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.