!Hola!

2 weeks of letters...  The weeks keep running together and becoming one!  I'm really trying to keep everything straight :/  I also continue to get pictures from the members and investigators.  They are so much fun to get!!  I'm having a hard time keeping straight which ones I've posted and which ones I haven't!!  I LOVE THAT I EVEN HAVE THAT PROBLEM!!  LOL!!

So... I saw a post on facebook last week (on Alex's Mission President's wife's page) of a newscast in Fresno covering some Mormon Missionaries at the musical "The Book of Mormon" actually handing out The Book of Mormon.  I wondered if Alex was part of it at the time and found out this week... He was!!!  LOL!!  He said it was a great experience!!  I thought it was an awesome story!  He sent some pictures and told the story in one of his emails.  They look like they had a great time!!!

Click here to watch newscast :)

I also got pictures and videos from some members.  This time he was bowling... GUTTER BALL!  Bummer dude!  But I was informed that he got the highest score!!  Lol :):)  

Transfers are this week.  We'll have to see what happens.  I'll have to admit (again) I am nervous and I don't want him to leave where he is!  Everytime I feel like that tho it happens :/  He always finds the best people in every area but it makes me sad every time!!  I'm hoping for another 6 weeks!  

OH!!  My niece Braydee was at Swig and they had a drink "Missionary" and "Big Al" featured on the menu right by each other!!  What are those odds!  I think it's pretty cool!!  I'll post that pic too!  I kind of love it! :):)  Maybe my Big Al can be the mascot of both drinks ;) hahaha

Enjoy the letters!  He's had so much success and love with his investigators.  I get the chills when I think about all the good he is doing.  He is touching so many lives and in return they touch his :)  He also tells a story about he and Elder Quintana that I almost left out because I don't know if it is too personal for Elder Quintana but I loved the revelation that they are given in the last letter.  God is mindful!  I am reminded of that everyday :)  He keeps plopping right in the middle of mine... No denying it!!  I LOVE HIM and I LOVE MY SON who is spreading his word :)

NOTICE "Missionary" and "Big Al" Drinks featured! :)

Bowling :)

Cooking some lunch!

Elder Quintana with the ice bucket

Passing out The Book of Mormon at The Book of Mormon

Elder Quintana and Elder Benites getting ready for the grand finale!

Bringing in the Ammo

2nd night of the play. A bunch of us missionaries with some BOM play fans, they were cool with us!

July 13th

!Hola!

Good to hear from you! This week was awesome!! We did lots of good things, and seen lots of miracles. I'm really excited for the things that we're doing right now. We've seen lots of success and I feel that we'll see lots of success here in the future. Soooo... I guess just to start I'll tell you about our investigators that we have right now and how they're doing. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers, because some of these are new but they are really solid!

D. had his kid! His wife was really relieved and says that it's about time too haha, she says he was being really stubborn but now she's feeling better. Their kid's name is I. He was big! He was like 8 or 9 pounds I believe. They were in the hospital for a few days but now they're out and they're at home. D. unfortunately didn't come to church this Sunday. Dang!!  And he was going to be baptized this upcoming Saturday too! The only way he could is if he came to church though. So now his date has been moved back to the 25th. He's embracing the lessons and learning everything well, I think he just occasionally forgets about the commitments we extend to him like coming to church for example haha. But none the less we're still working with him

H. is D.'s brother. He needs to get married to his soon to be wife. They planned their marriage originally for December or January but he said that he wants to move it to September so that he can be baptized. So he has a date for September 19th as of right now. I don't have a whole lot of information about him but he's awesome! Him and I played the guitar one day together for a little bit and he says he plays in a band so he's pretty good. I told him that I played in a band too (wasn't really a band but just like a get together group and jam out kind of thing). So that's just one way I've become friends with him, hopefully he can teach me some mariachi stuff.

We found a new investigator at dinner about 4 days ago with the M. Family. He's from Arizona and came to Madera and plans on living here for good. He's just living with the M. family (his sister is the mother of the family) until he can find himself a stable place. His wife and kids live in Tijuana Mexico. The reason he left to Arizona in the first place was because of work and because he was passing through some rough times between him and his wife. I think they planned on getting a divorce but something occurred between her and him and they're going to try and save their marriage. When we found him he told us that he's always wanted to see what the church was about and he even bought himself a white shirt some shoes and a tie. When he came to church this Sunday he looked GOOD! People were asking him if he was already a member and he told him that he wasn't and the members would look at him in surprise and think wow you look like you've been in the church for a while! I have a feeling that he's going to be a future leader somewhere down the line in his life. He's super solid and is really fun! We've taught him three times thus far and the second time we taught him he offered the last prayer. The prayer he offered was so sincere and he paused for a moment and began to cry asking God to give him a chance to save his family, but you could just feel the room filled with the spirit.  He's just all around an awesome guy! We set a date with him for the 1st of August, and if everything works out between him and his family he'll be baptized with his wife and kids too

U. is S.'s husband. We've been playing ball with him and been getting to know him that way. He's pretty good ball player! We've just started teaching him too. He's been reading from the bible in Genesis in the Old Testament and stuff. One day he texted us asking questions about those things and of course we answered them. He's really smart too but sometimes the old testament can be hard to interpret and understand. We have him The Book of Mormon and said that he has read it a little bit here and there too. We set a date with him for the 1st of August too, at first he was a little hesitant to accept the invitation but S. was there with us and says, "You're going to be baptized so we can get sealed!", and he's pretty easy going so he was just like okay! He's one of the funnest guys we've got and his family is the best!

That's it for our investigators thus far! We had lots of fun playing ball this week. Yes we did play volleyball on Thursday and shared a message. I was laughing pretty hard because we were just having a good time, we were awful but it was fun! We played ball on Friday with one of our investigators out on some street courts by a middle school. There's a lot of people that go! There was probably about a little over 100 people there playing and rotating. When we were playing my companion Elder Quintana some how landed from a jump and the arch in his foot extended and he said it hurt like crazy! He looks at me and tells me that he dislocated his foot and so him and I go off to the side of the court and his foot looked really swollen. When that happened we had to end our day and go back to our apartment and put his foot in an ice bucket and some hot water to ease the swelling. I have some pictures of it and I'll send them to you :). Since then though his foot hasn't gotten much better :/ it's starting to look like a potato and he thinks a bone might be out of place? We're going to have to check it out with the doctor, maybe it's some ligaments? We're not sure but for now he's just toughing it out.

I wish to make the same request as I did last week from everyone back home to continue praying for Elder Quintana and for the situations that he's having with home. I mentioned last week that was going through some hard times but they've continually gotten worse :( I wish I could just take all his burdens and just carry them for him but I truly know that God gives us trials to make us who he wants us to be. I was watching a Mormon Message called The Refiner's Fire and Elder Quentin L. Cook said a quote, "The refiner's fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God." Isn't that so true? If we endure the challenges we receive he'll sculpt us into the person he wants us to become. So just pray that Elder Quintana will hang in there. There's so much opposition in his way that I think he's going to receive some great blessings in the near future.

It's crazy how summer is flying right?! Remember last year on August 5th when I left the second time? Yeah well it's almost been a year since then and it feels like nothing at all. The mission goes by to fast

Tell Kylr congrats on his call! He'll be awesome! That's so crazy that he's already up and going! Tell him I love him and that he's going to be awesome! Maybe we can speak spanish when he comes home? I wrote him a letter so hopefully he gets it.

Sounds like everyone is doing great at home. I laughed when you told me about J.T. and his story hahahaha are you having to buy new pairs of underwear all the time? Poor kid, I hope he gets feeling better!

Let me know what Weston's recruiter says, I'm stoked to hear what he has to say! By the way ask him if they've got a baseball program anywhere. I'm not sure where this recruiter is from but tell him the big brother is looking for baseball eh? ;)

Well my time is up. Love ya'll! Have a great week and happy big 2 to little sister Char Char

Love Elder Horrocks


Elder Horrocks




July 20th

Wow so what a week! And another flown by too. It's really mind blowing to me that this Saturday is transfer calls and next Wednesday this transfer is over. It feels like it just started. I feel that I'm going to be staying though, I don't think my work is finished here yet. But who knows! I guess we'll find out this upcoming week right?

So I have to say that this week was a little bit odd but probably one of the funnest that I've had! The reason I say odd is because we did a lot of traveling and so it felt like I didn't get to work much in my area. We had lots of meetings going back and forth from Fresno and Madera as well as exchanges going back and forth from Fresno. One of the reasons we went down to Fresno was for the Book of Mormon play. I don't know if you all know what that is but it's a play that kind of gives a bad impression on the church. It's something about 2 missionaries going out to Uganda and things happen to them, but just from that you can already tell that it's definitely NOT the Book of Mormon. Funny thing is that the South Park cartoon producers are the ones that have put together this play, imagine that huh? But anyhow, so Elder Quintana were on exchanges with the Assistants and we planned on going to the play to stand outside before and after the show and hand out some Book's of Mormon. There was some very interesting comments as they came out of the play! Some were saying stuff like, "Why weren't you in the play? Is that what your religion is really about? So you're the real mormons?" or stuff like, "That play was totally discriminating towards your religion, give me one of those books!" and of course some really liked it and mocked us but we didn't care haha. One guy came up to me and took a picture with me and was asking me a bunch of questions and posts the pictures of me and him on Instagram. I'm sure there was so many missionaries on peoples Facebook and Instagram that night. We ended up handing out Books of Mormon for two nights in a row, and I believe we handed out about 800 the first day and 600 the next day. We didn't end up finishing until about 11:00  o clock at night but it was okay. We were on assignment from President :)

I had the opportunity of going on exchanges with Elder Daley who's one of the District leaders in our Zone. Great missionary! We had lots of fun. We were on bike and I haven't rode bike intensely since Lindsey, and I was there during the winter so it wasn't even that bad. Elder Daley smoked me on the bike and I am so out of shape! The problems of being a zone leader... We aren't riding bikes! But it's 100 degrees outside too so it wears you down. Exchanges with Elder Daley was good though! I really had a good time.

I know I said that I wasn't able to be in my area a lot to teach but I'm grateful that I was able to have at least some time. We had a few days of teaching U., S.'s husband. He's doing super good! He's really smart. Like I said before he reads in the old and new testament but he seems to understand the majority of it but he's reading in the Book of Mormon too. So that's really good! He's been reading a lot! It sounds like he doesn't have a lot to do at work so he reads and stuff. Just yesterday we had a lesson with him and he brought a list of questions about some scriptures and stuff. That shows a lot from an investigator! He's very skeptical about some pictures like when Nephi kills Laban. "But isn't one of the commandments not to kill anyone?" Haha we get those questions frequently when an investigator is actually progressing. But we explained to him why that happened, sooooo good things for Uriel! We don't have a date for baptism but hopefully here soon we can

M. is doing really really good! He came to church yesterday for the second time! He's reading and praying and doing everything he should be doing. He has one of the biggest desires to just simply be better. You can see how much happier he has been since he's heard of the gospel. This week we watched the Ephraim's Rescue movie with him. He was really touched by it. His family should be getting here from Tijuana Mexico today. He's really excited about that and we are meeting them tomorrow and we're stoked to be able to see them as well. We're going to try and teach them too :)

I'm pretty excited for Weston and his recruiter! What a stud. It sounds like this guy has some good advice and hook ups too. Tell Wes that's awesome! I got his letter and I'll do all I can to try and email him back but my time is short like I always say.

Happy birthday to Charleigh! She's getting so big!!! J.T. is getting big too, it's weird to think that she'll almost be 3 by the end of my mission.

Elder Quintana's foot is good. We ran this morning and he said it felt good. And he's doing a lot better with his family situation back home too. He says that his family members and brothers and sisters are staying super positive. I know where he's coming from. I had an interview with Pres. Clark this week and he told me he was unsure of why the Lord sent him back to Madera from where he was before, but now he knows why, he believes I was uniquely qualified to help him. Which I'm happy to help! But I feel that he'll feel a lot more help from our Savior. So anyhow, he's doing lots better!

Sorry if I wasn't able to answer any questions that you had but let me know if there's any next week! I'm always glad to hear about the cool stories and see the funny pictures and videos of what goes on back home. They make me laugh.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love

Elder Horrocks

Update on the Mish

Here is the letter from last Monday and the pictures from the 4th festivities.  He has had great success in some areas and a couple heartbreakers in others.  All is well tho.  He is always so positive and has an amazing trust in our Heavenly Father and knows things are ALWAYS in his hands.  I love him!  His example to me is an anchor :)

He had such a great time on the 4th!!  I guess he tried and failed at a Mariachi band, but we will be working on that for the future LOL!  Thank you to the wonderful adopted family there that keeps taking care of my boy!!  He loves you and all you bring to his life, as do I :) <3  And thank you for the cute video!

His letters continue to inspire me :) Enjoy...

Updates on the mish

Good things happened this week! I'm sure you saw from the pictures and stuff that this week was eventful. We had lots of stuff going on and it was all just super fun!

First off we did have a baptism this week, and it was for S! She was a miracle baptism. Haha at first she was kind nervous and really confused. She was confused because we had talked to her about being baptized with her niece Cr., and she told us that she wanted to be baptized and that she talked with her husband and he said it was cool, but that she wanted to pray about it! So we're like alright! Sounds good! And we might of had a miscommunication with her, because that next day we put her name on the baptism program and she saw the program and was like, "Wait, I'm getting baptized?!?" and we just said "Yeah! That's what we planned for right?" and she says that yes but that she wanted to pray about it. So we sat there for a moment thinking oh shoot.... and I wanted to laugh but at the same time I'm feeling pretty dumb. So then her sister J. is just laughing hysterically and says, "Surprise! You're invited to your own baptism!". So here I am thinking thanks J. haha that really helps! lol. But it actually all worked out even though S. was invited to her unknown baptism haha. I guess we were just so anxious that we weren't even paying attention that she wanted to pray about it. Well she got her answer! She was baptized! And it was all just an awesome experience for her and her family.

Cr. wasn't baptized this Friday. Reason being is that she had gotten engaged to her ex-boyfriend A. (they were talking about getting married before so that they could take care of their kid together). We didn't think she was going to get engaged so soon but they both came to an agreement that they would be attending a different church, not our church but a different church and that she wouldn't be baptized... So after two days of pondering in a little bit of frustration from the news we received. I decided that I'd call her and ask if we could sit down and talk with her and she told us that she wants to lay off for a bit and so I respected that and as of right now she's in God's hands. We've done everything that we could with her, and feel that overtime as she goes throughout life that she'll miss that same spirit that comes from the Gospel. She won't find it anywhere else. All I know is that things happen for a reason and that God will work out the rest with her. After 2 and a half months of teaching her, we've done all we could. I was a little bit discouraged to hear what her decision is but all will be well. Her and her family will come into God's fold soon, just not right now.

As for other investigators we have set a date with D. for the 18th of July. We put it back a little bit further until him and his wife have their Kid. He hasn't been able to come to church because he's been home taking care of his wife. Pray that all will go well with the baby and that D. comes to church! He's been progressing little by little.

We had an awesome 4th!! We actually went to S.'s house for the 4th and had some hot dogs, hamburgers, played some foosball, and had a little firework show. Or as they called it a "little light show". Our fireworks weren't super big compared to the neighbors but we made some fun out of what we had. It was just a fun to spend with our members. Yes we tried to have a little Mariachi band but we failed haha I only knew Rock, Country, and other stuff and he was playing hispanic music. I got to learn to play the accordion, or at least I tried lol that was fun.

A request that I ask of you at home is that everyone pray for my companion and his family. He is passing through some rough times that are happening back home and I know exactly what he's going through, but I am impressed with him because of the strength and perseverance that he's been able to show while all of the stuff that's going on back home are happening during his mission. My hat goes off to him. I won't share exactly the details of what's going on because they are confidential, but just keep him in your prayers that all will be well at home :) he is a living miracle.

So Weston is looking into college ball eh? Where at? Fill me in I'd like to know. I'm not sure what my plans are still but if I do end up playing ball we can go to school together or something. That'd be tight! So ask the coach if they've got a program there.

I'm happy that your 4th was good! Before I end I just want to say it's definitely different not being with family during the holidays but they're always the best on the mission! Sorry this letter was short but my time has come up and I need to get heading out. So God bless and I love you all!

Love Elder Horrocks

Good things are still happening in the Mish!

This is last Monday's letter along with the pictures that were sent to me by some members and Alex.  The people that are around him and some that are being taught right now have started sending me pictures and videos on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis AND I LOVE IT!!!  I've been able to see able to see things happening in "real time" for him and I get to see and feel the love they share for him :)  (I got a lot of pictures from the 4th of July holiday but I will wait and post those along with some baptism pictures that were sent when I get his letter from today).  The video of him debating whether or not to eat the pepper really cracks me up!  The look on his face at the end is hilarious and sooooo Alex!

He is enjoying every second of his mission and building relationships that are going to follow him throughout the rest of his life. YAY!!!  He's inspiring to me :) <3

Elder Nye right before he left, chilling in the hammock

Few of my most favorite people. Left is Mari, middle Micaela and Lupe

O.'s baptism in Porterville

Left Elder Winterton, middle Elder Poulsen, right Elder Quintana

Big Al and Charlie :)

Deciding on how short he should cut his hair

Handsome :)

Ummm :/ LOL

Ballin'

Sweaty and Nerdy

Enchiladas :)

This week


Good things are still happening in the mish! I'm going to have to apologize because I don't have my planner on me right now, and normally I use my planner to tell you all the series of events that happens during the week. I'll try to make as much sense of it as possible as well as tell you everything that happened.

I feel like this week consisted of a lot of ball playing! We had a volleyball activity on Friday for our investigators and I remember like 6-7 investigators being there and about 4 or 5 of their friends came too. It was a sweet way to get new investigators or at least fellowship! I don't believe we made any new investigators from it but afterwards we shared a message with them. We shared the mormon message of the prodigal son and talked about how we are to forgive always, and how much of a blessing the atonement can be in our lives if we allow it to. The atonement isn't just a redeeming source but an enabling source too! Last Thursday we went and played ball with one of our investigators J. and a few of other guys. We played outside around 7 30 or 8 but it was super hot still! Cr.'s father was there too playing with us. Like I said before, he's really closed in on us and still is. We cracked a little bit of his shell but not enough for him to talk with us. Later that night we shared a message with the entire family in John 14:21. Then afterwards that video that was sent to you was of me attempting or debating to eat a pepper. I was already sweating from playing ball and my comp Elder Quintana was just saying stuff like, "Yeah do it! You got this! Do it so you can speak faster spanish!" so I was actually going to eat it then they realized that I was actually gonna legitimately do it. So then their faces had a look of "Oh shoot. We were just kidding don't do it!". So I didn't :) I was real close though. Probably was better that I didn't hahaha

We were sooooo close to having Cr. baptized! She was just on the verge and then her little girl got sick and so she had to stay home so she could take care of her. Man we've just been butting heads with Satan trying to fight for her welfare! So we reset her baptismal date for the 3rd of July. Cool thing is, is that S. her Aunt said that she would pray about being baptized with her too. We have so much faith that she will! Cr. wants to be baptized with her so as of right now we are expecting the both of them to be baptized together :) it should be a good experience for the both of them. Our investigator D. didn't attend church this weekend so he can't get baptized this Friday. His wife is about to have labor for their Kid soon. So he stayed home to take care of her and we understand that.

So because our baptism didn't go through Elder Quintana and I went to a couple different baptisms. He went up to Modesto and I went down to Lindsey. Elder Corona, one of my last companions was baptizing an investigator we met while I was there and we taught her. Her name is O. It was powerful and such a great experience for her and her family! I also got to see a few loved ones back in the south of the mission like Charlie, Brother Garcia and his family, basically all those that I served with in Lindsey and Tulare. It's crazy how time just flies! I'm real happy to have been able to go to Lindsey and get to see old faces!

We really did have a great week this week and found some new investigators too! I wish I could tell you all that happened but like I said... I don't have my planner on me so I can't recall a lot. Bummer! I'll keep you updated on more of what happened this upcoming week. We have some new investigators and they're really looking solid. Tomorrow is our zone conference and I'll be giving a training on the role of the holy ghost in conversion. It should be awesome! I'm looking forward to it. Also the 4th of July is gonna be sweet! As missionaries we don't get to proselyte for long on Holidays so we should be hanging out with a member and playing games and stuff!

My spanish is good! I can teach and understand perfectly when it comes to the Gospel. When it comes to making jokes and stuff it becomes a little more difficult though. There's a lot of slang used in that aspect, just like how there's slang in english, except in spanish there could be 4 or 5 words in spanish that could mean 1 thing in english. So there's lots of double meanings. So I guess you could say I'm like 75% at the most fluent. Still got a little less than a year to learn lots of spanish

I got your pictures and stuff! They're awesome! Looks like everyone is doing good. I love bee's games. I love baseball and I just miss not being able to see it or play it. I'm sure the bee's did awesome coming back from a 5 point loss is good! Gotta really enjoy those games. I love hearing about everything else that's happened thus far back home. I wish I could say something about everything, but I don't have lots of time to write more. So let Grandma and the rest of the family know that I love them and that I'll keep them in my prayers!

Well my time has come to an end. I'm going to try and send pictures if at all possible so you can see what happened this week.

Love ya and miss ya!