Mis Paisos (My countrymen)

You can tell he's getting busier in each letter.  The good thing is, he's enjoying every second of it!!  I love seeing his own progress...  He is growing in so many ways :)

I actually received a message from Brother Garcia on FaceBook last Monday.  I was confused and thought that he was maybe one of Elder Corona's family members from St. George because it said he was from St. George also, but he is actually the Spanish group leader in Tulare.  He said it was a pleasure to have Alex there and he was always happy.  He also thanked me for my willingness to be away from him for two years and that he was greatly missed from his last assignment.  Brother Garcia has been there for 5 months and moved from Saint George.  When he first got there, they only had about 3 families attending the group but now they have about 40 members that are constantly going.  He said that the stake president said he'll give the group 6 months to get ready to become a branch.  He also said that he knows Al can make a difference and that he will stay in touch here and there sending updates...  I feel so blessed to know that there are people out there that are watching out for my son and his well being.

He also had a training on the positive things that can come from social media and he challenges all of us to post one thing each week that will help spread the word of the gospel.  Whether it be a video or a quote or your favorite talk :) So start thinking about what you can do to help spread the word!!!  One a week!!

He is doing well :) :)

Playing around at a members home

Missionary tradition for year mark. Elder Corona burning his white shirt.

Mis Paisos (My countrymen)

Another week has flown by! Great things are happening for us left and right. We've seen good things, but the work with our investigators has become a little bit slower. That doesn't mean the Lord doesn't continue his work though, right now we've been asked strictly from the bishop in Tulare to focus on finishing the new member lessons. It's been good and a hassle at the same time, the members have helped us a little bit, but they've been busy with work, family, all those good things

 I actually had not realized until this week that our Spanish branch is actually a Spanish "group". It's so much smaller than a branch, I didn't even think that existed but it does! We've also only got about 5-6 priesthood holders so most of the group are women. This past Sunday we had our ward conference and businesses and such. The stake president was there and he talked about a powerful message! He really brought hope and faith into the branch. His name is President Christianson, he talked briefly about the growth of the Spanish group. He said that revelation comes in many different ways and that just recently he had a dream about the Tulare Spanish Group. In his dream he said he saw priesthood holders and the chapel was filled with men, and that in the course of 6 months or so they could become a branch again, and there would be missionaries serving from that branch... Now he's not the prophet or anything but he does receive revelation for our stake if needed. The people were so touched when they heard this! I heard originally that it would take about a year or so to bring it back to a branch, but the stake president said about half of that. Sweet!! After he finished his talk/testimony. Our Spanish group leader, Brother Garcia, was conducting and before he ended sacrament meeting he shared his testimony about that dream that President Christianson had. Brother Garcia said that he also had the same dream!! It was touching at the point, and the spirit was so strong. I love the Spanish culture, they receive revelation in the coolest ways.

Friday was a great day! We had a leadership training meeting for district leaders and zone leaders and I will say it was probably one of the best training's I've had on my mission thus far. Two guys named Brother Donaldson and Brother Tanner presided there. Brother Donaldson is from The District 2 video for missionary training if none of you knew that. They were both from the mission headquarters, but Brother Donaldson was a previous San Diego Mission President. He talked about how he hated Fresno (because we smashed all the other California missions and still do ;)) but NOW he loves us haha. They talked about us being the only mission in Cali to baptize over 1,000, and how soon the mission will be split and lose about 3 stakes. So that hinders our chances of baptizing 1,000, but they called us out and told us to repent if any of us thought it was impossible. They further went in to the training and gave us further inspiration of what we can do to plan better to hopefully reach our goal again. THE BIGGEST message I got from it was is that God is the master planner of our lives, if we choose to let him be. If we are doing the absolute best we can in our efforts on our missions and in life he'll make us happy and give us opportunity to reach our goals.

Those were the biggest two events of the week. The missionary work and progress of the people were teaching is still good. We've been constantly looking for investigators through members. Right now we have Yo. and K. and they're still doing good. We just got to get them to have a closer relationship with Heavenly Father, which they've been doing great with! But God will, in his own time, bring them to the waters of baptism... So they're the only 2 progressing investigators in our teaching pool. We think that one of our investigators named G. will see sooner progress with baptism here soon. She likes us and enjoys it when we come over. We've only been there twice for her daughter Jade who's already a member. G. has been seeing the growth in J. and is becoming more receptive to hearing our message... One thing or idea we've seen for new investigators from the training this past Friday was the usage of FACEBOOK!! Or any other social media for that matter! If you thought Zuckerberg or whatever his name is made facebook, you're all wrong haha. God made social media. The stats of facebook was that on average a person who posts something on facebook, 53,000 other people will see it. They also said that 2 billion of God's children are all connected through facebook, WOW! So they've asked us to ask our members to post at least one thing a week so that we might receive a referral from a member. Whether it's a Mormon message, bible video, anything that will make the work hasten... So a challenge back home is post at least one thing that you like and share it with friends :) these things were made for a reason.


Responsibilities as a district leader are getting better. I definitely learn a lot as I go, sometimes it's stressful but it's normal. I'm working on becoming a multiplier and helping the area and the missionaries in Tulare. Training's can be tough sometimes, they're not just like normal talks or anything. It's really giving prayerful consideration on how I can uplift and better my district. Aside all of that being a district leader is pretty fun!

So everything home is good still?? I'm happy to hear that! Sounds like you guys also had a ward conference and I'm just as excited for Justin. People are doing great back home! Sports sounds like sports for sure. Marz is doing good I hear and Weston is struggling? Dang, I'm sure they work hard too with the new coach and everything also, tell him to keep tearing it up and just play, he's a stud... Sports for me was good this past Monday! We went to McDermit Rec Center and played some basketball and a little dunk ball too. I saw Elder Moody and Charlie there. I'm glad I'm close by to see them, they've always been great friends. Elder Moody is going home March 25th! Dang that's crazy!!

I'm happy to hear everything at home is still good. I'm glad the Lord watches over them while I'm out... Well I have to head out but I will hear from ya'll next week?

Hola Familia!

He didn't have a lot of time to write last Monday and no pictures were sent.  He had some wonderful experiences tho.  His testimony continues to grow!!  I had to look up what the Holy Death Religion was.  I still don't know much about the religion but the statues ARE scary looking!  Good call on the blessings ;) Prayers to all those mentioned.

Enjoy!!


Hola Familia!

So I have super super duper short time to write because we have an activity in about an hour in Lindsey with our zone and a few other zones too. We're going to be playing basketball and football and doing other stuff at a place called McDermit in Lindsey, it's basically their recreational center. But how is everyone?? Another week just flown by right? This week has been hectic and busy. Elder Corona and I have been trying to organize so many things. Stake correlation, baptism records, other stuff past missionaries didn't do, a whole bunch of missionary stuff. It's been just a blast :). Thankfully it's all taken care of now and things are starting to come back to normal.

So the work in Tulare is doing great so far! It hasn't been like on fire or anything, but it's starting to become steady. I've heard stories in the past where it was great one year and then less busy the next, but it's just steady right now. What the bishopric and other ward councilmen have advised us to stay focused on recent converts and less actives still. Especially here in Tulare. Just a quick history background, there are about 41 baptisms that happened this past year and 27-30 of them haven't had new member lessons completed which isn't very good haha. So in Tulare we're at a point to focus ONLY on less actives and recent converts rather than our investigators. So all of the updates on how our investigators are doing will slowly start to become how our less actives and recent converts are doing. But we never know because usually we always find some pretty solid investigators and baptisms through our RC/LA's... We have about 4-5 investigators right now and 2 of them are solid. Yo. and K. (K. is Yo.'s son) are those two, and they've been coming to church numerous times. The only thing that's holding them back is Yo.'s boyfriend. She says she wants to wait for him to get back from Syria and that she doesn't feel like she's ready :/ as for K. he can be baptized but he has some social things (I can't be to explicit about them) but we're working gradually with them both. We still have G. and Ye, the two sisters. We've found out that G. might be a bit more solid than Ye. We finally contacted her this past week, and she told us that she was willing to hear the lessons and see what it's like. Her daughter J. is already baptized and G. has seen that she's always been a lot happier since then. She's got that influence!

There is one specific less active that could use your prayers. They're the M. family. Before Elder Corona and I came here the Father of the family used to be part of the Spanish branch presidency, or at least he helped conduct sacrament meetings. He was very strong and then I guess over time he just got anti'ed or fell away by things of the world. It was unfortunate for the branch because they were a very strong family and they were married in the temple and everything, and for some odd reason. I'm not sure exactly why he fell away but I've heard it was some things to do with the Restoration of the Church. I don't know, but we could use your prayers on their behalf because they're a great family... There are other RC/LA's of course, as I've already mentioned, but little by little they're coming back. We've got one that came back to church yesterday after he relapsed back into smoking after his baptism. His name is F. and he's a great kid, just has the wrong friends. But he hasn't smoked in 4-5 days or so since we've talked to him?? He's doing great!!

This week had a few cool/crazy events that happened. Elder Corona and I on Saturday went to a recent converts house to throw out her holy dead statue. Before she was baptized she used to be part of a holy dead religion and she asked us to throw it out for her because she was scared to do it. We threw it out in her back yard and her boyfriend lit it on fire haha, and then she asked us for a blessing after so that she could feel better, or so that she could feel comfortable in her house again and then we gave a blessing on the house. She felt a lot better :). Shortly after Sister Niumatalolo and Taula called us and asked us to go and give a blessing to one of their members, for Sister Taula, AND for the members home. So we went over there and gave them blessings and right about when we finished it was the end of the day. So it was a sweet day to end the day right? :) God needed us in different places at different times for the power of the PRIESTHOOD! It was definitely another testimony builder that God guides us and the Priesthood is real.

Because my time is short I'm gonna have to leave soon, I want to wish a everyone a great week! Know how much I love ya, and that I'm praying for you all the time! I'll print off your letters and read them later. Sorry this had to be super short!

Love, Elder Al

Feliz ano!! (Happy new year)

Alex had a great week and loves the new area he is in.  He gets to see everyone in Lindsay still because they are in his district.  I got a picture from Charlie last Monday :)  Alex was back in town and lookin' good!!  His new companion is from Mexico but lived and graduated in St. George and is apparently a shorty ;)  Alex should know EXACTLY how to deal with the shorties!!  LOL.  He's had to do it his whole life :)  The shorties rule!!!  (he knows it too) ;)

He's already got lots of work in Tulare...  I'm excited to see "The Preacher Man" go to work there.  It's contagious!!

Love my boy <3

Enjoy...

Weird binoculars I found

My new compa

Picture Charlie sent me (momma) :)

Feliz ano!! (Happy new year)

What a crazy week! Transfers are always a crazy thing because we have to get a lot of things prepared and ready for next transfer and all the while work at the same time. I've been chillen with my new companion Elder Corona. He's Mexican and he went to Snow Canyon High school in St. George. He graduated about the same year I did and has been on his mission for about a year now. His parents live in Mexico (I can't remember where exactly). We definitely are much a like! Just about as goofy as I am! So we make it pretty fun in Tulare. If I haven't mentioned yet, Tulare is about 10-15 minutes away from Lindsey so I still get to see Charlie, Elder Moody, and everybody else. I'm basically still in the same zone. I see all of them about every Monday and Tuesday for Preparation day and District Meetings. So It's great!!

Being a district leader isn't so bad I actually really enjoy it. I've had a lot of growth in one week, and I hope I can simply just do my best as a representative of Jesus Christ with little bit of a higher standard... I'm basically a normal missionary just with a bunch of more responsibilities. The responsibilities include things like me holding district meetings, accounting for missionaries and their work, baptism interviews for other missionaries in our district and other districts too (including Spanish), exchanges, leadership meetings, a lot of stuff. Basically I'm helping to build and sustain work and oversee proselyting efforts in Tulare. I have Elder Corona and I, Elder Enis and Elder Waine (Zone leaders, and Elder Waine is from England and has an awesome accent), and Sister Taula and Niumatalolo in my district. So my district isn't too big and they work really hard. Tomorrow I'm going to be holding my first district meeting so wish me luck!... Also I guess you could contribute by sending quotes to us. President Gelwix would always send us quotes and I enjoyed them. Activities, you can send those as well :) whatever works.

I love the people in Tulare just as much as I loved and still love the people in Lindsey! This past Sunday was a great opportunity to get to know everyone and listen to their testimonies. Elder Corona and I also did the same. It was funny because Elder Corona is a lot shorter than I am, he's about below my shoulder, and he goes up to bear his testimony and grabs the footstool instead of bishop lowering the podium for him hahahaha. He get's up there and says "Yes yes, I know I'm short" it was hilarious. He told me it's a tradition that his family has always done and so he does it every time he gets to a new area on fast and testimony meeting.... I guess the only downside is that we have our own car so the members don't pity us as much because we don't have to ride in the cold on bikes haha. So now we try and see if we can bring members with us in the car instead of them driving us around everywhere, or just go with them, either way... Right now we have 4 people who are potentials to be baptized here soon, I still don't know a lot of information about them yet. They are Yo. and K., G., and Ye. They all have specific and different issues, here and there and we're working really hard to help them repent because they're the most willing to change. Yo. is the mom of K. and they've been investigating the church because they know it's different, I'm not sure how long but they've been doing it for a while. G. should be baptized way sooner than when she wants to, if she wants to at all. Her daughter was baptized a couple months ago I believe and G.'s sister, E., is already a member, she enjoys having us over but she is probably a little hesitant to baptism right now. Ye. is E.'s, and G.'s sister too. So all three of them are sisters and two of them have potential to be baptized soon. From what I've seen it'll more likely be Ye. because she's keeping commitments and is progressing faster than the other. That's kind of the summary for investigators... Our biggest focus right now is finding through our members and recent converts less actives. If we continue planting and finding through them, they're going to make the difference bringing others to Christ.

Other than that there really hasn't been a whole lot that has happened other than transfers and work work work. We've had a lot of fix ups we've had to take care of. Baptism records were lost or were not turned in and so some missionaries are trying to turn in their records in order to bring more blessings to those recent converts. The last district leader that was here had a little bit of a struggle with that and so he basically left it to Elder Corona and I. Blaahhhhh it's been nuts! I've also been cleaning up after him too, he sure loves to leave his antiques and stuff.

I'm hearing good things back home :)  Weston's tough, I'm sure the basketball season will start looking up soon.  They are due for a win and whatever coach or the players ask of him I'm sure he'll do it, just tell him I said to keep his head held high and to put off anything else and just play! He'll tear it up. Marleigh is doing good too from what I've heard, tell her to keep it up for me.

I wish I had more time to say and write things but my time seems shorter every time I have to finish. So with that I love everyone of you and hope all is well at home. Stay true to the faith, and remember always that the Lord needs helping hands'

Love Elder Horrocks

P.s. I can't end without saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to my awesome Granny T, my cuz Buck, and little brother J.T.!! Happy birthday!! sorry it's a little late :)