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

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Elderes! Que tal?!


Hola mi familia y amigos!
 
I just wrote a detailed letter to my family so I'm not sure exactly what I should write so forgive me if this email is a little all over the place. I'm still having an amazing time! The spirit here is so strong sometimes I can barely believe it. I guess I'll just try to explain a little bit more about life over here. First off, our air conditioning does not work. It gets way hot in our room at night and it feels even worse to me because I'm on the top bunk. I feel like I'm sweating all the time :P However, it's all good. I figure it's just extra training to get us used to the weather in Veracruz. The guys in my district are all the coolest! We're able to feel the spirit and still have fun at the same time. It really feels like we're all just one big family over here. The elders in our zone are all pretty cool too. I don't know all of them, but the ones I do know are nice guys. Our zone leaders are hilarious! Their names are Elder Scofield and... get this... Elder Luvin. It makes me laugh because he's a really affectionate guy. They have a tradition of coming around to all the rooms at night and giving everyone hugs. It was really weird at first, but we all quickly warmed up to it. It's not quite the same as hugging your mom, but it helps. ;) The food is delicious! We get stuff like salmon, steak sandwiches, gyros, and stuff like that. I leave every meal feeling stuffed because I just don't want to stop eating! I'm trying to slow it down a bit because I don't want to gain a ton of weight before I even leave Utah. :P When it comes to the showers... let's say they have personality. Every shower is different. On our floor, out of six showers, we have one that doesn't get warm water, one that doesn't get cold water, and two without actual showerheads. Not only that, but whenever someone flushes the toilet, the temperature boils! We find ourselves jumping in and out of the water a dozen times through out a shower! It's all kinda fun though. :) You here a toilet flush and you immediately jump out. You know who is new here when you here a squeal come from a stall over. :P
 
As far as the language goes, it's coming along. I can understand a lot of what our investigators say, I just can't put together all the sentences that I want to say. It can be frustrating at times, but I know it's all for our benefit. One of our two teachers, Hermano Piperato, once said to us "The more you sweat in preparation, the less you bleed in battle." If we prepare ourselves during our study time, we end up doing much better during the actual lesson. Likewise, if we work as hard as we can during this life to live the doctrine of Christ, we will have almost nothing to worry about in the life to come. I'm really enjoying the more and more the study time we get. Although, we end up in that classroom for about seven or eight hours every day, it's always a spiritual experience and I know I learn a lot from it. Hermano Piperato is convinced that we will know more Spanish by the end of our MTC stay than he did at six months into his mission. I'm not quite that confident, but I do think that we will be as ready as we'll need to be. One part of our lesson from yesterday really stood out to me. Hermano Piperato showed us a video from a project done by the New York Times and can be found on their website. It's called "One in 8 Million". It looks at the lives of average people living in New York. It's pretty cool, but the one we watched was amazing. It was about a man named Joseph Cotton. He's a grandfather who often babysits his "grandbabies". I don't have time to go into detail about it, but I encourage everyone to watch this video, but while you're doing it, look for one specific thing. Look for similarities between how Joseph treats his grandchildren to how our Heavenly Father treats us. Doing this was an amazing spiritual experience for me and I know it can be one for you too.
 
This will be my random stuff paragraph were I try to fit in everything that I haven't said that may or may not make sense. First off, I would like a couple things from my family if possible. Send me about eight pair of my normal socks that I usually wear. They should still be on my bed so long as you haven't sold all my stuff already. :P Also, you know those little pictures that grandpa Max posed for? If you can look online for a place to buy minature versions of those pictures and send some to me, I'd really appreciate it! The weather these past couple days has been nice because it hasn't been so hot. We've been getting some rain which is always nice. Although, it did mean we had to do our gym time indoors (which of course just isn't the same). My district and I have all been playing a ton of volleyball and it has been a blast! Sometimes we get a little carried away though and we end up screaming like maniacs. :) It's nice to have that time to release some energy though. Also, regarding my strange subject line: it was something that one of the teachers on our floor said once and now we go around saying it whenever we see each other. Try imagining us saying it in a slightly higher pitched voice and sounding really excited. Also, imagine us bugging our eyes out like a bunch of wierdos and you'll get a good idea of how it goes. It pretty much means "Elders! What's up!" It's just a fun thing we do now :)
 
If you're reading this, it probably means that you love me in some way, shape, or form and I just want to let you know that I love you too. I know that this gospel is true and that I am right where I'm supposed to be. I've never felt this sure of anything in my life. I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I know with a surety that Thomas S. Monson is our living prophet today and that he recieves revelation from our Heavenly Father. This is the true church of Christ. I love you all and wish you the best in your endevours.
 
Nos vemos mi amigos!
 
Elder Sean Horrocks
 
P.S. Some of the elders have taken to calling me Elder Horcrux (like Harry Potter) or Elder Lorax. :P

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