Missionary Holidays

From 1 January 2018
 

I got to hold a sugar glider (flying squirrel)
the other day at a member's home!

Well hello there! 

Between exchanges we went to get lunch with all the other sisters
(left to right around the circle: me, Sister Parsons, Sister Hansen,
Sister Evans, Hermana Kammerman, and Hermana Aranibar)

Between normal-people holidays and missionary holidays, it has been quite the week! 

As you can guess, the normal-people holidays I am referring to are Christmas, Boxing Day (I've heard it's a thing), and New Year's. As far as missionary work goes, not a whole lot was different because of those things. In fact, the only really unique thing about any one of those days was that I got to see and talk with my family! I loved every second of my 40 minutes, although it was a bit surreal. For those of you who don't know my family, you are missing out on some amazing people! Other than that, it was missionary work as usual on the holidays. 

From a few weeks ago) the Roswell Zone!

You may be wondering about these "missionary holidays" I mentioned, so let me explain myself. The first one we had was a zone conference on Wednesday! President Marsh's whole family was there to give us missionary advice after we had our usual trainings from the mission leadership in the morning and we finished the conference with some Christmas caroling. The other missionary holidays I am referring to are exchanges! I have found that going on exchange into other areas is a sort of holiday unto itself because, even though we are still doing missionary work the whole time, I can leave a significant portion of the stress of my own area (scheduling appointments, making phone calls, taking note of events, etc.) behind as I get to know a new area and a different missionary for the day! Plus, "miracles always happen during exchanges" (I don't remember who told me that early in my mission, but it is so true!). The particular exchanges I went on this week were in the southern-most part of the zone, in overlapping areas. The first was in the Norcross Spanish Branch that covers the bottom half of the stake and the second was in the Peachtree Corners Ward. I had fun biking in new areas and getting to practice my Spanish just a little bit, although I am not very brave about using what little I know.

 "Swim"! Featuring yours truly!

"No soliciting" featuring Sister Parsons

The rest of the week has been a blur of knocking on doors, meeting new people, and trying not to freeze in the bone-chilling cold of Georgia! Sister Parsons and I are continuing to see little miracles each day as we work with ward members and seek out those who are ready to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that every person on earth needs the peace that comes from living Christ's gospel- that's why I am a missionary!

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic first week of 2018!

Love,

Sister Houghton

18001 Summerwood Lane

Alpharetta, GA 30005

Hard at Work!

From 25 December 2017

Two of Santa's reindeer were very busy delivering cookies early this morning to the Sisters in the Roswell Zone! 

Sometimes when you are finding, your
companion just might find some
 scrumptious-looking insects.

Merry Christmas! Although today is a holiday (which usually merits preparation day being moved to Tuesday), President Marsh decided that we might as well enjoy the holiday, so I am emailing you all today! It is worth noting that it feels like a pretty normal preparation day, and it hasn't quite sunk in yet that I will be talking to my family later today. Nevertheless, it has been a pretty good week!

Sister Parsons and I worked hard this week to contact 70 people by Wednesday (normally that is the goal for the whole week, but our District is kicking things up a notch!), and succeeded by the skin of our teeth! We managed to have a lot of fun while trying new ways to find people to talk with about the gospel of Jesus Christ. As usual, some people were more receptive than others, but we kept pressing forward.

I also got to go on an exchange this week, which was great fun! One of them was with a mission legend, Sister Rasmussen. She is basically a Sister Assistant to the President, but her official title is "Special Assignment Sister." Really, all you need to know is that she is hilarious while getting work done (much like Sister Parsons) and I have several new ideas of things I want to try based on what she showed me while we were working together.

Yesterday was the highlight of the week, though. Christmas Eve, of course. We started the day off with a beautiful music-based Sacrament Meeting for church- the ward I am in has a multitude of talents, and my ears appreciated every one of them! After church, we went through the usual missionary struggle of scheduling and rescheduling our day for a significant portion of the afternoon until we got into the rush of the evening! We had 3 appointments (all of which we ran late to and for) with families and each one of them was wonderful. Our focus for the night was on gifts that we can give to our Savior. After all, it was Christmas Eve, and He is the reason for the season. It was really wonderful to see how each family tries to focus on Jesus Christ at Christmas in different ways. Plus, it has been helping me to ponder on what things I can do/set as goals for this coming year (2018!) to draw nearer to my Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Today has been wonderful so far, but most of it is yet to come! Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Stay safe and keep Lighting the World!

Love,

Sister Houghton

18001 Summerwood Lane

Alpharetta, GA 30005

Our creative Christmas Tree

When you find a reindeer sitting on a bench, 

you have to take a picture with it! 

President Ernst (Roswell Stake President),
me, President Marsh

Bacon+asparagus+water+me (interesting structure at a park) 

Family Joy. . .Skyping in 5 different locations:
Eliza and Phillip--Provo, UT
Levi, Grandma H, Dad, Mom--Saint George, UT
Marta and Jeff--West Richland, WA
Sister Tess Houghton--Alpharetta, GA
Luke and Lara--Cottonwood Heights, UT

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

From 18 December 2017

Love from my home ward in the form of treats and notes (thank you!)

Hi everybody! Due to lovely Atlanta traffic, post office lines, and getting our apartment semi-organized this morning, I only have about 20 minutes to email today. Nevertheless, I am going to try to show you what fun I've been having here in Webb Bridge! 

Out finding with Sister Parsons (squinting at the sun)

My new companion, Sister Parsons, is from Walla Walla, Washington and has been out for about six months. We were actually both trained by the same person and we served in Athens together for 2 transfers (I was in the family ward while she was in the Young Single Adult Branch). Really, all you need to know is that she is AWESOME and hilarious and we basically wake up laughing at each other each morning- it's the best. Especially since we both got a lovely dose of the annual cold this week, so things were going kind of slow. We managed to see miracles despite our runny noses and sore throats though, so the work moved forward anyway!

At the Relief Society Christmas Party getting to know the ward.

Webb Bridge is not quite city, but close enough to Atlanta that we have all the city benefits without quite the crowdedness. Except for the traffic, it's pretty nice. The ward here is amazing! It just split about 5 months ago, but it is still huge. I have already met so many really neat families and individuals and they all have strong testimonies of the gospel and a fire for sharing it!

I wish I had time to write more, but it is not so. Have a merry Christmas and stay safe while you are all traveling! I love you lots!

Love,

Sister Houghton 

18001 Summerwood Lane

Alpharetta, GA 30005

Don't forget to Light the World this week!

 

T'was the Week Before Transfers. . .

Us with Rachel (the investigator who loves the Temples, met with us to say goodbye).

Hi everybody! I have a lot to communicate to y'all and not much time in which to do that, so here goes nothing!

Blurry picture of Sister Nielson and I at the
end of the parade (Santa in the background!).

Christmas is coming, the air is getting cold! Many of you may have heard that it snowed this week in Georgia! Which, by the way, is pretty rare and when it happens, there is normally only about an inch of white stuff on the ground. However, this particular snow dumped about 6 inches onto many unsuspecting Georgians. Athens didn't actually get any accumulation, although it did snow for several hours on Saturday morning. Also, cold in Georgia is at a different level than the cold I have personally experienced elsewhere in the country. Basically, it goes right through to your bones! Sister Nielson and I have been bundling up all week to stay warm-ish. We got to do lots of Christmas celebrating this week as well! On Thursday night, we went contacting at the Christmas parade in downtown Athens and then Friday night was the ward Christmas party. Both events were very well-put-together and lots of fun for everybody involved. On Saturday evening, we kept up the celebration by going with several other sets of missionaries to give out free hot chocolate at the UGA Arch to #LightTheWorld! Sister Nielson only almost lost her toes because it was so cold. (Just kidding, but she did lose feeling them for a bit...). Merry Christmas!

 Sister Van Katwyk challenged me in one
of the Minute to Win It games at the
Ward Christmas Party, so...

The other big news of the week is that I got a transfer call last night! Yep, I'm leaving Athens tomorrow morning, headed for the Webb Bridge Ward over in the Roswell Stake. It is more of a suburban area, much like Allatoona was, so it should be a fun time! My new companion will be Sister Parsons, who I am SO EXCITED to work with! She was actually trained by the same person who trained me (Sister Thorn!) and we were working in pretty close proximity for two transfers before this most recent one. I am sad to leave Athens and all the wonderful people I love here, but I also know that there are people to love and things to learn in Webb Bridge! My new address will be:

18001 Summerwood Ln
Alpharetta, GA
30005

Well, I've got to get to packing, but I love you all and I hope that your plans are in place for Christmas in a few weeks! Sorry for not including something more spiritual. Hopefully next week I will have a bit more time to do that. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Sister Houghton

18001 Summerwood Ln
Alpharetta, GA
30005

with Sister Fertig

Good Stuff

From 4 December 2017

At the Temple with the Sisters and the Elders in the Zone

It has been a pretty crazy week here in Georgia! Now that December has arrived, things are warming up and the weather is beautiful! I'm loving it. :)

On Monday, we only had a half-preparation day because...

We got to go to the Temple on Tuesday! It was pretty much an all-day event, so we made sure to take plenty of pictures! Our whole zone went, so everybody was really, really excited. Why? Because there is so much peace to be found in the House of the Lord. It was especially wonderful to me because it has been just over a year since I went through the Temple for the first time. So much of my understanding of and perspective on life has changed since then, and it was interesting to me to review all those changes. I could see the hand of my Heavenly Father behind each one and also how each challenge I faced has helped me become a stronger, happier person. If you haven't been to the Temple lately, I highly recommend it, even if you aren't able to go inside.

On Wednesday, I got to go to a conference with Elder Weatherford T. Clayton of the Quorum of the Seventy. He gave a group of us missionaries a whole lot to think about, and it may take me the rest of my mission to apply it all. Nevertheless, I am going to try! Directly after the conference, I found out that I was going to be personally interviewed by him, along with the other 3 missionaries who went from Athens. He gave me an opportunity to ask any questions I had and, of course, my mind went completely blank. I managed to come up with a half-decent one that has been on my mind lately, but nothing extraordinary came of it.

a quick image of the Nativity event
(pictures were allowed and
even encouraged) set up
in the cultural hall of our church

The next interesting day of the week was Friday, when we had a zone conference (our second this transfer) with Elder Clayton. He talked to us about a lot of the same concepts and ideas, but I was able to get a whole lot more out of it this time around. He talked about teaching simply, what our mission funnel is (walking through our key indicators), and what each member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is like in real life. Everything was a little bit less heavy than it was on Thursday, and I was excited to get to work afterwards! However, we got back to Athens just in time for our Stake Nativity Event (a display of 400+ nativity scenes from around the world with a live nativity outside- complete with live donkeys you could pet!). Which was still work, but not the kind I envisioned during the trainings earlier in the day. Sister Nielson and I went around trying to talk with everybody in search of those who had never been inside an LDS church before. Probably my favorite part of the day was the choir performance during the last hour of the event. And by "choir performance," I really mean the solo of "Carol of the Bells" done by the world-class organist in our congregation. You had to be there. It was amazing! We spent Saturday evening the same way and it was even better the second time!

The biggest miracle we experienced this week was Seleta. She showed up to church two Sundays ago, and came again yesterday. Afterwards, we managed to pull her aside for a lesson and now she is planning on getting baptized next Saturday! Sister Nielson and I are feeling SUPER blessed to be able to work with her, and it is going to be a busy two weeks until then!

I love you all and hope you have a fantabulous week! Don't forget to #LightTheWorld this week (see mormon.org) and enjoy this Christmas season!

Love,

Sister Houghton

4315 Lexington Rd.

Apt. 12-F

Athens, GA 30605

P.S. Transfers are next week, so probably hold off on mail after today until I let y'all know what is happening next Monday. :)

Watch Your Head!

We volunteered at an 8K & 16K race on Thanksgiving morning with 4 other sets of missionaries- it was chilly! 

Hello everybody! I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving and the pie was good!

Sister Nielson and I had some unique opportunities to work with various members of the congregation here in Athens this week, but there's not much I feel needs reporting on.

Pics: Sister Nielson wanted a picture with
her new arch nemesis a few hours after her incident

We spent a chunk of Wednesday helping our bishop's family prepare a whole lot of food for the ward Thanksgiving linner (lunch/dinner) on Thursday. Then, on Thursday, we helped with the setup and cleanup of said event. The food was delicious and we had a nice group of people there (about 27 people), so everything was peachy until one of the 5 year-olds split his head open on a door handle. He's okay now, but I'm 100% certain his parents weren't planning on spending their Thanksgiving day in the emergency room. The funniest part is that Sister Nielson decided to try following the trend the next day! Yep, she had her first bike incident on Friday. After going to sharply around a corner, she found herself no longer on pavement and headed straight for a speed limit sign and monitor. Luckily, her helmet made sure she didn't split her head open, and, in fact, she only got one scratch and a few bruises to show for it, despite a head-first dive into the intersection. We have come up with several jokes to describe the incident, but mostly we are just glad she didn't get any serious injuries!

 I got to be the first in a series of pictures of people holding signs
 to send a "Happy Thanksgiving"-type message.

What comes after Thanksgiving? Christmas-time! On Friday, we started showing people the #LightTheWorld videos and initiative, and people seem to be loving it! I failed to participate in the event last year, but this year I am SO excited to try to better live the Christmas spirit in 25 ways over 25 days. I hope you all give it a look and a try! In case you don't know where to find it, go to mormon.org. :)

Have a fabulous week everybody! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Houghton

4315 Lexington Rd 

Apt. 12-F

Athens, 30605

.

The Email Deleted Itself

From 20 November 2017

It's been an awesome week! I wrote a really detailed, long email about it all, but it disappeared, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves since we have a zone activity today!

Love y'all and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Sister Houghton

4315 Lexington Rd

Apt 12-F

Athens, GA 30605