J.D Houlton

FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!

 

Una semana mas YA PASO!!!!! I tell ya what man.... It's not getting any slower haha transfers are coming up next week and so I will be losing Elder Loucks. He is headed back to Morgan UT. It's been fun with him though and we've seen some miracles before our eyes that's for sure!!! 

This past week we saw another amazing miracle!!!!! We were able to baptize J.D. Houlton!! He's an amazing guy! Funny story. So like 3 weeks ago we were walking down the street and there was a big family all gathered together. We walked over to them and said a prayer with them. I'm about positive they were all drunk but hey it was a prayer sent from god so hopefully it touched them in some way. They weren't really feeling of the spirit at all though because they were drunk. SOO we tried and tried and it came time that we had to just leave them with a mormon.org card and move on. WELL family during this process. Right as we got ready to say the prayer with this crazy family a man walked over to the edge of the grass up along the fence. He just stood there waiting and waiting. After the prayer we looked up and he was still over there. He was a man with a Big Big Beard and in all honestly a man that kinda looked scary a bit. WELL after we finished everything with this family my companion and I begin to walk off towards this guy with the beard that had been waiting. As we approached his direction, he walked over to us and said. "Hey guys I don't want you coming over here to this house or neighborhood anymore. The people around here are crazy and the cops are always here" We thanked him for warning us and looking out for us and then we had the prompting to share a prayer with him as well. So I looked over at my companion and then this man and said "Hey can we say a prayer with you that comes from God? You helped us now the least we can do for you is offer a prayer for ya!" He said sure! He told us his name which was J.D. Houlton. Then we said the prayer. Afterwards we said how you feel man? He said amazing. We testified told him that was the spirit of God then we invited him to follow those promptings by being baptized just like Jesus Christ was. J.D. looked at us straight in the eyes and said, "I want to, but i can't. I'm a SINNER!" We told him that Jesus Christ died for him and will give him the strength to become sin free. He smiled and with joy and hope in his eyes he said.. yes elders I'll try and do my best to prepared to be baptized on Jan 21st!! WELL family I was a witness of this man. Literally changing his entire life for the better in 3 weeks. Changing it to become more like Christ. He went from smoking 3 packs of cigs a day to now, as of Friday last week smoking ZERO!!! He did it! He stopped! God gave him the power and the strength. The scripture that kept him going the entire way was Alma 7:15 which talks about literally allowing Jesus Christ to remove the bands of sin from us. It was a blessing and a miracle to see J.D. baptized and confirmed into the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints!!! #GodisGood :)

 

Also another extremely funny story that happened this past week:

I was on a split with a member. We went and visited a less active older lady that hasn't been to church in a good lil minute. So we go see her. We get there say a prayer with her and then she begins asking me question about where i'm from and stuff. I say St. George UT. Then as I look at her face.. A tear slid down her cheek. The member and I looked at her and said whats wrong. She then said I went to school at DIXIE in St. George UT and I love it there. Immediately we connected and began talking about St Geezy haha Then long story short she said "Look I'll prove it to you", she then went into her closet and pulled out a yearbook from like 1963. As I flipped through the pages I recognized a few of the people. They were people that are back in my home ward. haha it Iwas funny asking her about them. Then as the member and i flipped through some more pages we came across the basketball sports page... we looked at it then the member was like NO WAY.... he points.... and there he was ELDER JEFFREY R HOLLAND of the 12 in a basketball jersey!!!! hahaha oh boy it was hilarious to see. Then we flipped over to the next page and.... there he was AGAIN.. this time VOTED MOST PREFERRED MAN of the school hahaha all the ladies wanted him!! :) I guess you couldn't expect anything different though right... I mean, he is an apostle of the Lord!!!!!! :) Lol How funny is that though? haha What a small world it truly is!!! 

 

Well Family that is about it for this week :) I am so very blessed and so very grateful to be serving a mission. Aynsley it will be the best decision of your life. It'll be hard but SOOO WORTH IT! I promise. Keep praying. Keep going with it! You'll know it's right by the feelings you get when you fill out the paperwork! It's truly has changed my life though and helped me to grow up :) Love you a lot!! BWEEZ and TLANG happy BDAYS haha wow i swear it was like yesterday i was sending yal hats from miami saying happy bday to ya haha WAIT that was a year ago. It's so crazy. I love you both though and glad that your one year older and wiser too :) 

 

Have an amazing week! Siga trabajando duro en todo lo que estan haciendo. Yo les prometo que dios les bendicira mucho y que el siempre esta alli alado de ustedes. Andando consigo cada paso que toman :) Los Quiero MUCHISIMO!!!

 

Love ELDER OVARD

 

                                                       J.D. Houlton's baptism!

 

 

                                          Studying with the sisters in Hollywood!