Mr. Toilet...You're my only friend 4-29-13

Hi everyone!

A few things have happened since last week, but nothing too exciting. As far as the work goes, we had a bautizona set up for this past weekend (the 27th) and we actually had a baptism lined up. It's a little nine year old girl that super funny. She was a lot of fun to teach because she's got a lot of energy. She has ADD or something but she actually paid really good attention and learned well. We have to wait for this coming week for her baptism though because there was a death in the family. He died the day before the scheduled baptismal date and we just thought "No...". At first we were like "well let's baptize her now" but we knew that's not how things should be done. We'll have plenty of chances to baptize, but this little girl will only be baptized once. Better to make it special and memorable than to do it quick. So we failed our goal and our leaders kinda got mad at us, but oh well. That's the way the cookie crumbles. She'll get baptized this coming Saturday. :)

We also had a multi-zone conference this week. The mission president, his wife, and his assistants spoke. It was cool, but at the same time it stank because he planched us a lot. (To planch is to chew out or scold though it literally means to iron in Spanish) It was a good learning opportunity, but conferences always are rough because Pres always makes new rules. Rules are good, but they're getting to be a little stifling at times. For example, they're about to start a new rule where we can't eat with sister members alone. This stinks because we almost always eat with them alone because their families are either in school or working. Bummer...

Another reason the conference was rough was because I've been sick to my stomach this past week. I don't know if it was something I ate or what but I've had lot's of diarrhea. Not fun. Let's just say I got better acquainted with our toilet... Anywho, I finally talked with a doctor on Saturday and he gave me some medicine that fixed me right up so no worries. :D

Mom - I'm glad you and Max enjoyed Hawaii. :) Maybe we can go on a trip sometime? ;) Also, congrats on your graduation! It's truly awesome that you were able to complete that goal. I'm happy for you. :) With the Skype thing it turns out we can Skype on Friday the 10th or Sunday the 12th (but not both.) It's your choice. I'd prefer Sunday and I think that would be better for you guys as well. Just let me know the hour! And remember I'm and hour ahead of you guys. So if it's 2 over there it's 3 over here! Can't wait to see you all! Love you tons Mom!

Dad - I always appreciate your words of advice, Dad. That's something that I've come to learn as well. That God is always willing to forgive our failings if we tried our best. And although sometimes it's discouraging to not have large numbers to report I just try to do my best and let the Lord do the rest. For all I know, I'm doing exactly what he wants me to do. There's no point in worrying myself too much over it. I just want to say that I love and miss you Dad. I'm looking forward to spending some time with you. Love you!

In a side note, there's been a rule change where the missionaries can write to their friends now. I've also heard from my friends on missions that the computer time has been extended to an hour and a half. My mission president must not have gotten the memo.... oh well.

Any ways, I just want you all to know that I love each and every one of you. I want you to know that the Church is true. Living the Gospel is the most important thing we can do with our lives followed closely by the family. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he allows us to return to our Heavenly Father.

I love you all and can't wait to see you in a couple weeks! Be Happy! :D

Love,

Elder Sean Kyle Horrocks

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

No title this week so just a random sentence

Hiya everybody!

Well, this past week was a good one, but there wasn't exactly a ton of interesting things that happened so sorry if this e-mail is slightly (if not extremely) boring. I guess I'll start with how the work is going. Things seem to really be picking up with my new companion. We've been finding new investigators and helping the ones we have to prepare for baptism. It's been a lot of fun to meet even more new people, plus it doesn't hurt when your companion is your friend. Elder Mendez and I have been getting along great. :) He's a really relaxed, funny missionary and he's just got a way with people. He's always super friendly and knows how to make the members happy. He makes things a lot more fun because we can talk and joke around during our down time. Basically, he helps relieve the stress of missionary work. On top of that, we've got some really good investigators that should be getting baptized soon if all goes well. Fingers crossed!

This week we had an assistant visit us. The mission president is doing something new where there are now four assistants instead of two. Two of them stay in the offices and do the normal assistant stuff and the other two travel to different zones each week to go on divisions with district leaders. We had an Elder Bauman with us for a day. He helped us a lot by showing us new ways to ask for references and giving us tips here and there. He was very chill about the whole thing and was cracking jokes as we walked to appointments. Overall, it was a lot of fun. :)

In our district meeting this last Tuesday the other elders from another area brought a little pin the tail on the donkey game and... my package! I finally got it and I've been enjoying all the treats. I like the little basketball hoop too. :) However, for future notice, all the jolly ranchers got really gooey and sticky. It left nearly everything covered in a bit of goop. It wasn't a big deal since everything had a cover or wrapper, but I think it'd be best if we didn't send any more Jolly Ranchers. Some of the chocolates were warm too, but it wasn't anything that an hour in the fridge couldn't solve! :) Thanks a lot for everything that was in there. I especially appreciated all the notes from everyone. :) I few sisters here found out that it was my birthday and gave us cake. One ended up giving us half the cake for my birthday gift. At her house they had me do a Mexican tradition called the "mordido". It's when the birthday person has to take a small bite directly from the cake with out hands or utensils. What I didn't know is that while they're doing it someone comes up from behind and pushes their face into the cake. Surprise! It was a lot of fun though and my companion went easy on me (meaning he didn't shove my entire face into the cake). ;)

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well back home. I'm super jealous of Max and Kaz though. Max for getting to go to Hawaii and chill with Mom and Kaz for getting to stay home and party with Dad. Oh well, my time will come. ;) I loved the pictures of Dily and baby Weston. Keep them coming. :) How's Dily been doing with a new baby around the house huh? Bet that's interesting.

Only a month and a half left of school huh? That's only one transfer here and boy does the time fly! Pretty soon I'll be at the half way mark! Sounds like Max and Kaz are enjoying themselves. I only hope that they're enjoying the weather now that it's been warming up a bit back home. (Even though there's fresh snow apparently :P) Make sure to take the time to enjoy God's creations. You won't regret it. :)

Well, Mother's Day is coming up in May so we should probably start preparing now for our Skype session. If I'm right, Mother's Day is on the 12th back home, but it's on the 10th here. Our announcement's this week says that we'll be Skyping on the 10th, but we might also be able to do so on the 12th. For now, we'll plan on the 10th to be sure. I think that's a Friday. Let me know at what time you guys want to Skype and we'll plan around it. I'm looking forward to seeing you all with baby Weston. Maybe I'll hear Dily talk this time too! :D

I want to bear my testimony of the truthfulness of this Gospel. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church of Christ restored to the earth. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. I know that Jesus Christ redeemed each and every one of us and allows us to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. The Atonement makes it possible that all of us may become perfected through Christ. No matter what mistakes we've made we can always turn to Him and be washed clean. Scripture reading, daily personal and family prayer, and attending church are the basic things that will help us to build our testimonies. If you ever have a doubt I know that you can do as Joseph Smith did and ask of God. I promise that He will guide you and help you to overcome your trials.

Keep God's commandments, love your family and be happy. Come what may.

I love you all and love reading your e-mails. Someone give Max a noogie and Kaz a wedgie from they're favorite brother. ;) Enjoy life. :)

Love,

your son and brother,

Elder Sean Kyle Horrocks

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