Week #91

Hey y’all!! I hope you’ve had a wonderful week! We’ve had yet another
busy and eventful week, and hope y’all’s weeks were eventful as well!

For starters, General Conference was amazing! There were so many
wonderful insights given, and I was able to receive a lot of personal
direction and inspiration.

We have been seeing a lot of wonderful miracles this week! One of
which happened this week while we were walking around. Elder Fuhriman
felt the prompting to go visit this investigator that we haven’t been
able to see this whole transfer. He was home! We went in, had an
impromptu lesson, and set him with a baptismal date! It was a very
spiritual lesson, and Brayden.

My spiritual thought this week comes from Alma 37:45, and it reads

“45 ... For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by
following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ,
if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a
far better land of promise.”

This was talking about the Liahona, an instrument that God provided
for Lehi and his family to travel in the right direction. The
scriptures can be a guide for us in our lives, and as we study the
principles and ponder them, then apply them into our lives, we will be
able to learn more about our Heavenly Father’s plan for us, our Savior
and His Atonement, and the joy that can come from this gospel. I know
these things are true, and I say these things in the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.

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

Elder Houssian

Week #90

Howdy y’all! This week has been a jam packed week for us, and I hope y’all were able to have a wonderful week as well! 

For starters, I wanted to give a Happy Birthday shoutout to my friend Quinton Robbins. Last week he would have turned 21, but God needed him on the other side of the veil for a special reason, and brought him home during the Route 91 Festival shooting on October 1st this past year. Keep doing big things my man. God speed! #FlyEaglesFly

Anyways, this week has been crazy busy, and we were able to see some wonderful things happen! Last week we found this awesome girl named Cherry. We had a family on our records who were members of the church that lived where she loves, so we went to go visit them and turns out they had moved and Cherry moved in! She’s a sweet lady originally from the Philippines, and is a strong believer in Christ. We invited her to church and she came! Right after church we had a lesson and invited her to be baptized, and she accepted! She is preparing to be baptized on April 28th, and things are looking great!

We are still teaching this girl Paris, and she is doing great! She loves reading the Book of Mormon, and she is keeping all of her commitments and is preparing to be baptized on April 14th! Things are going very well with her!

We experienced a huge miracle this week while we were on exchanges with some Elders in my district. I went to their area with Elder Sparks, and we didn’t have a dinner scheduled with members that night. One of my previous areas is 5 minutes down the road from these Elder’s apartments, so I called one of my friends from that area, Tommy, to see if he wanted to go to dinner. (Tommy was that 17 year old kid who isn’t a member in the Paseo Verde ward that I got super close with with). Anyways he’s not a member, and he answered the phone (which he never does with random numbers) and said he was busy, but he’d take us to lunch the next day! So we went to lunch and I had a really good conversation with him about joining the church and being baptized. He goes to church every week, went to Youth Conference (kind of like a church camp) and everything but isn’t a member of the church yet. He was super close to being baptized, but after I got transferred it kind of died off. Anyways, long story short, at the end of the conversation he was talking about a mission and how much he wanted to be baptized! So we picked a day and I told him I’d call his missionaries and tell them what happened! Tommy is finally getting my baptized, and he’s getting baptized in two weeks! April 6th! It was crazy, and the missionaries in his ward have been trying to work with him for a little bit now. I called them and we all had a cow talking about it! I am so excited and can’t wait to witness this fine young man get baptized.

My spiritual thought this week comes from my studies I had this past week, in Alma 37:20. I want each of you to personalize this scripture by inserting your name into the verse. It reads;

“20 Therefore I command you, my son (or daughter) (enter name), that ye be diligent in fulfilling all my words, and that ye be diligent in keeping the commandments of God as they are written.”

I love this verse. It is a simple reminder to do the things that God has commanded. Our Heavenly Father wants to bless us! He has all of the blessings in the world in store for us, all we need to do is keep the commandments. Obedience brings blessings, and I testify that it does. God has opened the windows of heaven and poured out tremendous blessings in our efforts as we have been obedient to the guidelines that have been set forth for us as missionaries. I know our Heavenly Father lives, Jesus truly is the Christ, and He has provided a way for us to return to live with our Father again. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a fabulous week y’all! Until next week, God speed!

Elder Houssian

Week #89

Howdy y’all! This week has been another great week! We have had a lot of things happen this week, and the Lord is continuing to hasten His work!

To start off we had 7 people come to church this past week, and they all show quite a bit of potential! That’s the most we’ve had in a while, and we are looking forward to some solid appointments this upcoming week!

Also, the highlight of all highlights, I was blessed with the opportunity to baptize James, someone I have grown to love a ton. He’s like a brother to me. It was great to see him again and to participate in a wonderful event. Pics will be attached.

We were also able to find a lot of families to teach this week. The work is definitely moving forward, and I will be sure to send more updates on them next week!

This week I wanted to share a few verses I came across in my studies. It is found in Alma 37:9, which reads;

“9 Yea, I say unto you, were it not for these things that these records do contain, which are on these plates, Ammon and his brethren could not have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites of the incorrect tradition of their fathers; yea, these records and their words brought them unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer.”

This here is talking about the Book of Mormon. It was the power of the Book of Mormon that made the difference in Ammon and his brethren baptizing thousands of Lamanites! The power of the Book of Mormon is real! I know it, I have experienced it and have felt it’s power over and over again throughout my life. I challenge each of y’all to take my challenge from before and read it every day. I promise it will bless your life immensely. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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

Elder Houssian

Week #88

Howdy everybody! This week has been a stellar week! We have seen many miracles in the work and we have a ton of stuff happening! 

So my companion’s name is Elder Fuhriman! He’s from Bountiful, Utah and has been out for 6 months. He’s a great kid! There is a lot of work going on in our area. We have 6 people set to be baptized, and we are hoping to have 8-10 more preparing for baptism! The demographics here are a lot different than the rest of Henderson, which is super nice, new stuff to work with!

We had a lot of cool miracles happen this week, one of which happened Sunday night. We were walking around talking to people and felt impressed to stop by this part-Member family what was being taught a while ago but then fell off. We stopped by and the daughter opened the door, and up came the whole family! They were super excited to see us and were really interested in us coming back. Then the father asked us if we could talk to him alone outside, and we were nervous not going to lie. He asked us if we could keep his family in our prayers and pray that they will feel a “spark” while praying, reading, and taking the lessons. We of course said yes, and we are looking forward to coming back later this week to teach them!

My thought this week comes from the Book of Mormon, in Alma 7:12, and it reads;

“12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”

I love this scripture. This is referring to the Savior and His Atoning Sacrifice. I know that our Savior knows what we are going through. He has felt it all. There is nothing that He can’t help us through, as long as we are willing to allow Him to step in. He knows how to succor us because of His great sacrifice. It is my prayer that each of us will strive to allow His mercy and love into our lives. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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

Elder Houssian

Sent from my iPad

Week #87

Howdy everyone! This week has been a great week! First off, Happy 20 Months  to my group from the MTC! It’s crazy how fast time has gone. A lot of things have happened! One of course is transfers......... Aaannnnnddddd I am staying! Just kidding, I’m leaving BUT I’m literally going across the highway to the Black Mountain Stake in the Desert Rose and Black Mountain wards! I’ll be serving with Elder Fuhriman (he has been out for about 6 months). I’m sad I can’t stay in this area anymore, but I’m excited for new adventures with a stellar companion!

This week has been another busy week which I love honestly. I had a massive thorn in my bike tire that I didn’t know about, so now I have a hole in my tube AND my tire. Ugh. That’s part of the mission though!

James is doing great! He’s on track for the 17th and is loving every second of it. He also asked me to baptize him which I’m stoked about! His mom wants to come to church and is already calling us her “sons”, so she won’t be too far behind him! Plus, James is already talking about baptizing his Mom AND he wants to serve a mission!

Besides that, it was another week on the job! I absolutely love being a missionary. I really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. I love being a part of such a truly marvelous work. I have seen lives changed tremendously throughout my mission, including my own. I’m so grateful for the once in a lifetime opportunity I have to serve the Lord as a full-time missionary.

My spiritual thought comes from the Book of Mormon, in Alma 7:12, and it reads;

“12 ​And he will take upon him ​​​death​, that he may ​​​loose​ the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to ​​​succor​ his people according to their infirmities.”

I love this verse. It is a sweet reminder of the matchless love of our Savior, which He expressed through His Atonement. I love the word “succor”. Elder Jeffery R. Holland said “[Succor] is used often in the scriptures to describe Christ’s care for and attention to us. It means literally ‘to run to.’ What a magnificent way to describe the Savior’s urgent effort in our behalf. Even as he calls us to come to him and follow him, he is unfailingly running to help us”. The Savior will run to us in our times of need, IF we allow Him to. He is our Master, and I know undoubtedly that He knows us individually and He loves us. The Book of Mormon testifies of His life, ministry, and Atoning sacrifice. I know that as we strive to keep the commandments and access the Atonement of Jesus Christ when we make a mistake, He will heal us, help us, and change us. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a splendid week my friends! Until next week! God speed!

Elder Houssian

Week #86

Howdy y’all! I hope y’all have had a great week! This week has been an amazing and busy week. The Lord’s hand is definitely active in this work, and I love it.

For starters, we have found a lot of new people to teach this past week, and some of the, are already progressing! There are a lot of families that we are teaching which is great! It’s amazing to see how the gospel changes people.

We received a referral from the Sisters for a kid who is 17 and was taking the lessons at a friend’s house who lives in the Sisters’ area. We started teaching him and he’s so solid! He’s set to be baptized on March 17th and is doing so well.

We had a crazy thing happen last night. We were able to give one of our investigators a blessing of comfort after her husband (who is in his 30s) was diagnosed with Leukemia. It was crazy because she had been at the hospital for a week, and last night was the only night she would be home, because he starts chemo today and so she is there and will be there for at least another week. We were about to leave our house after being dropped off from dinner, and I felt like we should stop by this family’s house on our way over there, so we did. She comes out and says “Why are y’all here so late?” (It wasn’t in a mean way, but it was 8 pm). We just told her we felt like we should stop by and she started bawling and told us what was going on. As we were sitting and listening I felt prompted to offer to give them blessings, so we asked if they would like one. It was so powerful, we felt the Spirit so strongly and she felt it super strongly as well. She sat there after for like 10 seconds with her hands on her chest and said “I can literally feel His presence” a few times. After I gave her the blessing, Elder Hubbell gave their daughter a blessing, and it was amazing as well. It was one of the most powerful moments I’ve had on my mission.

For my spiritual thought this week, I wanted to extend a challenge to each of y’all! I came across a quote that says “A chapter a day will light the way”. It’s referring to the Book of Mormon, and i challenge each of y’all to read it every day this week! I can testify that as we read the Book of Mormon daily, we will have the Spirit of the Lord with us and invite His presence into our lives. I have put this to the test and have experienced it countless times. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and I know there is great power in its pages. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

My favorite scripture is Alma 5:45-46, and I challenge y’all to read it!

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

Elder Houssian

Week #85

Howdy howdy y’all! This week has flown by, and we have seen some big progress in our area this week in terms of finding. We have been out grinding every day looking for new people who are ready for the gospel, and God has helped us out big time (as always)!

We were finally able to talk with Tyler! We received a text about two weeks ago saying it wasn’t in his best interest to be baptized. We were confused but were able to set up a return appointment, which I talked about last week. Well we had that return appointment and he said the reason why was because he felt like he didn’t know enough, and he still had some questions about the gospel. He wants to be baptized still, just wants to feel more ready. So we are working with him and helping him progress and answering his questions to get him ready to be baptized!

We received some scary news that the father of one of our new families we are teaching, Rod, was in a serious motorcycle accident this weekend. Thankfully he is ok, but he had some pretty good injuries. Our ward mission leader is family friends with them and offered to give him a blessing, so we will hopefully go with him to the hospital and give him a blessing this week!

We were blessed with quite a few more people to teach this week. The Lord is hastening his work in our area, and it’s a wonderful sight to see. I love being a missionary and being a part of this great and marvelous work!

My spiritual thought comes from a verse I came across this week that I absolutely love! It is Moroni 8:17, and it reads;

“17 ...wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation.”

I honestly just love this verse because I too love little children. Having 17 younger siblings and one niece is one of the greatest blessings I could ever ask for! Little children are perfect to our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ. (And to me of course!) and I know that they truly are a tremendous blessing to this Earth! I know our Savior lives. He loves us. Jesus truly is the Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon truly is the word of God. It is a holy book of scripture written for our day, and we can grow so much closer to God by living the principles contained within. I know families are forever. I know our Savior suffered and died for us, and because of that we can be forgiven of our sins, we can be resurrected, and we can be with our families forever. This gospel is true, and I know it. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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

Elder Houssian