Wassup Mama

Again!!  Spring and the end of the school year always proves to be so stinking crazy for me!!  Here are the last 2 weeks of letters.  I love him soooo much!  I see him mature with each additional letter.  Please pray for his investigator.  Some things arose that could have been taken offensively and the situation needs some love and understanding :)  Both of which Alex and Elder Nye have plenty of!  My heart is filled with such love just knowing how much they love the people they teach <3

The picture was sent to me by a member (I think she is a member anyway).  Alex's introduced us to her on Mother's Day.  He said that she is his Spanish teacher and she said that he is a lot of fun to be around and that he makes her laugh!  Sounds like Big Al to me!  Her words in her text were... "You have an awesome son, very sweet and with a big spirit" I think that explains him pretty well ;)  The picture cracks me up.  I forwarded it right away to my mom and sister and said "Remind you of anyone??"  I got a response back right away that said "Sheldon!" and "Grandpa"  lol  My dad had a hat similar to it that he wore gardening/camping/sitting at the kitchen table... hahaha!!  Alex obviously inherited his fine fashion sense ;)

I also got a Birthday/Mother's Day package from him :):):)  It was full of pictures and an old missionary tag.  It had a tiny little Boston Red Sox sticker on the inside of it to add his own special touch :)  I loved the whole thing very very much!!

Enjoy the letters...

May11th

Well I know I talked to you yesterday, but I'll see if there's anything else I forgot to mention about the week thus far.

Really good Sunday yesterday! I was super excited to see our investigators which is a big family of 5 come to sacrament yesterday. It's the first time for the children but the second time for the mother. I'm not completely sure if I told you or not but the mother's name is G. Our other investigator F. came to church for the first time yesterday as well. We've actually found them both through our investigator C. who's getting baptized the 23rd of May. So all together, including C. and her two kids, we had 9 investigators come to church yesterday! We're seeing good success for the month of May. Yesterday my companion and I were talking about the zone and if we stay on track, and the zone baptizes their solids we'll end up with 10 baptisms for the month of May in the Zone. Pretty exciting! Just gotta keep working hard!

J. R. is doing a lot better. He's the boxing coach we're talking to. His family has come a lot closer he says since his Dad passed away. He's just all around a really good guy and has a wonderful family that loves him so much. To my surprise, he still wants us coming to talk with him in these times of trouble. Heavenly Father is truly blessing and helping him through his challenges. We just hope we can be an influence for his life.

Our investigator Cr. continues asking us to come and teach her when the occasions arise. By the way we were invited to go and see her graduation along with J.'s graduation from medical school. It was on the corner of a christian church. It's was good to see the both of them progress in their careers. They have a good future ahead of them! As far as us teaching Cr., it's going really good. Last time we talked with her she told us that she enjoys her church but learns more talking to us and feels a lot more at peace with her life. That's just the way to Holy Ghost works! Soon we'll teach her the way the Holy Ghost works and functions in our lives. Maybe it will help her to understand what she's feeling when we teach her.

 Well there's not much else that happened that I hadn't mentioned before but I apologize if Skype was glitchy at all. It's so different to see everyone just grow! Especially J.T. and Charleigh. I can't believe it! I wish I could have heard all of J.T's questions. They were cracking me up! I'm glad to have seen Grandma and Carmen and Big Dude, Jud, Weston, Marleigh, you. It was just so great to see you all! I really do miss you. I know I've talked about having a year left but it scares me because everyone says it's the fastest one so buckle up and don't blink! Before you know I won't be Skyping or calling anymore.

Wish Weston good luck for me in St. George. Go beast mode! There's not a whole lot left for me to say but that I'll hear from you next Monday!

Love you all much!

Also. Tell everyone to shoot me an email once in a while or something! I'd love to hear from them

Elder Horrocks


May 18th

Wassup Mama

Hope you enjoyed your present! It's not much but it's the best I could think of.

Haha don't let J.T. think that everywhere you go will be Mickey Mouse Land. I know I'm mean but that's really funny what happened!

It's a bummer that baseball just got finished up. I won't lie I really miss playing. Tell Weston to give it all he's got coming up on his last year of sports, and to play with no regrets. Also tell him not to cry like a baby like a did when my last baseball season ended (though he probably will haha). I'm sure gonna be bummed not being able to watch him play his last season of sports.

We really have been blessed with some moisture up here. When it rains here that's how I know it's going to rain A LOT in Utah... Haha I remember Rube Goldberg. It's funny and makes me laugh now, but back then it really sucked when we had to make that machine!

Our week was hard but we did some good things. I'm beginning to become more accustomed to Zone Leader responsibilities and things such as that. I felt that we could have planned better though to have more time in our area but we worked with what we had. Last night Elder Nye and I talked to our investigator, C., that had a baptism date for the 23rd of May for her and her two kids, J. and S. But some situations occurred and she wanted to postpone her baptism for another day. The reason being (and this is what I understood from her, she speaks really fast spanish) has something to do with the kids.  I will explain later.

We'll be talking to the bishop this week to see if we can straighten things out and have a better understanding of how we can help. We're praying really hard that there will be an understanding with her and the bishop, and whether or not the kids need baptism we're hoping that she will soften her heart and be baptized herself so that she can enter into the temple and be sealed with her family in the future.

I apologize if I needed to put what I said into a mature filter. I hope you were able to understand what I have written as well. It's been a little bit of a challenge on us because we've worked so hard with this family, and Satan is throwing his shafts and whirlwinds. I'm so grateful that we have a Savior who understands us so perfectly. I love him so much! All I would want for this family is to know his love and what he can do for them.

For bright things that are going on, we had 7 investigators come to church this Sunday! We had 9 last week but we're on fire with investigators coming to Sacrament, we couldn't have done it without these wonderful members. F. came to church and she's doing really well, we have an appointment tonight with her and her sister G. at 6. G.'s been to church twice but she didn't come yesterday. If her and her 5 kids came yesterday that would have been 13 investigators at Sacrament meeting.

Cr.'s doing good as well. She came to church too. She says she likes her Catholic church but she's been to our church twice now. We've invited her to be baptized 3 times and she's said no 3 times :) We have lot's of investigators to set dates with and we plan to do so. When we do plan either they're gone, or they're to busy. We're hoping to set dates soon so that when we go into June we'll see fruits from our labors then.

That's the jist of this week! We could really use your prayers for C., J., and S. though. It's a tough situation to deal with but we're doing all we can to make it right.

Love you all! Tell everyone I say hi

P.S. soon to come.... the Modesto Mission and the missionaries that are going from the Fresno mission to the Modest Mission. I'll keep you updated... BTW let me know how the house thing goes!

Elder Horrocks

Familia and Skyping testimony

I got the best birthday wish from Alex last Monday!  It was a super treat to get to hear from him on my actual birthday :):)  YAY!!  And of course as an added bonus we got to Skype with him for Mother's Day <3 What an amazing day!  He introduced us to a few different people from there.  It was fun to get to see and hear them.  I love that the people he is surrounded by seem to be as full of as much love for him as I have.  He also bore his testimony to us in Spanish (I recorded it.  I will try to upload it) Of course I only recognize a couple words but It's amazing to see him growth in the language.  I LOVE HIM!!  MISS HIM TOO!!  But wouldn't change this time for anything...

Of course the kids have to Snapchat it ;)...  Don't mind the mess that needs to be filed

Marz Snapchat

Familia!

So not to much of updates here out on the mission except that we had transfers. Elder Nye and I are staying together again for another transfer! We're pretty stoked for another 6 weeks! I'm kind of grateful that he's around still, I still have adjustments to make in this leadership position as a Zone Leader and he helps me a lot. We have 12 young companionships and 9 of them changed. Our zone turned upside down! We're really excited though, it's always a pleasure to be able to get to know new missionaries.

My time is a little bit short so just to kind of give you an idea of what's happening or what happened this week... We had an awesome time finding new investigators and one's that are solid too! One of them named Cr. called us today and told us to come by today and teach her at 6. Hardly ever does investigators ask you the day of to go teach them. Woo woo!! S. and C., two sisters, are doing really good right now still! C. still has her baptism date for the 23rd of May. We set a goal to baptize 4 this month and right now we have 3 coming up, so we're on track! This past Sunday I was supposed to go down back to Tulare and watch a baptism. Remember the last baptism I had down there? The V. family? Elder Corona and I baptized the Dad and the mom and son still were unsure if they wanted to get baptized. But Elder Corona called me and said they finally made a decision for the 3rd of May! So I was invited to go... But the night before on Saturday Elder Corona calls me and says, "Did you get your ride for the baptism?" I told him yes and he says, "Great! Well guess what? It got canceled..." AHHH so close!

This morning we were supposed to have breakfast with one of our investigators, J. R., the boxer guy I was talking about last week. Well we weren't able to because his Father passed away yesterday :( so he's taking it a little bit hard right now. His daughter V. called us and told us everything. She said that he's going to be okay, it's just something unexpected. The family in general is doing good though! V. told us he'd appreciate a visit anyhow. I'm just very grateful for The Plan of Salvation, and the knowledge that we'll be able to see our loved ones again. Maybe that's what he needs. We rescheduled our breakfast instead to a lunch this Wednesday. So we'll still get to eat with him.

It's crazy to think I have a year left! I'll burn the white shirt soon :) It goes really really fast, in our Zone we have a lot of old missionaries about ready to leave, and some of them can be a little bit "trunky". Which doesn't help, sometimes it drives me nuts!

Well that's basically the gist of what happened or what's happening. I'm sorry it's a little bit short. Normally toward the end of the transfers things are little bit more mellow until transfer days actually happen.

As for skype we do have a member that is willing to do it for us. They're the Nava family. The mom is mama nava and she's awesome! She is a sweet heart. But our plans for now will be her for now. If I need to let you know of skype time or anything I'll have her let you know :)

Tell West and Mar to keep it up in sports, it's alright to struggle that just means more for improvement! Loved the pictures of J.T. hahaha super funny!

Well family I love you all Much, but my time is up!

Love Elder Horrocks

I almost forgot!!! Happy birthday Mom!!! I love you much :) Have a wonderful day! Let me know how it goes

What's Happening??

Here is last Monday's letter.  I feel just like he does...  It seems like we haven't gotten to talk in a long time!  He of course sounds like he's loving it all.  He's also right... Kenny Chesney made me cry for hours!  But in my defense I was 9 months pregnant with Charleigh!!  I'm super excited to hear from him tomorrow AND we get to Skype next Sunday!!!  CAN I GET A WHOOP WHOOP!!!! I can hardly stand it!!

Enjoy the letter :)...


What's happening??

I feel like I haven't talked to you all in forever! We didn't go to the zoo today but we've had a good preparation day thus far. We just didn't have enough time and we got lots of errands to run.

Our week wasn't so bad! Being a Zone leader there are a lot of meetings and errands to run. Things like Leadership trainings, stake correlations, District meetings, exchanges, and many other things I have yet to tell you about. That's kind of the majority of what happened this week. We went on some exchanges on Tuesday with some elders from Kerman. Normally when we do exchanges we go with the District Leaders. I went on an exchange with Elder Smith, and he is witty and energetic as ever! Great Elder!  He talked, and talked, and talked, and talked my ear off the whole day :) sooooo that's that! This past Friday we had what's called MLC meeting (Mission Leadership Council). It's a meeting where President and Sister Clark, the Assistants, and all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders get together and have this council on the mission and have trainings and things. We were so spiritually uplifted and edified. We've struggled these last months of 2015 to keep up on our baptism goal, but we've seen results here and there of why things aren't turning out the way we'd like them to. We've received great revelation and other things that would help us show our outermost performance, but even then we felt that something is missing. So there are a lot of things that have been inputted into our mission (and I wish I could tell you all of them) but at our MLC meeting it came down to our Exact Obedience

Apparently there have been a few issues of Integrity/Obedience in the mission and the best things that we could use from you guys at home is prayers. Prayers that we might fulfill our missionary purpose and our goal by being Exactly Obedient! Obedience is what has helped us be the most successful and has set us apart from other missions. We're working hard to gain it back as a "tradition" I guess you could call it, in our mission. We know that's exactly what we need too (D&C 82:10). So your thoughts and prayers sent our way would be greatly appreciated.

I haven't updated you all in a while on how our investigators are doing so far. They're actually doing really good! We'd like to have more people to teach, and we've been working hard to find. But those that are solid and have been solid are staying solid! We've had a few new ones come in as well. The new ones include N. and S. and her family. N. is a friend of a recent convert named J. and we found N. through her. She is super spiritual and so ready to hear the gospel. We had our first lesson with her in J.'s house and she has had a rough life. Her family has been in gang members and that's the majority of what she's been through. So we were actually getting ready to teach her the first time and we offered the first prayer and she started crying! That rarely happens at all! We taught her about God being our loving Heavenly Father and The Gospel blesses families. To me it seemed very touching for her. We haven't been able to catch her for a few days because she's been sick, but we will eventually... S. is J.'s sister and came to church for the 1st or 2nd time. The first time was forever ago though so I'm not really sure if it counts but she's been talking to us lately and it has been awesome getting to know her and her family. She's just really down to earth and is hilarious.... C.'s boyfriend hasn't come back from Los Angeles so I'm assuming he's gone for good. Which allows her to be baptized. She has a date for the 23rd of May. Speaking of which our Zone has 9 solid dates for baptisms in May so that's awesome! We also have an Investigator named J. R. He's diagnosed with some kind of cancer (I can't remember the name of it) but he's a carpenter and owns a gym and trains boxers. He was a professional back wayyyy back! It'd be sweet to get him into the church! His wife and kids are members so he currently has a part member family. He invited us to a BBQ this past Saturday at his boxing gym and we got to go and fellowship with him a little bit more, it was pretty sweet!

That's all folks! That's basically a summary of what happened this week. I always look forward to hearing from family at home :) you all sound like you're doing great. I'm sorry to hear about Weston's games, though I laughed a little bit about Coach Labrum's remarks to the ump hahaha and Coach DeCol's too. Just go out and get park city now! I saw Mar's video of her in V-ball and her sick hit! She's grown a lot too.

J.T. is getting to be a stud, though he always has been. Charleigh keeps growing and gets cuter all the time. Where'd the time go!

Anakin Guy?? Haha pfff remember that one time you played don't blink by Kenny Chesney? I'm glad to hear ya miss me :) I miss you too

By the way that surprise picture you got. Elder Winterton is the one on the left of me if you were wondering.

My time is up! I love you and miss you all! This next week should be a good one!

Love Elder Horrocks

P.s. I'm pretty sure we can skype on mother's day?? Everyone I've asked has told me yes :) I'm not sure how long though

P.s.s. did you ever send that pull up bar? I know it's been a while... I got your recorder too by the way. I'll start sending recordings soon.

Elder Horrocks

No Letter last week... :(

No letter from him last Monday.  They had a Zone Activity or something and they went to Yosemite so I'm guessing there wasn't enough time.  We did get a couple pictures tho!  One is an AMAZING view!  The other is him and a few other missionaries :)  I also got a text this morning from a sister who attends church in the same building as Al and took a picture with him and 5 other Elders.  Getting surprise pictures is one of my favorite things!!  Charlie used to send them all the time but since he's transferred I don't get them from Charlie quite as much.  The one I got today came from a Sister Hiatt... THANK YOU SISTER HIATT!!!  This Momma needed to see her biggest baby boy today ;)

I also have a kind of funny story to tell hahaha... Mar had a volleyball tournament this past weekend.  On our way from Sandy to Provo Mar decided to play Weird Al's "Anakin Guy" (for those of you who don't know Al you should probably know there was a phase in his life when he listened almost strictly to Weird Al. hahaha).  So I looked at her when it started and said "Awww! This will remind me of Al!"...  By the time the song was done playing I was bawling my eyeballs out!!!  Sniffling and snorting and getting snot everywhere!!!  LOL.  I bawled HARD!!!  I must really must miss his face!  Hope he does good things this week!!!  And I REALLY hope I get to talk to him on Mother's Day :):):)  LOVE YOU BIG AL XOXOXOXXX

He said they are going to the Zoo this Monday.  Hopefully we'll get more out of him this week :)

Glacier Point

Alex with some of the missionaries at Yosemite

Picture Sister Hiatt sent to me through text... YAY!!

SEMANA LOCA!!

Zone Leader is keeping him busy!  Lots more responsibility, but it doesn't seem to bother him at all :)  The spirit is still a constant companion with our family.  We're so blessed to have him serving the Lord.

Roosevelt Road

Waffle stack for breakfast just before conference sessions

This is my buddy Chucky :)

SEMANA LOCA!!

It's been such a crazzyyyy week I'm not gonna lie haha. We had to drop off our car at the shop Fresno to get it fixed and go on bike and switch between the english elders for a car. So it's been a little hectic and hard but in the while it's been fun :). I've never had to do so many different responsibilities as a Zone Leader, this leadership position can stretch you that's for sure! Thankfully we got the Lord taking care of our area while we go out of our ways to run errands and do Zone leader stuff. I'm learning to plan better from it and just go with the flow when things don't always go our way haha. Gotta love it!

I had my first Zone meeting as a Zone Leader, it was great! Our zone is so awesome! We have about 12 or 13 companionships if I haven't told you already. They're all just a bunch of great missionaries. Some of them are pretty old too. There are a couple that are going home next transfer and then like 3 more including Elder Nye that are going home after that. So this Zone here pretty soon will be gutted out and new... That same day of Zone meeting we got a call from an Ex missionary named Elder Ennis (he was my zone leader when I was in Lindsey and Tulare), and he asked if we could go to the childrens hospital that night and give a blessing to a child named B. P. who was dying. Elder Ennis knew the family really well. They're the P. family from Tulare and I actually knew them pretty well too. Later that night though it almost flew past our heads to go out and visit this family at the hospital, we felt terrible! By the time it got to about 8 p.m. we realized we needed to go out and give this kid a blessing. So we booked it to the hospital which was about 25-30 minutes away from Madera. We got there on time and found the family in the hospital and gave B. a blessing. B. looked like he was great shape! I think he was in there because he had some issue with his lungs. I'm not sure how they're doing as of right now, but I'm faithful that the Lord is taking good care of them.

Wednesday is when we had to drop off the car at the shop so we were car-less and still are till tomorrow. That same day we went on exchanges with the Assistants. I'm not really sure why President wants us going on exchanges with them but if President says to do it then we do it. It was pretty fun! I got to go with Elder Parkins is name. He's kinda famous because his grandma used to be the General Relief Societies President. He was cool though! They have a huge area to cover and they are all of full of rich people. Which is a completely different atmosphere than being a spanish missionary.

Because we don't have the car we had the great opportunity to go street contacting :) I kind of miss it to be honest! Elder Ballard told us during our mission conference to talk to 10 people a day for each companion so that's we did. We only talked to 5 people each. But found one that was interested. Talking to people is a hard skill to develop and I think is a skill that's been trying to get back in the mission but slowly and surely it is. It was a little difficult after not doing it for a while. But Elder Nye and I are working on it.

Our investigators are doing great! As of right now we have 4-5 progressing investigators. Good news is, is that 3 of them can have a baptism date right now! C. and two of her kids (I'm not sure if I mentioned them before). But they're as ready as can be. They either 1. have to get married. or 2. The boyfriend A. has to leave and they have to separate. It looks like #2 is more relevant though, because A. is being a bum. If he moves to Mexico C. and her kids are being baptized! M. is doing good. We haven't been able to contact her but she came to church this week! Her dad still won't let her be baptized, but I fasted for her this past Sunday and I pray the Lord recognized and heard my prayer. We have another investigator named J. and we were going to drop him because his intentions were to simply go to church because it's "interesting". We had a short visit with and kind of changed his thoughts about why we go to church and because we go for progression. I think he took that to thought and is currently "thinking" of being baptized. But he's progressing because he's doing everything he should.

Sooooo it sounds like the Lord is taking care of the family at home? I got your pictures and stuff, they're awesome! Looks like everyone is doing good, and growing up holy crap! Glad to hear that Wes and Mar are doing good in sports. I love hearing from you all and miss ya like crazy. Happy b day to West!! BIG 17, that's crazy to think he'll be 18 in a year, and I'll be 21 and he'll turning in his papers and i'll just be getting back.

I'm going to try and send you some pics but I'm gonna end the letter here. If there's any questions that I didn't answer you're going to have to remind me next week. Love you!

Love Al


P.s. I've seen missionaries send recorders home? Or at least make a recording of how their days or weeks went and then send it through an email. Is that something ya'll would like to start happening? I'd have to get a recorder first...

P.s.s. I looked at Elder Nye during the marriage talks of GC because he goes home soon and he's gonna get married. I was just giving him a hard time.

P.s.s.s next monday I'm going to Yosemite with the zone so I'll take lots of pics... And the monday after we're going to the zoo so it should be fun.

Elder Horrocks

Heyyyyy everyone!! and Pascua (Easter) Week

Springtime always gets a little crazy around our household!  I'm not sure why because we don't do any more or any less but it seems to be even crazier!!  So I apologize that I am posting 2 letters at a time again ;)

He seems to really love his new area :)  He is over more missionaries now so that is more work for him also and it sounds like they have even more responsibilities too.  Like delivering packages and such.

I love that he gets sooooo much knowledge out of his trainings!  He always comes away from them with a greater knowledge of the gospel or God's plan.  The Rev feels and listens to the spirit for sure ;)

He has one investigator in particular that could really use some blessings.  I couldn't help but remember the talk from conference.  (I can't remember his name right now sorry! I'm the first to admit that I don't do well with all of the church leaders names.  It's like I told some friends this week.  I relate it to the NFL or MLB.  I know most of their names and faces and I know they're on "the team" but I'm not sure what their name is or which team they play for!  I'm trying to get better!!  I SWEAR!!)  It was the talk that the man gave about being in church and and getting asked to pass the sacrament and he couldn't because he wasn't a member.  The missionary was shocked because he went to church all the time and assumed he was a member, but he had to get permission from his dad to be baptized and hadn't yet.  The story about how his dad said yes made me cry!  I pray that this girl's father's heart will be softened in a similar way!  :)

He also got to go on exchanges, which turns out was pretty exciting news for me!  LOL!  So he was telling me about Elder Winterton.  Of course first thing I think is "There are a LOT of Winterton's in Roosevelt.  Wonder if he's related!??"  So he right away tells me that the Elder's dad is from Roosevelt and that he is also very familiar with our town.  So as I'm reading I'm putting 2 and 2 together and all of the sudden it clicked whose family he belonged to!!!  Elder Winterton's dad was my neighbor and lived right across the street from me for a couple of years or so!  HOW COOL IS THAT!?!??  His dad David, was buddies with my brother Charlie and His grandmother is a VERY dear friend of our family, that I remember having a strong love for even as a little girl!!! She would come over to our house and sit down at our piano (the piano I now own) and start playing :) I remember her playing "Music Box Dancer" in particular and she was the reason I wanted to learn to play piano (wish I had done a little better in that area ;)). She is also the reason that "Music Box Dancer" was the first song I ever requested to learn when I got to the point that I could ask :) ANYHOW!!!  Elder Winterton's family was a family that I remember my family loving.  I sent a message to David on facebook to confirm it really was his son and... Surprise Surprise!!  IT WAS!!  Such a small world!  It's amazing to me the way that the Lord continues to make me feel "safe" with my missionary!  It brings comfort to me to know that he is serving with part of a family that I feel a connection too and happen to really love!  How awesome!

One last thing.  I was asked to speak in church this following Sunday about my favorite conference talk (REALLY!!???  They were all good!) and also on my missionary and what lessons he/we have learned or blessings he/we have had having him serve.  He said this to me and I've actually passed it on to more than one person this week when they asked for advice.  I want to remember it always so I'm going to quote it here also...  If I had to give a blessing that I've seen the most on my mission for your talk, it is that God is the master planner of our lives and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is everything :)   ...He's such a great kid!  LOVE HIM!

OK!! Enough of my rambling!  There is a funny story that goes along with the planking picture :) (I'm not sure but I think Elder Winterton may be in that picture also)  Enjoy the letters!  They are full of teaching moments... as usual ;)

OH!!  AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BRAYDEE!!!  She was always his "little" partner in crime ;)




Heyyyyy everyone!!

It's kind of been a crazy week now just coming up on finishing transfer things, but the Lord has blessed us. Transfers are always hard especially since I've had to do it 5 times now haha but that's alright. By the end of my mission I'll probably have been all over the place. Madera is absolutely awesome! That's where I'm at and we are in the Fresno West stake which is about 15-20 miles away so I'm pretty close to the mission home. We're close to some great missionaries too! There is a lot more to do since how it's closer to the city as well. I love the members here! They're so missionary minded and they are the biggest Spanish WARD I've ever seen. There was about 70-80 people there at church yesterday. I think that's a lot more common to have bigger Spanish wards closer to the city. When I first walked in, about 20 mins before church, started I asked "Why is everyone here so early?" and they were like well thats not all of them! So yup, it's big.

The area Madera in general is great too! We have 5 sets of missionaries (3 spanish, 2 english) that cover the whole area. We have 5 progressing investigators. They are C. and her husband, Jo. and E., and J.. They all go to church and things but I've only had the opportunity to meet them a few times.  When I find out more about them I will let you know what we're doing to help them to progress. As far as I know C. and her spouse, and Jo. and E. all need to be married is all to be able to be baptized. So the work is going great for us and the investigators. Like I said the relationships that I've made with the members has been amazing, they're some of the most loving people I've met.

So being a zone leader hasn't made to much of a difference from just being a normal missionary. The responsibilities will be sky high rocket one day and then another it's hardly anything at all. We do have meetings more regularly though, and we go to Fresno more often to pick up packages and a whole bunch of other stuff. My stewardship from watching over 3 companion ships to 12 companionships, or in other words 24 missionaries, that's definitely changed! Elder Nye and I went to a MLC meeting (which is strictly Zone Leaders) this past week which was so inspiring to hear! I think the Lord is trying to tell the mission that baptisms is not always the main focus but that it's just the missionary purpose and christ like love for others, "Serving because we love the Lord Jesus Christ." We've been a little low the first quarter of the year on reaching our baptism goal so we've received some different instruction from Heavenly Father. I wish I could tell you all of what was taught there in the meeting, but I think you'll see it more relevant through the letters that I'll send you.

So time just goes by so fast! In a month and a half I will have reached my year mark, including the time serving before I came home. I can't believe it! Who knows if I'll serve until I see the end with the companion that I started my mission with, that'd be pretty sweet! He goes home in 3 transfers. Everyone back home is growing up and just like you all say I'm growing up. It's super crazy to watch

YEAHHH! We beat Juan Diego this year in baseball, I was pretty stoked to hear that!

Who did Weston ask to Prom??

Well I know it's super short letter but I love you all so much! I just barely came into the area, so knowing so little I can only say so much.

Love you all much!


P.S. Happy birthday to Braydee Sono! I know it's a little late

Elder Horrocks

Planking after being late for training hahaha 

Pascua (Easter) Week

So I had a lot of different things that went on this week. I'm sure I'll be able to sum it all up in this letter. It was a little bit different because being a zone leader is a little bit different than a district leader. Other than that though we really did have a great week! There's miracles everywhere that we go, and hearts to touch with everyone we see. I love it out here! I've really enjoyed getting to know my area more and also being able to get to know our zone.

The first couple of days this week was my exchanges that I had back to back with 2 of the District leaders that are under our stewardship. I got to go into their area because I'm not to familiar with mine yet. They were both in Madera but just barely outside our area of Madera. I went with Elder Whitfield who's from Kansas on Tuesday and he speaks Spanish, and we had lots of fun! I enjoyed getting to know him. He loves talking to people which is good for our mission because there are prepared people everywhere. The following day, Wednesday, I went with Elder Winterton in his english area of Madera. He's awesome! He's from Oklahoma and his is name is Thayne and he tells me that his Dad grew up in Roosevelt and that he's been there a lot of times and his Dad knew Brad Jenkins and stuff. Small world eh? He asked me questions like, "Do you know this? Do you know that? Do you know..." and he was just having a ball asking me all sorts of questions about Roosevelt! It was almost like we went to highschool together because he knows Roosevelt so well. He's a rodeo boy so it doesn't surprise me why he likes Roosevelt so much haha. I really liked both exchanges though, I enjoy being able to watch and see missionaries on how they are doing. I get the chance to evaluate and help them become better missionaries, and they do the same for me. Most of all I enjoy developing our relationship in the Lord's work.

(On the mission blog you can see that we're planking and I'll explain why) So on Friday we were on our way to leadership meeting and we were pushing time too. I was getting a little worried for a moment and telling the missionaries to kick it in the butt so we could go and not be late. So we're driving to the meeting and we're supposed to be there at 8:45 in our seats. Well we were pushing it at 8:40.  We're at least five minutes away from arriving and the worst thing happened... We took the wrong exit, and so then we were REALLY pushing it. By the time we were a mile away it was 8:44 Elder Nye looks at me and says, "60 seconds of grace would be nice right now." I laughed hard, but unfortunately we were 3 minutes late. So tradition in the mission is, however long you're late to a meeting is how long you have to plank haha. Great stuff that happened in the meeting! I hoped you enjoyed the pictures though haha.

So how about General Conference and Easter huh? We went and watched GC here at the church in Madera. The first session wasn't what I expected though. A lot of it talked about marriage, which wasn't very relevant to me, but it was to Elder Nye! Hahaha every time they'd speak about it I'd look at him like "Sucks to be you." haha but I was just kidding with him, he knows I love him. Marriage is a good thing don't get me wrong. Maybe they're trying to tell us something? ;) All of conference was great though! I loved Elder Holland's talk on the Atonement and how it all relates to Easter, and Kevin W. Pearson's on enduring conversion and the six steps we need to take to endure conversion in our lives. He talked about how the Book of Mormon and reading it everyday is the key to conversion in this gospel. There's a lot of other talks I really liked and actually had the opportunity to go to the Spanish room and listen to the Spanish speakers speak. It was pretty neat.

Our investigators are doing great! We have five of them that are progressing right now. 4 of them are at about the same pace in their progression, but one of them is fairly new that could use your prayers. Her name is M. and she's about 16-17 years old and sincerely wants to change but doesn't feel like she's good enough to do so. We taught her about the Atonement and forgiveness with a member at their home (the member is actually M.'s cousin) and the spirit was so strong. She really did feel bad for things that she's done but we assured her that the gospel is all about new beginnings and she has the opportunity to do that. If it weren't for her cousins being there I don't thing she would have hearkened as much to our words. Our members were so powerful in that lesson! M. agrees to be baptized and her mom's okay with it, but her father isn't. He threatens to beat her if she does :/ but we can only baptized her with their consent. So we will fast and pray for her in this coming week that her father's heart can be softened. We could use your prayers as well!

That's sweet to hear about the boys and their wins against Morgan! Keep on keepin on!

I'm glad to hear that all is going good at home! I love hearing from you and stories that happen. Let me know how other things are doing! Like moving, work, school, whatever. Like I said before I can't believe that it will be year for me in May.  |So look out then! After that then time will just fly! I have a few things I need to send home to you all that I can't pack anymore and a few other surprises so be expecting a few things in the mail. Speaking of which I did get your packages that you sent, so that's taken care of

Well I love you all so much! I miss you lots! You're all still in my prayers, have a great week! Until next monday, Dios les Bendigas!

Love Al

P.S. If I had to give a blessing that I've seen the most on my mission for your talk, it is that God is the master planner of our lives and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is everything :) but that's kind of all I can think of right now





Elder Horrocks

From struggles to blessings/District Leader to Zone Leader, Elder Ballard's visit, and the V. Baptism

This week is going to be a long one!  Sorry ;) But you will be pleasantly fed spiritually I PROMISE!!

I am posting two letters at once.  I would normally do one at a time but So much has happened over the last couple weeks that I figured I better post them both at the same time!

Really good things are happening for Al :)  As you're going to read in his second letter he was transferred.  I found out before he sent his letter that he was being transferred because Brother Garcia sent me a message on facebook telling me they had found out the day before and he relayed a conversation that he had with Alex the night before.  I don't think he'll mind if I share what he said.  It touched my heart to hear the wonderful things he said about my son and to hear the things my son said to him also...  "We learned yesterday that Alex will be transferring to Madera.  I sat down to talk to him yesterday after a baptism.  I told him what a great job he did in our area.  That how I appreciated his diligence and perseverance to learn a new language and to try his best.  I told him he was a miracle.  His eyes got teary eyed and he told me how much he appreciated my comments.  I expressed your love for him.  How I knew how much you cared about him.  He told me to tell you that he loves you and that even though he is not that expressive, he truly loves you.  It was a pleasure to have your son here in our area- if only for a short time."  Tulare is so blessed to have such a wonderful and loving leader in their area!  Alex has learned so many life lessons from his example.  It makes me sad YET AGAIN that he is leaving an area that he loves so much but I'm very grateful he was blessed to learn from such inspired people!!  Soooooo!  He got transferred but what I didn't know was that he was made a Zone Leader!!  He is also with Elder Nye (his companion from the MTC who is also from Heber).  He was very excited to serve with him again!  I have NO idea what Zone Leader will entail but I know he'll do an amazing job!

He also sent a few pictures and I found a picture of him on the California Fresno Mission Blog giving a training.  It was funny because at first glance I thought it was him, but then as I looked again I wasn't sure.  I finally decided it was him (but still kind of unsure).  Later that day I showed it to my mom who had the exact same reaction I did.  She said "YES that's him!" and then a couple seconds later said "Wait!  Show me the picture again!  Is that him?? That HAS to be him! I THINK it's him!?!??"  I laughed because I felt the same way.  I discovered if I zoomed in and didn't look at how broad his shoulders looked or how thick is neck is getting I could see my teenage sons face again!  HOLY COW HE'S GROWING UP!  Most of the people I showed it to thought it was his dad at first.  So that also confirmed to me that it had to be him!  Alex says he's fat but really he's just turning into a man and filling out!  His shoulders and body are broader than when he left.  He looks like a strong young man!  CRAZY!  Charlie (from Lindsay) also sent me a picture the night of the baptism.  He just looks so grown up to me!

I won't say much more.  His letters speak for themselves.  Enjoy!

The picture for the Mission Blog.  Alex is in the top right corner.  What do you think???

Alex with the Garcia Family

Picture Charlie sent

3/16/15
From struggles to blessings

Hola Familia! I would say that the title describes this week to T! So even though it's only been 5 days since I've written you all there's been a lot of ups and downs. But thankfully there was more ups than downs :). We've just had business like no other and have been struggling to get into people's homes. But thankfully God is good, and gives us success in his own due time.

We did not baptize the V. Family this week. It was probably best that way too, because we thought they were prepared but they were not. Their baptism will be this upcoming Sunday on the 22nd instead. The reason they weren't prepared is because they just want to be absolutely sure that they should be baptized now. Actually last night Elder Corona and I went to teach them and felt prompted to watch the restoration video with them. As we watched the video and reached the part where Joseph read James 1:5 I felt the spirit giving me confirmation that they were going to receive an answer tonight to their prayers, and I knew that they would. I could just tell as I looked at them after watching it. After the video the mom commented that she basically received an answer that it was true and that she should be baptized, but that she was going to ask Heavenly Father in prayer personally. There's no doubt in my mind they'll be baptized, whether it be this week or the week after who knows but they'll be baptized... Tony is doing great still! He came to church which was awesome to see! We were supposed to give him some pants and a white shirt and we totally forgot!! I felt soooo bad! So he was waiting at his house 10-15 mins into church and finally texted and asked "Where's my ropas?? And where are you guys??" (Ropas means clothes in spanish). So we left the church, got the clothes and ran to his house. He's doing good as far as the word of wisdom. He is a little hard on himself but he's up for anything still.

Yesterday at church we were blessed with the opportunity to give a blessing to a non-member named O. She is actually A. C.'s (a LA)  cousin. We started teaching A. C. a few weeks ago and since then she's been back in church and brought O. with her. Unfortunately A. C. didn't come to church yesterday, but O. did! That shows great faith on her part. She asked us to give her a blessing after sacrament and we gladly offered to do so. She wanted a blessing of comfort and health as she was going through some issues having to go back to the hospital. I'm not sure exactly why, but she needed it. So we gave her the blessing and she started to cry. I knew then that she knew she would be alright and that God was with her and told her that where she needed to be was in the church. She could feel the spirit there strongly. As of right now, we are planning on going to her home with A. C. one of these days to teach her the gospel. She is one super solid potential investigator! She practically already is.

What's funny is that yesterday we actually had another potential from A. C. We went to her house to drop off some food that was given to us from a YSA party. She wasn't home but she was at another friends home so we called and asked if we could come to her friends home and drop it off there. After we dropped it off and everything there was a friend that didn't live there that asked what the difference is between our church and all the other churches. A. C. steps in and briefly explains the difference, and it was almost like she was bearing her testimony to her friend. She talked about the spirit, the BOM, the authority, etc. and her friends mind just became lightened and she was sincere from her questions. She was an honest seeker :). She said that she didn't feel worthy to come and look into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but we insisted. We plan on seeing her sometime this week now hopefully. But it was like God led us there :)

So I'm sure you're all familiar from my past letters with the U. Family, but they are going through some rough times, even to an extent of possible divorce :( so if you could keep them in your prayers that would be great! The father has just fallen away a little bit, but it has turned into something bigger because of it. Satan is attacking the family and we really need them to stay strong. They're one of the best members in the spanish group, especially the mother. They've been great in assisting in member/missionary work, and it would be hard to see them go.

I love and miss baseball! Sounds like the boys got Juab though? That's awesome! Same with Marleigh for volleyball and softball. They're both stud muffins and I wish them the best. I'll be cheering for them here in Cali... And Justin too! I really feel like the Lord has blessed my family just from being out on the mission. I'm keeping him in my prayers as well.

I'm kind of sad to hear that you're selling the house ha ha danget you just got a lawn!! Well let me know anything else that happens with that. It'll be weird coming home to a different house :)

Congrats to KY! He'll be awesome roaming through the streets of Detroit! He'll do great, let him know if I can help with questions that he'll have in any way. I'd love to help

I love ya Family. My time is up!

Elder Horrocks

P.S. did you already send the iron rod? Let me know.

Talent show picture

Elder Corona, I and Mini Missionary

Temple after mission conference

V. Baptism

3/23/15
District Leader to Zone Leader, Elder Ballard's visit, and the V. Baptism

Well the heading says it all! It's already the end of the transfers and to be honest I'm kind of nervous to be a Zone Leader but excited at the same time. AND you'll never get this.... My companion this next transfer is ELDER NYE!!!!! My MTC companion!!! We're both Zone leaders together who ever would have thought that?? That makes me pretty excited. Elder Corona will now be the District Leader here in Tulare and I will go up to a place called Medera which is actually Elder Corona's area before Tulare. It's in the Fresno West boundaries so I'm not to far from the mission home itself. I'm really excited to see what the Lord has in store these next few transfers.  Funny story actually... Elder Corona had to go up to Fresno last Monday for choir practice before the mission conference. I saw Elder Nye there and we talked and caught up on some things and we came across the subject of being companions again. Like "what if this" and "what if that" kind of stuff. Then by the time transfer calls comes around and what does it say? "Elder Horrocks will be going to Fresno West in Medera with Elder Nye." WHOAAAAA!! That's probably one of the craziest things that happened on my mission. I guess the Lord was listening on our conversation :)

Elder Ballard's visit was awesome! He truly is an inspired Apostle from God.  Elder Hallstrom from the Seventy was there as well and he commented that having an apostle visit you could be one of the best and most important days of our lives. I believed him! He really said some things that the mission really needed. He talked a lot about talking to more people in general because our teaching pools have been really low in the mission. He basically told us this, "If you wanna teach more, you gotta talk more!". He said that talking to at least 10 people a day will get us where we need to be. But sometimes just simply talking to random people isn't always easy, but that's why we have Preach my Gospel. Talking to people is something I've been able to do in the past, but it's a hard skill to keep. I've struggled to build the courage to go talk to more people but if the counsel is coming from an apostle of the Lord then you might as well go and do it right? I had the opportunity to shake Elder Ballard's hand, didn't get any pictures but I got to meet him. He's pretty short which kind of surprised me! I thought he was taller and bigger, but he is definitely big in spirit!

Our work this week in the field was pretty good! Busy busy busy which is good. Yesterday the Father of the V. family was baptized! The son wasn't because he was sick so his is postponed till next week, and the Mother is waiting to have a greater assurance of baptism. My mindset is still the same for them. I don't doubt they won't be baptized, they will! I'm a little sad to not witness the other two being baptized but I know their lives will be blessed forever for doing it. The baptism was.... well... it could have been better :) I can't explain all of it through email, but some of the things that happened throughout the baptism was pretty hilarious. When I come home you'll have to remind me to tell  you the story about the V. baptism. Cause wow it's funny!... Our other investigators are doing well too. We set a date for baptism with A. C.'s cousin and she's been coming to church for the last couple weeks now, so she's doing great! T. didn't come to church so we have to move his baptism date to next week, but he's doing pretty good, we haven't talked to him in a while. Tulare in general is moving up in things! I'm sad to not see it become a branch soon, but Elder Corona will see it happening. I think he'll be staying until summer comes around

I'm glad to hear that everything at home is going good! Sports sounds pretty good as usual. Sorry to hear about the loss to Carbon, but they're gonna do good this season if they'll keep at it. Mar is going pretty good from what I hear as well. I'm glad they're both doing good!

That's cool you saw me on the blog giving a training, and I guess I'm happy you say I'm becoming a man now. Was I not a man before?? Haha what you all trying to say?? I know I'm getting bigger... I'm about 175 right now and getting fatter. If the members keep feeding me the way they are I'll probably be 200 by the end of my mission.

My time is cut short but I love you all! Know that I keep you in my prayers and are always in my thoughts. I love and miss you much!

Elder Horrocks