Christmas, Surprise Birthday, Transfer Calls, and I'm a District Leader now

He's so amazing!  I have a wonderful son!!

He had a wonderful Christmas and the Ashcraft family made it very memorable for them!!  Many thanks to them for opening their home to the Elder's and Sister's.  I know that my son had a great time and loved spending it with their family!

So this week he was transferred and made a District Leader in Turlare.  I have mixed feelings about it... I'm am SO excited for him and his new challenge but I am SO sad that he will be leaving Lindsay and all of the wonderful friends and people there!!  I know this will happen more than not on his mission but I really am super sad about this one!  What a great place for my son to experience some great times with great people on his mission.  I hope I get to visit there one day :)

I also want to publicly thank Charlie and all the others in Lindsay who helped pull of his surprise birthday party on Saturday!  They went ALL OUT and that means SOOOO much to this Momma who was sitting at home wishing she could make her sons 20th birthday special!!  No need for that tho ;) they were awesome!  Charlie got Alex good by shoving his face in his cake hahaha.  It looked like a brawl broke out afterward and there is a sister that goes running after them in the video!  Probably trying to stop the church from being covered in cake!!  LOL... He looked so happy!!  I cried (of course)!  I sent the pictures and video to my mom and she called me and then we cried again!  Man we miss him!!  But we wouldn't trade him being home for anything ;)

I made a collage of all the pictures because there were so many this week and make sure you watch the video, if you haven't already of course ;)  I'll also include Weston's duck pictures (the duck is mentioned in the letter) because they ARE pretty funny.  They named the duck Sean and played with him for a few hours.  BOYS!

He sounds so happy!  LOVE HIM!!

P.S.  The California Fresno Mission hit 1,000 baptisms!!  Their goal was to hit 1,000 before the end of the year and they did it ;) 1,001 if you count John! :)  Super cool!!!

Christmas Fun, John's Baptism, Charlie & Paul Building Snowmen, and Making Tamales 

Yosemite, Christmas Fun and Making Tamales with the Delgado's

Surprise Birthday Party

Surprise Birthday Party

Henrique, Sean the Duck, Troy, and Weston

Duck Lips hahaha

Christmas, Surprise Birthday, Transfer Calls, and I'm a District Leader now

Yes a lot has happened this week! I was super excited to be able to Skype you guys this past week! I sure miss seeing your guys faces but I know I'll see them again before I even know it. So a lot has happened this week. We went to Yosemite last Monday, I believe I already told you all that. We had another baptism yesterday for John and what a great guy he is! He's pretty hilarious. After he was baptized he comes up out of the water and says, "Oooohh it's nice, I'll stay in here!" he must of thought it was a hot tub or something. Charlie and our ward mission leader helped throw out a surprise birthday party for me. I was pretty impressed how well they kept it a secret from me! It was weird because there was a few people I heard that were going to "eat dinner" with us at the church, but I come to find out it was a surprise birthday. I ALSO got my face STUFFED!! Literally stuffed with cake. (For those of you who've already seen the video on Facebook you know what I'm talking about). I was getting ready to cut the cake and Charlie tells me "A Mexican tradition we always do is after you blow out the candles you take a bite out of the cake!" So I was like "Alright I guess I'll take a bite"... Man I should have known!! When I went to take a bite he shoved my head hard into the cake! We had our laughs for a little bit as I tried to run around with my eyes covered trying to get back at Charlie with some cake. It was a fun birthday! Probably one of the funnest birthdays I've had.
     Another Birthday surprise was transfer calls!! President Clark calls Elder Moody and I in the morning and we were with a member going to Angela and Angel's house. Usually when President calls people on transfer days it means they're going to get some kind of leadership position or training position. I had the phone when he called and I gave it to Elder Moody thinking he was going to get some kind of position. But then he told Elder Moody to hand the phone over to me and I was just thinking that maybe he was going to ask me to train or something. But he asked me to be District Leader in Turlare!! Turlare is about 10 minutes away from Lindsey so I'll still come by to do baptisms and hopefully, if I get permission, to go on exchanges with Elder Moody or something. But still... A DISTRICT LEADER?? I didn't ever see that coming! Especially for how short I've been out on my mission! When he told me I was going to be a district leader he said "You're going to learn how to be a bishop by being a district leader." Hahaha I guess that's true as far as missionary work is concerned... I'm a little bit bummed that I was just getting to know the members and everybody but I know the Lord's hand is in this and my will is submitted to his.
      Christmas day I got to Skype all of you of course and hang out with members and we got a bunch of stuff from them. Christmas Eve was pretty fun though! We played games all night and hung out. We also had a little nativity scene with their family. We just had the greatest time! We weren't able to teach very many people but we had fun with our members. Several of you asked for pictures and I will try as soon as possible, hopefully today to send them to you.
      As far as progressing investigators there's not a whole lot on our list now that they've all been baptized. Now we're back to planting seeds and looking for new investigators and working with less actives and recent converts. There are a few though that are progressing pretty well! N. D. is one of them still. She's having a hard time trying to trust herself that she can repent and be baptized. The more we talk to her the more we realize that she just needs to trust Heavenly Father and expect that she'll be happy, not necessarily that she'll have a crazy experience coming into the church, but that God will provide for her needs. We have a family called the V. family. They're all made up of 7 or 8 people. So if they can be baptized that would be awesome!! Right now we're just being their friends and little by little inviting them to come unto Christ. Mar. has been progressing but she has disappeared lately. We've went by her house 6 or 7 times this past week and she's not answered. We're hoping that either her or her parents will let us in cause she's super ready! M. is still a searcher, just looking for a spiritual experience, which eventually he'll get if he's looking sincerely. We've started talking the S. and J. again and said they would be baptized! We saw them a couple days ago on the streets and asked if we could come by and it worked out... As far as investigators are concerned that's basically all.

I'm sad I missed out on Christmas back home. Sounds like everyone was having fun with Karaoke! Did you tell Brother and Sister Ashcraft about that?? They were asking me to sing and stuff!!

I'm happy to hear Mar and Wes are working hard in B-ball. Sounds like they're always doing good! Tell them to keep up the good work.... I also got Weston's email of the duck hahaha. I can't believe he took the duck inside of McDonald's. I would have laughed hysterically!!

Well that's kind of all I have for this week. Next week will be different because I'll be in Turlare now. But I hear good things over there. Keep the updates back home coming! I love you!!

Elder Horrocks

P.s. Thank you for the presents! I loved them all! Especially the CD'S, the books, and the new bag. It makes it a lot more convenient... Also this morning we got the call from president saying we reached past 1,000 baptisms for our mission!! That's the first time in mission history in Fresno. It was actually 1,001 haha gotta give credit for that last one. But the year is still not over yet. We may not get that goal next year. Since Modesto and 3 stakes in that area are leaving in July of next year. But we got the goal!

CHRISTMAS DAY SKYPING!! Oh... and Monday's letter ;)

Skype Day!!

I got to see my boy today!!!  YES I CRIED :'( and I still am!!  It was a little frustrating on both ends because either the internet was slow on our end, due to weather and too much usage, or possibly his end (he's mentioned before that the internet in Lindsay is slow and frustrating).  So it was probably a bit of both...

He was having a hard time hearing us and the delay was about 5 seconds behind.  I could tell he was bugged by it because there was a lot that we wanted to talk about and it took up time and made it difficult to communicate.  Soooooo we got a few questions in and laughed a little bit.  He told us a little about a baptism he had last week (his first time performing a baptism by the way!!).  There are definitely things that I will look into before the next time we Skype, but I will take what I did get and label it as AMAZING!!  Seeing my sons face again  *silent screaming inside*!!  I just wanted to kiss him and love him and snuggle for a minute!!  But instead we settle for a little chat, we sang him Happy Birthday (we both, well probably everyone, got a little teary eyed at that point) and we had family prayer again :)  Offered by The Preacher Man himself ;) which he did in Spanish (again we cried) and then we said goodbye..........

CAN YOU SAY OUCH?????  WOW!!! I did NOT want to tell him goodbye!  What a roller coaster I'm on!!! I'm so very blessed to have such an obedient son who has literally turned into such a wonderful man right before my eyes!  Or at least the eyes of those in California ;)  I miss him SOOOOO MUCH!  Yet I know this is exactly where Alex needs to be!  This is Alex's journey and it is what Alex will base the rest of his life experiences on.  He is learning so much about himself right now.  It may not be the journey of another person and that is OK.  It is his.  It is where he wants to be.  He isn't there because I told him to go or his seminary teacher or his coaches or his best friend.  He is there for him and that is why he will succeed!!  I LOVE HIM!!!  I MISS HIM!!! I AM SOOOOO PROUD!!!

P.S.  I'm counting down the days until mothers day!!!

At the airport.  Can't wait to hug him again!

His letter didn't come in on Monday as planned because they went to Yosemite to play on P-Day (ummmm, talk about FREAKING OUT!! I didn't know what was supposed to happen with Skype so I was a little nervous to say the least), but I got a few pictures from that day.  I will have to confess that I have been in Cahoots with Charlie (he's been mentioned in almost all of Alex's letters) in planning a little birthday party for Alex.  Every once in awhile he sends me pictures of Alex working and sometimes even having fun.  They warm my heart and ALWAYS make me cry!!  Tears of joy of course ;)... So we have it planned that on Saturday he is going to pick up a cake that I ordered for Alex and they are having a little surprise party for him!  Staying within all of the mission boundaries and guidelines of course!!!  I feel blessed that I have so many people looking out for him and I feel like Charlie is just an extension of my family (even tho I have never met him in person).  He is Alex's brother and therefore my other son ;) I'm excited to see how the party turns out!!  I told him to send LOTS of pictures!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONNY BOY!!!  Hope he has a wonderful 20th birthday!

Familia

So you're probably wondering why I didn't send a letter yesterday, but luckily I was able to have permission write a little bit this morning. The reason I wasn't able to write yesterday was because we went up to Yosemite national park yesterday and weren't able to make it back in time (I kind of knew we wouldn't because it's pretty far from Lindsey). But no worries! Cause now I have a little time to write.

So about Skype (this message goes to everyone) We will be Skyping at between 9-10 in the morning in California so that means between 10 or 11 over there in Utah. The person that is allowing us to Skype is the Ashcraft family. I gave them Mom's number (let dad know any details that will be going on when he calls) I couldn't remember dads phone number off the top of my head so I gave them Moms. THEY will be giving you THEIR Skype name for me to use , I don't know what their Skype name is but ASK them when they call. I'll be Skyping one for about 25-30 mins and then the other for about 25-30 minutes also (so just keep timing in mind if you have any questions)... I will also try to let you know about the news that went on this week during Skype and of course anything else you guys want to ask. As far as of anything that was of big news this week was Angela and Angel's baptism!! I got to baptize Angel and Elder Moody baptized Angela.

But I got to go. I have a district meeting in 30 minutes and I have to leave right now. But more details will be given during Skype.

I love you all so much!! Can't wait to see your faces
Love Elder Horrocks

P.S.  I'm sorry I wasn't able to write other family that sent letters of birthday and Christmas wishes. When you have the chance tell them all I said thank you and I love them much!!

Right at home in the snow

Alex in all his goofiness ;)

Heading to Yosemite

Yosemite

Again with the goofiness!!  hahaha

A little snowball action

Going to see investigators

It Feels Like FOR.E.VER!!!

Alex missed writing a letter one week because they had a temple day and they didn't have time to write.  Bummer for mom but he was doing his work so how can I be disappointed ;)...  

This letter was summing up two weeks in a row.  He's had such great experiences and times is flying for him!  I'm not going to lie.  I MISS HIM SOOOOO MUCH RIGHT NOW!!  Not just because it's Christmas but it's also almost his birthday!  It's so weird not having him here and no presents under the tree for him.  He told the people there about our Christmas Idol tradition and it hit me hard that he's not here :(  It's not going to be the same without his goofiness.  Tickets for the mixed emotional roller coaster please??? ;) Because  I've also never been more proud of my boy!!  

I'll be getting a letter from him tomorrow.  I'm sure he'll be sending Christmas love to everyone.  I'll try to get it posted before the holiday :)  He'll also be Skyping us on Christmas day!!  CAN YOU SAY E.X.C.I.T.E.D.?????  I cry every time I think about it :) I'll be setting up my Skype account tonight so I can be ready and waiting!!  WHOOP WHOOP!! Love and Miss him!  Merry Christmas!

Party after the Sister's baptism

Christmas Party

Packages Galore!!!
I think you've sent me enough?? All the other missionaries are getting jealous of me over here! 

Summing up two weeks before

So first off I'm real sorry I couldn't email on Thursday, we were at the temple and we got back in time but next thing we knew we had some other errands to run that pertained to missionary work. So we came and emailed real quick for about 15 mins or so and then headed out. I'm not sure how well I'll remember these past couple weeks that have flown by but I'll try my hardest to remember. 

Our investigators are doing really good! I've noticed more and more each day that success doesn't come measured off of how ever many baptisms you get, it's about following the guidance of the spirit everyday. We're always seeking to find the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Heavenly Father's SECOND greatest gift he has ever given us is the Holy Ghost. I've never realized so much, up until my mission, why it's so important that we have it. When we do this, THEN we baptize. This next up coming Sunday on the 21st we have two baptisms. Remember Angela? The random person we talked to on the street and invited her to church? She's being baptized along with her son! It's kind of cool how it turned out. She's always so appreciative of the love that we express towards her. We're also hoping to have at least one more on the same day and that's Mar. She just needs her parents permission and then she's golden. The next following Sunday on the 28th we have a guy named J., he told us yesterday that his answer was "yes" :) His wife, J., is already a member but is less active. She's getting back into the swing of things and is coming to church again. She supports J. every step of the way so we're fortunate to have her... N. D. is another investigator who should have been baptized a long long long time ago!! Her parents have been members for like 10 years now, and she still hasn't been baptized? She came and did a church tour with us just to kind of get a feel of the church again, because she's been to church before. Ever since then she's just been so much more open to us. I think in the past we've tried to force things on her but really what she needed was a little slower pace, and that we are friends a long the way. She's been more open to that kind of approach and she came to church yesterday and dinner with us at a members house. She's doing awesome! It's possible, at least from how open she's been with us, that she'll want to be baptized on the 28th... Je. will also be baptized on the 28th but she's a little iffy. We're kind of unsure about her but we'll see how she keeps progressing. 

All of our other investigators are progressing but don't have any baptism dates yet, but they will one day!! Hopefully... Some of these come less actives and recent converts too. Something our mission president has advised us is to always work with the less actives and recent converts, not necessarily take the responsibilities of the home teachers or any of the other active members for them, but to simply "teach" the less actives and recent converts. We don't invite them to Church, we don't start new member lessons for them (unless nobody is assigned to do it) we just "teach" them. Or help them to know what it feels like to have the spirit in their lives. We're always teachers and that's how we find these other people. Less actives and recent converts just seem to always have a friend who has interest in the church. So we ask them for referrals and It makes finding people TEN times easier.... The other people are J. V., and M. J. V. we found through a member referral. He's pretty cool! His family is huge! We've taught them 2 or 3 times but are still kind of in their Catholic traditions. M. had a dream about the temple, and he continues having dreams. His dream of the temple was described like he was in front of the temple with a big water font, and a member telling him "Come, come M., this is where you need to be." Hahaha I thought it was sweet! But I don't think he quite understands it yet, even though it's a very blunt dream. Sometimes I just want to say "BE BAPTIZED! *cough cough". None the less, we're still working with him and helping him connect his dreams together... M. and T. are still around but they've kind of lost the recognition of why were actually there to teach them. So we see them maybe twice a week rather than everyday. T. hasn't made up her decision of leaving M. as far as we know. S. and J. have kind of fallen off the planet too. They're always constantly having to go do drug tests and programs in Porterville, so they're hardly ever home. All the others we haven't seen much either... It's like the Lord has given us a whole new set of people for Christmas. Of course because it's getting close to the end of the year, and we're SOOO close to reaching 1,000 baptisms we've sacrificed a lot, we've fasted a lot, prayed a lot, and so the Lord blesses us as we do so. 

Saturday the 13th was a HUUUGEEE Christmas party in Lindsay!! Some members were saying that's the most they've ever had come to the party. I think there's somewhere between 150 to 200 Tamales there? DANGGG! I think only 8 members cooked all of those too. And we had a Christmas program for the kids, a lot of our investigators came. I think that's what got J. to decide yes to baptism. Just the atmosphere and the people were welcoming and kind, it was a really good party. I could of had pictures but I didn't have my camera on me. Elder Moody did though so he'll send me some and I'll send them to you. 

Christmas really is the best during the mission! I love it! It's so cool to see the true meaning of Christmas every where I go. This month has been an experience for me that's helped me to appreciate the atonement more. I've seen it work on me here, and then in turn work on the people that we teach. I've had to "give" more of a portion of me to others, and then Heavenly Father blesses me and I receive more. I really have missed home during these times of the year, but I've become so much closer to our Savior and his gospel always seems to amaze me... 

As far as Christmas and what we're doing. I believe on Christmas eve we have to be in early at like 6 o clock at night. And then Christmas day we have talking to our families at a members home. We have a member that will let us skype, so we'll be skyping if that answers your questions :) I'm not sure what time, but I believe it will be around 9 or 10? So 10 or 11 in Utah. It doesn't really matter to me who's there and who isn't. I want family to be there for sure at least. Like Grandma, Guy and Carm, Joe and Wendy, who ever else is visting Roosevelt from our Fam or cousins, aunts, uncles, just all of them. As far as friends I guess Stephen and Haydo and Digger, just... WHOEVER haha. I asked President how long I could skype between you and Dad and he said about 25 to 30 mins each. So you for 25-30 and Dad for 25-30. (You're going to have to tell Dad that because I forgot to mention that to him)

I'm glad to hear that everything at home is good with the family. Sounds like Christmas will be sweet! Last night at my dinner we went around the room sharing a thing/tradition we always did for Christmas, I told them we do Karaoke so I'm definitely going to miss that!!  I'm sorry to hear everyone's sick :/ at least J.T. and Charleigh, hope they get feeling better. 

Mar and West kicking some trash in sports as usual. Hope basketball season is going good for them. Work hard! Tell West and Mar both to keep it up

Well that's all I've got familia. I hope I answered all of your questions. I got little time but if there's anything else that you need to ask let me know next Monday. I appreciate hearing letters from back home. I love and miss you all. Pray for our investigators that they'll come closer to Christ.

Feliz Navidad

Love Elder Horrocks 

La Semana de Pavo (Turkey week)

I KNOW I KNOW!! I'm behind!  I am predicting that it will be that way until after Christmas... Sorry!

He ate and ate and ate!  I'd be interested to know how much weight he's gained.  He's isn't fat by any means but I can tell he's filling out!!  It's crazy to see him growing!!

He forgot his camera so there aren't any pictures :(  He promises he'll try to send some next letter tho ;)  He discovered how sore his muscles could be again after playing football!  LOL.  And he also discovered he's not so much of a soccer player ;)  hahaha  That's why we always had him baseball!!

I think that he won't be writing this Monday, He'll do it Thursday this week.  I tried to ask but he was offline by then.

He's doing good things!  Enjoy!!



La Semana de Pavo (Turkey week)

So this week was nothing but food, turkey, stuffing, all that good stuff! I loved this week because of the time we got to spend with the members. I took lots of pictures but unfortunately because we came down to Porterville to write our families this time instead of being in Lindsey, so I forgot my camera to send pictures... I'll do everything I can to send them next week! I'm not entirely sure where to start but I'll start with the days, and then talk about the investigators. So this email might be a little lame, but last Monday, as you already know, we had our Turkey Bowl with the missionaries. We did awesome! Unfortunately I was a "sore" loser afterwards. We might of won but I could hardly walk, bike, or function AT ALL!! I guess that's what happens when you haven't played for a while...Tuesday wasn't much except for meetings and such. Good day of Proselyting though... Wednesday was somewhat the same except we actually just had a new member move into Lindsey. Her name is Sister Fullerton and she works as a English teacher. She has like 8 dogs! 2 out of those 8 are Great Piernes, which are dogs from Spain and France and all those countries out there. They guard sheep and other flocks, but the dogs are HUGE!! Their backs probably came up just under my chest. Sister Fullerton told us they're able to kill bears!! Sheeesshhh!! Anyhow they were big!... Thursday! Thanksgiving! El Dia de Pavo! We had another Turkey Bowl. I was able to heal up a little bit by then thankfully. I think Turkey bowl for Mexicans on thanksgiving is soccer. So we played 30 minutes of football and 30 minutes of Soccer, I did good in football but I got owned in soccer haha. We also went and ate 3 different dinners! We hardly found the people we wanted to visit because they were all in their homes or were .... Friday we went and knocked some doors with Charlie. He wanted to see what potentials we could receive and we actually did really good! It was a good experience for Charlie. Saturday was also another eventful day for Charlie, and Hunter too. It was his first time going to the temple!! Great experience for him, he's never been any where more peaceful, and a place where he felt the Lord's love to a large extent. Sunday was like the highlight of the week for progressing investigators. My companion and I gave a talk on gratitude in the English ward. That's the first time I've given a talk in English in a long time. We had two people come to church but they weren't investigators they were just two people that we invited on the streets to church! Haha that actually surprised me, and they went to class and everything. It was awesome! We also received 27 referrals that day haha you're probably all thinking how the heck we did that? We drove around with a member looking at old houses the missionaries in the past used to teach. So now we'll never run out of people to go to in December.

So that's kind of the events of the week. As far as Investigators, Recent Converts, and Less actives go they're all progressing really well. S. and J. are still the same. Still haven't been able to catch them because of their programs. The others that are the same but still have intentions to investigate the church are Si., M.R. Every one else is doing great. M. and T. are coming along. They're still in their situation of whether they should stay together or separate. We had a lesson with M. with a member that knows his family. Our member did such a good job. He extended love and kindness towards M. letting him know that he was always around. M.'s had a LOT of rough problems and when our member was able to do that he just started crying! It was awesome!!! Sometimes the only thing that brings people into the gospel is expression of love and compassion towards others, thought we still try to teach them the lessons, that's where true conversion comes. He wasn't able to attend church though, he had other matters of work business to take care. The Chavez Family get more and more convinced that the gospel is true every time we go over. They'll probably take some more time to fully help them be baptized and come further unto Christ, but little by little they're always more convinced. Who knows, maybe we might be able to baptized their daughter Mar. because she always attends our church. V. and I. are doing really really good! Yesterday started off with a bad situation for them because I. decided that he was going to move to Santa Barbra and live with his parents for a little bit and get away from all the "arguments, contentions. blah blah blah" with V. He said it broke his heart when he left his kids. He changed his mind when he reached Bakersfield and decided that he wanted to stay and make a change. YEAH I!! I was really bummed at first to hear he was leaving, but nothing made me more excited when he decided to stay home.... We have 3 new investigators named A., An., and Je. A. and An. are the two that came to church, A.'s the mom and An. is the son. They're all really solid! We taught the Restoration to Je. with Charlie and it was a success! She understood it really well. If those three stay consistent in keeping commitments they'll be baptized for sure.

Other than that, that's all that has really gone on with week! I'm stoked to hear about Basketball season! Sounds like Weston and Marz started off with a good note. They're both getting big!! It's weird because it's only been such a short amount of time too! Best of luck to them though, they'll do awesome this season. Same with J.T. and Charlie they're all getting big! Mostly just Charleigh because she has long hair now, kind of like Weston's hairdo haha.

I'm glad to hear about the Turkey bowls. I really did miss everyone back home on thanksgiving, it was different. I wish I could have played but I had a lot of fun here in Cali nonetheless. What are some things you'll be doing for Christmas this year? Let me know what's up and what's going on at home for Christmas. Christmas this year for us is the BEST in the mission. It's a little more freedom but just the spirit and the people that you spend time with is amazing. On Christmas day I believe we can skype or call?? I think we'll be a loud to skype. I'm not sure how you'll be able to do it but hopefully I can do two families, you and dad, and it lasts for 45 minutes but I'll let you know if anything is different.

I guess to end I just want to tell you how grateful I am to be out here on the mission. When I was preparing my talk on gratitude it helped me realize the true meaning of gratitude. Elder Uchdorf once said "We can be grateful in all circumstances", which is so true! We don't have to necessarily be grateful for things we have all the time, because we all know that we have a list that goes on and on and on, and it's difficult, at least for me, to "count your blessings". But true gratitude is a hope and testimony that all things will work out for the better. It was gratitude that the Savior was able to express when he said "Not my will, but thy will". I also had a coach (or coaches) tell me that you can be bitter or you can get better. I feel like that's what we always do when are grateful in all circumstances, we are choosing to be better. Elder Uchdorf also said,"Everyone’s situation is different, and the details of each life are unique. Nevertheless, I have learned that there is something that would take away the bitterness that may come into our lives. There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious.
We can be grateful!"

So be grateful, no matter the trial, hardship, or tribulation always be grateful. With every degree in a trial that comes, there is the same, if not more of a degree of blessings that we can hope for in the future. So with that I'll hear from you all next week :)

Love you all. Elder Horrocks

P.s. Next Thursday will actually be preparation day because we will have a temple trip that day. and then the following Monday after will be normal...We also have a Christmas zone conference so pray that we might receive revelation for our investigators.

Happy Thanksgiving Week!!

Fun week of Turkey Bowl's!!  Sounds like he had a great time at the zone activity playing football again!  He got to take Charlie and his cousin along with :) How great is that??!!  They're looking to set some baptism dates as goals.  I had a feeling last week that things weren't going well between M. and T.  I really hope that things will look up for them soon or that they will find some peace if they go their separate ways.  Keep praying for them all!

Enjoy!!

Moro Rock. This thing is huge!!

The General sherman a.k.a. the biggest tree in the world

The trunk is big

It's all about perspective. If you zoom in on the diagram it shows you sizes of branches and gives you other perspectives, age etc. Standing next to the General Sherman is like a mouse looking up to a 6 foot tall human

The General sherman from a distance. if you zoom in you can see the little people

Familia

So this letter is going to be a little short because we just got back from a zone activity. We played turkey bowl/flag football and it was a lot of fun! There was probably 40 or 50 missionaries there. I got to catch up some old faces again and also met some new friends. Our friend Charlie came with us and his cousin Steve did too. They enjoyed it, who knows maybe Steve is going to be interested in talking to the missionaries now. I had a lot of fun for sure! I scored 4 or 5 touchdowns and we won by one just barely. There was quite a bit of athletes there too. Soccer, Rugby, Football, Runners, a lot of athletes.

This week has been great! We're focusing right now on setting a baptism date because we don't have anymore right now. We have one maybe 2 very possible investigators that we can get committed to a baptism. Their name is the Chavez family (I'm not sure if you've heard of them or if I told you of them) they have cousins in our ward. The whole family is Catholic but they like when we go by and chat with them. Their  daughter Mar. is so solid, and she's 8 years old and comes to our church all the time. It's just that when we asked her Dad for permision if she could be baptized he said no... But we passed by with a member just to maybe see if they could build a relationship with the family. We taught them about Mosiah 4:19 and being humble as a child and putting off the natural man and coming unto Christ and being baptized. We went into other discussions but we ended up inviting him to pray to know if he should let Mar. be baptized.... We could tell he was scared to do it because he knew that he would receive an answer. We haven't been able to drop by and follow up with him about it, but he told us he would :) Mar. is going to be baptized! Hopefully the rest of the family will follow her example. Hope and pray that she will be able to though... There's still hope for M. and T.! Well I should say T. The other day she told us that her and M. aren't doing so well. M. doesn't really understand the role of the father in the family and isn't very responsible, he still has issues with gangs, drugs, and various other things. We still hope they can stay together and work things out but it sounds like they're going to separate, which is still hard because they both have no where to go if they do. T. has been praying to know if she should leave him or not. If it's God's will that she should go find someone better then that's that. We just don't want her to be forced to do so. If she ends up leaving we pray that she can find something better and she still says she has the desire to listen to us and be baptized no matter what happens. M.'s just been kind of a stumbling block, we'll see what happens between them though... Si.'s doing great! We watched the Restoration video with her and she thought it was beautiful, and we were able to do it in a members home. She feeds us a lot!! No matter if we ate dinner before or not. She's awesome, and progressing well. (I asked her husband if he did fantasy football and he doesn't, but he was surprised that our family does! I think he thought we put bets during fantasy football, do we do bets in our family??) V. and I.'s marriage looks like an upside! We talked to them yesterday with Brother Cregor (who's a family therapist) and he tore it up!! He is a beast! "There's still love in the home" he said to them :)... Our other investigators either we were not able to catch up to this week or they weren't in town. Like S. and J. They're still on their drug probation so they randomly have to leave to Porterville and do drug tests, which unfortunately has taken them away from having the opportunity to come to church :( Charlie got the Priesthood this Sunday, and Jesse and Hunter will probably get it this Wednesday. They'll be going to the temple this Saturday in Fresno. Great things in store for them still! Charlie is doing good in his calling too.

Well I know it's short but that's kind of all I got! I have very little time too. This week on Thanksgiving we're doing another Turkey Bowl with our ward on Thursday morning. Then we're going to a couple family thanksgiving dinners during the day. Wish me luck because I'm gonna die! I enough food as it is. It's kind of weird not being home for the Holidays, but I still miss you guys. No worries though because our ward family here in Lindsey takes pretty good care of us.

Wish Weston good luck for me in his game against Juab. Sounds like Mar is tearing it up too.

The weather out here is getting cold!! Probably not as cold as back home though huh. It rains like once a week now. Feels wayyyy different without the snow around. When Christmas time reaches around it'll definitely be a white christmas, just with a bunch of fog instead of snow.

Well I love you all! Sorry this had to be short, but I wish a happy thanksgiving and all my love back home. Love ya

Love Elder Horrocks

Baptisms and More Baptisms!!

What an amazing week for Alex!!  They had 2 baptisms.  You can feel the spirit so strong in his letter!!  I love the friendships they have developed with their investigators.  I truly believe that those friendships are going to be what keeps them active as members of the church :)  I also love the experiences and growth that they are giving my son.  He loves them!  It's such a wonderful feeling as a mother to see my son, who is thousands of miles away from me, wholeheartedly loving and giving of himself to others!  He loves his work and what he is doing :)  P.S.  Elder Nye was Alex's first companion ever from the MTC.  He was from Heber and they bonded right away knowing that their homes were so close together and that they had several people that they knew in common.  He is now his district leader and Alex loves his example!

I also love the little blip he put in about the Mexican Culture and their visions of Christ.  How exciting and what a beautiful experience to have!  I have been to Mexico on a couple different trips and specifically went to different ruins that depicted some of the stories in the BOM.  What a huge testimony builder it was to see some of the places where you can just SEE the stories in the BOM unfolding and understand the way that they happened!  The Mexican culture truly are blessed :)

Good Luck to Charlie in his new calling!!!  It seems the Lord has BIG things in store for him!

Elder Nye and Charlie

Me, Tony (Hunter's dad), Hunter, Elder Moody, and Charlie

Baptisms and more baptisms

Yes, baptisms and more baptisms!! We had two more this past Saturday. This week has been an awesome week. We've been super busy but we got great things out of it. So Charlie and Hunter were the ones that were baptized. What a cool experience it was for them. What's crazy is that the week before ANY one get's baptized, Satan tries to make it hectic more than anything. For Hunter it wasn't as bad. He told us that his mom was a little iffy about it, saying he was to young or that he wasn't ready, but I believe she decided to just let Hunter choose for himself. His mom is super cool she just didn't quite understand the importance of baptism.   When Hunter was baptized he had to do his twice, because the first time wasn't approved. I was one of the witnesses for the baptism and I told them they had to do it again, which I kinda felt bad for saying. What's even better is that after Hunter got dunked he came up with a bloody nose hahaha poor kid! I guess the temperature of the water can cause nose bleeds sometimes, at least that's what bishop said. Good thing none of his blood got in the water. But all was well because the second time he did it, it was good and Hunter was clean!!... Charlie was confronted with all sorts of temptations and challenges. I won't go into detail of what they were but it seems like Heavenly Father had something big for Charlie, and there's more to come. After he was baptized and confirmed he said he felt this peace, like none other that he ever felt before. He then received a calling just yesterday!! He's the ward mission leader's secretary, can you believe that?? That doesn't happen often at all unless they're super prepared, which Charlie was very prepared, I guess that's what he gets for coming out on visits with us even before his baptism.

Everyone else is doing were good too! M. and T. are still being bums and won't come to church. It's only been T. that's been able to come. We saw M. yesterday with a member that was in M.s situation before, and talked to him about just coming and seeing for himself. He doesn't have to do anything, join us, be a member, or whatever just come and see! I think he wants to be stuck in the whole virgin marry thing and the old traditions. But with our members it's ten times easier to get them to come. S. and J. are doing good too. They came to Church last week but not this week unfortunately. They're both on programs for drugs which is good, at least they're not struggling. They've both been going and haven't done drugs for like a year now? That's awesome! Now the Gospel can just top it off for them. We saw Si. this week, she seems so happy every time we go by. She says to us all the time that she feels this "sensation" or some sort of feeling when we talk, teach, or anything. She wonders how the heck this is carried around by a couple of teenage kids haha. Little by little they're learning. Her husband not so much though, he drinks during our lessons which is like what the heck? Come on man! V. and I. aren't doing so well :/ they've been frustrated with their marriage like no other. They have A LOT of things to work on. The biggest thing that's holding them together is their kids. We're trying to help them realize the effect that divorce has on eternal progression and even more or just as much their kids. We're hoping and praying they can come to each others senses and just GRASP the Gospel. That's really the only thing that will keep them together. They're great people and everything and it'd be really sad to see a divorce brought about... We found a new person named M.R. She's catholic but she's not active because the congregations here aren't very nice. She's way cool and wonders the same thing as Si. Two teenage kids going around and doing this 24/7? They don't get to call or see their family very much during the year? Wow!! ;) We talked her about life and what it's really about, she looks forward to us going by again.

Well that's kind of all that's been going on for this week, not to bad at all! Something interesting I found out this week is that the members of the church in the Mexican culture have dreams and visions like no other! It's not fair!! It's so cool to hear some of the stories they have to say. Some say they saw the image of Christ, or the picture "Jesus the Christ" the one where he's plain face and has a robe on. They all said that they "know" that's how he exists because that's how they saw him. How cool and interesting is that? Just shows that God still does show visions and dreams and he always has.

Transfers were this week too. It's always a crazy Saturday on transfers and I'm always nervous about what could happen. Elder Moody and I and the two sisters in Lindsey are staying though :) which I'm really happy about. We have awesome friends here and the work is doing awesome in Lindsey. I'm excited to stick around for the holidays.

Sorry to hear about Weston. I'm sure he'll make the team, I know the coach pretty well from institute he's a good man. Weston's tough and he can make it through his one time shot of a try out. Just tell him to be careful and not break his neck. I'm still bummed about football. The championship game sounded lame!! Some teams just need to figure it out, like Judge! Because 63 to 14 is kind of uhhh... a little over the top. I'm glad Weston and the boys did good this year. That will bring a lot of good things for the team in the near future if they keep playing hard.

Marz sounds good! I got her letter today! If I don't write her today tell her I'll try and get it in next time. J.T. and Charlie sound like they're just getting bigger and bigger all the time. I miss those two little munchkins, send my love to them as always.


Well my time's up and I got things to do but I will for sure talk to you next Monday and let you know how things went. Thanks again. Love you lots

Elder Horrocks

Que Tal Mi Familia?

Alex is awesome!!!  Seriously!! Of course I'm biased towards him but how could you not be ;)  He is having great progress with his work.  Transfers are this Saturday but it sounds like he'll probably be staying in Lindsay.

Charlie sounds like an amazing person with a ton of life experiences that he can teach others from!!  It sounds like he has a tremendous trust in God.  I love to hear that!!  It is sooooo hard to put all of your trust in God and to have faith that he will provide the strength and support you will need to be sustained through life!!  Justin just had his 2 year mark of sobriety on November 6th.  It took tremendous faith and trust for him to know that Heavenly Father would sustain him through giving up his addictions.  I too have experienced those moments myself at different times in my life.  Through my own divorce, getting married again, quitting my job, adding 2 more beautiful babies to our family, sending my oldest baby on a mission (he KNOWS he will ALWAYS be my baby) ;)  I can't even begin to put into words the amount of faith you have to have that God has his hand is in everything and that things will turn out exactly the way they are supposed to turn out!!  Maybe it's to show us or even others the truth of all things??  It usually isn't the process we would choose for ourselves but it is the process that will teach us and others in our lives the most.  I hope that my faith and the faith of Alex's investigators will always grow and be strengthened with each trial and tribulation that is presented them.  My patriarchal blessing actually tells me that I have the kind of faith that will move mountains, which a little scary to me!!  When is my faith going to be made that strong!?!???  Do I really have that many more trials to strengthen my faith to that level coming???  All I can do is tell my Heavenly Father that I trust him and watch for the signs of the spirit to guide me through life...

I love my boy!!!

Jesse's Baptism

Que Tal Mi Familia?

So it's been a really crazy week, but we got great things out of it! Jesse was baptized this weekend!! He was super nervous but I know that after he was baptized he was the happiest guy ever. I'll send pics when I get the chance. I know I always say I'll send pictures but the computers in Lindsey are so slow. And time always seems to run out. Elder Moody baptized him and I got to confirm him a member this past Sunday. I hope he continues on the straight and narrow path like we all should, hopefully in no more than 2 months or so we can get him to the temple and do work for his family.

Charlie and Hunter are still on track for baptism too. Theirs will be Nov 15 of this Saturday. This past week we've been hanging out with Charlie quite a bit just to make sure he's doing ok, and every single day he always has some kind of miracle happen to him. I have to tell you about him, because never in my mission thus far have I seen an investigator progress like he does. And like I say it's not even us, it's God that does it for him... Charlie's been enrolled in the Army from 2004 untill 2012. So he just returned home two years ago. He went through so much out there, he fought, he's been shot, he's basically went through hell and back. There's some things he doesn't mention, because they're personal but we know they're kind of off the wall. When he was talking to missionaries for the first time it was kind of a casual thing instead of a daily basis. He would run from God and then God would catch up to him and this process would go on and on and on. Until finally one day God decides to take EVERYTHING from him to get his attention... Charlie wrecked his dodge challenger a little over a month ago in the mountains. He knocked down 7 trees and was going 105 and was drunk, oh and he was 3 feet from hitting a light pole. So he TOTALLED his car, and it looks all smashed like a pop can, and he came out of all of that with a bruise on his head... WHAT?!? ARE YOU KIDDING?? So that got his attention and he's been through other things too like right now he has a divorce process going on. But ever since he's been going through all these things he STILL gives his trust to God. Sometimes it's scary to do that because we don't know what will happen, but he gave ALL of it... Once he did that he started to let the missionaries teach him, he quit partying and drinking, he's quiting all of these bad habits just to do God's will. Now he's getting baptized and one day he wants to be married in the temple. There's SOOOO many things we learn about him and it never seizes to amaze me. So that's Charlie for you :). He sounds awesome huh? What's cool is that he comes out with us to do lessons and he's not even a member and he teaches his experiences with others, Charlie is a converting machine! He really does so well when he teaches. .. Hunter is doing good too. His Dad's a member and helps him out. He just ended his football season this past week too... Soooo hope and pray that these two will stay on track and that the powers of Satan will be seized!

V. and I. aren't doing so well unfortunately. They're trying everything they can to fix things between them. It's sad to see what happens when Satan is in the process of tearing marriages apart. We have faith that they'll do more of God's will and seek to have more of Christs love in their home. I think what they lack is their own self progression in the Gospel and so it takes a toll on them as a husband and wife because they're not learning and opening their eyes to what a family can become. Speaking of which M. and T. are kind of the same. We found their new house!! It was behind some alley way. We ALMOST got M. to come to church this Sunday but gosh danget he's so stubborn. He got ready and everything and then finally at last second he decides not to. AHHH stuff like that makes you crazy!... S. is doing awesome. I don't know if I mentioned already but we are teaching her husband J. now. So they're both doing great! They both came to church for the first time this week!

An eventful day happened this week. I had the chance to go on an exchange with my first companion I ever had, ELDER NYE!! It was so much fun to go out and teach and just catch up on the things. Our exchange was actually pretty successful. The highlight of that day was a less active member named Monica. The spirit was so strong during our little lesson that she cried. She loved it! We weren't able to see her again during the week after that lesson, but she's solid so we're going to do everything to re activate her... Elder Nye is my district leader so he has stewardship over me. He told me he'll give president a good word about me possibly training next transfer?? Transfer calls are on Saturday and we'll see what happens!! I think Elder Moody is leaving and I'll stay and run the area, because President emailed me and said he got a good confirmation that I could stay and do it. I'm a little nervous, but I know that if that's what God wants I'm more than willing to do it.

Man Weston sounds like he did so good! I was a little bummed to hear that game was lost, but I'm happy that they gave it their best. I know I would have been devestated, but life's all about overcoming adversity and trials right? Same with football, I think they still have a lot of potential next year. Tell West I'm a proud brotha and I think he's a stud just as everyone else has said!

Hope you're keeping everything in control with Char Char and J.T.? It sounds like they're just growing up everyday! I can't believe that time flies so fast. Give them my loves, and Marz too. Tell her I'm just as proud

I know there's a lot on my mind that I want to say but unfortunately my time is up. I'll let you know of anything else that I need next week but we'll see. Les Quero (love ya'll)

Elder Horrocks