#shortletter

Hi all! Great to write you again!

So I've had a problem with my email today, so I don't have a lot of time to email you all.

This week was a decent week! It had its major ups and downs, which even out to a decent week. Heres the run down.

This Sunday the J family was confirmed. After the 3 hour block, we had a little 30 minute service for their daughter who leaves on her mission this Tuesday. Her parents were able to bear their testimonies to almost the whole ward about their decision to be baptized and feelings about their daughter going on her mission.

A downside is that finding was really slow. It was tough to find new investigators will all the time that we spent visiting people. They seemed a lot more closed off than normal! But we still found a decent amount of people to teach, despite the lack of time.

D is still looking great to be baptized on the 8th of April. We are working very hard with her.

I went on an exchange with my District Leader Elder Fonseca this last week and we had a great time. Exchanges are always a day to learn from leaders and the skills of other missionaries.

That's about it. Have a great week! A scripture that one Elder shared with me is Ether 14:18. Check it out.

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

Garden of Eatin'

#apologies/baptism #Lloviznando

Hi friends and family! I send my apoligies for not sending my weekly to you all last week. I wasn't aware that I didn't send it until I checked my email this morning and my mom informed me. Que pena. Ni modo! I'll attach that email to this one, and you can read in my voice for double the time!

The biggest news this week is that the Jimenez family was baptized, or at leas the Mom, Dad, and little brother. The 2 sisters are already baptized, and one of them is actually leaving on her mission in a week! I'll attach pictures. It was a fantastic baptismal service. The mom of this family has been attending church for the past couple of years, and she finally decided to be baptized. So a lot of members of the ward showed up to support her. We filled the whole room with chairs, and there were STILL not enough seats for everyone to sit! A lot of missionaries gave up their seats for members to enjoy the service and were standing. But anyways, it was a really great baptismal service. It was awesome to see the J family taking that step toward their Heavenly Father.

That's about all I have to talk about this week. I hope the pictures make up for the lack of excitement in this email. I'm having a great time out her in the big LB!

con Amor,

Elder Horton

Friends and family! How are you all doing?

I've been great. Pico Rivera is treating me well. Most importantly, Elder Price and I have seen a lot of progress in the work here, thanks to our obedience and hard work.

For those who don't speak Spanish, the word lloviznar (yo-vee-snar) means to sprinkle. There has been a lot of sprinkling lately here in SoCal. The past 2 weekends have been cloudy with scattered rains. It's been awesome for the people down here. They need it. But people don't know how to drive in rain.

My companion and I, since we both want to improve our Spanish, have started speaking pure Spanish 4 of the 7 days in the week. It really helps. I'm starting to get an idea of how my friends in South America feel. It must have been tough those first couple of months. But I'm learning so much, and realizing now how much improvement I need to do with my Spanish.

The J family are still looking good to be baptized this coming Sunday. In fact, another hermana decided to join them. So there will be a baptism of 4 on this 18th! It's really great to see the work in this ward and in Pico Rivera picking up. I know the Lord is working miracles here.

I'm not sure if I told you guys about our friend named D. She's living here for a short time, and staying with her aunt and uncle who are members of our church. We are working with her a little to see how interested she is, and it turns out she is very interested! She is reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it's true.

On a spiritual note, this week I have been humbled by the Lord a lot. As I studied more about Christlike attributes, I realized how much more I need to work on developing the attributes of Christ. I prayed for humility, Charity, and Patience. Quick tip for you guys. If you pray for patience, get ready to have your patience grow and tested. Mine was. I'm working on being humble and for having Charity for all those who live in my area.

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

My comp and I in the rain!

Alma Family services (read the Book of Mormon peeps ;)

A new little puppy that a member family has!

The white Christmas came a little late!

The J family, Elder Price and Myself

#thePriceIsRight

Hello family! This week's hashtag goes out to my new companion, Elder Price. He's from Dublin Ohio, he's 19 years old, has been on his mission 8 months, and it's been a ball this week!

Not much really has happened this week. Of couse we had transfers, though! Elder Price comes from the other part of Pico Rivera. 

We have had a good week of my companion getting to know the members and investigators in the area.

The J family is doing really great! We had a lesson with them on Thursday night, where Hermana J received her answer. As we were teaching the Restoration, her husband kept on bringing up arguments against our church, not believing what we were teaching, etc. While Hermana was trying to convince him of the truth of the Restoration, the Spirit touched her and testified of the truth of what we were talking about. They committed to be baptized on the 18th and confirmed the following Sunday,  the 25th of the his month.

We have also found a lot of new people who are interested in the message and who we are excited to work with. One of those is a girl named D. She moved from Mexico recently into the household of one of our members, the O Family. She has been to church twice now and she seems very interested.

Dangit... it appears I have run out of time. Thanks everyone for your love! Take care and make this the best week of your life!

#Transfer13

Hello all!

So as my subject line says, I'm now beginning my 13th transfer in the mission field. 14th transfer total, if we are counting the MTC but no one does :P

So that also means transfers. The news is in and.... I am staying in Pico Rivera! My companion, Elder Lopez is being transferred to the city of Paramount and I am receiving Elder Price. He's from Ohio! Prior to coming to me, he was working in the other area which included Pico Rivera. So he's hopping areas in the same ward, just like I'm used to!

This week I don't have a lot to report on. We had a lot of our investigators decide to stop investigating the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ,  which is super sad, but in the Lord's work we have to wipe away the tears and move on. Find new people to teach. And honestly, I'm happy with some of the new people we found to teach. They seem awesome.

Today for lunch we ate at a place called Big D's burgers. They are famous for their challenge. This challenge includes a 3.5 pound burger, 2 pounds of chili cheese fries, and a 30 oz. Milkshake. You have 30 minutes to eat it. If you cant, it costs 50 dollars. I decided not to try it, but still got a decent size picture. I will attach a picture.

Love you guys! Keep it cool!

Elder Horton

#HappyV-day

Hello brothers and sisters!

I hope you all had a happy Valentine's day. I know I did. It wasn't any different from any other day of the week, but it was a good day nevertheless. 

This week flew by even faster than the last. And once again I find myself in the hot-seat, trying to remember what I did. I'm not very good at this remembering thing sometimes. I'll try a day-by-day summary for you guys!

Monday- we had a zone activity in the park for p-day. We cooked tacos and hot-dogs and played various sports, including soccer, ultimate frisbee, and basketball. It was a lot of fun.

Tuesday- went on exchanges with my District Leader Elder Fonseca. It was great. Their area was lacking a bit, so we went on a finding frenzy. We made a competition with the other Elders, that whoever found more investigators would win ice cream! Well, we tied and each found three. So no one won ice cream

Wednesday- we went by most of our investigators, since we hadn't seen them in 2 or 3 days. Some of them have not been keeping commitments or progressing very much, so we had to stop working with them. It's sad, but this work has to move forward.

Thursday- we had interviews with our mission president. It's always a great experience to recieve guidance from him about the people we are working with. He's a wise man

Friday- nothing special really....

Saturday- we had a great conversation with some less-active and inactive members about various things, including the purpose of life, Adam and Eve, etc. It was in half Spanish and half English, and they all had some really good questions. It was different speaking with someone who knows a lot about the church, versus teaching someone who knows nothing about the church.

Sunday- we saw a turnout of 0 investigators at church for the first time in a couple months. It was sad, but every missionary has weeks like that!

Anyways. Here's some pictures for you all. Stay cool!

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

Valentines Day ties!

Mate

Mate

#enfermito

Hey all!

Well I know that all this time I couldn't have avoided getting sick again. So in this popular time of year to get sick, it hit me. Plz pray for me.

Sooo Crystal didn't get baptized this last weekend. She's a foster child living in a less-active household. And so when we thought we were close to baptism with her, the state of California stepped right in and let us know there are some laws we have to go through first. Well dang. That's not the first time the laws of the land have impeded Salvation. Fortunately, she can still be baptized in the coming weeks. We just have to keep working with her.

We are super happy to see Ramona still progressing toward baptism. She's so ready for the 24th. Even better, her husband committed to be baptized 25th of March! We are excited for both of them.

There's a stray cat who keeps coming by are apartment and hanging out on our balcony. So my comp and I named him Taylor (a pretty gender-neutral name) and bought him some food.

I got a 4x4 from In 'n out for the first time. Those suckers are huge.

We had a nice ward party for valentine's day! Hispanics always cook the greatest food and go ham at ward parties, so it was fun to be with them.

I also have seen an odd number of Utah lisence plates recently.

Sorry for the blandness of this e-mail. I'll make up for it with some pictures.

Con Amor,

Elder Horton

The menacing 4 by 4

The cat Taylor

The Ward dancing

When they catch you off guard

#blessings

Buenos dias/buenas tardes a todos

Hi guys! Good morning (from me) and good afternoon (to all you).

This week my companion Elder Lopez and I have seen a lot of blessings come from our hard work, obedience, and giving our hearts and wills to the Lord. He is changing me as much as he is changing the hearts of those we work with.

One person's heart who was changed this past week was Iris, who entered the waters of baptism. I had the privilege of baptizing her and then participating in her confirmation. What a sweet experience it was to see her enter the fold of God!

Other hearts are changing. One is our friend named Crystal. She has been reading the Book of Mormon diligently, praying, and attending church and she plans to be baptized this coming Saturday. She is very excited, and we are for her too. She has shown us how she has been highlighting the verses she likes, and we can see how she is repenting of her sins and wrongdoings. She is excited to be baptized and recieve that fresh start.

Another friend of ours, Ramona, recently set a goal to be baptized on the 24th of this month. She has met with the missionaries for a very long time and we believe that she is finally ready to take that big step! 

we are seeing so many miracles in this area we have been assigned to. I know it's no coincidence because this is the true church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ- his pure teachings- have been restored to this earth and anyone who wants to know that for themself can open a Book of Mormon, read, ponder, and pray about the message it contains. Those who do that will gain a powerful witness that Jesus is their Savior and that he is still speaking to us. His word did not end with the sealing of the Bible. I know that.

Thanks for all the love you are showing to me and to the other missionaries in the world. It's not easy, but it's rewarding.

Con Amor,

Elder Horton 

Hike from the mountains of Whittier

California sunrise. You had to be there.

Baptism

Check out this wrapper from Chipotle

Bad attempt at a Selfie while on a walk.