Elder Garrett Horton: June 2014

6-9-14

I'm sure you did a good job with your talk mom :) I'm happy you felt the Spirit confirming and sharing your message, that's always a good feeling. I have more chances to have this happen as I give weekly trainings to my district and I'm even talking in church this Sunday for 15 minutes

I think that's funny that J-Dawgs is now a tradition for Gma and Gpa taking missionaries to the MTC haha I think they liked those hot dogs.

Tell me some more about your companion. Do his responsibilities change the way you do things?

Some of his responsibilities change some of our daily stuffs but not a lot. It stays about the same. The only difference are at night when we're following up or random meetings that we have to attend.

How many districts are in your zone?

I think.. 4

Have you had any more days when you have had to stay in because of the protests?

Nope

How are the temperatures?

They're pleasant in the morning and nights and a bit warm during the day but in the shade if you're not doing anything it's also pleasant

Is it getting cold enough to need a coat?

Some days 2 weeks ago, we used the coat a bit but only at night, but this week it's been a bit warmer. Plus we walk a lot which keeps us warmer.

The president has had to think hard about these weeks to come because of the world cup and what would happen with us. Looks like one zone might get closed because of the proximity to one of the stadiums but the others will continue to work like normal except on the days where Brasil plays. When Brasil plays, he wants us to watch the game in a members house for 2 reasons, to keep us off the streets before and after the game because of safety and secondly because he wants us to take advantage of this opportunity and make friends with friends and relatives of the members where we watch the game so that's what we'll be doing! It'll be pretty fun :) unfortunately I won't be able to be decked out in my Brasil gear which I've been buying. I bought 3 more shirts and I plan on buying more stuff :) It's pretty awesome here, everyone's selling everything about the cup. The prices aren't bad too!

This week was okay for us, we got interrupted by a couple things that messed with us so we didn't have a Lot of success but we're excited for the future! In our stake conference, we heard the words of Richard G Scott and M Russell Ballard. Elder Scott spoke straight Portuguese....almost, he said some words in Spanish sometimes which I thought was funny but it was understandable. It was very cool, very good counsel that they gave us and the other stakes here in this area.

I continue to like my area and my district and my companion. There’s not anything here that I Don't like yet.

Random fact, the president is letting us watch Disney movies on p-day now! I think I'm gonna watch Frozen :D We already watched today, Shrek: Forever :D haha

Well that's about it. Thank you guys for your love and support and letters! I love you all!

Elder Horton

6-2-14

Hey mom!

So you heard right, I've been transferred. There's also been a pretty substantial change in the mission. So I got the call for transfers and my LD was telling me about it. How LZs were together but now they're split up, then he said that the new companions of zone leaders are district leaders. Then he said that I'm a companion of a zone leader and I was like "Wait...what? So are you telling me I'm a district Leader??" And he said "Oh yeah I forgot to tell you that." Yeah so now I'm district leader. I have a district of sisters and I've already left 2 trainings with them. It's been a pretty big change but I'm really liking being their district leader. And the purpose of this big change is because in the next 2 transfers, there'll be like 14 or 15 of 20 ZL that are leaving and they want good leaders that are prepared to replace them. So there's a chance that in this next transfer I could already be LZ...or maybe the next one...we'll see but I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about my area. We've gotten to know it really well yesterday. I was talking with EVERYone at church and I got to know like 90% of the members by name like a boss. The Lord helps. A lot. I need it. I also bore my testimony and presented myself a bit. Everyone laughed in the beginning and a bit throughout but always maintained a good smile, basically I could tell they enjoyed it and liked me which is ESSential for a missionary so I'm happy :) I'm excited to work in this area.

I have 2 companionships of sisters in my district - 1 from Argentina, 3 from Brazil. I call them every night to see how their day was and follow up with their investigators and what not. Weekly I give a training for like half an hour. And I study a lot to be able to help them in their areas with their difficulties. The cool thing is that they really want my help. They’re humbled right now. They recognize that they're not having success and want to hear what I have to say to do better. so that makes me happy :)

Sister Galvão and Mathier

Sister Amaral and Falcão

Sister falcão went to the hospital today too..2 days this week they stayed in house because she wasn't feeling good, they think it might be dengue (don't know what that is in English...)

There is no treatment and it takes like 15 days to overcome. The interesting thing is that she's kind of gottin better then worse then better then worse I don't know but I'm sure she'll be fine :)

The church building is closer now, like 10 minutes from our house. There are 2 wards that meet there but each ward has 2 pairs of missionaries, 1 elder and one sister. the 2 sister companionships in the 2 wards are in my district and we eat with the sisters in our ward Every day for lunch which is really good because we don't know where the lunches are and it's a good opportunity to talk with them and see how they're doing and try to help them. I've really taken them under my responsibility like a father. I was a bit worried when I found out that I was going to have only sisters in my district that I would have problems with that (like emotionally get distracted or something) But I'm happy to say that I think of them as my stripling warriors and my daughters and I'm Helaman their dad guiding them to success. They have a lot of potential but they've been having a lot of difficulties these last weeks which is unfortunate and they're a little down about that but I'm helping to motivate them.

Elder Campbell, that other awesome Elder that I knew from before at BYU, is in my zone as well, as district leader. He is awesome, a great example for me. I was talking with him today about being district leader.

We use 26 reais just to go to the zone meeting...it's kinda ridiculous but we get more money because of it. This is the biggest (area wise) zone in the mission.

Where are you?

Zone: Guaratingetá Area: Taubaté 2

Who is your new companion?

Elder Orellana (pronounced oh-re-ja-na)

Where is he from?

El Salvador - I'm learning Spanish with him bit by bit. There’s another sister from Panama who speaks Spanish with me and also speaks pretty dang good English too.

People you’ve met People you’re teaching

Rita, we're helping her leave her old life behind and begin a new life. She should've gone to church but our ward mission leader didn't try near as hard as he should have to have gotten her to come...but she's awesome. I gave her a Book of Mormon as a "present" right, cuz I always says it’s a present (it makes the people feel more special) And she said she'd never gotten a book like that as a present before and thanked me profusely and then proceeded to give me a hug which was unavoidable. I heard her say "abraço" And then she was already hugging me. It's kinda funny though. Don’t worry though, it's nothing to worry about, just a funny story

Lucia and João, cool family we're teaching! They got a lot of potential. difficulty = going to church because he works at night.

Did you see missionary friends at transfers?

I did! I saw my MTC companion for the first time since i left the MTC! I also saw elder Cosme, we're cool, friends and what not. I saw a lot of other people too.

Good things that happened this week

I'm LD, I love my companion, I love my district, I'm excited for the future.

Things you’ve learned

I have learned a lot about being LD and even LZ already. I couldn't name it all if I tried. I've learned that faith is essential in everything we do and we need to trust in the Lord.

I got my birthday package! Those snickers kept me alive in my area at night while we didn't have time to buy food. I loved the letter and the other things! Just so ya know, they do actually have snickers here too soooo it might've been cheaper not to have sent them but it was very much appreciated :) Sorry i didn't wait to my birthday to open that, it was really hard not to open :) I didn't even think about my birthday before I had already opened it! But yay for happy early birthdays! The pedometer works great! thanks! I'm gettin started already on the excel sheet. It looks like I walk about 20 kilometers every day.

I'm happy to see you guys happy and together and I liked the pictures with the baby bumps.

Elder Horton