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