We Be Good and What's up family??

I am filled with comfort more and more each week when I hear from members and investigators about how much they love him!  It gives me the most UNBELIEVABLE peace to hear that they love him almost as much as me ;) lol

He played the guitar at the mission farewell and I was sent a small clip from Lupe of it.  It was a little hard to hear but I could hear it and OF COURSE I bawled!  Can I say I'm proud of him too many times???? ;) It is seriously so amazing to hear how much they love him and consider him to be part of their family.  I've heard "I wish he were my brother" more than once :) and really I can't blame them ;)  NO WORRIES!!  We'll adopt all of you into our family!  Family reunions once a year alternating from Utah to California :)

I got some great pictures and video from them tonight.  I will post them tomorrow.  I got a really good laugh out of the video :)  If I put everything on tonight there will be a Big Al overload ;)

I love hearing from him and them!  Always part of the highlights of my week :) <3

Farewell BBQ

Whose the goofball??  Oh yeah!!  That would be Alex!

He's getting good at selfies... Maybe I should invest in a selfie stick too :)

Enjoying a little bit of ice cream  ;)

A whole container to himself???

Farewell BBQ

Farewell BBQ

Farewell BBQ

Farewell BBQ

I'm not sure who would be considered the photobomber in this pic... hahaha

Goofball!

Farewell BBQ

Playing for the farwell

Dork!

OHHHH Alex!

June 15th

We be good out here in the California Fresno Mission

So we had transfer calls these last couple days! They're a little bit surprising to me in so many different ways. So I will staying for the first time in forever in an area for more than 2 transfers haha. Yup I'm staying in Madera! Elder Nye is going to go down to Colinga for his last transfer to finishing training Elder Quintana's companion. Funny thing is, is that Elder Quintana and Elder Nye were companions here in Madera for about 3 transfers. Now they're just switching places and Elder Quintana is going to come back to Madera and be a Zone Leader with me and we'll be comps. The rest of our zone got turned upside down as far as companionships leaving and new ones coming in. We have 5 new companionships going home from our zone. I really loved being able to serve with those 5 and now it's going to be a bummer not seeing them in our zone, they were awesome missionaries! It's even more mind blowing to think that Elder Nye has one transfer left and then he's back home. Wow!! There's a lot of missionaries that I saw being trained and that I came out with that going home.

Our week started off really well but came to a slow ending. We've had a lot of good things happening lately for us. We had plans to baptize Cr. and she sat down and talked with us about it and everything. The baptism fell through though. We're not sure if we were overbearing with her or if she felt forced into baptism. Over the last 3 days we tried to contact her and teach her a few more points and get a baptism interview going but she was off with her family in other places and she was to busy. It was a little bit frustrating because we taught and testified of how much the gospel could bless her life and her daughter and she took the invitation to be baptized this weekend, and we tried to follow through with the plan but nothing happened... One of the things that's holding her back is that she doesn't want to make more mistakes after baptism. It's pretty common for investigators to think that. She has a few other concerns such as not being able to play soccer on Sunday and other things. Her biggest hold back is that her old boyfriend A. wants to move back in with her. And this wasn't something that has been going on since we've been teaching her, but it's been pretty recent. When she told us that we knew that Satan has been trying to work on her RIGHT as she's coming closer to God. It made so much more sense of what's holding her back after she told us that... The only thing we're really hoping to see is that if A. really loves Cr., then he will understand that she doesn't want to sin anymore, and then maybe even get married and then move in with her. Otherwise we can't force her to partake in the Gospel. I think Helaman 14:29-31 explains really well what she needs to understand. We're not forcing her to choose but this is eternal life we're talking about! I'd be really sad to see her go choosing her old life over a new one. I love Cr. but we can't obligate anything upon her. She has to choose for herself. And if she can grasp the gospel and understand repentance and remission of sins then she'll be baptized in a heart beat! We haven't taught her since Thursday. I'll keep you updated when we do find and teach her.

Other than that not a lot has happened other than just missionary work :) S. is coming along well. She's still taking her baby steps, and she seems a lot more happier than ever. Cr.'s mom M. and the rest of her kids came to Church this week again. That whole family will be baptized soon! I know they will, it just seems bound to happen. As far as missionary work we are finding, finding, and finding this month. Finding is fun, but not so fun in the heat haha. So send us prayers and wish us luck. Madera is always full of prepared people.

We had a district meeting with Elder Winterton on Wednesday. That same day was Sister Wilkins birthday, we stuffed her face in cake just like I got cake stuffed in mine on my birthday :) it's a hispanic tradition. So when I come and there's a b day party I'm going to have to break my habit of stuffing cake in other people's faces.

I'll send you some more pictures of what went on this week. I have some pretty good ones :)

Tell Grandma that I love and miss her. I'll pray for her. Hope everything is going okay with her.

I saw the videos of J.T. and Charlie I was laughing pretty hysterically hahaha J.T cracks me up. Sweet pictures too! Hope you enjoyed your avocado! Haha

Love Elder Horrocks

P.S. I already have a fan so I'm surviving :)...  And could you send me Tanner's address so I can write him a letter? Tell Jesse I said hi and he's a stud, love and miss him



Elder Horrocks




June 22nd

What's up family!

Welp where do I start on this week? So transfers has been great! My new companion and I are doing awesome! Elder Quintana is from Chihuahua Mexico, so he will be my second native companion I've had on my mission thus far. He is just the most energetic thing I've ever seen! It's super fun! He told me that for the past 3 or 4 months he's been working out and lifting when he has time so that when he goes back home he can be in shape for football. He's pretty stout! Instead of waking up at 6:30 we get up at 6 to go running, and he likes to run me to death. I'm definitely not in as good of shape like I used to be! Little by little I can already feel that I'm getting in good condition. Elder Quintana has lots of faith and is so enthusiastic. I think coming back to Madera for him has been a little bit of a shock. He thinks it's so weird to be back in his old stomping grounds. He was here from November till April. But he loves it!

So what else can I say? Not a whole lot has happened since last Monday. I did play at the farewell with some missionaries from our Zone. They sang and I accompanied them on the guitar. We played how great thou art and it was super awesome! I wish I could have got it on video. I'm terrible with my camera and so I need to work on that. But we sounded great! The chapel and the gym from basket to basket was full!! I was a little bit nervous because of how many people there were. After the farewell we gathered to the back of the gym and sang our Called To Serve California Fresno Mission style. It was hard to get everyone under control because it was so loud with all the people. Lot's of people love these missionaries I'm telling you!! You got the video from Lupe? Yeah she thinks I'm just the goofiest elder in the world haha, I guess that's why they think I'm so funny. Lupe's sister Jessica says the same thing. Have I told you about her before? Well if I haven't she's super cool! One of the best members in Madera. I'm going to miss them like crazy when I have to leave Madera! I love their family so much

Our investigators are doing great! Cr.'s date has been set for the 28th. We talked with her yesterday and followed up with her prayer for the 28th of this month. She told us that she prayed about it, she knows she's ready but she keeps saying that she isn't. She's still afraid of sinning after baptism After she said that I got a little frustrated. I mean she's had the spirit testify to her of the things we teach. So what we did is shared Alma 32:21 with her about hoping and having faith in things which are not seen which are true, and talked to her about repentance. We've talked to her so many times about the blessings she'll receive from this gospel if she'll just act on her next step, which is baptism. The blessings are there and are ready to be received if she'll act on those things. She took that as a good thing I supposed because she responded to us with, "You know what? You're right! I just need to get over my fear!", she went on into other things but as of right now we've committed her to read and pray every day up until her baptism. She'll be awesome!

We have a new investigator with a date for the 3rd of July, his name is D. And he lives right next door to our apartment. A couple nights ago we were rushing to get to the apartment on time so that we weren't disobedient. Luckily we barely made it, but when we did D.'s mother in law who happens to be a member sees us and tells us to come and teach D. tomorrow. So we're just like ok sweet!! And we did, and we set a date with him and he agreed. If we hadn't of been "almost" late that night we probably would have never met D. haha... Also his brother H. said he'd like to listen in on the lessons with us. We've talked to the whole family twice and have only gotten to know so much about them. But the family names that live there are V., G., and I can't remember the other :) haha sorry about that.

Our other investigators such as S., M., and her kids are progressing and coming to church too. There hasn't been a whole lot that has changed except for they are as good as ever :) God really does do his work, and they are living miracles of that. They're coming closer and closer everyday, it's pretty awesome! I don't know how it happens, but it happens!

Well I hope all is well at home! I always enjoy hearing good things back home. Thanks for the pictures and videos too. They're awesome.

I don't have much more time left now so I gotta go. Pray for those people this week! It's crunch time and the mission is progressing. But I love you and miss you all so much. God speed!

Love Elder Horrocks

P.S. do you have pictures of your house? have you done anything with it yet? let me know

Trabajando en el infierno

Oh My GOSH!!  It sounds so hot there!!  I hate trying to fall asleep when I'm hot :(  I don't know if he doesn't have AC or not.  I asked but haven't heard yet.  I offered to send him a fan so he can fall asleep, it would just be a pain to move from place to place when he transfers.  We'll see what he says.

Besides the heat being NO FUN he is LOVING every single second of it!  I think he played guitar for some missionaries at a farewell this week.  I was searching the internet for music like a mad woman to send to him.  Hopefully I found a good version of the song.  I'm kind of picky about music and there was no way for me to listen to the ones I sent.  I'm hoping they turned out good!  I was excited that he would get a chance to play his guitar :)  I love listening to him play and I miss it a ton!

I got pictures from Lupe of him playing basketball and practicing his guitar :)  She said he "played some good ball and scored a lot of points" :):) I LOVE getting pictures and videos from the people there!!  Enjoy the letter :)

Of course there has to be a goofy one ;)

Tired after playing ball

Trabajando en el infierno

That basically means that we are working in fire out here. Oh my lanzzz it's hot!!! It's been about 108 for the last couple days. It's taken me a while to fall asleep because it gets so hot at night. That summer time has finally come around! Everyone says it's the worst especially if you're outside. The work is fun but not the heat! I feel like a pansy because I thought I've gotten used to it. But anyhow... This week was great! A lot of good things happened.

We had the opportunity to go to the temple this last Thursday. I had two things to take to the temple: 1. Who is progressing and is ready to be baptized? (Elder Nye and I took that same question together) 2. What kind of missionary would the Lord want me to be?... When we ended our temple session I got answers to both, but Elder Nye and I walked out and talked about who we felt is progressing and should be baptized and we both felt that it was Cr.! Later that day we had a Zone Meeting that President Clark held specifically for us to see what we needed to do to help our mission reach their goals. A lot of missionaries are going home in our Zone (5 missionaries) so the focus was mainly on them to keep them motivated, not that they aren't good missionaries but just to help them work their hardest, because they really are great missionaries!... Cr. is progressing really good. She came to church again this week as well as her father M. Last week I mentioned that he's really strict towards us and that he doesn't really want a whole lot to do with us. I kind of wish that we would of had the chance to teach him about church rather than just throw him to the wolves. He didn't understand a whole lot of what was going on. He came because he's trying to make things right with Ma. (Cr.'s mom who we're also teaching). It was only the first time coming to Church, we're praying that he'll soften his heart so we can teach and help him understand what we're about. Cr. told us that she 95% sure that she wants to be baptized now. We told her that we'd work the other 5% :) she's having such a change of heart and continues to see the joy of the gospel, and she can feel it too. We taught her of Jesus Christ's love for us and eternal families and she always is touched to know of our Heavenly Father's plan for us... As for the rest of Cr.'s family they're all doing really well. We watched the Joseph Smith The Prophet of the Restoration movie with Ma. and she enjoyed it, and before we could answer questions we ran out of time and had to leave. So when we teach and answer her questions I'll update you and let you know how that goes... We're getting close with Cr.'s brother J. He's not an investigator but we've gotten to be good friends with him and play ball with him. Now we just have to see if we can catch him at a time when we can teach him.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned an investigator's name named S. in the past? If I haven't, she's C.'s sister. She is so down to earth and one of the funniest people I've met. She invited us for dinner at her house yesterday and we went. Just another opportunity to befriend her and teach her. We've probably seen the biggest change of heart in her!! And we've taught her like once or twice but not only that there was like a space between us and her of about 3 weeks without teaching her. All of a sudden she just came to us and said "Guys I'm not drinking coffee anymore, and I'm starting to pray before I eat my food, and I'm also trying to work on my sailor mouth." Haha the Lord is working on her and it's another one of those "sit back and watch God do it" kind of thing. It's pretty cool! We asked her why she decided to change and she told us that she wants to be with her family when she dies so she doesn't go to spirit prison, she says she's scared of prison haha she's really funny. The only thing that is holding her back is her husband U. He's super cool but he's not as interested as S., though he still listens to us. Elder Nye and I think that whole family will be baptized. We don't know when but we'll see.

Thus far we have those 4 or 5 that are progressing investigators but not more than that. We haven't had much of anything crazy happen this week either. This upcoming week (or I believe it's the week after) I'm going to be playing guitar for a few missionaries that are going to sing how great thou art for the missionary farewell soon. I'm a little bit nervous because there's always a lot of people that go. Wish us luck! Other than that we could us your prayers for Cr. that she'll take the next step to be baptized, and that her family will be receptive to the Lord's message as well. They're all so prepared!... Also keep C. in your prayers! She's going up to Washington for a month for work.

Weston's being a beast!! Haha I laughed about what he did at camp that's pretty hilarious. I know that sounds mean but dang he was really snoring hahahaha. Sounds like Mar, J.T. and Char are all just getting so big, especially J.T. He's gonna be a future ladies man.

Well my time is running out so just know that I all love ya! The mission's great! Wouldn't trade coming back out for nothing!

Love
Elder Horrocks

Hello Motha

Here are 2 letters :)  It's been a couple of busy weeks... Justin started a new job so I've been a bit preoccupied with that.  I did however get some great pictures and even some great video of Alex from some of the members and investigators!!  YAY!!!  I love having an Alex overload ;)  He's doing so well and is such an inspiration to us :)  His letters are awesome!  He loves the people he's teaching and I'm so happy that they love him back :)  I'm grateful he has them!  Hope you enjoy the letters :) <3  Man I love and miss that kid!  (LOTS of pictures at the end of the post too)

I think they are playing Paper, Rock, Scissors LOL

Alex can do a pretty mean "old man's" voice... Although you don't get to hear it much in this hahaha

May 25th

Hello Motha

Another week has flown! I got a lot of emails from lots of people but it looks like you all had a good memorial day! The family looks good! Grandpa's grave is looking good too. It doesn't seem very long ago when we'd all go hang out at Grandma and Grandpa's for whatever, and we'd be outside and Grandpa would be sitting in his chair looking proudly upon his posterity hahahaha it kind of makes me laugh cause I wonder what was going through his mind like, "Yeah, those are my grand kids".  I thank Heavenly Father for a plan of happiness, and that one day we all will see him again. I too think he's always with us, he's definitely been with me out here on the mission.

I remember when school got out. That was a party indeed! I can't believe summer is already here.

I want to start off first by just letting everyone know that all is well with C. and her 2 kids. We've seen such miracles touch their lives, and I'm so happy that they came to an understanding of God's love for them. They were able to find peace between themselves and the situation of taking offense from what the Bishop said. C.'s a strong lady! And she didn't let the situation prevent her from being baptized! The other thing I want to mention is her two kids will be getting baptized too, if they can get through the baptism interview. So all three will be getting baptized this Friday. YES! The thing is, is that our mission president is the only one to say whether or not investigators can be baptized, those are his keys. The Bishop just had a misunderstanding of that, so our stake president called him and talked with him so that all could be set right. Now all we are relying on is the Lord with faith and hope that all will go through. We just have to continue nourishing them.

Cr. is progressing very well, yesterday was her 3rd time attending church, and those are three weeks in a row that she's came. The only doubt is that she thinks it's wrong to be baptized twice, although she says that she knows what we teach her is true. I personally think there's more to it. We're basically teaching her and her whole family and a blocking point between them and making baptismal covenants is the Father of the family. He's a little bit restrictive and he really doesn't want anything to do with the missionaries. He's a little hard hearted towards us, and all we could use is just a conversation with him to see if we can break the ice. So overall I think it's the father that's preventing them from progressing. Cr. has other similar doubts, we'll be teaching her about Faith in Jesus Christ just to kind of help her understand what he really could do for her. I know if she puts trust in God and Jesus Christ first then there's no need to fear of what would happen in the foreseeable future.

F. and G. are definitely on the right track! Didn't come to church unfortunately yesterday but they pray and read, which is what we want them to do. Their kids do likewise. We taught their kids individually once during the week and when we came to teach them we saw that they had marked scriptures that they liked, it was really cool! That caught me by surprise. So I'm stoked to see what kind of progression they'll take later on.

Thus far that's all the progression we've seen in investigators this week. I'm always marveled when I see the Lord's work take place and uses us as instruments. This past week was a "step back and watch" kind of a feel, but even then it's amazing! I love my mission! Despite all the hard stuff we've had to do, I really do think it's starting to develop me for something. I think I'll be a little bit different when I come home haha but that's good right?... Elder Nye and I are doing good! I wouldn't be surprised if we stayed again another transfer. That'd be sweet! I'd be Elder Nye's first and last companion, if we're not together then let the Lord's will be done. He has great things to come ahead for him in the future. If he ever comes to Roosevelt, you should get to meet him, he's a good guy and a really good friend!

Thanks for the pictures! Tell everyone I love and miss them and to send me a letter once in a while. Tell Justin congrats on the job!

Love you all! Hopefully you all had a good week, thanks for everything back home

Good luck to Mar in Softball this weekend! And to West in football! I can't believe it's already here.

Love Elder Horrocks

P.S. 2 things my voice recorder you sent isn't quite working on these computers so I'm not sure how I'm gonna do with that. I'm trying to figure it out still. Second thing is I met a guy out here when I was on exchanges with the assistants and his name was Kenneth Bailing. He said he know the Frosts and the Richards. I'm assuming he loves rodeo cause that's what he says he does anyhow. Just wondering if anyone knew that name

Elder Horrocks

Zone Picture by the temple

June 2nd

Well I have to apologize because I probably left you wondering why I didn't write you all yesterday. So yesterday we and 4 other companionships in the Zone went up to Bass Lake in Yosemite in a little town called Oakhurst (if I ever live in California I'm living in Oakhurst). It's beautiful up there! We just went up there to play volleyball, football, wiffleball, eat lunch, and just hang out for a while. Charlie and Rey the ward mission leader from lindsey took Elder Nye and I up there. I was exhausted afterwards but it was really fun!

This week was busy busy busy! And our 3 baptisms did go through for this weekend!! It was such a success and a great experience for C. and her kids to be baptized. Not only did we have baptisms but 4 companionships in Madera had baptisms that same day. So we had 6 baptisms and 3 of them were ours. We also had one in Firebaugh which are other missionaries in our zone. So overall as a Zone we finished with 9 baptisms. I won't lie it's hard having back to back to back baptisms. We gotta be on the ball for that stuff! The following Sunday we confirmed 4 people in church, and Elder Nye and I and another sister in the ward had to give talks. I think that makes 6 or 7 times I've had to give talks on my mission. So yes as you can tell we were just as busy as can be... The whole mission did really good this month. Our goal was to reach 100 baptisms and we reached 97. We were super close! The thing is, is that 9 solid baptisms fell through but 12 miracle baptisms happened along with it. So God continues to work miracles among us every single day. Now we're working to carry the May affect into the month of June

We had a Zone Conference this past Wednesday and Elder Nye and I got second place for cleanest car and a 8 dollar gift card to little caesars. Sweet! Our car is brand new though so we hardly did anything but wash and vacuumed. A lot of great stuff happened at ZC. Haha funny thing to mention is that we learned about nutrition from Sister Clark and eating healthy. Haha it's gonna be a struggle eating healthy in the spanish culture because everything they make is just so good! And I'm already getting chunky enough as it is. I'm still at a good 180 or so around there.

That's basically what has happened thus far that is worth mentioning Glad to hear that things back home are good. I never ever ever expected to hear about a tornado! I saw pictures of it and it looked huge! That's kind of weird how much rain you're all getting back home. I feel like that hasn't happened since I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. One of the missionaries in our zone lives in Oklahoma and he said that his house is on a hill but that his area back home flooded with like 4-5 feet of rain! Now we could really use some over here in Cali. A couple days ago it reached to about 104. And yesterday when we went playing at bass lake the sand was super hot! There's false gold in the sand and so when the sun comes out the ground is super hot! Few of us got blisters on our feet because of how hot it was haha.

You got pictures from Cr.?? Yes that same Cr. is the one we are teaching. She's cool huh! We're working with her and her family to see if we can teach and baptized them. Their family is going through some rough times. Her mom and her father are thinking of divorcing and her mom's currently living with C. Hard things happen but we know the gospel will bless lives!

F. and G. are dropped :/ They just weren't really into it I guess. They would let us come teach them but after some incidents and things we needed to drop them. So these upcoming weeks for June will be a lot for finding and teach Cr. and her family.

Congrats to Justin on his new job! I'm excited he's working with Joe. Tell him I said hi and I'm happy for how far he's come... Jayde Bertoch emailed me this weekend. If you see his Dad tell him I said hi to Jayde and it's good to hear from him and I'll try and write him back as soon as possible! I'm glad he's doing good.

Well that's all folks! There's so many great things that had happened that I wish I could just share with all of you, but I believe this suffices :)

Love ya! Elder Horrocks

P.S. You probably already. But I was bummed to hear about Elder L Tom Perry when he passed away! He was one of the greats and has always been there my whole life.

Alex, Elder Nye and Charlie

Alex, Elder Nye, Charlie and Rey

C.'s and her children's baptism