Knee Callusses

Sorry for the delay on this post--it was written in March, but never posted.  So here it is!  HH's Mom

March 18, 2013

Happy Belated Saint Patrick's Day! I didn't actually have any green to clothes to wear yesterday, but I wore my green watch. And for some reason there aren't a lot of Latin people who celebrate an Irish holiday. How curious...

No pictures this week, so this will
have to do!

So this week I was looking at my knees. This doesn't happen often as we always wear skirts that are below our knees. Anyway, I realized that I have knee calluses from kneeling so much. So when I realized that I also remembered that I haven't shared on the blog the awesome way that we do tracting here in the Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission.

Our tracting/finding method is called harvesting*, and it's all focused on the fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that God's power and authority have been restored to the earth. We know that as missionaries we have literally been called of God and set apart by His authority to represent Jesus Christ. So our whole purpose is to bless people and help them to feel the Spirit testifying to them that we are teaching the truth of God.

We start off by praying** about where we should go to harvest. Then we go to that area and knock on people's doors. We testify to them that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and He has sent us to their homes to leave His peace and blessing with their homes and families. We come in and ask them what specific things they need from God in that moment, and then leave a blessing on their homes and on each member of their family by name by the authority of our calling and by the direction of the Spirit.

At the end of the blessing we identify that the peace and hope they are feeling comes from the Spirit of God, and He sent us to give them the opportunity to have more of that Spirit in their lives. We tell them about the way they can receive that - by following their Savior Jesus Christ. Then we invite them to follow His example and be baptized.

I am out of time and will tell you more about harvesting and some miraculous experiences with it next time. I love all of you and hope to hear from you soon and often!

<3

Hermana Houghton

*There are lots of scriptures that talk about missionary work by saying that "the field is white already to harvest"

**We pray a LOT on the mission - thus the knee calluses. It's especially important to listen to the Spirit directing us. This is how miracles occur! Lots of times we show up to people's houses at a crucial moment when they really need a blessing from God.