Jan 16

ok 4 bautismos!!!!!! wooohoooo

ok so wee had 4 baptisms way fun i loved it.we had 7 in white. in the family they are a family of 5 but the little one she is 7 kinda upset that she could be baptised haha so its pretty awesome.that could pull through.

i am feeliong a lot better too hahaha in the pictures there are a few things well only 2 there the baptisms hahaha i was playing with different modes on my camera thats why they come out all colored and what not hahahaha but the ones at the bottom there are 3 books of mormon. elder martinez gave the one that you guys doint know what iot is hahaha is a in a language called TSOTSIL hahha its a dialect that i am trying to learn its pretty hard to be honest hahaha but its fun i like to learn now i do my home work and our zone leader served in the are that they speak that language so he is helping me learn more faster that doesnt make sense haha more faster but anyways its really interesting the language to be honest but i love it i have a lot of interess...dang i dont know it says it a fin de cuenta i want to learn more languages so we will see what happens.

this week we were able to see the branch start working we have a investigator that i told you about the he got jumped haha and well he has been going through a lot of things including that he is in danger of being paralized i dont know how to say iut in english i forgot but basically his spine is fractured and but not broken all the way through but he was headed right for there. we took him some food and some information so that he could go to the doctor and everything ould be free becausre he has no money and he cant work sio they are completely helpless it makes me so sad sometimes we gave him a blessing and it looks like the whole famiuly is starting to warm up to us and they are all catholics like super cathoilics but they started talking to us they let us pray in the house. alright i have to go back a little. they are not catholic catholic they are catholic there own way but they say that they will never shange. so we will see what haoppenes thats what luis said to and now he wants to be baptised, haha its awesome he is really sweet he will be a great leader in the church.

we haveanother investigator that he is in a wheel chair and he has a sickness that attacked his muscles including his brain. and so he is like super smart because he used to be normal but right now you would say oh he is handicap. its really sad but when we start being serious you can see in his eyes that he is serious. but his outside he is laughing really confusing sometimes. because we are trying to ready and he just starts bust ing up laughing and the first time that he did that i was just like what is so funny and then i started cracking up but then as he was laughing he started saying i am not laughing because i want to its because of my sickness i cant control it and you can see in his eyes a sadness. its really hard sometimes because he always is just laughing and smiling even when he wants to cry he just starts laughing but really he is crying. at least that what we see. he is a great person. but we have to help see the light.

its been a way fun time here in tonala. iu love it. i wanted to ask you guys for something if thats ok i know that maybe he doesnt need them but i wanted to give something to elder martinez. i want to give hime some scriptures in english with his name on them. but the mini ones.next week if you could tell me if thats ok i will give you more information like his name and what not and what color, but he is a awesome elder i think he is like one of my best buds out here and i hope that your going to be able to meet im when you come. i hope dad still isnt freaking out hahaha but we are working hard we have some more baptisms coming up here pretty quick. love you family i hope everything is awesome i love you all be good and have a safe week

elder houston TEXACOM!!!! that means see you later and the x is like sh sound

Jan 9

ok awesome message but before i get started today i have a terrible announcement. and i have to ask for all your prayers to a group of people..idk if you guys remeber juan from tapachula my best buddy ever that is just super awesome and we baptised his whole family.... well his family is gonzalo and maria and the juan and his lil bro adan and rosi..... wellll idk if yall remeber what happened with them. we fought and fought with maria so that she could stop drinking.... and she stopped and she was baptised 3 weeks later she collapsed and started drinking again and i think you all remember that it just broke my heart... and then they started fighting idk if i remeber if i told you that but they had issues... welll maria kept drinking and drinking until now.. i just recieved a message from gid de jesus. my comp that wasnt a missionary here but was with me after elder waldron. he sends me messages and updates. and well he has just informed me that she has just passed away....because of the alcohol. she couldnt control it and she couldnt stop. and it has taken her life a little earlier then expected. and now i am worried about juanito. hes a good kid just trying to do things right. he has always been really protective of his mom.. i remeber where he worked always teased him because his mom drinks and many times they would tell him hey i saw your mom drunk is central walking around and he would leave his work on a bike searching the whole city worried sick maybe even crying looking for his mom. i remeber one time he just barged through the doors of his house and saw his mom and just the look of relief on his face. after that he left his work and just followed his mom around so that she would drink he would sleep right next to her and would not leave her side so thyat she could be better. and now she is gone for a moment. please include them in your prayers.

well i dont really know where to go from here i am just deadly shocked of what i have just heard.my heart hurts for them. but i know that heavenly father will watch over them we have the marvolous plan of salvation to help us move forward with the hope to see our loved ones again.in the mission i guess the statement fulfills that we go through every situation that exsists and we have ups and downs and ups and down good times and bad but the one thing that i do know is that my father in heave has always been at my side. and has never left me alone and its the same with anybody if in one moment you think that you are alone just stop say a little prayer in your heart and ask god to let you know he is there and he will answer you i know he will because he always answers his kids. because he loves us and he wouldnt just leave us alone. trust in the lord with all thine heart mind might and strength so that he may pour the blessing upon your head and your heart may be filled with joy and hope through the grace of our lord jesus christ that makes it possible that we may return back to thema nd be able to be made clean and know whats coming when it comes. i have a huge testimony of that because in these lasts month i have have been experiencing these things and right now as i am startting to figure things out i am seeing miracles unfold in front of my eyes and i can see the hand of the lord in y life and in the lives of everyone who choses to follow him i know that my father lives and that so does jesus christ i know that he would never let us go through a trial that we cannot handle. he wouldnt do it and remeber that everything happens for a reason and there is always a way out of the bad things that may happen. and when i say always i mean always.

tesslea!!! thas cool i was just talking to our future members about that yesterday that today i will probably recieve a message that my sister is in the hospital getting ready to have her baby thats weird that i am going to be an uncle again but its also awesome. when you get to see her look at her eryes there deep and pure and very mysticle to be honest to know that they have just come from the father and that it is probable that they still remeber a lot. idk thats what i have heard but itsa a very beautiful thought.

the baptisms didnt go through because they had a little bit of problems but they are way excited for this sunday to be baptised we are going to be 7 in white and maybe 8 so the little girl doesnt feel left out, but she is still pure haha and has no need to be baptised but she still feels a little left out but its ok they are stokes which just pumps me up we are going to have lot of baptisms this months.

we have the one guy who was jumped that finally come to church and loved every bit of it so thats way exciting. and also gerardo come to church and told us he wants to be baptised on saturday but he cant yet but he finally is excited and it looks like we are going to change his llife so that he can be good with his wife.

sorry that i am not really excited just a hard thing to hear because i was so excited to see all of them again and to be able to present you guys to the fam and now she isnt going to be there and its just kinda hard i am sorry i love you all i hope all goes well aber and tesslea your in my prayers i know the fathers hand with be there with yall. be good this week. congrats coop and stevie and dad dont worry your not going to die you will live you know i would do something that you cant handle and i cant get you sick either so i want you to relax because your probably going to only eat a little bit hahaha and th water here dont worry its nothing how you think its delicious. i know you guys wont like it the first time you try it but the second time you will definately be able to hahaha and keep practicing the trick to spanish is practice. and you have to losen up your mouth muscles. i remeber 3 days after the mtc that my mouth felt swolen because of the new movements but then it went away and now lok i basically fluent. and you can try to also start with a prayer before you get started ok love you all be god.

elder houston

It Was A Better Week
Inboxx

Colten Houston

Jan 2

ok before i forget and be able to comment of things i have 2 awesome stories to tell yal...

ok so there is family here that they are just awesome they are members and they have calling and what not but they have lñots of issues.since i got here i have heard of a man who was way strongin the church who just decided one day to stop and just well give up. he had problems with his family lots a few kids went inactive a one got pregnant before she got married and then got separated from her bf and well lots of things happened in this family and the brother had a big calling in the church and i guess he just couldnt take it any more and stopped and he started drinking and doing bad things he has always defended the church but he did fall in to a bad habbit and then he wanted nothing from the members and he wanted nothing from his family he still lived there and works for them but well he just didnt want anything he has been inactive for about 3 years and i remeber hearing all this and have lots of desires to know this man and be able to reactivate him and show him he has to come back. well over 3 months i have never had the opportunity to meet him but i did go through a preparation `rocess of pationce and loving everyone and the atonement repentence and be able to be better with the scriptures which i love. and well we had transfers. ok well when its there turn to feed us they just give us money because when the elders are over there i guess he just chases them away and he gets really upsewt so the sister and he daughter just give us money to buy food which is fine i always eat a delicious sandwhich and well it was there turn to feed us and we went over to there house we havent heard anything from them so we went right over ther and we knocked. and wated its the same house that almost melted my shoes cause it was so hot and then we knocked again and we hear this voice who is it! and we said its the missionaries and he opens his little window and says what do you want and i answered and said well usually elisa or your wife gives us money to eat and so we are here to see them and he opens the door and says they are not here kinda negative and we said well we are also here to talk to you... and he kinda got a fumbled look on his face and he shook our hand and said come in we gotta talk and so we sat with him.. no one was there only us and we started talking to him and getting to know him and well i am way nosy and i just say hey whens the last time you went to church and he says well about 3 years and we kinda got on that subject and then jumped off it and we were talking normal just getting to know him and we talked about going to church and he said i need to go and i want to go and give my testimony perfect!!! next week and them my comp says hey we are going talk in church we want you to come and listen to our talks like friends do and he agreed but didnt look to convinced and then well we had to go but then i said no i gotta share at least one scriptue with this guy i want him to be active and i read mosiah 3 19 when it talks about getting rid of the natural man and being able to follow the spirit and be like a child and he just kinda looked at me and we asked him to share his feeling about that and he lloved it he said thats what we all have to do and i said ya we do and we gotta repent so we can go back to heaven with our family. and he was happy and like it. ok so we left and worked more visited an old guy he is awesome its the picture i sent you and then we said we should go back and see if his family is there to the guys house and his name is marcos. so we did and we were there they invited us to eat pinapple chicken its delicious and then we had a small divotionall and we shared our testimonies with them and we left happy then on sunday we had put a appointment with him to talk with thema nd well he came to church!!!!! and then we went to the appointment and well we chatted and his wife had just told us a story that her prayer have been answered she just went to the temple and was praying for her hubby and she asked heavenly father foe help and that the angeles could help and then started crying and said then this weeked you guys showed up and helped me and i know that heavenly father sent you to so my hubby can go back to church. it was AMAZING!!!!!!!! such an awsome feeling o be able to be the lords hands in this work and be able to work miracles. i know it wasnt a coinsidence iut was something that heavenly father prepared us to do..

on sunday we are going to have 4 baptisms with a family we are way excited and so is the family we got there dates put down in concrete and they are dying of the time they have to wait for sunday we are stoked and definately going to be changing a lot of things so that we can change this area i sure do miss elder martinez but elder gamez is good too he is from monterrey he i like me short guy just brown we have a lot in common and we are working good i love him to death, ok

the pictures.... last day with elder martinez and first day with elder gamez.
iguanas that some guy was going to eat and didnt want to chare but its ok i will forgive him.
new years with a family that we helped there dad be active and we have fam night with him today.
me and my comp for new years.
old guy names toñito santiago montero. catholic but i hope what we do with ium pays off we are good friends.
also some of the beach and a tree that says jesus loves you hahahaa makes me happy i love you all have a great week thanks for the stories i hope everything is great and keep on keepin on

elder houston

Nov 28

awesome if you could tell ungle tortuga randy thanks for writing me i would be greatly aprecciated.

so this week was a pretty fun week i didt get my taters but i got to eat something called a torta chilanga its basically a huge sandwich with a ton of
fried hotdog with refried beans tomato avacado chile habenero and manaiyes and ham... it is delicious i will have to send you a picture and well basically there is a drink here i think maybe its in the united states its called Fresca its a soda pop well its so good haha i am aloud to dink it and well i drink a lot to try and satisfy my craving for a nice cold coke or a pecsi so good but hey i cant complain at least i got my fresca.

so real quick the pictures that i sent one is a bug we found freaked me out man. its huge its as big as out cell phone and well we could say its called a water cacroach idk how to spell it well it turns out its harmless but really scared me we thought it was a toy and my comp was about to pick it up and throw it on me could you imagen him throwing that on me i would be ticked and put it in his bed hahaha he is great my comp im serious one of the best that i have had. the other one that you can see is a activity we are doing with this branch haha we made ctr shields or sud sheilds too so that people ask them about the church they like it but they are all big ckickens.

other news idk if you know or not but trevor shroeder is gettin married!!!!!!!!!! so nuts man kinda sad i want to be at his wedding but hey hes also gotts get on with his life i i dont blame him. sound like some parts are doing good down there and the other parts and well we could say mas o menos. hopefully everything can go a litttle bit better so that everyone is happy.

ok so i just wanted to share an experiance with yall.. so the other day we were just drivin a long well actually we were in cabeza de toro and it was time to leave so we were walking now that it was night time we took off. we were walking and driving to and i was just checkin out the stars and started to remeber my family i love you guys so much. the stars and galaxys are so big out there and we are just so samll but i knew that heavenly father knew we existed i know that he is listening to our prayers. i know we all have trials but nothing is imposible with the help of god i know that he loves us. as i was pondering upon the stars and the creations of the earth that is what came to me that how lucky am i to have a family so great and big to have the gospel and not to be lost we are working hard and i hope that you guys are to dont lose you fire keep inviting people to come to church and work hard and the lord will bless you all. thansk!!

ps still no package

elder houston

Nov 21

this week was a pretty good week i have been studying the scripture a ton becase theres lots of people who are really bright and lots of times i just make something up that is right but not scripture based and then they bring out the stinkin bible and i just tell them look i know you want to know but have you even prayed? and they say... umm dude i have the bible and i read it.. man it frustrates me the people who just trust in there own knowledge and never really ask god if its right or not.but hey what can you do besides love them.

hopefully this thursday i will be able to have a thanks giving to because man i want my mashed potatos!!!! sister champo always made them for me hahah because she knows that i like it a lot but after i aleft tapachula they havent given me anything close!!! but hey i am not complaining because i get to eat real mexican food everyday!!! whoo. and i have to say without offending its way better the mi amigos even though it is delicious over there nothing compares with the real stuff if you know what i mean.

so we have been invited people like crazy to be baptised right now we have 9 with a baptismal date wich is awesome but the only problem is that no one comes to church!!!! i havent or better said we have not figured out what we are missing because we are teaching good but they just simply dont come and will sometimes it frustrates me to but i know that sometimes we have trials. de hecho i think the thing that we miss are memebers present so that they have friends. so i think that we will be trying to work with them alot more this week and from now on. so keep them in your prayers please there names are gerardo, adrian, carlos, don beto, jaime, mariam, azucena, javier, and enrique we need them to be baptised so that we can put a church in cabeza de toro. thats are main goal right now to establish zion in cabeza de toro. i know its the lords will we just gotta push these mebers a little bit more and we are right on.

ok so thats awesome about justin i havent heard from him for a little while haha i kow that he is recieving lots of blessing and i know what he has done and what he is doing is the right thing i know that the lord blesses us when we do the things the way he has asked because god is a god of orden and he doesnt have a bunch of different ways of doing things he only have one way or you could say one faith one lord and one baptism. i know without a doubt you are all recieveing tone of blessing though your own obediance so i would like to thank you all for being such a great example for me... something really weird sometimes they say... no you can just hear the difference just in his emails how much he has grown and how much he knows and his testimony wow hahha but then i was thinking.. thats the same thing that i am seeing with my own family i am so happy that i have you all so close to me and i have tyhe opportunity to serve my fath in heaven for these to years. i know that well when we want to escape our trials or maybe our sins and so we go somewhere. well i testify to everyone of you that you can never run or hide from them the only way that you can do anything is repenting through the atonement of christ and that there is no other way. so just repent please everyone who has the opportunity to read this and remeber that when you repent.."i the lord remeber it no more" dyc 58:42 thats the only thing that is important in this life if someone is going to judge you dont every worry because the only person that can is jesus because he is the only one who has paid for our sins. and is doesnt matter what you have done it only matters that you are willing to repent.

i love you all have a great thanks givving and well we will be talking on the phone in like a months crazy....

elder houston

Nov 14

ya i enjoyed the pictures well the ones that justin sent me hahaha the house is sweet it definately looks like a cabin but what could be better then having a cabin for a house!!! nothing duh!! thats awesome i love traditions i miss thanksgiving to be honest but this year i think we are going to plan something with a few members that were in the united states i am stoked!!! i want mashed potatos!! and ham!!! whooohooo!!! hahah


ok so the package i havent got anything you should put a tracker on them when you send them so if you see that it stops you and call and say hey whats the problem. i havent gotten anything and i just saw the pres. so who knows ahha.


transfers are today!!! and we are both staying which i predicted because president knows i got lots of work to do here and we talked a little about cabeza de toro. he says look if you are there and you are baptising i dont have any reason for you to be in tonala or have any reason to not have our troops there so what your ganna do is a miracle. well thats the way that i took it. he said that if we are baptising he will be opening the area so we are ganna be working miracles these 6 weeks its ganna be sweet!!!!


5 transfers left super crazy i am terrified but i am not going to fail i know that i wont fail because i cant fail. and i know that the lord is going to be here walking right along with us like he always has. i definately will need your prayers.


i know that the lord is blessing you guys keep working hard and the lord will help yall through the slow season i know that that if you always put him first yall will prosper. its the promise of the lord because i know also that right around the corner you got some trials coming thats how things always work so dont let you gaurd down and keep studying good. i love you guys in a month i will be talking to you guys again hahaha super crazy.


if you could tell aunt kim thank you for me because i dont have time today but if you could tell her thanks so much for her help and that i think about them often and i love them so much and i will send them a email the next week. i dont have pictures this week but i will send them the next one ok.


i love you all and be good

elder houston

Oct 31

whoa hahaha hearing the stoy about tori made me cry hahaha..... i know i still have 7 months but i dont want to end my mish.... dang alright i dont want to thin k about that. thats pretty crazy that margret has cancer whats the deal everyone is getting cancer stop it. she is definately in my prayers its only a trial and it will pass. the scriptures say....

37 aSearch these bcommandments, for they are true and cfaithful, and the prophecies and dpromises which are in them shall all be fulfilled.

38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, myaword shall not pass away, but shall all be bfulfilled, whether by mine own cvoice or by the dvoice of my eservants, it is the fsame.

we can understand from this scripture that even know this life is rough and we have trials we have the hope and faith for the next world when all this hardship will not exist and we will live in a better world of happiness and i know that is true i have a story that i want to share with yall before i end today. one of the little times that i have cried in the streets of mexico....

so we were walking to the church to go to a mettering with the leaders and there is a man. walking very carefully with his stick. i see that he is blind and i see that maybe he wanted to enter the store i wasnt sure because it looking like he was preparing to step up and well. we just passed his we said aw he is going to the store the people are going to be with him. he stood in front of this tiny step for like a minute really struggling and i said hey lets go man we gotta help him we we got to him and i put my arm aound him and said hey are you goin to enter the store he says no no no i am going to sit down and rest.... he is a old man hahah like 65 or more ok its old but he struggles walking. so i said hey the step is really tiny there a better one like 2 yards from where your at and its in the shade where you and feel better. he said really!! alright hwere we going and like does a 180 haha and i said no ever hear grabbed ahold of him and sat him down on the ledge. and we started chatting i asked him when he lost his site and he told me like 20 years ago. i could aslo note that he was homeless...... homeless family a man of 65 or more blind cant walk good is homeless. i asked his whewre he sleeps and he says ohhh right here or over there where ever i feel good haha.he to shorten the story we found out some time after he had lost his site that he couldnt watch out for his mom and she came into his house and stole it and kicked him out and now he has no where to go and there is no way he can work or progress because well he is blind and old theres not much he can do obviosly.so i started to pray and ask my heavenly father wha we could do. my comp started sharing the gospel with im and i was praying just thinking about this mans life and i started to cry. this man is stranded in a world all alone with no one at his side physically to guide him and give hime some place to stay. but we did assure him that his heavenly father loves him and one day he will see again and will be happy.... the point of this is to understand that we are so lucky to have the luxory that we have. the lord has blessed us imensly i mean look we just got a deal where we will finally have our own house again. also we have cars work iphones ipads. we are confortable. even though we arent perfect we are good, and even though we are also struggling to stay afloat we are happy and have our family to be next to us forever in this life and the next to go with us in our trials and to bring us out. to be by our side. and this man simply has heavenly father and his hope and faith that one day he will be healed and happy. please take note of why you are all so lucky to be here and have what you have even though it may seem little it is actually something great and you have alot after you start counting your blessings. thank you family for supporting me in my desicions and guiding me in my livfe to give me the chance to be here in mexico to help my other brothers and siters find there way back to the heavens and holding on the the iron rod. i know that the church is truew and i know that heavenly father is blessing everyone of you in your lives and i know its because your doing something right, thank you for being faithful to heavly father and watching out for others and thank you for being an active family and blessing. i love you all.

thats aweosme that we are going to have a new house i am excited haha i would like to know were it is so that i can see it and please tell me we are still in the same ward haha i still want to see the memebers that i got to know when i left i miss them a lot to and the kids that i was teaching tyhere my friends hahaha

also you need to send or talk to the mission office and send them the new adress. and if anyone well just mom qand dad if you have anew number i need to know what number it is so i can give it to the mission.aslo please remeber that if your going to come to mexico to get me in 7 months you need to talk to the mission office and tell them your plans. where your coming how long you will be staying and when we will be returning home. dont worry about sleeping because i know enough memebers that will let us sleep in there homes well if its not a rule ahhaa i dont know how that will all work out but please get all that info into the office ASAP and let me know hwen you have or i wont stop bugging hahaha.

its been a great week i love you all keep up rthe good work.

elder houston

oh christmas present would be sweet if you send me some teeth whitening strips. talk to tyler bingham he will know hwich ones we used or the good ones to buy. if you could send me 2 months worth or like 2 sessions. i want to have white teeth hahaha thanks