Elder Kyle Houssian: Week #37

Hello everyone! What an awesome week this week has been! After overcoming some setbacks our first two weeks, we have been grinding nonstop and seeing miracles come from it! The Lord's hand is active in His work throughout the world, and we as His sons and daughters need to be actively searching for opportunities to share the gospel and He will back us up with power from on high. I hope y'all had a great week and spring break this past week!

So this week we went on exchanges and I went with my District Leader into his area. Elder Holmes is a stud, a very spiritually strong missionary and also loves to have a good time, within reason of course ;) we had a lot of fun and his area has a car, so bonus. We went and visited a family that was recently baptized/reactivated, and their step-dad had said that he too wanted to be baptized. It was awesome being able to see them and teach the family! The next morning we painted a fence for a member in his ward. They had planned to have us paint it that morning and then the next day Elder Holmes and his companion would go back and add a second coat, but Saturday night I got a text from Elder Holmes saying "We painted the fence so well that they don't want a second coat" haha. My uncle Stan paints houses and would be so proud!

We had interviews with President Snow this week and it was a ton of fun. President Snow and I have gotten pretty close as of late with interviews being more frequent. It went really well and is always fun to see the missionaries around us!

Saturday we went out with my friend from North Las Vegas again. He had a rough week at work with one of his coworkers, so we took part of the day and went to eat and adventure. It was a blast! We went to this place called Hash House and I ordered the chicken and waffles. The plate comes out and it's MASSIVE! Brian gets entertained with how much I eat, and has been trying to find a dish that will top me and I won't be able to finish haha. I was actually thinking he had found my maker, but I finished! Pics attached.

Sunday was awesome as always. The Banks were sitting in front of us during our first ward's sacrament meeting, and they have the cutest little girl named Alle. Well Alle saw us sitting behind her and wrote us a note saying "hi" and it was circled. So then we just wrote back and forth for about 10 minutes, passing it under the pew to each other, and her mom and brother even got into it haha. She ended up asking us to come to her house for dinner, so we are having dinner with them tonight! It was the cutest thing ever, she's adorable! In the other ward, the topic of sacrament meeting was families. Man that really made me miss my family! The talks were wonderful and both speakers had kids around the ages of my brothers and I, so I related to them and their stories a lot, and it really hit home for me. I felt the Spirit so strongly, it was a great Sabbath Day.

My thought this week comes from the Teachings of President Gordon B. Hinckley. There's a quote I liked a lot that was mentioned during Sunday school, it comes from Chapter 6 which is about prayer and receiving answers to them, and it reads:

"Be prayerful, my friends, and listen. You may never hear a voice. You likely will not. But in a manner that you cannot explain, you will be prompted and blessed. For the Lord has promised, 'I will tell you in your … heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you.' .. Be prayerful, and you will know that God hears and answers. Not always as we might wish him to answer, but with the passing of the years, there will come a realization as certain as the sunrise that he heard and responded."

Like President Hinckley says, we may never hear a voice and most likely will not when we receive an answer to our prayers, but we WILL receive that answer. It will be a feeling or impression that you will be able to distinguish from all other feelings as something from God. Our answers will come to us, not always in the way we want or expect, or at the time we want it to be given to us, but it will come. I have seen this in my life numerous times as a missionary. I have never prayed more frequently and fervently in my life. The power of prayer is so real. It is a wonderful blessing to have the opportunity to openly speak to our Heavenly Father, and have Him listen, hear, and respond! I testify that He does hear and answer our prayers. I testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He lives! It is because of Him that we are blessed with all that we have. It is because of Him that we can be cleansed from our sins. It is because of Him that we can live with our beautiful families for all eternity. That is the greatest blessing on this earth to me. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and was brought to us as a result of the Restoration of the Gospel, through the priesthood authority which was bestowed upon the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know my Savior lives and loves us. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love y'all so much. I really do. My thoughts and prayers are with you. May God continue to bless you and your loved ones. Until next week! God speed.

Elder Houssian