How Beautiful the Work of the Lord!

From 28 October 2013

Dear Family,

This manatee was not the one actually sighted,
but it is important to note that manatees have been
Eliza's favorite animal for years!

This week I saw a manatee!!!! In a canal! We really only saw its tail, but it fulfilled all of my wildest dreams! And the next day the men sitting by the canal told us there had been an alligator earlier in the day, but we missed it :(

We've been working in a very hard section of our area - there are many people who know they need God, but they're down on their luck and they have a hard time trusting God because they feel abandoned by Him. We've had some cool experiences, but not a lot to write home about yet.

I was talking to a man outside of his home and gave him a Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet. He looked at it more closely and jumped in the air. He was gleeful as he told me, "I'm a member of this church! I have this book!" He had been baptized in California but hadn't been to church since coming to Florida (who knows how long). 

We brought a member out with us on Saturday afternoon and had people who had no interest beforehand listen. We'd taught a lady named Sandra a couple of times, mostly because she was always sitting outside as we walked by. She hadn't accepted anything we'd said, and refused to even take a Book of Mormon. When we brought Hermano R out, she told us that she didn't want to listen because she felt like she'd lost all her faith in God, as a result of of all the things she'd gone through and done. Hermano R told her about Elder Holland's talk in the April conference, and that all she needed was a desire to believe. He helped her pray, where beforehand she had refused to even try. At the end of the lesson she asked us for a Book of Mormon. When we were starting another lesson down the street, she walked up and joined in. Her change of countenance was amazing! She became animated where before she'd been hopeless, free instead of trapped. 

The area where we've been working is at the very southern boundary of our area, about 25 minutes away from the church. We had a lot of people commit to coming to church who didn't have transportation. We asked two of our amazing members to come with us to pick them up for church, and we even got on the way early. But we soon found out there was a problem - a huge bike race was going on along the main east-to-west road we needed to cross to get to the bottom of our area. We were stuck in traffic for half an hour before we rerouted and finally got there - at 9:05 (church starts at 9). We ran around the neighborhood trying to round up the people who had said they would come - only one was even home, and said she was sleeping and wasn't coming. It was devastating. But our solid member missionaries were supportive and helpful throughout - they even stopped and invited all the people we saw to come to church! They worked hard and although the recompense isn't visible now, it is wonderful to know that the Lord will reward them for their service and patience.

Our ward had its annual talent show and Hispanic Heritage night on Friday. Most of the talents had to do with dancing, which was weird as a missionary - listening to music, let alone watching people dance, is very foreign. There were tables of food from different countries - Honduras, Cuba, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Chile, Nicaragua, and America, just to name a few (at the American table they had hot dogs and lots of store-bought cakes and pies :) Sister Ware and I decided to be smart and try all of the food. We did this by each taking a plate of food from a different table, stashing it in another room, and then going back to get plates from different countries. We got quite a variety of food, and there's still some in our fridge! The Honduran and Cuban foods were my favorites of the night.

L and J are going to wait to get married until his brother can come from New Orleans on the 16th. This probably means that I won't be here for that or her baptism :( but they are doing amazingly. L made food for and danced in the talent show, now has an assignment at church (washing baptismal clothes), and signed up on the food list to feed us.

Transfers are next week so P-day will be on Tuesday, and we'll find out then whether I'm staying or leaving Hialeah East, the best area in the best ward in the best mission in the best church in the whole universe!

Oh! One more thing.

This week I had a quiet but very rewarding experience. Our chapel is undergoing construction, so the RS room is out of commission. All of the classes are moved around because of it. Yesterday at church the Priesthood class had to move from the room where they'd started because it wasn't big enough, and Sister Ware and I were in the hallway as they all passed. I had a small glimpse of just how important our work as missionaries is. As the members of the Priesthood passed by us, probably about 20 or 30 in total, the people who weren't there three months ago really stood out to me: a less active who had accepted the challenge to read a page of the Book of Mormon a day; a recent convert who before we met most likely would have been drunk and miserable and alone

on a Sunday afternoon; another recent convert who had a first lesson, disappeared for two weeks, and then found us again, having read the whole Book of Mormon; a less active who hadn't been to church for 14 years, and will soon be married to his girlfriend, who will then be getting baptized, and they will be raising their five-year-old daughter in the gospel... I feel so privileged to have been an instrument in the Lord's hands as He accomplishes this work. I knew in the moment that they all passed that there is great value in everything that we do as missionaries. These men, and their families, will have the chance to build, or rebuild, their lives upon the Rock of our Redeemer. They will be worthy holders of the priesthood as they press forward with faith. How great is our calling, how beautiful the work of the Lord.

I love you all! 

<3

Hermana Houghton

Pictures that caught Hermana Houghton's attention this week!

Water Polo sticker!

The Fort Lauderdale temple - almost done!

A mini dog

Mission Conference

From 21 October 2013

Look at the mission picture! I'm one seat to the left of Elder Oaks, in the row right behind. Elder Marshall is in the third row from the top, middle-right, and Elder Low is in the row below him, two people to the right.

Dear Family,

This week we had another mission conference. Usually they're only once a year, at Christmas, but we've had two amazing general authorities come speak to us in the last couple of months. On Saturday we met Elder Dallin H. Oaks. He talked with us about making our aim the temple - as he said (and President Anderson quoted him from an earlier talk) "Baptism is essential. But it is not sufficient. If we're not baptizing them to get them to the temple, then why are we baptizing them?" The Fort Lauderdale Temple is very near the end of its construction. We drove by it on our way to the mission conference and it was thrilling! It looks done from the outside.

Elder Oaks also talked about making the temple, and temple covenants, our aim as missionaries and members. After all, the mission ends eventually, but covenants don't. One funny quote from him about what many returned missionaries do: "doggone guys don't get married! They spend their time 'hanging out,' which if it's not a sin is pretty close to it!" (there was some pulpit-banging in there too :) 

Then he talked about the process of gaining a testimony. Basically what it comes down to is that the Lord doesn't answer academic questions. He gives answers that will change lives. You have to have real intent - meaning that you ask for an answer in order to be able to act on it. If you ask to know if the church is true just to know, you're not guaranteed an answer. But if you ask in prayer; "If you give me this answer I will be baptized," or "if you give me the knowledge that the church is true then I will be a faithful, enduring-to-the-end member," then He will answer. It was a really great focus, for missionary work and for life. 

I may be using what I learned about getting answers as I am applying to school... and I started reapplying today. Gulp! I am printing out a list of majors and minors and figuring out what's going to come of my life! But only on p-day :) The future is not going to distract me from the 'now' of missionary life. 

So, things that happened this week. L and J are getting married!!! We called a bunch of courthouses and an embassy and now everything is set up so that they can get married this weekend, with just a little bit more effort with papers and interviews. Of course his sister now wants them to wait until the 16th of November, when she and her family (her husband is a Bishop in New Orleans) can come. We're encouraging them to not wait to get legally married or baptized but have the actual wedding ceremony on the 16th... It will all turn out like Heavenly Father wants it to, since we're doing our part, so it's all good :) Oh, and they're already amazing member missionaries. L is working with some family friends to get them involved; her friend's daughter, the niece of a member, almost got baptized a while ago (probably a year+), but her mom pulled her back. Yesterday L brought the daughter and her sister to church. And J is talking with their neighbors who are less-active members, working to get them back. So great!

Yesterday at the end of Relief Society the teacher (we missionaries sometimes call her the chocolate lady because every once in a while she just brings chocolate to give it to all of us) had Hershey's kisses for everybody. She poured them all out onto a plate and another lady (mother of two rms and one of the more strong-willed women in the ward. She started liking me when I interrupted her during her Sunday school lesson because we had been waiting and she didn't give us a chance to talk :) went around handing them out. She gave two or three kisses to each lady as she passed. We were sitting near the back of the class. I yawned right before she got to us, and so she looked at me and gave me a whole handful of kisses. Then she looked at me again and gave me another handful... and another... and one more. It was pretty comical, and I was happy!

After church we had another wonderful experience (better than chocolate). That morning we had gone to round up some investigators. As we got out of the car we saw a man whom we had harvest blessed but hadn't been able to teach the next day because he'd had to go to work. We re-invited K to church, and he said he was going to come. When we left the neighborhood he was still outside his house, and said he was about to leave. He didn't show up for sacrament meeting. Then as we were going to Sunday school he walked in the door. He came with us to the other ward's sacrament and we left him in Priesthood meeting. After church we lost him talking to other people, and finally went back to the Priesthood room to see if we could find him. We did, and he was surrounded by five of the strongest Priesthood-holders in the ward, including our ward mission leader and Elder's Quorum president, and our amazing recent convert Jorge. They were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation. We jumped in on the lesson and bore testimony about Jesus Christ and His power in His church. He was crying, and said that he'd been needing this. He is getting baptized this Sunday!

Something that I really loved from the Book of Mormon had to do with developing the faith to drop people. Throughout my mission I've looked at it in different ways: prioritizing our sacred time to teach those who truly want to progress; leaving former investigators in the Lord's hands, trusting that they will have another chance to accept the gospel; planting seeds; questioning whether they were truly elect and my own discernment was off, or if they weren't elect from the beginning; trusting that the Lord has prepared people who are searching for the gospel; putting a focus on finding; knowing that we as missionaries do not have a veto power in the work of salvation, simply a sustaining power, and so the Lord's will, will be done... There are so many ways to see it. I really loved reading in the Book of Mormon this week about the Lord sending his representatives to the people they needed to teach, and knowing exactly where they were supposed to be. If we are doing our best to be receptive to the Spirit, and giving all we have to the work, the Lord will not let us drop permanently those people whom He would have us teach and baptize. He sent many of His prophets back a second time. Alma, Samuel, and Abinadi are just a few examples. They had the faith in the Lord, and in the fact that declaring repentance and bringing about salvation are His work, to move on, and He made sure they were where they needed to be, when they needed to be there.

I love you all! Do your best and pray for opportunities to be where the Lord needs you, and doing what He wants you to do and you will see miracles.

<3

HH

As I Give It My All, The Lord Will Provide The Miracles

Happy Columbus Day!

Dear Family,

I love you!! Sorry this is coming later than usual - we didn't realize until a few hours ago that it was Columbus day, and the library was closed! So we have a shortened email time on the end of p-day, at our ward mission leader's house. 

This week has been kind of weird... but hey! It's all good. I am really excited because Elder Oaks is going to come speak at a mission conference this Saturday. 

This week I have been struggling with something I like to call socialism, which is one side-effect of having a companion who is just too cool. I realized that I talk so much, and am so extroverted all day everyday (including 24/7 with Sister Ware), that my introverted side starts kicking and screaming. Yesterday after a normal Sunday filled with phone-calls, drop-bys, greetings at church, etc. I didn't want to even look at another person, let alone talk to one! Happily I got over it fairly quickly and we met and taught some super-cool people, but it was interesting thinking about how much I am having conversation every day. 

This week we continued to follow up with P and W, and they are amazing! Both of them have now finished the Book of Mormon and are integrating into the ward, reading the priesthood manuals and making friends. 

A really cool experience we had this week was with L and J, the couple that I told you about last week. They have latched onto the idea of marriage, and are looking into all of their options to get married soon. We had a lesson with them this week and were teaching about repentance and the purpose of our life here on earth. J looked over at L and A and told us that these two women were his world, and that L was the love of his life. It was a far cry from his hesitancy to get married only a week ago! They came to church for the second time on Sunday, and L told the whole relief society about how she had gone to other churches but had never felt full and satisfied there. The BOSS relief society teacher asked her how she felt now, and she said simply, "happy." ("feliz")

We're teaching a less-active recent convert and his girlfriend. She has not been open to the church in the past because she feels like her boyfriend went behind her back in being baptized, and his original missionaries focused largely on him, not on her. We've been working to help her open up and feel comfortable (otherwise she can't feel the spirit anyway!) and she's been responding, even inviting a friend to listen to us. It helps that I can relate to being a swimmer (when she was younger, in Nicaragua) and having knee problems :)

I was reading Mosiah 2 this morning and learned several things that really apply to missionary life. In verse 11, when King Benjamin recognizes the source of all his "might, mind, and strength" - the Lord. He goes on to say that his whole frame is trembling. He knows the Lord is supporting him, and he gives it all he has, even though he doesn't feel like he has much strength at that time.

In Luke 5:5, Simon tells the Lord that they have given their all to fishing - they've been toiling all night, and they've even cleaned their nets. Yet he says, "at thy word I will let down the net." And it is when they are at their weakest, at the very end of their strength, that they see the miracles, in both cases. King Benjamin speaks by the Holy Ghost and his whole people are touched by the Spirit. Simon Peter fills the whole boat with fish, and then leaves to follow the Savior. I know that as I give it all I have and a little bit more, the Lord will provide the miracles.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!

<3

HH

Birthday Missionary!

Dear Family,

You are the best!! What a wonderful birthday I have had so far. It's like you know me or something!.. But really, thank you so much to everybody for the birthday wishes, goodies, and love!

Baptism day with P!

As you can see from the pictures, yesterday we had two baptisms!! And, more excitingly, two baptismal services. The first was P, who I told you about last week. Like we signed in the back of his Book of Mormon, he was baptized on October 6, right after the Sunday morning (although it starts at 12 pm for us...) session of General Conference. Some fun things about Pedro:

-He really does not appreciate people who are not on time.

-He worked in the Portugese embassy in Cuba when he was 16-19 (mandatory military service in Cuba for 3 years), and so he speaks Portugese

-We taught him a lesson on repentance on Thursday afternoon, and had the hardest time. In Spanish, the word 'repent' also means 'regret,' so it took us a while to figure out that he thought we were saying he had to give up being himself when we said that he (and we all) need to repent. Finally it made sense to him when I said, "God doesn't want me to be someone other than Hermana Houghton. He just wants me to be a better Hermana Houghton."

-He has read in the Book of Mormon up to the end of Alma thus far :)

-We saw him outside the library just as we were coming in this afternoon!

He's awesome. 

W on baptism day!

The other one is also amazing. W lives at the same Assisted Living Facility (ALF) as R and A, and jumped in on a lesson with them a few weeks ago. We gave him a Book of Mormon, set him with a baptismal date, and then he disappeared for two weeks. Last Sunday R and A walked into sacrament meeting and W was with them! He had read the whole Book of Mormon and was working on going through the Index and reading each scripture associated with each topic. He had his baptismal interview on Thursday and told Elder Hunter (our new District Leader) that he didn't feel like he was ready yet... So Elder Hunter set him with a date for the 20th. We were not satisfied with that, so we talked with W and helped him to see that getting baptized is a commandment, and we need to not procrastinate obeying God's commandments. We talked about the requirements for baptism and helped him build up the faith to be baptized! He wasn't ready for church on Sunday morning, but we went back by at 3:30 after P's baptism to see if we couldn't get him and R to church. Well, we did, and he got baptized! Our ward is THE BEST. There was great attendance at both baptismal services, food after the first one, and all in all half of our ward was there from 12 pm to 7 pm. 

One funny thing about W: he is from Cuba, and changed his name when he came to the states. We're not sure what his original name was, but he chose an authentic American name. 

Another funny thing: both W and N are type 1 diabetics :)      --note from Mom, so is Hermana Houghton!

So, moving on. Remember J? He came to the Priesthood Session on Saturday night... but was three hours early, so watched most of the Saturday sessions in between. On Sunday he brought his 8-year-old daughter D (so cute!) to conference. She hung out with us in the Relief Society room watching conference in English. For P's baptism we asked him to say the closing prayer, and told him that at the next baptism we were going to ask him to talk about the Holy Ghost... And then he did, at William's baptism. It was amazing. The ward has embraced him, and he has embraced the gospel. He even taught the entire Restoration to his ex-wife (D's mother) and we are going to start teaching her!

We've also continued teaching L and J this week. We had an FHE on Monday, L made us amazing baliadas Wednesday, and we had a law of chastity lesson on Friday. We read through The Family Proclamation the Family Proclamation and asked them what action they needed to take. L immediately responded that they needed to get married. J wanted to wait, to let her get to know the church better, but we cut that excuse right out - you don't need to wait to keep the commandments. So they're working on getting their papers from Honduras so they can get married! One fun moment was when J, who is a member, looked at me and said, "when are you leaving?" I told him probably in about four weeks, and he said, "I knew it! You just want to be here when we get married! That's why you're telling us we need to do it soon!" So funny. I promptly told him that, no, I didn't want them to get married before I leave, I wanted them to get married and L to get baptized before I leave :) We were talking about the lesson afterward and realized that it was one of the least romantic proposals ever. Even less romantic than yours, Dad ;)

We have determined that bug-bombing (fumigating) the house for cockroaches does not work, and may actually increase the number of cockroaches. Ah well. We just wrap all of the food in plastic and we're good. I love you all!

<3

Hermana Houghton

I had a chance to email chat with HH for a few minutes today, and asked her if she'd received her birthday gifts and what wonderful things she had planned for the day--Her response:

I LOVE all of the birthday stuff! I screamed when I got the baklava... and then the other sisters came in to ask what I had gotten that I loved so much... I showed them my oxford picture dictionary and threw the baklava underneath a sweater :)

As for wonderful things, pretty much chilling. Sleeping hopefully, writing letters, ya know. We were going to play smashface but the elders wimped out.

 Another silly picture during the interview

During William's baptismal interview: Sister Ware, Elder Allen,
and R (pretending to take a nap)

Ws baptism, with his baptizer Carlos Gonzalez and his member friend R :)