#SantaMaria

Haha, hello friends and family. How are all of you? I hope that answer is good. Right now it's a good 70 degrees and cloudy here in Long Beach, and I've got some missionaries complaining about how everything is closed because it's Memorial Day and P-day. How dare they put a holiday on our P-day!

 I'm sure you're all wondering about the Subject line so I'll get straight to it. Something I have not quite figured out is Catholics and the Virgin Mary. When we walk into the house of a Catholic, it is quite normal we find a lot of paintings of Mary and the same, if not fewer paintings/pictures of Christ. They have prayers they say to Maria, and I just don't understand it. Maybe one of you could shed some light on that. Yes, we do believe she was a great woman and a chosen vessel of God to bring forth Christ into this world, and yes she raised Jesus but I don't understand why some people pray to her.

Besides that, I am still having such a fun time in Long Beach. We meet the most interesting people! Most of them tend to approach us, and not long after such approach I learn that they're not quite right in the head. If there's anything I have gained a testimony of in the mission, it's substance abuse. Whether one is a current user or a past hard user, we can surely distinguish by they way they talk and think. One of these great sons of God ,Mark, approached me and my companion the other day and began to talk to us. He proceeded to tell us how we as missionaries are on the right path, and that we are saved in the book of Lambs while others aren't. Even though he was holding a stuffed animal and wasn't quite there mentally, it did give me an opportunity to bear testimony how we are just trying to teach everyone how God is our loving heavenly Father and how it will be well with us through keeping the commandments. He began to list off some of the commandments then said this, my favorite quote to this day. 

"yep, yep you've got to repent not three, not five, but seven times and be baptized as a born-again Evangelist..." So yep. Elder Horton's having fun.

Another thing about Long Beach. Multiple times a day we see people, sometimes homeless, riding by on a bike with a speaker attached and they're just blasting music. It's always something different, but it's a lot of rap and stoner-type music.

At a members house 2 little perritos began to fight and bite each other. While all the sisters in the room starting freaking out and not knowing what to do, I calmly walked up and picked both the dogs up to separate them. Was I afraid one of them would bite me? Psh.... not at all...

Okay well those are some awesome experiences that Elder Horton is having. Long Beach is by far the craziest place I've been and since I didn't know what to include in this email, I just put some of those. Let me finish my email with the most important story of the week.

We got one hermana and her son to come and teach a lesson with us on Saturday. We went and knocked the door of this investigator, and when she wasn't home, we asked if they would go with us to talk to a potential. They happily agreed, and this potential investigator let us right in. We had already talked to her about the Plan of Salvation once before but this time we were able to teach a lesson. So out of the blue, we taught the plan of Salvation. We had not prepared with this hermana, but the lesson went so well. I noticed at one point, I was speaking words that were not mine. I know the spirit used my mouth to speak the words to her heart. Now, she's an investigator! We are going to talk to her on Saturday! 

This work is so real. It's of God. If you have the chance, join His mighty army and beat against the foe.

Con amor,

Elder Horton

Even opposites can be companions

Made personal pizzas

My hair these days

Sunglasses??

Sunglasses??

Prayer to the virgin mary on the back of a candle

Drying your shoes, huh Juan-Carlos?

#HEATWAVE

Hello friends and family! Today, I hail from the Orange County Library in Seal Beach, California instead of the normal Family History Center in the Stake Center. This morning was nice and overcast, a cool 68 degrees.

But it wasn't like that the whole week.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were hot, hot, hot and it seemed to come from nowhere!

Saturday was our busiest, and most successful day of the week which isn't normal. Saturdays are usually when the Hispanics are out running their errands or whatever and no one is home. But this time we has 6 set appointments and we were outside so much. It didn't help that it almost touched 100 degrees with a bolstering sun that day.

Let me tell you a little more about my companion Elder Wallis. Not only is he a really hard worker, but he is all in. He knows how to work efficiently in the field and he is a blessing to this area! He has an older sister on a mission, and a little brother about to leave. Yes, his family will have 3 kids on missions all at the same time. His other sister is getting married, so I can imagine it's a busy time for his parents.

We have met quite a few fun people, as well this week. Some, sadly, won't accept a message, not even a picture of Jesus Christ. But by talking with everyone, we can find those that the Lord has prepared to hear the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It sounds like you are all doing well, from your emails to me. I will give a quick shoutout to my brother Kyson "Bison" Hancey who gave his farewell talk and enters the MTC in a little less than a month to speak Mandarin in Canada. Who woulda thunk.

Well, It's about that time. Time for you to either go on and read another missionary's weekly email, or go outside for 5 minutes and soak in the sun/clouds/snow depending on whether or not you live in Utah.

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

#Diadelasmadres

Hola every one! I hope you all had a great Mothers day, because I definitely did! *wink*

First off, I thank the Park way 9th Ward for "sending their love" to their missionaries. Second, thank you all for showing  love to your Mothers. 

Sad news. As I have said  the whole  week, Kevin "dropped us like a hot  pocket". As we were texting  him to set something up, he indicated  to us that he doesn't feel we are inviting  him to church, but that we are pushing him to go to church. Poor guy, he's running  off of 4 hours of sleep every night between school and work. Good things, but they impede us from meeting with him.

Oh yeah, I got a new companion! His name is Elder Wallis and he's from Washington. We get along suuuper well and I am excited to work so much with him this transfer. It feels like a relief to be able to work well with my companion and get along so well with him at the same time. The spirit is more abundant in our companionship and we can help our investigators to feel that.

Also I apologize for the shortness of this email, as well as the lack of pictures. I only have one picture with my new companion and I will try to send that today but I am on a computer that doesn't upload pictures very well.

In sacrament meeting we had all the kids from primary get up and sing the song to the mothers. It was a smaller primary choir than what I am used to, but still powerful. I have been in this branch for 4 1/2 months and I'm so excited to spend another transfer here.

I hope you all have a great week.

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

#HOLA

Hola mis amigos y mi familia. How are you? 

I'm just great.

First off, you all remember Kevin? How he was supposed to be baptized the 23rd, then the 30th, then the 7th? Welp. None of those came through. He's got a job that's pretty far away, and it's got some crazy hours. We will continue to work with him, hopefully setting a new baptismal date we know for sure he can keep. (and ask for work off)

In other news, my companion Elder Gutierrez goes home to Costa Rica tomorrow. He's super excited to see his family and friends, for sure! These last couple of months of his mission have clearly been rough, as he has thought about all the regrets he has and how much he misses his family. Now that it is a reality of his going home, he's very happy and that's awesome for me to see.

Since he's going home, I am getting a new companion! I'm staying here another transfer in the Long Beach East stake, Ximeno Branch. My new companion is named Elder Wallis. You know as much about him as I do! He's 3 months younger than me in the mission, which makes me senior companion. Also, he's learning Spanish. So I'm assuming my Spanish will be the better of the both of us, which worries me a little all things considering! But I know with the strength of the Lord I can do all things. This will be a difficult transfer in different ways than these last two, but through rough times we learn to rely upon the Lord and we learn the power of prayer!

Next big piece of news. The proselyting areas changed (again) here in the Ximeno district. Don't worry, this time it should be for a long time. Though I have seen 3 area changes in my time here, I know this one will stay! Our district leader counciled with the Branch president and with the mission president to make sure the areas are fair for active members, equal opportunity for work, and less-actives. 

I'll leave you all with a cool experience. Last night was my companions last night for proselyting, and so I let him pick where we went, who to talk to, and everything. All according to his will as we went along. at about 7:45 we decided to go by an investigator we have, who we haven't seen or talked to for about 4 weeks. To our surprise, we found her outside in her yard! We went and talked to her on her porch and she just started talking. She shared with us that she's going through a hard time where sometimes she just doesn't want to do anything at all. She admitted that she knew if she continued to meet with us often, that she would find the strength to kick her unmarried boyfriend out and that she would want to be baptized. For that reason, she was avoiding us. She knows baptism is the correct thing to do, so I don't know if it was out of fear or whatever. Now she is sad that Elder Gutierrez is going home. However, we offered to give her a blessing! That was a spiritual impression from my companion. She accepted, we entered her house, and gave her a blessing of comfort. She appreciated it so much. To our surprise, as soon as she got out of the chair we blessed her in, her 10 year old daughter hopped in there and asked if she could have one too. Well that was awesome so I got to give her a blessing too.

Anyways that's it. Love you guys! Next Sunday is mothers day!! WOOP 

More selfie action after a hard days work

Foggy day

These murals are everywhere

#8months

Hello my friends and family. Today is my 8 month mark! All I can think is that I get all the time I just used, again. Twice. I am so happy I get to serve for a lot longer and bring more souls to Christ.

This week... uhm... went by pretty quick. Sad news, Kevin was unable to be baptized this Sunday. He recently got a job who didn't let him Sunday off. So, he could not attend Sacrament meeting nor his baptism which we scheduled for the 30th. My companion and I were super sad, especially considering we held a special fast for him this Wednesday.

His job also disallows us from seeing him every day, as we previously were doing! He goes straight to work after school and works until 10pm or 12am. But we had a great miracle. Friday night we found ourselves short on time to visit all the people we had to visit. As I pulled over on the street to park, my comp said "I wonder if we can find Kevin right now..." So we drove to his house. To our surprise, we found Kevin outside talking to his family in Honduras on his phone. We decided to give him a little time then we could talk to him. That's a true miracle, brothers and sisters! We have been trying our best to be exactly obedient this week and I know that obedience led to blessings. Sadly, he asked us to come back Saturday night and then cancelled on us Saturday night. We are in what feels like a rut. We still have hope he will be baptized this Sunday though! Faith!

I apologize that this is bien corto. I just want you to all know that I love this work. I have come to a new knowledge of obedience, love, gratitude, and my savior as I have served my mission. I see people through a different light now.

My thought today is on humility. I'm sure you can imagine how tough it can be to be put with someone you don't know and be forced to spend 24/7 with them, especially if you come to learn you have a lot of differences. The biggest thing I have seen to help with getting along with your companion is humility. I've been on both sides, when I have been too prideful to change and when I have been humble and submissive, willing to learn. ALWAYS it is better to be humble! My brothers and sisters, if you are humble and willing to learn in any experience you are in, you will be blessed. I see pride tear families apart, and bring sadness and hatred into lives. Truly pride is the universal sin. So many of us are sinning without knowing it!

Below I am attaching a talk given a long time ago, about pride. I encourage you all to take a quick 10 minutes and listen or read it. Focus on what you're doing to be prideful and how you can change it.

Link:

Beware of Pride - Ezra Taft Benson

Doctrine and Covenants is the bomb dot com

California and Utah flags! Go Utes!

When Elder Horton is bored+selfie stick...

me+Elder Kimball, buddies from the MTC reunited in LBE district!