Elder Tyler Houssian: September 2017

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Week #9

Hola!

Another solid week down here in Visalia!!! Our investigators are progressing very well and have two baptisms solid for this Sunday! We have been working a lot through the less actives and inactives and got a ton of them to come to church this week (plus 7 of our investigators!).

This week we got to visit the Temple! The Temple here in Fresno is small but super nice and the session was amazing! We also got fed a lot this week and ate a ton of mexican food! I love the carne con salsa verde con arroz y frijoles all put in a tortilla! My parents would be proud too cause I ate sandwiches with mustard and mayonnaise and tomatoes (All things I hate) that an old lady in our ward made for us!

We got to visit the Sequoia National park for Preparation day today and It was really amazing! The trees are MASSIVE and there are tons of them! We got to see some of the biggest trees in the world! It is also up at like 6000-7000 feet so the cool air was a great break from the heat! We also got to see some awesome views and all the other mountains around!

This weeks study for me has been in the Book of Mormon, books Jacob-Mosiah! Some of my favorite part are in Jacob 5 (The parable of the Vineyard) which requires some deep thinking to find the interpretation but is super solid, and my favorite scripture is in Jacob 6:12 - ¡Oh, sed prudentes! ¡Qué más puedo decir!

The lord's work is continually moving forward and I know the it truly is a marvellous work! Tell next week!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

Rain in Fresno?

Top of Sequoia National Park! (Moro Rock!)

El Templo!

Monday, September 11, 2017

Week #8

Buenas Dias!

Great week out here in Visalia California! The work has been progressing a ton here! We have a huge baptismal goal of 127 baptisms for the whole mission so we've got lots of work to do! We have 8 baptisms planned for this month so far and 4 for the next month! We also had 6 investigators at church yesterday and 5 of us Elders in the ward sang "Cuenta Tu Bendiciones" for a Sister's homecoming talk!

Two of the Elders in our area got transferred out to fill in for an Hermana who got sent home for medical reasons so we took over their area and now have 2 huge areas! Basically 2/3 of a stake! A lot of work needs to be done but I am super excited!!!

We are teaching the Ortiz family here who have 2 kids and they are Solid!!! They have been coming to church the past couple weeks and have a desire to be baptized! We are planning for the 30th for them! We also have been teaching 2 kids from part member families named Marcos and Andy and they both will be Baptized on the 23rd! Our last two most progressing investigators are Alejandra and Isabel! Alejandra is a bit older and has 2 kids, one is a member, she says she is ready to learn about the church and wants to have the peace and strong family relationships that come from the church! Isabel is in her 70's and has 36 grand kids who almost all live in the same apartment complex! She says every day the missionaries would pass by her and not talk to her or some would give her a card then leave for the past like 15 years but one day she yelled at us to come over and said basically she was tired of waiting and needed the word of god now! We then had a super awesome lesson over the plan of salvation and you could see the sincerity of her desire to learn! The plan salvation means so much to those who haven't heard it before! We then had 2 more lessons with her and they were both super solid but her husband is this super gordo old mexican grandpa who loves to talk with us and tell jokes! Randomly during our lessons he will make some random super loco comment and then laugh hysterically! Isabel then scolds him and calls him a borrchicho (Little drunkard) and tells him basically to get a life! Lol.

This week we met a crazy mix of people! Some who are die hard Christians, some who are on something, some who are super nice and give us water and tell us stories, some who come to bible bash, some to praise us on spreading the good word of god, some who are ready to change their live and are super open to the gospel, and then the best are the ones who god has prepared for us who were only kept from the truth because they knew not where to find it!

The work is going strong here and I love the work so much! My Spanish is getting better everyday!

This week I studied the Book of Mormon a lot! One part many people overlook is the intro, It's super solid and is a perfect explanation of what the Book of Mormon is and it's importance! If you haven't read it yet I invite you to check it out!

y que un hombre se acercaría más a Dios al seguir sus preceptos que los de cualquier otro libro”.

Love all you and have a solid week!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

Flips at the church!

A day out in the Church Vineyard!

Monday, September 4, 2017

Week #7

Buenas Dias!!!

I'm back across the wall safe and sound here in Fresno! The mission here is super awesome! We got a huge welcome from Presidente and Sister Mackay and tons of the missionaries! We arrived here at like 1 after a long early travel and a stop in Dallas. 10 of us came from Mexico and 10 from Provo so we have 20 new missionaries!!!

I have two Latino trainers Elder Del Carmen and Elder Morales! They are so solid and amazing trainers! They are zone leaders so we got a lot a stuff we help out with around the mission and area! I'm in an area called Visalia about an hour south of Fresno and filled with tons of Latinos!!! Since I'm with zone leaders we get a truck and it's a new 2017 Toyota Tacoma! I love driving it (Although California drivers are loco en la cabeza)!

After a bunch of logistics and pre field meetings we have teaching and tracting a ton! Our area is super big! (Basically the whole stake here) And we have 7 Elders in the same Spanish ward! All lot of work needs to be done here! We have super solid investigators! One Investigator is an old man named Margarito and has a super cool Spanish accent! We set him with a Baptismal date and he accepted! We also set another investigator named Andy with a baptismal date and he accepted as well! He's 9 and part of a part member family and is really smart for his age and loves the gospel! I extended him a challenge that if he read the book of Mormon then I would show him some flips and when we came back he read two whole chapters in one night!

Don't have much time to email but I've been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon and it's such a powerful book! I love reading so much!!!

Alma 34 is one of my favorites and I definitely would recommend reading it!

32 Porque he aquí, esta vida es cuando el hombre debe prepararse para comparecer ante Dios; sí, el día de esta vida es el día en que el hombre debe ejecutar su obra.

I love the work here and love teaching the Latino People sooooo much (Even though the heat is brutal! I love and miss you guys a ton and your always in my prayers!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian