LAST EMAIL

sigh.........last email and she is home.........We are so excited......

Sister Houston's email:
October 25, 2011

Hello family,
How are you all today? Im ok. Its a beautiful sunny day :) a little cold still but at least the sun is out. I think i can say that the reality that im going home finally hit me. Man im nervous!!!! Excited to see you all of course but im feeling a little....well no....a lot nervous to come home. Yesterday was my last day in Kirtland. I didnt get a chance to take a tour...sad but we did have an awesome experience on chat. On Friday last week we talked with a lady named Isabella. She's from the Netherlands! I cant remember how she found out about mormon.org chat. She's been meeting with missionaries for about a month and a half, im assuming from them. Isa came on to chat because she has been feeling doubts about continuing to learn. We first got to know her a little bit, then we had asked what brought her to chat and all she would really say was im having doubts. Her answers were short and confusing! It took her a while to warm up to us but she finally did. Basically Isabella has been feeling alone. She says no one believes in God. Friends and family have been giving her a hard time. We talked about the blessings of church and how she would have a church family there that would love and support her. She just didnt get it. She was so concerned about how no one believes in God and thinks its silly for her to. We tried to help her think of it in this way...that God has a plan for her and needs her to help others find him. She never thought of it in that way before and loved the idea. It gave her hope. The missionaries had already committed her to come to church with them on Sunday and she was planning on it just really nervous. We encouraged her to go, promised blessings and then set up another time to chat. So yesterday we got to chat with her again. She went to church and loved it! It made her feel good :) The concern about her family and friends giving her a hard time came up again. I had a simple thought come to my mind to share a video on mormon.org with her. Its about a young gal named Daisy. She talks about how she found the church, her testimony of the gospel and how she had to face some challenges with friends giving her a hard time. I didnt really think anything of it but i thought it might help. So i sent her the link and she watched it. Her response after...."Wow". Me..."so you liked it?" Her...."it made me cry so yes. its just like me". She then went on to say how it was ok and that many people wont understand it all but as long as she believes and asks for Gods help it will be fine. It really was so cool to see how Sister Gamble and I were being guided by the Spirit to help Isabella even with a monitor between us, even if it was just typing. I have a testimony of this program. I know its inspired and its going to open so many doors for the world to receive the gospel.
It was a great week! A great last week. Barbara is doing amazing. She's been busy with family in town so we haven't been able to see her. We talked with her on the phone a couple days ago. She is still super excited about the Book of Mormon and her baptism. Im going to miss her. Im going to miss my mission but i know that the lesson's i've learned and the people i've met will be with me throughout my life. These opportunities and challenges allowed me to build a testimony of the Restoration and of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It gave me direction and light.
Thanks for encouraging me to go!!! Im so grateful for you all. Thanks for your wonderful examples. I love you! I'll see you in less then 2 days......

Have a great day :)
Now off to pack.......yuck

LOVE,
Sister Houston