Maybe Even The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

For 9 December 2013

Winter skies in Coventry

Dear Everyone,

     This week has been a tough one but it's been ok. Our investigators are all being a bit flakey which is quite annoying but there have been miracles. Remember when a few weeks ago, we lost contact with all of our investigators over a weekend? Well, over the course of the past two weeks, the three people we had preparing to be baptised on a date have all resurfaced. S was just bad at answering the phone, F has decided to move out from her boyfriend's house and into her own flat but until then her boyfriend doesn't want us to come over or text/call her and had her change her phone number (we ran into her at the end of a miraculous chain of events that started with deciding to walk instead of biking and then running into another investigator who had gone off the radar, teaching him (C), and then getting out of the lesson only to meet F walking by), and B has been having service problems with his phone and hasn't had credit (it's really annoying because many people in England don't have a plan, they just buy credit and then run out and can't call or text back...). So, all of those are back which is great even if they are somewhat hard to get in contact with. Plus, we were directed to and taught a few more amazing people. T and his wife (whose name we awkwardly don't know so we'll call her W) are students at Coventry University. They are from Tibet and really open. They accepted everything we taught them at the first lesson but they're going to London today for Christmas and won't be back so it's going to be hard. People go cold really fast. Also, A is a hillarious Polish lady in a weird family situation with a son D who is 2ish. We taught her for the first time. It was a bit tough since D was running around and getting into all the toys while we tried to teach so the lesson went way over time (=bad) but she's really awesome. We just have to hope and pray that the Book of Mormon (Ksiega Mormona or something in Polish) has the wonderful effect that it can and does have on A, B, C, D, F, L, S, T, and W. Now, try to figure out which one of those letters hasn't been represented and it's another investigator who can't read (and so is having a hard time having a spiritual experience from reading the Book of Mormon...). I think our new strategy for finding will just be to ask people their names and then fill them in on the Investigator Alphabet if there's an open spot. We did actually find an E but she lives in the Sisters' area so we had to hand her over to them--and she was amazing so it's a bit of a bummer. Edward, Edwin, Edna... where are you?

Coventry

     Christmas in England is nice. I am coming to appreciate just how cultures are different. English people celebrate Christmas a bit differently from Americans. A member last night was stunned when he found that the expiry date on a Christmas cake he bought was December 13. What's the point of a Christmas cake that doesn't last until Christmas? Christmas cake is an English thing-everyone eats it on Christmas day. (Pakistani and Indian people celebrate it a lot differently (usually not at all) --> you can tell who the non-Muslim/Sikh/Hindu people are on our street based on decorations/lights --> an impression to knock a door with a Christmas tree in the window- -> amazing potential Investigator (J) (who unfortunately isn't available for a lesson until January but it's ok).) I still have little to no idea where we're going or what we're doing for Christmas day. One of the lame things about being in a ward with five sets of missionaries and a rule that missionaries aren't supposed to visit members with other companionships also present is that the families who normally have the missionaries over and had previously filled the missionaries' needs for Christmas (when there were only two or three companionships) live in the other missionaries' areas and don't know us. Note to the world: find out what your ward's missionaries are doing on Christmas day and then invite them over! Just do it. If they can't make it, they'll tell you and it will be alright but it's much nicer to be invited to someone's home than to have to awkwardly suggest it when no one invites you and hope that the family is going to be home for Christmas, has a computer with skype, and would be comfortable/happy with the missionaries visiting. Hopefully we can get that all figured out within the next week and I will be able to get details to you of how I'm going to get to make my bi-yearly call/skype home. I really have no idea how it works... The other joy is the fact that myself or Elder Ramos could be leaving Coventry C in two days dependent on a call that we will get tonight. I had initially thought that both of us would stay but really anything can happen and you never know until the Monday night. We'll see how it all goes.

      Sorry that if this email/blog isn't particularly inspiring. We have a District Preparation day and I won't have time to write letters so I've had to compensate and I'm running out of time.

      I love you all lots and I hope you are enjoying the spirit of Christmas! It is a wonderful time of the year. Maybe even the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Elder Houghton

P.S.  My family is amazing and sent me Christmas music from home!  They are the best!

Christmas Is Coming, The Goose Is Getting Fat

From 2 December 2013

Pebernodder (Or whatever we call them. . .A Danish spice cookie!)

And this is what a fat goose looks like!

Sorry for the weird title again. First some cool things:

1. A lady from the Warwick Branch named Gebbie (or Gabbie?) Eaton sang "Coventry Carol," an older Christmas carol named after Coventry (surprise!), yesterday at the Stake Carol Concert. It was pretty cool. The reason this is cool is that there is a Christmas song named after the city where I'm serving (and I really like it) and because Sister Eaton is a spotlight on the mormon.org.uk campaign that we hand cards out for all the time.

2. I got to make pebfernoddox (just imagine a slash through the last O as I can't make one) with the spice mix that my amazingly thoughtful family sent me. They are amazing tiny cookies which in Elder Ramos' words "taste like Christmas" and I had thought I wouldn't be able to make them because they are hugely labour and time intensive to make. However, Elder Ramos got a flu bug (which I miraculously avoided) so we were in the flat with nothing to do all day for two days while he slept, and recovered from "screaming groceries" ... Both of our stomachs were quite unsettled and/or unhappy for the rest of the week and it kind of put us back as far as missionary work for the week but we both survived and now we have pebfernoddox to munch on until we run out. The great thing about it was that I thought we had more flour than we did and when we were about to run out, I had to start using leftover wholegrain chipati flour from Elder Ramos' chipati endeavours. So some of them have a bit of a more wholesome and ethnic taste than the others but they're all mixed together. It's an adventure.

3. There are only 23 days until Christmas! One of the best things about this is getting to tell people "Merry Christmas" all the time. Basically, it puts a smile on everyones' faces and is way better than "have a nice day/night."

     Anyway, it has been another tough week for missionary work largely due to having lost a lot of the people we were working with and or/not getting a good start to the week. It's been a bit hard but it's ok. This week will be wonderful and we have quite a few things that could line up for great success. Also, last week we had an exchange with our Zone Leaders (who are also in Coventry-they are the D team and we are C (of A-E)) which was great. I got to go with Elder Hansen who has now 8 days left of his mission. It was quite funny to be around someone who is on the other side of things that way. It's weird because I feel like I'm still a really new missionary and have no idea what I'm doing but then I've actually been out for 7 months (officially today) which is quite a long time.

     I wanted to tell you about an amazing Less Active family that we've been working with. I'm not supposed to share names but they're from Angola but they joined the church here. Brother S. (we shall call him) is amazing he's working to support his family of 6 and at the same time getting an education at Birmingham City University. He can barely make it to church on Sundays at all because he has to work on Sundays but he can make it for the first hour-Sacrament meeting. Sacrament meeting is the most important part of church though so it's a miracle that that is the hour that he can come. Anyway, his wife's English isn't very good and she works on Sunday mornings so she can't come to church but he brings all of the kids (including a 6+ foot 13 year old) for Sacrament Meeting. It's really cool to see how deeply converted he is. When he first joined the church, he was only working and he had time so he went teaching with the missionaries all the time and there are a few members who he taught back then. Unfortunately, when he started having to go to school, he just didn't come to church anymore. It is amazing to me how simple it was to just visit them, share a spiritual thought, and invite them to church. Then they came! It's rarely that easy but it was cool to see how simple it is to help people sometimes to do the things that will bring them true happiness. We're going to be working on reactivating more less active members in Coventry in the near future. It will be great.

     Missionary work is wonderful. I'm learning so much and I love it a lot even if it's really challenging sometimes. Also, I would definitely recommend a study of Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. I spent most of this morning's study on the first bit of that and I'm looking forward to the rest later this week.

Lots and Lots of Love,

Elder Houghton

One Dark Night When the Sun Shone Bright, Two Young Missionaries Went Out To Find. . .

Dear Everyone,

Hopefully you appreciate that burst of creativity (the title of the post) from me. It's weird, as missionaries, we don't have tonnes of opportunities to express things in an artistic manner. Ok, we could if we tried but I don't very much anyway.

 

This week has been really tough for missionary work. We had four investigators who we thought were lined up to come to church on Sunday. Then, they all stopped answering the phone and none of them came to church. Also, it was the primary program and was by far the best Sunday an investigator could come to church and see because it was simple and beautiful and it really wonderfully invited the spirit. Then all of our plans for the upcoming week got thrown into disarray because we went from planning on having four progressing investigators to only having one (and she was one who didn't come to church). It's really frustrating to have the carpet pulled out from under you like that but I guess it's just an excercise in trusting in the Lord and doing things his way.

 

It's also been really tough because it gets dark at five every evening. The missionary work day doesn't end until nine though so that's four hours in the dark trying to be productive. Most people go home and stay inside once it's dark so there aren't people out to talk to. Also, some of those who are outside tend to be a bit interesting and/or drunk. It hasn't been that wet this past week but the cold is definitely sinking in. Thermals, gloves, a coat, and a hat are now necessary and will be for another 2-3 months. Because England has had one of the nicest summers on record, I hadn't really appreciated why so many English people are jealous of me being from California. Now, I know.

 

This is how Elder Houghton feels when he's riding his bike. . .

Last week we had a really cool Zone Meeting on using Family History for missionary work. I'm still a bit unsure of just how to get people interested and connected but it was really great and I've come to a greater appreciation of just how important our families are. Every person on this Earth has a lot of heritage and many people before them who need to receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ just as much as they do. It gives us a much better perspective as missionaries when we remember that the work which we are doing can really save people, not just help them live better or happier lives. It's a great responsibility that we have and a lot to live up to for members of the church but especially for those of us called to serve as full-time missionaries.

 

Anyway, I hope everything is wonderful with you all. My Thanksgiving dinner this year will be at a Ghanian home on the other side of Coventry (=40 minute bike maybe in the rain...) which should be pretty cool even if we are soaked through when we get there.

 

Other than alll that, things are really good. The Lord is really teaching me a lot through the trials that we're having. I'm seeing that I know very little and have tonnes of room for improvement in just about every aspect of the work in which we are engaged.

 

A few funny/cool things:

 

>My diet totally adapts to the place I live. When we eat at home and I want to cook nice, it is usually some Chick-pea (Garbonzo Bean)/chicken curry thing with rice.

 

>I'm keeping track of the countries from which I've met people. This week, I added Turkey, Iraq (Kurdistan), Gambia, and Indonesia. So far, I think I've got most of Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa covered.

 

>We found out that one of the amazing members of the Coventry Ward who had to leave to finish serving a temple mission (sad day for us) when the temple reopened in London also translated the Book of Mormon into Punjabi. Woa! That's pretty cool. We totally didn't know that when he came teaching with us in Punjabi and he was reading from the Book of Mormon.

 

My time is short. Things are tough in Coventry but great. I am and we are learning a lot and growing so it's good even if I'm exhausted and no one is out on the streets to talk to us.

 

Elder Houghton

Kangaroos & Miracles

From 19 November 2013

Dear Everyone,

 

     Firstly, the pictures. Sorry that these probably aren't the kinds of pictures that you're interested in at all but they're the only ones I take and I never thing about it until Monday when I'm uploading them. Last Monday, I found Kangaroo meat at Lidl where we usually do our grocery shopping. There were also Reindeer chunks next to the Kangaroo Steaks (and a funny quote from the member who drove us--> we're having Reindeer soon because "there's nothing more festive than eating Rudolph for Christmas!"). Anyway, here are the pictures of the Kangaroo in process of being cooked and then in the process of being eaten. It was actually quite tasty and nice. Not really tough like I'd been told it would be by an Australian missionary in our Zone (who made the claim that Australians are the only people in the world who eat their national animal (which, Elder Ramos pointed out, is not true; South Africans eat their national animal too)).

 

     This week has been full of miracles. One miracle was when we went to stop by a less active member of the church near our flat right before we got a ride to a baptism in Wolverhampton for Elder Ramos' Investigator. The less active member wasn't home but we had a few minutes so we decided to knock some doors. Not a single one of them answered and we got to what we both thought would be the last door to knock. The man at the door promptly invited us in and we got to teach a first lesson to this really neat Romanian family. Despite us saying we didn't need or want anything, they sent their daughter to the corner shop to get us Fanta and some cake things which we were then obliged to partake of (much to the chagrin of Elder Ramos who hadn't had a fizzy drink in four years (because he's really healthy, etc.) and reacted a little bit to the sugar rush). At the end of the lesson, we found out that the Romanian family had investigated the church before but their English hadn't been good enough and only their aunt (now less active) had joined the church. So basically, they are totally ready to receive the gospel and really willing to learn and act on the things we talked about. We're bringing a Romanian Book of Mormon today and we may have to go back and take back the one we left with a Romanian family we stopped teaching a few weeks ago so we can give it to the new Romanian family.

 

     Another miracle was some other missionaries in Coventry getting in touch with another former Investigator. She hadn't heard from missionaries in years and was having a rough time and then out of the blue, the missionaries call to see if there's anything they can do for her. Well, it turns out she lives in our area now and so we ended up teaching her. She is a single mom and has an awesome little son and she's really prepared to receive the gospel. She accepted an invitation to be baptised on December 14th and it's going to really bless her and her son! I'm so excited to get to teach her. We've only taught her once though so there's a lot left to go and many hurdles to clear.

 

     Third miracle was with another Investigator. He hasn't been in really good contact with the missionaries in the past and has been technically investigating for about three years now but can't make it to church because he works on Sunday. He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon (sort of) and wants to learn but so far, it's been sporadic and he's had about 20 first lessons with different missionaries. In our second visit with him, we decided to teach the Plan of Salvation. He hadn't really progressed in the past because he didn't see what else there was yet to learn. It was a tough lesson because his kids were being a bit obnoxious and there were other distractions but we taught some basic truths and he was saying things like "really?! God has a body? I didn't know that." So hopefully, our persistence pays off and he gets really going seeing the difference and the reality of the restored truths we're helping him understand. We'll see how it goes!

 

     There were many other miracles as well. Lots of learning experiences too. Elder Ramos is the best! Coventry C is amazing and I'm learning so much about how to be an effective missionary. We are learning and developing together and it's great! Things are really getting going and though there is a lot left to go, we are already seeing dramatic results. It's hard sometimes to get the momentum going and keep it going but it does work and the Lord is blessing us tremendously.

 

    Last Thursday, we had an awesome Zone Conference with Elder Timothy J. Dyches of the Seventy. It was really great. Lots of my questions and concerns about teaching and serving the Lord were addressed quite well and we learned a tonne. Elder Dyches shared some awesome analogies and ideas about how we learn to teach and then what we do to help our Investigators. Basically, we're like Surgeons. The Surgeon can help people with a disease but only if the person wants to be helped. So, it's our job to help them see that we know what we're doing, that it really will help them, and then to be an example of the end result as well. He also shared a really simple teaching model. It's just three things: Simplify/Clarify, Verify, and Testify. It's a lot more than that and it was really helpful for our Investigators. Anyway, the Zone Conference was in general awesome!

 

    In more mundane news, the weather is getting drearier and drearier. It is getting darker earlier each day and it's cold all the time now. This week we're supposed to get a major cold spell (down to -10 C = 14 F) with potential snow. We'll see how we cope. I hadn't thought that I would have to be getting all of my heavy cold gear out so early but I think the winters in England are a bit earlier than they are in California and Utah (where the worst months are January and February, not December and January). We'll see anyway. Mostly, it's just tough with the dark because if we don't have lessons or other plans, there aren't really people out who we can talk to and find. It will be alright and the Lord is providing for our needs so it's ok.

 

I'm running out of time but I love and miss you all lots and lots. I hope everything is great for you. I'm learning and loving and growing a lot and it's marvelous. Heavenly Father Loves His Children.

 

Elder Houghton

 

P.S. Hopefully you enjoy the title this week.

England is great. Elder Ramos is fantastic and hilarious. . .

This week is a bit slow for dinner appointments and I saw
this at Lidl this morning and couldn't resist.
Pictures of the final product hopefully next week!
Next week Reindeer.

Dear Everyone,

I can never think of a good subject for these general email/blog entries so sorry if it's repetitive or boring.

England is great. My companion, Elder Ramos (correction on the pronunciation: RAY-moss) is fantastic and hilarious. Missionary work is moving forward. I'm learning a tonne. Life is good. The weather is dreadful. The Book of Mormon is true. Jesus Christ Lives.

What more is there to say?

We've had a bunch of really great experiences this past week which have taught me a lot about trusting in the Lord and doing his work his way. I'd gotten into a bad habit lately of inviting people to be baptised "softly" i.e. "when you learn that these things are true, will you be baptised." However, that method hasn't been working very well because it's really hard to get people to really commit or see what they need to do to find out if it's true and why that's so important. This causes Investigators to not really make or keep the commitments that will help them build their faith in Jesus Christ. However, if they are invited boldly on the first or second visit (basically, as soon as possible) and given a date to prepare for, they are much more willing and able to accept and keep the commitments that will help them learn of the truth of the Restoration of the Gospel and the importance of their learning and living it to be temporally and eternally happy. We saw this with an Investigator this week who I will call "Frances" (which is the real name of a lady we met one day who told us that Frances is for a woman and Francis is for a man). We met Frances on the street and she has been to the church before when she was very young with her Auntie. She invited us to come and teach her so we did. On our second visit (not the first one, unfortunately, because of a situation which I won't elaborate on), we asked simply "'Frances,' will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptised on December 7th?" She said of course and was at church a few days later telling people that she was being baptised soon. She was reading the Book of Mormon on the train and someone asked (in a bit of a hostile manner) what it was and why she was reading it. She explained and felt the spirit as she did so. She feels the spirit strongly when we come to visit and really wants to learn and have that feeling always. She is wonderful. There are a lot of hurdles to clear before December 7th though so please pray for her even if you don't know her real name. It's also wonderful for us as missionaries because we are learning and growing and as we do so, the Lord is using us more and more. I have so much more to learn though. It's great to see the Lord preparing us slowly and surely to do his work the way he wants and needs it done.

Also, this week, I was prompted that I need to pray for people individually and by name a lot more. I realised, it would be hard to remember everyone I needed to pray for so I wrote a list. It ended up being quite a long list. It's quite a lot to pray for. Already though, I'm seeing that the Lord gives specific answers to specific prayers. It's wonderful and it's much easier to see the answers to prayers when you ask for specific things.

I love you all loads! I'm enjoying missionary work and everything. I hope everything is going well and things are wonderful!

Elder Houghton