Bugs and Bears

Hi-five bear!

Hello Everybody!

First of all, Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful fathers out there, especially mine! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful dad here on earth and a Heavenly Father who loves me more than I can possible imagine. So much, in fact, that He sent me here to Georgia to share that glad message with all the people here! :)

 District Meeting on exchange+Zone Leaders, the lunch crew
 (Sister Evans took the picture for us)

It has been a pretty good week here in Allatoona! In terms of missionary work, we dropped 90% of our teaching pool, but we are really, really excited for the remaining 10%! Possible the best part about this week is that we hit what is called "The Standard of Excellence" for our mission! For anybody reading this who doesn't know missionary lingo, that means that we hit the goal set by our mission for each companionship in each area in the mission. In the case of the Georgia Atlanta North Mission, that means three things. #1, we have one person with a scheduled baptismal date. #2, we had one investigator come to church. #3, we found 3 new investigators OR contacted/intorduced ourselves to 70 people. #1 and #2 were fulfilled by the same investigator, Amber, who is just awesome! She is married to a member who recently decided to come back to church after 10+ years of being inactive, and she really wants to know for herself if it is all true. Every day, she tells us about little miracles happening in her life when she reads the Book of Mormon and prays to her Father in Heaven. Basically, Sister Evans and I just adore her and are so glad we get to teach her! Her baptismal date is at the end of July, so I may or may not be there for it, depending on whether or not I get transferred next week. We'll see!

Bug on the car (mostly I'm just really proud
 of this picture of a cool-looking, little bug!

Besides the actual missionary work, I have been having lots of fun as a missionary! On Tuesday I got to go on exchange with Hermana Rhoton and experience District Meeting with a district (group of missionaries) other than my own, which was exciting, and then I got to be a Spanish missionary for the day! Then on Saturday, Sister Evans and I had the chance to have lunch with some people who Sister Thorn and I had helped to move back in April. It was so good to see them, and they are going to keep meeting with the missionaries where they now live! While Sister Evans and I have been tracting, we have been noticing lots of bears (wooden or metal, not live, sadly), which Sister Evans tells me is a California thing, so I took the opportunity to give one a high-five yesterday evening. Missionary work is hard work, but also the most rewarding work in the world, so I am glad to be doing it.

Fun Georgia Fact: There are a lot of bugs here, and so far, I have been blessed with companions who seem more attractive to the bugs than I am! We are learning the importance of bug spray and benadryl cream very, very quickly!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Houghton

701 Downsby Lane

Apt. 333

Woodstock, GA  30189