Monday, August 30 2010

Wow it seems like alot has happened this week, and first of all im so glad that our prayers were answered for steph! Its too bad that stuff like that has to happen but man im glad that all is better! So I heard Camryn came home! Man time flies by! That is so sweet! Oh chunks! If only i could grow curly flowing hair down to my shoulders like he can! Haha i so would! ANd Lyndon got sent to Guatemala! Sweet! I hear that its a beautiful area! Not too hot but pretty humid! Man what a great opprotunity! And Brent Barker! Thats sweet, thats going to be such a sweet experiance for him!Ya Josh Ruckert is a cool kid, super wierd, haha, hes a great support for me in the mish, writes me every week and tells me how he wishes he was me! haha no hes a great man! Im glad hes trying to steal my family from me when i cant do anything haha. Another Chick Fillet run! Man im so freakin jealous! If chick fillet keeps making these there wont be any left for when i get back! Oh man i want to do that kind of stuff but dont worry, here in Santa Fe the work moves on. Slowly, super slowly, but surely, alot of the problems we are having here is because of me, im stil learning how to use the spirit and how to work and all of the stuff i need to remember, sometimes i feel like a robot which is not a good thing, so ive been fighting to try and become a better missionary, we just started my 7th transfer which will take me into the year mark! Thats pretty crazy!Time passes by way fast, but at the same time super slow, the key really is to stop thinking about time and just focus on what needs to get done, and im doing alot better with that. But it takes time to get over bad habits, so i have a bunch of patience and training to get doing. But man i love it here in the mission, I have a companion from Peru, we speak spanish and were in Argentina together, its just so wierd! Today we were 5000 miles from home playing monopoly! Its just so great! I really just want to improve myself, and thats what im trying to do! We are having troubles with bringing people to church but dont worry i have emergency investigators that come every week, they are twins and little brothers and sisters to Natalya, who was baptised a few weeks ago, the Investigators are not progressing that much and im having a tuff time helping them progress, im pretty much stuck, but dont fear ill get things into gear, its not so much talking with people anymore, its trying to get them to progress, to recognize that they need this, its tuff.But not impossible! Well im glad everything is great at home! Here are some photos of my life here in Santa Fe! Tell the family i miss them and thanks for the letters from Lindsay and Robin! Also from Grandma and Grandpa Horrocks! I love youall! Tell Dad, steph, collin, abbey and hannah hi! And where are some pics?! I would like one of the house and the nieghborhood with the mountains behind it so i can show people here my town! With loves!!

Monday, August 23 2010

Hey Family!! Hows life going!? Im here in Reconquista, but this week has felt like ive been on Tatooine, the desert planet on starwars, because the sky here is the color of sand, its pretty cool, i havent seen blue skys for a while. This week has been my most exhausting week of the mission i believe. Its amazing how hot it got so fast! Its really humid and super hot, like 93 degrees right now, and were still in winter!! But really it hasnt bugged me alot, im used to the head ache and the dreanched clothes, but man the people are really tuff here, everyday of the week i have just speant my time walking around, but with sacrifice comes the blessings, i have found four people that seem to really be great investigators, and they are trying to find their testimony so that makes me happy, im used to the back pains and the aching feet so i say that everything here is fine and dandy, through all of the tiredness and heat and all of the problems i have really come to find a desire to overcome everything! I really believe that god is with me all of the time because no matter how hard the day gets now i fight harder to find the happiness and to put a smile on my face, im finding joy in the scriptures like Andy said, i cherish them above all the world, and i am constantly trying to improve my knowledge. The homesickness has never left but i have learned how to over ride it haha. Im just starting to find the joy here, my biggest worry is how i will feel the spirit, because i feel like its so hard to recognize it. But im working on it. Well it sounds like one of the biggest changes back at home, collin starting 9th grade and abbey is starting 7th! And Steph went to college, and im sorry to hear that its been so tuff for her, ill definitly pray, just remember that i also had tuff roommates, i think thats just part of the Horrocks life, but ill defintily write her to help her. Thats pretty sad about the Nordahls, ill probably never get to see them again, but who knows. And wow thats really sweet about Tjs experiance, how cool is that! Well i dont have much more time this week! Thanks dad for your letter, i always love your help and consel. Next week im going to talk with Elder Foster, who is the 70 who talked about mothers know best in the last conference so im excited to learn from him! Well love you all and goodbye!

Tuesday, August 17 2010

Hey family!! So yesterday was a holiday here so we had to work so my pday was today, so the week felt way long! But really it flew by! This week has pretty tuff mostly because i felt so stressed about the lack of progress i am having, i feel like its really slow, i havent been able to visit with any of the investigators that have baptismal dates because they werent home, but i did give it my all with all of the troubles i had this week, but best of all i had a baptism!I kind of forgot to say that last week but ya, we finally got permission from the father of the three kids we are teaching to baptise the oldest girl, who is 15, so that was awesome i was pretty excited, it was a really spiritual baptism, the strongest one yet. And the father who didnt want anything with us is now listening to us and im sure that he will start to change, thats the effect the spirit has on people! So i am really seeing a difference from when i got here, there are days that we dont enter one house but somehow we are finding those that need the gospel. slowly but surely, once i start getting my planning down im sure that i will be able to see alot more blessings, we are finding the elect, but man it takes my patience, thats really been a help to live with the zone leaders because they can help me with my defects, my comp lacks alot of initiave, which we are working on, hes really gotten better and ive grown alot also, which is awesome!So i am attaching a photo of a picture that looks like its nighttime, but its really 9 in the morning, it was super sunny and it seemed like it would be a pleasant day, and as i was studying it started getting darker and darker until we couldnt even see our books of mormon! So i ran outside to see what was wrong, i kind of felt like the sun turned off! But the clouds came so fast and they were so thick that the light couldnt penetrate at all! ive never seen anyhting like it! Man! it was cool, but man it was so muddy afterwards, well i dont have much to say, its been tuff but ive grown a super lot, its starting to warm up again and my nerves from remembering the last summer are starting to jump, but i think ill be able to handle it alot better! Well i love you all! Steph have fun! its the greatest time of life if you make it! Be safe and choose the right! BYE

Monday, August 9 2010

Well first off before i forget, because its always so stressful to write home, so much is on my shoulders haha. The church that is in centro in the other missionaries, and we live three blocks south, on the road named lobato, which has a divider down the middle, we live two blocks east from the main highway. I think, if that helps let me know whats there. This week has been tuff, because i wasnt really focused on my goals, i just worked all day but not really effectivly, but i did find a few people that are way cool, i have seen a few miracles here, the people seem to be changing just a little, not everyone but less people are rejecting us, and we have a baptism this week, the first of many, because we have the goal to baptise every week, we have 7 people that have agreed to be baptised and we have 14 people who are looking forward to it, the 7 are amazing! The girlt hat is baptising this week is Natalya, a 15 year old who has waited forever to get baptised and her dad just gave here permission, so were pretty excited! Than we are working with a 21 year old named Ever, hes tight and has a huge testimony of Jesus Christ, he told us he would do anything for christ so i asked if he would get baptised for him and he said yes! Our mission president is teaching us how to help people recieve an answer from the book of mormon that is super powerful and helps the people want to read the book, its so simple but it works so well, the whole mission is changing, Preach My Gospel has changed as well, everything is so much better and im seeing a huge difference in people! HUGE! Dont worry i got to go to chruch this week, i know how to work and to have faith, the only time i dont have an investigator at church is when im unrighteous. And then ill be humbled haha. There is not many new stories, i love living with the other elders, after a super tuff day its always good to go back and laugh it off, its a huge blessing. Im now a master at omlet making, i might be a competition for dad, hehe. Ive been working out every moring a bunch so im always starving! So what better way to crave hunger than by omlets!! Today i had a strawberry milkshake for the first time in my mission! oh man i was sooooooo excited! Then i cut my hair but its lopsided so ill have to try again... hehe. Wow sounds like a way fun week!!! I really missed out! But i wont believe that you went until i see some pictures! What happened! i havent recieved any for a while now! haha. Well collin its like you read my mind, i was going to tell you to buy that game, man ive missed you kid, ive dreamed alot about you. But dont worry, im almost half way hehe. Well family i love you so much! I have been blessed so much! Oh one quick story, today we were walking from the icecream store and i saw a house that was huge! HUGE! and we stopped to look at it! and i realized that it was the size of our house, ive really forgotten that we had a house that had more than one room! Man ive gotten used to living here, and were so blessed! Well i love you!! Im so happy!

Monday, August 2 2010

Well hello family! It feels like yesterday that i wrote this letter, this week has been a fast one, and the most exhausting of my life. So i have what most people call a little bit of a gut, so everymorning i have been running stairs for a half hour to try and get that fat off of my body, because its draggin me down! haha so ive been walking with stiff and sore legs all week. And not only that, this week has definitly been the hardest week of my mission, yet there was not one time that i actually felt depressed or let down or any negative feeling, it was the wierdest thing of my life. 4 of the 6 days of work we just walked all day, and no one let us in, i had one sit down lesson where we actually taught once a day. And that just killed my back and my feet, i couldnt really walk that well this morning, i feel like i broke my foot haha. But not to worry, i really pulled out the hard worker in me, we completed with all of our goals and more, im really satisfied with this past weeks work but i know i can do better, we only have 3 progressing investigators who are kids, so im not happy that noone else is progressing, but im trying to figure things out, its been a different experiance with my new companion, if one of our teaching appointments drops, he looses all desire and falls into depression, so i think thats why i havent had a hard time here yet, because im here to help him, and its really helping, even though he is my leader ive been teaching him and stuff hehe, i kind of turned the tables. The people here are really stubborn, super closed and dont want nothing to do with us, so i have been trying many different ways to try and spark their interest and the best thing i have found is to talk about the things they need and are important to them, and i have seen a huge difference, the other religions cant satisfy the thirst of the gospel. Even though its super tuff here i am in love with the work, i am loving helping my companion, the people, the members, i love it love it love it. Sunday brought a huge wave of homesickness more powerful than i have felt since i got here but i ignored it and got to work, something that was so hard to do in Posadas! To answer your questions mom and dad, there are dogs everywhere, everywhere, more dogs than ants haha. Dead dogs, living dogs, crazy dogs, big and small. But dont worry all have a fear of shoes and stones. And no i wasnt in danger at all, thats why i was laughing! About the sacrament, i cant be in the church without an investigator. If there is not a investigator in the church i cant take the sacrament, the president is super tired of people not making progress, and like i said before he knows we can complete, since God said we could bring 4 every week. So im not worried, president says we need to take it once a month if we can never bring an investigator. And to close a branch there needs to be less than 10 members and no priesthood. And here in Reconquista there is a curse or something, they just dont have the priesthood power, every branch president goes inactive and wants nothing with the church, the same with all of the district presidents. I dont know why its like that here, we have 70s come here all the time to help, like once every 4 months, but i dont understand why the priesthood isnt strong here. Well today i played alot of soccer, and i can say that ive improved from running up and down the side lines, im not near as good as the latinos but id say i can play the sport haha. I love it, im pretty excited for this week, im hoping to find a family to baptise this week, please keep praying for this people, one day they will recognize, well i love you so much, dont forget me in your prayers! haha just kidding i know you cant forget... I LOVE YOU!
Oh and thanks for the envelope! and they didnt charge you can send those full of sweet tarts! oh man i love sweet tarts! And maybe you can send me a flag of the united states also, not too big, but not small also, just for fun! Remember i cant recieve more than 4 packages but i can recieve envelopes, so bring on the sweet tarts! haha with love again!

Monday, July 26 2010

HI MY FAMILY!! I cant even explain how much i love this area! I walk super alot but its not that bad, im used to it, Well this week i have worked super hard and i feel like i finally have a purpose, i learned about the history of the church here in Reconquista this week, and there was 6 branches here, but sadly they have closed all but three, which each has a set of missionaries, but now they are dangerously close to closing on which is called vera, and mine was pretty close to closing, but luckily we have two active elders, but i realized how much trust i have been given to be here, not every missionary could be hereAnd every missionary that has been here in the past has become great leaders in the mission, so im excited to grow, we had 9 people in the church this week, i was pretty disappointed that i couldnt get those inactives to church but to reactivate takes alot of engery and will power, so i will just have patience, somthing that i have learned really well in the mission haha. I love teaching people and im not even close to the missionary that i was in Posadas, im completely different, i dont even like p days now all i want to do is work! P days are great when we play soccer but im just constantly thinking about finding our future elders president or about a certain family, im addicted to the work hehe.I can say that i have felt the answers to my 9 months of pleading to the lord! And i have felt your prayers here also! Im the first elder in a long time here who was able to complete with all of the numbers this week, i have seen a huge difference in the acceptance of the people this week, and its just like dad said, i have turned from being someone so seems like their selling a product to everyones friend, and its been different here this week, and i feel like it will just keep getting better, the only thing that i really need to work on is planning, since my area is huge we waste a whole bunch of time walking, which i dont like, so i need to organize where we are for one day and then a different area another day, but im working on it.
The mission changed 100 percent this week also, first the president is very unsatisfied with the work, so if we cant bring investigators to church we arent worthy to partake of the sacrament and we cant participate in church without a investigator, everyone was complaining but if god said we could bring 4 people to church every sunday and we dont do it its because we are not working. So im excited for this challenge, also all of south america changed how we learn things, we dont have zone conference anymore and its more on a 1 on 1 basis, but we dont see president for 3 months, so its alot different, alot more responsibility with the elders. Well i have a way funny story, so saturday night it rained so there was alot of mud, well sunday morning we went to find investigators to bring to church, we clapped the house and from around the corner a pack of dogs, 7 huge dogs came flying around the corner at us, my companion started to freak out and started to try to run, i just started to laugh because it was so random to see them, they came out of nowhere! Before i could start to think they just jumped all on my companion, filling him up with mud all over his suit! I was dying of laughter, i ran over and started to pull the dogs off of him and he ran and then the dogs started piling on me! And my nice clean suit became a huge mess! I was crying with laughter because ive never seen anything like this, i couldnt get away until they got bored, we left and tried to get to the house from the other way, when we reached the corner the dogs saw us again and came flying at me, my companion jumped on a fence to wait for them to pass to me then made a run for the house to get the investigators, they started piling on me again and i was craking up, oh my suit was a disaster, i got them to leave me and they all went running for my comp! He started screaming! and went running again, i fell to my knees i couldnt breathe! Well we made a run for the church which was two blocks away and tried to clean up but it was worthless, well we couldnt go home but i tried my best to get rid of the mud... ya didnt work! Well thats been the funniest thing that has happened here so far! To answer your questions dad yes i live with the zone leaders and they were waiting at the bus, and all of the houses here are made of cement and huge bricks. Well i love you all, dont worry ill dry clean my suit to be nice and clean again... or maybe ill keep it like that for a rememberance... LOVE YA!

Monday, July 19 2010

Hey Fam!! Well alot changed this week here in the mission for me, first after i wrote you guys last week we went to the gomez family to have my last family home evening with them, we watched a beautiful movie about Temples and played the dice game when you have to write 1 to 100, like that time when we played in the cabin and Joe was going crazy! haha, it was alot of fun and made me miss the temple awefully and also my family. tuesday we had a service project that was like 6 hours, when we took the shingles off of a roof and repainted as much as we could, there was like 2000 haha, and we only got like 400 or so done. It was alot of fun and a great way to leave Posadas... I recieved a call tuesday night and i was the only one that left out of my whole zone! Well i dont have time so ill tell you more about where i went next week... Ha just kidding, I got called to the most south possible in the mission, Reconquista Santa Fe! My new comp is named Elder Hinostroza, it was wierd, the first day when Elder Soclle was my companion i saw Elder Hinostroza, 7 months back and something in my mind told me that im going to be his companion, and so when i met him it was wierd! So i feel like were going to bring some miracles to Reconquista, hes also from Peru and hes really shy, so its been really good for me so far to start to take the lead in things, but he has a really strong testimony and you can feel it when he speaks. He has the same amount of time as Elder Soclle, and so hes the M1, or the leader companion, which was the only thing that i was disappointed with in this transfer, and i havent moved up at all yet, but its alright. I cant send pictures here but ill try to find a way, maybe there is another cyber we could use. But hes a shorty also haha. I really was sad to leave Posadas, because i had such a long time there, but when i got off the bus to a few good old friends i was way excited to be here, my old friends are my zone leaders and we all live in the same apartment above a pharmacy, its a whole bunch of fun, our life is alot like the best two years if i remember the movie well. They are the bomb and its been a blast to be able to live with another companionship here, Reconquista is ALOT different than Posadas, there isnt hills or trees and instead of red dirt everything looks like cement. There is not a single house made of wood and here its freezing!! 45 degrees right now!! And i dont have a sweater for tracting so its been pretty cold ha, it was 37 thing morning when i woke up, and 46 in the apartment! Ha but i do love it, its a great escape from the usual heat, and it actually looks like winter here, most of the trees are dead, and the grass too. My area is the largest area in the mission, to walk a third of my area is about an hour and a half, so we walk alot and im always exhausted. I love it here, but ive never seen a people so hard, in the four days that ive worked here, other than our 3 progressing investigators, we havent entered a house, something that was so easy to do in Posadas. We have walked all day from 11 in the morning to 9 at night with maybe one lesson, noone wants to talk, is afraid or mean. So thats been the real challenge here, i feel alot like Alma, im depressed for the people here, that not a single person that ive talked to so far wants to accept the gospel, accept happiness. Its been difficult, but something wierd has changed, like steph said i feel like a different person here, i feel such a fire to change the people here and i want to work so bad, even though this should have been the hardest part of my mission thusfar i havent felt discourgaed or despair yet. If someone rejected me i worked twice as hard to find someone who wouldnt. But since ive got here noone new has wanted to hear, i have never experianced this so i dont know what to do, this is a huge challenge, but everyday my patriarchal blessing rings in my ear so thats what has kept me fighting. At church this sunday i did the same as Andy haha, i went from a ward of more than 150 people to a branch of 8, one family and two converts and the branch president and his wife, well thats who assited this week, they usually have about 12. There isnt a young womens and there is one girl hannahs age who is in the primary. So its a huge difference but i am excited to make a change here, im hoping that i can do miracles here but i dont know how, but ill just keep trying to do my best, the feeling here is alot different, in my old ward i didnt feel like i really had a goal, because the ward was huge, but now i have a goal, and im excited to build this branch. Its really really tuff here and after a long tuff day its relieving to go back to the apartment where the other companionship make all of the tuff times disappear, its only the four of us in the city, its about the size of Rosevelt, and its a farming town also. Im excited for the growth that Heavenly Father has planned for me, every Elder that has served in this Area before are great leaders in the mission. Well i love you all so much, continue enjoying your summer and i miss you all so much, please pray to have the lord pour out his spirit on this people, they are tuffer than nails hehe. I LOVE YOU ALL!