Dear Family and Friends,
We had a great week with an incredible sunday to top it off!
It started off with a day of exchanges. I got to go with Elder Bown, our district leader for a night and the following day. It went really well we taught a lot of lessons!
On Thursday, we were riding along and decided to lock up the bikes and start knocking a random street. The first house we knocked some guy with a huge beard and a weird cap let us in right away. He sat us down and didn’t say anything and I saw a Koran on his shelf. I had no idea what to expect! But then he pulled out a Book of Mormon and told us how he’s read it and studied it and he like it! He knew it so well! Some parts, almost by memory! It was nuts! He was just hung up on some of the technicalities about it. He wondered if it was really what we said it was or if someone had just written it. We talked about these for a long time and told him how if we pray to God asking to know the truth of something, the Spirit will make it known unto us whether it is good or not, like it says in John 15:26[1]. We are going back soon to see how it went for him. He was really cool and SMART!
This week we raked a lot of leaves for people and taught a lot of lessons! And I got my hair cut by one of the less-active members here. I have never had my hair this short it’s crazy! We taught like crazy this week and it really paid off with our investigators, but we were way behind on our contacts goal (or people we had talked to on the street or while knocking) so New years eve, we decided we were going to knock and street contact all day. We went down to Utah Street but there was literally nothing on that street so we knocked a trailer park nearby. We came away with 50 quality contacts and some quality Mexican barbaque along the way! Three older men just invited us over to chat with them.. I’m pretty sure they were drunk but they still listened to us and gave us some good food!
New years Eve night, our mission president sent out a text telling us he wanted us back in our houses by sundown for safety, so at six o’ clock we were back home safe and sound, and enjoyed going to bed early. Although we were awoken several times, especially at midnight, by the celebrations. From 10:00 to 2:00 it sounded like there was a war or something going on outside! It was unbelievable! Huge explosions! And then after two all you could hear was the sirens from cop cars catching people it was pretty funny but it was loud out there we kept getting woken up.
Yesterday (Sunday) we visited Christina and Junior, a young family we knocked into a few sundays ago. They seemed super interested so we came back, it was the first time we were able to set something up. We taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel and about Joseph Smith’s vision and the spirit was so thick you could feel it around you. We left them a Book of Mormon and committed them to read it and pray and to be baptized when they learned it was true. Junior said he felt a calm and peaceful happy feeling the last time we came by and he said he felt it again even stronger. They are awesome and it’s crazy to see how they have been prepared by the Lord to hear this message. If they read and pray I know they will continue to feel that.
Last, we taught Francisco Santa Cruz and his family about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went well. We need to teach things to him very simply because he doesn’t even know how to read and he hasn’t really learned much about the Gospel because of this, but he has a HUGE faith in Christ. Also, he works every day of the week except Monday for a little money, so it has been hard to find a way for him to come to church. But when we walked in he said “if you don’t pray you don’t get an answer right? I have a story for you.” He told us how he prayed to get Sundays off so he could go to church. He said that after one of these prayers he was filled with peace and courage and immediately went to tell his boss that he would quit if he didn’t get Sundays off to go to church and Mondays off to take his kids to their doctors along with a pay increase. The boss agreed! So now he can come to church and he and his son David are still set for baptism on the 14th! It was a miracle!
Trinidad and Julia and their two teenage girls (we met them knocking doors). They are so loving! We had a great lesson with Julia and her two daughters this week and committed them to baptism for January 21st. We will keep visiting them and strengthening their resolve.
Napoleon – in his 20’s he has been taught all the lessons but he and his wife just need to start coming to church! We will continue to visit them and in our last visit he said he would start coming.
I realized I haven’t really descirbed a lot about what my area is like so I will now.
Texas is a lot different than I imagined. There’s a LOT of trees everywhere, all up and down the streets. The area I’m in is extremely urban, but there are still alot. There are houses and apartments everywhere, with businesses along the main roads. There are open areas though, which remind me of how much I love nature, like the golf course we ride everyday, and the bridge we use to cross the Bayou River.
The weather, at least in winter, is strange. The day I flew in it was in the 30’s and I could see my own breath. There have been many days and nights like that. Some nights I’ve been biking in my sweater and jacket and have still felt cold! it’s the humidity I guess. Other times, it is crazy hot! There have been days here in December when it’s been in the 80’s and we’ve been sweating like dogs biking around. The bugs are everywhere and there are mosquitoes like crazy! Every now and then a breeze will blow in and it feels so good! Some days are both! the morning will start off cold and rainy, and as the rain stops and the sun comes out, it gets hot like you wouldn’t believe, and its’ so humid! Then it’s a scramble to shed our jackets and sweaters to get cool. The humidity just makes the hot hotter and the cold colder I guess.
The ward members here are awesome. They always talk about the Houston Texans and how they are finally in the playoffs, haha. They feed us dinner at their houses every night and it’s always delicious. But Elder Bruneel and I go running and work out every morning to keep the pounds off! We’ve been doing pretty good at that.
This area can get sketchy at night though. Everyone always tells us to be careful and we always hear about someone who got shot or kidnapped or some crazy story like that. Some lady was telling us that last week two bodies were found in the golf course we ride through every morning and night. It was a little sketchy haha but we know that if we are doing what we are supposed to we will be protected!
I love it here in Texas and in Houston and I love the people I am serving! I love you all! Thanks so much for your support! hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love,
Elder Viitanen
- But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me John 15:26↵