Week #63

Howdy howdy! I hope this week has been a great week for y'all! We have had a super busy week this week, and have seen many miracles!

So first off, Glenna got baptized! It was such an awesome service, the Spirit was super strong and there was a good amount of people there too! Some of her family came me surprised her for the baptism too which was awesome! Her husband served a mission and then went less-active, and he ended up baptizing her. It was such a neat experience to witness.

Jakob and Matthew are both doing well and are still on track for this Saturday! They are growing so much and are really enjoying the gospel!

We had the blessing of finding a lot of new people to teach this week, including this awesome part-member family! Their name is the Redd family! They have 5 kids with number 6 on the way! Blair, the dad, is the only member, and all of the kids have lots of questions about the church. They are doing really well, and the kids even want to come to church!

My spiritual thought this week comes from the Book of Mormon, in Ether chapter 12 verse 6. It reads;

"6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."

This is great verse. A lot of times as missionaries we run into people who want physical evidence of the things we teach, but aren't willing to exercise their faith to find out if it is true. It says we will not receive a witness until after the trial of our faith. That means we have to act upon our faith and show the Lord our faith. As we do this, we will receive help from on high and answers to our prayers. I challenge each of you to exercise your faith and rely on the Savior and His power! I say these things in the na,e of Jesus Christ amen.

Have a great week y'all! Until next week! God speed!

Elder Houssian

 An awesome storm we watched the other day.

Glenna's baptism! 

My Son :)

Week #62

Howdy y'all! This week has been a crazy week, and man did it fly by! I hope y'all have had a wonderful week this week! 

First off, our Mission President dropped some big news on us this past week! We received an email mission-wide saying that we are going to become an online proselyting mission! So we can use Facebook, Skype, and other apps to continue spreading the word and have more resources to do so! Also, I've been sick for the second half of the week which hasn't been fun. Its alright though! 

This week we were able to set two more people to be baptized! Harold and Kasie (Cassie) are set for October 14th! They are such a sweet family and it has been so much fun getting to know them and teach them. They gospel is truly changing them for the better, and they are uniting as a family!

Glenna is doing great! She had her interview and passed! She is ready for this Saturday, and is eager to be baptized! Jakob and Matthew are still doing great and are anxiously looking forward to their baptism next Saturday! 

For my thought this week, I wanted to share part of a verse from Alma chapter 22. It's verse 18 and it reads

".. and I will give away all my sins to know thee"

Here, Aaron is teaching a king about God. The king had very little knowledge of God, and was curious to know the nature of God and how we as humans came to be. After Aaron taught about eternal life and how it comes only through Christ, the king asked how he could have eternal life. Aaron taught that he needed to pray to God with faith, to repent of his sins, and pray for conversion to the Lord. In doing so, he would receive the blessings God had in store for him. As the king prayed, he said "..and I will give away all my sins to know thee". He was willing to sacrifice all of his ways that weren't in line with the will of God's. Are we as members of the church willing to do that? Are we willing to make sacrifices to align our will with God's, and to take upon ourselves the name of Christ? To take upon us the name of Christ (which we promised to do when we were baptized) means to have a willingness to do whatever He asks of us. We do that by giving away all of our sins, to know Him. When we do so, we honor Him, and draw from His power, and become more and more like him. I pray that each of us will work towards and make sacrifices to align our will with our loving Father in Heaven. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a wonderful week y'all! God speed!

Elder Houssian

Week #61

Howdy y'all! I hope y'all have had a great week this week! This week went by really fast, and we were definitely able to see some miracles!

So first off, Glenna, Matthew, and Jakob are doing great! Glenna is ready for the 16th! She's reading to the Book of Mormon, saying her prayers, and she's at church every week. Jakob and Matthew are both getting ready for the 23rd! Their baptisms are together, and will be at 8 am so we'll be up early! These three individuals are progressing very well. It is incredible to watch the Spirit work with these wonderful children of God.

One of the miracles this week that we saw was this past Thursday. We went to go contact this girl who the past missionaries were talking to, and in the past few weeks we have never been able to catch her. But finally, we did on Thursday! We were riding our bikes down the street and saw her getting out of her car, and her neighbor was standing there talking to her. We rode past her and then I felt this prompting to go turn around and talk to her, so we did. We rode up and she was leaned over in her car, and her neighbor put his hand up signaling he didn't want to talk, but we still stopped and we asked if we could have some water. She comes out of the car and was super excited to see us, ran in, and got us water. We were there talking to the neighbor and he started to relax and talk to us. Then Kasie came back out with water for the both of us. We set a return appointment for the next day, and when we came back her husband was home and so was their 6 year old daughter! So we sat down with the three of them, and they said that their daughter was asking about who God was. So we went to the very basics and tried teaching a 6 year old who God was haha. Nonetheless they were super interested. They expressed desires to come to church and get closer to God. We went back and saw them the next day, and then invited to church! They committed but then couldn't because Kasie's sister shattered her wrist, so she was in the ER with her. But we saw them today at Walmart and set a return appointment for tomorrow!

Another cool miracle this week was when we went to stop by a former family that had been taught in the past. We had tried before and no luck, but this time caught them sitting on their porch! We talked to them for 20 or 30 minutes, and then set a return appointment. We came back the next day and had a great conversation with them, and they really opened up. Their 12 year old daughter wants to find a church, and is very interested in our teachings. Her mom has some high standards and morals very similar to the church, and when we told her that we believe in the same things, she was very intrigued. We invited them to come to church, and the daughter came! She has a friend in the ward that is a member, and this member had invited her in the past to go to church. So Mikayla (the daughter) came to church this week! Her mom just got a new job so she had to work, but she still wants to meet with us this week.

My spiritual thought this week comes from the Book of Mormon, in Mormon 7:5 and it reads

"5 Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up."

I love this scripture. Here Mormon is admonishing these people to believe in Christ and accept His gospel. The scriptures are for our day, and so here Mormon is admonishing US to believe in Christ and accept His gospel. We do this by really studying the scriptures, by fervently praying, and by attending Church so that we can partake of the sacrament and renew our covenants, or promises, with the Lord. And in return, we are promised to have His spirit to be with us wherever we go, as long as we live worthily of it. As we take heed to this counsel and do the things we are asked to do, and keep the commandments, we will grow and progress, and the Lord will mold our hearts into better disciples of the Lord. We will be changed and we will grow closer to our Savior, and we will learn what we can do to be more like Him. It also says that He gained victory over the grave, and in Him the sting of death is swallowed up. When the Savior suffered in Gethsemane for us, He didn't just take on the sins of the world, He took on the sadness, the sorrows, the pains, the afflictions, and everything else. He knows what we are going through. We ALWAYS have someone we can turn to, no matter what, because the Savior felt everything, and He felt it first. As you build your faith in Christ and accept His gospel, you will come to a sure knowledge that Jesus truly is the Christ, and that He knows us individually, and knows what we have gone through, what we will go through, and what we are currently going through. He did this for us, and this gift was freely given. I pray that y'all will use this freely given gift, the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I promise if you do, you will be strengthened and uplifted, and the Lord will help you withstand the roadblocks we face in life, and you will be made stronger and more prepared to take on the trials ahead. I say these things humbly, in the sacred name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope this week is a great week for each of y'all! Enjoy the holiday weekend and be safe! Till next week. God speed!

Elder Kyle Houssian

 Water bottle bowling!

This stake was literally the size of my face!