Week #38

Hola mis amigos!

What a week!!! The work is catching fire here in Kerman! We started off with a solid zone conference where we got our new smartphones and trained how to use them! It's weird having a device again but so nice to not have to carry around so much in my bag and to have a ton of new resources! Definitely is going to push the work further! We saw a ton of progress in our investigators! We also had a miracle baptism! 

We finally were able to meet with our investigator Aida this week on Wednesday and she said she didn't feel like it was the right time to be baptized anymore because her mom was really sick on her deathbed and said she needed to be with her. That night I started a fast and Elder Okolowitz and I prayed hard together and fasted all day tell we met with here right before dinner on Thursday and one of the first thing she tells us is her mom was stable again and she wanted to be baptized as long as she stays good!!! We then had a super awesome lesson and she said she was ready for the interview! We had to call president over for an emergency interview on Friday and then planned the baptism in 1 day! It was a bit tough but it ended up being a super awesome and spiritual baptism! When Aida arrived at the baptism she told us her mom started to get worse but she had faith that God wanted her to be baptized and would watch over her mom while she was away! She loved the baptism and looked so happy and felt the spirit so strong! Aida for sure is going to be a rock solid of a convert with her firm testimony of Christ and desire to build to lords kingdom!

Saturday morning we were biking around and we saw this lady sitting outside having a yard sale! She told us she used to be taught by missionaries but moved away and told us we could come teach her! So we set up an appointment and right as we were heading off I spotted a ping pong table in the corner of the garage, I ask how much and she said 20$ plus she'd deliver it to our apartment! A sweet two in one deal, Investigator and ping pong table!

Sunday I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting and I got the talk Saturday night and it ended up being pretty good (At least that's what they tell me) and 12 min long! Before the mission I was a terrible public speaker but I think I'm finally getting used to it!

My favorite scripture comes from some of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon! 2nd Nephi 29:2 ...and my words shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth, for a standard unto my people,...

And in the words of one of my favorite talks by Ezra Taft Benson in April 1975 explains:

Now, we have not been using the Book of Mormon as we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our children to Christ. Our families may be corrupted by worldly trends and teachings unless we know how to use the book to expose and combat the falsehoods in socialism, organic evolution, rationalism, humanism, etc. Our missionaries are not as effective unless they are “hissing forth” with it. Social, ethical, cultural, or educational converts will not survive under the heat of the day unless their taproots go down to the fullness of the gospel which the Book of Mormon contains. Our Church classes are not as spirit-filled unless we hold it up as a standard. And our nation will continue to degenerate unless we read and heed the words of the God of this land, Jesus Christ, and quit building up and upholding the secret combinations which the Book of Mormon tells us proved the downfall of both previous American civilizations.

If your not reading it daily your being robbed of so many blessings and promises!

Have a great week!

Con Amor

Week #37

Hola Hola!

Very great week this week! Saw a lot of progress in the work! We've been working a lot of our investigator Aida Diaz and she's super excited and solid for her baptism this Saturday! It's amazing to see how the spirit can change people! We also got the car back so we finally got to go to the little towns outside of Kerman and we taught a lot of people out there!

We went and visited the one lady who had the "Coffee" doormat and the first thing she does is challenge us to a pool match! We accept and Elder Okolowitz and I both beat her, so she called her husband to come play us and we beat him too, but only cause both times he scratched on the 8 ball! They then said" Well, since you beat us we'll now listen to your message" so we shared an awesome message with them!

This week my favorite scripture was 2nd Nephi 2:  26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

100% of what we do is focused on Christ! Christ is the way, the only way, and once we truly understand who he is and what he did and continues to do then we will have a burning desire to share it with others! 

Have a great week mis amigitos! Next week this will be sent from a smartphone!

 Some home made stove pizzas!

Little town of San Joaquin 

Week #36

How are you!?  How was your week??  What did you think of General Conference?  Pretty awesome huh??

We had a good week here!  I subbed at Rooster the first three days of the week.  It was the busiest office I've subbed in so far, but it was still fun!  The boys were busy with basketball, robotics, soccer and church stuff.  

The boys didn't have school on Friday (yay!).  We decided to just stay home and chill that day.  It was a nice break!  Dad and I went to the temple that night.  The bluebonnets are out and it was a gorgeous drive all the way to the temple.  It was ward temple night so it was fun to see some members of our ward there.  We ate at Lupe Tortilla on our way home and I ate the HOTTEST pepper I've had since we moved here!  I about died!!

Saturday, Nathan had a basketball tournament in San Antonio, so dad took Nathan and I stayed and took Matthew to his soccer game.  Sam joined us and then we went to the YMCA to swim.  They have totally remodeled the YMCA here and there is now an outdoor pool where the parking lot used to be!  Then I took the boys to Taco Bell for lunch.

Today we had the Stankovichs, Lindquist and G & G over for Easter dinner and General Conference.  We had lots of yummy food and loved conference!

That's pretty much it for us.  I hope you have a super week!  I love you millions and zillions!!!

Love, 

Mom

Week #35

Hola! Buenos Dias!

Very good week this week! I'm up in Kerman! It's a massive area and covers a bunch of little towns! Kerman itself is a strange little place and has a wierd mix of Mexicans, Rednecks, Sikhs, and a few normal Californians mixed in! (For those who follow football, we cover a town called Firebaugh where the top NFL draft pick is from!) My new companion is Elder Okolowitz and he's an awesome companion! We have really similar personalities and both love to work super hard! The area is really solid too! We cover a Spanish branch and English ward so we always got a lot to do! The work in the Branch is booming! We have a really awesome investigator named Veronica and she came to church and loved it! We also have another investigator name Aida who is the sweetest lady and also came to church and said she felt the spirit super strong! We had 6 non-members their in the branch alone and the room was packed! I also had to give the opening prayer and bless the sacrament! 

We had the privilege to have Presidente Mackay come teach with us and he's a super awesome teacher and the spirit was super strong that lesson!

We also have this awesome but crazy ward mission leader named Brother Boyd who basically owns half the city. We had a ward Easter egg hunt at the church and had a bunch of less active come and an investigator family! Brother Boyd came and said we wanted to spice up the hunt a bit so we pulled a 100$ out of his wallet and put it in an egg! A 4 year old ended up finding it and tossed the money aside and started eating the candy instead! 

My favorite scripture form this week comes from 2nd Nephi 9:7-10 7 Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the firstjudgment which came upon man must needs haveremained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.

These verses talk about what would've happened if Christ didn't do what he did! All hope would be lost, guilt would be permanent, our sufferings would be everlasting, and we would have no purpose in life! That is why Christ's role was vital and all he asks in return is to follow him and his gospel! 

That's about all new this week, take care! 

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

Week #34

Hola Hola!!!

Super solid week this week! It was the last week of the transfer so Elder Hoffmann and I got to work!!! We had a marvelously successful week in finding new people to teach with a bunch of new families including a family of 6!!! We found a total of 20 super awesome new people that are ready to hear the gospel! The father of the family of 6 moved form mexico to Idaho and lived there for a bit and his cousins is a bishop, about two years ago moved here and we had a super awesome lesson with them over the restoration! 

We also got to see Juliette this week she came down from Bakersfield so we had a great lesson and shes super ready to be baptized once she moves back in! We also got to visit Felipe Chavez out in Ducor and had lunch and a great lesson with him! He has made some very good progress with the word of wisdom and the only thing left is smoking to get over! He's also really excited to be baptized! 

This week I received news that I will be getting transferred. I'm a bit sad cause I love Porterville and the branch here but know the Lord needs me elsewhere! I'll be going to Kerman! A little town west of Fresno with Elder Okolowitz (Went to CCM at the same time)! On Sunday they asked me to shared my testimony before I left and then Monday the Garcia's had us over for a goodbye breakfast!!!

My favorite scripture from this week is 2nd Thessalonians 3:   10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

Simple but true! Life is a time to perform our labors! Whether the laboring to bring souls unto Christ, or caring for our families, labor first and then eat! Especially Mexican food!!!

Have a great week mis amigos!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

Week #33

Buenas Tardes!!!

Another great week here in Porterville! 

We saw some great progress in the work! We found some great new people to teach who seem to have a great desire to learn! We have also had a lot of opportunities to teach people about and give them the Book of Mormon! It truly is the tool of the harvest! Our current investigators are also seeing a lot of progress! Things finally are seeming to click!

With Felipe we had two very very good lessons and the spirit was very strong! He also has been doing a great job reading and with the word of wisdom! 

We also had a very good zone conference and had an awesome training over the new Smart phones the mission will be using! The Lord is truly hastening his work!!!

We also had the chance to go up the Sequoias and there was a TON of snow! First time I'd seen snow for 6 years! Very awesome trip!

My favorite scripture from this week is in 1 Nephi 22:31 Wherefore, if ye shall be obedient to the acommandments, and endure to the end, ye shall be saved at the last day. And thus it is. Amen.

These last words Nephi speaks in first Nephi contain two of the most important things obedience and enduring!!! If we can do these to things to the best of our abilities, we shall one day return and live with a fullness of joy in God's kingdom!!!

A lot of good things coming up this last week of the transfer! Have a great week!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

Week #32

Hola!!!

Very good week this week! Winter finally seemed to come and we got a bunch of rain and cold weather! Quite abnormal weather for this area during March! But it was good for us because no one works in the field when it rains so all of our investigators were home!  We saw a lot of progress with Felipe Chavez (our investigator in Ducor), We finished the plan of salvation and taught the word of wisdom and found out he has problems with 4 of the 5 things but we set a goal for him to stop in 1 months and he's excitingly accepted! He really wants a change for his life and see the power the gospel can bring! We did a lot of contacting this week to find new people to teach and the lord placed some awesome people in our path! One lady moved in from Mexico not long ago and said she had been wanting to draw closer to god and her family had been telling her to get closer god too, the next day we showed up after being prompted to knock on her door and she was so happy and said she knew god had sent us! That night she was going back to Mexico to visit her mom and so we gave her a book of Mormon to read on the plane! 

A lot of the people we talked to didn't want to listen to a message but wanted to feed us so 5 out of the 7 days this week we had 2 dinners!

My favorite scripture from this week is in 1 Nefi 15 

23 And they said unto me: What meaneth the rod of ironwhich our father saw, that led to the tree?

24 And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.

This world has a lot of temptation and distraction that the adversary sends, but if we hold fast to the word of God, we will not be over powered and will partake of the fruit of the tree of life which is gods love! 

Have an excellent week! Espero que los frijoles salgan bien! 

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian