#miracle

Buenos dias/buenas tardes everyone! I hope your week was just dandy!

As you can probably tell from the subject line, my companion and I had a miracle this week. It was Sunday night and we had only 2 investigators found in the week. We had to find 2 more in order to meet standards and we had 90 minutes to do it. My companion and I sat in the car, as an awkward silence filled the air. 

Elder Diaz voiced "dude we have to find 2 investigators tonight." 

At which point I replied, "Do you have faith, Elder?"

His response "Yes I have faith."

We immediately started up the car and went to visit a potential investigator. It was a mom and a daughter with a bunch of little kids running around. We went up to them, and told them we had come to share a message of Jesus Christ with them, and asked if we could have some of their time. Immediately they said yes, invited us in to sit on their only couch, and sent the kids into the room to play. We shared our message and they loved it! We considered it a true miracle, because the Lord heard our cries. It was a small miracle, but nevertheless a tender mercy. The Book of Mormon teaches us that by small and simple things, great things are brought to pass. 

Lately my companion and I have been more focused on involving the members of the church more in the missionary work. The concept is fantastic. Because the missionaries come and go, it is understandable that someone may not want to come to church nor stay. But when they become connected to a member, they have someone to talk to during church, they have someone without a tag who can also bear testimony of the gospel. That's why member missionary work is so vital. So we have started to get members more involved and we have seen the blessings come from it. Those who come on visits with us feel the spirit, get so excited, and want to do more.

So, since Elder Horton is a little low on time, I want to invite you all to become more involved in the missionary work. There are many ways to begin. Invite a friend to a church activity, or go out visiting with the missionaries. Invite one of your friends to learn about the church, or if they have fallen away invite them back. It's simple and easy! Brothers and Sisters we are all involved in a righeous cause. So go out there and Let's Do Something!

Con Amor, 

Elder Horton

 

Playing pool on p-day

my pretty companion

#Teaching

Hola todos mis queridos, amigos, y conocidos. Esta semana pasó bien rapido. Así que no tengo mucho que decir...

Hello family and friends. For all those who didn't understand what I wrote, use google translate I guess.

But yes! Though this week didn't have much, it was full of teaching. That's great for a missionary to tell and to hear. I'll tell all you guys some cool experiences I've had this week.

One of my favorite things about being a missionary is when people have questions for me. This gives an opportunity to immediately seek revelation from the Lord to give the best answer I can. I usually always like to answer questions with the Book of Mormon or the Bible. After that, simply explaining does okay too. Our investigator Diana has reached a point where she can trust us as missionaries to be able to ask us anything. So we asked her to write down all her questions. When we sat down for our lesson on Saturday, she opened up her notebook to find a full page of questions!! So we tried as hard as we could to answer them all, but only got through about 10 when we ran out of time. A theme I seemed to notice amongst all those questions is that for one to find out the truth of our message for themselves, they need to read the Book of Mormon, attend church, and pray to the Lord asking with faith and real intent.

Another cool teaching experience was with a woman named Yesenia. She has one boy about 9 months old, and she's a single mom. So we got talking with her about the purpose of life, and how she thinks that God made us and put us here for us to enjoy life, and that one shouldn't get too caught up in religion or things of that type. While my companion and her went back and forth for about 15 minutes, I just soaked in every word and then it was my turn to speak. I said something along the lines of this. "We've got to know that everything is made with a purpose. My shoe right here was made to be a shoe. If I try to use it as a glove, I'm gonna pee my pants. So everything was made in the Wisdom of the one who knows all. And in his word, we find what he made us for. He told us his purpose and our purpose. If your son leaves the house when he's 16 to get a job or something, you're probably going to give him some tips about how to survive out there. Don't go and shoot anyone, don't eat too much McDonalds, don't stay out too late, etc. Because you know more than him. That's how God is. He knows us perfectly, and for what purpose we were made. Now it's our job to find out and fulfill that purpose."

I've got to give credits for the shoe/glove metaphor to my past companion, Elder Anglin.

But yeah.. my time has run out. I hope you're all well and settling in school, fall, or whatever is new in your life. Be sure to include your heavenly Father in every aspect of your life, and you'll be blessed.

Con Amor, 

Elder Horton

#transfers/birthday

Alright, ladies and Gents. Transfer facts are in. Can I get a drum roll please!

*drum roll*

Elder Horton is... staying in Cerritos 2D! and his companion Elder Diaz is.... staying in Cerritos 2D! We're gonna go a second transfer together and we're excited. We're very determined that we are going to baptize an investigator this transfer. Whether it be Lupita and her family, Diana/Armando/Erick, or Carlitos! Or, who knows? Maybe we'll find one the Lord has prepared, and be able to baptize them. All in the Lord's infinite wisdom and timing.

The second big news of this week is that Elder Diaz had his birthday this last Friday. Because he's been in this area for so long, a lot of the Hermanas knew and tried to do something nice for him. So we spent a lot of time eating specially-made-dishes for him and lots of cake from Northgate market. It was such a fun time to celebrate him and his 20th birthday. And then, we were right back into the work.

Well despite all our efforts and all the promises made to us, 0 of our investigators attended church. That's right, a big ol' goose egg. Which put me into a little rut. But it's hard to stay down with all the blessings the Lord is sending me for my work! I just have to realize things like that happen at times, and we have to roll with the punches. Pick ourselves up and brush the dirt from your pants and move on! That's how life is sometimes.

Last thing today. On Saturday, I was able to go on exchanges with my District Leader! Well as it so happens, my District Leader is Elder Ramirez, the very man who trained me! My first companion in the field. So it was awesome to be companions with him once again, almost a year later. I got to realize how much I have changed and grown as a missionary and as a person. I definitely have a much better grasp on the mission language, and I feel older and more mature. But don't worry. For those who know me well, I'm still the good ol' me ;)

Alright well I believe that's all for this week. There's not much to update you on this week as far as those we are working with so I'll just leave it there. Thanks for all your support, love, and prayers. May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be with you all.

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

Pictures:

cake #1, 2, and 3

the one picture I have with Elder Diaz on his b-day

Cake #1

Cake #2

Cake #3

#HEATWAVEAGAIN

So apparently we had a heat wave down here... I just thought that's how things were going to be from here on out but I'm so pleased to hear it will get better. This week we had 3 or 4 days hovering around 100 degrees or higher. Now don't get me wrong, I know I don't have the worst of it. But it has still been uncomfortably hot here in Norwalk/Cerritos/Artesia/Hawaiian Gardens!

With that out of the way? Hello how are all of you?

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Great to hear! I'm the same!

But in truth it was a fantastic week! We saw the progression of our investigators, and we found some interesting new investigators. 

We had a very good lesson with Lupita and her kids to teach the importance of baptism. They told us they were told they don't have a very good grasp on the significance of baptism, so we were able to prepare some very good scriptures and sit down with them to help them understand more what they'll be doing. Lupita agreed, and will progress towards, the 24th of this month as a baptismal date. The only thing is she needs to come to church! She came 4 weeks ago, but hasn't been since. That's a problem we're trying to deal with. Sometimes her husband won't let them go so we fasted for his heart to be softened to our message, and the church in general.

Diana, Armando, and Erick are all doing super well. They opened up to us this last Monday night and let us know they weren't very comfortable with being baptized so soon. They wanted to learn more, which is always perfectly okay. So we set a new goal with them, after much pondering and prayer, for the 8th of October. We want to go over more often to help them progress more to baptism!

Carlitos is doing so well. He just started school and is having a little tough time learning, but his mom is helping him out. His father, who was hesitant about baptizing Carlitos, had an interview with the bishop. We have yet to hear the results, but we're assuming all went well and he's feeling a little better about this coming Sunday as his baptism.

That's really all I have to talk about, as this week wasn't the most eventful. Haha but I hope these pictures make up for it!  

Elder Horton

Pictures:

THERMOSTAT

we had 15 minutes of a solid rain!

Service!

Golfing

F.A.I.L ;P