OKLAHOMA!!!!!!!!!

Good bye to Sister Stewart....tears
Cute little waterfall in Solon
Sister Lyman and Sister Houston


Sister Lyman and Sister Houston outside the Kirtland Temple after the program

Yummmmy!!!

Good bye to Sister Lyman

Well alot going on in this email.....Transfers again and NO she isnt going to Oklahoma...... but her brother Mitchell is. He got his call and is leaving May 25th. SAD cause they wont see each other for Three and half years but they will get to talk on mothers day!! Super excited for that!!

So Tori is getting transfered but she doesn't know where to yet, she will know on wed. Also her trainer Sister Stewart is heading home to Utah. Sister Houston spent 4 months with her when she first got to the mission. Sister Stewart was a great example for Tori and taught her well!! Tori will miss her!! But on to new adventures!!

Sister Houston's email

March 29, 2001

hello family!!!
OH MY GOODNESS!!!! TULSA OKLAHOMA!!! Whooohoooooo
Im so surprised!!! I was not really expecting to get on today with the news! How long did it take to get your papers back?? That seemed so fast! Everything seems to go by so fast these days! Im proud of you Mitch and very excited. AND i get to talk to you on mothers day still!! May 25th! Thats just around the corner. It seems like just yesterday that I was opening my call to leave in May! Crazy Crazy!!! Oklahoma is lucky to be getting you. Be the best missionary you can be! You will grow to love it! Its a perfect place. Haven't you always wanted to be a cowboy??? heeheee now you get the chance! I think, right? Its cowboyish there isn't it....i don't even know where Oklahoma is! oh boy boy...Back to school as soon as i get home :)
Well, i'm getting transferred. Yup. There are 3 Kirtland sisters going home and none coming out, one of which is my trainer sister stewart.....tears...lots and lots of tears. I can't believe she is heading home! I am sad to leave Solon, but excited for whats to come. There are so many options!! There are alot of sisters being transferred. I'll be staying in the Kirtland area i'm sure. They wouldn't send me out full pros again. It would be very unusual if they did...but who knows :) i'm a very unusual person right :) Anyways, you can keep sending my mail to the Kirtland Visitor Center.
Its been a great week. This morning after studies we headed over to ihop to have breakfast with our district....yum yum blueberry pancakes! Then us four sisters, sister hatch, morrell, lyman and i went to chagrin falls to take a picture of the water fall! its finally melting! its just little but really pretty and such a cute town. It was fun!
On Sunday it was the 175th anniversary of the Kirtland Temple dedication. The stake put together a nice program to honor the day. There was one at 7:00am and then another a 6:00pm...same speakers at each. Since the Temple is limited on seats you had to have a ticket to get in and all the rest could watch it being broadcast in the visitor center there at the temple site or down the street at the church building. For the missionaries they drew names out of a hat to decide what time and if you could go be in the temple. Guess what?? Sister Lyman and I got to be in the temple!!!! We are so so SO happy we were able to. It wouldnt of be the same experience watching over a screen! Elder Selden spoke (the seventy), our mission president, Karl Andersen (who is like the Kirtland man, i guess he's written lots of books about Kirtland), and a few other speakers. The music was BEAUTIFUL and one of my favorite parts. They had a choir, violins, flutes and even a harp! At the end of the program The Spirit of God was sung and the spirit was brought so powerfully!! I can't even describe the feeling! It was incredible experience to be apart of.
After Sunday I walked away with a greater love for Kirtland and a greater appreciation for the opportunity i've been given to serve here. How did I get so lucky to be among such sacred grounds?? This is where so many turning points for the restored gospel took place! Where the savior himself appeared!
What a great week.
Well I better get going. I love you all so much!!! Can't wait for conference!!! I'll be thinking about you!
Congrats Mitchell!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Have a fabulous week and don't forget to write me.

Love,
Sister Houston

THE WORK IS GOING FORWARD

Sister Houston's email
March 23, 2011

Hi family,
How are you all???
I'm doing good. I'm glad that my email and pictures went through last week. I was worried it wouldnt since our computer is an old grandpa :)
Anyways, its been a good week. Another transfer coming to an end.....so sad. They just seem to go by faster and faster every time. Wednesday is transfer day. That means next Tuesday is p-day and Sunday I'll find out if I'm being transferred or not. I've been in Solon for three so i'm pretty sure that I'll be transferred. We'll just have to wait and see!
Oh! I have great news! Marlayn and her mom Felice came to sacrament meeting on Sunday! Woohoo!!!
We hadn't heard back from them about setting up a time to come over so Sister Lyman and I dropped on by Saturday. They were both just hanging out around the house getting things ready for there move...just your typical Saturday afternoon. We had helped clean up a little and then we read the first chapter of the book of mormon with them. Marlayn had read part of it last week but she didnt comprehend any of it. When we asked her what she had learned she said "Oh it was just about the John Smith guy." Oh my my....
As we read through the first chapter with them, we stopped and discussed it. Both of their reading levels are low so we had read it very slowly. As far as we know Felice doesnt even read. Even though they didn't quite catch on as quick as we had hoped for, by the end of the chapter they had felt and recognized the spirit brought by the book of mormon.
Then we had talked with them about church...again, and asked why they didnt come. I guess last week Felice had been all dressed and ready to go. She asked Marlayn if she was ready and Marlayn the little stinker said no! She wasn't happy because her sister made her mad. Apparently after that she didn't want to do anything. Sister Lyman and I had felt that maybe what was keeping them from coming to church was the fact that it was three hours long :)
So when we talked about maybe started off small and just coming to sacrament meeting they jumped right on the idea. They both promised to come and they did! They even were right on time. After our lesson on Saturday Felice said the closing prayer for the first time! She was so nervous! They are doing so great. Progress is moving slowly but they continue to recognize the goodness and peace these things bring into their lives. Just one more week and then they head to North Carolina. Its ok though. Apparently Marlayn and I are now facebook buddies! Oh my my.....heehee
Well anyways, thats the highlight of the week. The work is going forward and the Lord is refining me day by day so that I may be a more effective instrument for him. Its rough and hard to handle, but with these hard times i've come to just rely on the lord. By doing so I've recognize the goodness of God in my life and the peace that comes knowing that he loves me so it makes it all worth it in the end. I can say more confidently that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers.
I love you family. I love this gospel. I love that I have this opportunity. My testimony is becoming more deeply rooted and honestly its what keeps me going.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Spring is here!

Love,
Sister Houston

PS Oh Mitchell....i have my guess ready!!!! I'm guessing that you are going to be serving in NEW YORK!!!! I think there are a million different missions there so I pretty sure i cant go wrong :) heehee
k keep me posted!!

A FUN DAY IN HIRAM

These are the Pictures that Tori was talking about in her email this week!!

Sister Lyman and Sister Morell in front of the Johnson Home! Read Tori's email to get the jest of what these two sisters where doing and thinking of doing!! haha

The Johnson Home where Joseph Smith preached after he was tarred and feathered

The Johnson Farm in Hiram Ohio

Sisters and there District leaders

Outside of Tori's apartment......they thought winter was over....haha no such luck!!!

Sister Houston's email

March 16, 2011

HELLO Family!
So... I attached some pictures. Sister Lyman let me use her memory card reader so I hope they work for you! Its been quite an eventful week! but first I have to say Yay for Mitchell!!!! The papers are finally in! Wooohooo!!!!! Now we just have to anxiously wait and see where your going....my guess....the OHIO CLEVELAND MISSION! heehee i wish :) but really though I'll pray that those papers don't get lost in the mail....with your luck they just might (i know, i know i shouldn't laugh about it....its just a little funny)
Ok now on to my week....
Thursday the Solon Ward Relief Society put together a little b-day party to celebrate the "birth" of the Relief Society program. and guess what?? Marlayn and Felice came! Shock i know. It was a stress to get them there and by the time they finally showed up it was almost over. There were about 20 sisters that came. Sister Taylor, the RS president, had started her spiritual thought so all was quiet when Marlayn, Felice and Jayden her 9 month old son walked in. At first I think they felt really uncomfortable. Remember this is their first time even to the church building. Toward the end of the night, you could tell they were easing up a little. Some of the sisters were so great and came to welcome them and said hello. Over all by the end of the night i think they had a good time. They didn't come to church on Sunday
:( but on the brighter side, Marlayn finally read the first chapter of the book of mormon!!! Woohoo!
On to the next great thing of this week.....
Every week we have a training meeting at Kirtland with all the sisters and the Edmans, the site directors. In Remembrance of the tar and feathering and the revelation of D&C 76 that happened in the months of February and march, we went to the Johnson Farm. We woke up bright and early Monday morning, 4:30 am, and traveled to Hiram. All the Senior couples and the sisters came. We split off into groups, took a tour of the farm, took lots of pics and then ate breakfast. Although i was a zombie missionary the rest of the day, it was an awesome experience and we had a lot of fun! One of the pictures attached is me in front of the Johnson Home. That is where Joseph stood to preach the next morning after the tar and feathering. After I took a picture of Sister Lyman standing up there too, next thing i knew she was bending down feeling and smelling the concrete!!! heeheee i was cracking up! After I asked what in the world she was doing, this is the conversation between sister lyman and sister Morrell:
sister lyman says, "you cant really appreciate something until you've touched it and smelled it."
sister morrell says, "yeah i agree. and lick it!"
sister lyman says, "yeah and lick it! its how you immerse yourself in history."
heehee oh goodness. Luckily there was no licking involved :)

Well its been a great week! I could go on and on but i better stop. I love you family so much! I hope you all have a happy st. pattys day! Make sure to write me too!!!!

Love,
Sister Houston

PS Yes i know elder richardson! he is my district leader. he is the one on the far left side next to elder baxter. this was our last district meeting last transfer....it was on valentines day if you couldn't guess from all the pink :) Tell his mom hello for me and that her son's an amazing, dedicated missionary! he's doing great work!

PSS the picture of the parking lot i took outside on our balcony. a couple days previous to this there was zero snow on the ground! Sister lyman and i were excited because we had thought it was finally over. The next morning this was what we woke up to! Through out the night it snowed more then a foot of snow! crazy! I cant wait for summer!!