Remembering Romania: Happy New Year!!!!

January 1,2014

Hey Guys,

Wow! It's 2014, I've been on my mission a little over a month now, and I'm leaving the MTC on Monday! It's crazy to think that this time next week I'll be emailing in Romania!

Okay, so I don't have that much time today so I'll try to sum up this last week the best I can. Christmas was pretty sweet. I can probably explain this Christmas as the most spiritual and Christ based Christmas I have ever had. We saw a talent show from all the missionaries to start off the day. It was actually really, really good. They were all either funny, jaw-dropping, or just like "whoa, now that's awesome" performances. Then I got to get a nap in there before lunch. Worth it! After lunch was the Apostle Devotional. It was Elder Bednar! I got to sit up in the second row, so I was pretty stoked cause I swear he looked at me a couple times haha. His talk was really cool. The devotional was

Elders in their zone singing on the last day in MTC

broadcasted over many of the MTC's around the world. So, they gave phones to the audience in every MTC and you could ask any question you wanted to be texted to his iPad and he would answer as many as he could in the time he had. He picked some really good questions and it was cool because at one point he said, "So a question that just popped up on my iPad from the London MTC..." and it was like whoa, everyone around the world in an MTC is listening to Elder Bednar, and I'm here almost 20 feet away from him. His talk of course really applied to a lot of struggles that I have been feeling because they were literally questions from Missionaries, so this unique talk was an awesome experience. After that, we got to see a live jazz band that played some Christmas songs and stuff. It was some good listening, it even inspired me to want to play the soprano sax when I get back. Some sweet sounds come out of that baby. After the Jazz concert and dinner, we then got some Kettle corn and watched the 2012 Mormon Tabernacle Choir Performance. Yup, some of the best Choir singin out there for sure. After that we took some pictures by the Christmas lights and called it a day!

I think Blair could be in pageants. LOL!

Guess not...he's too tough!

Dang I'm almost out of time. Here's some highlights. I almost got sick! One day, I woke up with a sore throat and a headache and just felt terrible. But, I took some airborne, as many of those as I could and prayed that I wouldn't be sick for the 16 hour flight next week and I woke up the next morning, all better. Awesome miracle gotta say.

I also got to host or escort the new Senior missionaries that came in for their first day. [They are usually married couples that go on missions after their kids are grown] Dang, they get it way better than us haha. Their housing is like a hotel! So, yea you could say I'm a little jealous, but they are also 60 years older than me so I guessssss they deserve it haha.

I think the one big thing here that I'm gonna miss though is the Sunday's. I always feel like I'm draggin a little in the morning and then I feel better when we do all the Sunday things and by the night I'm just ready to call it a day, but I have a devotional and movies and I'm always like "ugh" Then I listen to the devotional and go to these movies and I swear every time, I'm always walking back to my residence super stoked to be a missionary and just filled with the spirit and feeling great about the awesome day I just had. These Sunday's never fail to up lift me for the work that will come next week.

I wish I could stay on here all day and just explain every little detail and all the experiences I'm having but there is always more studying to be done here haha. So I look forward to talking to you guys in Romania for the next two years!

-Elder Houk

P.S. I really want to Thank everyone who gave me a card or a gift this Christmas! It really meant a lot to me, Thanks so much!