Spring Has Sprung

 Tracting in the springtime!

Hello world!

What a great week it has been!

First of all, spring is in full swing here in Georgia. That means that every morning, everything is either wet or covered in a bright green/yellow layer of pollen. I am so very glad that I don't have allergies! It is a serious blessing! Georgia is supposedly famous for its peaches, right? Well, I have seen a whole lot more blossoming cherry trees than peach trees, and according to Sister Thorn, who was here last summer, Georgia peaches are not only hard to find, but really not that great. I'm waiting to make my judgment until I've tasted some though.

District Meeting with the Zone Leaders

spiders on the couch

Tuesday was the last district meeting of the transfer! I gave my first ever training and it was about T.T.I.P., which stands for Teach, Testify, Invite, and Promise. It is an awesome thing to use when planning out a lesson or even in door contacting, so it was good that I had to study for it in preparation for leading a district discussion on it. The Zone Leaders joined us for district meeting, and we all took a goofy picture together. Enjoy! After district meeting, I got to go on exchange, again! This time, I was not only in the Spanish area, but I was with another greenie, Hermana Rhoton, so we got to be on bike for the day! Biking in a skirt is not as difficult as I imagined it being. Georgia, although it doesn't have any really exciting elevation, does have lots of rolling hills, so we got to use our gears plenty. The best part was probably riding home from 8:30-9:00 in the dark on the rumblestrip because the whole shoulder was rumblestrip and the road was very, very busy. We didn't have any near-death incidents, so that was good. :)

Something Sister Thorn and I did a lot of this week was helping people move (within our area). When you help people move in Georgia, you get to see lots of bugs, especially spiders. One recently reactivating woman we were helping had some couches that had been in the garage for a few months, and she really doesn't like spiders, so it was my job to use a broom to get them off the couch and then step on them! It doesn't get much better than spider-slaying during service!

bring on the bikes!

Possibly the best part of the week was General Conference! Here in Georgia, Conference starts at 12 and 4, which felt really weird to me. Something about finishing Conference at 6 pm just didn't feel normal. However, General Conference itself was as good as it always has been. There were two things in particular that stood out to me, but I want to go back and read all of them again! The first one that I really loved was by Gary B. Sabin of the 70 during the SaturdayAfternoon Session. He talked about the importance of being ALL IN and how we can do that. Being all in requires diligence, hope, faith, and the ability to be standing up inside, even when our circumstances keep knocking us down. I wish I could more fully convey how awesome that talk was, but all I can say is that you should listen to it or read it, because it is AH-MAZE-ING. The other thing that I really loved about this coference, was that two general authorities INVITED THE WORLD TO BE BAPTIZED! I would like to personally extend that invitation to whoever reads this. The peace and joy the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can give you is better than anything else you will ever experience in this life. There is nothing sweeter. Obviously there was a lot of other good stuff in conference, but those were my highlights. :)

The last thing I want to tell y'all about is the new Easter initiative! Go to mormon.org. Watch the new "Prince of Peace" video. I got to see it back in February while I was in the MTC and have been anxiously awaiting the day when we could use it in our missionary-ing. Once you have watched the main video, try the challenges that go along with each of the other 8. They will bring so much love into your life, trust me!

With lots of love,

Sister Houghton

701 Downsby Lane

Apt. 333