Happy Birthday Kaz and Weston!!

Hi everyone!

There's so much to write about this week that I don't know where to start! First off, I'm an uncle!... again! Congratulations!!! I'm super glad that everything went well and that Kayla and Weston are both healthy. :) Thanks for the pictures! You're timing was just a little off though, Kayla. I wanted a nephew for my birthday. ;) I guess April 7th is cool too. :) Let me know how things are going with him and how Dily is taking the changes. Make sure nobody gets neglected!

Secondly, Happy Freaking Birthday Kaz!!! 14 years old! (O.O) Jeez, soon you'll be an old man! Better start preparing for your mission! I'm super proud of you Kaz and I'm very happy to share my birthday with such an extraordinary young man. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to celebrate with you, but we'll just have to party extra hard when I get home. ;) I hope you had a good birthday and that you got nice and spoiled. I love you bro!

As for my week.

Well, we had transfers and things have been going pretty well. My new companion's name is Elder Mendez and he's pretty cool. We're getting along really well because he likes to work, but he also knows how to relax and have fun. I think we'll do well together. 

This week has been a little loco because we did a ton of traveling. On Tuesday I went to Veracruz to meet up with my new companion. That's about a five hour bus ride there and back. On Wednesday we had a zone conference in Tuxtepec about an hour and a half away, again by bus. On Thursday and Friday we had to go to Tlacojalpan about 45 minutes away for an interview with baptismal candidate.
We had to go back Friday because her step-dad wouldn't let us talk to her on Thursday... only he told us after we had traveled the whole way. It all turned out good though because she did ultimately get baptized.

On Thursday we had an interesting experience. After we found out that we wouldn't be having the interview we decided to head back to our area for an appointment. It was about 7pm and it was already dark outside. To get to Tlacojalpan you have to cross the large river Papaloapan in a ferry. From there we usually can find a taxi waiting to take people to our area. However, because it was so late that day there were no more taxis! There we were standing in the dark with no idea how we would return to our area. Eventually we felt that we would wait for the ferry to bring another load of people over and ask for a ride in one of the cars. While we were waiting for the ferry an SUV pulled up and dropped off a couple men. We felt prompted to ask were the driver was going. He said he was headed for Cosamaloapan (the area right next to ours) and we asked for a ride. He told us to get in and drove us to where we could get a taxi to our area. We ended up getting back just in time for our lesson. It turned out to be a good lesson with some members in attendance. This experience showed me first hand that the Lord really is there to help each and every one of us. I know that it was no mere chance that this man happened to have passed by when he did. I know that the Lord cares for us.

That's about everything exciting that happened over here. I still haven't received my birthday package, but it's with my zone leaders. We're seeing of some other elders can't bring it over tomorrow for our district class. Not many people knew that it was my birthday, but I didn't care. Once the elders in my district found out they all wanted to do something for me. They're going to try to bring a cake to our district meeting tomorrow. They're all super cool. They came to my area to watch conference in our chapel so we ended up spending most of the weekend with them. They spent the night and everything so that they wouldn't have to travel back and forth for the Sunday sessions. It was a lot of fun relaxing and joking around with these elders. They helped me to destress a little. It was a very nice birthday present.

Conference was amazing! I really enjoyed all the talks. I was planning on writing you about my favorites, but I forgot my notebook and I don't really have time to write all that anyways. I actually had to miss the last part of the last session because there was a funeral service in the chapel. I don't know who was the genius that planned it right in the middle of the conference session, but that's what happened. I'm the only one who can play the piano in the whole area so they asked me to play for the service. It was kind of weird because I didn't personally know the lady who died. I told my companion that he could stay and watch the session if he wanted to and obviously he did. We were watching it in English in the church office (don't worry with permission). During the service one of the counselors of the bishopric came in and got mad at my companion because he wasn't in the funeral service. He made very rude comments about him being a bad missionary. When I heard about that it made me rather mad. It just made me mad that this member could be so presumptuous to tell missionaries that a funeral for someone we didn't know is more important than listening to the prophet and apostles of God speak. Anyways, that's enough angry rambling.

I just want to say that I'm super proud to have a new nephew. I love all of you and hope that you are all striving to do the Lord's will. It's not always the easiest thing to do, but it's what will bring us the most happiness in this life. I testify that Jesus is the Christ and that our Heavenly Father loves each of us personally and perfectly. I urge you all to study the general conference talks. They are modern scripture. Follow the prophet of God and you'll never go astray. This is the only true living church of Christ.

I love you all! Keep me updated on your lives!

With all my love,

Elder Horrocks