Week #31

Buenos Dias!!! 

Very good week again here in Porterville! The work is building momentum here in Porterville! We took a trip up to Ducor again to teach Felipe again and had a fire lesson! We invited him to be baptized on the 17th and he was pumped! He feels the spirit so strong when we teach him and we downloaded the gospel library app on his phone and he's super excited to listen to the Book of Mormon! We made another trip again out there on Saturday with the branch mission leader and had another solid lesson on the plan of salvation! We also found a new family to teach who has 7 kids!

Tuesday we got to go to the Temple as a zone and had an awesome temple trip! I love the Temple so much! We also had some cold weather blow in again and it dropped into the 20s and froze a bunch of stuff!

Thursday we were on Exchanges and Elder Cragun and I took the bus up to Springville, the only little town we hadn't been to yet. Spanish missionaries hadn't been there for years and we found out why, cause it's puro gringos! We contacted the whole town riding all over on our bikes and found only 3 mexicanos! (Who also spoke English perfectly so we gave them to the English Elders). We even went to the two Mexican restaurants there and everyone was gringos! 

Friday night I got a call and was told I had to give a 15 min talk! So during personal study I wrote it up, practiced it, then gave the talk Sunday Morning and I think it went pretty well! They said they could understand perfectly and learned a lot! I guess the gift of tongues helped out a bit there! I also ate a super spicy chili before to help my fluency! 

One of the key parts to testimony is Pondering! We must have faith that the Lord will answer first, then ponder the things we learn in our hearts and if we do so the Lord will reveal unto us the knowledge we seek if it is his will!   

This week my favorite scripture comes from 1 Nefi 11 1 For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord

One of the key parts to testimony is Pondering! We must have faith that the Lord will answer first, then ponder the things we learn in our hearts and if we do so the Lord will reveal unto us the knowledge we seek!

Have a solid week!

Con Amor y Frijoles,

Elder Houssian

Week #30

Buenos Dias! 

Esta semana ha sido muy buena! We got a lot of good work done! Wednesday I finished El Libro de Mormon en Espanol! Started on El Nuevo Testamento and have been reading a chapter a night! 

On Wednesday we went up to Ducor again and Terrabella and found a solid investigator out in Ducor named Felipe Chavez! Shared the restoration, beared our testimony, then invited him to be baptized and he said "Amen! Lets do it Hermanos!"! We've also found another lady to teach out in Woodville and one here in Porterville so we've been teaching all over! We also have been working a lot to get to know all the members of the branch better and found two really good part member families to work with! Lot's of good stuff happening here! 

Last Monday we went up on a hike and I got to do some fun flips and taught Elder Cragun how to do a sideflip! We got some sweet photos! 

In my studies this week I've been reading two really good talks about missionary work along with my study in the Book of Mormon! I really liked the reference used in one of the talks to 1 Samuel 16:7 a solid scripture mastery I learned back in my seminary days  7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

We often look at others and say "I don't think they are ready for the gospel" or "maybe they'll be ready someday" but in reality we are doing what the lord councils us not to do! If we don't invite them then we are making this eternal decision for them! "Open you mouth and it shall be filled" we must invite without fear! 

Have a solid week!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

Week #29

Hola! 

Very good week again here in Porterville! We got transfer calls and I will be staying another transfer here with Elder Hoffmann!!! I'm glad I get to stay cause we have a lot of investigators that are finally starting to become really solid! We sadly had to move Juliette's baptism date cause I bunch of crazy things happened with her but she made it to church again and absolutely loved it!

This week we went to the way south part of are area which is actually the most south part of the mission named Ducor! There are 3 small towns outside of Porterville we cover and they are like 99% Spanish speaking so we found of potentials out there and a new investigator! 

I bought my own little juicer and we get TONS of fresh oranges so I 've been making fresh OJ for us every morning and it's the best!!!

This week one of my favorite scriptures comes from 1st Nephi 6: 4 For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved.

The whole purpose of the Book of Mormon is to draw us unto the savior of the world Jesus Christ! It can bring so much peace into our lives and testifies of Christ like no other Book in the world!!! 

That's about all new! Have a solid week!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

Week #28

Hola Hola!

Very good week again in Porterville! We got the car back so we started the week heading to a bunch of the little outskirt towns that we hadn't been able to visit and we found a bunch of solid potentials to teach out there and basically all the people in the towns speak only espanol! 

We then moved to a new casa! Finally got out of the tiny apartment and into a little casa with dos banos! We had to spend a few days moving and deep cleaning the old apartment (Which took forever). Pretty much all of our neighbors speak spanish so I hung up the mexico flag right in the front window!

We also saw some great progress with our investigators! Juliette is pretty solid to be baptized on the 11th and is super excited! We also saw some great progress with Ivelice and Hugo and had 2 really good lessons with them! One of the lessons we brought over our juicer and Hugo works in the orange fields so always has tons of fresh oranges so we juice like a 100 of them with him and he loved it! Nothing like fresh California OJ!

This week we were doing service with a member who was super sick for 13 years and every doctor told him he has no hope and will die soon. He tried all the doctors he could but all said the same. So he turned to his Elders Quorum president for a blessing and in the blessing he was told the cure was in Doctrine and Covenants 89 (The Word of Wisdom)! So he studied for many days in both English and Spanish and with much prayer and made an outline for his new diet plan using that. 6 months later he goes back to the doctor and they were amazed! He was healed! And his relationship to god and testimony was stronger than ever! I too decided to study Section 89 and I can say without a doubt The Word of Wisdom is a PERFECT health guide and was direct revelation from god! Who better to tell us how to treat our bodies than the creator himself!

That's about all new down here! Have a solid week amigos!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Houssian

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,