Week #27

Hola Hola!

Great and super crazy week here in Porterville! We have still been on bikes biking a Ton (Over 30 a day)! Every night the second we hit the bed we are out! But we have seen a huge amount of progress here! We found 3 new families to teach this week and they received super well! We also saw a lot of progress with Juliet! We got to have 4 really solid visits with her and she is super excited to be baptized on the 11th! 

On Thursday we had zone conference and it was really good! Both of my trainers are leaving though which is a bit sad. 

On Friday it was my Birthday and we had a super solid day! We did service for a member and in return she bought us a birthday cake! We also got a juicer and since we get a ton of fresh oranges and Lemons we made a bunch fresh juice! Saturday night we ate the best Tacos I'd ever had and I ate 18 and Elder Hoffmann ate 20! Right after I did a sideflip to prove the Tacos don't weigh me down! We had a long night on the bikes though!

Sunday was stake conference and all the Spanish speakers from Porterville, Tulare, and Lindsay joined together! 

I'm back at the beginning of the Book of Mormon and my favorite verse of the week was 1 Nephi 3:7 7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

I've been using a really solid Book of Mormon study guide and in it it explains that the trip to return to Jerusalem was about 181 mile and 12-14 days! I've been on hikes like that before and know how physically demanding they can be. With that we can truly see how much faith Nephi had when he gave the response he did!

Well that's about all new! Have a solid week!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

Week #26

Buenas Tardes!

Very Solid week here in Porterville! Last preparation day I hit a median and messed up wheel a bit so we were on bikas the whole week! (I found a secret too, if you eat chile then you bike faster!) We biked around 30+ miles a day all of Porterville and actually a lot of progress in the work!!! 

On Friday we found a new investigator named Tania who recently moved here from Mexico and let us right in and took notes the whole lesson! She absolutely loved it and said she wanted to be baptized! We go back tomorrow and can't wait!

We also had a super solid turn out in church this week and our gospel principles class jumped from 5 or 6 to around 20! We had quite a few returning less actives, investigators, and friends of members! Lot's of great things coming soon in Porterville!

Elder Fernandez is getting emergency transferred to Visalia (my old area) because Elder Allen my old companion is going back to Puerto Rico!!! So we'll be back to a duo (Adios to los tres amigos!).

Today we went up to a members ranch way up and Springville and hiked by the river in the mountains and ate some burgers! We then biked all the way bike 36 mile and got back in about 1hr 20mins! We flew! But my legs were dead by the end! 

I also finished the Book of Mormon this week for the first time in a long time! I absolutely love the end of the Book of Mormon!

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhortyou that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in thename of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shallask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith inChrist, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by thepower of the Holy Ghost.

This verse is powerful! And when Moroni says "These things" he means the whole book! Front to back! It is impossible to know if the church is true or have a complete understanding about Jesus Christ without reading all the Book of Mormon! I have seen my testimony grow so much and my relationship with god grow a ton!!! Right after I finished I started it again and I hope to continue this cycle for the rest of my life!

Very solid week here and loads more to come soon! 

Con Amor,

Week #25

Buenas Tardes Amigos!

It was quite the crazy week here in Porterville! Elder Hoffmann arrived on Tuesday and we got surprised with 2 new Elders in the English ward who have no apartment so they tossed them in with us in our small one bano apartment! But esta bien!

The work has been going very good here! Our investigators are progressing very well and Juliet is still looking forward for her baptism! On Wednesday we brought two less actives to the family history center and it turned out that the specialist was out so We basically had to help them start every thing on our own (Very little) family history knowledge. It ended up being a solid night and somehow we found a ton of their ancestors and they loved it! Mexican lines are super crazy too because of the limited records and use of many different names and their bad english translations! But they area really excited to get to the temple!

We saw a miracle on Wednesday on exchanges with the zone leaders, since we had two companionships of 3 we did a three way split and I went on bikes with Elder Yancy! I wasn't so sure where we were going to go or what we were going do so we just started to bike and like 3 min later this guy calls to us to pull over! So he pulled his car in and we started to talk, it turns out he was a member who spoke mostly Spanish who recently moved in here and hadn't been to church for a while! We had a great talk and gave him the churches directions and on Sunday he came and gave his testimony which was very touching to hear! We also gave him a blessing for his back which was about to have it's 7th operation! 

Friday was El Dia De Los Reyes so we went to a members our and ate some Rosca (A massive traditional bread thing. and what they do is hide 6 little doll things inside and whoever finds one has to cook for everyone else one day in February! Elder Hoffmann and I ended up with one and Elder Fernandez with two! 

Overall a great week and we see a lot of potential for this transfer! I'm in the Book of Ether now and my favorite scripture this week came from Ether 12:27 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humblethemselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weakthings become strong unto them.

We all have weaknesses that we want to improve this new year of 2018, but one thing we should all try to improve are our spiritual weaknesses! We all have chinks in our armor of god and this is a perfect time to set spiritual goals like Read the Book of Mormon, Have a constant Family Home Evening Schedule, learn about the life of a Prophet, or Start of Family History work. Whatever it may be through Jesus Christ we can make these weaknesses become strong!

Have a solid week!

Con Amor

Elder Houssian

Week #24

Great week here in Porterville!

It was the last week of the transfer and it was solid! We were quite busy this week and had a lot of really good lessons! We also found a few solid new investigators to teach! We basically been teaching all of our current Investigators Ivelice and Hugo family and they all love our lessons! We also got to teach Juliet again and shes really determined to be Baptized on the 27th!

We receive new that Elder Fernandez and I will be receiving a new companion Elder Hoffman! He was with me in the CCM and is a solid missionary! Many high hopes for this upcoming transfer! It's crazy to think its 2018 already!

This week I've been studying in the Book of Ether a lot! My favorite Scripture is 6:4 and it came to pass that when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.

This was an amazing act of Faith to just get in the boats and say, all right lord, take us to the promise land! Faith is one of the powerful things we can have! Especially faith in the lord Jesus Christ!

Have a Great week and a solid 2018!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

New Years Dinner!!! Fresh Chivo!