Mexico, Veracrus mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Elder Horrocks will be serving in the Mexico, Veracrus mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Friday, December 21, 2012

A new house finally!


Hola mi familia!

I´m not really sure where to start this week. Not much has changed with how we work. We still contact a lot, but now we´ve got a lot of new investigators to work with so we`re focusing on them a bit more. We had five investigators in the chapel on Sunday which is pretty much awesome! It was a pretty good week, but there´s not much to tell about it. Also, I´m in an internet cafe that I can´t upload my photo´s again. Sorry! I really want to send them, but we keep going to stupid cafes. Hopefully I´ll be able to upload them next Monday. Some good news is that I receive a couple letters from friends as well as some e-mails. I got a hand written letter from my friend Megan from college, a DearElder from Jessica Horrocks, and I got e-mails from DJ Mahoney and Nick Romanick. They all definately put a smile on my face. :)

Now here´s the plan for the Skype that I´ve got. I´ll call you guys and we can Skype. Max says he´ll have his Skype up and ready so all I´ll do is sign in and call. I´m told that you want me to Skype on Christmas day at one o´clock (my time) so that´s what I´m planning on doing. I´ll make sure everything is ready on my end, just make sure it´s all good back home. :)

Now I´ll answer all your questions as usual.
Kayla: First off, glad to hear from you. :) The temple isn´t too far from where I live. We have to take a 45 minute bus ride to get there, but that´s not too bad. It´s quicker by taxi, but more expensive so we usually take a bus. We haven´t really visited any historical sites or anything, but there´s plenty of history in the streets (if you count ancient crumbling old apartments and houses). We did go to the Veracruz Aquarium, a wax museum, and a Ripley´s Believe It or Not museum a couple times. They were all pretty cool. They weather is generally still pretty hot, but occasionally we get "Nortes". This is just a bunch of North wind that usually brings rain with it. They´re nice cuz they cool the place down a bit. Here´s what we usually do on P-days: We wash our clothes, clean our house, buy food for the week and whatever else we need, write to our mission president and our families, get haircuts (if we need them), and anything else that needs to get done. We can also visit places like the aquarium or museums, but a lot of them aren´t open on Mondays. Also, we can play volleyball. Only volleyball.... kind of a bummer, but oh well. That´s pretty much it. Once again, I love hearing from you! ;)

Max and Kaz (Fred Flintstone?): You guys didn´t have any questions really, but I wanted to say hi and that I miss you knuckleheads. I love you guys and I´m glad you´re enjoying yourselves. :)
PS. I was the turkey all along!!!

Mom: I don´t think you really had any questions either, but thanks a million for the photos! I love seeing how the family is doing. :) Kaz looks old! What the heck happened! Any ways, I love you Mom. Happy birthday! I´m sorry I can´t be there to give you a huge birthday hug, but I´m sending you one in my head so take a moment and imagine that we´re hugging................................ That was a good hug wasn´t it. ;) Once again, I love you Mom. :)

Dad: Yep, we finally found a house. I guess this is news that everyone probably wants to hear, but I don´t have enough time to go back and edit my e-mail. It´s got three rooms, a small kitchen, and a smaller bathroom, but it´s all good. I´ll take some pictures when we´re all moved in. We should be moving in once we have electricity which will be Tuesday or Wednesday. At the very least, we don´t have to have the distraction of searching for a house anymore. Other than that I don´t think you really had any questions either. Just want to say that I love you and miss you. I can´t wait until I can see you and the whole family again. Love you Dad. :)

I actually have time to write today, but I don´t know what to write about... bummer.... I guess I´ll just bear my testimony. I know that this church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that he restored Christ´s church. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet called by our Heavenly Father to guide us. I know that only through the Gospel can we obtain true joy in this life. Especially during this time of the year, I want to invite you all to search for Christ in all things. If you´re not praying morning and night, do it. If you´re not reading your scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, do it. Take the time to be a blessing to others and I know that you´ll receive joy and blessings in return. I don´t know if you realize how hard it is for me to be away from the ones I love, but I want to all to know that it is worth it. The Gospel should be the most important thing in our lives along with our families. Don´t neglect to show your love to your family. You never know what you have until it´s gone. Being away from you all has shown me just how much I love you. I think about you all and pray for you daily. Enjoy one another´s company and when I come home I´ll enjoy it with you. :) I love all of you, both family and friends alike. I wish you nothing but the best in your lives. The church is true!

Yo sé que esta iglesia es verdadera. La única manera en lo cual podemos regresar a nuestro Padre Celestial es por medio del Evangelio de Jesucristo. Sé que Él vive y nos ama. Sé que el Libro de Mormón es verdadero. Las familias son ordenadas por Dios. Amo a mi familia mucho y quiero a estar con ellos para siempre. Yo sé que podemos vivir con nuestras familias en el reino de Dios si estemos obedientes al Evangelio.

I love you all! :) Until next week!

-Elder Sean Horrocks

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Livin' out of a suitcase


Hi everybody!

This week was loooong! We had a ton of stuff happen that normally doesn't happen. First off, we visited the temple on Wednesday! It was the best thing ever!!! We went through a session and it was in Spanish of course, but at this point I could understand it well enough to know what they were saying. (Also, it helps that I've been to a few sessions before ;) ) It was such a blessing to have the opportunity to be in the Lord's House. The only down side was that we didn't get too much time in the Celestial Room. Oh well, no problem. The Veracruz temple is pretty small and the inside is fairly similar to the Provo temple. That's about as well as I can describe it to you guys without taking a ton of my writing time. Let's just say it was amazing. :) Afterwards, we had a Christmas dinner/lunch thing and a Christmas Conference. That was awesome too! We ate BBQ chicken with potatoes, spaghetti verde (it's like spaghetti mexican style), and a lot of French bread. It was a nice change. The Christmas conference was really great. We had our mission presidency speak to us on a couple different topics. I can't remember what they were now, but don't worry I wrote notes and still have them. That all happened on Wednesday. The day after we had to return for a Mission photo. Only half the mission was at the conference on Wednesday, but the entire mission was there for the photo. It was cool because I got to see Elder Dean again and talk with him for a bit. Apparently he's doing just fine. :) Last of all, last night we had a Christmas program in the Stake. We've been inviting people to this for a month now and we had a great turn out. Lots of less active members and non-members. We spent the whole time outside greeting people, but we got to listen to the music at least. Very nice. :) It was a lot of fun. :)

That's all the crazy stuff that happened. Every other day was spent contacting, knocking doors, meeting with people, and house hunting. We probably contacted about 125 people this week and that is only the people that actually listened to us! We've been working hard, but unfortunately we haven't had a ton of success yet. I'm not worried though. If we continue working like this, we'll get baptisms for sure. As for the house... we still haven't found one.... yeah so I've been living out of my suitcase for the week with the Elders in Uribe (the district right next to mine.) Overall, it's actually been fun because the elders are cool, but we really need to find our own house. The problem is that almost every house we see is too expensive to rent! We receive up to 2,000 pesos to pay for our rent, but every house that is actually decent is usually about 500 pesos more than that! I think it's because they're houses in the city. Anyways, we've found a couple that should be perfect for 2100 pesos a month. We got permission to pay a little more for our rent and we just need to check the houses out. We're hoping and praying to have our own house by the end of the day.

Now a little about this Sunday. We didn't have any investigators in church, but that's not for lack of trying! We asked everyone we talked to visit the church on Sunday. Oh well, people have their agency. Also, we didn't get a baptism this week. Kind of a bummer, but like I said, we'll get some soon. I was asked to give a quick five minute talk on whatever subject I wanted. I chose to talk on keeping the Sabbath Day holy because a lot of members around here don't do that. I think it went pretty well. I shared some scriptures and bore my testimony. It was decent at least.

Anyways, I'll try to answer e-mails now.
Max: I love hearing from you and I'm really glad that you're enjoying yourself in your body-conditioning class. :) I was getting a little round so I've been working out a lot more in the mornings lately. That plus all the walking we do should hopefully get me in decent shape. I do 3 sets of 50 crunches in the morning and do pushups until I can't anymore. Hopefully, I'll get a bit more into shape. Keep letting me know what you're up to and get Kaz to write me more often. I expect one e-mail a week from you two! I love you bud and can't wait to hear from you!

Mom: The package I got had wrapped gifts in it as well as the soap and deodorant. The earliest one says to open on the 14th. I don't know if it's a large or medium package. I haven't received anything else yet. I didn't take a picture, but we're at a crappy internet cafe this week so I couldn't upload any pictures anyways. Sorry! I took a picture of me and my companion and everything! I'll get it to you next week. Don't worry about my funds. The mission gives us enough to buy most things that we need. I just use my home funds to buy food on P-days. Not a ton mind you, just a burger from Carls Jr. or something. Basically, I have enough but it's nice to have my back-up funds at home just in case. Like I said before, the mission pays for our apartments, but we don't have one right now. I'm trying to take more pictures! Sorry if I don't take a ton, but we've been pretty busy! I'll try to do what Dad said and take at least ten a week! I love you Mom and I love reading your e-mails! Keep me updated on what's going on! Love you!

Dad: Here's how my day-to-day activities go. [We get up and study and prepare for the day. Then we got out and do what we planned for the day. This usually entails visiting investigators, contacting, door knocking, and visiting members. It really just depends on the day. We eat lunch at 2 then continue working until 8:30. Then we head home, plan, shower, write in my journal and go to bed.] Sorry if you wanted more details. I'm trying to write as much as I can in as little time as I can so if you have more questions, be specific! :) I got my suit pants let out a while ago. They're not perfect, but they're better than they were and it was done for free so that's awesome. Also, I found a black suit coat that a missionary left behind that is just a little big but matches my other pants perfectly. I'm going to see if I can get it adjusted and use it. My new camera works fine and is actually better than the one I lost. It's a cheap Nikon but it's pretty good actually. There isn't anything in particular that I need, but I'll let you know if something comes up. For now I just want more sweets in my future packages. ;) I haven't had any opportunities to play the piano these past weeks. My ward has a decent piano player so I don't play in the meetings or anything, but if my next ward doesn't have a player I'll probably do that. It'll be a nice opportunity to brush up my skills. As far as my safety goes, my area is pretty safe. As long as we follow the mission rules there shouldn't be any problems. Don't worry, we've got the Lord on our side. :) I'm glad the Grandpa Max is doing okay. Let him know that I love him and that he better be around when I get back. ;) I love you Dad and I always look forward to hearing from you. I'm glad that you've taken the time to do service with the boys and be a blessing to someone in need. I'm proud of you Dad and I love you!

Well my hour to write is up so I just want to say that I love you all and that this church is true!
I love you with all my heart!

Love,
-Elder Sean Horrocks

Monday, December 3, 2012

I got a new companion for Christmas!


My beloved family,

Boy today has been a good week. It went by really quick, but we sure worked hard. I'll guess I'll go straight to talking about the thing you all want to hear about: my new companion! His name is Elder Westhoff; he's from Escalante, Utah; he's a true blue country boy; he loves peanut butter; and he's an awesome worker and missionary. I'll try to see if I can remember to take a picture with him for you guys. Basically, I'm extremely grateful for my new companion. I don't want to bad mouth Elder Duran, but let's just say some of his actions lead to unfortunate consequences. One of these consequences is that we've been searching for a new house to live in. Apparently, we were only supposed to live with the bishop for two weeks while we searched for another house. Oops! That was news to me. Once we found this out, we immediately moved out into my district leader's house. That's where we've spent the week. I uploaded a couple quick pictures of that house and the street around it. Hopefully, that will give you a bit of a feel of how my area is. Anyways, during the week we've been searching for a house and we've found one that seems to be perfect and it's really cheap. We're swinging by today to take a look at it and if it's good we'll rent it. We're only hoping there's no catch because it seems almost too good to be true. Either way, we should have our own house by tomorrow. Those are the big changes that have happened lately.

We've also had some changes in the work. We've been contacting people on the street and knocking doors like crazy! We've also been asking EVERYONE for references. It's been awesome! Boy am I tired at the end of the day though. Elder Westhoff is about a head taller than me and he likes to walk FAST! The first day was a little rough, but I've gotten fairly used to it by now. Once we get some new investigators we should do a little less walking. The cool thing is that although I'm tired all the time, I'm happy. :) I feel like we're finally doing the work the way it should be done. I'm trying to learn all I can from my companion so that I can keep working like this throughout the mission.

However, with all the work we did, we didn't get a baptism this week. I don't know if I told you guys but it's actually a mission goal to baptize every week. So far I've been falling flat with Elder Duran, but I think that will change with Elder Westhoff. We've got a lot of new people that we're teaching so I'm not worried about getting baptisms. :)

In other news, we'll be going to the temple on Wednesday December 5th as a zone. I'm super excited! I can't wait to be able to visit the temple again. Actually, Elder Duran and I took our recent convert to the temple before he was baptized. (Not inside, just in the waiting room.) And it was awesome. I took a couple pictures and put them on dropbox. In other other news, I receive one of my Christmas packages this week. I don't know if it was the first or second of the two, but it had soap and deodorant. I guess you guys just think I stink or something! How rude. ;) I love all the packages I receive as well as all the letters from Grandma and Grandpa Wortham, Although, I receive the letters about two weeks later than they are written. For example, today I received letters from the 17th, 18th, and 25th of November.

I also really love it when I receive e-mails from everybody. Even when they're just short little things, it's nice to hear from you all. I like hearing about what's going on back home. It's awesome that everyone is staying in good shape and exercising at home. I'm certainly getting my own exercise with my new companion! So far I always receive your e-mails, we usually don't write until at least after ten o'clock so don't worry about it too much. I would love to receive a picture of the family around the Christmas tree. Be sure to take lot's of pictures of Christmas and send them to me! I have one other request as well. Can you send me either the New Era or Liahona that has the General Conference talks from October 2012 in English? I don't even have them over here in Spanish yet, but either way I like them better in English. That reminds me... I got the chance to see the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional yesterday. It was too short! We got to see it in English and I LOVED it! When it ended I was like "...What?! There has to be more!" I hope you all got the chance to see it. Also, I'm extremely thankful that Grandpa Max is doing okay. I was praying for him all week and I'll continue praying for his  swift recovery.

During this Christmas season I just want to stress the importance of family and service. Ever since I left for my mission, it's hit me really hard just how important my family is to me. Sometimes we let dumb things get in the way of spending time with the ones we love. I know I did. I challenge you all to take the time to be a blessing to those around you, especially your family. Small acts of kindness here and there can go a long way. I know that we're a close family, but one thing that I've been regretting is not spending more time with all of you. Take the opportunities you have to give service to one another. Help Dad with the yard work or help Mom to cook. Make your brother's bed or slip a little note of appreciation into their backpack. I don't know why this just popped into my head just now, but I distinctly remember hopping out of bed early in the morning to say goodbye to Dad as he left for work when I was younger. At the very least, I always tried to wave goodbye from my bedroom window. I'm not sure why, but I felt that I should share that experience. I just really wanted Dad to know that I loved him. I think that small and simple acts like that can go a long way. I don't know if Dad remembers that or not, but I hope that it brightened his days when I did that. To show our family that we love them we don't have to do something huge. I testify that if we show them our love in small ways every day, that more and more love with be cultivated within the family.

I love you with all my heart and hope that you'll take the time to be a blessing to someone this Christmas season. Not only then, but always. I'm thankful for the opportunity to show my love to our Savior through my missionary service. I can't wait to get back home and see you all again, but until then I'll work as hard as I can for the Lord. I testify that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to restore Christ's Gospel to the earth. I know that Thomas S. Monson, his counselors, and the twelve apostles are all called of God. The Church is true!

With all the love I possess,

-Elder Sean Horrocks

Finally a baptism!


Hola my dearest family!

As my title says, we finally got a baptism this week! It was the investigator that I mentioned wanted to wait another week. Well, he got baptized and he's awesome! He's already doing his own missionary work by trying sharing his testimony with another investigator we had. I had the opportunity to perform the ordinance too. It was a little awkward because he's older and he couldn't really bend back like that very well, but it all worked out and we felt the Spirit. :) It feels good to finally see a little success. :) Hopefully with my new companion Elder Westhoff we'll be able to baptize every week. Oh, that reminds me...

We're having our transfers tomorrow and we finally know what's going on. I'm going to stay here in 5 de Mayo and Elder Duran is leaving for an area right next to mine (but in another zone). Like I said, my new companion's name is Elder Westhoff and he's from Utah. He's got almost a year in the mission and I'm told he's a good worker. Hopefully that's true and we'll be able to work well together. Either way, I'm planning on turning over a new leaf for this next transfer. I want to take a more central role in what goes on, because I've decided that I don't like relying a lot on others. I think that's pretty much all that's new about this week. Though, as a random side note, I finally cleaned our bathroom today. Naaaaasty, but it had to be done.

Sorry there's no pictures this week. I took quite a few and made a video for you guys, but we're at a crappy internet cafe this week in which I can't really upload my pictures. Sorry! You'll just have to wait another week. :/ I'll try to take the kinds of pictures that Mom asked for.

He's the part where I answer everyone's questions again. Mom first: I recieved my Thanksgiving package this week which I think means that it took about three weeks to get here. Thank you so much for that! I love all the little notes from the family and the inspirational thoughts! Also... OREOS!!!! I'm looking forward to enjoying the treats you sent. ;) It got here in good shape so I don't think you need to worry too much about that. Thanks for the lap quilt from the Relief Society. I'll make sure to give it to somebody soon. :) As for my health, it's good. No problems this week. Hopefully there won't be any in the near future. For my migraine I just took IB Profen which worked just fine. Exercise on the other hand... hasn't really happened. Let's just say Elder Duran isn't exactly a morning person. Hopefully my next companion will be a bit more active in the mornings. Also, I plan on getting a jumprope for a little bit of aerobic exercise. Hopefully, that will help me trim of all the fat I've gained. (And yes, I've gained a lot... ;P) Hope that answers all your questions!

Now for Dad's questions: I was invited to spend Christmas with some members in my area which is awesome. They're probably my favorite family in the ward (besides the bishop's) and they cook amazing food so it should be cool. However, I don't know if the President has specific plans for the missionaries on Christmas or not. I guess we'll see what happens. I don't think that you guys can call me, but I know that I can call and/or Skype you guys. We should probably start planning a time to do that now so that we don't miss each other on Christmas. I'm going to ask around and see what's going to happen because I don't even know if we work on Christmas or if we take a day off. You also had another question about my conversations with the President. Basically, we e-mail him every week telling him about how the week went. That's about the extent of our conversations. It's an opportunity we have to talk to him about any problems we're having or doubts we have. We also have interviews with him now and then, but I've only had one so far so they can't be too frequent. He's an awesome guy really. One thing that helps is that I understand him more now. :P But yeah... he's a little tough on us when he needs to be, but he's generally very friendly and actually pretty funny. If you've got more questions about Christmas or the President, let me know! :)

Now, I finally got Kayla's letter on the 20th of November so I'm going to write a little section to her too. Don't worry about the lack of letters. I understand how life is. ;) I saw the pictures of Dily that Mom's been sending me and she's so big now! I'm a little bummed that I'm missing out on her cuteness, but I'll just have to make up for lost time when I get back. :) It seems like all the letters and stuff sent to me take a while so if I were you, I'd just write me a weekly e-mail. I'll try to answer any questions you have just like I answer everyone else's. :) Love you sis!

Max and Kaz: I know Kaz didn't write me this week, but I just wanted to say hi! I'm jealous that you guys are playing Halo 4 and Assassin's Creed 3. I saw some kids playing halo 4 in the internet cafe last week and I know what you mean by it not feeling Halo-ish. Oh well, what do you expect from Microsoft? Anyways, I love you both and hope you're spending some time together now and then. Go outside once in a while! ;) Love you!

I also want to take the time to thank Grandma and Grandpa Wortham for the letters they've been sending me. I really appreciate them, especially the stories about Grandpa's life and the inspirational thoughts and scriptures. Oh, and I don't play the piano in any meetings here. They have someone who does that already.

I think that's all... I just want to take a moment to share my testimony. I know with all my heart that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Through obedience to the Lord's commandments, we receive blessings in this life and lay up blessings in store for the next. I really want to stress the importance of reading the scriptures to you. The Book of Mormon and the Bible are like letters from our Heavenly Father. They contain guidance and strength for every aspect of our lives. We can receive answers to prayers and help in our lives from reading the scriptures. I hope that you'll take advantage of this amazing gift from God. I know that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father together with our families for all eternity. The church is true.

I love you all and hope everything is going well. I hope everything goes well with Grandpa Max's procedure. I'll keep him in my prayers! I know he's not exactly computer-savy but see if you can type a quick message from him. :) Keep reading the Book of Mormon, keep attending church, and keep praying. Pray at least five times a day: When you wake up, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and before bed. I miss you all a ton and can't wait to see you again! I love you!

-Elder Sean Horrocks

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Last week with my "Dad"


My dearest family,

Another week has gone by rather quickly. Like I've said before, every day seems to take forever, but looking back the weeks fly by! This coming week is the last one that I'll have with my "Dad". (My trainer) I'm not sure what to make of that. I'm excited to get a new companion because E. Duran is a little lazy at times, but I'm also nervous that I might get one even worse! Plus, E. Duran and I are pretty good friends and it's sad to see him go. I won't be a trainee anymore. In fact, I might even have to train someone myself because we're getting so many new missionaries lately. I guess we'll see what happens! The transfers officially happen on Tuesday of next week, but we find out a few days before. I'll let you know what happens!

As for this week, it went pretty much the same as the last week unfortunately. Our investigators aren't progressing much and it's a battle just to get them to come to church. Only our golden guy came this week. His name is Jose Manuel and he's been pretty perfect. He's accepted basically all we've taught, and read his Book of Mormon and everything. He even came to church two times in a row without us having to beg him to come! He actually had a baptismal date for this last Sunday along with another investigator, but he wants to give it another week. For him, I can be patient because he seems to be really searching for the truth. The other baptism fell through because he didn't come to church and it's a rule that they need to attend at least twice before being baptized. I'm coming to find out that that's how we can tell if they really care. If they attend church, then they're progressing. Because we have so many stagnant investigators we're trying to find new ones, but it's difficult because the members don't give us many references. Despite all this, I'm feeling much better about this week. It's been rough, but fun at the same time. The bishop and his family have really helped to keep me positive. They're always so happy, nice, and fun to be around. Any ways, I guess I'll answer questions now.

Yes, I bought my camera today. There's actually a huge sale thing going on in Mexico called the Buen Fin so I got a decent deal. Apparently Costco doesn't take American credit cards though so I had to withdraw my cash at an ATM. I hope that's ok. I wasn't sure how much I would need so I took out about $200. I ended up spending about 150 for a camera, with a 4GB SD card included and a rechargeable battery. It's a good camera and I think it was a good deal. I also bought another 8GB SD card for $15. The rest of the currency I'll save for emergencies. Thanks for the extra cash. I'm sorry that I lost my camera in the first place. :( I hope it's not too big of a deal. I promise I won't lose this one!

The language is coming a long little by little. I can understand about 70 percent of normal conversation and almost all of the conversations we have during lessons! I can really feel my Spanish improving, but I have to continue working at it every day. There's always something new to learn! Now, where we eat... we usually eat breakfast and dinner at our house. Cereal, PB and J, stuff like that. Lunch we usually have with a member so it's always different. There's one family that we eat with every Wednesday that always feed us amazingly! The parents are both chefs so they give us awesome food. They believe that having us over to eat is a blessing so they're always inviting us over if another member can't feed us. They're way cool and fun to talk to. I'll try to get a photo of them this week, just in case I end up leaving this area. Oh, about that. I may or may not stay in the 5 de Mayo area. Like I said, we won't know until Sunday or so. For thanksgiving the zone actually had a get together, but we didn't really want to go. I guess a sister was feeding all the missionaries, but we decided to go to Costco with the bishop and family. I personally don't like it when a bunch of missionaries are together. A lot of them act like knuckle-heads and it bugs me. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? Nope, we haven't had any more BBQ lately. We might this week, because it's our last chance to do so together. I haven't received the thanksgiving package yet. I figure it's sitting in the offices, but nobody's told me yet. Who knows? I'll get it eventually. I'm super excited to here about the other mission calls! Especially Lindsey Berg. I really didn't see that one coming. It's good to know that our ward is still going strong with sending out missionaries. Let me know when/if people return as well!

I loved the photos you attached to the last e-mail. They really put a smile on my face. Jeez, the boys are getting tall! And Dilly looks older too! You all need to stop growing! I love that picture that you have in the kitchen now. It's perfect. B-e-a-uuuuutiful. Dad, tells me it's been pretty stormy over there. It's been the same here, though I think the storms here are just a liiiitle different. The rain can really sneak up on you at times, but we stay pretty dry. Sometimes it mists more than rains. It's nice though because it keeps us cool. Also, it gets dark at about 6 o’clock now. I think I remember Kayla telling me about that Forgotten Carols play. It sounds good. We'll have to go see it together when I get home. I'll put it on my list. ;) I'd rather you guys didn't rush with your letters. Don't worry about making them short. I love to hear about what's going on. I especially love to hear from the boys. Encourage them to write me every week! Please and thank you!

I'm going to try writing hand-written letters to send to you guys. I wrote one today that I'm going to send as soon as possible. Let me know when it arrives so I can know how long it takes.

Now, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't it someone's birthday on the 11th or was it the 12th? I feel like a horrible son because I can't remember my parent's birthdays. I know either Mom or Dad had a birthday, but I can't remember who. I'm so sorry! :( Well,  to whoever had a birthday. Happy Birthday! I hope it was good!

I want to stress the importance of missionary work in our every day lives. Just because we're not serving a full time mission, doesn't mean we can't be missionaries. This work is infinitely harder without the help of the members. If you can think of anybody who may be remotely receptive to the message, don't hesitate to tell the missionaries or the bishop. Nothing makes a missionary happier than receiving references! Also, we can be missionaries by our examples. Strive to always be an example of the believers. People will notice and eventually, this may lead to them investigating the gospel. We never know what repercussions our actions have on others. Therefore, always strive to act as Christ would. I also really want to stress to the boys how important this work is. Even if you aren't sure you want to serve a mission, start preparing now to serve one. If you are able, you have an obligation to serve. To be honest, I wasn't sure I wanted to serve a mission up until I was in the MTC. Once you take the Gospel seriously, you'll realize how amazing it is. For me, I finally realized what I'd been missing out on. I mean, I tried my best to keep the commandments, but I never took the time to really study the gospel or to really "live" it. I pray that Max and Kaz will at least take the time to read the Book of Mormon. I challenge you two to read it cover to cover by next General Conference. (April 6th). Then I want you guys to try as hard as you can to pay attention to general conference. If you have the magazine with the last Conference, read it. The thing about the gospel is that we have to apply it. Don't just read the stuff then say "well that was nice." Try to apply what you read to your life. I know that you'll be much happier if you do. I love you guys and I write these things not because I'm a missionary, but because I know they're true. I love you guys and I want you to receive the blessings that I've discovered through the gospel. Set some goals to do these things, then write me and let me know how they're going. Set goals as a family in family home evening and make sure you follow up on them the next week.

Well, I need to write my mission president real quick so I better finish up. (Don't worry it's a thing we do weekly) As always, I want you all to know that I love you and pray for you daily. I pray that you'll spend more time together and draw closer together as a family. Also, I pray that you'll draw closer to the Lord. He loves you and I do too. This church is true.

My best wishes and all my love,

-Elder Sean Horrocks

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Some Progress


Hola once again!

I'll get straight to answering the questions real quick. I'm feeling better, no problems. I had a migraine a couple days ago, but that's it. I don't know what mom was asking about with conferences. We haven't had any of those but we did have interviews with the president. That went well. He gave me good advice about my doubts and also pretty much told me not to worry. As far as changing companions goes, we have a transfer in two weeks. Should be the 27th or so. Most likely I'll be staying in 5 de Mayo and Elder Duran will leave. Then I'll get another companion. I'm still liking the food for the most part. Although I must admit, when I get some American food it's like heaven. :) Our ward is pretty small and about half the members are inactive, but it's a good ward. We've blessed the sacrament once and passed it once as well. The only service project we've done so far is helping the bishop clean out his parents old house. Naaaaasty, but it wasn't that bad. We don't teach at church at all. We don't fish anymore because apparently we weren't supposed to. Soooooo no more of that. We're not supposed to be near the ocean. Ooops! Well, now we know. That's pretty much it for your questions.

We took our pants to a member that can adjust them. Hopefully things will turn out well. I'll probably get a Costco card and try to find a camera. I'll let you know how much I spend for that.

Good news this week. We finally got four investigators in the chapel for church! We're hoping for some baptisms this next week. Fingers crossed! That's pretty much all the news for the week. Everything else was pretty much the same.

I'm glad to hear that Mom fasted on fast Sunday. I hope that the rest of the family follows suit. Keep up with the reading the book of mormon. I know it will bless your lives. Otherwise I wouldn't ask you to do it. Also, I hope that you're trying to have family home evening. There are blessings that we recieve from all these things. Sorry my e-mail's kinda short. We don't have much time because of stuff that elder Duran had to do. Kinda frusterating but no problem. Hope to hear from everyone soon. Especially from Kayla and the boys! I love hearing from all of you. This church is true and I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Love,
-Elder Sean Horrocks

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Elbow Room


Hola from Mexico!

I didn't get any questions in my e-mails this week and I'm kinda at a loss for what to write. Nothing too special happened this week. It was kinda rough though. First off, Elder Revueltas returned to his area and we kept the bunk bed so for the first time in Mexico I have space to breathe. :) With the bunk bed and only two elders our room is actually quite spacious. That's the good news. Unfortunately, the rest of the week was mostly bad news. We didn't do much this week because almost every time we went to visit investigators or less active members they weren't home. Also, we're coming to realize that we'll probably have to drop some of our investigators that aren't progressing much. Right now we've got two investigators that are sooo close, but just need to keep one commandment or other. It's tough to see them struggle with these things because personally I've grown to love these people. We hope that we'll be able to help them to come unto Christ and we hope to get a baptism this week. I'm not gonna lie, it's been pretty discouraging to see all the other elders baptize every week while we've only had the one. I'm not sure if the problem is us, this area, or a combination of the two. We're trying are best to be obedient, but something just isn't clicking right I guess.

I often find myself wondering if I'm the problem. I'm trying my best to be obedient and do what I should, but I'm far from perfect. I'm not sure if I have the right mindset right now. I can't help but think about home a lot. I've learned so much here and all I want to do is go home and apply what I've learned with my loved ones. This is probably one of the biggest personal struggles for me. Some days I just want to go home to my family. Especially on days when the work isn't exactly going smoothly. I've been trying to keep a positive attitude though. I pray for the desire to work and for charity every day. I've been trying to see the big picture and the purpose for everything that happens to me. There's probably something that the Lord wants me to learn from my experiences here. I'm trying to find what it is that I need to learn.

On another note, my Spanish is improving a ton. I can understand the average person well enough to have a small conversation with them. If they're patient with me, we can actually have some pretty good talks. I think our lessons are improving too. We've gotten better at being brief and simple so that everyone can understand. Poco a poco - little by little - I'm learning.

In other news, I lost my camera so there probably won't be any new pictures for a while. Yes, I know I'm a retard for losing it. I left it at the internet cafe that we used last week and, basically, if you leave anything anywhere here in Mexico someone's going to take it. The camera isn't the problem so much as the stuff that was with it. In my camera case I had my rechargeable batteries and three SD cards. I only have all these things together when we go to write our letters. All my pictures are backed up on dropbox or in my USB that I still have so at least the pictures aren't lost. What should I do for a new camera? Should I try to find one here or wait for you guys to send me one? Let me know what you want me to do and please forgive me for being an absent minded fool. :(

Thank you everyone for all the support you've given me. I love you all so much and hope that you're all doing well. I hope you all realize how important family is. I didn't really realize how much you all mean to me until I had to leave you all. I know we spent a lot of time together as a family and I hope that you take the time to be with each other. Simple acts of kindness and a little time spent with family members can mean a lot. Some of my favorite memories are of times with the family when we weren't even really doing anything. The just fact that we were together made it a memory.

I also want to bear you my solemn testimony that this church is true. I won't lie; I didn't always have a testimony. However, now that I do, I can't deny it. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth by the prophet Joseph Smith. We are so blessed to have this knowledge. I urge you all to take the Gospel seriously in your life. Don't grow complacent. Read the scriptures and pray every day. Attend church every Sunday and don't underestimate the power of fasting. The more obedient we are, the more we are blessed. Don't get discouraged in times of trial. Sometimes we need to be tested. Stay true and everything will turn out all right.

I love every one of you. I think about you every day and you're always in my prayers. This church is true.

Love,
Elder Sean Horrocks

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Happy Birthday to Kayla and Happy Halloween!


Helloooo everybody!

First off, Happy birthday Kayla! I hope you had a good one! And I still don't know if Kayla get's my e-mails so I'd love it if someone would let me know. Please and thank you :) Also, a very happy birthday to Dily last month. (It was last month right?) Also, Happy Halloween! Let me know what everyone does for the holiday! Over here they have Halloween too, but they also celebrate the Day of the Dead for November 1st and 2nd I think. That should be interesting to experience. Thanks a lot to Mom for the little Halloween decorations! They make me smile every time I look at them. :)

So this week was much better. I was able to contribute a lot more in the lessons. I'm starting to get into the swing of how the lessons go and I just start popping in whenever I can. It's a little tough at times because E. Duran likes to talk a lot sometimes, but it's all good. I'm feeling a lot better about the mission work overall. We got two new investigators this week. Now, a new investigator means that they keep a commitment and accept the baptismal invitation. So we've got two women named Siria and Veronica. We've got their dates for the 11th of Novemeber so hopefully everything will work out for them. We've also got an investigator that is sooooo close to baptism. She's living with her boyfriend though so they either have to get married or separate. We kinda hope they separate because the boyfriends kind of a lazy bum. Also, she tends to avoid talking about here occupation so we get the feeling that she may do something... how do I put it... something that she's not proud of. I won't take a guess because I have no idea. I'm really hoping she gets baptized soon because she's been an amazing investigator and I really think she's ready to make the covenant of baptism. We'll see what happens!

In other news, we became a trio this week. Yep, I've now got two companions. The new one's name is Elder Revueltas. He's got 21 months in the mission so his experience is a welcome addition. He's got a lot of enthusiasm which is usually good, but he can come off as one of those weird Mormons at times. He speaks really good English though. I guess he was introduced to the Gospel in England or something like that. The only downside is that we're staying in our same room. That's right, we now have three (count 'em, three) missionaries in our tiny room. We've got a bunk bed and another bed and that takes up most of the space. I'll try to take a picture of how our room looks. In fact, because I'm at the two month mark, I'll try to make a video. Anyways... The reason that E. Revueltas is with us is because his companion went home. Therefore, he's just with us until either the end of the transfer (a month) or until he gets a new companion in his area. I hope he gets a new companion mostly because we have no space now, but also because I don't think we're quite as efficient with three missionaries. This is because now we're spread over his area and ours, he's our district leader (which means he spends a ton of time on the phone), and he and Elder Duran... well they don't fight, but they don't exactly see eye to eye at times. Overall, things are good though. :)

Now I'll try to answer everyone's e-mails. I actually got a lot this week so bear with me. To Max and Kaz: I'm proud of you guys with your schooling. It sounds like you're both focusing. Keep working hard and enjoy your school time while you've got it. Trust me, life after school is just a liiiitle different. But that's not always a bad thing. ;) Also, that's super awesome about Max's deer. It makes me want to go hunting with you guys. If you've got some of that jerky I'd love to get some in Mom's next package. :) One last thing, I'm sorry Max for not writing directly to you. I don't have much time to write e-mails so I try to fit everything together in one e-mail. If you want though, I can write some hand written letters and send them by pouch mail. However, I hear that that takes forever. Let me know. I love the both of you. Be nice to each other and enjoy each others company! 

Ok, mom's turn. I figured that it had snowed already in Heber. The weather changed drastically over here this week. We had our first Norte which is just the wind from the North. It brings a lot of clouds and a little rain with it. It has been heavenly because it's been tremendously cooler. It's been overcast with a nice cool breeze so it's been real nice. As for Elder Dean: I haven't seen him at all since our first week in Veracruz. I'm sorry to hear that he's been sick. Also, he didn't seem to shy when we were companions. Quiet at times, but not shy. He's a good guy and I kinda miss him more than I expected. As to my health, I actually had degue as well. It only lasted for two days, but it wasn't fun. I had terrible headaches and a lot of achy pain in my bones. I still worked though and overall it wasn't too big of a deal.

Ok, now I gotta answer Dad's stuff reeeally fast. The obedience thing was mostly just a few minor things here and there. Nothing too serious but we should've been doing them none the less. This week we were much much better and I think we were as obedient as we could have been. Elder Revueltas has been a big help for that. I already mentioned that I've contributed much more in lessons. I see missionaries from the states every time we have a zone or district meeting. Some of them are a little immature, but overall they're cool. We talk a bit when we can. You asked about our baptism and why the bishop baptized him. Well, that's because it's better for the investigators to be baptized by someone in the ward. This helps create a bond with someone in the ward rather than just to the missionaries. We don't want the people to become inactive after the missionaries leave. As for trips: we went fishing again today. That's been a lot of fun. We only catch little things, but it's fun none the less. I added some pictures of our "fishing poles" on dropbox. They're pretty fun to use actually. Also, we took a trip to a wax museum and a Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. Both of them we're really fun and I added some pictures of them on dropbox. The Ripley's museum would've been a bit funner if I could understand all the little descriptions though. ;P No worries though. :) 

Ok,  should finish up now. I'll try to start sharing scriptures when I have time, but right now I don't. :( Just know that the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, have become very dear to my heart and I hope you continue to strive to read them as a family. If you need to skip forward, do it! I love you all! This church is true!

Love,
Elder Sean Horrocks

Teaching a lesson 

Saturday, October 27, 2012

It's already been seven weeks


My dearest family,

I'm glad you all had another good week. It's good to hear that you're all doing stuff as a family. :) Hearing about the family coming together and more about Dily makes me miss you all so much. I look forward to those pictures and more news. :) 

This week was a little rough. We tried to be obedient as possible, but we had some pretty big pitfalls. We had one investigator with a baptismal date, but he changed his mind the day before and said that he wanted to think about it more. Bummer... Also, I don't know if you remember me telling you about the investigator from Luisiana, but she and her husband were having trouble with their marriage. Well, it finally hit the fan and she's leaving him. Basically, we probably won't see her anymore, but at least Luis is still interested in receiving lessons from us. On the bright side, we have an investigator named Monse who is progressing really well. She said that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and wants to be baptized. We planned for her to come to church, but when we went to get her, they were sleeping or something. So we went to church, but Elder Duran went on splits for a sec with a young man from the ward and went to get her during the second hour. Basically, she got to attend the last our of church (Relief Society) and she seemed to really like it. The only thing standing in the way of her baptism now is the fact that she's not married to the boyfriend she's living with. Also, he doesn't really want to get married, probably because he's only nineteen. I'm hoping that things will work out with them. Either they need to get married or she needs to move out. :/ I guess we'll see what happens.

As a companionship we are doing much better. We're being more obedient (though at times we're not perfect :/) and we're trying to work hard. I've been taking a little bit more of an active role in things and it's been going ok. I help with the schedule and I speak more in lessons. The only reason I still don't do a ton is because I still have trouble understanding everyone. I can only understand about every other person and then I only understand about half of what they say. Sometimes there are Mexicans that are really patient with me and speak slowly and clearly for me. Other times they basically ignore me. The way I'm thinking right now is that this is the hard time. Once I can speak the language better and get used to how things work here things will be a little better.

I want to let you all know how important this Gospel is to me. I don't know if you fasted this last fast Sunday or if you have family home evening, but I would encourage you to do these things so that you may obtain the blessings that they bring. Also, I haven't heard how the reading has been going lately. I hope it's still going strong. Write me a little bit about what you all read and what you think about it. Personally, I've made a goal to read the Bible through front to back because I've never done that before. Right now I'm in 1st Kings and it's actually really interesting. I'm coming to love the Bible almost as much as I love the BOM. I'd also recommend reading Jesus the Christ. That book helped me a lot with understanding Christ and the New Testament. But... I digress... This Church really is the same church that Jesus Christ Himself established on the earth. I know that if we endure to the end, we can return to live with our family in Heavenly Father's presence.

I love you all and hope that if you are facing any challenges in your life that you'll turn to the Lord. Remember: Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you. This church is true! I love you!

-Elder Sean Horrock'