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
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| Farewell BBQ |
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| Whose the goofball?? Oh yeah!! That would be Alex! |
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| He's getting good at selfies... Maybe I should invest in a selfie stick too :) |
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| Enjoying a little bit of ice cream ;) |
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| A whole container to himself??? |
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| Farewell BBQ |
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| Farewell BBQ |
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| Farewell BBQ |
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| Farewell BBQ |
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| I'm not sure who would be considered the photobomber in this pic... hahaha |
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| Goofball! |
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| Farewell BBQ |
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| Playing for the farwell |
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| Dork! |
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| 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
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