Hello my fellow familiares

Here is the letter from the 17th... He's been sending home all the missionaries he left with originally.  He is missing them all but knows this is place he's supposed to be and the time he's supposed to be there!  He'll keep doing the Lord's work and loving the people with new companions :)

This week was a crazy week at home and prayer seemed to be our focus!  We saw the answer to so many prayers!!  Situations that seemed like there really wasn't anyway to overcome what we were facing.  Yet through the power of prayer and through the spirit of discernment we have seen answers and blessings sent our way.  God's love for us is real and prayer is our direct line to him. 

Yesterday I got to visit my nieces ward in West Valley for her baby blessing.  I was a little taken back at how different it was.  A ward in Utah???  They consisted mostly of hispanic people and it was tiny.  It was crazy how STRONG the spirit was there tho!!  I started crying after a bit because it was how I imagined the wards that Alex attends to be.  The woman and man who talked in church spoke very broken English but tried their hardest and their talks were so incredibly heartfelt!!  AND what were their talks on??? None other than prayer ;) I bawled the entire way through church!  Which almost ended up being the SHORTEST sacrament I've ever been to also.  LOL... Luckily for them there was a member from the quorum of the seventies there (Elder Ringwell  ???) he got up and said he had a half a mind to make them finish their talks.  Ha Ha Ha!  He was sweet about it and he gave a wonderful talk also.  I just was touched by the spirit the people had there, coupled with my feeling like it was a ward Alex would be attending the same day sent this Momma's waterworks into full gear.

Hopefully he inspires you this week <3

Sisters from Yosemite gave us some cake and we ate it on the way back from their place

Can't get enough of the cake... Love the matching ties too ;)  hahaha

Dropping off Elder Reid at 4 in the morning

Cristina's baptism and her kids

Hello my fellow familiares

Well here I am again! It just goes faster and faster every single week. But hey I guess that means we're doing work and staying busy right? We've had some pretty awesome/crazy stuff happen for us this week. As far as a mission we did really well. Elder Quintana and I saw some success! I'll share with you just a little bit about how the work is going. I'll probably do it in the orders of days this week so that it will be a lot faster

Tuesday we had our Zone Meeting. It was super awesome! Everybody got so spiritually uplifted and filled. At Zone meetings we give training's and other stuff to help the missionaries go and do what's asked of them or to give them what's given to us as leadership. If I were to sum it all up it was all based on our purpose as missionaries. Elder Quintana showed a sweet video called, "Missionary work and the Atonement". I would recommend watching that, especially for anyone preparing to leave for a mission. That same day we were going up to do a baptism interview for our sisters in Yosemite. His name was V. W. He's been waiting for like 4 years I believe to be baptized. I could be wrong on that. He had to get first presidency approval and everything. It was a great time for his family! He's read the BOM like twice so yeah he was prepared for sure. On our way back to Madera from Yosemite Elder Winterton calls us and tells us that some one broke into his house!! The cops were there and everything. The guy stole a couple hundred bucks, other stuff that was worth maybe a thousand, and a few of Elder Winterton's bottoms from his garments. He must have been a Mormon or something :). The situation got figured out though. The guy pried open the back bathroom window. Elder Winterton was freaking out! He was a little bit ticked actually haha he said he wanted to beat someone with a bat. I don't blame him! We all got a pretty good kick out of it.

Wednesday was a pretty fun day! We did some stuff that you don't normally do as a missionary, but I'll get to that in a moment. We had exchanges with the assistants and wow was a sweet day it was! Elder Reid was travel training and it was his last day in the mission. He was just with the Assistants because they were going to have to drop him off at the airport the next day. I came out with Elder Reid too just like I came out with Elder Nye! We had a pretty good relationship. (His dad, Andy Reid is the coach for the Kansas City chiefs, cool!). Anyhow... On the exchanges we taught a guy named J. Brand new investigator for them. He's homeless and has had some real hardships to overcome such as alcohol, law of chastity, drugs, and other things. We were teaching him about the Atonement and I can't recall everything we said but we invited him to be baptized for the 29th. He said that he'd rather be given 90 days to overcome his problems first. But that just gives more time for Satan to work on him right? So we blew that out of the water and set a date with him for the 29th! Later on that night we all didn't get back to the apartment till like 12:30 because we had to take care of a few things for Elder Reid before his departure. So we were all just dead! Next, Thursday morning, we get up at like 4:00 to go drop off Elder Reid at the airport. Oh man all of us just looked like we were going to pass out! I'll send you some pictures of his departure... Another missionary I came out with gone!

So we baptized C. last Friday!! It was awesome! It was a good time for her and her family. She didn't have much of her immediate family there, but a lot of the ward family was! I'm glad that she felt welcomed. At the end we invited her bear her testimony and said that she knew that everything was true, and that she wanted to make this decision because she loved God. Such a sweet experience for her! Elder Quintana baptized her and I confirmed her and that was our highlight of the week!

Let's see, not a lot of other stuff has really happened during the week as far as I know. But our other investigators like U., D., and M. are all doing awesome! U. is still looking for different work hours and hopefully a different job. He's said that his job right now is "ok". But we had our fast for him last week and President Clark fasted with us as well. As far as we know he has had a few interviews for different places. So he's putting in his part! We set a date for him the 29th of this month. We know the Lord will really bless him and the Lord really loves him! It will be an awesome thing to see what God can really do for him if he continues on this path! So keep praying for him back home. D. wasn't able to come to church :(. His wife J. has had problems with her appendix since she gave birth to their son I. So they had to go back to the hospital yesterday to check it out. She's hanging in there! We feel that if J. can come then D. can come too. M. is coming back to the states in 13 days. He's had his molars taken care of and everything. He's kind of en-fronting some hardships too though. He talked with Elder Quintana on the phone and told him that him and his wife are getting a divorce :( Elder Quintana shared with him some scriptures to give him comfort. I'm not sure what the details are, but that's going on right now. And so were just hoping that he's putting faith in Jesus Christ right now and continues to do as we taught him, to exercise his faith and press forward and God will bless him.

Well I'm so glad to hear that all is well at home. Hahahaha J.T. and Charleigh. What happened to them? I was looking at a picture from a year ago and they both have grown and they're talking and they're just getting big! It is crazy! I'm excited to hear about Weston and Marleigh's volley and football seasons. I wish them the best! Go tear it up! And as for family that I know are pushing through hard times, I keep you in my prayers. Just know that I love you. I wish I could help out more at home but from what I know everything comes together in perfect harmony with God when you put your trust in him, but not with a doubtful heart. I remember clear as water when I decided to fix everything and come home. It took so much humility to just admit that I was in the wrong and not in the right. I know who some of you are and I beg of you to please turn away from the one adversary who wants to deceive us all, and come unto Christ. The pathway to Christ is simple but not always easy to follow but if you've tasted of his goodness and mercy I would just ask that you completely turn yourselves around and come back to that which you've tasted before and know is good. A scripture that helped me a ton was Mosiah 4: 6-13. That is my invitation...

6 I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put histrust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body—

 7 I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world.

 8 And this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you.

 9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has allwisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

 10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.

 11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your ownnothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

 12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.

 13 And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to render to every man according to that which is his due.


I love ya'll! My time is out

Love

Elder Horrocks

Que onda familia?

Once again his letters are inspiring.  His investigators are doing great.  He loves them so much!  He gave C. his Spanish CD's of the BOM we bought for him because she doesn't know how to read and he wants her to be able to listen to them.  That totally touched this momma's heart!!  

All of the missionaries he originally went into the field with are now home.  He will really miss Elder Nye.  I also hope Elder Nye knows how grateful I am for him!  Alex was so excited that his first mission companion was from Heber.  A town Alex has visited many many times and felt like he could relate to him right away...  Lately I have been hearing stories about missionaries in the MTC struggling with their new companions, having differences in this or that.  If Alex ever had that he never spoke of it!  Not even once!  In fact he's never complained about a mission companion yet!  Thanks Elder Nye for setting the bar!  For being the kind of companion that could lead and teach and befriend my son in this new experience in his life.  I will forever hold a spot for you in my heart <3  Hope to meet him soon.

Enjoy his letter!  He is doing so well :):)

Elder Nye's Farewell with Charlie and Elder Quintana

C. our investigator.  We were at her birthday party.

August 10th

Well let's see what I can talk about from this week! I really don't have a lot of time to write but I'll see what I can do.

Sometimes time doesn't seem long enough until I have to write the next letter. I'm getting really good at typing though haha I guess that's a good thing. So I guess to start I was able to have a few new experiences. We had our new district leader give his very first district meeting for the very first time. He did awesome! He's very intelligent and very wity. After our D meeting we went to a place called Sabores de mi tierra (Flavors of the world). They have this thing there called chamangos and oh man they're super good! You guys back home may not like them but I love them! They're like these little mango shakes with pepper chille in them. It's really good!

I went on exchanges with our other District leader Elder Beltran. He's very new as well but he's been on his mission for about 14 months. He's from Colombia and is one of the best missionaries I've ever seen! We didn't have much happen for us on exchanges. So we have 2 new D. Leaders in our Zone and they are doing great!

Last Monday, and this Monday (just like 30 minutes ago) we had a watermelon eating contest! Well E. Quintana, E. Winterton and I had a watermelon eating contest last week first. I don't remember how or why we started but I got it on video and it's pretty hilarious. I'll have to show you the video when I come home, I can't figure out how to send it through the computer. Our contest we just had today was all ten of us missionaries here in Madera and it was super gnarly! Kind of weird because it was outside of the front yard of the church and I'm sure there were cars watching. Overall it was fun :) we had to eat 3 watermelons (little pieces) in like 30 seconds.

Let's see what else has happened... Well I guess nothing as far as worth sharing but I'll inform everyone on our work in Madera and how it went this week

This week was great for us! We sure stayed busy, and we actually fasted again yesterday for U. He fasted as well with us. U. had an interview last Saturday for a different job and plans on another interview sometime this week I believe. Let's just hope and pray that this other job allows him to work during the weekdays and not on Sundays. He really is putting forth his effort! Now we're just waiting for the results. Elder Quintana and I taught him yesterday and we set a date or goal for the 29th of this month for him to be baptized. We told him how much we've prayed and thought about his baptism, but as for right now that's our target which is the 29th. If he keeps putting forth his effort and we do ours, the Lord will bless him and he'll be baptized that day! All we want is that U. can be as happy as he can ever be.

C.'s baptism is going to be happening this Friday still, so it'll be on the 14th. She's super prepared! Nothing's stopping her from progressing. As far as challenges or things that she's going through there isn't really anything :) I mean that's good but we just told her to stay on her toes because Satan was going to try and stop her from progressing, he always seems to do that.

M. went to Mexico last week to get his molar tooth pulled out. He says it's too expensive in the states haha but he should be back sometime next week. We watched the Saratov Approach with him just before he left. We were able to get president's approval and he loved it! He really enjoys the movies that the church produces. I didn't think much of the movies until I came out on my mission. Ephraim Hanks, 17 Miracles, and all of those I've never seen till I came out on my mission. M. has his date for the 29th as well. We called him yesterday and he said that he just got done with church and that he was going on some visits with the home teachers! It's kind of cool to see that even though he's not a member he'll go out on a few visits with some brothers down there in Mexico! It's kind of like my buddy Charlie from Lindsay. Before he got baptized he would come out on visits with us.

Ahhh poor Charleigh that's sad! I laughed but man she pegged really hard. Looks like you all had fun at the lake, wish I could have been there!

I'm really sorry but this letter has to be short because my time is out. Just let everyone know back home that's struggling to keep the faith and stay close to our Savior. Read your scriptures, say your prayers, doesn't matter what anyone thinks other than what God thinks. So do whatever you can to stay close to him

I love ya'll
Love,
Elder Horrocks

p.s. let me know how the football stuff is going, and how the game goes



August 3rd

Que onda familia?

This week was just awesome!! I've also had some new experiences that I've had for the first time that I've never done before. I'll tell you a little bit more about them as I go through out my letter.

This Wednesday hits a year the second time being out!! Crazy right? I just want to say that I have loved every single minute of it. Through good times and hard times it just seems that I've always seen the Lord's hand in all things. I've come to recognize that this work is a spiritual work, and that anything can be done with God. Nothing can ever become impossible with God's help. There's a list of so many experiences, moments, and things that I've learned I wish I could tell you them all. Wow time flies fast and it feels like it just started.

So this Tuesday we went to the missionary farewell and it was one of the best ones I've been to thus far! The testimonies were awesome and the spirit was so strong! I saw Elder Pughe's family there and he is from Blanding Utah. I asked them if they knew Charlie and they said, "Oh yeah! The cop guy?" and I just told them that was him and they responded, "Well he hasn't pulled me over yet!" I just laughed. They were pretty humorous. One of their sons just graduated and told me that he graduated with Tanner? I told him to tell Charlie and the family that I said hi. Pretty small world right?... Elder Nye is gone! I can't believe my MTC companion is gone. He's going to do some awesome things. He's grown A LOT! Probably the most out of anyone I've seen. I'll sure miss him. There was a whole group of about 18 missionaries I believe and I came out with like half of them. I was sad to see them go but happy that they finished strong!

On Wednesday I went and did an event called "Open your mouth". It's when the new missionaries arrive in the mission and we welcome them in and we take them out right away to talk to people on the street about the gospel. I remember when I did that the first time and we got chased by a German shepherd haha it was awesome :) I had an Elder named Elder Elser come out with me. He's from Salt Lake City. At first he was very timid and shy to go talk to people, I mean it's never easy at first to just walk up to somebody and start talking to them but after doing it so many times you get used to it. The reason we do that is so that we can get their jitters out. Elder Elser was suuuuuuper shy, and turned to me a few times for help. When he'd look at me I just told him to trust himself, be himself, do whatever he had to do but to follow the spirit. He got into it after a while. We actually met a Russian guy who spoke pure Russian! No english or nothing. And he tried to explain to us that he didn't want anything to do with us. He struggled to speak English. It was at that moment when I just said man I wish Carson was here right now. It was so awkward! So yup! That's my first time doing open your mouth for the mission. I think I plan on doing it again next transfer.

Our investigators are doing really good. U., M., and C. are the ones that are progressing thus far. U.'s a smart cookie! He continues to read the scriptures and understand them. We had a lesson with him last Wednesday about the Sabbath day and he understood the importance of it and said he really wants to go so he can be baptized. We talked to him about it and he told us that his work hours is what's holding him back. We committed him to fast with us this Sunday, oh and by the way President Clark was teaching with us too and he said he'd fast for him too. So as Sunday comes around and we're fasting and we found a brother named Brother Barrel. He was in our ward council meeting yesterday. We happened to be talking about U. at the time and his work schedule, well it just so happened that Brother Barrel works at a bank and that he might have hook ups for U. He also gave him LDS employment services number and I think that and the other suggestions that Bro. Barrel gave me will just be great hook ups for U.! ...M. is doing good. Little by little but he has "real intent" probably the most intent I've seen out of investigators thus far here in Madera. He came to church again yesterday and continues doing everything he should. M. He's hilarious! On Friday night he came and played sports night with us and we were playing soccer, (and I'm terrible at soccer). His nephew came with us too. As we were playing we were just waiting to start again and his nephew kicks the ball and I turn around at the wrong time and all I saw was a FIFA soccer logo about 2 inches away from my face, and I got pegged hard!!! I won't lie I could see some stars and I was walking around pretty loopy. That kid knew how to kick hard!! M. just runs around and is laughing his butt off. Goes and gives his nephew a high five while I'm still trying to recover. After I recovered I shrugged it off and got a good laugh out of it and then kept playing... M.'s a good guy! C. is doing good. She's getting her baptism interview done today. She's getting baptized on the 15th.  We went and celebrated her birthday with her last Saturday. I gave her my book mormon spanish discs for her birthday she doesn't know how to read, well now she can just listen to it!

I don't have a lot of time to make comments to everyone back home. But I keep you in my prayers night and day. Thanks for the pictures and all that you guys do back home! It really means a lot to see that everyone is doing so well.
Well I love ya'll!!

Love,
Elder Horrocks

What's up ya'll!

Big Al's Big Mish is on track!!  He's still loving every moment.  He hurt his back in the stick pull game which had Momma worried for a little bit but he insists he's doing well now!!  I got more pictures of him... Eating!  LOL.  Surprise Surprise!!  Wish I new where he was storing all that food ;)  Sure glad they take good care of my boy and he doesn't have to eat Tuna Fish for every meal :):)

Sounds like he's taking up roping!!  Thanks to what I hear is an amazing teacher Elder Winterton!  I can see him roping all the kids now... THIS IS GOING TO BE INTERESTING!!  ;)

His investigators continue to progress!  He loves them <3  Life is wonderful!!

Messy

Someone likes cake!!

On his face ;)

SIZZLER!!!

My eyes were drawn to the plates in front of him...
and that's only what I can see ;) hahaha

Men in... White??? Bodyguards???  Secret Service???  ;)

What's up ya'll!

        Ya paso otro translado! It's crazy! That sentence means that another transfer gone by. It feels like we just started. I have learned so much and honestly so many things have happened too, good things of course, there's been rough edges but we always seem to get past them. So here we are with a new transfer and it's looking pretty good! I'm really excited to see what happens. I'll inform you about how transfers went and then go into this week and progression with investigators. Elder Quintana and I are staying! I think we'll be staying until he ends his mission, which I believe is like October 21st. Elder Nye goes home this upcoming Wednesday, now that's just nuts! We had 4 missionaries leave our zone and we have 4 coming in. I know the majority of the missionaries too. We have two new district leaders, one of them is ours and his name is Elder Mota. He's native so it'll be fun speaking with him! The thing that mind boggles me the most is that the missionaries that I came out with originally the first time are all going home now. Crazy right?

       Alright so this week was pretty fun actually. We had a pioneer day activity this Saturday in Fresno. Elder Winterton, Elder Quintana, and I were at the roping booth. We were teaching the kids how to rope (more like they were teaching me, I hardly know how to rope). But I'm learning too as I go. Speaking of which I bought a rope here in Madera and E. Winterton's been teaching me during preparation days, it's really fun! So it was a great activity and I believe about 500 people were there. We had some three legged races, tug a war, and stick pull game (the game that Joseph Smith and those people would play). I really hurt my back doing it and I could tell I strained or messed something up. It's been 2 days since then and I was hurting pretty bad but today it actually feels good. I can run around and do things like play sports and what not. That's a good sign

      Our investigators are doing awesome! We had about 7 investigators come to church this Sunday. M. and his family being one of them. They're a family of four with a 14 year old boy and 9 year old girl. They're from Tijuana and they're just great people! I think M.'s family is going back to Tijuana today but we're not sure. His family is really cool! We played baseball with them in the backyard and they've got some athleticism. M. wants to be baptized with his whole family but it'd be cool for him to be baptized and then later on baptize his family when they come back from Tijuana to the states. The only thing that's holding them back is their Visas. I don't know much about the Visa process but I know it takes a while. We'll see what happens throughout the week.

       U. just continues reading and asking questions all the time, which is good! That means he's progressing. He comes across some weird scriptures though and so sometimes we have to remind him to be careful reading the old testament haha but he's smart so he learns fast. We had sports night with him last Friday. M. and all their family came too. It was fun! We get along really well through sports and I think that's the best way to get his fellowship.
       Our other investigator that came to church was C. She was an old investigator that Elder Quintana taught in Madera before I got here and she somehow just lost the missionaries. One day Elder Quintana wanted to see if she was still here in Madera and she was. She was an investigator that wanted to be baptized but couldn't because she was living with her boyfriend before. Something happened with her BF and he's been kicked out of the house. So now she has the opportunity to be baptized. We actually asked her all the baptism interview questions and she knows everything from what the missionaries taught her in the past. She's awesome!

       As far as investigators that are progressing that's all of them! The other ones have kind of came and gone. All of them are set to be baptized this August, we're just praying that that miracle can be fulfilled.

       One month of summer left! I thought it was going to be really long because of the heat. It still is pretty scorching but you get used to it. The heat out here lasts until middle of September or end of October then the Fog and a little bit of rain starts to come in. Everyone says there's no rain at all but I've been blessed to see a lot during that time.

       I'm excited to hear about Weston and his recruiter! Keep me updated on things that happen for him. I know you don't want to give me distractions but at least let me know what he says about him. Mar is going into highschool! What the heck!!! I want to say she's getting old! Tell her I said to stay away from those chicos! They can be trouble haha just kidding, she'll probably pick on them more than they'll pick on her. Keep tearing it up in Volleyball Mar!

     I got the videos! Hahaha super funny! J.T. and Charleigh just seem to crack me up all the time.

     Send me some of the pictures of the Lake! Did you all go to the lake last year too? I think you did because I remember a picture somewhere that you sent. I think it was in like September

      Well you all know I got short time. I have a lot of things to say but I don't think they're as important as what I've mentioned. But I love and miss you all!!! Pray that this next transfer will be a good one! They seriously just fly by so fast!

Love ya'll!
     

Elder Horrocks