Hoot Dog

Hello again audience!

I'm glad to hear that everyone's enjoying their vacations! Hawaii sounds like a lot of fun and it looks really pretty. :) The vegetation looks fairly similar to what we have in Veracruz. Lot's of palm tree looking things and very green. It's always nice to hear what's going on back home. :)

Not much has changed over on this end. We had splits with one of our zone leaders that went pretty well. We got along good and received some good references. We've been teaching a couple 15 year olds that are really cool. They're progressing very well. My only worry is that they just want the opportunity to talk with an American. Hopefully we'll see them getting baptized this next week. It would help a lot since we have a goal for a bautizona the 27th and 28th. (That means every area needs to have a baptism for that week.) This morning we received a little bit of bad news. Two of our best investigators have decided they don't want to receive the lessons anymore. It's tough to see them go because they were nearly ready to be baptized. They sent us a text message that said "nos cuesta trabajo a creer" which means "it's hard to believe". It's a bummer because it really isn't that hard to believe. I've found that recently the hardest thing to get investigators to do is to pray sincerely. If they read the Book of Mormon and ask the Lord if it's true with the intention to follow the answer they receive, they'd get baptized. The thing is that many are too scared or lazy to follow the answer they receive or their just unwilling to ask God. It's just interesting to me. It's hard to see things like this happen, but it doesn't effect me as much anymore. Instead of dwelling on these things I just move on and look for someone who is willing to truly follow Christ.

On another note, my companion and I are still getting along swimmingly. We have a lot of fun throughout the day just chatting while we walk to our lessons. It's been a lot of fun. Sometimes we get to sleep a little late at night because we lay in bed talking and joking. (Don't worry we're working on that.) :P Basically, we're not having many challenges when it comes to our companionship. I'd say we're good friends. :)

Other than that, I'm not really sure what to write... the weather has been a little cooler with a few days of Norte. It's getting so hot here that any relief is a blessing. It gets so hot that if you just sit in the shade you still drip sweat.  The good news is that you get used to it.

Sometimes it's rough when I think about how my mission's going so far. I'm going on 8 months in the mission field now and I've still only got 5 baptisms that count. (8 year old children of members don't count and we've baptized 3). However, the mission isn't entirely about baptizing. It's a major part, but we're also supposed to retain the new converts and reactivate the inactive members. I might be wrong but I feel that I've been doing more of that than anything. It's amazing how many inactive members there are here. I think it's because missionaries focused too much on baptizing in the past and not enough on creating lasting conversions. Anyways, that's just something that I've noticed.

Overall, I'm enjoying the mission and working hard. I'm far from perfect, but I"m trying my best to do what is required of me and please the Lord.

At the very least I can say that I know this Church is true. I know that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer and I've seen his atoning sacrifice at work in my life and in the lives of others. I know that it is only through him that we may return to our loving Heavenly Father.

I'm thankful for all your support and love. I wish nothing but the best for all of you. Love you! Make sure to keep doing the little things. Attend church, pray and read your scriptures. Talk to you all next week.

Love,

Elder Sean Horrocks

P.S. I still need to know what time you guys want to Skype for Mother's Day. The sooner I know, the better. :)

P.S.S. We saw a hot dog stand with bad grammar. For some reason my companion found it hilarious and wouldn't stop laughing for a good ten minutes. Hence the title. :P