#1year

Yes, my friends you read it right. This coming week, Elder Horton hits the big speed bump. His 1 year. Still not sure what I'm going to do to celebrate, but Thursday will be legendary.

With that out of the way, Hello! How are you all doing? I realize you can't immediately answer that question so it's kind of dumb that I ask that. But hey, it's a missionary tradition.

This week I truly saw the Lord's hand in the work! We found some people along the way to teach, and a lot of these people seem to have been prepared by the Lord to recieve his Gospel. In total, me and my companion found 9 investigators, exceeding our goal of 8. Most of these people seem ready. Quite ironically, one of these sisters we found (named Elena) told us later this same week that her husband doesn't want her listening to us. Soo that was actually a very quick encounter with the missionaries. We gave her a Book of Mormon, and encouraged her to read it, beginning with the Introduction.

We had the opportunity to offer a lot of service this week, as well! It's kind of funny. Always, as missionaries we ask someone if there's anything we can do for them. This opens up a lot of opportunities to serve but people so often say no. But this week, we did! The first thing we did was on Friday. We went and helped an hermana build a bed frame with some wood she bought from home Depot. It was fun, and afterwards she fed us some elotes! The second service opportunity was for a family moving apartments. Well it wasn't the most fun thing to do, considering the family is pretty young. So my companion and I were moving all the heavy stuff down the stairs from their second floor apartment and in to a u-haul truck. We were able to fit all the furniture from their apartment into the truck. Thank heavens I played tetris before the mission!

Thursday we had Zone conference, with another zone. For the whole 7 hours, all we talked about was the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is the true key to conversion. It testifies of Jesus Christ. for almost 200 years, people have tried their hardest to negate the Book of Mormon. But every accusation made has an answer. I know in my heart, the Spirit has made it manifest to me, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It was revealed through a prophet of God in these latter days. I still find comfort in the fact that Joseph Smith endured so many persecutions, trials, and even death, to stand up for a book which truly testifies of Jesus Christ and his mission. Joseph was willing to DIE for this book. I fully believe he knew it was the word of God. If it was some dumb book he just made up out of the blue, he surely would not have died to protect it.

Anyways that's about all I have for this week. It wasn't very eventful but this week should be big. Love you all, stay safe this week.

"Read the book of Mormon erry day." -Elder Hancey

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

1 picture for you all today... a very dark, blurry picture of some cool sunglasses I found in a member's home last night.

#Exchanges

Hi guys! I apologize for the lack of time these past weeks. But I have had a request that I write my weekly email earlier so I have more time. So yes, I have PLENTY of time ;)

I hope this email finds you all cooling down from the hot weather you've had. Did you all see the solar eclipse? Cool huh?

This past week, and these past few weeks, have been very good. I've seen plenty of success in this new area I'm in. There are some areas where we work with plenty of hispanics to teach. A lot of these have been prepared by the Lord as well to receive Christ in their lives, so it's a pleasure to work with them. 

My companion, Elder Diaz, is quite the guy. We get along very well! He's a jokester and makes the work a lot of fun for me. We work hard, and when the time comes we play hard. He's also a very good teacher! As missionaries, we are encouraged to teach simply as if we were teaching children. Some of the concepts we teach are tough to understand and for that we must simplify it. Elder Diaz is very good at that!

The weather here in Norwalk/Cerritos/Hawaiian Gardens is very good. It's still hot and humid, but it's seemed to cool off a little and seems like the sun is giving us a break from the triple digits. We also are in a car with A/C which helps!

Probably the biggest event this week was exchanges. I was with Elder Lee, who's one transfer younger than me in the mission. It was cool to see how he's grown since I saw him come in my first transfer!

So let me update you all on my investigators in this new area. We have the R*** family, consisting of the mother, L****, and her kids M*****, A****, D****, and C****. They love us as missionaries and have been looking for a church for a while. They embrace the Gospel and try to live the teachings of Jesus Christ as we teach. L***'s husband, W*****, is the only problem! He's got a pretty hard heart towards religion. And we almost never get the chance to talk to him, because whenever he's home he goes and hides from us. But we pray and pray his heart will be softened. With some very good planning, perhaps secretive planning with L**** to find this guy at home alone, we can help L**** and her kids progress quicker towards the waters of baptism.

Then, we have D****, A****, and E****. D**** (16) and E**** (11) are brother and sister. A**** is D****'s boyfriend who comes to visit, from 2 hours away biking. He stays there for the weekend, (when we teach them) and goes home for a couple days. He's already graduated from High School and soon to start college. They're very nice people and attended church for the second time yesterday. They're progressing well and we have planned for them to be baptized the 3rd of September!

C**** is a 9 year old kid of a family returning to activity. He wants to be baptized and he's learned almost everything! We are just waiting for the father to be ready to baptize his child. His faith is not very big and he's hesitant to baptize his child.

Anyways this email has dragged on and on and on. I hope you're all now well-informed about the life of Elder Horton. I'm doing well! Also I have lots of pictures

Con Amor, 

Elder Horton

Pictures:

Jus Chillin

We are trolls

I hear a who...

Terrible attempt at taking a picture of the eclipse

#outoftime

I apologize everyone for the shortness of this email! I took too much time emailing my mother...

Just know I survived this week without getting in another car crash this week.

I'm alive and that's all that matters.

Cool moment of the week: I saw a man leaning up against a wall, and kinda staring at us. People do that all the time, so it didn't trip me up! But, as soon as I waved at him, he turned an walked away quickly. My companion then revealed to me that the man was peeing on the wall. Welp, welcome to California!

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

PS - More from Elder Horton's email to mom and dad...

Hello! Well, a little about Elder Diaz. He went to Snow Canyon, just like Jacob (Ryan's cousin). He used to ride a motorcycle before the mission. He's really super chill, already fluent in Spanish, and a cool guy. He's a joker for sure so we have a fun time with each other. 

I'm judging my hump day as the official year mark August 31st.  BUT, 1 year from today I'll be home. Crazzzy to think.

It's been pretty cold too for us. It felt cold for me the other night, then I got in the car and saw it was 72 degrees... Oh no.. 

The investigators are doing well. This new area is hopping. It's the standard to get 2 investigators to church every week, and these last 2 Sundays we have had 6 then 5. This is awesome because church attendance is the most important thing for an investigator, and often the hardest thing for them to keep. Our investigators are:

The R*** family. L***, and her kids. They are 4 in all. The father almost seems scared of us. Anytime we come over, he runs away into his room. He lets us come over and tells his wife "Haz lo que tu quieres!" or "do what you want!". So she comes to church with her kids. We are trying to work on him. We hope he will let his wife and kids be baptized, simply because the church respects the authority of the head of household. They are on baptismal date for the 27th. On track, too.

D***, A***, and E***.-  D*** and E*** are siblings and live in Hawaiian Gardens. (Where we do a lot of work). A***** lives 45 minutes away in Pamona, and he comes over and lives with them on weekends. He is D****'s boyfriend. Every Saturday we teach them and they love it. They came to church last Sunday for the first time. Too late, they couldn't see the sacrament passed. But next week for sure. They were on Baptismal date for the 20th, but it will have to change now, as an investigator must attend church 3 times before they can be baptized.

C***, who is the 9 year old kid of a family returning to activity. We taught him, and he could be baptized any time. we have set a date for the 26th, and God Willing we can get him there.

B*** is what we call an "eternigator or eternal investigator". People are eternigators for many reasons. What it means is the missionaries have taught them for an unreasonable amount of time without them being baptized. Many people are eternigators for a myriad of reasons. Normally, it's that they don't want to keep commitments or that they have one big thing holding them back from baptism they haven't revealed yet. In Bill's case, the obstacle is the parents. He's 15 and it requires the permission of his parents for baptism. Well, they think he's too young to make a decision like that and therefore won't allow it. We are going to work with him to make a plan to show his parents how badly he wants to be baptized.

Well those are the main ones we're working with. There are many,many others. About 40 investigators we have. But these are they who are progressing the most.

#AnotherCrash?

Alright folks, this is the run down for this week.

Sorry I don't have too much time because I tend to leave writing my weekly email until the last minute.

1. Yes, we got in another car accident. No, it was not the same car/companion/area. Yes, it was also a rear-ending. But this time, to make a difference, the lady who rear-ended us was frazzled. She immediately told us not to call the cops, as she doesn't have a license or insurance, and that she would have to pay us out of her pocket. After we were able to get some basic information from her, (AKA personal information and car information) she sped off because "she couldn't trust us". Well, I believe of the two missionaries versus the lady who's driving without a license or insurance, who's the one who really isn't to trust? Oh well. We called the police and got a report filed. It's all good. Welcome to California.

2. I'm in my new area, with my new companion, Elder Diaz. I'm still in the same ward just jumped to the area which is across the street. 

3. 

I'm out of time, sorry guys. Have a great week!

Elder Horton

PS from Ryan's mom - Here's a little more from Ryan that he sent to Mom and Dad...

Obviously I'm in a new area with a new companion. My new area seems to have sooo many members, that we eat with a member almost every night. It's pretty fun, and so I'm not cooking as much anymore haha. It helps save a little money.

We had a bomb week, with lots of people at church.

Yes, same ward. different area. I still get to see all the members at church.

The move went smoothly. I still live in the same complex, so the good thing is I didn't have to pack any clothes into suitcases, we just took a couple trips with all my stuff from one apartment to the other.

The ward is divided into 4 areas, the areas look long and skinny from north to south. My area, since the stake is pretty circular, looks like a big D. It's a pretty big area, and we do a lot of our work in the southern area in a city called Hawaiian Gardens.

Elder Horton finds his peace through music. As missionaries we have little DVD players, where we can plug in a USB. I have peaceful piano music, General conference music, and talks, and more. Sometimes the life of a missionary can be stressful but we have plenty of time to sit down, rest, and think about the Savior. I find a lot of peace knowing that the Lord is in every aspect of our lives and that we need not fear, but to simply trust in him. If something happens, or doesn't happen, we know it's the Lord's will and he knows what's best for us in order for us to grow and become like him.

Yeah, I'm still running. But my companion likes to use the restroom in the morning, #2, so by the time we get out the door, to run to the track nearby, we don't have too much time left. we run there, then I usually do a mix of run/walk for 3 laps or so, depending on how I feel, and we get back to the apartment. So not too much running. We run every other day. The days in between we work out in the apartment. I still think 6:30 right when I wake up is too early.

Pictures:

Elder Horton at his prime

Don't ask

Elder Diaz and I

Damage to the car

#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