PICTURES...long over due

 this is a sister that came out with Mitchell from the MTC

 President Merkley saying goodbye

Enjoy the pictures...finally got a ton of them.

NEW AREA...NEW BAPTISM

Elder Houston's email:

February 11, 2013

 

hey family so sorry this week is a short one haha i got to chating with mom :)

 

but this week was pretty good! we had an awesome zone meeting and i love!!! our zone they are awesome ! we have a baptism coming up this week !! im finally going to stay in the area for!!!!! woot woot haha its an awesome couple too. adam and leah, leah is his wife she was soo prepared to hear the message of the gospel and just absorbed everything like a sponge. i came in at the end of the teaching, so she already knew everything. its wierd that i didnt have to find her or anything just kinda walked into it ha and adam on man!! he is a modern day alma the younger. he is an ex- member that had a complete change in life and heart and now is the most dilagant faithful guy .he finally got permission and is going to be re- baptized with his wife ! im so happy for them and will let you know how it all goes next week love you all so much happy valentines day!!!!

love elder houston

MORE CHANGES....AGAIN???

Elder Houston's email:

January 28, 2013

 

hey family!!!! how art thou?

   so everything went well this past week i got all packed up and said good bye to everyone in nevada got a few pictures and said by to me boy ! man im going to miss that elder. he was the MAN he taught me sooooooo much. im so eternally thankful for him and hope i will get to see him before i head home.

oh ha we also had some fun times before we left nevada too. so i finally met sister houston !! haha the less active in nevada MO. haha too funny she was short just like us !! she is originally from cali. her grandpa is where she got her last name they raised her. she might be a distant relative but i couldnt find any family that i knew that she was realated to. oh and  also my last sunday in nevada met a leavitt too !! he was related to some houstons too. some of his family is from vegas too. he called it something else like another town out there like mesquite or something... anyway that was fun. 

 

so i got on the transfer loop and got to see alot of good ol missionary friends ha including elder treasure!!!!! :) i got to say bye!! it was so sad he got all teary eyed.. man i love that little man! he is going to be a prophet some day. so i will get to see him again ahah. that was great.

so my new area is pretty cool. there are some way cool members and a ton of work that needs to be done. like they just have not had the work done. we were talking to a member at a dinner last night and she was crying saying how she has her grand daughter that wants to be baptized and she is scared to let the missionaries teach her because her daughter, the mom is not a fan of the church and the past missionaries have not been the greatest. :( and its really sad, because one of them was my old companion from pawhuska elder hamlin the one that did not like rules. i felt so sorry for her. that should never happen ever!! it just made me want to work so hard and be so much better. my companion that i have now is a older, new missionary. he only been out for like 3 transfers and he is like 23 or 24. his past companions and him didnt get along very well. he liked to tell his trainner what to do and then his second one, the one i just replaced was not super with rules or working. haha he is a good elder and wants to work hard. me and him have had a pretty good start ha. he was kind enough to tell me how to manage my diabetes!!! haha mom you probably know how i took that haha.. but i didnt say anything. im trying really hard to be patient and full of charity.

the Lord knows what i am suppose to learn from him and i dont... so im hoping i will be humble enough to listen to Him and Heavenly Father. ha but in the mean time if any one has pointers on how to cope with a very controlling companion, my ears are all open haha colten or chase or dad you know my email haha. HEY speaking of you dad... if i remember right you owe me a letter. i sent my card. haha cant wait to hear from ya... soon.. haha. oh and i been meaning to write bishop rogers and sister rogers tell them so sorry and that i will try to send one out soon, love them and miss them.

but ya, so these past few days have been fun meeting new amazing people of Lebanon MO. oh and its not as close to springfield as i thought. its actually close to my very first area !! i got to see the elders that are serving there! ha they said they still talk about me there ahah. i thought that was pretty cool :) made me feel like a good missionary ha. i know mom you tell me i am all the time and thank you so much, but its nice to hear it from.. well not just your mother  every once in a while haha...

OH so cool... so i met a family out here that are long time arizona valley livers ha. they have alot of family and history in az. like there family was one of the ones that brigham young sent to settle there. his mother was just in the news there for turning 100. the same time az. did like in febuary they are so awesome !! ha

well sorry for the boring email. this is just whats been going on. getting settled in again. everyone thinks this is where i will be staying for a while. so we will see. haha thanks mom for the doggy story. ha loved it and cant wait for the big letter. its so wierd to think that kenric and sister shelley are home now ha.

 

i love you all so much thanks for everything and the letters. i finally was able to get some of the Christmas cards i made sent off haha... realllly late ha sorry hope you like them. talk to you next week !!!!

love elder houston!

 

OH WOW...VERY SPECIAL EMAIL

I hope with all my heart that everyone will read and remember this email and remember your families and love them

 

Elder Houston's email:

January 21, 2013

 

hey family!!! 

  i dont have much time but i wanted to just email you all and tell you how much i love you sooooooooo much.

if there was anything that i could narrow down and say, the most important thing that i gained from my mission, it would have to be the extrodinary love that i have gained for my family. 

in all the times of trouble and tribulations the ups and downs you have been my steady anchor always steadfast the blessing i will always have for time and all eternity. oh and how greatful i am for that and that made possible through the restoration of the church and even further more because of the atonening sacrifice that our Lord and King made for us to open the gates to enernal life.

all through my mission i have had reminders of things that happened through my life that have shown me time and time again of your tenderness and kindness to me and others. especially you mom and dad. the hidden expresions of your love for us kids are intertwined in our lifes and memories and will forever be there to lift us when we are down and build us stronger when we are up. when the very bells of hell are ringing and times of hardship rein down upon us, we will turn to each other and come close together like armies of stripling warriers. covering each opening or weak point that we each have with our sheilds of truth and righteousness and of each of our strengths protecting each other from the firie darts and blows from the adversary. as we continue to work together and with the Lord as our master and chief we can make it through anything and we have so far :).

im so greatful for the gospel that builds us and keeps us close so that we can keep safe. the gospel truly has in innumerable ways blesses families. i know this with every bit and peice of me heart. im so greatful for my mission opening my eyes to this eternal truth and i pray that i may never cover my eyes or turn them from this. and i am soo thankful for everyone that made it possible for me to be out here and of course, im so blessed and greatful for our wonderful, fantastic, imperfect but yet so perfect family :) that my Heavenly Father allowed me to be a part of.

i love you so much!!! thank you for everything!! hope you have an awesome week and cant wait to talk to you next week !

 love elder houston

 

love ya 

dad

mom

shalyse

chase

kael

claire

tori

tyler

hunter

anthony

and all others !!  

BIRTHDAY...ICE STORMS AND A BAPTISM...OH MY

Elder Houston's email

January 14, 2013

hey family!!! wow supper sorry i have not been email these past couple weeks these past mondays we have been super busy for some reason, like this monday we had a zone outing. so we all went to joplin and had pot lock and had b ball tournament and hung out it was awesome! and i had a birthday dinner with a family, so we didnt get to do anything on monday hence we are emailing today. sorry, zone outing are fun but when you live so far away we didnt get any time to do anything on monday and i got the ok to email today cuz i told them if i didnt my mom would fly down and kick my butt haha.

but i dont have a lot of time to talk about great stuff that been going on, but i have to tell you about THE BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT OF ALL TIME!!!! haha. so get this so saturday morning and evening we got a major ice storm. like it went from 60 almost 70 degrees on friday to 20 on saturday haha. it was crazy. everyone is sick haha. but it started to rain when it was suppose to be snowing and what happened is the rain would fall and as soon as it hit a surface it froze it was crazy! and it was a wet cold, so really cold... anyway, sunday morning came around and both the church in nevada and our other area was canceled ! have you ever heard of that, church cancel ?? ha i think it is because all our ward is old people and the branch pres and bishop were scared people were going to slip and fall and break a hip. but it really was bad, like both our churches are kinda on hills and no one could get in the parking lot ha because it was so iced. any way so we just got stuck at home. and back in our last area that girl kathryn was getting baptized at 12pm. elder sudbury really wanted to ask pres shumway to see if we could go. i thought for sure he would say no. because merkley our last pres did. and all the ice too. but he wanted to so i said ok. so he called and he said YES! i was like what so we jumped in our car and by then it was heating up it was about 19. so the ice melted a little haha the Lord helped... he made it driveable, i know it because i thought for sure we where going to get stuck. like when we went to fill our car with gas, the flap was froze shut ha and the doors were stuck. the advisary was really trying to stop us. our tire was flat and we couldnt get the ice off the windshield too.... was craziness... anyway we finally make it on our way and holy cow, i dont think i have ever seen anything like it. as we where driving the sun was at that right angle where it shown through the trees and all the trees, each blade of grass, where like glass! they had a perfect even coating of ice cover them top to bottom. and as the sun hit them it glistened like a sea of glass and the trees...  man i cant even described it. it was sooo cool. and the roads were totally fine they stayed warm and ice free. oh and i would have taken pictures but i was driving and we were too busy freaking out haha sorry :/. so we made it safe and sounds to cassville and with a very surprised branch, we got to enjoy the greatest baptism yet :) in my mission haha. kathryn was so excited! and she looked soo happy all dressed up in her awesome jump suit haha pure and white. we took pictures and got to be witnesses. the spirit was so powerful. as we all layed our hands upon her head to receive the holy ghost, i couldnt fight back the tears of joy.. she worked so hard to make it and she finally did. the spirit was in every corner,crack, and crevice of that building. you couldnt hide from it. and after, she bore her testimony so beautifully! and with perfect sincerity. she told of all the anti and hate she faced from her friends and old church members. and she said to the branch that she was going to need there help to be accountable and let her know if she ever strays from the path. she has such Strong faith and desires to serve God and Christ. she even talked about, thinking about a mission well she said she would think about it haha. i think she will, she already is one basically. man it was so awesome!! i loved every moment of it. if that was or is the only baptism i see on my mission that made it all worth it to finally see what comes from this work. the scripture really is true when it says even if you bring one soul onto me how great will be your joy.!  oh my joy is great!

i love this work and my mission and this brings us to our next dilemma haha because of the age change in missionaries and the shorting of the mtc the next transfer is only going to be 5 weeks which will cut my mission down by a week.. soo i prayed and pondered about it and im going to try and stay longer out in my mission. it is up to president to what happens, but i am going to do all i can to stay out longer haha.. i love you family so much, but i really dont want to go home. let alone come home a week early. i will let you know as to what he says :)

i love you all and ill talk to you next week !! hope all is awesome! and i miss ya! and love you all!! sorry for the lack of emails i will try to get back in the zone ha oh and thank you soooo much for all the birthday gifts they were perfect and  i am going to write them a letter too but please tell john and kim all them thank you sooooo much for the gift!!! love ya!!!!

-love elder houston

NEW AREA AGAIN....NEVADA MISSOURI

Elder Houston's email

December 17, 2012

 

so tons of new change. cassville was great ! i will miss it even though we were only there for 6 weeks . its so funny to think like i thought for sure that i was going to end my mission out there for sure, but nope. this is third transfer in a row that i have been shot gunned or white washed! all new stuff starting from ground zero again haha. so nevada is a pretty cool little town its got about 8000 people in it and then we found out when we got here that we also cover another area in kansas. its fort scott. so i have offically served in all four states woot woot!! we are at the very tip top of our mission like our area boarders the kansas city stake which is the other mission. oh which reminds me so i got a letter from jamie and jarom sorry if thats not his name i totally forgot alot haha sorry i still love you both ! and their baby!! thats the first time i seen him super crazy... so much has happend but any way so ya. i was wondering how far they lived from me! there are a ton of people that go to KU out here so i always ask if the know them. haha long shot i know but its fun to ask. oh ya! and also so we had dinner with a member family the claypools, last night and they invited a return missionary to there house to eat too and guess what!!! he served in the mesa mission!! he was in the stake when the changes happend!!!!! crazy huh! he was way cool he lived in mexico missouri but then his family moved to rolla missouri while he was out i cant remember his last name tho. man it is a super small world haha and speaking of that is so awesome and crazy that drake sat next to elder gunnell!! i just talked to that guy like on thursday !! he was saying he was going home. he came out with elder treasure but went home transfer early from school i think. i love that guy! to crazy he is gone and drake is home!!! life just seems to be flying by. and is getting more exciting too.! my patriartchal blessing was totally right on when it said that i would have the spirit of elihja in my so strong. i found out from this english dude in cassville he was great! he was a member and loved history and was from england and knew a lot about the history over there and in scotland and ireland, and guess what!!!! he found our clan!!! there is a houston clan! we have our own colors and everything like kilts and he found our crest ahah which is funny to me because guess what is on our crest... an sand glass hour thing ha and our motto is " in time" hahah it should be, "on time" hahahaha i need to learn more about my famliy history and maybe it will help me be more "on time" ha so cool. i love it ! haha we even have t shirts and tarten ties you can buy. im going to get one some day. they are green and gold and i think white i cant remember much of it he pulled it up when we were getting a ward list from him ha. but yep we have a town in scottland its small i have picture and our clan was adopted into a bigger clan the mcdonald clan haha mickey D's ha  i cant wait to learn more and have more time to find more cool stuff and help our dead by doing their work in the temple so we may all rejoice together! because we cannot be saved with out our dead nor can the dead with out us temples rock!! i miss them. anyway sorry about the random email ha i just felt like chating the work is still going well kinda slow again just trying to find people to teach and finding the bishop of the ward. i think he is avoiding us haha. oh and we found out about skypeing so we are going to have dinner with this family and they going to let us skype after so i will call to set all up and then talk to ya so plan on around like 6 i hope but i will let you know :) cant wait!!! love you all so much and will talk to you soon !

 

love elder houston

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

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.

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 in its 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