Sister Goodrich. 11/18

Her address until Dec 30th

Sister Kaylee Goodrich 10810 Spring Cypress Rd  #1222

Tomball TX 77375

Hello mother, and other people who love me. :) I love y'all. Anyways this week has been a blur, and honestly i can't remember much... anyways My companion sister schellhous is getting transfered. so it will just be me and sister flanery. so no more trio :( so sad... But I'm excited for her.. she has been in this area for 7 months i think a change will be great. anyways... Let see we have 3 new investigators. Mark, Harold, and Tyler (girl) and they are so awesome... two of the three basically found us, and asked us to learn more. and the 3rd was just waiting for us to come. So that's exciting I hope we get a baptism soon. This area really needs one, but we will do whatever the lord wants. I can't believe you took my blanket to church... random.... haha tell Reece that No joke I had a guy open the door with that face... Sorry mom.. I"m trying to not let you be too freaked out. But I'm safe don't worry... We have lots of dinners from the ward they really are proactive about feeding us. Why was she unpleasant? I love you so much! I miss you sorry my letter is so short... oh hey i remembered something else i want for christmas I want a mattress pad... a soft one.. for a twin bed. oh and some toms would be nice too...  I love you! and I love everybody at home!

Parts of dads letter

 We met a really drunk man the other day he was SOOOOOO rude... but i bit my tongue, and laughed about it later... oh and We were walking down this really long road one time in the dark, and a car almost ran over my companion but don't worry we are safe.. I just wish we had a car... We have a really small area, but we also have really busy roads, and it's really not too safe for us to be biking or walking down the roads. Don't worry though I'm sure the Lord will watch over us. The weather is good.last week it was 56 degrees, and yesterday it was in the 80's. Humidty is still bad.. I miss the snow.. I wish i had a picture of the mountains i forgot to take one when i left.  haha that's so funny... I probably was trying to make myself late to church.  Yes we get fed everynight pretty much. so that is good. most of the food is alright. I don't know if they have deer... and no i haven't seen anywild hogs... but then again i'm not in the country so much.

Skipped a week update.

Ok so sorry I didn't forward an email last week. I only got a quick note that she was mailing me a letter and out of time. She mentioned in her letter that brother Crummey passed away :( She also wrote to all of her siblings.

Then we got this email this week-

This week has been a rollercoaster... of emotions..I'm trying not to let my anxiety get the best of me... This week we met with our 94year old investigator twice... and she was so close to getting baptized then like a blink of an eye she said no...so that is discouraging.. but it's on the Lords times and not ours. . we threw a baby shower for our investigator so she could meet more sisters in the ward. I think she really enjoyed. it. She is so sweet. There has not been a baptism in 2
years... this area is really hard, and we are working hard too. We are all
trying our best and seeing no return of our labors... but we know that we
are just planting seeds for later missionaries to harevest... other than
that this week hasn't been too exciting.... thanks for the lanyard i get
the purpose now... I will try to send pictures home soon. Thanks for
sending me my blanket. and Yes i did get the candy you sent I will show you
how much candy i got this year it's a bit extrme... and i don't have the
heart to throw it out. I don't know what i want for christmas... maybe some
skirts or shirts? or socks.. or medicine.. like first aid kit... bandaids?
haha sorry mom I don't know... Next week is transfers... so We will know
next Sunday which one of us is getting transfered... we think at least one
of us will... they don't like to keep us in threes very long but maybe we
will get lucky and stay together. I really love my companions they are
great, and they help me so much. ps sidewalks here are dumb.... just stop
and start whenever...

She did send a couple of pictures. One is of how much candy they had. Maybe I should have not sent two bags, but she likes the non-chocolate , and I figured her companions might like kisses. I also ordered it a couple of weeks before Halloween, but it didn't get there until after. So they might have to hand it out at church. The next is on her pday in the cute purple bike she is is borrowing. She also had to take a picture of all of the mail she got, it's hard to believe she can be so moved by mail.

Preparing at the MTC

U

Elder Johnson and Elder Roberts in front of the Provo Temple.

Elder Johnson ran into Elder White too. Elder White is a fine young man from our ward. He has been called to serve in the Minnesota , Minneapolis Mission. The same mission my husband and his bishop served in over 25 years ago. He will be in the MTC awhile longer, because he will be speaking the Hmong language. 

A big thanks to Elder Johnson for the email and pictures! He is trying to aid blogging effort.  

He is serving as a district leader, and doing great.

Love Mail Monday

Here is the letter we got from Sister Goodrich today. Her siblings all got an email too :). 

Her mailing address is at the bottom.  Keep up with her and other Missionaries on our blog thefathersstory.blogspot.com

Hello Everyone!

I finally got the bike from Sister Rackleff she is so sweet, and nice. I think I've told her a million times thank you now. o so my bike is purple, and it looks like a beach cruser but not so low.. It's so cute! I don't have a picture but I will take one soon. I get to ride it for the first time tomorrow. yay! we can't really ride it in most of our area because 3/4ths of your area is on the other side of 249 and the bishop forbade us from riding or walking on that road.. it's just not safe. at all and people here drive crazy!! so we can only ride to one little neighborhood that's not too far. but it's also the area where it's really run down, and old, and scary at night.. actually all of houston is scary at night.. we don't stay out most nights past 7:15 so that's good. This week was hard, and more difficult. but I hope my attitude will change. I've been stuck in a rut. and depressed, and sad.. but I'm trying to look for the positive things. I know that my companions must really love me to put up with me this week, I haven't been the most agreeable person.i'm tired and grumpy most of the time because i can't sleep at night.. but don't worry! I'm not given up. So last Monday we did a gift exchange, and pinata with the rest of our zone it was fun! I got a toy truck out of the gift exchange, but i donated it to the nursery. Tuesday we went and cleaned Ms. Smileys house for our weekly service project. Ms. Smiley is a grumpy old woman.., and has two broken feet ( which i accidently kicked twice) she is a non member but her son is a member his name is Brother Crummey it's kind of ironic that Ms. Smiley who has a crummey attitude all the time, has a son named Crummey, who always smiles he is the nicest person ever. But he is not doing well he is down at the hospital waiting for a heart transplant.. he is a recent convert. him and his wife joined about a year and a half ago, and they were getting ready to go to the temple when bro crummey got sick.. We met a new investigator on tuesday too, his name is William Compton I knocked on the door, and asked if he had heard of the church, and the book of mormon, and he said no, but that he wanted to learn more so we gave him a copy and he said we could come back so that's exciting! My first good door approach! yay! Wednesday we had exchanges with Sister Folsom who is the great granddaughter of President HInkley she doesn't like to talk about it though so yeah... but still pretty cool we walked a lot and we went and saw our 94 year old investigator who we commited again to pray to know if she should be baptized.  We also had zone conference on Thursday and it was really good! I learned a lot and it was very uplifting.. Saturday we went and saw Marian who is a Luthern and not interested in joining but we stop by and visit her once in a while. She taught us lot about the luthern church and what she believed, and after all i could think about was how much i know that This is the true church, and that it is Christs church. A lady brought us over a casserole and bread for dinner.. but the bread was moldy.. but that was the only time i have questioned the food here.  Yesterday during companion study I fell asleep how embarrassing right? haha oh well... i won't live that one down. I'm just so tired all the time! being a missionary is physically exhausting, mentally exhausting, and spiritually exhausting.. but it's all good. I love you so much, and hope you are having a good day! and a great week! can't wait to hear back from you!

I love you!

kaylee!

She loves to get letters :)

10810 Spring Cypress Rd  #1222

Tomball TX 77375

Sister Goodrich

Our Home Elders

Elder Emerson on the left, and Elder Henry. Don't let their tags fool you they switched for our Halloween party. 😀

Sister Goodrich Gets a Bike.

This is one of the emails she sent home today. The others were just request for things like stamps and a flash drive. 


I"m so mad at you!! You just up and left and went to california!! Sheesh!
haha JK, Well glad you had a good time there. So this week has been......
good. We have some new investigators There is Joe she is 94 and she is Like
HIGH UP in MARY KAY, like I think she was one of the partners so that is
pretty cool or at least she was until she got too old. A lot of her family
is LDS and she has read the Book Of Mormon multiple times, and she knows it
is true, but she doesn't want to get baptized because her father was a
strong baptist and she thinks that it will hurt him if she is baptized.
Then we have Al, and he is very smart and knows a lot about different
religions, And everytime we said something he was like i agree with that,
and that. and then he was like why am i sitting here i need to get
baptized, so we are going to teach him the lessons, and maybe he will be
baptized. There is a Brother Jelly in our ward who was a general authority
a long time ago he is probably 70's he was blessed by Joseph fielding
smith, Way cool huh! and I get fed every day the members are really great
about that. I"m borrowing a bike from a lady in the ward, but it's broken
so it's getting fixed. So for the time being we are getting a lot of rides
from members and walking. So yeah it's fun :) our area is not too big, but
it's interesting.. we have some really wealthy homes (mansions) Moderate
homes ( bigger than ours) our house size, and tiny scary houses... That we
always end up walking to and from in the dark... But don't worry I"ll be
fine :) I love the ward here, and the people of texas they are so nice :)
Love you!

Sister Goodrich and Elder Davis

Create via InstaFrame

Sisters Are Fabulous

These two look extra great. This is sister Finery and sister Shcellhous. I'll have to double check the spelling on these names. Sister Goodrich spells them different in each email. It's nice to know she is in such good hands.

First P-day in Houston

 BEST PART OF THE LETTER TO DAD. Member missionaries are the best seriously.. maybe you could make that better announced in the ward. The members of the ward are who really do missionary work not us missionaries.  I"m going to come home and be an awesome member missionary.  

TO MOM. Ok seriously a long letter but i enjoyed it :) I will try and answer your questions. OK so first off. My new companions are Sister Flannery (Layton), and Sister Schellhouse ( San bernadino)

They are awesome and I love them so much already! Uh... A good experience is sleep.. Oh how i love sleep. I"ve never been so tired in my whole life, but somehow the Lord keeps waking me up in the morning. We have an investigator named Jacklyn and it's almost too good to be true. We told her that we have a living day prophet and she was like " I don't want to sound weird or anything... but that's AWESOME" so yeah it's pretty exciting.. We go tracting a lot because we don't have any referrals. So far I had a frog jump on my foot,... ugh.... a door slammed in my face, and a lady yell at us to leave, and dog jump all over me. A lot of noise at a house before we knock then we knock, and the house goes dead silent. So yeah haha it's GREAT!!! no but really it is.. Because I've learned not to take it personal because It's not ME they want to reject it's the Gospel, and that's really sad. Because sometimes I rather they just reject me.. I get to email from lonestar college.. it's a little crazy.. haha My schedule changes day to day. But basically we get up, excercise, eat, get ready, study, leave and teach the word, eat, leave and teach the word, eat and go home plan, and then sleep. The food here though is seriously AMAZING!!!!!!! I get fed dinner EVERY night, so it's Lovely. i hope you are feeding the missionaries at home.. Uh I can't send pictures this week but I will try to next week. I love you all!, HAve a good week!

Elder Brandon Johnson

This handsome man is my oldest childs favorite. Brandon has received his mission call to Washington, Tacoma. He will be leaving on October 30, 2013. We were blessed to get to go to the temple with him today. It is amazing to watch these youth grow, and prepare themselves to serve the Lord.

First Pictures From Houston

Loving the airport pictures! Thanks so much to great mission leaders that post pictures. See more at texashoustonmission.blogspot.com

Looks like she has two trainers, and i have proof she is eating :)

Oct 10th

> That's awesome everyone is doing well and Tyson is lookin super fly! I hope
> you can go to Elder Gibson's farewell and give him my love! Tell him I feel
> bad I never said bye to him and tell him bye haha. Thanks for the birthday
> wish too!
>
> First: I just wanted to say don't worry about me. I listened to this song
> that's basically a mother's prayer for her missionary son so I felt like I
> should tell you don't worry. Still pray because I need all the help I can get
> but I get taken care of really well here. Firstly by the older ladies of the
> branch. I don't know why but they love me a ton. Haha there's 3 of them and
> one is making me a sweater and she does a ton for me, another always wants to
> feed us and she just loves all the missionaries anyway, and then the third has
> given me the title "Pellumb i nenes" or "Pigeon of Mom" She says only 3
> missionaries have reached that status in her 10+ years of membership. Whether
> that's true or not ???? But they take care of me a ton. Our water was out for
> a couple days and they found out and kept offering to wash our clothes and all
> this stuff. We ended up taking one at the senior couples house and I was sick
> so the senior couple fed us soup too. And obviously God watches after us and I
> stay out of trouble. Pray, but don't worry. You're son is in good hands.
>
> Second: I love President Eyering's talk about angels and wanted to thank you
> for being the angels that continued to love their sinful son. I wish I had
> been better for you guys but thank you for always loving me no matter what.
> Thank you. I love you.
>
> Anyway for my week we taught like crazy! We barely have time to eat and do
> our studies with all the branch and missionary work we have. Not complaining
> though it's a huge blessing. We have 2 baptisms coming up on Saturday and they
> are both getting interviewed Tuesday so we'll see how those go. But the
> Sisters have one too. So that'll be 3 people getting baptized here. And
> that'll start a roll here. We'll have a baptism every week or multiple every
> other week for the rest of the transfer probably with how things are looking.
> I'm really excited and we're just doing all we can to make that all happen.
>
> We have been very very busy. Cutting P-days and lunch breaks short to take
> care of branch work so we don't lose time to do missionary work has been
> tiring but I can honestly say I'm probably working as hard as I can/harder
> than what is required/going the extra mile/doing my best however you wanna say
> it. I've always done my best in the situations I've been in but it's funny my
> training is the only time I've been with someone that doesn't hold me back.
> He's really good and it goes to show you that the Lord will make it work if
> you work hard, experience doesn't matter as much as work ethic and he's got a
> great work ethic.
>
> Sunday was amazing! We had 49 in church and we had more visitors in church in
> one Sunday than the whole month of September. Which is also way more than I've
> had any other month since I've been here. It's crazy all the success that
> we're having in Fier and that's all I can say about it really. I'm sorry I
> can't think of anything else to say really. Everything is just a blur and I
> can't believe I'm half way through. It's flown by and will probably continue.
> I'm loving every second of it.
>
> Dad, that would be a really hard position to be in. I guess life doesn't get
> easier once we finally get out of high school huh? I'm glad you have put
> yourself in a pretty safe position with work and hope I can do the same for my
> family so when something happens I can still provide for them. That's kinda
> scary to think about.
>
> Love ya tons mom

Sister Goodrich Has A New Address

Sister Kaylee Goodrich
10810 Spring Cypress Rd Apt #1222
Tombell TX 77375

She flew to Houston yesterday and is doing great. She said she has been so thankful for the letters and packages. She told me that letters are waaaay better than email and that they make her day :).

Another Elder Roberts

Tyson is a rock star and he knows it or at least i hope he does. I have watched him grow up the last few years, and know he will be a fabulous missionary. He will be heading off to the France Lyon Mission in just a couple of weeks. He will enter the MTC on October 30th. His parents are the Rocks that can handle having two young men out at the same time. I personally have learned a lot from this family and look forward to following the story of another Elder Roberts. This picture is in front of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Oct 3rd

Tell Tyson congratulations! That's awesome but being officially made an Elder 
will probably be about ten times more rewarding so stay focused! Lots can 
happen in a month!
 
I can't think of anything for that package sorry. Whatever you put in it I'm 
sure I'll love.
 
Yea I like Morgan's parents. They're way chill. I haven't talked to her dad as 
much but her mom is way chill and her dad is super smart so that's what makes 
Morgan the best of both worlds. Haha
 
I seriously can't even comprehend everything that is happening around me 
though. Like I hope it wasn't my lack of faith, but I never thought such 
amazing things could happen. The branch in Fier is changing so fast I can't 
keep up with it. I feel like I'm in the middle of a Mormon Message or 
something like that. It's unreal. I don't want it to end! Investigators are 
coming to us, calling us to meet, and eating everything up. The fruits of all 
these labors should start showing here in the next 2-3 weeks with people 
making their first covenants with God through baptism. They still have some 
improvements but we probably have about 5 people that could get baptized in 
the next few weeks. I hope they all work out but we're just gonna do what we 
can to guide them along. We actually had 8 investigators in church so that is 
really promising.
 
Besides the ones I've told you about before we added 2 more hopefuls this 
week.
 
One is named Albi and he is super chill. He loves meeting and listens super 
intently. The only issue is his smoking. Which is an issue with almost all 
Albanians but I think he smokes more than most. He was actually in jail for 
smoking ilegal drugs so we also have to find out how long ago that was and 
talk to President Ford about him.
 
One of the young men brought their older brother to soccer Saturday and we 
talked about Sabbath Day for the spiritual thought. I don't know if that's why 
the brother also came to Sacrament but he was there so we're gonna talk to the 
member Tuesday about teaching his brother. They brother's name is Saimir and 
he is super nice and seems like a really joyful person so I hope he works out.
 
We talked to another young man and he has 3 friends he's hit up about the 
gospel and wants to bring to church so we'll just have to work with him on 
making that happen. We did weekly planning and there's about 15 people we want 
to talk to about learning and our goal is about half of them (7) become new 
investigators. It's almost getting to be too much investigators so someone 
needs to get baptized soon. Haha we can't keep track of all of them. But we're 
planning on 2 being baptized in 2 weeks and hopefully a couple more the week 
after that. I just wish we had more time in a day to meet with all of them or 
maybe another companionship here for a few weeks. Haha that would be nice, 
traveling missionaries to go help areas get through super busy times. Haha
 
But yea this week we have high goals. We want those 7 new investigators and 
hopefully some with baptism dates, we want as much as possible in church, plus 
20 investigator lessons with more than half being member lessons. That's the 
standard of excellence for this mission so we're hoping we can pull it off. 
But it'll be hard and will be completely up to the Lord, but it's possible! 
I'm just super excited for this week!
 
But church was amazing this week. It was probably my first normal Sunday since 
I came to Fier. Callings are starting to be taken and working so we can start 
getting more out, church went smoothly and we had an Albanian teach each class 
which was awesome! The Lord's time is usually slower than my desired time but 
right now he's way ahead of us and we're trying to catch up but it's getting 
harder each week. But we just do our best and he's carrying the rest. Right 
now he's basically carrying me with Fier but hopefully I can help out more.
 
I can't even think of what to tell you honestly. It's hard to tell people at 
home because you don't understand because you're not here. Not saying I'm 
withholding information but I can't explain to you all the stuff that happened 
this week. We were just constantly in lessons and it was incredible. Every 
week has been crazy and I'm excited for another God guided week. I hope to be 
telling you about baptisms here in the near future and more progress in the 
branch.
 
I love you all and hope you all have an amazing week! Don't worry about me! 
Seriously though, I can't put into words how much the work is just being moved 
along by the Lord. I just am trying to not slow it down at this point. Have a 
great week! Bye!
 
 

Fwd: Thinking about you :)

 I will write you a longer letter, but I'm going to try and write the longest email I can, right now. Um yeah if you could send the hair dryer and straightner to Texas that would save me tons! I might try and send some stuff home that I don't need. I had to open up all of my space bags because all of my cold weather clothes were in them. It wass freezing so bad!!! haha as a result of that... I have a cold now, and my stomach is so sick... and I woke up with a fat lip this morning. so.. I'm heavily medicated ;p But even though I'm tired and sick I still am having a good time at the MTC. It's so awesome how much it has strengthened my testimony, and I'm learning soo much. It's unbelievable, There are 4 elders in my district, and 2 other sisters. We seriously are like a huge family it's awesome :) I love them all I will send pictures. I just have so much to say.. but it's hard to type it all right now, so I will write you a better letter later. I love the jacket you sent.. i just hope it will fit in my luggage.. haha I have so much random things... I love you very much! and time is running out!. MTC is awesome, The mission will be awesome, Teaching investigators is hard!, but you just have to learn to love them. I'm learning a lot. Smiling every day and I'm so happy! I will talk to you soon!
> PS WRITING LETTERS is WAYY!! better than email.. but you can email me too :) Ok never mind I can't send pictures.. I don't know how to upload them on here with all the security on these computers... so sorry! maybe i will get some printed out with i get to houston to send you or something... IDK

September 30th

Hey Everyone,

This week has been a little slow but it's been good. The weather here is great right now. It's actually been really warm but not to humid so I love it! ;) The nights are starting to get a little chilly. The leaves are starting to change and I'm just waiting and waiting for them all to change so I can take lots of pictures! I can't believe it's already almost October, Halloween will be here before we know it. We met with a couple less actives this past week and they are great, I wish they would have come to the Relief Society Broadcast because it would have helped them with some of the things they are dealing with. The broadcast was so Good! I can't wait for conference this weekend! We had 2 investigators at sacrament meeting yesterday which was great and also 2 less actives! There was a baptism yesterday for one of the girls in the ward, it was great and our investigator was able to stay for that. We are still having a hard time getting in contact with alot of our investigators but hopefully we'll be able to soon, we're already half way through this transfer which is so crazy! I have to speak in Sacrament Meeting 2 weeks from yesterday, I guess we'll see how that goes. They're good at getting the new missionaries to speak not long after they get to a new area. Well that's pretty much what has been happening here in Somersworth. HOpe you are all doing great and that you enjoy conference this weekend! Love you All!

Love, Sister Houston

Sister Goodrich First Letter Home

Here are the highlights! The first day was hard. She forgot a water bottle so she bought one after lunch at the bookstore. She waited to take her medicine until she got water so she wasn't feeling hot. She felt a little anxious. She said " a part of me wants to come home, but the other part can't wait to get to Houston". " The Spirit is really strong here". Her first companion is Sis Pugh from Bluebell and remembers grandma Lois, and knows her cousin Britney. Sis Pugh has 13 siblings, so Kaylee figured four wasn't so bad. She gave me her list of forgotten items for me to send, and requested a small purse. She mentioned she has been freezing and layering all of her clothes ( I hope she got the warm stuff I sent her). She is checking her mailbox 2x a day and paper letter are way better than emails, because she only gets email once a week. She has seen Elder White and Davis ( friends from school). She sent some encouraging words for Brandon. When she wrote the letter( Thursday maybe?) she was going to be teaching an investigator the next day. She said she gets tired an ornery, but she is also have fun too.



Well that all for today folks, this letter made my whole day! It's been a very long and hard week. We are so proud of her and so happy she is doing so well.

The Day Before

Change of Attitude

Hello Everyone!

I hope you have all had a good week! This past week has been pretty good! Well for starters it wasn't near as humid so we were very happy about that! Also we had 6 lessons with Less Actives! That's the most we've had in one week and one of them came to church! Our lesson with Kayleen went really well too, we taught the Word of Wisdom and she freaked out a little when we told her she couldn't have coffee (she was drinking coffee during the lesson). She took it really well actually and she said she is really going to try to live the Word of Wisdom even though she knows it will be really hard. She's so great!! The Pioneer Day activity got cancelled which we were pretty bummed about because ward members had invited some of their friends and they were planning on coming but we'll just have to put on some activity some other time for them to come to. We had a pretty good day that day as well. We took one of the Young Women with us and she loved it and wants to come with us again. Hopefully this week will be good as well. I don't think we really did anything different, we just changed our attitude about things and it made a huge difference. Well I hope everyone is doing well! This is such a great experience! This work is great! Always pray for missionary opportunities! Love you all!

Love, Sister Houston

Rain

Hello everyone!

Well this past week has been a little crazy! Well I guess there always seems to be something crazy that happens but this week especially! So it has been raining like crazy here and we would definitely like to send some of it your way, but anyway my comp. and I were out tracting one day and it had been raining earlier that day but had stopped so we thought we would be okay without our umbrellas....not a good idea. We had gone the whole road and were on our way back to our car and it started pouring! We were drenched! So that was tons of fun and now we know we should always take our umbrellas with us! Also last week on the fourth of July we went to the Bishop's that evening for a little get together. We left around 8:45 so that we could be home by 9 like we are supposed to and then we found out the next day that at 9 the evening before the Bishop's deck collapsed! The bishop's wife broke some ribs, the relief society president broke both her legs, an ankle, and possible something with her knee and then her friend who isn't a member broke 3 bones in her foot! They are all in the hospital and have had surgeries. We are praying that they will heal quickly. Some of the other ward members were hurt a little but nothing serious. Members said that the Lord definitely watches over his missionaries, we left only 15 minutes before that happened and we had been on that deck! It's pretty scary, they said the deck just kind of came apart from the house from all the rain and then collapsed but I don't know if they know for sure. Anyway luckily it wasn't any worse and that none of the missionaries (since there are quite a few senior couple missionaries in this area as well) got hurt. It's hard to see some great people get hurt though and we are hoping that they are doing okay, we haven't heard much lately. Anyway so our week was a little crazy but we did get to meet President and Sister Stoker, they seem really great! Well I hope you are having a great time! Love you all!

Love, Sister Houston

Elder Brett Simmons update:
Brett hit his 10 month mark last week!  He will be staying in Pensacola for at least another transfer! He is super excited about it. He is always mentioning how wonderful the people are in Florida. I am so grateful for the way they take care of the missionaries!! 

Brett had a wonderful week contacting a bunch of referrals, meeting with a new family in the ward, giving a blessing, celebrating his companion’s 21st birthday, washing windows, seeing a cool rainstorm that as soon as the rain would hit the ground it immediately evaporated, speaking at a baptism, being able to see many people from his last area at the baptism as well as at church on Sunday and then attending the special missionary broadcast.

I sure am going to miss Brett’s companion and all the crazy stories that came with him! What I wouldn't give to spend a week with the both of them in Florida!! 

Elder Brett Simmons update:

This past week Brett was able to eat at a restaurant called Lamberts … it is a restaurant famous for their food and thrown rolls … the waiters actually throw you the rolls. 

Brett had family home evening with a member family, the Chinese nanny that lives in the house would not stop following Brett around asking him how old he was. HaHaHa. 

On Trade off’s Brett was able to commit a lady from England to baptism. This is his 3rd Trade off where they commit someone to baptism.

They had a busy week teaching some awesome lessons, they found a new investigator; they gave a blessing, and of course more yard work, more moving families and more and service! A member of the Bishopric wanted Brett to thank his Dad for teaching him how to work. He said he and his companion were the two hardest working missionaries to come through Pine Forest in a long time!

All the work they have been doing to collect the pop tabs to donate to charity was a total bust; I guess they only made a few dollars. In church on Sunday Brett’s comp fell asleep and started snoring super loud, after a few laughs from everyone Brett shook him awake. I just love his companion and all the crazy stories that come along with him!!

But the best part of Brett’s letter was that he had a dream he converted Carry Underwood. I sure love hearing these mission experiences!

Spring into Yard Work

Brett was able to do a lot of service this week. One afternoon he spent cleaning up a yard and cutting trees down. I guess there is a nasty vine that grows all over everything in Florida, not sure what it is officially called but some refer to it as “Devil’s Thorn” I guess it has needle sharp thorns on the vine. Brett and his companion’s legs looked like someone took a razor blade to them and they were bleeding pretty bad.

On another afternoon while his companion was mowing the lawn he ran over a trampoline spring and the mower started sparking and making an awful sound. No need to worry because it only took them about 30 minutes to get the spring untangled and gratefully the mower started working just fine.

Through all of their service cleaning up yards etc., Brett and his companion have been collecting pop tabs, they now have a milk carton full and are going to turn them in and hopefully get some cash on P-Day. Gratefully they won’t have to use that cash to repair a lawn mower 

Brett expressed his gratitude for the power of prayer, he has been able to see some amazing miracles happen this week through the power of prayer!

Elder Brett Simmons update:

Brett was able to do a lot of service this week. One afternoon he spent cleaning up a yard and cutting trees down. I guess there is a nasty vine that grows all over everything in Florida, not sure what it is officially called but some refer to it as “Devil’s Thorn” I guess it has needle sharp thorns on the vine. Brett and his companion’s legs looked like someone took a razor blade to them and they were bleeding pretty bad.

On another afternoon while his companion was mowing the lawn he ran over a trampoline spring and the mower started sparking and making an awful sound. No need to worry because it only took them about 30 minutes to get the spring untangled and gratefully the mower started working just fine.

Through all of their service cleaning up yards etc., Brett and his companion have been collecting pop tabs, they now have a milk carton full and are going to turn them in and hopefully get some cash on P-Day. Gratefully they won’t have to use that cash to repair a lawn mower 

Brett expressed his gratitude for the power of prayer, he has been able to see some amazing miracles happen this week through the power of prayer!

Knickers for the JSM

Hey Everyone!

Well this past week was a little rough. People in this area just don't want to listen, they are "All Set." We keep trying but its not always easy. We had interviews with President Wilkey which was great! He and Sister Wilkey are so Amazing! I am going to miss them a lot when they leave! We helped at a program called Hope of America on Saturday. It was a program that the Site director here and the JSM put on to honor the Veterans. I guess they do it every year. It was a great program! It's starting to get pretty hot here! My hair definitely does not like this humidity at all! There's still some days that we get quite a bit of rain as well though. Well we will be starting at the Visitor Center this week! I'm so excited! We won't get as much time as we'd like but we are excited to start! We also get to help the FM missionaries with planting flowers and things with taking care of the grounds so that will be fun! Anyway we are just super excited to get that started! Today we are having District P-day. We are going to go hiking up Patriarch Hill, I've heard it's a pretty amazing hike. I guess we will find out today! Well sorry there isn't a ton to tell this week, we are working hard but people are definitely set in their ways. Hope everyone is doing great! I really appreciate all the support! You are all Amazing! I Love you all!

Love, Sister Houston

Loves it Already

The future Sister Goodrich is so excited to go to the TX Houston mission!  She has already met  a couple of young ladies going to the same mission on Facebook. Now the preparing to pack adventure begins. We are making lists and looking for all of the items she will need. I'll need to watch for good luggage sales, and keep my eyes open for fabulous D.I. finds. ( Deseret Industries is a thrift store). We've got the shoes picked, just waiting for a sale, it's kind of nice having four solid shopping months. 

Have Questions ?

 This part of a talk given by Russel M Ballard, whom I know to be a man of God. The LDS Church is known to  be great at planning times to meet and having things to eat. We love to come together and share with each other and anyone who would like to come. We gather twice a year in a general conference which is broadcast all over the world. This talk is from part of April 2013 conference.

-We follow the Lord Jesus Christ and teach of Him. We know that after His glorious triumph over death, the resurrected Lord appeared to His disciples on numerous occasions. He ate with them. He walked with them. Before His final Ascension, He commissioned them to “go … and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”⁵ The Apostles heeded that instruction. They also called upon others to help them fulfill the Lord’s command.

Today, under the direction of modern apostles and prophets, that same charge has been extended to missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These missionaries serve in more than 150 nations. As representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, they strive to fulfill that divine command—renewed in our day by the Lord Himself—to take the fulness of the gospel abroad and bless the lives of people everywhere.⁶

Missionaries in their late teens or early 20s are young in ways of the world. But they are blessed with gifts—such as the power of the Holy Spirit, the love of God, and testimonies of the truth—that make them powerful ambassadors of the Lord. They share the good news of the gospel that will bring true joy and everlasting happiness to all who heed their message. And in many instances they do so in a country and a language foreign to them.

Missionaries strive to follow Jesus Christ in both word and deed. They preach of Jesus Christ and of His Atonement.⁷ They teach of the literal Restoration of Christ’s ancient Church through the Lord’s first latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith.

You may have previously encountered, or even ignored, our missionaries. My hope is that you will not fear them but learn from them. They can be a heaven-sent resource to you.

Elder or Sister

Sons and Daughters Called to serve! I am posting the lyrics to this fun missionary song. It is amazing to hear this song in full voices, and this is one of those songs that alway a pew rattler.

Lyrics

1. 1. Called to serve Him, heav'nly King of glory,
   Chosen e'er to witness for his name,
   Far and wide we tell the Father's story,
   Far and wide his love proclaim.
2. 2. Called to know the richness of his blessing--
   Sons and daughters, children of a King--
   Glad of heart, his holy name confessing,
   Praises unto him we bring.
3. Chorus
   Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;
   Onward, ever onward, as we glory in his name;
   Forward, pressing forward, as a triumph song we sing.
   God our strength will be; press forward ever,
   Called to serve our King.
4. Words: Grace Gordon, alt.
   Music: Adam Geibel, 1855-1933

Elder Brett Simmons update:

While at Walmart Brett and his comp were waiting outside for the other group of Elders to finish shopping and one of the men who ambushed them at McDonalds last month walked up to them and started bashing with them again. After a few minutes Brett’s companion stood up and got in the man’s face and said “Sir, I have a testimony of this church, I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet and that he did in fact translate the Book of Mormon so deal with it” then Brett got up and said to the man “you should pray about it” and they both walked away.

After District meeting Brett and a few other Elders were able to experience Dumpster Diving. I guess one Elder left his retainer in a napkin at a Chinese buffet. Brett mentioned digging through day old Chinese food pretty much ruined him for life. He mentioned words can’t even come close to describe the smell and what it looked like. After all of that they didn’t find the retainer.

This past week Brett reached his 9 month mark!!! During the past few weeks Brett has learned some really important life lessons #1 People can be really cruel, most of the time the best thing to do is to just walk away. #2 Day old Chinese food is bad, especially when you are viewing it from the inside of a garbage dumpster #3 People are not honest, they really do steal things so always lock up your bike … if not, it WILL get stolen and it takes money to replace it …. $500.00 to be exact. #3 When your car axel starts making a clicking noise, beware ... the price tag to repair it will be around $1,000.00! Brett mentioned he can’t believe how expensive things are these days and that he doesn’t think he is going to survive when he gets home so he is just going to stay on his mission forever, he asked if that was ok? HaHaHa I love the life lessons missionaries get to learn!!!

Brett shared an amazing conversion story of Bill Carpenter. For anyone that is on the fence about serving a mission I invite you to listen to thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f_-kE9YQrg. It is long but I promise, it will be an hour that will change your life.

Kaylee is Called to Serve :)

The call has come. Our sweet mail lady called us this morning and let us know that it was here. We planned a big opening party for tonight at 8 p.m.. Talk about excited, we are all just counting the minutes. We had about 40 folks come, and I don't even know how many Facebook comments. In all of the fun I forgot to take a single picture, I will work on trying to find one.  Here is the video, enjoy!

Joseph Smith Memorial

Hi Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well! Things are going great here! It just keeps getting greener out here! It's been raining quite a bit but it's still been pretty nice. We've done a lot of tracting this week and not too many people have been interested but we've had a few say that we can come back some other time. So we got a call on Wednesday and we were in District Meeting so we didn't get it til after but we listened to the voice mail and this guy named Jose who was a former investigator who we contacted the week before but he wasn't interested called and was wondering what scripture we had shared with him. We had shared 2 Nephi 4:20 with him and when we called him back, he said that scripture really helped him and I told him if he was ever interested to definitely let us know and then he said that actually he was interested! We haven't met with him yet because this week doesn't work for him but we will as soon as we can! It's amazing how just one scripture can touch someone!  Anyway I'm out of time but that was a really great experience for my companion and I. Also we had a fireside where Kim Smith who is a great great granddaughter of Joseph and Emma Smith came and spoke and it was really great! She told us her conversion story which was way cool and she sang a couple of songs that she wrote which were amazing as well. Well got to go! Hope you all have a Wonderful week! Love you!

Love, Sister Houston

The Map

Waiting, waiting, waiting, it's almost here! The Bishop said the call has been made, so we should find out this Wednesday where she is  going. We are all so excited, nervous, excited! Feeling a little nervous about all of the change on the horizon, but so excited for the opportunity to serve the Lord.  We have posted on Facebook that the call is coming, and opened up an event for guessing where she will go. We pulled out our map to start marking the guesses. We will give a little prize the the winner(s). It's just fun to feel the excitement of everyone, and to get everyone involved. We have marked about 30 guesses so far and they just keep coming. It is especially fun to get the guesses from many of our family who are not familiar with any other missionaries. It's just wonderful that this fall she could be anywhere in the world sharing Gods love, and humbling that the God has made known where He wants her to share it.

What Launguage are We Speaking?

Have you ever joined a conversation where word are flying you aren't familiar with? I have that feeling alot during the T.V. shoe Shark Tank. Well I do my best to be clear in my post, but I don't always re-explain every term in every post. I thought I would make this post so it will show up in the labels list for reference. Here is where you can help me out. Point out my slang and give me hints on where I can clear things up. I'll just keep adding to this list, hey it could be fun. So, next time you see a cluster of letters like CTR or a half word like p-day let's define it. If I see it in a letter from a missionary and don't know what it means I'll post and leave blank, check back and help me out.

CTR= choose the right
p-day= preparation day, the set apart for laundry, hair cuts, bike maintenance, letters home, etc.
JSM= Joseph Smith Memorial Birth Place
MTC= Missionary Training Center

Just a short one this week (we got this a couple hours later than usual so he
either had a busy P-day, or spent more time emailing his friends)...


Yea that's a good quote haha thanks for that one. That's awesome Jackson got
his Patriarchal Blessing! You raised us really good mom! I wouldn't have been
raised by anyone else and you know that too! I couldn't be more thankful for
the mom I had!

Yea you guys can just wait and tell me his call over Skype if that's when he's
gonna get his call! (Tyson's mission papers are submitted and we expect them
back right before Mother's Day. Carson wants us to wait to open it until he
calls home). And yea Elder Peterson knows how to call people on Skype - so be
ready! And yea Morgan told me she went over and you thought it was for my 6
month haha. That's cool she stayed and talked with you guys! She enjoyed it a
lot. She thinks you're all hilarious.

Haha have fun at school too! I don't have a whole lot to say about this week!
Just working hard still and staying focused. Had a lot of branch work we had
to this week but we also had some luck finding people. Hopefully those people
turn into real investiagators but we'll see! The weeks just seem to be getting
faster and faster! Love ya mom!

Voting for a Picture

After all of the paperwork, doctors appointments,and wisdom teeth removed the time has come to submit her papers! The last thing she needs is to attach a photograph. Hmm how to choose? Let Facebook friends pick! 44 friend and family weigh in an the winner is the zebra picture, a couple clicks and submit. 

Elder Roberts SIX months