Food Poisoning

Hello my beautiful, wonderful, AMAZING family!

Wow. This week has been amazing. So many things to talk about and not enough time!

One of the investigators we tracked into committed to baptism our first lesson!! I was so excited for him! After we left his apartment I started dancing around, D&C 18:15 "How great shall be your joy" I got a small taste of joy that day! We met with him yesterday and he had read the whole book of Nephi, Sister Ward and I just kept looking at each other with huge smiles. He told us he liked how even though the family had trials they trusted in the lord and they showed Heavenly Father they had faith. I was like....do you want to teach this lesson? He is so prepared. He brought a friend to listen to the message and his friend committed to baptism as well! We were out of copies of the Book of Mormon so they were sort of fighting over who would get to read the book first. We've never seen so much excitement for this wonderful book from investigators.... we didn't know how to handle it. Lord is working miracles.

We had a WONDERFUL mission conference with Elder Koelilker of the 70. We all got to meet him and we had a 5 hour training, it was like MTC on steroids. amazing. He randomly called on two missionaries to give a 5 minute talk. and let me tell you how surprised I was to hear my name called. I like giving talks but being a new missionary, and speaking to 90 pretty well trained missionaries, mission president and a general authority gave me a small heart attack, I definitely was saying many prayers during that short 5 minutes. Heavenly Father answers our prayers!

Elder Koelilker told us that if we get a new investigator to the temple within 6 weeks of being baptized we can go with them! Manhattan is about to see a lot more of us in the next little while. :)

The relief society had a big dinner for all of us after. Tuesday morning I woke up really sick. Turns out almost all of the missionaries woke up sick. The chicken we were fed gave us all food poisoning. It was quiet a bonding time for all of us sick missionaries at District Meeting yesterday, if you catch my drift ;) My stomach is feeling a lot better and Sister Ward has been so patient with me.

We've had some crazy experiences these last few days...we are starting to finally laugh them off now. The saying "The more you LAUGH the LESS you fret" Is so true. We know that Heavenly Father is watching out for us.

I love you all and I'm sending a HUGE spiritual bear hug to everyone!! You are all the best!  Also if you give the missionaries a referral they will love you forever! it's the truth.

Hurrah for Israel

 

Sister Houghton

 

Shout out to my amazing sister Jennifer who finished her Olympic tri in St George! Congrats Sista! I heard you did it like a pro! Your pictures could be in a Sports magazine. And to Mrs Eborn! Congrats on the half marathon PR in the rain! You are the girl version of Usain Bolt...but long distance style! :)

Memorial Day

 

Hello there!

I'm so grateful for this beautiful amazing Memorial Day! It rained all last week so it is so nice to feel the sun again. The hummity is something else. We went running in 90 degree humidty weather annnnd I think I sweated from every pore. You pretty much can swim through the air. I'm actually getting kind of good at it, mom all those years of swimming lessons are finally paying off! :)

Jennifer you flew 12 ft off your bike?? What the what? Please be careful, you are going to give me a heart attack.

We had two of our investigators (that we absolutely loved) drop us. This sweet elderly woman didn't want to change she said if she prayed she knew it would be true and she's too old to change. aww breaks my heart! We all have our agency, but seriously I feel soo much love for these wonderful people. I hope and pray that one day they will accept.

One of our investigators asked us on dates. Needless to say when we see him we bring members of the ward along and make our purpose VERY clear.

The ward had the newbie missionaries give a talk in sacrament meeting. I was the last speaker with 35 + minutes to fill with less than 15 minutes worth of material. I said a fervent prayer asking for inspiration and like the promise in Doctrine and Covenants to "open your mouth and it shall be filled" Heavenly Father blesses us so much! As we share the gospel with our friends and neighbors that in that very moment when we don't know what to say Heavenly Father will not leave us alone. This is his work and he wants all of us to help bring others into this gospel.

Today I am so grateful to be out here! This is an amazing work!

Love you all!!

Sister Heather Sue

Hello beautiful family!

It was amazing to see all of your faces! I felt like I was back at Grandma's house, laughing, eating LOTS of food, and playing Mah-jong. Good times. I am sending you all a spiritual hug from the east coast!

This last week has flown by. We literally have been running around looking for people, teaching lessons and praying with people on the streets. This work is amazing. I've decided serving Spanish speaking has its bonuses, the Spanish culture is so warm and welcoming, they let us into their homes and love hearing about Jesu Cristo. Wonderful people. A lot of people don't speak very much English so I have mastered how to say "We are Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" in Spanish and "Whats up!" in Creol. The first semester of Spanish love song has helped me a lot out here. Thank you blessed you-tube.

We have a new investigator named "Brenner" She is a sweet 85 year old woman that loves Christ. She is hillarious and calls us ma (I think its a Jersey thing?) After we got out of the lesson, Sister Ward and I felt a strong impression that there was someone we needed to talk to. We started running up and down the sidewalk talking to everyone we met about the gospel. I know there is someone there who needs to hear this message, we are going back this week to find that person....family maybe even neighborhood!

The ward may be small....ok tiny but they are full of incredible people. The men made a surprise dinner for the women in the ward for Mothers Day. The woman were so excited and I've never seen prouder priesthood in my entire life. It was so fun to watch. The also gave the woman a make-up bag full of make up and a candle. Sister Ward and I reaped the benefits of Mothers Day, I felt a little guilty... well sort of :)

(Mother's Day Skype Call)

 

This week I thought a lot about my dear mother. She is amazing! She taught me how to put my trust in the lord and rely on him! I'm so grateful for her example and the amazing way she serves others! I hope that one day I can be just like her! You are so wonderful mom! Thank you for putting up with me when I was terrified of nature....and all living things.....through the hard teenage years and adult years. Thank you for holding scripture study and family prayers every morning and night! Thank you for serving a mission! I'm so grateful for you Mom!

I love you all and I can't wait to hear about this weeks adventures! I pray for you everyday! Hurrah for Israel!

xox

Sister Houghton

 

This is Sister Jarret from the ward--the cutest Jamaican lady ever.

This is Tivynna. The newest member in the ward! She was baptized 3 weeks ago :) She is a sweet sweet happy girl! So adorable!
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HELLO from the BIG APPLE! That's right, My dreams have officially come true, I'm serving in the beautiful state of New York. Before I left on my mission I remember thinking this is the one area I wanted to serve in, and here I am! The lord answers our prayers. From the top of the hill I can see New York City's skyline. I always give it a little wave. It is absolutely gorgeous and so different from life in Utah. The roads are tinny and weave in and out. I get car sick really easy, I'm hoping that will pass when my body gets used to the roads?

Transfer Conference was amazing. It was hard to let my old companions and plane buddies go but we we're so excited to get to work. President Jeppson would call out the trainer's name and then call one of us newbie’s. When he called this trainer with bright curly red hair I had the strongest impression she was my trainer, good thing they called my name because I was already walking to meet her. 

My companion is the beautiful Sister Ward from Kaysville Utah and a track runner for UVU that loves nutrition. I feel like I'm living with Amber. It's wonderful. She has such a sweet spirit about her, so nice and always has nice things to say about others. She's a gem. Sister Wards's only been out 3 months and happens to be one of the "young'ns" sometimes I feel old. She is amazing. I feel so blessed to be her companion. 

The first day we were here we gathered in Newark's central area, grabbed a companion and ran off to find people to give a book of mormon or pass along cards. There is a special power in this work and even when people are running away from us....this work is still fun! 

Rockland County has 300,000 people living in it and 100,000 people are Jews. I've never seen so many in my whole entire life. We're not allowed to proselyte to them, so that leaves us to almost 200,000 people without the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. There is a LOT of work to do. On Saturday Sister Ward and I knocked on 106 doors. Most people tell us their not interested; we've only gotten a few door slams. One many informed us that he wasn't feeling very religious today, come back on a Sunday? Good times. I've seen more "interesting" things that day than my whole entire life. Sister Ward tells me to just look at people in the eyes....it helps reduce the craziness. 

We tracted into Parley P. Pratts great-great grandson. He told us he's read the Book of Mormon and he knows it's true, but he doesn't want to leave his church? I hope he will have a change of heart. 

We're teaching the cutest little 9 year old boy named Brent. He is literally a grown man in a little body. His mother recently passed away and he spends a lot of time at his grandma’s house. I can't even describe how much I love that little boy. We left him with the movie "The Restoration" he's been watching it and believes the restoration is true. We are going to be teaching him more this week, I can't wait! 

Church is different out here. The New City Ward that covers all of Rockland County.  They have 2 or 3 families total in the whole ward, most members are recent converts that come by themselves. It breaks my heart, when church started we had 32 members at church. There is so much work to do. We invited 15 investigators/less-actives to church and we had one show up. But that's ok! We are going to figure out a way to get them to come. Church is so important! And I pray that these sweet people can understand that. 

I feel as if I've been serving here for a long time. I feel an immediate love for the people around me; everyone is so unique and amazing. They all have so much worth. I can feel just a little bit of Heavenly Father's love. 

I love this gospel! Love you all!! 

Sister Heather Sue 

Heather's Trainer Sister Ward from Kaysville, UT

Sister Smedley my cousin from another cousin :) we're in the same zone!

Hello Family!! :)

This week has been a blur, time seems to speed up and slow down, I almost don't remember what life was like outside of the MTC. Every single second of every single day is planned, AND I love it! The spirit is simply amazing here. The more I read and learn the more I realize I have yet to learn! Hopefully I'm ready for the challenge.

I'm in a trio. With Sister Page and Sister Crow. I always said I NEVER EVER....EVER wanted to be in a trio. But it's what you make of it and these two sisters are wonderful. I'm so blessed to serve with both of them. Sister Crow from Layton, and has beautiful long red hair, she has a very quite peaceful demeanor and is soo giving. She says the funniest things and I am learning a lot from her. Sister Page is the opposite of Sister Crow. She has short brown hair and has soo much energy she is ready to explode with happiness. From the minute she wakes up till night time I have never seen that sister frown or lose energy. I'm learning soo much about these beautiful chikas.

Saying goodbye was HARD I think my crying scared a lot of the older sisters in the MTC and they kept trying to make me feel better and I was soo grateful to them that it just made me cry harder. I love it here! My district is composed of two elders and 5 sisters and Its so fun to learn from them and feel their testimonies. The gospel is true!

I was praying that I would be able to see Elder Browning and I saw a bunch of friends from BYU and Ogden but no Elder Browning. On Thursday after we had dinner I heard someone call out "Sister Houghton!!" I turned around and it was ELDER BROWNING!! I was so overcome with emotion and a ton of Joy! I tried not to cry but I was just so grateful to see him! We got to run into each other a bunch and he sat by me at dinner the last night before he left. I'm going to miss that kid, but Canada is so lucky to have him. God speed brother!

I feel so blessed to be a part of this army of missionaries. The day I entered the MTC was the first time more sisters then elders came in history. Way to go Sistas! Our purpose is to invite others to come to Christ, so that they can feel that love and joy and peace we feel! I've noticed a huge change in my district as we've focused on our savior and tried to align our will with his, we are NOT perfect and I have a ton of work to do but I know that when we put our faith in him he can lift us and help us accomplish his will. I love this work!

The Branch President called me to be the Sister Training Leader for our branch. So I basically get to take care of all the girls in the zone! I'm so grateful for this opportunity but I also felt a little nervous with the responsibility. I have been praying for more love and charity for these wonderful sisters...and I feel so much love towards them! They are all amazing beautiful women. I am honored to work with them, to feel their testimony and share in the work with them! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Thanks everyone for all the dear elders and letters I've received! It means a ton!! Love you all!

XOX

Sister Heather Sue Houghton

Final hugs

Good bye and good luck!

MTC companions - Sister Crow, Sister Page and Sister Houghton

New Jersey bound

The Start of a New Adventure

Tomorrow I get to embark on the greatest journey of my life! I've heard things like missionary work is really  hard work....and I've heard it will be the easiest two years of your life. I think that if I work as hard as I can than it will be tough BUT I will feel soo happy out serving. I am hoping and praying that I am ready and I'm putting my trust in the lord. I know that everything is going to be ok. I just remind myself to take deep breaths! :) One thing I've learned lately is that Heavenly Father is here for us. He wants to hear how we are doing and our concerns and all the fun stuff going on! I'm grateful for prayer and for that comfort and peace I feel when I talk with God. So while I'm a little nervous I am ready for this next chapter in my life! Love you all!

Soon-to-be
Sister Heather Sue Houghton