He said that he didn't have a lot of time to write this week. His letter home and for the blog was about normal but I don't think he got to write back others and go into detail like he wanted to. He also must have ran out of time and couldn't send pictures so I'll cross my fingers for next week ;)
I knew he knew I'd be flipping out over the turtles! That is definitely a place I'll make him take me when we go back to visit his mission :) So cool!!!!
On track for 4 baptisms!! AWESOME!! I love the success they've had with the member/missionary program :) I can also testify that it makes such a huge difference to those who are non members, and even the less active members, to have a strong member of the church show them love and support!! It is real!! I have a very real example of that in my home today. Justin has struggled for years with addiction and other things and I have had struggles of my own. When we moved into our ward there were so many people that were willing to help and who genuinely cared about us. They didn't care if we went to church on Sunday or if we said the "right" things or if Justin smelled like cigarette smoke. They cared about us!! They were also never overbearing or never disappointed!! They'd stop by to see how we were, or if we needed anything, all of the time. The one member (I'll call him Drew, because that's his name. lol) Drew took so much time out of his own schedule and time from his own family to check on us/Justin. When Justin expressed his desire to quit smoking Drew made it happen!! He asked Justin if the missionaries could start coming and giving him their lessons on the "quit smoking" program. He came with them every week. He even brought us bags of oranges and some grapefruit juice (it's supposed to help with cravings). He offered and gave him priesthood blessings and was there for him when things/life was very stressful and hard! He was our friend! He cared! He still does! Drew was eventually given a calling in Young Men's and couldn't devote as much time to Justin, but Justin still new he was there cheering him on. Then the other ward members started coming... So, long story kind of short, Justin quit smoking, started again and then quit again, all with the love of our awesome ward members coming to our home for OVER A YEAR!! It takes time! It takes hard work! It takes dedication!! (It must smell like football!! Inside joke ;) Ask if you want to know. LOL) Last Tuesday we had a man who has been "investing" the church (for 15 years or more), who is in our ward, call and asked if he could come visit our family. He knows Justin's family very well but had never before met Justin, besides the occasional hello at church. So after a little small talk Justin asked him what was up. He said that he needed Justin's help and wanted him to baptize him. Justin was SHOCKED to say the least (why he was shocked is beyond me. Justin doesn't always do what maybe everyone else would. He listens very closely to the spirit before he decides. Even leaving me scratching my head. BUT I've learned to trust his instincts). After he explained to Justin that he's had many people, for years, come to him and ask him if they could be the one to baptize him when he finally decided to take that step, but after a lot of prayer he kept coming back to the guy he didn't even know, that sits in the middle of the church chasing his kids!! Justin of course said yes and had to take care of a couple of things, namely being ordained a Priest (We had no idea he wasn't already) and the baptism is scheduled for tonight!! After visiting with them both I've decided they're kindred spirits and probably had this planned in the pre-life ;) hahaha! The reason I tell this story is because if it weren't for the love that the members have shown our family, along side of the missionaries, we (our family) would not be where we are today. Members are a VERY important part of missionary work!!! Justin's last step is being ordained an Elder and we are so very grateful that although the missionaries are not coming to our house every Wednesday night anymore, that the members have not forgotten his goal and are still encouraging him. We love them!! I also love that Alex is seeing success on his mission with the member/missionary program :) It warms my heart!
Alex specifically asks us to pray for Martin. He needs miracles in his life ;) Please include him in your prayers.
Wassup Fam!
This week was pretty good I would say! Not a whole lot of crazy things happened, but as far as the work goes we are progressing very well. Sorry if this letter seems shorter than the other ones. I just got back from Sequoia National Park, so hopefully I have enough time to email everyone before I go out to work and I'll definitely send pictures of our little Sequoia adventure if I have enough time.
The member/missionary work is on fire in Lindsay! I don't know where our progression in the Lord's work would be without the members help. Right now we're on track for possibly 4 baptisms in November. If everything goes well and smooth we're going to see a lot of excitement from the ward. Hunter's date was changed or needs to be changed because he wasn't able to attend church this week. Investigators have to attend church twice before they're baptized. I guess he wasn't able to because he was sick and he was at his Mom's house. He's kind of a busy body. He's got football to play so when we see him we try to teach him as much as possible.
Charlie is one of the most progressing people I've ever seen in my life! What's cool about Charlie is that he's not holding back on the commitments we give him. He just lets the blessings come by doing these simple small little commitments, and he knows that it's not us that's changing him but that it's God. I guess he was talking to missionaries in the past and at some point he decided to go his own way and stopped talking to them. After that some pretty bad and unfortunate things started to come into his life. I won't go into detail but let's just say that his eyes were opened up and he realized that God was trying to tell him something. Since then he found us and we've been talking to him ever since. He's hopefully going to be baptized this upcoming month, if not then, for sure in December. (We even went to the Sequoias with him today so that was fun!). M. and T. are kind of on the same path still. They haven't come to an agreement to being married and being baptized. Teresa is on board for it and same with the rest of the kids in the family. M. is kind of being a bum and still hangs out with his gangster friends, (and not making great choices) which probably isn't the best influence for him right now. But 3 out of 4 of these investigators (Hunter, Charlie, T. and some of her kids) all came to church this Sunday!! This Sunday was a little different too. It was the primary program so they were in for a treat... If you could just get M. to come that would be an absolute miracle! Pray back home that he might soften his heart and humble himself to realize his faults.
So those are our solid and progressing investigators! As for the others they're doing awesome as well. We found some new other ones too. Mi., C., Al., and Ale. are some new ones. Mi. and Al. are really humble and willing to listen to us. They've both struggled with their choices in life and they want to change and be baptized. Mi. cried when we talked to him about the Atonement a little bit, telling him how everything he's done can be gone away. He loved it! Alvaro looks forward to us teaching him all the time now. Ale. is actually one of our members sister. So she has family to give her good feed back about us :)... C. was definitely a person that needed God's help in her life. It was kind of interesting how we found her. We had dinner with one of our members on Saturday night, and I got to share the spiritual thought at the end of dinner. I shared Either 12:4 and told them how we've been seeing a lot of people that have faith and hope for a better world, and they've been gradually led to us by God. We asked them if they knew anybody around that had faith and hope but struggled to see a better world or a better life. They immediately took us to C. When we got to her house we had a lesson about the plan of salvation, and then soon things got a little heated... C. went off on how she lost her son a year ago and she went into this huge detailed story about an investigation of her son's death and they never really got to know why her son died. All she knows is that he committed suicide :( and they weren't sure why... We couldn't answer her questions about the investigations but we talked a little more about the Atonement, and how the Atonement of Jesus Christ makes things that seem unfair understandable. Luckily our members were there to help out. They made a big impact with their testimonies. But because the spirit touched heart she invited us to come back :) and we're going back tonight hopefully.
Yeah I told the lady that my Mom is going to really jealous when she finds out that I've been hanging out with Turtles :) we go over there once in a while just to see them for fun. I love hearing that Weston and the team finally get a play off game at home! Sounds like this year has been making some big changes!... That's awesome for Justin! I would've been thrilled if someone randomly that's been an investigator for 15 years asked me to baptize them! Who knows... maybe it'll happen on my mission. But I'm happy for Justin! I think God is really seeing changes in his life. Life's all about progression and change and Justin is doing good at it.
Well I'm sorry this letter was a little shorter this week. We got back a little late. I planned on being back a little earlier than this but with traffic and few other things it didn't quite work out. But I love you all! I pray for you and I think about you all the time. Keep praying for our investigators so they might come to Christ
Love Elder Horrocks
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