#Time?

Time is seriously weird in the mission. The first few months can often feel like they drag on and on and on, and then it feels normal for a second. Then, once a missionary hits their year mark, it feels like slipping down a slide where there's no possible way to grab the edges and stop. That's how I feel right now. Here I am, my second Thanksgiving in the mission and I'm wondering where the time went. If anyone has the number for Father Time, please give it to me. I would like to speak with him.

I'm in love with this place! Ever since I have been put on bike, I get the chance to speak with so many more people. The people here, (especially Hawaiian Gardens) can be the most firmly against the Gospel, or the most humbly accepting of the Gospel. Recently I have felt like a tool in the Lord's hands as he has placed me in the fertile parts with people who's hearts have been prepared. That's not to say this work is easy by any means. We get appointments that fall through, members who last-minute flake, people who curse and make fun of us, and problems with every investigator coming out of the blue. I dare say the opposition has a very good hold on those here in Southern California. But the Lord has selected a few to accept his Gospel! I'm just glad to be here.

That being said, I hope you all passed a good Thanksgiving with your family. We had a few people who treated us as family and welcomed us in their home to feed us. So for us, those feelings aren't far away. But, of course the main part of Thanksgiving is THANKS. I hope you all had a good couple minutes to sit back and ponder what makes your life easier, and what you are thankful for. Sometimes it seems we can't appreciate something fully until it's taken from us. Here's a couple things I am grateful for.

1. My family, even though they're far away. I can feel their love and prayers daily.

2. Christ. He gave us the ultimate gift, his life.

3. The opportunity to serve in the Lord's vineyard. There's nothing that replaces these 2 years.

4. The Book of Mormon. It has brought me peace and knowledge in my life.

5. My friends. I have many friends serving in parts all around the world. I feel blessed to know we are all serving the same master, and that he has put us in the place where we can learn the most.

Just a couple examples. As we continue into this time of Christmas, let's not start to turn inwards and think what others can do or give to us. But let's turn outwards and reflect the true Character of Christ! Service!! If you have not seen the new Christmas video the church released, head right now to mormon.org and watch "Light the World".https://www.mormon.org/?cid=HP_FR_24-11-2017_dMIS_fMORG_xLIDyL1-A_ I also encourage you to print out the calendar and do your best to do all those things each day.

Elder Ramirez and I are having a great time out here serving the people of Hawaiian Gardens and Lakewood. We appreciate your prayers and thoughts as we do our best to work some of these people to the waters of baptism.

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

Happy Birthday Mom!

Friends of Elder Ramirez's family dropped by and brought us a yummy treat of croissants and hot chocolate!

Lupita and her awesome family

Bike Life

Elder Ramirez - Bike life

My comp cut his finger

#safeandsound

Hello friends and family! Thanks to the beautiful invention of technology and the blessing to have it in this mission, I'm typing this email while in my apartment, listening to Christmas music :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who get the chance to celebrate it this week. For me and my companion, we will be working!

This week also went by fast, but nevertheless it was a fantastic week for me and my companion. We are really starting to see some of the fruits of our labors in this area! We're out here working like dogs, packing a lunch into the field, changing and patching bike tubes in the middle of the day, talking to everyone, trying to connect members to investigators, and more and more. It really feels good to lose yourself in the work of the Lord.

This past week Elder Ramirez and I were able to help 2 more investigators set the goal of being baptized soon. One for the 17th of December, who's name is Jocelyn. She simply just wants to follow God and set a good example for her brother. She has made some wrong choices in the past and wants to make everything right. A fantastic desire to change! The other for the 24th of December. Lupita's daughter Amarie decided to join her mother and sister in their decision to be baptized Christmas eve. What a better present to the Lord then to join his fold!

Also, Lupita brought her family (minus her husband) to church for the first time in a long time. Her sister also joined with her kids. They enjoyed it so much! And the members almost flooded her after sacrament meeting was over. Even our mission president, who showed up to our church services, talked with her and her kids afterwards! It was a magnificent experience to see them all there.

I didn't know what to put in my subject line, so I figured I would take the opportunity to let you know we are safe here in Hawaiian Gardens , California. 

Nothing else of news this week, but I appreciate all your love and support! Have a great week this week!

Con amor,

Elder Horton

#Spainish

HOLA AMIGOS! 

I'm going to limit my Spanish in this email to that.

Really, this week not much happened. I'm going to apologize in advance for the shortness of this email. But this week truly was good! It's getting a lot colder in the night, so I have had to start wearing a light sweater as we bike in the night. It gets down into the 60s and the 50s here.

We have found some really good people to teach this week. One of them is named Pedro. He let us right in to his house, and we taught him the Restoration. He understood the whole thing and responded to all our questions! My testimony that the Lord prepares people to hear the Gospel has grown so much.

This week in my personal studies I have been substituting my name or the names of those I work with. I encourage all you to do the same! I especially loved Alma chapter 7 (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/7?lang=eng). Anywhere is says "my beloved bretheren", "his people", or "you", substitute your name in. It really makes things more meaningful and personal. I invite you all to try it!

I've run out of ideas and time. Love you all! Until next week.

Con amor,

Elder Horton

#14months

Hello friends and family! I hope you have all had a great week. For me, it went by pretty quickly. My butt doesn't hurt from biking anymore, I'm adjusting to the new diet which requires me to eat more since I'm burning more calories, being on bike and all. Oh yeah, did I mention we are on bike? It's actually a lot of fun. My companion and I have started counting the number of Close Encounters we have to a crash with a car, whether it be someone pulling out in front of us or almost hitting us. Surprisingly, a lot of drivers here can be pretty ignorant. Even when they see you are there... Friday we counted 7 close encounters of almost crashing into a car. But the Lord protects us so much! I have gained such a big testimony of how the Lord blesses his ordained servants.

This week went by really fast actually. On Tuesday I hit 14 months in the mission which means almost nothing, except for the fact that I'm marveling at how quickly the time is passing.

Elder Ramirez is showing me very much how to work with members. He's a fantastic missionary and I am learning a lot from him! We have been taking a member of the congregation out to work with us almost every night. Even though we are on bikes, it works! Normally if we were in a car, we would be expected to pick them up and take them with us. But they are so nice! They will meet us in a place, and drive us from place to place.

Let's see... Oh yeah! Let me talk about the food here. Of course you all know it's a melting pot. I can go anywhere and find bomb Korean, Indian, Mexican, Peruvian, American, Greek food, etc. It's fantastic. For me, I have tried so many different mexican dishes and I love them all. The unique thing about mexicans is their affinity for Spicy food. My tongue has been burned time and time again. But as they say, one learns Spanish faster when they learn how to eat spicy!

So I'll talk about the people I'm now working with.

We are still working with Lupita and her family. They are progressing very well and I dare say they're close to baptism! Lupita has had a lot of crazy things going on in her life lately and we haven't been able to sit down and have a good solid lesson in a while. But she's reading in the Book of Mormon as often as she can. It's awesome- when she reads, she takes notes to make sure she understands!! That's fantastic! We are doing our best to introduce her to more members because they are those who make the difference.

The same thing with Diana, Armando, and Erick. We are connecting them with more members. Tonight we will be doing a Family Home Evening with them and Diana, Armando, and Erick in this family's home. It was very kind of them to offer us their home.

We have also been doing a lot of finding. We have to spend more time working with those who are willing to find out the truth of the message for themselves, and spend less time with those who are just willing to listen just to be nice. So we have found others who are willing to act on the message! I'm very excited to begin working with these sons and daughters of God.

Another thing I have been pondering on recently. In John chapter 6 is registered the account of Christ teaching how he is the bread of life. This is a beautiful chapter, and the church even has a video about it! I will attach the video link and I encourage you all to go watch it.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-10-051-i-am-the-bread-of-life?lang=eng

I have been pondering the coorelation this teaching has with the sacrament. Watch for how many promises he makes to those who eat of his flesh and drink his blood, or to those who eat the bread. We know that he is talking about the sacrifice he will soon make for every one of us. To commemorate that sacrifice, we take the sacrament. I invite you all to think how much the sacrament means to you. Is it simply eating a piece of blessed bread, or is it truly having an intervention with the father and committing to follow His commandments?

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

Splits with Jacob Arteaga

Big bug! I named him Joe

I may or may not have used this last night                          California