Friday, January 26, 2018

Week #81

Hey hey everyone! Another week and another transfer are in the bag! Man time is flying! We’ve had some great moments and we have had a lot of fun this transfer!

So for starters, we received our transfer assignments and the unthinkable happened.... I’m staying for a 5th transfer in Pueblo and Calico Ridge, AND I’m getting a new companion. Elder Smith will be heading out to Kingman, Arizona! It has been such a blast serving with him. I have grown to love this fine young man and I have learned so much from my Aussie mate! He will do so great out there, and he is with Elder Smith who came out with me! He will be in good hands!

This week has been an eventful one for sure!  We had a lot of fun this week! To start off, this Saturday I was able to attend the baptism of an amazing little girl from one of my previous areas. She calls me her “second brother” (with the air quotes every time) and wanted me to be there, so I showed up! It was a wonderful experience for sure.

This week we were able to have some great progress with our investigators. Tyler and the Redds are all doing very well! They are all looking forward to their baptisms next month!

In my studies this week, I was able to read talk given by President James E. Faust called “The Healing Power of Forgiveness”. This is a powerful talk, and I wanted to share with y’all one of the quotes I really liked. He said;

“It is not easy to let go and empty our hearts of festering resentment. The Savior has offered to all of us a precious peace through His Atonement, but this can come only as we are willing to cast out negative feelings of anger, spite, or revenge. For all of us who forgive, ... the Atonement brings a measure of peace and comfort” 

I absolutely loved this quote. The Savior and His Atonement make repentance and forgiveness a wonderful healing process. Through repentance and forgiveness, we are able to feel our burdens lifted off of our shoulders and will be healed, over time, by our loving Savior. I know it is because of Him that we have the wonderful blessings of healing, forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life with our families. I know t these things to be true, and 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
 The Squad! 


Liza!

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Week #80

Hey hey everyone! It’s been a great week out here in good ole Las Vegas, Nevada. The weather is really warm for January (which I have mixed emotions about), so people are outside more which makes our job easier. We have been able to see some great miracles in the work, and our investigators are progressing very well!

The Redd family is doing very very well. We are working on a day and time to go to the Temple to walk around it and have a lesson. They are super excited for it and they are keeping their commitments. Things are looking up for them to be baptized in February!

Tyler is doing well also. He is still working tons but we are able to keep in contact with him via Facebook which has helped a lot. He is finishing up soon and is looking forward to being baptized in February as well.

We have been implementing many new finding methods this week (methods we have not done ever/in a while), and one of them was tracting. So we knocked on some doors one day and came across this man who was “a hard-nosed southern baptist” but wanted to hear what we had to say. It turned into a very lowkey bash session, not intended, and him asking us questions about some of our principles we teach and where we get them from. After quoting the Bible for many of them and stumping him, he told us to leave because we were getting annoying haha. Satan was trying to draw us away, but we kept going in that neighborhood and knocked on the door of a Less-Active family who wanted us to come by and visit with them this upcoming week. Miracles do happen! 

This week I wanted to share a few verses in Mosiah 4 that I came across this week in my studies. They are verses 11 and 12, and they read;

“11 .... as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God,... and have received a remission of your sins, ... even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, ... and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in .. faith.
“12 .... if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him”

I love this passage. King Benjamin gave a very powerful sermon to his people, and while delivering it, he gave this wonderful charge and blessing. As we strive to remember our Heavenly Father, in all of His mercy, grace, and love, we will be filled with his love, and will retain a remission of our sins. What a wonderful blessing, to retain that remission. Elder Neal A. Maxwell said this about retention, “Retention clearly depends on the regularity of our repentance.” So the more we are repenting and changing ourselves to become more like the Savior, the more we retain that remission of sins. It is such a wonderful blessing to even be forgiven in the first place, and that is all because of the matchless life and love that our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ, had and has for us. His life and His sacrifice was and is the most significant event in the history of all mankind. It is because of Him that God’s plan is in effect, that we have a purpose in this life, and we have a destination to reach after. I know these things to be true. As we come to know our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ, “calling on the name of the Lord” though prayer and humility, we will feel of Their love, we will receive Their grace and mercy, and we will retain that remission of our sins, which will lead us to being with our families forever in the presence of our Heavenly Father. I know this to be true, and I testify of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope you have a great week! I love y’all, I miss y’all, and I pray for y’all. Until next week my friends. God speed.

Elder Houssian

Sorry, no pictures today, so I wanted to share this quote!

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Week #79

Howdy everyone! I hope y’all have had a great week this week. We’ve been having loads of fun and have been seeing miracles in the work! (I’m lost on what week it is so bear with me)

So first off, I hit 18 months this past Saturday. It’s crazy how fast time is going. Elder Cook will agree with me, but I’m exhausted! Haha 18 months hits you hard as a missionary. BUT, we still have time to grind, and I wanted to randomly shout him out for being a rock for me on my mission. I thank my Heavenly Father for the blessing it is to be serving with one of my best friends!

Next, IT RAINED! It actually rained in Vegas! I love it haha it hasn’t rained since like September, so it’s really nice! The rain made it more “humid” so that was nice.

Alright enough with the weather updates. We saw a really cool miracles this past Sunday night!

We received a referral to go visit this member who was very active until this past year. She has a fiancĂ© who is not a member and is living with her, and they are getting married in a couple months. We go over there and meet her (Sister Williams), and her fiancĂ©, Jason. We got to talking and I recognized Jason, I just couldn’t figure out where I had seen him before. Then, all of a sudden we made the connection. We were teaching a part-member family in my last area, and it was a blended family. The oldest kid was 17 and the mom had him from a previous marriage. They were working towards being baptized. The 17 year old, Tommy, and I got to be very good friends. He of course has a different dad, and one day we were at his house and his dad showed up so we got to meet him, and it was Jason. Jason is Tommy’s dad! So we made that connection and then had a really cool moment! He wants to come to church on Sunday and wants us to come back for dinner and a lesson. It was a great miracle!

We started over the lessons with the Redd family, since everything has been hectic with a new baby and the holidays. We have had some great lessons this week, and one of them we invited them to be baptized, and they accepted! We set them for February 3rd, and the date was definitely revelation because it’s one of their daughter’s birthday! They are doing very well, and there is a lot more growth with them now that everything has settled down.

For my thought this week I wanted to share with y’all a quote from an article in the Ensign that I have been studying. It’s called “The Gospel of Repentance” by Spencer W. Kimball, and it’s a very good talk. It reads;

“Repentance is a glorious and merciful law. ... The great and wonderful and miraculous benefit of the Savior’s atonement cannot have its full saving impact on us unless we repent. .... How grateful we should be that the Lord finished his preparation in our behalf! Now it is up to us to finish our preparations in our own behalf--by partaking of his loving forgiveness, which is the reward he eagerly desires to give all who truly repent.”

I know that these things are true. Repentance is a very joyful process, something that we should find joy in doing. Generally speaking, repentance is looked at as a shameful, negative thing, when in reality, it’s the better path for us to take. The Bible Dictionary says that repentance is “a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world.” Repentance = change. We are promised that “if we will earnestly seek our Heavenly Father’s help and apply the steps that constitute the doctrine of repentance, then we will find peace and joy both in this life and in eternity.” As we strive to be better, seeking for the Lord’s help, and have the desire to change, we will find peace and joy in this life and in the eternity. We will feel our burdens lifted off our shoulders. What Jesus Christ did for us enables Him to lift those burdens and ease our pains, because He felt all of them in our behalf. We will also be able to witness that change of mind within ourselves, and fresh view about God, ourselves, and the world. He loves us. He knows us individually. Turning to Him will bring us unfathomable joy and happiness. I know that to be true, and it is my humble prayer that we all strive to be just a little bit better, strive to change ourselves little by little, and experience a mighty change from Him who is Almighty, and I say those things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I hope y’all have a wonderful week! I love each of you, and I definitely miss y’all! Until next week! God speed!

Elder Houssian

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Week # 77 & 78

Howdy y’all! Happy New Year! We were having some technical difficulties last week on my email, so I couldn’t get out an email!

So first things first, Pday is now permanently on Tuesday to better facilitate temple trips. Just a heads up! We have had some fun times the last few weeks! Our Christmas Day was very busy. We had 13 meal appointments and on top of that I was able to Skype my family! It was wonderful to see them again, and on top of that I was able to Skype my stud of a brother Elder Tyler Houssian who is on his mission in Fresno! It was a tender mercy to be able to talk with him. He is an inspiration to me and I definitely look up to him!

We met this awesome guy named Jeff this week. He came out from his garage and started talking to us. He loves studying the Bible and cross-referencing things in it, so we talked about the Book of Mormon and how the footnotes have references to the Bible and other verses in the Book of Mormon. He was very excited and wants us to come back after he reads some of it. He’s a great guy!

We were invited over by a nonmember family to play a game and eat lunch, so we went over and spent some time with them. They are great! Their 3 teenage kids were asking a ton of questions about the Church and loved hearing what they had to say. One of them said “I defend you guys, even though I’m not a member, I think y’all are great”. It was a cool moment!

This week I wanted to share this great scripture I came across in my studies. It is Alma 26:35, and it reads;

“35...my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.”

True joy is found in the gospel and in living a Christ-centered life. God is all powerful and loves us all unconditionally. He is literally our Father in Heaven. He is merciful unto us and desires to bless us and give us salvation. Nice order to receive those blessings, we need to repent and have faith. I know that God knows us individually and loves us. All things are possible, if we turn to Him. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week and achieve the goals that you have set for the New Year! Until next week, God speed!

Elder Houssian