Sweet but Short

i still havent recieved your pckage andalso what ever they tell you about candy what a lie ahaha my comp recieved a package from the us with sweedish fish haha investigate for my birthday.mmmm the truth is i dont really know i dont really want anything for my birthday i would rather recieve letters from all my family including josh and braiden and maybe some pictures i would like a wetstone idk use your imagination. thats all i can really tell you. i would really like some baked beans more then anything oh how i crave them. i think about it this week hows that haha


what the about sister schroeder she is in my prayers and i will send trev a message right now dont worry. and if ou could give him my adress to the office would be better because if leave tapachula i will never see his letter love you mom

elder houston

New Companion!

ok what a week hahaha so we have been recieving tons of rain i love it oh mmm forst my companions name is elder waldron he is from las vegas he is legit just like super humble perfect for what i need right now and we are super duper pumped to work tother haha he has 6 months in the mission he has 3 in mexico i am his 3rd companion here in mexico and this is his 2nd area i think and he sapeaks tons of spanish he knows a ton more then me really the only difference is i talk more fluent haha but his grammer is all correct on stuff and mine is still bad so he is teaching me a lot.

ok well this whole tsunami thing is pretty sweet well not so much that there was one but we had a warning for one here in the passific so we recieved tons of rain well really it was been raining for almost 2 weeks these last 2 days no but oh how much i miss the rain haha i went into the street and was playing in the rain and this one investigator got really bad at me. ok well the first day he got mad because i left my home haha he saw our family picture and was like what in the world are you doing here in crappy mexico wear you will breathe bad dust and get sick and just like all this stuff then when we went back 2 days laters i was soked when we got to his little store and he was like what in the world are you doing one you leave you home and then you leave are all wet you are going to get sick because you think its okay to work when its raining go to your house dry off and drink your cofee with some bread and clean your house and then sleep and rest dont work!!! hahaha i told him the lord will protect us because we are doing his work hahah he wasnt to happy with me i tell you

today was a lil rediculous so we have this one investigator that she really is awesome but has some problems in her life. she is finally doing way better she is not happy that elder reyes left but she finally is warming up to elder waldron well we have been pushing baptism a lot because she told us that she knows that the church is true and all this good stuff but literally refuses to accept a date and one day she says you know what were going to make a bet.there is a park that i go to i like to excersise at and the course to run is really hard its up and down and she says she took her husband one time to do it and i guess he couldnt do it. she told be if i can keep up with her and finish 3 laps one walking and the other 2 running that she will be baptised so i excepted haha but i had a hard time when i got home that night cause i am playing with the things of god. its just like you know me hahah always me and jake took the bets and we never lost so i took her bet but in my prayer i rrecieved revelation that its not what i should really do but i couldnt really back out so i decided look we will go and finish this whole thing but i am going to tell her that she is not going to be baptised because i won. and thats what i did hahaha but she said she is going to be baptised but only if elder reyes comes back and then we have to baptise her in the ocean hahaha really hard hahaha because elder reyes isnt going to come back so i have this trial.

well the truth is i am out of time right now i need to write the president but i love you all follow your prayer and fallow the revelations that we recieve so that we can continue recieving the help from our father in heaven pray for other people always and do all we can to help every person that we can to come to know that the church is true. i love you all be good i am excited for the next letter. oh the pictures is my companion and me under a rainbow 2 gringos in mexico hahaha and elder waldron is a lil tea pot hahaha the other is from this morning i love you all be good!!

elder houston

3rd Baptism!

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you guys will never guess what i just ate!!!! IGUANA!!!!!!!!! you know the lizard hahaha and its eggs!!!!! crazy and really its actually very delicious mom i know you hate lizards but i think you could eat iguana hahaha and his eggs hahahaha and here you dont be picky you eat every bit of the animal hahaha the brain eyes hahaha everything theres only bones left over the skin i didnt like to much its weird because its like scalely on your tongue but the eggs were delicious they tasted like chicken hahahaha you bite off a little end and then suck out all the meat hahaha theres not to much meat on the iguana so you are sucking on bones hahaha but it was really good i am going to learn how to kill it and cook for when i come home hahaha .


so we got transfers hahaha and elder reyes went to tuxtla teran my old house but different area called aeropuerto and i recieved a new comp armericano!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whoaaaa and he is 6 foot 3 inches holy smokes check out the picture hahaha 2 heads taller then me hahaha every one says whoa your really tall hahaha really funny but he has 6 months in the mission 3 monthes here in mexico super sweet he knows a lot of spanish which i am greatful hahaha and really i didnt know but i know a lot of spanish now i can speak with people hahaha crazy how the lord works with us but he is very humble kinda quiet but one of those quiet powerful type of people he is on the same page as me and we are pumped to get working together and baptize a zillion hahaha oh yeah his name is elder waldron from las vegas!!!! woop woop

also i learned how to make pancakes from honduras and what there are pretty much is crapes but they are delicous so i am going to attempt to make them in the house we can pray so i dont burn down the house oh wait our house is made of concrete hahahaha no its great i love mexico and here where i am is seriously the land of abundance i am sure you can see the pictures of that yello thing i have in my hand.... and the one body with a yellow head well thats elder reyes hahah but this yellow thing isssssss.................... a stinkin LEMON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am serious hahaha there are like yea you make lemonade with it there a tree that we go and get them owe wonderfull and i could probably make 50 galons with that thing its enormous and real hahaha super crazy but super sweet at the same time haha whoa now thats a lemon head let me tell you its not tv what you are looking at thats the real deal what really happened is he ate a guchers and thats what happened to his head braiden and jace becareful dont eat to much candy hahahaha

also we had a baptism this saturday very rushed and very beatiful his name is juan santiago dominguez garcia really a good kid he is 14 and he had taken the decision to follow the example of jesus christ to be baptised i baptised him and elder reyes confirmed him. the thing that hit me the most about this younge man is that after he was baptised we were sitting in the front of everyone and it was after he was baptised in the last him and like all mexicans here are trying to learn english the only problem is he doesnt go to school but he is still learning. but what happened was we were listening to the last him and he leans to me and says hey.... i love it....in english.... i sat and thought and said you love it? and asked him in spanish and he says yes and i asked him what he loved.. then in english he told me to shut up hahaha and his eyes were a lil red and i could already see the change in him he had that glow of joy and happinss that everyone is looking for what a wonderful blessing we recieve and like juan he is now in the proper path that we should be in and he loves it ..i know that this is all for a reason that we suffer a lil but we remain happy that we have the love of our father in heaven and our light is glowing for everyone to see

i know that my letter isnt very long this week but i love all of you that have the chance to read about my adventures here in mexico hahaha oh yes the picture of the child with the dog well with petie i didnt know that you sent her here and changed her to a boy but hey hahah this childs name is agel and he is 7 he knows the church is true hahaha because the teachers in the church said that joseph smith restored is and was a prophet hahaha he is the child of a investigator that we have hahaha the only problem is her daughter doesnt know the church is true and the sister doesnt want to be baptised without her daughter so we are going to talk to her about the church and see if heavenly father can help us out a lil bit she is really sweet and nice only doesnt like that she doeant know a lot like the other kids haahahaha whoa haha

oh yes i am sick again hahaha and this time its super worse when i gotta go i gotta go theres no time to run to the house for the irst time in my mission i went to the bathroom in another house that i am not living in 2 times what the!!! its terrible i hate it but hey i think its because i ate in the street and thats what i get i have to suffer to eat the good food i guess hahahahaa

oh yes the wheather is hot hot hot and it has been raining for like a week and a half whoa and i love it hahah our neighbors said i tought there grand daughter to get soaked in the rain and so we are going to play in the rain again soon hahaha but yes its very hot everyone has concrete houses like it says in heleman and the ones that live in the river have sticks with sheet metal roof and plastic walls hahaha crazy crazy i dont see how people can live like that but i understand it is something better then nothing i tell you that money is the devil and we know why hahaha

the lord is with us he wants us to be happy he wants us to walk in the correct path so we can return back to our father in heaven safely and happy and the only way to do that is through the power of the atonement so we can repent for everything that we do even the bad words we say.. we have to and need to repent i love you all read your scriptures and always pray i love you all
elder houston

More Pictures!

Sorry i had to take pictures of the pictures again! Sometimes when he puts pictures in his email they won't decode and let us print them or post them on blogger. Enjoy them anyway!

crazy week we had a good time we learned a lot about our area that it is reall actually huge there is a lil city about 30 minutes away from our house and the members let us know that it is our area and so we decided to get to know what its all about. we also found out there are some waterfalls over there and we really wanted to see them so here is a picture it was really fun actually we were walking and there was a group of people standing around this younge man and he had sprained his ankle so we offered to help him out. me and elder reyes caried him down this mountain to his aunts house well reall i helped for like 10 minutes and then elder reyes took over and put him on his back so i helped this kids mom carry there vegatables down to the house. then we sat down and talked with them a lil bit and told them that we are headed to the waterfall to see what its like and this old guy wanted to go with us with these 2 kids i swear this guy has to be like 70 and he was like running and jumping over rocks his name is fransisco hahaha he is my new friend the only problem is they live very far away but i took a lot of videos of this trip so i dont have to many pictures but i will do some cuts out of the video so you can see my friend hahahaha

later well actually earlier this week we finally go someone who wanted some help with some service. basically we went to find firewood hahahaha there are tons of trees that have dead branches so what they do is they climb the tree with there machette i think thats how you spell it hahaha therre sword and the hack away at the tree then the branch falls to the ground and the poeple on the ground have swords and they cut it up hahaha its called leña and we did that fot the whole morning oh and at the end we get rope and tie it all together and carry it on our shoulders hahaha there is culture about this whole carring thing hahaha women always carry practically everything on there head and men carry it on there shoulder. i have pictures of my comp and of the people we were helping but not of me hahahaha but it was really fun they were all making fun of me because i have never done this whole machette thing instead of a axe but hey i had a good time in little while i think that we are going to go again but down by the river i am pretty stoked hahaha

me and my companion had a weird experience with a investigator whol started off looking like a chosed investigator who is ready but really this guy is confused a lot. he is catholic which is a problem because of the things i have learned about the catholic church which is pretty crazy but anyways we were talking to him and started with the law of chastity and why it was in important but i gave him an example that if he was with his daughter and was walking and he passed a group of younge men and they started wistling at her how would he feel? and he understood very clearly why and told us he would keep this commandment. he is a good guy but then we got on this topic of the of the prophet and he has a big doubt that we have a prophet and we started to explain and i told him a few things here and there. then i told him that he doesnt have the gift of the holy ghost and he got offended and started laughing but he had changed and it wasnt our investigator he was completely different. he said houston houston houston you cant tell me i dont have the spirit shaking his head and then like licked his lips he had his eyes closed and said i will show you and idk was like meditating or something and then opened his eyes and told me never mind. elder reyes asked what he wants to show us cause we want to know and see. he told us that he was going to show us that the prophet doesnt have the spirit and is a false prophet but right now he couldnt idk it wasnt normal it was more like satan or one of his angels had takin over his body and idk his eyes and his whole atitude was just like satan would be or an angel you could see it in his eyes. after we had left i was talking to elder reyes and he said he felt bad and i said i fell the saim like idk i felt bad as if satan was there but at the same time i felt like our heavenly father was watching over us and was with us to help.

how do we apply this story to our life? well i dont know really i am putting all this together right now.. what i can say is that satan is real he is out there with all his angels to try and destroy us to try and destroy our hope our happiness and our faith that the lord is with us and that we have future with him in his presence.when the times are bad the lord waits for us to humble ourselves before him so that we may ask for help and bless us with the things that we need. what does it mean to be humble? it means that we should be ready to follow all the commandments of god. it means we are obediant. in mosiah 2:41 it says when we keep the commandments of the lord we will be blessed spiritually and temporaly and that we will live in a state of never ending happiness. in the times of trial in the times of hurt the lord is near everyone one of us just like it says in acts the scripture on my plack. he will not leave us alone in the would and as embers we have the gift of the holy ghost to guide us. the thing i would say is to apply that in our lives every day from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep everyday. the spirit does not only guide us in the church to give talks to give lessons he guides us in all our work our family our fun remeber that.

for stevie happy birthday buddy i know that its early but i wanted to tell you because i cant tell you untill the next monday. right now i am searching for something sweet here in these little shops to send to you and coop but stevie i love you buddy i havent heard from you boys for awhile i hope that everything is good and i hope you are behaving and helping out. i hope that you guys are happy in school and that you are being good. remember what you told me on christmas that you would be good i hope to here from you to here how you are doing i miss you buddy i love you guys and really i think about you guys everyday. i carry around our picture of our family and i show everyone and tell them look this is my family they are the best thing i have in this entire world and wouldnt trade them for nothing i hope that your birthday is a good one and that your happy if there is any advise i would give you is well you have another year now and you get to start off this year new. make some goals change your life in a new way but in the way that you should and in the way that will prepare you for your future i love you stevie happy birthday that really goes with all of you cooper jace amber justin mom dad josh and everyone else who gets my emails make goeals in your life change things that arent good we have our agency in everything that we do including if we want to be successful it wont be easy but its not impossible change when things are bad take a step back analyse and look at the situation. see what could be better see what needs to be taken away see what needs to change in every aspect and then do it because its for the better. i love you family i hope that everything is good and i hope that your all happy have a gooid week and i will talk to you monday

elder houston

HI Family and Friends

Elder Houstons email is brief, but funny! Evidentally we were emailing at the same time and we finished at the same time also, so he didnt get my email! Dang! This email will give you a good laugh, especially when you see the pictures! In two of the pics Stevie says he looks like he's glowing. I told him he had the Holy Ghost with him! Ha ha!

ok so this week was actually pretty fun i went on divisions with our district leader haha he is awesome he is from utah haha but we had some fun. we were contacting and then taught this lady a short lesson and afterwards he had to pee so there was this river and we decided to check it out. well then we got talking about meditating and that it would be super sweet to meditate on the rocks and idk so we took some pictures he is really funny hahaha he is also a avatart fan ninja fan dragon ball z fan pokemon fan just awesome and like the whole day we were talking about deadliest warrior and avatar assasins creed and how awesome it would be to live on a dojo to learn tia chi and be a monk. here are some photos hahaha there really sweet.
other then that i have a few more problems hahaha i don t know what the deal is but i am always sick my neighbor says she thinks that i have a parasite hahaha which is super sweet right? no not at all i hate it more then anything because when i am hungry its not good because it hurts more then anything ever haha i feel like something is biting my stomache then on top of that everyone is asking me why my face is super red hahaha well i was just talking to a member and she says hey what do you have your face is red and have bumps basically and i said idk i haven been like this for 2 weeks and she tell me that i have something and i should talk to the doctor. like i broke out on my right arm chest and face i figured is was just achne but she says no plus this lil pimple things dont pop haha i know nasty but they just bleed they dont have nothing in then idk i am going to check it out.
this week we had 3 investigators show up to church we will probably baptise one this saturday haha he is 14 and has a good heart he dropped out of school and works all day just sitting in front of this placeliterally doing nothing he gets like 300 pesos every week idk sad but hey he also didnt have shoes so i have him mine there big on him but he doesnt caree he likes them. he has come to church 2 times with us and likes to talk with us he is trying to learn english as well..well all the people are trying to learn english here everyone asks if we can teach them english and i say yes they ask how much and i say free they dont belive me so i dont teach them hahaha but hey it is what it is the key board i am using is the worst i want to throw it out the door!!!! thats all that has really happened this week we are trying to find new investigator but it is hard sometimes because they dont want nothing but hey what can i do but keep on keepin on i love you all be good keep the commandments
elder houston

2nd Baptism!

i know what your saying about the boots hahaha i miss my boots a ton but my foot is better i can wealk and run well i cant run because i am so out of shape its rediculous

ok the whole boat thing ahhaha i would be stoked because to be honest there isnt a day that goes by that i dont think of the water and my wakeboard hahaha but dont worry its not like i am not focused but i do miss it a ton hahaha but i think one it would be super sweet if you guys did that and 2 its different we have never done that in our life.

work. haha always seems to have a bad trip one time of year but dont worry always pay tithing and do the things that that lord has asked and you will come out on top the lord knows we are in texas and knows that we need his help so no worries he will help us just keep working make goals and everything will come out on top

my package goodness hahaha well one thing i really would love some jerky 2 i would love some boston baked beans and 3 one other thing is you could send me is a wetstone because the ones they have here are terrible and my pocket nkife is really dull other then that i am ok. my companion is in his last transfer so i am going to get his adress and have you send it to his home becaus it would be sweet for him to have one my other comp has till april haha so i can still get it to him. and when you send it to him in his home put my name on it hahahah because then he will remember haha

ok so we had 2 baptisms this week woop woop of this lady and her kid it all worked out and she made her own baptism dress this lady seriously has some skills i have seen lots of the dresses she makes and little things that she does for these girls and she ha got some skills i will tell you haha i actally had her fit my pants and a shirt i have to and i love it hahahs o much better but yes she was baptised and is really happy i was going to baptise the kid but change of plans so elder reyes baptised paco and elder craynor baptised the lady thelma haha he is the goofy one in the picture hahahis hair is rediculous but i love the guy to death hes a good guy lots of members showed up and helped out our baptisms are getting better and better as they go haha and more nice

today we were talking with a member the one that washes our clothes for us and he uncle oh man her uncle has a heart so closed up its rediculous but today when we were talking to her she says oh hey by the way guess what haha my uncle carlos says he wants to be baptised!!!! what!!!!!!! i am still in shock i kept asking her is she was joking haha but she said she s serious so were going to visit him today and check it out hahaha the missionaries have been working with him for awhile haha and finally this old fart i swear but he softens up and says he wants to be baptised super awesome the lord workd with his seeds that are planted by the members and missionaries always remember that people are watching us because we are different we have something that they dont have they want to know what it is so dont be scared to open your mouth.

other news hahaha i hate pidgens yes they are here in mexico to hahaha but they are the worst what it is ok i will explcain a little bit. the water here for the houses are in a tank under the ground we have a pump that we turn on to put it in a tank above the house and the gravity is used to put it all in the showers and sinks. well some houses have models like ours where the tanks are open really therejust concrete boxes with no lid so that we can wash clothes up there is we need to or dishes or just what ever well what happens is the pidgeons come and bathe ad poo in our tank and then guess where all that nast goes? yes i nkow in my shower!!!!! nasty i have like there like little pimples you could say on my arm because the water is contaminated hahahaa and then when the water got low the other day i went to use the sink and pure poo water all over my cup and hand i was pretty upset hahaha but me and my comp have made a wrist rocket and were going to get rid of the pidgeons hahaha it would be better if i had a real wrist wrocket but i think this one will work hahaha goodness stinken pidgeons!!!

oh yeah i have been wanting to tell you guys thins since i got to mexico. the milk here is awesome hahaha its stored in the shelf and doesnt go bad for like 3 months if you dont open it hahaha its tastes a lil funny actually just different i really like it hahaha but after you open it is when you have to watch it. hahahaha dad you would die here because its all in cartans hahaha but bno i love it haha

this week the focus was a lot on repentence in how impotant it is to repent every day of the things we do. the wife of elder de hoyos something like that he is in the 70 she told us do not sleep or end your prayers at night until you have felt forgiven for your sins. the other night i was thinking of that you could be on your knees all night for hours!!!! but really its that worth it enos was on his knees for a whole day because its that important to recieve forgiveness of our sinces the lord is ready to forgive us but only when we put our part remeber that remeber and think what more you can to to live your life clean and ready to go i love you all have a good week and repent

elder houston



Email of the Week

ok so the naked kids honestly dont stop i hate it we are just walking down the river contacting and working like good missionaries do and these naked kids just run around then see to guys in white shirts and tie and what do they do? do you know..... they definately didnt ask for candy they flipped us off hahaha so funny to be honest but its just like what the heck for one where are your pants 2 why are you flipping me off i put my tounge at them hahaha

ok foot drama i think that i am fine now hahaha what had happened is my 4 little toes and all the bones have been scrunched together a little bit and they are pinching a nerve which is my pain because it has been swollen for like 4 months yes i know its a miracle and there are no fractures which is awesome. but on the other hand theres a downfall yes i know theres always a downfall yes i know i know.... i had to get 2 shots!!!!!!! yes i know and even worse in the butt!!!! really was not happy about that but my neighbor is awesome and helped me out hahaha and i am also taking some pills the swelling has gone down and i can continue with my mission hahaha
my package goodness gracious hahahaha dad has the adress to the members home we were trying to track the package to get it sent and on the trascking number i am missing 2 numbers so i couldnt do anything send it to the member i will be here for another 6 weeks so no worries i am still with the same companion so everything is good and when you send it let me know the information like the numbers for here in mexico so the sister can track it for me and know when its going to arrive dont send it to the office or i will never get it hahah
we are going to have a baptism this friday with a mom and her son. i think we both will be baptising her because she is a lil over weight and has a bad knee but i am still not sure to be honest the son is talking to us right now hahaha we found some chosen investigators they showed up to the church and we didnt even know until after sacrament so i went and sat with them and they brought there kids and they were fighting so i started drawing flowers for them hahaha well i drew 3 one for each lil girl and what did they do? hahaha they were happy but then started fight over the flowers hahaha they seemed to enjoy they time in the church they are very hard to find through the week so we are going to find them saturday i believe.
other then that it has been a pretty good week i enjoy hearing your stories spanish is better haha but the heat is continuing they say that in march its like death so i am pumped for that i feel like i will be here for awhile but i dont know i hope i am here for awhile i really like it here but at least i have 6 more weeks. we are finally getting the members working. but still we lack a lot and there are a lot f things that i see that i hate haha but hey what can i do nothing but tell thm to repent haha
so the other day we were walking and i saw this man crawling on the ground across the street and we had asked a member whats wrong with him they only said that he was sick. more then likely he is a alcoholic that lost everything and lost the ability to use his legs. i was thinking if jesus was here what would he do. well jesus would walk to him and heal him. i was thinking as a elder and a representative of jesus christ i could do that same thing. well all who hold the priesthood can do that. but at the same time i was scared that maybe it wouldnt work. my faith had fallen through. the same thing happened when peter walked on water he had jesus christ in his eyes to do the same thing but when he looked around he was unbelieving and started to fall. then i was thinking all of us are capable to do the things like that but when we fault our faith we have nothing. how do we get to this point in our life where we are able to do those things? well nephi is an example my companion was tell me this last night . god gave nephi the power to do anything that he wanted to do. why was he given the power well right now i am still studying that. but it starts with very basic steps. prayer is number one we always are praying with all our heart and we are praying so that we may help other people as did lehi in nephi 1.5 i believe the later he says to keep the commandments. thats what nephi did he kept all the commandments and when the lord had asked him to do something he never hesitated and when he doubted such as when he was commanded to kill laban he prayed and pondered he was so righteous that god gave him the power to do what he wanted only because he was obidient. how many times in our lives are we more focused on the world then on god when god can give us everything that we want and the world gives us nothing we gain nothing from the world in all cases. i am still pondering on this topic but think in your own life how many timnes are we more worried about worldly things when this world means nothing because we are going to have something greater in the furtue? thats the question of the week.
oh one other thing i finished the book of mormon whoo hoo and its true i can tell you that hahahaa good to know i now but i dont knw who recieves my letters but everyone who does i challenge you to start the book of mormon and apply it to your life because its going to guide you in all directions that you could possibly need.

i love you all

elder houston