Monday, December 28, 2009 -- A Fantastic Letter from a Fantastic Missionary

Family!! First off thank you so much for the letters, thank you Lindsay for the email it really helped, it is so interesting how these emails do exactly what they needed to do! They help beyond comprehension! haha saturday night the power went out and we had to sleep without fans which was absolutely awful and put me pretty close to despair! haha but i knew that it was for a reason, because on Sunday at church a man, who is one of my best friends since ive been here, he came up as we were walking in our suits to the chapel and he walked the rest of the way with us and i looked as if i had jumped in the pool with my suit on haha, he looked at me and he just said, its always hot here haha, and just that little saying stuck in my mind, and it hit me hard that i am not here to complain but here to serve, all of the members complain about the heat, but i decided right then that the heat will never affect me again, i ran out of money on saturday and i had to walk all of the way to my area from my apartment (the address is Ruta 213 Casa 6667 dad), which took us over an hour in the heat of the afternoon, but it really wasnt that bad and i had a positive attitude all the rest of the day which helped, today we went into the city to visit with our zone and go to lunch, and once i saw my friends from the mtc, because there are three from the mtc who are in my zone, i felt so happy and i really remembered all of the promises we made and the desires we had in the mtc, i kind of felt ashamed for complaining so much, we talked about how we need to work as hard as we can, and our teacher in the mtc taught us all we needed, like not to spend too much time with memebers and to use all of your time working for the lord, so when we were talking today we realized that our trainers arent perfect, that we need to always strive to be the best, like my trainer spends alot of time at members houses justifing it for recieveing referals and i feel like we are wasting time but i was too afraid to take initative because idk why. But as we talked i have decided to do what i know is right and spend as much time possible finding new investigators and teaching the investigators we have.
This is all over the place haha, so let me organize, so with investigators we have 5 progressing investigators, two are sisters, two are brother and sister, and one is a 72 year old man who i have never seen wear a shirt haha. The two sisters live in a ruff area and they have a hard family, their mother is a member but the rest of the family is pretty beat up, its kind of depressing to see them like that but when we are there the girls have slowly started to smile more and its a good feeling, they have been taught for 6 weeks and they just need to come to church before they can get baptised, that is the hardest part of our investigators is none come to church because it is so far away, it takes like an hour and fifteen mins to get to the church from our area, and its at 8 in the morning so that is hard for them. All of my investigators have had trouble with smoking but they have done really well quiting, they all have testimonies but they dont have a desire to completly devote themselves to the church, the 72 year old just needs to get married before he can get baptised, but he cant because he lost his birth certificate and to get a new one he needs to know when his parents were married and he has no clue and anyone that does is dead, so they are trying to figure out what to do, its kind of tuff, but other than that his leg is all screwed up so its hard for him to walk to church so we are working on that. The brother and sister ive only visited with once they are hard to get a hold of, they are both 24 and have families and always working, its wierd no one here except members of the church, and a rare few, get married because its so easy to just live with each other instead of haveing to get married or something. Its interesting so that is a huge thing.
So most of my day is spent teaching the two sisters everyday, which i kind of feel we spend to much time at but he says they need it, idk because i dont know really how they are yet, and then for 4 hours or so we are teaching less active members, which i enjoy because we are starting to see the fruits of our work, we got a family to come to church, but then i realized that alot of the members we visit are good members but its just so far to church that they cant make it because they have alot of little kids so its kind of like spending time with members, i dont mind visiting them for 15 mins or so to help inspire them to come to church but we spend like an hour at each house teaching one principle and it bugs me that we spend so much time,
anyways when we do go tracting, which is like once a week, we do "clap" doors, we stand on the side walk off of their property and clap until someone comes out, its wierd haha, then they have to invite you to step on their property, invite you into their house, or invite you to sit down, haha alot of inviting. All of my area is goverment projects that they just threw up, the ground is red dirt alot like grampas farm, but alot redder, and most of the houses are alot like shacks, most of the time as we are walking around the people are nice and invite us to talk with them, the argentines are very nice and they will not ignore you unless they hate you, then they will tell you so haha,
On the bus there is this guy who tells us to "come back home" because we are american spies and he goes around the bus telling people we go door to door gathering information for the CIA, like the temperature of the water, the size of the houses and a bunch of random stuff haha, he tells the bus driver to kick us off but most people just smile, i thought that was a funny story
I finally have the feeling, in the morning after i wake up, to just get out of the apartment and go to work, and i can only imagine that that feeling will increase as i have investigators that i find and as i start to participate in the lessons more, i have a pretty good understanding of spanish but when i want to say something i have a hard time figuring out how to say it, there are alot of little things that are bogging me down but i am trying but i can try harder, ive overcome one stumbling block and i can overcome another, i am finally starting to really enjoy my mission, starting to adjust, i settled with the fact that i am serving a two year camping trip haha, that i will always sweat my butt off and that i will never totally be comfortable, but that doesnt matter, because there have been little moments when teaching a certain family that i feel a inexplainable happiness, with this one girl who is a friend of the family that has the potential to become a investigator, when we visit with this family i feel something else, like for the first time i didnt jump into the middle of a converstation but that i started from the beginning, idk if i make any sense, spanish is starting to screw with my mind haha, so you guys will have the hard time of interpreting my thoughts.
Really quick tangent, being in this ward makes me realize how awesome my home ward is! Every second spent in this ward reminds me of individuals in our ward at home, i am so blessed, we are so blessed to have the best ward ever, please let everyone know how much i miss them, everyone, every family, because i seriously do i love our ward and i think about every family, let them know!
Steph you got a car!!! haha cool beans!! Sounds like the best christmas for everyone, Abbey got a laptop! Colling a .22!! Hannah got something haha, i loved when all she asked me was what was my favorite apple? shes weird. haha and i got to talk for an hour to my family who i love so much! You guys dont even know how much i miss you and how much you mean to me! You never will understand, im extremly lucky i am! It sounds like one of the best christmases yet! Well i got to go and i love you all so very much, you dont know the impact your letters have had on me i am absolutely so blessed! Grandmas and Grandpas i was so happy when i got to talk to you! You are some of my best friends! I love spending my time with you and i will never forget your love for me! You guys are some of the greatest examples to me and if i can be a little like you my life will be complete, seriously. Thank you so much! I miss you all more than words can explain, but its only two years, i cant imagine missing you all for eternity, thats one reason i am here ive decided, to help other people not miss their families for eternity. I want to recieve andy and judds emails, because i miss them so much so please start to forward those to me also! I LOVE ALL OF MY FAMILY SOOO MUCH!

Hot! Hot! Hot! - Elder Horrocks Discovers Argentina

So i met my trainer on thursday morning and we jumped on the bus to my first area, a little town called Jardín next to Posadas. The bus ride was ridicoulsy beatiful! it is so green here and beautiful, i have never seen so much variety in trees! haha i got off the bus in Posadas and i just started to sweat! And i havent stopped since, i cant explain how hot it is here, my apartment doesnt have air conditioning so i havent had the opprotuntiy to stop sweating yet haha, its very uncomfortable and is very hard for me to focus on the work and to do my best. Haha for me the heat is very hard to ignore! I am just going to have to get used to always beeing overheated but oh well, that just makes me appreciate Salt Lake City even more! all i know is that i have been called here for a reason and the heat will only build my character. but man is it hot... haha, on friday we taught an investigator who is 15 years old his final lesson before he got baptised. That was pretty interesting, then we taught a few other lessons that day that i really dont remember, it was just sooo hot! My trainer is named Elder Stone and he is 6 feet 7 inches tall, and he has only been out a year but he has 21 baptisms which is only 4 off the record, he has 6 baptisms set up for january so its pretty cool that i got set with a trainer that is really successful and teaches just i like i want to teach. So saturday we had a very good time, i taught a family about the restoration and then we asked for a referral, and they gave us a family who had been inactive for 13 years because its such a long walk to the church and some other reasons i didnt understand, and trust me i know haha, ive walked there 3 times in the past 3 days and it takes over an hour from the area in where we serve. Anyways they became 7th day advents and they are supposedly the hardest people to teach and to give the gospel but they were so welcoming and they did put up a good fight but after an hour they gave in to our teachings and started to accept what we had so i was pretty excited and its my first legit family that ive started to teach, which was pretty exciting. Then we ate lunch at a members house, which the food here is pretty darn good, their jucies are out of this world and they are pretty good cooks, but they feed you until you cant eat anymore or else your being rude so thats pretty fun. The members do my laundry and they really take care of us, im pretty lucky since im in the only area that actually has a ward, so it is pretty cool, we teach more lessons with members helping us than we teach other lessons, so we are completly opposite of all of the other missionaries lol. then we had the baptism which was interesting to watch, i didnt really feel like i helped so it was just like watching a random person get baptised but it is recorded as my first offical baptism so i have one haha. After that we had to walk an hour back to the neighborhood, i definitly had heat exhaustion and i felt so sick, yet we still had like 3 lessons to teach and i was dying, this was defintily the hardest part of my mission by far, at least ten times harder than anything else i have ever done, during this time i kept thinking how easy it would be to be home with my family relaxing in the cabin with snow outside and the ability to shiver, something i miss so much haha, anyways it was tuff but after hours of constantly praying and studying i feel like i have overcome my problem with the heat, and i am becoming more and more like the best missionary i can be, so as i forget myself and go to work my day just goes by easier, and as long as i have the comfort of the holy ghost i can be anywhere doing anything. In conclusion, be grateful for where we live, ive never seen such poverty in my life and it is so depressing to see where everyone lives, most of my area is goverment built houses but there are some areas that are just tin squares, its depressing. but then it reminds me of how lucky i am to have the house and all of the stuff we have and to have air conditioning, the absolute best invention ever haha, and they have such a focus on people here rather than possessions, they are so friendly and nice, even the drunks who like to attack us at first become friendly in the end. i hated it here for the first three days, but as my heart has began to change and i have given myself to the work i have begun to love it, i have a long way to go to become who i want to be but im well on my way. i love you all and i cant wait to talk with you on friday, probably will be around 8 or 9 in the morning where you live. well i love you and cant wait to talk

This is a link to the Chapel Nathan Attends. It is a 1 hour walk to the church!


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Safe Arrival!! Wednesday, December 16

After two days of travel i finally made it! What an adventure! The plane rides here were very long and interesting but i enjoyed it alot, i got to sleep alot of the way and so i was full of energy when i landed in Resistencia last night around 10 30. Where we just went to the mission presidents house and slept in a apartment across the street, the mission presidents house is like a compound haha, its so secure that noone is really able to rob it at all, this morning we woke up and had a delicious breakfast and then we had personal study in the compound, then after going over all of the rules weve gone out contacting and every person we have talked to has wanted us to come visit them, which has blown my mind, my spanish isnt very good at all and it is hard to understand what they are saying but i love it so much, and they are very nice and patient with me as i am trying to teach them! haha its alot of fun but it is very hot here! im kind of getting used to it already but its just going to get hotter, they say i can go get a cowboy hat to wear. anyways i got to go! i love you and ill talk to you later

Friday, December 11 -- The Final MTC Email!

Wow where has the time gone!?!?! Hey fam! Today is my last p day in the mtc!! About time haha, i am so excited to get out of here and to head to Argentina where i can finally start actually doing what ive practiced what ive done all day for the past nine weeks!! So really quick i leave here at 5 am and get to Dallas airport around noon so ill call around then! And then i can call later that night around 5 or so when i get to Miami and then i have a 14 hour flight to buenos aires, which im pretty psyched for! Over half of the population of Argentina lives in one city so im way excited to see how big it is! This week has been a very easy week and went by super fast! Im really going to miss the friends i have made here, but im so excited to finally get out, this past week i have had an obsession with elder holland!! He is absolutley my favorite speaker ever, he is so bold and i am addicted to every talk he gives, there are alot he has given at the mtc that are so much better than any general conference talk so its been a huge blessing to hear those talks. Thank you so much for all of the stuff you guys have given me! It means so much! This week, not much new stuff has happened, im going to send alot of pictures home and alot of other stuff, maybe, i dont know how im going to pack, ill probably just stuff it all in the case and then deal with it when i get into the field or something, everyone is having a problem with being overweight with their baggage but i seem to be the opposite and i am starting to wonder if im forgetting everything haha, but oh well. I met with the consul of Argentina this week, who was really chill and very nice to us, even though you can tell he likes to make fun of the missionaries, he counseled us to not ask people about religion which was funny to me, alot of missionaries took that very seriously and actually started causing contention which was retarted, but i liked to visit with him and im excited for Resistencia, ive talked to alot of Argentines and they said that all of the people from Resistencia are mean haha, so that makes me even more excited! I cant wait for the rejection! It sounds alot of fun to me for some reason, maybe it wont be when im out there, but at least i can laugh anything off that goes bad. Anyways i cant wait to get there, i have no clue what it looks like, feels like, or in any way picture what it is like! Nothing else is really new yet, i dont know if i have my visa but im not worried, um... yup i saw my teacher for the last time last night, that was sad, he was a really good example. Hmm, i cant think of much else, maybe its because i get to call so that will be better, i hate writing haha. The zone im in is really hating that we are leaving because we have been so close and tight but i am pretty excited to go! The temple was so good for the last time in two years so im glad i ended on a good note! Anyways i love you so much and ill call you on monday! Oh if you didnt get my letter i sent home i really want another sd card for my camera if you can and a collapsable laundry bag, or just even a bag so i can pack it up and take it home. Well i love you all and next time you will hear from me ill be on my way to Argentina!! I love you all so so much! Thank you for all of the letters and support!

Friday, December 4 2009 -- He Misses Us!!

I am so missing my family!! haha but what can i do? Ive been working pretty hard here and alot has gone on this week, ive learned alot and i have finally won the loyalty and friendship of my whole district which is awesome, i have made alot of new friends which has been great and i have loved the MTC, but i am so ready for Argentina its not even funny! This week we went to the TRC, which is where we practice teaching in spanish and i totally rocked at it! But not because my spanish was good but because i didn't care how i sounded, my companion and i taught the greatest lesson!! The guy who we practiced with has become one of our great friends over the past few weeks, but its really hard to practice with him because he isnt good at pretending to be an investigator, if hes supposed to have a problem with the word of wisdom or have doubts about Joseph Smith he is the complete opposite and will testify on everything! haha so he mostly teaches us, but this week i wanted to really teach him something so i pulled out D&C 38:1 and we studied that verse for like 15 mins and then we discussed the atonement and then the nature of god, he was totally teaching us until i pulled out a scripture from john 5:19-20, which talks about Christ not doing anything the Father hasn't done and it really blew him away! He got so excited that when my teacher came to tell us its over that the guy told him to go away and give us more time to talk about it! It was alot of fun doing it in Spanish and it made me so excited to get out of here! Its easy to study hard here because i love it so much but when it comes time for class i would rather be out tracting or contacting!! Well this week was tuff at first because one of our district members did end up leaving, so we all were sad and sunday was like the worst day yet. We went to the temple sunday night to walk around it and it wasn't as fun as it used to be and we all just sat around, didnt really talk, well all of the sudden the member of our district who left came walking up to us, and told us of his story of how when he went home nothing made him happy until he decided that he would come back, it was really good and we were all so happy! Probably one of the happiest times of our lives when we realized that Satan had lost that battle that he thought he had won just a day earlier. So that helped with unifying the district and then something just clicked and now we are all as tight as can be! I really cant believe i only have one p-day left! i am so excited i cant wait to get out there!! We were supposed to get our flight plans yesterday...... So we are all a little worried so we hope they come tonight or monday. Alot of stuff has happened this week that has challenged alot of our districts faith, Satan is real, and hes working harder than ever to tear my district apart, and its very apparent to see those who were really strong at first starting to stumble now, and its so hard to see that, i am trying to help but i dont know how much i can do, i try to get them to stick to what they know, to always use the book of mormon and use it as their fortress so to speak, i dont have a problem with it, Satan has tried and failed with me and so such a loser has no effect on me. I am so excited to go down to Argentina and break the chains that satan has on the people down there. Stick to the basics of the gospel, with what has gone on this past week i am really worried for the members of the church, i keep thinking about how in the latter days satan will decieve the very "elect", he will trick those members of the church into believeing something that seems good, but its not. I have watched Elder Hollands safety for the soul talk like 6 times this week trying to understand to rely on the book of mormon and those leaders who lead us! Well i love you and know that i am doing well! Thank you so so so so so much for your support! I absolutely look forward to the letters i receive! I think this is the last week for packages! hahahaha i need more red cream soda! Anyways i absoltuely miss every single member of my family! This past week has been tuff on the district but i just recall all of the times that i have done stuff with all of my family and how the gospel has blessed us and i look at my grandparents and my aunts and my uncles and my cousins and my parents and my siblings and realizes that all of that is worth all that i have! That satan cant have any power over me after everything that everyone has done for me! You dont even know how much i love and miss you all!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Tuff week... Haha but it was a good learning one, during the temple last week i just thought so much about how i can help the elders in my district who are having a hard time putting their heart into the work, so on sunday i gave a really powerful lesson on getting your heart into the work, and i know that it worked on one or two of the elders. And then i had some really good friends, who i met the first week i was here, leave on monday and that really sucked! Now everything i do without them just feels empty and it is not a fun feeling at all. But ive worked really hard this week trying to push past all of the tuff feelings that ive felt, Elder Oaks really helped me on tuesday night when he came to visit and that was a really powerful experience, one i will never forget, after his talk i never felt so much excitment to get down to Argentina, but sadly some of the Elders in my district didn't heed his counsel... Wednesday was by far the worst day, from the beginning of last week one of the elders in my District has had a hard time and really has wanted to go home, because he doesnt feel adequate enough or something, so hes been sleeping during study and really putting a damper on his companion, well Wednesday afternoon, after gym we went to class and he and his companion never showed up. This made me uneasy so i asked if anyone in the District knew anything about it, two elders, who were roomates with him and his companion, said they knew what it was but that it wasnt my concern. I asked them as District Leader if it was something i was to know about since it was my responsibility to take care of my district, they told me to back off and that it was none of my business... So i continued to worry about him, feeling deep inside that i knew what was wrong, anyways the companionship who knew something got up and left saying they needed something from the room, the rest of us sat in the room and didnt know what to do so we just studied, after about 5 mins i felt a really strong impression to go find this Elder, because something wasnt right, so i grabbed the rest of my district and we ran around the MTC trying to find him. After 30 mins we found the companionship and his companion sitting in a hallway near the main office, the elder was calling to have his parents come get him. The whole time i was there the three elders wouldn't tell me anything and totally treated me like crap, saying this is none of my business and i have no room to do anything. So i didnt know what to do for about fifteen mins until Elder Taylor, a good friend in the District, came and i told him what was going on, and he totally chastised them with the Spirit and it was really cool to see that, totally reminded me of Nephi. Anyways we sat in the hall, my companion and i with the rest of the elders going to Resistencia, and then the other companionship and his companion sat down the hall, not wanting anything to do with us. THey are all going to Neoquin, so i ran up and grabbed my teacher and told her what was wrong and she came down, anyways to make a long story short he was convinced to stay and now we have this huge rift in my district, resistencia whose trying to be nice about it, and neoquin who wants nothing to do with us, and im really frustrated trying to figure out how im supposed to get the group back together when one side hates me and the other likes me... Its really tuff and ive talked to my teachers about it and it is by far one of the most difficult challenges of the MTC. Other than that Thanksgiving was awesome, Elder Holland came and talked to us so that was freakin awesome! Dinner was delicous but it was wierd, i had a very weird feeling the wholetime, homesickness mixed with excitement. After that we had a few humanitarian meetings preparing us for the nighttime and then we had two hours of free time, most of which i spent with the other districts in my zone because my district wasn't doing the best after what happened the night before. Then we had a good service activity and ended the night with song. loved it! Then i spent a full 3 and a half hours in the celestial room where i had an awesome feeling of eternal yearing if that makes sense, its the only way i can describe it! I cant wait to leave this life after my experience today haha! Anyways thank you so much for all of you love and support! Home sounds like alot of fun and i miss you guys sooo much! Tell Luna i miss her so! I need a pic of our family!! i dont have one yet! Oh and i need a pic of luna and i need a laundry bag... Anyways thanks for the gifts this week! i loved the red cream soda! If i can have one thing it would definitly be that!! Love you and see you in DECEMBER!! Christmas SONGS!!

November 20, 2009 -- Loving the Service

Hey fam! Not much is new here, life is good and everything is pretty fun. To answer your questions my jaw is fine and im not sure about my visa but as of right now everything is fine. I am really wanting chips and salsa and real food, i dont really like cookies and to tell you the truth ive probably only had one cookie lol, the rest ive given away, the district loves the cookies by the way!! So if you want i would love some red cream soda and some really good chips and salsa, i cant think of anything for christmas, probably nothing would suffice for right now haha. Im happy with what i have. Oh this week i need you to buy me a normal basketball so we can give it to one of our teachers who has been a good help, they arent allowed so make sure to package it good. I really need it, its not for me but for my teacher. She deserves it, my teachers have been a really good help and i am so grateful for them! The Language is coming along great, we called people around the usa in spanish and that was really tuff but it was fun. I am really, really, really missing music and that really sucks but its ok. Ill get to be the wednesday greeter once before i leave, but its ok i would rather study instead of doing that! Ive learned so much this past week its crazy! I have loved working so hard and i havent focused on my self at all this week! Its been awesome this week flew by so fast! Yesterday we were asked if we could help with a humanitarian project as a district and most of the district didnt want to because it was during our p day and we would only have like a half hour for letters. But as i was thinking that day it was really ridiculous that after all we have learned to put the lord first that they would rather have their day of rest, so that night i pulled everyone into my room and told them how rediculous it was that we are too selfish to do service for the lord! After a couple mins of chastening they all were willing to help me with the service today and it turned out to be a great experience, i could have used the sleep because i haven't been so exhausted in my life! But i knew i couldn't be selfish and i am trying to give my all to the lord, and how would i show that by taking a nap instead of serving? Anyways i love being district leader because as the days wear on us we start to lose confidence and a positive attitude and through this i get to help my district pull through the stresses and the hardships and its alot of fun for me, its real life for everyone else but to me this is a game, i love it here, the exhaustion, crappy food(because its the same everyday pretty much), the endless hours of studying (which doesn't seem like enough time!), and the endless amount of friends i get to have, even though it sucks when the mtc takes away our friends. Thats the worst part when youve had a friend from the beginning and then they take them all away, but thats life and its for a good purpose. This week i had a few way awesome chats online with people, my favorite was a guy from Jerusalem who had a hard time with faith, to make a long story short he talked for a long time before i got him to start answering his own questions and in the end as i was finishing i felt the absolute, overflowing love for him, and an overpowering thought that said that "I love him so much." And i knew Jesus Christ was using me to help this man, i let him knew exactly how Jesus felt about him and i was so blessed with that experience! My companion is alot like Collin! He is way random and insanely funny, (Speaking of which Collin, his cousin created The Misadventures of FlapJack!) So we talk about that cartoon alot at nights while we are falling asleep. He cant really say his "th's" that well and come out as D's which is so fun, hes such a chill companion that when we are forced to have inventory to see what we can do better and to stop bugging each other we just sort of make things up to make the teacher feel like were trying, but we really have never had a problem. This week we both sprained our ankles pretty bad in gym so we were hobbling around the mtc like dorks it was alot of fun for some reason. Ya the only thing i really want is red cream soda and chips and salsa, lots of chips and salsa, thanks for all of the letters this week and thanks for all of the Jokes Derek! I used the watermelon and the football one in a LGM this week and it was pretty hilarious. Next week Elder Holland is coming to chill with us during thanksgiving so im betting that he is going to eat dinner with me ;) ill let you know how that goes! Anyways i love you guys and ill see you later!

District Leader! November 13, 2009

Here is Nate's latest letter:

Well hello!! This week has been a very busy week and a very fun one at that!! I have studied the crap out of everything i could and i have done very well in speaking spanish, i try every other day to speak spanish all day!! I love it!! Right now im just learning to focus on peoples needs and that is the tuffest part yet!! So i have had alot of teachers help me practice by going to this website called 6 billion others which you definitly have to check out! its awesome!! Thats all i have to say about it, that should spark your curiosity enough to go check it out! but i love it! I am pretty much missing any type of music possible so i spend alot of my free time, usually less than 15 mins a day, playing the piano!which is fun and something that i really missed! I have learned alot about the gospel and spanish which is so cool! Because i know that i couldnt do it by myself! The only free time i have is at night when all we do is quote lordoftherings and write in our journals. I was made District Leader last sunday so i have alot of responsiblities and so my sundays are packed from 7 to 4! I dont even have time to study on sunday but its ok because i love my district and i love to be their leader, even though they are way better than i am! My two teachers are the best! They are so inspiring and make us work harder than ever!! The toughest thing in the MTC right now is looking at the mountians and not being able to climb them! ahah but its ok! I love how much ive learned and have grown in the past couple weeks! I am already half way done with the MTC and its crazy!! Im having a hard time with talking when i wake up for some reason though, my jaw, for the past week and a half, has hurt really bad and i am unable to move it for a few mins after i wake up, haha but i dont really care its just another challenge i can overcome. umm, this week has gone by too fast to think of everything i have done haha, i kind of have fallen into routine, studying, studyimg, studying, studying! So not much new has happened! I sent some pics home so i hope you like those!! I have made alot of friends this past week and its so wierd to see all of the ones i made at first leave, its wierd how it seems the mission is always getting rid of the friends you make, if that makes sense, but its for a good cause i guess. Anyways we get to go to the temple once a week and i love it! I will spend more than an hour in the celestial room and just think!! Its the best! Well not much else has happened since last week, be sure to keep me updated on home!! i sure miss you guys! I love you all!! My favorite chapter of the book of mormon is Alma 26! Everyone read it! PEACE!!

November 6, 2009

Hi Everyone! This is a good one. I am so proud of Nate. He really seems to be growing spiritually. I especially love "top three moments" part. It brought tears. What a wonderful thing a mission is for a young man. Thanks to all for supporting Nate. We cannot thank you enough. Cindy

So to start off this week thanks mucho for all of the letters and packages this week! Its been alot of fun and a huge morale booster to get so much food and letters this week! Definitly a huge blessing and something that makes me work harder!! I love them!! Last week i had an amazing experience at the temple and i have been praying mucho to be a powerful instrument in the lords hand, well i am starting to see that. This week i have visted with two people in the rc and after long converstations i have commited them to church which is a big deal!! Both were baptisit and have had doubts about their faith. So that was a pretty cool experience! But the best was when i was just sitting in the Rc, where we get phone calls, while i was there a man called me asking about a one year initation thing which i had no idea, after alot of talking to him i found out he liked a mormon girl and she had light heartedley told him it would be a year if he joined before he could marry her, which i told him was the temple. Anyways he knew nothing of our church before he called me, he just had a crush on this girl, he is 37 years old and is a pastor in a church in Pheonix and owns a Taxi cab business there, we visited for an hour or more and everything we visited about he was so exicted for!! I would answer his most soul searching questions without even thinking it was difficult, like he didn't know families will live together forever, which he was pumped about because then he can hang out with his future wife forever! I pretty much told him everything i knew and he was so excited his voice was all quivering! Anyways to make a long story short i commited him to baptism and to go to church on sunday and i was so excited when i said he would love to! Because our church makes complete sense! Too bad i wont be the one to baptise him, but a good missionary in phoenix will have the easiest investigator of his life! haha i loved it and i can say it was in my top three happiest moments of my life!! After that experince nothing really that cool has happened, my spanish is fantastic and im loving it here, prayer works and is an awesome thing!! The food rocks and halloween here was alot of fun! We did absolutley nothing to do with it haha, i didnt even know it was halloween until i got a package that day from the sutherlands!! haha anyways i miss you all alot and im loving it here!! It goes by too fast though haha, i want it to slow down! anyways love you all so much!! If i had time i would write you all personally but i only have an hour or so! But i try and i love you all!!!! Peace!

Our Third Email!!

We can hardly wait each week to get Nate's letters. Here is this week's email. He sounds absolutely fantastic! We are so proud of him. Hopefully next week we will have pictures!

Friday, October 30, 2009:
Dont worry i get all of your dear elders and they rock! i get one like every day haha. To answer some of your questions i like my companion alot he is short and quite funny! He is really random and i laugh all of the time, but we both have a hard time working really hard and so we tend to convert to be vegeatables for a half hour or so everymorning. but we have become the cool kids to hang out with haha, everynight everyone comes to our dormroom and chills for an hour or so. its alot of fun, ive met alot of cool guys here! and alot of cool sisters! We have a sweet sand volleyball team with me, elder diderickson, and three other sisters who are way good at it! I have been homesick like once but then it was for like only the morning because i cant be selfish and think like that. i am trying my hardest to be the best of the best! the contacts that i make are real people who most of the time just want to tell us we are crazy and love to yell at us! On wednesday me and two other elders were chatting online with this guy who was proving everything with science and just causing alot of problems. We kept our calm the whole time and he just kept trying to prove god doesnt exisist with science. Then we asked him if god didnt exisit why is the world beautiful? if it was just science wouldnt everything just be made to survive. Then he said it was because the world had 4.4 billion years to become like this or something like that. Then we asked, well then what is our purpose on this earth. That question broke him and he started to give in and it became an awesome experience! Im as healthy as a horse! haha i have actually lost 4 pounds which is crazy since i have eaten so much every meal! i drink like half a gallon of choclate milk every meal! and the food rocks here! i love it! I went to the TRC again this week to talk to a new investigator and i did it all in spanish and i only understood half of what i said and it rocked! she was very impressed with me and we eventually got her to read the book of mormon. I loved it and i had alot of fun going door to door there speaking spanish to volunteers. the coolest thing about the mtc is that when you practice it is just about as real as the real thing because the spirit still prompts you to do different things which is so cool. My teacher Hermano Zirkle rocks! He is the best! he really helps me to work hard and become the best i can be. I have learned alot and its crazy! I cant send pictures but i will mail some home this week! Keep writing and ill write you next week! Thanks for the picture hannah! it is like the scariest, coolest halloween decoration ever, thanks mom for the carmels and for the cookies, my district loves it! Um, l tom perry came and talked to us and i got a bloody nose right at the start and once you leave you cant get back in so i couldnt get up and fix it, so i sat there for an hour and a half with blood all over my arms and face lol, i looked like i got my butt handed to me by the end of the meeting. But it was so worth it! It was a good talk, and the sunday night devotional blew my mind! Real quick synopisis described our sun is not powered by nuclear fusion but it really is powered by Kolob! Check out the Abraham stekch, no 2. It tells all about it and he used all of this science stuff to prove it, i loved it. i had prime rib dinner in the temple today with my buddies and it rocked! Anyways love ya guys!

Week #2

Well, we thought Nate's p-day is Saturday - but apparently it is Friday. Anyway, here is his latest letter. (He still sounds great!!)

Family!!! Life is so good here at the MTC! Thanks for the cookies and the letters! It really is a good morale builder to get letters so get sending some more!! haha i taught an investigator this week and i did ok, i completly bombed the spanish part haha but thats ok, the guy kept laughing at me so i couldnt think haha. My teachers came and they completly rock! i have learned so much from them and they are really fun. My district is like the coolest kids ever! We are always hanging out with eachother from the moment we wake up to the second we go to sleep! We know when we have to be serious and when we can mess around! We study super hard and super alot! But when we do have free time we like to spend it doing nacho libre impersonations and quoting hot rod in spanish which is really fun! We go crazy and its alot of fun! We also like to go around and take pictures of us trying to be models haha, we like to make the other elders feel awkward and it just kills us with their reactions!! The devotionals and firesides rock and i have done so much!! i have grown so much!! I am loving it here, i have had three hard days when i have done nothing but think about home and stuff but i got over that! My teacher told us to stop being selfish and to realize the greater good, i did not like being called selfish so i stopped that instantly!! I will ahve to send some of my modeling pics! i know that i could probably sell those to Mr Mac for alot of cash! haha but anyways ive had fun! I have been yelled at on the phone by old creepy people and i chatted with a guy online who said hes addicted to eating childeren! and to a guy who thought we turn into planets when we die! haha all fun stuff!! Oh i have been playing soccer lately and during one game i thought i would try to be the hero and i dove in front of probably one of the hardest kicks the world has ever seen! The ball smashed into my face so hard that it knocked me in a complete 180 and i hit the ground hard! I couldn't talk or eat the rest of the night because my jaw was all swollen but now i feel perfect! it rocked! my head stopped the ball from going in and we won the game! haha anyways i have to do my laundry so ill talk to you later! Peace!

Nate's First Email!!

We were thrilled to receive an email from Nathan. Saturday must be Nathan's P-Day. Here are the highlights of the first email. Note that Nathan would love to receive as many letters as possible. His MTC address is posted on the previous blog, and you can send a letter through DearElder.com.

Hello!
Hey thanks for the letter i enjoyed it!! So far the MTC has been great and i really enjoyed it so far. My district is really cool and i really have a good time with them! There are 11 of us and we really push oursevles in a very fun way so we are always enjoying it. The first day was so long and everyone said if you can get past sunday everything will go by faster. but I already feel like time is just flying by! I already can teach the first lesson in spanish and im taking the lessons in spanish right now. I am learning so much which i didnt think was possible ha! All of the seasoned missionaries are teaching me tricks to make life easier and to enjoy myself! Ive hung out with Jordan Dimick here and with Lance Mcgavin or whatver his first name his. Kaylen is here and weve hung out steph. Alyssas boyfriend is here right now and he doesnt look like hes too happy. Ive seen alot of people here from school that are so excited to see me here and its alot of fun. The food is absolutley delicious and im loving it! The beds rock and i sleep so good except for last night i was too excited for today that i couldnt sleep. My Distrcit is by far the coolest district and we are telling each other jokes and having a good time. they are very spiritual and just like me so they know when they can be loud and obtrusive and when we need to be serious. my companion is a little guy from sandy, he wrestled in jordan high back when i went to school. hes pretty cool, kind of conservative but laid back and chill, but hes awesome. My teachers havent shown up yet so for the first two days weve been teaching ourselves which is amazing. never would any other 19 year olds sit in a room for 6 hours straight studying, take a 30 minute break for lunch, then get back in the class for another 6 hours by themselves! it rocks we make learning fun and im impressed that we did it all by ourselves! i speak only spanish to a few in my district which is alot of fun because not everyone knows hwo to speak so we can have alot of fun with that! Well im doing my laundry so i need to get back! tell dereck thanks for the letters and tell all of my friends to write me at dear elder. com! were having a contest in our district to who can get the most letters by the time we leave! I love all of you and goodbye!! ELDER HORROCKS- Team Teancum!

The MTC Drop-Off

There is really no way to prepare to take your son to the MTC. We have known this day would come for 19 years, but we still were not ready to say goodbye. On Tuesday evening, Nate's friends came over to spend some time before he was set apart as a full-time missionary by our stake president. We spent Wednesday morning visiting and making final preparations. Nate wanted to eat at Sizzler on the way to the MTC -- they offer a free meal to all missionaries entering the MTC. After an enjoyable lunch, we drove to the MTC where we pulled into the parking lot across the street to give our final hugs. After hugs and pictures, we drove across the street where several missionaries guided us to the curb. One missionary quickly stepped forward, took one of Nate's suitcases, and Nate took the other. After a very brief hug, he was whisked away. Nate was so excited, and all smiles. The rest of us were in tears - but having Nathan so happy made it much easier. We miss him already - but wouldn't have him anywhere else.
Here is Nate's MTC address:

Nathan Paul Horrocks
MTC Mailbox #243
ARG-RES 1214
2005 North 900 East
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

The Farewell Gathering - Sunday, September 27

Following Nate's farewell talk in church, family and friends gathered at our home. We enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, chips & dip, cookies, and punch. It was wonderful to have so many family members and friends share this day with Nathan. He is certainly blessed to have so many wonderful people in his life. Thanks to everyone who helped make this day so memorable for all of us.

Elder Horrocks' Farewell Talk

In the fall of 480 B.C., a massive army of Persians led by King Xerxes massed along the coastlines of Asia Minor, the Greeks, hearing about this threat, started the plans to defend their country. King Leonidas, volunteered 300 of his Spartans to march, along with 5000 other Greeks to the region of Thermopylae. There they would hold off the massive force of Persians that has been said to have between 800,000 to 1,000,000 warriors. They held the Persians at bay at a narrow strip of land called the Hot Gates, which was the only pass in the area that the Persians needed to get through to reach the mainland of Greece. For two days the Greeks held the massive Persian army at bay. However, on the night of the second day the Greeks heard about a secret pass that the Persians were taking to attack the Greek force from behind. At that moment King Leonidas dismissed the Greek army to leave the Hot Gates and retreat. But he and his 300 Spartans would stay behind to hold off the Persians one last time, hoping to give time for the rest of the Greeks to re-form with the navy farther south. The Spartans knew they would die the next day, but they were willing to sacrifice their lives for the rest of the Greeks, hoping that their sacrifice would win them the war. Because of this last stand, the Persians lost a huge amount of morale and soldiers to the few that dared to stand up against the guaranteed death that awaited them. Their Sacrifice has been one of the most famous in the whole history of the world.
I have been asked to speak on the blessings we enjoy through sacrifice: sacrifice of our time for service, sacrifice of our sins required to know Christ, and sacrificing our wants for his needs. “Sacrifice is the Crowning test of the Gospel, Men are Tried and tested in this mortal probation to see if they will put first in their lives the things of the kingdom of God.”- Bruce R. McConkie. Since I have been given three distinct sections of sacrifice I will start by speaking on the blessings of giving up our time for service. Throughout my life I’ve been asked as a member of this church to give up time to give service to other members or people who need help, Most of the time it was just little things that never really mattered to me because I enjoy cutting down trees or mowing lawns for people. I got to hang around with other members of the ward who were my friends and made the work fun. But there have been two or three times that I have had a hard time wanting to serve or sacrificing my time, I remember a few months ago when my dad was elders quorum president, he didn’t have enough volunteers for the dairy up at welfare square, I was pretty hesitant to help my dad fill this position because I felt like I had better things to do, like hang out with friends or have dinner, but in the end I decided to help my dad and it turned into a very good experience. I learned a huge amount about the church that I didn’t know, about all of the time and money that the church spends to help the people in need, and I made a few friends from the ward that I hadn’t really gotten to know, so at first that experience to me didn’t seem worthwhile, and in the end it turned out to be a good experience for me. I didn’t get to see who that service would benefit but I made some friendships through it which is always a blessing to me. I’ve been blessed with Parents and pretty much the best extended family that I could ever ask for, they have always shown me that sacrifice is something that we must do, I grew up never knowing that I had the right to say no to someone who needs help, though I would never had said no, I didn’t even know that I had a choice. My parents would tell me stories of their parents and the sacrifices that they made in their lives, my mom told me and my siblings as we were driving home from provo one day that my grandma growing up never had the chance to really be a kid because her mother died at an early age so she had to take care of her brothers and sisters. She sacrificed pretty much all of her time so that her brothers and sisters could try and have a normal life. And my grandpa and grandma horrocks, it seems everytime they come to visit they end up working with my parents the whole time on some project, sacrificing all of their time to help my parents when they could just have chosen to relax and hang with their grandchildren, but then again my parents would make us work anyways. There are so many stories I could tell of the sacrifices my family has made. But In my mind I am about to embark on one of the ultimate adventures that is purely a sacrifice of my time for a service to spread the gospel that everyone needs to hear about. I am giving up two full years! Of my life to the lord for him to tell me to do whatever he wants of me. Ive had a hard time giving up time to go to priesthood session on Saturday nights or to a fireside or something like that. And now im giving up two years to be in the service of the people of Resistancia Argentina. Know this that this wasn’t an easy choice for me to do, I love my family and friends and why would I want to leave them for two years and miss out on all of their lives? But I do it because Jesus Christ wants me to and he gave me the ultimate sacrifice and I couldn’t ignore his call when he has done so much for me. Giving up two years of my life for him isn’t much to ask after he has saved me for eternity. And the people of Argentina want to hear that. I know that serving a mission is the best thing for me to do and I will be blessed beyond what I can imagine! But I believe that the blessings from serving a mission I will enjoy the most will be serving the people of Argentina, the memories made and the happiness that I will see as people turn their lives toward Christ.
Which then moves us on to the second section of sacrifice, sacrificing of our sins required to know Christ. M Russell Ballard said that “Sacrifice is a demonstration of pure love. The degree of our love for the Lord, for the gospel, and for our fellowman can be measured by what we are willing to sacrifice for them. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ manifested the supreme example of this love. His life and ministry established a pattern for us to follow. His divine mission was culminated in a supreme act of love as He allowed His life to be sacrificed for us. Having power over life and death, He chose to submit himself to pain, ridicule, and suffering, and offered His life as a ransom for our sins. Because of His love, He suffered both body and spirit to a degree beyond our comprehension and took upon Himself our sins if we repent. Through His personal sacrifice, He provided a way for us to have our sins forgiven and, through Him, to find our way back into the presence of our Heavenly Father.” Jesus Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice for us, The atonement was given to us so that the whole world and everyone who ever lived has been blessed by his sacrifice, because of him we all can repent and feel clean and happy, and eventually after we die we can all go live with him again if we just show a little effort and interest. 3 Nephi 9: 20 states: READREADREAD; so our sacrifice is to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit, or in easier words, to be sorrowful for your sins and becoming humble, once we have done this Christ can help us be forgiven of our sins. But this is no easy task, I know from experience, becoming humble and admitting my weaknesses took a very long time for me to do, it’s a process that isn’t meant to be taken lightly, but trusting in god and his love throughout will make everything better, we come out stronger and happier than ever before and its such a blessing that we’ve been given the atonement! Like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies of the book of mormon, they used to be lamanites and had murdered many innocent people, then the sons of Mosiah converted them to the ways of the lord and they felt so guilty for their sins that they made a covenant, or a promise with the lord to never again shed blood if god would forgive them of their murdering. So they buried their weapons of war deep in the ground and when war came upon the people of Anti Nephi Lehi they would not take up their weapons, for they had felt so horrible for the sins that they had committed, and when Christ had forgiven them of their most awful sins they would not do anything that might bring them back, for they had never felt so loved and happy. And when the lamanites came and started to slaughter all of the Anti Nephi Lehis, the lamanites slowly started to stop because no one was fighting back they killed over one thousand people before they stopped. Those Anti Nehi Lehis who gave their lives showed they loved Christ more than their own lives, they got to know Christ through their giving up of their sins. And they got to meet Christ that day in heaven, and what a blessing that will be if we can follow in their example, though we might never be called to give our lives up, but we can give our sins up so that we may come to know Christ our Savior, that when we do Die we can talk with him face to face and give our thanks to him!
And Finally we have blessings from giving up our wants for his needs. This is extremely difficult for me to do at times, there are a few things in my life that ive had to give up that I did not want to. Ive given up hanging out with Friends on Sundays, which has been hard at times, ive given up going to rated R with friends, and other activities which makes life a little hard, because ive had a few friends who don’t understand. And there are some times that I would rather sleep in than wake up and go to church, or when I was in high school it was so much easier to sluff seminary than it was to walk to the building. But in the end it came down to what do I want to do, and it used to be a hard choice, but as I started to make those decisions that Christ would want me to choose life became a little easier, when we decide to follow what Christ wants us to do he blesses us, like with my friends that didn’t understand they learned to respect my standards and they just lived with it, and actually changed for the better when they were around me. Which was a blessing for me, as we follow Christ and sacrifice our wants for his needs we learn that his way is a lot easier to follow than the way of the world, President Gordon B Hinkley said “It is not a sacrifice to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is never a sacrifice when you get back more than you give. It is an investment, ¼ a greater investment than any. ¼ Its dividends are eternal and everlasting” As long as we think in a earthly perspective and not in the perspective of who we will be after this life, giving up our wants in this world will be a lot harder. There is a good example in the bible of this, in Matthew 19: 16-29 it reads, the man wasn’t willing to give up his earthly possessions and therefore forfeited his eternal glory, while those who followed Christ and gave up their all would recieve all they could ever want in the next life. I really like this scripture chain, it gives me comfort in knowing that if I can give up my wants Christ will bless me a lot more. Giving up the things we love can be extremely hard, but if we can try and strive to have an eternal perspective in everything we do life can be easier. Bruce R McConkie has helped me realize this a little better with a quote I once read of his, it reads, “Sacrifice pertains to Mortality in the eternal sense there is none. Sacrifice involves giving up the things of this world because of the promises of blessings to be gained In a better world. In the eternal perspective there is no sacrifice in the giving up of all things- even including the laying down of ones life- if the eternal life is gained through such a course.” I found it interesting that after this life Sacrifice does not exist, which gives me a little more initiative to try and be better in my life.
In the end, I hope we all strive to add a little sacrifice to our lives, God will definitely bless us for our sacrifices, just look at how much our church is blessed because of the sacrifices the pioneers gave to make a future for us, in conclusion I would like to quote a poem I feel fits my talk, it was written by Helen Steiner Rice and is called the Praying Hands
The Praying Hands
The “Praying Hands” are much, much more than just a work of art; They are the soul’s creation of a deeply thankful heart—
They are a priceless Masterpiece that love alone could paint, And they reveal the selflessness of an unheralded saint.
These hands, so scarred and toilworn, tell the story of a man Who sacrificed his talent in accordance with God’s plan—
For in God’s plan are many things man cannot understand, But we must trust God’s judgment and be guided by His Hand. Sometimes He asks us to give up our dreams of happiness, Sometimes we must forego our hopes of fortune and success. Not all of us can triumph or rise to heights of fame,
And many times what should be ours, goes to another name— But he who makes a sacrifice, so another may succeed,
Is indeed a true disciple of our blessed Savior’s creed—
For when we give ourselves away in sacrifice and love,
We are laying up rich treasures in God’s kingdom up above— And hidden in gnarled, toilworn hands is the truest art of living Achieved alone by those who’ve learned the victory of giving; For any sacrifice on earth made in the dear Lord’s name,
Assures the giver of a place in Heaven’s Hall of Fame—
And who can say with certainty where the greatest talent lies, Or who will be the greatest in our Heavenly Father’s eyes!
—Helen Steiner Rice

I would just like to bear my Testimony……

Argentina, Here Comes Elder Horrocks

Nathan is busy preparing for his departure the the Argentina Resistencia Mission. (Resistencia is in the northernmost pink section on the map.) He reports to the MTC in Provo on October 14. Because of General Conference and fast sunday, Nathan will be giving his farewell talk this coming Sunday, September 27. Although this seems a bit early, it will actually be wonderful to be able to focus the last couple of weeks on final preparations.

Cary and I cannot believe that 19 years have come and gone so quickly. We have always known that this day would come, but now that it has, it is too soon. We love Nathan and are so proud of his decision to serve a mission. He is a remarkable young man. We will miss him terribly, but wouldn't want him to be anywhere else.

I will do my best to keep this blog updated so that all Nate's interested family and friends can share his mission experiences with us. I will post his letters and pictures.

Thank you to everyone who has helped us raise our incredible son. We appreciate all of the family members, friends, and the parents of friends who have been such great influences on Nathan.