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.

 

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