#CALIFORNIA/Thanksgiving

Whoa, did this week start out awesome!

Tuesday, we went as a district, in one car, to take an Elder to the airport. On the way back on the freeway, we pulled over to the sound of sirens. Soon as we did that, a red Honda went past us going about 40 MPH, followed by a line of cops. It was a not-so-high speed chase! However, I forgot my camera. I seem to forget my camera at the worst times.

Also, something cool I forgot to include from last week! We had the primary program in our ward. Of course, all the hymns were in Spanish and I only understood a little but it was just the best to see all the kids I know and love up there singing out their little hearts.

THANKSGIVING. That was quite the day! We began the day with the Turkey Bowl the ward put on. However, instead of football it was soccer. That was a really fun time! We played on and off for about 4 hours and ended. A lot of the fathers had to go home to their families and children but when it was done, there were about 10 of us left. We saw another group of about 10 setting up a goal and we decided to go see if they wanted to play. Well, we lost but then again they were fresh and we had all played for 4 hours and were all tired.

All in all, we played soccer for 6 hours and if that wont make you sore, you've got a problem. The next morning was not pleasing!

Well, as a companionship, me and Elder Ramirez were invited to 4 thanksgiving dinners. Back to back. At each dinner, we ate a full plate of food. Can you imagine? It almost hurt by the end of the night. But all in all, there was a lot of good company.

As far as proselyting goes, we had a pretty bad week. We found Sergio drunk twice. One of those times we committed him to a baptismal date. So... I don't think it's real. Also he committed to go to church but he didn't. So.... we're going to have a very fun lesson tonight ;) Also, with the Hernandez family we still find it hard to get into their house to teach. They say they will let us know when we can come by but never do. And every time we pass by they don't have time to talk.

This week me and Elder Ramirez are doing a "finding week". We are going to increase our pool of investigators and find more solid. How, you may ask? We are taking the Area Book and going through past teaching records and investigators who have been dropped. We are going to go by them and see if they are willing to be taught again.

Anyways, sorry for the long email. I hope all continues to be well back home and all of you had a good Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Thanks for the prayers and good wishes.

Signing off,

Elder Horton

Pictures:

Well. this is awkward. I can't get the computer to work with my SD card..

I didn't have too many pictures anyways.

I will send extra next week

PS from mom- this is a picture sent to me from Elder Calvin's mom (Elder Calvin is the other Elder in the picture)

#1transferdown

*Note from Mom - Ryan talks about transfer week, but that just means changes in his mission to different companionship's. Sometimes it will be Ryan, sometimes not. This time, Ryan stayed in the same area with the same companion.  He says "Elder Ramirez is staying with me for at least another 6 weeks. That is customary with training. The trainer stays with the trainee for their first 12 weeks."

Also, if you want to send Ryan a card of package for Christmas, he gets mail every Tuesday, so if you want him to get it before Christmas, it should be there before Dec. 20th.  Thanks for your love, support, and prayers!  Ryan feels it :)



Well! One transfer is down! This excites me since this last week was very bad. However, apparently it's a normal thing to have a bad week on your last week of the transfer. So... I'm very much looking forward to this week.

This last week we were focusing on committing people to baptismal dates. The first ones we wanted to commit were the Hernandez family. We are only teaching the mother Irma and her 16 year old son Marcos right now. However, Irma's younger kids come to church with her. Anyways, we visited them on Tuesday night and they told us they couldn't meet with us at all during the week, but that they would come to church. They have bed bugs in their apartment and they were doing some deep cleaning. Sadly, they didn't show to church.

The next one we wanted to commit was Sergio, who is an alcoholic, but nevertheless a good man. We haven't been able to visit him every day as we promised him we would, and I believe as a result he slipped up and got drunk again. Every Sundaywe walk thirty minutes to his house to make sure he is ready and going to church, and then walk 30 minutes back to the church. (We live near the church). This sunday we came by the regular time and he wasn't home. So I dunno!

I had a request to give more detail about my daily life, so here goes.

6:30 we wake up and work out. (sometimes not. Ha.)

7am we have an hour to shower, eat, and get ready for the day.

8am we have personal study. I study a variety of things, including the BOM, Our Search for Happiness, Our Heritage, etc.

9am we have companion study, where we share what we learned from PS, we read the missionary handbook 3 pages, and then plan more for the day.

10am we have language study. I have a few materials from the MTC i use, but I find the best study just proselyting!

11am we do 12 week, which is the training booklet new missionaries have for their first 12 weeks.

12pm we usually take lunch for an hour.

1-5 we go out and proselyte, which for us includes going to teaching appointments, visiting members, trying to contact referrals from other missionaries, and occasionally going on an adventure.

5pm we have dinner with a member. We are fed by the members every night except on p-day.

6-9 we do more proselyting. I find this time more productive since people tend to be home more.

9-10:30 we plan for the next day, or do whatever we need! and go to sleep

Gosh... sorry for the long email. Again, I appreciate all your love and prayers. The language continues to come along well. I'm putting my trust in God to give me the gift of tongues while I learn Spanish.

I hope you all have a fantastic time on Thanksgiving with your family. That's the most precious time of all.
--

Elder Horton

Pictures
Elder Horton for president 2020

May or may not have crashed my bike... But i'm all right

Service for a member building his house from the bottom

Sunsets for dayz

Elder Ramirez for president 2020

I dunno this was just an awesome view.

District meeting in the nursery room!!

#bacon&trump

Hello friends and family!

I'm grateful I have the opportunity to email all of you once again and read your letters. I hope you are all doing well and that the outside world isn't burning up after the election. (From what I've heard, it might be)

First of all, let me tell you about bacon! We do service every week at a place called IFC (Interfaith Food Center), who feeds the homeless. They get a lot of food donated, and when we go, it is our job to do whatever they need. Including, but not limited to: Unpackaging food, stocking fridges, making care-packages, and talking with people who share a similar belief in Christ. After each service session, the man in charge, Dave, loves to fill up a box with food and send it with the missionaries. He won't let us turn him down. Among the things in this box is a lot of bacon! Well, this bacon stocked up and up and up and we suddenly had so much bacon we couldn't handle it. So I have cooked bacon for breakfast for the last... 5 days. I'm still not sick of it.

I have had a decent week of proselyting. We had a lot of appointments dropped, and so our numbers suffered. Luckily, we have 6 more weeks together to keep going. We have found a lot more investigators since the last time I talked about our investigators. I'm grateful that God is blessing me with his children to teach them.

As for the update on Spanish! it comes slowly... I still struggle to completely understand, while being able to express myself almost completely how I want to. However, during the third hour of church yesterday, I understood the whole lesson! Yay! But when we talk to people in a normal circumstance, well you can forget about it because my conversational Spanish is just bad. haha!

I must mention the weather in my area Whittier. It has been mentioned as "the armpit of the mission" as far as the weather goes. This meaning, it's November and it's still 90 degrees and hot for most of the day. Not fun when I'm biking and walking. But hey, I'm staying tan :)

Something funny in our ward. In La Esparanza, there are 2 families named the Cuessy's. One is the bishop, and the other is the ex-bishop ward mission leader. So, both of them come up in conversation often. Of course, the ex-bishop still keeps the title of bishop. So, we say bishop Cuessy and you don't know which we are talking about. So that's been fun to figure all that out, haha.

I think that may be all I have for you all. Congrats to my buddy Conner Wheaton. Also I hope you all know I appreciate your prayers and love you send me. It means a lot.

Whittier City Hall

#Blessings

IIIIt's Elder Horton once again!

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a beautiful day, and had a beautiful weekend. For sure I did.

First off the title! I titled this blessings for two reasons: 1, I have seen firsthand the blessings from the Lord of those who are obedient and work hard. They are magnificent! When we work hard and we are obedient, we receive more blessings than if we just bum it around all the time. 2, I realized that in the 10 weeks I have been out, I have had the opportunity to participate in 5 priesthood blessings. What a blessing! Ha!

The last blessing I was able to give was yesterday in church. After sacrament meeting, one young woman came up to me and Elder Ramirez and asked if we could give her grandma a blessing.

Sidenote, in the ward I serve, there are 3 mission areas which means we have 6 Elders serving in our ward.

Back to the story. We gathered the 6 elders and the young woman, her grandma, and her grandpa. Long story short, she asked me to give the blessing. Whoaaa did I feel unqualified. I don't know how to give a blessing in Spanish! But the other Elders helped me. I began in Spanish, but finished in English when I didn't know what else I could say. It was veeerrry awesome. An incredible experience.

Also, a fun story from 2 weeks ago. I needed a haircut, and one of the Elders asked me if he could cut my hair. I responded yes, thinking for sure he knows how to cut hair. Well.... he didn't. I was his first. So he tried to cut my hair and when he failed miserably, we went to another elder in my district who knows how to cut hair. We ended up just buzzing it long because it was so bad. Ha, it was such fun.

I realized I haven't told you all much about my companion! His name is Elder Ramirez, and he was born in Argentina. He moved to Virginia in the US when he was 8. he is 11 months into his mission! We have an awesome time together. About half the time we are laughing.

Last p-day we went on a hike to the highest hill in our area and took some awesome pictures. (by the way it's nothing like Utah's mountains and hikes.)

A quick note to end my weekly email. I really love serving a mission. I love this area, the people I am serving, and I love to see the gospel change lives. I am only 2 months into my mission, and I have seen so many things that have changed my life. I know that we have a Heavenly Father on high who cares so much about us. Some people here cannot grasp that simple concept. I know that Jesus Christ suffered for our sins. Through Christ we can overcome sin, challenges, and anything we want. Pray to feel God's love in your life, and he will manifest his love in ways you can't even think of. Just watch him change your life.

-- 

Elder Horton

Pictures!(A lot, to make up for last week.)

Getting my hair cut

Golfing with my "fresh cut"

The hike

My comp made me a delicious Chicken Alfredo dinner

Our Halloween costumes

Our bishop, dressed as a bishop

Having a good time by the church

Weekly planning

I made the ward program for yesterday!

Biking on a bridge

Service at IFC(interfaith Food Center) who feed the homeless

Lunch Today

#Halloween

My dearest friends and family!

I title this email #Halloween of course, to wish you all a happy Halloween. Please, all stay safe while you go do hoodrat things. I, of course will not. Missionaries have been instructed to stay in the apartment after 6pm. The reason is so no one can accuse missionaries of doing something that was done by one dressed as a missionary in costume. The mission can simply reply by saying, "all our missionaries were in their apartments after 6pm". So yeah.

Also, we have been told by many that they do not trick-or-treat here. California, man!

This week has been very good for me. I am completely over being sick, my comp is done being sick too, (I may or may not have gotten him sick), and all is well.

This week we were really trying to focus on finding more investigators, which includes going through the area book and finding previous teaching records, and trying to contact referrals given to us. Though it has been hard and we have had a lot of no's, We have also had a bit of success.

My investigators are:

Sergio: alcoholic, but trying to improve. He had a baptism date set with the previous elders in my area, but that did not happen.

Hernandez family: A mom and son, particularly, who are very interested and accepting of the message we have to share

Ralph Ramirez: An old, deaf, illiterate man. Very interesting to teach him, since he has to read lips to understand and my comp does not like to speak slowly.

Yup, that's it. We've had a few people invite us back to teach, but we haven't taught many lessons.

The ward Halloween party in La Esparanza ward was awesome! I love all the members in here, and to see them in an environment outside of church and their homes was very cool. I notice that Hispanics can really get into things and put their whole heart into something they love.

Henceforth, the party really was an awesome time. I will attach pictures.

The weather is awesome! I can wake up and go eat breakfast outside and it's perfect. My mission is the best mission ever.

My apologies, but my time is short. I hope all is well back home. I hope you all continue to grow in faith of our Father in Heaven by praying, reading the scriptures, and attending church. It's so simple, but I remember having a hard time with that before. Just pray for the strength to be able to do it. Our father is a loving father and he so wants to bless us. Sometimes, all we have to do is ask!

*Note from Mom*  Sadly no pictures were attached this week :(