Elder Sean Horrocks: Baptism!

My dear family,

First off I want to thank you guys for your e-mails. I love it when I get lots of e-mails. :) The news and the pictures always bring a smile to my face. :) Any ways, I'll get to answering your e-mails now.

Kaz - You didn't write me too much, but Mom told me a bit more about your scout meeting. It sounds like you guys will be doing a lot of fun stuff. Make sure you go on all the trips and attend mutual so you can go out and have some fun now and then! :) Keep up the good grades and be a good example for the family. Love you bud! Miss you! Never give up! Never surrender!

Max - 4.0 and #1 in your grade?! That's awesome Max! I'm glad that you're applying yourself in school. It's good that you're exercising and staying in shape too. That's something I wish I could be doing a little bit more of myself. I'm getting just a biiiit pudgy. I don't have a ton of time to exercise so instead I think I'm just going to try to eat less. It'll be a challenge because the members get huffy if we don't eat a lot and the food is sooooo good... well, most of the time... That Halo 4 competition sounded pretty fun too. That's really cool that you did so well in that and got a prize. We'll have to watch that DVD when I get home and we'll have to have a couple Halo matches to get my gaming skills back up to speed. ;) Keep up the good work Max. I know you're history class might be boring and/or easy, but don't get lazy. If you keep up that 4.0 It will help you in the long run. You might even get some academic scholarships for it, so keep it up! I miss you and love you bro! I was the turkey all along!!!!

Dad - Thanks a million for the pictures! I loved them! Dily sure is growing fast! Did you break your glasses or something? The ones you are wearing in the pictures look different than the ones you had when I left. I also really appreciate your notes of encouragement. They really mean a lot. It's always nice to have a little extra boost for the week. :) I don't really need anything right now. When Mom sends packages, just have her stuff them full of treats, pictures and stuff. Less stuff that I have to carry around would be nice though. I'm going to have to dump off or use up a bunch of stuff I have because I've got a bit too much junk. I have too much street clothes especially. I used them in the MTC, but you almost never use them in the field. It's nice stuff so I don't want to just ditch it, but it's super expensive to send packages home. There are no flat rate boxes here. :P Thanks again for all your e-mails, pictures and words of encouragement! I love you Dad! Never forget to spend time with the family! Small acts of kindness never go astray!

Mom - Boy, you had a lot of questions today! That's cool though, I'll just have to write faster. ;) It's cool you've got another job! Tell me more about that and what it entails. Don't forget, though, that the Lord comes first and the family second. That hiking trip for the boys sounds cool! Make sure Max goes! He's supposed to be the one who likes that kind of stuff any ways. ;) My health is just fine. My feet are I little sore from all the walking, but it's nothing to worry about. :) We never did get to taste that Iguana, but I'm not exactly disappointed ;P We have a sister that washes our normal clothes and we machine wash our garments at our house. (We live right above a sister who let’s use her washing machine). The machine is a little old fashioned, but it works and it's much better than hand washing! I haven't seen Elder Dean since early December. That was the only time that the whole mission was together. Generally, the younger people are a little more receptive to our message, but overall it's a pretty good mix. We get investigators of all ages. I have had a couple dreams here and there with some Spanish in them, but generally I dream in English still. :P

As far as teaching goes, we've been trying to find a lot of inactive members and old investigators, but it hasn't been going too hot. We did find one cool family in an interesting way. We found their house and they were busy cutting down a tree in their yard so we helped them out. While using their machete, though, I accidentally broke it. :/ I was chopping into the tree when half of the machete suddenly went flying off! I'm going to buy them a new one today to replace the one I broke. Not to worry, machetes are dirt cheap here. They're only about 4 bucks. Any ways, after we felled the tree, we ended up teaching them. They were inactive mostly because they never really gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon. That's key to all we teach so that's what we're going to focus on with them.

I'm thankful for the many opportunities to learn and grow on the mission. The mission is no cakewalk, but it's all worth it. I know this church is true and that we have a living prophet who guides it. The church that Christ established really has been restored! How fortunate we are to know what we know and to have the guidance that we do! I pray that you'll all look for opportunities to share the Gospel with those around you. If you feel that you don't have what it takes, you are wrong! All members can and should share the Gospel. Every member a missionary! If you don't know where to start, start with the missionaries or with the bishop. At the very least, we can all try to help the members that have fallen away from the church. Like I said, no act of kindness is wasted.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention the baptism! It was actually a couple that has been active in the church for about a year now. The only thing was that they had to wait for a divorce to go through before they could get married and baptized. We've been working with them to get everything squared away the past couple weeks and now they're finally baptized. They wanted the Elder that first taught them to perform the ordinance so he came from the offices to do it. It was pretty cool and the service went well. It was awesome to see them finally get baptized. They are and will continue to be great members.

I think that's about it for the week. I love all of you and hope that all is well! If I could send hugs and kisses (look I know that sounds girly, deal with it) through the e-mail I would.