were around me landing on the little flowers growing in this mans lawn. i noticed that as i was going a few would land in front of me and seemed not to care that i was coming closer and as i ran them over! haha..... at first i thought wow bees are not too bright haha..... but as i continued i saw that the butterflies would land, but as i came closer they wouldnt stay long, they would fly away.
  it was then the Spirit placed a scripture into my mind... it was matthew 10:39 which says " he that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." the spirit was so strong with that message. as i sat there my mind began to race. i began to liken bees to missionary work! bees are known to be hard workers. all they care about is getting the nectar, or helping the people come to the gospel through baptism. they are true and faithful to there queen (The Lord our king). I NEED TO BE A BEE! and not a butterfly, which wants the nectar but as things begin to scare them or worry them or even distract them they fly away. the bee stands fast and works its self even to death. not worrying about anything but the work. such dedication!!
 i was talking to a member who owns a bee farm and he told us that the bees would work them selfs so hard and to death that if you walk away from the hive and look at the grown you will even see bees crawling on the ground to get back because there wings can no longer carry them.
 i have gained a new love for bees and there powerful characteristics of work and dedication. i pray that i might be a "BEE" in all i do.
 the Holy Ghost is so amazing and i know all these things were not from me, but a divine messenger to help the missionaries of the OTM. im just so grateful i was able to be the one to receive the message. i know i needed to hear it.
oh and while i was eating my  gluten free cereal, called kixs. It had this fact written on the box at the same time all this was going on. ( i know that was not by chance either)..... bees must collect from 2 million flowers to make only one pound of honey!
  i hope you enjoy it
 love you all !!!!
elder Houston

Monday, September 10, 2012

MISSION TOUR...THE BOMB

Elder Houston's email
September 10, 2012
 
hey family !
ha so wow alot happend this week!!! i am really tired right now. we got up pretty early the past two days to move a family and we have meetings on sunday so have to get up at 5 on sundays. so lil pooped... but ya so i will try to put it all together and i forgot my notes that i took for mission tour so ill have to tell you more about that another time.
   so starting off.... so monday we went to branson with most of our zone and played some black light mini golf and lazer tag!! it was soooo fun. i got some pictures, but i wish i would have taken more, but im lazy haha ....and all my pictures turn out fuzzy so ya haha sorry mom.
   tuesday was a pretty good day too. we got to do alot of service. we mowed this brothers lawn and helped him out around the house. then we had to get ready for mission tour the next day.
    oh! and elder treasure and elder davies i dont think i ever mentioned him, but he was in my district in the mtc. he is way cool! he is the assistants with elder treasure. but they came and stayed the night with us that night cuz they needed a place to stay for the tour. but it was so fun haha we got to reminisce old times and tell all our great stories haha..... so sweet. oh and elder davies is like the nephew of mitt romney so we got to talk about him alot too haha.... it was way fun. then wednesday was the bomb, high light of the week!! mission tour!!!!!
   so mission tour... if you dont know, is when a general authority comes to the mission and gives lessons and teaches and all that good stuff. the elder that came and his wife was, elder choi and sister choi. (it sounds like "che" like cherry.) he was sooooo funny!! he is a member of the seventy. he gave a talk a while back in conference about the nine roudy boys and i just remember when me and hunter saw the picture that popped up in his talk, we started laughing haha cuz it was funny. you should look it up on youtube or whereever else you can get it. but it was so awesome. he was talking  to every zone in the mission and at each one he changed the talk completely. he went straight with the spirit! i took soooo many notes and learned sooo much. more than i can even remember ha (i need my notes). it was so cool to know both there talks where straight from the spirit, because it made it special and more specific for our group and each of us individually. and after all the talks he let us ask him any questions that we wanted! i know crazy right! and i totally choked! i couldnt think of anything!! ha like even to ask him anything ! like did adam have a belly button! haha nadda nothing ..... but the few questions that were asked were good for me. he told some powerful stories about pres. monson and i felt the spirit so strong and the love that elder choi has for him.. it was so awesome, unlike anything i have felt before. it strengthened my testimony in pres. monson to a point i have never known i knew,, even more now that he is a prophet then i did before which i thought impossible! but it was awesome!!!! a sister that was about to go home and she asked him what was the advice he had for her and then said it was for all of us was to GET MARRIED! haha... it was perfect for me because i really dont want to get married when i get home. not right away at least. i had this big list of stuff i wanted to do. but he made sure that it was clear and i know it was revelation from God and i fully sustain elder Choi with all my heart. so some of my priorities changed haha...
   he told us this funny story about his mission pres and that was his council to him at his departing interview. He had a list of girls for him to marry!!! hahah and he read off the names to elder choi and when he got to the 7th one the lucky number 7 he said... he knew she was the one and he married her and that is sister choi haha... so awesome.
   lots of cool stories and awesome things i needed to learn here. i have a new love and respect for the general authorities of the church now. i love them with all my heart. they put all the Lords priorities before there own and always strive to do His will no matter what and there testimonies are so powerful and strong. it was such an amazing experence. wouldnt trade it for the world. i know the things he taught i will use throughout my life to guide me and i truely thank him for that and his wife she was wonderful as well!
  
 the rest of the week was pretty great too... but i am excited about  ronnie, the girl i was teaching before i left chesterfield, is gettting baptized!!!! wooooo on the 29th or the 6th im sooo excited for her. im not sure what happened all of the sudden. she just started keeping all the commitments that we gave her. she comes to church all three hours its awesome!! and the spirit or the Lord allowed me to prophesy about her and her family! it was so crazy!!! i just felt so strong to tell her something and then it just started flowing. i told her she would be a leader in her family that she would bring them, with her choices back to the church and bless their lives. her family is all less actives. but like just these past two visits, her mom and brother sat in on lessons and her mom who would never come to church said she wants to come back and she told ronnie that she wanted to ask us for a blessing to stop smoking!! so awesome !!!  i love it!! they are soo awesome and im so happy i was able to come back to help them get back on track. ronnie wants me to baptize her too but i have a feeling that this transfer i will be leaving :( that i will be coming back to southernhills ward and chesterfield will be getting new missionaries again. i still have yet to get to see a baptism, but im just happy she is going all the way and who knows, if i stay in southern hills maybe i will be able to still baptize her. i just down the street after all ha.
    well i do love this work and the people i have been able to grow to love so much. i know what ever happens is the will of the Lord and i am striving to be one with him so that i might be one with the Father.
  
well this was my week! oh we also as you know had a crazy storm the other day 70 mph winds ha and really scary, but we servived. I got stuck in the libary for lil over an hour. but thats about it. all in all was a wonderful week and am ready for another great one. so glad all is going well in AZ with work. anthony sounds so great! he going to be a bomb leader and missionary i can tell already. ya go a head and send me his emails but in letters if you could i want to read them. thanks so much.
 i love you all and cant wait to hear back :)! love you !!
love elder houston

Monday, August 27, 2012

THE BEST TWO YEARS

Elder Houston's email:
August 27, 2012
 
hey family hows it going!!!!!
   so this week was really awesome!! we got to teach so many different people!!! like the missionary lessons. not the stuff that we just come up with for a spiritual thoughts or any of that the good stuff!! so wednesday we were ask to teach an indepth lesson of the plan of salvation to the EARLY MORNING seminary class. it was soo cool to be at the other end of the desk this time and see how i was in seminary and how badly i wish i could go back! i love the youth so much!!! my p blessing was dead on about that haha. they are so fun and awesome. i can honestly say it was the best plan of salvation discusion i have ever had! i learned so much preparing for it and all i keep thinking was man i wish i knew this stuff at there age. haha im sure i was taught it, time and time again. it just went in one ear and out the other ha.
 
we also got to teach the restoration of the gospel to like two new people that we are going to start teaching now! too cool ha. one of them is this guy named joe. he is, if you remember that lady i taught forever and she finally got baptized, like couple months ago. her name was courtnie. anyway joe is her boyfriend well now her future husband. they getting married now. he had been looking into the church i guess for a while now and courtnie has been talking with him a ton and now he is wanting to join! so we started teaching him and we are going to set a date with him this next week! so awesome!!!
 
we also got to meet up with an old investigator of mine and got her back on track and she is wanting to be baptized too! i dont think i will be around for either of them, but if the missionaries that come back into chesterfield keep with them, i know it will happen. there are going to be alot of missionaries coming out this transfer so i think chesterfield is going to get there own missionaries again :/ kinda sad.... but its been fun!
 
so this sunday was this kids farewell jarom peterson is his name im pretty sure he is going to be like an apostle haha... he is a better missionary then me and he has not even left yet haha... he so awesome. but he talked this sunday and it was cool to see him and all that he has done to prepare. it brought alot of things to my memory of back at home. one of them was an expirience me and hunter had. i dont think i recognized it at the time, but when i thought about it yesterday, i know it was a huge factor in my decision to serve a mission. but this was also a spiritual time for hunter i think. so before you share this with any one ask hunter if it is ok with him.
  so it was back when me and him were staying in the same room. so it was a while ago. not sure when tho. but we were watching the movie the "the best two years", and it came to the part in the movie when the elder and his companion had got done fasting and had the phone call to meet with that guy at there apartment. he came over and they got him to sit down and they talked about the restoration. the older elder finally realized why he had come on a mission. the spirit was so strong in the movie and in our room i just remember crying along with the elders and i looked at hunter and he was as well. im sure he felt the same way as me, and that i didnt know why i was crying. i just knew i was happy and a peaceful feeling come over me. i now realize that it was the spirit baring powerful witness to me and hunter that the restoration is true. that the message that the missionaries were saying in the movie was true. that this work truely is the Lords work upon the earth and how important it is. that feeling has returned time and time again proving that to me it is true and right! it really is the Best two years and im so eternally greatful to be able to be here now and for hunter putting that movie in that night so the spirit could witness to us those truths.. i love ya brother ! treasure those expirences, as well as you my wonderful family. when times of doubt trial or confusion come into your lifes remember what the spirit has taught you, for you cannot change that for the spirit teaches what is true! (moroni 10: 3-5) such a blessing that our Father has given to us:). and if you have not had such a witness yet, pray, ask, "knock" and it shall be given you. i know these thing to be true and say them in the name of Jesus Christ amen.
 i love you all and glad all is going well ill talk to you all next tuesday!!
love elder houston

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

SERVICE AND POWER OF THE PRIESTHOOD

Pictures are just a few random ones that i put on so you could see Elder Houston.
I believe most of them are from when he was in springfield last year. Enjoy that cute face!!!!





 
Elder Houston's email:
August 20, 2012
 
hey family hows it going !!
 
so this was a pretty fun week!!! we got to do a ton of service and had an awesome zone meeting and interviews!!!! i love pres shumway. its so awesome to get two way cool mission pres. both are totally different but both called of God.
    so we had a couple big service opporrtunities this week. one was we helped this new family move into the ward and holy cow they had a ton of stuff haha. but they are such a cool family and we got to know them a little bit and their family. the other thing we get to do was some tough work too. its been a while since i have got to do some real hard labor haha. it was kind of nice to get down in the dirt ha or this case the cement. we helped this member lay some concrete down to make a path and a ramp so that this guy could get into his house, he is in a wheel chair. and i dont mean to toot my own horn but we did a pretty good job haha. oh man and i totally got to cruise around on riding lawn mower again this week haha so fun! we went over to one of our investigators houses. he is really sick. he has alot of health problems especially with his lungs. he is on oxygen and we go over and teach him and mow his lawn its fun. so alot on service this week. we also got to serve people through the preisthood too. we got to give two really powerful blessings it was so cool.
   one was to a little boy. he has no arms and scolioces and a bunch more health difficulties. he was going in to have sergury this week and the mother and father are friends to some memebers in our ward. oh and they are not members. so the family that is in our ward asked if they would like a blessing. they agreed to it and we all met at there house. we got to talk to them about the preisthood and how blessings work. they were really nice and had such strong faith. we gave the boy a blessing and you could defiantly feel the power of the spirit in the room. afterwards they had more questions and we got to talk to them a little bit more. this sunday we talked to the members and they said that they were soo curious now and are wanting to know more! they have not commited to lessons but i think they will soon we are going to stop by again this week.
   the other blessing we gave was last night and man it  was such a awesome day ! so we cover two wards now so we have church at 830 then go till 1130 then go to lunch and go back at 230 until 530 haha its a lot of church but it so awesome they are both really strong wards and this sunday the spirit was especially strong and the lessons were so awesome!! and not to mention we had a less active guy finally come and and investigator too it was sweet.
 but anyway, so we are still getting use to having a car and how it needs GAS haha.... so saturday we forgot to fill up cuz we got in late and we were on E. we thought eh we will be ok we just have to go to church. well that didnt go as planned haha we ended up having a big lunch that we drove too and i got chocolate milk all over my suit so had to drive back and change suits haha and then back to church. then we had a dinner to drive too. it was at the edge of our area haha and in the hills so climbing UP haha.. oh man we thought for sure we were going to run out. then just before dinner we got a call that some one from another ward needed a blessing. that she was not a member, but he was a less active guy. the hospital was clear on the other side of town. but we knew we had to go. so we said a silent pray in our hearts the whole way and some how we made it. we had no idea until now, but she was soo badly hurt. she had fallen from the deck of her house 20 feet and on too rocks. it hurt me just to see her and how broken she was. with our stregthend faith, with our prayers answered knowing now why Heavenly Father made it possible for us to make it there, we gave her the blessing. even though i dont know what is going to happen. by the comfort and peace i felt there, i know she will be alright.
   it was such a testimony builder to me to see that if the Lord needs something done He WILL make it possible. we could have stopped and got gas but i know that this experience would have not been the same. it was a reafferming to my testimony that our Father in Heaven does hear and knows each of us and loves us more then we could possible imagine . its also a testimony that the priesthood is real! and that with and through it we do His will and bless lives. i love you all soooo much
 
love elder houston