Dearest Everyone

From 21 September 2016

"the district" ... we´re a pretty big district...

Today we went on adventures!!!  Unfortunately, I can´t send you the pictures, because I don´t have any time left!  so you will have to wait 7 more days to see all that we saw today. :/

In other news, this week was the "15 de Septiembre" (Mexico´s Independence Day), so on thursday night there were fireworks, pozole, little carnivals in the street, and Mexican flags, and red, white, and green decorations ALL OVER THE PLACE!  Naturally, we went home early and did weekly planning during the "pachanga" (party), and when we got up the next morning EVERYTHING was closed.  But we did get to see some cool plane formations fly overhead.  

Anyway... I promise to send a better email next week!  Be very safe and happy and PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE!

Lots of love,

Hermana Houghton

HELLO EVERYONE!

From 13 September 2016

WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!!!  Really, we go to the temple all of the time, but we only get to go INSIDE every now and then!  So it was a special day :)

SSSsoooooo.

This week we made a LOT of good plans, and a LOT of them got really quite complicated as various events and issues presented themselves!  But we continue to learn and grow each and every day, and preach the gospel in every way that we can!

UUUummm... yessssss... Life lessons learned: Trust in the Lord and everything will work out.  He may not give us the answers we want when we want them, but He will send what we need, WHEN we need it.

Have a LOVELY week!

Love,

Hermana Houghton

Anyone who can name the 3 big important church leaders

 in this picture wins a cool souvenir from Mexico!

A visit with these three important church leaders
(including Sister Bonnie Oscarson, Young Women General President)

Dearest Everyone!

From 6 September 2016

Do you ever get to the end of the week and just feel exhausted?  That´s okay.  That feeling is pretty normal!  Because if you´re exhausted it means you worked hard :) and you´re alive.

So. This week I learned about the importance of planning. Really, planning your life is the key to having an EFFECTIVE life.  Our mission president has taught us that deciding to "work harder" doesn´t actually change very much if we REALLY want to see different results.  So he taught us how we have to plan, and execute plans to be able to use our time better. Anyway, we´re doing that :)  Of course, there are a lot of parts of life that you CAN´T plan, so we do what we can, and then we trust that the Lord will do the rest. That´s what faith is called!

Anyway, this week was interesting.  We have officially begun the Patriotic Month in Mexico, so we are seeing a lot of flags, hearing a lot of fireworks, and people keep talking about delicious foods like pozole, chiles enogadas, and pampazos.  MMMMMMMmmmmm...  (the 15th of September is Independence Day).  Also, the weather is getting a little bit colder, and the rain carries on.  I hope you are all doing GREAT!  Hermana Beck and I keep cracking jokes and eating chocolate, and we´re as happy as can be! 

Lots of love,

Hermana Houghton

the weather today :O

We rearranged the house :D

With a HILARIOUS dog named Nena :D 

She looks like a little bear

 zone activity: Centenario-- volleyball

Elías, an 88-year-old man that we´ve been teaching,
but who is now moving to Oaxaca... :(

yep... it´s eating paper... :(

I thought you might appreciate the amount of chocolate we have in the house right now...
It wasn´t on purpose... just turned out this way...

Love your favorite chocoholic,

Hermana Houghton

Hello from Hidalgo!

From 29 August 2016

Dearest Everyone,

Life is good! Each and every day we get a chance to wake up and breathe in fresh air and go out and do lots of good things that change the world "poco a poco" (little by little)! This week we have been doing just that!  We´ve been knocking on doors, looking for less-active members of our branch, talking with everyone we find in our path, and trying to follow the Holy Ghost!  I´ve been learning patience, charity, faith, and hope each and every day :)

Also, one of our leaders this week taught us an important message about missionary work when he shared a quote which I will attempt to share now: "the missionary field is Heavenly Father´s individual training ground for the entire life of a person".  So basically, when you´re on your mission and you go through a hard time, it´s because Heavenly Father wants you to be better prepared for hard times that are going to come in the future.  He´s just getting us ready and turning us into better instruments. I think that is SO applicable to missioanies, but also to all of us in our normal lives. We can learn and grow from our smaller trials, to be stronger one day for the bigger ones that will surely come.

Anyway, you get the general idea.  I hope that you all have a fantastic week and continue to overcome the trials you have, with a smile on your face!

Love,

Hermana Houghton

P.S. sorry... we didn´t really take any pictures this week...