Training and new companions & Hola hola!

I apologize... I've slacked off on getting letters posted.  So here are 2 weeks of letters.  I will get a new one today but I didn't want to wait any longer to post these.  He has (of course) been doing well and still loving the work!  He is getting along awesomely with his new companions.  He told me that they are all a little bit goofy so why wouldn't they get along ;)  hahaha!  

He was a bit sick last week :(  Well I guess a LOT sick from the sound of it!  I guess that lesson about how long you should and shouldn't leave food in your fridge and EAT IT was forgotten???  He ate some KFC that had sat in the fridge just a little too long and got pretty darn sick!  Thank heavens for Lupe for getting him the meds he needed giving him the advise he needed to help him get well.  I don't know what I'd/he'd do without the members help :)  Needless to say tho, I was on Amazon the next day and sending snacks and food through Amazon Pantry.  They are fed VERY well by members so the best I can come up with is that he was hungry at home and they didn't have anything else to eat???  I sent plenty to keep him from getting hungry.  Hopefully?? :/  LOL!!  Who knows with boys!!  Who knows with Alex!!  He is ALWAYS hungry!  

He also sent me the name of song to listen to a couple weeks ago.  Alex's love for music and my own are one in the same.  He knows what touches me and will bring a tears to my eyes.  Little stink!  I bawled my eyes out!  It describes my feeling and thoughts and prayers as the momma of a missionary for sure!  I posted a link to the song so you could hear it also...

 I love him!!  Enjoy.  <3

Click on this link to watch the video Bless My Son

My attempt at a butt part (Don't worry I didn't actually wear it though whole day)

Butt Part

This is Elder Mota's elephant! We were driving back from Leadership meeting and he yells "Elephant! A live elephant!" We all were super confused and we all turned around to see this elephant and he's saying "I swear I saw an elephant!" So we pulled up to this and we all busted up laughing

So this is Manuel that Elder Guereca and I both taught in Tulare. Elder Guereca found him and started teaching him. Then a few transfers after I followed through with him. It's been a whole year since he's been found and now he's baptized! His baptism was this past Thursday

September 14th

Training and new companions

Wow this week was such a spiritual eye opener for me and I think a lot of missionaries. I've had the opportunity to do something I've never done before, and that is to train! I'll speak of that a little bit more later in my letter. Elder Guereca is my Zone Leader companion and we are both training Elder Ordonez. Elder Guereca is from Monterrey Mexico and Elder Ordonez is from Mesa Arizona. Just to give you a background of what they're like; Elder Guereca is super goofy! But if anyone knows me really well I'm the same way. We both have a blast together! I can tell already that we're going to be good together and be goofballs :) Elder Ordonez is good too! His first few days in the mission he was a little bit shy but is starting to talk a lot more. He's so humble and teachable. It makes me so happy that we got a good trainee :). He'll be such a stud missionary in the future.

We had a great week! Tuesday we went to the missionary farewell and that was the end of last transfer. It's so crazy how fast these transfers go by. It's weird that I have 5 more after this one and those will fly. Wednesday was when we the trainers got to go to the temple and I went with the questions I wanted the Lord to answer. I had prepared before hand and felt that I was going to need to set an example for our trainee. I wasn't really sure how I was going to do it. After the temple session we all gathered in to the stake center next door and had a trainer discussion and talked about what's to be expected from us. There in that meeting is where I really saw how I was going to be a better example, which was through greater and more exact obedience. Well sometimes it's easier said than done to be exactly obedient because we're never perfect. Thursday is when I really found my "spiritual eye opener". That day the trainers gathered together to have another discussion just before meeting the trainees. So Elder Guereca and I we were getting super pumped to see our new trainee! When we met him oh it was so cool! The way that President Clark does it is he takes us to the front of the chapel and calls the trainers up and then after he calls up the trainees. He then has the trainees pick which companion he thinks his trainer will be. Well Elder Ordonez was called up and so was Elder Guereca and I and we were both facing Elder Ordonez and President Clark asks, "Elder Ordonoz which one do you think is your companion?", and so he points to Elder Guereca! And he goes and gives him a big hug! And I just stand there... Haha after a few seconds President Clark says, "Well guess what, you get two of them!", and I went up and gave him a big hug! After all of that President Clark spoke to us and that's when I had my spiritual eye opener. So training is so important! It determines the success of the mission! What I received that day was exactly how I was going to be exactly obedient. What I wrote to President Clark describes it perfectly:

"Thank you so much for your letter and also I want to especially thank you for the opportunity Elder Guereca and I have to be together and also to be training Elder Ordonez. This past week during the trainer/trainee gathering I felt such a prompting to put all of my selfish desires/motives aside and to go out and serve these last two transfers and a half with a different motive. Especially during training. It's not to say that I'm a selfish person or anything, but the only true motive worth living and serving for is love right? And that motivation of love comes from serving because we love the Lord Jesus Christ. I've never had this opportunity to train before and never recognized how big of a position it is until we came together at the mission office before meeting our trainees. I know this is so important, and I know that love motivation is what's going to be key in training and in everything we do these next few months. So I just want to thank you for this opportunity! It helped me to take a step back and look at the important things of why we really are here, or why we should be here."

And so I just want to let you know that that's exactly what's going to help me be a better example. It's that love for the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the reason we do everything, and it should be the reason we're here. I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's such a testimony builder to me that missions is just like an MTC for life. Every single day I thank the Lord for everything he's given me, and especially for the opportunity I have to be here. I thank family at home and I am blessed to have a family who's helped to get to where I am today. So I know that I love ya! You all mean the world to me.

So I'll end it there. My time is almost up and I have to get going but I hope that you all had a great week! Sorry I'm not able to reply to everyone about the awesome stuff that's happened this week. Just know that the work is doing great! I love it so much. And I love you all! Take care until next time!

Love,
Elder Horrocks

p.s. if you ever have the opportunity to listen to "The work" album by Nashville Tribute Band, listen to a song called Bless my son. I think you'll like it :)



September 21st

Hola hola!

So first off, I have to give my apologies at the beginning of this letter because who knows if I'll have a lot of mess ups writing this. Last night I got the chills sleeping and next thing I knew I had a fever of 102 and maybe a little bit of food poison. I think it was something I ate yesterday. I'm still a little bit sick right now and have no energy whatsoever haha I got 0 hours of sleep so I'm not fully with it. But I'm not dead so that's good :)

We had such a great week this week! A lot of fun stuff has been going on for us. My new comps Elder Guereca and Elder Ordonez are awesome! I'm impressed with Elder Ordonez he seems like he's been out for a long time. Elder Guereca and I are having a blast training him. All three of us just make the work fun. President Clark came out with us last Friday to teach U. and after our lesson with him he turns to Elder Guereca and Ordonez and says that it's like they've been in Madera for as long as I or Elder Quintana have been here. Yep! I believe that to be true. These two elders are awesome! I always feel so blessed to have good companions.

Speaking of U. he's doing good! We saw him yesterday and sat down and talked and planned out his baptism for this Saturday. He's on track! Can't complain about him. D. and H. got a little off track though. H. was supposed to get his marriage license with his wife C. so that H. could be baptized but I suppose that H.'s I.D. wasn't valid? I think it has to be an I.D. from the United States and he told us he's still in that process so until he can get that he's good! D. isn't quite desiring it! Either that or there's something he hasn't told us. We believe it's drinking because we were teaching him one night and asked him what's holding him back and his mom behind him gives us this chug sign like he's been drinking. So we asked him!! And he said no hahaha so just pray that we can resolve his needs, whatever they may be.

M. is doing really good and he's always staying positive. We haven't set a baptismal goal with him yet. He came out to us saying that he's smoked a few times since he's come back from Mexico and I think it's stress with his job. He feels like a sitting potato not being able to go to work. He originally had a job driving machines out in the fields and they were going to apparently call him and get him his work schedule fixed out and  3-4 weeks or so of  nothing has happened. They weren't seeming super interested in him and so he just dropped his job and is looking for a new one. There's a few other things he wants to work at but those other things are confidential. We're going to be doing the stop smoking program with him, so let's see if it works out, which we know it will! You know what? M. kind of reminds me of Jud in a way! His story is so similar in a way and if he can quit smoking imagine what else he can do! So I have to ask what are some tips or things that Jud or you would recommend? We want to do everything we can to help him.

We have this family named the Ch. Family. Oh my gosh they're so solid!! They're like dry mormons! We've taught them twice thus far and I know the Lord prepared them for us. Wish I had more information about them but their focus is all about families and that's exactly what missionaries would want from investigators. Pray for them too please.

So me, Elder Guereca and Elder Ordonez all played in the spanish ward talent show this past Friday. We made our song in like 30 minutes haha. Elder Guereca wrote a wrap, E. Ordonez played a Tupperware bowl and I played the guitar. We got a few pictures and a video but I didn't take them so I'll see if I can get them from Elder Guereca and give them to you. Talent show was a success! Sunday we had stake conference and the guest was Elder Arnold from the Q of the 70. We'll actually be seeing him tomorrow at zone conference. This stake is awesome and it's huge! I never realized how big it is. And we're privileged to serve around great leaders and members

I'm so excited for Charlie to be in Utah! Take care of him for me will ya? I'm glad to have a piece of my mission living in Utah. He's the best! You're gonna love him.

Congrats to Wes and the team. Sick play from Wes!! Dang refs though. Tell them I said to keep working hard. What's the record for them on the season? I'm glad to see they're doing really good. Good luck to JD next week... It's weird to see Marleigh on dates (if you even call it that) My little sis is growing up! I bet it was fun... Send the family all my love this week!

Well I know this letter is short but I'm gonna cut it here. I need to go get some rest for tomorrow. I just hope by tomorrow I won't be feeling as sick as I was this morning. Les quiero!! (Love you)



Elder Horrocks

Last week of this transfer!

Another transfer down.  He's staying in Madera again :) but he will have a new companion.  He will be a Zone Leader and a Trainer.  Tripanions???  He was a little nervous about taking on both tasks at one time but he has a great attitude about it :)  We received a letter & picture of him with his new companion and the new trainee missionary, from the Mission President on Saturday.  I'm not sure if it's a general letter that they send out but it said some really nice things about Alex.  It made Justin and I both cry.  We are so blessed to have him serving!  We are also so blessed that he LOVES the work and the people.  I love hearing from him <3

I got pictures of him making tamales last week for a member's birthday.  I am also SOOOOOOO grateful for this family and for the love that they show my son.  Thanks for treating him like he is yours :) <3  Hope the birthday party was the best ever!!

Enjoy :)

Making Tamales for Lupe's Birthday

Lupe's Birthday!

Eating Grilled Oysters. Mexican Style

Eating Grilled Oysters. Mexican Style

 Low riders here. Saw this car today. Ugly painting but it's a sweet car

Making Tamales for the party

Eating at El Tibu

Last District Meeting and Transfer

Goofs

HaHa!  Thug!

Tripanions??  hahaha.  New Comps :)

Sept. 7th

Last week of this transfer!

Wow another transfer has already passed! I can't believe how fast this one has gone by either. For every companion I get they've only stayed with me two transfers. I think that's just my mission routine, get a companion for two transfers and then gone! I think President does that so we don't go insane haha who knows but I liked Elder Quintana! We went through the good and the bad together and probably had the most fun out of all the companion ships in our zone. When we found out that we were being changed we were dropping off a baptismal report to some Elders at a baptism and President Clark was there. He pulled us both aside and spilled the beans to both of us. So yes I'm staying in Madera and Elder Quintana is going to a place called Dinuba. It's a place where missionaries have never been before, so he's opening up that area and training as well! That's awesome! My new companion will be Elder Guereca and he's from Monterrey Mexico. Same place that Elder Quintana grew up in before he moved to Chihuahua. I met Elder Guereca when I was in Hughson and we had so much fun together up there! Oh by the way the both of us are Zone Leaders and training a new missionary too!!! Wish us luck! There are 4 zone leader companion ships that are training this transfer. There wasn't enough missionaries to train the new incoming missionaries so they called zone leaders. A lot of our zone is getting moved around. It's going to be hectic and fun at the same time haha.

Our investigators are all doing so well! We actually got 5 new ones this week and they're all families too. Two of them are the Ch. family and they have two little daughters. We were teaching them The Restoration and about families and they ask the question that any missionary wants an investigator to ask, "So how do you know which one is true?" They're a solid family! After our lesson they asked when we could come back and they are really interested. You could feel the spirit working through us letting them know that what we were teaching was true... The other family is An. and A. and their daughter Ad. They're not as solid as the others but we are working with them as we go.

U. is doing great! He got his new job which allows him to work Monday through Friday instead of on the weekends. It was a great testament of how the Lord is watching over that man and wants to bless a very nascent faith. He has so many good things ahead of him, and it looks like his baptismal date for the 26th of September is on course.

 H. is also set up for September 19th as well as D. for the 26th. The only obstacle that H. is trying to overcome is getting a marital licence. Bishop was with us and helping him with it but I wasn't able to understand the Spanish on that subject when we were talking to him about it. But what I did understand is that Bishop chastised him really good! Haha he hasn't been super diligent in the process of getting it done, and bishop told them that they need to be calling the office every week to get an appointment set to get their licence. I'm not sure how the process works but I suppose that you have to contact an office here everyday to see when there's an appointment, because it's super hard to get an appointment. It ALL depends on how they do this marital licence thing, because we can't force them to do anything. As for D. he just needs to simply come to church. But goodness gracious he hasn't done that for 2-3 months! We're doing everything we can to help them both.

M. came back yesterday! He's got a job working, driving trucks. We're so glad he's back though. He clicked with Elder Quintana and I and I hope that transfers doesn't change his perspective on anything. But I believe he's a lot more humble than that. He really wants to come close to God. Especially after what he's gone through. We're going to talk to him before Elder Quintana leaves and see what's up with him lately. Then I'll update you a little more about him.

So many miracles and great things are going to be happening for us this month. To be honest with you I was a little bit nervous to be training as well as being a Zone Leader. I'm not sure why. I suppose I felt apprehensive about the whole thing and how I was going to be prepared, or if I needed to do anything differently. I was just barely reading a quote by Norman Vincent Peale and it spoke peace to me. It says, "Change your thoughts and you change your world." So for now I'm just keeping a good attitude and going forward with things. I'm really excited for this new transfer!

Thanks family for all you do! I got your pictures and everything. Tell Weston to take it easy! It looks like his ankle hurts but he'll be up and running in no time. Congrats to Mar! Keep playing Varsity volleyball!

By the way my finger is fine :P it's just a little cut. I guess they worried for the white boy because normally the white boys out here in California don't work in the fields haha

Well my time is up and I gotta go! I'll send you some pictures from this week and stuff!

Love ya'll!

Elder Horrocks

Hey What's Up!! & Que pachuca!

His letter the week before last was so short and sweet that I decided to pair it with last weeks letter instead of posting it alone.  He has had a ton going on and he is still loving every moment of it!!  I'm not sure why but last weeks letter about the vineyard really touched my spirit.  I wish it was closer and I could visit them and work there also.  Maybe when we go back with him to visit that can be on our list... Although I'm thinking sometime early spring or late late fall  LOL.  110 degrees!?!??  Those people are amazing!  He said he cut his finger "a little".  I would also like to know what "a little" is if they were all worried about the white boy!!  ???  hahaha.  Be sure to watch the video about the vineyard he sent.  It was inspiring!!  Only 1 paid employee in the enitre vineyard.  Wow!

Only 8 months left!! HOLY COW!  Is it weird that I'm now having mixed emotions about him coming home???  I want to see him sooooooo badly but yet I feel so sad for the people there who will be losing my sweet boy in Fresno too.  I will also miss the spirit that is in our home from having a missionary!  Of course, by then Weston will be getting ready to leave on his and then that brings up the rollercoaster ride all over again!!  I don't know if I want my little Butterbean out on his own or how I will do it!!  ???  This rollercoaster is giving me whiplash ;) hahaha!

Enjoy his letter :)

Temple Trip

Exercising

Making tortillas for investigators

Zone activity in Oakhurst

Elder Quintana picked one of the biggest ones out there

It was 110 degrees out there.  Man it was HOT!! 

After the vineyard

August 24th

Hey what's up!

I need to apologize because this letter will be very very very short. I just got back from a Zone activity up in Oakhurst! And we have to finish our other chores for the day I'll be sending more pictures than I will a letter. I'm really sorry about that.

The Zone Activity was fun though! Probably one of the best ones we've had thus far! We did lots of stuff like ping pong, roping, pool table, lunch, a whole bunch of activities. We were not able to stay for very long though, wish we could have. Ping pong was probably the best! Made it pretty interesting. There was about 18 of us missionaries up there and all of us were playing around the world ping pong.

This week was loads of fun! Had a temple trip last Tuesday. They normally do temple sessions for zones every two transfers. I'm so glad I've got 3 more after before the mish ends. Love it! During the trip I felt lots of impressions that I just need to keep losing myself in the work. At times, especially lately, we have obstacles and hard tasks that come to us and when I feel tempted to think selfish and I feel like my body deserves a rest, I feel like President Henry B Eyring says, "Remember him." So those will be my "rallying words" as he puts it.

Our investigators are doing great! C. got baptized if I haven't mentioned that already. She started her english class this week and I'm helping her with that as well. I never thought I'd see myself teaching english. I never really even liked my english classes when I was going to school haha. M. is coming back this week. His baptism date is this weekend so were praying that he's been doing what we've taught him since he's been in Mexico so that he can be baptized.

Can't believe summer is gone and school has started again. I got to Madera at the end of the school year and it feels like just yesterday. Can't believe it!

Sorry to hear about the game last Friday. Weston has every right to keep his head up. Those group of boys are hard working. A little bit of more hard work and some fine tuning and they'll be ready to go! Tell Marz congrats about volleyball! I got all your pics and stuff and it looks like everyone's doing good!

I gotta go! love ya!

Elder Horrocks





August 31st

Que pachuca!

Sounds like this week has been awesome! I got your pictures this week. Haha I'm sorry Weston had to come back home from Hurricane after his game late at night. Sounds like there should have been lots of things that needed to be better but that they overall had a better game. 10 times better from what I've heard, that's good! Now just moving on to the next one. What did they have a game so far out there for? I'm glad everyone at home is doing good. Tell everyone that says hello that I say hello back :) I can't believe my graduating class is home haha sorry I couldn't be there! I'm in the right place though.

Our week was super fun! Lot's of success in finding new people to teach that's for sure! We found 10 new investigators this week, and 8 of them are like this big ol clan. They're the M. family. They're all cousins, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, all of the above. One night we received a phone call from our Elders Quorum President and he asked if we could go give a blessing to one of his wife's cousins I believe? Her name was L. So we went over there and we walked in and all of them were just eyes on us. Two tall white guys in a shirt and tie and the house just goes silent. We met the family sat down and talked with them all and kind of broke the ice you could say. After we got more comfortable with them we actually taught them a lesson and then gave the blessing to L. Afterwards we got everyone's addresses. Then we walked out and it kind of hit us like whoa that was 8 new investigators! The other two were from members also. One of them being J. She's 18 and has a baby and is currently still attending highschool. We taught her the Restoration and about families and she started crying. She's real special and we look forward to teaching her more later on :)... We also met this guy named E. He's english but we found him at the gas station. He's been taught by missionaries a year ago and holy cow he is animated as heck! He tells us he's not crazy but sometimes I wonder that about him haha but he's cool. He's like "Richard Shermon's interception" animated but less cocky. He's lost A LOT of things but he plans on gaining everything back. We know he can if he will start following God again.

We went to the vineyard on Wednesday and picked some grapes with some members of the ward. That'll be the 2nd time for me going this year. I went once during the winter and now twice this summer. Haha I ended up cutting my finger just a little bit. I put a little dirt on it and it was all good haha the bishop of the ward saw and he looks at me and he just starts teaching me how to pick grapes immediately. The rest of the members heard what happened and they started getting worried for "the white boy". But they taught me well! And I can now say I work as fast as a mexican! Because they work soooooo fast! I remember we were a third of the way done with a row and the other wards were about halfway or a fourth of the way done. Actually here is a video about the vineyard in Madera. When you watch it there's a guy that says,"they worked as fast as the brown brothers!  "https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-05-16-madera-volunteers?lang=eng

We had awesome opportunity to hear from a member of the Q of the 70! He came to our leadership meeting last Saturday and he was powerful! These men are just amazing! It was Elder Hamula and he came and taught the importance of the Sabbath Day to all of us. He taught the significance of what the Sabbath Day and the Sacrament really does for us. He said that if "all" the world and/or members had a profound and deep understanding of what the Sabbath Day is, then we would be so much more converted to the Lord than ever. Apparently the whole church's focus is the Sabbath? It needs to be implemented in our minds! The Sabbath is the only time for us to be clean again and perfected until that final day when the Lord can change us. He dissected the sacrament prayers and turned it into the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I wish I could explain and give all of it to you but he basically said that Christ's gospel and purpose of the Sacrament is so that we might all be "spotless" at last day, and we will if we're faithful.  (3 Ne. 27:13-21, D&C 59:9) I know it seems like all of you have heard it before. I'd have to teach it to you to help you understand what I learned, it was sweet!!

Last thing before I end. So President basically spilled the beans to us about transfers. Yes transfer calls are this Saturday. Crazy huh! I think Elder Quintana might train or stay with me. I don't think I'm going anywhere yet. But it's all up to God. So we'll see! Hey we might even train a missionary together??

I'll send you some pictures of the vineyard! My time is up and I got to head out

Love ya'll

Elder Horrocks

Hello my fellow familiares

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

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

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

Hopefully he inspires you this week <3

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

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

Dropping off Elder Reid at 4 in the morning

Cristina's baptism and her kids

Hello my fellow familiares

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


I love ya'll! My time is out

Love

Elder Horrocks

Que onda familia?

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

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

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

Elder Nye's Farewell with Charlie and Elder Quintana

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

August 10th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love ya'll
Love,
Elder Horrocks

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



August 3rd

Que onda familia?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love,
Elder Horrocks

What's up ya'll!

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

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

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

Messy

Someone likes cake!!

On his face ;)

SIZZLER!!!

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

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

What's up ya'll!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love ya'll!
     

Elder Horrocks

!Hola!

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

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

Click here to watch newscast :)

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

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

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

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

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

Bowling :)

Cooking some lunch!

Elder Quintana with the ice bucket

Passing out The Book of Mormon at The Book of Mormon

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

Bringing in the Ammo

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

July 13th

!Hola!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love Elder Horrocks


Elder Horrocks




July 20th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love

Elder Horrocks