Week #76

Hey hey everyone! We have had such a great week this week! The work is starting to move forward and we are continuing to see miracles in the work!

We have been really focusing on what we can do as individuals and as a companionship to have the Spirit with us more in our efforts, and we have noticed a change in ourselves and a difference in the work. It’s amazing to see how influential the Spirit is in missionary work!

One of the miracles we saw this week happened while we were out trying to get in contact with some of our investigators. We were walking up this hill in a neighborhood and this elderly lady, Wanda, had stepped outside of her house right as we were about to walk past it. So we stopped and talked to her, and ended up having a very good conversation with her and got to know her pretty well. She seemed really interested in us coming back and we are looking forward to seeing her this week. 

We actually had a string of miracles that day. Right after talking to Wanda we were walking back down the hill, and another lady walks out into her garage to clean up some stuff, so we went and talked to her. Turns out she is married to a member of the church and they sometimes attend a ward out in Boulder City with the husband’s parents! They read from the Book of Mormon and she invited us to come back and said she wanted to feed us! She has family on her side that are members as well, so it’s a great setup! Then we left and walked a few more houses down and we found a Bluetooth ear piece outside on the sidewalk. We left a card with a note saying we had it and put it in the door of the house. We got a call that night, and the next day went over and gave it to them and had a great conversation with them. They actually had just come back from their nephew being baptized into the Mormon Church up in Boise!

This week I wanted to share a scripture that I have really grown to love throughout my mission. It is in the New Testament, Hebrews 2:18, and it reads:

“18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”

I love this verse. Because of the suffering and temptation that the Savior went through, He is able to run to our aid and help us. He knows where our trials lie ahead, and He knows how to help us through them. Christ is our purest source for help, and it is all because He has felt all of the trials, pains, sorrows, and everything else that we would ever go through as individuals and families in this life. He is the perfect source of unconditional love and support. He loves us, He wants to help us, we just need to ask for it. He will not step in to help us if we do not ask Him to, that is a principle of our agency. But, if we humble ourselves before God and recognize that we cannot go through this life alone, the Savior will step in, and the healing power of His Atonement will envelop us. We will feel His endless love in our life and we will know that we have a loving Father in Heaven and a loving Savior who are both ready and willing to help us find the most joy and happiness in this life. I promise that as we turn more to Him, seek His help, and trust in His power and wisdom, we will be carried through our trials and made stronger for the trials ahead, and we will feel more joy and happiness than ever before. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I love y’all! I hope you have a wonderful week! Until next week! God speed!

Elder Houssian

 Vrrroom! Vrrrom!

 Sweet projected countdown to Christmas

Elder Smith was feeling the 9 hours of church on Sunday!

Week #75

Howdy y’all! This week has flown by, and another transfer has come and gone! I feel like we were just here haha. Time truly is going by so fast. We’ve had another great week together and we are loving working together!

So for starters, transfer calls came in yesterday and...... I’m staying for a 4th transfer and I’m going to continue training Elder Smith! I am so excited and looking forward to another transfer with him. This is by far the longest I’ve stayed in an area, 1/4 of my mission actually, but I’m glad it’s these wards, because they’re great! 

This week we continued the process of weeding out people who aren’t interested in our records and seeing where our investigators are at in their progress and what their end goal is. It’s been nice to be able to get some of that done so that we can focus on the people who are ready to hear the message of the gospel. 

We had a cool experience this week with one of our members, Rudy Ruettiger (the guy who the movie “Rudy” is about). We help him take care of his pets, and this weekend he called us over to give us a Christmas present. We went over and he pulled out two jerseys with his name and number on it and signed them! It was so cool! He is a great guy and we have built a great relationship with him. I’ll send the picture next week!

Tyler is doing well, he is our most solid investigator right now. He is getting ready for baptism and is progressing very well!

This week I wanted to share a scripture that I came across in my studies. It is

Alma 36:17-19, and it reads;

17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

I love this passage. Alma is speaking to his son Helaman and is talking about his conversion experience. He was “racked with torment” because of the sins She he had committed. Then remembering the teachings of his father, he humbled himself and prayed and asked for forgiveness and mercy, and the Lord provided it. As we go through life and make mistakes, striving to be better, we can be forgiven and healed by the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but we must humble ourselves and ask for it that forgiveness and healing. It isn’t necessary to carry the burden of our sins on our shoulder. Repentance is a joyful process, and I know that to be true. It will benefit us more physically and spiritually to repent and ask for forgiveness rather than weighing ourselves down by keeping them to ourselves. I pray that we may all come to this realization, and allow God to forgive us and the Savior to heal us. I know these things to be true, and I can promise you will feel an overwhelming sense of joy and happiness, because I have experienced it in my own life. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love y’all! Have a tremendous week! Until next week! God speed!

Elder Houssian

 Rudy's Bird, Willie

#curry

Week #74

Howdy everyone! Another week is in the bag! This week flew by, as did this transfer. It’s already week 6! We’ve had a great week this week, and we definitely saw some miracles! 

This week we had back to back Ward Christmas parties, and had a great turn out! We had 6 of our investigators attend and one of them, Aida, was one of our miracles we saw this week! So we were about to start driving Friday night, and we received a referral for Aida on our phone. She had gone onto the Mormon.org Facebook page and requested us to come by! So we called her and she asked us to stop by the next morning, and of course we went! She is the sweetest lady and is originally from Egypt! She has lived in a lot of different places and has talked to missionaries before, and she has a very strong belief in Christ. So we met with her and invited her to the Christmas party, and she came! She loved it and she was able to meet a ton of ward members! We are continuing to teach her, and things are looking promising for sure!

Another highlight was us doing service for a single lady in the ward. We had 19 tonnes of rock to move, and we showed up with members from the ward and went to work! We have a few members in the ward who own landscaping companies, and they brought their equipment (including a small tractor to load rock into wheelbarrows) to make the job easier. We ended up moving all of the rock and getting it laid out in an hour and 15 minutes. It was so awesome to witness!

My spiritual thought this week comes from a scripture that I came across in my studies. It is found in the Book of Mormon, Alma 37:6, and it reads;

“6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.”

Often times as humans we are always wanting to do the great, miraculous, grueling tasks, but we tend to overlook the small and simple things. These small and simple things can be things like reading the scriptures daily, praying daily, going to church, and so on. These small and simple things are what will help us keep and build our testimony. I testify with everything that I have, that these simple things can have some of the greatest impacts on our lives and our testimony. We can become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ through the little things. I promise that as you focus on the little things and strive to do them, you will see a change in yourself and you will build and strengthen your testimony in the gospel and the Savior. You will truly become converted. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Safety Stanley making sure to have a safe ride 😂

Week #73

Howdy howdy! This week has been a blast and has flown by! Like I said before, today is our pday because we went to the temple today! It was such a blessing to be in the house of the Lord. The Spirit was incredibly strong, and it was wonderful to spend some time with my District!

Things are going great! We went to 6 houses for Thanksgiving, it was great! It was nice to spend some time with some members and share the wealth of food

This week has been a pretty good week. We have been able to see some miracles in our work and the Lord is helping move the work forward!

Our investigators are doing very well, especially Tyler! He is getting ready to be baptized on the 16th and is progressing very well! We are about to have some make or break lessons with a few of our investigators. Elder Smith and I are in the process of weeding out people who aren’t as interested and are more wanting us over just to hang out. We have been being bold and forward with our investigators and so far it has been effective.

We had a miracle Sunday night. We were visiting with some of our investigators who are getting ready to move, and as we were with them, one of their friends asked us to come outside and talk with him, so we did. He wants to change his life around and wants our help to do it. We are starting to teach him and he definitely has some potential!

My thought this week comes from the Bible. It is Psalm 27:1, and it reads

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

As we align our will with the Lord’s, what do we have to fear? We can find strength, happiness, and joy that can only be found in the Lord. The purpose of the Savior and His Atonement is not to make us perfect in this life, but to help us learn right from wrong, be forgiven of our sins, and be prepared to be perfected in the life to come. Perfection is not possible in this life, but through the Savior, who is our light and our salvation, and the strength of our life, we can one day stand before God and be judged, have the Savior stand as our advocate, and then be perfected and live in the presence of the Savior and our Heavenly Father, and be with our families for eternity. I know these things to be true and I am so grateful for my family and the blessing it truly is to have them forever. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I hope y’all have a wonderful week! Until next week! God speed!

Elder Houssian

 Coyotes!!  

Week #72

Howdy y’all! Sorry it’s been another crazy busy day! We’ve been doing a lot of service and took some of our pday to do some servicing as well! We have seen so many miracles this week. It has been wonderful to see the hand of the Lord in our work.

We found two awesome families this week! One was a referral and did the other was a miracle we had! It was 8:40 and we were being cold-shouldered left and right. So we decided to knock on one door and then drive home. We picked the house of a former investigator and knocked on the door, and he answered! His name is Scott and he is so awesome. Five minutes into talking to him, and his wife came out and talked to us too. They asked us to come back and teach their 3 kids later that week! So we went over Saturday and had a get-to-know-you lesson, and Sunday the mom came to church and loved it! There is lots of potential for this family!

We have been given the green light to use Facebook and Facebook Messenger now for our proselyting! It will be creating a new Facebook account and using it to post messages and thoughts on it, so feel free to add me! I’ll send out some requests next week also! My new account is Kyle C. Houssian!

I wanted to leave y’all with a short and sweet scripture that I love! It says

“10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God”

I absolutely love this verse. No matter what someone does to us or what we think of them, and no matter what people think of us, everyone has individual worth, and it is GREAT in God’s eyes. You are worth everything to our Heavenly Father, never forget that! I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope y’all have a great week! Until next week! God speed!

Elder Houssian

Week #71

Howdy y’all! I hope y’all had a great week! This week has been a crazy busy week for us! So this week we have seen a lot of progress in our investigators and in our mission! 

There are some advances being made in our use of our technology on the mission! We had a special meeting with President and Sister Youngblood, where we received some awesome trainings. Sister Youngblood talked about some housekeeping stuff (don’t worry mom, my apartment is clean!) and then President Youngblood talked about some much needed things! He talked about discouragement and how we can face it head on on our missions, and then talked about repentance, which is always good to be refreshed on. Then he gave some training on Facebook. We are getting ready to become an Online Proselyting Mission, so you might see some changes on my Facebook account because we have been given the green light to clean up our accounts and get ready to get the ball rolling! I believe it will be a great tool in the mission if used properly. The Lord’s work is moving forward!

We received a super awesome referral from some elders for a family of four! It’s the Rousseau family, Nathan, Tasha, Alexis, and Talon! They are so solid and are such a cute younger family. 

The Redd’s are doing great! They had their baby this week, which was huge! They named him Lemuel. This will be interesting haha! 

Tyler is doing great! We have a solid date set for him and he is motivated and ready to be baptized!

Everyone else is doing well also. Elder Smith has been doing great and is adjusting so well! I have loved serving with him so far! 

This week I came across this quote from President Hinckley which I loved. It says;

“Never forget who you are. … You are in very deed a child of God. … He is your Eternal Father. He loves you. … He wants His sons and daughters to be happy. Sin never was happiness. Transgression never was happiness. Disobedience never was happiness. The way of happiness is found in the plan of our Father in Heaven and in obedience to the commandments of His Beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

We are all children of God. He loves us and wants us all to be happy. The way to be happy in this life is through obeying god the commandments of the Savior and through the Plan of Salvation (a.k.a. The Plan of Happiness). I double to testify what President Hinckley said. God loves us and wants us back home. I promise that as we follow the commandments and build our faith in the Savior, and Heavenly Father’s Plan for us, we will find the most joy and happiness in this life, and eternal joy in the life to come. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a wonderful week y’all! Love y’all! Until next week! God speed!

Elder Houssian

Sent from my iPad

Week #70

Hey y’all!  This week has been crazy busy, and today flew by so I don’t have much time to write! First off, Happy Birthday to my brother Nathan! Love you buddy!

I got my new trainee this week, and I love him! His name is Elder Smith and he’s from Adelaide, Australia! We have been loving serving together and have seen some miracles in the work!

All of our investigators are doing great! This month is looking great for a lot of our investigators! Tyler is doing great and is loving the lessons! The Redds are doing great great also, they are really learning and growing as a family, and Holly is going to have her baby any day now!

Besides that, all is great! I wanted to leave you with this scripture I came across this week in my studies. It comes from Alma, chapter 34, verse 32. It reads

32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

I love this scripture. It is a great reminder that we are only on this earth temporarily, and that after we pass on, we will eventually be in the presence of God again. The decisions and choices we make now will affect us in the life to come. God knew we wouldn’t be perfect and we would sin, so to over come sin and death He sent our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is through Him that we can be forgiven of our wrong choices and be made clean again, and one day live with our loving Heavenly Father again. Those blessings are dependent upon our humility and willingness to allow the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ’s enter into our lives. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope y’all have a wonderful week! Talk soon! God speed!

Elder Houssian

Week #69

Hey y’all! Another week and another transfer are in the bag! This transfer went by so fast! We got our transfer calls this morning and found out that I am staying in my area for a 3rd transfer and I am training again! I am super excited to be able to train another missionary! Elder P is going to a new area in Henderson and he will be training as well. This is a first for me, as it’s the first area that I’ve had where I’ve been there longer than 2 transfers! I love this area so I’m excited to continue serving here!

Our week this week has been busy! We’ve had a lot going on and have been teaching a ton, which is always nice. This week we were able to set one of our investigators with a baptismal date! Her name is Deborah. She is such a nice lady and is really taking the time to study and learn about the Book of Mormon. She comes from a Christian background and knows the Bible very well, and knows how to study it, so she is really loving the Book of Mormon. 

Our investigator Tyler is doing very well! He is on track to being baptized on the 11th, and is so solid. He wants to be a member of the Church so bad. We are going to be seeing him tonight and continuing to tech him and prepare him to be baptized.

The Redd family is doing very well also. Momma Redd is about to have her baby any day now, so we may or may not have to put stuff on hold for a little bit! The kids want to get baptized and are so eager for their baptism on December 9th. 

Everyone else is doing well! We have lots to do today so I’m going to close with a quote this week! It comes from Erastus Snow, an early General Authority, who said it in a discourse given on October 8th, 1879. It says “He (God) will work in his own wondrous way his purposes to perform. It becomes us to be very humble, that we may be worthy to be his instruments in accomplishing his designs.” Humility is a Christ-like attribute, and one that we as humans always are improving on. As we are humble and align our will with God’s, we will be made effective instruments in His hands to accomplish the things He Needs is to accomplish. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a wonderful week! Talk soon! God speed!

Elder Houssian

#vegasstrong

The Squad

 Still working on their musical talent . . .

 Everyone needs the gospel, right?

 Deer sausage and eggs!

The bros!  Elder Owens and Elder P are being transfered.  :(

Week #68

Howdy y’all! Another week is in the bag! Time just keeps moving, it’s already week 6 of the transfer! We were blessed to see miracles in the work this week, and the Lord’s hand was definitely active in the work. 

We went on exchanges this week and I was privileged to be with Elder Owens, a fellow MTC District member, and we had a blast! We were able to meet an awesome family of 5 that was taught by missionaries before, but then lost contact. They are such a fun family and love having us come over and teach their kids! I played basketball with some of the kids while the others and their friends tried to sword fight Elder Owens with plastic swords. Haha all in all they loved us coming over and wanted us to come back!

We were also able to set two more of our investigators to be baptized in November! Their names are Rayne and Sarai. They’re really cool and humble kids that want to learn more and build t their relationship with God. 

All of our other investigators with dates are progressing very well! We had a great week with most of them, and things are looking up to have a great November!

For my spiritual thought this week, I wanted to share a scripture that I came across this week. It is a very common scripture, but it really stuck out to me. It comes from the Book of Mormon in Ether 12:27. It reads;

“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 humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

As a missionary, you feel like there’s an endless list of things you can improve on, which there is. The Lord helps us learn and grow on our mission, and in life. As I have seen my many weaknesses start to surface, I have learned that turning to the Lord for help and strength makes is SO much easier to work through the weaknesses than by my own strength. The Lord has shown us our weaknesses, and has promised that if we humbly turn to Him, He will make our weaknesses become strengths. This is all because of Jesus Christ and the Atonement which He performed. Through Him, we can become stronger, and we can be an instrument in God’s hands to lift up those around us and bring them the joys of the gospel. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a wonderful week y’all! Until next week! God speed!

Elder Houssian

 Handyman Houssian working on a hammock

Slaying this service project!

Week #67

Howdy y'all! Man what a good week. I hope y'all had a great week this week! The weather here has been so nice, I think it's here to stay now! There have been a lot of big things that have happened this week, and it seems like time just keeps getting faster and faster!

So this week we were privileged to hear from President and Sister Youngblood. They gave some great trainings, and I was able to learn a lot from them! We also learned how to change a tire and change the oil in a car, which was fun. Thanks Grandpa Tracy and Dad for teaching me that when I was younger, it came in handy!

This week we had the opportunity to do some service for an elderly lady in our ward and her roommate, Deborah. Deborah is a solid investigator we have! We had to move about a ton of rocks from one side of their property to the other. They rented a truck, and Elder Paulukaitis, the Zone Leaders, and I shoveled it into the truck, which Deborah drove to the other side of the house, and then we unloaded it. It only took 1 1/2 - 2 hours, and we had a lot of fun doing it! Deborah is progressing well and is reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and coming to church! She's doing great.

The Redd family is still going strong. Their only hold up is attending church, but Holly and the girls Gracie and Vannah are all reading and praying as well. They are such a wonderful family and are loving the lessons we are teaching!

Tyler is doing great! Jakob has helped us with the lessons so far, and we are going to see him again later today. He wants to get baptized so bad, it's great! On that note, Jakob also received the Priesthood yesterday. It was such a wonderful moment to witness. Now he can baptize his brother if Tyler wants him to.

We have a few more people we are working with, but we have not been able to meet with them too much this past week. We will definitely be picking it back up with them this upcoming week!

The spiritual thought I wanted to share this week comes from 3 Nephi 11:39, which reads;

39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.

I love this verse. In this part of the Book of Mormon, Jesus visits the people and teaches them His gospel. At the end of this chapter, after He teaches more principles, He leaves this promise. If we build our faith and our testimony on the Savior and on His teachings, we will have a strong foundation, a foundation that is unshakable when the winds of the adversary try to beat us down. The Savior gave us these teachings so that we can find the most peace, happiness, and joy possible in this life. Life will not magically be perfect as we live the gospel, but we will be able to bear with patience our afflictions, and we will be able to find joy in the things that matter most. I know that to be true. Our Savior willingly gave His life for each of us. He knows us personally. He loves us. He knows exactly what we are feeling and what we are going through, because He felt all of that first. I challenge each of you to turn to Him a little more this week. Thank our Heavenly Father for the endless blessings He has given you, and seek guidance from Him through the Holy Ghost. Allow the Atonement of Jesus Christ to carry you, because that is what it is there to do. They are all waiting to help us. I promise you that as you do so, the Lord's hand will be implemented in your life, and you'll find greater happiness and joy in your lives while turning to the Savior. I say these things humbly in the name of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

I love y'all so much! I hope you have a marvelous week! Until next week! God speed!!

Elder Houssian

 Zone Conference!

  My new favorite Halloween decoration!

 I hugged Hermione Granger.  Hermione is and will always be my favorite.  #magical

Shout out to my boy Q.  Do work on the other side, make us proud.  See you soon brother 10/1/17

Week #66

Hey hey y'all! Hope this week has been a great week for everyone. There are lots of big things happening in our area, and this week has been full of miracles!

This week has been great with the Redd family. We had a great lesson with them and set them to be baptized November 18th and they accepted! They are a wonderful family and it has been so great working with them!

We went to go visit Jakob our recent convert this week and see his family as well. His older brother Tyler is my age, and he has been helping us teach Jakob before and after baptism. So come to find out, Tyler was never baptized, even though everyone including himself thought he was baptized. So we went over and asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he accepted and was super excited!! So we are working with him and he is scheduled to be baptized in a November as well! It was such a cool miracle! 

So last night, we had a companionship who was having a hard time finding people in their area this week. I felt impressed to text them Sunday night and see how the work was going for them. They were struggling a bit, so we went with the other companionship in our district and just hit their area hard. From 8:30-9:15 at night we were able to find 6 people to teach and some awesome potential future investigators. It was so fun working as a District and really cool to see the Lord's hand active in the work.

So this week has been a tender week for the Vegas valley, and for a family who I have grown to love so much on my mission. One of my friends, the oldest kid in the family, lost his life this past weekend in the tragedy that occurred on the Strip. It has been a rough week for me, as I have not experienced something like this before. I was able to go and see the family and visit with them Friday, which was a wonderful reunion. Then Saturday I attended the funeral service for my friend. There were 1200+ people there, and more than half of the people who attended were not members of the Church. The two main topics that every speaker mention were the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the Plan of Salvation. The Spirit was present and was very very strong during the service. I learned so much from that service, and this week has helped me grow closer to my Savior and understand God's Plan. My testimony and my faith have been tried this week, and in turn I have had to rely on the Savior and on the scriptures more than ever this week. The spiritual thought I wanted to share with y'all came from my friend's 17 year old sister. She wrote down her testimony of the Book of Mormon and made copies of it, then put them and copies of the Book of Mormon next to the programs at the service. The copies were taken and majority of the copies of the Book of Mormon were as well. I wanted to share with you the testimony she wrote, which will be attached as a picture. Please read it, and please prayerfully read the Book of Mormon. I testify that it is true. It is the word of God. As my friend's sister said, "It is the only pure and perfect thing on this Earth after Jesus Christ", and I double testify to that. It can comfort us in our darkest times, and we can get closer to God through its principles than by any other book. I know that to be true. I hope you all take the time to read it. God's Plan is perfect. Families can be together forever. And I know that one day I will be able to see my friend again. I know he is with me in this work and is leading the charge for the missionary work in the next life. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope y'all have a fabulous week! Until next week! God speed!

This is the Strip normally

This was the strip last night.  For 11 minutes all the hotels dimmed their lights as a tribute to those victims who lost their lives last weekend. 

The wonderful testimony

Week #65

Hey hey y'all! I hope this week has been a fun filled week for y'all, and I hope y'all enjoyed General Conference and were able to get something out of it. The talks given were wonderful and they all had great messages to us as God's children!

So for starters this week, I turned 20! I don't feel a whole lot different, but also it was made known by a few fellow missionaries that it was my last birthday in the mission. It's crazy how fast time flies! It was a good day though, I got to spend it doing what I love, and that's Missionary Work! Plus a few members helped make it a bit more eventful! Overall, it was a solid day!

This week we were also able to set another person with a baptismal date! Her name is Cindy and she is a wonderful lady! 

The Redd's are doing great! We are continuing to meet with them and they are progressing very well!

Sorry this email is kind of short, it's been a crazy day with lots of stuff going on. My spiritual thought this week comes from Matthew 11:28-30. With the events happening across the world, and along with that, the recent tragedy down on the Strip in Las Vegas which has affected many lives here including my own, these scriptures have brought peace and comfort to my soul, and have reassured me that we have a loving Father in Heaven and a loving Savior who are there to comfort us and carry us in times of need. It reads;

"28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Brothers and Sisters, these short yet powerful verses are true. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for ALL of our pains, sorrows, sadness, afflictions, and everything else. It was for ALL of us. No one is excluded from the comfort and solace found in the Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. With troubled hearts and minds with whatever situations we are dealing with, if we turn to Him, He will strengthen us and empower us, and be our guides through our trials and afflictions. On the contrary, we must also recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives, even though we may not be going through servers trials. Heavenly Father provided us a Savior, so that when our imperfections show due to us being human, when we are knocked down, when we are struggling, in pain, questioning, or anything else, we would be able to be strengthened, uplifted, and healed by the infinite love of Him who suffered and died for us. I know our Savior is there, waiting with outstretched arms to carry us and help us through our trials. He will NEVER abandon us. I plead with each of you to take the struggles and pains of your heart to the Lord. He will give us rest. We will be yoked with the only perfect Man to walk this earth, and our burdens will be made light. We can all be strengthened by Him. I testify from the depths of my very souls that's CAN and WILL be strengthened by the Lord, and the healing power of His Atonement will surround us, comfort us, strengthen us, and make us whole. It is only through our Savior and His Atonement that we can find true eternal happiness. He loves each of us and is aware of our needs. Please, turn to Him, and "ye shall find rest unto your souls". I humbly say these things, in the name of our perfect Brother and loving Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

I appreciate all of you who continue to support the missionaries throughout the world! Your thoughts and prayers are felt and are with us each and every day. My sincerest condolences go out to anyone affected by this tragedy that occurred last night. May God bless you, strengthen you, and be with you. 

Until next week. God speed!

Elder Houssian