Hello my beautiful family!

Thank you for your letters and emails. Rach congrats on all of your running. So proud, you can whip me into shape and Jenn congrats on your play! Be prepared to act out some stuff for me :) 

We had Elder Anderson of the Presidency of the Seventy come to speak to us. He explained that the church is growing fast...so fast that it will be doubled in numbers soon. and we will need double the amount of leaders ie bishops, stake pres, relief society pres, primary pres.... and it hit me. One of the reasons of the age change, (now almost two years ago) is to prepare the MANY future leaders of the church. There is a big work to do and this mission is all to help us prepare for this growth. Heavenly Father has his hand in all of this, He knows what He's doing :) I'm so grateful to be on the right team. 

I'm sure you've all heard about "Meet the Mormons" I have watched this trailer so many times I can't count it. I'm just a little excited for this to come out. President/Elder Anderson said that they showed this movie to an audience of non-members. After watching it 70% said they would let the missionaries into their home...70%! This is a great tool the church will have to show we are human, but humans with an incredible belief in our Savior, Jesus Christ. To get it to show in New Jersey we have to request it online and have members request it too...we are working pretty hard to get the members to request this film because of what it will do for the missionary work around here. 

Today I have one month left to wear this name tag. I've been reflecting on my mission. I love it. These past 17 months I have experienced the gospel, felt the joy of serving the lord and learned more than I can write in this short amount of time. I have encountered miracle after miracle and learned line upon line of Gods plan for each of us, and felt of His love! There have been points here I have had to cling to my Savior to make it through....It was those times that I came to understand the need for the Atonement. It is these times that I treasure the most on my mission. He has strengthened me when I had nothing left to give. I am grateful for these trials. Like a refiners fire, I can't become who He wants me to be without going through some pretty hot flames. 

So I will continue to sing this loud and proud 

"Onward, ever onward, as we glory in His name

Forward pressing forward as a triumph song we sing. 

God our strength will be; press forward ever

Called to serve our king!" 

I'm ready and excited to give all I can my last month as a set apart representative. 

I love you all! Thank you for your love...support and encouragement! 

Sending love from the Garden State

Sister Houghton

Had a miracle last week while emailing and met a man named Jeffrey (6'5 black guy) that came over to us and asked if we could meet. He's searching for truth, he was leaving the library when we first met him, when we said hello he turned around and followed us in and said there was something different about us. He calls us the "little sistas" He was supposed to come to church but had a meeting yesterday, he called to apologize and said "I'm so sorry I missed,

I had a meeting, I wish I could have been having a meeting with Jesus like you little sistas were" We think he is awesome and are excited to share our message with him!

fun fact: wawa means baby in spanish...my district leader told me that

            in South NJ wawa means cool gas station 

           North Jersey Wawa is a bus that takes you into NYC

Hello Family! 

We've had a great week here!  found out this morning that BOTH Sister Rogers and I are going to be together another transfer. I love her a lot and I'm grateful to serve my last one....MY LAST transfer here in Freehold. I've had several moments the past week when it HIT me, that this is my last transfer...like when I made my last planner and started to cry. I'm being a big ol' worry wort. I can't control it but I'm grateful I still have 6 weeks to work and serve. I love this place more than I can describe. New motto- "Oh Lord, I have trusted thee, and I will trust in thee forever"

 

Besides all the emotional stuff we are making progress here in the land of Freehold! Last Monday we found a VERY prepared women on a street corner in Matawan while looking for a person interested in our message. She immediately opened up to us about her spiritual journey and some of big difficulties going on in her life. The spirit was strong and we said a prayer of gratitude to have met her. Walking away I realized we met her on the exact same street corner, we had found a VERY prepared Spanish man the week before. I told Sister Rogers we were going to stand on that street corner every Monday at that same time. We have found the promised land :) 

We have been instructed (side note some of my language is now sounding a lot like the scriptures. Sister Rogers pointed it out to me this week) to get 3-6 hours of service a week, the members have been really helping us out and we are now becoming certified organizers, cleaners and old folks home guests greeters. Truly we are in the service of God when we serve others. It's been incredible. 

We got in contact with a less-active Sister  who had been avoiding us for a while. We both felt we should just read from the Book of Mormon with her. The beginning of the lesson we felt some negative feelings.... stress? contention? not a good feeling in the air. I said a prayer for help and as we continued to read from the Book of Mormon the Spirit slowly poured into the room. She opened up to us and told us some fears, concerns and how she could feel something different as we read. She said "I miss this" The whole atmosphere of the lesson changed. After the prayer we all took a moment to listen and feel the spirit. She asked us if we could come back the next day. All of this reminded me of the crucial role the Book of Mormon has in our conversion process. The Spirit only testifies of truth. This Book changes lives. It has changed mine. I treasure it more than any other possession I own. It contains the fullness, the whole gospel on the earth. I know it is true. I love sharing this knowledge with others. I simply love being a Missionary!

Good news! Our Jewish friend loves the Book of Mormon, He is getting really close to accepting Christ as the Savior. We are so close.

Thank you for your prayers, letters, love and examples! I love you all! 

Sending love from the Garden State,

Sister Houghton

P.S Sister Pastores is TRAINING!!! :) I am a Grandma again. I feel so blessed to have such a great mission family. 

Awkward story

We were Teaching a Brother who is  less-active in an old folks home about the restoration. This man is a few french fries short of a happy meal...if you know what I mean. Every time we asked a question about prophets or Heavenly Father he would clasp his hands and say "You are so beautiful....soo, sooo sooo beautiful" or "I bet your boyfriend at home can't wait for you to get back...." (no idea where he even got that idea) anyways we would try to tie what he said back to the restoration. It was getting pretty awkward. He said he LIKES women and has kissed at least one other resident in front of us..? Needless to say we are going to be staying FAR away from him.:)

September 8 2014 I Would walk 500 Miles.

Hello my beautiful Family! 

What a week we have had here in the land of the Free,-- it's as if all of our days literally BLEW UP. I'm not kidding. I told Sister Rogers that I've never seen anything like this. However, on the good side we still love being missionaries:)  When the going gets tough....the tough get going. I've said that saying at least a hundred times this week. 

We also ran into a tinsy problem. we had a crucial appointment with a less-active member on walking day and no ride to get us there. We prayed to know what to do and felt that God had given us legs for a reason and we would walk there. (I was actually realllly excited about it) We walked over 15 miles, drank lots of water and after 71/2 hours of walking we made it home. God does provide a way, sometimes we just have to be willing to act. On the way home we saw miracle after miracle.  One man we contacted said he would be baptized. He lives in a different ward but I have a good feeling about it. Its all the same team :) We also contacted a man in Spanish who is actually an investigator for the Spanish elders, I had never met him before. He said I had very good Spanish, I was just thinking that is the Spirit, because my Spanish is NO BUENO if you know what I mean. 

We had a recent convert move into our area. She was baptized a month ago on St Martin (an island in the Caribbean) she's my age and so cute. I would love to be best friends with her. She is married and has a 14 month old son. If her family finds out she was baptized she will be disowned. It is a crazy situation. I realized how blessed I have been growing up in the gospel. I took it for granted. I know her families hearts will be softened....one day-- ok maybe not in this life but she has such great faith and I can see Great things for her in the future. God has a plan for each one of us and He knows us! 

I love this work, even the hard weeks. I would walk as far as He wants me to, to spread this message. This is the truth! 

Sending love from Jersey

Sister Houghton

(Pronounced Hoi-ten here)

Fun fact A woman in my ward is dating a man from Todd's stake, he said he is keeping an eye out for him .

September 2nd, 2014

Hello Family!

Wow, I loved reading all of your emails. You all know exactly what to say and do to lift my spirits encourage me. Thank you! Thank you! I have such an amazing family! 

We have experienced a little speed bump in our road. We had an incredible lesson with John, he told us he was ready for baptism. He wasn't able to come to church on Sunday, and some things are going on right now we can't really describe we will need to push his baptism back, but any prayers on his behalf would be very much appreciated. Our cute Jewish Investigator Sy (cute as in 87 years old cute) told us he is almost completely convinced that Jesus is the CHRIST the Savior of the World. It's these little (but really huge victories) that will make all the difference. After we asked him to be baptized he said "maybe....hey maybe I'll be a preacher for the Mormon church too" ha baby steps Sy, baby steps :)  

I literally cannot believe it is September. How does the time fly by so fast? This past week It hit me, that my mission is coming to an end. AN END! How can this be? I can't believe and don't want to think about it, I love this place with my whole entire being. I LOVE New Jersey, the diversity, the people the work! My heart is here in this lovely Garden State. How can I leave it? 

I feel like my whole mission I have been preparing for this time, working on refining myself to become the missionary God wants me to be. This is the time for me to apply all of the things I have learned and use them in my last two months as a full time representative. I don't want to waste a second. But I know that I can't do this alone. I am tired physically and spiritually. I know this work is not easy, I was thinking about some things and It hit me today, non of this work is about me, absolutely non of it, it is all about our Savior. This is the work of souls. and I know that with His help I can do all things. and so I will not stop. I will not back down. I know who I am fighting for. This is His work. The Standard of Truth has been Erected and NO ONE can stop the work from progressing. And so I will continue to work hard, fight to the end. 

Thank you for all you do! I love you all, keep up the great work in the Russet State

Sending love and hugs from New Jersey

Sister Houghton

Fun Fact: Aberdeen New Jersey (a town in our area) is the hometown of Babe Ruth. Yankees anyone? 

Sister Rogers is wonderful and even made me b-fast today, woot woot :) 

This is sister Scotto,  we felt very strongly we needed to visit her all of a sudden on Sunday we showed up right before closing hours at the old folks home, when she saw us she smiled so big and said "I knew someone was coming to visit me!" I was so grateful that we listened to the Spirit

August 25th, 2014

Family!

I almost jumped out of my seat looking at the Ogden temple pictures. I am in awe. So beautiful!! I might cry when I see it in real life. 

Wow. We have had an incredible week here in FREEEEhold. To start we went to the battlefield orchards to pick our own peaches I believe it is fruit from the heavens. We literally picked peaches in the battle fields, the battle fields of the Revolutionary war.  Walked till our feet almost fell off because sometimes Sister Missionaries direction is not good.  We were saved by some very nice Egyptians at the gas station, and they might be coming to church (yay!) Today (why I am emailing later) we went to the Jersey Shore and the boardwalk. I feel like I can now be a true Jersey-ian. All I needed was a fin-fun and my life would be complete.   but mostly what made this week incredible was the spirit I have felt like almost no other time on my mission and maybe my life. It has been incredible. 

Our mission president has made it a HUGE focus to have "spiritual connections" with people, listen and ask the right questions to help them feel the spirit-- and wow! we have been praying for guidance and direction to have these connections on a daily basis. We met Debbie walking her dogs (petting dogs is a great way to start talking to people, I know! this might be the reason I'm not scared of dogs anymore) she had lots of plan of salvation questions, but there was something else there, we both felt the spirit guide us with the right words, questions and testimony. After we said a prayer with her she said she had never felt that way before, and started to cry. Sister Rogers and I both embraced her and were able to teach her about the spirit. When we left Debbie she said I will never forget you. It goes both ways. We will never forget Debbie. 

We met with our investigator John. He is like I've said before a big guy. BIGGGGG guy. He also has a lot of back pain, while we were teaching him the first part of the Restoration he had to do some yoga moves to relieve the pain, kind of intimidating if you ask me. But he has the biggest heart. Teaching John is unlike anything I have ever seen or experienced. He loves to evaluate and ponder each concept, talk about some deep thinking. The thoughts he has, I have never thought of before. I know we are teaching John, but in many ways he is teaching us. The Spirit was guiding us, when we got to Christ's Earthly Ministry we stopped and felt the spirit guide us to ask him what he knew about Christ. He paused for a long time (before this he was unsure if Christ was his Savior) and then something incredible happened. He started to describe his faith in Christ.  A beautiful sweet feeling entered the room. As he spoke the feeling became stronger, and more intense. He shared his hopes and then after a while his knowledge that Christ lives. Once he stopped speaking, we could barely speak, the Spirit was strong. we asked if he could feel it. He told us he was "on fire" and it was unlike anything he had ever felt before. The Spirit was testifying along with John about our Savior. His sacrifice and His love for each and everyone of us.  John told us he is "in Love with the Gospel" We absolutely love him, the gospel is changing him. 

It is hard to describe exactly what happened in this lesson. I was reminded that this is exactly what we are here to share. That HE LIVES. He died for us. He knows us individually. He loves us. At the end of the day this is what it is all about. "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ" (2 Nephi 25:26)  It is because of Him that all of this is possible. I love him with my entire being for it. I love this work. I am blessed to wear his name above my heart. 

I love you all! Thank you for your love and support

These girls live in Philly but we sometimes teach them when their here in Jersey. They came to church and LOVE us, I think love is an understatement, we are best friends, ha they remind me so much of our little cousins, I wish they lived here.

Sending love from Jersey

Sister Houghton