#transfers/11months

Hi everyone! Sorry I'm short on time today, so I'll give you the condensed version of everything I would like to say.

First off, I hit my 11 month mark today. Flipping crazy, I know. I'm about to hit the year. No, it's doesn't feel like it if you were wondering! Time just whooshes by on the mission!

Second, transfers are tomorrow. I got the call last night! After one transfer in this area, I'm being transferred! Super different. However I'm not going far. Just a different area in the same ward here. I'm going to my 5th area here on the mission, which if you're wondering, is super rare. My new companion is named Elder Diaz. He's from St. George, Utah. He's been here for a while and we have been able to become friends over the last transfer. There's a lot of good work going on in this new area and I'm super excited to jump right on in.

Also, we got rear-ended this week. Nothing really bad (or so it appears), but it's just a lot of business, forms, and calls that take time away from the work. It made us feel a little better that the lady who hit us, (who was looking down at her phone) was willing to hear us out! It's awesome!

That's about it. Right now I have to go email my mission president and i'm off, for the rest of P-day. Enjoy your week, everyone. I love you all! Keep cool!

 

Elder Horton

found a lizard. Teeny little guy

 tag picture

#kissedbyadrunkman

Hi guys, this last week was quite the week for Elder Horton. Still a boring (for you guys) missionary week, but a lot of cool things happened on my side of the barn.

First off! Before church yesterday, my companion and I traveled into the trailer park to invite our less-active to church. Her son was there, completely plastered drunk, and smoking a cigarette. After he gave my companion a big ol' hug and kissing him on the forehead, I got worried. But in his broken drunk Spanish, he introduced himself to me and gave me a bear hug. We shared a short scripture with him, and then on the way out another big drunk hug. At which point, I guess he felt comfortable enough with me to kiss me on my forehead and send us out with a "les amo". So yeah.. adventurous.

Next up, happy 24th of July/Pioneer's day to you all. If you ask me if they celebrate it in California, I would say Yes! Absolutely! The stake held an activity at which there was free breakfast, stick pulls, snow-cones, dancing and all kinds of fun for the members of the stake. The whole time, the missionaries of the stake were giving out church tours. Considering the amount of non-members there, it was a fantastic opportunity to introduce them to the church and the Gospel. What better way to help someone come to the Lord than showing his house? So yes, that was awesome. I will include a video of the two biggest guys in our Zone doing a stick pull. The Spanish Elder won! yay!

Also we got a District picture of all the Spanish Elders, and a couple English sisters decided to get in there. haha.

Well for all those considering leaving on a mission, just know you're going to have some serious downs. Those don't matter, as much as how you bounce back from them. For example, on Thurday and Friday my companion and I had 8 appointments fall through. By the time the 8th fell, we were pretty disappointed. But we were with a member who was going to accompany us. We all went into the chapel, read out of 3 Nephi 18, and he gave his most powerful testimony. That will do it!

Anyways, sorry I'm out of time. I've got lots of pictures this week.

Elder Horton

Biking exchange! yeehaw!

Investigators galore!

Spanish district

drug bust?

my view right now

Stick pull with the two biggest elders.

#Fresh

Hola todos! How are you all doing? I hear the weather has been a little nicer to everyone, so that makes for a more fun summer.

I'm doing well here, about as much as you should expect from a missionary...

So in Spanish, people often use the word "fresca" (fresh) to describe the weather. It means not too hot, but not too cold, and okay to spend a lot of time outside. Well where I'm serving now, most of the people speak fluent Spanish with OK English. However the problem is, "fresh" doesn't directly translate! So often the people stay "It's fresh" that I've gotten used to it. It's pretty funny. Laugh!

Thursday we had our Zone Conference. Sometimes I don't like Zone Conferences, because they go from 9am-4pm. That's 7 hours of sitting and listening, with a little lunch break in-between. But this time was a little different. My companion is a Zone Leader so we had to go early to set everything up. At the beginning, I didn't really go in with the heart to learn something from this meeting. But eventually things warmed up, the Spirit touched my heart, and I was able to learn a lot. We focused a lot on helping people come to church, helping them as they prepare for their baptisms, and aligning ourselves with our purpose. Very good conference, and it's always a pleasure to hear from our mission president. His counsel and words are very wise.

Speaking of our purpose, I don't know if a lot of you know our purpose. It is "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end." Or, in short, "Teach Repentance, Baptize converts"

Becoming a missionary is learning to align yourself with that purpose, and understanding the great responsibility we have as disciples of Christ to bring his Gospel to all the world. People may try to drag us down, Satan can throw temptations and obstacles in our path, but "no unhallowed hand will stop the work of the Lord from moving forward." We already know who's going to win the fight here. There will be, and already have been, a lot of casualties. But the ultimate victory will go to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The only question we must ask ourselves is if we are on his team.

Saturday we had the awesome opportunity to help out at a wedding. This was for a Return missionary who served his mission here, came back, and married one of the girls he baptized. For a while in this stake after his mission, he was the Ward Mission Leader. So all the missionaries call him "Papi". He asked us to help serve food at his wedding, and we happily agreed. This wedding was so big, they had to buy 70 Walmart chickens. Seventy. We gladly helped prepare the food on plates and sent them out to the gym where the tables were. It was a great experience to see him married, and I think all the missionaries there were a little jealous, and thinking about what they may do after the mission *wink wink*

Anyways I'm having a great time here. I love you all and I hope your weeks go well.

Con Amor, 

Elder Horton

#July4th?

I guess I'm going to join on the bandwagon of the rest of the Elders and wish you all a happy 4th of July. Do they go crazy here in California? Why of course, yes they do. Tuesday night as my companion and I were trying to contact some of our investigators, we were walking down the street while every other house was setting off legal and illegal fireworks, some off the top of a ladder so they can see it better. All the while the police were busting people for using illegal fireworks. Nonetheless, it was quite a sight to see.

At the end of the night my companion and I were able to sit down in our second-floor apartment and enjoy the fireworks instead of trying to avoid them. It was quite a sight to see! I hope you were all safe and no one did anything too stupid.

AS for the missionary work! this week, Elder Anglin and I tried to contact every single one of our investigators. Every day. having a lot of investigators, that was tough. We tried to either pass by, send a text, call them, or have someone talk to them for us. The purpose? We wanted to help them gain desires to come to church. It worked! We had 3 investigators at church even though it was looking pretty gloomy Sunday morning and like no one would show up. Blessings, brothers and sisters!

That just about sums up my week. Sorry for the short email, but I have lots of pictures to make up for last weeks lack and the lack of content today. Enjoy my smiling face!

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

Elder Anglin and I BOSSES in the car.

Try #1 for that same picture.

If you ever find yourself at a crossroad...

la luna

Cerritos college

Monday's activity with the missionaries at the park

#4thofJuly

Good morning/afternoon my friends and family! I hope this last week has been awesome for you.

In the life of Elder Horton, all is well.

I'm just working hard in the Lord's work, thrusting my sickle, and trying my best to reap the harvest.

So the 4th of July is going to be awesome. The Zone Leaders have planned an activity for today for the whole zone to hang out and play sports in the park, while we grill hamburgers and hot dogs. It should be super fun!

But the funny thing about fireworks out here... For some reason I guess people couldn't wait until the 4th of July to send off their fireworks. Ever since the 1st of July they've been going off all day. Morning, Afternoon, night, you name it. You can count on hearing a "Bang" every 30 minutes or so. I'm not sure which fireworks are legal and which aren't, but there's a lot that are shooting into the sky. Some are even so powerful that when they blow up in the sky, the shockwave sets off a few car alarms. Super funny, but I still haven't learned to discern a firework bang from a gunshot. So yeah.

We have been working with a few investigators. One's name is Vick. He's about 20, speaks both English and Spanish, and questions EVERYTHING. He even questions the way he questions things sometimes! Lessons with him easily go an hour or more. Preach My Gospel says, "sometimes people will intellectually question what you teach, but it's hard to question a heartfelt, sincere testimony." Well, we've born testimony to him, he's felt the confirming witness that the Book of Mormon is true, but he still second guesses all that. He's not hesitant or anything, just a really intelligent guy who's a little confused.

We're working with a family named la familia Lopez. Just like the Ambrosio family in my last area, the mother and kids love us, but the father wants nothing to do with us. He even hid from us when we knocked his door on Saturday! But not to worry, it's a work in progress. We fasted for him and we're going to see where this goes.

We just have so many investigators that it would be too much to tell you guys about all of them but those are the ones we have been working the most with. This last week we found 7 investigators which is extremely good. Almost double the standard! We hope some of these people are prepared by the Lord to be baptized in this next month.

AAAANYWAYS! I hope you all are having fun. Have a safe 4th of July, don't blow up anyone (or anything that's not a firework) and stay safe.

Con amor,

Elder Horton

Sorry, I didn't take any pictures this week... Next week for sure

PS from Ryan's mom - Here's a picture of Ryan and his buddies before they all left on missions.