Hey y'all! Another week has passed, as well as another transfer! It has been going by so fast, it's crazy! Well this week has been the first week in the mission for me that has be slow. And also Elder Webb and I were really caught off guard with an investigator and with transfers, which I'll get to in a minute!
First, our investigator Darryl (I just realized I've been spelling his name wrong this whole time, whoops!) was supposed to get baptized Saturday. We have been working with him for a couple months. He has been struggling with some things, but was ready to be clean for a week to be baptized. But sadly, Saturday morning we received a text from him saying he would have to postpone his baptism because that morning he broke the streak of being clean for a week. Elder Webb and I are pretty devastated, but we aren't giving up. Darryl can do this! We are glad he told us though, and we went and saw him that afternoon and Darryl is so motivated to be better so that he can enter the waters of baptism, which we are super excited to help him accomplish.
The next thing is transfers. This upcoming transfer is Elder Webb's last, he goes homeNovember 30th. We wanted to stay together so bad so I could send him home after his last transfer, which would be so much fun. Other missionaries in the district and zone predict who will stay and leave, and Elder Webb and I both predicted that he would leave and probably go to North LV, and I would stay in our area and possibly train. It is very uncommon in our mission for the trainer/trainee to stay together after the 12 week training, so that influenced our predictions, but others also agreed with what we predicted. So Saturday hits and we receive our transfer doctrine. Our ZLs stand at the front and start calling off names, and they get to Elder Webb first between the two of us. They say "Elder Webb, you will be staying in Stewart Place" and then we got super excited and then they continued and said "and your new companion will be Elder Robinson"..... we were shocked haha. So then they keep reading off names and then get to me and say "Elder Houssian, you will be going to North to follow-up train"... so I guess I'm being transferred! I'm stoked to go and follow-up train (the Elder has been out for 6 weeks, and his trainer was transferred this transfer as well, so I go replace him for the last 6 weeks of training) and I've heard good things about this Elder so I'm excited! But I will also miss Elder Webb a lot and I'm bummed I can't send him home next transfer.
My spiritual thought this week comes from the talk "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. In it he quotes Elder Neil A. Maxwell's "Notwithstanding My Weakness". He says "Now may I speak . . . to those buffeted by false insecurity, who, though laboring devotedly in the Kingdom, have recurring feelings of falling forever short. . . This feeling of inadequacy is . . . normal. There is no way the Church can honestly describe where we must yet go and what we must yet do without creating a sense of immense distance. . . This is a gospel of grand expectations, but God’s grace is sufficient for each of us." Brothers and sisters, along with Elder Maxwell, I testify that this is true. God's grace is sufficient for all of us. No matter where we are or what we've done, we can always come back and God will receive us with loving and open arms. Christ is there with us every step of the way in life. He's not just waiting at the end, he's trucking with us through the joys and trials of life. He is picking us up when we fall and carrying us until we are able to get back on our feet. He died for our sins and suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane where he felt every pain, sorrow, sadness... everything. He knows how we feel and what we are going through. I know this to be true. Don't give up, keep pressing forward and turn to the Lord for guidance and help, and I promise He will help you get through anything that is placed in front of you, if you have absolute faith in Him. This gospel is true. I know it is. I know my Savior loves you and I, and knows each one of us individually and personally. Thank you all for your support, love, and prayers while I'm out in the service of the Lord. May God bless all of you in your efforts to continuously strive to live according to the will of our Father in Heaven, and may He watch over and protect each and every one of you. I love you all. You are in my prayers. I say this in His name, even Jesus Christ, amen.
Until next week!
Elder Houssian
My zone normal picture except Elder Cook always flexing the big guns!
Sweet sunset on top of the hill!
My dysfunctional zone (Romero and I hittin' the folks!)
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